Naturalness

About: Naturalness is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1305 publications have been published within this topic receiving 31737 citations.

Criteria for naturalness in conceptual spaces

Abstract: Abstract Conceptual spaces are a frequently applied framework for representing concepts. One of its central aims is to find criteria for what makes a concept natural. A prominent demand is that natural concepts cover convex regions in conceptual spaces. The first aim of this paper is to analyse the convexity thesis and the arguments that have been advanced in its favour or against it. Based on this, I argue that most supporting arguments focus on single-domain concepts (e.g., colours, smells, shapes). Unfortunately, these concepts are not the primary examples of natural concepts. Building on this observation, the second aim of the paper is to develop criteria for natural multi-domain concepts. The representation of such concepts has two main aspects: features that are associated with the concept and the probabilistic correlation pattern which the concept captures. Conceptual spaces, together with probabilistic considerations, provide a helpful framework to approach these aspects. With respect to feature representation, the existence of characteristic features (i.e., that apples have a specific taste) is essential. Moreover, natural concepts capture peaks of a probabilistic distribution over complex spaces. They carve up nature at its joints, that is, at areas with no or low probabilistic density. This last aspect is shown to be closely related to the convexity demand.

An effective theory for nuclear matter with genuine many-body forces

Abstract: Nuclear science has developed many excellent descriptions that embody various properties of the nucleus, and nuclear matter at low, medium and high densities. However, a full microscopic understanding of nuclear systems is still lacking. The aim of our theoretical research group is to shed some light on such challenges and particularly on open questions facing the high density nuclear many-body problem. Here we focus our attention on the conceptual issue of naturalness and its role in shaping the baryon-meson phase space dynamics in the description of the equation of state (EoS) of nuclear matter. In particular, in order to stimulate possible new directions of research, we discuss relevant aspects of a recently developed relativistic effective theory for nuclear matter with natural parametric couplings and genuine many-body forces. Among other topics we discuss in this work the connection of this theory with other known effective QHD models of the literature and its potentiality in describing a new physic...

The Nature Of Natural

Abstract: In the modern Western world, consumers prefer natural foods, medicines, and personal care products and have a desire to connect with the natural world. Despite evident consumer demand for natural products, little research has been devoted to the psychological underpinnings of the natural preference. The present dissertation will examine the psychology of the natural preference and its implications in three chapters. Chapter 1 will expand the scope of explanations of opposition to genetically modified food by applying established theories about naturalness, sacred values and the law of contagion. Chapter 2 will examine how inferences about safety and efficacy of natural products cause natural to be more strongly preferred when preventing as opposed to curing an ailment. Chapter 3 will explore how naturalness operates as a trustworthiness cue and is more strongly preferred in the absence of other trustworthiness cues (e.g., brand familiarity). Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Psychology First Advisor Paul Rozin Second Advisor Deborah A. Small