2,089 research outputs found
The domination contract
Carole Patemanâs The Sexual Contract (1988) has become a classic text of second-wave feminism, and is widely and deservedly seen as constituting one of the most important challenges of the last twenty-five years to the frameworks and assumptions of âmalestreamâ political theory. Moreover, its influence is not restricted to gender issues, since it was the inspiration for my own book, The Racial Contract (1997), which has also become quite successful in the parallel, if not as well-established, field of critical race theory. The impact of both books, of course, originates in part from their refusal respectively of âpinkâ and âblackâ theoretical ghettoization for a frontal conceptual engagement with a (male, white) intellectual apparatus, social contract theory, that has historically been central to the modern Western political tradition, and which has been spectacularly revived in the past four decades as a result of John Rawlsâs A Theory of Justice (1971). Pateman and I are saying that the history of gender and racial subordination requires a rethinking of how we do political theory, that it cannot be a matter of some minor, largely cosmetic changes â a few âsheâsâ sprinkled in where there were previously only âheâs,â a pro forma (if that much) deploring of the racism of Enlightenment theorists â before continuing basically as before. As such, the goal is a revisioning of the tradition that we both want the white male majority of practitioners in the field to accept and to incorporate into their own work. What, though, is the specific nature of this challenge for contract theory in general, and Rawlsian normative theory in particular? After all, Pateman is generally represented as being quite hostile to the project of trying to retrieve the contract for positive ends. So in this and the next chapter, I want to make a case for generalizing this revisionist version of the contract and turning it to the theorization of gender and racial justice. My claim will be that the concept of a âdomination contractâ can be fruitfully employed to overturn the misleading framework of assumptions of mainstream social contract theory, thereby better positioning us to tackle the pressing issues of ânon-ideal theoryâ that, far from being marginal, in fact determine the fate of the majority of the population
IgnorĂąncia branca
In this paper, Charles Mills discusses what he calls "white ignorance", developing one of the main themes of his 1997 book, 'The Racial Contract'. His discussion is concerned with the idea of a cognitive disadvantage based on membership in a social group, which is not strange to the radical philosophical tradition, and that has been explored with more vigor in the recent Social Epistemology, in debates about epistemic injustices, silencing, willful ignorance, cognitive biases, epistemological standpoints, etc. Mills argues for an "Epistemology of the white ignorance", a racially and socially situated epistemology, which contraposes itself, in a great extent, to the individualistic tendencies of the traditional epistemological work, while conserving the interests in objectivity and truth of this work
O contrato de dominação
Para abordar a histĂłria de subordinação racial e de gĂȘnero, Ă© necessĂĄrio repensar como fazemos teoria polĂtica. Assim, o objetivo consiste em uma anĂĄlise da tradição revisionista do contrato e de sua transformação em uma teorização da justiça racial e de gĂȘnero. Meu argumento Ă© de que o conceito de âcontrato de dominaçãoâ pode ser empregado de forma produtiva para superarmos os descaminhos dos pressupostos gerais da teoria hegemĂŽnica do contrato social e, assim, termos melhores condiçÔes de lidar com as questĂ”es prementes de uma teoria ânĂŁo idealâ que, longe de ser marginal, de fato determina o destino da maioria da população. Ă revolucionĂĄrio o entendimento que considera que a assertiva mais significativa da teoria do contrato social seja a de que a sociedade polĂtica Ă© um construto humano, e nĂŁo um desenvolvimento orgĂąnico. Argumento que essa significĂąncia revolucionĂĄria ainda nĂŁo foi valorizada e explorada em sua plenitude. Entendendo atĂ© onde vai a âconstruçãoâ, podemos reconhecer que esse discernimento tambĂ©m se aplica ao gĂȘnero e Ă raça. Quando se reconhece quĂŁo proteano o contrato historicamente tem se apresentado e quĂŁo fundamental do ponto de vista polĂtico Ă© sua visĂŁo da criação humana de sociedade e de nĂłs mesmos como seres sociais, consegue-se compreender que seu emprego conservador Ă© resultado nĂŁo de seus aspectos intrĂnsecos, mas do seu uso por um grupo privilegiado de homens brancos hegemĂŽnico na teoria polĂtica que tem tido nenhuma motivação para extrapolar a sua lĂłgica
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Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis in experimental necrotizing enterocolitis: alterations in inflammation, innate immune response, and the microbiota.
