Spinoza and the paradox of the slave

The aim of this thesis is to draw attention to the paradoxical formulation of the slave in Chapter 16 of the Theological-Political Treatise. Spinoza begins this chapter by defining right as co-extensive with power. The right of each individual thing is then an expression of its power, mediated by the power of Nature as a whole. The critical import of this is that no one can renounce their right. This extends to each individual’s capacity to calculate their utility. Thus, everyone seeks their own advantage. This principle stands or falls on the claim to always be in operation. However, Spinoza includes the slave as a figure who lacks precisely this capacity. The slave is defined as one who is submitted to an external judgement an thus ‘cannot see or do what is good’

Characterization of single-phase and phase-separating polymer blends by rheology, optical and electron microscopy, and solid state NMR

Miscible and phase-separated blends are of great practical interest because a range of useful materials can be produced by blending existing polymers. The relation between rheology and time dependent morphology of a phase separating binary blend of polystyrene and poly(vinyl methyl ether) was investigated by heating a sample from the single phase (at 90 \sp\circC) into the two phase regime (at 124\sp\circC, 16 K above the LCST) and maintaining its temperature there while measuring the evolution of the dynamic moduli G\sp\prime and G\sp\prime\sp\prime. The morphology was observed on length scales from 1 mm down to 1 nm by conventional optical microscopy combined with digital image analysis, Hoffman modulation microscopy, TEM, and WISE NMR with spin diffusion. NMR shows that major compositional changes occur mostly in the first 20 min and then the composition remains constant at about 60:40 PS/PVME for the PS-rich matrix and 5:95 PS/PVME for the PVME-rich microdomains. The PVME-rich microdomains are separated by thin layers of the PS-rich phase which forms the matrix. On a larger scale, shape and geometry change during the entire experiment (42 h). The linear domain growth is consistent with the theories of Siggia and Doi-Ohta. The initial increase of the dynamic moduli is attributed to the formation of highly interconnected PVME-rich and PS-rich phases during spinodal decomposition. The subsequent decrease of the values of the dynamic moduli is considered to be the result of the loss of the interconnectivity between the two phases due to the break-up of the PS-rich phase network and the coalescence of the PVME-rich domains. The thermorheological behavior of binary model blends of polystyrene and poly(2, 6-dimethylphenylene oxide) is also examined. Their rheological properties were modeled based on parameters of the pure components. The pure components were treated as slightly polydisperse linear flexible polymers and the relaxation behavior of the blends was presented as the linear superposition of the relaxation behavior of the pure components while the parameters of our model were successfully correlated with the glass transition temperature of our blend samples

Late stages of phase separation in a binary polymer blend studied by rheology, optical and electron microscopy, and solid state NMR

ABSTRACT: The relation between rheology and the time dependent morphology of a phase-separating binary blend of polystyrene and poly(vinyl methyl ether) was investigated by heating a sample from the single-phase (at 90 °C) into the two-phase regime (at 124 °C, 16 K above the LCST) and maintaining its temperature there while measuring the evolution of the dynamic moduliG ′ andG′′. Morphological changes occurred slowly so that there was sufficient time to cycle the dynamic mechanical measurements repeatedly over five decades in frequency. The morphology was observed on length scales from 1 mm down to 1 nm by conventional optical microscopy combined with digital image analysis, Hoffman modulation microscopy, TEM, and WISE NMR with spin diffusion. NMR shows that major compositional changes occur mostly in the first 20 min and then the composition remains constant at about 60:40 PS/PVME for the PS-rich matrix and 5:95 PS/PVME for the PVME-rich microdomains. The PVME-rich microdomains are separated by thin layers of the PS-rich phase which forms the matrix. On a larger scale, shape and geometry change during the entire experiment (42 h). The linear domain growth appears to be consistent with the theories of Siggia and Doi-Ohta. The initial increase of the dynamic moduli is attributed to the formation of highly interconnected PVME-rich and PS-rich phases during spinodal decomposition. The subsequent decrease of the values of the dynamic moduli is considered to be the result of the loss of the interconnectivity between the two phases due to the breakup of the PS-rich phase network and the coalescence of the PVME-rich domains