Ashes of Our Fathers: Racist Monuments and the Tribal Right

[Updated 2/23/21: complete chapter scan] In this chapter I sketch a rightist approach to monumentary policy in a diverse polity beleaguered by old ethnic grievances. I begin by noting the importance of tribalism, memorialization, and social trust. I then suggest a policy which 1) gradually narrows the gap between peoples in the heritage landscape, 2) conserves all but the most offensive of the least beloved racist monuments, 3) avoids recrimination (i.e., “keeps it positive”) and eschews ideological commentary in new monuments or revisions to old ones, 4) as much as politically feasible, recognizes only the offense of willing tribemates, and 5) responds to aesthetic and other “irrational” offenses more than to “objective” historical or philosophical critiques

The Racial Offense Objection to Confederate Monuments: A Reply to Timmerman

This is my reply essay (1000 words) to Travis Timmerman's "A Case for Removing Confederate Monuments" in Bob Fisher's _Ethics, Left and Right: The Moral Issues That Divide Us_ volume. In it, I explain why I think the mere harm from the racial offense a monument may cause does not justify removing it

Modelling the Developing Mind: From Structure to Change

This paper presents a theory of cognitive change. The theory assumes that the fundamental causes of cognitive change reside in the architecture of mind. Thus, the architecture of mind as specified by the theory is described first. It is assumed that the mind is a three-level universe involving (1) a processing system that constrains processing potentials, (2) a set of specialized capacity systems that guide understanding of different reality and knowledge domains, and (3) a hypecognitive system that monitors and controls the functioning of all other systems. The paper then specifies the types of change that may occur in cognitive development (changes within the levels of mind, changes in the relations between structures across levels, changes in the efficiency of a structure) and a series of general (e.g., metarepresentation) and more specific mechanisms (e.g., bridging, interweaving, and fusion) that bring the changes about. It is argued that different types of change require different mechanisms. Finally, a general model of the nature of cognitive development is offered. The relations between the theory proposed in the paper and other theories and research in cognitive development and cognitive neuroscience is discussed throughout the paper

The Ethics of Racist Monuments

In this chapter we focus on the debate over publicly-maintained racist monuments as it manifests in the mid-2010s Anglosphere, primarily in the US (chiefly regarding the over 700 monuments devoted to the Confederacy), but to some degree also in Britain and Commonwealth countries, especially South Africa (chiefly regarding monuments devoted to figures and events associated with colonialism and apartheid). After pointing to some representative examples of racist monuments, we discuss ways a monument can be thought racist, and neutrally categorize removalist and preservationist arguments heard in the monument debate. We suggest that both extremist and moderate removalist goals are likely to be self-defeating, and that when concerns of civic sustainability are put on moral par with those of fairness and justice, something like a Mandela-era preservationist policy is best: one which removes the most offensive of the minor racist monuments, but which focuses on closing the monumentary gap between peoples and reframing existing racist monuments

LOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PARTITIONING OF MIND: DEPICTING THE SAME MAP?

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that empirically delimited structures of mind are also differentiable by means of systematic logical analysis. In the sake of this aim, the paper first summarizes Demetriou's theory of cognitive organization and growth. This theory assumes that the mind is a multistructural entity that develops across three fronts: the processing system that constrains processing potentials, a set of specialized structural systems (SSSs) that guide processing within different reality and knowledge domains, and a hypecognitive system that monitors and controls the functioning of all other systems. In the second part the paper focuses on the SSSs, which are the target of our logical analysis, and it summarizes a series of empirical studies demonstrating their autonomous operation. The third part develops the logical proof showing that each SSS involves a kernel element that cannot be reduced to standard logic or to any other SSS. The implications of this analysis for the general theory of knowledge and cognitive development are discussed in the concluding part of the paper

Modeling the transient flow of undercooled glass-forming liquids

n a recent experimental study on flow behavior of Vitreloy-1 (Zr41.25Ti13.75Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5), three distinct modes of flow are suggested: Newtonian, non-Newtonian, and localized flow. In a subsequent study, the experimental flow data is utilized in a self-consistent manner to develop a rate equation to govern local free volume production. In the present study the production-rate equation is transformed into a transport equation that can be coupled with momentum and energy transport via viscosity to formulate a model capable to govern the flow of undercooled glass forming liquids. The model is implemented to study the flow behavior of undercooled Vitreloy-1 melt. For a temperature of 700 K and shear loading of 1.0 MPa, the model predicts that the flow profile gradually stabilizes to its Newtonian limit while the liquid is maintained in structural and thermal equilibrium. For the conditions of 675 K and 100 MPa, the model predicts that the flow profile departs from its Newtonian limit and gradually stabilizes to a non-Newtonian limit. The non-Newtonian profile is evaluated independently by considering structurally quasistatic conditions, which yield the shear-rate dependency of flow. For the conditions of 650 K and 2.0 GPa, the model predicts that the flow continuously localizes and ultimately accelerates unconstrained, while the system is driven out of structural and thermal equilibration towards an unstable state associated with free volume generation, viscosity degradation, and temperature rise. The computed temperature and shear rate evolutions for the three distinct flow modes are superimposed on a temperature-shear rate diagram and appear to computationally reproduce the experimental flow map. The system's structural state that appears to dictate flow behavior is quantified by a dimensionless number, which results from a time scale analysis of the free volume production equation

Coarse-grained description of localized inelastic deformation in amorphous metals

The sequence of shear transformation events that lead to a shear band transition in amorphous metals is described by a spatially random coarse-grained model calibrated to obey the thermodynamic scaling relations that govern flow in a real glass. The model demonstrates that shear banding is a consequence of local shear transformation events that self-organize along planes of maximum resolved shear stress to form extended bands of highly localized deformation. This description suggests that shear band formation is incipient during the early stages of deformation of a randomly inhomogeneous material

Fragility of iron-based glasses

The viscosity of various iron-based bulk-glass-forming liquids is measured around the glass transition, and the associated fragility is calculated. Fragility is found to vary broadly between compositions, from a low value of ~43, which indicates fairly “strong” liquid behavior, to ~65, well within the region of “fragile” behavior. Despite a strong covalent bonding identified in the structure of this class of metal/metalloid glasses, their liquid fragility can be remarkably high, exceeding even the very fragile palladium and platinum bulk-glass formers. An inverse correlation between glass-forming ability and fragility is identified, suggesting that iron-based glasses are effectively “kinetically” stabilized