The Ethical Architecture of the 'Open Road'

1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mick Smith

AbstractThe motorcar is a mobile embodiment, expression and encapsulation of modernity's economic, environmental and ethical relations. The moral ambiguities of the automobile, as a vehicle of both individual freedom and environmental destruction, distil the equivocal costs and benefits of modernity itself. Any environmental critique of 'car culture' must recognise the automobile's role in expressing and constituting our individualistic and instrumental ethical Sittlichkeit - the ethical architecture that dominates the public and private lives of the modem citizen.

1973 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 37-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith B. Raymond

Florence and Swallowfield. The very names symbolize the high and the low visibility now associated with Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Mary Russell Mitford. Other contrasts could be drawn. The stifling sick-room and the garden of geraniums, the “poetess” and wife of Robert Browning and the “authoress” of Our Village who was the only child of Dr. Mitford, country gentleman. Or, to mention a point on which Miss Mitford showed some sensitivity, a life of financial freedom versus one of financial uncertainty. What was the attraction which insured the constant and copious interchange of letters, a record which can only be labelled remarkable in a century of remarkable letter-writers? The answer is a multiple one, as whoever reads Elizabeth's side of this correspondence will discover. But such a reader will also discover a whole host of subjects and figures which will give him fresh insights into the public and private lives of the correspondents, their families, and their literary circles. The excerpt which follows indicates the ease with which Elizabeth Barrett shared her thoughts with Miss Mitford whether on topics creative or critical, domestic or political, and whether uttered in sickness or in relatively good health.


Author(s):  
Víctor Hernández-Santaolalla

Social media brings to the forefront two very important factors to today's politics: the prominent role of the internet and the importance of personalisation which is closely tied to a tendency of political candidates to overexpose their private lives. This does not mean that the candidate becomes more relevant than the political party or the ideological platforms thereof, but the interest tends to fall on the candidate's lifestyle; on their personal characteristics and their most intimate surroundings, which blurs the line between the public and private spheres. Online profiles are used as a showcase for the public agenda of the politician at the same time as they gather, on a daily basis, the thoughts, tastes and leisure time activities of the candidates. This chapter offers a reflection of the ways in which political leaders develop their digital narratives, and how they use the social media environment to approach citizens.


Author(s):  
Cass R. Sunstein

It is important to distinguish between two kinds of transparency. The government can be transparent about its “inputs”: about who, within government, said what to whom, and when, and why. The government can also be transparent about its “outputs”: its regulations and its policies, its findings about air and water quality, or its analysis of the costs and benefits of drone strikes. The argument for output transparency is often very strong, because members of the public can receive information that can help them in their daily lives and because output transparency can improve the performance of both public and private institutions. The argument for input transparency is different and often weaker, because the benefits of disclosure can be low and the costs can be high. It is challenging to make general pronouncements about input transparency and the appropriate evaluation of leaks and leakers without making a contestable judgment about whether a particular government is well-functioning and capable of self-correction.


Author(s):  
Colin P. Neufeldt

This article examines the role that Mennonites played in the establishment and management of kolkhozy in the two largest Mennonite settlements (Khortytsia and Molochansk) in Soviet Ukraine during dekulakization and collectivization (1928-1934).  More specifically, it investigates the social and ethnic criteria used in selecting Mennonites to be kolkhoz chairmen; the duties and daily routines of chairmen; the conflicted relationships that chairmen had with local authorities and kolkhoz members; the numerous challenges that chairmen encountered during the 1932-33 famines; and the mechanisms that local authorities and kolkhoz members used to control, embarrass, and discipline chairmen.  It also discusses the negative repercussions that the rise of Nazi Germany had for Mennonite chairmen, and how political, economic, agricultural, social, and ethnic policies and conditions made it impossible for Mennonite chairmen to succeed.


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