Instrumental View Research Articles

Concept Formation in Political Science: An Anti-Naturalist Critique of Qualitative Methodology

This article offers an anti-naturalist philosophical critique of the naturalist tendencies within qualitative concept formation as developed most prominently by Giovanni Sartori and David Collier. We begin by articulating the philosophical distinction between naturalism and anti-naturalism. Whereas naturalism assumes that the study of human life is not essentially different from the study of natural phenomena, anti-naturalism highlights the meaningful and contingent nature of social life, the situatedness of the scholar, and so the dialogical nature of social science. These two contrasting philosophical approaches inspire, in turn, different strategies of concept formation. Naturalism encourages concept formation that involves reification, essentialism, and an instrumentalist view of language. Anti-naturalism, conversely, challenges reified concepts for eliding the place of meanings, essentialist concepts for eliding the place of contingency, and linguistic instrumentalism for eliding the situatedness of the scholar and the dialogical nature of social science. Based on this philosophical framework, we subject qualitative concept formation to a philosophical critique. We show how the conceptual strategies developed by Sartori and Collier embody a reification, essentialism, and instrumentalist view of language associated with naturalism. Although Collier's work on concept formation is much more flexible and nuanced than Sartori's, it too remains attached to a discredited naturalism.

Shaping a corporate identity from below: The role of the BAT Bulletin

Existing studies that have explored the use of company journals as a mode of corporate communication during the early 20th century have invariably adopted an instrumentalist view of these publications. Company journals have been seen as a means of projecting to employees a top-down view of organizations. This article identifies a counter-example in which the origins of a company journal, the BAT Bulletin, are seen to arise as the result of an initiative stemming from the employees themselves.These antecedents gave the BAT Bulletin a high degree of legitimacy amongst staff and provided the company with an important means of establishing a unified corporate culture across a disparate group of international operating companies. Over time, however, the contents of the journal gradually became more conventional, and it was eventually closed down when the strategy of international integration ceased to be a desirable corporate objective during the 1930s.

Psychological Emptiness in the Zhuāngzǐ

Three views of psychological emptiness, or xū, can be found in the Zhuāngzĭ. The instrumental view values xū primarily as a means of efficacious action. The moderate view assigns it intrinsic value as an element of one Zhuangist vision of the good life. The radical view also takes it to be an element of the ideal life, but in this case the form of life advocated is that of the Daoist sage, who transcends mundane human concerns to merge with nature or the Dào. The instrumental and moderate views articulate a relatively commonsensical position, on which the agent continues to pursue at least some characteristically human projects. On the radical view, by contrast, the agent ceases to exercise agency and lives a life hardly recognizable as human. The three views thus signal a tension in Zhuangist ethics, and the unattractiveness of the radical view poses a potential obstacle to the application of Daoist ideas in contemporary ethical discourse. The paper argues that there are principled grounds within Zhuangist thought for detaching the instrumental and moderate views from the radical view and rejecting the latter.

When emotions of others affect decisions in public good dilemmas: An instrumental view

AbstractThe present research examines whether the emotional display (i.e. anger vs. guilt) of another group member affects people's decision‐making in a public good dilemma. In two experiments we investigated whether the expressed emotion is particularly informative when communicated by a group member who is highly instrumental in reaching the provision point. A first experiment demonstrated that participants were more likely to exit the group when anger as opposed to guilt was communicated, but especially when the group member displaying the emotion was able to contribute many endowments to the public good. Expected justice (based on past inferences) in the group mediated this effect, suggesting that communicated anger signals more than guilt that the group will not set out to achieve fairness. In agreement with this, a second experiment showed that when it was not possible to exit the group, participants preferred to install a democratic leader more when a wealthy group member communicated anger as opposed to guilt. Additionally, this study provided experimental evidence that a communicated emotion is only used for subsequent decision‐making when more explicit information (i.e. a promise to contribute) is absent. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Inconsistencies within attachment teaching practice in Zimbabwe: call for a participatory model

This article raises some inconsistencies observed in attachment teaching practice in Zimbabwe. The argument made is that these inconsistencies are caused by the different philosophical approaches informing attachment teaching practice and its delivery, which is largely visible in teaching practice supervision. The discussion shows that while attachment teaching practice is based on social constructivism and socially critical orientations, its delivery still operates under the guise of the neoclassical instrumentalist view of education. The author proposes the participatory attachment teaching practice model as a way of trying to realign the delivery to suit the philosophical base of attachment teaching practice in initial teacher education in Zimbabwe.

