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Assessing the Viva in Higher Education: Chasing Moments of Truth (The Enabling Power of Assessment #6)
by Stephen DobsonThis book makes the case for a revival in interest in the viva. As an oral assessment of a treatise or dissertation or of a student's performance in art or dance the viva has a long history dating back to the time of the Greeks. It can be found today in the form of professional, vocational and academic vivas, where a judgment of oral performance is required to gain entry into a profession or community of scholars. In a time when there are scandals about students selling essays to other students, the viva provides a fertile ground for probing the student to see whether they are in fact the authors of the work being assessed and know its content and how to think cognitively or otherwise. Given that we actually know so little about the viva, the book theorises the viva based on a unique sample of vivas that have been filmed or in which the author himself has been participant, and discusses why its format is so different in Anglo-Saxon languages and Latin and other languages. The book offers educational policy-makers and examiners a trade-off between arguments in support of the viva and the demand for other, ever more cost-effective forms of assessment as the numbers of both undergraduate and postgraduate students threaten to increase. It also argues that with demand in the labour market for qualified graduates who are better equipped with transferable skills, such as the ability to communicate complex ideas verbally in a competent, well-argued fashion and not merely through the use of rhetoric, what appear to be cost-effective forms of assessment in the short run (e. g. written exams with standardised questions or multiple choice) may actually in the long run be of less value if we are investing in a future workforce with so-called 21st century communication skills. If the viva were abandoned, the student would be robbed of the opportunity to stage a defence.
Assessment in Ethics Education: A Case of National Tests in Religious Education (Evaluating Education: Normative Systems and Institutional Practices)
by Olof FranckThis book presents a number of fundamentally challenging perspectives that have been brought to the fore by the national tests on religious education (RE) in Sweden. It particularly focuses on the content under the heading Ethics. It is common knowledge that many teachers find these parts difficult to handle within RE. Further, ethics is a field that addresses a range of moral and existential issues that are not easily treated. Many of these issues may be said to belong to the philosophical context, in which "eternal questions" are gathered and reflected upon. The first chapters highlight the concepts of ethical competence and critical thinking. In the following chapters the concept of ethical competence is analyzed with regard to teachers' objectives and to students' texts, respectively. These chapters pursue a more practice-related approach and highlight specific challenges identified from both teacher and student perspectives. Next, the book raises the issue of global responsibility. What kind of critical issues arise when handling such matters at school? Further, can contemporary moral philosophers contribute to such a discussion? In turn, the book discusses the role of statistical analyses with regard to national tests, while the closing chapters present international perspectives on the book's main themes and concluding remarks. The book's critical yet constructive approach to issues regarding assessment in ethics education makes a valuable contribution to an ongoing debate among researchers as well as to the everyday communication on testing in schools and classrooms. As such, it will appeal to scholars in ethics education and researchers in the field of assessment, as well as educators and teachers interested and engaged in the task of testing ethics in school contexts where curricular demands for valid and authoritative evaluation may provide important guidelines, but may also pose challenges of their own.
Assessment of Practices in Early Elementary Classrooms (APEEC)
by Mary L. Hemmeter Kelly L. Maxwell Melinda J. Ault John W. Schuster Mary Hemmeter Kelly Maxwell Robert V. BulloughAPEEC is the first measurement scale designed to evaluate the use of developmentally appropriate practices in the early elementary classroom (K 3). Developed for classrooms serving both children with and without disabilities, the APEEC can be used by administrators and researchers to evaluate the degree of developmental appropriateness in inclusive and general education classrooms. It can also be used by teachers as a self-assessment tool. The book includes a carefully thought-out score sheet, which can be photocopied for use in rating classrooms. Featuring straightforward language and an easy-to-follow format, APEEC is organized under three main categories: Physical Environment, Instructional Context, and Social Context. The authors used a multi-step process to develop the APEEC, including a thorough review of the relevant literature (particularly the NAEYC guidelines and early childhood special education literature); an extensive review of the scale by practitioners, researchers, and board members of professional organizations and research journals; and field testing in 69 classrooms.
