Conceptual Arguments Research Articles

Absence, Presence, and Mobility

Abstract This article works at the intersection of mobilities and landscape studies. It shows absence-presence as a principal means by which mobilities are related to landscape, thus enabling the concept of landscape to be elaborated with regard to the politics of community, the ways in which embodied practices manifest themselves and create place, and the intertwinement of the cultural and the natural. To elaborate the conceptual argument, the article presents the case study of a planned but never fully realized high-speed tramline running through a residential area of Tallinn, Estonia. To explore the multiple absences of what was planned and the presence of imagined and a few realized landscape elements, the article makes use of artistic works, such as a skiing performance of infrastructure re-creation (Invisible Tramline).

Political ecologies of resettlement in river deltas

AbstractIn river deltas, human interference with regional and global socio‐ecological systems has led to a plethora of gradual and more abrupt environmental changes that result in inundation, coastal and river bank erosion, land loss and, ultimately, displaced people. Often apolitically framed as protective, state‐led transfer of people to new housing grounds,resettlementhas become a common response to such displacements. In its process, existing arrangements of land tenure and occupancy and, at times more covertly, related arrangements of capital, labor and the social fabric become dislocated and reassembled. In line with emerging critical geographies of resettlement, this paper conceptualizes resettlement in river deltas against the background of environmental change as a highly political process with far‐reaching environmental, economic, social and cultural implications. For this article is based on an in‐depth review of both resettlement and political ecology literature, we first elucidate the concept of resettlement before providing a structured overview of categories and recent trends in resettlement literature. We then focus on river deltas that due to multi‐scale environmental change are about to become hotspots of future resettlement. Building on identified gaps in resettlement literature, the article concludes with opening up three analytical strands of political ecology as entry points to resettlement studies, understood as critical geographic research into localized manifestations of environmental change in river deltas. Overall, our paper aims to initialize conceptual debate, grounded in a thorough review of recent case study literature on resettlement that is informed by political ecology. The review challenges positivist reductions of resettlement processes as technocratic‐managerial tasks that so far have dominated scientific literature in this field and opens up new perspectives for critical research on resettlements in river deltas for human geographers.

Nexus disrupted: Lived realities and the water-energy-food nexus from an infrastructure perspective

In recent years, the water-energy-food nexus gained traction in science and policy debates to address the relationships between water, energy and food sectors. Inspired by Political Ecology thinking, we advocate for a nexus understanding that acknowledges the political nature of the concept and points to lived and experienced nexus realities. We draw on literature from heterogeneous infrastructures, giving attention to the socio-material entanglements that configure a nexus dynamically over time and space. We substantiate our conceptual arguments based on three different cases from Sub-Saharan Africa, that reveal the ways in which people access, maintain or disrupt infrastructure that links water, energy, and food systems. This may occur through practice forms of tinkering or improvisation of infrastructural components, intermediate (decentralised) technologies, through theft, or through some form of self-empowerment. Methodologically, the role of practices is emphasized as they help to understand Nexus heterogeneity and disparate forms of agency to (re-)configure a nexus.The findings demonstrate that the nexus is not just there but is constantly in-the-making. Practices stabilise, build, or alter differentiated nexus configurations within uneven nexus in/securities. Moreover, this article disrupts a “one-size-fits-all” nexus concept by offering a nuanced understanding of nexus realities that are more complex, heterogeneous, and plural than commonly described. Our analysis shows that re-thinking the nexus by focusing on people and practices draws the attention towards agency and change – and thus enables to identify leverage themes rendering a more just nexus.

Physicalism or Anti-physicalism: A Disjunctive Account

AbstractIn this paper, we make a case for the disjunctive view of phenomenal consciousness: consciousness is essentially disjunctive in being either physical or non-physical in the sense that it has both physical and non-physical possible instances. We motivate this view by showing that it undermines two well-known conceivability arguments in philosophy of mind: the zombie argument for anti-physicalism, and the anti-zombie argument for physicalism. By appealing to the disjunctive view, we argue that two hitherto unquestioned premises of these arguments are false. Furthermore, making use of the resources of this view, we formulate distinct forms of both physicalism and anti-physicalism. On these formulations, it is easy to see how physicalists and anti-physicalists can accommodate the modal intuitions of their opponents regarding zombies and anti-zombies. We conclude that these formulations of physicalism and anti-physicalism are superior to their more traditional counterparts.

