Main Claim Research Articles

The impact of corporate sustainability performance on advertising efficiency

Over the years several studies have reported a significant waste of advertising budget, a finding which calls for strategies to increase advertising efficiency. While some factors, such as brand extensions or an optimal marketing mix, have already been identified as relevant determinants of advertising efficiency, changes in consumer psychographics have so far been neglected. The current study fills this gap by investigating how the emerging awareness and demand for corporate sustainability serve as a contextual factor leveraging or hindering advertising efficiency. Furthermore, we investigate how advertising efficiency has changed across various industry sectors from 2010 to 2019. A two-step procedure was applied to analyze the secondary data of 1950 observations from 195 US firms in five industry sectors over a period of 10 years. The resulting time series of firm-specific multi-directional efficiency scores confirms that advertising efficiency varies over time, justifying the relevance of a dynamic perspective for analyzing advertising efficiency. Furthermore, in support of our main claim, the investigation of the relationship between advertising efficiency and the environmental, social and governance performance of firms over time using a time-fixed effects panel regression and a three-level hierarchical regression model confirm the significant impact of corporate sustainability performance on advertising efficiency. Interestingly, this effect varies among different industry sectors and not all corporate sustainability activities impact advertising efficiency to the same extent. The results not only emphasize the relevance of corporate sustainability performance in increasing advertising efficiency, but also guide marketers on strategic marketing decisions related to the allocation of advertising budget.

One True Logic, by Owen Griffiths and A.C. Paseau

One True Logic is a rare contribution to the most fundamental issues in the philosophy of logic. The book pushes a remarkably clear and uncompromising monistic stance, in a presentation that is historically informed and mathematically intricate, all the while being engaging and instructive. This makes the book a pleasure to read for anyone who is intrigued by foundational questions about logic. Due to its exceptional readability, I expect that readers of all levels will benefit from this book. The philosophical question that underlies any foundational theorising about logic is: which logic is the correct logic? This question presupposes that there is one. The authors do not make this presupposition, and the first part of the book asks whether there is one correct logic, or rather none or many. Having reached monism as a conclusion, mainly through a negative critique of the now popular pluralistic stance, the second, more extensive part of the book, draws the contours of the one true logic, and the third responds to objections. The main claim of the book is that the one true logic is infinitary, and to a maximal extent.

Students' abilities to formulate exhaustive titles as a key to comprehending arguments

AbstractTitles are used to find and express the main idea of a given text. This study examines the ability of 357 eleventh‐grade high school students to formulate meaningful titles for argument paragraphs. Additionally, the link between the ability to provide proper titles and the ability to recognize the argument claim is examined. The study relates to three types of argument structures. The results reveal that most students failed to convey the main idea in all three argument structures. Moreover, even students who succeeded in indicating the main claim, failed to suggest exhaustive titles. Analysis reveals seven different types of inaccuracies in titles students formulated, and reasons for such are offered. Ten recommendations for teaching are suggested in conclusion.

The Modal Future

<i>The Modal Future</i>

Relational egalitarianism and moral unequals

Relational egalitarianism and moral unequals

Equality, Democracy, and the Nature of Status: A Reply to Motchoulski

Abstract Several contemporary philosophers have argued that democracy earns its moral keep in part by rendering political authority compatible with social or relational equality. In a recent article in this journal, Alexander Motchoulski examines these relational egalitarian defenses of democracy, finds the standard approach wanting, and advances an alternative. The standard approach depends on the claim that inequality of political power constitutes status inequality (the ‘constitutive claim’). Motchoulski rejects this claim on the basis of a theory of social status: once you see what social status is, Motchoulski thinks, the constitutive claim is a non-starter. In its place, Motchoulski suggests that relational egalitarians can and should content themselves with a defense of democratic institutions on the basis of a causal-instrumental link between equality of political power and equality of social relations. In this reply, I advance three main claims. First, relational egalitarians have good reason to hope for a defense of the constitutive claim, since that claim is required if relational equality is to vindicate the intrinsic value of democracy. Second, Motchoulski’s argument against the constitutive claim fails, because it depends on conflating one species of social status for the genus as a whole. Finally, I argue that the constitutive claim is trivially true for one kind of status, namely de facto authority, but, since equality of that kind of status is not intrinsically valuable, this does not amount to a defense of the intrinsic value of democracy.

