Core Of Science Research Articles

Современная реализация натурфилософской концепции познания на основе эмпирико-метафизической общей теории систем

The article examines the relationship between philosophy and science, as well as the possible role of general systems theory in the formation of the field of consolidated philosophical and scientific knowledge. It is argued that the existing arguments concerning the incompatibility of philosophy with the criteria of scientificity only point to the existence of differences between philosophical knowledge and knowledge within the framework of private sciences. At the same time, philosophy is the methodological and paradigmatic basis of all sciences. It is suggested that it is expedient to return to the natural-philosophical concept of cognition, according to which the core of science is philosophy, and private sciences act as tools of cognition of separate subject areas. The methodological basis for the realization of the natural-philosophical concept today can be the general theory of systems, supplemented by the ontological component. In the article the idea of a common field of knowledge formed by philosophy and all private sciences is put forward. This field of cognition is formed by areas of three types: metaphysical knowledge, private sciences, and areas of generalized or universal knowledge, the cogni-tion of which can be carried out only by means of the general theory of systems. An extended version of the general theory of systems is proposed – the empirical-metaphysical general theory of systems, which, in the author’s opinion, possesses the necessary capabilities for the realization of philosophical cognition. The pro-posed general theory of systems includes an epistemological component (metaphysics of material being) as well as an ontological component. А cognition of complex non-deterministic objects within the framework of empirical-metaphysical general theory of systems is realized by a wide set of tools: collections of patterns and primitives of systems, secondary laws and properties of objects, evolutionary way of cognition and laws of evo-lutionary growth of complexity of systems, as well as methodology of formation of reliable knowledge.

Reproducibility and Post-Publication Criticism: A Crisis in Electrocatalysis?

Understanding an electrocatalytic system requires electrochemistry, surface science, material science, in-situ spectroscopy, in-situ microscopy, theoretical calculations, kinetic modeling, and more. Additional to this multidisciplinarity, basic parameters of electrocatalysis are still challenging to determine, such as the number of active sites, the (electrochemical active) surface area, the intrinsic activity, the in-situ chemical nature of the catalyst's surface, and the identity of the active site.As a young postdoc with five years of experience in electrocatalytic water splitting, I have encountered and learned from a body of literature that is, in part, contradictory, oversimplified, false, methodologically flawed, and non-reproducible. All colleagues and supervisors I have met shared this critical view and such critical opinions have also been expressed in conference presentations and publications.1,2 In light of the first paragraph's points, such literature issues might not be a surprise: an expert in electrochemistry might miss a crucial point of material science and vice versa. A community response has been best practice papers, which summarize fundamental guidelines and call for their adoption.3–7 However, this approach has not proven sufficient, possibly due to the sheer number of publications and the wide range of applied methods.In this talk, we will present results from an ongoing reproducibility study. In this study, three different electrode fabrication procedures were performed in various labs worldwide, and measured electrocatalytic parameters are compared. We will then discuss a potential solution to improve the electrocatalysis literature: increased post-publication criticism. This criticism can be in the form of comment articles directly linked to the article, as offered by most journals but rarely published. In this regard, I have attended conferences where plenary speakers have pointed out fundamental misinterpretations of reports with hundreds or thousands of citations. However, they had not written a comment on the report, leaving students to encounter and potentially believe the unchallenged false conclusions. Currently, comments might be perceived as too negative in electrocatalysis and thus can upset potential referees. We propose that changing this perception is necessary to improve the quality of electrocatalysis literature and research, because the very core of science is respectful and constructive public debate and criticism.

Analysis of Zhu Xi's Inheritance and Development of Confucianism and Its Transformation and Innovation

