bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ribozymes against TGFβ1 reverse character of activated hepatic stellate cells in vitro and inhibit liver fibrosis in rats
Authors: Song Yu‐Hu , Chen Xiang‐Long , Kong Xin‐Juan , Liu Nan‐Zhi , Li Wei , Wu Xiao‐Li , Lin Ju‐Sheng , Jin You‐Xin
Published: March 2005

Background/aims

Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ1) is considered the key mediator in the process of liver fibrosis. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the activity of ribozymes against TGFβ1 in a cell‐free system and activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and antifibrotic effect in activated HSCs in vitro and in rats.

Methods

Three ribozymes targeting against TGFβ1 mRNA were designed, and then cloned into the U1 snRNA expression cassette. The chimeric ribozymes were selected for the analysis of their performances in activated HSCs through the detection of their cleavage activities in a cell‐free system. After ribozyme‐encoding plasmids had been transfected into HSC‐T6 cells, the effects of ribozymes on activated HSCs were evaluated through the analysis of proliferation, activation and collagen deposition of HSC‐T6. The adenoviral vector expressing the ribozymes was constructed, and then delivered into rat models of hepatic fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride.

Results

TGFβ1 expression was efficiently down‐regulated in activated HSCs by U1 snRNA chimeric ribozymes which possessed perfect cleavage activity in a cell‐free system. Further studies demonstrated that U1 snRNA chimeric ribozymes inhibited the synthesis of collagen I, reduced deposition of collagen I, suppressed BrdU incorporation, but had no effect on desmin and α‐SMA expression in transfected HSC‐T6 cells. Histological analysis demonstrated that the adenoviral vector expressing ribozyme (Rz803) could alleviate fibrotic pathology in rats treated with carbon tetrachloride.

Conclusions

The anti‐TGFβ1 ribozymes could reverse the character of activated HSCs in vitro and improve fibrotic pathology in vivo. It indicated that TGFβ1 could be considered as a novel candidate for a therapeutic agent against hepatic fibrosis. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Immune responses against tetracycline‐dependent transactivators affect long‐term expression of mouse erythropoietin delivered by a helper‐dependent adenoviral vector
Authors: Lena Anna Maria , Giannetti Patrizia , Sporeno Elisabetta , Ciliberto Gennaro , Savino Rocco
Published: March 2005

Background

Helper‐dependent adenoviral (HD‐Ad) vectors give rise to sustained gene expression after delivery in a variety of organisms. In particular, we previously documented persistent expression of erythropoietin (EPO) in mice after a single intramuscular (i.m.) injection of a HD‐Ad vector harboring the mouse EPO cDNA.

Methods

We use the same vector harboring the tetracycline (tet)‐dependent transactivator (rtTA2S‐M2) and silencer (tTS) and mouse EPO cDNA to analyze the capacity of the dual tet‐dependent transactivator system to control long‐term EPO gene expression and to study the effect of an eventual immune response against these artificial proteins after i.m. delivery in immuno‐competent mice.

Results

In the present study we demonstrate that i.m. injection of this vector in immuno‐competent mice generates a cellular immune response to the rtTA2S‐M2 transcription factor. This response curtails the duration of mouse EPO expression in mice, presumably by destroying the cells that co‐express transcription factors and the therapeutic gene. Nonetheless, regulation of mouse EPO secretion was maintained during the entire experimental period, both when the vector dosage was reduced and when the tet‐dependent transcription factors were put under the control of a muscle‐specific promoter.

Conclusions

Delivery of the tet transactivators using as vehicle a HD‐Ad vector induced an immune response directed against the transactivators themselves, causing short‐term therapeutic transgene expression. Regulated, long‐term therapeutic transgene expression was, however, obtained by reducing the vector dose or expressing the transactivators under the control of a muscle‐specific promoter. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Charge‐ and Size‐Based Separations of Polyelectrolytes by Heart‐Cutting Two‐Dimensional Capillary Electrophoresis
Authors: Cottet Hervé , Biron Jean Philippe
Published: March 2005

Summary: This work reports the separation of polyelectrolytes according to their charge density and their molecular mass by two‐dimensional capillary electrophoresis (2D‐CE). The two dimensions of the separation are performed in the same capillary using a heart‐cutting approach. The first dimension of the separation is performed in free‐solution CE (i.e. in the absence of sieving matrix) and allows separating the polyelectrolytes according to their charge density. A selected fraction stemming from the first dimension is next submitted to a second separation medium that is introduced in the capillary by electro‐osmotic flow. The second dimension of the separation is performed in the presence of an entangled polymer solution and allows the size‐based separation of the polyelectrolytes. The interest of heart‐cutting 2D‐CE in comparison with one‐dimensional separations is clearly demonstrated using a model mixture containing ten synthetic polyelectrolytes. Good repeatability on migration times (RSD from 0.12% to 0.33%, calculated on 5 successive runs) and relative peak areas (RSD from 0.74% to 3.6%) was obtained using this new methodology.

