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2156 results in Cambridge Elements

Page 84 of 108

Italo Calvino's Animals

Italo Calvino's Animals
  • Anthropocene Stories
  • Serenella Iovino
  • Published online:
    24 August 2021
    Print publication:
    23 September 2021
  • The words 'Anthropocene animals' conjure pictures of dead albatrosses' bodies filled with plastic fragments, polar bears adrift on melting ice sheets, solitary elephants in the savannah. Suspended between the impersonal nature of the Great Extinction and the singularity of exotic individuals, these creatures appear remote, disconnected from us. But animals in the Anthropocene are not simply 'out there.' Threatening and threatened, they populate cities and countryside, often trapped in industrial farms, zoos, labs. Among them, there are humans, too. Italo Calvino's Animals explores Anthropocene animals through the visionary eyes of a classic modern author. In Calvino's stories, ants, cats, chickens, rabbits, gorillas, and other critters emerge as complex subjects and inhabitants of a world under siege. Beside them, another figure appears in the mirror: that of an anthropos without a capital A, epitome of subaltern humans with their challenges and inequalities, a companion species on the difficult path of co-evolution.
Molybdenum as a Paleoredox Proxy

Molybdenum as a Paleoredox Proxy
  • Past, Present, and Future
  • Stephan R. Hlohowskyj, Anthony Chappaz, Alexander J. Dickson
  • Published online:
    23 August 2021
    Print publication:
    09 September 2021
  • Molybdenum (Mo) is a widely used trace metal for investigating redox conditions. However, unanswered questions remain that concentration and bulk isotopic analysis cannot specially answer. Improvements can be made by combining new geochemical techniques to traditional methods of Mo analysis. In this Element, we propose a refinement of Mo geochemistry within aquatic systems, ancient rocks, and modern sediments through molecular geochemistry (systematically combining concentration, isotope ratio, elemental mapping, and speciation analyses). Specifically, to intermediate sulfide concentrations governing Mo behavior below the 'switch-point' and dominant sequestration pathways in low oxygen conditions. The aim of this work is to 1) aid and improve the breadth of Mo paleoproxy interpretations by considering Mo speciation and 2) address outstanding research gaps concerning Mo systematics (cycling, partitioning, sequestration, etc.). The Mo paleoproxy has potential to solve ever complex research questions. By using molecular geochemical recommendations, improved Mo paleoproxy interpretations and reconstruction can be achieved.
Facts, Conventions, and the Levels of Selection

Facts, Conventions, and the Levels of Selection
  • Pierrick Bourrat
  • Published online:
    20 August 2021
    Print publication:
    23 September 2021
  • Debates concerning the units and levels of selection have persisted for over fifty years. One major question in this literature is whether units and levels of selection are genuine, in the sense that they are objective features of the world, or merely reflect the interests and goals of an observer. Scientists and philosophers have proposed a range of answers to this question. This Element introduces this literature and proposes a novel contribution. It defends a realist stance and offers a way of delineating genuine levels of selection by invoking the notion of a functional unit.
Natural Law Theory

Natural Law Theory
  • Tom Angier
  • Published online:
    20 August 2021
    Print publication:
    16 September 2021
  • In Section 1, I outline the history of natural law theory, covering Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Aquinas. In Section 2, I explore two alternative traditions of natural law, and explain why these constitute rivals to the Aristotelian tradition. In Section 3, I go on to elaborate a via negativa along which natural law norms can be discovered. On this basis, I unpack what I call three 'experiments in being', each of which illustrates the cogency of this method. In Section 4, I investigate and rebut two seminal challenges to natural law methodology, namely, the fact/value distinction in metaethics and Darwinian evolutionary biology. In Section 5, I then outline and criticise the 'new' natural law theory, which is an attempt to revise natural law thought in light of the two challenges above. I conclude, in Section 6, with a summary and some reflections on the prospects for natural law theory.
Physics and Computation

Physics and Computation
  • Armond Duwell
  • Published online:
    20 August 2021
    Print publication:
    23 September 2021
  • This Element has three main aims. First, it aims to help the reader understand the concept of computation that Turing developed, his corresponding results, and what those results indicate about the limits of computational possibility. Second, it aims to bring the reader up to speed on analyses of computation in physical systems which provide the most general characterizations of what it takes for a physical system to be a computational system. Third, it aims to introduce the reader to some different kinds of quantum computers, describe quantum speedup, and present some explanation sketches of quantum speedup. If successful, this Element will equip the reader with a basic knowledge necessary for pursuing these topics in more detail.
Lithium Isotopes

