bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How Does Social Security Reform Indecision Affect Younger Cohorts?
Authors: Shoven John B. , Slavov Sita Nataraj , Watson John G.
Published: November 2022

Abstract: The Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in the early 2030s. The U.S. government will need to make a choice about how to address the impending trust fund exhaustion, but it is unclear what it will choose to do. This indecision leaves young and middle-aged workers not knowing whether they will face Social Security benefit cuts, payroll tax increases, or an increase in the full retirement age. This uncertainty about what will happen in the future causes young and middle-aged cohorts who are saving for retirement to make mistakes that could be avoided if the government decided earlier what will happen when the trust fund runs dry. This paper examines the cost of government indecision on Social Security reform. We calculate the value that people in different income classes and different birth cohorts would receive if the government decided now what it will do when the trust funds are exhausted. We find that the cost of indecision can be large. In some cases, the value of knowing today what the policy change will be in 2035 is worth more than two months of labor market earnings.
Diversity and Viewpoints
Authors: Vivian Bradford
Published: November 2022

The doctrine of viewpoint diversity has provided a seemingly intellectual basis for campus misinformation. Yet that allegedly fresh doctrine, this chapter argues, is a semantic repackaging of unscientific partisan polemics. Defining intellectual diversity based on an obligatory balance between partisan perspectives creates artificial viewpoint parity, not a diverse spectrum of social and political perspectives. This chapter shows how polemics about viewpoint diversity threaten intellectual diversity, academic freedom, and First Amendment freedoms not only in universities but also in political journalism and state educational policies. The chapter advocates a robust definition of diversity on college campuses that includes a wealth of people and perspectives far beyond privileged identity categories or partisan stereotypes. Demonstrating that obligatory parity among two dominant political ideologies impedes meaningful intellectual diversity is a necessary prelude to encouraging more constructive public discourse about higher education.
Pseudoscience
Authors: Vivian Bradford
Published: November 2022

Pseudoscientific techniques helped campus misinformation grow in popularity and intellectual legitimacy during the late 2010s. The pretense of data-driven scientific argument played a crucial role in elevating campus misinformation to a semipermanent form of punditry and intellectual commentary. Yet appeals to social psychological theories about “safetyism,” opinion polls, experimental research, and databases in campus misinformation often involve verbally assembled facsimiles of scientific argument rather than sound scientific claims. This chapter promotes, as a byproduct of its main argument, a practical knowledge of standards and principles that distinguish sound scientific argument from specious approximations of it, whether in debates about higher education or in other arenas of democratic argument. The chapter thus illustrates confusions of correlation with causation, misleading secondhand reports about experimental research, poor wording in opinion polls, and spurious statements of research methods.
How to Study Public Space
Authors: Low Setha
Published: November 2022

Chapter 10. How to Study Public Space? The Toolkit for the Ethnographic Study of Space (TESS) in Tompkins Square Park, Manhattan, New York City and Other Strategies presents a qualitative methodology for undertaking grassroots research and utilizing local knowledge. The Toolkit for the Ethnographic Study of Space (TESS) was designed for students and community members who want to understand everyday social and spatial life. Ethnography—a cultural description of a place—is a way to uncover the rules, beliefs, feelings, and practices that make up public culture. TESS uncovers the dynamics of social contact, public culture, and affective atmosphere that influence use, access, and inclusion. Tompkins Square Park offers an example of how to use TESS to uncover conflicts among residents, regular users, and visitors using behavioral and movement maps, participant observation, interviews, and historical documents. Other methods—questionnaires and surveys, behavioral checklists, digital participatory mapping, Minecraft, and design-based evaluation models—are also reviewed.
The Gratifications of Whiteness
Authors: Myers Ella
Published: November 2022

This is the first book-length study of W. E. B. Du Bois’s conceptualization of American whiteness. While many popular and scholarly accounts of Du Bois’s thought focus on his famous claim that whiteness has functioned as a “public and psychological wage” in the United States, this book reveals a more complex analysis that speaks powerfully to contemporary conditions. Whiteness, Du Bois shows us, is not one thing, but many. Focusing on three key motifs found in his work—wage, pleasure, dominion—this book investigates the “gratifications of whiteness” Du Bois theorized. It argues that whiteness is composed not only of the status rewards that secure capitalism but also the enjoyment of gratuitous Black suffering and a quasi-religious conviction that the world belongs to those marked as “white.” In addition, the book brings Du Bois’s ideas into creative encounter with the present. It shows that Du Bois can help us recognize contemporary whiteness as a multifaceted formation, which provides a sense of social standing (wage), delivers feelings of pleasure born of Black pain (pleasure), and sanctions a worldview in which white skin supplies a “title to the universe” (dominion). The book also explores whether and how these patterns of racialized gratification might be undone.
Whiteness as Wage
Authors: Myers Ella
Published: November 2022

