644,171 research outputs found
Why Objective Truth Is the Ally of Social and Epistemic Justice: Reply to Jenco
In “Are Certain Knowledge Frameworks More Congenial to the Aims of Cross-Cultural Philosophy? A Qualified Yes,” Leigh Jenco responds to an article in which I had argued for a similar conclusion. I had contended roughly that the positing of objective truth combined with a fallibilist epistemology best explains why a philosopher from one culture could learn something substantial from another culture. In her response, Jenco contends that this knowledge framework does not account adequately for the intuition that various philosophical traditions have an equal standing and that traditions other than one’s own are not to be considered inferior. In addition, according to Jenco, an appeal to objective truth on the part of one epistemic culture is unavoidably oppressive, or overly risks being so, with regard to another one. In this brief reply, I argue that an appeal to objective truth in the realms of epistemology and morality in fact makes the most sense of Jenco’s concerns about inegalitarianism and oppression
Observation and Assignment of Silent and Higher Order Vibrations in the Infrared Transmission of C60 Crystals
We report the measurement of infrared transmission of large C60 single
crystals. The spectra exhibit a very rich structure with over 180 vibrational
absorptions visible in the 100 - 4000 cm-1 range. Many silent modes are
observed to have become weakly IR-active. We also observe a large number of
higher order combination modes. The temperature (77K - 300K) and pressure (0 -
25KBar) dependencies of these modes were measured and are presented. Careful
analysis of the IR spectra in conjunction with Raman scattering data showing
second order modes and neutron scattering data, allow the selection of the 46
vibrational modes C60. We are able to fit *all* of the first and second order
data seen in the present IR spectra and the previously published Raman data
(~300 lines total), using these 46 modes and their group theory allowed second
order combinations.Comment: REVTEX v3.0 in LaTeX. 12 pages. 8 Figures by request. c60lon
The gifted child in our schools
Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit
On the history and use of some standard statistical models
This paper tries to tell the story of the general linear model, which saw the
light of day 200 years ago, and the assumptions underlying it. We distinguish
three principal stages (ignoring earlier more isolated instances). The model
was first proposed in the context of astronomical and geodesic observations,
where the main source of variation was observational error. This was the main
use of the model during the 19th century. In the 1920's it was developed in a
new direction by R.A. Fisher whose principal applications were in agriculture
and biology. Finally, beginning in the 1930's and 40's it became an important
tool for the social sciences. As new areas of applications were added, the
assumptions underlying the model tended to become more questionable, and the
resulting statistical techniques more prone to misuse.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/193940307000000419 the IMS
Collections (http://www.imstat.org/publications/imscollections.htm) by the
Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Loop Variables with Chan-Paton Factors
The Loop Variable method that has been developed for the U(1) bosonic open
string is generalized to include non-Abelian gauge invariance by incorporating
"Chan-Paton" gauge group indices. The scale transformation symmetry that was responsible for gauge invariance in the U(1) case
continues to be a symmetry. In addition there is a "rotation" symmetry. Both
symmetries crucially involve the massive modes. However it is plausible that
only a linear combination, which is the usual Yang-Mills transformation on
massless fields, has a smooth (world sheet) continuum limit. We also illustrate
how an infinite number of terms in the equation of motion in the cutoff theory
add up to give a term that has a smooth continuum limit, and thus contributes
to the low energy Yang-Mills equation of motion.Comment: One paragraph has been modified and the connection with the
Renormalization Group is explaine
Dimensionless cosmology
Although it is well known that any consideration of the variations of
fundamental constants should be restricted to their dimensionless combinations,
the literature on variations of the gravitational constant is entirely
dimensionful. To illustrate applications of this to cosmology, we explicitly
give a dimensionless version of the parameters of the standard cosmological
model, and describe the physics of Big Bang Neucleosynthesis and recombination
in a dimensionless manner. The issue that appears to have been missed in many
studies is that in cosmology the strength of gravity is bound up in the
cosmological equations, and the epoch at which we live is a crucial part of the
model. We argue that it is useful to consider the hypothetical situation of
communicating with another civilization (with entirely different units),
comparing only dimensionless constants, in order to decide if we live in a
Universe governed by precisely the same physical laws. In this thought
experiment, we would also have to compare epochs, which can be defined by
giving the value of any {\it one} of the evolving cosmological parameters. By
setting things up carefully in this way one can avoid inconsistent results when
considering variable constants, caused by effectively fixing more than one
parameter today. We show examples of this effect by considering microwave
background anisotropies, being careful to maintain dimensionlessness
throughout. We present Fisher matrix calculations to estimate how well the fine
structure constants for electromagnetism and gravity can be determined with
future microwave background experiments. We highlight how one can be misled by
simply adding to the usual cosmological parameter set
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