bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Life, Works, and Influence
Authors: Adamson Peter
Published: February 2007

This chapter provides an overview of the evidence regarding al-Kindī’s biography, and surveys what is known of his writings based on the account in Ibn al-Nadīm’s Fihrist. While most of his works are lost, there is a significant extant corpus which is also summarized here. The chapter discusses how al-Kindī’s writings relate to the translation movement under the ’Abbāsids, which produced Arabic versions of Greek philosophical and scientific works. It concludes by considering al-Kindī’s legacy, among Neoplatonic philosophers who followed his broad approach (such as al-’Āmirī and Miskawayh), contrasting this “Kindian tradition” to the more Aristotelian school in Baghdad, whose most famous representative was al-Fārābī.
Falsafa
Authors: Adamson Peter
Published: February 2007

This chapter discusses al-Kindī’s main influences from Greek works produced by the translation movement, and how al-Kindī thought the ideas from these works should be put together into a coherent philosophical curriculum. In philosophy, al-Kindī was most influenced by Aristotle and by Neoplatonic works (such as the Liber de Causis and Theology of Aristotle, which are Arabic versions of works by Proclus and Plotinus). His vision of philosophical methodology follows a Greek tradition of dividing philosophy up in terms of the different objects studied in different sciences. Finally, the chapter discusses the role of the Arabic language and Islam in al-Kindī’s thought by surveying texts in which he engages in Koranic exegesis, and by explaining his project of developing a new Arabic terminology in philosophy.
Science
Authors: Adamson Peter
Published: February 2007

This chapter is divided into three sections dealing with pharmacology, optics, and music, and emphasizes the issues of methodology, especially how al-Kindī thinks mathematics is used in science. In pharmacology, al-Kindī gives an arithmetical theory for calculating the effects of compound drugs. In optics, he expands on ideas inherited from Ptolemy to provide a novel theory of light and color. In music, he puts forward an ambitious theory, influenced by Pythagoreanism, which holds that all things are interconnected by relations of harmony.
Are Cap‐and‐Trade Programs More Environmentally Effective than Conventional Regulation?
Authors: Denny Ellerman A.
Published: February 2007

This essay explains why cap-and-trade programs (in which government establishes an overall cap on pollution but allows firms to trade allocations beneath the cap) can be both more economically efficient and more environmentally effective than prescriptive regulation. It underscores the importance of measuring effectiveness in ex post evaluations, which are defined as achieving the proximate goal (i.e., of emissions reduction), rather than the larger goal of solving the underlying problem (i.e., unhealthy air). The argument in favor of market instruments is supported with data from three emissions trading programs: the SO2 trading regime in Title IV of the Clean Air Act, the NOx budget program created by the EPA to address interstate ozone migration, and the RECLAIM program created by the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Southern California. It is proposed that market instruments represent a new pragmatism in environmental regulation and that they are part of the maturation of the regulatory process.
Environmental Trading Schemes and the Constitutional Leverage Effect
Authors: Farber Daniel A.
Published: February 2007

This essay pursues an underexplored aspect of the literature on tradable permit regimes by asking which among polluting firms are the likely winners and losers in the shift from a prescriptive approach to a market trading scheme, and under which conditions will firms support such a shift? One of the reasons why literature overlooks such questions is that analysts tend to use an overly simplified and unrealistic notion of command-and-control regulation. Although in some instances government regulations dictate to firms the particular technologies they must adopt, most prescriptive regulation consists of performance standards that firms may meet any way they choose. So-called command-and-control regulation always relies to some extent on adjustments in light of economic realities: both in the initial phase of level setting when the regulatory agency takes account of industrial processes and capacities in choosing the standard and later, when agencies negotiate particular permits. There is, moreover, considerable flexibility in the enforcement process, when agencies must determine whether firms are out of compliance and what must be done in response.
Abraham Lincoln
Authors: Smith Gary Scott
Published: February 2007

Like George Washington’s, Lincoln’s faith has been closely scrutinized, hotly debated, and often misunderstood. Both men attributed their success in war to divine providence, proclaimed days of public thanksgiving and prayer as president, rarely mentioned Jesus, and were intensely private about their personal beliefs. Lincoln was never baptized, never received communion, and never joined a church, but he had a thorough knowledge of the Bible and peppered his speeches with biblical references and allusions. Lincoln cited the Scriptures and discussed theologically significant questions in his addresses more than the avowedly Christian statesmen of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some friends and associates claimed he remained an unbeliever all his life who attended church and employed religious language to win voters, gain support for policies, and convince Americans to trust him. Others who knew the 16th president equally well contended that he became an orthodox Christian who regularly read the Bible, prayed habitually, and frequently used scriptural passages and illustrations to express his personal convictions. Many investigators conclude that in his later years Lincoln had a profound sense of God’s presence, accepted many central scriptural tenets, and valiantly strove to follow Christian ethics. Through years of wrestling with God, Lincoln developed a deep but unconventional faith. Although he did not become a born-again evangelical, he became increasingly receptive to Protestant orthodoxy. More than any other 19th-century president, he became known for seeking to base public policies on scriptural principles. Lincoln’s religious views helped shape his political philosophy and actions, most notably the way he dealt with slavery and interpreted the Civil War. After his assassination, Lincoln was deeply mourned and frequently eulogized as a martyr who offered a redeeming sacrifice for the nation’s sins. He became the second great hero of the nation’s civil religion.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Quest to Achieve an Abundant Life
Authors: Smith Gary Scott
Published: February 2007

