Interpretation Of Reduction Research Articles

Mitología Griega y Discurso Ecológico

This article explores the use of Greek mythology in current ecological discourse. In Classical Studies, specifically in Classical Tradition studies, the ecocritical revision of Greco-Latin texts and their survival is still in its infancy. The ecological question is usually approached as a reconstruction of notions and uses of nature, with little reference to the contemporary philosophical and cultural discourse that revolves around the cultural causes of the climate crisis, its historical paradoxes, and its future projections. This has led to a situation in which ancient mythology, especially Greek mythology, is used by ecological discourse representatives for argumentative, explanatory, or informative purposes without the required textual criticism and scientific rigor. This paper insists on the need to critically review the ecological readings of Greek mythology to avoid contradictions, paradoxes, or biased interpretations that could weaken the ecocritical debate. Specifically, two predominant tendencies are analyzed: the argumentative use of myth (e.g., in the case of the adamantine chains of Prometheus or the use of Platonic myths) and its resemanticization for a specific discursive purpose (e.g., the reductionist interpretations of Gaia and Medusa) in authors such as Timothy Morton, Jane Bennett, Ursula Heise, or Donna Haraway. The results show that the treatment of Greek myths in the ecological discourse is often subordinated to argumentative needs, avoiding alternative mythographic sources that relativize what has been exposed or venturing into biased interpretations that can lead to undesired contradictions concerning the postulates of the ecological discourse itself.

Juridico-political conditions of exceptional security measures: Turkey (1971-2002)

ABSTRACT Contemporary literature on security measures interfering with the rights and liberties regime often relies on an exceptionalist approach grounded in the norm-exception dichotomy. This perspective oversimplifies the juridical conditions of exceptional security measures, where the law and politics coalesce, as the relationship between the norm and the exception is not necessarily dichotomous. Through an examination of Turkey’s exceptional security measures from 1971 to 2002, this paper shows that the tension between political power and the law can unfold in diverse ways, even in countries where executive decision-making is constitutionally favoured, with norms and exceptions usually coexisting within the constitutional order. It argues that exceptional security measures are ingrained in state rule other than in the times of exception, challenging the limited explanatory power of the norm-exception dichotomy. Categorising every decision avoiding legal oversight as the Schmittian exception results in theoretically reductionist interpretations, overlooking the fact that such measures may have various juridico-political conditions. By analysing threat framing and the dispersion of political power, this study proposes a categorisation as to how norms and exceptions to the norms are created.

New municipalism and feminist leadership after the Indignados: The political aesthetics of truth in Ada Colau for Mayor (Faus 2016)

In this article, I reflect on the intersection between feminism and documentary art as truth-telling by focusing on Alcaldessa ( Ada Colau for Mayor), the most relevant documentary of the long-term collaboration between the film-maker Pau Faus and Ada Colau, the first female mayor of Barcelona (2015–2023). My argument is critical of a reductionist interpretation which portrays Alcaldessa as a personalist postfeminist documentary overly fixated on ‘biography rather than policy’. In contrast, I posit that Faus’ documentary, delving into Colau’s initial electoral campaign (2014–2015), offers valuable insights into pivotal aspects of an underexamined political vision that merges the principles of new municipalism with a focus on the ‘common people’ ( gent comú) and feminism. Furthermore, the documentary sheds light on unreconciled dilemmas inherent in the lived new politics and feminist leadership, issues that often remain concealed within the ideological trappings of political manifestos and programmes.

A decolonial critical theory of artificial intelligence

In this paper, I argue for a normative reconstruction, from a decolonial perspective of critical theory in Brazil and Latin America, of a democratic ethos that despite its weaknesses and normative deficits is capable of fostering an increasingly deliberative, participatory, and egalitarian democracy by making extensive use of new digital technologies (comprising both AI systems and digital governance). Its argumentative core boils down to the promotion of intersectional egalitarianism (socio-economic, gender, racial-ethnic, environmental) through digital inclusion, which seems only feasible to us from a perspective capable of accommodating the normative claims of a critical decolonial theory combined with a naturalistic view of sustainability, within a research program that I dubbed “mitigated social constructionism” in response to the phenomenological deficit of normative and naturalistic theories (including critical theory and neurophilosophy). If what matters is normativity, then to avoid the divide between naturalism and non-naturalist normativity one nonfoundationalist alternative is to resort to hermeneutical and procedural accounts of normativity as helpful clues to making sense of the naturalism-normativity problem, avoiding reductionist interpretations of both naturalism (Churchland) and normativism (Parfit).

