Hasty Generalizations Research Articles

Unsettled South Asian Borders: Nepal’s Effort to Reconcile Its Colonial and Non-colonial Borders

While it is commonly accepted that the borders in South Asia are post-colonial borders established by colonial powers, the literature often skips the discussion of the non-colonial borders of the region. Many sources do not even acknowledge the existence of non-colonial borders at all, making such borders some sort of terra incognita. This has created an academic gap which limits the understanding of the borders of the region and sometimes leads towards hasty generalisation on the nature of South Asian borders. Nepal has two types of borders—a colonial border shared with India in the south and a non-colonial border shared with China that lies in the central Himalayan massif. This has resulted in the adoption of two different border policies that do not always align with each other. To delve into the intricacies of this situation, this article focuses on two main inquiries. First, the article studies Nepal’s border policies and approaches by examining the historical context of border delimitation with India and China, as well as the characteristics of these borders. Second, the article examines the extent to which Nepal is successful in reconciling its colonial and non-colonial border policies as well as the challenges it faces in this endeavour. It concludes the discussion by exploring the potential contribution of non-colonial borders to South Asia’s border narratives.

*Corresponding author: suwandi.sumartias@unpad.ac.id E-ISSN: 2289-1528 https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2024-4002-01 Portrait of Hate Speech Propagators' Behaviour in Indonesia Twittersphere: A Comparative Virtual Ethnography Study

Political life in Indonesia today cannot be separated from the social media platform Twitter (X) because it is often used to express opinions freely. Unfortunately, a handful of parties misused the freedom of communication and expression offered by Twitter (X) to spread hate speech. One of the biggest phenomena is “Cebong” and “Kadrun”. This research examines the characteristics of hate speech spreaders in the political context of "Cebong" and "Kadrun". This study employed virtual ethnography to interpret the phenomenon of political hate speech on Twitter (X) in May 2022. The hate speech made by "Cebong" and "Kadrun" can be concluded as two hostile political camps. They argued with each other to show their identity as supporters of one of the camps and aimed to bring down the opposing political camp. The tweets made by “Cebong” were dominated by arguments classified as arguments by analogy; meanwhile, "Kadrun" was dominated by discovery arguments: arguments from cause to effect. The manipulation strategy carried out by "Cebong" is dominated by connotations, and "Kadrun" is dominated by specific warrants and connotations. The fallacy expressed by "Cebong" is dominated by persuasive definitions; meanwhile, "Kadrun" is dominated by hasty generalizations. These findings could be suggestions for creating a healthier ecosystem in the digital public sphere in Indonesia. Twitter (X) users should be more aware of reporting content that indicates hate speech. By knowing the characteristics of hate speech and the characteristics of hate speech spreaders, Twitter users can stop the spread of hate speech. Keywords: Cebong, Kadrun, hate speech, propagators, Twitter.

Forests high on CO2: A glimpse into how scientists study the biochemical machinery of forest ecosystems

Are forests across the planet storing more carbon as a result of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration? In this text, I propose to reflect on the work of researchers who are asking that very question. The focus is on a particular approach called free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments, in which forests in their local environment are subjected to a CO2 concentration higher than in the ambient air, to test the CO2 fertilization hypothesis. This hypothesis predicts that forests store more carbon in those conditions. FACE studies held the promise of establishing cause–effect relations and transcending the here and now. They emerged in the United States in the late 1980s, at a time when ecology scaled up to make itself relevant to the then nascent Earth System science. FACE experiments in forests are now conducted in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Brazil, and their results are closely scrutinized by a small research community. The text, first, presents the engineering feat that underpins FACE experiments in forests and discuss two problems highlighted by scientists because they impede hasty generalization from the data: the timescale needed to witness forests change and the spatial heterogeneity of forest soils. It then shows how scientists contend with their incomplete understanding of forest ecosystems as they bring together computer models and empirical data to build consensus around the sources of epistemic uncertainty. To conclude, I propose to rework the idea of “the macroscope” to conceptualize what scientists do when they seek to study forests as complex, layered, multi-scale systems. I wish to capture how researchers, who willingly endorse a planetary gaze, problematize their own predicament. This, as I suggest, has to do with the immanence of forests in the world.

