Aesthetics and class interests: Rethinking Kant

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Third Text, 28(2), 137 - 148, 2014, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09528822.2014.890788.Immanuel Kant's philosophy of the aesthetic is typically celebrated by bourgeois critics as a transcendence of the social, an interpretation largely accepted by anglophone Marxism. This article rethinks Kant's concept of ‘interest’ around the question of social compulsion. The ‘pure judgement’ involved in aesthetic production and reception is understood as providing an institutionalized space for reflection on and not merely reflection of social determinations. Drawing on Kojin Karatani's reading of Kant, the article stresses the communicative dimension of the aesthetic in relation to a universal that is not given. The Kantian aesthetic can be read as one which inscribes the classed other into its very form. The novelty of this reading is highlighted by comparing the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Rancière. The article argues that their respective sociological and philosophical positions do not adequately assess whether practices are identical to their immediate conditions of existence

The Limited Liability Company Experiment: Unlimited Flexibility, Uncertain Role

Limited liability company (LLC) laws utilize provisions clearly of partnership origin in varying degrees. The adoption of the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act and the LLC are discussed

China-U.S. Trade Issues

[Excerpt] U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several years. Total U.S.-China trade, which totaled only $5 billion in 1980, rose to$387 billion in 2007. China overtook Japan to become the third largest U.S. export market, and overtook Canada to become the largest source of U.S. imports. With a huge population and a rapidly expanding economy, China is a potentially huge market for U.S. exporters. However, U.S.-China economic relations have become strained over a number of issues, including large and growing U.S. trade deficits with China (which hit $256 billion in 2007), China’s failure to fully implement its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments (especially in regards to protection of intellectual property rights), its refusal to adopt a floating currency system, its use of industrial policies and other practices deemed unfair and/or harmful to various U.S. economic sectors, and failure to ensure that its exports to the United States meet U.S. health and safety standards. The Bush Administration has come under increasing pressure from Congress to take a more aggressive stance against various Chinese economic and trade practices. In response, it filed a number of trade dispute resolution cases against China in the WTO, including China’s failure to protect IPR and afford market access for IPR-related products, discriminatory regulations on imported auto parts, and import and export subsidies to various industries in China. In addition, the Administration reversed a long-standing policy that countervailing cases (dealing with government subsidies) could not be brought against non-market economies (such as China). In December 2006, the Administration began a “Strategic Economic Dialogue” (SED) with China to discuss major long-term economic issues between the two countries; the latest SED talks were held in December 2007. In response to growing concerns in the United States over the health, safety, and quality of certain Chinese products, the Administration in 2007 concluded agreements with China on toys, food and feed, drugs and medical devices, and tires. Numerous bills have been introduced in Congress that would impact U.S.-China economic relations. H.R. 321, H.R. 782, H.R. 1002, H.R. 2942, S. 364, S. 796, S. 1607, and S. 1677 seek to address China’s currency policy. H.R. 388 would prohibit U.S. imports of Chinese autos as long as Chinese tariffs on autos are higher than U.S. tariffs. H.R. 708, H.R. 1229, and S. 974 would apply U.S. countervailing laws to China. H.R. 1958 and S. 571 would terminate China’s permanent normal trade relations status. H.R. 275 would prohibit U.S. companies from aiding regimes that restrict Internet access. S. 1919 would limit the president’s discretion on Section 421 investigations on import surges from China. H.R. 3273 would expand U.S. export promotion programs to boost exports to China. Finally, numerous bills have been introduced to address concerns over unsafe imports (including from China). This report examines major U.S.-China trade issues and will be updated as events warrant

Hysteresis of Finite Arrays of Magnetic nano Dots

Hysteresis curves for finite arrays of $N\times N$ ferromagnetic nano dots subject to the dipole-dipole interaction are investigated for $N=2... 13$. Spin arrangements up to N=6 are presented, which indicate the onset of bulk-like behavior associated with odd (N=5) and even (N=6) systems. The effect of field misalignment on the hysteresis loops is also studied for $N=3... 6$. The area $A_N$ of the hysteresis loop is studied as a function of $N$. We find that $A_N-A_\infty$ approximately scales as $N^{-{3/2}}$ for $N$ odd and as $N^{-2}$ for $N$ even.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to PR

Violation of Quasineutrality in Semiconductor Transport: The Dember Effect

Exact solution of the linearized equations for steady-state transport in semiconductors yields two modes that vary exponentially in space, one involving screening (without entropy production) and one involving diffusion and recombination (with entropy production). Neither mode is quasineutral. For constant surface photoexcitation with generation of electrons and holes, the steady-state response is a linear combination of these modes, subject to global electroneutrality. The resultant charge separation produces a voltage difference across the sample (the Dember effect)

Travels in modernity: spectatorship and narratives in British film culture

[First paragraph of introduction:] This study explores the meaning of Britishness as it has been defined by its relations with other geo-cultural terrains. If on the one hand Britishness, as we shall discover, has powerfully insular and inward looking elements, it has on the other hand an identity forged within a triangulation of significant Others. Britain's 'special' relationship with America, its political and cultural position on the edge of mainland Europe and the legacy of its Imperial past mark the three points of that triangle in which I want to locate the formations of national identity. This triangulation is complex. There is a sense in which each relationship Britain has with one geocultural formation, e.g. America, is also imbricated with or superimposed onto Britain's relationships with the other two. This imbricated spatial model must also factor in how each of these relations are themselves prone to ambivalence, marked as they are by both fascination and fear with these various Others

China’s Currency: An Analysis of the Economic Issues

[Excerpt] This report provides an overview of the economic issues surrounding the current debate over China’s currency policy. It identifies the economic costs and benefits of China’s currency policy for both China and the United States, and possible implications if China were to allow its currency to significantly appreciate or to float freely. It also examines proposed legislation in the 111th Congress that seek to address China’s currency policy