The integration of ideas, methods, and data from diverse disciplines has been a transformative force in science and higher education, attracting policy interventions, program innovations, financial resources, and talented people. Much energy has been invested in producing a new generation of scientists trained to work fluidly across disciplines, sectors, and research problems, yet the success of such investments has been difficult to measure. Using the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program of the U.S. National Science Foundation as a (...) strategic research site, we conducted an experiment to determine whether and how the process and products of research of IGERT-trained scientists differ from those of scientists trained in disciplinary graduate programs. Among scientists in the early years of graduate study we found substantial and consistent differences suggesting that interdisciplinary training improved the quality and process of research, but this pattern was equally strongly reversed among students in the latter years of graduate study. Using systematic observation and other data we suggest why this might be so, then discuss the implications of these results for the design and conduct of graduate education and research. (shrink)

For researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand who intend to conduct research with people, it is common practice to first ensure that their proposals are approved by a Human Research Ethics Committee. HRECs take the role of reviewing, approving or rejecting research proposals and deciding on whether the intended research will be completed in the ‘right’, rather than the ‘wrong’ way. Such decisions are based upon a system which is guided by universal ethical principles – principles that assume there is universal (...) agreement about the ethically right way to conduct research. Increasingly, Aotearoa New Zealand is becoming more culturally diverse. Actions that are assumed as ‘right’ in reference to ethical norms endorsed in one culture or society may not always be considered ‘right’ in reference to ethical norms in another culture or society. In this article we first set out what is already known in the literature about the origins and applications of universal ethics in a research context. Next, we analyse how... (shrink)

The sixth IPCC report states that a proper conception of climate justice that can address the complexity of the phenomenon of anthropogenic climate change as a whole requires considering not only one but rather three dimensions of justice today: redistributive, procedural, and recognition dimensions. In this article, my focus is on exploring the latter dimension, drawing special attention to climate policies addressing cultural-identity issues. In the first section, I illustrate how climate policies can be connected to discriminatory practices against minority (...) cultures and their identities. To do so, I take the struggles of Black movements against environmental racism and the struggles of Indigenous peoples against a colonialist cultural heritage as case studies. In the second section, I look into the most advanced normative model to address the dimension of recognition, its advantages, and how it addresses the so-called ‘institutionalization of cultural patterns’ in climate policies: the Nancy Fraser model. Finally, in the third section, I investigate an aspect that remains open. It concerns the matter of how to use institutional authority to ‘deinstitutionalize’ non-ecological cultural patterns, while respecting pluralism and avoiding falling into the risks of institutional paternalism. (shrink)

Abstract:Through an intercultural dialogue—Chinese and Western—this article explores the possibility of building cultural diversity and pluralism in philosophy. It focuses, first, on building a dialogue between Levinas' and Zhu Xi's apparent (philosophical) affinity for ethics at the level of meaning of the concept of transcendence in the Neo-Confucian and Levinasian ethical contexts and, second, on uncovering and analyzing the inapparent differences at the level of cultural presuppositions on which this apparent affinity is based. I offer that both Levinas and Zhu (...) Xi distinguish the impulse to care for the other—out of which the human relationship emerges—as rooted not in the ontological self but in an ethical transcendence: the other's face (Levinas) and the human authentic nature as mandate of heaven (Zhu Xi). The article comparatively interprets them and their cultural presuppositions. (shrink)

Adoption of technology in agriculture can significantly reorganize production and relationships amongst humans, animals, technology, and the natural environment. However, the adoption of agricultural technology is not homogenous, and diversity in integration leads to a diversity of outcomes and impacts. In this study, we examine the adoption of automated milking systems in small and midsize dairy farms in the US Midwest, the Netherlands, and Denmark. In contrast to technological determinism, we find significant variation amongst adopters in the implementation of AMS (...) and corresponding variation in outcomes. Adopters have significant discretion in determining the use of AMS, which leads to a diversity of possible outcomes for family and non-family labor, human–cow relationships, animal welfare, the environment, and financial resiliency. Adoption and implementation are shaped by both structural factors, such as debt load and labor market variation, and by farmers’ individual personality traits and values, such as a willingness to release control to technology. Rather than uniform adoption and impacts of technology, we highlight the importance of context, the co-constitution of technology and users, and the diversity of technology adoption and its associated impacts. (shrink)

