Universal Perspective Research Articles

Harold Innis and the Greek Tradition: an essay concerning his ontological transformation

The transition of Harold Innis’ work from staples research to communications studies commonly is understood to have been an extension of his earlier research rather than a dramatic break from it. While in agreement, we argue that a significant transformation in Innis’s ontology (but not his epistemology) also took place. This can be understood by referencing his concerns about the fate of civilization and his views on the prospectively strategic role of what he called the Greek tradition. To explain this, herein we concentrate on Innis’ largely forgotten book Political Economy in the Modern State, initiated in 1943 and published in 1946, as a window into his intellectual processes. By the latter year, Innis had come to believe that a second Greek-inspired renaissance was needed. Vestiges of the Greek tradition, Innis thought, had to be recalled through the university and the humanities in order to provide society with the reflective universal perspective needed for survival. This transitional and transformational period involving his embrace of the Greek tradition as a kind of ideal type constitutes an important but under assessed aspect of Innis’s intellectual development.

Migration to Other Planets in Science Fiction Cinema: A Study on “Pandorum” within the Concepts of Body, Identity and Self

Göç olgusu Dünya gezegeni üzerindeki insan hareketlerini nitelendirse de artan nüfusun gereksinimlerini karşılayacak kaynakların kıtlığı, küresel ısınma, biyolojik felaketler olasılığı, dünya dışı yaşamlarla karşılaşma ve yapay zekaya dönük endişeler göç süreçlerini daha evrensel düzeyde, yakın geleceği gözeten boyutta değerlendirmeyi gerekli kılmaktadır. Yirminci yüzyılın başından itibaren galaktik boyutta göçe imkân verecek olan nesil yıldız gemileri (generation starship) düşünülmeye başlanmıştır ve bu tür bir yolculukta hangi sorunların yaşanabileceğini gündeme taşımıştır. Bu yolculuğun ilk örneklerini ise bilimkurgu sinemasında görmek mümkündür. Bu çalışmada insanlığın başka bir gezegene yolculuğunu ve kolonileştirmeyi başlangıçta bir istençli göç, sonrasında ise zorunlu bir mültecilik olarak ele alan Pandorum (Christian Alvart, 2009) filmi, nitel yaklaşımla tematik ve betimsel anlatı analizine tabii tutulmuştur. Analize kavramsal arka plan sağlaması açısından göç, bilimkurgu ve nesil yıldız gemileri, beden sosyolojisi, benlik, kimlik ve öteki kavramları tanımlanmıştır. Filmin insanlığın galaktik boyuttaki göçünü nasıl ele aldığı, bu göçün mültecilerin insanlığını nasıl etkilediği, göçün uygarlık değerlerinin nasıl aşındırabileceği ve ne türden tehlikeler içerdiği, J.D. Bernal’in literatürdeki öncü çalışmasının metaforik başlıkları olan “dünya”, “beden” ve “şeytan” kavramları etrafında, anlatı analiziyle ortaya konmuştur.

National Communities as the Space of Value Preservation and Transformation from the Perspective of Particularism and Universalism (The Issue of National and European Identity)

National Communities as the Space of Value Preservation and Transformation from the Perspective of Particularism and Universalism (The Issue of National and European Identity)

Resisting global universalistic practices: the endurance of culture and particularism in African HRM

PurposeThis article empirically assesses the extent to which factors rooted in the cultural and institutional framework in sub-Saharan African organisational contexts challenge and resist the penetration of global practices and how these dynamics impact on human resource management (HRM). This article examines whether universalistic perspectives are significant for African HRM. The article discusses the tensions between the contributions derived from local and historical factors and that of other environmental agents to African HRM practice.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a survey among 100 practising African HRM executives representing significant organisations in sub-Saharan Africa.FindingsThe main findings established that in spite of westernisation and globalising trends in learning and development in Africa, human resource practices are still profoundly embedded in the African cultural fabric. Significant elements of cultures in sub-Saharan Africa pervade organisational processes; such aspects include collectivism and paternalism, which persistently resist change. The article, however, concludes that the resisting parts of sub-Saharan African cultures which are viewed as counterproductive can have positive resonance if constructively deployed.Originality/valueThis article contributes to African HRM literature, a significantly under-researched field. The paper provides an opportunity for African HR managers to be more pragmatic in identifying the contextual issues and aspects of African culture that could be value-adding in a fast-changing managerial field. The findings demonstrate that human resource strategies and policies have specific cultural orientations and reflect the societal predispositions of a particular collectivity; this epitomizes the intertwining of cultural paradigms, political spheres and organisational life in sub-Saharan Africa.