Two‐dimensional capillary electrophoresis separation of ten polyelectrolytes.

magnified image

Two‐dimensional capillary electrophoresis separation of ten polyelectrolytes.
Compatibilization Efficiency of Organoclay in an Immiscible Polycarbonate/Poly(methyl methacrylate) Blend
Authors: Sinha Ray Suprakas , Bousmina Mosto
Published: March 2005

Summary: This communication describes the compatibilization efficiency of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) in immiscible polycarbonate (PC)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends for the first time. The size of the dispersed PC particles was reduced significantly upon the addition of OMMT (6 wt.‐%) to the blend. The compatibilization effect of the OMMT was also assessed by differential scanning calorimetry, mechanical properties and thermal stability analysis of the modified blend.

SEM images of the fracture surfaces.

image

SEM images of the fracture surfaces.
A new discontinuous upper bound limit analysis formulation
Authors: Krabbenhoft Kristian , Lyamin Andrei V. , Hjiaj Mohammed , Sloan Scott W.
Published: March 2005

A new upper bound formulation of limit analysis of two‐ and three‐dimensional solids is presented. In contrast to most discrete upper bound methods the present one is formulated in terms of stresses rather than velocities and plastic multipliers. However, by means of duality theory it is shown that the formulation does indeed result in rigorous upper bound solutions. Also, kinematically admissible discontinuities, which have previously been shown to be very efficient, are given an interpretation in terms of stresses. This allows for a much simpler implementation and, in contrast to existing formulations, extension to arbitrary yield criteria in two and three dimensions is straightforward. Finally, the capabilities of the new method are demonstrated through a number of examples. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Angiogenin is up‐regulated in the nucleus and cytoplasm in human primary breast carcinoma and is associated with markers of hypoxia but not survival
Authors: Campo Leticia , Turley Helen , Han Cheng , Pezzella Francesco , Gatter Kevin C , Harris Adrian L , Fox Stephen B
Published: March 2005

Angiogenin, a 14.2 kD polypeptide that was originally noted for its angiogenic activity, is now increasingly recognized to have a multiplicity of biological roles in both physiological and pathological conditions. In breast cancer, there are conflicting studies questioning the role of angiogenin. Here, the pattern of expression of angiogenin during the transition from normal breast tissue to ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma is reported together with the correlates between the level of angiogenin in 239 invasive carcinomas and standard clinicopathological parameters, hypoxia‐inducible factor (HIF)‐1α and the HIF‐1α target gene DEC‐1. This study shows that angiogenin expression is up‐regulated in the cytoplasmic and nuclear compartments in in situ carcinoma and invasive carcinoma compared with normal breast tissue and that angiogenin expression in invasive carcinomas is significantly positively associated with high tumour grade (p = 0.03), positive oestrogen receptor (ER) status (p = 0.01), HIF‐1α (p = 0.001) and DEC 1 (p = 0.001), but not with patient age (p = 0.8), tumour size (p = 0.25), lymph node status (p = 0.69), epidermal growth factor receptor (p = 0.56) or microvessel density (p = 0.32). No difference in relapse‐free (p = 0.26) or overall (p = 0.63) survival was observed in patients stratified by angiogenin expression. This study suggests that angiogenin may be important in breast cancer progression and that, through its relationship with ER, it may be a target for tamoxifen. Copyright © 2005 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Computer‐based detection of neonatal changes to branching morphogenesis reveals different mechanisms of and predicts prostate enlargement in mice haplo‐insufficient for bone morphogenetic protein 4
Authors: Almahbobi Ghanim , Hedwards Shelley , Fricout Gabriel , Jeulin Dominique , Bertram John F , Risbridger Gail P
Published: March 2005

Early changes to branching morphogenesis of the prostate are believed to lead to enlargement of the gland in adult life. However, it has not been possible to demonstrate directly that alterations to branching during the developmental period have a permanent effect on adult prostate size. In order to examine branching morphogenesis in a quantitative manner in neonatal mice, a combination of imaging and computational technology was used to detect and quantify branching using bone morphogenetic protein 4 haplo‐insufficient mice that develop enlarged prostate glands in adulthood. Accurate estimates were made of six parameters of branching, including prostate ductal length and volume and number of main ducts, branches, branch points, and tips. The results show that the prostate is significantly larger on day 3, well before the emergence of the phenotype in older animals. The ventral prostate is enlarged because the number of main epithelial ducts is increased; enlargement of the anterior prostate in mutant animals occurs because there are more branches. These lobe‐specific mechanisms underlying prostate enlargement indicate the complex nature of gland pathology in mice, rather than a simple increase in weight or volume. This method provides a powerful means to investigate the aetiology of prostate disease in animal models prior to emergence of a phenotype in later life. Copyright © 2005 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A University‐based Six Sigma Program
Authors: Montgomery Douglas C. , Burdick Richard K. , Lawson Cathy A. , Molnau Wade E. , Zenzen Fran , Jennings Cheryl L. , Shah Harry K. , Sebert David M. , Bowser Mark D. , Holcomb Don R.
Published: March 2005

