bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Integrate-and-fire neurons and population models
Authors: Trappenberg Thomas P.
Published: January 2023

This chapter introduces a variety of abstractions of neurons. This includes the all-important leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron. The chapter also introduces more recent generalizations of this basic model to allow again to incorporate more realistic feature of specific neuronal groups. The middle section of this chapter discusses some general aspects information processing with spiking neurons that will set the stage for our final abstraction of neural systems. This includes another important leap to describe the collective behaviour of groups of neurons, also known as population models or rate models. Population nodes are the basis for many system-level investigations in cognitive neuroscience and are used frequently in later sections of this book. This chapter is an important start of abstractions that are necessary to tackle more system-level information processing principles.
Feed-forward mapping networks
Authors: Trappenberg Thomas P.
Published: January 2023

This chapter explores the ability of basic neural networks that feed input from and input layer through possible layers of hidden notes to the output layer. It is then shown that such neural networks can implement mapping functions. Mapping neural representations are important in many brain processes and have dominated models in cognitive science in the form of multilayer perceptrons. For this it is important to explore the effects of choosing appropriate values for synaptic weights through learning algorithms. While feedforward networks are not enough to explain cognitive functions alone, they are an important ingredient of brain-style information processing and have contributed greatly to our understanding of adaptive systems. This chapter includes some review about concepts of machine learning and more recent developments such as deep learning. Such techniques are becoming increasingly important for industrial applications as well as analysing neuroscience data. However, we will largely focus on their relation to brain-style information processing.
Recurrent associative networks and episodic memory
Authors: Trappenberg Thomas P.
Published: January 2023

This chapter continues the discussion on the dynamics of recurrent networks. Instead of using the characteristic recurrent weight profile of the previous chapter, the networks are now trained on random patterns. It is shown that such networks can function as auto-associative memories, which can rapidly store items and are able to recall stored items from partial information. In contrast to DNF models, which have a continuous manifold of point attractors (continuous attractors for short), the models here have isolated point attractors of their dynamics. We discuss the storage capacity of point attractor networks and their extraordinary robustness to noise and lesions. But memories can also break down rapidly when overloading the network or when lesions become too severe, and we will study the physics of such sharp transitions to amnesic phases. We also review gated recurrent networks such as long short-term memory.
Awareness and the Substructure of Knowledge
Authors: Silva Jr Paul
Published: January 2023

The expression ‘S is aware of the fact that p’ is a commonplace, not at all a philosopher’s term of art. It is often used to criticize, excuse, admonish, and inform others. Such uses of the expression presuppose the existence of a state of awareness that one can be in or fail to be in with regard to some fact. Here lies the phenomenon of factual awareness. It is conventional in epistemology to treat ‘S is aware of the fact that p’ as either expressing the same thought as ‘S knows that p’ or at least entailing it. Learning of the failure of conventional views is often both surprising and theoretically fruitful. This book provides a comprehensive case against the view that factual awareness just is knowledge or even essentially related to knowledge: factual awareness is not identical to, and it does not entail, knowing, being in a position to know, or being capable of knowing. It provides a systematic exploration of the relation between knowledge and factual awareness, arguing that knowledge is but one species of factual awareness and that we can understand the possession of objective reasons, the normativity of knowledge, and the nature of knowledge in terms of factual awareness. In this way, the state of factual awareness is, structurally and substantively, a more basic type of state than knowledge. If correct, this undermines a number of ways in which knowledge has been regarded as ‘first’ in recent epistemology.
Towards an Awareness-First Epistemology
Authors: Silva Jr Paul
Published: January 2023

The concept of being aware of a fact has a prominent place in ordinary talk and ordinary thought. Indeed, factual awareness occupies a role not unlike that of knowledge in many cases. This could be explained by the idea that factual awareness and knowledge come to the same thing. But it need not be. This introduction explains where we will end up after justifying a distinction between knowledge and factual awareness that treats knowledge as but one kind of factual awareness. The upshot is a novel and, as yet unexplored, set of positions across issues of central importance to epistemology.
Awareness without Knowledge
Authors: Silva Jr Paul
Published: January 2023

There are two plausible views about the relation between knowledge and factual awareness. One view identifies knowledge and factual awareness (the Identity View), the other view treats factual awareness as a more general kind of which knowledge is but one instance (the Generality of Awareness). Which of these two views is correct turns on the question of whether or not factual awareness entails knowledge. This chapter defends a diverse range of arguments against such an entailment. The Identity View is, therefore, to be rejected. This leaves us with the Generality of Awareness to explore in later chapters.
Awareness and the Normativity of Knowledge
Authors: Silva Jr Paul
Published: January 2023

Many have found it plausible that knowledge is a state grounded in the possession of reasons. Many have also found it plausible that certain cases of knowledge are not grounded in the possession of reasons in cases of basic knowledge. Such cases form the primary objection to the idea that knowledge is a constitutively normative state. In what follows the dilemma of having to choose between basic knowledge and the normativity of knowledge is resolved by relying on the idea that the possession of reasons is to be understood in terms of factual awareness. After explaining the idea that knowledge is a constitutively normative state and providing motivations for this view, this chapter explores the integrity of objections to the normativity of knowledge. It then shows how broad factualism and the awareness-theoretic account of possession converge in a way that helps us understand the constitutive normativity of knowledge.
Illicit Legislative Intentions in the Separation of State and Religion
Authors: Sadurski Wojciech
Published: January 2023