Confucius founded Confucianism in the late Spring and Autumn periods, and Mencius and Xunzi emerged during the Warring States period to develop Confucianism from their perspectives. However, Confucianism in this period had not yet achieved a stable social status, and even tended to decline after the war, and was once strongly threatened by the rising Buddhism and Taoism. It was not until the emergence of Zhu Xi, a Southern Song scholar who made a new interpretation of Confucianism and Mencius, that he built a new Confucianism with the core of science. It was then that Confucianism established its unshakeable dominance in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties for nearly seven hundred years. In this paper, we study the inheritance and innovation of Song Confucianism to pre-Qin Confucianism, and we study Zhu Xi's philosophy, which not only developed the ideas of his predecessors but also transformed Confucian values into his true spiritual pillars. We find that Zhu Xi truly achieved the greatness of science and created the new Confucianism, namely Zhu Xi's philosophy. In Zhu Xi's view, "the preservation of heavenly reason, and the extinction of human desire" is the essence of Confucianism. Zhu Xi also established the mind-only theory of "reason and qi dualism". He believes that "reason" is the basis and root of the material world, which is also the law of natural operation, while "qi" is the element of all things He believes that "reason" is the basis and root of the material world, and is also the law of natural operation; while "qi" is the element of all things, "reason" and "qi" are not separate, but "reason first, qi second. In addition to this, Zhu Xi also attaches great importance to education. Zhu Xi believes that if there is no education, even if personal achievements can exceed those of their predecessors, the impact is too small to have much value. He pointed out that if Confucianism could be invested in education, then the spirit of Confucianism could be extended to the whole country, and the achievement of doing so would be incomparable. We see that Confucius' transmission of the Six Classics has become a cultural paradigm. And Zhu Zi's teaching of the Four Books has also achieved uninterrupted success. The teachings of Confucius and Zhu Zi were successively reflected, the former in the pre-Qin Dynasty, the latter in the Southern Song Dynasty, even though a hundred years apart, but Zhu Xi has well taken up the spirit of Confucianism and transformed it into the creation of Neo-Confucianism, which is Zhu Xi's philosophy.

The intentions of information sources can affect what information people think qualifies as true

The concept of truth is at the core of science, journalism, law, and many other pillars of modern society. Yet, given the imprecision of natural language, deciding what information should count as true is no easy task, even with access to the ground truth. How do people decide whether a given claim of fact qualifies as true or false? Across two studies (N = 1181; 16,248 observations), participants saw claims of fact alongside the ground truth about those claims. Participants classified each claim as true or false. Although participants knew precisely how accurate the claims were, participants classified claims as false more often when they judged the information source to be intending to deceive (versus inform) their audience, and classified claims as true more often when they judged the information source to be intending to provide an approximate (versus precise) account. These results suggest that, even if people have access to the same set of facts, they might disagree about the truth of claims if they attribute discrepant intentions to information sources. Such findings may shed light on the robust and persistent disagreements over claims of fact that have arisen in the “post-truth era”.

Critiques from within. A modest proposal for reclaiming critique for responsible innovation

ABSTRACT How can critique in responsible innovation (RI) become generative? The anything-but-neutral relations between science, technology and society, at the core of science and technology studies, have led to the development of different repertoires of critique. None of them fitted the configurations in the biomedical practices we came to study. There, biomedical experts presented us with an analysis of the power relations perpetuated through the mainstream practices in their fields and had built socio-material alternatives to the common forms of practicing biomedicine. The paper suggests conceptualising critical observations voiced by experts embedded into socio-material alternatives as ‘critique from within’ yielding collateral goods and bads. Rather than asking how to foster responsibility conditions in RI, the paper suggests modestly reclaiming critique by articulating already existing forms of responsibility practices developed by experts themselves and analysing the ambivalent effects they engender.

Elucidating Orbital Delocalization Effects on Boosting Electrochemiluminescence Efficiency of Carbon Nitrides

AbstractHighly efficient inter‐conversion of different types of energy is the core of science and technology. Among them, electrochemiluminescence (ECL), an emission of light excited by electrochemical reactions, has drawn attention as a powerful tool across diverse fields in addressing global energy, environment, and health challenges. Nonetheless, the ECL efficiency (ΦECL) of most luminophores in aqueous solutions is low, significantly hampering their broad applications. Along this line, developing ECL luminophores with high ΦECL and understanding the associated intrinsic factors is highly envisioned. Herein, taking carbon nitride (CN) with rigid 2D backbones as an emerging model luminophore, it is reported that the orbital delocalization is a unified and quantifiable factor for its ΦECL. Behind the complicated transformation of molecular structures of cyano‐terminal groups and triazine/heptazine basal frameworks, the orbital delocalization of CN is found to be generally improved at an elevated condensation temperature. Such intrinsic evolution in electronic structure favored the electron injection in excitation and follow‐up photon emission in ECL for CN. As a result, the cathodic ΦECL of CN is remarkably improved to a new milestone of 24‐fold greater than the previous record.

