Conceptual Arguments Research Articles

Valuing humanities: Rethinking the humanities-impact landscape in Denmark

Globally, the issue of research impact has grown as governments articulate policies around research as a contributor to economic and societal development, often through an econometric justification. This has triggered much discussion amongst humanities scholars in public formally-reasoned peer-reviewed texts that are rarely empirically-based. This Denmark-based empirical study used an individual biographical and historical structural framework to explore how humanities academics in face-to-face semi-formal interactive interviews viewed this issue. The results highlighted a nuanced understanding of what we call the humanities-impact landscape, with three potential interactions falling along a continuum suggesting further inquiry is warranted. The study contributes a rich tapestry of the interwoven individual and structural elements at play when academics articulate how they locate themselves within the landscape, ones that might not be seen in more conceptual arguments.

Don’t imagine junk! Positive conceivability and modal illusion in mereology

There is a widespread practice of using evidence obtained from conceiving/imagining for establishing possibility claims. As a case study. I offer a critical reconstruction of an influential conceivability argument, Bohn’s (Philosophical Quarterly 59:193-201, 2009a, Analysis 70:296–298, 2009b, Analysis 70:296-298, 2010) argument for junk (there are proper parts forming wholes, but there is no whole that is not a proper part itself). The most influential scenario used by Bohn and his successors is purported to be junk but not ensured to be junk. This finding calls for an explanation. I distinguish ways of conceiving/imagining that are insufficient to establish modal claims from positive conceiving/imagining, which is more promising. Positive conceiving/imagining often works by a partial structural isomorphy to its target, and it is sufficiently detailed. In order to be sufficiently detailed, it has to properly integrate theoretical considerations. I outline a concern about extant ways of conceiving/imagining junk: they do not yet include a metaphysical understanding of what it takes for there to be proper parts and wholes without a whole that is not a proper part itself, for instance in terms of a non-gerrymandered principle of composition.

The social neuroscience of persuasion approach to the religious intercultural communication: A conceptual evidence from Sidhwa’s novel ‘An American Brat’

The study aims to understand the influence of religio-cultural right-wing persuasion in intercultural communication, as exhibited in a novel representing Pakistani national culture and Parsee minority culture. The methodology involves directed qualitative content analysis of Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel “An American Brat,” using a conceptual model/framework adapting/extracting coding protocol from Morin and Renvoisé’s model to analyze communication within a social neuroscience context. The research delves into the curated message of cultural diversity. Furthermore, it explains the insight of the situation into cultural and religio-cultural persuasion by the writer, which she represented in the context of three cultures, American, Pakistani, and Parsee. The characters’ communication seemed dominant, reflecting the communication regarding Pakistani Islamic cultural values due to its impact and dominance, specifically on personal and contrastive stimuli of the characters’ intuitive knowledge. Likewise, the other persuasive elements from the conceptual model/framework of Morin and Renvoisé are also reflected in the characters’ communication, which interprets any communication in a social neuroscience context. The innovative understudy of intercultural communication shows how social neuro-persuasion succeeds in reconnecting characters to their subconscious fundamental brain-rooted cognitive, cultural, and social identity. Hence, cognitive changes in stimuli often would not change or get easily influenced at teenage on conceptual, theoretical, or biological levels. According to the researchers’ conceptual arguments, future studies may utilize the present model within the textual quotations from the novel’s original text, as the present research was only delimited to qualitative content analysis. However, the theoretical/conceptual framework of the neuroscience of persuasion needs to be verified.

How about Pantheism in Ancient Greek Religion?

Abstract Ancient Greek religion has been very rarely studied with reference to pantheism. This article proposes that we should introduce pantheism as an additional interpretive strategy to understand Greek religion. This presupposes addressing the relationship between the interpretations of doxa (theology), discussion about the nature of divine unity in antiquity (philosophy), and religious cult praxis. The main conceptual arguments underlined in refutations of pantheism are discussed. This is followed by a brief survey of the more frequently discussed monotheism and henotheism in Greek religion. The main part of the article presents pantheistic trends in Greek religion, including philosophical argumentation, pantheistic expressions in mythology and in cultic life. It is found that Greek religion exhibits views that can be regarded as pantheistic: gods were immanent rather than transcendent, everything could potentially participate in divine reality, and the boundaries between divine, human, and nature were not exclusive but permeable and fluid.

