bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Can the People Rule?
Authors: Fishkin James S.
Published: June 2018

Four criteria must be satisfied for popular control: inclusion (the opportunity for everyone to participate), choice (there must be different options to choose from), deliberation (so that the people think about the choices and their implications), and impact (the choices must have an effect, either on the choice of policies or of office holders). What forms of democracy can be used, either by themselves or in combination, to satisfy these four criteria? The book distinguishes four: competitive democracy (popular elections via political parties), elite deliberation (by representatives), participatory democracy (forms of direct democracy as with ballot measures), and deliberative democracy (deliberation by the people themselves). None of these methods is self-sufficient but how might they work in combination? Other topics include manipulation, the “realist” argument for the lack of popular control via elections, and the Athenian system of popular control, especially in the fourth century BC.
Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings
Authors: Otto Jennifer
Published: June 2018

Philo of Alexandria and the Construction of Jewishness in Early Christian Writings investigates portrayals of one particular Jew, the first-century philosopher and allegorical interpreter of the Bible, Philo of Alexandria, in the works of three prominent early Christian thinkers, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius. It argues that early Christian invocations of Philo are best understood not as attempts to claim an illustrious Jew for the Christian fold, but as examples of ongoing efforts to define the continuities and distinctive features of Christian beliefs and practices in relation to those of the Jews. This study takes as its starting point the curious fact that none of the first three Christians to mention Philo refer to him unambiguously as a Jew. Clement refers to him twice as a Pythagorean. Origen, who mentions Philo by name only three times, makes far more frequent reference to him in the guise of an anonymous “someone who came before us.” Eusebius, who invokes Philo on many more occasions, most often refers to Philo as a Hebrew. These epithets construct Philo as a “near-other” to both Jews and Christians, through whom ideas and practices may be imported from the former to the latter, all the while establishing boundaries between the “Christian” and “Jewish” ways of life. The portraits of Philo offered by each author reveal ongoing processes of difference-making and difference-effacing that constituted not only the construction of the Jewish “other,” but also the Christian “self.”
Introduction
Authors: Otto Jennifer
Published: June 2018

Between the second and the sixteenth centuries CE, references to the Jewish exegete Philo of Alexandria occur exclusively in texts written by Christians. David T. Runia has described this phenomenon as the adoption of Philo by Christians as an “honorary Church Father.” Drawing on the work of Jonathan Z. Smith and recent investigations of the “Parting of the Ways” of early Christianity and Judaism, this study argues that early Christian invocations of Philo reveal ongoing efforts to define the relationship between Jewishness and Christianness, their areas of overlap and points of divergence. The introduction situates invocations of Philo within the wider context of early Christian writing about Jews and Jewishness. It considers how Philo and his early Christian readers participated in the larger world of Greco-Roman philosophical schools, text production, and the ethical and intellectual formation (paideia) of elite young men in the Roman Empire.
“One of our Predecessors”
Authors: Otto Jennifer
Published: June 2018

Origen mentions Philo by name only three times in his surviving works. More often, he refers to Philo obliquely as “one of our predecessors” or, more literally, “one of those who came before us.” An analysis of Origen’s references to Philo in light of his usage of the terms Jew, Hebrew, Israel, and Ebionite in Contra Celsum and the Commentary on Matthew reveals Origen’s approval of Philo’s allegorical interpretations of biblical narratives. Yet on one occasion, Origen criticizes Philo for failing to interpret the commandments of the Jewish law “according to the spirit” rather than “according to the letter.” Origen charges Philo with committing the same error that he charges against Jews in general, namely, the failure to interpret and observe the commandments of the Mosaic law spiritually rather than literally.
Conclusion
Authors: Otto Jennifer
Published: June 2018

As an allegorical interpreter who perceived some of the spiritual teachings embedded in the Hebrew scriptures, Philo did not match the image of the stereotypical Jew constructed by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius. Neither, however, did he fulfill their criteria to be considered a legitimate Christian. This chapter argues that Philo functions in early Christian writings as neither a Christian nor a Jew but is situated in between these two increasingly differentiated identities. Acting as a third term in the equation, Philo the “Pythagorean,” the “predecessor,” and the “Hebrew,” mediates between the categories of Christian and Jew while ensuring that the two identities remain rhetorically and conceptually distinct. An epilogue briefly traces the varying depictions of Philo in later Christian literature, including accounts of his baptism by the apostle John and his transformation into Philo Judaeus, Philo the Jew.
Designing a Research Study
Authors: Dewar Jacqueline M.
Published: June 2018

