bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Badness of Death and What to Do about It (if Anything)
Authors: Kamm F. M.
Published: March 2019

This chapter surveys different accounts of the factors that make death bad and that make one death worse than another both intrapersonally and interpersonally. It focuses on (1) deprivation of future goods of life (Deprivationism); (2) having had fewer rather than more goods at the time of death (Willhavehadism); (3) being all over as a conscious person (Alloverism); and (4) vulnerability to loss and decline to nothingness (Insult). For each account of the badness of death, the chapter considers (a) possible problems with it and how they might be solved; (b) possible good and bad ways to remedy or ameliorate the bad; and (c) the morality of pursuing such remedies or amelioration. It also considers some related issues, including (i) whether to help those who are worst off; (ii) the role of moral rights; (iii) the significance of a human’s developmental stage; (iv) the value of mere conscious personhood; and (v) prenatal nonexistence.
The Badness of Death for Us, the Worth in Us, and Priorities in Saving Lives
Authors: Kerstein Samuel J.
Published: March 2019

Carl Tollef Solberg and Espen Gamlund suggest that in allocating scarce, life-saving resources we ought to consider how bad death would be for those who would die if left untreated. We have moral reason, they intimate, to prioritize persons for whom death would be worse, according to the Time-Relative Interest Account of the badness of death. In response, I try to show that an allocation principle that specifies minimizing the badness of death among those vying for a life-saving resource would fail to respect the worth of persons. Solberg and Gamlund mention several other allocation principles. But, I argue, even when these others also come into play, allocations can fail to respect persons’ worth. A principle of respect for the worth (or dignity) of persons should, I contend, be employed in the allocation of scarce, life-saving resources. I sketch and apply a Kantian principle in an effort to allay the common worries that such a principle will be too vague to be useful and implausibly disallow length of future life to be a deciding factor in choosing whom to save.
How Much Better than Death Is Ordinary Human Survival?
Authors: Labukt Ivar R.
Published: March 2019

According to common sense and a majority of philosophers, death can be bad for the person who dies. This is because it can deprive the dying person of life worth living. I accept that death can be bad in this way, but argue that most people greatly overestimate the magnitude of this form of badness. They do so because they significantly overestimate the goodness of what death deprives us of: ordinary human survival. I proceed by examining four philosophical theories of why human survival matters: (1) non-reductionism, (2) the psychological continuity view, (3) the continuity of consciousness view, and (4) the physical continuity view. I argue that all these theories fail to offer something that is both deeply egoistically important and found in ordinary human survival. In the final section, I discuss how we should think about preventing deaths from a policy perspective if death is a lesser personal evil than what is typically assumed.
In Defense of the Time-Relative Interest Account
Authors: McMahan Jeff
Published: March 2019

This chapter defends the Time-Relative Interest Account of the misfortune of death against the two ingenious objections that Tim Campbell advances in chapter 18 of this volume. Campbell argues that this account, when combined with two other highly plausible claims, generates intransitive judgments about which options we ought to choose in a series of choices among pairs of options. He then argues that even if we can accept the intransitivity, our judgments must violate the principle of Contraction Consistency. I argue that there are good explanations of why the violations of transitivity and Contraction Consistency are innocuous.
Biocentrism
Authors: Basl John
Published: March 2019

Chapter 1 articulates the commitments of biocentrism vis-à-vis explaining the form of moral status that advocates of the view take living things to have, moral considerability, as well as the strategies these advocates employ both for arguing that all living things are morally considerable, and for excluding certain things, such as artifacts and ecosystems, from being morally considerable. The foundation of biocentrism is a commitment to the importance of welfare in grounding moral status and delineating the boundaries of moral status. For the biocentrist, welfare or well-being is necessary for having moral status; anything that lacks a welfare or that can’t be benefitted or harmed, can only matter from the moral point of view in some indirect or derivative way. And, biocentrists argue, it is because nonsentient organisms have a welfare and because artifacts and ecosystems do not that the boundaries of moral status can be neatly drawn.
The Strategy of Exclusion and the Problem of Artifacts
Authors: Basl John
Published: March 2019

Chapter 5 develops the problem of exclusion with respect to artifacts. It seems clear that artifacts are teleologically organized. Biocentrists must find some way to distinguish the teleological organization of artifacts from that of organisms. The chapter argues that none of the attempts to distinguish artifacts from organisms succeed; they either fail to draw the relevant line between even simple artifacts and nonsentient organisms, or they are arbitrary, ad hoc, or question-begging. Many have seen such an implication as a reductio of biocentrism, but this is a mistake. The chapter explains why, even though biocentrism is false, it shouldn’t be dismissed simply because we must countenance artifact welfare.
Knowing Religion
Authors: Jones James W.
Published: March 2019

