Critics Claim Research Articles

Human Rights Discourses in a Global Network: Books beyond Borders by Lena Khor (review)

Reviewed by: Human Rights Discourses in a Global Network: Books beyond Borders by Lena Khor Amy Lynn Klemm Lena Khor. Human Rights Discourses in a Global Network: Books beyond Borders. Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2013. 294p. In her original study of human rights discourse, Lena Khor addresses the concern by other scholars and critics of the globalization of human rights discourse. While [End Page 233] other scholars maintain that the discourse of human rights is being forced upon us from an imperialistic stance from what is referred to as the “Global North,” Khor argues for an exemplary move away from using human rights as a term to mean an absolute and imprecise thing, and instead she focuses on how human rights is a communally constructed language. She first broaches and explains her term “global discourse network of human rights” in the “Introduction” (Khor, 4). She devotes the first chapter to show the reader how the human rights discourse is now a global network, and delves into the language that is constructed to elucidate the human rights movement. Khor uses Paul Rusesabagina as an example of someone who has witnessed genocide and explores his autobiography An Ordinary Man as well as Terry George’s film Hotel Rwanda in her second chapter. The non-profit humanitarian outfit of Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) or Doctors without Borders is presented as a proposed human rights hero/savior in the third chapter, while in the fourth chapter Khor uses Michael Ondaatje’s novel Anil’s Ghost to illustrate the restrictions of the movement. In her Conclusion, she returns and revisits the subjects of Doctors without Borders to further highlight some of the controversies of the global human rights movement as well as the innate tensions. Throughout the entire book, it appears as though Lena Khor’s sole mission is to offer a new way of thinking about human rights through a network of global discourse and language. While there are numerous things that Khor executes very well throughout this book, this review will focus on the two which are the most successful. The first is her exploration of the ways in which scholarly criticism can oftentimes hold the cause back, and the second is that even the heroes and saviors of the cause are not above the same censure. It should also be noted that the book is formatted in such a way that it is impossible to miss Khor’s mission for her book. Each chapter is filled with italicized words and phrases that are key terms she wishes the reader to know, and the subheadings in each chapter keep the argument organized, something that is essential when tackling such a large subject matter as global human rights. Khor is breathing new life into the topic of global human rights by exploring the ways in which the language of human rights is crucial to either furthering or holding back the movement. She offers a complete overview of the difficulties in writing about and discussing global human rights, paying particular attention to the ways in which those who have witnessed genocide, such as Paul Rusesbagina, are sometimes criticized as making themselves out to be more of a hero than they really are. In the same vein, she uses Michael Ondaatje’s novel Anil’s Ghost to draw attention to how scholarly criticism, that so often accompanies these textual works on human rights, undermines the author, the subject of the work, and any [End Page 234] personal or professional interest of the reader. Every aspect of a film, organization, or textual work is under a critical microscope to ensure that it meets the criteria that scholars feel allows it to be a reputable voice in the field. This is one of the most important things that Khor discusses, since we can only get so far in the fight for global human rights when literature, film, and organizations are being criticized by scholars and theorists who find fault in each. Critics claim that authors such as Ondaatje have a bias about the topic on which they are writing since they are from a particular area; while others claim that he is not “Sri-Lankan enough” to...

Influence of minimally invasive total hip replacement on hip reaction forces and their orientations.

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is becoming increasingly popular. Supporters claim that the main advantages of MIS total hip replacement (THR) are less pain and a faster rehabilitation and recovery. Critics claim that safety and efficacy of MIS are yet to be determined. We focused on a biomechanical comparison between surgical standard and MIS approaches for THR during the early recovery of patients. A validated, parameterized musculoskeletal model was set to perform a squat of a 50th percentile healthy European male. A bilateral motion was chosen to investigate effects on the contralateral side. Surgical approaches were simulated by excluding the incised muscles from the computations. Resulting hip reaction forces and their symmetry and orientation were analyzed. MIS THR seemed less influential on the symmetry index of hip reaction forces between the operated and nonoperated leg when compared to the standard lateral approach. Hip reaction forces at peak loads of the standard transgluteal approach were 24% higher on the contralateral side when compared to MIS approaches. Our results suggest that MIS THR contributes to a greater symmetry of hip reaction forces in absolute value as well as force-orientation following THR.