Chapter 3 examines basic considerations of education research design, such as whether or not to have experimental and control groups. Because many scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) questions arise in situations where it is not possible to have a control group, a number of other options are presented. The taxonomy of SoTL questions—What works? What is? What could be?—and frameworks such as “decoding the disciplines” and “threshold concepts” are used to suggest different ways to conduct an investigation. The importance of aligning the evidence with the research question and choosing an appropriate measure of change are also considered. The chapter closes with a discussion of the requirement to obtain human subjects clearance in order to make the results of a SoTL study public.
Gathering Evidence: The Basics
Authors: Dewar Jacqueline M.
Published: June 2018

Chapter 4 provides an introduction to gathering data for scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) investigations, including the importance of triangulation, that is, collecting several different types of evidence. Examples are given of typical kinds of quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (non-numerical) data that might be used in a SoTL study. That quantitative and qualitative data are more closely related than it might seem at first is discussed. The taxonomy of SoTL questions—What works? What is? What could be?—provides a starting point for considering what type of data to collect. Suggestions are offered for ways to design assignments so that the coursework students produce can also serve as evidence, something that benefits both students and their instructor.
The Final Step for Doing SoTL
Authors: Dewar Jacqueline M.
Published: June 2018

Chapter 8 provides information and resources for completing a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project. These include why it is a good idea to have one or more collaborators when doing SoTL, and where to find them, as well as sources of support and possible venues for dissemination. It describes the benefits of having a “critical friend” to act as a peer mentor. It details a variety of factors to consider when choosing a conference to present a paper. It also offers advice for choosing a journal, completing a manuscript for publication, and responding to reviews or rejection. In addition to conference papers and journal publications, the chapter describes several other options for going public.
Introduction to Part Two
Authors: Spelman Henry
Published: June 2018

This introduction announces the theme of the next three chapters: Pindar’s sense of literary history and specifically his use of other lyric poetry. Pindar capitalizes on his audiences’ familiarity with other lyric to an extent that has perhaps not yet been adequately recognized. His poems use related poetry to tell stories about themselves and their place in life. By examining different sorts of references and allusions across the corpus, one can discern a coherent view of the poetic world, both past and present. Understanding Pindar entails understanding an immanent literary history that reaches into and shapes his present. Methodological and historical questions of early Greek intertextuality are addressed.
The Classic Framework
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

In the classic setup of the Condorcet Jury Theorem, voters decide by majority vote between two different options. The Competence Assumption is that all voters are more likely than not to identify the correct alternative with the same probability. The Independence Assumption is that the votes are statistically independent. The Sincerity Assumption is that the voters always vote for the alternative they believe to be correct. Two results follow if these conditions are met. First, the Non-asymptotic Result says that the probability of a correct decision increases in group size. Second, the Asymptotic Result says that this probability converges to 1. We show that this convergence happens very quickly.
Improve Individual Competence
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

Improving voter competence can increase the epistemic performance of the electorate. Political scientists tend to be quite pessimistic regarding voter competence, based partly on Downs’s rational ignorance thesis and partly on empirical observations. We show, in the first section, that this pessimism is possibly exaggerated, looking at a classic study by Larry Bartels that compares actual and fully informed voting decisions. The second section demonstrates that improvements in voter competence do not need to happen across the board; merely improving the competence of a subgroup of voters can have substantial effects. We end with some sceptical reflections on the short-term effects of political education.
Division of Epistemic Labour
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

While the previous chapter considered diversity from the perspective of vote correlation, this chapter explores the positive effects of diverse search strategies and dividing epistemic labour. First, we consider searches on ‘rugged landscapes’ to point out the value of diverse localized search. The second section is premised on the assumption that voter competence declines the more options voters face. We show several strategies to address this. One is to consider fewer options at a time, another to let subgroups propose and the whole group dispose, yet another to let experts reduce the agenda. A different way to respond is to disaggregate the problem along several dimensions and vote on each dimension separately.
Discussion and Deliberation
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

Virtually all of our knowledge is second-hand, learned from others. In ideal deliberative settings, such as Habermas’s ‘ideal speech situation’, learning from others works well because participants are challenged to provide evidence and be consistent in their arguments. Not all real-world deliberation lives up to such high standards, but even non-ideal deliberation can be epistemically advantageous. We investigate five ways how: by improving voter competence; by reducing positive correlation; by incentivizing more sincere voting; by making the decision problem more truth-conducive; and by changing the decision problem in epistemically beneficial ways. The chapter ends with the conjecture that the ‘Deliberation Effect’ will boost group competence at least a little.
Taking Cues
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