This chapter revisits Du Bois’s well-known formulation of whiteness as a “public and psychological wage,” premised on the denigration of Blackness and “feeding the vanity” of even the poorest white Americans. First, the chapter shows that Du Bois does not mean that racial division is solely a mechanism of capitalist social control. Rather, Du Bois’s understanding of the wage is embedded within his account of racial capitalism, which emphasizes the co-constitution of capitalism and racism and does not privilege either class- or race-based hierarchy as more “fundamental.” Next, the chapter explains why the metaphorical “wage” Du Bois theorizes is not only “psychological” but also “public,” involving monopolization of “rights of enjoyment and accommodation in the common wealth.” The chapter illustrates this point by reflecting on decades-long opposition to racial integration policies in US K–12 public schools, which demonstrates that whiteness has been widely defended as a “wage” well into the 21st century.
Whiteness as Dominion
Authors: Myers Ella
Published: November 2022

This chapter examines a third motif found in Du Bois’s work, which figures whiteness as dominion. The chapter shows that Du Bois presents “modern” whiteness as a proprietary orientation toward the planet in general and toward “darker peoples” in particular. It examines how this “title” is expressed and reinforced in the twentieth century by the Jim Crow system of racial signs in the “afterlife of slavery” and by violent “colonial aggrandizement” worldwide. The analytic of white dominion allows Du Bois to productively link phenomena often regarded as discrete, namely domestic and global forms of white supremacy and practices of exploitation and dispossession within racial-colonial capitalism. Ultimately, the chapter argues that this racialized ethos of ownership is best understood as a comprehensive lived faith. It concludes by reflecting on two contemporary examples—the Bundy standoffs and the phenomenon captured by #Livingwhileblack—that illustrate the continuing effects of this worldview.
Epilogue
Authors: Myers Ella
Published: November 2022

The Epilogue considers recent signs—in public opinion, protest activity, and popular culture—indicating that more white Americans are alert to problems of racial domination than in the recent past. Although this apparent shift is ambiguous and fraught, it nonetheless presents an opening for potential radicalization. Borrowing from Du Bois’s political theory of racial capitalism and his radical-utopian vision of a free society, as well as later Black Power models of white political agency, the Epilogue affirms bold emancipatory projects such as contemporary abolitionism as sites for organizational and coalitional work by whites. The patterns of racialized reward that lie at the center of the book impede, without entirely foreclosing, the transformed society Du Bois long imagined.
The Pleasures of Virtue
Authors: Austin Emily A.
Published: November 2022

This chapter introduces the Epicurean account of virtue and responds to the objection that Epicurean hedonism is inconsistent with a firm commitment to justice and courage. Epicurus claims that it is “impossible to live pleasantly without living prudently, honourably, and justly,” yet our experience suggests otherwise. Doing the right thing often feels quite unpleasant, while injustice seems to promise great pleasures. Epicurus argues that the unjust suffer fear of discovery, punishment, or shame. In addition, the unjust find themselves unable to build and maintain trusting friendships, which Epicurus considers necessary for happiness. Finally, a desire to commit injustice usually arises from a more general dissatisfaction with one’s life and what one possesses. When we cease to desire things that are unnecessary for tranquility, we lose the most common motives for committing injustice.
Living Unnoticed: Politics and Power
Authors: Austin Emily A.
Published: November 2022

This chapter explores Epicurus’ enigmatic advice to “live unnoticed” and develops an account of Epicurean political involvement consistent with their conception of justice and tranquility. Epicurus recommends “a quiet life and withdrawal from the many,” and he thinks his followers should “free” themselves from the “prison” of politics. His apparent rejection of the active political life has led many critics to label the Epicureans a selfish band of social dropouts. This chapter shows that Epicurean politics is indeed more likely to be local and small-scale, but not out of selfishness or indifference to others. They are limited by three considerations—their rejection of the corrosive desires, their relatively limited set of political priorities, and their desire to put their energies to best use. Nevertheless, Epicureans respect the necessary interests of others, and they will pursue those interests in a way consistent with their tranquility, even at grave risk.
Greed for Life
Authors: Austin Emily A.
Published: November 2022

This chapter explores the Epicurean idea that an intense desire to live longer, especially to live forever, is unhealthy and undermines tranquility. Epicurus thinks that any “unlimited” desire—a desire for more and more of something—can never be satisfied. Such desires also indicate dissatisfaction with what we have. While it might make sense to root out a greedy desire for unlimited money or power, the desire to live longer and longer seems less obviously problematic. In fact, on some models of hedonism, a longer life with more pleasures adds up to a more pleasant life overall. Epicurus, though, rejects an “additive” conception of pleasure. This chapter explains Epicurus’ view that tranquility is complete at every moment, so that one does not have more of it by having it longer. For Epicurus, desiring life without limit keeps us from fully appreciating the life we have because it focuses our attention on what is not currently in our possession.
Foodies, Dinner Parties, and Wine Snobs
Authors: Austin Emily A.
Published: November 2022

