bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thomas Hobbes and the Contractarian Theory of Law
Authors: Gauthier David
Published: January 2022

This chapter considers Hobbes’s account of law, concluding that it differs from legal positivist theories as well as traditional natural law theories. Law depends on a prior normative relationship between lawgiver and those to whom law applies; the latter must have an obligation to obey the former. This obligation to obey the lawgiver must issue from the rational agreement of those obligated. Law occupies “the place of right reason”; it directly constitutes a standard of public reason, supplanting the private reason of each individual. In authorizing the sovereign, the subject gives up her right of private judgment, acknowledging instead the sovereign’s reason, expressed in his laws. Hobbes’s view is of the laws as the expression of public reason, each putting aside his or her own private judgement in favour of the judgment of the laws.
Hobbes
Authors: Gauthier David
Published: January 2022

Are Hobbes’s laws of nature to be understood primarily as theorems of reason, or as commands of God, or as commands of the civil sovereign? Each of these accounts can be given textual support; each identifies a role that the laws may be thought to play. Examining the full range of textual references, discussing the place of the laws of nature in Hobbes’s argument, and considering how the laws may be known, give strongest support to the first of the three accounts, that the laws are primarily rational precepts and only secondarily civil and divine commands.
Authors and Actors
Authors: Gauthier David
Published: January 2022

“Authors and Actors” (previously unpublished) examines the transformation in Hobbes’s political theory effected by replacing the conception of sovereign right as the natural right of the person who is sovereign, the others having given up their own right, with the radically different view that each covenants with all the others to give the use of his right to one and the same person, whose acts are therefore the acts of them all.
Samosata and Northern Commagene
Authors: Mitford Timothy Bruce
Published: January 2022

The history and remains of the city (and undiscovered fortress of XVI Flavia Firma) of Samosata, the course of its aqueduct, the Euphrates crossing and navigation. Roman roads and bridges westwards to Zeugma (fortress of IV Scythica), in Osrhoene, and northwards through Perre to Severus’ great bridge over the Chabina (Cendere Su). Destruction above the Birecik and Atatürk dams.
Over the Taurus to Melitene
Authors: Mitford Timothy Bruce
Published: January 2022

Geography of the Taurus. Description of Severus’ bridge over the Cendere Su, and of the course of the Roman road, with long sections of surviving roadbed, climbing over trackless mountains to the Malatya plain: the road followed from Syria by Corbulo, with camels, in AD 62. The temple and oracular site of Lacotena, visited by Constantius, opposite Nemrud Dağ; the climb to Gopal Tepe (6,800 feet), and descent to the crossing of the Şiro Çay at Miasena; the long climb to the crest of Şakşak Dağ (5,800 feet); the descent to the Malatya plain, and the approaches, by Kırman Tepe, to Melitene.
Causation, Perception and Dispositions
Authors: Ford Sharon
Published: January 2022

This chapter by Ford also explores the origins of A Materialist Theory of the Mind, though this time through a clutch of fascinating and hitherto unexamined materials, namely, Armstrong’s undergraduate essays and early unpublished papers. What is established is the striking degree of continuity between Armstrong’s earliest philosophical writings and the first works of his philosophical maturity. The themes of perception, sensation, causation, dispositions, and properties were taking shape from his undergraduate days under the tutelage of John Anderson, and continued to develop at Oxford, Birkbeck, and Melbourne, before the decisive move to Sydney University.
Credit Intelligence
Authors: Anderson Raymond A.
Published: January 2022

Background behind ‘Credit Intelligence’ and sets the scene. (1) Debt versus credit—terms that in modern usage are considered synonymous, even though the former implies trust and the latter obligation, with coverage of shifts from rating grades to scores. (2) Intelligence—positioned like ‘national-’ and ‘military-’ intelligence, beyond individual and collective intelligence to intelligence agencies and the intelligence cycle. (3) Risk lexicon—positions credit risk within the broader business-risk universe. Deeper delving is done into universal and idiosyncratic risks (Rumsfeld matrix, Black Swans and other colourful animals, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world), risk assessment and communication plus fallacies and how they relate to empirical methods. (4) Moneylender—and risk assessment. It covers credit’s 5 Cs, economic concepts {e.g. asymmetric information} and the types of lending, and greater detail on engagement between lender and borrower {relationship/transactional, retail/wholesale}, the different rating approaches used in those environments and brief coverage of risk-based pricing.
Business Credit
Authors: Anderson Raymond A.
Published: January 2022