Development of Chemistry Lecture Sets for Reducing Logical Fallacy in Arguing

Objective: This study aims to develop a lecture set designed to reduce the occurrence of logical fallacies by training students' argumentation skills. Method: The lecture sets were developed to refer to the stages of the ADDIE development model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). Validity was validated by three validators on student activity sheets and argumentative ability assessment sheets. The validity of the test results was obtained based on the mode of calculation and the percentage of agreement between validators. Results: The lecture sets are structured by containing six types of logical fallacies, namely relative privation, blind authority fallacy, hasty generalization, questionable cause fallacy, reification fallacy, and non sequitur, and includes general chemistry lecture material, namely stoichiometry, atomic structure, periodicity of elements, chemical bonds, the concentration of the solution, the equilibrium of ions in the solution, and the colligative properties of the solution. The chemistry lecture sets for reducing logical fallacies in arguing has been declared valid by the validator. Novelty: The results of this study can be used as a reference by teachers, lecturers, or other researchers who wish to study more about logical fallacies.

Hasty generalizations and generics in medical research: A systematic review.

It is unknown to what extent medical researchers generalize study findings beyond their samples when their sample size, sample diversity, or knowledge of conditions that support external validity do not warrant it. It is also unknown to what extent medical researchers describe their results with precise quantifications or unquantified generalizations, i.e., generics, that can obscure variations between individuals. We therefore systematically reviewed all prospective studies (n = 533) published in the top four highest ranking medical journals, Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the British Medical Journal (BMJ), from January 2022 to May 2023. We additionally reviewed all NEJM Journal Watch clinical research summaries (n = 143) published during the same time. Of all research articles reporting prospective studies, 52.5% included generalizations beyond specific national study populations, with the numbers of articles with generics varying significantly between journals (JAMA = 12%; Lancet = 77%) (p < 0.001, V = 0.48). There was no evidence that articles containing broader generalizations or generics were correlated with larger or more nationally diverse samples. Moreover, only 10.2% of articles with generalizations beyond specific national populations reported external validity strengthening factors that could potentially support such extrapolations. There was no evidence that original research articles and NEJM Journal Watch summaries intended for practitioners differed in their use of broad generalizations, including generics. Finally, from the journal with the highest citation impact, articles containing broader conclusions were correlated with more citations. Since there was no evidence that studies with generalizations beyond specific national study populations or with generics were associated with larger, more nationally diverse samples, or with reports of population similarity that may permit extensions of conclusions, our findings suggest that the generalizations in many articles were insufficiently supported. Caution against overly broad generalizations in medical research is warranted.

Hasty Generalization as a Source of Misleading Survey Responses

Hasty Generalization as a Source of Misleading Survey Responses

Hasty Generalizations Are Pervasive in Experimental Philosophy: A Systematic Analysis

Abstract Scientists may sometimes generalize from their samples to broader populations when they have not yet sufficiently supported this generalization. Do such hasty generalizations also occur in experimental philosophy? To check, we analyzed 171 experimental philosophy studies published between 2017 and 2023. We found that most studies tested only Western populations but generalized beyond them without justification. There was also no evidence that studies with broader conclusions had larger, more diverse samples, but they nonetheless had higher citation impact. Our analyses reveal important methodological limitations of many experimental philosophy studies and suggest that philosophical training may not protect against hasty generalizations.

Variations in racial and ethnic groups’ trust in researchers associated with willingness to participate in research

Low enrollment in U.S. biomedical research by non-White adults has historically been attributed to mistrust, but few studies have simultaneously examined dimensions of trust in three or more racial/ethnic groups. Leveraging the racial/ethnic diversity of New Jersey, we prospectively recruited 293 adults (72% women, 38% older than 54 years of age) between October 2020 and February 2022 to complete two anonymous surveys in English or one of the common languages (e.g., Spanish, Mandarin Chinese). The first consisted of 12 Likert-scale questions related to trust in biomedical researchers (according to safety, equity, transparency), and the second assessed willingness to consider participation in eight common research activities (health-related survey, blood collection, genetic analysis, medication study, etc). Participants self-reported as Hispanic (n = 102), Black (n = 49), Chinese (n = 48), other Asian (n = 53), or White (n = 41) race/ethnicity. Factor analysis showed three aspects related to trust in researchers: researchers as fiduciaries for research participants, racial/ethnic equity in research, and transparency. Importantly, we observed differences in the relationship between mistrust and willingness to participate. Whereas Chinese respondents’ low trust in researchers mediated their low interest in research involving more than health-related surveys, Hispanic respondents’ low trust in research equity did not deter high willingness to participate in research involving blood and genetic analysis. We caution that a generic association between trust and research participation should not be broadly assumed, and biomedical researchers should prospectively assess this relationship within each minoritized group to avoid hasty generalization.