Taking embodiment seriously impacts the way religion is theorized in the discipline of cognitive psychology and in other religious studies disciplines, including theology. This chapter describes new avenues of research that follow from adopting an embodied perspective. An embodied perspective also transforms the way we think about traditional topics concerning religious knowledge. The often argued parallel between ordinary perceptual experience and certain religious experiences commonly described as religious perceptions is analyzed and an appreciative critique of William Alston’s 1991 book Perceiving God is offered. Arguments for conceiving of religious experience as a form of perception are strong but the argument as currently framed is seriously flawed psychologically. Reframing the argument in terms of an embodied-relational model strengthens it and supports the argument in this book that reason is on the side of those who choose a religiously lived life.
Introduction
Authors: Mele Alfred R.
Published: March 2019

This chapter introduces the book’s central question: What can we learn about the nature of moral responsibility from thought experiments involving manipulation and related thought experiments featuring designed agents? Various alternative positions on that question are described, and some of the key terms of the discussion are defined, including compatibilism, determinism, incompatibilism, and libertarianism. Guidance is offered on how the author uses some other key terms, including free will, intuition, and moral responsibility. The technical terms internalism and externalism are introduced, and various kinds of internalism and externalism are distinguished. Work by Harry Frankfurt and Robert Kane is discussed to help set the stage for subsequent chapters.
Internalism and Externalism
Authors: Mele Alfred R.
Published: March 2019

Two general kinds of view about moral responsibility are discussed—internalism and externalism. An agent’s internal condition at a time may be defined as something specified by the collection of all psychological truths about the agent at the time that are silent on how he came to be as he is at that time. Internalists maintain that—at least in the case of direct moral responsibility—all that is needed to determine whether an agent is morally responsible for a pertinent action is to be found in his internal condition. Externalists disagree; they contend that agents’ personal histories can have a special bearing on moral responsibility. This disagreement is described and discussed. Various thought experiments are used to shed light on the disagreement and to start building a case for an externalist view.
Instant Agents, Minutelings, and Radical Reversals
Authors: Mele Alfred R.
Published: March 2019

Thought experiments about three kinds of agent—instant agents, minutelings, and radically reversed agents—are used in developing the book’s argument for an externalist view of moral responsibility. Instant agents come into being all at once as adult agents with full psychological profiles. Minutelings are instant agents who live only for a minute and perform a morally significant action. Radically reversed agents come in two general kinds: morally wonderful agents who are given a despicable collection of values overnight by manipulators, and despicable agents who are given a morally wonderful collection of values overnight by manipulators.
Must Compatibilists Be Internalists?
Authors: Mele Alfred R.
Published: March 2019

This chapter identifies three lines of thought that build bridges from compatibilism to internalism about moral responsibility and argues that all three are seriously defective. The three lines of thought are due to Richard Double, Harry Frankfurt, and Gary Watson. Thought experiments discussed include radical reversal stories and an original-design story in which a goddess creates a zygote and implants it in a certain woman at a certain time because she wants it to grow into a being who will perform a certain deed thirty years later. Differences between these two kinds of thought experiment are discussed.
Bullet Biting and Beyond
Authors: Mele Alfred R.
Published: March 2019

Compatibilists who reject even the modest externalist theses defended thus far in this book seem to be stuck biting some extremely hard bullets. A question about bullet biting is this chapter’s focus. It is roughly this: When should compatibilists about moral responsibility bite the bullet in responding to stories used in arguments for incompatibilism about moral responsibility or in arguments for theses that typical compatibilists would reject? The question is clarified, and a partial answer is offered. Thought experiments discussed include radical reversal stories and original-design stories. John Fischer’s response to an argument based on an original-design story—the zygote argument—receives close critical attention.
Wrapping Things Up
Authors: Mele Alfred R.
Published: March 2019

This chapter addresses a range of issues, including the bearing of manipulation on the project of constructing an incompatibilist analysis of moral responsibility for actions, the difference between direct and indirect moral responsibility, the significance of reversal stories in which the change in an agent’s values is localized, and the author’s methodology in this book. A section that has a question-and-answer format answers questions about such things as the negative nature of the historical constraint on moral responsibility defended in this book, why extreme changes in agents’ values are featured in the book’s main thought experiments, and the author’s response to readers who do not share his intuitions about various thought experiments.
What Gender Discrimination? Psychological and Sociocultural Barriers
Authors: Sundstrom Lisa McIntosh , Sperling Valerie , Sayoglu Melike
Published: March 2019