Six Sigma has been successful in industry, but until very recently almost all training for Six Sigma was done after graduation in the business environment. Arizona State University has implemented an education program providing fundamental Six Sigma Black Belt skills and experiences. Graduate students enrolled in either MS or PhD programs can pursue this 15 semester‐credit program as part of their regular graduate degrees. Students completing the program earn the ASU Graduate Certificate in Statistics in addition to the Black Belt certification. We describe the course work and project activities required for this program. The program can be completed in a calendar year as part of a regular graduate program, or students can also pursue the Graduate Certificate in Statistics and the Black Belt certification independently from the MS or PhD program. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The effect of acidification on the determination of organic carbon, total nitrogen and their stable isotopic composition in algae and marine sediment
Authors: Kennedy Paul , Kennedy Hilary , Papadimitriou Stathis
Published: March 2005

We investigated the effects of sample acidification on the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition (δ13C and δ15N), as well as the organic carbon (OC) and total nitrogen (TN) composition, of an algal culture and a marine sediment. Replicate measurements of untreated and acid‐treated samples were made using 1 M, 2 M and 6 M HCl, 6% H2SO3 and 1 M H3PO4. For all treatments the precision of the analysis for the acid‐treated sample was equal to or less than that in the non‐acidified sample. For the algae, analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated no significant differences in the mean OC and TN concentration, or δ13C and δ15N composition, between any acid treatment and non‐acidified samples. For the sediment sample a comparison could only be made between the different acid treatments because the untreated contained significant amounts (∼30%) of carbonate carbon. ANOVA indicated that the mean OC determined in sediment samples after the 1 M HCl treatment and the mean δ13C values after the 6% H2SO3 and 1 M H3PO4 treatments were significantly different (p < 0.013 and <0.05, respectively) from all other treatments. Mass balance calculations indicate that in some instances δ13C values were biased due to a contribution from unreacted carbonate carbon. There were no significant differences in the mean TN between any acid‐treated and non‐acidified samples. The mean δ15N values after 6 M HCl, 6% H2SO3 and 1 M H3PO4 treatments were significantly different from the untreated sediment sample (p < 0.044). Based on the significant bias observed for the δ15N and δ13C values, a weak (1–2 M) HCl solution is confirmed as the most appropriate acid for the removal of inorganic carbon from natural materials requiring elemental and isotopic analysis. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Increased gray-matter volume in medication-naive high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder
Authors: PALMEN SASKIA J. M. C. , HULSHOFF POL HILLEKE E. , KEMNER CHANTAL , SCHNACK HUGO G. , DURSTON SARAH , LAHUIS BERTINE E. , KAHN RENÉ S. , VAN ENGELAND HERMAN
Published: March 2005

Background. To establish whether high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have enlarged brains in later childhood, and if so, whether this enlargement is confined to the gray and/or to the white matter and whether it is global or more prominent in specific brain regions.

Method. Brain MRI scans were acquired from 21 medication-naive, high-functioning children with ASD between 7 and 15 years of age and 21 comparison subjects matched for gender, age, IQ, height, weight, handedness, and parental education, but not pubertal status.

Results. Patients showed a significant increase of 6% in intracranium, total brain, cerebral gray matter, cerebellum, and of more than 40% in lateral and third ventricles compared to controls. The cortical gray-matter volume was evenly affected in all lobes. After correction for brain volume, ventricular volumes remained significantly larger in patients.

Conclusions. High-functioning children with ASD showed a global increase in gray-matter, but not white-matter and cerebellar volume, proportional to the increase in brain volume, and a disproportional increase in ventricular volumes, still present after correction for brain volume. Advanced pubertal development in the patients compared to the age-matched controls may have contributed to the findings reported in the present study.
Self-devaluative dysphoric experience and the prediction of persistent first-episode major depressive disorder in adolescents
Authors: PARK R. J. , GOODYER I. M. , TEASDALE J. D.
Published: March 2005

Background. The quality of subjective experience of dysphoria may predict persistence of depression, independently of severity. This is tested in a clinic sample of adolescents with first episode of major depression using the Depressed States Checklist adapted for adolescents.

Method. Ninety-four adolescents with DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD) were followed up at 12 months. Self-devaluative components of dysphoric experience, ruminative style, overgeneral autobiographical memory, and self-reported and observer-rated measures of depression severity were assessed at presentation and evaluated as predictors of persistent MDD.

Results. Persistent MDD was predicted by the independent additive effects of the higher self-devaluative component of dysphoria, lower general intelligence and greater observer-rated severity of depression at presentation. Neither self-reported depression score, overgeneral memory retrieval nor ruminative style contributed.