N.I. PIROGOV - SURGEON, SCIENTIST, AND TEACHER: A LOOK FROM THE 21ST CENTURY (ON THE 210TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT RUSSIAN DOCTOR). PART. 2

In the second part of the scientific review of the life, medical and scientific activities of N.I. Pirogov there are considered his achievements in his five-years research at the University of Dorpat. The result of training at the Dorpat «professor’s institute» was the defense of a doctoral dissertation. In March 1836, the doctor of medicine, N.I. Pirogov was approved as a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Dorpat, whose entire German-speaking scientific environment was a favorable factor in the full-fledged development of his scientific genius. In the person of N.I. Pirogov’s original Russian biomedical science has reached a «level of truly universal perspectives», has been recognized by the world scientific community. In 1841, N.I. Pirogov became the head of the Department of Surgery at the Imperial Medical and Surgical Academy (IMSA) in St. Petersburg, where he worked for 14 years, the most fruitful in his creative biography as a scientist and doctor. He created the Department of Hospital Surgery, the Anatomical Institute, a new scientific discipline - topographic anatomy. Philosophical reflection is organically inherent in N.I. Pirogov as a doctor, scientist, teacher, citizen.

Reflections on the Religious Other from Modern Jewish Philosophy

This essay reviews research gathered by Alon Goshen-Gottstein on Judaism and World Religions. The essay examines the notion of the Other as both feared and loved in Judaism. It assesses the work of Goshen-Gottstein positively and adds portraits of the Other from modern Jewish philosophers, Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas, that attempt to show how others from different religions and cultures can help to open new perspectives on life and even open a way to God. The paper ends with an argument for both universalistic perspectives from theologies of creation and particularistic perspective from theologies of revelation in interfaith dialogue.

A Picture of a Cat against Cholera? Rationality in History as Seen from a Universalist Perspective

ABSTRACT This essay has two purposes. One is to present a detailed analysis of a historical example to defend the validity of the idea of universal rationality. Although diverse arguments have been offered by philosophers in support of the universal character of rationality, there are only a few in-depth discussions of concrete historical examples. So, the historical analysis presented here will supplement the existing theoretical arguments for universal rationality. The other purpose is to reveal the nature of the relationship between universal rationality and Orientalism. It will be argued that Orientalism has been grounded not in the idea of universal rationality per se, but in linking universal rationality with truth by way of practical success. Orientalism was founded upon a kind of certainty about rationality’s truth-conduciveness that could be obtained only by defeating skepticism; however, that certainty, I will argue, is unwarranted. Therefore, as far as rationality is concerned, the problem with Orientalism is not that Europeans treated something local as universal but that they conferred upon universals an unwarranted certainty.