The theory of ‘low-information rationality’ suggests that rational voters will not spend much time on researching political questions. Instead, most voters, being poorly informed, use cues as ‘informational shortcuts’ before voting. Among the cues are ideology, party label, endorsements, polls, episodic evidence, appearance, and name recognition. Experimental and survey evidence shows that cue-taking can be effective, but will occasionally fail if cues are misleading. Cue-taking tends to be more effective when the cues are informative, if voters take many independent cues into account, and if voters are good at interpreting the cues. Sample calculations confirm that the number of independent cues is particularly important. We also show that cue-taking can be used selectively to boost the competence of only the most uninformed voters for a substantial improvement in group competence.
Factionalism
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

Condorcet, Rousseau, and the American Founders saw factions as a threat to democracy. This chapter builds upon the idea of democratically-epistemically correct outcomes introduced in the previous chapter and applies it to factions. The largest faction (the ‘Masses’) will typically prevail over the smaller faction (the ‘Elites’). However, members of a well-organized faction can improve their chances of winning by practising ‘epistemic solidarity’: they first identify what the true interest of their faction is by taking a pre-election ballot among themselves, and then vote as a block in the election. If the Masses practise epistemic solidarity they will likely prevail; if only the Elites but not the Masses do so, the smaller Elites can beat the larger Masses. We also introduce uncertainty about group membership and employ computer simulations to explore the effects of imperfect group formation.
Direct versus Representative Democracy
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

On the face of it, direct democracy should outperform representative democracy based on the number of voters. If, however, the electorate is better at selecting representatives than policies (the Selection Effect) or if the deliberation feasible among representatives leads to epistemic gains (the Deliberation Effect), then representative democracy may be preferable. Another factor is whether representatives act as delegates or trustees. If the former, the epistemic loss from bunching voters into constituencies is minimal. If the latter, the much smaller number of voters may be compensated for by the ability to deliberate among trustees. A mix of delegates and trustees can possibly benefit from both Selection and Deliberation Effects.
Institutional Hindrances to Epistemic Success
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

The chapter explores features of institutional design that hamper epistemic performance, especially ‘epistemic bottlenecks’. The first section looks at the influence of strong leaders. The epistemic losses can be severe, especially if the leaders are influential and their number small. The second section shows how legislative committees and smaller upper chambers can act as bottlenecks. Quality deliberation may mitigate the effect. The third section analyses the epistemic outcome when party whips or small pivotal parties are in control. Finally, bottlenecks can also be created by supermajority rules, presidential vetoes, or by ‘cooling-off periods’.
Headline Findings, Central Implications
Authors: Goodin Robert E. , Spiekermann Kai
Published: June 2018

This chapter summarizes the core findings and implications of the book, offering an accessible reminder and an overview for readers in a hurry. The first section lists headline findings. The second section enumerates central implications for political practice. The third section insists, one last time, that ‘getting it right’ matters. We conclude that democracy, for all its perceived or real flaws, comes with the greatest epistemic expectations.
Truthmaker Maximalism
Authors: Jago Mark
Published: June 2018

If the theory of truth as truthmaking is to be plausible, then all truths must have a truthmaker. This is truthmaker maximalism. It is a difficult idea to defend (§3.1), and existing arguments for it are not sufficiently strong (§3.2). I’ll offer a more powerful argument, showing that the maximalist’s opponent is committed to a maximalist ontology (§3.4, §3.6). I consider some objections to the argument in §3.5.
States of Affairs
Authors: Jago Mark
Published: June 2018

We’ve reached the view that states of affairs exist and act as truthmakers for the corresponding propositions. But what are states of affairs, metaphysically speaking? I’ll begin to answer this question in this chapter, focusing on the metaphysical nature of positive, logically simple states of affairs, such as that Bertie is snuffling. I’ll discuss three approaches (§4.1, §4.2, and §4.3), and argue that all are viable options (§4.4).
The Phenomenon of State Organized Crime
Authors: Decoeur Henri
Published: June 2018

Chapter 1 describes the phenomenon of state organized crime. It analyses the context in which state organized crime occurs, highlighting the criminogenic mechanisms at play in ‘shadow states’ and kleptocratic regimes. It discusses the motives underlying the involvement of state officials in organized crime, showing that state organized crime may be committed not only for the perpetrators’ personal profit, but also in pursuit of state policy or broader ideological objectives such as international terrorism. It further identifies the actors involved in state organized crime and the means through which it is perpetrated, stressing that state organized crime is committed by senior state officials abusing their authority and using the material and human resources of the state for criminal purposes.
The Limits of Applicable Crime-suppression Conventions
Authors: Decoeur Henri
Published: June 2018

Chapter 4 highlights the limits of applicable crime-suppression conventions in cases of state organized crime, analysing the practical and normative shortcomings of relevant treaty provisions as well as external procedural bars. It discusses the fragmentation of the applicable law, the limits in politically sensitive cases of a territorial approach to jurisdiction, and of the principles governing extradition proceedings and the obligation aut dedere aut judicare, as well as the international law of immunities shielding state officials from foreign criminal proceedings as well as state property from measures of foreign judicial constraint. It also argues that the existing law fails to fulfil a crucial expressive function by not taking into consideration the involvement of state organs and resources in organized crime.
A Convention for the Suppression of State Organized Crime
Authors: Decoeur Henri
Published: June 2018