Promoting the Responsibility to Protect through Non-State Armed Groups: Overcoming the Legal and Regulatory Constraints

Promoting responsibility to protect through non-state armed groups will immensely reduce humanitarian crises around the globe. This paper aimed to analyze in detail the notion of responsibility to protect through non-state armed groups and its constitutive elements and set out a legal test that will expand the pre-existing notion of humanitarian intervention. In doing so, the paper advanced several conceptual arguments that focused on the responsibility to protect. The paper analyzed its views in light of contemporary developments on the responsibility to protect. The paper adopted a diagnostic approach based on a review of the literature and an evidence-based analysis of the humanitarian engagement of non-state armed groups. This paper showed the importance of reiterating that if the future of humanitarian intervention must be guaranteed, the need to take cognizance of the significant role of non-state armed groups in conflict mediation or intervention should not be overlooked. It is advanced that the continued neglect of non-state armed groups in conflict mediation or intervention portends a clog in responsibility to protect during armed conflicts.
 KEYWORDS: Responsibility to Protect, Non-State Actors, Armed Groups.

Incorporating the Concept of Relevance in Clinical Rehabilitation Research and Its Reviews May Improve Uptake by Stakeholders.

The “relevance” of research to stakeholders is an important factor in influencing the uptake of new knowledge into practice; however, this concept is neither well defined nor routinely incorporated in clinical rehabilitation research. Developing a uniform definition, measurement standards, stakeholder engagement strategies, and guiding frameworks that bolster relevance may help incorporate the concept as a key element in research planning and design. This article presents a conceptual argument for why relevance matters, proposes a working definition, and suggests strategies for operationalizing the construct in the context of clinical rehabilitation research. We place special emphasis on the importance of promoting relevance to patients, caregivers, and clinicians and provide preliminary frameworks and innovative study designs that can assist clinical rehabilitation researchers in doing so. We argue that researchers who include a direct statement regarding why and to whom a study is relevant and who incorporate considerations of relevance throughout all phases of study design produce more useful research for patients, caregivers, and clinicians, increasing its chance of uptake into practice. Consistent consideration of relevance, particularly to nonacademic audiences, during the conceptualization, study design, presentation, and dissemination of clinical rehabilitation research may promote the uptake of findings by patients, caregivers, and providers.

Conceptual arguments on the use of unlatched reverse swing “flappy” door smoke control systems in residential buildings

PurposeThe proposed use of unlatched, reverse swing flappy doors is becoming widespread in the design of residential common corridor smoke control systems. This article explores the conceptual arguments for and against the use of these systems.Design/methodology/approachThis article relies on industry experience, with reference to relevant building design practices, standards and research literature, to categorise arguments. These are collated into four common areas of concern relating to compartmentation, reliability, depressurisation and modelling practices. A final comparison is made between different common corridor smoke control system types for these four areas.FindingsThe article highlights several concerns around the use of flappy door systems, including the enforced breaches in stair compartmentation, uncertainties around system reliability, the reliance on door closers as a single point of failure, the impact of day-to-day building use on the system performance and the false confidence that modelling assessments can provide in demonstrating adequacy. The article concludes in suggesting that alternative smoke control options be considered in place of flappy door systems.Originality/valueDiscussion on the use of flappy door smoke control systems has been ongoing within the fire engineering community for several years, but there is limited public literature available on the topic. By collating the common arguments relating to these systems into a single article, a better understanding of their benefits and pitfalls has been provided for consideration by building design and construction professionals.

Authenticity and Autonomy in De-Extinction

ABSTRACT Eric Katz in Zombie Arguments defends the thesis authenticity is indispensable to conservation. I agree. However, I argue authenticity appears in degrees and can be reclaimed by populations through their continuing evolutionary responses to the world. This means that interventions that diminish the value of a population through reducing their authenticity can be permitted in limited cases. When our actions retain the remaining authentic features in a threatened population we should allow such a diminishment as authenticity can bereclaimed in time.

Employment and sustainability: The relation between precarious work and spatial inequality in the neoliberal city

• Precarious employment reinforces inequity and fragmentation of urban spaces in a neoliberal, commodity based economy. • Individual expectations of future wellbeing and stability are affected by conditions of precarious employment and by neighbourhood. • Urban sustainable development efforts need to address precarious labour as it affects future options and reproduces fragmentation. The creation of employment opportunities is a key factor to economic growth, but when pursuing sustainable development, work arrangements must also be fair and stable. In contrast, precarious employment is a common and serious limitation to prospects for development and personal well being in Latin American cities. Discussing this phenomenon in the developing world requires considering the ongoing transformation of the neoliberal urban labour market, the commodity-driven economic structure, and questioning how such features relate to the likelihood of urban sustainable development. The present study addresses precarity in urban labour markets and subjective perceptions of stability and prospects and asks how marginalisation and fragmented urban spaces in a neoliberal context relate to the structural characteristics of precarious labour. This relationship between labour and space is analysed based on survey data from different types of neighbourhoods in Chile’s two largest metropolitan areas – Santiago and Concepción – using multilevel regression and ANOVA. Our study finds that precarious employment and poor prospects replicate and reinforce typical territorial inequalities and thus constitute a serious limitation for sustainable development. We conclude that the current labour market, the features of neoliberal extractivism, and weak formal social protection are obstructing urban development that is sustainable in terms of employment. Thus, the conceptual debate on sustainability and urban policy should focus more on the negative effects of precarious employment and its particular relation to spatial fragmentation in growing urban areas.

