bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Buddhism and the Discourses of Modernity
Authors: McMahan David L.
Published: January 2009

Buddhism has created a place for itself in the modern ecology of ideas and practices by placing itself within and between three key discourses of modernity: those of scientific naturalism, Romanticism and Transcendentalism, and Christianity. Specifically, it aligned itself with scientific rationalism over against conservative, missionary forms of Christianity, while borrowing from Christianity’s more liberal and mystical elements. Nevertheless, it has also been critical of positivistic and scientistic modes of rationalism, and in articulating this critique it has drawn on the Romantic-Transcendentalist cosmology and their stress on the value of interior experience. This chapter shows how foundational Buddhist modernists like Soen Shaku and Dwight Goddard re-configured Buddhist concepts in the languages of rationalism, Romanticism, and Christianity, carving out a space for Buddhism in the tensions between these discourses.
Introduction to Evidence-Based Group Work
Authors: Macgowan Mark J.
Published: January 2009

This chapter introduces evidence-based group work (EBGW). It provides a definition and includes a discussion of the assumptions underlying EBGW. It describes how EBGW developed within the history of group work. EBGW is a four-stage process in which group workers formulate an answerable practice question, search for evidence; undertake a critical review of the evidence (with respect to research merit, impact, and applicability), which yields the best available evidence; and apply the evidence with judgment, skill, and concern for relevance and appropriateness for the group, utilizing evaluation to determine if desired outcomes are achieved. The importance of EBGW in the advancement of group work is discussed. Three cases and scenarios are introduced that will be used to illustrate the stages described in the rest of the book.
Demographic Profile, Trends, and Commentary
Authors: Delgado Melvin
Published: January 2009

This chapter presents the latest demographic information on Latinos, highlighting key demographic trends in a variety of domains that have direct implications for social work practice. Commentary and analysis is provided to contextualize what these statistics mean from a historical and present-day perspective, in an attempt to identify key social and economic implications for the nation. In addition, a section is devoted to looking at Latino demographics within a historical context, in order to develop an appreciation of Latinos in the United States.
The Transition to Adulthood Among Youth “Aging Out” of Care: What Have We Learned?
Authors: Dworsky Amy
Published: January 2009

Approximately 20,000 foster youth are discharged by state child welfare agencies each year to live on their own. This chapter examines what happens to these foster youth after they leave care. It begins with a brief discussion of the motivation for and development of the Title IV-E Independent Living Program and its successor, the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program. It then reviews the literature on the outcomes of former foster youth. The review describes a number of previous studies that have examined the self-sufficiency of foster youth who aged out of care, discusses their methodological limitations, and summarizes the findings from this research. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some unanswered questions that researchers are beginning to address.
Lessons from Research on Decision Making
Authors: Munro Eileen
Published: January 2009

This chapter reports on two strands of research on decision making, one prescriptive and the other descriptive. The first, prescriptive, strand draws on probability theory and proposes decision theory as the rational way of best computing the uncertainties faced in making decisions. Potentially dangerous errors in reasoning commonly occur when such approaches are not used. The second, descriptive, research approach has been to study how people in busy professional practice actually do make decisions. This highlights the centrality of pattern recognition as a means of speedily assessing a situation and of critical thinking in testing out the conclusions drawn. The importance of drawing on both sources of knowledge about decision making skills is emphasised and the lessons of both sets of research are then spelled out in relation to child welfare practice.
Assessing Risk Throughout the Life of a Child Welfare Case
Authors: Rycus Judith S. , Hughes Ronald C.
Published: January 2009

Child welfare agencies are responsible for ensuring the safety of abused and neglected children. This requires the accurate and timely identification of children at high risk of imminent or future harm from maltreatment, and making case decisions that effectively reduce this risk. However, accurately identifying and responding to risk is inherently complicated. A variety of risk assessment models and tools have been developed to promote accuracy and relevance case assessments and decisions. However, inconsistencies in approaches and fundamental assumptions, and the idiosyncratic use of terminology have increased, rather than resolved, the prevalent confusion about risk assessment in child welfare practice. This chapter defines risk as a construct with validity throughout the life of a case and describes empirically supported strategies to identify and respond to risk at various stages of case involvement, thereby promoting both the immediate and long-term safety of maltreated children.
HeedingHorton: Transcending the Public Welfare Paradigm
Authors: Stoesz David
Published: January 2009