Global sociology. Basic research strategies. Part I. Universalist approach

The global sociology was formed at end of the XXthcentury — at the beginning of the XXIthcentury. It consists of a great number of sociological theories belonging to different sociological traditions with different methodological approaches. These theories have a common object field and a common vision of sociological problems which need to be analyzed. The aim of the article is to clarify and to give a theoretical structure to the object field of the global sociology as a specifie research sphere. This specifie sphere of sociological research has its own systemic character due to the unity of the object field. The object field of the global sociology is formed, first, by the processes which have shaped the contemporary global world and second, by the structure and order of this global world. The theoretical and methodological analysis of the theories which make up the global sociology shows that these theories can be divided into two large groups. The first group is formed by theories based on a universalist approach and a universalist vision of the actual global order. The universalist sociological perspective is rooted in the Enligtenmeht social philosophy, in the theories of development of classical sociology, in the original impulses of theories of modernization and Westernization. The uniting principle of all the mentioned theories is the common vision of the contemporary world as the one universal social space which to one extent or other transcends both concrete societies and nation-states. This large group of theories can be subdivided in two subgroups. The first subgroup of universalist theories views the contemporary global world with its order as a result of some original impulses of development of modernity. These impulses are being realized as the universal global order. The article analyzes the sociological theories of I. Wallerstein and A. Giddens as examples of such universalist theories. The second subgroup is formed by theories of globalization which are based on the analysis of the processes of digitalization, networking and also of new basic “mobilities” which are shaping a new global morphology of the space of “flows”. The theories of M. Castels, J. Urry and U. Beck are the examples of such universalis theories. The article also analyzes a global sociological universalist discourse which conceptualizes the global order through “theories of empire”.The Part I of the article is dedicated to universalis theories of global sociology. The Part II is dedicated to the second large group of theories of the contemporary global sociology. These theories are based on the civilization approach which views the contemporary world as a set of civilizations.

The Virocene Epoch: the vulnerability nexus of viruses, capitalism and racism

COVID-19 has ushered in a new planetary epoch—the Virocene. In doing so, it has laid bare the limits of humanity's power over nature, exposing the vulnerability of 'normal' ways of living and their moral and pragmatic bankruptcy in coping with those vulnerabilities. 'Normal' is powerless against the virus and has not worked for a majority of the world's human and non-human population. Whatever new normal humanity fashions depends on the socio-ecological change set in motion by mutations between human and non-human species. The outcomes of society's responses to the pandemic depend on how human agency, as an embodiment of social, ecological, and metaphysical relations, transforms the relations now shaped by capitalism and racism—the two mutually reinforcing processes at the root of the Virocene's social and ecological vulnerabilities. A deeper understanding of vulnerabilities is necessary to avoid recreating a 'new normal' that normalizes the current oppressive and vulnerable social order, while inhibiting our ability to transform the world. At the same time, the sweeping possibilities of alternative ways of organizing humanity's mutual wellbeing and nature lie at our fingertips. The emancipatory political consciousness, rationalities, and strategies inherent in such intuitively sensible and counter-hegemonic approaches, first and foremost, are matters of justice, embodied in the power that shapes human-nature metabolism. The Virocene is thus a battleground for social and ecological justice. To be effective partners in these struggles for justice, political ecology needs a universal perspective of social and ecological justice that functions both as a form of critical inquiry—that is, as a way to understand how social and ecological inequalities and justices arise and function—and as a form of critical praxis—that is, as a way to reclaim and transform capitalism and racism's power in valuing and organizing social and ecological wellbeing.Key Words: Virocene; political economy of health; capitalism; racism, vulnerability, pandemic

From the Virocene to the Lovecene epoch: multispecies justice as critical praxis for Virocene disruptions and vulnerabilities

In the Virocene epoch, global pandemics such as COVID-19 disrupt the world order organized by capitalism and racial privilege, making clear the unsustainability of 'normal' ways of organizing society and nature. Despite its failure to address these disruptions, the existing capitalist-racist system attempts to reproduce itself, posing greater risks of disease, inequalities, and injustice to the most vulnerable human and nonhuman populations. The Virocene epoch makes these workings visible, and challenges both hegemonic and counterhegemonic ways of organizing human–nature relations. Political ecology requires new emancipatory theoretical-political strategies firmly grounded in a theory of justice that embodies social and ecological rights in order to imaginatively produce new ways to counter such social and ecological crises arising from the global process of capitalism and viral activities. To this end, political ecology must develop a universal perspective on the justice-rights-power nexus with an explicit moral basis to enhance its emancipatory praxis against the globalizing challenges of the Virocene, without reproducing existing vulnerabilities and without dismissing hegemonic and counter-hegemonic narratives in the name of otherness, difference, universalism or sameness. In this article, I reconfigure the justice-rights-power nexus to dismantle oppression and injustice in pursuit of regenerative solutions. I chart an alternate 'multispecies theory of justice' building upon love as an embodiment of the moral foundations for critical multispecies justice praxis, which produces another world of diverse, interconnected communities committed to social and ecological wellbeing. The 'Lovecene' is an aspirational planetary-order shaped by multispecies (human and non-human) equality and justice that transcends the anthropocentricism of current periodizations of planetary-level social and economic change. It attempts to overcome the limitations of many political-ecological theories of justice centered on notions of 'right order', 'fairness', 'distribution', and 'opportunities and capabilities', thereby successfully addressing the sociological and ecological vulnerabilities of the Virocene.Key Words: Virocene; political economy of health; capitalism; racism, vulnerability, pandemic