This chapter covers modelling of business-credit risk, whether retail or wholesale. (1) Risk 101—i) data sources—variations by firm or loan size (financial statements, traded securities prices, environmental assessments); ii) assessment tools—rating agency grades, business-report scores, public and private firm, hazard, portfolio, and exposure models; iii) rating grades—internal and external (Moody’s, Standard and Poor (S&P), Fitch; S&P provided further insights); iv) small and medium enterprises (SME) lending—including reviewing principals in the personal capacities. (2) Financial-ratio scoring—i) pioneers—including Altman’s Z score and Moody’s commercially successful RiskCalc; ii) predictive ratios—that have appeared; iii) agency usage—for the development of public- and private-firm models; iv) Moody’s RiskCalc—basics and results when first launched; v) non-financial factors—those typically considered, and how objectivity can be improved. (3) Forward-looking data—most provided by human judgment, even the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ inherent in market prices. Rating transitions and functional versus reduced-form models are also used.
Side Histories
Authors: Anderson Raymond A.
Published: January 2022

Histories of side-topics providing context, especially economic history and registration/identification. (1) Industrial revolutions—labels assigned by various academics, which are not fixed. These drove demand for credit. (2) Booms and busts, bubbles and bursts—major economic upsets since the 17th century, many of which have followed upon technological changes and irrational exuberance. Many busts led to innovations in credit intelligence. (3) Registration—why and how. Starting with social hierarchies and management of obligations, whether upwards of citizens to government {taxation, military}, or downwards with provision of support and services. It is evidenced in various forms {passports, references, certificates, tokens}. (4) Identification—means used for individuals, desired qualities of which may not be possible simultaneously {specific, immutable, assessable, communicable, interrogable and utility}. Different types can be or are used {visual, oral, disclosed, authenticators, invasive}. Many present ethical and practical issues, varying by the period and technologies employed.
Stats & Maths & Unicorns
Authors: Anderson Raymond A.
Published: January 2022

This chapter covers basic statistical concepts. Most statistics relate to hypothesis testing, and others to variable selection and model fitting. The name is because an exact match between a theoretical and empirical distribution is as rare as a unicorn. (1) Dispersion—measures of random variations—variance and its inflation factor, covariance and correlations {Pearson’s product-moment, Spearman’s rank order}, and the Mahalanobis distance. (2) Goodness-of-fit—do observations match expectations? This applies to both continuous dependent variables {R-squared and adjusted R2} and categorical {Pearson’s chi-square, Hosmer–Lemeshow statistic}. (3) Likelihood—assesses estimates’ goodness-of-fit to binary dependent variables {log-likelihood, deviance}, plus the Akaike and Bayesian information criteria used to penalize complexity. (4) The Holy Trinity of Statistics—i) Neyman–Pearson’s ‘likelihood ratio’—the basis for model comparisons; ii) Wald’s chi-square—for potential variable removal; iii) Rao’s score chi-square—for potential variable inclusion. These are all used in Logistic Regression.
Data Acquisition—Performance
Authors: Anderson Raymond A.
Published: January 2022

This chapter covers the acquisition of the performance data that provides the basis for the target definition. (1) Planning extraction—i) minimum requirements—to derive a target definition {identifiers, dates, statuses, transactions, balances, limits, counters}; ii) casting the net—whether a single or multiple account; iii) basic checks—to ensure the data is appropriate for the population being considered. (2) File preparation and review—i) deep dives—record-level reviews to find inconsistencies; ii) performance arrays—to represent statuses over time; iii) profile strings—simplify and speed the task of reviewing performance arrays; iv) performance maintenance—a means of managing a performance database over time. (3) Window-setting—i) determining the appropriate window—sufficient for subjects to mature, but not so long that the data cannot represent the future; ii) end-of- versus worst-of-window; iii) fixed versus variable windows—the former eases understanding, but can censor valuable information.
Sample Selection
Authors: Anderson Raymond A.
Published: January 2022

Samples are small amounts chosen to represent a larger pool; sampling dips into the pool to choose which will be analysed, with conclusions extended to the larger pool. Trade-offs happen between i) having samples of sufficiently large and representative to enable reasonable results; ii) the costs associated with data collection and processing. (1) Overview—i) terminology—proper drawing and representation {random, stratified, bias, weight}, counts per subgroup {over-, under- and balanced sample}; repetitive {replacement, bootstrap, k-fold, jack-knife}; artificial increases {bagging, boosting, stacking}; ii) optimal and minimum sample sizes; iii) law of diminishing data returns. (2) THOR samples—i) sample types—training, hold-out, out-of-time, recent; ii) sample count guidelines; iii) review of observation windows and assignment; iv) sampling plan and outcome. (3) Afterthoughts—i) further review of un- and under-populated characteristics; ii) means of randomly extracting an exact number of cases; iii) housekeeping rules regarding code assignments for each sample.
The Nile Mosaic at Praeneste
Authors: Thomas Joshua J.
Published: January 2022