This chapter addresses the question: how much progress have we made in improving the conditions of poor and low-income children and their parents? It looks beyond the public welfare paradigm to some of the other salient issues, including mental health issues, the role of the courts, poverty, the distinction between inadequate care and abuse, institutional neglect and abuse, and “foster care drift” (the practice of moving a child from one foster home to another). It discusses matters relating to family preservation, the notion of supporting safe and stable families: cash assistance, waivers, single parenting, high school dropout rates, chronic health issues, employment, and eligibility issues. It is shown that a truly effective system of child welfare and protection must include and embrace a myriad of diverse but related issues affecting parents and children. It is argued that the child welfare paradigm has all but collapsed in the face of broader problems and that the future is vague and disconcerting.
Accounts at Birth: A Proposal to Improve Life Chances Through a National System of Children’s Savings Accounts
Authors: Cramer Reid
Published: January 2009

Beyond a focus on protection, child welfare policy should provide the support systems necessary to maximize life chances. To do so requires a consideration of the social conditions children will confront as adults as well as the skill sets and resources they will need to successfully navigate their world. One promising idea is to begin promoting savings and asset building activities with children, particularly with children’s savings accounts. Endowing every child with a savings account, opened at birth, represents a social investment while, at the same time, creates educational opportunities and provides children with a stake in broader society throughout their life. This chapter considers the broad array of policy design and program implementation choices that will give such a policy proposal its ultimate shape and direction.
Beyond Child Welfare: International Perspectives on Child and Family Policies
Authors: Kamerman Sheila B. , Kahn Alfred J.
Published: January 2009

This chapter examines the evolving attention to achieving the goal of child well-being through a broad child and family approach rather than a narrow focus on protecting children against abuse and neglect. The more holistic type of approach employed is driven by the growing use of children’s rights as the basis for intervention, the increased attention to childhood social indicators as a device for monitoring and measuring trends in wellbeing over time, and developments in child and family policies as the framework for a strategic response once well-being is in focus. The objective is not to ignore social service reforms but to go beyond them.
A Descriptive Study of Intimate Partner Violence and Child Maltreatment: Implications for Child Welfare Policy
Authors: Renner Lynette M. , Slack Kristen Shook , Berger Lawrence M.
Published: January 2009

Using survey and administrative data, this chapter presents analyses of co-occurring intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment allegations in a sample of current and former welfare recipients (N = 1,011). Results show a co-occurrence rate of six percent within an approximate one-year time interval. In the subgroup of families with co-occurring IPV and child maltreatment allegations (n = 65), sixty-eight percent of investigated maltreatment reports involve the female IPV victim as a perpetrator. Findings also show that multiple forms of IPV and child maltreatment should be considered when assessing co-occurrence. Compared to families that experience one or neither form of family violence, families with both IPV and child maltreatment allegations have higher levels of parental depression and stress, greater use of harsh discipline, lower parental warmth, and poorer parental physical health. Results from this study are relevant to systems that serve families experiencing IPV and child maltreatment, and for interventions designed to improve family safety.
Construals, Valencing
Authors: Kupperman Joel J.
Published: January 2009

This chapter discusses the notions of construals and valencing of outcomes. It argues that how someone construes morally problematic cases is likely related to how well that person behaves. It then considers how valencing affects people in making choices.
Personal Morality and Its Social Implications
Authors: Kupperman Joel J.
Published: January 2009

This chapter connects the two poles of conscious moral choice: the personal felt quality and conceptual implications. This continues the work of the previous chapters and further undermines the seductive image of ethics as centering on lone individuals making decisions for decontextualized cases that can be considered in isolation from those they would make in any other cases. It is shown that any morality, no matter how idiosyncratic, is implicitly a social morality; and that this has further implications. It requires that morality should apply irrespective of persons. It also requires a central role for general rules.
Steps to Theory
Authors: Kupperman Joel J.
Published: January 2009

This chapter begins an argument for ethical theory. It focuses on the elements of ethical theory that have to be seen as useful, and indeed as indispensable for adequate ethical reflection. These include fairness, respect for persons, and sympathy.
The Logic of Consequentialism
Authors: Kupperman Joel J.
Published: January 2009

This chapter explores the importance of consequentialist considerations in ethics. It argues that there is a logic embedded in ordinary normative discourse that makes consequentialist considerations decisive. The logical case, though, like many logical cases, will skirt the real-life difficulties of making the judgments required.
Some Difficulties of Consequentialism
Authors: Kupperman Joel J.
Published: January 2009

This chapter explores our imperfect knowledge of consequences and their likely value. It argues that we often are not in a good position to make the requisite judgments of values. Even when we are, the judgments that appear justified are typically imprecise. However, this does not mean that consequentialism is not fit for human beings.
Rejecting the Ideal of Value‐Free Science
Authors: Douglas Heather
Published: January 2009

