Conflicted Energy Transition—Conception of a Theoretical Framework for Its Investigation

Energy transition plays a central role in efforts to reduce anthropogenic global warming. However, energy transition involves physical manifestations, for example in the form of wind turbines, photovoltaic plants, and power lines, which trigger resistance, especially among those who live in the vicinity of the (planned) plants. The reasons for this resistance are complex, as they relate to residents’ emotional ties and/or stereotypical common-sense expectations of landscape. The complexity of landscape conflicts in general, and energy transition-related conflicts in particular, makes it difficult to capture the intricacy of the subject matter by means of a single theoretical perspective. To address this difficulty, a neopragmatic approach of identifying and combining appropriate theoretical perspectives is utilized to develop an analytic framework for understanding these conflicts. To this end, we draw on Dahrendorf’s conflict theory and the framing approach. Both have high complementary explanatory potential and empirical applicability, with the framing approach broadening the theoretical prism to include micro-individuals and groups to Dahrendorf’s meso-social perspective.

Book Review: “Playing With My Dog Katie. An Ethnomethodological Study of Dog – Human Interaction.” by David Goode. Purdue University Press, 2007, pp. 228

The book by David Goode gives us a possibility to take an extraordinary excursion to unremarkable and inscrutable world, so common for us that we do not usually notice it, although we participate in it everyday. It is a reconstructed world that shows us methods that we use in mundane life to establish an order in it and to live with others going through concrete situations. Our live consists of just these situations that we live by (as playing with a dog, talking with others, lining up the store, etc.) and not of socio – demographic data from the end of sociological questionnaires and of many other abstractions used by sociologists. What is observable and analisable not always becomes a topic of the sociological research. Ethnomethodology, a perspective used in the book, wants just to go into details and to extract them to the surface. We should not rest our analysis on the “shadows” of reality, that are cast by still available and analyzable empirical phenomena, although difficult to analyze because of sociological methods and common sense perception used by sociologists.

Problematizzazione, contesa e rivalutazione del bello nell’arte, tra relativismo filosofico, pratica artistica e senso comune

Aesthetic perception is today a confused and controversial experience. In common sense relativistic conception of beauty, coexists with the consideration of the so-called “masterpieces” as works in which there is a stable aesthetic value. Philosophical and scientific relativism seems to have definitively set aside the conception of beauty not only as a universal value, but also as the essence of art, as it is counted among those universal metaphysical values, which have long been questioned. But some philosophers, such as Severino, say the opposite. Today seems to be a tendency to rediscover beauty above all in art, as a contemplative perception. Would the eventual return of art to beauty mean a return to universal metaphysical values? The difference between Kantian adherent beauty and free beauty is analyzed. The first is linked to metaphysical values, as an expression of an idea. The second, free beauty, on the other hand, has no metaphysical characteristics because it is not linked to a concept, therefore an expression of empirical harmonies. But also with regard to free beauty, the Kantian idea that sentiment can perceive its universality as an intersubjective value, is today difficult to accept both theoretically and empirically. This happens because today sentiment is no longer cultivated in the perception of beauty through canons, which are also disqualified for the pretense of universality in determined forms. Here, too, a distinction must be made between classical anthropometric canons and archaic non-naturalistic canons. We discover that the former are affected by a metaphysical foundation, while the latter reveal a different structure with other functions. According to Florenskij, the canon is not oppressive but liberating. On these suggestions and on empirical evidence we theorize that the (non-naturalistic) canon constitutes a guide for the recognition of a polyvalence of expressive language in which feeling coordinates with the other functions of consciousness, leading to transcend language itself in a non-metaphysical dimension. This suggests that this polyvalent structure that emerges from the canons is associated with beauty, as aimed at its realization.

Forecasting the Growth of Complexity and Change

In the spirit of punctuated equilibrium, complexity is quantified relatively in terms of the spacing between equally important evolutionary turning points (milestones). Thirteen data sets of such milestones, obtained from a variety of scientific sources, provide data on the most important complexity jumps between the big bang and today. Forecasts for future complexity jumps are obtained via exponential and logistic fits on the data. The quality of the fits and common sense dictate that the forecast by the logistic function should be retained. This forecast stipulates that we have already reached the maximum rate of growth for complexity, and that in the future, complexity's rate of change (and the rate of change in our lives) will be declining. One corollary is that we are roughly halfway through the lifetime of the universe. Another result is that complexity's rate of growth has built up to its present high level via seven evolutionary subprocesses, themselves amenable to logistic description.