Scholars have provided scant analysis of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s personal faith, regular use of religious rhetoric, relationship with religious constituencies and leaders, the impact of his religious convictions on his policies as president, or the role of religion in his four presidential campaigns. The Democrat, however, repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Bible, prayer, and Christian morality. In numerous speeches and letters, he urged Americans to work for spiritual renewal, promote social justice, and strive to achieve a more abundant material and spiritual life. He frequently asserted that God directed history, labeled himself God’s agent, and insisted that the United States would prosper only if its citizens sought divine guidance and followed biblical principles. His courage, confidence, and calm in dealing with the Great Depression and World War II sprang from his temperament, life experiences, and faith. Interested much more in the moral, character-building, and social justice emphases of Christianity than its theological or devotional aspects, Roosevelt’s faith was sincere but not intellectually sophisticated. Like his approach to politics, his faith focused more on action than contemplation, more on results than on principles. More than any other 20th-century president, Roosevelt managed to maintain cordial relations with Protestants (especially ones concerned about social justice), Catholics, and Jews. In September 1935, Roosevelt sent a letter to more than 120,000 “representative clergymen” to ask them for “counsel and advice”, particularly about the impact of his administration’s new social security legislation and public works program. His faith played a significant role in shaping the New Deal and his approach to international relations.
Ronald Reagan
Authors: Smith Gary Scott
Published: February 2007

Ronald Reagan’s religious convictions were crucial to his understanding of the world and performance as president, but few scholars have provided substantive analysis of his faith and its impact on his policies during his tenure in the White House. Although the circumstances of Reagan’s life and the seeming inconsistencies between his beliefs and his practices make his faith difficult to explain, it appears to have been genuine, very meaningful to him, and essential to his political philosophy. Reagan firmly believed and often declared that God intended America to be a beacon of hope, faith, freedom, and democracy — “a city on the hill”. Reagan was deeply influenced by his godly mother, Nelle, and raised in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Reagan’s firm belief that God had a plan for his life was fortified by his survival of an assassination attempt in March 1981. In many addresses, proclamations, letters, and private conversations, Reagan stressed his faith in God and prayer, the inspiration of the Bible, and the divinity of Jesus. Numerous leaders of the religious right were troubled by his infrequent church attendance and his wife’s interest in astrology. Although historians debate the nature of Reagan’s personal faith, they concur that he used religious rhetoric, discussed religious themes, and spoke to religious groups more than any other 20th-century president. Religion played a very important role in Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign. Reagan’s personal life was not a paragon of evangelical piety, but his worldview was strongly shaped by his understanding of biblical teaching. His faith affected many of his policies, most notably his endeavors to curb abortion, pass a school prayer amendment, secure tuition tax credits, and oppose communism.
Establishing the Dispensation in LaṄkā
Authors: Berkwitz Stephen C.
Published: February 2007

This chapter presents an English translation of the Sinhala Thūpavaṃsa, focusing on the ordination of the king's son and daughter as Buddhist monastics. The son Mihiňdu becomes an arahant, and he later leads a small group of Buddhist monks to the island of Laṅkā in order to spread the Buddha's Dharma.
The Description of the Relic Chamber
Authors: Berkwitz Stephen C.
Published: February 2007

This chapter presents an English translation of the Sinhala Thūpavaṃsa, detailing how the relics were obtained for the shrine in Anurādhapura. The text narrates how a novice monk took the relics away from the subterranean kingdom of the nāgas. After the nāgas pursue the novice, they make an impassioned plea to have at least some of the relics returned to them. The account of their lamentation to the monks marks another place where Parākrama embellished older narrative traditions.
The Death of King Duṭugämuṇu
Authors: Berkwitz Stephen C.
Published: February 2007

This chapter presents an English translation of the Sinhala Thūpavaṃsa, focusing on the death of King Duṭugämuṇu. Duṭugämuṇu falls ill before the shrine is finished. One of his former warriors, who became a monk, returns to Duṭugämuṇu's deathbed and consoles him while a record of the king's meritorious acts is recited aloud. The king gives rise to feelings of serene joy in his deeds and charges his younger brother with the duty of finishing the shrine. When the king dies while gazing upon the relic shrine, he is instantaneously reborn as a deity who venerates the relics once more and admonishes the crowd of people to do merit so that they may attain a heavenly rebirth too.
Theoretical Interlude
Authors: Ecklund Elaine Howard
Published: February 2007