This chapter begins by explaining why nonepistemic values are logically needed for reasoning in science, even in the internal stages of the process. It then bolsters the point with an examination of ways to block this necessity, all of which prove unsatisfactory. Finally, it argues that rejection of the value-free ideal does not demolish science's objectivity and that we have plenty of remaining resources with which to understand and evaluate the objectivity of science. By understanding science as value laden, we can better understand the nature of scientific controversy in many cases and even help speed resolution of those controversies.
Constructive Empiricism and the Role of Social Values in Science
Authors: Roush Sherrilyn
Published: January 2009

In her book Science as Social Knowledge, Helen Longino argued not only that social values are in fact ineliminable from theory choice in science but also that we ought to rewrite our ideals in such a way as to incorporate this fact. One of the most common criticisms of this idea of granting a legitimate role for social values in theory choice in science is that it just doesn't make sense to regard social preferences as relevant to the truth or to the way things are. According to Susan Haack, what is at issue is whether it is possible to derive an “is” from an “ought.” One can see that this is not possible, she concludes. Haack does not provide an argument for the view that it is impossible to derive an is from an ought, but the intuition she expresses is strong and widespread. This chapter shows that even if we grant this view, we may still consistently believe that social values have a legitimate role in theory choice in science. The chapter defends this conclusion by outlining a view about social values and theory choice that is based on the constructive empiricism (CE) of Bas van Fraassen. It is argued that some questions about what role social values may legitimately play in science look different depending on whether they are viewed from a realist perspective, according to which the aim of science is literally true description of reality, or from the point of view of a constructive empiricist antirealism, according to which the aim of science is empirical adequacy, the fit of a theory to the observables.
Contextualist Morals and Science
Authors: Kincaid Harold
Published: January 2009

This chapter distinguishes various roles values might play and the kinds of arguments advanced, both for the value ladenness and value freedom of science. It then argues that arguments on both sides of the issues rest on untenable assumptions about traditional epistemology as a coherent enterprise. Dropping those assumptions opens a space for showing that science can be value laden and yet robustly objective. The chapter is organized as follows. Section 10.1 sorts out issues, sketches some standard arguments both for and against value ladenness, and then describes epistemological assumptions common to both and argues that those assumptions are misguided. Section 10.2 presents an alternative picture of values and science without those assumptions. Section 10.3 applies that picture to debates over values and objectivity in economics and medicine.
Researching Family Support and Children’s Services Planning in Northern Ireland
Authors: Pinkerton John
Published: January 2009

This chapter explores a critical juncture in the development of child welfare in Northern Ireland and considers the impact of a three-part regional research project on family support. The Northern Ireland Family Support Research Project was undertaken between 1995 and 1999. It is argued that research project did make a contribution to the refocusing work of the time by promoting a conceptual model that has helped clarify what is meant by family support; identifying needs-based planning as the pivotal task for promoting the new direction; and validating Children's Services Planning as the leading mechanism for change. It is further argued that the research impact achieved did not come through a direct cause-and-effect relationship between research and planning, but rather through the planners' use of aspects of the research for their own problem-solving requirements.
Three Decline, Slavery, and War
Authors: Murphy Andrew R.
Published: January 2009

This chapter explores the important role played by the jeremiad in antebellum and Civil War America. It begins with the national day of fasting proclaimed by President James Buchanan in January 1861. Nineteenth‐century Jeremiahs lamented their society's moral state, looked to the example of the nation's founders, and called their fellow Americans to reform. Surrounding these narratives of decline were deeply‐rooted ideas of American chosenness, often fostered by varieties of millennialism that saw the United States as integral to the accomplishment of God's purposes in history. The chapter also explores two rival narratives to the mainstream American jeremiad during these years: an African‐American jeremiad that called down God's justice on white oppressors, and the Southern “Lost Cause” narrative, which viewed the South as a quintessential Christian civilization and lamented its defeat as a sign of God's disapproval of Southern immorality. The chapter concludes with an examination of Abraham Lincoln's unconventional employment of the jeremiad tradition.
Four Taking America Back
Authors: Murphy Andrew R.
Published: January 2009

This chapter begins by considering Vice President Dan Quayle's 1992 “Murphy Brown” speech, and goes on to explore the rise and rhetoric of the Christian Right, which mobilized American evangelicals and fundamentalists to re-enter the political process during the 1970s and 1980s. After a brief recapitulation of the historical background of evangelical and fundamentalist involvement in 20th‐century American politics, the chapter looks at the Christian Right jeremiad, which emphasizes the 1960s as the time period when a godly nation strayed from its moral and spiritual roots and embraced an ideology of secularism. The Christian Right nests this tale of American decline within a story of American chosenness, especially in the fight against communism. The Christian Right jeremiad propelled Ronald Reagan to the presidency and continues to play an important role in Republican Party politics.
Recovering Mothers’ Experiences and Perspectives
Authors: Haight Wendy , Ostler Teresa , Black James , Kingery Linda
Published: January 2009