Assessment, Schools and Society (Routledge Library Editions: Education)
by Patricia BroadfootThe 1970s saw a growing worldwide pre-occupation with school assessment; Britain witnessed lengthy debate in response to the proposals for examination reform initiated by the Schools Council, and the setting up of an Assessment of Performance Unit to monitor standards of achievement. This book analyzes the origins of school assessment and of international trends in practice, and explores the ideology of assessment which is now so widely accepted yet rarely questioned.
An Asset-Based Approach to Latino Education in the United States: Understanding Gaps and Advances (Routledge Research in Educational Equality and Diversity)
by Eugene E. Garcia Mehmet OzturkChallenging perspectives that often characterize Latinos as ‘at-risk,’ this book takes an ‘asset’ approach, highlighting the favorable linguistic, cognitive, education, and cultural assets Latino children bring to educational settings. An Asset-Based Approach to Latino Education in the United States addresses the increasingly important challenge and opportunity of educating the linguistic and cultural diversity of the growing population of Latino students. The book confronts the educational debate regarding effective instructional practices for Latinos, bilingual education, immigration, and assimilation.
Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump
by Aaron JamesThat Donald Trump is an asshole is a fact widely agreed upon--even by his supporters, who actually like that about him. But his startling political rise makes the question of just what sort of asshole he is, and how his assholedom may help to explain his success, one not just of philosophical interest but of almost existential urgency. Enter the philosopher Aaron James, author of the foundational text in the burgeoning field of Asshole Studies: the bestselling Assholes: A Theory. In this brisk and trenchant inquiry into the phenomenon that is Donald Trump, James places the man firmly in the typology of the asshole (takes every advantage, entrenched sense of entitlement, immune to criticism); considers whether, in the Hobbesian world we seem to inhabit, he might not somehow be a force for good--i.e., the Stronger Asshole; and offers a suggestion for how the bonds of our social contract, spectacularly broken by Trump's (and Ted Cruz's) disdain for democratic civility, might in time be repaired. You will never think about Donald Trump the same way after reading this book. And, like it or not, think about him we must.From the Hardcover edition.
Assholes: A Theory
by Aaron JamesWhat does it mean for someone to be an a**hole? The answer is not obvious, despite the fact that we are often personally stuck dealing with people for whom there is no better name. Try as we might to avoid them, a**holes are found everywhere at work, at home, on the road, and in the public sphere. Encountering one causes great difficulty and personal strain, especially because we often cannot understand why exactly someone should be acting like that. A**hole management begins with a**hole understanding. In the spirit of the bestselling On Bullshit James gives us the concepts to think or say why a**holes disturb us so, and explains why such people seem part of the human social condition, especially in an age of raging narcissism and unbridled capitalism. These concepts are also practically useful, as understanding the a**hole we are stuck with helps us think constructively about how to handle problems they present. We get a better sense of when the a**hole is best resisted, and when he is best ignored a better sense of what is, and what is not, worth fighting for.
Assholes: A Theory
by Aaron JamesIn the spirit of the mega-selling On Bullshit, philosopher Aaron James presents a theory of the asshole that is both intellectually provocative and existentially necessary.What does it mean for someone to be an asshole? The answer is not obvious, despite the fact that we are often personally stuck dealing with people for whom there is no better name. Try as we might to avoid them, assholes are found everywhere—at work, at home, on the road, and in the public sphere. Encountering one causes great difficulty and personal strain, especially because we often cannot understand why exactly someone should be acting like that.Asshole management begins with asshole understanding. Much as Machiavelli illuminated political strategy for princes, this book finally gives us the concepts to think or say why assholes disturb us so, and explains why such people seem part of the human social condition, especially in an age of raging narcissism and unbridled capitalism. These concepts are also practically useful, as understanding the asshole we are stuck with helps us think constructively about how to handle problems he (and they are mostly all men) presents. We get a better sense of when the asshole is best resisted, and when he is best ignored—a better sense of what is, and what is not, worth fighting for.