Multilingual mindset

Abstract In this paper, I examine the changing currency of languages in the context of migration and mobility based on case studies of Filipino migrants in Australia. Drawing on two sociolinguistic studies conducted with and for Filipino migrants, I highlight how the “monolingual mindset” (Clyne, 2008) reinforced by the “White-English complex” (Piller, Torsh, & Smith-Khan, 2023) negatively impact on the value and currency of Philippine languages. As an alternative, I offer the concept multilingual mindset as an inclusive framework for valuing multilingual migrants in the diaspora. I first introduce the linguistic ecology and national language policies of both the Philippines and Australia to set the scene for my argument. I then map out the migration trends in both countries and the simultaneous socio-political events that have driven the growth of Filipino migration in Australia and introduce the two sociolinguistic studies with and for (Blackledge, 2006; Tetteh, 2015) Filipino migrants. This is followed by the presentation and critical discussion of three key conceptual arguments of this paper derived from these studies. Employing the “monolingual mindset” (Clyne, 2008) and “White-English complex” (Piller et al., 2023) as lenses, I then critically discuss how these concepts are detrimental to heritage language maintenance and inclusive multilingualism and argue that the maintenance of migrant languages in the diaspora would best be facilitated by an adoption of a multilingual mindset. The paper concludes with a discussion on the significance of the multilingual mindset to sociolinguistic studies and migration linguistics (Borlongan, 2023), in general, and to language attitudes, language practices, and language policies across different sectors, in particular.

Rewriting Internal Relocation from a Refugee Perspective - The Lived Experience of Refugees in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT This article is part of a broader project aimed at rewriting refugee law jurisprudence from a lived refugee perspective. The co-authors, one of whom is a refugee from Afghanistan, have chosen internal relocation as the subject of this project as it is a problematic and controversial principle of international refugee law which we believe is frequently applied without due consideration of the practical experience of refugees. Internal relocation provides that a refugee may be returned to their country of origin if they can relocate to a “safe” part of that state where they would not have a well-founded fear of persecution. This principle is somewhat tempered by the application of a “reasonableness” test in most jurisdictions. That test aims to reflect that, in some cases, it may not be possible to require a refugee to relocate to another part of their country of origin to avoid persecution. However, a “reasonableness” factor is not always considered as part of relocation. Moreover, it aims to bring an “objective” standard of reasonableness, which can be critiqued on a number of bases. In this article, the authors rewrite an Australian Refugee Review Tribunal decision dealing with an applicant from Afghanistan to reflect the lived experience of refugees better and to encourage readers to think about whether some of the assumptions made in internal relocation jurisprudence have been fully interrogated. Much of internal relocation scholarship focuses on conceptual legal issues, for instance, whether relocation is grounded in the text, context or object of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and whether relocation fits within the “well-founded fear” or “state protection” limb of the refugee definition. While these are important conceptual debates about the treaty basis for internal relocation, we believe these have been well-analysed in the existing literature. Our article seeks to add to these core debates by reconceptualising the application of relocation to authentic refugee experiences and, through this, to highlight some of the weaknesses in the current approach to this complex question.

Higher education and indigenous and afro-descendant peoples as a field of study and intervention in Latin America

Since 2008, there has been a notable increase in studies on processes of inclusion, retention and graduation of indigenous students in higher education in Latin America; a growing interest in research and university extension activities in collaboration with indigenous and Afro-descendant communities; and the establishment of intercultural academic spaces in the region. This article offers a literature review analysis of this field of study and intervention, elaborated in Spanish and Portuguese in the framework of Latin American institutions. This analysis identifies the various voices, analytical perspectives, lines of research, conceptual debates and contributions that enrich the understanding of some types of experiences in this field, often described as 'intercultural', and others usually considered as educational inclusion of indigenous and Afro-descendant populations in the field of Higher Education in Latin America. The literature review reveals that much of this research is the result of collaborative work between diverse actors committed to promoting intercultural perspectives at the higher education level, and reflects the historical struggles sustained by these peoples as the fundamental structuring component of these experiences. It is concluded that the increase in research and interventions makes it plausible to postulate and describe the consolidation of a specific field of study and intervention for Latin America, which can be defined as 'Higher Education, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples' and that the experiences analysed reflect a particular and historical link between university systems and Indigenous and Afro-descendant Peoples in Latin America.