Conclusions. High levels of self-devaluative dysphoric experience increase the liability for persistence of first-episode MDD. Other affective-cognitive components also contribute. The adolescent version of the Depressed States Checklist is a useful brief measure of cognitive vulnerability for persistence in currently depressed young people.
9 The changing role of the state in healthcare systems
Authors: ROTHGANG HEINZ , CACACE MIRELLA , GRIMMEISEN SIMONE , WENDT CLAUS
Published: March 2005

This article focuses on two major questions concerning the changing role of the state in the healthcare systems of OECD countries. First, we ask whether major changes in the level of state involvement (in healthcare systems) have occurred in the past 30 years. Given the fact that three types of healthcare system, each of which is characterized by a distinct role of the state, evolved during the ‘Golden Age’, we discuss how this distinctiveness – or more technically, variance – has changed in the period under scrutiny. While many authors analysing health policy changes exclusively concentrate on finance and expenditure data, we simultaneously consider financing, service provision and regulation. As far as financing is concerned, we observe a small shift from the public to the private sphere, with a tendency towards convergence in this dimension. The few data available on service provision, in contrast, show neither signs of retreat of the state nor of convergence. In the regulatory dimension – which we analyse by focusing on major health system reforms in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States – we see the introduction or strengthening of those coordination mechanisms (hierarchy, markets and self-regulation) which were traditionally weak in the respective type of healthcare system. Putting these findings together we find a tendency of convergence from distinct types towards mixed types of healthcare systems.
Trauma-Related Intrusions and Psychosis: An Information Processing Account
Authors: Steel Craig , Fowler David , Holmes Emily A.
Published: March 2005

There is active, current speculation about the relationship between trauma and psychosis. However, little is known about the information-processing mechanisms underlying the development of trauma-related intrusions in this area. Our account highlights the role of contextual integration, i.e. the need for experiential information to be effectively integrated into a temporal and spatial context in order to facilitate voluntary recall. Drawing on existing models of both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychosis (Brewin, 2001; Ehlers and Clark, 2000; Garety et al., 2001; Morrison, 2001), we propose a contextual integration account of trauma-related intrusions. It is argued that the strength of contextual integration, which occurs during encoding, influences the frequency and nature of subsequent intrusive experiences. Consequently, individual differences in schizotypal personality traits, which are known to be associated with levels of contextual integration, are also related to the phenomenology of trauma-related intrusions. Whilst intrusions can be seen to occur within a range of disorders, it is argued that contextual integration may be one key variable in understanding the relationship between an experienced trauma and any consequent psychiatric symptomatology. Implications for clinical interventions aimed at trauma-related psychosis are discussed, along with research aimed at developing the empirical basis for such interventions.
Human α-defensins neutralize anthrax lethal toxin and protect against its fatal consequences
Authors: Kim Chun , Gajendran Nadesan , Mittrücker Hans-Willi , Weiwad Matthias , Song Young-Hwa , Hurwitz Robert , Wilmanns Matthias , Fischer Gunter , Kaufmann Stefan H. E.
Published: March 2005

Anthrax caused byBacillus anthracisrepresents a major bioterroristic threat.B. anthracisproduces lethal toxin (LeTx), a combination of lethal factor (LF) and protective antigen that plays a major role in anthrax pathogenesis. We demonstrate that human neutrophil α-defensins are potent inhibitors of LF. The inhibition of LF by human neutrophil protein (HNP-1) was noncompetitive. HNP-1 inhibited cleavage of a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase and restored impaired mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling in LeTx-treated macrophages. HNP-1 rescued murine macrophages fromB. anthracis-induced cytotoxicity, andin vivotreatment with HNP-1-3 protected mice against the fatal consequences of LeTx.
Low O
2
tensions and the prevention of differentiation of hES cells
Authors: Ezashi Toshihiko , Das Padmalaya , Roberts R. Michael
Published: March 2005

Early-stage mammalian embryos develop in a low O
2
environment (hypoxia). hES cells, however, are generally cultured under an atmosphere of 21% O
2
(normoxia), under which conditions they tend to differentiate spontaneously. Such conditions may not be the most suitable, therefore, for hES cell propagation. Here we have tested two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that hES cells would grow as well under hypoxic as under normoxic conditions. The second hypothesis was that hypoxic culture would reduce the amount of spontaneous cell differentiation that occurs in hES colonies. Both hypotheses proved to be correct. Cells proliferated as well under 3% and 5% O
2
as they did under 21% O
2
, and growth was only slightly reduced at 1% O
2
. The appearance of differentiated regions as assessed morphologically, biochemically (by the production of human chorionic gonadotropin and progesterone), and immunohistochemically (by the loss of stage-specific embryonic antigen-4 and Oct-4 and gain of stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 marker expression) was markedly reduced under hypoxic conditions. In addition, hES cell growth under hypoxia provided enhanced formation of embryoid bodies. Hypoxic culture would appear to be necessary to maintain full pluripotency of hES cells.
Role of the NH2-terminal Membrane Spanning Domain of Multidrug Resistance Protein 1/ABCC1 in Protein Processing and Trafficking
Authors: Westlake Christopher J. , Cole Susan P.C. , Deeley Roger G.
Published: March 2005

