Systematic Political Science and Communist Systems

Slavic Review ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Sharlet

I concur with Professor Meyer that Communist area studies must rejoin the main lines of the discipline of political science. An unfortunate methodological separation has existed much too long, a separation that might be figuratively characterized as a “loose, bipolar system,” with Sovietology at one pole and systematic political science at the other. The schism between Kremlinology, deductive reasoning, and, frequently, spectral evidence, on the one side, and scientific concept formation, empiricism, verification, and theory-construction, on the other, must come to an end. Professor Meyer's paper is a contribution toward this objective, both on its own merits and for the critical discussion that it will undoubtedly stimulate.

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-102
Author(s):  
Mikołaj Domaradzki

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Chrysippus’ claim about natural ambiguity of words. The present account assumes that the concept formation mechanisms that were outlined by the Stoics throw some light on the notorious contradiction between the claim about natural relationship between words and things, on the one hand, and the claim about natural ambiguity of words, on the other. We know neither the context of Chrysippus’ postulate nor the examples with which he illustrated it. Thus the following analyses are obviously speculative.However, the interpretations of myths and poetry that were put forward by Chrysippus sit very well with his conviction that ambiguity and figurativeness are  common and natural in language.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 5978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedikt G. Mark ◽  
Sarah Hofmayer ◽  
Erwin Rauch ◽  
Dominik T. Matt

The inclusion of employees with disabilities in production is an issue that has rarely been addressed by scientists from the manufacturing sector. In this article, we examine to what extent the trend towards Industry 4.0 offers potential for the inclusion of people with disabilities in Production 4.0. First, we examine relevant legal foundations and restrictions in Europe and in more detail in Austria, Italy, and Norway. Next, based on a literature review, we examine which technological aids in the form of worker assistance systems derived from Industry 4.0 can make jobs in the manufacturing sector accessible for people with disabilities. Three types of assistance systems have been examined: sensorial aid systems, physical aid systems, and cognitive aid systems. In a concluding discussion of the results, we finally summarize the implications on management and policies as well as the potential and limitations of identified worker assistance technologies. On the one hand, the study is intended to draw the attention of researchers and industrial companies to new technological possibilities for the inclusion of people with disabilities in production. On the other hand, difficulties and grievances due to the legal foundations are pointed out to stimulate a critical discussion here as well.


1956 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 475-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Eckstein

The issues which arose during the discussions of the conference fall fairly conveniently into three compartments.First, we obviously had to settle, with reasonable clarity, what we were talking about: what “political philosophy” is, what “political science” is, and whether they are really distinguishable. The basic issue of the conference was to determine the relevance of the one to the study of the other, and if we had decided that they were really the same thing, there would simply have been no problems for us to discuss. On the whole, we felt that a valid, if not necessarily sharp, distinction was to be made between the “philosophical” and the “scientific” approaches to the study of politics and that we were not discussing absurd or tautological issues. We agreed, however, that all types of political inquiry involve the construction of theory, implicit or explicit, and that the title “political theory” has been unjustifiably appropriated by the historians of political thought.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanne Krogh Groth

The article is a discussion of works by two Danish composers who both, with self-constructed instruments, challenge computer music as genre, the understanding and use of conventional technology, and the music's relation to history. At first glance, the use of homemade instruments appears to be a common characteristic. But, when one takes a closer look, different discourses and various discussions of media and materiality are revealed. In the article the various positions are unfolded through discussions within the theoretical field of media archaeology – a science with its roots in media studies, but also an important framework for the production and understanding of a variety of DIY practices.The overall purpose with the article is twofold: on the one hand it illustrates how theories from the field of media archaeology contribute interesting perspectives to discussions of artistic work within the area of DIY. On the other hand, it also serves as a critical discussion of media archaeology as not necessarily the solution to every aspect of artistic practices. The two artists are Morten Riis and Goodiepal.


2005 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-149
Author(s):  
Manfred Voigts

AbstractThis essay attempts to explain the German-Jewish symbiosis by examining the history of the German 'Bildungsbürgertum' and the peculiarity of the German Geistesgeschichte', which was shaped by the delay in national unification. On the one hand, the lack of political competence in German intellectual life conformed to Jewish peculiarities; on the other hand, it failed to engage in a critical discussion and rejection of anti-Judaic tendencies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Juliana Claassens ◽  
Amanda Gouws

This article seeks to reflect on the issue of sexual violence in the context of the twenty year anniversary of democracy in South Africa bringing together views from the authors’ respective disciplines of Gender and the Bible on the one hand and Political Science on the other. We will employ the Old Testament Book of Esther, which offers a remarkable glimpse into the way a patriarchal society is responsible for multiple levels of victimization, in order to take a closer look at our own country’s serious problem of sexual violence. With this collaborative engagement the authors contribute to the conversation on understanding and resisting the scourge of sexual violence in South Africa that has rendered a large proportion of its citizens voiceless.