Problematização do Ensino e da Formação de Professores de Filosofia no Brasil Atual

Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo é elucidar dois problemas radicais: o primeiro diz respeito aos obstáculos relativos ao reconhecimento da ampliação do conceito de filosofia, enquanto o segundo concerne à retomada da compreensão da natureza específica da atividade filosófica. Abordam-se os conceitos de humanidade e de filosofia em perspectiva uni-versal, bem como a originária função antropológica da docência. Essa abordagem contribui atualmente com o alargamento da liberdade no âmbito da intervenção educativa de professores de filosofia em variados níveis de ensino no Brasil e em contextos similares. Conclui-se com o ensaio de uma síntese das soluções propostas aos referidos problemas.

Geometric Primitives in LiDAR Point Clouds: A Review

To the best of our knowledge, the most recent light detection and ranging (lidar)-based surveys have been focused only on specific applications such as reconstruction and segmentation, as well as data processing techniques based on a specific platform, e.g., mobile laser. However, in this article, lidar point clouds are understood from a new and universal perspective, i.e., geometric primitives embedded in versatile objects in the physical world. In lidar point clouds, the basic unit is the point coordinate. Geometric primitives that consist of a group of discrete points may be viewed as one kind of abstraction and representation of lidar data at the entity level. We categorize geometric primitives into two classes: shape primitives, e.g., lines, surfaces, and volumetric shapes, and structure primitives, represented by skeletons and edges. In recent years, many efforts from different communities, such as photogrammetry, computer vision, and computer graphics, have been made to finalize geometric primitive detection, regularization, and in-depth applications. Interpretations of geometric primitives from multiple disciplines try to convey the significance of geometric primitives, the latest processing techniques regarding geometric primitives, and their potential possibilities in the context of lidar point clouds. To this end, primitive-based applications are reviewed with an emphasis on object extraction and reconstruction to clearly show the significances of this article. Next, we survey and compare methods for geometric primitive extraction and then review primitive regularization methods that add real-world constrains to initial primitives. Finally, we summarize the challenges, expected applications, and describe possible future for primitive extraction methods that can achieve globally optimal results efficiently, even with disorganized, uneven, noisy, incomplete, and large-scale lidar point clouds.

Religious Education as Small ‘i’ Indoctrination: How European Countries Struggle with a Secular Approach to Religion in Schools

This article critically reviews the European religious education landscape and argues that a religious notion of religion prevails in most models, not only in confessional RE but also in integrative models and even in so-called alternative subjects that are compulsory for pupils who do not take part in confessional RE. Thus, schools in Europe provide hardly any chance for pupils to acquire a secular perspective on religion and religious diversity, based on a non-theological study of religion. Furthermore, the explicitly or implicitly religious character, particularly of integrative approaches or obligatory alternative subjects to confessional RE, is frequently hidden or played down. Building on analyses of separative (Germany) and integrative (Norway, England) models of RE, the article argues that carefully distinguishing between religious and secular approaches to religion in school is a serious human right’s issue, not least because only secular approaches may be compulsory. The predominant religious framing of religion – that is always linked to confirming the exceptional position of Christianity among the religions in RE – in combination with an actual lack of secular alternatives creates a climate of what may be called ‘small ‘i’ indoctrination’, i.e., an unquestioned discursive hegemony of a particular (Christian) notion of religion as a frame of reference for almost all education about religion, which is, furthermore, often represented as if it constituted not a particular religious view of religion, but a kind of universal perspective on religion. This results in highly problematic conceptualisations, both of religion in general and individual religions – most visibly in stereotyping ‘other’ religions, that are not complemented with an unbiased secular perspective. Thus, the subject matter religion is widely exempted from the secular approach to education in European schools, while a particular religious perspective on religion is promoted, even in models that are designed for all pupils of a religiously heterogeneous class.

