Pursuit Of Consensus Research Articles

Theory of Public Interpretation

Interpretation is public in nature. It is carried out in public space, and involves mutual understanding and communication in public space rather than individual understanding and self-expression in private space. The interpretative space is characterized by freedom, equality, tolerance, public restraint and the pursuit of consensus. The generation of interpretation is guided by contemporary public reason premised on universal public elements. All the premises of interpretation derive from and are based on their public nature. Common feelings and collective images are the universal possessions of mankind, and language, logic and knowledge are all the accumulation of public spirit. Public reason is the foundation of the public nature of interpretation. It is a positive force that stimulates and promotes interpretation; a framework that constrains and regulates interpretation; and a yardstick to measure the effectiveness of interpretation. Public reason functions in public interpretation, and the latter unfolds under the guidance and restraint of the former. The consciousness of interpretation is an essential requirement of the public nature of interpretation. Interpretative agents adhere to their independent identity with clear rational self-knowledge, have an in-depth grasp of the public laws governing interpretation, meet and exceed public expectations, and take truthful interpretation as their goal for realizing the practical value of interpretation.

Consensus or Contestation: Reflections on Governance of Innovation in a Context of Heterogeneous Knowledges

Governance of innovation needs to cater in a democratic way for heterogeneity of knowledges. Many initiatives in the democratisation of innovation aspire to some sort of consensus among relevant actors. However, consensus tends to silence dissenting voices, typically those of marginalised groups. In situations of high epistemic and epistemological diversity, this problem can be expected to aggravate. Against consensus-seeking theories of deliberative democracy, Chantal Mouffe has proposed the aspiration to grant the possibility of contestation. While one central principle in many theories of democracy is that it should never silence dissenting or minority positions, Mouffe elevates contestation, rather than the pursuit of consensus, to be the linchpin of democracy. I will explore what a contestation-oriented view of democratisation could mean in the case of governing innovation, specifically in the case of biogasification of rice straw. The latter is commonly presented as a potentially beneficial use of rice straw, which is currently considered waste and (illegally) burned by farmers on the Indian countryside. However, our research has shown that this view indeed unduly suppresses valuable yet marginalised knowledges. Lessons for frameworks such as Responsible Research and Innovation, and particularly an alternative to the dominant aim of democratising innovation through deliberation, will be drawn.

The function and development of standards for a newly commercialized technology � absorbable metallic implants

The function and development of standards for a newly commercialized technology � absorbable metallic implants

LA MUERTE PRÓXIMA: VIDA Y DOMINACIÓN EN RÍO DE JANEIRO Y MEDELLÍN

This article takes two cities, Rio and Medellin, to show the relationship between power and social tissue. In the first part, the text analyzes the administration of violence as a means of establishing an order headed by the symbolic framing of approaching death. In a next part, take the other side of the power, the pursuit of consensus and legitimacy. Then we look at the efforts and results to eradicate the problem. Finally, it considers the impacts on social arrangements and outlines possible action against the two axes of mafia power: social integration and economic compensation.

In Pursuit of Consensus: Disagreement and legitimization during small-group argumentation

In recent years, an emphasis on scientific argumentation in classrooms has brought into focus collaborative consensus-building as an instructional strategy. In these situations, students with differing and competing arguments are asked to work with one another in order to establish a shared perspective. However, the literature suggests that consensus-building can be challenging for students because their interpretations of the argumentative task and context may not enable their productive engagement with counter-arguments and evidence. In this paper, our goal is to explore the ways in which interactions of students support or inhibit their consensus-building. To that end, we examine and describe three cases that represent different ways in which initially dissenting students try to work towards a consensus with their peers. Through these cases, we demonstrate that legitimization of disparate or incorrect ideas can enable students whose arguments rely on incorrect ideas to feel that their ideas were heard and valued by the rest of their group. As such, we suggest that this legitimization is important because it can help students ‘save face’. This enables students to move away from the competitive and persuasive aspects of argumentation towards interactions that align more closely with sensemaking and consensus-building.

Paper bridges: A critical examination of the Daily Dispatch's ‘community dialogues’

A series of town-hall-like meetings called the ‘community dialogues’ were conducted in 2009 by the Daily Dispatch newspaper in East London, under the banner of public/civic journalism, a global journalistic reform movement begun in the United States in the late 1980s. the editorial leadership of the newspaper imagined a number of core journalistic and civic purposes for the dialogues and succeeded in achieving some of these. However, the newspaper's claim that the dialogues could help to build ‘horizontal bridges’ between diverse communities in East London is critically examined through the example of two community dialogues which took place in neighbouring locations - the predominantly white, middle-class suburb of Beacon Bay, and the informal African settlement of Nompumelelo - on consecutive days in 2009. This article argues that social inequalities, particularly acute in the South African context, may preclude the emergence of a shared vision of the common good, and that joint deliberation between diverse social groups in the pursuit of consensus may not be realistic or even an appropriate goal, especially if it means ratifying an unjust status quo.