This chapter draws on insights from the sociology of culture, race, and religion to explain the various ways organizations and institutions structure the development of religious, racial, and civic identities. It argues that individuals use the cultural schema from their particular congregations and those from wider American evangelicalism to construct identities with the potential to change the broader institutions they inhabit.
Civic Identities
Authors: Ecklund Elaine Howard
Published: February 2007

This chapter shows that the two congregational models of the relationship between religion and civic life found in ethnic-specific and multiethnic churches provide Korean Americans with resources to create identities as American citizens. Korean Americans use the different interpretations of Christianity to create civic identities with overlapping religious, class, racial, and ethnic components. Such perspectives structure how Korean Americans view their relationship with other ethnic groups, particularly those with black Americans, and provide Korean Americans with diverse ways to view the image of Asian Americans as model minorities.
The Framework
Authors: Bencivenga Ermanno
Published: February 2007

This chapter presents a summary of the basic framework in Kant'sCopernican Revolution. Transcendental philosophy has no factual content: it moves among concepts, in logical space, and its task is proving that a number of human beliefs and practices are possible. In order to prove that human knowledge is possible, Kant inverts the usual conceptual dependency of knowledge on objects. The outcome is that objects, including the self, become the imaginary foci of the never-ending process of subjecting experience to conceptual criteria of objectivity.
Values
Authors: Bencivenga Ermanno
Published: February 2007

That an act is unqualifiedly good means that it is rational: moral values are reason's commentary on facts. The only free acts are the good, rational ones; when one behaves irrationally, one is no longer acting at all. Which does not mean that one should not regard oneself as responsible for one's evil behavior. On the contrary, doing so is an additional act, conducive to the reestablishment of the rational level of interaction that was interrupted by the evil behavior.
Scientific Objectivity
Authors: Resnik David B.
Published: February 2007

This chapter examines science’s most important norm, objectivity. It argues that science ought to be objective because democratic societies need objective beliefs and methods to help resolve controversial moral, political, economic, cultural, and social debates. To help with the resolution of these debates, scientists should attempt to give unbiased testimony in public forums and should try to develop theories, hypotheses, methods, and concepts that are free from personal, cultural, social, moral or political biases. The most effective way of developing unbiased theories (hypotheses, methods, and concepts) is to attempt to test these theories against a mind-independent world. Even though objectivity is often difficult to achieve in science, the quest for objectivity is not an impossible dream or vain pursuit.
2 Dissecting de libero arbitrio
Authors: Harrison Simon
Published: February 2007

This chapter discusses the evidence for the claim that On Free Choice is internally inconsistent because Augustine changed his mind in the course of writing it. These are: Augustine’s account of its composition in the Retractations; the perceived change from an optimistic, classical emphasis on the ‘facilitas’ (easiness) of doing good in book one to a pessimistic, Pauline account of the ‘difficultas’ (difficulty, impossibility) of doing good in book three; and the use of On Free Choice by Augustine and his opponents in the later Pelagian controversy.
3 The Integrity of de libero arbitrio
Authors: Harrison Simon
Published: February 2007

This chapter sets out a positive case for regarding On Free Choice as a text to be read as a coherent and consistent whole. On Free Choice is a single unified piece of work. The case for reading it as such is one of elucidating something that is self-evident; it is a dialogue. The manuscript evidence and what is known of ancient literary practice suggests that the interlocutors should not be identified as ‘Augustine’ and ‘Evodius’, an identification that has obscured the significance of the role of the reader as part of the argumentative strategy of the work as a whole. It consists of three books, the argument, subject matter, and style of which are developed in a programmatic and interrelated progression. This progression is illustrated in the deployment of some technical theological terms and the overall architecture of the argument.
4 Approaching the Will
Authors: Harrison Simon
Published: February 2007

This chapter sets out the argument (or ‘way in’) that is fundamental to On Free Choice. Augustine’s ‘way in’ to the will is to call the concept itself into question: ‘Do we have a will?’, and the possibility of denying that we do is explored. The way ‘will’ is called into question instantiates a concept of freedom and responsibility. Moreover, it acts as a ‘starting point’ for the rest of the enquiry. Augustine’s argument is further explored by comparing it with similar arguments in the Confessions (7.3) and On the Trinity (10.10.14).
1 Probing the Tradition: Schleiermacher's Revision of the Doctrine in his Essay on Election
Authors: Gockel Matthias
Published: February 2007

The chapter shows to what extent Schleiermacher's essay on election agrees with Augustine and Calvin that the ground of election and reprobation is not found in human beings but in God. Those who are captured by the power of God's Word are the elect, those who are not captured by it are the reprobate. Reprobation does not entail damnation; nobody ever loses the possibility of being spiritually revived. The exclusion from the community of believers is not the result of a divine foreordination but an expression of the historical development of God's kingdom. Schleiermacher rejects not only the idea of a positive divine decree of reprobation, as Lutheran theologians did in their quarrel with the Reformed side, but he refutes altogether the idea of particular decrees for individuals or for two different groups of persons. Election and reprobation are rooted in a single divine decree.
2 A Universal Predestination to Salvation in Christ: The Doctrine of Election inThe Christian Faith
Authors: Gockel Matthias
Published: February 2007

