bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A summary of key things to remember about exposure therapy
Authors: Farrell Nicholas R. , Becker Carolyn Black , Waller Glenn
Published: January 2024

Exposure therapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of eating disorders, and this book has shown how you can use its principles and practices to address a wide range of symptoms. It has explained the mechanisms whereby exposure therapy can bring about change, and how to maximize your chances of benefiting by throwing yourself into such change. This requires facing your fears to overcome them and needs planning and persistence, as well as the support of others where available. Readers are encouraged to turn this learning into real-life change, dropping your safety behaviors and facing your fears to beat your eating disorder.
What We Owe to Future People
Authors: Finneron-Burns Elizabeth
Published: January 2024

The aim of the book is twofold: (1) to develop a comprehensive, contractualist theory of intergenerational ethics, and (2) to argue that contractualism’s ability to be that comprehensive theory of intergenerational ethics contributes to its plausibility as a moral theory in general. The book’s core claim is that contractualism provides us with a comprehensive theory of intergenerational ethics that justifies including future people in the scope of what we owe to each other and tells us how much we owe them. It begins by arguing that contractualism is not susceptible to the non-identity problem and so we must consider what future people could reasonably reject. It then argues that contractualism endorses ‘reason-balanced sufficientarianism’ and develops a series of moral principles guiding our behaviour towards future generations in terms of resource distribution, procreative decisions, optimal population size, and risk imposition. It concludes by applying these general principles to concrete, real-world individual and policy decisions and considering how the principles can and do interact with each other.
A ‘Mind-Bending Topic’
Authors: Finneron-Burns Elizabeth
Published: January 2024

The aim of the book is twofold: (1) to develop a comprehensive, contractualist theory of intergenerational ethics, and (2) to argue that contractualism’s ability to be that comprehensive theory of intergenerational ethics contributes to its plausibility as a moral theory in general. The introduction sets out the criteria that a ‘comprehensive theory of intergenerational ethics’ needs to meet, including the ‘scope’ and ‘content’ questions, the disanalogous properties between the intra- and intergenerational contexts, and two paradoxes in population ethics that a comprehensive theory of intergenerational ethics will need to resolve (the non-identity problem and the problem of optimal population size).
Optimal Population Size
Authors: Finneron-Burns Elizabeth
Published: January 2024

There are any number of possible population sizes, from zero (human extinction) to a population so large that people live barely-worth-living lives (the repugnant conclusion). This chapter argues that contractualist reasoning can explain why the repugnant conclusion ought to be rejected. It also examines the reasons why human extinction might be wrong and argues that allowing human extinction would be wrong unless it were universally voluntary, a highly unlikely ou. Having eliminated the largest and smallest population sizes, the chapter argues that the ‘reason-balanced sufficientarian’ principle implies that there is no ‘optimal’ population size, but rather many non-rejectable possibilities between the two extremes.
Conclusion
Authors: Finneron-Burns Elizabeth
Published: January 2024

This chapter concludes by showing how the different topics discussed in the book intersect with each other in interesting ways. The arguments in Chapter 4’s discussion of individual procreative decisions are intimately linked with the questions raised in Chapter 5’s discussion of optimal population size because individual procreative decisions affect population size and population size affects the permissibility of particular procreative decisions. Furthermore, the resources available to a particular generation as determined by the principles developed in Chapter 3 will also affect the permissibility of individual procreative decisions. Finally, resource distribution and population size are also closely related because a generation’s size will affect how many resources current people need to leave for the future. This concluding chapter argues that one of the advantages of contractualist reasoning is that the principles governing each of these topics are flexible enough to respond to the different conditions caused by the others.
The Classical Upaniṣads
Authors: Cohen Signe
Published: January 2024

There are hundreds of Sanskrit texts called Upaniṣads. But about a dozen of these—usually regarded as the oldest ones—have been particularly significant in the history of Hinduism. These are often referred to as the “Classical Upaniṣads,” and the eighth-century ce philosopher Śaṅkara composed commentaries on eleven of these. Chapter 4 gives a synopsis of the main ideas of thirteen Upaniṣads: the eleven commented on by Śaṅkara (Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Taittirīya, Aitareya, Īśā, Kena, Kaṭha, Muṇḍaka, Śvetāśvatara, Māṇḍūkya, and Praśna), as well as two other texts that seem to be of roughly the same age (Kauṣītaki and Maitrī). The chapter concludes by discussing the central role of the commentator Śaṅkara in creating a “canon” of Upaniṣads.
Central Ideas in the Upaniṣads
Authors: Cohen Signe
Published: January 2024