This chapter examines the Nile Mosaic at Praeneste, the pièce de résistance at the heart of this study. While the mosaic was laid in Italy during the later second century BC, it is suggested here that it was inspired by an earlier work of art from Ptolemaic Alexandria. Having established this Ptolemaic context, the discussion then turns to the representations of animals accompanied by Greek identifying labels depicted in the upper part of the composition. New suggestions are advanced concerning where and when these animal representations were first formulated, and how they contributed to the message of the composition as a whole. The chapter finishes with a consideration of the semi-precious gemstones depicted in the mosaic. Like the labelled animals, these gems helped to deliver a bold message concerning Ptolemaic authority in north-east Africa.
Fish Mosaics in Late Republican Italy
Authors: Thomas Joshua J.
Published: January 2022

Mosaics containing detailed representations of different fish species were produced in large numbers in many parts of the Roman world. This chapter focuses on a handful of the earliest and most technically accomplished examples: the fish mosaics laid in Praeneste and Pompeii during the late second and early first centuries BC. These compositions exhibit striking iconographic similarities, inviting reflections on how they were designed and made. Having reconstructed a possible chaîne opératoire, the discussion then turns to how the mosaics were understood by contemporary viewers. It is argued that the compositions should be connected to the interest in fish and seafood that flourished in Italy during the Late Republican period, but that they may have drawn inspiration from earlier fashions in the Hellenistic East.
Introduction
Authors: Bažant Zdeněk P. , Le Jia-Liang , Salviato Marco
Published: January 2022

After explaining the importance of fracture mechanics, three kinds of fracture mechanics are distinguished and characterized—brittle, ductile and quasibrittle. The last is a relatively more recent branch of fracture mechanics dealing with heterogeneous materials with brittle constituents, which include concrete, many rocks, tough ceramics, fiber composites, sea ice, stiff soils, rigid foams, wood, etc. They are called quasibrittle because in small structures they exhibit limited ductility. While brittle and ductile fracture has traditionally been modeled as line cracks, the quasibrittle fracture mechanics is best described in terms of a band of softening damage. This is particularly important for capturing the effect of crack parallel stresses on the fracture energy, recently revealed by a new type of test, called the gap test. The most important characteristic of quasibrittle materials is an energetic size effect on structure strength which, depending on the structure type, may either dominate or require amalgamation with the classical statistical size effect. In closing, various important applications are pointed out. Each chapter includes application examples and is accompanied by extensive sets of exercise problems, needed for teaching a course.
Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics—Line Crack Idealization
Authors: Bažant Zdeněk P. , Le Jia-Liang , Salviato Marco
Published: January 2022

The nonlinearity of fracture mechanics is most easily captured by a line crack model because all the structure volume remains elastic, which means that all the nonlinearity is moved into the boundary conditions, although at the penalty of missing the effect of crack-parallel stresses. The cohesive crack model, originated by Barenblatt, lumps all material nonlinearity into a softening relation between the cohesive stress and the opening displacement. Irwin's material length characterizing the size of the fracture process zone (FPZ) is discussed, equivalent LEFM is introduced, and the R-curves, along with their use in fracture stability analysis and size effect, are presented. The relation of cohesive law to fracture energy and strain softening behavior is described. Boundary integral analysis of the cohesive crack growth is explained. Insensitivity to the crack-parallel stresses and the non-tensorial description of the FPZ are pointed out as a limitation of the cohesive crack model. Finally, direct eigenvalue analysis of peak loads and size effect curves is presented.
Probabilistic Theory of Quasibrittle Fracture
Authors: Bažant Zdeněk P. , Le Jia-Liang , Salviato Marco
Published: January 2022

The foregoing models of quasibrittle fracture are incomplete because the actual behavior is always random. The weakest-link model, leading the Weibull probability distribution of structure strength, is discussed first, as the simplest approach, and is shown to follow from the stability postulate of extreme value statistics. The power law mean size effect of Weibull distribution and constancy of its coefficient of variation are derived. Then it is emphasized that real quasibrittle structures have rarely sufficient size for considering the number of links to be infinite, and a geometry-independent equivalent number of links to be used in a finite weakest-link chain model is defined. The consequence is that the failure probability distribution of quasibrittle structures is a Gauss-Weibull graft, in which a Weibull tail penetrates deeper into Gaussian core as the structure size increases. The power-law tail of Weibull distribution is shown to arise on the atomistic scale, from the Kramers equation of transition rate theory, and is shown to be preserved, with increasing exponent, in the nano-macro scale transition. This physical argument demonstrates, and unrealistic size effect confirms, that the three-parameter Weibull distribution is incorrect and potentially dangerous, and that a nonzero threshold is impossible. Described briefly is also the recently emerged fishnet statistics of structural strength, which is motivated by the material architecture of nacre. It takes into account alternation of series and parallel links, is modeled by order statistics or quantile statistics and allows treating super-light-strong 3D architectures such as octet lattice. The chapter ends with the analysis of a combination of the material strength randomness with the randomness of a database of concretes with diverse properties.
An Inclusive Growth Framework
Authors: Cerra Valerie
Published: January 2022

