Equality and information

Traditional outcome-orientated egalitarian principles require access to information about the size of individual holdings. Recent egalitarian political theory has sought to accommodate considerations of responsibility. Such a move may seem problematic, in that a new informational burden is thereby introduced, with no apparent decrease in the existing burden. This article uses a simple model with simulated data to examine the extent to which outcome egalitarianism and responsibility-sensitive egalitarianism (‘luck egalitarianism’) can be accurately applied where information is incomplete or erroneous. It is found that, while outcome egalitarianism tends to be more accurately applied, its advantage is not overwhelming, and in many prima facie plausible circumstances luck egalitarianism would be more accurately applied. This suggests that luck egalitarianism cannot be rejected as utopian. Furthermore, while some argue that, in practice, luck egalitarianism is best realized indirectly, by securing equality of outcome, our evidence suggests that a luck egalitarian rule of regulation offers a far more accurate implementation of the luck egalitarian ideal than does an outcome egalitarian rule of regulation

Near-field to far-field transition of photonic crystal fibers: symmetries and interference phenomena

The transition from the near to the far field of the fundamental mode radiating out of a photonic crystal fiber is investigated experimentally and theoretically. It is observed that the hexagonal shape of the near field rotates two times by pi/6 when moving into the far field, and eventually six satellites form around a nearly gaussian far-field pattern. A semi-empirical model is proposed, based on describing the near field as a sum of seven gaussian distributions, which qualitatively explains all the observed phenomena and quantitatively predicts the relative intensity of the six satellites in the far field.Comment: 7 pages including 6 figures. Animated version of Fig. 5 is available at http://www.crystal-fibre.com/technology/movie.gi

A Different Sort of Park: Interpreting POW Experiences at Andersonville National Historic Site

Unlike many other historic sites, Andersonville does not fit neatly into any one box. It is not a battlefield, although we still interpret the experience of soldiers and the ideas they fought for. It is not a historic home or building; the only original parts of the site left are earthworks. Andersonville is a Civil War site but tells a story common to every war. Andersonville National Cemetery contains the remains of American soldiers from every American war except for 1812. Unlike any other National Cemetery entrusted to the National Park Service (except for Andrew Johnson National Historic Site) Andersonville is an active cemetery. Andersonville does not have just one story to tell but rather many different narratives throughout different time periods. It quickly becomes difficult to cover this wide range of topics in a relatively short public program

‘It’s just a wait and see thing at the moment’. Students’ preconceptions about the contribution of theory to classroom practice in learning to teach

This paper reports on an exploration of the preconceptions held by Primary PGCE students about the relationship of theory to classroom practice in learning to teach. Preconceptions about learning to teach have been found in the past to be unsophisticated and unhelpful, yet durable. Linking theory and practice within teacher education is notoriously difficult and studies report scepticism about the value of research findings and theory in everyday classroom practice. Furthermore, the nature of teachers’ professional knowledge is itself uncertain and highly complex. Unlike many previous investigations into student teacher thinking, this small-scale case study captures participants’ views before the start of their training and explores the research question through three key issues: what constitutes teacher knowledge, where this knowledge is learned and how these different facets of knowledge relate to one another. While many of the complexities of teaching are yet to be understood fully in this pre-course phase, these participants prove to be far from naïve and begin the course open to a range of forms of learning, with a positive view of the potential contribution of theory to practice. The insight into this starting point leads to some potentially important implications for future course design. The research relates to an English university, but the debate is significant to teacher education more widely

Inequality, avoidability, and healthcare

This review article of Shlomi Segall's Health, Luck, and Justice (Princeton University Press, 2010) addresses three issues: first, Segall’s claim that luck egalitarianism, properly construed, does not object to brute luck equality; second, Segall’s claim that brute luck is properly construed as the outcome of actions that it would have been unreasonable to expect the agent to avoid; and third, Segall’s account of healthcare and criticism of rival views. On the first two issues, a more conventional form of luck egalitarianism – that is, one which objects to brute luck even if it creates equality, and which construes brute luck as the inverse of agent responsibility – is defended. On the third issue, strengths and weaknesses in Segall’s criticism of Rawlsian, democratic egalitarian, and all-luck egalitarian approaches to healthcare, and in his own luck egalitarian approach, are identified

The injustice of discrimination

Discrimination might be considered unjust on account of the comparative disadvantage it imposes, the absolute disadvantage it imposes, the disrespect it shows, or the prejudice it shows. This article argues that each of these accounts overlooks some cases of unjust discrimination. In response to this state of affairs we might combine two or more of these accounts. A promising approach combines the comparative disadvantage and absolute disadvantage accounts

What is grandfathering?

Emissions grandfathering maintains that prior emissions increase future emission entitlements. The view forms a large part of actual emission control frameworks, but is routinely dismissed by political theorists and applied philosophers as evidently unjust. A sympathetic theoretical reconsideration of grandfathering suggests that the most plausible version is moderate, allowing that other considerations should influence emission entitlements, and be justified on instrumental grounds. The most promising instrumental justification defends moderate grandfathering on the basis that one extra unit of emission entitlements from a baseline of zero emissions increases welfare to a greater extent where it is assigned to a high emitter than where it is assigned to a low emitter. Moderate grandfathering can be combined with basic needs and ability to pay considerations to provide an attractive approach to allocating emission entitlements