Assigning Responsibility for Children’s Health When Parents and Authorities Disagree: Whose Child? (The International Library of Bioethics #90)
by Allan J. JacobsThis book provides a multidisciplinary analysis of the potential conflict between a government’s duty to protect children and a parent(s)’ right to raise children in a manner they see fit. Using philosophical, bioethical, and legal analysis, the author engages with key scholars in pediatric decision-making and individual and religious rights theory. Going beyond the parent-child dyad, the author is deeply concerned both with the inteests of the broader society and with the appropriate limits of government interference in the private sphere. The text offers a balance of individual and population interests, maximizing liberty but safeguarding against harm. Bioethics and law professors will therefore be able to use this text for both a foundational overview as well as specific, subject-level analysis. Clinicians such as pediatricians and gynecologists, as well as policy-makers can use this text to achieve balance between these often competing claims. The book is written by a physician with practical and theoretical knowledge of the subject, and deep sympathy for the parental and family perspectives. As such, the book proposes a new way of evaluating parental and state interventions in children's’ healthcare: a refreshing approach and a useful addition to the literature.
The Assisted Reproduction of Race
by Camisha A. RussellThe use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART)--in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and gestational surrogacy--challenges contemporary notions of what it means to be parents or families. Camisha A. Russell argues that these technologies also bring new insight to ideas and questions surrounding race. In her view, if we think of ART as medical technology, we might be surprised by the importance that people using them put on race, especially given the scientific evidence that race lacks a genetic basis. However if we think of ART as an intervention to make babies and parents, as technologies of kinship, the importance placed on race may not be so surprising after all. Thinking about race in terms of technology brings together the common academic insight that race is a social construction with the equally important insight that race is a political tool which has been and continues to be used in different contexts for a variety of ends, including social cohesion, economic exploitation, and political mastery. As Russell explores ideas about race through their role in ART, she brings together social and political views to shift debates from what race is to what race does, how it is used, and what effects it has had in the world.
The Assisted Reproduction of Race
by Camisha A. RussellA philosopher examines the social implications of assisted reproductive technologies at the intersection of race, medicine, and bioethics.The use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART)—in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and gestational surrogacy—challenges contemporary notions of what it means to be parents or families. Camisha A. Russell argues that these technologies also bring new insight to ideas and questions surrounding race. She does this in part by reframing ART, as medical technologies that also act as technologies of kinship.Thinking about race in terms of technology brings together the common academic insight that race is a social construction with the equally important insight that race is a political tool used in different contexts for a variety of ends. As Russell explores ideas about race through their role in ART, she brings together social and political views to shift debates from what race is to what race does, how it is used, and what effects it has had in the world.
Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: A Natural Law Ethics Approach (Live Questions In Ethics And Moral Philosophy Ser.)
by Craig PatersonAs medical technology advances and severely injured or ill people can be kept alive and functioning long beyond what was previously medically possible, the debate surrounding the ethics of end-of-life care and quality-of-life issues has grown more urgent.In this lucid and vigorous new book, Craig Paterson discusses assisted suicide and euthanasia from a fully fledged but non-dogmatic secular natural law perspective. He rehabilitates and revitalises the natural law approach to moral reasoning by developing a pluralistic account of just why we are required by practical rationality to respect and not violate key demands generated by the primary goods of persons, especially human life.Important issues that shape the moral quality of an action are explained and analysed: intention/foresight; action/omission; action/consequences; killing/letting die; innocence/non-innocence; and, person/non-person. Paterson defends the central normative proposition that 'it is always a serious moral wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human person, whether self or another, notwithstanding any further appeal to consequences or motive'.
