“Con la mirada en el cielo y en los hijos que son fruto del amor”: emociones y movilización católica frente al divorcio vincular, Argentina, 1984-1987

Reviewed by: Who Rules the World: Divine Providence and the Existence of Evil by Hans Schwarz Mark Mattes Who Rules the World: Divine Providence and the Existence of Evil. By Hans Schwarz. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2021. x + 210 pp. Prolific German theologian Hans Schwarz examines theodicy, the defense of God, in his latest volume. If God is beneficent and omnipotent, then why is there evil? Before offering constructive thoughts, he surveys the major world religions, including those from antiquity which influenced Judaism and Christianity, the various presentations of evil in the Bible, and Christian thinkers from ancient times until the present. All the while he is sensitive to modern developments in the natural and social sciences. Schwarz is ever diplomatic, balanced, and charitable to whichever voice he is entertaining. The question of theodicy is urgent because, in the words of Georg Büchner, suffering is the "rock of atheism." The Bible presents a number of perspectives about the relationship between God and evil, including that God is himself the cause of good and evil (30). Even so, Genesis does not present the tempter, presumably the devil, as a participant in God's heavenly court (though the Adversary is presented so in Job) (26). Jesus' ministry included exorcism, a frontal attack on evil. Paul acknowledged that human nature is itself overshadowed by evil (49), and that humanity as a whole is alienated from God. The mature Augustine, in contrast to his Manichean youth, which adhered to a conflict between an all-good spiritual deity and an all-evil bodily deity, argued that everything evil somehow contributes to goodness, indeed, ultimately the perfection of all created things. In contrast to Augustine, who viewed evil as a privation or lack of goodness, Martin Luther saw evil as having its own agency over against God. That said, Luther also acknowledged that God worked through evil "instruments," evil persons. He also described God as doing an "alien work," punishment designed to bring us to God's mercy or grace. Nevertheless, God does not cause Satan or [End Page 76] people to be evil; but, if they happen to be evil, that does not inhibit God's agency to work through them. Indeed, God punishes thieves through other thieves. In the early modern period, Leibniz, like Augustine, interpreted evil as a privation in our universe. In contrast to the Enlightenment's tendency to affirm natural human goodness, Kant actually affirmed that the human will is prone to evil, apt to heed desires as opposed to ethical directives provided by reason (91). Twentieth-century thinkers, such as Dorothee Sölle, John Hick, or Process theologians, in light of world wars, the holocaust, nuclear proliferation, and the like, have been apt to emphasize the "weakness" of God. Schwarz is at his best when he assesses matters. It is clear that God has made a universe with various levels of interdependence amongst creatures and that he does not govern by coercion. Appealing to Martin Luther, Schwarz agrees that God orders all things in the world (154), but there are degrees of freedom, especially in matters of human choice, in which humans can either accord with God's will or not, as codified in the Decalogue (whose statutes are echoed in many other cultures) (158). Luther's great insight from his theology of the cross is that because God reveals himself under the "sign of his opposite," that is, in the crucified Jesus, we cannot trace God's working in history (164). God's agency is not transparent. Unlike Calvin, God is no puppeteer "who simply pulls strings or who preordains every detail of history. While God is above and beyond the details of this world, allowing creation and humans freedom and a degree of independence, God is also in his creation and in history providing, where necessary, predictability in the natural processes and help from self-destruction through moral norms" (166). Thereby we need neither to buy into a facile optimism nor a fatalistic pessimism (183). It is clear that Job is onto something: bad things do happen to good people (191). Hence, evil is no mere privation but a power in its own right (193). Schwarz's conclusion is...

Legislating at the shopfloor level: Background knowledge and relevant context of parliamentary debates

Introduction

The Other Pakistan: Special Laws, Diminished Citizenship and the Gathering Storm

Legal Systems, Classification of

Perhaps the most significant contribution of Buddhism to the international stage in recent years has been the promotion and cultural acceptance of meditation. Historically central to many Buddhist traditions and once considered an activity for a dedicated few, meditation has become mainstream. Within Buddhism itself, it has now become more widely acknowledged as a lay as well as a monastic practice. Meditation has been reinstated in religious orthopraxy in many spiritual traditions, Buddhist and non-Buddhist, where its practice had previously fallen into abeyance. Meditation is now also normalized and often recommended in secular and clinical contexts: the modern mindfulness movements and various psychologically related disciplines, by adopting various forms of meditative practice as highly effective therapeutic techniques, have made meditations, often derived from Buddhist practice, internationally acceptable. It would be fair to say that the figure of the Buddha seated in deep calm has become an internationally recognized image for the tranquility and alertness thought possible for the human mind. But what exactly is meditation? The term applies to a range of activities that go beyond, but include, the simple seated activity suggested by images of the Buddha. Walking, sitting, and eating may include exercises regarded as central elements in meditative practice. Buddhist traditions throughout all regions have often been richly varied in their attitude to the praxis and the theory of the eightfold path; all path factors are considered interrelated. The isolation of any one activity from others that may support and enhance it does not present an authentic, or what would be regarded as an effective, picture of what is known as bhāvanā, literally “making to become,” the cultivation of the eightfold path and, specifically, meditation itself. The term bhāvanā is certainly applied to seated meditation. But it also includes exercises in other postures, devotional practices, offerings, prostrations, listening to teaching, debate about the teaching, and chanting. Some of these, in some traditions, assume a central role whereby they become the core meditation practice. Meditations and other activities are often considered interdependent: from early times, the absorption and investigation of theory, sitting meditation, walking practice, chanting, and rituals aimed at stilling and clearing the mind were designed to support and complement one another. Meditation and its associated exercises are often selected and taught with careful consideration of individual needs. Many require continued guidance by more experienced practitioners: mixes of practices are often suggested to individuals according to their temperament and stage of practice. Forms of Buddhism are quite distinct; but practices are usually seen as graduated, requiring patient training before the next stage of teaching is reached, and mutually supportive. Historically, Buddhism has also often tended to adapt in a creative and flexible manner according to local customs, variations, and belief systems. These features can be seen in the great diversity of Buddhist meditative practice.