Chapter 2 examines the barriers that often prevent women from taking even the first step of initiating a domestic court case on discrimination. This chapter investigates the domestic psychological, cultural, and material obstacles to gender discrimination cases in the Russian court system. It discusses the psychological and cultural obstacles to bringing sex-based discrimination cases to Russian courts (such as the popular tendency to regard sex-based discrimination in the public sphere as a natural and justified reflection of sex-role stereotypes, and the desire to solve “personal” problems such as domestic violence privately rather than in the public eye). It discusses the negative views toward feminism in Russia. The chapter covers different types of sex-based discrimination in Russia: employment discrimination and maternity leave, gender discrimination in custody suits, gender discrimination in education, and violence against women as a type of discrimination. The chapter concludes that people who are inclined to activism are the ones most likely to be willing to bring a court case and persist in the legal process.
International Obstacles to Russian Gender Discrimination Cases at the European Court of Human Rights
Authors: Sundstrom Lisa McIntosh , Sperling Valerie , Sayoglu Melike
Published: March 2019

Chapter 5 takes up the international obstacles to successful gender discrimination claims at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), both across the Council of Europe, and from Russia specifically. The reluctance of the Court until recently to find violations of Article 14 alongside violations of other articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the limited set of circumstances in which discrimination falls under the Convention’s jurisdiction, and the very high bar of evidence required to prove discrimination, all play a large part in explaining the Court’s miniscule case record on gender discrimination. Yet we also document how the Court has become more open in the past several years to finding sex-based discrimination violations, in part due to the diffusion of successful logics of argument among women’s rights lawyers, as well as the emergence of standards in other international women’s rights conventions that the ECtHR has begun to acknowledge, such as the Convention on Eliminating All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The chapter discusses a variety of landmark cases at the ECtHR in this area, such as Opuz v. Turkey and Konstantin Markin v. Russia.
A Multifaceted Approach to the Study of Black Descriptive Representation
Authors: Clark Christopher J.
Published: March 2019

This chapter motivates the book’s importance, talking specifically about the relevance of a multifaceted approach to the study of black state legislators in the 21st century. The descriptive representation framework used to study black representation is mentioned. The two-part organization of the book is explained, with the first portion considering the causes of black descriptive representation and the latter portion examining the consequences of black descriptive representation. Moreover, the underlying research questions motivating the book, namely whether black people alone explain the black presence in the state legislature and whether the positive consequences of black representation in the state legislature outweigh the negative ones, are discussed. Synopses of the various theoretical claims are provided. The chapter discusses relevant extant literature on minority representation, identity caucuses, policy representation, political involvement, public opinion, and state politics. The data and methods employed in the book are discussed, and the chapter ends with an overview of each book chapter.
Black Seat Share and Policy Representation in States
Authors: Clark Christopher J.
Published: March 2019

A common expectation is that when blacks serve in elected office black policy interests will be better represented. This chapter examines how black seat share affects education and welfare policy in states, from 2001 to 2011. The expectation is that states with a greater black seat share will spend more money on education and will have more liberal welfare policy. It shows that while black seat share increases per-pupil public education spending, it is associated with less liberal welfare policy. In fact, the finding for welfare policy emerges in states with Democratic control of the legislature and provides evidence of backlash in response to an increased black seat share. Citizen ideology and region are two other key predictors of education and welfare policy in states.
Descriptive Representation and Black Political Involvement
Authors: Clark Christopher J. , Block Ray
Published: March 2019

A healthy representative democracy requires that citizens be politically involved, and it is especially important to consider the political involvement of groups that are marginalized, such as African Americans. Building on the political empowerment hypothesis, the chapter argues that an increased black seat share and black representation ratio should be associated with increased black political involvement. Using 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study data, the chapter describes how in states with an increased black seat share in the legislature blacks are more likely to be highly interested in politics and are more likely to vote. In states with a higher black representation ratio, blacks are more inclined to persuade others to vote. Black representation in the US House does not increase black political involvement, despite being the focus of many scholarly works of political empowerment.
Descriptive Representation and Black Public Opinion Toward Electoral Reforms
Authors: Clark Christopher J.
Published: March 2019

Given the difficulties blacks experience exercising their right to vote, it seems that African Americans would uniformly support laws that make it easier for people to vote (progressive electoral reforms), while uniformly opposing laws that make it more difficult for people to vote (prohibitive electoral reforms). Arguing against this logic and building on studies of winning and losing in politics, the chapter posits that descriptive representation in the state legislature should liberalize black public opinion toward electoral reforms governing access to the franchise, using 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study data to find partial support. An increased black seat share in the legislature is associated with blacks being less supportive of requiring that voters read from the US Constitution and requiring voters to show photo ID. Further, an increased black seat share is related to blacks being more supportive of automatic voter registration and election-day registration. The black representation ratio was unimportant for understanding whether blacks supported electoral reforms.
Valuing Dance
Authors: Foster Susan Leigh
Published: March 2019