Firm interrelationships: the role of firm size

This paper put’s forward a working conceptualisation for how the size of firms which die influences firm interrelationships where firm deaths influence future firm births. Two conceptual arguments are developed to explain the role of firm size in influencing future firm births; the resource argument and the consumer demand argument. This relationship is also empirically tested using a multilevel model to examine the relationship between the death of differently-sized firms and future firm births in European NUTS 3 regions. Findings suggest that only the deaths of larger firms appears to increase future firm births. The resource-based argument is used to explain this finding whereas the consumer demand-based argument is used to explain why the death of smaller firms seems to reduce future firm births. The dataset used in this paper’s estimation captures a large amount of activity across 14 countries and 502 NUTS 3 regions from 2008 to 2019.

Documenting homoploid hybrid speciation.

Homoploid hybrid speciation is challenging to document because hybridization can lead to outcomes other than speciation. Thus, some authors have argued that establishment of homoploid hybrid speciation should include evidence that reproductive barriers isolating the hybrid neo-species from its parental species were derived from hybridization. While this criterion is difficult to satisfy, several recent papers have successfully employed a common pipeline to identify candidate genes underlying such barriers and (in one case) to validate their function. We describe this pipeline, its application to several plant and animal species and what we have learned about homoploid hybrid speciation as a consequence. We argue that - given the ubiquity of admixture and the polygenic basis of reproductive isolation - homoploid hybrid speciation could be much more common and more protracted than suggested by earlier conceptual arguments and theoretical studies.

Big data, machine learning and uncertainty in foresight studies

PurposeCurrently, foresight studies have been adapted to incorporate new techniques based on big data and machine learning (BDML), which has led to new approaches and conceptual changes regarding uncertainty and how to prospect future. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of BDML on foresight practice and on conceptual changes in uncertainty.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is twofold: a bibliometric analysis of BDML-supported foresight studies collected from Scopus up to 2021 and a survey analysis with 479 foresight experts to gather opinions and expectations from academics and practitioners related to BDML in foresight studies. These approaches provide a comprehensive understanding of the current landscape and future paths of BDML-supported foresight research, using quantitative analysis of literature and qualitative input from experts in the field, and discuss potential theoretical changes related to uncertainty.FindingsIt is still incipient but increasing the number of prospective studies that use BDML techniques, which are often integrated into traditional foresight methodologies. Although it is expected that BDML will boost data analysis, there are concerns regarding possible biased results. Data literacy will be required from the foresight team to leverage the potential and mitigate risks. The article also discusses the extent to which BDML is expected to affect uncertainty, both theoretically and in foresight practice.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the conceptual debate on decision-making under uncertainty and raises public understanding on the opportunities and challenges of using BDML for foresight and decision-making.

Actuality, indexicality, and knowledge

Abstract After summarizing linguistic evidence against the thesis that actuality terms are indexical, I examine conceptual and epistemological arguments offered in favor of an indexical analysis. I argue that an indexical semantics provides no explanation of how we know what is actually the case, and no grounds for postulating a contingent a priori. Truth in every context, or in every model, does not imply knowledge of the fact a sentence expresses nor how we know it if we do. Moreover, descriptive analyses also predict that ‘I exist in the actual world’ and instances of ‘p ≡ Actually p’ are true in every context.

Roundtable Discussion: Translation in Creativity

This Forum, appearing in each issue of the Journal of Literary Multilingualism, aims to continue the conversation started in the very first issue, where we collected articles which assessed and debated the field of literary multilingualism studies. The Forum is a space for shorter, more informal reflections on the field and its future: position papers, dialogues between scholars, roundtable discussions, responses to articles within the journal, and responses to recent multilingualism conferences or events. We welcome proposals for contributions, particularly from marginalized perspectives or on neglected aspects of literary multilingualism. Please contact us directly to discuss ideas. For this Forum, we present a roundtable discussion, organized and moderated by Eugenia Kelbert, in which Vesna Goldsworthy, Matthew Reynolds, and Douglas Robinson share some of their ideas around the relationship between translation and multilingual writing, particularly in relation to their intersecting roles as writers, translators, and academics. — Juliette Batty-Taylor and Till Dembeck, Forum Moderators The study of literary multilingualism exists within the context of recent attempts, by several scholars in comparative literature, to make sense of multilingual and/or global literary practices. From the translation zone (Apter) to born-translated (Walkowitz) or untranslatable fiction, these attempts have almost invariably involved translation, as a concept if not as a practice. What is, then, the place of translation when it comes to understanding multilingual and translingual writing? How does this theoretical debate relate to the actual practice of literary translation? And what happens to literary style when theorists of translation and translators experiment with multilingual writing or when translingual writers translate? The present discussion explores the hitherto undefined zone of creative interaction between translation and multilingual writing in the hope of contributing to the more conceptual debates from a hands-on perspective. It is based on the roundtable entitled “Stylistic Border Crossings in Multilingual and Translated (Con)texts” that was part of the Stylistic Border Crossings In and Beyond Translation conference held on March 9–10, 2023.1 The conference and the roundtable were organized by Eugenia Kelbert with the British Centre for Literary Translation and the East Centre, University of East Anglia. Each of the three guests wears a combination of multiple hats that bridge theory and practice and include “translingual writer,” “literary translator,” “translation studies scholar,” “writer,” and “literary scholar.” — Eugenia Kelbert