The chapter discusses the doctrine of election in the context of the Glaubenslehre. The concept of a single divine decree structures the argument throughout the book, and the content of the decree is a universal predestination to salvation in Christ. Christ's redemptive work is realized gradually and without miraculous leaps. The historical existence of believers and unbelievers does not result from a foreordained division of human beings. Divine mercy and righteousness pertain to every person; the idea of double predestination is rejected. Since the Christian church is the complete revelation of Christ's dignity, it is possible that every person will be included in the fellowship with him. Schleiermacher's position remains theocentric; predestination is defined in terms of divine omniscience and omnipotence, not in terms of redemption. Christ is the universal mediator of salvation, but his appearance in history does not contribute significantly to the determination of the divine decree.
3 From Reprobation to Election: Barth's Revision of the Doctrine of Election in hisCommentary on Romans
Authors: Gockel Matthias
Published: February 2007

The chapter argues that Karl Barth's Commentary on Romans questions the individualistic assumptions of traditional views. For Barth, as for Schleiermacher, predestination is a divine act that constitutes the unity of all human beings and not an absolute distinction between two kinds of persons. Every person is the object of God's universal judgment and grace, at once separated from and bound to God. The divine decision to elect or reprobate is not predetermined but occurs time and again in the historical event in which God's address leads to faith or to unbelief. Is Barth's thinking already ‘open toward the later characteristic christological centring of election’? He argues that humankind's reprobation is overcome in Christ because of Christ's resurrection from the dead, but he does not yet say that Christ's reconciling death is the result of God's self‐determination to be God in a covenant with humankind.
4 To Believe or not to Believe: The Doctrine of Election in theGöttingen Dogmatics
Authors: Gockel Matthias
Published: February 2007

The chapter argues that the main theme of the doctrine of election in Karl Barth's Göttingen Dogmatics is the twofold possibility of faith and unbelief, which is an integral part of God's address to humanity. God's ‘unveiling’ is the purpose of His ‘veiling’, but the decision when and how the ‘unveiling’ occurs is made by God alone. Reprobation is the event in which God withholds the gift of faith, but it is not an end in itself and is always oriented toward election and salvation as the steadfast goal. Barth changes the concept of an eternal double predestination from a concept that refers to a pre‐temporal divine foreordination into an actualistic concept that refers to the freedom and contingency of God's acting in history. The modification underscores the theocentric and teleological character of his view.
5 Barth's Christological Revolution
Authors: Gockel Matthias
Published: February 2007

The chapter shows how Barth's second revision of the doctrine, culminating in Church Dogmatics II/2, puts the doctrine on a new foundation. Predestination now is identical with the election of Jesus Christ. It is a primal decision, by which God determines not only humankind but also Himself, and a gracious choice, by which God chooses reprobation for Himself and election for human beings. The idea of Jesus Christ as the subject and object of election overcomes the traditional distinction between God's will in Jesus Christ and God's eternal will. Barth's second revision of the doctrine succeeds in defining election more concretely. The teleological view of reprobation and election is preserved, but with a new focus on Jesus Christ, the ‘atoning substitute’ (Schleiermacher). The christological revision leads to a consideration of the election of the congregation and of the individual, two topics neglected in the Göttingen Dogmatics.
The Evolving Reputation of Richard Hooker
Authors: Brydon Michael
Published: February 2007

Richard Hooker has long been viewed as the first systematic defender of Anglicanism, as a via media between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Protestantism. In the last twenty years, this traditional assumption has been increasingly challenged, and it has been argued that Hooker was a Reformed figure whose Anglican credentials are the invention of the Oxford Movement. Whilst the theological ambiguity of Hooker remains perplexing, this study makes clear that the 17th and not the 19th century was responsible for the creation of his reputation as a leading Anglican father. It is argued that Hooker’s position of authority was much disputed and only gradually fashioned, and that his variable significance was dependent on the interplay between the polemical and religious needs of those who used him, and the complexities and evasions of his own work. Hooker initially came to prominence due to a suspicion that he was insufficiently Reformed. This then encouraged Catholic polemicists to view him as being representative of the theological position of the English Church. Although there was a desire to retain him as a Reformed figure, he was eventually appropriated by the avant-garde churchmen who eventually triumphed at the Restoration and enthroned him as the epitome of the Anglican identity. Unsurprisingly, the unfolding of contemporary crises led to some reappraisal of his standing. Notably, the Glorious Revolution meant that Hooker’s previously marginalized belief in an original governmental compact came to the forefront, and he was increasingly recognized as a meaningful political writer. Whilst the boundaries of Hooker’s emblematic status continued to expand and contract, the developments of the 17th century ensured that his status as an important writer has remained constant ever since.
5 The Mask of Discontinuity: Hooker in the Reigns of James II and William and Mary
Authors: Brydon Michael
Published: February 2007

