The Regime of the Brother is one of the first attempts to challenge modernity on its own terms. Using the work of Lacan, Kristeva and Freud, Juliet MacCannell confronts the failure of modernity to bring about the social equality promised by the Enlightenment. On the verge of its destruction, the Patriarchy has reshaped itself into a new, and often more oppressive regime: that of the Brother. Examining a range of literary and social texts - from Rousseau's Confessions to Richardson's (...) Clarissa and from Stendhal's De L'Amour to James's What Maisie Knew and Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea - MacCannell illustrates a history of the suppression of women, revealing the potential for a specifically feminine alternative. (shrink)

_The Regime of the Brother_ is one of the first attempts to challenge modernity on its own terms. Using the work of Lacan, Kristeva and Freud, Juliet MacCannell confronts the failure of modernity to bring about the social equality promised by the Enlightenment. On the verge of its destruction, the Patriarchy has reshaped itself into a new, and often more oppressive regime: that of the Brother. Examining a range of literary and social texts - from Rousseau's _Confessions_ to Richardson's (...) _Clarissa_ and from Stendhal's _De L'Amour_ to James's _What Maisie Knew_ and Jean Rhys's _Wide Sargasso Sea_ - MacCannell illustrates a history of the suppression of women, revealing the potential for a specifically feminine alternative. (shrink)

To resume, then, the need for a written Law specifically prohibiting Genocide. (1) It should by now be evident that “the pleasure principle” needs its ethical mandate, beyond the “reality principle” of a social field that can no longer be considered homeostatic and nonconflictual. The fantasmatic character of human pleasure must not only be accounted for in any ethic today, it must take primacy. Fantasy formations grow ever central in our lives; fantasy is the support of our “reality.” (2) The (...) writing of such a Law would permit the enunciation of positively negative content, thereby reframing the Other as lacking; and it would also provide a way for the increasingly stateless “citizens” of the postmodern, “global” community, to be asked to decide on the necessarily paired alternatives (Good and Evil, to kill or to love) which have once again become the starkest of possibilities for them. Only this kind of decision — which is not that of the vel — suffers resistance to the will of the people when it is a malignant will-to- jouissance. (shrink)

It could be argued that the influence of Lacan on modern literary studies has been greater than anyone’s. Lacan has historicised the universal or mythic perceptions of Freud, and thus lent a new status to literature as a cultural artefact. This book, originally published in 1986, aims to delineate the trends in the uses made of Lacan today; to examine the theoretical substructure by which his work is accommodated to literature; and to analyse the way in which his work ‘models’ (...) the formal relation of the literary text to other texts, to history and to politics. (shrink)

The diverse group of philosophers and literary critics who contribute to this volume address the question of how bodies think, how thought is embodied, from a variety of approaches including deconstruction, Lacanian psychoanalysis, feminist theory, postmodernism, cultural and media studies, literary criticism, and the revisionist study of oppressed peoples.

The fetal human possesses an active central nervous system from at least the eighth week of development. Until mid-gestation the most significant center of activity is the brainstem. By the end of the first trimester, it appears that the brainstem could be acting as a rudimentary modulator of sensory information and motor activity. What importance ought to be attached to such regulatory activity is uncertain. Some argue that it represents a level of integrated activity sufficient to bolster an argument for (...) conferring some measure of standing at this point. Our thinking about sentience is not advanced a great deal, as we as yet have no good way of talking about it at the brainstem level. As for the neocortex, available evidence indicates that it does not become a functional part of the neuraxis until at least mid-gestation. It is not until then that the thalamus – the major gateway for sensory input to the cerebrum – makes its first afferent contacts with the neocortex. Keywords: neuromaturation, fetal behavior, fetal brainstem CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

