A NOTE ON CONDITIONAL EGALITARIANISM

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
NILS HOLTUG

Roughly, according to conditional egalitarianism, equality is non-instrumentally valuable, but only if it benefits at least one individual. Some political theorists have argued that conditional egalitarianism has the important virtue that it allows egalitarians to avoid the so-called ‘levelling down’ objection. However, in the present article I argue that conditional egalitarianism does not offer the egalitarian a plausible escape route from this objection. First, I explain the levelling down objection and suggest some particular concerns from which it derives its force. Then I provide a more precise definition of conditional egalitarianism. Finally, I give two arguments against this principle. According to the first, it violates the transitivity of the betterness relation (or more specifically, ‘betterness with respect to equality’). According to the second, there is no plausible explanation of why equality must benefit at least one individual in order to be non-instrumentally valuable.

Author(s):  
W. A. Shannon ◽  
M. A. Matlib

Numerous studies have dealt with the cytochemical localization of cytochrome oxidase via cytochrome c. More recent studies have dealt with indicating initial foci of this reaction by altering incubation pH (1) or postosmication procedure (2,3). The following study is an attempt to locate such foci by altering membrane permeability. It is thought that such alterations within the limits of maintaining morphological integrity of the membranes will ease the entry of exogenous substrates resulting in a much quicker oxidation and subsequently a more precise definition of the oxidative reaction.The diaminobenzidine (DAB) method of Seligman et al. (4) was used. Minced pieces of rat liver were incubated for 1 hr following toluene treatment (5,6). Experimental variations consisted of incubating fixed or unfixed tissues treated with toluene and unfixed tissues treated with toluene and subsequently fixed.


Author(s):  
Susan C. Graham

Culinary experiences have long been an important aspect of tourism. For many destinations, culinary offerings have become ubiquitous with the place – pasta in Italy, wine in the Loire- or Napa Valley, or curry in India. As tourists increasingly seek out authentic touristic experiences, including culinary experiences, the question arises regarding what constitutes an authentic culinary experience in a place. While authentic and authenticity are terms widely used in the tourism literature, a precise definition of what those terms mean and a method for identifying that which is authentic remains elusive. Research regarding authenticity in tourism suggests that locals occupy a ‘place of privilege’ with respect to determining the authenticity of a touristic experience because of their connection to and context in relation to the place. This paper examines the perspectives of Prince Edward Island (PEI) residents with respect to what constitutes an authentic culinary touristic experience in which visitors to Canada’s smallest province can partake and that provide those visitors with a glimpse of what life in PEI is or was really like, and provides a voice for an underrepresented group in the authenticity discourse. Results show that authentic culinary experiences transcend food, and encompass people, places, and experiences in ways that enrich touristic endeavours, and that locals understand and interpret authenticity in ways that both conform to and differ from existing scholarly work related to tourism authenticity, and span objective, existential, and constructive authenticity.


Author(s):  
Johannes Lindvall

This chapter introduces the problem of “reform capacity” (the ability of political decision-makers to adopt and implement policy changes that benefit society as a whole, by adjusting public policies to changing economic, social, and political circumstances). The chapter also reviews the long-standing discussion in political science about the relationship between political institutions and effective government. Furthermore, the chapter explains why the possibility of compensation matters greatly for the politics of reform; provides a precise definition of the concept of reform capacity; describes the book's general approach to this problem; and discusses the ethics of compensating losers from reform; and presents the book's methodological approach.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Hollender

AbstractBased on Ivan Marcus’s concept of “open book” and considerations on medieval Ashkenazic concepts of authorship, the present article inquires into the circumstances surrounding the production of SeferArugat ha-Bosem, a collection of piyyut commentaries written or compiled by the thirteenth-century scholar Abraham b. Azriel. Unlike all other piyyut commentators, Abraham ben Azriel inscribed his name into his commentary and claims to supersede previous commentaries, asserting authorship and authority. Based on the two different versions preserved in MS Vatican 301 and MS Merzbacher 95 (Frankfurt fol. 16), already in 1939 Ephraim E. Urbach suggested that Abraham b. Azriel might have written more than one edition of his piyyut commentaries. The present reevaluation considers recent scholarship on concepts of authorship and “open genre” as well as new research into piyyut commentary. To facilitate a comparison with Marcus’s definition of “open book,” this article also explores the arrangement and rearrangement of small blocks of texts within a work.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147059312110127
Author(s):  
Jörgen Sandberg ◽  
Mats Alvesson

We all want to develop impactful and valuable theories, but what do we mean by ‘theory’? In this piece, we reply to the four readers’ comments on a recent paper in which we propose a theory typology that, in comparison to existing literature, offers a considerably broader, more pluralistic and, at the same time, more precise definition of the meaning(s) of ‘theory’ within academia. In their comments, the readers raise several insightful points that encourage us to further clarify the theory typology, as well as to expand on how it can be useful for researchers in marketing and social science more broadly.


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