The political practice of genetic epistemology

Genetic epistemology is sometimes taken by those unfamiliar with it as a justification for a meritocracy of moral reasoning and the continued oppression of people employing reasoning at lower stages than those who seek to perpetuate the oppression. Whether this interpretation is praised or reviled, it remains erroneous. In particular, this misunderstanding is applied to attempts by genetic epistemologists to apply its insights to the construction of the larger social world. However, a genetic-epistemological politics is really characterized by a concern for maintaining systems permitting free discourse among moral agents. This article outlines the nature of the erroneous interpretations and discusses genetic epistemology's proper application to politics. Stephen chilton is assistant professor of political science at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, where he specializes in conceptual analysis in the fields of comparative politics and political psychology. He is the author ofDefining Political Development (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1988);Grounding Political Development (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1991); and (with Shawn Rosenberg and Dana Ward) ofPolitical Reasoning and Cognition: A Piagetian View (Duke University Press, 1988).     

A case of sudden death by decidual cell embolism

A 35-year-old multipara died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism about 12 h after delivery. The morphological features and the entry site of the emboli into the circulation suggested that they were decidual cells. Intact decidual cells accounted for only a minority of the emboli: the great majority were cells that had lost their nuclei and/or had been fragmented. The presence of embolized areas, accompanied by fibroblasts and newly formed capillaries, suggested that the embolization process had started before the beginning of labor. However, no symptoms suggesting embolism had been recorded on the clinical chart.     

Orosomucoid (ORM) typing by isoelectric focusing: description of two new alleles in a German population and thermostability in bloodstains

The genetic polymorphism of serum orosomucoid (ORM) was studied in 168 unrelated German individuals using isoelectric focusing followed by immunoprinting. Two new alleles, tentatively designated ORM1*14 and ORM2*13, were identified. The method was successfully applied to demonstrate ORM1 types in dried bloodstains. Each type of ORM1 was also correctly determined in bloodstains heated at 130 degrees C for 30 min. The results indicated that ORM1 is a new powerful genetic marker system for the grouping of bloodstains.     

The fair process effect and procedural criteria in the resolution of disputes between intimate same-sex friends

This series of studies extended procedural justice research to the informal domain of dispute resolution in intimate same-sex friendship. The first study identified the types of disputes that occur between friends and the concerns that friends have when choosing dispute resolution procedures. Seven dispute types and 11 procedural criteria were found relevant to dispute resolution in friendship. Study 2 assessed the importance of procedural criteria for resolving several dispute scenarios. As expected, ratings of criterion importance were affected by subject and disputant sex. Females rated four criteria as more important than did males, and one criterion was rated as more important in disputes involving a male and a female than in disputes involving two females. The importance of procedural criteria was also influenced by the type of dispute, but this effect was qualified by an interaction with the dispute version. It was suggested that the importance of procedural criteria is generally defined by the context of friendship and specifically defined by the dispute topic. In Study 3, the relations among subject sex, traditional fairness variables, and criterion-based measures of process control were examined. Consistent with studies in other domains, process control predicted procedural justice, and decision control predicted distributive justive. Moreover, the hypothesized fair process effect emerged as a function of speed, a criterion-based measure of process control.