Chapter 6 proposes the adoption and discusses the contents of a universal treaty by which states parties would undertake to criminalize state organized crime specifically, to adopt provisions in their domestic law to allow for more effective law enforcement, and to refrain from participating in or supporting organized criminal activities. The proposed treaty is designed to remedy certain of the limits of the existing law. First, it would provide an appropriate legal basis for prosecuting and punishing individuals involved in state organized crime. Secondly, it creates a broad obligation for states parties to establish both territorial and extraterritorial jurisdiction over the proposed crime, and widens the scope of the obligation aut dedere aut judicare, with a view to pressuring states parties genuinely to initiate proceedings against suspected offenders present in their territory. Thirdly, it opens the door for the international responsibility of a state party involved in organized crime.
The Potential Role of the UN Security Council in the Suppression of State Organized Crime
Authors: Decoeur Henri
Published: June 2018

Chapter 7 discusses the potential role of the UN Security Council in the suppression of state organized crime. It suggests that in situations involving armed violence or a terrorist threat, state organized crime can be characterized as a threat to the peace, which opens the door for the adoption by the Security Council of coercive measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It proposes that the Security Council require UN member states to establish state organized crime as a criminal offence in their domestic law and to cooperate to bring offenders to justice. It also proposes that the Security Council require member states to freeze the assets owned by state officials suspected of being involved in state organized crime.
Concluding Remarks
Authors: Decoeur Henri
Published: June 2018

These remarks conclude the argument, reflecting on international law’s potential for addressing state organized crime and on possible avenues of action to overcome political obstacles.
Usurpation, Legitimacy, and Panegyric
Authors: Omissi Adrastos
Published: June 2018

This chapter sets out the aim of this book to explore civil war through the medium of the panegyrical corpus, and justifies this potentially controversial decision. The corpus of forty-eight speeches is defined and the book sets out its unprecedented programme to draw upon all speeches and authors within the period of the late third and fourth centuries AD, uniting a vast body of evidence that is usually compartmentalized in individual studies. The chapter then explores the extent to which panegyric, as a genre, concerns itself with themes of usurpation and civil war, and explores how the polemic directed against the emperor’s enemies can be used to understand the processes by which the reputations of defeated parities in civil war were blackened.
A House Divided Against Itself
Authors: Omissi Adrastos
Published: June 2018

This short chapter constitutes an introduction to the main body of the work, and sets out the wide-reaching consequences of permanent civil war within the later Roman Empire. It argues that previous research has overemphasized the importance of external warfare with the barbarian outsiders in recounting the political and military history of the late third and early fourth centuries. Far more important were the wars that Romans fought against themselves. The chapter sets out the broadly chronological structure of the book, and urges the reader to see that chapter divisions organized by dynasty should not suggest that this book takes a traditional approach to late Roman history. Far from it: the legitimacy of many of the late Empire’s great dynasties will be thrown open to question.
Tyranny and Blood
Authors: Omissi Adrastos
Published: June 2018

This chapter examines three moments of political crisis during the period 337‒54. First, the chapter defends the notion that the so-called ‘great massacre’ of 337was orchestrated by, or with the connivance of, Constantius. It then considers the wars between the sons of Constantine in the 330s and 340s. It contrasts the bitter antipathy between Constantius and Constans with the rhetoric of fraternal harmony in Libanius’ Oratio LIX. Finally, the chapter examines the death of Constans, the usurpations of Magnentius and Vetranio, and Constantius’ war in the West from 350‒3. The chapter explores how Julian’s Orationes I and II and Themistius’ Orationes II, III, and IV produced a coherent caricature of Magnentius, and also how they can be used to demonstrate that Vetranio’s usurpation in Illyricum was in defence of Constantius, and that Vetranio willingly laid down power in 350. The chapter also contains some remarks on the usurpation of Silvanus.
The Forest of Reasons
Authors: Appiah Kwame Anthony
Published: June 2018

As business decisions and actions spill over into society in ways that arouse our concern, it is useful to explore how philosophy might offer an alternative perspective to consequentialism. This chapter reviews the conventional approach and the risks of “maximizing.” It submits that the narrowly consequential approach provides us with practical reasons for action but neglects normative or moral reasoning. Reasons for doing might be based on rational choice, but reasons for being (existential reasons) and feeling (sentimental reasons) are guided by moral choice. That these last two may not be “commensurable” does not make them less important. Treating everything as tradable with everything else may be bad for the soul and society. We have moral reasons to feel and to be certain ways, as well as to do certain things. It is time to pay greater heed to Jim March’s long-standing challenge to consequentialist decision theories.
The Government’s Catalytic Role in Driving Societal Progress
Authors: Abouchakra Rabih , Hammami Mona , Snabe Jim Hagemann
Published: June 2018