The Upaniṣads claim that understanding the mystical identity between ātman (the self) and brahman (the divine impersonal force) is the path to enlightenment. But what exactly are ātman and brahman, and what are the different ways they are described in the Upaniṣads? Chapter 6 also discusses central ideas like puruṣa (“the person”), liberation through knowledge, mantras (sacred sounds), Upaniṣadic concepts of time and eternity, and karma and reincarnation. The concepts of karma and reincarnation, which become significant in later Hinduism, are first introduced in the Upaniṣads. But where did these ideas come from, and why were they taught in these texts?
Narrative and Main Characters in the Upaniṣads
Authors: Cohen Signe
Published: January 2024

Central ideas may be presented in passages of abstract philosophical reflection in the Upaniṣads, but some of the most important ideas are conveyed through narrative episodes, especially in dialogues between characters. Characters in the Upaniṣads are concerned with the ultimate reality, and they ask, instruct, and debate each other to get closer to the truth about this reality. The many memorable characters of the Upaniṣads not only serve to present philosophical ideas in a livelier, more personal way; they also demonstrate that even the most abstract knowledge is located in people, and that the path to knowledge is therefore to find the right teacher. This chapter gives an overview of the main characters in the Upaniṣads with a summary of their ideas.
The Canonical Status and Reception of the Upaniṣads
Authors: Cohen Signe
Published: January 2024

The final chapter discusses the two main categories of sacred Hindu texts, śruti and smṛti, and discusses the canonical status of the Upaniṣads in Hinduism. The chapter outlines the role the Upaniṣads have played in Indian society and discusses the influence of the Upaniṣads on Vedānta philosophy and on modern Indian thought. The first translation of the Upaniṣads, the seventeenth-century Persian version commissioned by the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh, is discussed in some detail. The chapter then outlines the reception of the Upaniṣads in the West and discusses their influence on Schelling, Schopenhauer, Emerson, Thoreau, and Schrödinger, before concluding with a brief historical survey of the printed editions and translations of the Upaniṣads.
Online or in PersonHow Do We Find Our Ideal Partner?
Authors: Coduto Kathryn
Published: January 2024

Individuals no longer have to rely on only in-person options to find a romantic partner; rather, individuals looking to enter into romantic relationships can navigate the Internet and mobile options to connect and find love. The expansion of dating opportunities offers its own questions and challenges. This chapter examines the evolution of online dating, considers individual motivation and communication practices, and debates the potential for greater diversity in dating options and partners. It highlights the pre-interaction processes that accompany desktop and mobile affordances, assesses changes in proximal distance limitations, and explores how individuals transition from meeting online to in-person encounters. It discusses pre-interaction strategies for finding, communicating, and meeting ideal partners in the contemporary dating scene, while also delineating how individuals attempt to manage both uncertainty and safety when dating. This chapter concludes with insights about what happens after finding one’s partner, and the future of online and in-person dating.
Modern Marital Satisfaction
Authors: Perlman Daniel , Miller Rowland S.
Published: January 2024

Many marriages are not as happy as people expected them to be, in part because modern spouses too often hold unrealistic expectations about the outcomes their futures hold. Dissatisfaction results when our outcomes are poorer than we expected. A variety of influences—marital misinformation, counterproductive personal beliefs, romantic illusions, adverse events, attention to one’s alternatives, and the unanticipated costs of intimacy—only some of them avoidable, can all lead partners to expect more delight and fewer frustrations than they actually experience. Dangerous disillusionment can result, so the pursuit of relational realism is encouraged. Readers are advised to be reasonable and more realistic than romantic, and suggestions are provided.
What Is a Marriage?
Authors: Balzarini Rhonda N. , Blair Karen L. , Walter Marissa
Published: January 2024

For better or worse, the last two decades have seen rapid changes in the family system, with a trend toward increasing diversity of family structures and with people increasingly opting out of or choosing to delay marriage. Longer life spans, steep fertility declines, increased social acceptance of diverse marriages, and a host of social trends are changing society and introducing more diverse representations of relationships. Yet, despite the increased diversification of the family system, the nuclear, heterosexual monogamous family remains a powerful normative ideal in much of the Western world. People who do not follow this pattern, like individuals in same-sex or consensually non-monogamous (CNM) relationships, may experience stigma or discrimination, which can affect the individuals and their relationships. This chapter will discuss the diversification of the family structure, including a discussion of the evolution of marriage and a deep dive into interracial, same-sex, and CNM relationships. Furthermore, it will discuss the prejudice that people in diverse relationships face and how this might broadly shape their relationships, mental health, and well-being.
Marriage and Ethnicity Around the World
Authors: Gaines Stanley O.
Published: January 2024

In Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Goffman (1963) alluded to the “tribal stigmas” of race, religion, and nationality. These stigmas may carry important social-psychological implications for individuals who are devalued along one or more of those dimensions. They may also affect the social and psychological experiences of those individuals’ relationship partners. To what extent are the “tribal stigmas” in question, whether reflecting individuals’ race (i.e., presumed biological heritage) and/or individuals’ religion and nationality (i.e., “faith-based” and “state-based” aspects of presumed cultural heritage, respectively), relevant to the establishment, maintenance, and potential dissolution of contemporary marriages, in the era of the global village? The present chapter will address marriage and ethnicity around the world by surveying available research and evaluating the usefulness of Goffman’s (1959) interactionist role theory—integrated with Thibaut and Kelley’s (1959; Kelley, 1979; Kelley & Thibaut, 1978), within Mead’s (1934/1967) social behaviorism—in light of current trends.
Conscious Uncoupling
Authors: Salehuddin Abdullah S. , Afifi Tamara D. , Salmon Jade
Published: January 2024

Conscious uncoupling—an approach to relational termination grounded in tremendous amounts of goodwill, generosity, and respect between partners—is a modern, relational phenomenon challenging traditional perceptions and practices of divorce. Historically, the language of “happily ever after” and “until death do us part” has arguably generated unrealistic expectations for partners to remain in marriages despite any circumstances. However, recent divorce and marriage statistics suggest that most human beings will enter two to three serious relationships and, by extension, experience the effects of relational termination. The notion of divorce has historically had negative connotations, but conscious uncoupling reconceptualizes the meaning of relational termination with a sense of unity, wholeness, and productivity. In this chapter, we (1) discuss the history of marital ideology before reconceptualizing relational termination, (2) unpack conscious uncoupling in romantic relationships and its effects on children, and (3) identify important factors to consider for imminent research concerning conscious uncoupling.
The New and Significant Role of Friendship in the 21st Century
Authors: Beauparlant Emily T. , Hojjat Mahzad , Melancon Nicole , Machia Laura V.
Published: January 2024

Romantic relationships are important to individuals’ well-being and crucial in fulfilling psychological needs. Considering the declining rates of marriage and an increase in single-person households, a sizable percentage of U.S. adults today live outside of the formal boundaries of a marriage and potentially without a long-standing romantic partner. Therefore, it is important to examine need fulfillment processes for single individuals. Research suggests that friends and family can play significant roles in need fulfillment in lieu of a romantic partner; thus, it is plausible that single adults are fulfilling their needs through alternative social relationships, particularly friendships. Changing cultural values (e.g., increased individualism) and attitudes (e.g., decreased emphasis on institutionalized marriage) are also important variables to consider. This chapter provides an overview of the current psychological research on postponement of marriage and the increase in single adults, followed by the authors’ own relevant findings about need fulfillment processes in single adults.
Friendships in the Time of COVID-19
Authors: Hojjat Mahzad , Moyer Anne , Brake Sydney , Nelson Brady D. , Richmond Lauren L. , Schleider Jessica L. , London Bonita
Published: January 2024

Friendships are one of the most important close relationships. The significance of friendships looms large when faced with difficult life challenges, as people are in greatest need of support in such times. While friends have been an important source of social support for many during the pandemic, research suggests that many others experienced conflict with friends likely due to polarized views on coping with COVID-19. This chapter will explore the supporting role of friendships in coping with a significant public health crisis, and the factors that may have strained or sustained friendships during this pandemic. It will look at how different types of social support from friends may have helped individuals cope with social isolation and mental health crises during the pandemic. In addition, it will explore what factors (e.g., friendship characteristics, maintenance strategies) may have led to dissolution of some friendships, but not others.
Communication and Resilience in Stepfamilies
Authors: Braithwaite Dawn O. , Oliver-Blackburn Bailey M.
Published: January 2024

Researchers have been working to better understand how stepfamily interactions, boundaries, roles, and expectations impact these restructured family systems. The authors center attention on important ways stepfamilies communicate to foster functional and resilient relationships among stepfamily members. We frame the stepfamily experience within Buzzanell’s communication theory of resilience to feature strengths and opportunities for stepfamilies as they are constituted in and through communicative processes that enhance their abilities to create new normalcies. We consider how stepfamilies interact and co-create their new family form via Buzzanell’s five resilience processes: (a) crafting normalcy, (b) foregrounding productive action while backgrounding negative feelings, (c) affirming identity anchors, (d) maintaining and using communication networks, and (e) putting alternative logics to work. We end with conclusions on the importance of focusing on the development of positive stepfamilies and everyday talk in functional stepfamilies.
Technology-Assisted Parenthood and Modern Families in the 21st Century
Authors: Gameiro Sofia
Published: January 2024

This chapter reviews theory and evidence that provide insight into how families using medically assisted reproduction (MAR) to have children, for instance, in vitro fertilization (IVF), cope with and adjust to the challenges these technologies pose. First, fertility problems and/or the use of technologies to have children can affect the way parents experience pregnancy and relate to their children. Second, the lack of a genetic link resulting from the use of donated gametes can affect parenting and parent–child relationships. Third, MAR has allowed for the proliferation of modern forms of families, and the implications of this are still being investigated. Fourth, issues of secrecy around MAR can impact family communication and child development. Finally, around one-third of those who use MAR do not manage to have children, and these families will have to adjust to this loss.
The Irrational Revolution
Authors: Nichols Shaun S.
Published: January 2024