This chapter explores the Epicurean commitment to shared dining and celebration. While Epicurus has suffered some neglect as a philosopher, his reputation as a foodie seems secure. The Roman Philosopher Seneca once derided the Epicureans as a “shade-loving clan of philosophizing banqueters.” Epicurus’ name on a sign in France means “fancy food here.” Yet for Epicurus, the point of communal eating is to bring people together, not to showcase our culinary talents or exceptional taste. The Epicureans dined together whether they ate beans or exotic cheese. Focusing on the quality of the food or the setting at the expense of the company can produce the counterproductive result of keeping us from relishing, or even initiating, the joyful pleasure of social dining.
Macbeth before Shakespeare
Authors: Hudson Benjamin
Published: November 2022

Macbeth before Shakespeare is the history of a man and a myth. The man is the historical King Mac bethad while the myth is his literary descendant Macbeth. During the five and a half centuries before William Shakespeare wrote his Tragedie of Macbeth, the man was replaced by the myth that was recreated in the hands of successive authors. The real prince’s ancestors had been immigrants to Britain from Ireland and Mac bethad’s career began after the murder of his father by his cousins. The literary character was created as the family of his rival Malcolm Canmore became supreme and wrote their own history with Macbeth as their villain. The evolution continued, and in the fifteenth century Macbeth was accompanied by otherworldly beings, diabolical prophecies, and natural phenomena. He was recast early in the sixteenth century and took his place in the intellectual warfare of Scotland. The legend moved to England in Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles where a new Macbeth had a complex personality with fashionable interests in law and unfashionable ones in the occult. The succession of King James I of England led English acting companies, such as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men with actor and playwright William Shakespeare, to produce plays with Scottish scenes or characters. King James became their patron, and as a member of the King’s Men, Shakespeare wrote his Tragedie of Macbeth, one of their most popular plays from the seventeenth century to the present.
Introduction
Authors: Getzen Thomas E.
Published: November 2022

Physicians have been getting paid for thousands of years, yet commercial practices are rarely mentioned in works of medical history. Major themes of the study are outlined in the first chapter, suggesting why a long-term international perspective is required. Demographic transition, the industrial revolution, and scientific advances brought wealth, longevity, and faith in technological progress. Advances in clinical therapeutics, accompanied by the development of national political, professional, and financial institutions, led to a modern 20th-century transformation of medicine. Chapters 2 through 12, briefly introduced here, present data and narrative to support a budgetary perspective on the evolution of national health expenditures.
Hill’s Brigands and the Great War, 1914–1918
Authors: Brown Andrew
Published: November 2022

Like many Cambridge contemporaries, Hill expected a war with Germany and trained in the reserves. He was ambivalent about the war, but out of sympathy with the dons of Trinity College, who mostly regarded it as a catastrophe. After a period training soldiers to shoot, Hill was asked to investigate methods for anti-aircraft fire, and this led to the formation of Hill’s Brigands, a group of talented scientists and mathematicians. Their observations and analyses transformed the understanding of artillery fire. Meyerhof would have been in sympathy with the Trinity dons: he avoided military service as far as he could. He did serve briefly as a medic on the Western Front but, for the most part, continued with physiology research in Kiel, while the city became a focal point for naval and civil unrest.
Nonvert Nation
Authors: Bullivant Stephen
Published: November 2022

The vision of being called to be a “Christian nation”—Winthrop and Reagan’s (shining) City on a Hill—has exerted powerful sway over key strands of American culture, self-image, and foreign policy for almost four hundred years. Quite what it means for any nation to be Christian is, however, notoriously tricky to pin down: is it a matter of founding texts, and/or of their original authors’ own intentions; of the grand sweep of social or political history; of ethical or legal norms; or the current identities, beliefs, or practices of its citizenry? Taking a broadly socio-cultural approach to the question of what does or does not count as Christian nationhood, this final chapter tackles head-on the effects of continuing nonversion on America’s already fraught, fractured, and fragile claim to the title. It also discusses two very different visions of how American Christianity could and should adapt.
Children's Health and the Peril of Climate Change
Authors: Perera Frederica
Published: November 2022

