Scott L. Cummings
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262036986
- eISBN:
- 9780262343213
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262036986.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This book is about the struggle over the future of work and the environment on the edge of the global economy. It traces the history of conflict in an industry that is not widely known, but sits at ...
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This book is about the struggle over the future of work and the environment on the edge of the global economy. It traces the history of conflict in an industry that is not widely known, but sits at the epicentre for the global supply chain: short-haul trucking responsible for moving the mass of imports from enormous cargo ships to warehouses and retailers around the country. The book’s specific focus is on the largest and most important campaign at the nation’s largest and most important port complex, which straddles the border of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Over nearly two decades, labor and environmental groups—bound together in a pivotal “blue-green” alliance—carried forward a monumental campaign to transform working conditions for drivers and environmental conditions for communities. At bottom, the book tells a story of the unceasing resolve of courageous people seeking to make lives better for some of the most marginalized members of society: immigrant truck drivers barely scrapping by as they deliver goods to be sold by some of the richest and most powerful companies in the world; residents of neighbourhoods whose poverty consigns them to inhale the noxious residue of global trade. How law serves as a tool in their struggle is the book’s central question.Less
This book is about the struggle over the future of work and the environment on the edge of the global economy. It traces the history of conflict in an industry that is not widely known, but sits at the epicentre for the global supply chain: short-haul trucking responsible for moving the mass of imports from enormous cargo ships to warehouses and retailers around the country. The book’s specific focus is on the largest and most important campaign at the nation’s largest and most important port complex, which straddles the border of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Over nearly two decades, labor and environmental groups—bound together in a pivotal “blue-green” alliance—carried forward a monumental campaign to transform working conditions for drivers and environmental conditions for communities. At bottom, the book tells a story of the unceasing resolve of courageous people seeking to make lives better for some of the most marginalized members of society: immigrant truck drivers barely scrapping by as they deliver goods to be sold by some of the richest and most powerful companies in the world; residents of neighbourhoods whose poverty consigns them to inhale the noxious residue of global trade. How law serves as a tool in their struggle is the book’s central question.
Georg Northoff
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262038072
- eISBN:
- 9780262346962
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262038072.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Mind vs Body? We traditionally attribute our mental features like consciousness to either mind or body – this amounts to the question for the relationship between mind or body, the mind-body problem. ...
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Mind vs Body? We traditionally attribute our mental features like consciousness to either mind or body – this amounts to the question for the relationship between mind or body, the mind-body problem. Various answers have been suggested to the mind-body problem in both philosophy and neuroscience. The neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and philosopher Georg Northoff takes a fundamentally different approach though. Instead of providing yet another answer, he questions the question itself. Do we really have to attribute mental features like consciousness to either mind or brain? Investigating both empirical data in neuroscience and ontological issues in philosophy, he comes to an amazing conclusion: we can replace mind including mind-body relation by investigating the relation of our brain to the world, the “world-brain relation”. This renders the mind-body problem simply superfluous. Instead, we are better off, on both empirical and ontological grounds, by addressing mental features like consciousness in terms of the relationship between world and brain, the “world-brain problem”, as he says. That is possible though only if we radically change our viewpoint on both brain and world – this amounts to nothing less than a true Copernican revolution in neuroscience and philosophy.Less
Mind vs Body? We traditionally attribute our mental features like consciousness to either mind or body – this amounts to the question for the relationship between mind or body, the mind-body problem. Various answers have been suggested to the mind-body problem in both philosophy and neuroscience. The neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and philosopher Georg Northoff takes a fundamentally different approach though. Instead of providing yet another answer, he questions the question itself. Do we really have to attribute mental features like consciousness to either mind or brain? Investigating both empirical data in neuroscience and ontological issues in philosophy, he comes to an amazing conclusion: we can replace mind including mind-body relation by investigating the relation of our brain to the world, the “world-brain relation”. This renders the mind-body problem simply superfluous. Instead, we are better off, on both empirical and ontological grounds, by addressing mental features like consciousness in terms of the relationship between world and brain, the “world-brain problem”, as he says. That is possible though only if we radically change our viewpoint on both brain and world – this amounts to nothing less than a true Copernican revolution in neuroscience and philosophy.
Gillian Ramchand
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262037754
- eISBN:
- 9780262345880
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037754.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
Syntax has shown that there is a hierarchical ordering of projections within the verb phrase, although researchers differ with respect to how fine grained they assume the hierarchy to be). This book ...