Introduction: social movements and radicalisation in Europe

ABSTRACT This Special Issue (SI) provides a nuanced understanding of the root causes of radicalisation among European youth with both nativist and religious affiliations. The contributions challenge the civilisational paradigm and the reductionist interpretations that often conflate it with extremism, terrorism, and violence. Our contributors contend that the rise of populist rhetoric across Europe, alongside the notable strengthening of grassroots resistance, has led to a pronounced polarisation of public opinion. Drawing on the literature in Social Movement Studies, each contributor provides an analysis of various processes of youth radicalisation across different European nations. They illuminate that both nativist and Islamist forms of radicalisation among European youth function as frames for justification and alternative political expressions – almost akin to a form of anti-politics. This serves as a means for them to protect themselves from the destabilising effects of deindustrialisation, discrimination, alienation, humiliation, and stigmatisation. The findings underscore that radicalised youth tend to employ unconventional forms of political expression to articulate their knowledge and garner public attention to their marginalised status. This stems from their lack of trust in political centers, which they perceive as failing to provide remedies for disenfranchised youths experiencing socio-economic, political, spatial, and nostalgic deprivation in the era of globalisation.

How do we Sign a Contract if Everything is Predetermined: Does Compatibilism Help Preserve Agency?

In recent years, neurophysiological research has pushed the concept of free will towards a reductionist interpretation, largely avoiding the concept of a freely willing agent. This paper explores the ongoing debate surrounding free will, highlighting the contrasting perspectives of determinism, indeterminism (libertarianism), and compatibilism. It questions how individuals, particularly those adhering to deterministic viewpoints, can ethically navigate a world defined by causal relationships. The paper argues that reductionist approaches struggle to account for ethical responsibility and the human experience of making choices. While compatibilism offers a middle ground, asserting that actions in line with one's desires are free and thus ethically accountable, this stance is scrutinized for its potential limitations in answering questions about personal responsibility. Specifically, it is argued that compatibilism may not be the ideal framework for a neurophysiologist confronted with ethical dilemmas, thus leaving room for the re-examination of indeterminism. Through this discussion, the paper aims to contribute to a nuanced understanding of free will that incorporates both the scientific and philosophical dimensions of human decision-making.

THE STUDY OF SOIL EROSION UNDER A SYSTEMIC CONCEPTION

This article aimed to understand how erosion processes can be analyzed from a systemic point of view. Soil erosion is considered here a naturally occurring phenomenon, which can be (and usually is) influenced by human activities, constituting one of the main environmental problems of the planet, in addition to being the main modeling agent of the terrestrial surface. The consequences of the accelerated action of erosion processes are numerous, such as: reduction of natural fertility and productive capacity of soils; silting and pollution of water bodies; impoverishment of rural communities; rural exodus; among many others. Understanding the dynamics of this phenomenon becomes fundamental because a comprehension of a spatio-temporal scope, coupled with the knowledge of the possible problems that may occur with its accelerated performance, provides support for the development of sustainable management. Given that soils are the 'foundation' of the fauna, flora, and mainly of human subsistence, it is a valuable resource. The analytical procedures of this manuscript followed the construction of a system based on a case study, exemplifying how the systemic approach can be developed in the studies of erosive processes. By analyzing soil erosion from a systemic approach, it was possible to observe how the different flows of matter and energy occurred between the variables, explain the importance of understanding erosion processes in an integrated way, and avoid fragmented and reductionist interpretations.

Environmental and social equity in network design of sustainable closed-loop supply chains

While the whole society is meant to benefit from sustainable development; environmental and social fairness considerations are often overlooked in the design of supply chain networks. The literature acknowledges that a reductionist interpretation of sustainability is often found in existing mathematical formulations due to lack of evaluation of the social dimension. In this paper, we suggest new indicators based on Gini index to measure environmental and social inequalities between regions concerned with installation of new product recovery facilities for the reverse part of a closed-loop supply chain. The initial levels of pollution and unemployment rate in each region are impacted by facility location decisions and corresponding industrial activities. We show through numerical experiments that inequalities between the regions can be diminished as a result of the use of deliberate objectives aiming to reduce environmental and social inequity. Managerial insights and future research directions are also discussed.