The use of Hooker to promote the doctrine of passive obedience placed the Church in an impossible dilemma following the accession of James II. His reign discredited the Restoration political understanding of Hooker, and threatened Hooker’s guardianship of the English Church through a resurgent Catholic exploitation of his vagaries. James’s enforced abdication, however, brought Hooker’s previously discounted doctrine of original compact back into favour amongst Whigs and some Tories, and more latitudinarian attitudes developed within the Church.
Musical Chills
Authors: Levinson Jerrold
Published: February 2007

This essay focuses on a particular musical phenomenon, namely, the distinctive and usually pleasurable chills, shivers, or frissons that listening to certain passages of music produce in many listeners. This phenomenon is described and then situated in the field of musical pleasures as a whole, and the explanations of the phenomenon and its value that have been offered by cognitive psychologists are considered. A more satisfactory explanation is offered, one illustrated most fully in connection with a piano piece of Scriabin, his Etude in C# minor, op. 42, no. 5.
Some Outstanding Problems for Presentism Met
Authors: Bourne Craig
Published: February 2007

Divided into five problems associated with presentism: McTaggart's argument; a need for other times; how to deal with future contingent statements; how to deal with transtemporal relations, and the possibility of reference to the past; and how to talk meaningfully about past individuals despite their non‐existence.
Becoming Inflated
Authors: Bourne Craig
Published: February 2007

Some tense theorists think that the expansion of the universe can be used to define an absolute cosmic time that then serves to define the notion of absolute simultaneity required by tense theories. I show how Mellor's argument against this strategy fails. Clarifying the strategy leads to an exposition of the Robertson‐Walker metric, which describes such expanding universes. I identify the real reasons why we should reject this way of defining absolute simultaneity and temporal becoming.
Volatility and Growth: AK versus Schumpeterian Approach
Authors: Aghion Phillippe , Banerjee Abhijit
Published: February 2007

The modern approach to growth, often called ‘new growth theory’, consists of two quite distinct theories. One is the so-called AK approach, which emphasizes the role of capital accumulation. The alternative to the AK model is the Schumpeterian model, which emphasizes the role of R&D and productivity-enhancing investments in the growth process. This chapter reviews what these two canonical views of growth say about how volatility affects growth.
The Third Generation Approach to Currency Crises
Authors: Aghion Phillippe , Banerjee Abhijit
Published: February 2007

This chapter presents a highly stylized model, based on limited access to credit that can explain why an economy that is carrying a large amount of foreign currency debt might be vulnerable to currency crises, leaving it with a depreciated currency and GDP that remains lower than the pre-crisis trend for some time into the future. It is argued that in a monetary economy with standard price rigidities, credit constraints together with pecuniary externalities working through the nominal exchange rate are sufficient to generate currency crises.
CHAPTER 8Rationality and Simulation
Authors: Millar Alan
Published: February 2007

The emerging perspective is that understanding people has a distinctive subject-matter — rational agents who, as such, are subjects to ideals of reason and the related normative commitments. It differs from natural-scientific understanding because of the explanatory role it accords to normative considerations. This chapter compares and contrasts this perspective with simulation theory, often contrasted with the theory-theory. Particular attention is paid to work by Jane Heal. The upshot is that putting rationality considerations centre-stage in relation to understanding people does not commit us to putting simulation centre-stage. Following this, there is a critical discussion of Stephen Stich’s attempt to downplay the significance of the link between rationality and the possession of propositional attitudes.
1 The European Union as Regional State
Authors: Schmidt Vivien A.
Published: February 2007

This chapter argues that it would do better to conceive of the EU as a regional state in the making, and as such as a regional union of nation-states in which the creative tension between the Union and its member-states ensures both ever-increasing regional integration and ever-continuing national differentiation. It considers the EU’s move to regional sovereignty, the variability of the EU’s regional boundaries, the composite character of EU identity, the compound framework, and the fragmented nature of the EU’s democracy. It ends with a discussion of the real sources of the democratic deficit in the EU, linked to the lack of ideas and discourse about national democracy, and how this affects simple and compound national polities.
Among
Authors: McKay Thomas J.
Published: February 2007

This chapter develops some axioms that express the fundamental features of the among relationship. It shows that although among is interdefinable with one of on one understanding of the one of relation, there is reason to think that that is not the only understanding available for one of, and that will help to clarify some issues in the semantics of plurals, especially concerning the status of the plurally plural (the perplural). The relationships among theory to set theory and to second-order logic are considered, and the reasons to think of among as a logical relationship are discussed. The first-order plural theory of among may provide a base for a first-order way of talking about everything, contrary to Tim Williamson's claim that second-order logic is needed for such ‘generality absolutism’.
Pronouns
Authors: McKay Thomas J.
Published: February 2007

This chapter focuses on the significance of the account of descriptions for the development of a theory of English pronouns, especially E-type pronouns. The uses of pronouns, pronouns as bound variables, and referential pronouns, and donkey sentences are discussed.
Plurals and Events
Authors: McKay Thomas J.
Published: February 2007