Do communicators take over? Mediatization and conflicts in civil society

AbstractThe article investigates internal strategies and struggles in civil society organizations' (CSOs') policy advocacy work from the vantage point of policy professionals by using the concepts of field, symbolic capital, and logics. A main claim is that mediatization acts as a strategic‐tension mechanism within a CSO, putting communicators at the center of policy units, which in turn is consequential for the strategies chosen for the organization's policy work. In this way, mediatization as a process celebrates certain professionals and strategies as particularly relevant, creating frustration among employees not specializing in communication. The study identifies a trend for organizations to put more resources and influence into communication and less into actual policy analysis. This article combines research on organizational logics, policy professionals, and mediatization by drawing on 38 interviews with, and ethnographic work among, policy professionals in Sweden, Latvia, and the Netherlands.Related ArticlesSelling, Niels, and Stefan Svallfors. 2019. “The Lure of Power: Career Paths and Considerations among Policy Professionals in Sweden.” Politics &amp; Policy 47(5): 984–1012. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12325.Svallfors, Stefan. 2016. “Out of the Golden Cage: PR and the Career Opportunities of Policy Professionals.” Politics &amp; Policy 44(1): 56–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12149.Svallfors, Stefan, Erica Falkenström, Corrie Hammar, and Anna T. Höglund. 2022. “Networked Reports: Commissioning and Production of Expert Reports on Swedish Health Care Governance.” Politics &amp; Policy 50(3): 580–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12462.

Least squares spherical harmonics approximation on the Cubed Sphere

The Cubed Sphere grid is an important tool to approximate functions or data on the sphere. We introduce an approximation framework on this grid based on least squares and on a suitably chosen subspace of spherical harmonics. The main claim is that for the equiangular Cubed Sphere with step size π/(2N), a relevant spherical harmonics subspace is the one of all SH of degree less than 2N. This choice, which matches the Nyquist’s cutoff frequency along the equatorial great circle, provides an approximation problem both well-posed and well-conditioned. A series of theoretical and numerical results supporting this fact are presented.

Wild Exaggeration and Vast Potential: Technology’s Limits and Promise in Legal Education

The purpose of this article is to assess the extent of technology’s benefits for legal education. The ar- gument makes two main claims. First, it argues that an understanding of the neuroscience of learning may focus and ground legal and other educators on the possible benefits and roles of technology in education. Second, it argues that, once this is done, technology can be applied to democratize access to legal education. The article concludes, however, by pointing out areas of risk and concern regarding this project.

Strategic Citation: A Reassessment

AbstractThe United States patent system is unique in that it requires applicants to cite documents they know to be relevant to the examination of their patent applications. Lampe (2012) presents evidence that applicants strategically withhold 21%–33% of relevant citations from patent examiners, suggesting that many patents are fraudulently obtained. We challenge this view. We first show that Lampe's empirical design is inconsistent with both legal standards and standard operating procedures, including how courts identify strategic withholding. We then compile comprehensive data to reassess the empirical basis for Lampe's main claim. We find no evidence that applicants withhold citations.

What Leads to "Serial Killer" Behavior?

The paper is a hypothesis/inestigative paper that dives into the causes for "serial killer" behavior. The main claim is that the amygdala is one of the main causes of vioent behavior. Examples such as Ted Bundy and Ed Gein are desrcibed and analyzed to find a connection between their actions and their dyfunctional amygdalas. The crimes of Ted Bundy and his remorseless killings reveals his psychopathic behavior that is most likely caused by the problems with his amygdala. Ed Gein's childhood trauama and unhealthy attachment to his mother lead to schizophrenic behavior after her death, which may have caused problems in his amygdala, which in turn leads to crime.

POTENTIAL HISTORY: READING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FROM INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES*

ABSTRACTUntil the beginning of the twentieth century, history, as a core concept of the political project of modernity, was highly concerned with the future. The many crimes, genocides, and wars perpetuated in the name of historical progress eventually caused unavoidable fractures in the way Western philosophies of history have understood change over time, leading to a depoliticization of the future and a greater emphasis on matters of the present. However, the main claim of the “Historical Futures” project is that the future has not completely disappeared from the focus of historical thinking, and some modalities of the future that have been brought to the attention of historical thought relate to a more‐than‐human reality. This article aims to confront the prospects of a technological singularity through the eyes of peoples who already live in a world of more‐than‐human agency. The aim of this confrontation is to create not just an alternative way to think about the future but a stance from which we can explore ways to inhabit and therefore repoliticize historical futures. This article contains a comparative study that has been designed to challenge our technologized imaginations of the future and, at the same time, to infuse the theoretical experiment with contingent historical experiences. Could we consider artificial intelligence as a new historical subject? What about as an agent in a “more‐than‐human” history? To what extent can we read this new condition through ancient Amerindian notions of time? Traditionally, the relationship between Western anthropocentrism and Amerindian anthropomorphism has been framed in terms of an opposition. We intend to prefigure a less hierarchical and more horizontal relation between systems of thought, one devoid of a fixed center or parameter of reference. Granting the same degree of intellectual dignity to the works of Google engineers and the views of Amazonian shamans, we nevertheless foster an intercultural dialogue (between these two “traditions of reasoning”) about a future in which history can become more‐than‐human. We introduce potential history as the framework not only to conceptualize Amerindian experiences of time but also to start building an intercultural dialogue that is designed to discuss AI as a historical subject.