Identity versus Otherness: Propaedeutic Considerations

The present article attempts a philosophical, ontological and anthropological in-depth investigation of the conceptually opposed dual model identity-alterity in view of essentialist propaedeutic considerations, therefore contributing to the avoidance of reductionist interpretations. Thus, identity lays emphasis on the metaphysical problem of the "thing in itself", endowed with particular, unique properties and its relations with reality, as well as that of becoming, whereas alterity develops into a co-constructive—once the status of positive primordiality validated—total and irreducible concept. Being part of meta-categories of thinking about "Being", the opposing binomial identity-alterity is to be found as a fundamental concept in various disciplinary fields: logic, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, etc. thus, contributing to attempts to identify and individuate things, people, phenomena, facts, processes, etc. In the current era of globalization/mundialization processes, alongside with the opposing trends in this regard, when humanity and contemporary societies develop a gnoseological (re)evaluation of anthropological valorization, the in-depth knowledge of the antagonistic-integrative concept of identity/alterity profiles an epistemological technique and an open, complex, systemic and integral approach based on a series of considerations: discontinuity and non-separability, syncretic and integrative unity of co-constructive dualities, polytropic perception, propagation of complementarity, gnoseological and epistemological (co)relativity integrated into a real-rational-relational dynamic interface.

Genuine Concern for Animals in England's Nineteenth-Century Animal Protection Movement: The Case Against Reductionist Interpretations

Animal–human history is an increasingly popular area of historical research.1 Diana Donald's 2020 book, Women Against Cruelty: Protection of Animals in Nineteenth-Century Britain is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of animal protection and the role women have played in moral reform movements. Starting from the premise that the prevention of cruelty to animals is “a pure product of the nineteenth century” (p. 7), this dazzling book takes its reader through a wide range of important topics such as the early history of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), differences between men and women's attitudes toward animals, and the role women played in humane education.2 This review will particularly highlight the way that Donald consistently attacks reductionist theses that discount the genuine concern women had for animals in the nineteenth-century British animal protection movement, and how her interpretations consistently refocus our attention on historical evidence of that genuine concern.

Der zweifache Stellenwert des Rechtssubjekts in der Straftheorie P.J.A. Feuerbachs

Among legal scholars, P. J. A. Feuerbach is considered one of the most important German jurists of the 19th century: not only has he established Germany’s modern doctrine of penal law and the Bavarian penal code of 1813, but he is also the founder of the theory of psychological force, i.e. the idea of the threat of punishment (not punishment itself!) as deterrence. Whereas one cannot comprehend Feuerbach’s legal doctrines without their original philosophical justification, namely his concept of the legal subject as a citizen of two worlds, most contemporary interpreters ignore this aspect of Feuerbach’s theory of punishment. Against this reductionist interpretation of Feuerbach, by reconstructing his philosophy of punishment, this article exposes both the theoretical potential and shortcomings of Feuerbach’s main philosophical concepts.

The Burial of Ambivalence in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Cask of Amontillado, Fortunato’s captivity by Montresor in the middle of a carnival with no explanation amazes readers and leaves many unanswered questions in readers’ minds, thereby leading to reductionist interpretations of the story. Each of these readings leaves some elements in the story in ambiguity, failing to integrate them into a totalizing interpretation of the story. The reading of the story in relation to the Freudian concept of the uncanny, however, helps us to understand the motive behind the murder, by revealing the unconscious mechanisms at work. In light of this, this study argues that as a murder story involving the cruel death of a helpless victim on the surface level, The Cask of Amontillado is based on what is left unsaid in the narrative. It arouses the sense of the uncanny, as what Montresor says on the conscious level in the guise of the heimlich turns out to be, on the unconscious level, actually a phantasy of acting out the repressed wishes that he had pushed back to the darkest recesses of his psyche because of their disturbing threat to his egotistical unity.

Embodying Difference: Iranian Women’s Working Life Experiences in Norway

ABSTRACT With reference to postcolonial intersectional scholarship, this article examines working life narratives of Iranian immigrant women before and after migration to Norway in relation to questions of equality along gender and racial lines. This interview-based study asks, ‘How do Iranian immigrant women who have resettled in Norway narrate their work experiences in their home and host countries, and how does this inform us about processes of othering and discrimination in both contexts?’ To what extent these othering processes can be understood in terms of the intersectional dimensions of gender and race. The study shows that although the move from a state considered repressive to one considered a model of gender equality entails positive experiences at work along gendered lines, these positive experiences are often encountered by the processes of racial and ethnic sorting, thus leading to distress and alienation. Accordingly, the interviews show a nuanced picture of working life in both countries, with both positive and negative stories of work in each context. Overall, the paper addresses a need to move beyond reductionist interpretations of migration that portrays immigration to the West as an unproblematic journey towards a better life in the accounts of immigrants coming from the East.

