Independence as Relational Freedom

In spite of its everyday connotations, the term independence as republicans understand it is not a celebration of individualism or self-reliance but embodies an acknowledgement of the importance of personal and social relationships in people’s lives. It reflects our connectedness rather than separateness and is in this regard a relational ideal. Properly understood, independence is a useful concept in addressing a fundamental problem in social philosophy that has preoccupied theorists of relational autonomy, namely how to reconcile the idea of individual human agency with the inevitable and necessary influence of other people, both directly and indirectly. I derive my account from the work of Mary Wollstonecraft and Catharine Macaulay, whose contributions have remained largely overlooked by current republican theorists. I have three purposes in this chapter. First, I set out the relational character of independence. Secondly, I outline a republican approach to the problem of structural social threats to agency. Finally, I hope to establish the basis for a fruitful dialogue between republicans and relational autonomy theorists on the requirements and dynamics of individual agency and freedom in oppressive social situations. I identify three distinctive features of the internal logic of freedom as independence that give it a relational character: it always locates the person within a community; there is a mediating role played by the notion of arbitrariness in connecting individual and collective perspectives; a causal relationship exists linking each person’s freedom as independence such that that the dependence of one class of persons jeopardizes the independence of the whole community

Catharine Macaulay's influence on Mary Wollstonecraft

Although they were never to meet and corresponded only briefly, Catharine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft shared a mutual admiration and a strong intellectual bond. Macaulay’s work had a profound and lasting effect on Wollstonecraft, and she developed and expanded on many of Macaulay’s ideas. While she often took these in a different direction, there remains a great synergy between their ideas to the extent that we can understand Wollstonecraft’s own feminist arguments by approaching them through the frameworks and ideas that Macaulay provided. These included the principles of classical republicanism, particularly in its understanding of the values of freedom, equality and virtue, and an understanding of reason as grounded in immutable principles that apply equally to both sexes. On the question of women’s freedom and social equality with men, I argue that though Macaulay sets up the problem in far richer and more detailed philosophical terms, in the end it is Wollstonecraft that has the more compelling account of its far-reaching social implications and of how this might be addressed

Catharine Macaulay’s Republican Conception of Social and Political Liberty

Catharine Macaulay was one of the most significant republican writers of her generation. Although there has been a revival of interest in Macaulay amongst feminists and intellectual historians, neo-republican writers have yet to examine the theoretical content of her work in any depth. Since she anticipates and addresses a number of themes that still preoccupy republicans, this neglect represents a serious loss to the discipline. I examine Macaulay’s conception of freedom, showing how she uses the often misunderstood notion of virtue to reconcile the individual and collective elements inherent in the republican model. In her own analysis of the deep-rooted social obstacles that stand in the way of women becoming free, Macaulay identifies a serious problem that confronts all republicans, namely how to secure freedom in the face of entrenched structural imbalances that systematically disadvantage certain classes of person. In the end, I conclude that Macaulay herself cannot overcome the issues she raises. This in no way diminishes the importance of her work since her diagnosis is as relevant today as in her own time

A Radical Revolution in Thought: Frederick Douglass on the Slave’s Perspective on Republican Freedom

While the image of the slave as the antithesis of the freeman is central to republican freedom, it is striking to note that slaves themselves have not contributed to how this condition is understood. The result is a one-sided conception of both freedom and slavery, which leaves republicanism unable to provide an equal and robust protection for historically outcast people. I draw on the work of Frederick Douglass – long overlooked as a significant contributor to republican theory – to show one way why this is so. Focusing the American Revolution, the subsequent republican government established new political institutions to maintain the collective interests of the whole population. The political revolution was held in place by processes of public reason that reflected the values and ideas of the people that had rebelled. The black population, however, had not been part of this revolution. After emancipation, black Americans were required to accept terms of citizenship that had already been defined, leaving them socially dominated, subject to the prejudices and biases within the prevailing ideas of public discourse. Douglass argued that republican freedom under law is always dependent on a more fundamental revolution, that he calls a ‘radical revolution in thought’, in which the entire system of social norms and practices are reworked together by members of all constituent social groups – women and men, black and white, rich and poor – so that it reflects a genuinely collaborative achievement. Only then can we begin the republican project of contestatory freedom as independence or non-domination that today’s republicans take for granted

Determination of mean atmospheric densities from the explorer ix satellite

Mean atmospheric densities from changes in orbital elements of Explorer IX satellit

Reciprocal relationships between efficacy and performance in athlete dyads: Self-, other-, and collective constructs

This study’s purpose was to evaluate the unique contributions of self-, other-, and collective constructs in the efficacy-performance reciprocal relationship for athlete dyads involving low- and high-dependence roles. Data were obtained from 74 intact cheerleading pairs on self-, other-, and collective efficacy and subjective performance evaluations for each of five successive trials. Objective assessments of dyad performances were obtained from digital recordings. Across path-models involving a single efficacy construct, similar reciprocal relationships between objective dyad performance and self-, other-, or collective efficacy were observed. In path-models comprised of multiple efficacy or performance constructs, unique efficacy contributions were observed in the prediction of objective dyad performance, and unique subjective performance contributions were observed in the prediction of efficacy beliefs. Partner effects were observed more often for athletes in the high-dependence role than for those in the low-dependence role. Findings support how self-, other-, and collective beliefs are processed by team athletes

The Mass of the Convective Zone in FGK Main Sequence Stars and the Effect of Accreted Planetary Material on Apparent Metallicity Determinations

The mass of the outer convective zone in FGK main sequence stars decreases dramatically with stellar mass. Therefore, any contamination of a star's atmosphere by accreted planetary material should affect hotter stars much more than cool stars. If recent suggestions that high metal abundances in stars with planets are caused by planetesimal accretion are correct, then metallicity enhancements in earlier-type stars with planets should be very pronounced. No such trend is seen, however.Comment: Submitted ApJ Letters March 26th; accepted April 30th. 12 pages, 2 figure

Social Identity Moderates the Effects of Team-Referent Attributions on Collective Efficacy but Not Emotions

Team-referent attributions are associated with collective efficacy and emotions (Allen et al. 2009). However, the contextual factors in which these attributions are formulated have been largely ignored. Therefore, the current research was designed to examine whether social identity could moderate the way individuals think about their team-referent attributions. Across two studies (cross-sectional and longitudinal), the moderating role that social identity has on these relationships was examined. In study 1, athletes (N = 227) on sport teams (K = 30) completed questionnaires assessing social identity, attributions for their team’s most recent performance (team-referent attributions), collective efficacy and emotions. Multilevel linear models revealed that social identity moderated the relationships between team-referent attributions and collective efficacy after team defeat. In Study 2, American football team players (N = 43) completed measures of collective efficacy before each game and social identity and attributions after each game. Multilevel linear models revealed that, after a team victory, social identity moderated the relationships between post-game team-referent attributions and subsequent pre-game collective efficacy. Results also indicated that the relationship between controllability and collective efficacy varied at different levels of social identity across the entire season. The results of these studies extend attribution theory by demonstrating that the relationships between team-referent attributions and collective efficacy might be moderated by social identity. Future studies may look to implement interventions aimed at maximizing collective efficacy through attribution retraining strategies while also encouraging the development of social identit