Analogy, Semantics, and Hermeneutics: The “Concept versus Judgment” Critique of Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia

Page range: 241-26

Practical Politics and Voice and Equality

African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Hochschild cohomology of socle deformations of a class of Koszul self-injective algebras

We consider the socle deformations arising from formal deformations of a class of Koszul self-injective special biserial algebras which occur in the study of the Drinfeld double of the generalized Taft algebras. We show, for these deformations, that the Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotence is a finitely generated commutative algebra of Krull dimension 2.Comment: 10 pages. Minor changes, references updated. To appear in Colloq. Math

Public Schools and the American Dream

African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Race, Class, and American Polarities

African and African American StudiesGovernmen

If Democracies Need Informed Voters, How Can They Thrive While Expanding Enfranchisement?

Three uncontroversial points sum to a paradox: 1) Almost every democratic theorist or democratic political actor sees an informed electorate as essential to good democratic practice. Citizens need to know who or what they are choosing and why – hence urgent calls for expansive and publicly funded education, and rights to free speech, assembly, press, and movement. 2) In most if not all democratic polities, the proportion of the population granted the suffrage has consistently expanded, and seldom contracted, over the past two centuries. Most observers, and I, agree that expanding enfranchisement makes a state more democratic. 3) Most expansions of the suffrage bring in, on average, people who are less politically informed or less broadly educated than those already eligible to vote. Putting these three uncontroversial points together leads to the conclusion that as democracies become more democratic, their decision-making processes become of lower quality in terms of cognitive processing of issues and candidate choice. The paradox is both historical – why have democracies expanded the franchise to include relatively ignorant voters? – and normative – why should democracies expand the franchise to include relatively ignorant voters? The article addresses both questions. First, I review the historical trajectory of democratization in the United States (although the argument is not specific to that country). I then describe plausible empirical explanations for the paradox: voters are not really that ignorant; the United States is not and never has been really a democracy; and institutions or electoral rules have been developed to substitute for voters’ knowledge. I also analyze plausible normative explanations for the paradox: democracy does not, or does not primarily, need cognitively sophisticated citizens; and democracy offers benefits that outweigh the deficits of citizens’ lack of knowledge. I offer a few reflections on both sets of explanations, but cannot genuinely dissolve the paradox.Governmen

Three Puzzles in Search of an Answer From Political Scientists (With Apologies to Pirandello)

African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Dimensions of Liberal Self-Satisfaction: Civil Liberties, Liberal Theory, and Elite-Mass Differences

African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Is School Desegregation Still a Viable Policy Option?

African and African American StudiesGovernmen

Including Oneself and Including Others: Who Belongs in My Country?

To be a first class member of a country, must one have citizenship, the same ethnic or racial background, or the same religion, as most citizens? How does high status relate to beliefs about inclusion? We analyze the 2003 ISSP survey on national identity, focusing on ten wealthy, democratic countries. We find a series of mismatches: a strong sense of being included is often coupled with a desire to exclude others. Countries with extreme public views are not always the countries with political controversy over inclusion. Views of citizens or members of the mainstream religion or race often differ from views of outsiders. Countries often cluster in ways that violate standard assumptions about geographic, cultural, or political affinities. Enjoying high status does not guarantee feeling included or seeking to include others. Given these mismatches, it is no surprise that politics and policies around inclusion are contentious, unstable, and fascinating.Governmen