Governments can contribute more effectively and efficiently to societal progress. The traditional government machinery is however inadequate, underfunded and wrongly funded, and still overly focused on economic output rather than societal outcomes. New approaches need to deal better with multidimensional problems, some massive (such as migration), and better integrate behavioral insights and big data. This chapter highlights: (1) outcome-conditional taxes and transfers (such as a sugar tax aimed at obesity, and cash for school attendance family transfers); (2) corrective rather than just preventive regulation (as exemplified by Germany’s paternal leave policy which aims to correct demographic decline); (3) nudge policies (such as opt-out rather than opt-in voluntary pension savings); (4) innovative financing (such as government matching of foreign remittance by expats to finance infrastructure in Mexico); and (5) greater use of big data to compare interventions and outcomes (as attempted by the US Department of Education).
First Philosophy In Metaphysics Λ‎
Authors: Judson Lindsay
Published: June 2018

I argue that Metaphysicsλ‎ is a unified work, and one which is not a continuation of the central books ΖΗΘ‎ (with or without Ι‎ or Κ‎). It outlines an extensive project in First Philosophy, which has close connections with ΑΒΓΕ‎, but which proceeds on a different trajectory from ΖΗ‎. The principal problem in understanding λ‎ as a whole is how to reconcile Aristotle's explicit presentation of the book as a highly unified study with the disparate character of its two halves – the first a general‐metaphysical enquiry into the features which changeable substances have as being substances of that kind (and also into what can be said generally about their attributes), the second a detailed investigation of the specific character and activity of immaterial substances. My paper aims to show how this reconciliation is possible, and what we can learn about Aristotle's conception of first philosophy as a result.
Perpetual Peace and the Cosmopolitan Constitution
Authors: Sweet Alec Stone , Ryan Clare
Published: June 2018

In Toward Perpetual Peace among States (1795), Kant outlined a blueprint for achieving peace and Right on the basis of six preliminary and three definitive articles, which are stated in the form of a treaty or constitution. In Europe, the definitive articles map onto a massive transformation of institutions that combined to enable the CLO to emerge. Political scientists have focused on Kant’s explanation of the absence of war among liberal states. Yet Kant himself prioritized a broader goal: the achievement of a Rightful condition among states and persons. In his essay, Kant argued forcefully to his conclusion that all state officials bear a moral duty to work to achieve a Rightful condition, while telling us little about how to proceed in practice. In subsequent chapters, the authors develop a Kantian-congruent account of a modern system of constitutional justice at both the domestic and transnational levels.
Constitutional Pluralism and Transnational Justice
Authors: Sweet Alec Stone , Ryan Clare
Published: June 2018

In Europe, a cosmopolitan legal order was instantiated through the combined impact of Protocol no. 11 of the ECHR (1998), and the incorporation of the Convention into national legal systems. As a result, two processes—(i) the evolution of constitutional pluralism at the national level; and (ii) the development of rights protection at the transnational level—became causally connected to one another. The first undermined traditional models of domestic orders wherein the notions of constitutional unity and centralized sovereignty reinforced one another. The second process created a multi-level legal system whose effectiveness depends on the extent to which the European Court is able to induce and sustain the cooperation of national courts and officials. The constitutionalization of the proportionality principle, at both the domestic and transnational levels, provided a doctrinal interface for inter-jurisdictional dialogue, and the collective enforcement of the UPR.
The Scientific Method
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

Can Science answer all our questions? If not, what knowledge can it provide, and how? Written in a colloquial style, and arguing from well-known and easy-to-follow facts, this book addresses all concepts pertaining to the scientific method and reinforces the inalienable role of experimental evidence in scientific truths. It also clarifies the limits of Science and the errors we make when abusing its method in contexts that are not scientific. Rather than a treatise on epistemology, this book is a collection of personal reflections on the scientific methodology as experienced and used daily by a practitioner. It is ideal for undergraduate students of all Natural Sciences, interested laymen, and quite possibly high school students who are approaching this topic for the first time.
First Principles and Logic
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter briefly summarizes the foundational logical principles upon which the scientific method is built.
Natural Phenomena and the Primacy of Experiment
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter defines what phenomena and objective data are and how the latter ones are obtained, and explains the fundamental role of experiments in obtaining information on the material world.
Approximate and Limited Description of Natural Phenomena
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter discusses what it means to “understand” a phenomenon in Science. It anticipates that the only knowledge of phenomena accessible to scientists is the approximate description of material reality, limited to a finite set of phenomena that share some characteristics.
Hypothesis
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter defines hypothesis as a statement, or set of statements, regarding observed phenomena. It also explains that hypotheses are not objective facts.
Don’t Be a Masochist!
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter clarifies further the role of a theory and the choice of a theory over another based on its simplicity in describing phenomena.
“Consensus” in Science? What Is That?
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter clarifies that “consensus” about a scientific theory is not equivalent to “certainty.” It also points out the difficulty of some scientists to work against the prevailing “consensus”, and reiterates the lack of democracy in Science and its dependence on experimental evidence.
Flow Chart of the Scientific Method
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter summarizes in a flow chart the essence of the scientific method.
Final Thoughts
Authors: Di Ventra Massimiliano
Published: June 2018