BackgroundProbiotics decrease the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). We sought to determine the impact of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (B. infantis) in the established rat model of NEC.MethodsRat pups delivered 1 d prior to term gestation were assigned to one of three groups: dam fed (DF), formula fed (FF), or fed with formula supplemented with 5âĂâ10(6) CFU B. infantis per day (FF+Binf). Experimental pups were exposed to hypoxia and cold stress. Ileal tissue was examined for pathology and expression of inflammatory mediators, antimicrobial peptides, and goblet-cell products. Ceca were assessed for bacterial composition by analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence.ResultsAdministration of B. infantis significantly reduced the incidence of NEC, decreased expression of Il6, Cxcl1, Tnfa, Il23, and iNOS, and decreased expression of the antimicrobial peptides Reg3b and Reg3g. There was significant microbial heterogeneity both within groups and between experiments. The cecal microbiota was not significantly different between the FF and FF+Binf groups. Bifidobacteria were not detected in the cecum in significant numbers.ConclusionIn the rat model, the inflammation associated with NEC was attenuated by administration of probiotic B. infantis. Dysbiosis was highly variable, precluding determination of the precise role of the microbiota in experimental NEC
White Habits, AntiâRacism, and Philosophy as a Way of Life
This paper examines Pierre Hadotâs philosophy as a way of life in the context of race. I argue that a âway of lifeâ approach to philosophy renders intelligible how anti-racist confrontation of racist ideas and institutionalized white complicity is a properly philosophical way of life requiring regulated reflection on habits â particularly, habits of whiteness. I first rehearse some of Hadotâs analysis of the âway of lifeâ orientation in philosophy, in which philosophical wisdom is understood as cultivated by actions which result in the creation of wise habits. I analyze a phenomenological claim about the nature of habit implied by the âway of lifeâ approach, namely, that habits can be both the cause and the effect of action. This point is central to the âway of lifeâ philosophy, I claim, in that it makes possible the intelligent redirection of habits, in which wise habits are more the effect than simply the cause of action. Lastly, I illustrate the âway of lifeâ approach in the context of anti-racism by turning to Linda MartĂn Alcoffâs whiteness anti-eliminativism, which outlines a morally defensible transformation of the habits of whiteness. I argue that anti-racism provides an intelligible context for modern day forms of what Hadot calls âspiritual exercisesâ insofar as the âway of lifeâ philosophy is embodied in the practice of whites seeing themselves seeing as white and seeing themselves being seen as white
Performance and policy dimensions in internet routing
The Internet Routing Project, referred to in this report as the 'Highball Project', has been investigating architectures suitable for networks spanning large geographic areas and capable of very high data rates. The Highball network architecture is based on a high speed crossbar switch and an adaptive, distributed, TDMA scheduling algorithm. The scheduling algorithm controls the instantaneous configuration and swell time of the switch, one of which is attached to each node. In order to send a single burst or a multi-burst packet, a reservation request is sent to all nodes. The scheduling algorithm then configures the switches immediately prior to the arrival of each burst, so it can be relayed immediately without requiring local storage. Reservations and housekeeping information are sent using a special broadcast-spanning-tree schedule. Progress to date in the Highball Project includes the design and testing of a suite of scheduling algorithms, construction of software reservation/scheduling simulators, and construction of a strawman hardware and software implementation. A prototype switch controller and timestamp generator have been completed and are in test. Detailed documentation on the algorithms, protocols and experiments conducted are given in various reports and papers published. Abstracts of this literature are included in the bibliography at the end of this report, which serves as an extended executive summary
âWhat if There's Something Wrong with Her?ââHow Biomedical Technologies Contribute to Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare
While there is a steadily growing literature on epistemic injustice in healthcare, there are few discussions of the role that biomedical technologies play in harming patients in their capacity as knowers. Through an analysis of newborn and pediatric genetic and genomic sequencing technologies (GSTs), I argue that biomedical technologies can lead to epistemic injustice through two primary pathways: epistemic capture and value partitioning. I close by discussing the larger ethical and political context of critical analyses of GSTs and their broader implications for just and equitable healthcare delivery
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