Speech Act Pluralism in Argumentative Polylogues

I challenge two key assumptions of speech act theory, as applied to argumentation: illocutionary monism, grounded in the idea each utterance has only one (primary) illocutionary force, and the dyadic reduction, which models interaction as a dyadic affair between only two agents (speaker-hearer, proponentopponent). I show how major contributions to speech act inspired study of argumentation adhere to these assumptions even as illocutionary pluralism in argumentative polylogues is a significant empirical fact in need of theoretical attention. I demonstrate this with two examples where arguers interacting with multiple persons convey plural, argumentatively relevant illocutionary forces. Understanding illocutionary pluralism in argumentative polylogues also affords a better account of fallacious and manipulative discourse.

Is it fair that advanced workers get paid disproportionally more: economic analysis

PurposeOn the one hand, everyone agrees that economics should be fair, that workers should get equal pay for equal work. Any instance of unfairness causes a strong disagreement. On the other hand, in many companies, advanced workers – who produce more than others – get paid disproportionally more for their work, and this does not seem to cause any negative feelings. In this paper, the authors analyze this situation from the economic viewpoint.Design/methodology/approachTo analyze the problem, the authors use general mathematical models of how utility – and hence, decisions – depends on the pay-per-unit.FindingsThe authors show that from the economic viewpoint, additional payments for advanced workers indeed make economic sense, benefit everyone, and thus – in contrast to the naive literal interpretation of fairness – are not unfair. As a consequence of this analysis, the authors also explain why the labor share of the companies' income is, on average, close to 50% – an empirical fact that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, was never previously explained.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that explains the empirical fact – that the labor share of the income is close to 50%.

Outlawing Opposition, Imposing Rule of Law: Authoritarian Constitutionalism in Cambodia

Cambodia's Constitution, promulgated in September 1993, was to be the foundation of a transition to liberal, multiparty democracy. Yet, despite the document's seeming commitment to those very principles, constitutional provisions are frequently used to undermine liberal rule of law and to impose restrictions on political processes, freedoms, and rights. Focusing on the events of 2016–2017, including the jailing of opposition politicians, controversial legal reforms, and the dissolution of the country's foremost opposition party, this article demonstrates how authoritarian practices in Cambodia are framed in terms of adherence – even fidelity – to the Constitution. Further, it explores how ideas of ‘stability’ and ‘law and order’ often elide with those of rule of law in discourses and practices that simultaneously exalt and hollow out the normative power of the Constitution. This article posits that a socio-legal approach that pays particular attention to discourse can shed new light on the empirical fact of authoritarian constitutionalism, but also the processes of meaning-making that accompany, facilitate, and legitimize its practice. Far from merely a sham, then, Cambodia's Constitution – like many others – is imbricated in a complex web of contestation and legitimation that extends far beyond the walls of any courtroom.

Mengkaji Ulang Isi Undang-Undang Nomor 10 Tahun 2016 tentang Pemilukada

The appearance of 'Empty Box' in the dictionary of democracy initially connotes well, because it is considered to provide room for other options if a contest is decided by only one candidate. However, in the empirical fact, there are policies in the technical realm that are far from the essence of democracy, the mistake is in one of the articles in Law Number 10 of 2016. Supposedly, from concept to theory must remain consistent with the normative values that have been contained in democracy itself.Keywords: Democracy, Empty Box, Law No.10 of 2016 AbstrakKemunculan ‘Kotak Kosong” dalam kamus demokrasi awalnya dikonotasikan secara baik, karena dianggap memberikan ruang bagi opsi lain jika suatu kontestasi diputuskan hanya satu calon. Akan tetapi, dalam fakta empiriknya terdapat kebijakan di ranah teknis yang ternyata jauh dari nilai esensi demokrasi, kekeliruan itu ada pada salah satu pasal dalam Undang-Undang Nomor 10 Tahun 2016. Seharusnya, mulai dari konsep sampai teori harus tetap konsisten pada nilai normatif yang telah terkandung dalam demokrasi itu sendiri.Kata Kunci: Demokrasi, Kotak Kosong, UU No.10 Tahun 2016

