scholarly journals Bringing Morgenthau’s ethics in: pluralism, incommensurability and the turn from fragmentation to dialogue in IR

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1106-1128
Author(s):  
Haro L Karkour ◽  
Dominik Giese
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Internal Validation ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Theoretical Pluralism

Why did IR pluralism end with so many incommensurable camps? (How) can IR be demarcated as a discipline where these camps can find common ground for dialogue without glossing over theoretical pluralism? To answer the first question, the paper argues that Morgenthau’s critique of IR as social science can explain the proliferation of camps in IR pluralism that are incommensurable and cannot engage in dialogue. By transcending the dilemma of politics as highlighted in Morgenthau’s critique of social science, theories today are ideological camps that bestow on morality an ideological function that justifies their powers-that-be that serve particular means/ends hierarchies. This leads to the proliferation of empirical causal analyses that cannot be debated, since they rely on political interests that theory ideologically justifies and offers internal validation. To avoid this problem, the paper answers the second question by proposing to demarcate the discipline through Morgenthau’s concept of ‘interest defined as power’. It argues that demarcating the discipline on the basis of this concept opens room for engaging in dialogue in IR through leaving open the normative debate of means and ends, and thus acts as a bulwark against the proliferation of ideological camps, while promoting theoretical pluralism.

On Defining Politics and How to Take it into Account

1983 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 13-13
Author(s):  
Avery Leiserson
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Elective Office ◽  
Teachers And Students

This essay addresses the problem of teachers and students who have reached the point of trying to find a common ground for perceiving (seeing) politics. This may occur almost any time during any social science course, but it cannot be assumed to happen automatically the first day of class in government, citizenship, or public affairs. Hopefully, the signal is some variant of the question: “What do we mean by politics, or the political aspect of human affairs?” A parade of definitions — taking controversial positions on public policy issues; running for elective office; who gets what, when and how; and manipulating people—is not a mutually-satisfying answer if it produces the Queen of Hearts’ attitude in students that the word politics means what they choose it to mean and nothing more.

On the inconvenient means and ends of participation

2018 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
Sruti Bala
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
International Development ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Participatory Art ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Point Of Departure

Chapter II addresses the relationship between participatory art and the concept of ‘impact’. It investigates the assumptions around impact, as well as the methodological challenges of thinking the impact of a work of art. Using the 2012 Spanish language production Afuera: lesbianas en escena (Outside: Lesbians on Stage) by the theatre collective Teatro Siluetas from Guatemala and El Salvador as a point of departure, the chapter reflects on the assessment of impact in relation to the question of participation. It critically engages with the field of evidence-led impact studies in the arts. It situates the debate on the usefulness or non-utility of participatory art in relation to social science scholarship pertaining to the ascendancy of ‘participation’ in the context of international development. It suggests that it is worthwhile extending the kinds of activities considered as relevant to a participatory aesthetic, to thus not only analyse performances as distinct works, but to place them in a longer-term aesthetic continuum with workshops, rehearsals, after-talks, meetings with the artists, and other para-theatrical events. The chapter grapples with the question of how to discuss impact in relation to participatory art without it being mortgaged into a matter of quantifiable impact alone.

PASANG SURUT HUBUNGAN ISLAM-BARAT

1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-40
Author(s):  
Salman Hamdani
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Secondary Data Source ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
Data Source ◽  
The Difference

This paper is a literature review (literature research) that uses John Esposito’s books as primary data sources and other figures’ statements about the relationship between Islam and the West as its secondary data source. The method of analyzing data used descriptive, interpretative, and analytical methods. The findings of this research are: first, based on historical fact, there is strong theological bond between Islam and the West, i.e. there are common ground and similarities between Islam and the West who inherited the Jewish and Christian traditions. These three religions inherited the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim. However, existing theological equation between Christianity and Islam became the cause of the collision between the two. Second, the historical problems between Islam and the West can be seen from the root of the conflicts, which include theological and political ones. Conflict between Islam and the West are covered with political motives. In contrast, religion is only used as a theological justification to culturally and theologically distinguish Islam and the West. Basically the difference is more driven by political interests. Third, as an effort to build a global coalition agreement, both sides should actively promote cooperation. Therefore, the most important thing is that the meet between Islam and the West should be interpreted as a civilization dialogue, not confrontation or distrust. the Building ideal relationship as well as the need for harmonization between Islam and Western civilization are also needed.  

scholarly journals Polish Economists in Nehru's India: Making Science for the Third World in an Era of De-Stalinization and Decolonization

Slavic Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Mazurek
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Third World ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Land Reforms ◽  
East European ◽  
Peasant Studies ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Cold War

Between 1956–68 economic expertise became Poland's key export product in the decolonizing world. India, a broker of social science in the Cold War, became a geopolitical gateway for Polish economists’ spread of developmental thinking that revived heterodox Marxism and peasant studies. In this article, Małgorzata Mazurek investigates epistemic and intellectual effects of Polish – Indian encounters and how they evolved separately from Soviet Third World politics. Mazurek argues that during de-Stalinization and decolonization, failures and obstacles to planning and land reforms came to be seen as a common ground between eastern Europe and South Asia. This shared perception also revived the historical legacy of central and east European social science, which was internationalized in new ways both because, and in spite, of the Cold War.

scholarly journals A Model of Political Bias in Social Science Research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Honeycutt ◽  
Lee Jussim
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Tribal Community ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Political Bias ◽  
Sacred Values ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Scientific Truth

