Acting in an Uncertain World

Acting in an Uncertain World PDF Author: Michel Callon
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262515962
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
A call for a new form of democracy in which “hybrid forums” composed of experts and laypeople address such sociotechnical controversies as hazardous waste, genetically modified organisms, and nanotechnology. Controversies over such issues as nuclear waste, genetically modified organisms, asbestos, tobacco, gene therapy, avian flu, and cell phone towers arise almost daily as rapid scientific and technological advances create uncertainty and bring about unforeseen concerns. The authors of Acting in an Uncertain World argue that political institutions must be expanded and improved to manage these controversies, to transform them into productive conversations, and to bring about “technical democracy.” They show how “hybrid forums”—in which experts, non-experts, ordinary citizens, and politicians come together—reveal the limits of traditional delegative democracies, in which decisions are made by quasi-professional politicians and techno-scientific information is the domain of specialists in laboratories. The division between professionals and laypeople, the authors claim, is simply outmoded. The authors argue that laboratory research should be complemented by everyday experimentation pursued in the real world, and they describe various modes of cooperation between the two. They explore a range of concrete examples of hybrid forums that have dealt with sociotechnical controversies including nuclear waste disposal in France, industrial waste and birth defects in Japan, a childhood leukemia cluster in Woburn, Massachusetts, and mad cow disease in the United Kingdom. The authors discuss the implications for political decision making in general and describe a “dialogic” democracy that enriches traditional representative democracy. To invent new procedures for consultation and representation, they suggest, is to contribute to an endless process that is necessary for the ongoing democratization of democracy.

Acting in an Uncertain World

Acting in an Uncertain World PDF Author: Michel Callon
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262515962
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 301

Get Book Here

Book Description
A call for a new form of democracy in which “hybrid forums” composed of experts and laypeople address such sociotechnical controversies as hazardous waste, genetically modified organisms, and nanotechnology. Controversies over such issues as nuclear waste, genetically modified organisms, asbestos, tobacco, gene therapy, avian flu, and cell phone towers arise almost daily as rapid scientific and technological advances create uncertainty and bring about unforeseen concerns. The authors of Acting in an Uncertain World argue that political institutions must be expanded and improved to manage these controversies, to transform them into productive conversations, and to bring about “technical democracy.” They show how “hybrid forums”—in which experts, non-experts, ordinary citizens, and politicians come together—reveal the limits of traditional delegative democracies, in which decisions are made by quasi-professional politicians and techno-scientific information is the domain of specialists in laboratories. The division between professionals and laypeople, the authors claim, is simply outmoded. The authors argue that laboratory research should be complemented by everyday experimentation pursued in the real world, and they describe various modes of cooperation between the two. They explore a range of concrete examples of hybrid forums that have dealt with sociotechnical controversies including nuclear waste disposal in France, industrial waste and birth defects in Japan, a childhood leukemia cluster in Woburn, Massachusetts, and mad cow disease in the United Kingdom. The authors discuss the implications for political decision making in general and describe a “dialogic” democracy that enriches traditional representative democracy. To invent new procedures for consultation and representation, they suggest, is to contribute to an endless process that is necessary for the ongoing democratization of democracy.

The Voice of the Church

The Voice of the Church PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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The Whole Works...

The Whole Works... PDF Author: Jeremy Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 700

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The Church of Rome

The Church of Rome PDF Author: Hallifield Cosgayne O'Donnoghue
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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The Invention of Tradition

The Invention of Tradition PDF Author: Eric Hobsbawm
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521437738
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
This book explores examples of this process of invention and addresses the complex interaction of past and present in a fascinating study of ritual and symbolism.

Self and Other in an Age of Uncertain Meaning

Self and Other in an Age of Uncertain Meaning PDF Author: Timothy Stephen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000436934
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Self and Other in an Age of Uncertain Meaning explores the nature and origins of widespread problems of self in modern societies. It examines the paradoxical interplay between the modern world's many benefits and freedoms, and its mounting social challenges and psycho-emotional impacts. Over time the character of consciousness has shifted in concert with societal trends. The experienced world has become more nuanced, fragmented, and uncertain, as well as increasingly personal and intimate, reshaping social relationships. Chapters analyze the interdependence of language, mind, intimacy, the self, and culture, arguing that as the coevolution of these five factors produced the modern world, many features of contemporary culture have become disruptive to security of being. The book explores the importance to the vital sense of self in constructing relationships based in mutual recognition of moral and intellectual equality between partners. Rich with examples from everyday experience, this text offers profound insights for those interested in sociology, psychoanalysis, psychology, communication, history, and culture.