MANUEL ZAPATA OLIVELLA, LE MUNTU AFRICAIN ET LA DÉCOLONISATION DES IMAGINAIRES ET DES ÉPISTÉMOLOGIES EN AMÉRIQUE LATINE

Ce travail vise à montrer deux choses. La premère, c’est de saisir toute l’importance du tournant postcolonial/afro-décolonial dans la construction d’une contre-épistémologie propre au sujet culturel colonisé africain. En d’autres termes, pour le sujet colonisé, cette contre- épistémologie sert à décoloniser les imaginaires, à partir d’un questionnement de la colonialité de l’épistémologie et du savoir donnés pour universels par l’occident. La deuxième chose, c’est que ¾à quelques mois de la commémoration du centenaire de la naissance du prolixe et polygraphe auteur africain-colombien Manuel Zapata Olivella (1920-2004)¾ cet article puisse le situer à sa juste place. Celle d’un sujet culturel colonisé africain des Amériques dont l’abondante production culturelle et la pensée, portées et révolutionnées par le concept de Muntu africain, participent de la décolonisation des imaginaires et de l’épistémologie.

GENÇLİK PROJELERİ DESTEK PROGRAMI KAPSAMINDA GERÇEKLEŞTİRİLEN REKREATİF AMAÇLI PROJELERİN İNCELENMESİ

With a universal perspective, young people to protect their values and be conscious, respectful and self-confident in doing so is effective in the formation of healthy individuals and therefore a healthy society. At the stage of realizing the mentioned issues, spending the leisure time as more qualified and versatile gains importance and institutions that strive to raise and develop young people come to the forefront. The aim of this study is to examine the recreational projects realized within the scope of Youth Projects Support Program by Ministry of Youth and Sports. Research data was collected with through document analysis one of the qualitative research techniques and interpretation of the findings is limited in the scope of recreational projects. The data were handled in three titles (project subject, number of projects and budget). According to the findings, it is determined that totaly 3341 projects (without recreational purpose) realized with 2.217.765 young participants were supported with 223.811.968,00 TL budget by Ministry of Youth and Sports. When consider the total number of projects evaluated within the scope of recreational purpose it is determined that the highest number of projects has been realized in the field of culture and arts with 1003 projects and the lowest number of projects has been realized in the field of mobile youth center with 73 projects. It is also determined that the topic of social harmony and culture and art projects have been supported in every period, youth center projects have been supported in only one period and the highest budget belongs to projects on social cohesion with 62.181.380,00 TL. and the lowest budget belongs to projects on mobile youth center with 5.930.000,00 TL. when evaluated within the scope of recreational purpose. As a result, it was determined that the projects supported by the Youth Projects Support Program within the Ministry of Youth and Sports and evaluated as recreational purposes have different subject contents, number of projects and budget according to the periods. In addition, it is thought that supported projects containing recreational activities for social, cultural, sports, recreation, arts and tourism purposes provide supporting to the multi-faceted development of young people

The Formation Process and Current Issues of Regional Centers for Children

Since the amendment of Child Welfare Law in 2003, the regional centers for children have been a part of the child welfare system, providing child-care services for families in poverty. In Korea, the regional centers for children were established during the poverty movement in the 1970s and have been developed as childcare providers for poor children since the financial crisis. However, the identity of regional centers for children is being threatened as the universal perspective on caring and the public values of caring services are being strengthened. There has raised a controversy around the role of regional centers for children that provide child-care services for vulnerable families. In addition, the survival of the regional centers for children is being threatened due to some issues regarding the content of their program as it is similar to those of other child-care agencies, the lack of cooperation among the ministries of government addressing public needs for child-care services, the poor working conditions of center employees, and the poor quality of services. The purpose of this study is to examine the formation process of the regional centers for children. After that, we discuss the current issues of the regional centers for children and seek alternatives that can settle the problems and respond properly to social changes.