This chapter provides an introduction to inclusive growth. It lays out the key striking facts on rising inequality and widespread disparities. The concept of inclusive growth is defined and compared with alternative measures of economic activity and well-being. Then, alternative measures of poverty, inequality, and other indicators of well-being are explained. Inclusive growth is multi-dimensional and requires a comprehensive and integrated framework to link all of the strands. Therefore, the chapter provides an Inclusive Growth Framework that can serve as the basis for analysis and policy design. It spans private sector inputs, government policies, and disparities in outcomes. The final section of the chapter uses the framework as a road map to the rest of the chapters in the book, explaining how they fit together.
Technological Progress and Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Korinek Anton , Schindler Martin , Stiglitz Joseph E.
Published: January 2022

Advances in artificial intelligence and automation have the potential to be labor-saving and to increase inequality and poverty around the globe. They also give rise to winner-takes-all dynamics that advantage highly skilled individuals and countries that are at the forefront of technological progress. This chapter analyzes the economic forces behind these developments and delineate economic policies to mitigate the adverse effects while leveraging the potential gains from technological advances. It also proposes domestic policy measures and reforms to the global system of governance that make the benefits of advances in artificial intelligence more inclusive.
Financial Globalization
Authors: Eichengreen Barry , Csonto Balazs , El-Ganainy Asmaa
Published: January 2022

This chapter reviews the academic and policy debate on the association between financial globalization and inequality. The evidence suggests that the distributional impact of financial globalization is context-specific and different types of flows have different distributional implications, though the consensus points to unequalizing effects of capital account liberalization. The overall impact thus depends on the composition of flows, their interaction, as well as on the broader economic and institutional conditions. A comprehensive set of policies, including macroeconomic and financial sector policies, and labor and product markets, is important to enable wider sharing of the benefits of financial globalization.
Public Expenditure
Authors: Zouhar Younes , Jellema Jon , Lustig Nora , Trabelsi Mohamed
Published: January 2022

This chapter explores the role of public expenditure in fostering inclusive growth. It starts with a presentation of salient features of public expenditure. Then, it lays out an analytical framework that describes the channels through which public expenditure affects inequality and poverty in the short and long term. Based on a review of the empirical literature, it discusses the policy options. Finally, the chapter assesses the role of key factors such as the initial conditions, and the institutions, in shaping the inclusive spending policies.
Education and Health
Authors: Filmer Deon , Gatti Roberta , Rogers Halsey , Spatafora Nikola , Emrullahu Drilona
Published: January 2022

The chapter discusses existing shortfalls and inequalities in the accumulation of human capital—knowledge, skills, and health. It analyzes their immediate and systemic causes and assess the scope for public intervention. The broad policy goals should be to improve: the quality, and not just the quantity, of education and health care; outcomes for disadvantaged groups; and lifelong outcomes. The means to achieve these goals, while maximizing value for money, include focusing on results rather than just inputs; moving from piecemeal interventions to systemic reform; and adopting a “whole-of-society” approach. Reforms must be underpinned by a robust evidence base.
Gender Equality
Authors: Fernández Raquel , Isakova Asel , Luna Francesco , Rambousek Barbara
Published: January 2022

This chapter considers different dimensions and sources of gender inequality and presents policies and best practices to address the problem. The economic benefits of gender equality for growth and wealth are substantial. Despite progress being made, gender gaps still exist at every stage of life, including before birth, and negatively impact health, education, and economic achievements. The roadmap to gender equality involves legal framework reforms, policies to promote equal access to health, education, and jobs, and efforts to change social norms. They need to be set in the context of arising new trends such as digitalization, climate change, and pandemics.
Country Case Studies
Authors: Balasubramanian Sriram , Bounader Lahcen , Bricco Jana , Vasilyev Dmitry
Published: January 2022

Is there a one-size-fits-all approach to inclusive growth? This chapter looks at four key case studies across advanced and emerging markets—the Nordics, India, Brazil, and Egypt—to try to answer this question. It highlights qualitatively in these countries the key components of inclusive growth models, outcomes from these models, and the road ahead for these models in the respective countries. Some of the analysis focuses on co-operative labor markets in the Nordics, Direct Benefit transfers in India, the role of social assistance and commodity boom in Brazil, and the inequality puzzle in Egypt. The chapter finds that there is a lack of homogeneity among the approaches by these countries and identifies the need for customized solutions to inclusive growth in the respective countries. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t seem to work. The more customized the inclusive growth model, the better the overall outcomes.
Conclusions and Resources for Next Steps
Authors: Cerra Valerie
Published: January 2022