This chapter focuses on the perspectives and experiences of four mothers in recovery from addiction to methamphetamine. Mothers vividly described the rapid loss of control that can occur with methamphetamine misuse, as well as the power of the addiction. They described their illness as impacting their children's physical and psychological well-being including through exposure to domestic violence, adult substance misuse, and other anti-social behavior, and loss of important relationships. They expressed concern that their children would misuse drugs. Women described recovery as possible only with significant external support, and they reported lasting physical, psychological, and social side effects of their illness. Understanding mothers' experience of methamphetamine addiction can increase our awareness of this illness suggesting strategies for engaging them in intervention.
Children’s Psychological Functioning
Authors: Haight Wendy , Ostler Teresa , Black James , Kingery Linda
Published: January 2009

This chapter describes the psychological functioning of school-aged children in foster care because of parental methamphetamine misuse. In semi-structured interviews, children described emotional pain, few social resources for coping with emotions, problem-solving, or talking about their experiences; and avoidant or passive coping skills. Results from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL, Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC, Briere, 1996) revealed individual variation in psychological functioning, but most children displayed significant dissociative or post-traumatic symptoms, as well as other significant emotional and behavioral problems. The high rate of mental health problems suggests the need for non-traditional strategies for service delivery in rural areas targeted toward these vulnerable children. Early identification and treatment of mental health problems should be a priority.
The Value of the Case in Evidence-Based Social Work
Authors: Haight Wendy , Ostler Teresa , Black James , Kingery Linda
Published: January 2009

This chapter describes the importance of thick, case-based research in understanding complex social phenomenon as they occur in everyday life, and grounding the design, implementation, and assessment of relevant, effective interventions. The research program described in this book presented the perspectives and voices of individuals who encountered methamphetamine misuse on a regular basis to understand this social problem from the perspectives of those involved, and in the complexities of their everyday lives. This information, in conjunction with existing research and clinical expertise, was used to design and implement a mental health intervention for rural children from methamphetamine-involved families. This research program illustrates the importance of meaning for child welfare practice and research; the importance of context in intervention, practice, and research; and the use of evidence in social work practice.
Framework
Authors: Baggett Jerome P.
Published: January 2009

This chapter assesses the meaning of culture and its place in shaping people's sense of what is sacred to them. Religious culture is construed as available to individuals to an unprecedented degree; appropriated by them as their needs require; and allocated to them through the distinct parish cultures in which they participate.
Self
Authors: Baggett Jerome P.
Published: January 2009

This chapter addresses the topic of the religious self. It considers various “conversational shards” indicative of Catholics' negotiation with their tradition on the basis of what feels authentic to them. These include their perceptions about their faith and their negotiation with the Catholic tradition by blunting its doctrinal edges.
The Principal Features of the American Constitutional Order: The Positive Constitutionalism of The Federalist
Authors: Barber Sotirios A. , Fleming James E.
Published: January 2009

This chapter sketches the principal features of the American constitutional order by explicating the broad themes of The Federalist. It shows that The Federalist embraces a positive constitutionalism, conceiving the Constitution as an instrument for pursuing positive benefits and ends; not a negative constitutionalism, viewing the Constitution as primarily a set of limitations upon government. Drawing upon Martin Diamond's classic analysis, the chapter puts forth the principal features as the basic conditions of a large commercial republic animated by commitments to responsible government (government that serves the public's true interests) as distinguished from government that is merely responsive to the public's immediate inclinations.
Approaches to Constitutional Interpretation
Authors: Barber Sotirios A. , Fleming James E.
Published: January 2009

This chapter sketches a typology of approaches to constitutional interpretation or sources of constitutional meaning. Yet it cautions against “the approach hypothesis” (i.e., that all of our beliefs about the Constitution are controlled by some partisan perspective or approach) in light of evidence that interpreters have a pre-approach awareness of the Constitution. It prefigures the ultimate argument of the book, not for one approach over all others but for a fusion of approaches.
Narrow Originalism/Intentionalism
Authors: Barber Sotirios A. , Fleming James E.
Published: January 2009

Narrow originalists contend that constitutional interpreters can avoid philosophical reflection and choice by determining and enforcing the relatively concrete intentions (or original meanings or original understandings) of the persons who ratified the Constitution. This chapter concludes that narrow originalism provides no escape from philosophic choice, for it is only through philosophic argumentation that one can answer questions that must be answered before the historical search for intentions can even begin. And, once that search begins, only through the philosophic approach can we decide what those intentions are. The chapter also shows that self-styled “new originalism” suffers from the same flaws as the old originalism. Fidelity to the constitution as written would require a philosophic approach, or an abstract originalism as distinguished from a narrow originalism.
Broad Originalism
Authors: Barber Sotirios A. , Fleming James E.
Published: January 2009