보조생식술 접근에의 사회적 제한은 비윤리적인가?

Ethics Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) publisched opinions on ‘Access to fertility treatment by gays, lesbians, and unmarried persons’ four times between 2006 and 2021. This paper aims to review these opinions critically. ASRM finally views the restriction of access to assisted reproductive technology not only for unmarried women, which is a major subject of discussion in Korean society, but also for unmarried men, gays and lesbians, as ‘unethical’. After summarizing the Ethics Committee’s opinions (Chapter II), the validity of the ASRM’s opinions was examined, focusing on Committee’s three main arguments. First of all, ASRM argues that reproductive interests should be protected as a human right called ‘reproductive rights’ regardless of marital status or sexual orientation. This paper examined the theoretical and legal limitations of the concept of ‘reproductive rights’ (Chapter III). Second, ASRM argues that parents' marital status or sexual orientation has no negative effect on children. This paper pointed out the problem of ASRM's approach to frame this issue as a confrontation between ‘normal family ideology’ and ‘science’, and then, the scientific problems, that is, the limitation of data and the problem of hasty generalization(Chapter IV). Third, ASRM argues that the ‘conscientious objection’ of doctors for reason of marital status or sexual orientation is an act that promotes discrimination and oppression, and is a right that violates the current law (Anti-Discrimination Act) and medical ethics, so the enforcement of that right should be limited. This article pointed out the legal and logical limitations of these arguments(Chapter V). Through such a critical review, this paper came to the conclusion that it is difficult to apply ASRM's opinions on the issue to Korean society due to their logical, scientific, and legal limitations. Ultimately, this paper was intended to contribute to publicize that ASRM opinions have a fundamental limitation, that is, the limitation as a ‘utilitarian approach to ethical problems’, in addition to its logical problems.

Language Techniques and Literary Devices for National Messaging in President Buhari’s Democracy Day Speech

That language is used to convey a broad sense of meanings and that the meanings that are conveyed with language are moulded by our immediate social, political and historical conditions are safe assumptions about the efficacy of language. This paper discusses language techniques and literary devices for national messaging to ascertain their functions in national discourse. To achieve this aim, the study examines purposively sampled excerpts from Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari’s Democracy Day speech on June 12, 2019, using insights from practical stylistics. This is to determine whether the language and literary devices have been deployed effectively to the speech’s content. The language and literary devices observed were reference items, to signal solidarity and inclusivity; evidential clauses, to consolidate the argument raised; capitalisation, to foreground the issues discussed; name-calling, to ridicule political opponents; the praise tactic, for self-promotion and positive representation, the blame-game tactic, to evade responsibility and denigrate previous administration; hasty generalisation, to advance personal agenda; and allusion, to draw knowledge from historical events. The study submits that the aforementioned devices, depending on how they are used in communication, can either foster or jeopardise national integration. Consequently, it recommends that national discourses be cautiously constructed using pertinent linguistic and literary devices.

Differences in China Greening Characteristics and its Contribution to Global Greening

With the rapid emergence of the global greening phenomenon under remote sensing monitoring, the prevailing trend of phenomenon analysis and traceability research is self-evident. However, identifying characteristics is basic research of the greening phenomenon, which sometimes subverts research results. The choice of method may directly affect the difference in the greening-browning range, which is easily overlooked. At the same time, influenced by the regional vegetation state’s basic value, the greening contribution’s spatialization still needs to be further verified. Based on the enhanced vegetation index results at the global kilometer-grid scale, this research chose to use the maximum value composite and the simple average method to explore the differences in China’s characteristic identification process initially. While paying attention to results and phenomena, scholars’ attention to basic research needs further improvement. The results show that the widely used two groups of basic methods have shown noticeable differences in greening and browning, and are affected by human activities, climate, geographical environment, etc. And this directional error and the phenomenon of hasty generalization are the most easily ignored in much basic research. The vegetation information considering the inherent stock and changing flux has quantified the greening contribution between regions. China, Brazil, and India dominate global greening, and Canada significantly contributes to browning. Some regions must promote the greening trend of changing flux while maintaining the inherent stock advantage.

