Figuring Animals is a collection of fifteen essays concerning the representation of animals in literature, the visual arts, philosophy, and cultural practice. At the turn of the new century, it is helpful to reconsider our inherited understandings of the species, some of which are still useful to us. It is also important to look ahead to new understandings and new dialogue, which may contribute to the survival of us all. The contributors to this volume participate in this dialogue in a (...) variety of ways--through personal experience, natural history, cultural studies, philosophical inquiry, art history, literary analysis, film studies, and theoretical imagining, and through a combination of these trains of thought. The essays expose weaknesses in western epistemological frames of reference that for centuries have limited our views and, thus, our experiences of animal being, including our own. (shrink)

The last decades of research have consistently found strong associations between divorce and adverse health outcomes among adults. However, limitations of a majority of this research include lack of “real-time” research, i.e., research employing data collected very shortly after juridical divorce where little or no separation periods have been effectuated, research employing thoroughly validated and population-normed measures against which study results can be compared, and research including a comprehensive array of previously researched sociodemographic- and divorce-related variables. The current cross-sectional study, (...) including 1,856 recently divorced Danes, was designed to bridge these important gaps in the literature. Mental and physical health were measured using the Short Form 36 -2. Analyses included correlational analyses, t-test comparisons, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The study found that the health-related quality of life of Danish divorcees was significantly worse than the comparative background population immediately following divorce. Across gender, higher levels of divorce conflict were found to predict worse mental health, and worse physical health for women, even when controlling for other socio-demographic variables and divorce characteristics. Among men, lower age and higher income predicted better physical health, while more children, more previous divorces, participant divorce initiation, new partner status, and lower levels of divorce conflict predicted better mental health. Among women, higher income, fewer previous divorces, new partner status, and lower levels of divorce conflict predicted better physical health while higher income, participant divorce initiation, new partner status, and lower levels of divorce conflict predicted better mental health. The findings underscore the relevance of providing assistance to divorcees who experience higher levels of divorce conflict immediately following divorce, in seeking to reduce potential long-term negative health effects of divorce. (shrink)

Le philosophe Charles Peirce a accordé un rôle prépondérant à la communauté des enquêteurs, à la fois comme groupe de chercheurs et comme idéal conduisant vers la vérité. Si Peirce parlait pour sa part de « théorie sociale de la réalité », les trois textes qui suivent – inédits en français, et en anglais pour le dernier – justifient d’y voir une véritable épistémologie sociale. Ils montrent dans quelle mesure la connaissance scientifique, et même commune, trouve son fondement dans une (...) composante nécessairement sociale. La rationalité probable n’a pas de sens à l’échelle individuelle (premier texte) ; la science est une entreprise collective (deuxième texte) ; et la vérité se définit en fonction de la communauté (troisième texte). (shrink)

Ethics is central to scientific and engineering research and practice, but a key challenge for promoting students’ ethical formation involves enhancing faculty members’ ability and confidence in embedding positive ethical learning experiences into their curriculums. To this end, this paper explores changes in faculty members’ approaches to and perceptions of ethics education following their participation in a multi-year interdisciplinary faculty learning community (FLC). We conducted and thematically analyzed semi-structured interviews with 11 participants following the second year of the FLC. Qualitative (...) themes suggested that, following two years of FLC participation, faculty members (1) were better able to articulate their conceptualizations of ethics; (2) became cognizant of how personal experiences, views, and beliefs informed how they introduced ethics into their curriculum; and (3) developed and lived instructional principles that guided their ethics teaching. Results thus suggested that faculty members benefitted from exploring, discussing, and teaching ethics, which (in turn) enabled them to see new opportunities and become confident in integrating ethics into their courses in meaningful ways that aligned with their scholarly identities. Taken together, these data suggest faculty became agents of change for designing, implementing, and refining ethics-related instructional efforts in STEM. This work can guide others interested in designing faculty learning communities to promote instructional skill development, faculty members’ awareness of their ethical values, and their ability and agency to design and integrate ethics learning activities alongside departmental peers in an intentional and continuous manner. (shrink)