I do not propose to attempt in this article to make any exact or exhaustive definition of religion, but rather to call attention to one of its outstanding psychological characteristics. At the outset, then, I take it for granted that religion is primarily a feeling experience. We make use of the term ‘religion,’ it is true, for many things in addition to immediate feeling experiences, and it is inevitable that we should do so. But it will be well to bear (...) in mind that when we describe Buddhism or Christianity as ‘a religion’ we are using the term in a secondary fashion. A man may accept the tenets, and to some extent practise the commandments, of a religion in this sense without being religious. (shrink)

The public debate on recombinant DNA research has ended even though significant issues of public interest remain undecided or untouched. The reason for the termination of other than muted public discussion is not simply the removal of an initial fear of catastrophic biohazards. With the cessation of public debate over such hazards came also the dissolution of most public forums. The ends to which recombinant DNA research and development ought to be directed are not matters of public debate. With the (...) transfer of basic research knowledge to the private sector, that sector's proprietary interests and ownership prerogatives effectively deny any continued public participation in charting the future of genesplicing technology and its application. (shrink)

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Using covariant derivatives and the operator definitions of quantum mechanics, gauge invariant Proca and Lehnert equations are derived and the Lorenz condition is eliminated in U(1) invariant electrodynamics. It is shown that the structure of the gauge invariant Lehnert equation is the same in an O(3) invariant theory of electrodynamics.

Portraits of Wittgenstein is a major collection of memoirs and reflections on one of the most influential and yet elusive personalities in the history of modern philosophy, Ludwig Wittgenstein. Featuring a wealth of illuminating and profound insights into Wittgenstein's extraordinary life, this unique collection reveals Wittgenstein's character and power of personality more vividly and comprehensively than ever before. With portraits from more than seventy-five figures, Portraits of Wittgenstein brings together the personal recollections of philosophers, students, friends and acquaintances, including Bertrand (...) Russell, G. E. Moore, F. R. Leavis, A. J. Ayer, Karl Popper, Friedrich von Hayek, G. H. von Wright, Rush Rhees, Freeman Dyson, G. E. M. Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley and Mary Warnock. These authors testify to the life-long influence Wittgenstein had on the lives of those he met. Their fascinating memoirs, reflections and commentaries, often at odds with each other, reveal Wittgenstein's kindness, and how much genuine friendship meant to him, as well as his suffering and despair. They show too how the philosopher's ruthless honesty and uncompromising integrity often resulted in stern advice and harsh rebukes to friends and foes alike. Now available in a single, revised and updated volume, Portraits of Wittgenstein includes new selections, revised contributions, photographs, maps and introductory overviews that provide historical context to Wittgenstein's relationships with his intellectual and social circle. This collection of valuable and hard-to-find material is an indispensable resource for scholars and students of the life and work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. (shrink)

Professor Roderick John Flower, Biochemical Pharmacology, William Harvey Research Institute, St Barts and the London School of Medicine Queen Mary University of London Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, UK; r.j.flower@qmul.ac.ukJohn O'Neill, a molecular biologist in Frank Herbert's 1982 novel ‘The White Plague’,1 seeks retributive justice for the death of his wife in a terrorist bomb blast by infecting those he holds responsible with an engineered pathogen that kills only women. The eponymous plague soon spreads uncontrollably with predictable catastrophic (...) global consequences.When the definitive history of armed conflict is written, the chapter on biological weapons will make for a long and disagreeable read. Now, happily, disavowed by most nations under the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, the presumption is that any future deployment would be at the hands of rogue states, criminal gangs or perhaps terrorist organisations, to whom they could appeal because of their apparent ease of preparation and dissemination coupled with their sinister reputation and potential for causing mass casualties.But Herbert's villain is different. He is a trained scientist possessing expert skills and with access to pathogens, reagents and cutting-edge technology. Such a person might appear outwardly to be part of the conventional academic establishment except that their motives impel them to act covertly outside the accepted ethical and legal boundaries of their profession. Such ‘outsiders’ evade detection because they act alone and can, through their privileged position, anticipate and thwart regulation or investigation. But is this frightening scenario more than just a plot for apocalyptic novels? Is it a credible threat?In reality, such occurrences seem to be rare. In a comprehensive analysis of 180 incidents involving the use of biological agents during the last century, for instance, Carus2 noted that none of the confirmed bioterrorist attacks by non-state actors …. (shrink)

