Historical Choice Research Articles

Historical Choices and Knowledge Production

Historical Choices and Knowledge Production

Old politics in pandemic management

New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and Its Alternatives, written by political scientist and Africanist Alex de Waal, is a clarion call to rethink the way in which societies respond to pandemic diseases. De Waal uses historical case studies of cholera, 1918 influenza, and HIV/AIDS to challenge readers to recognise the limitations of the current “war on disease” rhetoric that has dominated pandemic planning and responses since the late 19th century. Using the current COVID-19 pandemic to frame his analysis, de Waal dissects the historical choices which have produced the current policies of mass sequestration, reliance on curative services, and faith that medical technology through vaccination will bring “victory”.

Взаимоотношения Ливонского ландмейстерства Тевтонского ордена и рижских архиепископов в условиях Реформации и вопрос о политическом устройстве Ливонии

The article reveals the nature and features of the relationship between the Livonian Order and the Archbishops of Riga during the Livonian Reformation, in 1521–1558, and reveals their attitude towards the spread of Lutheranism, the influence of the reformation processes on the political life of Livonia. It also examines the legal, political and ideological reasons and prerequisites of the Livonian Master Wolter von Plettenberg historical choice. The article concludes about the successful use of the reformation movement by the Livonian Order in the struggle against the Archbishop of Riga, about the negative impact of the results of this policy on the position of the Order, about the worsening of the difficult political situation in Livonia by the Reformation.

ПРОБЛЕМЫ КУЛЬТУРЫ В ТВОРЧЕСТВЕ ВСЕВОЛОДА ИВАНОВА

Statement of the problem. The article is a continuation of our work devoted to the problems of the history of culture in the creative work of Vsevolod Ivanov in the 1940s–1960s. A new stage in the formulation of the problem, which makes it possible to trace the origins of the theme of culture in Ivanov’s creative work, became possible thanks to the publication of unknown texts by the writer of his early Siberian period. The purpose of the article is to analyze the theme of culture in Ivanov’s early work, to examine the evolution of the writer’s views. Methodology. The article uses comparative historical textual methods, the method of historical and cultural commentary. Research results. The theme of culture is considered for the first time on the material of Ivanov’s works of the 1910s, the evolution of his views is traced, which were formed in a dialogue with re- gional ideas and the concept of the East and West by A.M. Gorky. It is noted that the early works of the writer reflected anxiety for the fate of cultural values in the modern world. Particular attention is paid to the spiritual values of the culture of the East, understood by Ivanov in his own way and found embodiment in his work. The analysis of the story “The Return of the Buddha” and the third the edition of the novel “The Edessa Shrine” shows how the writer’s attitude to the East changed. Conclusions. The analysis of Ivanov’s works devoted to the theme of culture shows that this problem interested the writer from the very beginning of his creative path. Reflecting on the fate of the outgoing culture of Siberia in early works, dreaming of the possibility of the influence of the ancient East cultures on the historical choice of Russia and Europe in the 1920s, in the story “The Return of the Buddha”, the writer, by the end of the 1950s, obviously, comes to the conclusion that it is impossible for the forces of culture to resist the development of civilization.

Granice włoskiej drogi do federalizmu. Uwarunkowania ustrojowe, historyczno-doktrynalne i kulturowo-społeczne

The aim of this article is to present the limitations of the possibilities of developing Italian federalism, resulting from both systemic and doctrinal conditions, as well as historical and socio-cultural ones. While the significant amendment of Title V of the Constitution of the Italian Republic in 2001 might indeed have heralded a further development in this direction, other relevant factors of Italian statehood did not favour it. Leaving aside the very issue of the limitations of the political system (understandable in the context of the historical and doctrinal choices of Italian statehood), which nevertheless ultimately deviates from federal solutions, it is necessary to mention above all the weaker – and less recognisable – position of the regions as potential components of federal-type sovereignty and the economic disparities between North and South, which are too large and too risky from a federalist perspective.