This chapter summarizes the discussion in the preceding chapters and discusses some open issues still left unresolved. It reiterates the inalienable role of experiments in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.
The Social Identity of Hosts and Patrons
Authors: Lane Christel
Published: June 2018

This chapter analyses inns, taverns, and public houses in their social context, exploring their organizational identity and the social positions of their owners/tenants. It examines how patrons express their class, gender, and national identity by participation in different kinds of sociality. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century hostelries afforded more opportunities for cross-class sociability than in later centuries. Social mixing was facilitated because the venues fulfilled multiple economic, social, and political functions, thereby providing room for social interaction apart from communal drinking and eating. Yet, even in these earlier centuries, each type of hostelry already had a distinctive class character, shaping its organizational identity. Division along lines of class hardened, and social segregation increased in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, up to World War II. In the post-War era, increased democratization of society at large became reflected in easier social mixing in pubs. Despite this democratization, during the late twentieth century the dominant image of pubs as a working-class institution persisted.
Publicans Between the State and the Brewers: A Subordinate Relationship
Authors: Lane Christel
Published: June 2018

Throughout most of the period covered in this book, establishments that sell alcohol consumed on the premises have had regulation imposed on them. Regulation and control have weighed more heavily on pubs than on the other two types of hostelries and, given their chief customer base, on the working class. Another state instrument to weaken pubs has been high taxation. The conditions for running pubs and publicans’ livelihoods were just as strongly influenced by the giant breweries as they were by state regulation and taxation. Particular attention is paid to the ‘tied houses’ system from the early eighteenth century onwards and to the more recent Beer Orders Act (1989). Over time, this Act had the effect of substituting the tie of pubs to breweries with that of pub companies. The ensuing dependence of tenants and the adverse effect on their livelihoods is viewed as contributing to the large-scale pub closures in the twenty-first century.
Social and National Identity: A Focus on Class, Gender, and Nation
Authors: Lane Christel
Published: June 2018

This chapter examines the class identity of both publicans and patrons of gastropubs, as well as the greatly diminished but not eliminated gender differences in the use of the bar. The importance of female dining customers to the economic health of pubs is highlighted, and the differences in male and female sociality are explored. The largely middle-class character of gastropubs is highlighted, and the confinement of social mixing to the upper and middle classes, as well as a small proportion of the lower middle and skilled working class is documented. The provision of traditional English bar food and the widespread embrace by customers of Sunday roast dinners is linked to a lingering English national identification.
Reflection
Authors: Roberts Allen F.
Published: June 2018

Tourist advertisements often depict an Africa filled with an astounding variety of wildlife, to the exclusion of local people (except insofar as they may provide “cultural” performances for safaris). By contrast, over the centuries African artists have depicted few of the domestic and wild animals whose environments they share, and the ones that are chosen are often not those emblematic of Western fantasies. Instead artists have concentrated on a curious menagerie of aardvarks and antelopes, bats and buffalo, pachyderms and pangolins, snakes, spiders, and spotted cats. Why are ...
Animals in the Renaissance*
Authors: Muratori Cecilia
Published: June 2018

This chapter examines the philosophical implications of Renaissance discussions of cannibalism, and more generally the pressure put on conceptions of human and animal in the wake of the discovery of the New World. Drawing on the medical tradition, Renaissance thinkers discussed the relationship between the diet, physical constitution, and rationality of various beings, including humans. One result of reflection on these issues was a blurring of the boundary line between human and animal; another was the development of the idea that human character depends to some extent on diet, so that, quite literally, you are what you eat.
Animal Souls and Beast Machines
Authors: Brown Deborah J.
Published: June 2018