‘Why haven’t you known?’

This article critically examines the character and extent of transoceanic solidarity in feminist anti-nuclear activism. Drawing on archival research into a British-based solidarity network, Women Working for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (WWNFIP), the article centralises the rhetorical question ‘Why Haven’t You Known?’ demanded by Māori activist Titewhai Harawira of her British audience in 1986, and extends it to contemporary scholars of feminist anti-nuclear activism. The article makes three main empirical claims. First, the WWNFIP archive pushes Indigenous women from across the Pacific into the limelight as experts and teachers, with British-based counterparts playing a supportive role. Second, the archive foregrounds Indigenous knowledge claims about nuclear colonialism and correspondingly represents decolonisation as essential to nuclear abolition. Thirdly, solidarity is shaped in ambivalent ways by these knowledge claims, which simultaneously evoke sisterly closeness and the discomfort of potential white allies. Overall, WWNFIP’s relatively successful construction of transoceanic solidarity, notwithstanding some ambiguities and limitations, points to the crucial relationship between knowledge and solidarity. The case study not only offers some valuable lessons for contemporary efforts to forge anti-nuclear solidarities but also disrupts dominant accounts of feminist anti-nuclear activism, past and present.

Please wear a mask: a systematic case for mask wearing mandates

This paper combines considerations from ethics, medicine and public health policy to articulate and defend a systematic case for mask wearing mandates (MWM). The paper argues for two main claims...

Is Morocco operating a grey zone in Ceuta and Melilla?

ABSTRACT Tensions between Spain and Morocco rose throughout 2021. However, they stem from decades-long conflicts over territory. One of Rabat’s main claims relates to the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, located on the north coast of Africa. The present article highlights the main clashes between the two countries and their respective positions. It then explores whether Morocco is operating a Grey Zone strategy to secure control over the two cities in the medium term and concludes that this is indeed the case.

Making Law Possible

Making Law Possible

L’insoutenable monisme. Kojève, Heidegger et l’idée d’une ontologie dualiste

The aim of this paper is to bring out the core commitments underlying Koj&#232;ve&#8217;s ontological position. My main claim is that he designs an original ontological framework, which integrates (but also regionalizes) Hegel&#8217;s and Heidegger&#8217;s analysis, and which can be properly characterized as a &#8220;double dualism&#8221;. In order to assess this thesis, I discuss Koj&#232;ve&#8217;s relationship to Heidegger and show that: a) on Koj&#232;ve&#8217;s view, Heidegger&#8217;s phenomenology is marked by an attenuation of the scope of negativity which gives rise to a tendentially monistic phenomenology; b) for Koj&#232;ve, Heidegger&#8217;s main philosophical innovation is the idea of a dualist ontology. This thesis relies on Koj&#232;ve&#8217;s hermeneutical conjecture that in the unpublished part of Being and Time Heidegger accomplishes a doubling (or a duplication) of ontology.

What, if anything at all, do African societies themselves owe to their own citizens in terms of health?

The debate about global justice and health has focused so far on what developed countries owe to developing countries to advance global public health. Less attention has however been paid to the health obligations of developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, towards their own people and how this may affect considerations about justice and health in a globalized world. This paper challenges the implicit presumption in global justice theories that African societies, because they are poor, have weaker health obligations toward their own peoples. It makes two main claims. First, despite their economic shortcomings, African governments should have the primary responsibility to protect the domestic side of the human right to health of their own citizens and dumping their own health obligations on rich countries is a disservice to the overall goal of global justice in health. Second, the health obligations of African societies towards their own people should be assessed and grounded also on their potential abilities, and not exclusively on their current abilities. Global justice in health cannot be reduced to what rich countries should do. It must include also what developing countries from Sub-Saharan Africa should do beyond accepting or managing any health assistance.