This study examines the outcomes of a four-year faculty learning community (FLC) that aimed to transform departmental ethics curriculum by supporting Earth Sciences faculty members as they ethically inquired into their teaching of ethics and refined existing courses in alignment with an Integrated Community-Engaged Learning and Ethical Reflection (ICELER) framework. We present ethnographic case studies that unpack processes through which three faculty members transformed undergraduate courses. We assembled case studies by triangulating interview data, course artifacts, and faculty reflections. We examine (...) how faculty (1) built awareness around teaching ethics, (2) took responsibility for and made judgments about teaching ethics, (3) experimented by designing and implementing ICELER-inspired courses, and (4) interrogated the outcomes of their ethics teaching, utilizing findings to enhance awareness and revise courses. The paper closes by introducing a model detailing how instructors inquire into ethics teaching and how model components might inspire future educational practice and research. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Gildersleeve Prize For The Best Article Published In The American Journal Of Philology In 1998 Has Been Presented ToMarie R. HansenRuth ScodelUniversity Of Michiganfor her contribution to scholarship in “Bardic Performance and Oral Tradition in Homer,” AJP 119, no. 2:171–94.The judges all agree that Scodel’s reformulation of the vexed and venerable problem of the narrators in Greek epic is original and, from among the contenders, the most ambitious. (...) Scodel’s detailed descriptions of bardic narratives and their audiences (and of how they differ from non-bardic narratives and their audiences) make an important contribution not only to the reading of Homer but also to narratological theory.Judges for The Johns Hopkins University PressW. Ralph Johnson, Chair Sander M. Goldberg Mary T. BoatwrightThe Eleventh Annual Gildersleeve Prize of $1,000 will be awarded for the best article to appear in the Journal in 1999. Instructions about nominations will be printed in the Winter 1999 issue of the Journal.Marie R. HansenAssociate Director The Johns Hopkins University PressCopyright © 1999 The Johns Hopkins University Press... (shrink)

When I first became acquainted with the thought of the American philoso pher Josiah Royce, two factors particularly intrigued me. The first was Royce's claim that the notion of community was his main metaphysical tenet; the second was his close association with the two American pragmatists, Charles Sanders Peirce and William James. Regarding the first factor, I was struck by the fact that a philosopher who died in 1916 should emphasize a topic of such contemporary significance not only in philosophy (...) but in so many other vital fields as well (sociology, psychology, politics, theology - to name only a few). Regarding the second, I was curious as to whether the pragmatism of Peirce and James might have influenced Royce during the course of their professional and personal contacts. Similarly, I wondered whether the idealism of Royce might have affected the thought of Peirce and James. To have appeased my curiosity in regard to all three thinkers, however, would have required (at least) three books. As a start I have now appeased it in regard to one. In researching the writings of Royce I found my way to the Houghton Library and to the Archives of Harvard University at Cambridge, Massa chusetts, where the unpublished manuscripts of Royce are preserved. (No editing job has yet been done on this bulk of material, though such would certainly be a welcome contribution to American philosophy. (shrink)

In this essay, I examine Hobbes’s interpretation of Scriptural passages that figure prominently in contemporaneous political debates. Hobbes’s interpretative practices affirm his major systematic aims but also contribute to his inventive reenvisioning of Hebraic and Christian political history. The privileged position Hobbes gives Hebraic forms of rule together with his treatment of I Samuel 8 are motivated, in part, by a need to counter Aristotle’s influence on an exegetical tradition that opposes monarchy-as-tyranny in connection with this central, much-debated text. Hobbes (...) conjoins his counter-revolutionary interpretation of 1 Samuel 8 with specific passages in the Christian New Testament that permit him to insert Jesus as “king of the Jews” into a startlingly unique conception of Hebraic and Christian history. This revisionary history and eschatology support Hobbes’s theorization of absolute sovereignty and undercut fantastical beliefs in an immaterial world. (shrink)

Illustrating the collective power and relevance of feminist theory today, Mary Caputi and Patricia Moynagh have carefully selected a diverse international range of leading scholars and activists to critically assess key social and political challenges in the twenty-first century. This Research Handbook demonstrates a variety of feminist analyses that offer compelling insights into an array of topics, including police brutality, the carceral state, racial and sexualised violence, trans rights, climate change, and the denial of reproductive rights. With a focus (...) on the crucial role of feminism in envisioning a more equal world, chapters examine critical and care based approaches to feminist political thought; hostility to the feminist movement; and feminist attempts to unseat institutionalised power and violence. The lived experiences of women, variously situated in a host of cultural and geographic contexts, are explored. These experiences include the thematics of longing and bereavement, as well as different forms of feminist protest and political awakening. Ultimately, this Research Handbook illustrates the continuing need for reinterpretation and reconstruction in this vital field of feminist political thought. The Research Handbook on Feminist Political Thought will prove an essential read for students and scholars of feminist, political and postcolonial theory. Its real-world implications will mean it will additionally appeal to policymakers and activists, as well as academics of philosophy, political science, sociology, and gender and cultural studies. (shrink)

Niedenthal et al. postulate that eye contact with the expresser of an emotion automatically initiates embodied simulation. Our commentary explores the generality of such an eye contact effect for emotions other than happiness. Based on the appraisal theory of emotion, we propose that embodied simulation may be reinforced by mutual or averted gaze as a function of emotional context.

