Science, numbers and politics in a “post-truth” world

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 1035-1041
Author(s):  
Markus J. Prutsch
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Scientific Policy ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Open Debate ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

While science and politics operate according to different logics, they have become considerably intertwined over time. Two opposing, but interrelated, developments can be observed in this regard: on the one hand, a scientization of politics, since science is increasingly relied upon when political and social challenges are being addressed, manifest in the increasing involvement of experts and scientific (policy) advisors; on the other hand, a politicization of science, because of the increasing influence of political decision makers on the objects, methods and processes of scientific research and funding. Both developments are accompanied by clear risks, and open debate is needed about what scientific evidence – which is often expressed and mediated by means of numbers – can realistically do in and for politics. This is especially true at a time characterized by widespread distrust of experts and even facts, and a re-ideologization of politics that is perhaps best captured by the popular expression of “post-truth politics”.

scholarly journals Juxtapositions in Jakarta: How Flood Interventions Reinforce and Challenge Urban Divides

Urban Forum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-388
Author(s):  
Roanne van Voorst
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Economic Inequalities

Abstract This paper traces the interplay of spatially, socially and legally juxtaposed differences between different groups of Indonesia’s residents: (1) a group of riverbank settlers in Jakarta, (2) political decision-makers and urban planners that evict this particular riverbank settlement and (3) a group of Jakartan academics, architects and journalists that got involved in these interventions. The dynamics between and within these groups are examined through a case study in a riverbank settlement, where inhabitants are not only at risk of regular flooding but also of evictions. The analysis combines the notion of juxtapositions with a ‘revelatory approach’ towards disaster. The notion of juxtapositions makes clear how urban divides are shaped, and how they, in turn, produce ideas and practices of citizenship in Jakarta. The revelatory approach to disasters helps to show that floods can function as an accelerator to both reinforce and challenge these juxtapositions, thus also changing citizenship ideas and practices. The analysis reveals on the one hand that floods and interventions deepen socio-economic inequalities in an already highly unequal city. However, on the other hand, they also trigger collective mobilisation of evictees as well as unprecedented cooperation between this particular group of riverbank settlers and more resourceful members of Jakarta’s wider society. This eventually results in successful contestation of evictions through court and other claims to citizenship.

Correspondances étymologiques, lexicales et sémantiques dans le processus de féminisation de noms de profession, métiers et activités dans les sociétés française et roumaine

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-422
Author(s):  
Estelle Variot
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

"Etymological, Lexical and Semantic Correspondences in the Process of Feminization of Professional Names, Trades and Activities in French and Romanian Societies. The feminization of thought represented by language and of its varieties in the Roman World has allowed to highlight some convergences that come from a common linguistic heritage, often from Greek and Latin and some hesitation about adapting society to its realities. The feminization of some words which comes from an ancient process illustrates on the one hand the potential of the language and on the other hand some constraints sometimes linked to the society itself, which creates transitional periods, between matching grammatical correction and the evolution of linguistic uses over time. The possibilities of lexical enrichment (internal creation or loan) show the means available in French and Romanian and some convergences in the area of derivation, of lexical units and their etymologies. The grammatical perspective and word constructing methods make it possible to give keys for the feminization of names of trades or professions. Likewise, recording entries in the lexicon, their evolution, their assimilation or sometimes their forgetfulness, for the benefit of new constructions highlight the existence of objective and subjective criteria which teach us a lot about society as a whole. Keywords: feminization of professions, internal and external enrichment, suffixal match, use of words, grammar, lexicon, French and Romanian."

Typological shift in lexicalizing motion events: The case of Wenzhou

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingxia Lin
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Head Motion ◽  
Motion Events ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Chinese Dialect ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Motion Verb ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Modern Standard

AbstractTypological shift in lexicalizing motion events has hitherto been observed cross-linguistically. While over time, Chinese has shown a shift from a dominantly verb-framed language in Old Chinese to a strongly satellite-framed language in Modern Standard Mandarin, this study presents the Chinese dialect Wenzhou, which has taken a step further than Standard Mandarin and other Chinese dialects in becoming a thoroughly satellite-framed language. On the one hand, Wenzhou strongly disfavors the verb-framed pattern. Wenzhou not only has no prototypical path verbs, but also its path satellites are highly deverbalized. On the other hand, Wenzhou strongly prefers the satellite-framed pattern, to the extent that it very frequently adopts a neutral motion verb to head motion expressions so that path can be expressed via satellites and the satellite-framed pattern can be syntactically maintained. The findings of this study are of interest to intra-linguistic, diachronic and cross-linguistic studies of the variation in encoding motion events.