Because dance materializes through and for people, because we learn to dance from others and often present dance to others, the moment of its transmission is one of dance’s central and defining features. Valuing Dance looks at the occasion when dancing passes from one person to another as an act of exchange, one that is redolent with symbolic meanings, including those associated with its history and all the labor that has gone into its making. It examines two ways that dance can be exchanged, as commodity and as gift, reflecting on how each establishes dance’s relative worth and merit differently. When and why do we give dance? Where and to whom do we sell it? How are such acts of exchange rationalized and justified? Valuing Dance poses these questions in order to contribute to a conversation around what dance is, what it does, and why it matters.
The Social Life of Dances
Authors: Foster Susan Leigh
Published: March 2019

Chapter 3 pursues the thesis that commodity and gift forms of exchange are interconnected and inseparable. It does this through an examination of three case studies: hip-hop, private dance studio instruction, and powwow. The recent histories of these three examples is examined alongside some of their antecedents at the beginning of the twentieth century. Hip-hop is located along a continuum with the early twentieth-century African American social dances that fueled a dance craze taking place in the urban United States. Private studio instruction is traced back to the social and modern dance instruction offered by entrepreneurial teachers who codified and sold those dances. Powwows are connected to the Wild West shows and other exhibitions of Native dances that brought Native peoples into greater contact with one another and with white audiences. Analyzing the development of these dance practices over time enables a more focused inquiry into the values and belief systems that infuse dance in a given historical moment and the ways that these connect to larger systems of shared values. Each example also calls attention to the way that commodification yields values that collude with forms of social and political domination including racialization and racist ideologies, Orientalism and exoticism, and colonial settler logics.
United Nations Human Rights Law
Authors: Wheatley Steven
Published: March 2019

Chapter 3 tells the story of human rights in the United Nations. The work shows how we can understand the UN as a complex system of regulatory authority, which evolves with changes in the behaviours of the Member States and United Nations bodies as they respond to new information. The analysis demonstrates that, up until the 1960s, human rights provided a set of moral guidelines only, informing states how they should treat those subject to their jurisdiction and control. That was until the newly independent African countries joined the Organization and turned their attention to the problem of systematic racial discrimination in southern Africa, especially after the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, when UN action against South Africa and South West Africa (Namibia) transformed the non-binding moral code contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into a body of international human rights law, with the development explained by the importance of subsequent agreements and practices in the evolution of the regulatory authority of the United Nations.
The Idea of International Human Rights Law
Authors: Wheatley Steven
Published: March 2019

Chapter 7 summarizes and clarifies the argument in the book, explaining the distinctive nature of International Human Rights Law. It reminds us that states invented human rights in 1945 with the inauguration of the United Nations Charter. They explained the meaning of the term ‘human rights’ three years later with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, although the concept evolved in a radically different direction than originally expected as states responded to events in apartheid southern Africa. The central insight of this final chapter is that the moral concept of human rights, which emerges from the legal practice, then influences the legal practice. We see this with the introduction, without debate, of the system of Universal Periodic Review, in the pro homine approach to the interpretation of human rights treaties, and in the modern methodology for customary international law formation, which looks first to the communication acts of the United Nations General Assembly. The book concludes by showing how the influence of the idea of human rights on the legal practices can explain the fragmentation of international law and, relatedly, the special nature of International Human Rights Law.
Perceptual Knowledge and Recognitional Abilities
Authors: Millar Alan
Published: March 2019

Recognizing a thing as being some way from its appearance to some sense-modality is knowing that it is that way from that appearance. It is the exercise of a general ability to tell of things that are the way in question that they are that way from the way they appear. The ability is exercised only if the subject succeeds in that respect. Our fallibility in relation to those abilities consists in our not always exercising them whenever we make a judgement directed at recognition. For things to be recognized as being of some kind from their appearance, the environment has to be favourable to the exercise of the relevant ability. It will be so only if the appearance of things of the kind is distinctive of being of the kind. The view does not depend on the assumption that experiences have representational content in any rich sense.
Going By What We Know
Authors: Millar Alan
Published: March 2019

We have knowledge and often know that we have it. It is argued that epistemology should be guided by what we know about knowledge and not simply by so-called intuitions. This theme is worked out within a broader discussion of method in epistemology. Considerations motivating resistance to such a view are discussed, including the Russellian Retreat mentioned by Crispin Wright and the quest to understand human knowledge in general discussed by Barry Stroud. Sources of puzzlement about how we can have knowledge of our environment are identified. A positive lesson—the limits to self-understanding—is drawn from Stroud. Arguments from Ignorance (by Sceptical Hypotheses) in support of scepticism are critically discussed. It is suggested that the right response to scepticism is to show what is mistaken about the theories that underpin it.
The God and his Double
Authors: Beta Simone
Published: March 2019

