Innovative Impulse Research Articles

Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology (review)

Reviewed by: Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology Graeme Voyer Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology by Wesley McDonaldUniversity of Missouri Press, 2004, 243 pp., $44.95 Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology Russell Kirk was one of the principal American conservative thinkers of the post–World War II era. He is a particularly interesting figure because, unlike many on the American Right, he was a critic of unrestrained capitalism. In Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology, Wesley McDonald, a professor of political science, seeks to explicate Kirk's social, moral and political thought. Kirk wrote twenty-four nonfiction books, but his most famous and influential was The Conservative Mind (1953). Before the publication of this work, the American intellectual Right was dominated by libertarians, concerned primarily with economic issues. Kirk's book, along with several others, "marked the beginning of the shift in the emphasis of American conservatism away from the atomistic individualism of the libertarians toward a deeper appreciation of man's social nature." Indeed, there was a vast gulf between Kirk's thought and the pro-capitalist libertarians. As McDonald says, "Kirk did not praise the free market uncritically. He supported tariffs to protect the small farmer against a capricious global market. He deplored the ruinous destruction of the environment wrought by corporate greed and commercial excess." Unlike the libertarians, Kirk was concerned with values and "championed those enduring norms of social interaction without which civilized existence is rendered impossible." Central to Kirk's thought was the concept of ethical dualism. This notion, which is consistent with classical and Judeo-Christian teaching, holds that human beings have tendencies toward both good and evil; there is a higher self and a lower self. Kirk believed that the impulses of the lower self must be "restrained by this collective and immemorial wisdom we call prejudice, tradition, customary morality." Opposing ethical dualism are various schools of thought, identified under the rubric of "naturalism," that reject the existence of permanent ethical truths and attempt to explain human behavior "wholly in terms of external phenomenal forces explainable by science." Kirk's work can be seen as a sustained refutation of the naturalist school. The bulk of McDonald's book consists of his elucidation of various concepts and themes of Kirk's thought, all of which are interrelated. These include the moral imagination, tradition and "the permanent things," order, community and education. A principal theme of Kirk's thought is his critique [End Page 199] of ideology. To Kirk, ideology threatens the "civilized order of the Western world." Among the ideologies denounced by Kirk are the rationalism of the eighteenth-century French philosophes, the romantic idealism of the Rousseauists, utilitarianism, positivism, Marxism, Social Darwinism, pragmatism and socialism. These ideologies engendered "the belief in the perfectibility of man, the enthusiasm for social and economic leveling, the impulse for innovation coinciding with a concomitant contempt of tradition, the denial of the power of Providence in history, and the rejection of 'the permanent things,' defined as those enduring moral values which make civilized social existence possible." McDonald's book at times lacks structure and organizational coherence. Still, it is a useful introduction to the thought of a major American conservative writer. Copyright © 2005 The Curators of the University of Missouri

Scientific findings of Alexander von Humboldt's expedition into the Spanish-American Tropics (1799-1804) from a geographical point of view

Alexander von Humboldt's expedition from 1799 till 1804 to the "equinoctial regions of the new world" led through Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico. In Europe an increased knowledge of the "New World" was connected with the privately funded journey, which served purely scientific purposes and had nothing to do with the exploration and exploitation of natural resources. Besides the research results, which were based on new measuring methods and the quantitative ascertainment of scientific basics, the journey also made possible detailed descriptions in matters of regional studies including social, socio-economic, political, and economic-geographic circumstances, which were based on empirical field studies. The expedition took place shortly before the political change in Latin America. Humboldt, who still experienced the feudal character of global economy based on slave labor in the colonies, vehemently criticized this economic structure - although he was a noble - and its unbearable social conditions. This is the reason why Humboldt is still admired in Latin America till this day. In Europe the scientific insights of his journey to the tropics and his innovative impulses in geog raphy as well as in many other disciplines brought him fame and lasting recognition as a universal scholar, who had crucial influence on the development of the sciences during the first half of the 19th century.

Does Innovation Cause Exports? Evidence from Exogenous Innovation Impulses and Obstacles Using German Micro Data

Trade and growth theories predict a mutual causation of innovation and exports. We test empirically whether innovation causes exports using a uniquely rich German micro dataset. Our instrumental-variable strategy identifies variation in innovative activity that is caused by specific impulses and obstacles reported by the firms, which can reasonably be viewed as exogenous to firms' export performance. We find that innovation attributable to this variation leads to an increase of roughly 7 percentage points in the export share of German manufacturing firms. The evidence is robust to several alternative specifications, similar for product and process innovations, and heterogeneous across sectors.

Experience and knowledge

Playful action — undirected, interactive, boundary-transgressing and scenic — provides creative potential for the process of technological development. This thesis is developed with reference to John Dewey. In the course of the argument experience is assigned an indispensable position as a method of gaining knowledge. The argument presented grants an innovative status to experience-based, playful action, opposed to the hegemony of the technical-economical logic, which stresses exactness, unambiguity and measurability. The hegemony of the technical-economical logic in the Western industrialized countries is responsible for the discreditation of playful action. But the price to be paid is to go without the innovative impulses which are essential elements of playful action.