Despite the persistent mythology on the critical role the so-called Boston Associates and the “Lowell mills” played in the industrialization of America, these early mills were terribly constrained enterprises. With Massachusetts’s agricultural and mercantile economies still relatively robust—making capital scarce and labor itself a pricey commodity—early mills underperformed compared to their British counterparts. Worse yet, after the Civil War, capitalists and financiers, tempted away by new (and more profitable) opportunities in the American West, rapidly abandoned the state’s textile mills, leaving these early industrial cities to stagnate. This chapter shows how Massachusetts’s early attempts at industrialization failed precisely because the state was too prosperous to maintain either adequate reserves of industrial capital or a labor force cheap enough to sustain mass production.
Labor in Motion
Authors: Nichols Shaun S.
Published: January 2024

This chapter shows how the economic and political crises of the late nineteenth-century Atlantic world helped consolidate Massachusetts’s industrial workforce, bringing throngs of workers from Britain, French Canada, and the Azores to cities like New Bedford and Fall River. Each of these migrant groups came from a very specific set of social and economic circumstances—and were thus freighted with very different goals and ideologies—setting the stage for the ethnic conflict that made cities like Fall River such havens of industrial turmoil. Ultimately, through an analysis of immigrant politics in Massachusetts from the perspective of these immigrants’ sending states, the chapter shows how the mechanics of global labor migration and the role of British, French Canadian, and Portuguese institutions—hundreds or thousands of miles away—defined working-class development (and conflict) in industrial Massachusetts.
Toward Free Trade
Authors: Nichols Shaun S.
Published: January 2024

Too often, globalization is imagined as a conspiracy concocted by high-flying capitalists and power-hungry financiers who surgically targeted the world’s cheapest sources of labor. This chapter argues that in Massachusetts, such a story must be flipped on its head. While manufacturers clung to protectionism and economic insularity, it was Massachusetts’s workers, immigrants, and budding global labor unions that sought to enthrone free migration, free capital mobility, and free trade as the linchpins of a peaceful and stable global economy. Midcentury unions are typically characterized as insular and provincial, but the opposite was true. Workers were not “shocked” by the globalization of American capitalism. Workers forged globalization from the ground up.
Reconstructing Industrial Ascendance
Authors: Nichols Shaun S.
Published: January 2024

As thousands of Portuguese migrants capitalized on the American immigration reforms of the 1960s and left home for the factories of Massachusetts, they spurred something rather unexpected: rapid economic growth. Manufacturing expanded, profits rose, and unemployment plummeted. But, as manufacturing thrived on new sources of immigrant labor, local industry re-emerged as a profitable capital investment opportunity, catalyzing the oft-forgotten merger wave of the 1960s. Emerging conglomerate multinationals hungrily swallowed up local manufacturing firms. Proprietary garment and electronics factories transformed into mere subsidiaries of massive conglomerates, many of which were, at the same moment, picking up firms in Latin America and East Asia. In an unexpected turn, immigration fueled prosperity, and prosperity fueled an unprecedented multinationalization of American capital.
Insurrection and Transgression
Authors: Gohel Sajjan M.
Published: January 2024

This chapter looks at al-Zawahiri’s entry into militancy when he concluded that global revolution and insurrection should start in his native Egypt. In 1974, al-Zawahiri was part of a clandestine group that attempted to take over the Military Technical College near Cairo. The plot failed, and all the conspirators were arrested and executed except al-Zawahiri, who managed to avoid any blame. He was later arrested in the massive round-up of Islamists following the 1981 assassination of then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Although on the periphery of the plot, al-Zawahiri ended up becoming the face of the entire jihadist movement and developed an interest in utilising the media for propaganda. Both incidents highlight al-Zawahiri’s knack for survival and evading punishment, a trait he would use to his advantage many more times.
Building the Base
Authors: Gohel Sajjan M.
Published: January 2024

This chapter assesses al-Zawahiri’s agenda in trying to defeat the Mubarak government in Egypt whilst facing setbacks and having to reconsider his approach by collaborating with bin Laden in Sudan and Afghanistan. This critical period evaluates al-Zawahiri’s own reflections and how he saw the creation of al-Qaeda serving his strategic interests including targeting US interests in the Middle East and Africa. It also considers his pivotal role in the assassination of Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud as the precursor to the 9/11 attacks. During this period, al-Zawahiri developed a terrorist manual that became mandatory reading for all operatives and contributed to al-Qaeda’s long-term strategy and tactics. Al-Zawahiri also aggressively pursued al-Qaeda’s quest for biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. It was during this period that al-Zawahiri enhanced al-Qaeda’s media propaganda development as part of an important outreach in controlling the narrative and optics.
Long-term physiological stability in nature
Authors: Stevenson Tyler John
Published: January 2024