The book Children’s Health and the Peril of Climate Change is a call to action. It brings to light the full harm to children’s physical and mental health being inflicted now by climate change and its root cause—our addiction to fossil fuel. After laying out the scope of the climate crisis, it reviews the health impacts of air pollution from fossil fuel combustion and the effects of higher temperatures, more severe storms, floods, forest fires, drought, infectious disease, and displacement due to climate change It describes how climate change and air pollution can combine to derail early brain development and affect the physical and mental health of children, with lifelong consequences. It reviews new scientific understanding of the unique biologic vulnerability of the developing fetus and child to these threats and the reasons why children in low-income communities and communities of color bear the greatest burden. The book describes the growing power of environmental justice; Indigenous, youth, religious, scientific, and environmental groups; and artists in raising awareness of the crisis and motivating action by governments, business, and other sectors. Following case studies of climate change and air pollution policies that have benefited children’s health and the economy, it provides an overview of the solutions now available at the government, community, and individual levels to mitigate climate change and help children and families adapt to climate change. The book ends with a call for integrated climate and social policies to speed the transition to a just zero carbon future.
Not Just Little Adults
Authors: Perera Frederica
Published: November 2022

Chapter 2 describes how scientific research has resulted in a quantum leap in understanding of the biological vulnerability of the developing fetus, infant, and child and how this vulnerability has contributed to the disproportionate health burden from climate change and air pollution borne by children. The chapter reviews laboratory and epidemiological studies that have identified a host of contributing factors including rapid growth, complex developmental programming, immaturity of detoxification and immune defense systems, limited ability to regulate body temperature at high temperatures, greater nutritional needs, and dependence on adult caretakers. The chapter focuses on the early development of the brain and lung to illustrate the biology of vulnerability. It ends with an account of how even the limited evidence of children’s vulnerability available in the late nineteenth century was instrumental in prompting reform of child labor policy at that time, illustrating the power of science to promote policies to protect children.
Citizens of the World
Authors: Rouse Stella M. , McDonald Jared , Engstrom Richard N. , Hanmer Michael J. , González Roberto , Lay Siugmin , Miranda Daniel
Published: November 2022

The Millennial Generation, the age cohort born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, is the most educated, digitally connected, and globalized in the history of the world. Around the globe, Millennials encompass 1.8 billion people, a quarter of the population. The size of the Millennial Generation means that they will soon produce a majority of political, economic, and social leaders. It is therefore important to understand how the Millennial Generation may respond in an era of rapid change and uncertainty, shaped by factors such as a global pandemic, economic hardship, demands for racial justice, and the retrenchment of the United States from the global stage. Making sense of what is to come requires a deeper understanding of what defines the Millennial Generation’s persona, their attachment to various identities, how they perceive the need for change, and the tools they will utilize to bring about change. Citizens of the World explores the political attitudes and behaviors of Millennials relative to older adults across eight countries: Australia, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The book argues that Millennials share a core persona, one that differentiates between a traditional and an emerging global identity that shapes news consumption, political attitudes, civic engagement, public service, and beliefs about the ability to enact political change. In this first-of-its-kind comparative analysis, the authors find that Millennials are unique in a variety of ways that have important implications for domestic and international politics.
Duty-Based Citizenship, Engaged Citizenship, or Somewhere in the Middle?
Authors: Rouse Stella M. , McDonald Jared , Engstrom Richard N. , Hanmer Michael J. , González Roberto , Lay Siugmin , Miranda Daniel
Published: November 2022

Voting is just one aspect of political participation, and one that Millennials do not find especially attractive. This chapter explores forms of more active and costly participation that require a higher level of civic obligation than voting: volunteering, joining local political organizations, and serving in government. The Global Millennial Survey shows that Millennials are especially interested in engaging in activities that can serve their local communities, including joining local political organizations. Moreover, they place a high level of importance on these activities. Additionally, Millennials tend to see themselves as prepared for public office. The results present an encouraging outlook that suggests Millennials will continue to engage with local issues and will not shy away from public service, while the results also point to a need for additional research to examine Millennials’ relatively lower level of interest in voting.
Millennials
Authors: Rouse Stella M. , McDonald Jared , Engstrom Richard N. , Hanmer Michael J. , González Roberto , Lay Siugmin , Miranda Daniel
Published: November 2022

The concluding chapter summarizes the findings in the book and argues that because Millennials see themselves as global citizens, they are best understood as having a cross-national, interconnected approach to political issues and activities. Technology has played a role in this development, as new media sources and communication tools affect how Millennials prefer to gather information, express preferences, and engage with their communities. The chapter also outlines the differences between Millennials and older generations when it comes to policy preferences, interest in politics, and interest in public service roles; particularly interesting differences are found for engagement with local issues. As Millennials begin their rise to positions of leadership around the world, evidence from the Global Millennial Survey suggests that they will bring a new approach to how they address the world’s challenges.
The Problem of Palestine
Authors: Raustiala Kal
Published: November 2022

Chapter 9 covers the decision by Britain to hand the problem of Palestine to the UN; Bunche’s work on the UN Special Committee on Palestine; Bunche’s appointment as Deputy Mediator; and the assassination of mediator Count Folke Bernadotte
Triumph
Authors: Raustiala Kal
Published: November 2022

