Stochastic mechanics may be used to described the spin of atomic particles. The spin variables have the same expectations as in quantum mechanics, but not the same distributions. They play the role of hidden variables that influence, but do not determine, the results of Stern-Gerlach experiments involving magnets. During the course of such an experiment spin becomes correlated with position. The case of two particles with zero total spin occurs in Bohm's version of the Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky experiment.

BackgroundPalliative sedation and analgesia are employed in patients with refractory and intractable symptoms at the end of life to reduce their suffering by lowering their level of consciousness. The doctrine of double effect, a philosophical principle that justifies doing a “good action” with a potentially “bad effect,” is frequently employed to provide an ethical justification for this practice. Main textWe argue that palliative sedation and analgesia do not fulfill the conditions required to apply the doctrine of double effect, and therefore (...) its use in this domain is inappropriate. Furthermore, we argue that the frequent application of the doctrine of double effect to palliative sedation and analgesia reflects physicians’ discomfort with the complex moral, intentional, and causal aspects of end-of-life care. ConclusionsWe are concerned that this misapplication of the doctrine of double effect can consequently impair physicians’ ethical reasoning and relationships with patients at the end of life. (shrink)

This is partly a verbal question, depending on the meaning of the word ‘caste’. I propose to assume that if we say that a State is a caste State we imply at least two things: that its members are divided into mutually exclusive endogamous classes, and that no one may be transferred from one class to another—unless possibly to a lower class. The State which Plato describes in the Republic satisfies the first of these conditions. Dr. Popper, who believes that (...) it is a caste State, maintains that it also satisfies the second. In addition he contends that the original basis of the class division is racial. My object in the notes which follow is to argue that both these contentions are false. (shrink)

HISTORICALLY, PHOTOGRAPHS have said less about the Navajo than about the photographers of Navajos. In Navajo and Photography James Faris calls attention to the inability of these photographs to communicate either the lived experiences of native people or their history. Beginning with the earliest photographs of Navajos in captivity at Bosque Redondo and including recent glossy picture books and calendars, Faris's survey points up assumptions that have always governed photographic representation of the Navajo people. Full of the work of photographers (...) such as Edward S. Curtis and Laura Gilpin, as well as photographs by many less-well-known figures, readers will find Navajo and Photography an enlightening juxtaposition of cultures. (shrink)