Идеационный институционализм: объяснение институциональных трансформа- ций в период кризиса

The role of agents' ideas in determining the direction of institutional transformations is often underestimated; this is especially true if one is analyzing the formation and/or reformation of institutional design during a crisis when the significance of other factors may decrease. Institutional approaches of historical institutionalism and rational choice institutionalism are not always able to adequately measure the impact that agents' ideas have on institutional transformations. Ideational institutionalism, on the contrary, allows one to focus on these ideas, as well as to analyze both ideas’ effect on emerging institutions and the impact of an agent’s ideas on ideas of other agents. Furthermore, ideational institutionalism in the form presented in the article proposes to move away from the perception of ideas exclusively as intersubjective and to separately study the ideas of each decision-maker; this allows one to assess the role of a particular agent in the formation of institutions. This approach is promising, in particular, for the analysis of the institutional changes that occurred in the post-Soviet countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The article discusses the main characteristics of the ideational approach and the framework of its use on the example of institutional changes in the Republic of Belarus in the 1990s.

Транс-ИИ: как создать настоящий искусственный интеллект

We are at the edge of colossal changes. This is a critical moment of historical choice and opportunity. It could be the best 5 years ahead of us that we have ever had in human history or one of the worst, because we have all the power, technology and knowledge to create the most fundamental generalpurpose technology (GPT), which could completely upend the whole human history. The most important GPTs were fire, the wheel, language, writing, the printing press, the steam engine, electric power, information and telecommunications technology, all to be topped by real artificial intelligence technology. Our study refers to Why and How the Real Machine Intelligence or True AI or Real Superintelligence (RSI) could be designed and developed, deployed and distributed in the next 5 years. The whole idea of RSI took about three decades in three phases. The first conceptual model of TransAI was published in 1989. It covered all possible physical phenomena, effects and processes. The more extended model of Real AI was developed in 1999. A complete theory of superintelligence, with its reality model, global knowledge base, NL programing language, and master algorithm, was presented in 2008. The RSI project has been finally completed in 2020, with some key findings and discoveries being published on the EU AI Alliance/Futurium site in 20+ articles. The RSI features a unifying World Metamodel (Global Ontology), with a General Intelligence Framework (Master Algorithm), Standard Data Type Hierarchy, NL Programming Language, to effectively interact with the world by intelligent processing of its data, from the web data to the real-world data. The basic results with technical specifications, classifications, formulas, algorithms, designs and patterns, were kept as a trade secret and documented as the Corporate Confidential Report: How to Engineer Man-Machine Superintelligence 2025. As a member of EU AI Alliance, the author has proposed the Man-Machine RSI Platform as a key part of Transnational EU-Russia Project. To shape a smart and sustainable future, the world should invest into the RSI Science and Technology, for the Trans-AI paradigm is the way to an inclusive, instrumented, interconnected and intelligent world.

'Palavra de mulher' e Alsina Alves de Lima: antologia, poeta e reabertura de arquivo

Based on the opening of the archive of the anthology Palavra de Mulher (1979), organized by poet and fiction writer Maria de Lourdes Hortas, which contains 45 women poets, this article inter-laces the idea of archiving as an act of historical choice and the conception of anthology as formator of memory, of canons and, also, of archives. The poetry and biography of the poet Alsina Alves de Lima, a woman, from the south of Brazil and black, present in the anthology, are rescued and discussed, bring-ing together some poems and information found in the works Cadernos literários 6 (1982) and Nossa Geração. Publicação do diretório estadual de estudantes do Rio Grande do Sul (1966). Finally, we reflect on the process of re-editing Palavra de mulher, by Macabéa Edições, as a form of re-archiving and rewrit-ing History.

Dynamics of the Legal Status of Mongolia in the 20th Century

This article is aimed at determining Mongolia’s status based on historical documents and contemporaries’ evaluation. It discusses the change in the legal status of Mongolia from the collapse of Qing Empire till the mid XX century. As it is shown, Mongolia was not part of China but was in vassal — suzerain relationship with the Manchu Dynasty of Qing Empire. Qing ‘new policy’ of Chinese colonization destroyed this relationship which led to national liberation movement of Mongols. Dynasty abdication and the formation of the Republic of China gave new legitimate ground for independence Mongolia. Declaration of independence of Mongolia on December 29, 1911 as the culmination of this movement was legitimate and was not a revolution. The treaty signed in 1912 between Russia and Mongolia may be considered as de jure recognition of the independence but not the autonomy of Mongolia. The rightful recognition of the autonomy was recorded in the agreement of 1915 between Russia, China and Mongolia. Outer Mongolia became the state under the formal suzerainty of China and the protectorate of Russia. The abolishment of autonomy and occupation of Outer Mongolia by China in 1919 was illegal. In 1921 baron R. F. Ungern reinstated the autonomy and in fact the independence of Outer Mongolia. From the take-over of the Mongolian People’s Party until adoption of constitution by the Mongolian People’s Republic in 1924 the country status was undefined. From 1924 until recognition by China in 1946 the Mongolian People’s Republic was de facto independent country with the implied (silent) recognition by the USSR. Reunion of Inner Mongolia and Barga with the Outer Mongolia / Mongolian People’s Republic was the historical choice of their peoples.