1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-118
Author(s):  
Eric A. Winkel

We are at a crossroads where the time is ripe for the emerging Muslim thought to once again set the standard for universal participation and debate. My continual argument with Mona Abul-Fadl's concept of kairos in The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 1, (September 1989 supplement) is whether the openness of the discourse realm is a result of what Gai Eaton describes as the process of decomposition releasing explosive gases, where the "ripeness" is putridity, or a beneficial progress of ideas. Does postmodern deconstruction, decentralization, and destruction create a foothold for the remembering of Islam? Or will the Islamic discourse enter the scene to be trivialized and relativized in the encounter? From my perspective, I tie the movements of the paradigms to the political encounter with the other, where the self-described American establishment was forced to recognize the non-white, the non-male, the non-consumer. More sensitive to complexities, calmer in her approach, and without any reductionism or oversimplification, Mona Abul-Fadl recognizes the "mundane" links of ideas, but treats them with respect nevertheless. It is her insight to see in the tanzil, in the physical and already interpreted descent of the Qur'an and Sunnah, the one rope on which we may spin, in shaa Allah, the Islamic discourse for it to achieve grounding and affirmation in a world of chaos and alienation. We are in a time when a metacritique may now become possible, where the crisis in Western thought coincides with a dawning epistemic consciousness among Muslims. "We are living," she notes, "at the threshold of a critical era which is steadily being acknowledged as such. The designation 'post­modernity' indicates the direction of the transition away from the established canon of values and beliefs identified with the European Enlightenment." ...


2018 ◽  
pp. 107-127
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Picavet

In several avenues of contemporary research, much attention is devoted to the contrast between the real authority of institution and their formal power, in the analysis of institutional funtionings; also in the study of the relationships between institutions on the one hand, rules, principles or norms on the other hand. Such a contrast appears to be based on familiar observations: the capacity of institutions to get their preferred outcomes (their so-called „real authority”) is sometimes loosely connected with the hierarchical prerogatives of the considered institutions (their „formal power”). More particularly, current studies of the „migration authority” bring out possible shitts in real authority while there is no changein the formal structure of power. This article will partly consist  in the explanation of recent results of common reaserch in project „Delicom”, in which a formal treatment of the distinction has been put foward. This approach will be set against the background of recent contributions in political science or economics (in the works of Ph. Aghion and J. Tirole, J. Backhaus, L. Thorlakson). The revelance of the problematic for the study of competence delegation among institutions will be stressed all along.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Irene Viparelli

Why transdisciplinary theory seems to be indifferent to political thought; focusing mainly on the domains of epistemology, ethics and education? Searching a response, we will divided the analyse into three fundamental moments: first, we will try to clarify what’s “transdisciplinarity”. Then, we will explore the relationship between transdisciplinarity and disciplinary knowledge, focusing on the specific relationship between transdisciplinarity and political science. Finally, we will advance two hypotheses: on the one hand, we’ll demonstrate that “politics” is “the removed” of transdisciplinarity, on the other hand, we’ll suggest the need of a “politicization” of transdisciplinary theory to achieve its main objective: being a theory involved in the transformation of the world Resumo O questionamento em torno das condições de possibilidade e das consequências duma abordagem transdisciplinar da política embate logo no problema da essencial indiferença da transdisciplinaridade face ao pensamento político; a reflexão transdisciplinar focando-se até agora principalmente nos domínios da epistemologia, da ética, da educação. A nossa análise dividir-se-á em três momentos fundamentais: em primeiro lugar, e de forma preliminar, cuidaremos de esclarecer o que é para intender com “transdisciplinaridade”. Em seguida, especificando a nossa investigação, levaremos a cabo uma análise da relação entre transdisciplinaridade e saberes disciplinares, focando o olhar quer na relação geral entre transdisciplinaridade e ciências humanas quer na específica entre a transdisciplinaridade e a ciência política. Por fim, avançaremos duas hipóteses fundamentais, estritamente ligadas entre elas: por um lado a de que o “político” representa o “removido” da transdisciplinaridade, por outro, e por conseguinte, a de que apenas uma “politização” do dispositivo teórico transdisciplinar lhe permitiria alcançar o seu principal objetivo: tornar-se uma teoria capaz de desempenhar um papel ativo na transformação do mundo.


Author(s):  
Ken I. Kersch

This chapter maps the contemporary right's nascent obsession with the Progressive era as a developmental phenomenon—as a stage in the trajectory of a political-intellectual movement advancing through time. To that end, it ventures three main claims. First, the recent conservative focus on Progressivism represents a shift on the right of understandings of the historical location or source of contemporary constitutional problems, an understanding informed by the sequence of constitutional conservatism's development through time: whereas (old) “originalist” legal conservatives adopted Progressive thinking in focusing their attention on countermajoritarian “activist judges” and criticized the New Deal for its weightless, substance-free pragmatism, recent conservatives have forged a more global critique of contemporary constitutional practice that moves beyond judges to the entire modern structure and theory of American government, finding its weighty and substantive blueprint in the Progressive era, and its extension and institutionalization in the New Deal. Second, this more foundational and comprehensive constitutional critique was forged outside legal academia in political science, particularly by Straussian political theorists. And third, the overarching character of this critique centered on the Progressive era serves a movement-building function by offering a set of understandings that can win the assent of the movement's diverse factions, including social conservatives and religious traditionalists, on the one hand, and economic conservatives and libertarians on the other.


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