This chapter introduces the concept of regulated changes to ensure the survival of the species, both long and short term. These include the annual migration of tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus), which occurs with an extraordinary level of precision and adaptations by relatively stationary animals such as the Eastern cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) which shift their reproductive activity to coincide with the dramatic increase in food resources during the summer. Rare, predictable long-term physiological and behavioral cycles have evolved to span more than 1 year, such as periodical cicadas in the eastern region of North America, which (Magicicada septendecim) reside in the ground as juveniles and feed on plant roots for 13 or 17 years then emerge in late April or early May as adults all at once in the same year. The chapter concludes with an outline of the remaining chapters.
An endogenous clock for programmed rheostasis
Authors: Stevenson Tyler John
Published: January 2024

This chapter considers studies that illustrate the distinction between homeostatic and rheostatic responses, how programmed circadian rheostasis functions with homeostatic systems, and how the nervous system codes for programmed changes in regulated values. It argues that the circadian clock system drives daily variation in regulated physiological variables, providing examples of daily changes in mammalian energy balance using glucose and insulin tolerance tests to highlight the difference between homeostatic and rheostatic systems. Finally, the chapter shows that the predictability of rheostatic systems optimizes any given physiological response to a daily change in the environment and thereby increases an animal’s fitness.
Orchestration of female reproductive cycles
Authors: Stevenson Tyler John
Published: January 2024

This chapter considers aspects of a fundamental characteristic of all organisms, reproduction, and uses the female reproductive cycle to demonstrate that programmed changes in physiology can occur over times scales longer than a day. It describes the short-term homeostatic regulation of regulated reproductive variables, such as gonadotropins and gonadal steroids (i.e., estrogen), showing that they maintain stability using negative feedback that includes the gene kisspeptin expression in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, or direct feedback to GnRH cells in the case of birds. Finally, the chapter shows that programmed reproductive rheostasis is established by both positive feedback from ovarian estrogen triggered by the gradual rise in estrogen concentrations, which reflects follicular development and follicular granulosa cell activity, and a switch from the arcuate nucleus kisspeptin regulation to anteroventricular periventricular kisspeptin signaling.
Modeling physiological dynamics
Authors: Stevenson Tyler John
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses three very different conceptual frameworks that describe homeostasis, rheostasis, and allostasis: closed-loop transfer functions based on control theory for homeostasis; various models that include time-dependent components for rheostasis; and other forms of dynamical systems for allostasis. It shows how differential equations that include multiple computations incorporating feedback, time-series, and Hopfield networks are needed to develop a single unifying model that can describe the hierarchical organization of physiological stability. The chapter also shows that developing accurate models of physiological stability is hampered by the significant lack of measured values for any regulated variable that were collected based on rheostatic and allostatic experimentation. Overcoming current limitations would require massive sample collection from individuals; analysis of not only the regulated variable but also the input and output values of the sensor, controller, and effector; and, the processing power of a quantum computer to compute the equation for the vast number of physiological values and complex computations.
Challenges to physiological anticipation
Authors: Stevenson Tyler John
Published: January 2024

This chapter reviews two remaining questions on rheostasis: What are the consequences of long-term disruption of rheostatic processes to animal health and well-being? How do regulated variables impact programmed or reactive responses in another regulated variable? The chapter addresses the first question by describing scenarios of disrupted rheostatic processes and uses shift work in humans and climate change as examples of detrimental effects on regulated changes in physiological stability. It then addresses the second question by describing Nicholas Mrosovsky’s concept of second order rheostasis, the modulation of rheostasis by altering the set point of the regulatory system, using examples of altered set points caused by conflicts between regulated variables to illustrate the impact of changes in one regulated variable on the set point for another, different regulated variable. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the potential consequences of adapting to the final frontier, and the impact of space exploration on the regulation of physiological processes in humans, and domesticated organisms.
Interlude From the Ivory Tower to The Street
Authors: Hunt Luke William
Published: January 2024

The Interlude explores methodologies for moving from theoretical concerns about policing (ideal theory) to practical concerns about policing in the existing world (nonideal theory). The Interlude suggests that addressing police injustice in the existing world requires an outline of an ideal of justice, which helps ensure that efforts to address real-world injustice have a target for which to aim. The Interlude claims that plausible, uncontroversial accounts of justice will include the values discussed in Part I of the book, including good faith, honesty, transparency, legitimacy, personhood, and their normative backdrop in universalistic positive morality (UPM). Although bright-line rules are unrealistic, the Interlude proposes a “prerogative power” framework (based in part on established commitments to personhood and the rule of law) for assessing the justification of the police’s deviation from rule-of-law principles to engage in deception, dishonesty, and bad faith that are on par with fraud.
Kings in All but Name
Authors: Conlan Thomas D.
Published: January 2024