In her paper ‘Mercy Not Sacrifice: Toward a Celtic Theology’ delivered in Dublin in 1996, Mary Condren began by addressing the problem of ‘a way of knowing’, that is, the concept of knowing and the relationship between power and knowledge, asking, ‘When we yearn for a Celtic or female way of knowing what is the fundamental impulse behind it, what is the longing behind it? What is the myth behind it?’[1]Is it possible to look to the Celtic past for (...) answers or does any epistemology emanating from a colonized people, need to be examined carefully in regard to the inherent power politics and the question as to who owns the past? Can the myth of a pristine past be used to empower? (shrink)

This study investigates the likelihood of director turnover following opportunistic insider selling. Given that opportunistic insider selling may be costly to a firm due to potential legal risk and firm legitimacy concerns, we hypothesize that directors engaging in this type of transactions have a higher likelihood of subsequently leaving the board. Using archival data of 11,409 directors in 2280 US firms from 2005 to 2014, univariate comparisons show that directors engaging in opportunistic insider selling are about 8% more likely to (...) exit their firms’ board compared to directors not engaging in this behavior. Furthermore, multivariate results show that the likelihood of director departure following opportunistic insider selling is higher for some directors but not all. Specifically, directors who are especially valuable to the board or costly to replace do not seem to experience elevated levels of turnover. Interestingly, this difference in director turnover is only observed in smaller firms. We find that in larger firms, the likelihood of director turnover following opportunistic insider selling does not depend on director characteristics. As such, results seem to suggest that boards do not homogeneously self-regulate in this context as some directors seem to be shielded from turnover following unethical behavior. (shrink)

Two aspects of mothering—using drugs during pregnancy and giving up the rearing of one's children—are the focus of this analysis of 58 addicted Chicana mothers who spent their adolescent years in barrio gangs. From a traditional stance, such women were doubly deviant, since they violated gender-role prescriptions by joining a barrio gang and by becoming involved in heroin and street life. Half of these women added to this deviance by using heroin during pregnancy, and 40 percent relinquished at least one (...) of their children. This article explores what distinguishes these classically “bad mothers” from addicts who maintain some degree of conventionality in their mothering. We found that Mexican gender-role traditionalism is not the only influence on these women. Many came from cholo or underclass families with a tradition of street involvement. In addition, their involvement in gang and heroin worlds may influence their behavior as mothers. We found that women who used drugs during pregnancy were more likely than abstainers to be cholas and to reject traditional gender-role values. However, those who gave up their children were more likely than those who kept their children to be from traditional families. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on deviance and the underclass among Hispanic women. (shrink)

Luther's emphasis on the sin of pride, as it is confronted by God's justifying work in Christ, has resulted in a theology that has seemed to many to resist a coherent account of human agency. I argue, however, that important aspects of Luther's later theology have been obscured by a tendency to organize the whole of his theology around his important, but not exclusive, insight on justification. There are resources in Luther's later work, I suggest, that respond to important contemporary (...) concerns regarding the problem of passivity. Over time, the increasing failure of alleged Christians to produce "good works" apparently turned Luther's attention more and more to the sin of sloth. Human agency, particularly as it is expressed in the Christian life, became a matter of growing importance for Luther, as indeed, it is for many today. One finds in the mature Luther an increased appreciation of the self, viewed as both valuable and responsible—as capable of agency and as the legitimate focus of theological attention. (shrink)

KJORVEN M, RUSH K and HOLE R. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 325–335 A discursive exploration of the practices that shape and discipline nurses’ responses to postoperative deliriumAlthough delirium is classified as a medical emergency, it is often not treated as such by health care providers. The aim of this study was to critically examine, through a poststructural, Foucauldian concept of discourse, the language practices and discourses that shape and discipline nurses' care of older adults with postoperative delirium (POD) with a (...) purpose to question accepted nursing practice. The study was based on data collected from face‐to‐face, in‐depth, personal interviews with six nurses who work on an acute postoperative patient care unit. Five analytic readings of the data identified two prominent discourses at work in nursing practice which influenced the care of patients with POD. These were identified as discourses of legitimacy/illegitimacy and discourses of nursing work. Through the process of poststructural analysis it became evident that one overriding discourse – the biomedical/scientific discourse – served to direct, legitimize and govern all other discourses. The findings of this study have implications for nursing knowledge and practice, length of hospital stay and improved patient outcomes. This study builds on previous work and is the first study to conduct a discourse analysis illuminating nurses’ responses to POD through comparison with other acute medical emergencies from a poststructural perspective. (shrink)

'...a fascinating analysis of the status of the obscene and its representation in pornography in modern culture.... Caputi's thesis is masterfully argued....'-James Glass, University of Maryland.

Cresp, Mary; Tranter, Janice Entanglements were part of Julian Edmund Tenison Woods' life from the time of his birth in London on 15 November 1832. His mother, Henrietta Tenison, daughter of a Church of Ireland rector, had several relatives in the Anglican clergy, including Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Edmund Tenison, Bishop of Ossory. Julian's father, James Dominic, was the son of a Cork businessman and studied law in Ireland. He was Catholic, but not practising during his working (...) years. James and Henrietta married in London, raising their family there. James joined 'The Times' as parliamentary reporter; their home was a centre for Irish writers, newspaper men and those in the medical and legal professions. His brother, Nicholas, following duty as surgeon with the East India Company Civil Service, joined the Woods household with his two daughters after his wife's death. Stories of India and his uncle's collections of 'curiosities of various kinds' fascinated Julian and 'served to form [his] taste for natural history'. (shrink)