The Pathological Pressure to Predict

2019 ◽  
pp. 181-229
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Information Asymmetries ◽  
Free Agent ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Causal Force ◽  
Do So

The premier technocrats of our age, neoclassical economists, are poorly equipped to balance homogenizing forces against heterogeneous ideas, as economists altogether ignore agents’ ideas. They do so by attributing to agents the automatic ability to act optimally, effacing the agents’ need to interpret their circumstances and thus the possibility that the ideas on which their interpretations are based will be mistaken. An error-free agent—meaning, for practical purposes, one whose interpretation of her circumstances matches that of the economist—is an agent whose actions the economist can conveniently predict. Similarly, attempts by economists of information and behavioral economists to render economics more realistic overlook ideational heterogeneity and the fact that ideas must form interpretations before they can guide actions. Thus, the agent depicted by these types of economist remains predictable despite the information asymmetries and putative irrationality identified in these literature. Even the recent shift toward empiricism in economics relies on an undertheorized positivism that, again, ignores the causal force of ideational heterogeneity. Nontechnocratic research in social psychology, however, suggests that the neglect of people’s ideas is not unique to economists, posing a wider cultural problem for technocracy—but also the hope that ideational changes might lead to a judicious form of technocratic governance.

Other People's Struggles

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Owen
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
British History ◽  
Original Theory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Do So

Other People’s Struggles is the first attempt in over forty years to explain the place of “conscience constituents” in social movements. Conscience constituents are people who participate in a movement but do not stand to benefit if it succeeds. Why do such people participate when they do not stand to benefit? Why are they sometimes present and sometimes absent in social movements? Why and when is their participation welcome to those who do stand to benefit, and why and when is it not? The work proposes an original theory to answer these questions, crossing discipline boundaries to draw on the findings of social psychology, philosophy, and normative political theory, in search of explanations of why people act altruistically and what it means to others when they do so. The theory is illustrated by examples from British history, including the antislavery movement, the women’s suffrage and liberation movements, labor and socialist movements, anticolonial movements, antipoverty movements, and movements for global justice. Other People’s Struggles also contributes to new debates concerning the rights and wrongs of “speaking for others.” Debates concerning the limits of solidarity—who can be an “ally” and on what terms—have become very topical in contemporary politics, especially in identity politics and in the new “populist” movements. The book provides a theoretical and empirical account of how these questions have been addressed in the past and how they might be framed today.

The Irish–British Dimension

2021 ◽  
pp. 106-126
Author(s):  
Paul Gillespie
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
The Third ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Power Scale ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Normal Relationship ◽  
Do So

Power, scale, and wealth have moulded relations between Ireland and Britain historically and will continue to do so in future. Political relations between them have been determined by these asymmetric factors, giving much greater strength to the larger and richer island. Nevertheless, both islands exist within a larger European and transatlantic setting, a geopolitical fact that can mitigate or counteract Britain’s ability to act exclusively in its own interests. The chapter first explores this history and structure of the Irish–British relationship and then examines current political relations between the two islands, as seen in the intense joint efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland and to regularize their interstate relations. Brexit rudely interrupts that new more normal relationship, as the third section argues, opening up several scenarios for changing constitutional futures within and between the two islands explored in the final one.

Bourdieu’s Unlikely Contribution to the Human Sciences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Levi Martin
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Field Theory ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gestalt Psychology ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Reciprocal Relations ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Do So

Chapter abstract The author of this chapter proposes that we consider Bourdieu’s work neither on its own terms, nor in the terms of the postwar French academic field, but in terms of the general problems that it solved. When we do so, we find that Bourdieu developed lines of thinking that had stalled in Germany and the United States. The former was the field theoretic tradition associated with Gestalt psychology and empirical phenomenology; the second was the habit theoretic tradition associated increasingly with pragmatism. Each had stalled because each seemed, in a way, too successful—everything turned into habit for pragmatist social psychology; field theory also put everything indiscriminately in the field of experience. By focusing on the reciprocal relations of habitus and field, Bourdieu developed these insights in ways that allowed for empirical exploration, and that cut against the French rationalist vocabulary that he inherited.

Ethics of vaccine refusal

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2020-107026
Author(s):  
Michael Kowalik
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Free Agent ◽  
Vaccine Refusal ◽  
Vaccine Mandates ◽  
Ethical Norms ◽  
Mandatory Vaccination ◽  
Ethical Basis ◽  
Do So

Proponents of vaccine mandates typically claim that everyone who can be vaccinated has a moral or ethical obligation to do so for the sake of those who cannot be vaccinated, or in the interest of public health. I evaluate several previously undertheorised premises implicit to the ‘obligation to vaccinate’ type of arguments and show that the general conclusion is false: there is neither a moral obligation to vaccinate nor a sound ethical basis to mandate vaccination under any circumstances, even for hypothetical vaccines that are medically risk-free. Agent autonomy with respect to self-constitution has absolute normative priority over reduction or elimination of the associated risks to life. In practical terms, mandatory vaccination amounts to discrimination against healthy, innate biological characteristics, which goes against the established ethical norms and is also defeasible a priori.