The present study subscribes to efforts undertaken by recent scholarship that focus on bringing out the connections between Song Neo-Confucian and Chan thoughts and practices. It proposes a new exploratory approach in the realm of philosophical ethics, namely a comparative hermeneutics of two Song-dynasty commentaries on the Confucian classic the Zhongyong. This study also puts forward a new Song-dynasty perspective on this text, a point of view common to both the Neo-Confucian and Chan schools, as I will demonstrate, which focuses (...) on emotions and what I call the “interdependent self.” The development of this theme also offers new insight into Neo-Confucian and Chan views of spirituality.Through a case study... (shrink)

Abstract:This essay develops a dialogue between Zhu Xi's thirteenth-century Neo-Confucian thought and Levinas' twentieth-century Western philosophy, around the notion of interrelatedness between individuals, between self and other. Despite the fact that Zhu Xi and Levinas belong to diff erent cultural universes and to diff erent philosophical spiritualities, and lived in diff erent historical times, they share the same interest in exploring, interpreting, and building interrelatedness, and therefore in ethics and ethical relationships. Through an intertextual and hermeneutical approach, the essay builds (...) a dialogue between diff erent cultural presuppositions underlying the essence of ethics and of ethical relationship: otherness and sameness. This dialogue allows one to become aware of the existence of transcultural concepts such as interrelatedness, and of their diff erent, cross-cultural meanings (e.g., interrelatedness is grounded in "sameness" in Zhu Xi's Confucian context and in "otherness" in Levinas' thought). (shrink)

We study higher analogues of the classical independence number on $\omega $. For $\kappa $ regular uncountable, we denote by $i(\kappa )$ the minimal size of a maximal $\kappa $ -independent family. We establish ZFC relations between $i(\kappa )$ and the standard higher analogues of some of the classical cardinal characteristics, e.g., $\mathfrak {r}(\kappa )\leq \mathfrak {i}(\kappa )$ and $\mathfrak {d}(\kappa )\leq \mathfrak {i}(\kappa )$. For $\kappa $ measurable, assuming that $2^{\kappa }=\kappa ^{+}$ we construct a maximal $\kappa $ -independent (...) family which remains maximal after the $\kappa $ -support product of $\lambda $ many copies of $\kappa $ -Sacks forcing. Thus, we show the consistency of $\kappa ^{+}=\mathfrak {d}(\kappa )=\mathfrak {i}(\kappa )<2^{\kappa }$. We conclude the paper with interesting open questions and discuss difficulties regarding other natural approaches to higher independence. (shrink)

In the words of Catharine MacKinnon, "a woman is not yet a name for a way of being human." In other words, women are still excluded, as authors and agents, from identifying what it is to be human and what therefore violates the dignity and integrity of humans. Recognition, Responsibility, and Rights is written in response to that failure. This collection of essays by prominent feminist thinkers advances the positive feminist project of remapping the moral landscape by developing theory that (...) acknowledges the diversity of women. (shrink)

This essay is an examination of the perception during the Song dynasty of moral life and human nature as reflected in the moral thought of Zhu Xi 朱熹. It is based on the assumption that for every historical period there is a corresponding particular type of morality.1 The thesis that this analysis defends is the existence of an immanent transmoral dimension within Neo-Confucian morality. This dimension is fully immanent as a constantly present grounding of the individual. It is also fully (...) transmoral as a capacity that enables the individual to surpass conventional notions of morality or moral norms and practices, and to reach the ultimate source of morality. The latter is inward but anchored in a higher... (shrink)

This essay analyzes the spiritual dimension of Zhu Xi's thought as reflected in his commentary on the four inner stages of the Great Learning (the Daxue《大學》). I begin with a presentation of the notions “spirituality,” “religion,” and “practice,” and of the interpretative methods used. I then examine the signification of Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian numinous root as embodied in the luminous moral potentiality, investigate from this perspective each one of the four inner stages of the Great Learning, and point out the (...) main attribute of the spiritual. I conclude with a portrait of the person for whom this method of practice was intended. (shrink)

Given UBI’s performance in poor and rural areas of India and Namibia and its transformative effects on livelihoods, one can foresee a potential for UBI supporting refugees and Internally Displaced Persons rebuild their lives in their country of origin. Furthermore, given UBI’s egalitarian rationale stemming from the idea of a more just society with a minimum level of economic security to all, UBI can be considered a key element of a state’s welfare system, the relevance of which cannot be overstated (...) for countries emerging from conflict. Additionally, the field of international aid has as of recently, for efficiency considerations, started questioning its policies focused on in-kind aid, vouchers, prescribed spending in favor of cash transfers. To test UBI’s potential in post-conflict scenarios, we propose to examine its applicability in Syria, source of today’s largest refugee population. (shrink)

