Fundamental and Derived Quantities

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-101
Author(s):  
J. E. Wolff
Keyword(s):  
General Criterion ◽  
Naturalistic Approach ◽  
Elite Status ◽  
Widespread View

A widespread view in metaphysics holds that some properties, perfectly natural ones, have an elite status among properties. As part of a naturalistic approach to metaphysics, it is commonly presumed that science—in particular physics—will reveal which properties in fact play the role of these elite properties. Since properties in physics are often quantitative, this raises the question whether all quantities are elite properties, or whether there is a distinction between fundamental and non-fundamental quantities, with only the former being candidates for elite properties. In this chapter I investigate whether the distinction between base quantities and derived quantities found in systems of units can serve as a basis for distinguishing between fundamental and non-fundamental quantities. My conclusion is aporetic: it seems clear that not all quantities are equally fundamental, yet a general criterion for fundamentality (or non-fundamentality) based on physics alone remains elusive.

Closing the Circle

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meenaxi Barkataki-Ruscheweyh
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
The State ◽  
Ethnic Minority Group ◽  
Role Of The State

In the concluding chapter, I discuss the various strategies that the Tangsa use in Assam to survive as a small ethnic minority group and how performing identity and ethnicity at festivals can be considered to be yet one more such strategy. This leads to a discussion of Tangsa identity, ethnicity, and culture as well as the role of the state and the Assamese ‘other’ in defining what it means to be Tangsa. In a ‘Taking Stock’ section, I list all my shortcomings, and also all that that still needs to be done before some amount of clarity can be achieved in understanding the complex Tangsa picture. The concluding section summarizes my findings to make clear the underlying and undeniable connection between performing ethnicity and negotiating marginalization.

Majolica in the Early Colonial Andes: The Role of Panamanian Wares

2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross W. Jamieson
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Colonial ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
The Andes ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Elite Status ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The City ◽  
Made In

As one of the most common artifact categories found on Spanish colonial sites, the wheel-made, tin-glazed pottery known as majolica is an important chronological and social indicator for archaeologists. Initially imported from Europe, several manufacturing centers for majolica were set up in the New World by the late sixteenth century. The study of colonial majolica in the Viceroyalty of Peru, which encompassed much of South America, has received less attention than ceramic production and trade in the colonial Caribbean and Mesoamerica. Prior to 1650 the Viceroyalty of Peru was supplied with majolica largely produced in the city of Panama Vieja, on the Pacific. Panama Vieja majolica has been recovered from throughout the Andes, as far south as Argentina. Majolica made in Panama Vieja provides an important chronological indicator of early colonial archaeological contexts in the region. The reproduction of Iberian-style majolica for use on elite tables was symbolically important to the imposition of Spanish rule, and thus Panamanian majolicas also provide an important indicator of elite status on Andean colonial sites.

scholarly journals Digital culture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Cumulative Culture ◽  
Future Directions

Cultural evolution can provide a useful framework to understand how information is produced, transmitted, and selected in contemporary online, digital, media. The diffusion of digital technologies triggered a radical departure from previous modalities of cultural transmission but, at the same time, general characteristics of human cultural evolution and cognition influence these developments. In this chapter, I will explore some areas where the links between cultural evolution research and digital media seem more promising. As cultural evolution-inspired research on internet phenomena is still in its infancy, these areas represent suggestions and links with works in other disciplines more than reviews of past research in cultural evolution. These include topics such as how to characterise the online effects of social influence and the spread of information; the possibility that digital, online, media could enhance cumulative culture; and the differences between online and offline cultural transmission. In the last section I will consider other possible future directions: the influences of different affordances in different media supporting cultural transmission; the role of producers of cultural traits; and, finally, some considerations on the effects on cultural dynamics of algorithms selecting information.

Caretaker or liberator?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allyn Fives
Keyword(s):  
Clear Distinction ◽  
Moral Conflicts ◽  
General Account ◽  
Role Of Parents ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Do So

Are parents caretakers or liberators? Is the role of parents to act in a paternalistic fashion so as to take care of their children or is it instead to set their children free? In this chapter, I argue that those who defend the caretaker thesis do so on the basis of assumptions characteristic of the liberal view on paternalism. It is assumed that paternalism entails interfering with another’s liberty, that it does not involve moral conflicts, and that it is justified treatment of those who lack the qualities of an agent. In addition, no clear distinction is made between children who lack the qualities of an agent and children who are merely incompetent. What is more, the same assumptions underlie the liberation thesis. Indeed, both the caretaker thesis and the liberation thesis are questionable because they operate with a definition of paternalism that is highly problematic. I also want to make one further argument here. Namely, even an adequate conceptualisation of paternalism is insufficient as a general account of parental power, as there are non-paternalistic forms of parental power as well.