Assistierter Suizid: Hintergründe, Spannungsfelder und Entwicklungen
by Angelika Feichtner Ulrich Körtner Rudolf Likar Herbert Watzke Dietmar WeixlerDie Legalisierung der Beihilfe zum Suizid bringt tiefgreifende gesellschaftliche Veränderungen mit sich. Das bisherige Selbstverständnis von Medizin und Pflege wird in Frage gestellt und es wird eine neue Auseinandersetzung mit dem Leid am Lebensende erfordern. Das Buch bietet einen Überblick über die ethischen Aspekte und die internationalen Entwicklungen der Suizidassistenz sowie über die Spannungsfelder, die sich durch die Legalisierung der Beihilfe zum Suizid aus der Sicht von Palliative Care ergeben. Die Entwicklungen in anderen Ländern, in denen Suizidassistenz schon länger legal ist, geben Anlass zur Sorge. Es wird entscheidend sein, wie gut es gelingt, Rahmenbedingungen festzulegen, die gewährleisten, dass der Entschluss für einen assistierten Suizid frei von Druck getroffen wird. Das Buch richtet sich an alle Berufsgruppen, die Patienten am Lebensende behandeln oder betreuen und schwierige Entscheidungen treffen müssen, sowie an ethischen Themen Interessierte.
Associated Labor and Production in the Age of Barbarism: Education Beyond Capital
by Henrique Tahan NovaesThe book focuses on different practices of associated labor in Brazil and Argentina, in the case of the workers’ recuperated factories, over the past 40 years. Novaes analyses labor practices from a critical Marxist perspective as a reaction to the misery of neoliberalism. Deindustrialization, austerity programs, increasing commodification and international competitiveness have severely deteriorated the living and working conditions of the majority of Latin Americans. However, alternative labor, production and educational practices have developed in this increasingly ruthless neoliberal capitalism. Although they are still small, they indicate a potential way out of the capitalist mode of production. Novaes directs his special attention to the “education beyond capital,” which has accompanied these alternative labor and production practices (from alternative job training in recuperated companies and the movement of landless rural workers MST).
Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You'll Never Hear
by Carl Hiaasen Roz ChastThis is Oh, the Places You'll Never Go--the ultimate hilarious, cynical, but absolutely realistic view of a college graduate's future. And what he or she can or can't do about it."This commencement address will never be given, because graduation speakers are supposed to offer encouragement and inspiration. That's not what you need. You need a warning." So begins Carl Hiaasen's attempt to prepare young men and women for their future. And who better to warn them about their precarious paths forward than Carl Hiaasen? The answer, after reading Assume the Worst, is: Nobody. And who better to illustrate--and with those illustrations, expand upon and cement Hiaasen's cynical point of view--than Roz Chast, best-selling author/illustrator and National Book Award winner? The answer again is easy: Nobody. Following the format of Anna Quindlen's commencement address (Being Perfect) and George Saunders's commencement address (Congratulations, by the way), the collaboration of Hiaasen and Chast might look typical from the outside, but inside it is anything but. This book is bound to be a classic, sold year after year come graduation time. Although it's also a good gift for anyone starting a job, getting married, or recently released from prison. Because it is not just funny. It is, in its own Hiaasen way, extremely wise and even hopeful. Well, it might not be full of hope, but there are certainly enough slivers of the stuff in there to more than keep us all going.
Assuming a Body: Transgender and Rhetorics of Materiality
by Gayle SalamonWe believe we know our bodies intimately-that their material reality is certain and that this certainty leads to an epistemological truth about sex, gender, and identity. By exploring and giving equal weight to transgendered subjectivities, however, Gayle Salamon upends these certainties. Considering questions of transgendered embodiment via phenomenology (Maurice Merleau-Ponty), psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud and Paul Ferdinand Schilder), and queer theory, Salamon advances an alternative theory of normative and non-normative gender, proving the value and vitality of trans experience for thinking about embodiment. <P><P>Salamon suggests that the difference between transgendered and normatively gendered bodies is not, in the end, material. Rather, she argues that the production of gender itself relies on a disjunction between the "felt sense" of the body and an understanding of the body's corporeal contours, and that this process need not be viewed as pathological in nature. Examining the relationship between material and phantasmatic accounts of bodily being, Salamon emphasizes the productive tensions that make the body both present and absent in our consciousness and work to confirm and unsettle gendered certainties. She questions traditional theories that explain how the body comes to be-and comes to be made one's own-and she offers a new framework for thinking about what "counts" as a body. The result is a groundbreaking investigation into the phenomenological life of gender.
