Epilogue

2021 ◽  
pp. 221-230
Author(s):  
Michael C. Hawley

This final chapter briefly examines the fate of the Ciceronian tradition after the American founding. Philosophic movements arose to challenge the doctrines of natural law that formed one of the pillars of the tradition. At almost the same time, scholarly appreciation of Roman thought declined in favor of the Greeks. Yet, the impact of the tradition remains as salient as ever, forming the foundation of many contemporary institutions and values. The tension between voluntarist notions of legitimacy and moral objectivism continues to animate current discourse around liberal democracy. This chapter thus also considers the ways in which a better understanding of Cicero’s legacy might help us to make progress in those debates.

Author(s):  
Paul Stoneman ◽  
Eleonora Bartoloni ◽  
Maurizio Baussola

The prime objective of this book is the use microeconomic analysis to guide and provide insight into the generation and adoption of new products. Taking an approach that uses minimal formal mathematics, the volume initially addresses questions of definitions, sources, and extent of product innovation, differentiating between goods and services; hard and soft innovations; horizontal and vertical innovations; original, new to market, and new to firm innovations. The sources of product innovations (e.g. R&D, design, and creativity) are explored empirically, and the extent of such innovations is then pursued using survey and other data. Three chapters are devoted to the theoretical analysis of the demand for and supply of new products and to the determination of firms’ decisions to undertake product innovation. Later chapters encompass empirical evidence on the determination of the extent of product innovation, the diffusion of such innovation, the impact of product innovation on firm performance, price measurement, and welfare, while the final chapter addresses policy issues.


1988 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 603-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillel G. Fradkin

Benedict Spinoza is the first philosophical proponent of liberal democracy. In his Theologico-Political Tractate he calls for the liberation of philosophy from theology and for the subordination of religion to politics. Though Spinoza may have not influenced the American Founding Fathers directly, both the clarity and the paradoxes of his arguments are perhaps the best guide to understanding better the present-day conflicts over religion and politics in the United States. Spinoza's insistence on the prerogative of the political sovereign to exercise absolute authority in the sphere of moral action necessarily complicates religious values. But the “inconveniences” resulting from liberal democracy are justified in terms of justice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Karen Green ◽  

Can Catharine Macaulay’s enlightenment democratic republicanism be justified from the point of view of contemporary naturalism? Naturalist accounts of political authority tend to be realist and pessimistic, foreclosing the possibility of enlightenment. Macaulay’s utopian political philosophy relies on belief in a good God, whose existence underpins the possibility of moral and political progress. This paper attempts a restoration of her optimistic utopianism in a reconciliation, grounded in a revision of natural law, of naturalist and utopian attitudes to political theory. It is proposed that the coevolution of language, moral law, and conscience (the disposition to judge one’s own actions in the light of moral principles) can be explained as solutions to the kinds of tragedy of the commons situations facing our ancestors. Moral dispositions evolved, but, in the light of its function, law is subject to rational critique. Liberal democracy plausibly offers the best prospect for developing rationally justifiable law.


Author(s):  
David Stephen Calonne

Robert Crumb: Literature, Autobiography, and the Quest for Self is the first monograph to explore the intersection between Crumb’s love of literature, his search for the meaning of life and the ways he connects his own autobiography with the themes of the writers he has admired. Crumb’s comics from the beginning reflected the fact that he was a voracious reader from childhood and perused a variety of authors including Charles Dickens, J.D. Salinger, and, during his adolescence, Beat writers like Jack Kerouac. He was profoundly influenced by music, especially the blues, and the ecstatic power of music appears in his artwork throughout his career. The first chapter explores the ways Robert Crumb illustrates works by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and Charles Bukowski. The book continues with individual chapters devoted to Crumb’s illustrations of biographies of blues musicians Jelly Roll Morton and Charley Patton; Philip K. Dick; Jean-Paul Sartre; Franz Kafka; and concludes with an exploration of Crumb’s illustrations to the book of Genesis. In all his drawings accompanying literary texts, Crumb returns to a number of key themes regarding his personal spiritual quest such as suffering and existential solitude; the search for romantic and sexual love; the impact of entheogens such as LSD on his quest for answers to his cosmic questions. We discover that Crumb gradually embraces a mysticism rooted in his studies of Gnosticism. In the final chapter on the book of Genesis, readers may observe the ways Crumb continues his critique of monotheistic religion in a variety of subtle ways. Robert Crumb: Literature, Autobiography, and the Quest for Self concludes with an Epilogue which discusses Crumb’s present-day life in France and the ways he has continued to engage with spiritual and philosophical themes in his later work.