A fleeting history of happiness: children's perspectives

The concept of well-being has become part of the Government's agenda, with reports and books suggesting that happiness can be manipulated and that it is in the political interest to promote it. This instrumental view of well-being is examined in the light of children's experiences and their comments on them. These representative attitudes are compared with the accumulated wisdom of philosophers and the changing attitudes to happiness over time.

From periphery to center: how CSR is integrated in mainstream performance management frameworks

PurposeThe purpose of this research paper is to analyze how CSR can be embedded in mainstream performance management models. It is frequently argued that corporate social responsibility (CSR) needs to shift from being a peripheral add‐on activity to become integrated in all core business functions. However, in order to do so it is important that CSR is absorbed in the mainstream management standards that are used by the majority of large companies today.Design/methodology/approachThe Danish pump manufacturer Grundfos A/S serves as a good practice example to describe how CSR can be integrated in the Business Excellence model. The analysis is primarily based on secondary information and interviews with managers and senior professionals in Grundfos A/S and Grundfos Group.FindingsThe case example illustrates how CSR can become well‐integrated in the business excellence model. However, it is argued that the instrumental view dominating the Business Excellence model may suppress alternative and more value‐based approaches to CSR.Originality/valueThe analysis is primarily based on interviews which make it difficult to conclude whether Grundfos A/S actually live CSR in the daily operating practices.

Pragmatism, Piety, and Environmental Ethics

AbstractThe rise of pragmatism in environmental ethics in the 1990s was driven by several factors, including dissatisfaction with the field's dominant nonanthropocentrism and the desire to increase the political and policy influence of environmental ethics. Yet despite an emphasis on human experience as the foundation of environmental values and action, environmental pragmatists have paid little attention to the religious dimensions of human-nature interactions. In this paper I attempt to address this neglect by exploring the religious thought of John Dewey, arguably the most significant pragmatist philosopher of the classical period. I suggest that Dewey's understanding of religiosity—in particular, his concept of "natural piety"—instructs us to respect nonhuman nature as a source of human imaginative experience and self-unification. Although Dewey's naturalized approach to religious experience retains a broadly instrumentalist view toward nature, it is an instrumentality that supports a humble and appreciative attitude toward the environment and a sense of caution regarding the modification of nature for human purposes. I conclude by arguing that the recovery of Dewey's attitude of natural piety provides an important constraint on more aggressively anthropocentric approaches to human-nature relations, including those promoting sustainability as an alternative to traditional limits-based environmentalism.

Epistemic Instrumentalism and Reasons for Belief: A Reply to Tom Kelly’s “Epistemic Rationality as Instrumental Rationality: A Critique”

Tom Kelly argues that instrumentalist accounts of epistemic rationality fail because what a person has reason to believe does not depend upon the content of his or her goals. However, his argument fails to distinguish questions about what the evidence supports from questions about what a person ought to believe. Once these are distinguished, the instrumentalist can avoid Kelly’s objections. The paper concludes by sketching what I take to be the most defensible version of the instrumentalist view.