In the sixteenth century, the Ōuchi family were kings in all but name over much of the Japanese archipelago. Immensely wealthy, they controlled sea lanes stretching out from Japan to Korea and China, while the Ōuchi city of Yamaguchi functioned as an important regional entrepôt, with an expanding population and a host of temples and shrines. The family was unique in claiming ethnic descent from Korean kings, and—remarkably for this time—such claims were recognized in both Korea and Japan. Their position, coupled with dominance over strategic ports and mines, allowed them to facilitate trade throughout East and Southeast Asia. They played a key cultural role in disseminating Confucian texts, Buddhist sutras, ink paintings, and pottery, and in creating a distinctive, hybrid culture that fused Japanese, Korean, and Chinese beliefs, objects, and customs. This monograph reveals that Japan from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries was an ethnically diverse state, replete with extensive mines, and closely bound in trading ties to Korea and China. It focuses on the Ōuchi, a magnate family from western Japan that was overthrown shortly after the period of initial Portuguese contact. The work provides a chronological narrative of their rule, focusing on the Ōuchi rulers, and showing how rituals, policies, politics, and economics were interwoven, and that what has been thought of as a period of warfare and turmoil was actually a stable and prosperous trading state.
The Origins of the Ōuchi
Authors: Conlan Thomas D.
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses the Korean origins of the Ōuchi as specialists in mining and explains how they emigrated to Japan and settled in the west. It shows how different lineages settled in distinct regions and relied on rituals and religious patronage to assert their supremacy and also provides an overview of star worship, most specifically devoted to the deity Myōken, and explains how each competing lineage patronized distinctive cultic sites and destroyed those of their rivals. Finally, this chapter recounts the rise of the settlement in a place called Ōuchi by the weakest lineage of the three lineages and shows how their prospects were damaged by political turmoil in the 1330s.
The Founder Ōuchi Hiroyo
Authors: Conlan Thomas D.
Published: January 2024

This chapter recounts how Ōuchi regional authority was established by Ōuchi Hiroyo, who destroyed his rivals during Japan’s civil wars of the fourteenth century, and explains how he conquered neighboring provinces, promoted copper mining, and founded a planned settlement at Yamaguchi. Likewise it reveals that conquest entailed military campaigns and complementary ritual assertions of authority and highlights the significance of local shrines. It also shows how the Ōuchi, by conquering a vital choke point, gained control of western sea lanes and received recognition by the Ashikaga shogunate, Japan’s second warrior government. The chapter ends by showing how Hiroyo came into conflict with the Ashikaga and, shortly before being deposed from the powerful office of shugo, or governor, of those provinces, he used his authority to make them ungovernable.
Ōuchi Yoshihiro and the Forging of Ōuchi Identity
Authors: Conlan Thomas D.
Published: January 2024

This chapter provides a biography of Ōuchi Hiroyo’s successor, Yoshihiro. It first explains a conflict over inheritance and argues that succession was defined as much by violence as by designation. It then recounts how Yoshihiro rebelled against his father and relied on Ashikaga authority to gain power. He gained authority in Hakata, an important harbor in Kyushu, and from there, made contacts in Korea and China. Yoshihiro reached out to the tottering Koryŏ dynasty and the newly founded Chosŏn dynasty to assert descent from Korean kings, which was duly recognized. With this authority and with wealth, Yoshihiro tried to destroy the Ashikaga shogunate but was defeated and killed in 1399. Finally, the chapter explains how conquest and the transfer of deities was related.
Fraternal Succession, Expanding Trade, and Durable Administration
Authors: Conlan Thomas D.
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores changing naming and inheritance practices, as lateral succession gave way to linear ones. It reveals Ōuchi conflicts and a weakening of their authority vis-à-vis the Ashikaga. At the same time it recounts a process of increased administrative and legal stability as governance became disassociated from the person of the Ōuchi ruler. The chapter also shows that the 1430s were a period where extensive shipping, as large trading junks allowed for large-scale trade in East Asia as Japanese shipping took off after Chinese shipping declined once the Ming admiral Zheng He’s voyages ceased. Finally, it reveals how the Ōuchi promoted worship of their newly privatized Usa Hachiman shrine.
Trader, Shogun, King, and God
Authors: Conlan Thomas D.
Published: January 2024