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Syntax has shown that there is a hierarchical ordering of projections within the verb phrase, although researchers differ with respect to how fine grained they assume the hierarchy to be). This book explores the hierarchy of the verb phrase from a semantic perspective, attempting to derive it from semantically sorted zones in the compositional semantics. The empirical ground is the auxiliary ordering found in the grammar of English. A new theory of semantic zones is proposed and formalized, and explicit semantic and morphological analyses are presented of all the auxiliary constructions of English that derive their rigid order of composition without recourse to lexical item specific ordering statements.Less
Syntax has shown that there is a hierarchical ordering of projections within the verb phrase, although researchers differ with respect to how fine grained they assume the hierarchy to be). This book explores the hierarchy of the verb phrase from a semantic perspective, attempting to derive it from semantically sorted zones in the compositional semantics. The empirical ground is the auxiliary ordering found in the grammar of English. A new theory of semantic zones is proposed and formalized, and explicit semantic and morphological analyses are presented of all the auxiliary constructions of English that derive their rigid order of composition without recourse to lexical item specific ordering statements.
Vsevolod Kapatsinski
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262037860
- eISBN:
- 9780262346313
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037860.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
Language acquisition has often been approached as an isolated domain subject to its own laws and driven by its own mechanisms. The working hypothesis of this book is that language acquisition is ...
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Language acquisition has often been approached as an isolated domain subject to its own laws and driven by its own mechanisms. The working hypothesis of this book is that language acquisition is simply learning, subject to the same laws as learning in other domains, and well-described by models of associative learning. ‘Changing minds changing tools’ connects findings in language acquisition to comparable findings elsewhere, including research on error-driven predictive learning, Hebbian learning, chunking, category learning, and learned selective attention. In the process, ‘Changing minds changing tools’ provides a domain-general associationist framework for some of the central issues in language acquisition, from phonetics to phonology to morphology to the lexicon / constructicon. This perspective is argued to provide plausible explanations for several recurrent pathways of language change. From sound change to changes in construction productivity to grammaticalization, languages change in predictable ways. Some directions of change are frequent while others are rare or unattested. Following the usage-based approach to linguistics, ‘Changing minds changing tools’ argues that explaining these “diachronic universals” is the most promising way to approach the central question of linguistic theory, “why languages are the way they are.” Synchronically, languages are incredibly diverse but they change in predictable ways. Once applied to the task of language acquisition, domain-general learning mechanisms provide ready explanations for many diachronic universals. Therefore, approaching language acquisition should bring the field closer to its ultimate goal of explaining both what languages share and the ways in which they vary.Less
Language acquisition has often been approached as an isolated domain subject to its own laws and driven by its own mechanisms. The working hypothesis of this book is that language acquisition is simply learning, subject to the same laws as learning in other domains, and well-described by models of associative learning. ‘Changing minds changing tools’ connects findings in language acquisition to comparable findings elsewhere, including research on error-driven predictive learning, Hebbian learning, chunking, category learning, and learned selective attention. In the process, ‘Changing minds changing tools’ provides a domain-general associationist framework for some of the central issues in language acquisition, from phonetics to phonology to morphology to the lexicon / constructicon. This perspective is argued to provide plausible explanations for several recurrent pathways of language change. From sound change to changes in construction productivity to grammaticalization, languages change in predictable ways. Some directions of change are frequent while others are rare or unattested. Following the usage-based approach to linguistics, ‘Changing minds changing tools’ argues that explaining these “diachronic universals” is the most promising way to approach the central question of linguistic theory, “why languages are the way they are.” Synchronically, languages are incredibly diverse but they change in predictable ways. Once applied to the task of language acquisition, domain-general learning mechanisms provide ready explanations for many diachronic universals. Therefore, approaching language acquisition should bring the field closer to its ultimate goal of explaining both what languages share and the ways in which they vary.
Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262535021
- eISBN:
- 9780262345859
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262535021.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The tsetse fly is a pan-African insect that bites an infective forest animal and ingests blood filled with invisible parasites, which it carries and transmits into cattle and people as it bites them, ...