Parliamentary and legislative debate transcripts provide access to information concerning the opinions, positions, and policy preferences of elected politicians. They attract attention from researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds, from political and social sciences to computer science. As a result, the problem of computational sentiment and position-taking analysis has been tackled from different perspectives, using varying approaches and methods, and with relatively little collaboration or cross-pollination of ideas. The existing research is scattered across publications from various fields and venues. In this article, we present the results of a systematic literature review of 61 studies, all of which address the automatic analysis of the sentiment and opinions expressed, and the positions taken by speakers in parliamentary (and other legislative) debates. In this review, we discuss the existing research with regard to the aims and objectives of the researchers who work in this area, the automatic analysis tasks which they undertake, and the approaches and methods which they use. We conclude by summarizing their findings, discussing the challenges of applying computational analysis to parliamentary debates, and suggesting possible avenues for further research.

This article studies the image of political science in Austria by tracing and analysing references to political scientists and their research in parliamentary debates. Since they were first established in Austrian universities in the 1960s, the social sciences and especially political science have been contested and sometimes accused of being forms of political (left-wing) ideology. This politicization has given references to political science a potential rhetorical value in parliamentary debates between oppositional and governmental factions. The parliamentary records of the Austrian Parliament (National Council) were searched for references to political science and several were found from 1966 until 2021. An analysis of these results identified three main rhetorical strategies at work in references to political science in plenary debates. The declining use of these strategies over time indicates a growing acceptance of political science and a positive view of political science expertise. Nevertheless, in recent debates right-wing populist parliamentary members in particular have continued to perpetuate and reinforce a negative image of political science and political scientists.

This paper analyzes the role of researchers from the social sciences and humanities as interlocutors of issues that are publicly problematized so as to enter the legislative agenda of governments. The theoretical framework is based on three axes: the question of politicized and mobile social science, the public communication of science and the public problems approach. A case study was carried out: the activity of the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe and Free Abortion in Argentina and the parliamentary treatment of the draft Law of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy in the Chamber of Deputies. The parliamentary debate was developed in 15 public debate sessions. We investigated the arguments in favor of the project. Specifically, the focus is placed on presentations made from the social sciences and humanities. Three questions guided our research: what role did academics from the social sciences and humanities play in the debate? How many of them also made, during the debate period, some outreach activity besides their participation in the plenary? and, those who carried out dissemination efforts, did they have the support of an intermediary organization?

The importance of understanding the basic concepts of the legal system in the context of the study of legal science, the relevance of understanding the legal system as the main foundation for students of legal science in developing knowledge, skills, and in-depth understanding of the legal principles that govern society. The results of the research highlight the critical role of understanding the legal system in forming a holistic perspective on the development of legal science. A deep understanding of the structure, function and dynamics of the legal system provides a solid foundation for students to face the complex challenges of modern legal practice. The implications of this research highlight the need for an emphasis on legal systems understanding as a central element in the design of legal studies curricula to ensure that students not only have a substantial understanding but are also able to integrate and apply legal knowledge in social and practical contexts.

Public Trust, Judicial Independence and the Choice between Rules and Standards in Human Rights Adjudication

Legal Yardsticks: International Financial Institutions as Diagnosticians and Designers of the Laws of Nations

For several decades now, legal scholars and other social scientists have been interested in conceiving of technologies as regulatory media and comparing their normative affordances to law’s regulatory characteristics. Recently, scholars have also started to explore the normative nature of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence systems. Most of this scholarship, however, adopts a largely theoretical perspective. This article takes a different approach and attempts to provide the discussion with a more factual grounding. It does so by investigating the construction of one particular Machine Learning system, the content moderation system Perspective API developed by Google. Its open-source development and a voluminous trove of publicly available documentation render Perspective API a virtually unique resource to study the inner logics of Machine Learning systems development. Based on an in-depth analysis of these logics, the article fleshes out similarities and dissimilarities concerning the normative structure of algorithmic and legal systems regarding four different subjects: practical constraints, evaluative diversity, modes of evolution and standards of evaluation. The article then relates the case of Perspective to the European Union’s proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act and shows how the study’s insights might help in readying the Act for the realities of contemporary multi-party AI development.

Mental Health and Law: Research, Policy and Services

It is argued in this article that the legal system, from initial investigation by detectives to final resolution in court by lawyers, judges, and juries, offers a basis for investigating phenomena in the social sciences using mixed methods. We think that this new paradigm combines the components of both the qualitative and quantitative paradigms and provides a practical model for conceptualizing and conducting mixed methods research. The implication of this new paradigm is that it may help us better understand underlying phenomena in scholarly inquiry and thus offers a potential contribution for using a mixed-methods approach in both education and the social sciences. However, adopting and adapting this paradigm for mixed-methods inquiry will require further exploration and empirical replication.