Трансформационная и трансакционная функции хозяйственной деятельности (историко-экономический очерк)

The article studies the historical and logical relationship of the transformational and transactional functions of economic activity: it determines the belonging of the abovementioned concepts to the categorical core of economic science; it specifies their characteristics and volume; examines the features of realization of the studied functions in various historical conditions. As the primary method, we used the structural-logical analysis of empirical and theoretical research results on the topics covered. Transformational activity, according to the author, expresses the dialectical unity of production and consumption. The transaction is analyzed as a technological (O. Williamson) and/or legal (J. Commons) link between these processes. The origin of transactions is associated with the emergence of a transformational surplus designed to meet rising needs. The available historical and ethnographic data allows us to trace this phenomenon retrospectively to the moment of the formation of social production. The economic content of transactions is derived from the dual nature of transformational activities aimed at (1) the creation of material products and (2) the objectification of technological information that determines distribution (transport, trade, housing and communal services, etc.). Their implementation is provided by administrative and legal services expressing ownership of the exchanged goods. It increased the efficiency of transactional support of human life with the use of money as a virtual bearer of economic information and a universal measure of the value of a commodity. In conclusion, the author raises a question about the nature of technological and economic shifts in the modern market economy, coinciding with the outstripping growth of transaction costs. Using the world-system approach of F. Braudel makes it possible to put forward a hypothesis about the transactional revolution that preceded the industrial revolution and is manifested in the rapid increase in financial assets.

Google dataset search and DOI for data in the ESA space science archives

Reproducibility is at the core of science. For this reason, a common practice for authors is to provide links to the data used in their manuscripts upon submission to peer-reviewed journals. In space science, reference to archives’ websites of major data providers like space agencies are still accepted by most journals. However, even these websites are not persistent links and will eventually not be accepted once journals require full compliance with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) data principles. On the contrary, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) associated to data could provide persistent links. But so far, the publishing industry is systematically minting DOIs related to their articles or books without requiring DOIs for the data used in their publications. Furthermore, DOIs related to data would not only link refereed publications to the data location. It could also enable a more precise attribution to the data producers and publishers while providing the capability to eventually trace their use. These latter points require that journals eventually request or even enforce the use of these DOIs. For data producers, proper attribution and usage are important in the context of securing research grants or extension of projects. Additionally, structured metadata included in the DOI landing pages offer the possibility for datasets to be discoverable by the new Google Dataset Search (GDS) engine, available since January 2020. This paper describes the on-going activities at the European Space Agency (ESA) to mint DOIs for datasets served across the space science archives, and how a subset of these DOIs are already discoverable by GDS.

Evolutionary psychology as the crystalizing core of a unified modern social science.

Evolutionary psychology as the crystalizing core of a unified modern social science.

Concepts, Not Words, Are at the Core of Science and of the Ecosystem Services Framework

Concepts, Not Words, Are at the Core of Science and of the Ecosystem Services Framework

Introduction: Imagining Alternatives

Imagining Alternatives Megan Condis (bio) If one wants to invent something new, one first has to imagine something new. Perhaps this is why so many scientists credit speculative fiction for helping them take the first steps along their paths to discovery. Were it not for the extraordinary voyages imagined by Jules Verne, Edwin Hubble (the American astronomer who was the first to prove that there were other galaxies out there beyond the Milky Way) would have followed in the footsteps of his father and gone into a career in law.1 Were it not for Dick Tracy’s wrist radio and the slick communicators worn by Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, Martin Cooper might never have invented the cellular phone. And were it not for fantastic tales of interstellar travel and alien invasion written by H. G. Wells, Robert H. Goddard might never have invented the multistage rockets that eventually made spaceflight possible.2 Science fiction might also help readers acclimate to the uncertainties posed by the unknowable future. According to Isaac Asimov, It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is but the world as it will be. . . . Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not. Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today—but the core of science [End Page 1] fiction, its essence, the concept around which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.3 Ursula K. Le Guin takes a similar view with regard to fantasy. She notes that the genre affords its readers with “a different approach to reality, an alternative technique for apprehending and coping with existence. It is not antirational but pararational; not realistic, but surrealistic, superrealistic, a heightening of reality.”4 In other words, far from serving as a diversion from the everyday world, fantasy can be imagined as a creative tool kit that allows readers to reconsider how the world has been built and to question whether it might be constructed differently if we are ever given the chance. It encourages a kind of literacy that allows one to go beyond the ability to “read the operating instructions,”5 literacy whose only purpose is to enable subjects to function efficiently within existing systems of labor and citizenship, and instead aims toward a critique of the status quo. In fact, in a speech that she gave at the National Book Awards in 2014, Le Guin specifically praised the ability of fantasy to help societies think through difficult social and political problems. “Hard times are coming,” she told the audience of writers, publishers, and booksellers, when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. . . . We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable—but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art.6 This special issue aims to further the notion that speculative fiction (including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all manner of other fantastical subgenres) has something more to offer humanity beyond mere escapism. Our contributors posit that these genres provide a unique opportunity for creators and audiences to imagine alternatives to entrenched political narratives and to the so-ordinary-as-to-seem-invisible structures of power that organize our existence. Just as a technology must be dreamed before it can be built, so must new ideologies be envisioned before they can be enacted. Indeed, one of the greatest tricks that an ideological system can pull [End Page 2] is to convince the world that it doesn’t exist, that it is simply a description of what is “normal” or “factual” or “natural” or just the way things have always been and therefore need not be examined. As José Esteban...