Multidrug resistance protein (MRP)1/ABCC1 transports organic anionic conjugates and confers resistance to cytotoxic xenobiotics. In addition to two membrane spanning domains (MSDs) typical of most ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, MRP1 has a third MSD (MSD0) of unknown function. Unlike some topologically similar ABCC proteins, removal of MSD0 has minimal effect on function, nor does it prevent MRP1 from trafficking to basolateral membranes in polarized cells. However, we find that independent of cell type, the truncated protein accumulates in early/recycling endosomes. Using a real-time internalization assay, we demonstrate that MSD0 is important for MRP1 retention in, or recycling to, the plasma membrane. We also show that MSD0 traffics independently to the cell surface and promotes membrane localization of the core-region of MRP1 when the two protein fragments are coexpressed. Finally, we demonstrate that MSD0 becomes essential for trafficking of MRP1 when the COOH-terminal region of the protein is mutated. These studies demonstrate that MSD0 and the COOH-terminal region contain redundant trafficking signals, which only become essential when one or the other region is missing or is mutated. These data explain apparent differences in the trafficking requirement for MSD0 and the COOH-terminal region of MRP1 compared with other ABCC proteins.
Deliberative Libertarian Accounts
Authors: Clarke Randolph
Published: March 2005

Deliberative libertarian accounts allow that basic free actions may be causally determined by their immediate causal antecedents; indeterminism is required only at earlier points in the processes leading to free actions. Accounts of this type proposed by Daniel Dennett, Laura Ekstrom, and Alfred Mele are examined here. Given the assumption of incompatibilism, deliberative accounts fail to provide for the sort of difference-making that is distinctive of free action. Further, they fail to evade the problem of diminished control that they are meant to evade.
The Problem of Value
Authors: Clarke Randolph
Published: March 2005

Here I examine the charge that the indeterminism required by event-causal accounts is at best superfluous; if free will is incompatible with determinism, then, it is said, no event-causal libertarian account adequately characterizes free will. The distinction between broad incompatibilism and merely narrow incompatibilism is brought to bear. If the latter thesis is correct, then an event-causal account can secure all that is needed for free will. However, if broad incompatibilism is correct, then no event-causal account is adequate, though such views can still secure some things of value that cannot exist given determinism, such as distinctive types of difference-making and attributability, and the truth of the presumption of open alternatives that we commonly make while deliberating.
The Freedom of Decisions and Other Actions
Authors: Clarke Randolph
Published: March 2005

Libertarian accounts commonly hold that only certain acts of will, such as decisions (or choices), can be directly free, with the freedom of actions of other types—whether mental or overt, bodily actions—deriving from that of these acts of will. Here this willist view of freedom is rejected in favor of an actionist view. Event-causal libertarian accounts (and agent-causal accounts that employ an event-causal theory of action) can do as good a job of characterizing the freedom of actions other than decisions as they can in the case of decisions.
An Integrated Agent‐Causal Account
Authors: Clarke Randolph
Published: March 2005

This chapter begins an assessment of agent-causal libertarian accounts, which require causation by agents, where this is construed as causation by enduring substances and not reducible to event causation. Timothy O’Connor’s agent-causal view is examined. Like most such accounts, it does not require, in any case of acting freely, that events such as the agent’s having certain reasons cause the event that the agent is required to directly cause; the view consequently fails to provide for the reason-explanation of free actions. An alternative agent-causal account is advanced, one that integrates agent causation (as a requirement for free action) with an event-causal theory of action.
nietzsche* ad hominem
Authors: Solomon Robert C.
Published: March 2005

Nietzsche often employs ad hominem arguments, usually considered fallacies by most philosophers and logic teachers. But I argue that Nietzsche makes good use of these on the grounds that in philosophy, at least, a person’s character is certainly relevant to his or her moral claims and theories. Ad hominem arguments have also bee used against Nietzsche, but I argue that he would have to accept this as proper to his theory of perspectivism and what he explains as the varying perspectives of morality (for example, “slave morality”).
Nietzsche's Passions
Authors: Solomon Robert C.
Published: March 2005

Nietzsche is obviously a very passionate philosopher. He also has a good deal to say about the passions. In particular, he distinguished between two sorts of passions, life-enhancing and life-stultifying. For good reason, he was cited by Freud and Adler as the progenitor of “Depth Psychology.” I explore Nietzsche views on emotions and offer a defense of the passions. I suggest that Nietzsche anticipates not only Freud but contemporary physiological theories of emotion. I also discuss Nietzsche’s conception of the “Will to Power” suggesting that the idea is both exaggerated in Nietzsche interpretation and disastrous in terms of Nietzsche’s own aims. I do defend a version of the will to power as the passionate life.
Nietzsche's Affirmative Ethics
Authors: Solomon Robert C.
Published: March 2005