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The tsetse fly is a pan-African insect that bites an infective forest animal and ingests blood filled with invisible parasites, which it carries and transmits into cattle and people as it bites them, leading to n'gana (animal trypanosomiasis) and sleeping sickness. This book examines how the presence of the tsetse fly turned the forests of Zimbabwe and southern Africa into an open laboratory where African knowledge formed the basis of colonial tsetse control policies. The book traces the pestiferous work that an indefatigable, mobile insect does through its movements, and the work done by humans to control it. The book restores the central role not just of African labor but of African intellect in the production of knowledge about the tsetse fly. It describes how European colonizers built on and beyond this knowledge toward destructive and toxic methods, including cutting down entire forests, forced “prophylactic” resettlement, massive destruction of wild animals, and extensive spraying of organochlorine pesticides. Throughout, the book uses African terms to describe the African experience, taking vernacular concepts as starting points in writing a narrative of ruzivo (knowledge) rather than viewing Africa through foreign keywords.Less
The tsetse fly is a pan-African insect that bites an infective forest animal and ingests blood filled with invisible parasites, which it carries and transmits into cattle and people as it bites them, leading to n'gana (animal trypanosomiasis) and sleeping sickness. This book examines how the presence of the tsetse fly turned the forests of Zimbabwe and southern Africa into an open laboratory where African knowledge formed the basis of colonial tsetse control policies. The book traces the pestiferous work that an indefatigable, mobile insect does through its movements, and the work done by humans to control it. The book restores the central role not just of African labor but of African intellect in the production of knowledge about the tsetse fly. It describes how European colonizers built on and beyond this knowledge toward destructive and toxic methods, including cutting down entire forests, forced “prophylactic” resettlement, massive destruction of wild animals, and extensive spraying of organochlorine pesticides. Throughout, the book uses African terms to describe the African experience, taking vernacular concepts as starting points in writing a narrative of ruzivo (knowledge) rather than viewing Africa through foreign keywords.
Barry Hoffmaster and Cliff Hooker
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262037693
- eISBN:
- 9780262345637
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037693.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
The ethics in this book is unique. It is not about philosophy’s moral theories and principles and their logical application. That standard conception of ethics is too simple, too spare, too abstract, ...
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The ethics in this book is unique. It is not about philosophy’s moral theories and principles and their logical application. That standard conception of ethics is too simple, too spare, too abstract, and ultimately too impersonal. Real moral problems are complex, contextual, and dynamic. They need to be framed, examined, and settled, and these constructions, analyses, and resolutions need to be rational. The normativity of this novel conception of ethics is embedded in judgment, which is ubiquitous in our lives, and good judgment emanates from rational processes of deliberation, that is, the ones that have been well designed. This book is about non-formal reason, a conception of rationality that subsumes formal reason, both logic -- deducing what ought to be done from moral principles -- and calculating optimal net benefits among options, but it is a more expansive, more creative conception of rationality. Re-reasoning ethics is about designing rational processes of deliberation that produce rational judgments in ethics and bioethics, as well as other domains such as science and our lives. In ethics it marks problem solving as deliberative design for human flourishing. This conception of ethics is unusual because it is grounded in the empirical realities of human beings and their worlds, and its naturalism takes rationality to be an empirical learnable, improvable deliberative skill. Given this orientation, the examples offered are real and drawn from anthropology and sociology. The ethics of this book is about the best that finite, fallible human beings can do and should do.Less
The ethics in this book is unique. It is not about philosophy’s moral theories and principles and their logical application. That standard conception of ethics is too simple, too spare, too abstract, and ultimately too impersonal. Real moral problems are complex, contextual, and dynamic. They need to be framed, examined, and settled, and these constructions, analyses, and resolutions need to be rational. The normativity of this novel conception of ethics is embedded in judgment, which is ubiquitous in our lives, and good judgment emanates from rational processes of deliberation, that is, the ones that have been well designed. This book is about non-formal reason, a conception of rationality that subsumes formal reason, both logic -- deducing what ought to be done from moral principles -- and calculating optimal net benefits among options, but it is a more expansive, more creative conception of rationality. Re-reasoning ethics is about designing rational processes of deliberation that produce rational judgments in ethics and bioethics, as well as other domains such as science and our lives. In ethics it marks problem solving as deliberative design for human flourishing. This conception of ethics is unusual because it is grounded in the empirical realities of human beings and their worlds, and its naturalism takes rationality to be an empirical learnable, improvable deliberative skill. Given this orientation, the examples offered are real and drawn from anthropology and sociology. The ethics of this book is about the best that finite, fallible human beings can do and should do.