“Who/What Neglected the Monotheism?”: A Panentheistic Rejoinder to Thaddeus Metz and Motsamai Molefe on African Traditional Religion

AbstractNeglected monotheism is how Thaddeus Metz and Motsamai Molefe designate the common denominator among the various religious cultures found across sub-Saharan Africa. This is a product of their engagement with such traditional African religious themes as God’s nature, God’s will, life beyond death, and the duration of existence beyond or without a body consequent on death. This article uses traditional Yoruba theology and its ritual archive, the Ifa corpus, to argue that Metz and Molefe’s monotheistic proposal is a hasty generalization. In fact, on close inspection, the Ifa corpus turns out that traditional Yoruba theology is grounded in panentheism.

Autobiography and social climbing

The following essay touches on a highly interesting problem for politically sensitive adult education: What are the ‘costs’ of educational advancement? The answer is sought in biographies of three prominent examples: Pierre Bourdieu, Annie Ernaux and Didier Eribon. The data is based on autobiographically oriented reflections of the protagonists – symptomatically not ‘classic’ autobiographies. The concentration on France has to do with the fact that in the French cultural tradition this level of reflection – not least through the works of the selected authors – has gained a particular meaning. The selection itself relates to astonishing differences in the influences of historical times and the relevance of cohort experiences. The result of the analysis is undoubtedly an ‘essayistic dramatisation’, not a hasty generalisation, but it could stimulate scientific discussion and systematic empirical research.

『기생 및 창기에 관한 서류철』을 활용한 선행연구의 비판적 고찰 및 학술적 오류 정정

Among the researches that actively utilized bibliographies on [Records of Gisaeng and Changgi], this study concentrated on [A Study on Gisaeng in Colonial Korea (II) : Focusing on Characteristics of Gisaeng Association] by Suh Jiyoung (2005). This study interpreted and analyzed historical records and bibliographies of the time objectively and empirically to correct academic errors and distorted facts caused by the misunderstanding and misreading of the Gisaeng and prostitute-related documents in [Records of Gisaeng and Changgi]. [A Study on Gisaeng in Colonial Korea (II) : Focusing on Characteristics of Gisaeng Association] by Suh Jiyoung (2005) involved numbers of academic errors and distorted facts as follows : 1. All discussions were made under the fundamental misconception that Gisaeng and prostitute are similar or equivalent concepts, 2. “Gisaeng” who were not included in the state-regulated prostitution system were distorted as persons who had to be controlled and managed under the state-regulated prostitute policy, 3. “Hanseong Prostitute Association” was completely mistaken as “Hanseong Gisaeng Association,” and were regarded as the same group including both prostitutes and official Gisaeng at the same time, 4. The research committed logical contradiction and error by examining the “Characteristics of Gisaeng Association” in the documents related to prostitutes instead of documents related to Gisaeng in the bibliographies on [Records of Gisaeng and Prostitute], 5. The contents related to Gisaeng and prostitutes were mixed up and remained as incomplete research that failed to review the characteristics of Gisaeng Association and Prostitute Association, 6. The research committed an error of hasty generalization by focusing on few controversial and negative articles in defining the characteristics of “Gisaeng Association” over 35 years of the Japanese colonial period, 7. Although Gisaeng were involved in “Charity Concert Activities” for orphanages, natural disasters, and midwife training schools out of the “Pure Purpose and Intention” for the country and people without commercial benefits throughout the Korean Empire Period and Japanese Colonial Period, such activities were regarded and distorted as the “Responsive Behaviors” done in awareness of conventional views that treated Gisaeng as the causes of demoralization and as “activities” done to improve the public image of Gisaeng of the time. In conclusion, the serial researches, [A Study on Gisaeng in Colonial Korea (I),(II),(III)], by Suh Jiyoung were often cited in works about Gisaeng, the state-regulated prostitution system, gender, sexuality, feminism, and prostitution system because of the titles, “Study on Gisaeng” during “Japanese colonial period (Colonial Period, Japanese Colonialism).” However, as recent researches pointed out various academic errors and distortions, the serial researches by Suh Jiyoung are inappropriate to represent the researches on Gisaeng during the Japanese colonial period. In other words, the researches on Gisaeng during the Japanese colonial period are not empirical, detailed, or comprehensive enough to define the characteristics of Gisaeng and Gisaeng Association(Gwonbeon) during the Japanese colonial period. Thus, the following researches have to make related attempts. In cases of citing the researches by Suh Jiyoung, the researchers must review the researches by Suh Jiyoung additionally and thoroughly to secure the academic validity before citing them.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Fallacies in English Religious Argumentative Discourse

Fallacies are common errors in an argument and they undermine the logic of that argument. They obstruct the process of argumentation since they do not contribute to the resolution in difference in opinion. The current study investigates fallacies in four religious argumentative debates between Muslims and atheists. It adopts Toulmin et al (1984) as a model for analysis. Results show that both debating parties, Muslims and atheists commit fallacies but the latter exceeds the former quantitatively and qualitatively. The most common fallacies in Muslims’ arguments are straw man argument, poisoning the well and attacking the person whereas the straw man argument, argument from ignorance, hasty generalization and appeal to compassion are the most committed ones by atheists.