ENGAGING TRADITION IN MODERN ARAB POETICS

AbstractThe modernist movement in Arabic literature develops its own poetics, especially pertaining to poetry, in dialogue with both the Arab literary legacy and modernity in its Western manifestations. In the face of many challenges after the Second World War, poets felt the need for a poetics of regeneration, a mythical method that could superimpose a totalizing vision on a seemingly dying land and civilization. T. S. Eliot's writings on tradition and his use of myth drew attention to pre-Islamic mythology, especially in its Babylonian and Phoenician manifestations. Tradition was manipulated, as well, in search of its dynamic impulse for innovation and change. Both al-Ma'arrī and al-Mutanabbī were re-discovered beyond their other attributes. Both foreshadow the modernist impulse for change, dissent, thought, reason and morality. Both make high claims for poetry. Although modern poets developed different commemorative strategies, recollection undergoes re-tailoring in view of each poet's commitment at a certain time. This essay discusses these strategies under four headings: Dialogization, Dedications, Exilic Space, Textual Apprenticeship.

Identification and control of typical industrial process

Many industrial processes such as heating furnaces have over-damping dynamic characteristics. Based on an innovative impulse response model, a method of identification and control for the over-damping plant is introduced in the paper. The number of parameters of the model is much less than conventional impulse response model. The model based on tuning procedure of numerical optimum PID controller parameters is presented. For an actual instance, a large-scale airflow circulatory resistance furnace control system with cascades of time-delays is developed. In the system, the optimum PID control is used in the inner loop. A nonlinear PI compensation control is applied in the outer loop. The coordinating control among each output is realized by a fuzzy control strategy. A process surveillance organization monitors running situation of system and tunes controller parameters.

The innovative impulse excitation technique for high-temperature mechanical spectroscopy

Recent developments in digital signal analysis have allowed substantial progress in the field of impulse excitation techniques (IET), i.e. the mechanical–spectroscopic analysis of ‘impulse excited’ resonant vibrations. The new IET-devices determine several impulse excited resonance frequencies simultaneously. Upon each single impulse excitation, the internal friction corresponding to each of the analysed frequencies is deduced from the exponential decay of the vibration amplitude. In this paper, data obtained with a resonance frequency and damping analyser (RFDA) which is linked to two furnaces, are presented. One of the furnaces can reach temperatures up to 1100°C in air. This furnace was used to characterise phase transformations and point defect relaxations in yttria-stabilised polycrystalline zirconia (Y-TZP) ceramics. Subtle differences in composition affect the measured internal friction spectrum. A second furnace is graphite heated and is used for measurements in inert atmosphere up to 1750°C. In this furnace a sintered silicon nitride was tested to investigate the glass transition and crystallisation of an intergranular amorphous phase.

Relations entre la recherche et la pratique. L'Antenne romande du WSL sur les voies de l'innovation | Correlations Between Research and Practice – The Antenne Romande WSL and its Innovative Concept

The first decade of the Antenne romande WSL between 1990 and 2000 is presented under the institutional point of view and the research and extension activities are commented. Far beyond the concepts which were aimed at at the time of its foundation, this new structure had to adapt itself to a continuously changing context, despite the scarce means. Some of its results actually show an innovative character, which is mainly due to the quality of the human relations established and to the enthusiasm brought along by all the research partners involved. The AR-WSL took advantage of synergies reaching beyond the field of forestry. In order to transmit innovative impulses to Swiss forestry through research and practice, it could be of interest to involve non-forest scientists in the management of renewable natural resources. Taking action from its location at the EPF Lausanne, the Antenne romande has decided to implement this solution.

There's no business like snow business! Marketing skiing into the 21 st century

In maturing markets, European ski destina tions and tour operators are being forced to address both product and market issues in a more businesslike fashion. This paper begins by looking at tourism overall, and the place of the skiing market within the industry. A summary of the evolution of winter sports is followed by an examination of the world ski market with particular focus on the UK. An analysis of the consumer, the destinations they frequent, the operators who package skiing products, and the distribution structure of the industry, is succeeded by an evaluation of that part of the industry responsible for ski clotlrirrg and equipment. The author then looks at the impact of snowboarding, and contends that the growth and impulse for innovation in the winter sports business is coming from snow boarding rather than conventional skiing. Based on this critical artalysis of the industry, the author makes recommendations for successfully marketing the sport into the 21st century, suggesting that the European industry should consider emulating certain marketing strategies employed in North America. In particular, more effort is required to encourage the potential market to partici pate. Although attempts have been made to segment the skiing market, identifying and understanding potential markets has never been a priority. The author concludes that if more people are to be tempted on to the slopes, then marketing policies of both destinations and operators in Europe will have to be increasinly aggressive.