Gods are a significant presence in Greek comedies, as it is the case of Hermes, the god who plays a decisive part as the divine assistant of the “comic hero” Trygaeus in Aristophanes’ Peace and makes the audience laugh when he asks the slave Karion to give him a job in Aristophanes’ Plutus. But the presence of Hermes on the comic stage does not limit itself to these famous examples. Quite often the god is present also as a statue, and sometimes this statue behaves like a real character, because it speaks and interacts with the other characters. The chapter deals with this peculiar role of Hermes. Given the significance of classical comic theatre for a full understanding of the life of the Athenian society, the chapter is also a contribution to the study of the figure of the god and the functions he performed in classical Athens.
Mercury and Materialism
Authors: MacRae Duncan E.
Published: March 2019

This chapter examines images of Mercury in relation to spaces of commerce in Pompeii in light of recent theorizations of material religion. Mercury was a familiar sight for Pompeian shoppers: he was frequently present in the shops, bars, restaurants, and markets of the Campanian city, especially on the façades next to the entrances of these properties. Against interpretations of these images as simply representational, the chapter argues that they played an important role in the mediation of Mercury as god of commerce in the quotidian lives of the inhabitants of the Campanian city.
Did Mercury Build the Ship of Aeneas?
Authors: Biggs Thomas
Published: March 2019

For the Romans, Mercury held some particular narrative and socio-cultural implications during the First Punic War and was connected to a nexus of thought with specific resonance during a markedly naval conflict. An underappreciated testimonium of Naevius’ Bellum Punicum (c.220 BCE) suggests that he crafted a version of the god who built Aeneas’ ship and led the hero from Troy to Italy. This understanding of the god’s maritime role in the epic and its literary afterlives are traced out in later texts and objects in order best to reconstruct a largely lost characterization of the god in Roman culture. Focus is given to Naevius, Vergil, Silius Italicus, Marcellus of Side, and the visual narratives found on the Augustan Tabula Iliaca Capitolina.
Hermes, Kyllene, Samothrace, and the Sea
Authors: Blakely Sandra
Published: March 2019

Authors from Herodotus to Hippolytus confirm a range of roles for Hermes in the mysteries of the Great Gods of Samothrace, as psychopomp, mystagogue, divine servant, or bridegroom. A connection with the most distinctive promise of the rites—safety in travel at sea—arises through those texts which reference Hermes of Kyllene as the iconographic type of the Samothracian god. Celebrations of this Hermes arrived on the slopes of Mt. Saos along with the first Greek settlers; the archaic wooden ithyphallic xoanon is a visual sign capable of embodying Priapus as well as Hermes. Northeastern Aegean traditions commemorate the god as a hardy swimmer, able to save himself and protect mortal mariners. The Kyllenian type Hermes of Samothrace is one among many elements in the ritual vocabulary of maritime safety through which the island articulated its control over the sea.
Hermes and the Figs
Authors: Vergados Athanassios
Published: March 2019

This chapter argues that the encomium to the fig preserved on P.Oxy. 17.2084 (third century CE) is a parody of an encomium, performed at a feast in honor of Hermes as a response to another participant’s praise of Hermes as the patron of rhetoric. This chapter argues that the encomium to the fig preserved on P.Oxy. 17.2084 (third century CE) is a parody of an encomium, performed at a feast in honor of Hermes as a response to another participant’s praise of Hermes as the patron of rhetoric.
Great Hermes
Authors: Versnel Henk
Published: March 2019

In the archaic and classical periods Hermes, though very popular, was a god of modest status. This chapter sketches three roads that led him to “stardom.” Each of them was conditioned by a specific “position” of the god. For two of them this was a spatial setting; (1) an isolated cave in Crete and (2) the imaginary area of the Netherworld. The god took advantage of the associations these abodes evoked in terms of function, quality, and status of their hallowed regular tenants, such as Pan and the Nymphs on the one hand and the dreaded Chthonioi gods on the other. The third position is determined by its inclusion into a cultural setting, in casu a stylish literary genre of its time: the hymn. In all three Hermes owed the idiom connected with his new status to the language of hyperbolic esteem, praise and exaltation current in their contemporaneous religious contexts.
EU Public Health: Countermeasures to Swine Flu
Authors: de Ruijter Anniek
Published: March 2019