This chapter explains the process whereby Ōuchi Norihiro received Korean recognition of his ethnic claims and assertion of royal descent as the scion of the Paekche kingdom. Having received wide recognition for his claims of royal ancestry, and de facto social equality with the Ashikaga shoguns, Norihiro attempted to create his own warrior government and supplant the Ashikaga regime. It also reveals how Norihiro consolidated control over a network of ports on the Japan and Inland seas and established official tally trade with Korea. Finally, the chapter recounts the deterioration of relations with the Ashikaga, the Ōuchi blockade of the Inland Sea, and the onset of civil war.
Max Weber’s Polytheism
Authors: Cavanaugh William T.
Published: January 2024

Though credited with declaring that the modern world is disenchanted, Weber himself did not really buy the disenchantment narrative. He saw how rationalization produces its own types of irrationality. This chapter explores Weber’s “unthought”: that disenchantment is not the disappearance of the sacred but the migration of the sacred from the “religious” to the “secular.” Weber worried that gods of our own making—especially the bureaucratic state and capital—have come to dominate us. This chapter argues that disenchantment is not the condition of modernity but the way we have learned to describe the condition of modernity. We need to overcome the dichotomy of enchanted/disenchanted.
Charles Taylor’s Naïveté
Authors: Cavanaugh William T.
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines Charles Taylor’s account of the secular age as disenchanted. Taylor’s account is based in a series of questionable binaries: secular/religious, nonbelievers/believers, immanence/transcendence, natural/supernatural, disenchantment/enchantment, and so on. In every case, Taylor tries to bring the two poles closer together, but this chapter argues that Taylor does not do enough to question the terms under which the binaries are given. The chapter argues, however, that resources to question these binaries can be found in Taylor’s work itself. Taylor claims that those who confine themselves to the immanent frame in fact are “responding to transcendent reality, but misrecognizing it.” To be true to this insight, Taylor needs a theology of idolatry.
The Unsplendid Idolatry of Consumerism
Authors: Cavanaugh William T.
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines consumer culture as a type of idolatry. Using the work of Mary Douglas and Daniel Miller, it begins with a sympathetic approach to consumerism as the search for meaning in created things. Nevertheless, the pursuit of material things becomes an end in itself. The chapter consults studies of consumer behavior as religion. It considers how and why this investing of divinity in things is accompanied by the exploitation of labor, examining Marx’s analysis of commodity fetishism. The chapter updates Marx’s analysis by showing how more recent developments in capitalism illustrate the twinned dynamic of the personification of commodities and capital on the one hand and the instrumentalization of human beings on the other. Finally, the chapter examines the dynamics of narcissism in consumer culture.
Ethics and Democracy
Authors: Audi Robert
Published: January 2024

Most religions, and certainly Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, recognize human dignity and, often influenced by some view of human dignity, see government as properly concerned to promote the common good. But religions differ in their conceptions of human dignity and the common good. If each seeks governmental favoritism for its conceptions, then a democracy that welcomes more than one religion—and recognizes multiple Christian denominations—will encounter tensions when it comes to law-making and accommodating special religious claims, such as pacifist objections to war. This essay explains how these inescapable realities favor separating church and state. That separation goes well with government’s abiding by democratic standards that are explained in much of this book, particularly standards of religious liberty and equal treatment of both different religions and non-religious citizens and institutions.
Why Shouldn’t Public Education Endorse the Religious Values Underlying the Nation’s Culture?
Authors: Audi Robert
Published: January 2024

Both democracy and religion call for educating the populace. But there is much controversy about what should be taught and how. If government is neutral toward religion, then, in public schools, religion should not be taught “confessionally,” as opposed to historically, philosophically, and sociologically. But is educational neutrality toward religion possible in public schools when some teaching, for example of evolution, is widely considered anti-religious? And, if parents wish to give their children religious education, may they obtain governmental support in doing it? Here vouchers usable in private schools are resources. This essay distinguishes different ways of teaching religion neutrally; it proposes ways to teach even evolutionary biology neutrally toward religion; and it appraises the use of vouchers where religious liberty may justify them.
Civil Discourse as a Challenge for Citizens and Government
Authors: Audi Robert
Published: January 2024

Regardless of our standards for non-linguistic behavior, much that we do is done in the prevailing language we live with, say English. But there are good and bad ways to use language, and it is difficult to use it well in public discourse on controversial matters. Can we avoid misleading labels and over-simple one-liners? Can we speak with mutual respect without stumbling over matters of political correctness? Can we simplify without stereotyping? Can we use our voices and style our body language to enhance understanding and defuse tension? This essay discusses these questions and sketches various standards for achieving mutual understanding and, sometimes, thereby gaining persuasiveness.
Can America Be Christian?
Authors: Audi Robert
Published: January 2024