Dimensions of time and space in sociology

Contemporary sociology has significantly changed the concept of space and time. According to Wallerstein, time and space represent a reality that sociology has long neglected. The situation is different in historical sciences, in which, as White states, the narrative approach prevails, and in historical sociology. The authors focus on time and space as frames for the historically oriented explanation. Thus, time can be understood in different ways - as passing, duration, measure, moment appropriate for an action or change. Different forms of time represent different frames for interpreting social events. Space is often interpreted in the relational perspective - as an order of relations formed by interacting subjects. The frame, in which we place an event, determines how we see and think about space and time. Reflections on time were significantly influenced by Braudel, who distinguished three levels of historical time. Today, the issue of space and time-space is considered by social geography, which provides some insights for sociology, as Giddens shows, especially when examining modernization and globalization. The sociological concept of time-space was developed by Wallerstein, who distinguished five types of space-time: episodic-geopolitical, conjunctural-ideological, structural, eternal, and transformative. These types of space-time provide different perspectives for the analysis of specific historical events. One of the reasons why Wallerstein places such an emphasis on space-time is that he believes that we are in the transformative time-space, which marks the end of the long structural space-time of the world system. Therefore, we face opposing historical choices and have no certainty, except that every step we take will have serious consequences.

What does it mean to provide decision support to a responsible and competent expert?

Decision support consists in helping a decision-maker to improve his/her decisions. However, clients requesting decision support are often themselves experts and are often taken by third parties and/or the general public to be responsible for the decisions they make. This predicament raises complex challenges for decision analysts, who have to avoid infringing upon the expertise and responsibility of the decision-maker. The case of diagnosis decision support in healthcare contexts is particularly illustrative. To support clinicians in their work and minimize the risk of medical error, various decision support systems have been developed, as part of information systems that are now ubiquitous in healthcare contexts. To develop, in collaboration with the hospitals of Lyon, a diagnostic decision support system for day-to-day customary consultations, we propose in this paper a critical analysis of current approaches to diagnostic decision support, which mainly consist in providing them with guidelines or even full-fledged diagnosis recommendations. We highlight that the use of such decision support systems by physicians raises responsibility issues, but also that it is at odds with the needs and constraints of customary consultations. We argue that the historical choice to favor guidelines or recommendations to physicians implies a very specific vision of what it means to support physicians, and we argue that the flaws of this vision partially explain why current diagnostic decision support systems are not accepted by physicians in their application to customary situations. Based on this analysis, we propose that decision support to physicians for customary cases should be deployed in an “adjustive” approach, which consists in providing physicians with the data on patients they need, when they need them, during consultations. The rationale articulated in this article has a more general bearing than clinical decision support and bears lessons for decision support activities in other contexts where decision-makers are competent and responsible experts.

Path Dependence: Determinants and Impacts of Technology Adoption

Today’s world heavily relies on sustained technological advancements. Yet, consumers’ preferences for one technology over another are not necessarily predicated on transparent or rational reasons. That is, in a sequence of events later decisions are not entirely independent on previous ones. Historical choice patterns paired with positive feedback may subsequently reinforce one’s entrenched ways of thinking. This resultant contingency, referred to as path dependence, may tip the balance in favor of one particular piece of technology over more superior ones. A better comprehension of the phenomena in terms of technology adoption suggests a greater probability of attaining the most optimal outcome. Thereby, the current paper aims to address the subtle corresponding determinants and impacts of technology adoption. Relevant studies thereat were selected, critically assessed, and integrated into the follow-up literature review. A thorough view at the inferior QWERTY keyboard attributed its entrenchment on a market level to three interrelated factors: technical interrelatedness, system scale economies, and quasi-irreversibility of investment. Although more superior alternatives were available, the QWERTY keyboard layout is nowadays a leading standard worldwide.

