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INTRODUCTION

Anatoly Larkin and Andrei Varlamov

in Theory of Fluctuations in Superconductors

This introductory chapter presents a qualitative picture of the fluctuation phenomena in superconductors. The notions of Ginzburg-Landau time and coherence length, characterizing the fluctuation ... More

This introductory chapter presents a qualitative picture of the fluctuation phenomena in superconductors. The notions of Ginzburg-Landau time and coherence length, characterizing the fluctuation Cooper pair lifetime and its effective size, are introduced. Based on the Bose nature of these and scaling arguments, the book discusses conductivity and magnetic susceptibility in terms of superconducting transition.Less

Introduction

Erik J. Olsson

in Against Coherence: Truth, Probability, and Justification

Two main questions are raised: Does coherence imply truth? Does more coherence imply higher likelihood of truth? Probability theory is chosen as the framework within which these issues will be ... More

Two main questions are raised: Does coherence imply truth? Does more coherence imply higher likelihood of truth? Probability theory is chosen as the framework within which these issues will be addressed. The works of C. I. Lewis, Laurence BonJour, C. A. J. Coady are described as pivotal to the study. The book’s content is outlined.Less

Theories of Truth

Graham Priest

in Doubt Truth to be a Liar

This chapter surveys standard theories of truth, and argues that they are all compatible with dialetheism.

Reservations about the Underlying Logic

Jonathan L. Kvanvig

in The Knowability Paradox

This chapter explores the challenge to the proof of Fitch’s results presented by intuitionism, and the prospects of this viewpoint in avoiding the paradox that results. It argues that adopting ... More

This chapter explores the challenge to the proof of Fitch’s results presented by intuitionism, and the prospects of this viewpoint in avoiding the paradox that results. It argues that adopting intuitionistic principles of reasoning will not help avoid the paradox. It merely changes what is paradoxical from a lost distinction between known truth and knowable truth, to a lost distinction between unknown truth and unknowable truth. Since paradox remains in both cases, the solution to the paradox must be found elsewhere.Less

Autonomy and the Foundations of Contemporary Liberalism

Meira Levinson

in The Demands of Liberal Education

Discusses contemporary liberalism's meaning, character, and justification. Section 1.1 argues that three constitutive commitments define contemporary liberalism and distinguish it from other ... More

Discusses contemporary liberalism's meaning, character, and justification. Section 1.1 argues that three constitutive commitments define contemporary liberalism and distinguish it from other theories. Section 1.2 demonstrates that, contrary to political liberalism's claims, these three commitments are best linked by the value of autonomy. Hence, contemporary liberalism is best understood as displaying weak perfectionism. Section 1.3 analyses autonomy more carefully, developing it as a substantive notion of higher‐order preference formation within a context of cultural coherence, plural constitutive personal values and beliefs, openness to other's evaluations of oneself, and a sufficiently developed moral, spiritual or aesthetic, intellectual, and emotional personality.Less

Modifying the Liberal Educational Ideal

Meira Levinson

in The Demands of Liberal Education

Examines four objections stemming from the clash of theory (that liberalism requires the institution of compulsory, autonomy‐driven schools regardless of parental preferences) and intuition (that ... More

Examines four objections stemming from the clash of theory (that liberalism requires the institution of compulsory, autonomy‐driven schools regardless of parental preferences) and intuition (that liberalism entails democratic control over schools and sensitivity to parents’ preferences). It argues that the ‘detached school’ should, with minor modifications, continue to provide the basis for the liberal educational ideal. Section 3.1 addresses concerns about state tyranny, arguing that the detached school both counters the threat of parental tyranny and ensures a substantive pluralism among schools and within society. Section 3.2 shows that detached schools can promote effective parental involvement. Section 3.3 addresses the hidden curriculum of schools, while Section 3.4 discusses the ability of the detached school to help children develop cultural coherence and a stable sense of identity as well as a capacity for choice.Less

Culture, Choice, and Citizenship: Schooling Private Citizens in the Public Square

Meira Levinson

in The Demands of Liberal Education

Analyses the relationships between cultural coherence, cultural pluralism, civic education, and autonomy. Section 4.1 argues that the skills, habits, values, and beliefs that underlie the capacity ... More

Analyses the relationships between cultural coherence, cultural pluralism, civic education, and autonomy. Section 4.1 argues that the skills, habits, values, and beliefs that underlie the capacity for autonomy also underlie the capacity for citizenship; hence, education for citizenship and for autonomy are mutually reinforcing. Section 4.2 develops an ‘English’ model of political liberal education, contrasting it with an ‘American’ model developed in Section 4.3 and a ‘French’ model in Section 4.4. Section 4.5 concludes that all of these political liberal models of education, which attempt in different ways to balance cultural coherence and civic virtue without promoting autonomy, are inferior—on both theoretical and empirical grounds—to weakly perfectionist liberal education.Less

The Regime Perspective in Risk Regulation: Implications for Policy and Institutional Design

Christopher Hood, Henry Rothstein, and Robert Baldwin

in The Government of Risk: Understanding Risk Regulation Regimes

Rehearses what the regime perspective can do for enhancing our understanding of how risk regulation varies, works, and fails. Drawing on the preceeding analysis, the chapter identifies three key ... More

Rehearses what the regime perspective can do for enhancing our understanding of how risk regulation varies, works, and fails. Drawing on the preceeding analysis, the chapter identifies three key problems central to contemporary risk regulation. First, the chapter argues that many of the regimes studied in the book were afflicted by limited institutional coherence, with basic constituent components either missing, malfunctioning or poorly linked. Second, the chapter argues that contemporary trends to reform risk regulation regimes need to take greater account of blame‐avoidance imperatives in the institutional shaping of reform processes. Third, the chapter identifies some of the challenges and intractabilities of actually doing risk regulation, which are often overlooked by commonly cited but rarely followed principles of better regulation. The book concludes with an overall assessment of what future developments in regime analysis might promise for our further understanding of risk regulation.Less

Conclusion: Institutional Logics of European Integration

James A. Caporaso and Alec Stone Sweet

in The Institutionalization of Europe

This concluding chapter examines the use that is made in the book of institutionalist theory to address the question of European integration, a use that is described as not typical in the study of ... More

This concluding chapter examines the use that is made in the book of institutionalist theory to address the question of European integration, a use that is described as not typical in the study of the European Union, which is usually approached via international relations and integration theory. Issues that result from taking this institutional approach (i.e. analysing European political integration as institutionalization rather than as international relations) are briefly discussed, before going on to see how the Europe of the last half of the twentieth century has provided social scientists with rich opportunities for evaluating how new political systems evolve and emerge. Some of the aspects examined are: the concept of institutions; the impact of institutions; feedback effects (feedback loops liking actors to organizations, to institutions, and back again); institutional coherence; institutions and society; and the demand for, and supply of, institutions.Less