Business Institutes and Corporate Social Responsibility in Brazil: Balancing Between Control and Incompleteness

Objective: Provide a critical perspective on CSR in Brazil, focusing on business institutes' involvement with CSR, which could lead to an assimilation that adapts it to meet exclusively business interests. Theoretical Framework: A literature review focused on the main conceptual debate on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), emphasising the normative approach of Stakeholder Theory. Method: A qualitative analysis of the literature, data from public sources on civil society organisations, and the websites of leading business institutes involved with CSR in Brazil was chosen, comparing it to the information on institute websites. Results and Discussion: The leading institutes operate in a segmented and organised way, have large companies among their members, represent a significant volume of investments in the socio-environmental area and present their vision of corporate behaviour. This suggests a search for institutional leadership and reinforces the idea of consolidating CSR in Brazil through corporate resources. Research Implications: This research's practical and theoretical implications provide insights into how the results can influence business and academic studies about CSR. These implications could encompass business management, sociology, public policies, and project financing for all involved in thinking and practising business behaviour in society. Originality/Value: It contributes to the debate on CSR by demonstrating that its lack of consensus allows the business world, through its institutes, to shape it to its interests, limiting its potential reach. It is a critical perspective that suggests that business institutes create the conditions for discursive leadership that can lead to selective corporate responsibility practices in society.

Interrogating global narratives of trans queerness. Well-being and agency? Or more stories of trans trauma?

In the international contemporary discourse transgender individuals arguably have an increased presence within public media highlighting the visible diversity that constitutes the LGBTQI2S+ community. However, in response to the challenging of cisgendered normative assumptions there has been an unprecedented swathe of anti-trans measures executed through the frenzied repealing of rights and freedoms within the key arenas of legal, medical, sporting, and educative domains. This paper explores the intersections of pathologizing rhetoric that emplotted anti-trans and transphobic discourses within and across public consciousness. The quotidian presence of these discourses provoked in us a wondering about how evolving conceptual debate is constructing a trans inclusive global imaginary. In this paper we situate trans safety not as a singular concept, but rather a differentially experienced phenomenon that is related to and embedded in questions of bio power and privilege. As such, when we refer to a trans safety imaginary, we are not solely addressing protection from physical violence but also safeguarding against psychological and emotional vulnerability.

Christian democracy as political spirituality: transcendence as transformation—Italian politics, 1942–1953

AbstractThis article deals with the transformation of Catholic politics in Italy between 1942 and 1945 and the emergence of Christian Democracy as the dominant political party in the postwar years. It analyzes how Catholic politicians turned from reactionary critics of democracy to its champion. The article foregrounds a dimension that has not been given sufficient attention in scholarly works on political Catholicism and Christian Democracy, namely the religious content of thought. In the experiences of politicians and thinkers living through Fascism and war, transcendence and spirituality emerged as new markers of certainty that came to re-direct and ground democracy. Our conceptual argument is that Christian Democracy can be understood as a distinct form of “political spirituality,” pace Foucault. The article further shows how this political spirituality became “applied” in a series of ways in the immediate postwar period.

