36 research outputs found
Ideal DoLLs as Ideology
This paper argues that many philosophical theories of meaning idealize our actual language communities and thereby contribute to perpetuating group-based oppression. I focus on externalist theories of language that posit a division of linguistic labor (DoLL), and I argue that the DoLLs they imagine are free of oppression and untouched by its effects. This distorts both basic theoretical assumptions and our ideas about which meanings are to be found in some language community. By thus obscuring oppression and its effects, we prevent ourselves from adequately addressing oppression's effects on the meanings we use to understand and communicate about the world
Center Dominance Recovered: Direct Laplacian Center Gauge
We introduce a variation of direct maximal center gauge fixing: the "direct
Laplacian" center gauge. The new procedure consists of first fixing to the
Laplacian adjoint Landau gauge, followed by overrelaxation to the nearby Gribov
copy of the direct maximal center gauge. Certain shortcomings of maximal center
gauge, associated with Gribov copies, are overcome in the new gauge, in
particular center dominance is recovered.Comment: 3 pages, 2 EPS figures, Lattice2001(confinement
Center Dominance in SU(2) Gauge-Higgs Theory
We study the SU(2) gauge-Higgs system in D=4 dimensions, and analyze the
influence of the fundamental-representation Higgs field on the vortex content
of the gauge field. It is shown that center projected Polyakov lines, at low
temperature, are finite in the infinite volume limit, which means that the
center vortex distribution is consistent with color screening. In addition we
confirm and further investigate the presence of a "Kertesz-line" in the
strong-coupling region of the phase diagram, which we relate to the percolation
properties of center vortices. It is shown that this Kertesz-line separates the
gauge-Higgs phase diagram into two regions: a confinement-like region, in which
center vortices percolate, and a Higgs region, in which they do not. The free
energy of the gauge-Higgs system, however, is analytic across the Kertesz line.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure
Remarks on the Gribov Problem in Direct Maximal Center Gauge
We review the equivalence of maximal center gauge fixing to the problem of
finding the best fit, to a given lattice gauge field, by a thin vortex
configuration. This fit is necessarily worst at the location of P-plaquettes.
We then compare the fits achieved in Gribov copies generated by (i)
over-relaxation; (ii) over-relaxation after Landau gauge preconditioning; and
(iii) simulated annealing. Simulated annealing yields the best fit if all links
on the lattice are included, but the situation changes if we consider only the
lattice volume exterior to P-plaquettes. In this exterior region, the fit is
best for Gribov copies generated by over-relaxation, and worst for Gribov
copies generated after Landau gauge preconditioning. The two fitting criteria
(including or not including the P-plaquettes) yield string tensions differing
by -34% to +20% respectively, relative to the full string tension. Our usual
procedure (``quenched minimization'') seems to be a compromise between these
criteria, and yields string tensions at an intermediate value close to the full
string tension.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Some Reflections on Gaslighting and Language Games
This paper proposes that, in many cases, conversational norms permit gaslighting when socially subordinate speakers report systemic injustice. Section 1 introduces gaslighting and the kinds of cases on which I focus—namely, cases in which multiple people gaslight. I give examples and statistics to suggest that these cases are common in response to reports of race- or gender-based injustice; and I appeal to scholarship on epistemologies of ignorance to suggest that this kind of gaslighting is common because it is systematically produced by dominant epistemic systems. Section 2 draws on Lynne Tirrell’s account of language games that’ve been influenced by oppression to make the case that conversational norms make gaslighting “appropriate” when socially subordinate speakers report systemic injustice. Together, these points make the case that the kind of gaslighting discussed in this paper (i) occurs systematically and (ii) is mutually reinforcing with systems of ignorance. The discussion is meant to help us understand and address the conditions that make gaslighting commonplace. If it’s true that gaslighting occurs systematically in part thanks to our warped conversational norms, then we may be able to mitigate the prevalence of gaslighting by attending to these norms