The members of my dissertation examination committee: David Albert, John Collins, Mark Cane, and Michael Strevens, who pushed me to produced a stronger final draft of this work, and who provided excellent, insightful, and appreciated criticism, deserve special mention. In particular, Mark and John did their best to ensure that I wasn’t totally uninformed about my topics. I owe them a huge debt.
Finally, all of my other family, friends, and colleagues at Columbia University (and elsewhere) who have read my work, spoken with me about my ideas, and influenced me in ways they’ll never know deserve a mention. There are far too many to list, but some of the most significant (still in order of appearance) are: Chelsea Canon (who taught me to sing out and be free), Matt Royal and Jason Euren (who have been better brothers than I could have ever gotten by blood), Adam See (who is one of the kindest people I’ve ever known), Katie MacIntyre (who taught me that maybe Foucault isn’t that bad), Mark Berger (who dogged me about social responsibility), Porter Williams (who could beat me up if he wanted to), Timothy Ignaffo (who has supported this project in ways that defy mentioning here), and Rebecca Spizzirri, (who has suffered living with me and hearing about these ideas for two years). Thanks to all of you, and to those whom I haven’t specifically mentioned; this meatbrain is fallible and weak.
Thank you, everyone.
iv