Основы социально-экономической идеологии трудящихся в трудах выдающегося советского и российского социального мыслителя, создателя основ нового, современного обществознания Галины Яковлевны Ракитской

In order to approach the understanding of the socio-economic ideology of the worker, her conscious and unconscious modifications in historical retrospect will need to scientifically raise the question of the options of the future of the employee and in accordance with scientific research outstanding Soviet and Russian scientist and thinker G. Ya. Rakitskaya to scientifically assess the comparative level of reality (historical feasibility) of varieties of things to come. We will need, at least in aggregate terms, a theory of historical choice. This complex task will require a deep and meaningful understanding of the existing ideologies, fundamental interests, and political programs of various social groups. And at the same time, of course, you need to have a certain personal ideological position. Without this, any researcher is sterile and blind.

Critical Pedagogy and Challenges of Interpellation used Through Discourse Strategies in Academic Discourse

Interpellation is an assumption about taken for granted roles assumed by culture or any dominant strain of society, and it serves as flagship to status quo activities. In a pedagogical sense, its presence is also one of the manifestations of certain social and historical choices. If interpellation consolidates and perpetuates certain assumptions, the Critical Pedagogy does otherwise. As described by Friere (1970), Critical Pedagogy empowers marginalized educational practices. Learner autonomy and successful pedagogy are guaranteed by a neutral educational method. This approach is used in this paper to critically examine academic discourse. Power dynamics and cultural underpinnings of academic discourse are thought to have distorted the concept of critical pedagogy. Research is restricted to written scholarly texts from a number of different universities. Textual analysis aided in the investigation of power structures created indirectly by a nexus of powers. These results were revealed in a variety of shapes using CDA.

Chronic kidney disease and household behaviors in Sri Lanka: Historical choices of drinking water and agrochemical use

This paper examines whether there are systematic differences in the historical behaviors of households that are affected and unaffected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Sri Lanka pertaining to their water source choices, water treatment practices, and agrochemical use. This analysis is motivated by the Sri Lankan government’s largest policy response to this epidemic – to encourage communities to switch from untreated well water to publicly provided alternatives. We use recall methods to elicit information on the drinking water source and treatment choices of households over an 18-year period from 2000–2017. Our analysis is based on a survey of 1497 rural ground-water dependent households in the most CKD-affected areas of the 10 districts of Sri Lanka with the highest prevalence of CKD. Our main findings are that (a) households that have ever used a pump to extract (typically deep) drinking water from a household well are more likely to be affected by CKD; (b) we fail to find a relationship between disease status and households’ use of buckets to extract (typically shallow) groundwater from their wells; and (c) those who have ever treated their shallow well water by boiling it are less likely to be affected by CKD. We also find that a greater share of CKD affected households historically used agrochemicals, used wells that were geographically removed from surface water sources, and displayed lower proxies of wealth. The implications of these findings are fourfold. First, since the systematic differences in the historical patterns of water sources and treatments used by CKD affected and non-affected households are modest, the sources of water and the treatment practices themselves may not be the sole risk factors in developing CKD. Second, although we find a negative association between boiling water and the probability of CKD, it is not obvious that a public policy campaign to promote boiling water is an appropriate response. Third, the hydrochemistry of deep and shallow well water needs to be better understood in order to shed light on the positive relationship between deep well water and disease status, and on why boiling shallow but not deep well water is associated with a lower probability of CKD. Fourth, there is a need for a deeper understanding of other risk factors and of the efficacy of preventative programs that provide alternative sources of household drinking water.

Racism and White privilege: highly skilled immigrant women workers in Australia

ABSTRACT Skilled immigrant women represent a source of skills for the Australian economy. However, political and historical choices have formed and reinforced new emergent diasporic spaces in a country which remains marked by the British Empire’s heritage. Drawing on 31 qualitative interviews, this article focuses on the career journeys of skilled immigrant women from the UK, India, China and the Philippines in a White Anglo-dominant society. By marking and de-neutralizing the racialized nature of Australian working spaces, the study examines how racism operates within Australian working spaces. It also addresses how White privilege dominates the Australian job market. By providing empirical data about highly skilled immigrant women’s careers, this article sheds light on how racism and White privilege affected all the skilled immigrant women’s career experiences, as there was prejudice and racism in hiring non-White women. The article, therefore, contributes to extending the literature on skilled immigrant women and racism in Australia.