scholarly journals The Sense of “Pleasure” in Eastern Chant

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-138
Author(s):  
Achilleas Chaldaeakes
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Area ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Philosophical Dialogue ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
The People ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
High Level ◽  
Do So

Abstract Music is by default a key element of every kind of Entertainment. Actually, the two terms (Pleasure and Music) are almost synonymous in the geographical area of the East - especially during the late medieval period - and there is a plethora of relevant evidence in the rescued literature and musicological sources to support this argument. It seems that there is a mutual and interactive “dialogue” between the two terms. This is an ideological and philosophical dialogue, as well as a completely fundamental and practical one: the musicians (the people who actually carry out the musical task) channel in abundance and mainly ensure the pleasure of the people who participate in any type of entertainment; and they do so through both their presence and their performance. However, at the same time, in order to acquire the ability to act in this way, i.e. to bring the “entertaining” dimension of music to the forefront, they themselves have to be in a position to experience music as pleasure, to grasp the multiple gratifications which are hidden at the very core of every kind of music. In both circumstances we can refer to two high level conquests of the Spirit and the Art: the pleasure of Music and music for Pleasure. In the present article Ι will attempt a first approach of the issue and an outline of its twofold dimension.

Social Identity in the Letter of Aristeas

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-343
Author(s):  
Noah Hacham ◽  
Lilach Sagiv
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Do So ◽  
The Way

The Letter of Aristeas has long been considered the work most emblematic, elucidatory and declarative of Jewish identity in Hellenistic Egypt. The work embraces emphatically Jewish content alongside a profound identification with Hellenistic concepts, ideas and frameworks. This complexity has intrigued scholars and it continues to do so as they attempt to qualify the essential identity that the author of the Letter of Aristeas seeks to promote and to transmit. The question of identity is two-faceted: First, it explores the nature of the affinity between the Jewish and Hellenistic components in the doctrine advocated by the Letter of Aristeas. Second, it strives to identify the threat and the danger that the author confronts and deplores. In our discussion we aim to provide answers to these questions. Furthermore, we introduce a new conceptualization of the way the Letter of Aristeas combines and “manages” the various identities and their constituent details. For that aim, we draw on models from the realm of social psychology, which we have found to be eminently useful in understanding the complex and dynamic nature of the identities of Antique Jewry. We reason that considering models of social identity could provide us with a fresh perspective of the text, which allows for a new understanding of the complex and dynamic nature of the identities as they appear in the Letter of Aristeas.

Bridging and Balancing: Diversity and Integration in Private International Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 362-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
International Law ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Do So

This chapter calls for the mobilization of private international law, reflecting on the pitfalls of private international law’s outreach and the lack of awareness of the potential that its methodologies and techniques have in contributing to the necessary accommodation of different legal cultures. Bridging legal diversity is more often than not a complex task. Private international law thinking, however, is developed to do just that. The challenge is how to tailor the streaming of private international law thinking in a manner that becomes relevant to the day-to-day life of lawyers and ordinary people. The question is how to do so openly and effectively. To this purpose, this chapter introduces the concept of ‘pluralistic thinking’ as developed in social psychology, with the aim of grasping where the cognitive barriers to fully understand the potential of private international law come from, and of generating ideas in relation to the building blocks for further embracement of diversity. This final chapter engages with culturalist approaches to provide insights that could prove enlightening to private international law practice, particularly in the context of regional integration. Bringing together several threads in this book, this final chapter portrays private international law as a methodology that embraces multiplicity and pluralism in the accommodation of legal diversity.

Community Interests in the Identification of International Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Besson
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Concrete Case ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Do So

This chapter identifies the ways in which community interests are channeled into the identification and interpretation of international law and assesses these developments normatively. It argues that the rules pertaining to the interpretation of treaties and the identification of custom provide many routes for states, their domestic authorities and international institutions to include and protect community interests. Unlike the formation of a given abstract norm, its identification and interpretation in a concrete case may actually allow for other interests, including community interests, and/or distinct or more recent conceptions thereof, to be taken into account. The chapter argues however, that secondary rules of identification and interpretation should be put into practice more transparently. In short, the chapter considers that there is nothing extraordinary in states’ ability to act for the protection of community interests, but that, in line with the findings of the previous chapter, states should be organized democratically so as to enhance their ability to do so.

It may be harder than we thought, but political diversity will (still) improve social psychological science

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarret T. Crawford ◽  
José L. Duarte ◽  
Jonathan Haidt ◽  
Lee Jussim ◽  
Charlotta Stern ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Do So

AbstractIn our target article, we made four claims: (1) Social psychology is now politically homogeneous; (2) this homogeneity sometimes harms the science; (3) increasing political diversity would reduce this damage; and (4) some portion of the homogeneity is due to a hostile climate and outright discrimination against non-liberals. In this response, we review these claims in light of the arguments made by a diverse group of commentators. We were surprised to find near-universal agreement with our first two claims, and we note that few challenged our fourth claim. Most of the disagreements came in response to our claim that increasing political diversity would be beneficial. We agree with our critics that increasing political diversity may be harder than we had thought, but we explain why we still believe that it is possible and desirable to do so. We conclude with a revised list of 12 recommendations for improving political diversity in social psychology, as well as in other areas of the academy.

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