The Uncertain Center

The Uncertain Center PDF Author: Arthur C. McGill
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625642156
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
Arthur McGill did not write very much, but what he did write is as theologically suggestive and startling today as it was when it was written in the 1960s and 1970s. He was not well known during his lifetime, but those who cared about the work of theology knew Arthur McGill. Writing during the ascendency of the "Death of God" theologies, McGill's words have a freshness that the more widely known theological writing of that time has lost. McGill wrote only two short books during his life, and just a handful of scattered essays, often published in obscure places. We are fortunate that Kent Dunnington has collected and introduced those essays here. The essays reveal a theologian with an uncanny and intrepid resolve to make theological claims illumine and unsettle our lives. As Stanley Hauerwas writes in his afterword to the collection, "To read McGill is to discover a way to do theology without fear. God knows from where he came, but McGill, as the chapters in this welcome and important book demonstrate, had the ability to make theology do work so that we might better negotiate the imponderable reality we call 'our life.'"

Inside the Critics’ Circle

Inside the Critics’ Circle PDF Author: Phillipa K. Chong
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691212503
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
An inside look at the politics of book reviewing, from the assignment and writing of reviews to why critics think we should listen to what they have to say Taking readers behind the scenes in the world of fiction reviewing, Inside the Critics’ Circle explores the ways critics evaluate books despite the inherent subjectivity involved and the uncertainties of reviewing when seemingly anyone can be a reviewer. Drawing on interviews with critics from such venues as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, Phillipa Chong delves into the complexities of the review-writing process, including the considerations, values, and cultural and personal anxieties that shape what critics do. Chong explores how critics are paired with review assignments, why they accept these time-consuming projects, how they view their own qualifications for reviewing certain books, and the criteria they employ when making literary judgments. She discovers that while their readers are of concern to reviewers, they are especially worried about authors on the receiving end of reviews. As these are most likely peers who will be returning similar favors in the future, critics’ fears and frustrations factor into their willingness or reluctance to write negative reviews. At a time when traditional review opportunities are dwindling while other forms of reviewing thrive, book reviewing as a professional practice is being brought into question. Inside the Critics’ Circle offers readers a revealing look into critics’ responses to these massive transitions and how, through their efforts, literary values get made.

Minority Religions and Uncertainty

Minority Religions and Uncertainty PDF Author: Matthew Francis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317095707
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Religions are at their core about creating certainty. But what happens when groups lose control of their destiny? Whether it leads to violence, or to nonviolent innovations, as found in minority religions following the death of their founders or leaders, uncertainty and insecurity can lead to great change in the mission and even teachings of religious groups. This book brings together an international range of contributors to explore the uncertainty faced by new and minority religious movements as well as non-religious fringe groups. The groups considered in the book span a range of religious traditions (Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam), old and new spiritual formations such as esotericism, New Age and organized new religious movements, as well as non-religious movements including the straight edge movement and the British Union of Fascists. The chapters deal with a variety of contexts, from the UK and US, to Japan and Egypt, with others discussing global movements. While all the authors deal with twentieth- and twenty-first-century movements and issues, several focus explicitly on historical cases or change over time. This wide-ranging, yet cohesive volume will be of great interest to scholars of minority religious movements and non-religious fringe groups working across religious studies, sociology and social psychology.

Reason in an Uncertain World

Reason in an Uncertain World PDF Author: Malcolm Keating
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197634257
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Reason in an Uncertain World is a guide to critical thinking with an ancient Indian philosophical tradition that took logic as seriously as it did meditation, ethics, and personal cultivation. The book explains how this tradition, known as Nyāya, brings together ways of knowing with ways of living and relieving suffering. For the Nyāya philosophers, knowing and reflecting on our knowing is an individual and communal practice. It involves vigorous debate as well as trusting reliable testifiers, seeing with our own eyes as well as drawing complex inferences about the unseen.