The ‘Is’ and the ‘Ought’ of the Animal Organism: Hegel’s Account of Biological Normativity

This paper investigates Hegel’s account of the animal organism as it is presented in the Philosophy of Nature, with a special focus on its normative implications. I argue that the notion of “organisation” is fundamental to Hegel’s theory of animal normativity. The paper starts by showing how a Hegelian approach takes up the scientific image of organism and assigns a basic explanatory role to the notion of “organisation” in its understanding living beings. Moving from this premise, the paper turns to the group of accounts in contemporary theoretical biology known as “organisational accounts” (OA), which offer a widely debated strategy for naturalizing teleology and normativity in organisms. As recent scholarship recognizes, these accounts explicitly rely on insights from Kant and Post-Kantianism. I make the historical and conceptual argument that Hegel’s view of the organism shares several basic commitments with OAs, especially regarding the notion of “organisational closure”. I assess the account of normativity that such accounts advance and its implications for how we approach Hegel. Finally, I argue that the notion of “organisation” is more fundamental to Hegel’s theory of animal normativity than the Aristotelian notion of “Gattung” or “species”, which by contrast appears derivative – at least in the Philosophy of Nature and the Lectures – and does not play the central role in his account maintained by some scholars.

Fractional Model for the Flow of Brinkman-Type Fluid with Mass Transfer

The flow of fluid with mas transfer is an important phenomenon in the industries and nature. A new scheme for formulating the Caputo time fractional model for the flow of Brinkman-type fluid between the plates was introduced using the generalized Fick’s law. Within a channel, the free convection flow of the electrically conducted Brinkman-type fluid was considered. The governing equations were solved by the techniques of Fourier sine and the Laplace transform. In terms of the special function, namely, the Mittag-Leffler function, final solutions were obtained. To explain the conceptual arguments of the embedded parameters, separate plots are represented in figures. It is worth noting that for increasing the values of the Brinkman-type fluid parameter, the velocity profile decreases.

Peasants, agriculture and organizations

PurposeIt has been argued that scholars in management and organization studies (MOS) need to take the peasantry into account in their work. This study aims to address the complexity revealed by these arguments, suggesting that one needs clearer definitions and an appreciation of the complexities of historical development if one is to gain appreciation of the impaction of agriculture more generally on MOS.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses historical material to develop a conceptual argument that challenges the homogenous nature of the peasantry. It uses a detailed contrast between two peasant groups in 19th and early 20th century Scotland to suggest divergent patterns of development.FindingsPaying closer attention to definitions and historical development indicates that, as well as the survival of so-called archaic practices alongside highly developed agriculture, the main impact of agriculture on MOS might be the legitimacy it accords, as a cultural resource, to particular forms of organizing. While the issues outlined by previous authors are significant, they need to be discussed with more care to avoid a scattergun approach to analysis.Originality/valueThis study points to the neglect of agriculture more broadly and not just the peasantry, in MOS. It suggests the need to look at not only the economic impact but also the cultural resonance of agriculture in ideas about legitimate forms of organization. It also demonstrates the value and necessity of paying close attention to history in the analyses.

Inter-Organizational Collaboration: Units and Levels of Analysis with Multi-Theory Lenses

Efficient knowledge and information transfer within as well as across organizational boundaries are of a proven importance for survival and growth of firms. At the same time, however, on the one hand, knowledge available within organizations is not always used to its full capacity, at times at the considerable detriment of organizations involved. Furthermore, on the other hand, despite the recognized importance of an efficient interorganizational knowledge transfer, many collaborations have not delivered on their promises. Merges and acquisitions deals, for instance, are prone to fail. The goal of this article is to propose and illustrate a conceptual argument why knowledge and information transfer that crosses departmental and firm boundaries, and in doing so often also domain or disciplinary boundaries, is challenging.

It looks like construct validity, but look again: Comment on Clutterbuck et al. (2021) and recommendations for test developers in the broad "empathy" domain.