This chapter is a case study on the EU’s response to a public health emergency in the form of countermeasures. More specifically, the scope of the case study is the involvement of the EU in the response to the outbreak of swine flu (influenza A H1N1) in 2009–10. The case study explores and maps legally the manner by which health policymaking can become strengthened through intertwining with more formal rules and the impact this may have for EU fundamental rights and values. It illustrates the growth and impact of EU health policy beyond legislative powers, where Member State engagement in EU health policymaking may have an impact beyond what is envisioned in law. The chapter first addresses how measures to counter a public health emergency can be taken at EU level, particularly focusing on the institutional actors. Second, the chapter identifies the countermeasures taken at EU level to combat the swine flu pandemic. Third, the chapter looks at the ways informal health policy (deliberately) intertwines with more formal regulation. Lastly, the impact of EU health law and policy in this particular case is analysed in terms of fundamental rights and values. The case study shows that the precarious balancing between public health and individual rights is not done by Member States alone.
EU Health Care: Access to Medical Care
Authors: de Ruijter Anniek
Published: March 2019

This chapter examines developments regarding EU legislation in the area of health care, rather than public health. The chapter is a case study looking into the processes and the involvement of different EU institutional actors and policy mechanisms in the adoption of the Directive on patients’ rights in cross-border health care (‘the Directive’). First, the chapter introduces the Directive itself, and considers whether it expands access to health care across the EU. Second, it turns to the way the Directive was adopted, focusing particularly on the different roles of EU institutional actors and the discourse and controversies that developed in health care in the EU as a result of the legislative process. Last, the chapter addresses the expansion of EU health-care policy beyond the adoption of the new Directive that resulted from the increased discourse on health care and its impact for individual rights and access to health care.
A King’s Illegitimate Son
Authors: Patterson Robert B.
Published: March 2019

Robert, the eldest and bastard son of the future Henry I of England, became the great earl of Gloucester of medieval history because of his father’s own successes in becoming king of England and the conqueror of Normandy. Robert’s birth status was a disability for him because of canonical notions of legitimate marriage which increasingly influenced Norman and English custom defining heirs. Henry, to provide a suitable life for his firstborn, created a magnificent lay baronial career for him. The key steps were admitting Robert to membership in the Norman ducal-royal family by recognizing him as his son, providing for his schooling and training in the use of arms capped off by knighting, and then by arranging a marriage to Mabel fitz Hamon, which made Robert a Norman lord, English tenant-in-chief, and Welsh Marcher lord.
A Second Career: Royal Counselor and Official
Authors: Patterson Robert B.
Published: March 2019

A second career for Robert resulted from the death of his half-brother William Aetheling and was advanced by Robert’s association with the cause of his widowed half-sister, the Empress Matilda, as their father’s heir. Components of this phase of Robert’s life involved his becoming most favored in court protocol and, by his father’s fiscal patronage, the award of a specially designed earldom of Gloucester, and service as one of the three most trusted royal counselors (familiares), and legate. The new earl’s baronial stature was increased and likely future role as protector of Matilda’s succession enhanced by receiving command of Dover and Canterbury castles in Kent and a major share of the barony of Countess Mabel’s uncle, Haimo II dapifer.
The Earl and the Chronicler
Authors: Patterson Robert B.
Published: March 2019

Earl Robert fought for the Empress Matilda’s succession to England’s with quill as well as sword. He commissioned William of Malmesbury to write a history of their succession-fraught era. The result was the Historia Novella. The earl’s education and literary habits and previous patronage experience were among the likely influences behind this role. The work is an apologia for Matilda’s claim and for Robert’s sponsorship and, as such, biased; it also features other of the author’s faults but also his virtues as a historian. The first edition contains evidence that Robert, directly or indirectly, was one of Malmesbury’s sources; the second, in the form of the copy given to Margam Abbey, Earl Robert’s foundation, may well have been produced under the auspices of his son, Earl William (1147–83).
Music and Mathematics— Creating the Sublime
Authors: McLeish Tom
Published: March 2019

The third mode of imagination is the abstract—the world shared by mathematics and music. Once held together in the ‘quadrivum’ of medieval liberal arts, they have now lost their obvious connection. This chapter explores their deeper commonalities, starting with Andrew Wiles’ proof of Fermat’s last theorem, and Shostakovich’s eighth string quartet, the shared role of number in rhythm, volume, and pitch leads to a deeper world of multi-layered structure and the unconscious imagination. The writing of, and writing about music of Robert Schumann, including a detailed examination of his Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra, is contrasted with writing about mathematical creativity by Hadamard. The collision of beauty, structure, and universality is illustrated by a close encounter with the Fluctuation–Dissipation Theorem. In both cases of mathematics and music, notation is explicitly displayed in an exploration of how it serves as an extension to imaginative thought.
Clerical Marriages
Authors: van Houts Elisabeth
Published: March 2019