Nietzsche is often considered “the great destroyer,” a harsh critic with nothing positive to put in the place of what he tries to destroy (morality, Christianity). In other words, he is considered a “nihilist.” I suggest that he is not this at all but rather an affirmative philosopher who, like the ancients, takes living well as the highest value. I suggest that Nietzsche resembles Aristotle in many important respects, especially his emphasis on character and the virtues. I discuss the various meanings of morality (and thus the different meanings of Nietzsche's attack on morality and insistence that he is an “immoralist”).
Reclaiming the Sacred Commons
Authors: Gatta John
Published: March 2005

Wendell Berry’s creative nonfiction has been chiefly inspired by the author’s longstanding relation to his home place in Kentucky. It embodies his religious conviction that land should be understood not as commodity but as divine gift and sacrament, and that human community is organically wedded to the rest of nature’s ecological household. Confronting the problem of theodicy raised by the apparent cruelty and waste of Creation, Annie Dillard endeavors to combine traditional practice of meditation on the creatures with spiritual understanding gleaned from modern science. John Cheever, in his final work of fiction, produced a scathing critique of the pastoralism fancied to persist in suburban America—yet affirmed that this world we inhabit can indeed be revered as a marvelous and holy “paradise.” By contrast, Marilynne Robinson’s novelistic tale of a mountain-rimmed lake in the Pacific Northwest images not paradise, but the holy terror of the abyss inspired by untamed nature.
Learning to Love Creation
Authors: Gatta John
Published: March 2005

Unlike most environmental prose, present-day “ecopoetry” centers its imaginative attention on praise rather than protest, love of earth rather than rage. It reflects newfound awareness of nature’s violence, as seen in Mary Oliver’s poems; or of what science discloses about nature’s unseen and unfathomable intricacy, as seen in Pattiann Rogers’s poetry. Surprisingly, though, the meditative temper of contemporary ecopoetry often sustains a religious impulse of wonder concerning humanity’s relation to the nonhuman world. Varied forms of this earth-centered religious disposition can be witnessed in Wendell Berry’s Sabbath Poems, Gary Snyder’s Mountains and Rivers Without End, and Denise Levertov’s late series of meditations on the near-presence of Mount Rainier in Seattle.
Themes in Marxist Social Theory
Authors: Katznelson Ira
Published: March 2005

The first of the two main sections of this chapter discusses Marx's goal and the elements of a Marxist tradition, and presents the views of various later scholars (David Little, Steven Lukes, Alvin Goulder, Edward Thompson, Leonard Krieger, Georg Lukács, Antonio Gramsci, and others) on these elements. The three distinctive but inter‐related projects elaborated in Marx's aim of reconstructing the post‐capitalist world are examined in detail: the construction of a theory of history to account for the change between epochs on the largest possible scale, which focuses on the struggles between social classes within the twin frame of the development of the forces of production, and the nature of the relationships joining people in the social features of the production process; the building of a model of the economy within the capitalist epoch; and the construction of a social theory capable of inventing explanations about specific capitalist societies (the focus of most of this book). Gramsci elaborated on the most promising lines of inquiry embedded in Marx's historical writings to develop the base–superstructure distinction as a complex web of relations in which the economic, political, and cultural elements of a situation are interconnected, and in which the historicity of social structure is made central. The final section of the chapter explores these issues of Marxist social theory in the work of Edward Thompson, Raymond Williams, Eric Hobsbawm, and G. A. Cohen (who demonstrate the repertoire of alternative theoretical moves developed since Gramsci), and points out that the capacity of Marxism to provide an attractive alternative to the differentiation problematic in studies of the city hinges on the character and persuasiveness of these linkages. In the concluding discussion, the author returns to the issue of the capaciousness of Marxist theory.
Capitalism, City Space, and Class Formation: A Journey Organized By Friedrich Engels
Authors: Katznelson Ira
Published: March 2005

The previous chapter showed that neither David Harvey nor Manuel Castells in the early 1980s tackled the limitations of Marxist urban studies persuasively, each in his own way abandoning the project of Marxist social theory, whose central questions concern the joining together of structure and agency in a single hand. This chapter presents an analysis of the route taken by Friedrich Engels in his early work on cities in The Condition of the Working Class in England; in his compressed discussion of Manchester and other early industrial revolution urban centres, Engels blazed a road that has not been travelled either by Marxism or by students of the city, and identified mechanisms that connect structure and agency. The provocative union of Marxism and the city proposed by Engels had nothing to say about the history, character, and activities of national states. His contribution, rather, lies in the way he raised fundamental questions in three dimensions that correspond to each of Marx's theoretical projects: (1) questions about the linkages between large‐scale processes, principally the development of capitalism, and the emergence of the modern capitalist city; (2) questions about the linkages between the city as a point in the accumulation process and its internal forms; and (3) questions about the linkages between these forms and the development of class and group consciousness. These are the tasks entailed in joining Marxism and the city, and these are the questions explored in the remaining chapters of the book.
Introduction
Authors: Ameriks Karl
Published: March 2005