Lithium Isotopes
  • A Tracer of Past and Present Silicate Weathering
  • Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann, Mathieu Dellinger, A. Joshua West
  • Published online:
    17 August 2021
    Print publication:
    26 August 2021
  • Lithium isotopes are a relatively novel tracer of present and past silicate weathering processes. Given that silicate weathering is the primary long-term method by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere, Li isotope research is going through an exciting phase. We show the weathering processes that fractionate dissolved and sedimentary Li isotope ratios, focusing on weathering intensity and clay formation. We then discuss the carbonate and silicate archive potential of past seawater δ7Li. These archives have been used to examine Li isotope changes across both short and long timescales. The former can demonstrate the rates at which the climate is stabilised from perturbations via weathering, a fundamental piece of the puzzle of the long-term carbon cycle.
Beyond Uncertainty

Beyond Uncertainty
  • Reasoning with Unknown Possibilities
  • Katie Steele, H. Orri Stefánsson
  • Published online:
    14 August 2021
    Print publication:
    09 September 2021
  • The main aim of this Element is to introduce the topic of limited awareness, and changes in awareness, to those interested in the philosophy of decision-making and uncertain reasoning. While it has long been of interest to economists and computer scientists, this topic has only recently been subject to philosophical investigation. Indeed, at first sight limited awareness seems to evade any systematic treatment: it is beyond the uncertainty that can be managed. On the one hand, an agent has no control over what contingencies she is and is not aware of at a given time, and any awareness growth takes her by surprise. On the other hand, agents apparently learn to identify the situations in which they are more and less likely to experience limited awareness and subsequent awareness growth. How can these two sides be reconciled? That is the puzzle we confront in this Element.
The East Asian Covid-19 Paradox

The East Asian Covid-19 Paradox
  • Yves Tiberghien
  • Published online:
    12 August 2021
    Print publication:
    10 March 2022
  • The Covid-19 pandemic triggered the first global public health emergency since 1918, the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the greatest geopolitical tensions in decades. Global governance mechanisms failed. Yet, East Asian countries (with caveats) managed to control Covid-19 better than most other countries and to increase their cooperation toward economic integration, despite their position on the security frontline. What explains this East Asian Covid paradox in a region devoid of strong regional institutions? This Element argues that high levels of institutional preparation, social cohesion, and global strategic reinforcement in a context of situational convergence explain the results. It relies on high-level interviews and case studies across the region.
Reconstructing Networks

Reconstructing Networks
  • Giulio Cimini, Rossana Mastrandrea, Tiziano Squartini
  • Published online:
    10 August 2021
    Print publication:
    09 September 2021
  • Complex networks datasets often come with the problem of missing information: interactions data that have not been measured or discovered, may be affected by errors, or are simply hidden because of privacy issues. This Element provides an overview of the ideas, methods and techniques to deal with this problem and that together define the field of network reconstruction. Given the extent of the subject, the authors focus on the inference methods rooted in statistical physics and information theory. The discussion is organized according to the different scales of the reconstruction task, that is, whether the goal is to reconstruct the macroscopic structure of the network, to infer its mesoscale properties, or to predict the individual microscopic connections.
Depression in Children's Lives

Depression in Children's Lives
  • Keith Crnic, Betty Lin
  • Published online:
    07 August 2021
    Print publication:
    26 August 2021
  • Although childhood depressive disorders are relatively rare, the experience of depression in children's lives is not. Developmental contextual perspectives denote the importance of considering both depressive disorder and the experience of subclinical depressive symptoms in the child and the family to fully understand the implications of depressive experience for children's developmental well-being. This Element draws on basic emotion development and developmental psychopathology perspectives to address the nature of depressive experience in childhood, both symptoms and disorder, focusing on seminal and recent research that details critical issues regarding its phenomenology, epidemiology, continuity, etiology, consequences, and interventions to ameliorate the developmental challenges inherent in the experience. These issues are addressed within the context of the child's own experience and from the perspective of parent depression as a critical context that influences children's developmental well-being. Conclusions include suggestions for new directions in research on children's lives that focus on more systemic processes.
Democratic Deconsolidation in Southeast Asia