Broad originalists seek a middle way between narrow or concrete originalism and abstract originalism or the philosophic approach. They agree that concrete originalism is, for various theoretical and practical reasons, unworkable and indefensible. But they also feel that the philosophic approach is incapable of being faithful to the Constitution. Broad originalists believe the cure for Ronald Dworkin's abstract arguments for rights is greater respect for historical beliefs and practices and therefore a turn to history in constitutional interpretation. The chapter shows that a turn to history need not be and, understood correctly, cannot be a turn away from the responsibility of philosophic reflection and choice. The turn to history should be reconceived as in service of, not as alternative to, the philosophic approach.
Reputation
Authors: Craik Kenneth H.
Published: January 2009

The network interpretation of reputation advanced in this book depicts the everyday flow and storage of information about a person throughout the extensive lifelong network of all of those other individuals who have come to know that person. This demonstration of the underlying components and development of a person’s reputation affords examination of such issues as truth in reputation, how persons are both the agent and resultant of their reputations, the mutual relevance of reputation and personality, the psychological structure of libel law, and three distinct stages in the evolution of a person’s posthumous reputation network. The explicit network approach provides guidance for addressing such questions as How can we estimate the total membership size of a person’s lifelong reputational community? What adaptive social functions does gossip serve? What does the libel court of London teach us about the risks of communicating information about specific other persons and of defaming and being defamed? What changes occur in the flow of information about persons upon their death? This integrative network conception of reputation brings together a wide range of subfields in the social sciences and humanities into a coherent framework. They include biographical studies, cultural history, evolutionary psychology, gossip research, libel law, organizational psychology, personality assessment, publicity and public relations, social cognition, social network analysis, and social representation theory. The comprehensiveness of the network interpretation of reputation spotlights new forms of interdisciplinary analysis and shows how scholars and scientists in a broad array of disciplines have something important to contribute.
Truth in Reputation
Authors: Craik Kenneth H.
Published: January 2009

This chapter addresses a central feature in most definitions of reputation-the content claims about attributes of the person. The truth of these claims entails two issues: first, the accuracy of the claims as representative of what is actually being said and believed about the person and, second, the validity of the claims themselves as checked against other sources of knowledge about the person. The accuracy issue deals with what is generally thought regarding social facts, narrative events, and personality trait attributions regarding the person. In contrast, seeking evidence for the validity of these reputational content claims takes us away from the membership of the reputational network and toward other sources of information about the person. Validational endeavors might engage inquiries by investigative journalists regarding social facts, historians regarding narrative events, and personality assessors regarding trait attributions.
Babels and Assemblies
Authors: Saposnik Arieh Bruce
Published: January 2009

This chapter describes the social, economic, cultural, and demographic conditions in early twentieth‐century Palestine that served as the soil on which Zionist cultural work would unfold. It argues that the sense of crisis that pervaded the Yishuv in those years, along with ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural, and organizational disunity, are critical to understanding Zionist efforts. It then describes two competing Zionist attempts at organizational unity: the Va'ad ha‐Agudot of 1902 and the “Great Assembly,” convened by Russian Zionist leader Menahem Ussishkin in 1903. These bodies became sources of new discord, based in differing understandings of the nature of the nation and its relationship to its land, as well as a changing connection between Jews in Palestine and in the Diaspora. The Hebrew Teachers' Association, also of 1903, would emerge as an important nationalizing tool.
New Immigrants, Rival Vanguards
Authors: Saposnik Arieh Bruce
Published: January 2009

This chapter explores competing definitions of “native” Hebrew identity claimed by two distinct social groups: a native generation that had been raised in the Zionist colonies and neighborhoods of the “first Aliya” and a group of immigrants who began arriving in 1903 and 1904, inaugurating what would become known as the “second Aliya.” Received initially with a mixed response from veteran Zionists, the *Labor‐Zionist immigrants among this new wave emerged as both partners and rivals in nationalizing the Yishuv. This rivalry contributed to the growth of a wide range of cultural activities, including the appearance of new celebrations, such as Passover fair in Rehovot, a symbol of Hebrew nativity; new rituals, such as pilgrimages to the graves of the Maccabees; and even the construction of “the first Hebrew city” of Tel Aviv. Many of those that would persist were, in the final analysis, syntheses of the cultural efforts of competing groups.
“Halbasien” in Asia
Authors: Saposnik Arieh Bruce
Published: January 2009