Argues, first, that there is a common ground in a methodological sense in the similarity of structure in Kant’s three Critiques. Also contends that central to Kant’s metaphysics and argumentative strategy is the assumption that there is an ontological common ground uniting subjects and objects, and that this is consistent with the regressive form of Kant’s transcendental deductions and his doctrine of transcendental idealism. In addition, argues that Kant’s philosophy as a whole seeks to show how there can be a common ground of agreement between the truths of common sense, philosophy, modern science, and rational morality. While providing an overview of the book, the Introduction also discusses the special interpretative difficulties of Kant’s Critical philosophy.
Kantian Idealism Today
Authors: Ameriks Karl
Published: March 2005

Discusses in more detail the general features of many arguments in contemporary philosophy that are often understood as versions of Kantian idealism. Argues that they are in fact quite distinct from Kant’s own understanding of transcendental idealism because, unlike them, it depends essentially on the notion of our specific forms of intuition. Also attempts to mediate between non-ontological and ontological readings of Kant’s idealism presented in interpretations by Allison and Paul Guyer. Ends with a discussion of special difficulties that arise in Kant’s crucial arguments about space and time in the Antinomies, and it proposes that understanding transcendental realism as a specific way of absolutizing the forms of experience may offer the best strategy for making sense of the contradictions that Kant claims to find in dogmatic positions.
Kant and Short Arguments to Humility
Authors: Ameriks Karl
Published: March 2005

Offers an extended analysis of the problems of idealism and interaction as treated in Rae Langton’s recent monograph, Kantian Humility (1998). It endorses Langton’s thought that Kant’s notion of things in themselves has much to do with a conception of the intrinsic natures of things, but it finds difficulties in Langton’s own argument that transcendental idealism, in the sense of an insistence on our ignorance of things in themselves, is to be understood as resting basically on the consequences of the mere receptivity of our experience. There are historical and systematic problems with this reading (concerning key features in the development of Kant’s treatment of space, time, and interaction), and in some ways it is very close to a questionable and influential reading of Kant by his German idealist successors (and some versions of the contemporary ‘merely methodological’ interpretation of transcendental idealism, criticized elsewhere under the heading of the so-called ‘short argument to idealism’).
Kant and Hegel on Freedom: Two New Interpretations
Authors: Ameriks Karl
Published: March 2005

Contrasts a metaphysical reading of Kant’s notion of freedom with recent accounts of freedom offered by Allen Wood in a book on Hegel and Henry Allison in a book on Kant. Wood argues that Kant’s account is more concerned with the metaphysics of causation than Hegel’s and is therefore weaker, whereas Allison proposes and defends an understanding of freedom in Kant that plays down the role of causality and metaphysics. Argues in part along with Wood, against Allison, on the issue of the meaning of Kant’s theory, and in part along with Allison, against Wood, on the issue of the relative coherence and defensibility of Kant’s theory in contrast to Hegel’s. Also notes that there are significant problems with the main basis that Allison offers for the claim of our freedom, namely, the thought that we ‘can’t help but believe that we are practically free’.
Taste, Conceptuality, and Objectivity
Authors: Ameriks Karl
Published: March 2005

Is a defence of the reading offered in the earlier chapters against another set of objections, including some recently articulated by Paul Guyer. It elaborates ways in which the objective nature of Kantian taste is also connected with another feature that is often denied of it, namely, a fundamentally conceptual character. To say that Kant’s argument presumes that taste is objective and conceptual does not mean that this is to take it to be all objective and all conceptual. Since it is rooted in human perception, taste must involve sensation and feeling, and in this sense it is obviously subjective and intuitive as well – but this does not mean that we should think that Kant (insofar as his aesthetic theory insists on valid judgements) means to deny a sense in which it also needs to remain both objective and conceptual, as these terms are commonly understood now. The general structure of Kant’s discussion here fits in well with my overall interpretation of him as a ‘moderate’ philosopher regressively seeking universal features of particular kinds of presumed experience.
The English School and World History
Authors: Little Richard
Published: March 2005

In contrast to Hidemi Suganami in the first chapter, the author argues that the English School of International Relations has made, and can continue to make, an important contribution to the study of world history. In particular, he suggests that the three traditions of world politics – international system, international society, and world society – provide a useful way of thinking about the many different types of international societies and systems that have permeated world history. Adopts a world historical focus on the more familiar distinction drawn by the founding fathers of the English School between the political structures that define an international system and the social structures that define an international society, the aim being to demonstrate that a range of different international societies and systems have, across the course of world history, given way to a single worldwide international society/system. Begins by examining the debate about the validity of distinguishing between international systems and societies, and then looks at the interaction between international systems and societies in the premodern world. Goes on to outline the establishment of the European international system/society and its contact with other international systems/societies, and concludes by assessing the utility of adopting a world historical perspective and drawing a pluralistic distinction between international systems and societies.
Critical Security Studies
Authors: Williams Paul
Published: March 2005

