In "Rethinking Legal Pragmatism: A Philosophical Approach," I take issue with the position of Judge Richard A. Posner, a contemporary spokesperson for legal pragmatism and the law and economics movement. Posner holds that academic philosophy and philosophical pragmatism in particular has no role to play in legal pragmatism as it manifests itself in the process of adjudication and the process of legal scholarship. By redefining philosophy functionally, as opposed to merely sociologically, I illustrate a threefold function of philosophy corresponding to the roles it plays in legal pragmatism. I show the methodological function of philosophy using C.S. Peirce's logic and epistemology, the critical function of philosophy using the insights of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s legal theory, and the normative function of philosophy, using John Dewey's illustration of continuity among moral, aesthetic, practical, and intellectual inquiries. By illustrating the insights of classical American pragmatism to Judge Posner, I show the normative dimensions of the use of history in adjudication and legal scholarship, which prescribe that we narrow the gap between theory and practice in the way we use history. By undermining the strict dichotomy Posner has erected between philosophy and law and between theory and practice, I cultivate a more productive dialogue between law and philosophy, prescribing a broad vision of normativity, allowing for intelligent social growth, and the reconstruction of ends.

Recent research has suggested that music may enhance or reduce cognitive interference, depending on whether it is tonally consonant or dissonant. Tonal consonance is often described as being pleasant and agreeable, while tonal dissonance is often described as being unpleasant and harsh. However, the exact cognitive mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. We hypothesize that tonal dissonance may increase cognitive interference through its effects on attentional cueing. We predict that (a) consonant musical chords are attentionally demanding, but (b) dissonant musical chords are more attentionally demanding than consonant musical chords. Using a Posner cueing task, a standard measure of attention capture, we measured the differential effects of consonant chords, dissonant chords, and no music on attentional cueing. Musical chords were presented binaurally at the same time as a visual cue which correctly predicted the spatial location of a subsequent target in 80% of trials. As in previous studies, valid cues led to faster response times (RTs) compared to invalid cues; however, contrary to our predictions, both consonant and dissonant music chords produced faster RTs compared to the no music condition. Although inconsistent with our hypotheses, these results support previous research on cross-modal cueing, which suggests that non-predictive auditory cues enhance the effectiveness of visual cues. Our study further demonstrates that this effect is not influenced by auditory qualities such as tonal consonance and dissonance, suggesting that previously reported cognitive interference effects for tonal dissonance may depend on high-level changes in mood and arousal.

Yes / The difference between Apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers and non-carriers in response to single exercise sessions was tested. Stroop and Posner tasks were administered to young untrained women immediately after walking sessions or moderately heavy exercise. Exercise had a significantly more profound impact on the Stroop effect than on the Posner effect, suggesting selective involvement of prefrontal function. A significant genotype-by-exercise interaction indicated differences in response to exercise between ε4 carriers and non-carriers. Carriers showed facilitation triggered by exercise. The transient executive down-regulation was construed as due to exercise-dependent hypofrontality. The facilitation observed in carriers was interpreted as better management of prefrontal metabolic resources, and explained within the antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis framework. The findings have implications for the interpretation of differences between ε4 carriers and non-carriers in the benefits triggered by long-term exercise that might depend, at least partially, on mechanisms of metabolic response to physical activity. / Partially supported by a University of Hull Faculty of Science scholarship to MDM and by funding from MIUR and FP7 VPH-DARE to AV.

[pt] Richard Posner, adepto do critério analítico econômico do direito, parametrizou o desenvolvimento de sua Teoria do Direito na construção das decisões judiciais, elaborando, para tanto, um estudo eivado de elementos interdisciplinares descritos nas ciências jurídica e da economia, buscando, com isso, apresentar um cenário estável e seguro para aplicação do direito. Desta forma, a presente dissertação apresentará, em seu primeiro capítulo os elementos fundamentais das ciências econômicas, em especial seu conceito de eficiência, cujo escopo será essencial para o desenvolvimento do trabalho de Richard Posner. Já em seu segundo capítulo, o trabalho voltará seu olhar para o desenvolvimento e desdobramento do pensamento do autor americano, demonstrando o início de seu processo investigativo até seu giro pragmático, provocado, sobretudo, pelas intervenções e críticas de Ronald Dworkin, chegando, por fim, ao terceiro capítulo no qual o objeto de investigação será o processo de metrificação do pensamento jurídico, demonstrando a teoria da maximização da riqueza desenvolvida por Posner e evidenciando as razões pelas quais o autor renegou o trabalho de Pareto e de Kaldor-Hicks. Em sua conclusão, esta dissertação demonstrará o processo evolutivo do pensamento de Richard Posner, em especial o processo de metrificação da eficiência baseada na maximização da riqueza, que embasará o processo decisório dos Juízes e promoverá, segundo sua visão, a construção da Teoria do Direito. / [en] Richard Posner, adept of the economic analytical criterion of law, parameterized the development of his Theory of Law in the construction of judicial decisions, developing, for that purpose, a study full of interdisciplinary elements described in the legal and economic sciences, seeking, with this, describe a stable and safe scenario for the application of the law. In this way, the present dissertation will present, in its first chapter, the fundamental elements of economic sciences, especially its concept of efficiency, whose scope will be essential for the development of Richard Posner s work, in the second chapter the work will turn its gaze to the development and unfolding of the American author s thought, demonstrating the beginning of his investigative process until its pragmatic turn, provoked, above all, by Ronald Dworkin s interventions and criticisms, reaching, finally, the third chapter where the object of investigation will be the process of metrification of legal thought, demonstrating the theory of maximization of wealth developed by Posner and evidencing the reasons why the author disowned the work of Pareto and Kaldor-Hicks. In its conclusion, this dissertation will demonstrate the evolutionary process of Richard Posner s thought, in particular the process of metrification of efficiency based on the maximization of wealth, which will base the decision-making process of the Judges and will promote, according to his vision, the construction of the Theory of Law.