In 1998 a new classification of flowering plants generated headlines in the non-specialist press in Britain. By interviewing those involved with, or critical of, the new classification, this essay examines the participants' motives and strategies for creating and maintaining a research group. It argues that the classification was produced by an informal alliance whose members collaborated despite their disagreements. This collaboration was possible because standardised methods and common theoretical assumptions served as 'boundary objects'. The group also created a novel form (...) of collective publication that helped to unite them. Both the collaboration and the publishing strategy were partly motivated by the need to give taxonomy a degree of 'big science' credibility that it had previously lacked: creating an international team allowed more comprehensive results; and collective publication served to emphasise both the novelty of the work and its claims to objectivity. Creating a group identity also served to exclude practitioners of alternative forms of taxonomy. Finally, the need to obtain funding for continuing work both created the need to collaborate and influenced the way the classification was presented to the public. (shrink)

This paper deals with the problem of reconstruction of the intergenic interaction graph from the raw data of genetic co-expression coming with new technologies of bio-arrays (DMA-arrays, protein-arrays, etc.). These new imaging devices in general only give information about the asymptotical part (fixed configurations of co-expression or limit cycles of such configurations) of the dynamical evolution of the regulatory networks (genetic and/or proteic) underlying the functioning of living systems. Extracting the casual structure and interaction coefficients of a gene interaction network (...) from the observed configurations is a complex problem. But if all the fixed configurations are supposedly observed and if they are factorizable into two or more subsets of values, then the interaction graph possesses as many connected components as the number of factors and the solution is obtained in polynomial time. This new result allows us for example to partly solve the topology of the genetic regulatory network ruling the flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana. (shrink)

The extent to which we generalize a novel property from a sample of familiar instances to novel instances depends on the sample composition. Previous property induction experiments have only used samples consisting of novel types (unique entities). Because real‐world evidence samples often contain redundant tokens (repetitions of the same entity), we studied the effects on property induction of adding types and tokens to an observed sample. In Experiments 1–3, we presented participants with a sample of birds or flowers known to (...) have a novel property and probed whether this property generalized to novel items varying in similarity to the initial sample. Increasing the number of novel types (e.g., new birds with the target property) in a sample produced tightening, promoting property generalization to highly similar stimuli but decreasing generalization to less similar stimuli. On the other hand, increasing the number of tokens (e.g., repeated presentations of the same bird with the target property) had little effect on generalization. Experiment 4 showed that repeated tokens are encoded and can benefit recognition, but appear to be given little weight when inferring property generalization. We modified an existing Bayesian model of induction (Navarro, Dry, & Lee, 2012) to account for both the information added by new types and the discounting of information conveyed by tokens. (shrink)

Arabidopsis thaliana is a small cruciferous weed which grows naturally, mainly in Europe. Because of its qualities of small size, rapid growth, low chromosome number and self‐fertilisation, I adapted it to aseptic growth in purified agar in sterile test‐tubes. I found that it secreted various substances into the medium, but not in type or amount likely to interfere with the expression of biosynthetic mutants. Following X‐irradiation of seed, I obtained a number of mutants, including several lethals. One lethal mutant I (...) discovered to be deficient in thiamine synthesis. It was the first biosynthetic mutant to be found in flowering plants. (shrink)