Boring Problems Are Sometimes the Most Interesting

Abstract In a recent position paper, Turing Award Winners Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, and Yann LeCun make the case that symbolic methods are not needed in AI and that, while there are still many issues to be resolved, AI will be solved using purely neural methods. In this piece I issue a challenge: Demonstrate that a purely neural approach to the problem of text normalization is possible. Various groups have tried, but so far nobody has eliminated the problem of unrecoverable errors, errors where, due to insufficient training data or faulty generalization, the system substitutes some other reading for the correct one. Solutions have been proposed that involve a marriage of traditional finite-state methods with neural models, but thus far nobody has shown that the problem can be solved using neural methods alone. Though text normalization is hardly an “exciting” problem, I argue that until one can solve “boring” problems like that using purely AI methods, one cannot claim that AI is a success.

Praying for a Miracle: Negative or Positive Impacts on Health Care?

The belief in miracle, as a modality of spiritual/religious coping (SRC) strategy in the face of stress and psychic suffering, has been discussed in psychological literature with regard to its positive or negative role on the health and well-being of patients and family members. In contemporary times, where pseudo-conflicts between religion and science should have been long overcome, there is still some tendency of interpreting belief in miracle – as the possibility of a cure granted by divine intervention, modifying the normal course of events in a bleak medical diagnosis – as having unhealthy impacts in the care and treatment of health. This position seeks to find a base in the three characteristics of hoping in a miracle, frequently pointed out by psychological literature: (a) it would imply a negation of reality instead of its confrontation; (b) it would be a coping strategy focused on emotion instead of the problem; (c) it would imply seeking to modify the supposed desire of God by extra-natural facts. In this study, we shall critically discuss this position and the dangers of its crystallization by the use of SRC scales in which the act of praying for a miracle is previously classified as a negative strategy. We revisit some tendencies in psychological literature about the subject, taking into consideration the various facets of miracle, sociocultural facts, elements of idiographic nature, and their profound outcomes in the lives of people especially in health contexts. We illustrate the dangers of a hasty generalization of the results of nomothetic studies about the role of belief in miracle with two examples of research in the Brazilian context: one carried out with pregnant women with fetal malformation and the other with family members caring for children and adolescents with cancer under chemotherapeutic treatment. In both studies, the results do not confirm the predominance of the negative aspects associated with the act of praying for a miracle, which we discuss and analyze in light of the phenomenological perspective. In this perspective, “pray for a miracle”, as experienced by patients and caregivers, can be recognized as an act of openness to life (instead of isolation in a bleak perspective), bolstering hope, and the resignification of reality in the psyche.

Some common fallacies in arguments from M/EEG data

Like all humans, M/EEG researchers commit certain fallacies or mistakes in reasoning. This article surveys seven well-known but still common fallacies, including reverse inference, hasty generalization, hasty exclusion, inferring from group to individual, inferring from correlation to causation, affirming a disjunct, and false dichotomy. These fallacies are illustrated with classic EEG research by Libet and collaborators, but many researchers (not just Libet) continue to commit them in all areas of research (not just M/EEG). This article gives practical suggestions about how to spot and avoid each fallacy.

Tarihte informel mantık ve mantık hataları

It is not possible to talk about a research field, a study discipline in which there is no logic, correct thinking, argumentation, deduction, and reasoning. Therefore, as a field of study, the discipline of history puts out its products within the framework of logic, correct thinking, and reasoning. In social sciences fields such as history, informal logic may be used better than classical or modern logic in disciplines where everyday language may be used. This study aims to show informal logic, the compatibility of informal logic with the nature of the history discipline, and how historical interpretations can be handled in terms of fallacies by considering the compatibility with nature. In the study, the informal logic in history discipline and the fallacies within the scope of informal logic are discussed, and the existing fallacies are refined by considering those that have similar content, were interrelated, were seen together, and then they were grouped under 13 fallacies. Thus, in the study, a classification of historical reasoning fallacies is presented based on historical reasoning: “ambiguity, ad hominem, exaggeration, reductionism, over-generalization, false analogy, criteria-based fallacies, inductive fallacy, faulty causality, emotionalization, irrelevance, faulty justification, stereotypical thinking”. With these 13 kinds of fallacies, various historical commentaries, and description examples, the aim is to offer explanatory information on this subject to historians and history educators. In subsequent studies, it is suggested to identify whether fallacies work in increasing the level of historical thinking when used by historians and history educators.