Академия наук в условиях распада СССР

On the basis of unpublished archival materials, the problem of finding the optimal strategy for the further existence of the Academy of Sciences in the context of the struggle for power between the Union and Republican centers in the last years of the USSR is studied. Particular attention is paid to the consideration of the ongoing discussions on the feasibility of reorganization of the USSR Academy of Sciences. It is concluded that the fate of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, as well as the fate of the country as a whole in the last years of its existence, largely depended on many subjective and objective factors. A significant part of the scientific community adequately and sagely assessed the events unfolding at that time. The decision to transform into the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Presidium's course to preserve it at all costs despite the very complex relations with the new government, which are now causing ambiguous assessments, allowed, in the author's opinion, to ensure the survival of the core of fundamental science in the 1990s in the conditions of deindustrialization and demodernization of the country.

THE SOIL AS A NATURAL BODY AND THE ENVIRONMENT FOR PLANTS HABITAT

The necessity of the doctrine for the soil as a plants habitat environment revival, which appeared in the early stages of the agriculture development, is substanti-ated. The conditions which ensure sustainable growth and high productivity of various crops were determined. First of all, we studied the specificities which determine the ability of soil to provide plants with nutrients and moisture, largely due to the composition and structure (topography) of the soil-forming rocks, their texture (due to the different mineral composition of different size particles) and therefore largely determines soil fertility. The main credo of this scientific approach is the study of soil properties in relation to plant life (P. A. Kostychev). V.V. Dokuchaev determined soils as a special natural body, which requires corresponding approach to their study, regardless of the vegetation, which cover the soil surface. Emerging on these principles, a new direction of soil science, which later obtained the name of genetic, concentrating on the study of the soil itself, moved away from the demands of agricultural produc-tion, entering into the category of academic sciences. The principles and achievements of the ecological school of forest typology, which studies soils from the position of the unity of both directions, are characterized on the basis of N.М. Sibirtsev suggestions which were described in his classification of 1895. This allowed researchers to bring into a strict system the whole diversity of forests from different natural zones, and made it possible to predict their composition and productivity. At the same time, the number and ratio of three limiting ecological resources: heat, moisture, and food — which determine the composition and productivity of vegetation and the productivity of soils — prevail in the classification. This made it possible to characterize the main regulations of the relationship between living and inorganic nature, which V.V. Dokuchaev called the essence, the core of natural science. The soil science otains the opportunity to enter on the position of the basic theoretical base of agriculture. These principles exist in the community of US soil scientists for a long time. Developing global classification constructions (approximations), American soil scientists distinguish the main taxa (soil series) at the local agricultural level by primary rocks, taking into account their availability of food, moisture, and sometimes heat.

Causal Discovery Combining K2 with Brain Storm Optimization Algorithm.