Conceptual flaws can undermine even rigorous test development efforts, especially in the broad empathy and social cognition domains, which are characterized by measure proliferation and inconsistently used construct terms. We discuss these issues, focusing on a new instrument of "mentalizing" as a case study. Across several studies, Clutterbuck et al. (2021a) developed the Four-Item Mentalising Index (FIMI). They described it as the first self-report measure of mentalizing ability and suggested that it offers substantial advances for research and assessment. As we demonstrate with conceptual arguments and empirical data, the FIMI embodies several major problems that are common in this area of research. Using the FIMI as a case study, we underline the importance for test developers of attending to the nonnegotiable necessity of discriminant validity analyses, the challenge of choosing appropriate convergent validity measures, and the difficulties of navigating the jingle-jangle jungle of empathy and social cognition construct terms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Palgrave Handbook of Practical Animal Ethics

The Palgrave Handbook of Practical Animal Ethics

An interpretive perspective on co-production in supporting refugee families’ access to childcare in Germany

The arrival of large numbers of refugees in Germany since 2015 has led to unprecedented levels of civic participation in service delivery. This is supported in integration policy, including through local coordination. We connect this empirical case with the conceptual debate on co-production, adopting an interpretive approach. We explore how volunteers and local coordinators interpret encounters between civic and state actors in the context of co-producing support received by refugee families in gaining access to childcare. Based on 20 interviews, we distinguish three types of experiences: collaborating towards common aims, where both sides value collaboration based on complementary abilities; contesting exclusion, where volunteers confront state actors in cases of conflict; replacing services, where volunteers feel obliged to perform tasks they interpret as the state’s responsibility. Our findings illustrate the value and limitations of co-production in practice, including in relation to establishing adequate sharing of work between civil and state actors.

The social as the heart of social innovation and social entrepreneurship: An emerging area or an old crossroads?

This paper aims to contribute to the conceptual debate on the connection between social innovation and social entrepreneurship, considering the role of the ‘social’ within this connection. Supported by a systematic literature review (SLR) with an in-depth analysis of 34 articles from Scopus-indexed and Web of Science databases journals, this paper identifies, analyzes and describes the difficulties and opportunities in the social innovation and social entrepreneurship literature. Little is known about the link between both concepts and the influence of the ‘social’ in their development and implementation. This SLR was conducted to identify and describe definitions and patterns. Results show that the connection between social innovation and social entrepreneurship is in its take-off phase, but it still is a fragmented field with a huge lack of consensus. Thus, it will be important to see where the field will head, as this paper aims to be a first step in the understanding of social innovation and social entrepreneurship through a collective and integrated perspective, providing an elucidation of the different perspectives of the literature.

Powers and the hard problem of consciousness: conceivability, possibility and powers

Do conceivability arguments work against physicalism if properties are causal powers? By considering three different ways of understanding causal powers and the modality associated with them, I will argue that most, if not all, physicalist powers theorists should not be concerned about the conceivability argument because its conclusion that physicalism is false does not hold in their favoured ontology. I also defend specific powers theories against some recent objections to this strategy, arguing that the conception of properties as powerful blocks conceivability arguments unless a rather implausible form of emergence is true.

Co-Designing Urban Planning Engagement and Innovation: Using LEGO® to Facilitate Collaboration, Participation and Ideas

There is a growing academic interest in the idea of co-designing methods to achieve urban innovation and urban planning. As we see cities as “living laboratories,” beyond the control of elected city government, there is a momentum to develop and test shared responses to the social, environmental, and economic challenges present in contemporary urbanism. These living laboratories are a function of open innovation or “quadruple helix” actors, drawn from state, business, higher education, and community sectors. However, translating the often-good intention principles of working together through shared and co-designed arrangements in any major urban area is often a significant challenge and a topic neglected to date. This article addresses this gap through the case study of Newcastle City Futures, a university-anchored platform in the northeast of the UK, that sought to co-design collaborative urban research, public engagement, and innovation. Newcastle City Futures created novel working methods centred on participatory games to facilitate shared understanding and joint ideas for new urban innovation projects across established sectors. This article will examine one method that was successful in generating collaboration and participation: “LEGO® mash-ups.” Detailed empirical accounts of the development of the LEGO® mash-up method are used to illustrate attitudes to urban challenges, the fostering of a spirit of open collaboration, and the development of innovative responses through co-design. These are used to support the conceptual argument that the use of the quadruple helix as a form of urban innovation system needs to be accompanied by accessible, workable, and easily interpreted translation methods, such as games, by intermediaries.

Theorising victim decision making in the police response to domestic abuse

The paper provides a conceptual argument for the importance of understanding victim decision making in responding to cases of domestic abuse. It applies core elements of decision-making theory to illustrate how victims may undergo different forms of thinking, could be affected by bias, consider gain and loss differently, and suffer from decision inertia. Suggestions are provided on how this perspective could be used in practice to deliver a victim empowerment approach in policing. However, the paper also expresses the importance of the theory’s limitations, especially around external validity, and suggests that research across various disciplines is critical to determine whether the perspective could be placed onto an empirical footing.