Redimensionner la fonction publique au Malawi : préceptes des organisations internationales et réalités administratives

Resizing the Civil Service in Malawi: International Organization Guidelines and Administrative Realities The reduction in the number of government employees is the direct consequence of programs devised by IFI (international financial institution) experts aiming to reorganize the public sector according to World Bank and IMF guidelines. However, far from altering the underlying dynamics and structures of the civil service, the reforms undertaken have reinforced cleavages inherited from the colonial period and heightened tensions. The process of reorganizing the civil service in Malawi is a case the prompts one to question the relevance of the instrumental view of good governance touted by the IFI, a vision based on a decontextualized and ahistoric concept of a “dysfunctional” state that can be “repaired” using the “tools” proposed by experts. For it indeed seems that even when IFI objectives have been met, public sector reform, which primarily aims to orient transformations in Malawi in a direction favored by the “donor community,” has not at all helped to make the bureaucracy more efficient. It is on the contrary more fragmented than ever. “Enclaves” enjoy IFI financial and logistic support and supervising ministries fight for the meager resources, while “juniors,” the many subordinate civil servants in the country’s administration, are increasingly taking their distance from their “bosses.”

Jawaharlal Nehru and Science and Technology

Nehru was deeply identified in the public mind with science and technology. From the mid-seventies, however, there had been a strong current of disenchantment, as the chasm between those who benefited from Nehruvian developmental policies and those who bore its burden widened.Scientific temper was essential in the building of a secular society. Nehru’s scientific vision was realised in the institutions for scientific research and defence strategies that he was instrumental in setting up. However, many of Nehru’s statements were part of his personal vision that did not find representation in state policy. The Science Policy Resolution 1958 was drafted by Homi Bhabha. The Resolution contained the unusual formulation that the key to national prosperity, apart from the spirit of the people, lay in the modern age in technology, raw material and capital. The recognition of ‘the spirit of the people’ in the context of science and technology was what makes the resolution unusual. Of these other factors, the Resolution asserted that technology was the most important because it could cover up the deficits in the other two spheres.The application of science on a large scale was the dominant feature of the contemporary world. It was only through science that the idea of progress and of the welfare state could be realised. Despite this initial vision, the focus in later years shifted to an instrumentalist view of science in which the wealth of nature and human resources was to be exploited only for the growth of industry.

Repressed Contents Reconsidered:Repressed Contents and Dennett’s Intentional Stance Approach

The conventional view presented in terms of repressed contents brought to consciousness (a ‘realistic view’ of repressed contents) is seen as untenable because the existence of repressed contents cannot be pinpointed. An instrumentalist view of the nature of repressed contents is sketched, and Dennett’s intentional stance approach is applied to the issue of repressed contents. As opposed to realistic view, it is suggested that becoming conscious of repressed contents should be seen as forming new contents of consciousness. However, it is seen as plausible to project unconscious contents into the mind in an instrumentalist manner. An instrumentalist view is suggested to avoid ontological problems concerning repressed contents.

Professionalizing Claims and the State of UK Professional Accounting Education: Some Evidence

In advancing the ‘professionalizing’ claims, the UK accountancy bodies emphasise that their members have command of practical and theoretical education, engage in ethical conduct, serve the public interest and act in a socially responsible way. However, such claims are routinely problematized by scandals that highlight the highly partisan role of accounting and accountants and failures of accounting education. Rather than undertaking a radical review of accounting education, the professional bodies seek to rebuild confidence in accounting and their jurisdictions by (re)affirming that accounting education is or will be devoted to producing reflective accountants through educational processes focussing on sound education principles, ethics, professional scepticism, lifelong learning opportunities, distinguishing between private and public interest and serving the public interest. These promises presuppose that students on professional accounting courses are exposed to such values. To advance the debate, this paper examines a number of financial accounting, auditing and management accounting books and finds that, beyond a technical and instrumental view of accounting, there is little discussion of theories, principles, ethics, public interest, globalization, scandals or social responsibility to produce socially reflective accountants.