Beginning with the Young Turk revolution in 1908, this chapter examines the changing conceptions of East and West as they were manifested in Yishuv culture. Zionism's call for a Jewish return to “the East” was rooted in part in a broader European fascination with “the Orient.” This interest in the East coincided in time and in much of its imagery with a conceptual division of Europe itself into its “western” and “eastern” parts. The Jews were deeply implicated in these twin conceptualizations of the Orient and of Europe's own “Orient” at home, particularly with the notion that Jews constituted a semi‐Asiatic, foreign element in Europe. Competing images of Occident and Orient—resonating with a wide range of racial, social, political, and cultural overtones—would become not only central elements in efforts to create a new Hebrew language, art, and music but also defining aspects of the Yishuv's institutions, rituals, and national liturgy.
Bounding the Nation
Authors: Saposnik Arieh Bruce
Published: January 2009

Continuing with the theme of Orient and Occident in Zionist culture, this chapter examines the ways in which competing conceptions helped determine the role of Oriental Jews and Palestinian Arabs in the emerging Hebrew nationhood. Arguing against a historiography that correlates Zionism with an oversimplified version of European Orientalism, the chapter contends that, within Zionist culture, a myth of Sephardic supremacy coexisted with a sense of Ashkenazi superiority to shape the roles envisioned for the nation's Jewish ethnic groups. Similarly, romantic images of Arabs as racial counterparts and as models for the new Hebrews clashed with a view of the Arab as primitive and responsible for the land's desolation in a time of nascent national conflict. Especially in the wake of the Young Turk revolution, these conceptual divisions informed the Yishuv's language, music, celebrations, public spaces, economic and political orientations, immigration policy, and even bodily comportment.
Language Wars and Other Wars
Authors: Saposnik Arieh Bruce
Published: January 2009

