Machine Automation and the Critique of Abstract Labor in Hegel’s Mature Social Theory

This thesis examines Hegel’s critique of abstract labor in the Philosophy of Right and the sections on objective spirit in the Encyclopaedia. Against both Frederick Neuhouser’s and Marxist interpretations, I argue that abstract labor, for Hegel, characterizes the specific kind of mechanical labor undertaken in the nineteenth-century factory. Such repetitive labor, Hegel claims, leads to the deadening (Abstumpfung) of the worker through the deforming of her ethical subjectivity, a social pathology he hopes will be resolved by machine automation. By developing two key aspects of Hegel’s social theory—that labor produces ethical subjectivity or education (Bildung) and that this education is the central locus of civil society’s ethicality—I argue that we ought to understand Hegel’s hope for machine automation as a critique of those forms of labor which prevent the worker’s rational participation in the totality of the labor process and thus fail to actualize her social freedom

Sexual selection and blue tit (Parus caeruleus) crown coloration

Conspicuous, sexually dimorphic plumage in birds is most likely a consequence of sexual selection favouring more ornamented males at obtaining a territory and/or a mate. Recent comparative analyses suggest that, among socially monogamous species, extra-pair paternity has also contributed to the elaboration of male ornaments. If females prefer more ornamented males as social or extra-pair mates this could translate into strong directional selection for ornament elaboration, since these males might sire more offspring in their own brood (within-pair success) or in broods of other males (extra-pair success). In this thesis I study the expression of the UV/blue crown coloration in the blue tit (Parus caeruleus) and investigate whether this trait could be selected through increased male within- or extra-pair success. Blue tits are socially monogamous passerines with relatively high levels of extra-pair paternity, and males in this species display more ultraviolet(UV)/blue reflectant crown feathers than females. Based on three years of data I found that crown coloration could be a cue used by females to assess male age since blue tits became more UV-ornamented as they aged. Crown coloration, however, did not correlate with survival to the next breeding season, suggesting that more UV-ornamented males are not necessarily of higher quality. While crown UV-ornamentation increased between years, it declined in the course of a year due to feather wear and dirt accumulation and this could affect female perception of male attractiveness. However, although the decline in UV ornamentation between winter and spring was large, it had no effect on male reproductive success, and winter and spring colour were still positively correlated. Using genetic paternity analysis I could show that more UV-ornamented males do not benefit through increased within-pair or extra-pair success. On the contrary, less UV-ornamented, adult males sired most of the extra-pair offspring. Hence the most successful males of the population were adult males that resembled juveniles in their crown colour. Accordingly, females seem to recognise less UV-ornamented males as highly successful, since they biased brood sex ratio towards male offspring if paired to these males. The causality of these patterns was tested in a colour manipulation experiment, where I treated males to become more (UV+) or less (UV-) ornamented within the natural range of variation. Against expectations UV(+) males sired significantly more extra-pair offspring than UV(-) males while the proportion of within-pair offspring was unaffected by the manipulation. Brood sex ratios did not differ between treatments but depended on male colour before manipulation. While these results do suggest that crown colour plays a role in paternity and brood sex allocation, they do not provide experimental support for the observed correlational patterns. I discuss the discrepancy between observational and experimental data, emphasising potential problems with the experimental manipulation of structural plumage colour. Finally, given that more UV-ornamented males did not sire more offspring, I explore the possibility that they would benefit by pairing with high quality females. High quality females in other species are often more ornamented, and birds of high quality pair assortatively based on ornament expression. This was not the case in this blue tit population, since female colour did not appear to indicate relevant female qualities (fecundity, seasonal reproductive success) and blue tits did not mate assortatively by crown colour in any of the three study years. To conclude, selection seems to favour older, less UV-ornamented males in this population. Whether this is due to female preference is unclear. Alternatively I hypothesise that being less ornamented may enable males searching for extra pair copulations to intrude into other territories without eliciting aggression by territory owners, perhaps by mimicking juveniles. Detailed behavioural observations in the wild coupled with choice chamber experiments in captivity are necessary to test this idea

Crowdfunding in Europe : Between Fragmentation and Harmonization

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Seasonal Changes in Colour: A Comparison of Structural, Melanin- and Carotenoid-Based Plumage Colours