This study examined how attentional sub-processes contribute to binge-eating. Dense-array EEG and a version of the canonical attentional blink task were used to ascertain the neural correlates underlying the attentional sub-processes that comprise the Posner model of attention (alerting, orienting, and executive control) and how attentional activation differs for binge-eaters vs. non-binge eaters. Furthermore, we examined a number of the event-related potentials (ERP), including P2 activation, which has been linked with orientating of attention, and N2 activation which has been linked with attentional conflict. We found decreased P2 activation for binge-eaters, in the negative condition, for incorrect target 2 (T2) detection trials. We also found more N2 activation for binge-eaters than non-binge eaters, in negative trials when T2 was not detected. This pattern of results suggest that binge-eaters showed deficiencies in allocating attention to stimuli that followed negative images; this attention deficiency may be a key factor for binge-eating behavior.

Eyes are an ideal tool for investigating social attention, as their physiological composition with the iris and pupil highly-distinguishable against the white sclera, combined with our foveated vision, mean that gaze cues are both a means of understanding where attention is being allocated and a method for non-verbal communication. Previous attention research using gaze cues has focused on Posner-type paradigms that have supported a model of reflexive orienting of attention in response to gaze cues. However, the ecological validity of this type of paradigm has been called into question given more recent real world research, which has produced findings that cannot be explained by laboratory-based Posner-type paradigms. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to develop and test a novel, more ecologically-valid paradigm that could investigate observers’ responses to gaze cues in a realistic, but controlled, manner. Based on past research, an initial goal of this research was to develop an early iteration of a realistic visual search paradigm in which a single non-predictive gaze cue is presented. This was built on in later chapters by adding manipulations of task instruction. These chapters presented some evidence that supported a reflexive orienting model of gaze, with clear facilitation to performance as a result of person presence. The second goal of this research was to explore observers’ responses when presented with the same task and search arrays, but with the inclusion of a second gaze cue. This is some of the first research to address multiple gaze cues within a realistic visual search paradigm. These chapters showed multiple gaze cues result in quite considerably different observer eye movement behaviour. Benefits of people presence were stronger and far more congruency effects were apparent. There were also clear effects of instruction, with the suggestion that gaze cues provided may be helpful to the task resulting in significantly greater proportions of overt gaze-seeking than in other instruction conditions. The introduction of multiple gaze cues created a new gaze cue condition – the conflicting condition in which each person cued separate spatial areas within the scene. In order to explore the effects of gaze cue sender reliability on observers’ eye movements, a third version of the study was tested where the gaze cues presented were spatially informative, cuing the target in 70% of trials. Results showed similar benefits of people presence to the previous multiple-cue chapters, but there were minimal reliability effects. Methodological adaptations were suggested based on previous research that has explored reliability effects that may more successfully elicit reliability effects in future research. The final chapter presents a summary of the findings of the research contained within this thesis. The results showed that in a more complex and realistic visual search task employing a single gaze cue, results are somewhat consistent with the reflexive orienting model of gaze due to the clear facilitation as a result of person presence and the lack of instruction effects. The findings presented also demonstrate that once multiple gaze cues are introduced, the reflexive orienting model cannot account for observers’ gaze behaviour. Instead, findings are more consistent with recent real world research. This would suggest that a new model of gaze processing is required when more than one gaze cue is presented, and the final chapter offers some suggestions of what this new model would need to take into account. It is suggested that subsequent research using this novel paradigm should explore the use of dynamic cues and the effects on eye movement behaviour in special populations, and that the research presented in this thesis provides a solid foundation upon which these new directions for research can be built.