This chapter examines the “language war”—the effort to establish Hebrew as the language of instruction in Haifa's Technion and its high school—as a defining struggle for the Yishuv's national culture. Together with the fight against missionary institutions that preceded it, this was a battle for institutional and organizational autonomy (in particular, from the German‐Jewish Hilfsverein), for the hegemony of the Hebraist nationalizing elite in Jewish Palestine, and for the supremacy of that group's vision of national culture. Bearing quasi‐religious overtones of cataclysmic conflict, the undertaking was incorporated into new holidays such as “Flower Day” and transformed traditional celebrations. Frequent conflations of educational struggle with escalating national conflict and the fallen of Ha‐Shomer* proved formative for new Hebrew masculinities and femininities. By the outbreak of WWI, a distinct culture had emerged in which an altered distribution of power between the Yishuv and the Diaspora was an essential component.
Radical Reform
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This book tackles head-on the rulings of Islamic jurists that make Islam seem incompatible with modern, scientifically, and technologically advanced, democratic societies. The book argues that it is crucial to find theoretical and practical solutions that will enable Western Muslims to remain faithful to Islamic ethics while fully living within their societies and their time. It notes that Muslim scholars often refer to the notion of ijtihâd (critical and renewed reading of the foundational texts) as the only way for Muslims to take up these modern challenges. But, the book argues, in practice such readings have effectively reached the limits of their ability to serve the faithful in the West as well as the East. This book sets forward a radical new concept of ijtihâd, which puts context—including the knowledge derived from the hard and human sciences, cultures, and their geographic and historical contingencies—on an equal footing with the scriptures as a source of Islamic law. This global and comprehensive approach, it says, seems to be the only way to go beyond the current limits and face up to the crisis in contemporary Islamic thought: Muslims need a contemporary global and applied ethics. After setting out this proposal, the book applies a new methodology to several practical case studies involving controversial issues in five areas: medical ethics, education, economics, marriage and divorce, culture, and creativity.
Introduction
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This introductory chapter argues that the awakening of Islamic thought requires reconciliation with its spiritual dimension on the one hand, and renewed commitment and rational and critical reading (ijtihâd) of the scriptural sources in the fields of law and jurisprudence (fiqh) and on the other. It discusses the primary purpose of this book, which is to revisit not only the tools and concrete, historical implementations of fiqh, but also their sources, their categorization, and at the same time their methods, the range of their authority and the nature of the approaches that have been put forward throughout the history of this science (usûl al-fiqh). The book presents three fundamental propositions: the contemporary Muslim world (both East and West) must reconsider the terms and modalities of the reform process (islâh, tajdîd); the contents geography of the sources of usûl al-fiqh must be reconsidered; and the center of gravity of authority in the Islamic Universe of reference must be shifted by ranking more clearly the respective competences and roles of scholars in the different fields.
1 The Concept of “Reform”
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter reflects on the notion of “reform” in Islam. It begins by discussing two concepts in Islamic sciences, drawn from scriptural sources, that directly refer to the ideas of “reform” and “renewal”, namely, “tajdîd” and “islâh”. It considers the role of the Quran in contemporary debate over “reform”. The notion of “ijtihâd” is also discussed.
2 What Reform Do We Mean?
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter continues the discussion on the notion of reform in Islam, began in the previous chapter, by addressing the question: what reform do we mean? It argues that the reform intended questions the established geography of the fundamentals of Islamic usûl al-fiqh as well as the limited—and sometimes counter-productive—implementations of contemporary tajdîd and islâh. It is an appeal to reconsidering the sources through their necessary reconciliation with the world, its evolution, and human knowledge. Thus, reconciling conscience with science is imperative.
3 Imam ash‐Shâfi' î: The Deductive Approach
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter focuses on Imâm ash-Shâfi'î. Imâm ash-Shâfi'î developed a definition of Islamic law and jurisprudence (fiqh), which became a reference for specialists over and above the differences between legal schools. He set out to provide a methodology regulating the extraction of rules, determining typologies and the different levels of semantic expression, as well as a categorization of rules and injunctions taking into account their mode of exposition and their substance. This represented the birth of a new and foundational science: usûl al-fiqh, the fundamentals of law and jurisprudence, and ash-Shâfi'î's seminal work stands out as a turning point in the history of Islamic law.
4 The Hanafî School: The Inductive Approach
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter focuses on Imam Abû Hanîfah. Abû Hanîfah was one of the most eminent scholars in the Iraqi legal tradition and among the advocates of opinion (ahl ar-ra'). He did not write any synthesis of his own thought and methodology. It was through his pupils that the bulk of his production as well as information about his method came down. His production in the field of fiqh focused on the practical aspect, the ramifications of law (furû'), and asked detailed secondary questions. His method, insisting on confronting human realities, naturally led him to produce detailed, pragmatic answers. These answers served as a basis to elaborate the inductive method of Hanafî scholars.
10 Elaborating an Applied Islamic Ethics
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter shows how the new geography of the sources of law, and its consequences for spheres of authority, can take concrete shape in Muslim societies and communities, and particularly in the circles specializing in fiqh and ethics. This reform is deeply “radical” since it entails reconsidering the sources of the fundamentals of law and jurisprudence, rebalancing them, and necessarily shifting the center of gravity of authority in Islam. However, it springs from a no less fundamental desire to be faithful, and it would be wrong and contradictory to consider it as nothing but a way of projecting an a posteriori ethical apparatus on the scientific Universe with the declared or tacit intention of taking hold of it. The chapter also responds to criticisms for the book's author7s so-called desire to “Islamize modernity” rather than “modernizing Islam”.
11 Islamic Ethics and Medical Sciences
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter explores Islamic ethics within the context of medical practice. It discusses medical code of ethics in the Muslim world. It addresses issues such as contraception and abortion, euthanasia and organ transplantation, and AIDS. It shows that nothing in the Islamic Universe of reference opposes the emergence of new, dynamic, up-to-date discussion. Fuqahâ' and physicians have often proceeded hand in hand and developed appropriate, reasonable answers about faithfulness to ethical outcomes.
13 Women: Traditions and Liberation
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter focuses on Islamic discourse about women. It shows that a new feminine conscience or, more broadly speaking, an understanding of the issues linked to the question of women has emerged in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities around the world. Women and men have taken full measure of the problems facing contemporary Muslim societies and have decided to address the issue directly, by stating first of all that there was clearly a problem in the way texts about women were approached and, consequently, in the general Islamic discourse and the concrete implementation of its teachings.
14 Ecology and Economy
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter examines Islamic thought on ecology and the economy. It argues that the reform of human realities, mind-sets, understandings, and societies requires a broad view of what the problems are and becoming involved on several levels. But when construing contemporary Islamic thought, it is strangely absent from some contemporary essential debates, or, at least, lagging far behind developments. This is most evident in matters related to the economy and ecology: an earnest, realistic ethical thought cannot approach either of them in isolation, and one must not fail to note all the necessary conclusions and all the concrete consequences that such a combined approach leads to in either field of activity.
Conclusion
Authors: Ramadan Tariq
Published: January 2009

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts. The transformation reform proposed in the book involves multiple requirements: a new outlook on texts and human and social contexts, mobilizing knowledge and skills, and rebalancing legitimacy and authority in the production of norms and ethics. It means refusing immobilism, formalism, blind imitation (of all kinds), or fatalism.
7 Rediscovering the Brain
Authors: Clark Andy
Published: January 2009