A Study on Comparative Examination of the Theme "Power, Authority and Management" in the Social Studies Curriculums of Turkey, Canada (Alberta) and England

This study aims to examine and compare the curricula of Social Studies courses in Turkey, Canada (Alberta) and England in terms of the theme "Power, Authority and Management". It is aimed to determine the similarities and the differences. In the study, qualitative research method was adopted. The source of the data consisted of the social studies curricula applied in Turkey, Canada (Alberta) and England. In the study, the criterion sampling of non-probability sampling methods was used. The findings of the study were obtained using a document analysis. In the analysis of data, descriptive analysis method of qualitative research techniques was used. In the light of the findings obtained in the study, it was seen that right, responsibility, freedom, democracy and constitution were common and were included in the programs of all three countries. It was also determined that the three countries included higher-order thinking skills related to the theme. Based on the research findings, documents such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the La Grande Paix De Montréal Treaty that are being implemented in other countries may be included in the program in order to give students a universal perspective on laws and rules.

The platformization of Chinese Society: infrastructure, governance, and practice

By adopting a universal perspective, several scholars have called upon governments and other regulatory bodies to intervene in the emerging platform society, not leaving its development solely to the dynamics of the market (Khan, 2017; Pasquale, 2018; Srnicek, 2017; Van Dijck, Poell, & de Waal, 2018). Although this call for increased regulation is particularly welcome in the US and Europe, it seems problematic, if not ironic, in the Chinese context. We are currently witnessing the fast process of the platformization of Chinese society. The ubiquity of WeChat in everyday Chinese life presents the best example as Plantin and De Seta demonstrate in this special issue. However, in the context of omnipresent government regulation and intervention in China, platformization generates a set of problems and issues that differ from those in in the West. Similarly, we need to critically interrogate the seemingly “natural” connection between the platform society and “global capitalism,” which has been theorized as “platform capitalism” (Srnicek, 2016). China presents an odd case, as it is hard to consider China a capitalist society (Nonini, 2008). Hence, our aim is to engage critically with the platformization of Chinese society by applying the case of China as a method (Chen, 2010) to interrogate, complicate, and complement current research on the global rise of the platform society. We thus ask the following question: What does the platform society mean for China, and what does China mean for our thinking about the platform society?

Research progress on evaluation tools for post-intensive care syndrome

With advances in intensive care, more patients are surviving from critical illness, and post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) began to get people's attention. Early detection and intervention of PICS can improve the quality of life of intensive care unit (ICU) survivors and reduce the rate of re-hospitalization. However, effective, reliable, and easy-to-use assessment tools are the basis for early detection and evaluation of intervention outcomes. Thus, we introduce the evaluation tools for PICS from the perspective of universality or specificity, aim to provide reference for doctors or nurses to choose suitable assessment tools for PICS, and to provide reference for the development of localized assessment tools for PICS in China, so as to promote the related research of PICS.

Tectonic in Architecture in Capability of Capturing Epoch

Globalization excludes territory, carries out universal spirit as more emphasizing univalence rather than multivalence. In architectural context, universal perspective is just at doubt in its capacity to respond epoch challenge. Modernity proliferating into diversity of life aspects causes architecture attaint to hegemonic status not rich of colours, texture, ornament, and not rationalistic. Tectonic aspect in architecture is expected to be able to uplift locality dignity rooted from existing culture, nature, and material resource. This research is done with a qualitative, deductive and verificative method with study object of architectural work already available. Field observation result refers to a theory setup deductively from journal collections studies; expert is opinion so that it results in tectonic variable formulation in architecture. Research object selected is architectural work to explore tectonic architecture, known adept at exploring natural potency and local cultural riches as well as material usage of local building. A result obtained is a comprehension on tectonic in architecture and all aspects constituting it. A comprehension gained is tested to architectural work with perspective up to their implementation in the field. Finally, it concludes that tectonic aspect in architecture can be a creation alternative of locality architecture in Indonesia.