Exploring and detecting the causal relations among variables have shown huge practical values in recent years, with numerous opportunities for scientific discovery, and have been commonly seen as the core of data science. Among all possible causal discovery methods, causal discovery based on a constraint approach could recover the causal structures from passive observational data in general cases, and had shown extensive prospects in numerous real world applications. However, when the graph was sufficiently large, it did not work well. To alleviate this problem, an improved causal structure learning algorithm named brain storm optimization (BSO), is presented in this paper, combining K2 with brain storm optimization (K2-BSO). Here BSO is used to search optimal topological order of nodes instead of graph space. This paper assumes that dataset is generated by conforming to a causal diagram in which each variable is generated from its parent based on a causal mechanism. We designed an elaborate distance function for clustering step in BSO according to the mechanism of K2. The graph space therefore was reduced to a smaller topological order space and the order space can be further reduced by an efficient clustering method. The experimental results on various real-world datasets showed our methods outperformed the traditional search and score methods and the state-of-the-art genetic algorithm-based methods.

Learners Programming Language a Helping System for Introductory Programming Courses

Programming is the core of computer science and due to this momentousness a special care is taken in designing the curriculum of programming courses. A substantial work has been conducted on the definition of programming courses, yet the introductory programming courses are still facing high attrition, low retention and lack of motivation. This paper introduced a tiny pre-programming language called LPL (Learners Programming Language) as a ZPL (Zeroth Programming Language) to illuminate novice students about elementary concepts of introductory programming before introducing the first imperative programming course. The overall objective and design philosophy of LPL is based on a hypothesis that the soft introduction of a simple and paradigm specific textual programming can increase the motivation level of novice students and reduce the congenital complexities and hardness of the first programming course and eventually improve the retention rate and may be fruitful in reducing the dropout/failure level. LPL also generates the equivalent high level programs from user source program and eventually very fruitful in understanding the syntax of introductory programming languages. To overcome the inherent complexities of unusual and rigid syntax of introductory programming languages, the LPL provide elementary programming concepts in the form of algorithmic and plain natural language based computational statements. The initial results obtained after the introduction of LPL are very encouraging in motivating novice students and improving the retention rate.

Ecological soil physics as section of ecological soil science

Nowadays, there is a general penetration of ecology in other related sciences. Soil science is not an exception. To the evidence of this, the works of soil scientists may serve, that have appeared recently. It is shown that the ecology of soil is a broader area of the genetic soil science, than ecological soil science. In addition to the doctrine of the ecological functions of soil, modern soil ecology also includes the factor ecology and the doctrine of biosphere soil conservation. In modern soil science there are 2 main areas – fundamental, which aims to study all the features of soil as a natural body, and applied that examines various aspects of soil use by man. At the same time it should be noted that most of soil scientists until recently isolated a genetic soil science in two main areas – the genesis and the geography of soils. Academician L. I. Prasolov (1978) was the first who proposed to allocate soil ecology in a separate section of soil science, along with the above directions. V. R. Volobuev (1963) hold on to the similar views. I. A. Sokolov (1993) showed that the section «Soil ecology» is equal to such sections of soil science as the «Genesis of the soil» and «Geography of the soil». N. A. Gorin (2005) hold on to the similar point of view. On this basis, we offer the following vision of the place of soil ecology in the structure of modern soil science. This scheme is based on the allocation of basic research in the areas of soil science by the team of authors under the leadership of the Moscow State University V. A. Kovda and B. G. Rozanov (Pochvovedenie, 1988). The classification of the historic area of soil science is identified with the genesis of soil by us, and pedography – with the geography of soil. The scientific achievements of other fundamental areas (pedognostika, dynamic soil science, regional soil science, history and methodology of science) are widely used to address key issues of historical soil science and pedography. The structure of the direction «Ecology of soil» is developed by academician G. V. Dobrovolsky and E. D. Nikitin (2012). This doctrine of the ecological functions of soil, classification by B. F. Aparin (2012) is a fundamental direction, the theoretical basis of ecological soil science, related to the applied directions. After L. O. Karpachevsky (2005), who considers the ecological functions of soil subject as ecological soil science, we identify the ecological soil science with the doctrine of the ecological functions of soil in some extent. This view is confirmed by the definition of ecological soil science, formulated G. V. Dobrovolsky and G. S. Kust (2012) – «This is a direction in modern soil science, studied the role of soil as a unique habitat of plants, animals, microorganisms, and especially – in human life, in the functioning of the biosphere and the individual ecosystems». From the above definition, it is clear that in this case, the authors believe that the core of ecological soil science is ecological functions of soil, which manifest themselves through their specific role in nature and human life. The subject of the study of ecological soil science, as indicated by L. O. Karpachevsky (2005), is the ecological functions of soil. Modern physics of soil – is the area of soil science that studies the physical properties of the soil and the place in which physical processes are flowing (Voronin, 1986). As you can see from the definition, the ecological functions of soil caused by the physical properties of soil, remain outside the field of soil physics research. For this reason, there is a need for the provision and the development of ecological soil physics, which is based on theoretical and practical achievements of classical physics of soil, and will also pay close attention to research the ecological functions of soil.