Descartes’ long-standing interest in animals had many motivations—to reinforce his dualism of mind and body; to demonstrate the completeness of his physics; and to resolve what he considered to be inconsistent metaphysical and theological positions on the status of animal souls. Thus, the subject of animals serves to unite the various strands of Cartesian philosophy, whilst posing some of the deepest and most persistent challenges to that philosophy. Whether or not we agree with Descartes’s notorious view that animals are mere machines lacking all thought and sensibility, it is important to recognize that Descartes established the terms of a debate which continues to shape our thinking about animals, their cognitive capacities and their relationship to us. This chapter locates Descartes’ position within the scientific and moral debates of his time, emphasizing the sophistication of his attempts to explain animal life and behavior and the challenge he throws down to nonmechanistic explanations.
Justifying Punishment
Authors: Dagger Richard
Published: June 2018

Chapter 5 is the first of the three chapters of Playing Fair that make the case for fair play as the basis for a compelling justification of legal punishment. As it was with the discussion of political obligation, so it is necessary to begin this part of the book by clarifying key terms and confronting fundamental challenges to the enterprise of justifying punishment itself. The chapter thus begins with the questions of what is punishment and what are its proper aims. The latter question is usually answered by reference to retributivism and/or deterrence, and I try to place fair-play theory in this context by linking it to communicative theories of punishment while distinguishing it from Jean Hampton’s expressive version of retributivism. The chapter concludes with responses to those who would, for various reasons, abolish punishment altogether.
Writing in Clay
Authors: Lasser Ethan W.
Published: June 2018

This chapter focuses on the problem of reducing the totality of Dave the Potter’s artwork to writing. Throughout, Lasser sifts through the inscriptions and their accompanying handwriting as an incomplete source for discovering traces of the artist. Premier among Lasser’s observations: typical critical accounts omit the materiality of the jars, pots, and storage vessels. The shapes, sizes, textures of Dave the Potter’s material archive frequently get relegated to the shadows of critical studies that give priority to notions of authorship and the power of literacy for the antebellum slave. Inscriptions such as “Dave belongs to Mr. Miles” become ruminations for Lasser on the difficulty of taking the scale of Dave the Potter’s work into consideration.
1857
Authors: Foreman P. Gabrielle
Published: June 2018

This chapter gives a historical account of three inscriptions written by Dave the Potter in 1857, tying them contextually to significant incidents of that year in Edgefield, South Carolina: the eventful funeral proceedings of Preston Brooks, a violent South Carolinian politician, and the Dred Scott decision of March 1857. Foreman’s reading of the inscription “A pretty little Girl” moves beyond previously noted allusions to Mount Vesuvius’s eruption. The essay considers the inscription in relation to Frederick Douglass’s “Slumbering Volcanoes” speech of 1849, while developing an argument for reading the inscriptions, where appropriate, as being part of a series or triptych.
Beneath Notice
Authors: Woodson Jon
Published: June 2018

Jon Woodson argues for a global approach toward the interpretation of Dave the Potter’s multimedia works. A concern for the Afrocentric phenomenology of Dave the Potter’s poetics unifies Woodson’s close readings of numerous inscriptions. The chapter offers focused applications of historical contexts to analyze the material aspects of the poetry and to envision Dave the Potter working both within and against other literary and craft traditions. Woodson opens by reading the inscriptions as examples of tactics as defined by theorist Michel de Certeau as Dave the Potter uses his handiwork to manage his enslaved condition, and goes on to interpret the inscriptions both as material forms of lyric subjectivity and as texts in dialogue with the American nineteenth-century sampler tradition.
Potter’s Field
Authors: Bramwell Michael
Published: June 2018

Writing as an installation and performance artist, Michael Bramwell ties Drake to some of the same traumatic legacies of the Middle Passage and slavery that function as a horizon of authenticity in his own art. Bramwell’s video performances of himself sweeping the doorways of abandoned Harlem buildings in a standard-issue janitor’s uniform disrupt easy associations between African American identity and historic forms of oppression typical to celebrations of black art. In this chapter, Bramwell works through an analysis of Drake, while turning and returning to the legacy of historic trauma that lingers at the core of African American art.
Hume, Passion, and Action
Authors: Radcliffe Elizabeth S.
Published: June 2018

David Hume’s theory of action is well known for several provocative theses, including that passion and reason cannot be opposed over the direction of action. In Hume, Passion, and Action, the author defends an original interpretation of Hume’s views on passion, reason, and motivation that is consistent with other theses in Hume’s philosophy, loyal to his texts, and historically situated. This book challenges the now orthodox interpretation of Hume on motivation, presenting an alternative that situates Hume closer to “Humeans” than many recent interpreters have. Part of the strategy is to examine the thinking of the early modern intellectuals to whom Hume responds. Most of these thinkers insisted that passions lead us to pursue harmful objects unless regulated by reason; and most regarded passions as representations of good and evil, which can be false. Understanding Hume’s response to these claims requires appreciating his respective characterizations of reason and passion. The author argues that Hume’s thesis that reason is practically impotent apart from passion is about beliefs generated by reason, rather than about the capacity of reason. Furthermore, the argument makes sense of Hume’s sometimes-ridiculed description of passions as “original existences” having no reference to objects. The author also shows how Hume understood morality as intrinsically motivating, while holding that moral beliefs are not themselves motives, and why he thought of passions as self-regulating, contrary to the admonitions of the rationalists.
Introduction
Authors: Radcliffe Elizabeth S.
Published: June 2018