Spanish foreign policy: party alternatives or the pursuit of consensus?

Spanish foreign policy: party alternatives or the pursuit of consensus?

Using Online Nominal Group Technique to Implement Knowledge Transfer

AbstractPresented in this study is an online Nominal Group Technique (NGT) platform for implementing knowledge transfer. A platform was developed to record the experimental experiences of thirteen Information Technology (IT) experts from academia and industry. We found that an online NGT platform could provide formal activities for promoting knowledge transfer in pursuit of consensus at a distance. Internalization of knowledge resulted from the review and rethinking process when applied to solution priorities. The results of this study have implications for users to initiate knowledge transfer at a distance for students conducting a capstone project with industry, for industry/academia research projects, and on industry projects between faculty and industry personnel. The processes of providing knowledge creation, interaction, and internalization were shown to lead to knowledge transfer for consensus building. The implementation efficiency was mainly contributed to by platform recognition, an important outcome when constructing information platforms for transferring knowledge among industry engineers, engineering students, and engineering educators.

Rastreio oncológico. Conceitos, orientações e práticas.

A National Cancer Surveillance Program has begun in Portugal in 1990. However, it is unevenly applied throughout the country and is almost unknown to clinicians other than general practitioners. As potentially life-saving procedures, cancer screening and early detection have an important impact not only among physicians but also among the general public, making it absolutely necessary an harmony of rationale, guidelines and practices. The author summarizes the points in discussion concerning cancer prevention procedures, the different published guidelines and some numbers on its practices. The aim is a contribution to an improvement in cancer screening in Portugal, achievable through awareness, promotion of evidence evaluation and the pursuit of consensus in strategies.

Commentary. The pursuit of consensus in psychotherapy research and practice

Commentary. The pursuit of consensus in psychotherapy research and practice

The pursuit of consensus in psychotherapy research and practice.

With the growing pressures from managed care and biological psychiatry to demonstrate the clinical effectiveness of psychosocial interventions, the field has attempted to arrive at a consensus about which treatments work for whom. Although it is essential for the practice of psychotherapy to have an empirical base, the issue is complicated by existing methodological constraints that can limit the clinical generalizability of our research findings. Within this context, this article comments on the role of therapy manuals in research and practice, the difficulties associated with reaching a consensus within the field, and the need to involve both clinicians and researchers in such efforts.

Constituting Sexuality: The Struggle for Sexual Orientation in the South African Bill of Rights

In this article, I focus upon the mobilization of a social group within the historic constitution-making process from which South Africa has now emerged. Unlike the western paradigm of rights, in South Africa 'human rights' has proven a central discourse deployed in the name of a majority which historically has been denied the most basic rights. In its new constitutional guise, the legitimacy of South African rights discourse is dependent upon its potential as a socially transformative instrument as a tool for nation building and the reparation of past injustices. At the same time, rights discourse is also invoked by self-described 'minorities' within South Africa, seeking protection from the actions of the majority. This creates an interesting dynamic between majoritarian and minority interventions. Moreover, South Africans have reached the culmination of a constitutional process which has been explicitly billed as inclusionary and participatory, in which the nation reached a 'consensus'. The pursuit of consensus in the articulation of rights though is itself problematic. It may well be crucial that South Africans identify with their new Constitution, and its Bill of Rights, to prevent the perception that rights are simply the product of an agreement between political elites. But, simultaneously, the protection of rights which do not enjoy popular support may be justified by the antimajoritarianism of rights claims, and constitutional players thus at times have been faced with constructing a consensus document which may not, in all respects, reflect popular opinion. These tensions manifest themselves in an array of different constitutional contexts. My focus, however, is upon only one specific and successful mobi-

A Tale of Two Cities: The Rhodes and Lausanne Conferences, 1949

The opening of the Madrid peace conference at the end of October 1991 has been accompanied by a number of attempts to look into historical precedents to search out lessons for successful mediation and conflict resolution in the future.2 Recently, in addition to Madrid, the words and have become more recognizable in political discussions of the Arab-Israeli conflict. While not yet as familiar as Camp David, each of these cities has come to denote not just a venue for past negotiations, but also, loosely: (a) a procedural approach to peace talks; (b) a particular agenda; and (c) an outcome that became a reference point-positive or negative-to each of the attending parties. This article offers a summary of the talks at Rhodes and Lausanne based on recently released archival materials [see Note on Sources]. It also attempts to illustrate some of the patterns that emerge with regard to such international attempts at Middle East peacemaking: the coaxing of parties to the table; the careful maneuvering by the principal parties; the strategies used by the mediators in pursuit of consensus; and the recurring cycle of stalemates leading to a resort to outside-mainly U.S.-pressure.