Восток и Запад: взаимодополнительность идей

The article makes an attempt to reconstruct the historical development of the concepts and traditions of the East and West, to identify its key points, the complementarity of Eastern and Western ideas that enriched each other. The goal is to identify ways to integrate the concepts of East and West to form a universal and general civilizational basis for the further development of culture and science. The research method is a comparative analysis. Scientific novelty lies in the identification of the specifics of Eastern and Western concepts in relation to knowledge, culture, science, philosophy and mysticism. The role of Islam is substantiated as a mediator of relations between East and West. In conclusion on the basis of the analysis undertaken, it is argued that the likelihood of integration of the Eastern and Western worldviews is real, but it depends on the historical choice of humanity on the path of its further development.

Natural Cybernetics and Mathematical History: The Principle of Least Choice in History

The paper follows the track of a previous paper “Natural cybernetics of time” in relation to history in a research of the ways to be mathematized regardless of being a descriptive humanitarian science withal investigating unique events and thus rejecting any repeatability. The pathway of classical experimental science to be mathematized gradually and smoothly by more and more relevant mathematical models seems to be inapplicable. Anyway quantum mechanics suggests another pathway for mathematization; considering the historical reality as dual or “complimentary” to its model. The historical reality by itself can be seen as mathematical if one considers it in Hegel’s manner as a specific interpretation of the totality being in a permanent self-movement due to being just the totality, i.e. by means of the “speculative dialectics” of history, however realized as a theory both mathematical and empirical and thus falsifiable as by logical contradictions within itself as emprical discrepancies to facts. Not less, a Husserlian kind of “historical phenomenology” is possible along with Hegel’s historical dialectics sharing the postulate of the totality (and thus, that of transcendentalism). One would be to suggest the transcendental counterpart: an “eternal”, i.e. atemporal and aspatial history to the usual, descriptive temporal history, and equating the real course of history as with its alternative, actually happened branches of the regions of the world as with only imaginable, counterfactual histories. That universal and transcendental history is properly mathematical by itself, even in a neo-Pythagorean model. It is only represented on the temporal screen of the standard historiography as a discrete series of unique events. An analogy to the readings of the apparatus in quantum mechanics can be useful. Even more, that analogy is considered rigorously and logically as implied by the mathematical transcendental history and sharing with it the same quantity of information as an invariant to all possible alternative or counterfactual histories. One can involve the hypothetical external viewpoint to history (as if outside of history or from “God’s viewpoint to it), to which all alternative or counterfactual histories can be granted as a class of equivalence sharing the same information (i.e. the number choices, but realized in different sequence or adding redundant ones in each branch) being similar and even mathematically isomorphic to Feynman trajectories in quantum mechanics. Particularly, a fundamental law of mathematical history, the law of least choice of the real historical pathway is deducible from the same approach. Its counterpart in physics is the well-known and confirmed law of least action as far as the quantity of action corresponds equivocally to the quantity of information or that of number elementary historical choices.

自组织农业是我国农业发展的历史选择——以稻鳝共作为例

自组织农业是我国农业发展的历史选择——以稻鳝共作为例

Влияние православной богословской мысли на философию ранних славянофилов на примере письма игумена Антония (Бочкова) И.В. Киреевскому

In the first half of the 19th century, two religious and philosophical movements, diametrically opposite in their views, emerged in Russia, later called “Westernizers” and “Slavophiles”. Both worldviews, based on the foundations of the Western Christian and Eastern Christian under-standing of the structure of church and state, public relations, the influence of tradition on the his-torical choice of the state development vector, led to heated discussions between their founders, and subsequently their supporters. In support of the representatives of the philosophical and social thought of the “Westernizers” “Slavophiles” on theological issues, as well as the reviewing of particular articles, both Catholic and Orthodox clergymen were involved. We reveal the influence of the Orthodox theological thought of the 19th century on the religious philosophy development of one of the founders of “Slavophilism” in terms of posing and solving the problem of historical tradition. The relevance of the study is due to the increased interest in the issue of the spiritual life of society and church-state relations. The work contains for the first time introduced into scientific circulation a handwritten letter from hegumen Anthony (Bochkov) to I.V. Kireyevsky from the funds of the Russian State Library with author’s comments and explanations. The problems of religious and philosophical thought of this period are revealed, that is the influence of Roman (pagan) philosophy on the formation and development of Western theology, opposing the development paths of Russia and Europe, recognition of the negative influence of ritualism on the formation of a true Orthodox worldview, understanding of Peter I reforms as a “Russian reformation”. The analysis of the epistolary source made it possible to reveal the direct impact of the arguments of hegumen Anthony on the views of I.V. Kireyevsky, reflected in his works.