Evidence suggests that principals' practices influence student achievement. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the beliefs elementary school principals in the mid-Atlantic United States had about which leadership practices have been instrumental in reducing the achievement gap between economically-disadvantaged students and all other students at their schools. The leadership model that Kouzes and Posner developed, which identified 5 practices of exemplary leaders, served as the conceptual framework for this study. Eleven principals who were leaders at schools where the achievement gap in reading had been reduced compared with the state average were interviewed. A combination of a priori and open coding was used to support thematic analysis. Six leadership practices, aligned with transformational and instructional leadership practices, were identified as influencing student achievement positively. The participants indicated the importance of leading by example and developing positive relationships with all stakeholders and communicating and inspiring all stakeholders with their vision for their schools, believed in shared decision making and developing teacher leaders, and understood the value of risk-taking and innovation along with a strong instructional focus. The results of this study add to the research supporting the influence that principals have on student achievement by identifying practices principals could implement at their schools to increase student achievement. It is recommended that school division personnel and principal preparation program personnel use these results to inform their training programs and school improvement initiatives. Positive social change may occur when principals implement these 6 practices at their own schools, thereby increasing the reading achievement of economically-disadvantaged students.

This thesis proposes an exception to the common law efficiency hypothesis. In many cases, common law moves toward efficient legal rules through an evolutionary process of litigation incentives. Software patent law has departed from this trend, due to an asymmetric and unopposed set of litigation incentives by parties in precedent setting decisions. This paper evaluates the history of software patent legal rules, using an economic model of litigation incentives. It concludes that software patent law has been driven toward inefficiency due to an asymmetric set of interests between patent filers and administrative agencies.

Esta dissertação propõe o exame do conseqüencialismo no direito através do estudo da análise econômica do direito na obra de Richard A. Posner. Na primeira parte do trabalho, três fundamentos desse conseqüencialismo são apresentados: uma certa visão econômica do mundo; a insuficiência de duas importantes teorias sobre o que é a justiça (Aristóteles e Rawls); e a incapacidade da filosofia moral de auxiliar o direito. Após, passa-se a tratar dos elementos que compõem o conceito central dessa espécie de conseqüencialismo: a eficiência e a sua aplicação prática. Na segunda parte da dissertação, procede-se ao exame das dificuldades encontradas na aplicação da eficiência, principalmente no raciocínio prático jurídico. A conclusão procura destacar que apesar do raciocínio jurídico não poder ser reduzido a uma particular metodologia econômica, ele deve ser compreendido, sempre que possível, como situado em um contexto de mercado. / This work proposes the analysis of consequencialism in law through the study of Law and Economics in the major works of Richard A. Posner and is an attempt to examine its deficiencies as well. In the first part, I argue that this particular form of consequencialism is grounded in three different claims: a particular economic view, the insufficiency of two important theories of justice (Aristotle and Rawls), and the incapacity of moral philosophy to help legal discourse. After establishing the grounds of this type of consequencialism as efficiency, this dissertation will move on to the main elements that form this conception and its practical results. The second part deals with some difficulties involving the use of efficiency, especially in legal reasoning. The conclusion aims to emphasize that even though legal reasoning can not be reduced to a particular type of economic methodology, it can not avoid to be understood in a market context.

Esta dissertação propõe o exame do conseqüencialismo no direito através do estudo da análise econômica do direito na obra de Richard A. Posner. Na primeira parte do trabalho, três fundamentos desse conseqüencialismo são apresentados: uma certa visão econômica do mundo; a insuficiência de duas importantes teorias sobre o que é a justiça (Aristóteles e Rawls); e a incapacidade da filosofia moral de auxiliar o direito. Após, passa-se a tratar dos elementos que compõem o conceito central dessa espécie de conseqüencialismo: a eficiência e a sua aplicação prática. Na segunda parte da dissertação, procede-se ao exame das dificuldades encontradas na aplicação da eficiência, principalmente no raciocínio prático jurídico. A conclusão procura destacar que apesar do raciocínio jurídico não poder ser reduzido a uma particular metodologia econômica, ele deve ser compreendido, sempre que possível, como situado em um contexto de mercado. / This work proposes the analysis of consequencialism in law through the study of Law and Economics in the major works of Richard A. Posner and is an attempt to examine its deficiencies as well. In the first part, I argue that this particular form of consequencialism is grounded in three different claims: a particular economic view, the insufficiency of two important theories of justice (Aristotle and Rawls), and the incapacity of moral philosophy to help legal discourse. After establishing the grounds of this type of consequencialism as efficiency, this dissertation will move on to the main elements that form this conception and its practical results. The second part deals with some difficulties involving the use of efficiency, especially in legal reasoning. The conclusion aims to emphasize that even though legal reasoning can not be reduced to a particular type of economic methodology, it can not avoid to be understood in a market context.