The final chapter provides recap of the main takeaways from the rest of the book, including the high and rising global disparities, headwinds going forward, and the required policy response. The book synthesized the theory, empirical findings, and policy experiences on the many dimensions of inclusive growth. But despite the voluminous literature on most of the topics, there are still substantial gaps in our knowledge. The chapter then summarizes some of the key areas in which additional research could be helpful in further expanding our knowledge to improve inclusive growth. Finally, the chapter provides an extensive set of resources for more information and policy support for readers interested in delving deeper into specific topics.
The Message of Ashurbanipal from Antiquity
Authors: Cummings Brian
Published: January 2022

From the future the book now veers backwards to the remote past, to the library of Ashurbanipal in Mesopotamia. Despite its antiquity, this library was organized systematically around subjects divided within different ‘shelves’, all collected in a kind of catalogue. The library was destroyed soon after it was made, but its destruction also ensured its long-term survival, by baking the tablets. 30,000 fragments survive, including some of the oldest literature in the world, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. What does it tell us about the idea of the book today? The chapter considers the organization of knowledge in modern and post-modern libraries, and the recent destruction of libraries, such as at Mosul in Iraq in 2016, just a few miles from Ashurbanipal’s palace in Nineveh.
Living in the Tower of Babel
Authors: Cummings Brian
Published: January 2022

In Auschwitz, as retold by Primo Levi, the idea of language is represented by the metaphor of Babel, a tower of words on the point of oblivion. The chapter surveys the literature and imagery of Babel from the Bible to the present. It surveys the myriad depictions of Babel in the Renaissance, especially in Pieter Bruegel, and how simultaneous optimism and scepticism represented in the visual arts, at once utopian and apocalyptic, reflects the new age of print. McLuhan’s concept of the ‘Gutenberg Galaxy’ is reappraised via a reflection on the idea of liberty in Milton’s Areopagitica, contrasted with the practice of censorship and persecution in relation to heresy from Augustine to Luther. The chapter ends with modern allegories of Babel in Borges, and in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Words and Images
Authors: Cummings Brian
Published: January 2022

The issue at the heart of this chapter is how writing relates to the visual arts. It opens with Magritte’s ‘revolutionary surrealist’ manifesto deconstructing the antithesis of ‘les mots et les images’ (1929). This antithesis nonetheless lies at the heart of art theory. G. E. Lessing in the German Enlightenment argued that painting and poetry are completely different arts. Partly he was drawing on Lutheran Protestant tradition. While not iconoclastic (like other Protestant movements) Luther’s theology drew attention to a conflict of signification between word and image. The chapter veers between these poles, discussing both the modernist revival of written media in artistic representation (for example in Braque); and iconoclastic movements in Byzantium, Russia, and in Islamic and Jewish traditions. Rather than a divorce between the two, the chapter argues for a mutual anxiety over signification.
The Smartphone Inside Our Heads
Authors: Cummings Brian
Published: January 2022

Has writing and the book changed fundamentally with the invention of the eBook, the internet, or the smartphone? The chapter outlines Shoshona Zuboff’s theory of the ‘two texts’ in digital media, and the use of algorithmic methods in analysing reading. This leads to a discussion of the concepts of language and communication in artificial intelligence (discussing Alan Turing and J. R. Searle as well as Wittgenstein). The chapter examines ideas of ambiguity and translation in relation to the use of search terms in digital humanities and argues against the politics of communication arbitrarily deployed by media giants such as Google and Facebook. This leads to an examination of the public furore over Ed Snowden and the profound arguments about writing and privacy that it entails. The chapter concludes in a discussion of Kafka’s ‘In the Penal Colony’ as a modern parable of writing as machine, via Marx and Foucault.
Sources
Authors: Field Clive D.
Published: January 2022

The three principal sources of British religious statistics (official, faith organizations, and sample surveys) are introduced. Before the millennium, the state’s main involvement was limited to recording the mode of solemnization of marriages, but it became more engaged thereafter, notably through inclusion of a religion question in the decennial census of population (2001, 2011, and 2021–2) and the Annual Population Survey. Among faith organizations, Christians have been most active in enumerating their constituencies, habitually on a denominational basis, but also through ecumenical endeavours (Peter Brierley being a catalyst for the latter since the mid-1970s). Judaism apart, non-Christians generated few statistics. Sample surveys have become an increasingly important means of filling in data gaps left by the state and faith communities, especially in the field of religious beliefs and attitudes. However, they are subject to several methodological and interpretative challenges, including a proven tendency for respondents to give aspirational answers.
Marketplace Distortions and Human Capital
Authors: Temkin Larry S.
Published: January 2022

Chapter 8 discusses marketplace distortions in human capital that can arise when aid agencies outbid local markets for highly qualified local workers to promote their agendas. It claims that this can lead to both internal and external “brain and character drains.” Chapter 8 argues such effects of global aid efforts, especially on a large scale, may have substantial, unintended, negative consequences elsewhere in society, by diverting highly talented people of great character away from jobs that are crucial for a poor country’s social, political, or economic development. Chapter 8 acknowledges that external brain and character drains may also have positive effects, in the form of remittances or the eventual return of workers with enhanced training and skills. Whether or not the negative effects of brain and character drain ultimately outweigh the positive effects of aid interventions, they need to be considered in assessing the overall desirability of such interventions.
Further Objections to Deaton’s Worry and Some Responses
Authors: Temkin Larry S.
Published: January 2022