Anti-Psychologism and the Path Beyond Reductive Egology in Husserl

Many criticisms of Husserl center upon his notion of an apparently all-enveloping ego.1 Recent responses to this line of attack emphasize the decidedly "non-Cartesian" elements of Husserl's later genetic phenomenology, a phenomenology marked by themes of intersubjectivity and historicity.2 As important as these genetic analyses are, they take their significance from "within" the phenomenological reduction. As critics might contend, despite the best efforts of Husserl and his expositors, reliance on the reduction brings the analyses right back to the ego. This essay employs a different strategy to address charges concerning Husserl's "reduction to the ego." Instead of appealing to Husserl's late work, it examines an anti-reductionist tendency in his early logical work. This tendency, which is clearly evident in his anti-psychologism, falls under the broad heading of "avoidance of metabasis eis allo genos" (change into some other genus). My essay consists of three parts. Part one examines the concept of metabasis and articulates Husserl's early distinction between the real and the ideal. Part two moves to an explanation of the claim that psychologism, resting upon a metabasis, eliminates the ideal in favor of the real. Part three then characterizes Husserl's early idealism as the result of avoiding psychologism, metabasis, and ontological reductionism. I conclude by pointing toward the significance of Husserl's attempts to avoid this category mistake for our understanding of his later works. The Concept of Metabasis and the Ideal and the Real In his Prolegomena, Husserl introduces the concept of "metabasis eis allo genos" (or simply "metabasis") in the general context of scientific field delimitation.3 Sciences develop by means of a hermeneutic relationship between the state of the science as practiced on one hand and that science's definition and the understanding of its proper objects on the other. The science as practiced gives rise to its definition and a determination of its field. This determination, in turn, guides the subsequent practice of the science.4 Thus, the importance of properly determining the field of a science is clear. Accurate definitions aid, while inaccurate definitions often hinder, scientific progress. But this is not an instrumentalist view. A given field demarcation is not considered accurate simply because it aids progress; rather, it aids progress because it is accurate. Hence Husserl writes that The field (Gebiet) of a science is an objectively closed unity: we cannot arbitrarily delimit fields of truth where and as we like. The realm (Reich) of truth is objectively articulated into fields: researches must orient themselves to these objective unities and must assemble themselves into sciences.' There are two basic ways in which a science can fail to properly orient itself to its objective field. The first occurs when the boundaries of a scientific field are drawn too narrowly. In such a case, the objects studied by the science comprise a subset of the full, objectively unified field that constitutes the science's true field. This is an innocuous mistake when compared with the second type, metabasis. This latter is identified as an especially pernicious mistake. As Husserl explains, metabasis is the confusion of fields (Gebietsvermengung), the mixture (Vermischung) of that which is heterogeneous in a putative fieldunity, especially when this rests on a complete misreading (Misdeutung) of the objects (Objekte) whose investigation is to be the essential aim of the proposed science." When a science is sufficiently misaligned with the "objective articulations of the field of truth" that its understanding of its field of research combines or transgresses the objeclively articulated fields, then it commits a metabasis. Clearly, ontological reductionism would be one form of this error. While the concern with field delimitation remains central to the meaning of "metabasis" in the Prolegomena, the concept is not limited to mistakes of this scale. …

Comunicação empresarial versus comunicação organizacional: novos desafios teóricos

O papel da comunicação e da informação no ambiente organizacional, sem dúvida, tem despertado o desenvolvimento de diferentes enfoques conceituais e teóricos. Todavia, a não-aplicabilidade de processos comunicativos relevantes no ambiente das organizações, principalmente em situações complexas, leva-nos a refletir sobre um novo conceito de comunicação organizacional. Neste artigo, analisamos fundamentos teóricos da comunicação de Habermas e de Cohn e, principalmente, algumas contribuições do teórico da complexidade, Dominique Genelot, para o embasamento da comunicação organizacional como um elemento estratégico na realização dos objetivos e da intencionalidade das organizações, na tentativa de superar os limites dos enfoques reducionistas do conceito tradicional de comunicação empresarial, influenciado principalmente pela visão instrumental da comunicação sustentada pela teoria da informação e pelos corpora teóricos que se inspiraram em tal conceito e que com base nele se desenvolveram.