Plumage coloration is important for bird communication, most notably in sexual signalling. Colour is often considered a good quality indicator, and the expression of exaggerated colours may depend on individual condition during moult. After moult, plumage coloration has been deemed fixed due to the fact that feathers are dead structures. Still, many plumage colours change after moult, although whether this affects signalling has not been sufficiently assessed.) displaying various coloration types (melanin-, carotenoid-based and structural). Birds were caught regularly during three years to measure plumage reflectance. We used models of avian colour vision to derive two variables, one describing chromatic and the other achromatic variation over the year that can be compared in magnitude among different colour types. All studied plumage patches but one (yellow breast of the blue tit) showed significant chromatic changes over the year, although these were smaller than for a typical dynamic trait (bill colour). Overall, structural colours showed a reduction in relative reflectance at shorter wavelengths, carotenoid-based colours the opposite pattern, while no general pattern was found for melanin-based colours. Achromatic changes were also common, but there were no consistent patterns of change for the different types of colours.Changes of plumage coloration independent of moult are probably widespread; they should be perceivable by birds and have the potential to affect colour signalling

Kleptoparasitic Interactions under Asymmetric Resource Valuation

We introduce a game theoretical model of stealing interactions. We model the situation as an extensive form game when one individual may attempt to steal a valuable item from another who may in turn defend it. The population is not homogeneous, but rather each individual has a different Resource Holding Potential (RHP). We assume that RHP not only influences the outcome of the potential aggressive contest (the individual with the larger RHP is more likely to win), but that it also influences how an individual values a particular resource. We investigate several valuation scenarios and study the prevalence of aggressive behaviour. We conclude that the relationship between RHP and resource value is crucial, where some cases lead to fights predominantly between pairs of strong individuals, and some between pairs of weak individuals. Other cases lead to no fights with one individual conceding, and the order of strategy selection is crucial, where the individual which picks its strategy first often has an advantage

UV-Deprived Coloration Reduces Success in Mate Acquisition in Male Sand Lizards (Lacerta agilis)

Background: Recent work on animal signals has revealed a wide occurrence of UV signals in tetrapods, in particular birds, but also in lizards (and perhaps other Squamate reptiles). Our previous work on the Swedish sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) has verified, both in correlative selection analyses in the wild and with laboratory and field experiments, the importance of the green ‘badge ’ on the body sides of adult males for securing mating opportunities, probably mostly through deterring rival males rather than attracting females. The role of UV in communication has, however, never been examined. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we show that when measured immediately after spring skin shedding, there is also signaling in the UV. By UV-depriving the signal (reflectance) with sun block chemicals fixated with permeable, harmless spray dressing, we show that males in the control group (spray dressing only) had significantly higher success in mate acquisition than UV-deprived males. Conclusions/Significance: These results suggest that at least two colour traits in sand lizards, badge area and UV, contribute to rival deterrence and/or female choice on UV characters, which elevates success in mate acquisition in UV intact male sand lizards

Crowdfunding in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges

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A Blessing and a Curse? Political Institutions in the Growth and Decay of Generalized Trust: A Cross-National Panel Analysis, 1980–2009

Despite decades of research on social capital, studies that explore the relationship between political institutions and generalized trust–a key element of social capital–across time are sparse. To address this issue, we use various cross-national public-opinion data sets including the World Values Survey and employ pooled time-series OLS regression and fixed- and random-effects estimation techniques on an unbalanced panel of 74 countries and 248 observations spread over a 29-year time period. With these data and methods, we investigate the impact of five political-institutional factors–legal property rights, market regulations, labor market regulations, universality of socioeconomic provisions, and power-sharing capacity–on generalized trust. We find that generalized trust increases monotonically with the quality of property rights institutions, that labor market regulations increase generalized trust, and that power-sharing capacity of the state decreases generalized trust. While generalized trust increases as the government regulation of credit, business, and economic markets decreases and as the universality of socioeconomic provisions increases, both effects appear to be more sensitive to the countries included and the modeling techniques employed than the other political-institutional factors. In short, we find that political institutions simultaneously promote and undermine generalized trust