Chapter 13 challenges various responses to Angus Deaton’s worry offered by Peter Singer and others. It points out that while GiveWell claims that its top-rated charities have positive expected value, there is reason to doubt such claims; moreover, such claims do not entail that contributions to such charities will, or are even more likely to, do more good than harm. Chapter 13 observes that the successes of effective charities may prompt other charitable interventions that do more harm than good, adversely affecting the overall impact of the effective charities. It also notes that aid efforts may be deontologically problematic, if they harm some people—by undermining government responsiveness—for the sake of benefiting others. Finally, Chapter 13 notes that there may be pluralistic reasons to support global aid even if such aid does more harm than good, contrary to the assumption of Effective Altruism and most development economists, including Deaton.
Taking Stock, Clarifications, and Further Thoughts
Authors: Temkin Larry S.
Published: January 2022

Chapter 15 takes stock of the book’s results. It notes that Peter Singer’s famous Pond Example fails to show that we should support charities like Oxfam; that there are important differences between the author’s view and Effective Altruism, but that they should not be overstated; that GiveWell’s concrete charity recommendations may be premature; and that a charity’s having positive expected utility is no guarantee that it does more good than harm. Chapter 15 observes that many of this book’s worries only apply to on-the-ground aid efforts in countries with weak or corrupt governments, or weak economies, and that, ultimately, global aid should be concerned about helping poor people, rather than poor countries, per se. Chapter 15 also emphasizes that this book’s worries are serious, and that even a small chance they are right should alter the expected utility of many international aid efforts, including that of GiveWell’s top-rated deworming charities.
Towards a True Dual Income Tax
Authors: Cnossen Sijbren , Søen Peter Birch
Published: January 2022

Under the current income tax, capital income is taxed sometimes presumptively, sometimes on an actual basis and sometimes not at all. Moreover, the tax rates are sometimes proportional but in other instances progressive. Furthermore, apart from the very special treatment of freelancers, the labour income of directors/dominant shareholders in closely held companies is not taxed in the same way as the labour income of employees or sole proprietorships. The capricious taxation of capital and labour income violates basic equity and efficiency notions. To remedy these defects, a true dual income tax should be introduced, under which capital income is taxed at a moderate, uniform rate, primarily in view of its greater mobility, while labour income continues to be taxed at progressive rates. The Nordic dual income tax serves as a model for the analysis.
Climate Policy
Authors: Ploeg Rick van der
Published: January 2022

Policymakers in the Netherlands face various potential pitfalls and obstacles as they try to realize their commitments regarding cutting down CO2 emissions, as agreed at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris. Initial policy proposals suggest that there is a danger that the required emissions reductions will be, at best, achieved in a highly inefficient manner and, at worst, not attained at all. An internationally coordinated rising tax on CO2 emissions should be implemented, starting with 40–80 euros per tonne of CO2. The revenues should be used to compensate poorer households for the regressivity of the carbon tax and firms that suffer most from CO2 leakages to neighbouring countries.
Actuality
Authors: Adams Robert Merrihew
Published: January 2022

“Actual” and “actually” are fundamental terms of ontology. “Actually p” is logically equivalent to “p” and to “It is true that p”; that is, “p if and only if actually p” is a necessary truth. That is a position taken in this book. During the “modal metaphysics” boom of the 1970s and 1980s, however, it was argued by David Lewis, in ways that commanded great respect, though much less agreement, that the force of “actually p” is not only ontological but more specifically indexical, signifying that p is the case in this world or universe in which we think and speak, but may be false in other worlds that are just as real, but are accessible to us only in imagination. It is argued here, however, that what Lewis offers us is not so much explanations of possibility and actuality, as replacements for them onto which things we commonly say about possibility and actuality can be elegantly mapped. Serious problems for ethics and for inductive reasoning can be raised about such replacements. However, the thesis that everything possible is real, somewhere in the total scheme of things, has a long and honorable history—in Spinoza’s Ethics, for example. Such ideas will be with us in several chapters of this book, and have a major part in the concluding Chapter 11.
Intrinsic Reality, Relationality, and Consciousness
Authors: Adams Robert Merrihew
Published: January 2022