The ArgumentThis paper is about the context of Albert Einstein's concerns at the time of a most intense intellectual effort — his own and that of a small group of scientists concerned with classical quantum theory. I describe contemporaneous interactions and differing views about the prospects for and the significance of the First Solvay Congress of 1911 as voiced by major participants. There are two axes around which the paper evolves: the Einstein-Nernst-Lorentz dialogue and the public institutional creation of the (...) “Solvay” stage. In certain ways, this paper is about personal and institutional patronage: the working out of a difficult theoretical impasse requires individual and collective moral support. It is about the forging of the identity of a scientific problem and the personal and institutional setting, the public space, in which this problem was collectively addressed. But I also uncover heuristic playfulness and flexibility which accompanies theoretical change. (shrink)

This paper examines the philosophies of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Judith Butler, focusing on their insights into identity and individualism. While self-help literature often advocates fixed identities, this study argues for an alternative: existence as constant transformation, challenging stagnation in personal growth. Using a materialist lens, it explores identity through interactions of internal and external experiences with power dynamics. Postmodernists collectively highlight the self’s fluidity and its perpetual evolution. The goal is to assess their influence on understanding (...) the self and explore implications for future narratives on identity. (shrink)

El presente artículo desarrolla una reflexión acerca de los ideales de belleza femenina promovidos por el mercado y los mass-media, dando cuenta de datos estadísticos e informes periodísticos de los trastornos que generan, en términos de mortalidad y morbilidad en la población femeninaLa primera parte del análisis responde, desde una perspectiva psicológica, a la pregunta ¿cómo se constituye como sujeto una mujer? La segunda parte aborda desde una perspectiva sociocultural la pregunta ¿cómo debe ser una mujer?, desde la premisa de (...) que las prácticas de educación y moldeamiento del cuerpo tienen sentido en la modernidad como una forma de control social. Finalmente se busca, desde una perspectiva política, señalar cómo el “boom” de la estética corporal es un mecanismo de dominación principalmente dirigido a la mujer, al cual las políticas públicas y la legislación no logran dar respuesta, manteniendo a éstas en un lugar pasivo como sujeto y actor político. (shrink)

The question of identifying the properties of language that are specific human linguistic abilities, i.e. Universal Grammar, lies at the center of linguistic research. This paper argues for a largely Emergent Grammar in phonology, taking as the starting point that memory, categorization, attention to frequency, and the creation of symbolic systems are all nonlinguistic characteristics of the human mind. The articulation patterns of American English rhotics illustrate categorization and systems; the distribution of vowels in Bantu vowel harmony uses frequencies of (...) particular sequences to argue against Universal Grammar and in favor of Emergent Grammar; prefix allomorphy in Esimbi illustrates the Emergent symbolic system integrating phonological and morphological generalizations. The Esimbi case has been treated as an example of phonological opacity in a Universal Grammar account; the Emergent analysis resolves the pattern without opacity concerns. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This essay explores in depth one aspect of a topic that looms large in Song dynasty (960–1279) philosophy—the mutual interaction between Confucianism and Chan Buddhism. Under these reciprocal influences, both experience meaningful and definitive changes. This Song philosophical legacy became emblematic, and has remained so until now, of the Chinese way of thinking. Yü Ying-shih describes this exchange as a bi-directional development: “the process of Confucianization of Northern Song Buddhism,” in other words, “the process of becoming proficient as Confucian (...) scholars undergone by Buddhist monks”; and “the influence of Chan Buddhism on the Confucian literati” ([Yü, Ying-shih 余英時. 2003. The Historical World of Zhu Xi: A Study of the Political Culture of Song Intellectuals [朱熹的歷史世界 宋代士大夫政治文化的研究]. Vol. 1. Taipei: Yunchen wenhua], 116). The present research focuses on the former and examines an original strategy that the Northern Song Chan scholar-monk Qisong契嵩 (1007–1072) used in order to demonstrate the affinities between the two teachings: a particular interrelatedness between heart-mind and names. (shrink)

This essay is a case study concerning the problem of rethinking the relationship between Neo-Confucian (Cheng-Zhu school) and Chan schools of thought. The study builds a comparative perspective on two representative texts assembled during the Song dynasty that concern methods of self-cultivation. My theoretical framework is hermeneutical and involves a twofold articulation of correlatives: “inward-outward” and “procedural morality-substantive morality.” By presenting a comparative interpretation of ideas developed in these texts, this analysis highlights the following two components: first, the existence of (...) explicit confluences between major ideas of the influential Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucian school, which most virulently criticizes the Buddhist tradition, and Chan’s practical methods of self-cultivation; second, it calls attention to the presence of Chan influences in the Neo-Confucian text. Through comparative analysis, this essay intends not only to bring to light Chan influences insightfully integrated by Neo-Confucians within their own discourse on self-cultivation, but also to understand the multidimensional relation between Song-dynasty Neo-Confucian and Chan practices. (shrink)