This chapter sets out the importance of clerical marriage for a study of married life. Two vignettes introduce the lives of married clergy in Parma (northern Italy) and Paris. Lay and clergy chose marriage as a union within which sexual relations were sanctioned, albeit only for the creation of offspring. Given the vocal opposition of a substantial number of clergy against chaste marriages we must conclude that for these clergy and their wives the sexual aspect of marriage was a compelling one and to be preferred to chaste marriage or celibacy. The married clergy were not afraid to physically defend their right to continue their marriages as sexual unions. A strong incentive may have had its roots in the emotional attachment and love a married priest’s couple may have felt for each other.
Conclusion
Authors: van Houts Elisabeth
Published: March 2019

The conclusion centres on the four main thematic threads that run through the book. There was a marked move away from parental arrangements and frequent parental coercion to unions resulting from a couple’s consent and their own choice. Women especially at elite level probably were persuasive enough to make their fathers, brothers, and sons see the advantages in allowing the young to express their opinion and if necessary block their parents’ plans. The couple’s consent as a validating principle for marriage gives the clergy a supporting and enabling role rather than a creative one which should be attributed to the laity. Married clergy (and their wives) stressed the good of marriage for those who provided pastoral care. The lived experience of married life suggests that compatibility, a measure of sexual attraction, affection, and love better ensured a lasting relationship than an arbitrary property transaction arranged by parents between two families.
Introduction
Authors: van Houts Elisabeth
Published: March 2019

The introduction to the book contains a brief survey on the modern scholarship of the institution of medieval marriage and an overview of the modern historiographical debate on medieval marriage since George Duby (1919–96). There is a section on the medieval sources used for this book, especially narrative sources such as chronicles, saints’ lives, and miracle stories, as well as documentary sources such as decretal texts, episcopal letters, and charters. The introduction also contains a brief survey of four themes that run throughout the book as well as a note on the chronological and geographical scope of the book.
Rules for Rebels
Authors: Abrahms Max
Published: March 2019

Imagine you’re the leader of a militant group. Your enemy is a government far stronger than your crew. How can you beat the odds and achieve your political goals? For over a decade, the author has studied hundreds of militant groups throughout world history to discern why some succeed while others are doomed to fail. This book offers welcome news for the rebel. It turns out that the leaders of militant groups possess a surprising amount of agency over their political destiny. Triumph is possible. But only for those who know what to do. This is the first book to identify a cohesive set of actions that can enable militant leaders to win. Discover the secrets of their success. Successful militants follow three simple rules that are based on original insights from numerous disciplines (communication, criminology, economics, history, management, marketing, political science, psychology, sociology) and methodological approaches (qualitative cases studies, content analysis, network analysis, regression analysis, experiments). There’s a science to victory in world history. But even rebels must follow rules.
Introduction: The Stupid Terrorist
Authors: Abrahms Max
Published: March 2019

Islamic State was depicted in the media as a bunch of terrorist masterminds. The leadership was supposedly strategic to maximize fear by encouraging Muslims to inflict bloodshed around the world and then bragging about it over social media. But pundits were too busy extolling the genius of this evil strategy to realize that the caliphate was going up in smoke. The Islamic State’s plight was predictable from the get-go because the leaders failed to follow the rules for rebels. The author has extensively studied the political plights of hundreds of militant groups throughout world history and reveals that successful militant leaders have followed three rules. These rules are based on original insights from the fields of political science, psychology, criminology, economics, management, marketing, communication, and sociology. It turns out there’s a science to victory in militant history. But even rebels must follow rules.
My West Bank Discovery
Authors: Abrahms Max
Published: March 2019

This chapter presents some preliminary evidence that terrorism does not pay politically in terms of pressuring government concessions. The author first came to this realization in the West Bank during the Second Intifada, when Palestinian terrorism backfired politically. His experience in the West Bank led the author to question and then probe whether terrorism helps the perpetrators to redress their grievances, as proponents of the Strategic Model assume. Although many scholars believe that groups turn to terrorism because of its political effectiveness, the author shows that this common assumption rests on a shaky empirical basis. His evidence that terrorism is a losing political tactic lays the basis for Rule #1 in the book—that aggrieved groups should refrain from targeting civilians.
Terrorism Success Stories Revisited
Authors: Abrahms Max
Published: March 2019

This chapter revisits the most commonly cited examples in history of terrorism paying politically. If even these cases fail to illustrate the political effectiveness of terrorism then that would further undermine the evidentiary basis of the Strategic Model. Many scholars point to the political successes of the Irgun, African National Congress, and Hezbollah as evidence that terrorism is an effective instrument of coercion. Yet these campaigns did not coerce the occupying powers to withdraw by attacking their civilians. Instead, the groups focused their attacks on military and other government targets. This chapter shows that people overestimate the value of terrorist campaigns by lumping them together with guerrilla campaigns that have been far more successful.
What Smart Leaders Know
Authors: Abrahms Max
Published: March 2019