2019 ◽  
pp. 191-202
Author(s):  
Mary Wills

The final chapter assesses the cultural and political significance of the West Africa squadron and the work of the naval officers involved in its operation, looking at the wider implications of the question of ‘success’ in discussions about the impact of the squadron both at the time of its operation and since. It examines the shifts and changes that took place during the sixty years of the squadron’s operation, including: perceptions of the slave trade and the best methods of suppressing it; the position of the Royal Navy in Britain’s imperial ambitions; and racial and cultural attitudes of Britons towards Africans and ‘others’. This chapter discusses the ways in which notions of duty and professionalism had changed, and how what it meant to be a Royal Navy officer in 1870 had altered as compared to 1807. It asserts the individuality and independence of naval officers, and their engagement with themes of anti-slavery, empire and identity.


This final chapter explores yet further examples of how the principles of testing can be applied within the social sciences. As with the previous chapters, the authors begin by asking students to Google questions and then use the results Google provides to ask more sophisticated questions about the impact and personal consequences of the question. They begin by asking a question about how serial killer, Harold Shipman, was able to escape suspicion for as long as he did. They then take up a question about the common traits of serial killers, paying attention to the effects of the traits and how these traits may have personal connections to students. They conclude the chapter with a section about how we might make the decision to eat a third candy bar.


Author(s):  
Roman David ◽  
Ian Holliday

Democratization necessarily takes place within a specific national context marked by prior historical experience. This chapter examines historical factors in the Myanmar case as a means of understanding the social and political underpinnings of the current transition. It focuses on legacies of colonization by Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century, a growing nationalist struggle and devastating warfare in the first half of the twentieth century, shifting forms of civil conflict since independence, a phase of liberal democracy in the initial years of state sovereignty, and military-backed or military-directed authoritarianism for nearly half a century thereafter. It looks particularly at the impact of successive colonial, democratic, and military regimes, and at crosscutting legacies of repression, militarization of ethnic relations, and social exclusion of the Rohingya Muslim minority.


2020 ◽  
pp. 140-154
Author(s):  
Graham Scott

In this final chapter populations, population change, and population regulation are discussed, particularly in the context of threats to species and the conservation strategies employed to protect them. Population size, structure, and distribution in relation to ecology and habitat availability are analysed. The movements and establishment of species through natural range expansion and through introduction are considered in the context of climate change, conservation, and threat. The impact and management of emerging avian diseases is discussed. Extinction, the threat of extinction, and conservation efforts are considered and throughout the chapter the roles of professional and citizen scientist ornithologists are emphasized.


Author(s):  
Jayati Das-Munshi ◽  
Tamsin Ford ◽  
Matthew Hotopf ◽  
Martin Prince ◽  
Robert Stewart

In this final chapter to the second edition of Practical Psychiatric Epidemiology, developments in psychiatric epidemiology since the first edition are summarized and the editors offer a view on where the future may lie. The themes summarized in this chapter include those related to large-scale datasets or ‘big data’, new technologies and science communication (including data generated through GPS tracking systems and the impact of social media), expanding biological data and biobanks, as well as the impact of globalization, migration, and culture on understanding psychiatric epidemiological principles. The last part of this chapter raises the important issue of open science initiatives. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion on the constancy and ongoing evolution of psychiatric epidemiology.


Author(s):  
Cas Mudde ◽  
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser

The relationship between populism and democracy has always been a topic of intense debate. Depending on its electoral power and the context in which it arises, populism can work as either a threat to or a corrective for democracy. To better understand this complex relationship, “Populism and democracy” presents a clear definition of (liberal) democracy, which helps to clarify how the latter is positively and negatively affected by populist forces. It then presents an original theoretical framework of the impact of populism on different political regimes, which allows us to distinguish the main effects of populism on the different stages of the process of both democratization and de-democratization.


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