Chapter 11 explores Bunche’s final months as UN mediator; the bases of his success; the broader implications of the mediation for the UN; and his award of the Nobel Peace Prize.
To Gaza
Authors: Raustiala Kal
Published: November 2022

Chapter 16 continues the story of the Suez Crisis and its aftermath and discusses the Little Rock crisis.
The Year of Africa
Authors: Raustiala Kal
Published: November 2022

Chapter 17 explores the 1960 “Year of Africa”; Bunche’s mission to assist Congo in its early days; and the resulting chaos as Congo became the site of civil war and social unrest.
Aqueous Geochemistry I
Authors: Brezonik Patrick L. , Arnold William A.
Published: November 2022

Six topics are addressed about the chemical composition of natural waters: the nature of dissolved and suspended substances in water, their natural and human-derived sources, how major and minor inorganic substances in natural waters behave chemically and their water quality significance, how natural biogeochemical and hydrologic processes and human activities control the chemical composition of water, how the chemical composition of water bodies is displayed graphically, and analytical methods to measure major and minor inorganic solutes. Characteristics of hard and soft waters are summarized, and examples of the chemical composition of freshwaters, seawater, and hypersaline waters are provided. The availability of water chemistry data in online databases is described.
Fundamentals of Chemical Kinetics
Authors: Brezonik Patrick L. , Arnold William A.
Published: November 2022

This chapter presents the principles of kinetics, the branch of chemistry that deals with rates of chemical processes, factors affecting rates, and mechanisms by which reactions proceed. Starting with definitions of important terms and concepts, the chapter introduces the elements of kinetics needed to analyze and interpret water chemistry and quality. The chapter focuses on four topics: conventional rate equations for chemical reactions, including solutions for simple reactions and fitting data to equations to obtain rate constant values; the types of equations that predict reactant and product concentrations over time in model reacting systems that simulate the behavior of real aquatic systems, such as lakes and rivers; theories of how chemical reactions occur, focusing on transition state and activated complex theories; and the effects of physical factors—temperature, pressure, ionic strength, and pH—on reaction rates and rate constants.
Partitioning and Chemical Transformations of Organic Contaminants
Authors: Brezonik Patrick L. , Arnold William A.
Published: November 2022

This chapter describes the processes that dictate the fate of organic chemicals in environmental systems with emphasis on organic contaminants of human origin. The equilibrium partitioning of organic chemicals between environmental phases (air, water, soil/sediment, biota) is presented, as are means to predict the relevant equilibrium constants based on chemical structure/properties. The main reactions that lead to transformations of organic chemicals are presented, and the structural features that make a compound susceptible to such reactions are highlighted. The kinetics of the reactions and means to predict kinetic rate constants are also presented.
Chemistry of Chlorine and Other Oxidants/Disinfectants
Authors: Brezonik Patrick L. , Arnold William A.
Published: November 2022

This chapter treats the chemistry of oxidants used in disinfection and chemical oxidation during water treatment, with emphasis on chlorine gas (Cl2), its products in water (hypochlorous acid, HOCl, and its conjugate base hypochlorite, OCl–), and other oxidized forms of chlorine. The inorganic chemistry of these forms—their acid-base and redox properties—and the reactions of chlorine forms with organic compounds are described. Formation mechanisms for disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are explained, along with techniques to minimize their occurrence in drinking water. The chapter also briefly summarizes important aspects of the chemical behavior of alternative oxidants/disinfectants, including chlorine dioxide, iodine, and ozone (alone and as a component of so-called advanced oxidation processes).
University Administrative Systems
Authors: Schimel Joshua
Published: November 2022

Challenges with managing university administrative systems fall into six major categories: policy, practice, proprietary systems, people, politics, and money. Solving policy problems calls for either changing the policy or finding a workaround. Practice is about normal ways of doing things that go beyond policy. Proprietary technological systems (usually purchased from an outside vendor) can be rigid. Solutions to people problems depend on whether the problem is with a staff member, an administrator, or a colleague. Politics are about negotiating power or status and occur among peers. Finally, money constrains most initiatives; the key is to understand whose money you are asking for.
Mentoring 2
Authors: Schimel Joshua
Published: November 2022

Mentoring challenges range from common stresses to problems that can involve deeper and more challenging roots. Graduate school is hard and stress is organic to it. The most common stressors grow from the intense workload and the intellectual struggles that are inherent to graduate school. Stress, however, can also grow from group dynamics, life-balance issues, and the natural developmental stages students go through. The harder, and less normal, stresses include mental health challenges such as depression, which is common among students, emotional entanglements between faculty and their trainees, and students who are struggling and failing. Professors must deal with all these challenges, but most universities have administrative and mental health staff who can help both the faculty member and the student.
Teaching
Authors: Schimel Joshua
Published: November 2022