This chapter examines the role of the biological brain. It considers a number of worries about recent appeals to embodiment, embedding, and cognitive extension—all of which take as their points of departure the incontrovertible fact that we are very smart indeed and the (only slightly more controvertible) fact that the brain is where the major smarts start. It addresses the question of whether work that stresses embodiment, embedding, distributed functional decompositions, and the well-groomed cognitive niche systematically distort the role of the biological brain. It is argued that attention to embodied, embedded, and extended cognition provides the essential lens through which to appreciate the startling power and elegance of the neural machinery, observed at home in its proper ecological setting.
9 Disentangling Embodiment
Authors: Clark Andy
Published: January 2009

Embodiment appears to matter for mind and cognition in three ways: spreading the load, self-structuring information, and supporting extended cognition. The three threads are joined by the supporting hypothesis of cognitive impartiality: Our problem-solving performances take shape according to some cost function or functions that, in the typical course of events, accord no special status or privilege to specific types of operation (motoric, perceptual, introspective) or modes of encoding (in the head or in the world). This chapter argues that these appeals to embodiment, action, and cognitive extension are best understood as fully continuous with computational, representational, and information-theoretic approaches to understanding mind and cognition. In so doing, it attempts to display at least something of the likely shape of a mature science of the embodied mind.
10 Conclusions: Mind as Mashup
Authors: Clark Andy
Published: January 2009

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts. It argues that work on embodiment, action, and cognitive extension likewise invites us to view mind and cognition in a new and illuminating manner. The human mind emerges at the productive interface of brain, body, and social and material world. Unravelling the workings of these embodied, embedded, and sometimes extended minds requires an unusual mix of neuroscience, computational, dynamical, and information-theoretic understandings, ‘brute’ physiology, ecological sensitivity, and attention to the stacked designer cocoons in which we grow, work, think, and act.
Introduction: Democracy and Institutional Design
Authors: Vermeule Adrian
Published: January 2009

This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of institutional design writ small. It considers the mechanisms of democracy, and proposes mechanisms that advance four core values of democratic constitutionalism: impartiality, accountability, transparency, and deliberation. The chapter then discusses the advancement of democratic values, disagreements about democratic values, the limiting conditions for democratic mechanisms, and the feasibility constraints on democratic reform. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
The Veil of Uncertainty
Authors: Vermeule Adrian
Published: January 2009

This chapter introduces the veil of uncertainty as a small-scale mechanism for promoting impartiality. The American federal constitution is used as a source of illustrations, with lateral comparisons to other constitutions where useful. It suggests that Congress is subject to more constitutional veil rules, of wider scope, than is the President or the judiciary.
Submajority Voting Rules: Forcing Accountability
Authors: Vermeule Adrian
Published: January 2009

Legal and political theories have focused on supermajority rules, which require a fraction of votes greater than 1/2+1 to change the status quo, and thus empower a minority to block change. This chapter considers the opposite deviation from simple majority voting — submajority rules — under which a voting minority is granted the affirmative power to change the status quo. Institutions use submajority rules only for preliminary and procedural questions, and to set agendas — for voting on the question of which issues are to come up for a substantive vote by simple or special majorities. Submajority rules enable minorities to force public accountability and a kind of transparency upon majorities.
Optimizing Transparency: The Budget Process
Authors: Vermeule Adrian
Published: January 2009

This chapter analyzes transparency in the setting of the national budget process in the United States Congress. It argues for selective transparency, in which some decision-making processes are opaque, and in which some information is disclosed to some constituents at some times but not to others at other times. It suggests that selective transparency should be instituted through a regime of delayed disclosure of legislators' actions, to promote sound legislative deliberation and to liberate legislators from undesirable accountability to narrow interests.
Optimizing Deliberation: Constitutional Issues in Congress
Authors: Vermeule Adrian
Published: January 2009

This chapter focuses on the production of constitutional deliberation in legislatures. It argues that constitutional deliberation is a collective good that will be underproduced in legislatures. It suggests some incentive-compatible mechanisms for overcoming this problem, such as a congressional Office of Constitutional Issues designed to encourage more successful legislative deliberation on constitutional questions.
Conclusion: Institutional Design as a Going Concern
Authors: Vermeule Adrian
Published: January 2009

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that institutional design, writ small, is a going concern. The gaps in the standing design leave space for improvement at the margins, but there are usually alternative improvements to be debated, and questions about what would count as an improvement. Democrats with different views can deliberate and decide together about what democracy permits or requires in particular contexts, even if they lack a full account of what democracy entails.