The Whitworthian 2007-2008

The Whitworthian student newspaper, September 2007-April 2008.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/whitworthian/1092/thumbnail.jp

Why compete? : a two-part philosophical and narrative rebuttal to competition

This dissertation presents two methods of critiquing the ideology of competition; one, philosophical; and the other, narrative. Using these different methods of presentation, the dissertation attempts to argue a compelling case for the notion that a society based on a cooperative ideology is an acceptable, livable, preferable, and attainable alternative to our society\u27s present state. In Part One, competition is examined from a philosophical perspective. The first five chapters of Part One focus on why the competitive ideology and the competitive society fail to live up to their benign reputation though completely fulfilling their negative aspects. These chapters discuss several competitivist arguments, including the view that competition is an evolutionary or innate psychological condition of humans, social Darwinism, the economics of competition, and the conception of competition as a mutual quest for excellence. Chapter 6 of the dissertation studies the conundrum of why many people, despite evidence to the contrary, continue to support the competitive ideology. Finally, in Chapter 7, I offer one possibility as to what can be done to change this situation by attempting to answer the following question: If philosophy, along with voluminous sociological and psychological studies, has not provided the necessary contingencies to help people convince themselves of the obvious weaknesses of the competitive ideology, what will? Chapter 7 argues that literature (and Utopian literature in particular) is an acceptable alternative for presenting sophisticated ideas and scholarship; it is a medium which appeals to a larger percentage of the population. For the entirety of Part Two, therefore, I offer a quasi-utopian novel which contextualizes arguments for cooperation and against competition in order to demonstrate the literary medium\u27s potential. Because of the scope of the novel, the arguments do not deal strictly with sports-related competition but with competition as it affects a greater number of social institutions, including and especially education. The author hopes that the narrative style of presentation will make more accessible to more people the cooperativist position, thus stimulating pro-social changes

Physiological constraints on the ecology of activity-limited ectotherms

Organismal exchanges of heat, water, and metabolizable energy with their environment are important influences on their behavior, physiology and, life history. Where extreme climates and resource-poor environments restrict an organism‘s overall activity budget, physiology—through performance, tolerance, acclimation, and trade-offs—becomes a primary influence on that organism‘s ecology. Vertebrate ectotherms exemplify these physiological constraints because their body temperatures are closely tied to thermal and hydric exchanges with their environment; they are typically highly tolerant of a broad range of conditions; and they exhibit boom-and-bust cycles related to release from constraints. This dissertation examines physiological constraints on wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) at the extreme southwestern edge of their range, desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) which spend >98% of their lives in burrows, and the eggs of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) which incubate for months on a tropical beach during the dry season. The distribution of microhabitats available to each focal ectotherm delineated where and when these organisms could be surface-active, what constituted adequate refugia for intolerable surface periods, and why these activity-limited organisms behave differently from conspecifics elsewhere. Direct measurements of physiological performance (metabolic rates, locomotion) over the focal organism‘s tolerated range of body temperatures and hydrations assessed the consequences of thermal and hydric exchanges with suboptimal microhabitats. These exercises constitute a quantification of important influences on the physiological ecology of activity-limited vertebrate ectotherms. Comparative analysis of the allometry of physiological traits in a variety of mammals served to elucidate the functional and phylogenetic constraints on physiological adaptation. This quantitative and model-based approach is useful for quantifying risk (e.g., desiccation risk), estimating processes that are hard to measure (e.g., metabolic heating of sea turtle eggs buried 1 m deep in sand), and predicting responses to future changes (e.g., global warming). These qualities recommend this approach as a practical tool in conservation biology.Ph.D., Environmental Science -- Drexel University, 201