Celebrity

2017 ◽  
pp. 71-104
Author(s):  
Gian Maria Annovi
Keyword(s):  
Culture Industry ◽  
The Other ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Symbolic Form ◽  
Orson Welles ◽  
Celebrity Culture ◽  
The Media ◽  
Marilyn Monroe

Chapter Three discusses the conditions for the strategic branding of Pasolini’s authorship in the Italian media during the 60s, and his attitude to celebrity culture. In this chapter, I consider the idea of performing authorship in the terms of self-fictionalization and masquerade. In particular, in his short film La ricotta (The Ricotta, 1964), which represents the first example of the spectacularization of Pasolini’s authorship, he projects his authorial self onto the figure of American star director Orson Welles. An outsider of the studio system, Welles furnishes Pasolini a model for an auteur who persistently seeks out a performative mode, putting himself in play as the author alongside the other characters. At the same time, through the figure of this star director, Pasolini also expresses his uncompromising attitude toward celebrity culture and culture industry. In La rabbia (The Rage, 1963)—created through montages of unused film footage from a film archive—Pasolini uses another international star, Marilyn Monroe, to stage his ambivalence towards the role of his own representation in the media. For Pasolini, Monroe’s death becomes a tragic, symbolic form of subjective resistance and a protest against the conformist system of celebrity that they both confronted.

The Role of Media in Perpetuating or Obstructing Gender Equality in the Context of Developing World

2018 ◽  
pp. 723-733
Author(s):  
Prabartana Das
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Gender Biases ◽  
The Media ◽  
Developed World

Media engineers subtle ways in which gender bias can persist in society and ensures the perpetuation of women subjugation in the society. In this chapter I want to excavate the various factors which contributes to the augmentation of gender biases by the media and how the media in developing countries strengthens the cause patriarchy masquerading in the façade of preserving traditions and customs? I also intend to unravel how perennial problems like illiteracy and abject poverty further dents the project of women empowerment and how deeply entrenched patriarchal values manipulate the media to withhold emancipation in true sense. How women even after being qualified suffers from several negative effects undermining her own status? It will also be interesting to delve into the ways in which gendered media is far more subversive and ubiquitous in the developing world than developed world. And lastly how the gender bias in media can be curbed in the light of social and political awakening in women in particular and the development of human ingenuity and consciousness in general.

From the Digital Divide to Multiple Divides

2013 ◽  
pp. 1622-1639
Author(s):  
Francesca Comunello
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Ict For Development

It is widely acknowledged that the label “digital divide” can be partially misleading, because it emphasizes a binary dichotomy (“haves vs. have nots”) and a mere technological dimension (in terms of physical availability of devices or conduits). Behind the dichotomous model, however, lie different use and adoption strategies. People cannot be described as being either in or out. Evaluating the complex relationships between technological, social, and human factors raises a number of questions, mainly related to the role of technology in social development. Moreover, we should also reconsider what is commonly meant by information and communication technology. In this chapter, I will try to introduce a multilevel model for analyzing the digital divide, focusing on effective access and new media literacy. The focus will be shifted from technology to humans. In every ICT for development project, local context and local needs should be regarded as the key factors.

Consulting Stakeholders?

2011 ◽  
pp. 328-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleftheria Vasileiadou
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Level ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Stakeholder Consultation ◽  
Eu Energy Policy ◽  
Linear Problems ◽  
Modes Of Governance

The participation of stakeholders in policy formation has increased, based on the recognition that policy-makers today face increasingly complex and non-linear problems, requiring flexible modes of governance. In this chapter, I analyse the role of formalised stakeholder consultations in EU energy policy and their potential of integrating climate change issues. More specifically, I empirically investigate how stakeholder consultation processes influenced the formation of the EU Energy Communication of 2007. The analysis shows that there was limited diversity of participation in consultations, as actors from civil society or NGOs were not included. Moreover, the role of scientific knowledge in the consultations was minimal. Actors at the regional and sub-national level are generally ignored in such formalised consultation processes. Recommendations for EU policymakers and organisers of consultations are provided.

Addressing Contextual Influences During ICT Innovation for Public Sector Reform

2013 ◽  
pp. 245-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elpida Prasopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Information Technologies ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Local Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Contextual Influences ◽  
Technology Project ◽  
New Information ◽  
Information Technology Project

In recent years, ICT innovation is explicitly linked to deep structural reforms in public administrations. In this chapter, I examine the role of context, during the establishment of a minimal and accountable government apparatus, using the concept of negotiation space as my theoretical lens. The process of imbricating ICT innovation within the local context is viewed as a clash between local institutions and the ones carried by new Information Technologies. This clash is empirically examined in the case of TAXIS, the flagship Information Technology project of the Greek government in the mid 1990s. TAXIS’s implementation has been strongly supported by both the political system and Greek society. Nevertheless, ICT innovation did not trigger radical changes in taxation. Instead, it was infused by strongly engrained political practices which resulted in the implementation of an Information System functional yet unable to support radical tax reform.

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