This essay presents and examines the book Returning to Zhu Xi: Emerging Patterns within the Supreme Polarity edited by David Jones and Jinli He. I argue that the contributions introduce new conclusions of the investigations on Zhu Xi’s thought, made during the last 30 years, thus continuing the previous scholarly dialogue initiated by Wing-tsit Chan. I then examine the new translations of Zhu Xi’s main terms proposed in this volume, as well as the topics proposed by the contributors. I conclude (...) by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the writers’ arguments. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Starting from a comparative, textual investigation, the present research proposes a transcultural analysis of the early interaction between Confucianism and Buddhism in China, Korea, and Japan, and of their historical movement from tension/disconnection to mutual acceptance and reciprocal influence.

This essay presents an analysis of Levinas’ and Qisong’s perceptions of the peace as an awakening to the other and its context. Based on an analysis of their views, it suggests that we as a society need to develop an ethical sensitivity, and also to base it otherwise than on an ethically neutral ontology. The first section examines Levinas’ perception of the Western ideal of peace and presents its ontological presupposition of the “sufficiency of being.” The second section interprets his (...) conception of peace as relationship with the other grounded in a “nondual transcendent.” In the third part, a parallel analysis of Levinas’ Chan Buddhist counterpart is presented: Qisong’s peace as relationship with the other grounded in a “nondual transcendent.” The last part explores a second parallel: between Levinas’ peace as disinterestedness and Qisong’s no-form good deeds. (shrink)

Journal of Chinese Philosophy, EarlyView.

When, how, and by whom scientific knowledge is recognized with highest honors is illustrated by this avowedly atypical episode involving the Nobel Prize awarded to Walther Nernst for 1920. Mine is not a postmortem “wie es eigentlich gewesen” evaluation of the cognitive legitimation of his 1905 third law of thermodynamics, of whether the debates surrounding his work were justified, or whether the prize was merited. Rather, it is an admittedly close reading of many new and some old sources, an intrusive (...) scrutiny of human imperfection and an excursion into the cultural symbolism of the Nobel Prize, the twentieth century’s emblematic arbiter in matters scientific. (shrink)

In his “A Programmatic Attempt at an Anthropology of Knowledge,” published in 1981, Yehuda Elkana briefly introduced the notions of dramatic and epic theater as metaphors for distinct and opposite conceptions of history. He elaborated more fully on this theme in a paper published in 1982 on the occasion of the Albert Einstein centenary celebration. Elkana there criticized the “myth of simplicity” surrounding Einstein, and proposed to replace a “facile holism” often attributed to Einstein with “two-tier thinking.” According to Elkana, (...) Einstein's historical epistemology was a blend of an epic, contingent view of historical scientific change coupled with strong scientific realism. (shrink)

During a smallpox epidemic in April 1721, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu asked Dr. Charles Maitland to "engraft" her daughter, thus instigating the first documented inoculation for smallpox (_Variola_ virus) in England. Engrafting, or variolation, was a means of conferring immunity to smallpox by placing pus taken from a smallpox pustule under the skin of an uninfected person to create a local infection. The introduction of infectious viral matter, however, could trigger fullblown smallpox, and the practice was controversial for both this (...) reason and the pervasive conviction that it was immoral to intentionally infect a human body. Eventually, engrafting was phased out altogether in favor of vaccination, a much safer procedure established by Edward Jenner in the late eighteenth century. Montagu's decision was influenced by her experiences in Constantinople, where she had spent a year, and where engrafting was commonplace. As a smallpox survivor herself, Montagu had taken an interest in Turkish inoculation practices, and had had her son Edward engrafted while in Turkey. She was not the first person to import the idea of smallpox inoculation to England, nor the first English person to have their child inoculated (other English children had been inoculated while visiting Turkey), yet she quickly became known for importing and popularizing smallpox inoculation. At the request of her acquaintances, she took her inoculated daughter with her on a round of visits into elite households to demonstrate the safety of the procedure. The reputation she gained was both positive and negative: monuments were erected in her honor, encomiastic poems were published, and Voltaire declared her "a woman of as fine a genius, and endued with as great a strength of mind as any of her sex in the British Kingdoms"; however, anti-inoculationists ridiculed her, some society figures regarded her warily, and Alexander Pope satirized her in his poetry.