Performance-Based Evaluation Metrics: Influence at the Macro, Meso, and Micro Level

This chapter aims to critically engage with the performative nature of bibliometric indicators and explores how they influence scholarly practice at the macro, meso, and individual levels. It begins with a comparison between two national performance-based funding systems in Sweden and Norway at the macro level, within universities at the meso level, down to the micro level where individual researchers must relate these incentives to knowledge building within their specialty. I argue that the common-sense “representational model of bibliometric indicators” is questionable in practice, since it cannot capture the qualities of research in any unambiguous way. Furthermore, a performative notion on scientometric indicators needs to be developed that takes into account the variability and uncertainty of the aspects of research that is to be evaluated.

TEORI ADAT DALAM QOWAID FIQHIYAH DAN PENERAPANYA DALAM HUKUM KELUARGA ISLAM

One of the five major fiqhiyah rules that has a broad scope of discussion branches is Al-'adah muhakkamah. This rule is built on the basis of adat and local wisdom that exists in every community, where this custom is continuously carried out by the community without any denial of them. In fact, individuals who violate these customs will be considered as foreigners. Therefore, Islam makes the customs of the community as a legal basis as long as it fulfills the requirements set by the Shari'a. This paper aims to examine the rules of fiqhiyah "al-'âdat muhakkamah" in general and its implementation in the field of the Islamic family. This type of research is qualitative which relies on the analysis of data obtained from classical and contemporary literature. The results of the study suggest that al-'adah is something that occurs repeatedly which is accepted by common sense and human nature. The theory can also be a judge or legal determinant as long as it does not conflict with the Shari'a or does not go out of the way of maqosid sharia. The rule of al-'Adah muhakkamah can also be implemented as a judge in the field of Islamic family law both classical and contemporary. Abstrak Salah satu dari lima kaidah fiqhiyah besar yang memiliki cakupan cabang pembahasan yang luas adalah Al-‘adah muhakkamah. Kaidah ini dibangun atas landasan adat dan kearifan lokal yang ada pada setiap komunitas masyarakat, dimana adat ini secara kontinu dilakukan oleh masyarakat tanpa adanya pengingkaran dari mereka. Bahkan justru individu-individu yang menyelisihi adat tersebut akan dianggap sebagai orang asing. Oleh sebab itu, Islam menjadikan adat komunitas masyarakat sebagai landasan hukum selama memenuhi persyaratan-persyaratan yang ditetapkan oleh syariat. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji kaidah fiqhiyah “al-‘âdat muhakkamah” secara umum serta implementasinya dalam bidang keluarga Islam. Jenis penelitian ini adalah kualitatif yang bertumpu pada analisis data yang diperoleh dari literatur-literatur klasik dan kontemporer. Hasil penelitian mengemukakan bahwa al-‘adah merupakan sesuatu yang terjadi secara berulang-ulang yang diterima oleh akal sehat dan fitrah manusia. Teori juga dapat menjadi hakim atau penentu hukum selama tidak bertentangan dengan syariat atau tidak keluar dari jalur maqosid syariah. Kaidah al-‘Adah muhakkamah juga dapat di implementasikan sebagai hakim dalam bidang hukum keluarga Islam baik klasik maupun kontemporer.

Memory, Imagination, and Resistance in Canada’s Prison for Women

A group of women who were incarcerated at Canada’s first federal Prison for Women (P4W) have been fighting to create a memorial garden since the prison closed in 2000. In 2017, the prison was sold to a private developer who plans to convert the historic building and grounds into condos, retail, and office space. What does it mean to remember the dead, and to fight for the living, at a time when neoliberal common sense demands the efficient conversion of a place of suffering and death into a “heritage building” on “prime real estate”? How might a collective practice of radical imagination help to resist the commodification of memory into a tourist attraction or an aesthetic improvement of private property? And what is the relation between memory, healing, and accountability in a place where state violence, gender domination, and settler colonialism intersect?