Citizen Satisfaction Research in Public Administration: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

This study presents a systematic review of the 122 studies on citizen satisfaction in the field of public administration. The research aims to identify the current state of knowledge on citizen satisfaction by drawing on existing empirical results and conceptual arguments, highlighting research gaps, and developing a heuristic framework to guide future research. Based on a literature search of 12 major public administration journals, our findings indicate that citizen satisfaction has gained significant academic attention as a performance measure to monitor and assess public service delivery, particularly at the local level. Despite substantial scrutiny in diverse research contexts, quantitative studies still predominate, mainly using secondary survey data in their research. Furthermore, we observed an absence of an agreed-upon definition for citizen satisfaction and an over-emphasis on the expectancy-disconfirmation model to explain the satisfaction process, highlighting the need for scholars to move beyond the performance-expectation dyad. While reviewing a set of environmental, organizational, and individual-level antecedents and outcomes, we noticed few scholars have considered the effects of moderating variables on citizen satisfaction. As such, our paper concludes by identifying a few underexplored research themes that could facilitate knowledge-building regarding citizen satisfaction.

Taking a LEAP toward community-engaged leadership

Historical and contemporary factors have disenfranchised and destabilized certain school communities (specifically communities of color). Education leaders can be more inclusive and address the persistent impacts of these broader trends by embracing a community-focused approach to leadership. Darrius A. Stanley, Dan Brogan, and Emily Colton borrow from contemporary research which suggests that educational leaders can help bridge the gaps between schools and historically disenfranchised communities through community-engaged leadership. They offer a research-based, conceptual argument and practical approach to building and sustaining community inclusive schools through listening, engaging, advocating, and partnering.

From Theory to Practice: HRM Practices and Intellectual Capital in Fostering Innovation

In a rapidly changing business environment, organizational innovation and employee innovative work behavior are the basis for high organizational performance and long-term success. Against this background, the purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model that links knowledge-based human resource management and intellectual capital and collaborative human resource management practices to innovative behavior at the level of the employee in the organizational context. Drawing on the existing literature and conceptual argument, the present study will argue for this strategic importance of workers’ innovative performance in promoting organizational success. Specifically, the study argues that adopting KHRM and CHRM practices are effective strategies that foster innovation within the organization. Furthermore, the research also reports the critical importance of intellectual capital in driving innovative work behavior. Intellectual capital acts as a mediator between HRM practices and innovative work behavior. The study's theoretical framework and conceptual propositions provide valuable insights into understanding and promoting innovation inside organizations. Additional investigation into these connections would provide pragmatic advice for HRM experts and organizational leaders who want to cultivate creativity and drive achievement within their organizations.

Multi-Algorithm Artifact Correction (MAAC) procedure part one: Algorithm and example

The Multi-Algorithm Artifact Correction (MAAC) procedure is presented for electroencephalographic (EEG) data, as made freely available in the open-source EP Toolkit (Dien, 2010). First the major EEG artifact correction methods (regression, spatial filters, principal components analysis, and independent components analysis) are reviewed. Contrary to the dominant approach of picking one method that is thought to be most effective, this review concludes that none are globally superior, but rather each has strengths and weaknesses. Then each of the major artifact types are reviewed (Blink, Corneo-Retinal Dipole, Saccadic Spike Potential, and Movement). For each one, it is proposed that one of the major correction methods is best matched to address it, resulting in the MAAC procedure. The MAAC itself is then presented, as implemented in the EP Toolkit, in order to provide a sense of the user experience. The primary goal of this present paper is to make the conceptual argument for the MAAC approach.

Deepening Insights Into Social Entrepreneurship by Leveraging Service-Dominant Logic

Social entrepreneurs operate in highly complex social and institutional environments where dual economic and social missions create paradoxes, conflicts, and challenges. To achieve their goals, social entrepreneurs are frequently dependent on the resources and engagement of numerous other actors as diverse as funders, policymakers, accelerators, investors, volunteers, universities, supply chain partners, NGOs, and of course, customers and beneficiaries. To understand these complexities, a holistic and systemic perspective is required. In response, this study leverages the service-dominant (S-D) logic of marketing to offer a path to deepening insights in social entrepreneurship research. Specifically, the paper draws on four key concepts related to S-D logic that offer interesting avenues for future research: (1) service ecosystems, (2) value co-creation, (3) institutions and institutional arrangements, and (4) actor engagement. To enrich the conceptual arguments, illustrations are provided using the Melbourne-based social entrepreneurial collective, Moving Feast. The collective emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and involved numerous social enterprise organisations, support organisations, funders, and community organisations. The paper concludes with a set of future research avenues.