Montagu’s pioneering role in the smallpox debate is undoubtedly significant: she instigated the first smallpox inoculation on English soil, and she was largely responsible for making the practice acceptable in elite circles. My interest in this essay is in the nature and significance of Montagu’s reputation as an inoculation pioneer. I will argue that her reputation was based on the particular combination of her social position as a Whig and an aristocratic woman; her interest in progressive and enlightened forms of social, political, and scientific thought; her standing in influential literary circles; and, not least, the force of her own personality. In broad terms, I offer Montagu’s involvement in the smallpox debate as a case study in a new kind of public role becoming available to elite women in the early eighteenth century — a role that caused considerable discomfort among her peers and in the medical community, and one that stimulated a widespread controversy in print publications of the day. (shrink)

Twenty distinguished philosophers and social theorists have contributed original papers to this stimulating investigation into the nature of the economically just society. Collectively, and in a remarkably coherent fashion, these papers set out the problems of contemporary social theory within the context of the distributive justice vs. property rights debate initiated by the works of John Rawls and Robert Nozick.

It is always appropriate to ask whether an expedient foreign policy is morally justifiable, just as it is always appropriate to ask whether a morally defensible policy is consistent with the national interest. The ongoing dialogue between morality and realpolitik gives much of foreign policy debate its characteristic bite. In this collection of essays, a distinguished group of philosophers, political theorists, and lawyers- including Russell Hardin and Marshall Cohen-explore these contrasting themes. In essays that are at once insightful and accessible, (...) noted political thinkers examine the tension of the conflicting demands of morality and national self-interest in the context of the foundations of international order, the possession and use of nuclear weapons, recourse to war, and the prospects for peace. A final postscript addresses the question of the responsibility of intellectuals in the national foreign policy debate. This book will appeal to scholars and students in any discipline dealing with international affairs as well as to lay readers who wish to explore the implications of taking morality and reason seriously in foreign policy. (shrink)

Formal accounts of negotiation tend to invoke the strategic models of conflict which have been impressively developed by game theorists in this half-century. For two decades, however, research on artificial intelligence (AI) has produced a different formal picture of the agent and of the rational deliberations of agents. AI's models are not based simply on intensities of preference and quantities of probability. AI's models consider that agents use language in various ways, that agents use and convey knowledge, that agents plan, (...) search, focus, and argue. Agents can choose their language, apply their knowledge, change their plans, continue their search, shift their focus, and rebut another's arguments. (shrink)

The aim of the study presented was to verify empirically a conception of workaholism as a multidimensional syndrome. The study also investigated the notion of ‘functional’ and ‘dysfunctional’ types of workaholic, on the basis of the participants’ cognitive evaluations of their quality of life. The research group comprised Polish managers who had graduated with, or were studying to attain, a Master’s degree in Business Administration. The 137 participants completed a set of questionnaires that were based on five different research tools. (...) Confirmatory factor analysis supported the theory that workaholism has a three-dimensional structure that includes behavioural, cognitive, and affective dimensions. Using cluster analysis, three types of worker were identified, two of which represented types of workaholic with different scores for the dimensions of workaholism and for aspects of quality of life. The research demonstrated that workaholism is a three-dimensional construct. It enabled the integration of different perspectives and also confirmed that dysfunctional and functional types of workaholic exist. Furthermore, this paper provides practical insights about workaholism for practitioners of human resources that can be used in the selection and evaluation of employees. (shrink)

Background The potential for transmission of blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B virus from infected healthcare workers to patients is an important and difficult issue facing healthcare policymakers internationally. Law and policy on the subject is still in its infancy, and subject to a great degree of uncertainty and controversy. Policymakers have made few recommendations regarding the specifics of practice restriction for health care workers who are hepatitis B seropositive. Generally, they have deferred this work to vaguely defined "expert panels" (...) which will have the power to dictate the conditions under which infected health care workers may continue to practice. Discussion In this paper we use recent Canadian policy statements as a critical departure point to propose more specific recommendations regarding disclosure of transmission risks in a way that minimizes practice restriction of hepatitis B seropositive health care workers without compromising patient safety. The range of arguments proposed in the literature are critically examined from the perspective of ethical analysis. Summary A process for considering the ethical implications of the disclosure of the sero-status of health care workers is advanced that considers the varied perspectives of different stakeholders. (shrink)