Those who can do, also teach. Teaching is critical to all academic positions. Most professorial jobs include undergraduate teaching, while even those that don’t still include educating trainees, peers, and the public. Succeeding in academe calls for integrating teaching into an ongoing array of other activities, but maintaining a balance so that teaching does not detract from those other activities. Particularly important is to become competent in formal classroom settings, where the essence is ensuring that students learn. Teaching technique and pedagogy—facilitating learning—is important, but it only works once students are motivated to want to learn. Motivating learning is about building human bridges to the students.
Who Put the Peer in Peer Review
Authors: Schimel Joshua
Published: November 2022

No work is ever perfect; hence, peer review is central to academic decision-making—it is what we do for each other. Participating and doing it well is a key part of being an academic. Peer reviewing articles and books is a form of triage where the first decision is whether a piece of work has the potential to become publishable—that input is for the editor. After that, all the criticism and commentary is for the author and should be designed to help them make the work better. Proposals, in contrast, are only about triage—fund or do-not-fund—with no need to suggest improvements.
Professional Communities
Authors: Schimel Joshua
Published: November 2022

Academics live their day-to-day lives in their departments, but professional peers are distributed around the country and around the world. These are the communities that support us as scholars. These communities operate partly through informal networks of friendship, collaboration, and exchanging trainees. But communities primarily exist in, and operate through, professional societies. These range from large “umbrella” groups with many thousands of members to smaller, more specialized, groups with but a few hundred members. They organize conferences, grant recognition to members, and publish journals. These are vital organizations that depend on their members to function; supporting them is important academic service.
The Musical Language of Italian Opera, 1813-1859
Authors: Rothstein William
Published: November 2022

Opera comprises words, action, and music, but music is central. This book examines operatic music by five Italian composers—Rossini, Bellini, Mercadante, Donizetti, and Verdi—and one non-Italian, Meyerbeer, during the period from Rossini’s first international successes to Italian unification. Detailed analyses of form, rhythm, melody, and harmony reveal concepts of musical structure different from those usually discussed by music theorists, calling into question the notion of a common practice. An eclectic analytical approach is taken, using ideas originating in several centuries, from the sixteenth to the twenty-first. Music is analyzed at the level of the movement, the operatic number, the act, and the opera. Although no single theory accounts for all of the music examined, certain recurring principles define a distinctively Italian practice, one that left its mark on the German repertoire more familiar to music theorists.
Around 1840: Mercadante and Donizetti
Authors: Rothstein William
Published: November 2022

Mercadante’s so-called reform operas exhibit a harmonic style that suggests study of Meyerbeer’s French operas. His free use of chords is close to Verdi’s usage a decade later. His concept of an opera as an unchangeable work also anticipates Verdi. Modulations within numbers are unusually wide-ranging; beginning and ending keys may relate by semitone. Donizetti, during the last years of his career, tailored his style to the city for which he was writing, and his attitude toward an opera’s musical text was more relaxed. The final act of La favorite is examined in detail. The unconventional ending of Maria di Rohan is also discussed.
Rigoletto and Il trovatore (1851–1853)
Authors: Rothstein William
Published: November 2022

The extensive analytical literature on Rigoletto and Il trovatore is reviewed, and the issue of associative tonality is discussed. Authors differ on the significance of long-range key relations, including the question of whether Rigoletto has a tonic key and whether recurring keys in Il trovatore can be heard. Verdi’s idiosyncratic use of chords comes to fruition in Macbeth and Rigoletto. Gilda and Rigoletto have distinct focal pitches (sonorità) in their vocal lines. Different characters may inhabit different areas, or tonal fields, on charts of key relations. Contrasts between tonal fields exist in Rigoletto, but they are pursued more systematically in Il trovatore.
Coronaviruses
Authors: Li Jie Jack
Published: November 2022

This chapter begins by describing older coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS, followed by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Details of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine are described and viral vector vaccines are also reviewed. This chapter will also discuss two small-molecule antiviral drugs: Gilead’s remdesivir and dexamethasone.
Closing Remarks
Authors: Li Jie Jack
Published: November 2022

This chapter briefly summarized all the viruses discussed in the book in the context of current COVID pandemic. With the exception of the hepatitis B virus, all other frequently encountered viruses are RNA viruses. RNA viruses mutate frequently and evolve in vast animal reservoirs. Chapter 6 reviewed these viruses, their vaccines, and their therapeutic drugs. History will shed light on, and help us to understand today’s COVID-19 pandemic. The United States suffered a stunning 33.3 million cases and over six hundred thousand fatalities thus far, despite being the richest country with the best medical resource in the world. Thankfully, three vaccines, developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen, have saved millions of American lives while other vaccines aim to serve other international populations. The concluding remarks underlined the great strides that scientists have made in vaccines and antiviral drugs. The reader is reminded that progresses have been made against viruses the invisible enemies.
Dedication of Virtue
Authors: Esler Dylan
Published: November 2022