A discussion of Alexander S. Kirschner's A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism

The legitimacy claims of liberal democratic states are typically couched in the language of individual rights and the rule of law. But contemporary liberal democratic states increasingly appeal to a logic of security, law and order, and the need to combat “political extremism.” This logic plays out in Ukraine, Egypt, and Turkey, and in Greece and Germany, but also in the U.S., France, and the UK. It is an increasingly important feature of politics in societies that may be experiencing a rough “transition to democracy,” but also in societies that are conventionally regarded as “consolidated democracies.” The normative and practical challenges presented by this situation are fundamental. Alexander S. Kirschner’s A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism offers one interesting take on these issues, which cut to the core of political science as a discipline. We have thus invited a range of political scientists from a variety of subfield and methodological perspectives to comment on the book and on the broader topic the book engages—the ethics of combatting political extremism and indeed the very political construction of “political extremism.” -- Jeffrey C. Isaac

A discussion of Alexander S. Kirschner's A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism

The legitimacy claims of liberal democratic states are typically couched in the language of individual rights and the rule of law. But contemporary liberal democratic states increasingly appeal to a logic of security, law and order, and the need to combat “political extremism.” This logic plays out in Ukraine, Egypt, and Turkey, and in Greece and Germany, but also in the U.S., France, and the UK. It is an increasingly important feature of politics in societies that may be experiencing a rough “transition to democracy,” but also in societies that are conventionally regarded as “consolidated democracies.” The normative and practical challenges presented by this situation are fundamental. Alexander S. Kirschner’s A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism offers one interesting take on these issues, which cut to the core of political science as a discipline. We have thus invited a range of political scientists from a variety of subfield and methodological perspectives to comment on the book and on the broader topic the book engages—the ethics of combatting political extremism and indeed the very political construction of “political extremism.” -- Jeffrey C. Isaac

A discussion of Alexander S. Kirschner's A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism

The legitimacy claims of liberal democratic states are typically couched in the language of individual rights and the rule of law. But contemporary liberal democratic states increasingly appeal to a logic of security, law and order, and the need to combat “political extremism.” This logic plays out in Ukraine, Egypt, and Turkey, and in Greece and Germany, but also in the U.S., France, and the UK. It is an increasingly important feature of politics in societies that may be experiencing a rough “transition to democracy,” but also in societies that are conventionally regarded as “consolidated democracies.” The normative and practical challenges presented by this situation are fundamental. Alexander S. Kirschner’s A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism offers one interesting take on these issues, which cut to the core of political science as a discipline. We have thus invited a range of political scientists from a variety of subfield and methodological perspectives to comment on the book and on the broader topic the book engages—the ethics of combatting political extremism and indeed the very political construction of “political extremism.” -- Jeffrey C. Isaac

A discussion of Alexander S. Kirschner's A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism

The legitimacy claims of liberal democratic states are typically couched in the language of individual rights and the rule of law. But contemporary liberal democratic states increasingly appeal to a logic of security, law and order, and the need to combat “political extremism.” This logic plays out in Ukraine, Egypt, and Turkey, and in Greece and Germany, but also in the U.S., France, and the UK. It is an increasingly important feature of politics in societies that may be experiencing a rough “transition to democracy,” but also in societies that are conventionally regarded as “consolidated democracies.” The normative and practical challenges presented by this situation are fundamental. Alexander S. Kirschner’s A Theory of Militant Democracy: The Ethics of Combatting Political Extremism offers one interesting take on these issues, which cut to the core of political science as a discipline. We have thus invited a range of political scientists from a variety of subfield and methodological perspectives to comment on the book and on the broader topic the book engages—the ethics of combatting political extremism and indeed the very political construction of “political extremism.” — Jeffrey C. Isaac