Ivoirian identity constructions: ethnicity and nationalism in the prelude to civil war

ABSTRACT. The recent and unresolved conflict in Côte d'Ivoire has received little attention in the English‐speaking world. Where it is discussed, the instrumentalist view of ethnic conflict predominates. This is a linear and structural argument. It examines how pre‐given ethnic groups gained political voice in clashes over control of economic resources, and were subsequently manipulated by political elites with personal agendas. This paper questions the coherence of group identity and instead emphasises the agency of individuals. It argues that the meaning of ethnic identity was transformed as social and economic grievances led to conflict between political groupings. This approach accords individual Ivoirians more responsibility for determining the boundaries of ethnic and nationalist exclusion, and for participating in the ensuing violent conflict.

Might Intentions be the Only Source of Practical Imperatives?

I focus on the broadly instrumentalist view that all genuine practical imperatives are hypothetical imperatives and all genuine practical deliberation is deliberation from existing motivations. After indicating why I see instrumentalism as highly plausible, I argue that the most popular version of instrumentalism, according to which genuine practical imperatives can take desires as their starting point, is problematic. I then provide a limited defense of what I see as a more radical but also more compelling version of instrumentalism. According to the position I defend, genuine practical deliberation and genuine practical imperatives take as their starting point the agent's intentions and only the agent's intentions.

Socio–instrumental Usability: IT is all about Social Action1

Usability is an important concept that seems to receive less attention than it deserves outside of the core Human–Computer Interaction community. The reason for this apparent lack of interest may stem from an overly instrumental orientation towards usability that does not appeal to more socially oriented researchers. Three central criteria for usability, as reflected in the contemporary literature, are the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which users can achieve specified goals. These criteria are often expressed in terms of achieving goals, which, at least tacitly, seem to be restricted to goals related to an instrumental view on the use of IT. To broaden this view, the paper elaborates on how the concept of usability can be understood and used within a social action context. How social goals are related to the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction criteria is addressed specifically. It is argued that in order truly to understand usability, we must consider both instrumental and social goals since their combination constitute a fundamental part of the social action context in which systems are used. Both instrumental and social goals affect the way systems and use-situations are designed and conceived. Interpreting usability from this broad social action perspective may be a way to make the concept more accepted throughout the wide variety of areas dealing with the design of IT systems.

Evidence-Based Planning

This paper aims to conceptualize the upsurge of governmental interest in evidence-based policy in Britain by drawing on two models of policy-evidence interface; the instrumental and the enlightenment model. It argues that much of the drive behind the enthusiasm for evidence is rooted in the linear and utilitarian view of research which is broadly based on three interrelated misconceptions about the nature of evidence, the role of experts, and the influence that these can have on policy. By drawing on examples from the UK planning systems, the paper explores the mismatch between the use of evidence in the “ideal” and the “real” worlds of planning and policy process. It is argued that the assumption made under the positivist view of planning in the 1960s and 1970s are similar to those made under the instrumental view of the policy-research interface.

The State of UK Professional Accountancy Education: Professionalising Claims

In advancing the 'professionalising' claims, the UK accountancy bodies emphasise that their members have command of practical and theoretical education, engage in ethical conduct, serve the public interest and act in a socially responsible way. However, such claims are routinely problematised by scandals which highlight the highly partisan role of accounting and accountants and failures of accounting education. Rather than undertaking a radical review of accounting education, the professional bodies seek to rebuild confidence in accounting and their jurisdictions by (re)affirming that accounting education is or will be devoted to producing reflective accountants through educational processes focused on sound education, principles, ethics, professional scepticism, lifelong learning opportunities, distinguishing between private and public interest and serving the public interest. These promises presuppose that students on professional accounting courses are exposed to such values. To advance the debate, this paper examines a number of financial accounting, auditing and management accounting books and finds that beyond a technical and instrumental view of accounting, there is little discussion of theories, principles, ethics, public interest, globalisation, scandals or social responsibility to produce socially reflective accountants.