Mike Ananny
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262037747
- eISBN:
- 9780262345828
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037747.001.0001
- Subject:
- Information Science, Communications
This book offers a new way to think about freedom of the press in a time when media systems are in fundamental flux. The book challenges the idea that press freedom comes only from heroic, lone ...
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This book offers a new way to think about freedom of the press in a time when media systems are in fundamental flux. The book challenges the idea that press freedom comes only from heroic, lone journalists who speak truth to power. Instead, drawing on journalism studies, institutional sociology, political theory, science and technology studies, and an analysis of ten years of journalism discourse about news and technology, the book argues that press freedom emerges from social, technological, institutional, and normative forces that vie for power and fight for visions of democratic life. It shows how dominant, historical ideals of professionalized press freedom often mistook journalistic freedom from constraints for the public's freedom to encounter the rich mix of people and ideas that self-governance requires. The book's notion of press freedom ensures not only an individual right to speak, but also a public right to hear. Seeing press freedom as essential for democratic self-governance, the book explores what publics need, what kind of free press they should demand, and how today's press freedom emerges from intertwined collections of humans and machines. If someone says, “The public needs a free press,” the book urges us to ask in response, “What kind of public, what kind of freedom, and what kind of press?” Answering these questions shows what robust, self-governing publics need to demand of technologists and journalists alike.Less
This book offers a new way to think about freedom of the press in a time when media systems are in fundamental flux. The book challenges the idea that press freedom comes only from heroic, lone journalists who speak truth to power. Instead, drawing on journalism studies, institutional sociology, political theory, science and technology studies, and an analysis of ten years of journalism discourse about news and technology, the book argues that press freedom emerges from social, technological, institutional, and normative forces that vie for power and fight for visions of democratic life. It shows how dominant, historical ideals of professionalized press freedom often mistook journalistic freedom from constraints for the public's freedom to encounter the rich mix of people and ideas that self-governance requires. The book's notion of press freedom ensures not only an individual right to speak, but also a public right to hear. Seeing press freedom as essential for democratic self-governance, the book explores what publics need, what kind of free press they should demand, and how today's press freedom emerges from intertwined collections of humans and machines. If someone says, “The public needs a free press,” the book urges us to ask in response, “What kind of public, what kind of freedom, and what kind of press?” Answering these questions shows what robust, self-governing publics need to demand of technologists and journalists alike.
Brendan Dooley (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262535007
- eISBN:
- 9780262345576
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262535007.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
George Boole (1815–1864), remembered by history as the developer of an eponymous form of algebraic logic, can be considered a pioneer of the information age not only because of the application of ...
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George Boole (1815–1864), remembered by history as the developer of an eponymous form of algebraic logic, can be considered a pioneer of the information age not only because of the application of Boolean logic to the design of switching circuits but also because of his contributions to the mass distribution of knowledge. In the classroom and the lecture hall, Boole interpreted recent discoveries and debates in a wide range of fields for a general audience. This collection of lectures, many never before published, offers insights into the early thinking of an innovative mathematician and intellectual polymath. Bertrand Russell claimed that “pure mathematics was discovered by Boole,” but before Boole joined a university faculty as professor of mathematics in 1849, advocacy for science and education occupied much of his time. He was deeply committed to the Victorian ideals of social improvement and cooperation, arguing that “the continued exercise of reason” joined all disciplines in a common endeavor. In these talks, Boole discusses the genius of Isaac Newton; ancient mythologies and forms of worship; the possibility of other inhabited planets in the universe; the virtues of free and open access to knowledge; the benefits of leisure; the quality of education; the origin of scientific knowledge; and the fellowship of intellectual culture. The lectures are accompanied by a substantive introduction that supplies biographical and historical context.Less
George Boole (1815–1864), remembered by history as the developer of an eponymous form of algebraic logic, can be considered a pioneer of the information age not only because of the application of Boolean logic to the design of switching circuits but also because of his contributions to the mass distribution of knowledge. In the classroom and the lecture hall, Boole interpreted recent discoveries and debates in a wide range of fields for a general audience. This collection of lectures, many never before published, offers insights into the early thinking of an innovative mathematician and intellectual polymath. Bertrand Russell claimed that “pure mathematics was discovered by Boole,” but before Boole joined a university faculty as professor of mathematics in 1849, advocacy for science and education occupied much of his time. He was deeply committed to the Victorian ideals of social improvement and cooperation, arguing that “the continued exercise of reason” joined all disciplines in a common endeavor. In these talks, Boole discusses the genius of Isaac Newton; ancient mythologies and forms of worship; the possibility of other inhabited planets in the universe; the virtues of free and open access to knowledge; the benefits of leisure; the quality of education; the origin of scientific knowledge; and the fellowship of intellectual culture. The lectures are accompanied by a substantive introduction that supplies biographical and historical context.