Anekāntavāda and Engaged Rhetorical Pluralism: Explicating Jaina Views on Perspectivism, Violence, and Rhetoric

This study represents a detailed inquiry into the rhetoric of Jainism, an understudied religious-philosophical tradition that arose among Hinduism and Buddhism on the Indian subcontinent. Exploring the unique use of pluralism in Jaina authors such as Mahāvīra and Haribhadra, I advance the concept of engaged rhetorical pluralism to account for the argumentative use of pluralism to promote Jaina views. This concept is linked to Jainism’s theory of multiperspectivism (anekāntavāda) as an orientation toward one’s rhetorical activities in contexts of disagreement. Highlighting the controversies surrounding the relationship between Jaina tolerance and intellectual nonviolence, this study uses the concept of anekāntavāda to ground a pluralism of often contradictory critical claims made by those studying rhetorical phenomena from other cultures. Thus, anekāntavāda both describes the engaged pluralism evident in important Jaina rhetors and serves as a source of methodological guidance for scholars involved in comparative rhetoric and its inevitable situations of interpretative disagreement.

Anekāntavāda and Engaged Rhetorical Pluralism: Explicating Jaina Views on Perspectivism, Violence, and Rhetoric

ABSTRACT This study represents a detailed inquiry into the rhetoric of Jainism, an understudied religious-philosophical tradition that arose among Hinduism and Buddhism on the Indian subcontinent. Exploring the unique use of pluralism in Jaina authors such as Mahāvīra and Haribhadra, I advance the concept of engaged rhetorical pluralism to account for the argumentative use of pluralism to promote Jaina views. This concept is linked to Jainism’s theory of multiperspectivism (anekāntavāda) as an orientation toward one’s rhetorical activities in contexts of disagreement. Highlighting the controversies surrounding the relationship between Jaina tolerance and intellectual nonviolence, this study uses the concept of anekāntavāda to ground a pluralism of often contradictory critical claims made by those studying rhetorical phenomena from other cultures. Thus, anekāntavāda both describes the engaged pluralism evident in important Jaina rhetors and serves as a source of methodological guidance for scholars involved in comparative rhetoric and its inevitable situations of interpretative disagreement.

Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, by Jon Agar

In the wake of the Great War, the ‘chemists’ War’, a scandal was denounced. The great Cambridge Modern History, which had appeared just before 1914, had included almost no reference to science. The recent hostilities had so highlighted the contemporary importance of science that, to many, its past could no longer be ignored. The claims of such critics as Oxford’s Charles Singer, in his 1929 ‘Scientific Humanism’ published in the launch issue of The Realist, have continued to be pressed. The histories of the atomic bomb, industrial research, the tremendous extension of life expectancy and of climate change each have scientific dimensions. Since the time of Singer, of course, a flourishing discipline of the history of science has developed. Yet, until recently, the balance of that discipline’s concerns has been problematically related to the claims that generated it. From the point of view of sheer quantity, the entire historiography of science should be dominated by studies of the twentieth century. Almost all the scientific papers ever written, experiments conducted or careers pursued date from the years since 1900. Yet we are still woefully short of understanding what scientists did in the twentieth century. This is, in part, because of the scale of science, which is daunting—whether measured in the millions of scientists and papers published or the magnitude of huge laboratories. In part it is due to the commercial secrecy and national security which have turned a large part of scientific activity into invisible ‘dark matter’. We must admit the analytical difficulty of understanding such a decentralised, poorly demarcated, multinational enterprise. And, finally, there is the historiographical challenge of conveying all this technically difficult work in narrative. The solution of the biography of the iconic figure has worked far better for the past than for recent years. The study of Newton, Lavoisier and Darwin has engendered industries with which no twentieth-century figure save Einstein can compare.

Gaps in the gaze: Informatic practice and the work of public health surveillance

Many works that may be situated within the interdisciplinary field of Surveillance Studies have described dangerous potentialities associated with the pervasive, IT-mediated merger of once discrete data sets. In effect, these works cautioned about the rise of “big data” before it was named as such. Even so, they share an uncomfortable consonance with euphoric claims about the revolutionary transformation portended by big data. Situating both euphoric and critical accounts of the IT-mediated gaze within a larger informatic ethos — a spirit in the Weberian sense of this term, defined above all by its concealment of the labor that makes IT work — this article argues that discourse on the data-driven, information revolution must be supplemented by a more modest discourse empirically rooted in the everyday, pragmatic realities of IT. Where it departs from well-established social scientific analyses of IT, however, is in its development of a novel concept: informatic practice. Informatic practice may be defined as the sum of labor or activity that materializes information, including, for instance, such mundane activities as data entry. To empirically illustrate some complexities associated with informatic practice, this article discusses process challenges associated with the implementation of a large-scale (or “big”), regionally interconnected public health information system in Ontario, Canada. Informed by science and technology studies (STS) and actor-network theory (ANT), it uses documentary evidence and interviews with 38 key informants to describe informatic practice and to illustrate the mutations—the natural change—introduced into the IT-mediated gaze by everyday, material practices. This complicates both critical and euphoric claims about big data.