The Lost Books of Jane Austen by Janine Barchas

Reviewed by: The Lost Books of Jane Austen by Janine Barchas Miranda Burgess Janine Barchas, The Lost Books of Jane Austen. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2019. Pp. 284. $35.00 cloth. For at least the past two decades, the characteristic gesture of new books on Jane Austen's novels has been the pivot: a turning away from the critical tradition coupled with a movement toward new arguments, both motions fluid and reflexive. From the standpoint of recent scholarship, Austen criticism has had much to rethink. The posthumous, possibly anxious, family hagiography that shaped Victorian understandings of Austen's novels was met by mid-twentieth-century critics' pathologization of her irony, which then gave way, perhaps dialectically, to an equation between this presumed disinterest and a culpable disengagement, especially from history.1 Twenty-first-century Austens have been less "safe," to borrow [End Page 323] from Clifford Siskin and Deidre Lynch's characterizations of the novels, than this miniaturizing tradition had assumed: less proper, perhaps meaner or queerer, certainly more accommodating to the range of readerly imagination.2 The key word here is "more." The best critical pivots emphasize the capaciousness of novels that do a great deal more than preach to their readers and chasten their heroines, even as they continue to be convincingly read as doing these things. An especially strong thread in recent Austen scholarship has been reception history, precisely because of its additive, generous quality. Lynch, Claudia Johnson, and Devoney Looser, in particular, have detailed the diversity of Austen reception, low, high, and middlebrow, luxurious and Puritan, popular and canonical, considering the transmedial repackaging of plots and characters as well as the varieties of readers.3 Janine Barchas's illuminating The Lost Books of Jane Austen extends this thread in Austen scholarship by making a pivot of its own, turning not only toward new arguments but also, and more importantly, toward striking methodological innovations. Like Looser, Barchas emphasizes material culture as an object of reception study. Barchas's specific focus, however, is the vicissitudes of letterpress. The opening sentence of Lost Books conveys her main claim: that "Cheap books make authors canonical" (ix). In five wide-ranging, detailed chapters, Barchas investigates the print-historical scaffolding of Austen's canonicity: the publisher ingenuity and inventive range of uses that made her work ubiquitous at a time when, as William St Clair has pointed out, the terms of authorial copyright made it cheaper and easier to reprint old books than to publish new ones.4 The first chapter of Lost Books tracks the emergence and fate of the Austen paperback, from the Victorian dime novels and (apparent) penny dreadfuls that first "created… the People's Jane" to the mid-twentieth-century Penguins and Pocket Books that made parallel claims to stripped-down wartime worthiness and disposable portability, foregrounding the text over the book-object that contained it (44). Here we importantly see canonicity emerge in lockstep with ephemerality. The subsequent chapters examine the marketing of disposable editions as product tie-ins, especially by soap companies drawn by, and contributing to, Austen's sanitary reputation; the purchase of one publisher's worn stereotype plates by others for reissue in new bindings, the consequent downcycling of editions from luxury to disposable as the plates were used and reused, and the recirculation of cover designs across low- and higher-priced editions over decades; the uses of Austen in Christian educational settings and the way the resulting binding conventions were redeployed to help consolidate suffragist and other radical audiences; the emergence of the prestige paperback, or throwaway book as serious, re-readable volume; and the "pinking" of Austen in cover images aimed at addressing, or perhaps establishing, new and specialized types of female reading audiences, a scene that also comprehends the feminization of the English major in American colleges after 1960 via illustrations and jacket blurbs that reasserted Austen's safety against the threats posed by the counterculture (232). As she unfolds these histories, Barchas speculates on the process of pruning that ultimately narrowed the list of canonical novelists from those inhabiting "books worth keeping" solely for their historical interest, and therefore not often enough kept, to those whose survival no longer...

Кант — сторонник метафилософского скептицизма?

Throughout history, both philosophers and non-philosophers have doubted that philosophical positions qua philosophical positions are justified and that philosophy is a rational enterprise. Today, such doubts are grouped under the term “Metaphilosophical Skepticism”. Nicholas Rescher, in his book Strife of Systems, includes Kant among the proponents of this kind of skepticism. I want to argue that while Rescher is wrong, Kant has con­tributed to a new version of such skepticism. In the first step, I characterize the basic idea of metaphilosophical skepticism in more detail and identify a version of this idea, which I call “Second-Stage-Skepticism” and on which I will focus. In the following part, I reconstruct Rescher’s reading of Second-Stage-Skepticism as well as his reasons for considering Kant to represent this version. My main claim in this part will be that there is no reading of the mentioned basic idea that makes Rescher’s view reasonable. In the third step, I introduce a newer form of metaphilosophical skepticism — “Third-Stage Skepticism” — and conjecture that this form can be seen as inspired by Kant’s thought on philosophical diversity. Finally, I point out a way to reject this newer form.