The author submits that the English School of International Relations could usefully engage in a dialogue with the literature emerging under the umbrella label of Critical Security Studies (CSS), suggesting that the security of individuals should be incorporated into the understanding of international society. He begins by providing a brief description of CSS, identifying it as a deeper (in that it recognizes that security is derived from societal assumptions about the nature of politics), broader (in that it recognizes that security extends beyond the threat and use of military force), and more focused (on emancipation) approach to understanding security. He then frames his discussion of CSS and the English School around four central questions: the first asks what is security, the second asks whose security should be prioritized, and the third asks what counts as a security issue. The approaches of the English School of International Relations offer a restricted response to all three of these questions, and CSS also challenges the School's belief in the central value of international order by insisting that in the long run human emancipation may involve the removal of international order as the primary value. Finally, the author asks who or what can provide security – what is to be done to promote an emancipatory politics of security in the contemporary era.
(Re)Imagining the Governance of Globalization
Authors: Falk Richard
Published: March 2005

Part Three of the book turns to the question of international society and international relations after September 11, starting with a chapter by Richard Falk, who argues that international society remains a useful starting point for studying today's globalized world because it is predicated on the dual assertions of international anarchy and a (potentially) global normative order – a duality that provides a fertile breeding ground for different accounts of what the world should look like. The author discusses the changing geopolitical context of globalization and global governance, suggesting that if globalization is to be retained as a label for the current phase of international relations, its net must be cast far more broadly than it has been – since the events of 2001 it needs to be interpreted far less economistically, and more comprehensively. The last part of the chapter considers approaches to global governance, international society, and world society given this altered understanding of ‘globalization’. The author identifies five overlapping accounts of globalization that provide alternative and competing pictures of the future of global governance and international society: corporate globalization, which refers to the growth of transnational business and the forging of common interests and values based on neoliberal economics; civic globalization, which in many ways is a civil society response to the corporate variety and has manifested itself in a number of transnational anti‐globalization movements, but has now moved beyond straightforward opposition towards the articulation of new global political agendas; imperial globalization, which is a US‐led form of globalization that seeks not the creation of a genuinely multinational neoliberal global economy but rather the extension of American power and the satisfaction of US interests narrowly conceived; apocalyptic globalization, the variant promoted by Osama Bin Laden and his followers and aims to overthrow the society of states and replace it with an Islamic world state; and regional globalization, in which a number of regions around the world are developing their own subsystems as a way of moderating pressures created by the global flow of capital. The author argues that none of these forms of globalization is likely to predominate completely, but that the relationship between them is likely to shape the nature of global governance for the foreseeable future.
Normative Innovation and the Great Powers
Authors: Morris Justin
Published: March 2005

In this final chapter, The author asks whether the shift from a multipolar to unipolar society of states has led to normative change in international society, using the norm prohibiting the use of force as a case study, and arguing that although material changes in international society do have an impact, the norms that underpin international society are not infinitely malleable and constrain even powerful actors like the USA. He begins his chapter with a discussion of the relationship between power and norms, which reinforces the linkages between English School of International Relations and constructivist approaches identified in Ch. 4 by Reus‐Smit. The author dismisses the realist and materialist arguments that norms play, at most, a peripheral role in international life, by arguing that even powerful states prefer to act in accordance with international rules. In relation to the use of force, he argues that it is very difficult to find a case since 1945 where a state has not sought to justify its use of force with reference to the rules governing that discussion. After charting the evolution of norms pertaining to the use of force and the globalization of international society, he turns to the post‐September 11 era, arguing that although the USA continues to follow the rules to a large extent, its attempt to act as a ‘normative innovator’ by claiming an exceptional right to self‐defence poses a grave danger to both the UN and the system of law that underpins the society of states.
Preface
Authors: Douglas Mary
Published: March 2005

The author discusses the origin of her book and its purpose, which she describes as setting the two main priestly books of the Pentateuch – the Books of Leviticus and Numbers – in (an anthropologist's) context. These Books are regarded by the author as having a strong shared political commitment: the keeping alive of the legendary alliance of the twelve sons of Jacob, and the advocacy of peace with Samaria, at the time when the Second Temple community of Israel was drawing its boundaries and redefining itself as an exclusive religious group and Samaria was standing out as a dangerous enemy. The scheme of this book is described, and the origins of the controversies that have arisen over interpretation of the Pentateuch outlined, along with discussion of the probable views of the priestly editors (both in exile and on return) on ecstatic cults and the resulting reinforcement of the orderly and theorized approach they took to renewing the old religion. The final section of the Preface returns to the theme of problems of translation and meaning and the concerns of the priestly editors in the different chapters of the book.