The Introduction offers, first, a brief historical background to Hume’s theory of the passions, which is further elaborated in the APPENDIX. Foremost among the theses of the early modern rationalists—like Reynolds, Senault, Descartes, Cudworth, and Clarke—to which Hume is responding are: that many passions left unregulated lead to the pursuit of unsuitable objects, that reason can overcome the pernicious influence of the passions and control our actions, and that the passions are states that represent good and evil. Second, the Introduction presents a sketch of Hume’s characterization of reason and passion and his account of their relationship. Third, it explains the method of interpretation used in this book and previews its chapters. The approach is coherentist: to present an intelligible and consistent picture of Hume’s theory of passion and action, accounting for as many of the relevant texts as possible.
Hume’s Argument for the Inertness of Reason
Authors: Radcliffe Elizabeth S.
Published: June 2018

This discussion first considers why Hume highlights the argument that reason alone is not a motive, given that few, if any, of his predecessors actually professed that reason could motivate without passion. Second, it ponders, but rejects, the idea that Hume’s “Inertness of Reason” argument equivocates. Third, it rebuts the view that Hume allows that beliefs, products of reason, can motivate, even if reason cannot. If Hume thinks beliefs can motivate, then: (1) his thesis that reason contributes to motivation without originating motives, will depend on the equivocation earlier dismissed; (2) we have no explanation how actions result from competing motives; and (3) he undermines his dictum that an active principle cannot be founded on an inactive one. There is textual evidence for an alternative reading of Hume, on which beliefs, even about sources of pleasure and pain, trace their force to sentiments that depend upon taste.
Belief
Authors: Radcliffe Elizabeth S.
Published: June 2018

Hume’s characterization of belief is crucial in the debate over whether beliefs could be motives. Hume seemed to doubt his account of belief in the Treatise, made corrections to it in the Appendix, and developed the corrected view in the first Enquiry. At least three readings of Hume’s portrayal of belief are viable contenders: (1) as a vivacious idea; (2) as a sentiment (which could motivate); and (3) as a disposition to behavioral manifestations. However, Hume did not intend to identify belief with a sentiment, but with an idea having a distinctive sentimental aspect. Hume’s notion of belief as a vivacious idea is not undermined by his hesitations, and ideas are not intrinsically motivating states. This discussion also considers to what degree the recent manner of distinguishing beliefs and desires in terms of “direction of fit” is rooted in Hume’s theory and replies to criticisms that imply Hume was confused about reason’s objects.
Motivational Dynamics and Regulation of the Passions
Authors: Radcliffe Elizabeth S.
Published: June 2018

A study of conflicting passions in Hume’s theory reveals that several psychological principles explain how these passions interact, often making the dominant passion even stronger. Hume’s distinction between violent passions and causally strong ones, and between calm passions and causally weak ones, is essential to his theory of motivation; however, it introduces questions about our ability to moderate emotional upheaval. The person most likely to find true happiness has “strength of mind”: the prevalence of calm passions over violent ones, such as concern for long-term good over intensely-felt interest in short-term good. Several principles emerge from Hume’s discussion of passionate dynamics to explain how a person deficient in this virtue might develop it. Self-moderation of the passions is possible, contrary to the warnings of the early modern rationalists, although within certain limits.
The Novelty of Laurence Sterne
Authors: Chandler James
Published: June 2018

This chapter focuses on the novelty of Laurence Sterne. Sterne's early writings consisted mainly of sermons. He won both immediate celebrity and lasting literary fame, however, with two works that he produced in the final decade of his life: Tristram Shandy, serialized in nine volumes from 1759 to 1767, and the unfinished sequel, A Sentimental Journey, published just three weeks before his death in 1768. These two books earned Sterne high praise even from tough critics. The novelty and originality of Sterne's work was widely acknowledged in an age caught up in praise for the novel and original. Tristram Shandy’s style, mode, characters, and trope became regular features of the literary landscape in Britain, Ireland, America, and even the Continent. Meanwhile, the unfinished sequel effectively created a new subgenre in fiction. Through the Modernist period, indeed, Sterne's work was recognized as a literary-historical touchstone and a provocation to innovate.