The final eighth chapter contains a traditional dedication of virtue, as well as some contextual information concerning those for whom the text is destined (and those for whom it is not) and the manner in which it was composed. The chapter provides a fascinating glimpse into gNubs-chen’s personal reflections regarding the writing of his masterpiece. He informs the reader that his work is the fruit of his many years of study under his various masters, as well as of his own intimate experience of meditation. As such, he recommends that it be treated with respect and only given to those who prove to be worthy recipients of its teachings. It thus seems appropriate to consider the bSam-gtan mig-sgron to be gNubs-chen’s spiritual testament, distilled from a lifetime of contemplative practice and from numerous textual sources for the benefit of future meditators.
The Justificatory Investigation (X–§201)
Authors: Shaw James R.
Published: November 2022

This chapter argues that Wittgenstein’s methodology for investigating the Justificatory Question is driven primarily by a negative “trial and error” technique in which various candidates to answer that question are examined and rejected as inadequate due to a problem of regress. This chapter discusses how these investigations lead to a schematic worry that is presented in §201 of the Investigations in the form of a reductio ad absurdum, which aims to show that the Justificatory Question is in fact unanswerable. This chapter contrasts this reading with that of Saul Kripke—a contrast which greatly attenuates the significance of §201 on the offered reading, while still preserving a very important dialectical role for the passage to play in the Investigations.
Dispositions
Authors: Shaw James R.
Published: November 2022

This chapter explores the extent to which Wittgenstein could appeal to dispositionalist resources in responding to meaning skepticism, especially since these represent one of the most popular modes of trying to cope with such skepticism. It discusses how different kinds of dispositions play different roles in Wittgenstein’s Justificatory and Grammatical Investigations, and that these roles surprisingly allow Wittgenstein to appeal to dispositions of some kinds in the foundations of semantics. This helps show how Wittgenstein’s work in the foundations of semantics might harmonize with contemporary work on the subject in ways that are not easy to glean directly from his texts. Still, Wittgenstein’s work points to several limits to the use of dispositions in developing the foundations of meaning, which suggests that we should look to other aspects of his work for a fuller reply to the meaning skeptic.
Notions of Uniformity
Authors: Shaw James R.
Published: November 2022

This chapter begins by reminding that Wittgenstein makes extensive use of “notions of uniformity” like “regularity,” “sameness,” and “similarity” in his Grammatical Investigation, and that using these tools appears to afford a simple “naïve” reply to the meaning skeptic. The details of this naïve reply are explored in detail, and it is argued that Wittgenstein’s careful application of notions of uniformity helps to show why there are no obstacles in appealing to these notions in replying to the meaning skeptic. The details of this resolution are compared to the resolutions offered by Saul Kripke (on Wittgenstein’s behalf) and David Lewis, each of which bring out distinctive features of the “Wittgensteinean” resolution proposed.
“Religious Passion Tore Us Apart”
Authors: Voekel Pamela
Published: November 2022

In May of 1829, victorious liberals revealed a strategy that ensured that their reign in the Federal Republic of Central America would last less than a decade. They deployed the state to create their vision of a godly republic. They banished the archbishop to Havana; exiled the regular orders (with the exception of the Bethlehemites) and seized their property; drastically reduced the number of religious holidays; banned religious processions from the streets; issued edicts to move burials from churches to suburban cemeteries; and attempted to end required clerical celibacy. Under the motto “God, Union, Liberty”—a devout riposte to the secular trio of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”—these reformed Catholics wrote their religious priorities into law, and, in so doing, sealed their fate.
Conclusion
Authors: Voekel Pamela
Published: November 2022

The Reform Catholic International that animated republican movements and fought for local control of churches across the Atlantic world was characterized by widely shared transregional intellectual production and by site-specific creativity—hardly surprising given the church’s three-century presence in Spanish America. This reformist current of the church provided the language to talk about new forms of political representation. Reform Catholicism was not a justification for republicanism ex post facto, not a religious alibi for a secular politics. Rather, the very conceptualization of individual citizens and representative polities sprang from late eighteenth-century religious configurations with deep roots in theological history, as did notions of civil control over the church. In Central America and Mexico, reformers fought to wield the state against the ultramontane church in order to create godly republics.
Ordinary Mysticism, the Hyperbolic, and the Supernormal
Authors: Ó Maoilearca John
Published: November 2022

