The place of the unconscious in critiques of systematic prejudice: Lessons from MacKinnon and Critical Race Theory

In this paper, I argue that so called “systematic critiques” of the liberal conception of law in Catherine MacKinnon and Critical Race Theory which have traditionally been seen to reject liberalism should really be understood as subjecting the liberal conception of law as impartial and just to an immanent critique. Critical Race Theory and MacKinnon both seek to unmask the seemingly neutral subject which authorizes law as in reality a hegemonic and oppressive subject. They also employ the tools of liberalism, demanding justice and equal protection under the law. I argue that the apparent contradiction of their demands can be understood by seeing the subject itself as combining these contradictions at the level of the relation between the unconscious and consciousness. The ego strives for rational self-organization while the unconscious contains sedimented socially transmitted prejudice. There is thus room within both for the struggle for freedom and justice espoused by liberalism at the conscious level as well as for the unconscious perpetuation of prejudice and domination. I conclude that MacKinnon’s work and that of CRT show that liberalism must not be abandoned as post-structuralism does, but that liberals is in fact aided by its critics.     

Behavior and brain neurotransmitters: correlations in different strains of mice

Correlations of behavioral patterns in a social setting with catecholamines, serotonin, and several metabolites and precursors in three brain regions were examined in the DeFries H2, C1, and L1 strains of mice. In Experiment I, behavioral observations were recorded for two 15-min sessions in same-sex, same-strain pairs at about 65 days of age. In Experiment II, sex and strain groups were subdivided into 4% and 24% protein diet groups about 1 week before a second set of behavioral observations at about 120 days of age. Brain tissue content of neurotransmitters, precursors, and metabolites was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography after the second set of observations. Significant multivariate strain differences were shown for behavioral variables (both experiments) as well as concentrations of various neurochemicals. Strain H2 showed relatively high levels of locomotion, while rearing and social investigation were high in strain C1 and self-grooming in strain L1. Significant neurochemical differences were found in the following sets of variables: dopamine variables in the cortex, norepinephrine variables and serotonin variables in the combined diencephalon and midbrain, and norepinephrine and serotonin variables in the hindbrain. Effects of diet were found only on serotonin and tryptophan in the subcortical regions. Significant multivariate correlation with the behavioral variables was demonstrated for the catecholamines but not for serotonin. The results suggest that these strain differences in behavior may be mediated by catecholamine systems.     

See the devil and tame him

Born in 1921, professor of philosophy at the University of Warsaw and art theory in the Polish Academy of Sciences; has published twelve books and more than three hundred articles (bibliography in volume 14 of A. Mercier (ed.).Philosophers on Their Own Work. Bern: 1990) ranging over the history of aesthetics, Marxist and Soviet aesthetics, and issues related to the status of the arts in contemporary Western culture.     

Response force is sensitive to the temporal uncertainty of response stimuli

Three experiments examined whether temporal uncertainty about the delivery of a response stimulus affects response force in a simple reaction time (RT) situation. All experiments manipulated the foreperiod; that is, the interval between a warning signal and the response stimulus. In the constant condition, foreperiod length was kept constant over a block of trials but changed from block to block. In the variable condition, foreperiod length varied randomly from trial to trial. A visual warning and response stimulus were used in Experiment 1; response force decreased with foreperiod length in the variable condition, but increased in the constant condition. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that responses are less forceful when the temporal occurrence of the response stimulus is predictable. In a second experiment with an auditory warning signal and a response stimulus, response force was less sensitive to foreperiod manipulations. The third experiment manipulated both the modality and the intensity of the response signal and employed a tactile warning signal. This experiment indicated that neither the modality nor the intensity of the response signal affects the relation between response force and foreperiod length. An extension of Näätänen’s (1971) motor-readiness model accounts for the main results.     

Postnatal development of heart rate patterns elicited by an aversive CS and US in cats

Heart rate and motor responses were recorded in cats of different ages during classical conditioning. A deceleratory-acceleratory heart rate pattern observed during the CS-US interval in one and four-week-old kittens is an alpha conditioned response, a potentiated original response to the CS. At eight weeks of age two new distinct patterns of pure acceleration or pure deceleration are acquired during conditioning and in the absence of motor learning. At 12 weeks of age and in adult subjects, heart rate patterns during the CS-US interval become more complex and conditioned motor responses can be observed. A covariance of HR acceleration and motor responses during the CS-US interval is absent in eight-week-old subjects, but quite high in 12-week-old subjects and adult cats. The data are interpreted as suggesting separate elicitatory mechanisms of HR and motor responses which may show synchrony later in ontogeny.