There are many ways for a nation to be religious, but only some of them are compatible with separation of church and state and other elements in America’s Constitution. There are also many ways to be Christian, and so too with other religions. Is there a possibility that America could be Christian in a sense that is rich enough to satisfy Christians of many different views and also ecumenical enough for achieving the free and just democracy that is imagined in high-minded visions of America’s mission? This depends on what is included in being a Christian nation—and the same questions can be asked about other religions that might similarly characterize a nation. The question in this essay, however, concerns America viewed historically, socioculturally, and in relation to democracy as understood in these essays. For at least one conception of central elements in Christianity, the answer seems positive though the ideal is quite distant.
Awkward Silence
Authors: Plakias Alexandra
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores the relationship between awkwardness and epistemic and social injustice. Awkwardness inhibits the development of hermeneutical resources, making it hard to conceptualize our experiences and communicate them to others. In this way, awkwardness can be seen as a significant source of ignorance and of epistemic injustice. But this is not the only way awkwardness complicates communication. The chapter discusses several ways in which awkwardness stops us from developing the resources we need to hold others accountable and communicate our complaints. Awkwardness thus plays an important role in constructing and maintaining silence around issues like racism, misogyny, and ableism. The chapter concludes by returning to the relationship between awkwardness and shame.
The Importance of Being Awkward
Authors: Plakias Alexandra
Published: January 2024

This chapter concludes the book with a normative appraisal of awkwardness as well as some practical suggestions for coping with it. On a social level, the chapter suggests, people might reconceptualize what it means to experience awkwardness, and how they might view it as an invitation to write or revise social scripts. The idea of awkwardness as an opportunity for “social improvisation” is discussed. The chapter argues that on an individual level, people should consider their own social position—their “social capital”—as a factor when deciding how to cope with a potentially awkward situation. Sometimes, awkwardness is inevitable, and voluntarily confronting it can make things less awkward for others. The chapter concludes by discussing whether and why awkwardness is sometimes preferable to the alternatives.
A Theory of Insurance and Gambling
Authors: Nyman John A.
Published: January 2024

This book holds that the demand for insurance is best understood not by focusing on risk preferences, but by focusing on the additional income, the states of the world that trigger the income transfer from the insurer, and the value of income (and consumption) in those states. It is unlikely that demand can be understood if the analyst limits the gain from insurance to coverage of the uninsured loss alone. It is also unlikely that the demand can be understood if the analyst limits the analysis to a movement along a static risk-averse utility or value function, rather than acknowledging that a shift of this function, and thus in the utility or value of additional income, often coincides with the occurrence of the event that triggers the payout. This book also holds that the demand for recreational gambling is not motivated by a desire for risk, but by a desire for additional income that does not require work. This additional work-free income is obtained because of an uncertain change in the state of the world, such as a lucky roll of the dice or spin of the roulette wheel. Although gambling motives are multifaceted, and include, for example, the desire for entertainment or social interaction, none of these alternative motivations would be able to generate the level of gambling behavior commonly observed if gamblers had to work for their winnings, like they normally would need to in order to obtain the same additional income without gambling.
Demand for Insurance
Authors: Nyman John A.
Published: January 2024

This chapter presents the conventional theory of the demand for insurance and compares it to the quid pro quo theory. It shows how, with the same assumptions, the quid pro quo analysis of demand would lead to the same welfare gain as the conventional theory. It then shows how the conclusion from conventional theory that demanders of insurance seek certainty has led economists to ignore five important welfare gains from insurance. These gains are captured by the quid pro quo theory and change the nature of the policy issues and prescriptions. The chapter ends with a digression on how the decomposition of quantity demanded from a price reduction generated by coinsurance differs from the decomposition generated by an exogenous drop in the market price. It begins with a review of the origins of the concept of utility and of utility functions that are increasing with income at a decreasing rate.
Insurance and Gambling Supply
Authors: Nyman John A.
Published: January 2024

In this chapter, the history of the development of the insurance and gambling industries is reviewed. The history of these industries is revealing because it shows how early firms adopted behaviors consistent with the concepts of probability and the law of large numbers, many years before these concepts were formally described by mathematicians. The story of the mathematicians who first wrote about and popularized these concepts is then also presented. The chapter ends with a discussion of the motivations of these firms. It argues that, even though measures were commonly taken in both these industries to reduce risk, any businessman or woman who owned a firm in these very risky businesses could hardly ever be regarded as being adverse to risk.
The Role of Loss Aversion in Insurance
Authors: Nyman John A.
Published: January 2024

This chapter focuses on the loss aversion aspect of prospect theory and its role in the quid pro quo theory of the demand for insurance. It begins by describing the difference between loss aversion and risk aversion, and the empirical studies that have found this difference. Then the theories behind what causes loss aversion are reviewed. The ways in which loss aversion is measured empirically is discussed next. After that, the empirical literature on the impact of loss aversion on the demand for insurance is reviewed, as is the literature on the ways in which the relationship between loss aversion and demand for insurance can be altered. The chapter ends with a summary of the three factors covered so far that are deemed to affect the demand for insurance under the quid pro quo theory.