This chapter shows how to use the material developed in the book to deal with some of the principal puzzles that have led people to the conclusion that the introduction of events into the semantics of English is important to understanding plurals. While events may be important to the semantics of English for other reasons, core issues involving plurals can be dealt with without giving a central role to events.
Refinements and Extensions II: Objects, Identity, and Abstracts
Authors: Shapiro Stewart
Published: February 2007

The present study, so far, has focused exclusively on vague predicates such as ‘bald’, ‘tall’, and predicates such as ‘determinately bald’ and ‘borderline bald‘. Intuitively, what makes a predicate vague is that there is some indeterminacy over whether it applies to some objects: vague predicates have borderline cases. Some aggregates of sand are borderline heaps, some potential NBA players are borderline tall (for an NBA player), some men are borderline bald, and perhaps some men are borderline-borderline bald. At least prima facie, there also seem to be vague objects. This chapter looks at some variations on this theme, and then extends the model theory to handle them.
Platonopolis
Authors: O'Meara Dominic J.
Published: February 2007

Conventional wisdom suggests that the Platonist philosophers of Late Antiquity — from Plotinus in the 3rd century to the 6th-century schools in Athens and Alexandria — neglected the political dimension of their Platonic heritage in their concentration on an otherworldly life. This book presents a reappraisal of these thinkers, arguing that their otherworldliness involved, rather than excluded, political ideas. A reconstruction of the political philosophy of these thinkers is proposed for the first time, including discussion of these Platonists’ conceptions of the function, structure, and contents of political science (including questions concerning political reform, law, justice, penology, religion, and political action), its relation to political virtue and to the divinization of soul and state. This book also traces the influence of these ideas on selected Christian and Islamic writers: Eusebius, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, and al-Farabi.
4 Political Engineering: Consociationalism, Centripetalism, and Communalism
Authors: Reilly Benjamin
Published: February 2007

This chapter begins by looking briefly at some of the overarching theoretical issues confronting the field of institutional design and the rival approaches to political engineering on which they are based. It then assesses the merits of the three most coherent models of political engineering in the contemporary world: consociationalism, centripetalism, and communalism. It concludes by assessing the empirical record of each approach in the Asia-Pacific region.
5 Representative Institutions: Elections and Electoral Systems
Authors: Reilly Benjamin
Published: February 2007

In examining the relationship between political reform and the redesign of Asia-Pacific electoral systems, this chapter argues that many of the political reforms undertaken across the region in recent years have, at their heart, the objective of promoting the development of more aggregative, centrist, and stable politics by encouraging cohesive political parties and limiting party fragmentation. It also highlights several distinctive patterns of electoral reform across the region, including the increasing prevalence of ‘mixed member’ systems in Asia; the spread of alternative vote systems in the Pacific Islands; the distinctively majoritarian nature of these reform trends; and the increasing willingness of many Asian and Pacific states to borrow from each other in the search for appropriate models of electoral system design.
Introduction
Authors: McManus Denis
Published: February 2007

This introductory chapter presents a sketch of the book as a whole. It identifies several features of the Tractatus that Wittgenstein himself described as crucial. It sets out a philosophical conception of the intelligibility of thought labeled as ‘con-formism’, and which, the book argues, Wittgenstein seeks to undermine.
The Method of the Tractatus
Authors: McManus Denis
Published: February 2007

This chapter presents three more crucial ideas in the interpretation of the Tractatus. The first is ‘resolution’; it discusses attempts to articulate quite what ‘resolute readings’ of the Tractatus involve and introduces some of the main criticisms that critics of ‘resolution’ offer. The second is an understanding of what it might be to ‘elucidate’ nonsense. This understanding, which is presented partly through an exploration of examples of nonsense from Lewis Carroll’s work, shows a certain sense in talking about ‘understanding nonsense’ and nonsense having a ‘logic’. The third is an interpretation of the intent behind Wittgenstein’s remarks about ‘internal relations’ and ‘internal properties’. These ideas are drawn upon in the interpretation of the Tractatus as a working-through of the confused pseudo-logic of con-formism.
Ethics and ‘the Inexpressible’
Authors: McManus Denis
Published: February 2007

This chapter presents evidence that suggests that ideas of decency and conscience play a part in Wittgenstein’s obscure early remarks about the ethical and its supposed ‘inexpressibility’. An initial reading is offered, which gives a way of making sense of some of these remarks and identifies parallels with themes in the philosophy of logic that Wittgenstein seemed to have seen as parallel. However, the following chapter will argue that the inexpressible form of ‘ethical knowledge’ that the initial reading seems to reveal is actually a rung on a ‘ladder’ that is to be ‘climbed’ and then ‘thrown away’.
1 Introduction
Authors: Deveaux Monique
Published: February 2007