The Supreme Court’s (Surprising?) Indifference to Public Opinion

Does the Supreme Court care what the public thinks? For decades, published articles have consistently reported a significant, positive relationship between public opinion and Supreme Court output. However, these studies posit mutually contradictory theories and report irreconcilable results. We advance this literature in two ways. First, we show that the empirical “fact” driving the search for a workable theory is actually illusory. Second, we defend a theory of judicial independence. To be clear, we do not attempt to prove the Court does not respond to the public’s opinions on policy. We argue that there is little reason the Court should respond and demonstrate that, contrary to twenty-five years of scholarship, there is no good empirical evidence suggesting it does.

Why quadratic log-log dependence is ubiquitous and what next

Purpose In many real-life situations ranging from financial to volcanic data, growth is described either by a power law – which is linear in log-log scale or by a quadratic dependence in the log-log scale. The purpose of this paper is to explain this empirical fact. Design/methodology/approach The authors use natural scale invariance requirements. Findings In this paper, the authors used natural scale invariance requirement to explain the ubiquity of quadratic log-log dependencies. The authors also explain what to do if quadratic log-log models turn out to be insufficiently accurate. In this case, scale-invariance requirements lead to dependencies which in the log-log scale take cubic, 4th order, etc. form. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first theoretical explanation of the empirical quadratic log-log dependence.

Global Consequentialism and the Morality and Laws of War

Rights-based and consequentialist approaches to ethics are often seen as being diametrically opposed to one another. This is entirely understandable, since to say that X has a (moral) right to Y is in part to assert that there are (moral) reasons to provide X with Y even if doing so foreseeably will not lead to better consequences. However, a ‘global’ form of consequentialism raises the possibility of some sort of reconciliation: it could be that the best framework for the regulation of international affairs (say) is one that employs a notion of rights, but if so, that (according to global consequentialism) is the case because regulating international affairs in that manner tends, as a matter of empirical fact, to lead to better consequences. By way of case study, this chapter applies these ideas to a recent dispute about the morality and laws of war, between Jeff McMahan and Henry Shue.

Horizontal Mergers in a Dynamic Cournot Market: Solving the Free Riding Issue Without Efficiency Gains

We discuss horizontal mergers in a linear, homogeneous, symmetric Cournot market where the new entity repeatedly competes with outside firms over an indefinite horizon and efficiency gains are ruled out. If the degree of collusion among the outside firms is large enough, then, despite the large payoff of each outsider, we obtain output configurations solving both the profitability and the free riding issues. Such a result requires that mergers involve a sufficiently small number of firms, which is in sharp contrast with the findings in the literature and rationalize the empirical fact that relatively small mergers, even in absence of synergies, do actually occur and that, although outside firms may benefit from the merger of their rivals, insiders end up being better off. Finally, we show that merging can often be a more advantageous alternative than a fully collusive agreement, in which, moreover, the free riding component is not solved.

Multiculturalism in the Islamic Texts View and its Relevance to Interreligious Harmony in Indonesia

<span>The study describes the concept of multiculturalism and its relevance to realizing the religious harmonization in Indonesia. Quran and hadith are the main source of Islamic text. The data gain through documentation. The obtained data analyzed critically-descriptive. The study reveals the ethnic and religious plurality is the empirical fact that Indonesia has been destined. Indonesia is a nation consisting of various tribes, customs, cultures, and religions. The study shows that multiculturalism in the view of Islamic texts has the relevance of the meaning and function that is appropriate to be developed and internalized in the process of transforming the values of the diverse communities and peoples of Indonesia. </span>

New Media Ethics

This paper departs from the research literature especially relating to new media phenomenon. The paper also departs from the empirical fact that contemporary of media communication experience dramatic growth. New media with a packaging technology that continues to move dynamicallyopens possibilities far beyond the boundaries of space and time.