In the field of educational administration there have been several years of active debate over how America's school systems are run. Contemporary educational administrators have been forced to reflect not only on educational policy and practice, but on the very nature of their position. How does administration contribute to the type of society we have? In what ways does it impede or enhance our cultural ideals and values? "Paradigms and Promises" offers an unorthodox solution by presenting administration as an arena (...) for critical reflection and humanistic action, rather than a more technically-oriented style of management. Foster's critical analysis is premised on an understanding of the relationship of theory to practice, and as he provides alternative theories, he sheds new light on educational administration. Orthodox administrative theory receives heavy criticism in this text. Foster employs progressive critical theory as well as conventional analyses in critical appraisal, and advocates a dialectical concept, through which administrators, teachers and students are encouraged to challenge and question each other - the eventual result being a more responsive, democratically-run system. (shrink)

Hay toda una serie de preguntas que giran en torno a la problemática interna misma de la Scienza Nuova, y que sólo un "nuevo" concepto de ciencia -vinculado a la crítica de Vico a la formación de sistemas característica de la temprana Modernidad- las consigue responder de manera efectiva, bosquejando una nueva idea "orgánica" entre saber especulativo-teórico y saber orientado a los estados de cosas.There is a whole series of questions that revolves around the core problem of the Scienza Nuova: (...) only a "new" concept of science -linked to Vico's criticism of the formation of systems, characteristic of the early modernity- is able to respond to these questions in an effective manner, sketching a new "organic" idea between speculative-theoretical knowledge and knowledge directed to the state of things. (shrink)

Dissipative structures consisting of a few macrovariables arise out of a sea of reversible microvariables. Unexpected residual effects of the massive underlying reversibility, on the macrolevel, cannot therefore be excluded. In the age of molecular-dynamics simulations, explicit dissipative structures like excitable systems (“explicit observers”) can be generated in a computer from first reversible principles. A class of classical, 1-D Hamiltonian systems of chaotic type is considered which has the asset that the trajectorial behavior in phase space can be understood geometrically. (...) If, as natural, the number of particle types is much smaller than that of particles, the Gibbs symmetry must be taken into account. The permutation invariance drastically changes the behavior in phase space (quasi-periodization). The explicit observer becomes effectively reversible on a short time scale. In consequence, his ability to measure microscopic motions is suspended in a characteristic fashion. Unlike quantum mechanics whose “holistic” nature cannot be transcended, the present holistic (internal-interface) effects—mimicking the former to some extent—can be understood fully in principle. (shrink)

Remembering pain - Hitting the jackpot - The bundle of life - The kingdom family - It's the economy, stupid! - Gospel economics - Ekklesia: a community of blessing - Biblical sexuality: an occasion for joy - Walking humbly with God - A humble FIRE - A humble Biblicism - A compassionate traditionalism - A committed affirmation - "May all be one" - Receiving the kingdom.