As most work on flower foraging focuses on bees, studying Lepidoptera can offer fresh perspectives on how sensory capabilities shape the interaction between flowers and insects. Through a combination of innate preferences and learning, many Lepidoptera persistently visit particular flower species. Butterflies tend to rely on their highly developed sense of colour to locate rewarding flowers, while moths have evolved sophisticated olfactory systems towards the same end. However, these modalities can interact in complex ways; for instance, butterflies’ colour (...) preference can shift depending on olfactory context. The mechanisms by which such cross‐modal interaction occurs are poorly understood, but the mushroom bodies appear to play a central role. Because of the diversity seen within Lepidoptera in terms of their sensory capabilities and the nature of their relationships with flowers, they represent a fruitful avenue for comparative studies to shed light on the co‐evolution of flowers and flower‐visiting insects. (shrink)

Readers of Kant’s Critique of Judgment (1790) have understandably been stumped trying to decipher Kant’s views on the relation between beauty and art.1 At §43 Kant ends his discussion of “free natural” beauties such as flowers and birds of paradise and begins to formulate a theory of fine art, according to which fine art has as its purpose the expression of “aesthetic ideas.” This theory of fine art, perhaps because it is saddled with examples of second-rate art (including a poem (...) by “the great king” Frederick) and is sketchier than the theory of beauty, has not been given the attention accorded the four “moments”. However, Kant’s theory of fine art is not as “unsophisticated” and “unenlightening” as one commentator thinks.2 It is rough and unfinished, but even so, it lays claim to being, along with Aristotle’s account of the “philosophical” implications of literature, one of the great pre-Hegelian statements on the capacity of art to express ideas. At least, the fact that the Critique of Judgment contains such a theory should stand as a warning to those who blame Kant for “neutering” the capacity of art to have any practical effect by reducing art to a contrivance for producing an enemic “disinterested” pleasure.3 On the contrary: Kant himself may in fact have thought his theory of fine art the capstone of his aesthetics. For at §51 he writes, “We may in general call beauty (whether natural or artistic) the expression of aesthetic ideas.” And here is where the puzzle begins, for it is not at all clear how or why beauty should even apply to the expression of aesthetic ideas — let alone apply in a way such that “we may in general call beauty … the expression of aesthetic ideas.”. (shrink)

Research on early-divergent angiosperms, including Amborella, the putative sister to all other extant angiosperms, is increasingly used as a yardstick to infer the nature of the hypothetical ancestral angiosperm. Some traits are relatively diverse (and hence relatively labile) in this phylogenetic grade, compared with the more derived eudicot clade, in which developmental patterns have become increasingly canalized. One of the many mysteries surrounding the origin of the angiosperms is the evolutionary origin of the Polygonum-type embryo sac (monosporic, eight-nucleate and seven-celled) (...) that occurs in the majority of flowering plants. Observations on the megagametophyte of Amborella are conflicting, but a recent report of a supernumerary synergid in this genus1 raises the question of whether the Polygonum-type embryo sac is derived by duplication of a four-nucleate structure or by reduction from a multicellular structure. BioEssays 28: 1067–1071, 2006. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