Assuming the Ecosexual Position: The Earth as Lover
by Annie Sprinkle Beth Stephens Jennie KleinThe story of the artistic collaboration between the originators of the ecosex movement, their diverse communities, and the Earth What&’s sexy about saving the planet? Funny you should ask. Because that is precisely—or, perhaps, broadly—what Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens have spent many years bringing to light in their live art, exhibitions, and films. In 2008, Sprinkle and Stephens married the Earth, which set them on the path to explore the realms of ecosexuality as they became lovers with the Earth and made their mutual pleasure an embodied expression of passion for the environment. Ever since, they have been not just pushing but obliterating the boundaries circumscribing biology and ecology, creating ecosexual art in their performance of an environmentalism that is feminist, queer, sensual, sexual, posthuman, materialist, exuberant, and steeped in humor.Assuming the Ecosexual Position tells of childhood moments that pointed to a future of ecosexuality—for Annie, in her family swimming pool in Los Angeles; for Beth, savoring forbidden tomatoes from the vine on her grandparents&’ Appalachian farm. The book describes how the two came together as lovers and collaborators, how they took a stand against homophobia and xenophobia, and how this union led to the miraculous conception of the Love Art Laboratory, which involved influential performance artists Linda M. Montano, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and feminist pornographer Madison Young. Stephens and Sprinkle share the process of making interactive performance art, including the Chemo Fashion Show, Cuddle, Sidewalk Sex Clinics, and Ecosex Walking Tours. Over the years, they celebrated many more weddings to various nature entities, from the Appalachian Mountains to the Adriatic Sea. To create these weddings, they collaborated with hundreds of people and invited thousands of guests as they vowed to love, honor, and cherish the many elements of the Earth.As entertaining as it is deeply serious, and arriving at a perilous time of sharp differences and constricting categories, the story of this artistic collaboration between Sprinkle, Stephens, their diverse communities, and the Earth opens gender and sexuality, art and environmentalism, to the infinite possibilities and promise of love.
Astell: Political Writings
by Mary Astell Patricia SpringborgThe writings of the High Church Tory pamphleteer Mary Astell (1666-1731) are a remarkable contribution to the constitutional debates that ushered in the modern democratic state. An interlocutor with Swift and Defoe, Astell was perhaps the first systematic critic of Locke's writings. Astell's political pamphlets Reflections upon Marriage, A Fair Way with the Dissenters, and An Impartial Enquiry into the Origins of Rebellion have never been reprinted in their entirety. This new edition makes accessible the major works of an important political theorist.
Astralabe: The Life and Times of the Son of Heloise and Abelard (The New Middle Ages)
by Brenda M. CookTwo of the most notable figures from the Middle Ages–the volatile, brilliant Abelard and the equally brilliant Heloise–became the parents of their son Astralabe before Abelard’s infamous, brutal castration. The couple spent the rest of their lives as monastics, in each other’s orbits if not in shared presence, as they became movers in the glittering monastic world of the early twelfth-century France. What happened to their strangely named Astralabe? Astralabe: The Life and Times of the Son of Heloise and Abelard rescues the “lost son” from footnotes and fiction and attempts to tell instead the story of a real man living in Europe in the twelfth century. This book assembles the references to Astralabe, provides background in the history of France and Switzerland, uncovers Abelard’s relationships with his family, with the ruling house of Brittany and more, and most importantly draws together all that is known of Astralabe.
