Are there good reasons for including mathematical objects such as numbers, sets, and functions as part of our ultimate catalogue of the furniture of the universe? Recent debates within the philosophy of mathematics over this sort of general ontological question have centered on the pros and cons of the so-called Indispensability Argument. The basic idea behind this argument is quite straightfor...

Sohn (1998) presents a good argument that neither statistical significance nor effect size is indicative of the replicability of research results. His objection to the Bayesian argument is also succinct. However, his solution of the `replicability belief' issue is problematic, and his verdict that significance tests have no role to play in empirical research is debatable. The strengths and weak...

Argument extraction is the task of identifying arguments, along with their components in text. Arguments can be usually decomposed into a claim and one or more premises justifying it. The proposed approach tries to identify segments that represent argument elements (claims and premises) on social Web texts (mainly news and blogs) in the Greek language, for a small set of thematic domains, inclu...

We reconsider a well known problem of quantum theory, i.e. the so called measurement (or macro-objectification) problem, and we rederive the fact that it gives rise to serious problems of interpretation. The novelty of our approach derives from the fact that the relevant conclusion is obtained in a completely general way, in particular, without resorting to any of the assumptions of ideality wh...

In a recent study of astrophysical “fine-tunings” (or “coincidences”), Robert Klee critically assesses the support that such astrophysical evidence might be thought to lend to the design argument (i.e., the argument that our universe has been designed by some deity). Klee argues that a proper assessment indicates that the universe is not as “fine-tuned” as advertised by proponents of the design...

Recent prior studies with argumentation systems have shown that, unfortunately, with larger learner groups using argumentation software over longer periods of time, argument maps inevitably increase greatly in size and complexity, often leading to learner confusion. To help users understand and navigate within large and complex argument maps, we implemented an initial version of mini maps withi...

Reasoning with hypothetical cases helps decision-makers evaluate alternate hypotheses for deciding a case. The hypotheticals demonstrate the sensitivity of a hypothesis to apparently small factual differences that may require different results because they shift the tradeoffs among conflicting underlying principles. By anticipating variations, the decision-maker seeks to formulate as general an...

Argument & Computation (A&C) enters its seventh year, renewed in two respects: • A new access policy with a new publisher: the journal adopts a full open access policy with no fees for authors who submit a paper during coming two years at least. We are indebted to the new publisher IOS Press for its enthusiastic support in enabling and promoting this important transition; • A renewed editorial ...