The concept of the “supernormal” is introduced as a means to exit from a substantive duality between natural and supernatural, or between the normal and the paranormal, by thinking in terms of differences of degree rather than of kind, of (heterogeneous) continuities: extracting the supernatural by natural means. It is opposed to the hyperbolic stance that views the supernatural in terms of qualitative difference. Examples of ghosts and time travel are used to illustrate this paradigm. The possibility of an “ordinary mysticism,” a mysticism rendered ordinary through supernormalization, is then introduced. Such an ordinary mysticism would change the way we see the extraordinary by enfolding it within the ordinary while also showing how esoteric knowledge might be equal (continuous) with supposedly more “accessible” forms of knowledge, such as philosophy. We begin to show how mystical experience can be immanent within ordinary experience, just as mystical thought can be immanent within philosophy.
On Watery Logic, or Magical Thinking
Authors: Ó Maoilearca John
Published: November 2022

This section looks at the central image of water operating in both Henri and Mina Bergson’s systems of thought. Beginning first by discussing the use of imagery as a crucial heuristic in the work of both figures, the themes of the feminine, nourishment, giving, and the gift are all tied together in the image of water. The logic of water in Bergson’s peculiar writing style is then examined, before looking at his theory of anthropomorphic fabulation again whereby divinities emanate from the water “offered” by a spring. The chapter continues by looking at Mina Bergson’s discussion of “Tattwa visions” and a vision of one of the “elementals,” the “spirit of water” or “Akas of Apas.” It concludes by looking at the use by both Bergsons of vibration and rhythm to communicate with the past, a means of continuing movement, or covarying the past within the present.
Of the Survival of Images
Authors: Ó Maoilearca John
Published: November 2022

This section covers in greater depth the place and meaning of the imagination and the image in both Henri and Mina Bergson’s work. The Golden Dawn’s use of Tattwa cards and other diagrammatic imagery is examined in the context of esoteric theories of color. The esoteric and magical idea that the image is not imaginary (or merely representational) is also discussed in terms of Bergson’s monadism of the image in Matter and Memory and his pedagogical use of imagery. This leads to an analysis of some famous images (diagrams) from Matter and Memory, which are arrayed in combination with crucial images used in esoteric (Golden Dawn) practices, forming a kind of “montage collision,” especially of conical imagery. The significance of Mina Bergson’s art and artistic training is addressed, before returning to the topic of sound, rhythm, and vibration in both Mina and Henri Bergson’s thought.
Epilogue
Authors: Ó Maoilearca John
Published: November 2022

This short epilogue offers some final reflections on the place of Mina Bergson’s ideas, as a mystic, artist, and social rebel, alongside those of her more respectable brother. It asks the question of where original thought resides in this pairing while also evoking the idea of reciprocal movement first discussed in the Prologue (as a “Reciprocity of Acceleration” in the special theory of relativity), and then brings back the personal memory which began the Introduction to Vestiges.
The Origins of Identity Theory
Authors: Burke Peter J. , Stets Jan E.
Published: November 2022

Four key ideas are discussed in this chapter. First is the role of symbols and meaning for shaping individuals’ perceptions of their world. Second is the ability of the individual to take itself as an object of meaning both from its own and others’ perspectives. Third is the gesture as containing meaning representing the intentions of an actor that also allows an understanding of intentions and goals of others. Finally, there is the idea that the relationship between the individual and the situation is one of a dynamic control system containing active and passive parts that allow constant adjustment of the individual both to fit into its environment and to shape its environment to fit it.
Future Research
Authors: Burke Peter J. , Stets Jan E.
Published: November 2022

In this final chapter, the authors discuss areas for future research that are both theoretical and substantive. Theoretical developments include the integration of the structural and perceptual aspects of identity theory, understanding the different sources of identity discrepancies and how reflected, actual, and self-appraisals independently and combined influence behavior and control meanings so that perceptions match the identity standard, and including the micro, meso, and macro levels of social reality in our understanding of identities. Substantive advances include a better understanding of gender identities and racial/ethnic identities, as well as counternormative, non-normative, stigmatized identities, and identities that emerge during transition points.
Values Literacy and Citizenship
Authors: Sadler John Z.
Published: November 2022

In the first of four parts the chapter describes the contemporary breakdown of public civil discourse in the realms of political discourse, social media use, and education for civic engagement. Second, it introduces the concept of “values literacy” as a set of epistemic skills and attitudes for recognizing, analyzing, and interpreting values. Third, the chapter then fleshes out a method of values recognition and analysis and defines values operationally as attitudes or dispositions that are action-guiding and subject to praise or blame. Finally, in the fourth part, the chapter makes the case for how educating the polity in values analysis can deepen and expand civil discourse. The sincere seeker of human flourishing can use values analysis to explode simplistic accounts into complex sets of value trade-offs and compromises, exposing the insincere while revealing potentials for common ground and shared flourishing.