Astrolinguistics: Design of a Linguistic System for Interstellar Communication Based on Logic
by Alexander OllongrenIn linguistics, one of the main areas of modern research involves the capabilities and possibilities of there being a "lingua cosmica," a LINCOS, a universal language that could be used to communicate with non-human intelligences. This book touches on the area of the development and use of a "lingua universalis" for interstellar communication, but it also presents concepts that cover a broad area of linguistics. Chomsky's paradigm on universal properties of natural languages, for a long time a leading general theory of natural languages, includes the strong assumption that humans are born with some kind of universals stored in their brains. Are there universals of this kind of language used by intelligent beings and societies elsewhere in the universe? We do not know whether such languages exist. It seems to be impossible to determine, simply because the universe is too large for an exhaustive search. Even verification will be hard to obtain, without quite a bit of luck. This book uses astrolinguistic principles in message construction and is helpful in clarifying and giving perspective to discussions on existential questions such as these.
Astrología y Literatura: Diálogos cósmicos: Borges - Xul Solar | Pizarnik - S. Ocampo
by Claudia AboafLa amistad entre Jorge Luis Borges y Xul Solar y entre Alejandra Pizarnik y Silvina Ocampo es interpretada en este ensayo experimental a partir de las cartas natales de los escritores, analizadas en sinastría, es decir, estudiadas en relación unas con otras, para revelar la belleza del hacer-con el otro. La autora combina saberes como la astrología y la literatura, pero también recurre a la filosofía y al ecofeminismo socioambiental para darle lugar a lo que enlaza y genera una red de conocimientos. El encuentro entre Jorge Luis Borges y Xul Solar y entre Alejandra Pizarnik y Silvina Ocampo es interpretado en este ensayo experimental a partir de sus cartas natales, estudiadas en relación unas con otras, para revelar la belleza que surge al compartir sus creaciones. Y cómo el arte y la literatura tienden un puente sensible para habitar mundos más complejos. La autora combina los saberes de la astrología y la literatura, pero también recurre a la filosofía y al ecofeminismo socioambiental para darle lugar a lo que enlaza y genera una red de conocimientos. Uno de los puntos fuertes del libro remarca la importancia de reconfigurar el mundo de "las personas y las cosas" a través de los poderosos lazos de las relaciones. Y transmite una tesis central: la carta natal entendida como un código que se despliega en la biosfera -un sistema donde todo lo vivo sucede- y que, al articularse con otras, se expande. A partir de los ejemplos concretos del vínculo entre los pares de artistas, este texto propone una nueva forma de pensarnos que potencia la interacción y repone la visión celeste, sofocada por la civilización. La crítica dijo... «¿Qué leen los astros en las letras? ¿Qué las letras en los astros? Era hora de que alguien lúcido como Claudia Aboaf pusiera en órbita dos mundos que siempre se desearon como locos, y que lo hiciera con las obras y vidas de una banda de freaks como la que armaban Xul, Borges, Silvina Ocampo y Pizarnik».Alan Pauls «El libro de Claudia Aboaf cuestiona los binarismos y los monocultivos mentales, internándose en aquello que, por banal, a veces olvidamos: que la literatura, como arte, es un portal hacia otros mundos, una suerte de "cartografías de una visión cosmogónica". La audacia conceptual y la maestría literaria de la autora se conjugan para ofrecernos un potente diálogo entre dos lenguajes».Maristella Svampa «Recomiendo El ojo y la flor de Claudia Aboaf porque trabaja la lengua con musicalidad y la sintaxis de una manera muy especial y porque se ocupa de temas como el capitalismo tardío y la naturaleza».Gabriela Cabezón Cámara «Un lenguaje riquísimo, envolvente, que resulta tremendamente perturbador precisamente por su ferocidad lírica y que recuerda al de Marosa di Giorgio y Agota Kristoff».Leila Guerriero, sobre El ojo y la flor «Novela sorprendente, El Rey del Agua es fruto de una cuidosa alquimia de materiales [...] un vivo rafting novelesco con fuertes picos de intensidad poética y narrativa».Gerardo Tipitto, Otra Parte «La escritura de Aboaf se desvía de las coordenadas esperables, como los sueños se desvían de nuestra voluntad. Con un lenguaje enrarecido que provoca un clima de zozobra, la escritora pone en escena algo de la capacidad humana de destruir y, aun así, la existencia de gestos que buscan proteger lo salvable».Eugenia Almeida
The Astronomical Revolution: Copernicus - Kepler - Borelli (Routledge Library Editions: History & Philosophy of Science)
by Alexandre KoyreOriginally published in English in 1973. This volume traces the development of the revolution which so drastically altered man’s view of the universe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The "astronomical revolution" was accomplished in three stages, each linked with the work of one man. With Copernicus, the sun became the centre of the universe. With Kepler, celestial dynamics replaced the kinematics of circles and spheres used by Copernicus. With Borelli the unification of celestial and terrestrial physics was completed by abandonment of the circle in favour the straight line to infinity.