Effectively Using Social Studies Textbooks in Historical Inquiry

Of all of the educational tools used in social studies education, by far the most critiqued is the standard basal textbook. If used properly, nevertheless, textbooks are not as problematic as critics claim and can be a useful tool in the teaching and learning of social studies and history. Based on the focus found in the Common Core Standards on informational texts, the practicality of using textbooks is especially true in today’s educational environment. This article was written with the goal of helping social studies teachers develop lessons that assist their students in meeting the requirements of the Common Core. One specific strategy is described to offer teachers an example of how to effectively use their textbook in a Common Core focused and social studies content-based activity. A sample lesson, based on an inquiry activity titled “Hollywood or History,” is provided.

RELIGIOUS IMMANENCE

This paper offers a critical assessment of Meillassoux's attempt to articulate a “philosophical divine” based on, and consistent with, his radical ontology of contingency. The critical claim developed is that Meillassoux's conception of the divine is inconsistent with his wider commitment to immanence and that this is due to his uncritical endorsement of key evaluative and affective features of religions of the transcendent. This affinity is evident in his view that the phenomenon of “unjust death” generates a problem concerning the justification of a world thus characterised and in the solution proposed. The critical question regarding the compatibility of immanence and such a theodicy is explored. Further examples of Meillassoux's unacknowledged allegiance to the sensibility of transcendent religion are identified including his concern for “justice” and “humanity” and persistent avowal of “God”. An alternative conception of a religion of immanence is sketched which emphasises impersonality and a-moralism. This alternative, it is claimed, integrates more consistently than Meillassoux's the evaluative-affective and theoretical domains. On this basis the claim is advanced that Meillassoux misappropriates the considerable resources his ontology contains for the formulation of a religion of immanence.

There's a Promise Hidden in the Ruins of a Pure Ethics

There's a Promise Hidden in the Ruins of a Pure Ethics: Reviewing Anderson's Ethics under Erasure Nicole Anderson, Derrida: Ethics under Erasure (London: Continuum, 2012)What does politics look like when it stands on the shaky grounds of 'ethics under erasure'?Derrida: Ethics under Erasure presents a sustained argument for the import of Jacques Derrida's work for contemporary discussions of ethics, politics, and the everyday. Anderson must be commended for the clear and sophisticated manner in which she enters this discussion. While it is no doubt important to recall that all language brings us back to the funda- mental ambiguity of meaning, Anderson nonetheless is able to convey a strong and succinct argument that would be of great interest to scholars just getting into Derrida as well as experienced Derrideans who may already have a thorough knowledge of the parameters of the debates occurring in the field. Ethics under Erasure is a welcome contribution to ever-growing scholarship centred on the themes of hospitality, the gift, decision and responsibility in Derrida's work. More than this, it is the groundwork for future engagements with ethics and politics, beyond an uncomplicated acceptance of unconditionality. Rather than resting on the assurance of a pure and righteous ethics, Anderson's book brings to the fore the very contestation of the concept of 'ethics' and as such has implications for discussions of hospitality, the gift, and so on. It is a must-read for those interested in the relevance of deconstruction for politics, big and small, global and personal.This book proceeds by introducing the general concerns at stake. Chapter 1, The Ethics of Deconstruction, situates the thematic issues of the book. By taking us back to the significant debates of the 1990s, the so-called 'ethical turn' in Derridean scholarship is critically evaluated. Here, Anderson engages closely with Simon Critchley, a key figure in the ethical turn. Chapter 2 expands Anderson's challenge of Critchley by examining the relationship between Der- rida and Nietzsche. By bringing Nietzsche into the discussion, the emphasis on a Levinasian ethical influence in Derrida is lessened or at least put into dialogue with other voices. Having offered a strong contextualisation, chapter 3 offers an outline of 'ethics under erasure' as an original intervention into Derrida Studies, an engagement with deconstruction which, I think, could contribute to debates regarding how scholars of Derrida think about political action. And finally, chapter 4, Ethical Experience: A Cinematic Example, takes us into the world of Cathy and Sybil, characters in Todd Haynes's Far from Heaven in order to explore the ethics of the everyday.For the remainder of this review I would like to focus on two particular issues Anderson's thesis is useful for: firstly, ethics in the everyday, and secondly, ethics and political in liberal democratic systems. In both instances I am interested in the ramifications of Anderson's thought for the relationship between theory and action, or ethics and politics, and policy and politics. is not intended to provide a strict separation between the everyday and the world of politics, nor between theory and action. Indeed, Anderson is critical of any such division, countering the claims of Derrida's critics: This theory/practice opposition also implies that theory is not 'transformed' and changed by the context or practice (material or otherwise) in which it is discussed or placed, and vice versa (133).Everyday EthicsEthics under Erasure argues for the relevance of philosophical thinking for ev- eryday life. However, rather than contributing to the discussion by introducing another prescriptive ethical formula for adherents to follow, Anderson deploys deconstruction to the field of ethics in order to show us that inheritance produces 'undecidability' [which is] endemic to choice-making and decision-making (105). …