Spinoza’s Evanescent Self

Selfhood is a topic of great interest in early modern philosophy. In this essay, I will discuss Spinoza’s radical position on the topic of selfhood. Whereas for Descartes and Leibniz, there is a manifold of thinking substances, for Spinoza, there is, crucially only one: God (1p14; 2p1). Minds, for Spinoza, do not have substantial status, they are instead merely complexes of ideas (2p15), and thus complex modes of the one substance: God. Observations such as these often lead Spinoza’s readers to the conclusion that, whereas for Descartes as for Leibniz, human beings have robust or genuine selves, this is not so for Spinoza. However, this reductionist interpretation is also challenged—in recent times most intriguingly by Koistinen (2009). Koistinen has argued that there are, fundamentally, human selves of whom agency can be predicated in Spinozism. In this paper I discuss to what extent this is true. In section 1, I introduce the reductionist interpretation of selfhood in Spinoza’s thought. In section 2.1, I present and criticize Koistinen’s proposal. In section 2.2, I acknowledge the strength of Koistinen’s view that insofar as human beings act, they are God somehow. In section 3, I propose an alternative reading of human selfhood in terms of witnessing being acted out rather than in terms of being an agent. This view isprima facieparadoxical. In section 4, I nonetheless support it by highlighting that Spinoza seems to have seen practical benefits in knowing oneself to be acted out by God. I conclude the essay by pointing out some comparative directions for future research.

Closed-loop supply chain design for the transition towards a circular economy: A systematic literature review of methods, applications and current gaps

Over the last decade, significant attention has been devoted to Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) design problems. As such, this review aims at assessing whether the current modelling approaches for CLSC problems can support the transition towards a Circular Economy at a supply chain level. The paper comprehensively assesses the extent to which existing modelling approaches evaluate the performance of supply chains across the complete spectrum of sustainability dimensions. Also, the capability of the current approaches of incorporating strategic, tactical, and operational decisions is considered, along with adopted solution methodologies. As a result, a comprehensive analysis was performed on 254 selected articles. This paper emphasises how most of the current literature in the field is affected by a disconnection between supply chain design and the founding principles of Circular Economy. Specifically, the CLSC literature exhibits a reductionist interpretation of the Circular Economy. CLSC studies focusing on all three dimensions of sustainability are relatively rare, and performance measurement approaches appear to be very much focused on monetary issues. While methodological contributions appear adequate to focus on the non-deterministic nature of CLSC design problems, there is paucity of empirically-grounded research. Coherently, a research agenda is proposed, in order to address the mentioned gaps and increase the relevance of this research field to practice.

What Is Man? Interpreting the Philosophical-Anthropological Ideas of Karl Marx Part 1: Generic Essence and Praxis

This article uses the key concepts available in Karl Marx’s texts and attempts to answer the question, “What is man?” The author explores such constitutive aspects of man’s generic essence (Gattungswesen des Menschen) and of man’s worldly being as corporeality and relationship with nature; suffering as a product of desire; praxis (Praxis) as productive creative activity (produktive Tätigkeit, Selbstbetätigung) that is carried out in the dialectical processes of objectification (Vergegenständlichung, Äußerung) and de-objectification (Entgegenständlichung, Aneignung); man’s universality; objectivity (Gegenständlichkeit) of the man-made human world; intersubjectivity and sociality/sociability (Gesellschaftlichkeit); interplay of social relations (das Ensemble der gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse); the existential and emotional relations of man (menschlichen Verhältnisse zur Welt) to the world of nature, to human activity, to the results of one’s labor, to other people, and to oneself. We demonstrate that the generic essence of man is not granted by nature but evolves in the course of historical development. Moreover, in Capital, Marx distinguishes between the invariant essence (Praxis) and historical modifications of praxis. Therefore, history is understood as “continuous change of human nature,” and man himself as a historical being. In spite of later reductionist interpretations, Marx conceptualizes man as a living, uniquely generic (socially individual), integral being, whose essential mode of existence is praxis (social conscious purposeful transforming objectal-instrumental material and spiritual activity). Man is an integral bodily-spiritual being, transforming the natural world (Welt) and creating “worlds” of his own, those of material, social, and spiritual culture (Umwelt), society and its relations (Mitwelt), which are interiorized and form an inner world (Innerlichkeit, Eigenwelt) in the process of practical activity. The article concludes that, following Marx’s philosophical anthropology, man should be considered not only as a “practical being” but also a suffering one, experiencing his worldly existence in the form of partial, existential relations to the world and to himself.