Des Freedman and Vana Goblot (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781906897710
- eISBN:
- 9781906897802
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9781906897710.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
A guide to the nature, purpose, and place of public service television within a multi-platform, multichannel ecology. Television is on the verge of both decline and rebirth. Vast technological change ...
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A guide to the nature, purpose, and place of public service television within a multi-platform, multichannel ecology. Television is on the verge of both decline and rebirth. Vast technological change has brought about financial uncertainty as well as new creative possibilities for producers, distributors, and viewers. This book examines not only the unexpected resilience of TV as a cultural pastime and aesthetic practice but also the prospects for public service television in a digital, multichannel ecology. The proliferation of platforms from Amazon and Netflix to YouTube and the vlogosphere means intense competition for audiences traditionally dominated by legacy broadcasters. Public service broadcasters — whether the BBC, the German ARD, or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — are particularly vulnerable to this volatility. Born in the more stable political and cultural conditions of the twentieth century, they face a range of pressures on their revenue, their remits, and indeed their very futures. This book reflects on the issues raised in Lord Puttnam's 2016 Public Service TV Inquiry Report. With resonance for students, professionals, and consumers with a stake in British media, it serves both as a historical record and as a look at the future of television in an on-demand age.Less
A guide to the nature, purpose, and place of public service television within a multi-platform, multichannel ecology. Television is on the verge of both decline and rebirth. Vast technological change has brought about financial uncertainty as well as new creative possibilities for producers, distributors, and viewers. This book examines not only the unexpected resilience of TV as a cultural pastime and aesthetic practice but also the prospects for public service television in a digital, multichannel ecology. The proliferation of platforms from Amazon and Netflix to YouTube and the vlogosphere means intense competition for audiences traditionally dominated by legacy broadcasters. Public service broadcasters — whether the BBC, the German ARD, or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — are particularly vulnerable to this volatility. Born in the more stable political and cultural conditions of the twentieth century, they face a range of pressures on their revenue, their remits, and indeed their very futures. This book reflects on the issues raised in Lord Puttnam's 2016 Public Service TV Inquiry Report. With resonance for students, professionals, and consumers with a stake in British media, it serves both as a historical record and as a look at the future of television in an on-demand age.
Barry G. Rabe
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780262037952
- eISBN:
- 9780262346580
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262037952.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
Economists have argued for decades that the best way to address climate change is by placing a price on the carbon content of fossil fuels. But governments in North America and beyond have struggled ...
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Economists have argued for decades that the best way to address climate change is by placing a price on the carbon content of fossil fuels. But governments in North America and beyond have struggled mightily in trying to surmount political hurdles and translate this compelling idea into policy that can be adopted and operated efficiently. This book examines the past two decades of political experience in trying to launch carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems, placing primary focus on the United States and Canada but also considering efforts from Europe and Asia. It considers the many political and management obstacles that have undermined carbon pricing adoption and implementation to date but also examines exceptional cases that demonstrate political feasibility and durability. The book also examines other forms of carbon pricing that place some price on carbon but do so with broader and more enduring bases of political support.Less
Economists have argued for decades that the best way to address climate change is by placing a price on the carbon content of fossil fuels. But governments in North America and beyond have struggled mightily in trying to surmount political hurdles and translate this compelling idea into policy that can be adopted and operated efficiently. This book examines the past two decades of political experience in trying to launch carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems, placing primary focus on the United States and Canada but also considering efforts from Europe and Asia. It considers the many political and management obstacles that have undermined carbon pricing adoption and implementation to date but also examines exceptional cases that demonstrate political feasibility and durability. The book also examines other forms of carbon pricing that place some price on carbon but do so with broader and more enduring bases of political support.
Against Facts
Chemicals without Harm
Dreaming
Dying in the Twenty-First Century
Emissions Trading as a Policy Instrument
Ending the Fossil Fuel Era
European Climate Leadership in Question
Thinking like a Mall
Transportation and Revolt