scholarly journals Representing the victorious past: Chinese revolutionary TV drama between propaganda and marketization

2021 ◽  
pp. 016344372110227
Author(s):  
Yingzi Wang ◽  
Thoralf Klein
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
Fictional Characters ◽  
Production Environment ◽  
Cultural Transformations ◽  
The One ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Revolutionary History ◽  
Over Time

This paper examines the changes and continuities in TV representations of Chinese Communist Party’s revolutionary history and interprets them within the broader context of China’s political, economic and cultural transformations since the 1990s. Drawing on a comparative analysis of three state-sponsored TV dramas produced between the late 1990s and mid-2010s, it traces how the state-sanctioned revolutionary narratives have changed over time in response to the Party’s propaganda imperatives on the one hand, and to the market-oriented production environment on the other. The paper argues that while recent TV productions in the new century have made increasing concessions to audience taste by adopting visually stimulating depictions and introducing fictional characters as points of identification for the audience, the revolutionary narratives were still aligned with the Party’s propaganda agenda at different times. This shows the ongoing competition between ideological and commercial interests in Chinese TV production during the era of market reforms.

scholarly journals Human autonomy, technological automation (and reverse)

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Chiodo
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Moral Decision ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Human Autonomy ◽  
The One

AbstractWe continuously talk about autonomous technologies. But how can words qualifying technologies be the very same words chosen by Kant to define what is essentially human, i.e. being autonomous? The article focuses on a possible answer by reflecting upon both etymological and philosophical issues, as well as upon the case of autonomous vehicles. Most interestingly, on the one hand, we have the notion of (human) “autonomy”, meaning that there is a “law” that is “self-given”, and, on the other hand, we have the notion of (technological) “automation”, meaning that there is something “offhand” that is “self-given”. Yet, we are experiencing a kind of twofold shift: on the one hand, the shift from defining technologies in terms of automation to defining technologies in terms of autonomy and, on the other hand, the shift from defining humans in terms of autonomy to defining humans in terms of automation. From a philosophical perspective, the shift may mean that we are trying to escape precisely from what autonomy founds, i.e. individual responsibility of humans that, in the Western culture, have been defined for millennia as rational and moral decision-makers, even when their decisions have been the toughest. More precisely, the shift may mean that we are using technologies, and in particular emerging algorithmic technologies, as scapegoats that bear responsibility for us by making decisions for us. Moreover, if we consider the kind of emerging algorithmic technologies that increasingly surround us, starting from autonomous vehicles, then we may argue that we also seem to create a kind of technological divine that, by being always with us through its immanent omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence and inscrutability, can always be our technological scapegoat freeing us from the most unbearable burden of individual responsibility resulting from individual autonomy.

scholarly journals Theology at Thresholds: Learning from a Practice ‘In Transition’

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Muers ◽  
Rhiannon Grant
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
Reciprocal Influence ◽  
Core Practices ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Collective Process ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

Recent developments in contemporary theology and theological ethics have directed academic attention to the interrelationships of theological claims, on the one hand, and core community-forming practices, on the other. This article considers the value for theology of attending to practice at the boundaries, the margins, or, as we prefer to express it, the threshold of a community’s institutional or liturgical life. We argue that marginal or threshold practices can offer insights into processes of theological change – and into the mediation between, and reciprocal influence of, ‘church’ and ‘world’. Our discussion focuses on an example from contemporary British Quakerism. ‘Threshing meetings’ are occasions at which an issue can be ‘threshed out’ as part of a collective process of decision-making. Drawing on a 2015 small-scale study (using a survey and focus group) of British Quaker attitudes to and experiences of threshing meetings, set in the wider context of Quaker tradition, we interpret these meetings as a space for working through – in context and over time – tensions within Quaker theology, practice and self-understandings, particularly those that emerge within, and in relation to, core practices of Quaker decision-making.

scholarly journals A viagem entre o feitiço e a maldição

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-30
Author(s):  
Mário Matos
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

This contribution focuses on the multifaceted conceptualization of travel in Western cultural history. Several discourses will be addressed that, over time, have oscillated between the sceptical and restrictive on the one hand, and the truly admiring perspectives of the journey on the other. A number of visions of the phenomenon of travel under the binomial spell/curse will be analysed. The different contexts and historical factors that determined the value of travel will be exposed, from its great power of attraction to its restriction by inward looking religious and political systems.