The first rule for rebels is to avoid attacking civilians. As previous chapters have shown, terrorism hurts the cause by lowering the odds of concessions and survival. There is considerable variation in the tactical IQ of militant leaders. Smart leaders understand the costs of terrorism or at least learn them over time from their own experience or that of others. By contrast, stupid terrorist leaders, such as those of the Armed Islamic Group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, and Islamic State never learn the value of tactical restraint. These groups pay a steep price for having ignorant leaders. This chapter shows that the leadership is important to militant groups in order for them to wield violence productively.
The Structure of Success
Authors: Abrahms Max
Published: March 2019

How can the militant leader help to ensure that members faithfully execute his targeting preferences? That is, how can he promote task cohesion in the ranks so subordinates refrain from targeting civilians? For the militant leader, the key to task cohesion is centralizing the organization. Centralizing the organization helps the leader to communicate his tactical instructions to the rank-and-file, discipline wayward members for attacking civilians, and vet out high-risk recruits prone to subverting the cause with terrorism. The leader has considerable agency over the degree to which his group is centralized. This chapter explains the benefits of centralizing it before quantifying them statistically.
Conclusion: The Future of Terrorism
Authors: Abrahms Max
Published: March 2019

ISIS paid a steep, albeit foreseeable, price for inverting these rules for rebels. Its playbook of broadcasting the indiscriminate attacks instilled terror around the world, but quickly united the world against the group. In countless media interviews, think tank pundits repeated the conventional wisdom that ISIS was following a brilliant script—unaware that it was the opposite to the one that triumphant militant groups have successfully followed. Militant leaders have a choice. They can maximize terror as political losers or forgo the terror and possibly win. The good news is that moderation pays. The bad news is that extremism will nonetheless continue. This chapter explains why terrorism will persist despite its ineffectiveness and suggests ways to reverse this deadly trend.
Forging a British World of Trade
Authors: Thackeray David
Published: March 2019

Brexit is likely to lead to the largest shift in Britain’s economic orientation in living memory. Some have argued that leaving the EU will enable Britain to revive markets in Commonwealth countries with which it has long-standing historical ties. Their opponents argue that such claims are based on forms of imperial nostalgia which ignore the often uncomfortable historical trade relations between Britain and these countries, as well as the UK’s historical role as a global, rather than chiefly imperial, economy. This book explores how efforts to promote a ‘British World’ system, centred on promoting trade between Britain and the Dominions, grew and declined in influence between the 1880s and 1970s. At the beginning of the twentieth century many people from London, to Sydney, Auckland, and Toronto considered themselves to belong to culturally British nations. British politicians and business leaders invested significant resources in promoting trade with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa out of a perception that these were great markets of the future. However, ideas about promoting trade between ‘British’ peoples were racially exclusive. From the 1920s onwards colonized and decolonizing populations questioned and challenged the bases of British World networks, making use of alternative forms of international collaboration promoted firstly by the League of Nations and then by the United Nations. Schemes for imperial collaboration amongst ethnically ‘British’ peoples were hollowed out by the actions of a variety of political and business leaders across Asia and Africa who reshaped the functions and identity of the Commonwealth.
The Importance of Being British
Authors: Thackeray David
Published: March 2019

From the 1880s onwards the Colonial Conferences and empire chamber of commerce movements promoted ‘British World’ trade connections and schemes for imperial preference in particular. Much of the appeal of schemes for promoting preferential trade within the empire rested on widespread beliefs about the vast future population capacity of the Dominions. However, Joseph Chamberlain’s subsequent tariff reform campaign proved highly divisive, and efforts to promote British World collaboration more broadly sharpened divisions between ‘British’ and Indian and colonial business elites. The development of British World trade networks led to the establishment of competing trade organizations, particularly amongst ethnic Indian and Chinese communities, which began to challenge the economic subordination of their communities within the imperial trade system.
Selling Washing Machines in Düsseldorf
Authors: Thackeray David
Published: March 2019

There was a rapid decline in British World trade networks in the decade between 1961, when Macmillan’s government announced the UK’s first attempt to join the EEC, and the confirmation of its entry in 1972. Wilson’s subsequent renegotiation of Britain’s membership only won minor concessions for Commonwealth imports. British enthusiasm for EEC membership largely derived from a belief that it provided the best basis for future economic prosperity. By the late 1960s there was certainly little sense that the Commonwealth could provide valuable future markets, which would compensate for Britain abandoning its ongoing efforts to join the EEC.