This chapter introduces the main problem of the book: the tensions that exist between cultural rights, and accommodation and formal protection for sexual equality in liberal constitutional democracies. It also discusses the unsatisfactory treatment of this problem within much recent mainstream political philosophy, especially liberal theories of multiculturalism and deliberative democracy theory.
2 Liberal Approaches to Conflicts of Culture
Authors: Deveaux Monique
Published: February 2007

How have liberal political theorists grappled with liberal democratic states’ sometimes competing commitments to sexual equality and accommodation of minority cultural groups? This chapter begins by offering a critique of the paradigm of toleration as a vehicle for reflecting on the accommodation of cultural minorities. It also engages liberal multiculturalism — work by Will Kymlicka, Brian Barry, and Susan Moller Okin — as well as more laissez-faire approaches to cultural accommodation, such as those of Chandran Kukathas, Jeff Spinner-Halev, and Jorge Valadez, critically evaluating their responses to the challenges presented when cultural arrangements (particularly of non-liberal cultural and religious minorities) conflict with sexual equality.
1 The current view of personalism and its origins
Authors: Bengtsson Jan Olof
Published: February 2007

This chapter discusses the current accounts and assessments of personalism in general and in the form of ‘personal idealism’ by historians of philosophy. It further looks at the view of the defining American school of personalism of the sources, development, and nature of personalism. Finally, it introduces briefly some larger historical and comparative perspectives on personalism that have hitherto been absent in its scholarly treatment.
2 Personal ‘reason’ and impersonal ‘understanding’
Authors: Bengtsson Jan Olof
Published: February 2007

This chapter begins a thematic exposition of the emerging worldview of personalism, drawing on representative thinkers from the whole of the period covered. It focuses on the central epistemological aspects of the personalist criticism of modern rationalism, absolute idealism, and pantheism, and on the personalist alternative’s reinterpretation of the concept of the subject in terms of the concept of the person.
3 The personal absolute
Authors: Bengtsson Jan Olof
Published: February 2007

This chapter introduces the arguments for why, according to the personalists, the absolute cannot be conceived in pantheistic and impersonalistic terms. It discusses the meaning of the new concept of God as a person, and explains the personalists’ insistence that the absolute can be understood as the personal God.
5 Early personalism and its meaning
Authors: Bengtsson Jan Olof
Published: February 2007

This chapter summarizes the main results reached in Chapters 2 to 4, drawing general conclusions from them with reference to the current historical accounts discussed in Chapter 1. It also returns to the broader cultural and historical perspectives, seeking briefly to ascertain and assess in their light the proper meaning of ‘early personalism’, the origins, development, and nature of which have been described in the preceding chapters.
Complications of Chronic Suppurative Otitis Media and Their Management
Authors: Dubey Siba P. , Larawin Varqa
Published: February 2007

Objective: The objective of this is to determine the incidence of otogenic complications of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) and its management.

Study Design: The authors conducted a retrospective study.

Methods: The study was conducted at the tertiary referral and teaching hospital. An analysis was made about the clinical and operative findings, surgical techniques and approaches, the overall management and recovery of the patients. The data were then compared with the relevant and available literature.

Results: Of the 70 cases, 47 (67%) had a single complication, of which eight (11%) had intracranial and 39 (56%) had extracranial complications. Twenty‐three (33%) had two or more complications. The commonly encountered intracranial complications were otitic meningitis, lateral sinus thrombosis, and cerebellar abscess, which were seen in 13 (19%), 10 (14%), and 6 (9%) cases, respectively. Among the extracranial complications, mastoid abscess, postauricular fistula, and facial palsy were encountered in 26 (37%), 17 (24%) and 10 (14%) patients, respectively. Surgeries were the main mode of treatment for these conditions. According to severity, we found four different types of the lateral sinus involvement. Three patients with otitic facial palsy failed to regain full facial function despite surgery. A total of nine patients with the diagnosis of otitic meningitis, lateral sinus thrombosis and interhemispheric abscess expired. It constituted the mortality rate of 13% in our study.

Conclusion: CSOM complications, despite its reduced incidence, still pose a great challenge in developing countries as the disease present in the advanced stage leading to difficulty in management and consequently higher morbidity and mortality.
Surgical Techniques and Results of Lateral Thoracic Cutaneous, Myocutaneous, and Conjoint Flaps for Head and Neck Reconstruction
Authors: Yuen Anthony Po‐Wing , Ng Raymond Wai‐Man
Published: February 2007

Background: This paper aims at presentation of our surgical techniques and results of the lateral thoracic (LT) flaps for head and neck reconstructions.

Method: There were seven LT cutaneous, seven LT myocutaneous, and two LT conjoint myocutaneous flaps for reconstruction of head and neck mucosal or cutaneous defects.

Results: The largest flap size was 22 cm × 13 cm. All donor sites were closed primarily. The highest point of reconstruction was in the nasopharynx internally and zygoma externally. All flaps survived without major complication.