scholarly journals Predictive policing: Utopia or dystopia? On attitudes towards the use of big data algorithms for law enforcement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Miró Llinares
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Control ◽  
Legal Decisions ◽  
Technological Revolution ◽  
Predictive Policing ◽  
Predictive Algorithms ◽  
The One

The use of predictive AI tools to improve decision-making in relation to crime prevention and investigation is a reality. They are being implemented almost before we fully understand how they work, while we make relevant legal decisions that may determine the progress of the technology, and long before we can predict their full impact. This paper addresses the attitudes towards this technological revolution applied to criminal justice, focusing in particular on its use by police. The first section summarises and describes the techniques and technologies that make up predictive policing. Subsequently, the main part of the study analyses the attitudes with which this technology has been received. These range from the optimism of those who defend its immediate implementation as a way to improve police objectivity and efficiency, to the pessimism of those who see its use as strengthening a dystopia of state control and surveillance. Two apparent extremes that correspond to the transition from optimism to technological pessimism of the twentieth century. The article concludes with a defence of a realistic, critical and informed view of the use of these predictive algorithms. A vision that, on the one hand, accepts that there are no neutral technologies, yet does not fall into fatalism and technophobia; and, on the other hand, places the human being and the legitimate police function at the centre of the algorithmic equation while redefining its objectives based on the scientific evidence applied to each individual technology.

Paternal Relationships With Sons and Daughters

2021 ◽  
pp. 331-354
Author(s):  
Lambrianos Nikiforidis
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Financial Decisions ◽  
Traditional Family ◽  
Biological Sex ◽  
The Family ◽  
The One ◽  
Parental Bias ◽  
Over Time

This chapter examines paternal relationships with sons and daughters. Identity drives investment (and parental investment in particular), because people invest in that which aligns with their identity. And biological sex drives identity. These two ideas combined imply that a parent-offspring match in biological sex can influence parental favoritism in a systematic manner, an idea supported by recent empirical studies. This parental bias of concordant-sex favoritism can have broad implications, outside the context of the traditional family structure. In single parent or same-sex parent households, the consequences of this bias can be even stronger, because there would not be an opposite-direction bias from the other parent to even things out. This favoritism could have even broader ramifications, entirely outside the context of the family. On the one hand, whenever social norms dictate that men should control a family’s financial decisions, then sons may systematically receive more resources than daughters. This asymmetry in investment would then result in ever-increasing advantages that persist over time. On the other hand, if women are a family’s primary shoppers, this can manifest in subtle but chronic favoritism for daughters.

Postbellum America

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
William B. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Internal Migration ◽  
The Other ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Climatic Zones ◽  
The North ◽  
Human Trait ◽  
The One ◽  
North And South ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Over Time

One of the earliest historians of the Civil War saw it as a fundamental clash between the peoples of different latitudes. Climate had made the antebellum North and South distinct societies and natural enemies, John W. Draper argued, the one democratic and individualist, the other aristocratic and oligarchical. If such were the case, the future of the reunited states was hardly a bright one. But Draper saw no natural barriers to national unity that wise policy could not surmount. The restlessness and transience of American life that many deplored instead merited, in his view, every assistance possible. In particular, he wrote, Americans needed to be encouraged to move as freely across climatic zones as they already did within them. The tendency of North and South to congeal into hostile types of civilization could be frustrated, but only by an incessant mingling of people. Sectional discord was inevitable only if the natural law that "emigrants move on parallels of latitude" were left free to take its course. These patterns of emigration were left free, for the most part, but without the renewed strife that Draper feared. After the war as before it, few settlers relocating to new homes moved far to the north or south of their points of origin. As late as 1895, Henry Gannett, chief geographer to the U.S. Census, could still describe internal migration as "mainly conducted westward along parallels of latitude." More often as time went on, it was supposed that race and not merely habit underlay the pattern, that climatic preferences were innate, different stocks of people staying in the latitudes of their forbears by the compulsion of biology. Thus, it was supposed, Anglo-Saxons preferred cooler lands than Americans of Mediterranean ancestry, while those of African descent preferred warmer climates than either. Over time, though, latitude loosened its grip and exceptions to the rule multiplied. As the share of the population in farming declined, so did the strongest reason for migrants to stay within familiar climates. Even by the time Gannett wrote, the tendency that he described, though still apparent, was weaker than it had been at mid-century. It weakened because a preference for familiar climates was not a fixed human trait but one shaped by experience and wants, and capable of changing as these variables changed.

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