In 2019 at the SPSP Political Psychology Pre-Conference, key stakeholders and researchers were invited to debate the question “does ideological diversity impact the quality of our research?” If Clark and Winegard's (in press) review of ideological epistemology and its significance to social science is mostly on target, it would predict that many at the debate were unconvinced by those arguing that political bias matters. Why? To the extent that social psychologists function as a moral tribal community (as Clark and Winegard argue), motivated to protect their professional and political interests, they will fight tooth and nail to defend their sacred values and professional statuses against charges of political bias. Of course, they might also do so out of a justified belief that they were unfairly accused. How can one tell the difference? In this paper we argue that this can be accomplished by identifying how political biases manifest in social psychology. To that end, we expand upon two of Clark and Winegard's (in press) arguments: 1. there are no reasons to believe that social scientists are immune to the biases, errors, and social processes that can lead to distortions that stem from tribal loyalties; 2. these tribal tendencies, combined with extreme ideological homogeneity, work to create significant problems for the pursuit of scientific truth. Specifically, we present a heuristic model of political bias that identifies ways they manifest, and we review evidence that bears on it.

scholarly journals Making the Environmental Humanities Consequential in “The Age of Consequences”

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 433-458
Author(s):  
Noel Castree
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
Environmental Humanities ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Environmental Assessments ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Research World

Abstract This article suggests that global environmental assessments (GEAs) may be a potent means for making the environmental humanities more consequential outside universities. So far most GEAs have been led by geoscientists, with mainstream social science in support. However, there is no reason why the concept of assessment cannot be elasticated to include the concerns of interpretive social science and the humanities. Building on the forty-year history and authority of GEAs as a means to bridging the gap between the research world and the wider world, this article identifies the potential that reformatted assessments hold for more impactful work by environmental humanists. It suggests some next steps for rethinking the means and ends of assessment toward a new paradigm that bridges geoscience, mainstream social science, and humanistic thinking about the nonhuman world. This paradigm would explore the human dimensions of environmental change fully. The timing is propitious: independently GEAs are undergoing change at the very moment that the “What next?” question is being asked by many environmental humanists. This article is intended to inspire debate and, ultimately, action. It both makes the case for more humanistic GEAs and offers examples of potential work packages.

Ethics in Public Health Practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-174
Author(s):  
Robert E. McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Common Element ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Preventive Ethics

This chapter outlines a foundation for addressing ethical concerns in public health practice, which is informed by the approach of Alasdair MacIntyre's definition of practice. It talks about the goal of public health and views practice as directed toward fulfillment of that goal and related goods, providing a common ground on which to base further discussions. It cites the foundational values of public health practice in identifying the common moral governance. It also looks at a common element of recent arguments on the importance and value of health that is necessarily for human well-being and flourishing, a perspective essential for discussions of the role of human rights and equity in public health ethics. The chapter delves into considerations of value that are related to the ends of public health but are also critical in the assessment and implementation of how those ends are achieved. It highlights the task of ethics that involves a continuing examination of means and ends in an iterative process. Though written before the COVID-19 pandemic, the chapter addresses the importance of public health preparedness for disasters and pandemics, including an outline of Preventive Ethics as central to ethical planning and implementation of public health prevention and response.

scholarly journals Social Science and Literary Criticism: What is at stake?

1993 ◽  
Vol 49 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Rohrbaugh
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
The Common

As the variety of methods used by biblical scholars multiplies, new sub-disciplines are being born that all too often leave specialists isolated from each other. While at some points the various methods complement each other, at others they remain contradictory or mutually exclusive. Two of the newer such methods, literary criticism and social-science criticism, have until now re mained in isolation. In recent months, however, a dialogue has begun to emerge that seeks to explore the common ground or lack thereof between these two methods. This article is a beginning reflection by a social-science critic on some of the issues involved.

Information and experience, a dialogue

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 500-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Gorichanaz
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Disciplinary Structure ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Philosophical Dialogue ◽  
The Common

Purpose Scholars in information science have recently become interested in “information experience,” but it remains largely unclear why this research is important and how it fits within the broader disciplinary structure of information science. The purpose of this paper is to clarify this issue. Design/methodology/approach The discussion unfolds in the form of a philosophical dialogue between the Epistemologist, who represents the traditional and majority epistemological viewpoint of information science, and the Aestheticist, representing the emerging paradigm of experiential information inquiry. Findings A framework emerges that recognizes dual conceptualizations of truth (veritas and aletheia) and consequently information and knowledge (gnostic and pathic). The epistemic aim of understanding is revealed as the common ground between epistemology and aesthetics. Originality/value The value of studying human experiences of information is grounded in work spanning philosophy, psychology and a number of social science methodologies, and it is contextualized within information science generally. Moreover, the dialogic format of this paper presents an opportunity for disciplinary self-reflection and offers a touch of heart to the field.

Common Ground and Missing Links German Volkskunde and Language

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-41
Author(s):  
Stefan Groth
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Folklore Studies ◽  
Second World ◽  
Local Cultures

Language and its relation to culture has been a topic of research in German Volkskunde [folklore studies] from the beginning of the discipline. While dialectological studies, linguistic specificities of local cultures and language in everyday life have been integral parts of Volkskunde for much of the first part of the twentieth century, the discipline saw a shift away from its philological elements towards a social science orientation in post-Second World War developments. During the last decades, the analysis of linguistic dimensions of everyday culture has been on the margin of scholarly activities in Volkskunde. Starting with a historic perspective on the role of language in the beginnings of the discipline, this article discusses the development and decrease of the study of linguistic aspects. It analyses the role of language in contemporary German Volkskunde both in theory and methodology, and offers perspectives on how the discipline could benefit from a renewed focus on linguistic dimensions of everyday culture.

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