Current status of pelvic lymph node dissection in prostate cancer.

Pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) is presently considered the gold standard for the detection of lymph node invasion in prostate cancer (PCa) patients. Controversy exists over the adequate extent of PLND for patients at different stages of PCa and over the therapeutic value of the procedure. The most recent consensus advocates extended PLND (ePLND) in a patient with Gleason score ≥7 and serum prostate-specific antigen>10 ng/ml who is undergoing radical prostatectomy. Critics claim more aggressive dissection is associated with an increase in complications, hospitalization time, and cost. The present review examines the debate of limited versus ePLND, and discusses the potential value of the latter for patients with PCa. Furthermore, it examines the utility of robotic-assisted surgery in performing PLNDs with both comparable oncological outcomes and comparable complication rates. The literature has reported promising results that support both diagnostic and therapeutic benefits of ePLND. However, prospective, multi-center, long-term studies are necessary to alleviate criticism of the increased risk of complications and costs of performing PLND.

Integrated early years services: a thematic literature review

This article reports on the findings of a thematic review of research literature about integrated early years services (IEYS) [1995–2012]. Four themes are discussed: broad support for IEYS; critiques of claims about IEYS; a focus on inter-professional practice; and the challenge of evaluating IEYS. The article concludes with reflections concerning how the evidence base for IEYS could be strengthened.

THOMAS AQUINAS AND RECENT QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN DIGNITY

What is the status of human dignity in bioethics today? Ruth Macklin, Steven Pinker, and Peter Singer are among those who argue that “human dignity” is incoherent rhetoric, improperly smuggled into public discourse by religious people who are opposed to moral autonomy and want to block progress in cutting-edge medical research. In the moral philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, however, dignity is broader and deeper than its critics claim. It cannot simply be replaced by the concept of “autonomy.” Dignity plays a crucial role in building respect for human life. We first discover the dignity of “the other” in the context of family life, and discussion of the common good would be impoverished if we were somehow to eliminate it from our moral vocabulary. The respect we owe to human life in its embryonic stages serves as a paradigmatic case that shows the crucial importance of dignity.

Who pays for the pastor?

At a time when the NHS is cutting staff and services, chaplains are a luxury it can no longer afford, critics claim. Christian Duffin reports

Controlling the Philosophical Imaginary: Reading Pierre Hadot with Luiz Costa Lima

This essay proffers a critical complement to Luiz Costa Lima's claims concerning the nature, history, and control of the imagination in Western culture. Accepting the wide scope of Costa Lima's critical claim about the socio-political control of imaginative literature in Western history, we claim that Pierre Hadot's work on philosophy as a bios in the ancient West cautions us lest we position philosophy in this history as always and necessarily an agency of control. At different times, philosophy has rather stood as an ally in practicing and promoting forms of criticity, and the playful, creative, and transformative envisaging of alternative ways of experiencing the world Costa Lima theoretically celebrates in literary fiction. Any critique of philosophy as always opposed to the critical imagination can only stand, we have argued, relative to philosophy as conceived on what Hadot suggests is but one, albeit the now hegemonic model: namely, as a body of systematic rational discourses, including discourses about the literary, poetics, and imaginary. What this vision of philosophy misses, Hadot shows, is how the ancient conception of philosophy (which survives in figures like Montaigne, Nietzsche, and Goethe) as a way of life promoted distinctly literary, aesthetic, and imaginative practices; first, to assist in the existential internalisation of the schools' ideas; secondly, to envisage in the sage and utopias edifying counterfactuals to help students critically reimagine accepted norms; and thirdly, in the conception of a transformed way of living and perceiving ‘according to nature’, whose parameters of autonomy and pleasurable contemplation of the singularity of the present experiences anticipate the experiences delineated in modern aesthetic theory.