Astronomy and Civilization in the New Enlightenment: Passions of the Skies (Analecta Husserliana #107)
by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka Attila GrandpierreThis volume represents the first which interfaces with astronomy as the fulcrum of the sciences. It gives full expression to the human passion for the skies. Advancing human civilization has unfolded and matured this passion into the comprehensive science of astronomy. Advancing science's quest for the first principles of existence meets the ontopoietic generative logos of life, the focal point of the New Enlightenment. It presents numerous perspectives illustrating how the interplay between human beings and the celestial realm has informed civilizational trends. Scholars and philosophers debate in physics and biology, the findings of which are opening a more inclusive, wider picture of the universe. The different models of the universal order and of life here presented, all aiming at the first principles of existence--accord with the phenomenology/ontopoiesis of life within the logos-prompted primogenital stream of becoming and action, which points to a future of progressing culture.
Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race
by Mary-Jane RubensteinA revealing look at the parallel mythologies behind the colonization of Earth and space—and a bold vision for a more equitable, responsible future both on and beyond our planet. As environmental, political, and public health crises multiply on Earth, we are also at the dawn of a new space race in which governments team up with celebrity billionaires to exploit the cosmos for human gain. The best-known of these pioneers are selling different visions of the future: while Elon Musk and SpaceX seek to establish a human presence on Mars, Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin work toward moving millions of earthlings into rotating near-Earth habitats. Despite these distinctions, these two billionaires share a core utopian project: the salvation of humanity through the exploitation of space. In Astrotopia, philosopher of science and religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein pulls back the curtain on the not-so-new myths these space barons are peddling, like growth without limit, energy without guilt, and salvation in a brand-new world. As Rubenstein reveals, we have already seen the destructive effects of this frontier zealotry in the centuries-long history of European colonialism. Much like the imperial project on Earth, this renewed effort to conquer space is presented as a religious calling: in the face of a coming apocalypse, some very wealthy messiahs are offering an other-worldly escape to a chosen few. But Rubenstein does more than expose the values of capitalist technoscience as the product of bad mythologies. She offers a vision of exploring space without reproducing the atrocities of earthly colonialism, encouraging us to find and even make stories that put cosmic caretaking over profiteering.
Asylum as Reparation: Refuge and Responsibility for the Harms of Displacement (International Political Theory)
by James SouterThis book argues that states have a special obligation to offer asylum as a form of reparation to refugees for whose flight they are responsible. It shows the great relevance of reparative justice, and the importance of the causes of contemporary forced migration, for our understanding of states’ responsibilities to refugees. Part I explains how this view presents an alternative to the dominant humanitarian approach to asylum in political theory and some practice. Part II outlines the conditions under which asylum should act as a form of reparation, arguing that a state owes this form of asylum to refugees where it bears responsibility for the unjustified harms that they experience, and where asylum is the most fitting form of reparation available. Part III explores some of the ethical implications of this reparative approach to asylum for the workings of states’ asylum systems and the international politics of refugee protection.