The pivotal conception of this book is that of a “thing in itself.” Such a thing is real in itself by virtue of having some real property whose particular existence or realization in it does not consist, even partly, in anything external to it. This is not a causal or functional concept; there is no specific sort of causal structure or functional role that things in themselves must necessarily have. Some things that do exist are not things in themselves—dollars in our bank accounts for example. They have a sort of “empirical reality”; they can be used to pay real debts. But they are not real in themselves; for unlike a dollar bill, which both represents and is a dollar, the records and other representations on which the existence of dollars in our bank accounts depend are not themselves dollars. Our first and surest example of intrinsic reality is our own conscious experience. And the most obvious examples of intrinsically real properties, with positive content, completely realized within our states of consciousness, are qualities of sensation, or “phenomenal qualia.” Important also are mental acts, or conscious doings, in which I am aware that I am trying to do something for some purpose, as in trying to solve a math problem. And as internality and externality are relations, a study of intrinsic reality demands careful attention to issues about relations—particularly about part-whole relations and about causal relations.
The Mutual Recognition Principle For Goods
Authors: Bates Alan , McGurk Brendan , Peretz George , Williams Jack
Published: January 2022

This chapter examines the first of the two ‘market access principles’ established in section 1 of the Act, namely the mutual recognition principle for goods (hereafter referred to in this chapter as ‘the mutual recognition principle’ or ‘the principle’). The relevant provisions in the Act for the mutual recognition principle are found in Part I at sections 2–4 and 14–16, with modifications for the purposes of Northern Ireland found in section 11. Exclusions from the mutual recognition principle are found in section 10 and Schedule 1 to the Act.
This chapter answers five overarching questions. What is the mutual recognition principle? What are the conditions for its applicability? What ‘relevant requirements’ are covered by the principle? When is the principle excluded? What effect does it have in practice?
Rethinking the Attitudes
Authors: Montague Michelle
Published: January 2022

The orthodox view of the attitude/content distinction takes it to be sharp: the attitude is no part of the content. I call this view the ‘Tripartite view’, according to which the attitude is a relation of the subject to a content, and cannot therefore be part of the content. This chapter suggests that we abandon the Tripartite view in favor of what I call the ‘Dual view’. According to this, we don’t need to commit ourselves to the existence of hundreds of intentional attitude-relation types conceived of as metaphysically distinguishable from intentional contents. The differences between intentional states that are standardly captured by appeal to attitude-relations can be captured equally well by appeal to differences between their contents. All there is to the metaphysics of our intentional states is (i) a subject and (ii) a content. There is no need to postulate distinct metaphysical relations and call them ‘the belief relation’, ‘the desire relation’, and so on.
Introduction
Authors: Lombrozo Tania , Knobe Joshua , Nichols Shaun
Published: January 2022

This fourth volume of Oxford Studies in Experimental Philosophy showcases the growing depth and breadth of the field. Epistemology and moral psychology have been important foci of past work in experimental philosophy, and the contributions in this volume attest to the ways in which empirical methods are being used to add nuance to previous claims, both theoretical and empirical. Alongside this progress on familiar topics, we see an expansion to new areas in mind and metaphysics, with studies exploring how people typically conceptualize different aspects of mind and different kinds of minds, including the extension of agentive modes of thinking well beyond the mental. The volume concludes where the field began: with explicit attention to philosophical methodology, and the ways in which empirical results can inform philosophical debates.
Folk Knowledge Attributions and the Protagonist Projection Hypothesis
Authors: Ziółkowski Adrian
Published: January 2022

A growing body of empirical evidence suggests that folk knowledge attribution practices regarding some epistemological thought experiments differ significantly from the consensus found in the philosophical literature. More specifically, laypersons are likely to ascribe knowledge in the so-called Authentic Evidence Gettier-style cases, while most philosophers deny knowledge in these cases. The intuitions shared by philosophers are often used as evidence in favor (or against) certain philosophical analyses of the notion of knowledge. However, the fact that these intuitions are not universal, as non-philosophers do not sympathize with verdicts made by philosophers, is problematic and requires some explanation. Recently, a promising theoretical approach emerged that could be used to explain away unexpected folk knowledge attributions. According to the protagonist projection hypothesis, when subjects answer questions about some hypothetical scenario, their judgments might result from adopting the cognitive perspective of the protagonist in the given scenario. Previous experimental findings suggest protagonist projection might be responsible for problematic knowledge attributions in Gettier-style cases. This chapter reports data collected in an experiment which focused on five different Authentic Evidence Gettier-style scenarios and investigated the impact of protagonist projection on folk knowledge ascriptions in such cases. The results bring some support to the protagonist projection hypothesis, but do not allow to explain away a substantial number of problematic folk knowledge attributions.
Mentalizing Objects
Authors: Rose David
Published: January 2022