Conclusions: The LT flap has the versatility of cutaneous, myocutaneous, and conjoint flaps with pectoralis major or latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flaps to reconstruct large surgical defects. It has a large, reliable surface area, a long pedicle to reach nasopharynx and zygoma, and has less bulky muscle to facilitate tubular reconstruction of circumferential pharyngeal defect, one‐stage operation, esthetic hidden donor site scar in axillary region, and minimal donor site morbidity. It is an additional reliable pedicle flap in our armamentarium for reconstruction of both cutaneous and mucosal defects in the head and neck region.
Aeromicrobium tamlense sp. nov., isolated from dried seaweed
Authors: Lee Soon Dong , Kim Se Jae
Published: February 2007

A Gram-positive, non-motile, rod-shaped actinomycete strain, designated SSW1-57T, was isolated from a dried seaweed sample from the coast of Jeju Island, Republic of Korea and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. A neighbour-joining tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the organism was related to members of the family Nocardioidaceae and formed a separate branch at the base of a taxon encompassing members of the genus Aeromicrobium, whereas it occupied an intermediate position between Aeromicrobium alkaliterrae–Aeromicrobium marinum and Aeromicrobium erythreum–Aeromicrobium fastidiosum clusters in maximum-parsimony and maximum-likelihood trees. The phylogenetic association of the isolate with the genus Aeromicrobium was supported by the following chemotaxonomic properties: ll-diaminopimelic acid in the peptidoglycan, MK-9(H4) as the major menaquinone and major fatty acids cis-9-octadecenoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, 10-methyl octadecanoic acid and 2-hydroxy hexadecanoic acid. The polar lipid profile contained phosphatidylinositol, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol. Levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between the novel organism and the type strains of the four recognized Aeromicrobium species were in the range 96.5–96.7 %. On the basis of phylogenetic analyses and phenotypic data, it is proposed that the organism should be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Aeromicrobium, with the name Aeromicrobium tamlense sp. nov. The type strain is SSW1-57T (=JCM 13811T=NRRL B-24466T).
Marinobacter gudaonensis sp. nov., isolated from an oil-polluted saline soil in a Chinese oilfield
Authors: Gu Jun , Cai Hua , Yu Su-Lin , Qu Ri , Yin Bin , Guo Yu-Feng , Zhao Jin-Yi , Wu Xiao-Lei
Published: February 2007

Two novel strains, SL014B61AT and SL014B11A, were isolated from an oil-polluted saline soil from Gudao in the coastal Shengli Oilfield, eastern China. Cells of strains SL014B61AT and SL014B11A were motile, Gram-negative and rod-shaped. Growth occurred at NaCl concentrations of between 0 and 15 % and at temperatures of between 10 and 45 °C. Strain SL014B61AT had Q9 as the major respiratory quinone and C16 : 0 (21.2 %), C18 : 1ω9c (20.3 %), C16 : 1ω7c (7.3 %) and C16 : 1ω9c (6.4 %) as predominant fatty acids. The G+C content of the DNA was 57.9 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain SL014B61AT belonged to the genus Marinobacter in the class Gammaproteobacteria. Strain SL014B61AT showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Marinobacter bryozoorum (97.9 %) and showed 97.8 % sequence similarity to Marinobacter lipolyticus. DNA–DNA relatedness to the reference strains Marinobacter bryozoorum and Marinobacter lipolyticus was 35.5 % and 33.8 %, respectively. On the basis of these data, it is proposed that strains SL014B61AT and SL014B11A represent a novel species, Marinobacter gudaonensis sp. nov. The type strain is strain SL014B61AT (=DSM 18066T=LMG 23509T=CGMCC 1.6294T).
Cryptococcus rajasthanensis sp. nov., an anamorphic yeast species related to Cryptococcus laurentii, isolated from Rajasthan, India
Authors: Saluja Puja , Prasad G. S.
Published: February 2007

Two novel anamorphic yeast strains (S-15LT and 3-C1) were isolated from the inflorescences of plants collected in two different towns in Rajasthan State, India. Sequencing of the D1/D2 domains of the large-subunit (LSU) rDNA and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions suggested they are strains of the same species. Phenotypic characteristics such as the absence of fermentation, the absence of sexual structures and ballistoconidia, the assimilation of myo-inositol and d-glucuronate, and positive Diazonium blue B and urease reactions indicated that these strains belong to the genus Cryptococcus. The novel strains differed from Cryptococcus laurentii in six physiological tests and differed from other related species in more than six tests. A phylogenetic analysis of the sequences of the D1/D2 domains of the LSU rDNA and the ITS regions placed these strains in the Bulleromyces clade within the order Tremellales, with C. laurentii as their closest described relative. The novel strains showed 1.6 and 7.5 % divergence in the D1/D2 domain of the LSU rDNA and ITS regions, respectively, with respect to C. laurentii. The divergence from other species was more than 3 % for the D1/D2 domain and more than 9 % for the ITS region. On the basis of the phenotypic and molecular data, strains S-15LT and 3-C1 represent a novel species within the genus Cryptococcus, for which the name Cryptococcus rajasthanensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is S-15LT (=MTCC 7075T=CBS 10406T).