Educating Liberty: Democracy and Aristocracy in J. S. Mill’s Political Thought, by Chris Barker, John Stuart Mill on History: Human Nature, Progress, and the Stationary State, by Jay M. Eisenberg

Reviewed by: Educating Liberty: Democracy and Aristocracy in J. S. Mill's Political Thought by Chris Barker, and: John Stuart Mill on History: Human Nature, Progress, and the Stationary State by Jay M. Eisenberg Bruce Kinzer (bio) Educating Liberty: Democracy and Aristocracy in J. S. Mill's Political Thought, by Chris Barker; pp. viii + 267. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2018, $105.00. John Stuart Mill on History: Human Nature, Progress, and the Stationary State, by Jay M. Eisenberg; pp. xxi + 223. Lanham, Boulder, New York, and London: Lexington Books, 2018, $95.00. However various the interpretations of John Stuart Mill's thought may be, commentators agree that he aimed to promote what John M. Robson's classic 1968 study of Mill's social and political thought called The Improvement of Mankind. Moreover, a consensus exists that the improvement Mill had in mind was principally intellectual and moral rather than material in character. The chief source of disagreement concerns the means by which Mill sought to bring about the ends he had in view and the organization of the society he considered best fitted to give expression to these ends. Scholars such as Maurice Cowling, Shirley Letwin, Joseph Hamburger, and Linda Raeder detect a massive strain of intellectual elitism and moral authoritarianism in Mill's thought. They assert that Mill wished to supplant Christianity with a non-theological religion rooted in the authority of social science—see, for example, Raeder's John Stuart Mill and the Religion of Humanity (2002). This new orthodoxy would be defined, promulgated, and sustained by an intellectual elite. Mill, on this view, valued liberty not for its own sake but as the [End Page 132] instrument for enabling superior individuals to reach a consensus on the norms and beliefs that should govern the social order. Most scholars reject this assessment, arguing that Mill's abiding commitment to individual self-development embraced the common run of human beings in societies that had attained a certain level of civilization (Victorian England, for example). Acknowledging his concern to preserve the sway of those with superior abilities, knowledge, and expertise, they contend that Mill saw such influence as contributing to individual growth writ large. Chris Barker's Educating Liberty: Democracy and Aristocracy in J. S. Mill's Political Thought makes a significant contribution to the latter (predominant) school of Mill studies. He does this by bringing together strands of Mill's thought that he believes best illustrate Mill's educative mission, whose object was to foster "mental independence" (2). The achievement of this end, in Barker's account, required spousal equality within the household, a large dose of cooperative labor relations between workers and owners/managers, a proper understanding of the important yet circumscribed role to be played by social scientists in the shaping of political judgment, a representative political order capable of reconciling the need for both elite competence and mass participation, and the propagation of a democratic civil religion directed at promoting a social unity compatible with individual agency. Each of these matters receives a distinct chapter, the first two being dedicated to substantiating Barker's claim that Mill considers "women's liberation from legal disabilities and the end of class-based separation of workers and owners/managers" as "the most transformative changes in society" (83). Regarding women's emancipation, Barker concentrates on Mill's ideal of companionate marriage and effectively draws out the connections between this ideal and his conception of the household as "a school of liberty" (40). While deeply impressed by the force of Mill's case, Barker recognizes its limitations. Like others who have examined Mill's writings on sexual equality, Barker concedes that "Mill's distinction between the genders certainly reads as a faulty generalization from too few examples" (42). Barker also furnishes a careful and highly sensitive reading of Mill's hankering for the creation of a cooperative marketplace and the links between this aspiration and his focus on mental independence and moral improvement. Here too (and this can be said of all the issues he tackles), Barker perceptively identifies problems in Mill's argument, especially as they pertain to the demonstrated preferences of workers themselves. The problems notwithstanding, Barker finds...