Geopolitical encounters and entanglements along the belt and road initiative

AbstractThis survey brings into conversation diverse literatures on geopolitics in order to interrogate one of the most visible geopolitical projects of our age, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The paper provides a brief review of the main geopolitical approaches that are being applied to the BRI, including classical, critical, radical, assemblage and feminist perspectives. While feminist and assemblage approaches to the BRI are positioned as a way out of essentialised accounts of this initiative, this review also attempts to facilitate a dialogue on the value of applying multiple approaches and different types of knowledge to the BRI and its various contexts. It seeks to capture how such thinking in geopolitics can bring the BRI's incoherence and myriad tensions into focus. This involves tracing the competing logics, contexts, relations and elements from which the BRI has emerged. Bringing competing strands of geopolitical thought into conversation rejects singular and reductionist interpretations of the BRI and understandings of geopolitics more broadly. It highlights linkages between elements and assemblages, as well as a circular logic in some of the prevailing approaches to the BRI and geopolitics. This survey explores the multi‐dimensional possibilities of contemporary geopolitics for examining the BRI's interwoven logics and its contradictions, while using the case study of the BRI to evaluate the diversity and potential of this sub‐field.

International Organisations and the Proliferation of Scientised Global Reporting, 1947–2019

ABSTRACT As novel instruments in global governance, international organisations’ (IOs) global reports have emerged in all policy sectors in the more recent period. Drawing on an original dataset of N = 363 editions from N = 95 explicitly global reports from the period 1947–2019, this study documents the rise of reporting and uses citation and content analyses to examine the changing role of science. Reporting based on scientific research and quantitative indicators increases over time and across all sectors, yet particularly striking since the late 1980s and most in sectors dealing with human development and the environment. Drawing on arguments from world society theory, the sociology of quantification and post-truth approaches, this work argues that while reports provide IOs with new legitimacy in science-based governance, their scientised and quantified nature is likely to make IO activities the target of antiscientific populist rhetoric and critical arguments about a reductionist interpretation of science.

Что такое человек? Осмысление философско-антропологических идей Карла Маркса Часть 2. Социальность и историчность человека

This article uses the key concepts available in Karl Marx’s texts and attempts to answer the question, “What is man?” The author explores such constitutive aspects of man’s generic essence ( Gattungswesen des Menschen ) and of man’s worldly being as corporeality and relationship with nature; suffering as a product of desire; praxis ( Praxis ) as productive creative activity ( produktive Tatigkeit, Selbstbetatigung ) that is carried out in the dialectical processes of objectification (Vergegenstandlichung, Auserung) and de-objectification ( Entgegenstandlichung, Aneignung ); man’s universality; objectivity ( Gegenstandlichkeit ) of the man-made human world; intersubjectivity and sociality/sociability ( Gesellschaftlichkeit ); interplay of social relations ( das Ensemble der gesellschaftlichen Verhaltnisse ); the existential and emotional relations of man ( menschlichen Verhaltnisse zur Welt ) to the world of nature, to human activity, to the results of one’s labor, to other people, and to oneself. We demonstrate that the generic essence of man is not granted by nature but evolves in the course of historical development. Moreover, in Capital, Marx distinguishes between the invariant essence ( Praxis ) and historical modifications of praxis. Therefore, history is understood as “continuous change of human nature,” and man himself as a historical being. In spite of later reductionist interpretations, Marx conceptualizes man as a living, uniquely generic (socially individual), integral being, whose essential mode of existence is praxis (social conscious purposeful transforming objectal-instrumental material and spiritual activity). Man is an integral bodily-spiritual being, transforming the natural world ( Welt ) and creating “worlds” of his own, those of material, social, and spiritual culture ( Umwelt ), society and its relations ( Mitwelt ), which are interiorized and form an inner world ( Innerlichkeit, Eigenwelt ) in the process of practical activity. The article concludes that, following Marx’s philosophical anthropology, man should be considered not only as a “practical being” but also a suffering one, experiencing his worldly existence in the form of partial, existential relations to the world and to himself.

Narratives in Health Care

The role of narratives in clinical practice has long been underappreciated. This disregard is largely due to an overemphasis on reductionist interpretations of disease causes based on the primacy of the medical model of disease. This way of thinking has led to decontextualizing symptoms of disorders from patients’ lives. More recently, however, healthcare professionals have turned towards a biopsychosocial model that reintroduces sociocultural and psychosocial aspects into clinical diagnosis and treatment. To this end, narrative approaches have been increasingly explored as alternative diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Central to the narrative approach is the avoidance of pathologizing language that usually focuses on deficiencies. Instead, patients’ narratives are co-constructed and co-created together with the clinician or therapist to transform them into empowering stories about healing. To make narratives accessible and transformable for the patient, psychoeducational methods can be used to translate scientific and medical knowledge about the disease into stories described in everyday language that resonate with the patient’s own life stories. Consequently, psychoeducational narratives enhance the patient’s competence in coping with a physical or mental illness and re-contextualizing symptoms, and prompt an increased compliance with therapies.