Recent philosophy and the fiction/non-fiction distinction

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recent philosophical argument concerning the distinction between fiction and non-fiction. Design/methodology/approach - A critical view of the literature. Findings - A consensus that had emerged that defined fiction in terms of the imagination, and imagination in terms of its functional role, has recently been questioned. Research limitations/implications - The overview was written by a contributor to the field, and so may be considered partial. Practical implications - There might be some implications regarding the ways books are classified. Originality/value - The paper is not original, in that it puts forward points made elsewhere, however it is a completely up-to-date review of the field

Holonomy and gravitomagnetism

We analyze parallel transport of a vector field around an equatorial orbit in Kerr and stationary axisymmetric spacetimes that are reflection symmetric about their equatorial planes. As in Schwarzschild spacetime, there is a band structure of holonomy invariance. The new feature introduced by rotation is a shift in the timelike component of the vector, which is the holonomic manifestation of the gravitomagnetic clock effect.Comment: 6 pages Latex (IOP style); new results covering stationary axisymmetric spacetimes; version accepted for Class. Quant. Gra

Aesthetic Relativism

As Hume remarks, the view that aesthetic evaluations are ‘subjective’ is part of common sense—one certainly meets it often enough in conversation. As philosophers, we can distinguish the one sense of the claim (‘aesthetic evaluations are mind- dependent’) from another (‘aesthetic evaluations are relative’). A plausible reading of the former claim (‘some of the grounds of some aesthetic evaluations are response- dependent’) is true. This paper concerns the latter claim. It is not unknown, or even unexpected, to find people who believe that aesthetic evaluations are culturally relative, or even agent-relative. A cultural relativist would hold that there is no way to adjudicate an apparent disagreement between, say, a Japanese critic who finds Wright of Derby clunky and unsubtle, and a British critic who finds Utamaro’s flower pictures overly pretty and sentimental

Inhomogeneous universes in observational coordinates

Isotropic inhomogeneous dust universes are analysed via observational coordinates based on the past light cones of the observer's galactic worldline. The field equations are reduced to a single first--order {\sc ode} in observational variables on the past light cone, completing the observational integration scheme. This leads naturally to an explicit exact solution which is locally nearly homogeneous (i.e. {\sc frw}), but at larger redshift develops inhomogeneity. New observational characterisations of homogeneity ({\sc frw} universes) are also given.Comment: 17 pages LaTeX, no figures; to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Laying the Foundation for a Legal and Political Framework to Protect Cultural Heritage at Risk in Zones of Armed Conflict

This is a transcript of the workshop, Cultural Heritage Under Siege, held at the Getty Centre, Los Angeles, May 2019

A fractured conversation : the professional, scholarly, and disciplinary identities of two-year college writing faculty.

At a time when state-sponsored policies for tuition-free two-year college education are on the rise, this dissertation examines the place of two-year colleges within the primary discourses circulated within Composition Studies. Specifically, through its investigation of the professional practices and identities of two-year college writing faculty—who work in institutions that are often mistakenly seen as “devoid” of scholarship—this dissertation interrogates disciplinary conceptions of scholarship. This study was comprised of two modes of data collection: an examination of publication trends in prominent Composition Studies journals, and interviews with seven community college writing teachers in the Southeast. This dissertation finds that, in contrast to some of the common narratives surrounding this particular institutional setting, upheld by publication trends in Composition Studies journals (Chapter Three), the teachers interviewed are actively engaged in inquiry and knowledge-making. However, their work is not always identified as such, and, consequently, is not always exchanged with nor recognized by the wider discipline of Composition Studies. Given the large portion of the work of teaching college writing that takes place in two-year colleges, this dissertation argues for a more capacious understanding of scholarship, and posits the scholarly lives enacted by participants as an alternate model of inquiry and knowledge-making. This model is shaped by the institutional settings in which participants work (Chapter Two), and is premised on professional spaces institutionally understood as sites of other professional activities—the classroom (Chapter Three) and conferences and faculty reading groups (Chapter Four), as well as collaboration, local applications of new knowledge, and the complex and overlapping relationships between faculty’s different position responsibilities (Chapters Three and Four). Ultimately, this dissertation argues that wider acceptance of such alternate models of scholarship would allow for clearer recognition of the contributions of teacher-scholars (such as those interviewed for this study) to Composition Studies, and would pave the way for disciplinary unity through the increased exchange of innovative ideas and practices across institutional settings—thus improving writing instruction for all college students (Chapter Five)