Democratic Deconsolidation in Southeast Asia
  • Marcus Mietzner
  • Published online:
    02 August 2021
    Print publication:
    26 August 2021
  • Since the mid-2000s, the quality of democracy around the world has been in decline, and Southeast Asia is no exception. This Element analyzes the extent, patterns and drivers of democratic deconsolidation in the three Southeast Asian countries that boast the longest history of electoral democracy in the region: Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. While the exact deconsolidation outcomes differ, all three nations have witnessed similar trends of democratic erosion. In each case, long-standing democratic deficiencies (such as clientelism, politicized security forces and non-democratic enclaves) have persisted; rising wealth inequality has triggered political oligarchization and subsequent populist responses embedded in identity politics; and ambitious middle classes have opted for non-democratic alternatives to safeguard their material advancement. As a result, all three polities have descended from their democratic peaks between the late 1980s and early 2000s, with few signs pointing to a return to previous democratization paths.
The Nile

The Nile
  • Mobility and Management
  • Judith Bunbury, Reim Rowe
  • Published online:
    31 July 2021
    Print publication:
    02 September 2021
  • The ancient Egyptian kingdoms, at their greatest extent, stretched more than 2000 kilometres along the Nile and passed through diverse habitats. In the north, the Nile traversed the Mediterranean coast and the Delta, while further south a thread of cultivation along the Nile Valley passed through the vast desert of the Sahara. As global climate and landscapes changed and evolved, the habitable parts of the kingdoms shifted. Modern studies suggest that episodes of desertification and greening swept across Egypt over periods of 1000 years. Rather than isolated events, the changes in Egypt are presented in context, often as responses to global occurrences, characterised by a constant shift of events, so although broadly historic, this narrative follows a series of habitats as they change and evolve through time.
Europe and the Anglo-Saxons

Europe and the Anglo-Saxons
  • Francesca Tinti
  • Published online:
    29 July 2021
    Print publication:
    26 August 2021
  • This publication explores the interactions between the inhabitants of early medieval England and their contemporaries in continental Europe. Starting with a brief excursus on previous treatments of the topic, the discussion then focuses on Anglo-Saxon geographical perceptions and representations of Europe and of Britain's place in it, before moving on to explore relations with Rome, dynasties and diplomacy, religious missions and monasticism, travel, trade and warfare. This Element demonstrates that the Anglo-Saxons' relations with the continent had a major impact on the shaping of their political, economic, religious and cultural life.
Aristotle on Women

Aristotle on Women
  • Physiology, Psychology, and Politics
  • Sophia M. Connell
  • Published online:
    29 July 2021
    Print publication:
    12 August 2021
  • This Element provides an account of Aristotle on women which combines what is found in his scientific biology with his practical philosophy. Scholars have often debated how these two fields are related. The current study shows that according to Aristotelian biology, women are set up for intelligence and tend to be milder-tempered than men. Thus, women are not curtailed either intellectually or morally by their biology. The biological basis for the rule of men over women is women's lack of spiritedness. Aristotle's Politics must be read with its audience in mind; there is a need to convince men of the importance of avoiding insurrection both in the city and the household. While their spiritedness gives men the upper hand, they are encouraged to listen to the views of free women in order to achieve the best life for all.
The Political Economy of Public Pensions

The Political Economy of Public Pensions
  • Eileen Norcross, Daniel J. Smith
  • Published online:
    29 July 2021
    Print publication:
    02 September 2021
  • Public pensions in the United States face an impending funding crisis in the wake of the financial crisis and the COVID-19 recession. Many cities and states will struggle to meet these growing obligations without major cuts in government services, reneging on pension promises, or raising taxes. This Element examines the development of the pension crisis through the lens of political economy. We analyze the knowledge and incentive problems inherent in the institutional structure, governance, and accounting of public pensions. We conclude by offering several institutional, governance, and reporting reforms to address the pension funding crisis.
The Science of Children's Religious and Spiritual Development