A critical appraisal of the theories founded on the theorem of the multiaxial flower , shows an evolution fromWettstein's original version of 1907 to various hypotheses founded on the the same theme and partly derived from the Wettsteinian doctrine. A number of circumstances such as semantic inconsistencies, but principally the choice of inadequate archetypes, prevented the success of the theory of a polystachyous floral region, because the deductions and interpretations emanating from this concept were not sufficiently convincing to defeat (...) the opposed theory of the uniaxial euanthous flower or anthostrobilus hypothesis. Only after the amendation of the theory of a multiaxial reproductive region on the basis of the anthocorm concept can one arrive at a plausible idea of the evolution of the angiospermous flower which is compatible with all aspects of the phylogeny of the Flowering Plants , and with the floral morphology and anatomy of the various kinds of flowers.Eine kritische Bewertung der Theorien die auf dem Theorem der mehrachsigen Blüte gegründet worden sind zeigt die Entwicklung von einer vonWettstein in 1907 vorgeschlagenen Originalversion zu mehreren, teilweise davon abgeleiteten, Theorien über das Thema der Entstehung der Angiospermenblüte. Verschiedene Umstände, wie z.B. semantische Widersprüche, aber in erster Stelle die Wahl eines inadäquaten Prototypus, verhinderten anfänglich den Erfolg der Hypothese eines mehrachsigen Blütenbereiches, weil es den hervorgehenden Schlussfolgerungen und Deutungen zu viel an Ueberzeugungskraft mangelte um die gegnerische Theorie der einachsigen Ranalesblüte oder Anthostrobilushypothese endgültig zu verdrängen. Erst die Ergänzung der Theorie einer vielachsigen Blüte ermöglichte die plausibele Darstellung der Evolution der Angiospermenblüte, welche Erörterung in befriedigender Weise in Uebereinstimmung ist mit allenA spekten der Phylogenie der Blütenpflanzen , und auch mit den morphologischen and anatomischen Verhältnissen bei Blüten jeder Art im Anklang ist.Une évaluation critique des différentes théories fondées sur le théorème de la fleur pluriaxiale montre une évolution qui commence avec une version originale proposée parWettstein en 1907 et qui mène à plusieurs théories, partiellement dérivées de l'idée wettsteinienne, sur le thème de l'origine de la fleur. Quelques circonstances, comme par exemple des contrariétés sémantiques, mais surtout la choix d'un prototype inadéquat, ont prévenu au début le triomphe de l'hypothèse d'une région florale pluriaxiale, puisque les conclusions et les interprétations qui provenaient de cette théorie étaient privées de toute conviction pour suppléer la théorie opposée de la fleur ranalienne et uniaxiale . Une explication recevable de l'évolution de la fleur angiospermique qui harmonise avec tous les aspects de la phylogénie des plantes floriales , et aussi avec les conditions morphologiques et anatomiques de toutes sortes de fleurs, ne gagnait de terrain qu'après le perfectionnement de la théorie de la fleur pluriaxiale. (shrink)

Children's comprehension of the universal quantifiers all and each was explored in a series of experiments using a picture selection task. The first experiment examined children's ability to restrict a quantifier to the noun phrase it modifies. The second and third experiments examined children's ability to associate collective, distributive, and exhaustive representations with sentences containing universal quantifiers. The collective representation corresponds to the "group" meaning (for All the flowers are in a vase all of the flowers are in the same (...) vase). The distributive representation implies a pairing (e.g., each flower paired with a vase for Each flower is in a vase). The exhaustive representation exhausts both sets (e.g., for The flowers are in the vases all the flowers are in vases and all the vases have flowers in them). Four- to 10-year-olds children had little difficulty restricting the quantifier all to the noun it modified in a task which required them to attend to the group feature of all. In contrast, only 9- and 10-year-olds were able to solve the task when the quantifier was each and the pictures showed entities in partial one-to-one correspondence. Children showed a preference for associating collective pictures with sentences containing all and distributive pictures with sentences containing each. The results suggest that between the ages of 5 and 10 years, children's semantic representations undergo less radical changes than others have proposed. Instead, developmental change may occur gradually as children acquire linguistic cues which map onto existing semantic representations. (shrink)

Honeybees show lateral asymmetry in both learning about odours associated with reward and recalling memory of these associations. We have extended this research to show that bees exhibit lateral biases in their initial response to odours: viz., turning towards the source of an odour presented on their right side and turning away from it when presented on their left side. The odours we presented were the main component of the alarm pheromone, iso-amyl acetate (IAA), and four floral scents. The significant (...) bias to turn towards IAA odour on the right and away from it on the left is, we argue, a lateralization of the fight-flight response elicited by this pheromone. It contrasts to an absence of any asymmetry in the turning response to an odour of the flowers on which the bees had been feeding prior to testing: to this odour they turned towards when it was presented on either the left or right side. Lemon and orange odours were responded to differently on the left and right sides (towards on the right, away on the left) but no asymmetry was found in responses to rose odour. Our results show that side biases are present even in the initial, orienting response of bees to certain odours. (shrink)