Chapter 7 argues that people have a mentalistic view of objects. This is due to the interdependence of folk psychology and folk physics. Folk psychology and folk physics are interconnected by what the author calls Teleological Commingling. When considering events that don’t involve agents, it is natural to default to tracking intentions, goal-directed processes, despite the fact that agents aren’t involved. People have a deep-seated intentionality bias which is the result of the pervasive detection of agency cues, such as order or non-randomness. And this gives rise to the Agentive Worldview: people view nature as a whole as being infused with agency and purpose. Teleological Commingling and the Agentive Worldview it gives rise to are at the core of people’s conception of objects. Chapter 7 maintains that the ordinary view of material objects is rooted in an implicit, false theory. It should be given no weight in metaphysical debates about the nature of material objects. And this problematizes the central methodological assumption that metaphysical theories of material objects should be beholden to common sense.
The Ethica Section in Wolfenbüttel and the Role of ‘Academic’ Writings in Early Modern Ethics
Authors: Roick Matthias
Published: January 2022

This chapter talks about the possibilities of research that was opened up by exploring the Ethica section in the Herzog August Bibliothek. It describes academic writings, particularly that of Duke August the Younger of Braunschweig Lüneburg, as a compass used within the book collection in order to portray the teaching of ethics in the early modern age. It also explains that when restricted to disputations and dissertations, the teaching of academic ethics appears to be confined within the boundaries of moral philosophy and university professors recognize the educational value of a variegated moral literature. The chapter delves into early modern moral culture, which warrants a broad notion of ethics that is concerned with what is conducive to the good life and is spelled out in a variety of literary genres. It examines the formal teaching of ethics and the use of academic writings that represented a narrower focus on moral issues.
Paul F. Grendler, The Jesuits and Italian Universities 1548–1773 (Washington, D.C.
Authors: Casalini Cristiano
Published: January 2022

This chapter focuses on Paul Grendler's The Jesuits and Italian Universities 1548–1773, which furnishes an impressive fresco of early modern education, where the historiographical precision rhymes with a clear and enjoyable prose. Grendler has chosen Italy as the geographical background for his fresco as he foregrounded the Jesuits and local political powers. It points out how Grendler successfully purges a variety of commonplaces and errors concerning Italian universities, some even enduring to this day. The chapter explains that to be considered a bona fide university, charters granted by emperors or popes were insufficient. Frequently, an emperor or an official visitation to a city could grant a charter that allowed the institution to award degrees irrespective of any actual teaching.
Mary Clapinson, A Brief History of the Bodleian Library, Revised Edition. Bodleian Library, Oxford, 2020. 264 pages.
Authors: Smith Robin Darwall
Published: January 2022

This chapter highlights the Bodleian Library that was founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1602, which is considered the University of Oxford's great central library. It reviews how Mary Clapinson retold the story of Sir Bodley, a diplomat and former Fellow of Merton, that was tasked to create the new library. It also points out that Clapinson is well-qualified to tell that story as she knows the Bodleian intimately, having worked there for over a third of a century, becoming the first woman to hold a Keepership in the Bodleian when she was created Keeper of Western Manuscripts in 1986. Her knowledge and above all her understanding of the Bodleian Library are second to none. The chapter describes Bodley as a first-class wheedler that persuaded many friends to give his library both money for its buildings and books and manuscripts with which to stock them.
Enrique González González, with the collaboration of Víctor Gutiérrez Rodríguez, El Poder de las Letras. Por una historia social de las universidades de la América hispana en el periodo colonial, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana y Ediciones Educación y Cultura, 2017, 968 pp., ISBN 978-607-02-8942-2
Authors: Carolino Luís Miguel
Published: January 2022

This chapter emphasizes how the book Por una historia social de las universidades de la América hispana en el periodo colonial is exceptionally well-researched and fills an important gap in the history of the Spanish colonial universities. It cites a plethora of universities in Spanish Colonial America that played a crucial role in the cultural life and political dynamics of the Spanish America. Por una historia social covers the twenty-seven universities created in fifteen American cities from the sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century. The author, Enrique González, understands the nature and creation of the academic institutions against the economic and administrative needs and cultural dynamics of the colonial society. The chapter points out how González puts forward a social history of the Spanish colonial universities conceived along the lines of the best historiography of universities.
Epilogue
Authors: Crisafi Nicolò
Published: January 2022

The Epilogue makes a case for thinking of narrative pluralism in the Commedia in the face of Dante’s teleological masterplot. It draws three main conclusions regarding the poem and its author. First, that teleological readings lead interpreters of the Commedia to what is called ‘the assumption of total coherence’, that is the idea that internal contradictions in the poem require resolving; narrative pluralism suggests instead that the task might be first to take stock and interpret internal contradictions in their irreducible complexity and respect for otherness. Second, narrative pluralism shows the figure of Dante as less controlling of his text and more at ease with the material vulnerability of himself and his poem; his relationship to the readers then becomes more open-ended as the responsibility for interpretation is also entrusted to them. Lastly, narrative pluralism is itself open-ended: although the monograph has discussed three main models—that of paradox, alternative endings and parallel lives, and the future—other narratives remain to be explored by future readers.