Complementary therapies

Complementary therapies have long had a fractious relationship with mainstream medicine. Proponents criticise their detractors for being closed-minded, and inappropriately applying scientific method to their therapeutic systems. Critics claim that the theories on which these systems are based are unsound, and that the efficacy of the therapies themselves is not supported by good quality evidence. Irrespective of that debate, complementary therapies are popular. A systematic review performed in 2000 found that the prevalence of complementary therapy use ranged from 9–65% in ‘western’ countries. Thus, it is an important topic for GPs to have a sound knowledge of since they will often come across it in their practice.

Effect of occupation on risk of developing MS: an insurance cohort study

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to estimate the occupational risks in relation to multiple sclerosis (MS). The immediate background for this research was our finding that there had been...

Towards the Great Transformation: (7) Locating Gezi Park

One of the major critical claims of this series is that the social and socio-spatial sciences, in their currently dominant form, cannot lead to an appropriate and continually tested strategy (praxis), effectively counter the normalized and naturalized forms and processes of late capitalist urbanization, normalized by mainstream theory in the service of established power, and their extrapolation into a ‘planetary future’. Critical urban theory presents/presented a step forward but it is losing some critical momentum – hence the rise of assemblage theory - and thus purchase on present and future realities in its neglect of aspects of its own intellectual heritage, of ‘extra-scientific’ resources including the cognitive aspect of the arts/humanities and ordinary experience (‘the university of the streets’), and in its too restrictive theoretical, spatial and temporal foundations. This episode continues a recontextualisation of that agenda in the light, particularly of the occupation this summer of Gezi Park in Istanbul and Guattari's notion of ‘three ecologies’ in relation to praxis - that is, an interacting and critical mutuality of theorized practice and practised theory.

Homo duplex revisited: A defence of Émile Durkheim’s theory of the moral self

Over the years arguments focusing on process have gained ascendancy over traditional dualist arguments in various areas of sociological inquiry, including that of the moral self. This paper challenges current convention by offering a defence of Émile Durkheim’s now largely discredited dualism-based homo duplex theory of the moral self by engaging it in a dialogue with one key exponent of the rival process view on this theme, namely the American pragmatist thinker George Herbert Mead. A seminal essay published in 1909 by one of Durkheim’s former students, the anthropologist Robert Hertz, will be drawn upon when arguing for the continued relevance of binary or dualistic thought, contra Mead, and, by extension, Durkheim’s classical homo duplex theory. The idea of a ‘dynamic dualism’ will be introduced in the face of Mead’s critical claims as a way forward for binary thought in future sociological debate.

Do WTO members employ less child labour?

PurposeTrade liberalization could either exacerbate or ameliorate the incidence of child labour. This paper aims to examine the effect of trade liberalization through membership in the GATT/WTO on the incidence of child labour across countries and over time. The authors examine child labour force participation data and WTO membership for 94 countries between 1980 and 1999. They find that membership in the WTO is negatively correlated with child labour. However, they do not find a statistically significant relationship between openness and child labour and therefore rule out the trade‐expanding channel of WTO membership on child labour.Design/methodology/approachThe authors' regression equations examine the effect of GATT or WTO membership on the incidence of child labour. They examine data from 94 countries from 1980 and 1999 and employ a fixed‐effects regression. They estimate different models taking different variables as control variables. They find a statistically significant effect negative of WTO membership on the incidence of child labour. They do not find a statistically significant effect of openness on child labour.FindingsThe authors find that membership in the WTO did reduce child labour. They do not find a statistically significant effect of openness on child labour.Research limitations/implicationsWTO membership does not increase the incidence of child labour as some critics claim. Membership itself is associated with reduced child labour so it may not be necessary to expand trade through international agreements in order to impact the incidence of child labour.Practical implicationsContrary to critics of the WTO, membership does not exacerbate the problem of child labour.Originality/valueThis paper presents new data on child labour in a panel across countries over time. It is the first paper to systematically estimate the impact of international agreements on the incidence of child labour.

Should Race Matter? Unusual Answers to the Usual Questions

Should Race Matter? Unusual Answers to the Usual Questions