The Science of Children's Religious and Spiritual Development
  • Annette Mahoney
  • Published online:
    24 July 2021
    Print publication:
    26 August 2021
  • This Element provides a comprehensive yet concise account of scientific research on children's religious and spiritual (RS) development. After providing a historical sketch of definitional issues in the science of RS, the first section reviews basic descriptive information on children's RS development as well as wholistic theoretical models and measures of children's RS development. The second section covers evidence about links of child and parental RS to children's psychosocial adjustment, and highlights the need for more research that discriminates specific positive and negative manifestations of RS for children's development. The third section summarizes evidence about the robust influence of parents on their children's RS development and parents' perceptions of their role in this process. The fourth section focuses on cognitive-developmental research on children's cognitions about God/deities and prayer. The Element concludes with a synopsis of key themes and challenges that researchers face to advance the science of children's RS development.
Reimagine to Revitalise

Reimagine to Revitalise
  • New Approaches to Performance Practices Across Cultures
  • Charulatha Mani
  • Published online:
    23 July 2021
    Print publication:
    19 August 2021
  • How can the classical Karnatik music of South India illuminate performers' and researchers' understanding of the art music of seventeenth-century Italy, and specifically Monteverdi's operas? Both art forms attach great value to the skill of vocal ornamentation, and by exploring the singer's practice moving between them, this Element reveals how intercultural approaches can enable the reconsideration of the history of Western music from a global perspective. Using methods from historical and comparative musicology, theory and practice-based research, Charulatha Mani analyses vocal ornamentation and technique and arrives at an innovative approach to studying musics from the past. Musical practice, the author argues, is an enactment of hybridity and the artistic product of plurality. Specifically, in early modern Europe the fluid movement of musicians from the East paved the way to a plurality of musical cultures. This finding holds deep implications for diversity in and decolonisation of current music performance and education.
Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mathematics

Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mathematics
  • Juliet Floyd
  • Published online:
    23 July 2021
    Print publication:
    12 August 2021
  • For Wittgenstein mathematics is a human activity characterizing ways of seeing conceptual possibilities and empirical situations, proof and logical methods central to its progress. Sentences exhibit differing 'aspects', or dimensions of meaning, projecting mathematical 'realities'. Mathematics is an activity of constructing standpoints on equalities and differences of these. Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy of Mathematics (1934–1951) grew from his Early (1912–1921) and Middle (1929–33) philosophies, a dialectical path reconstructed here partly as a response to the limitative results of Gödel and Turing.
Salt

Salt
  • White Gold in Early Europe
  • Anthony Harding
  • Published online:
    16 July 2021
    Print publication:
    12 August 2021
  • This Element provides a concise account of the archaeology of salt production in ancient Europe. It describes what salt is, where it is found, what it is used for, and its importance for human and animal health. The different periods of the past in which it was produced are described, from earliest times down to the medieval period. Attention is paid to the abundant literary sources that inform us about salt in the Greek and Roman world, as well as the likely locations of production in the Mediterranean and beyond. The economic and social importance of salt in human societies means that salt has served as a crucial aspect of trade and exchange over the centuries, and potentially as a means of individuals and societies achieving wealth and status.
The Psychology of Effective Activism

The Psychology of Effective Activism
  • Robyn Gulliver, Susilo Wibisono, Kelly S. Fielding, Winnifred R. Louis
  • Published online:
    15 July 2021
    Print publication:
    12 August 2021
  • This Element reviews the social psychology of effective collective action, highlighting the importance of considering activists' goals, timeframes, and psychological perspectives in seeking to conceptualise this construct. A novel framework 'ABIASCA' maps effectiveness in relation to activists' goals for mobilisation and change (Awareness raising; Building sympathy; turning sympathy into Intentions; turning intentions into Actions; Sustaining groups over time; Coalition-building; and Avoiding opponents' counter-mobilisation). We also review the DIME model of Disidentification, Innovation, Moralization and Energization, which examines the effects of failure in creating trajectories of activists' disidentification from collective action; innovation (including to radicalisation or deradicalisation); and increased moral conviction and energy. The social psychological drivers of effective collective action for four audiences are examined in detail, in four sections: for the self and supporters, bystanders, opponents, and for third parties. We conclude by highlighting an agenda for future research, and drawing out key messages for scholars.

Page 84 of 108