In many democratic constitutional systems, an idea of using illicit legislative purposes serves as the exclusive basis for the invalidation of statutes in the field of separation of state and religion. It is shown that in the case law of top courts in countries as different as the United States, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Germany, and Israel, legislative motives serve as the crucial factor for judicial decisions regarding state/religion relationship: either for upholding the law when wrongful motives are absent or for invalidating the law when prohibited purposes are detected. In all the landmark judgments discussed in this chapter, the religious motives for the legislation were either viewed as exclusive grounds for the judgment about unconstitutionality or otherwise dominated the effects of legislation as factors for the determination of a judicial outcome.
Standards of Scrutiny, Equal Protection, and Illicit Motives for Discrimination
Authors: Sadurski Wojciech
Published: January 2023

Connection between anti-discrimination law and the ideal of public reason (PR) is found in a doctrine that the invidious quality of a law claimed to be discriminatory must ultimately be traced to discriminatory legislative motives/purposes. This chapter begins by taking seriously a concept of ‘suspect classifications’ developed in the US Supreme Court’s case law under the Fourteenth Amendment, and inquires into the most likely features that may render a classification ‘suspect’, which inevitably—as the chapter argues—leads to the question of legislative motivations behind a legal classification. The chapter offers a theory which may help us understand the idea of ‘prejudice’ by looking at external ‘indicia’ of such prejudice, hence, of suspect classifications. Illustrations for this proposition are taken from the US and South Africa. Finally, using examples from India and Canada, the chapter offers some examples of how judges figure out the presence of impermissible motives behind a legal classification.
Constitutional Legitimacy beyond the State
Authors: Sadurski Wojciech
Published: January 2023

The principle of public reason (PR) fits well supranational authorities which produce de facto binding directives to nation states. This chapter begins by arguing that in the triangle of concepts—legitimacy, democracy, national statehood—we should resist the temptation to uncouple the link between national statehood and democracy. Such uncoupling is often a non-starter, due to the apparent weakness of democracy at a supranational level. Rather, we should follow a different strategy, and uncouple legitimacy and democracy (at least, of an electoral or participatory kind). We should further hypothesize that the legitimacy of supranational authorities is often grounded in the type of arguments provided by supranational entities, and in particular, their appeal to public reason—a legitimacy-conferring device well-suited to supranational authorities. And particularly good instances of such ‘supranational public reason’ (to be distinguished from Rawls’s ‘public reason of the Society of Peoples’) are provided by adjudicatory or quasi-adjudicatory supranational bodies, such as the two regional human rights courts and the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement branch discussed in this chapter. It is also argued that we should not see the relationship between statehood legitimacy (optimally based on electoral democracy) and supranational legitimacy (based on public reason) as mutually antagonistic and engaged in a zero-sum competition, but rather as allowing scope for synergy. This also leads to a view which rejects a conventional conception of primacy of constitutional over international law.
Introduction
Authors: Day Matthew
Published: January 2023

The introduction sets out the aim, scope and structure of the monograph, its scholarly context and its primary sources. The monograph aims to reassess how and to what extent Renaissance humanism impacted the reception of Virgil in fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century England. Whereas previous studies of Virgil’s reception have tended to focus either on the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, the study examines changes and continuities between these time periods. Building on current work in book history and classical reception, the first half of the monograph analyses manuscripts and early printed editions for evidence of readers’ approaches to Virgil’s texts. Meanwhile, the second half analyses the earliest extant English translations of the Aeneid. The introduction outlines the processes of identifying relevant manuscript and printed sources, and indicates that the focus of the monograph is on exegetic commentaries and readers’ annotations.
Printed Editions
Authors: Day Matthew
Published: January 2023

Chapter 2 examines a sample of printed copies of Virgil’s works which were owned in England during the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Building on Chapter 1’s analysis of Virgil manuscripts and the influence of the late antique commentator Servius, the first half of Chapter 2 shows that humanist readers’ annotations continued to follow the same traditions of exegetic practice in the age of print. While the printing press initiated significant changes in the publication and presentation of Virgil’s texts, readers’ intellectual approaches remained consistent with earlier, well-established procedures of grammatical and rhetorical pedagogy. The second half of the chapter discusses Richard Pynson’s c. 1515 edition of Virgil’s works, the earliest extant edition of Virgil printed in England. The edition contains a set of printed marginalia designed to facilitate these traditional modes of exegesis.
Surrey’s Aeneid
Authors: Day Matthew
Published: January 2023

Chapter 6 reconsiders the Earl of Surrey’s reputation as an exemplar of English humanist translation. His translations of Books II and IV of the Aeneid reveal an idiosyncratic, highly experimental translator. Although often and rightly praised for his concise, scrupulously faithful rendering of the Aeneid, Surrey achieved this concision by selectively omitting words from Virgil’s original Latin. His compression of Virgil’s text was driven by his experiments to capture the formal effects of Latin metre. In certain passages, he sought exact line-for-line translations between his English pentameters and Virgil’s hexameters. However, his experiments in poetic form were not taken up by later English translators. Surrey represents only a modern ideal of English humanism, and is unrepresentative of wider sixteenth-century translation practice.
Financing the Future
Authors: Humphrey Chris
Published: January 2023

This book explains how the governance and operational model of multilateral development banks shapes their behavior as a unique class of international organization. The book proposes a theoretical framework—based around MDB governance arrangements and the financial imperatives built into the MDB model—that permits a systematic analysis of the entire range of existing MDBs, regardless of their size and membership. Based on extensive document research, data collection, and interviews with MDB staff and country shareholders, the book then shows how this theoretical framework plays out in three different sets of MDBs: the World Bank and major regional MDBs controlled by wealthy countries; a group of twelve smaller, borrower-led MDBs; and the recently-created New Development Bank and Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank. Compared to existing literature on MDBs, this book takes a broader approach to understanding how shareholder interests impact MDBs by looking beyond the U.S. and G7 and focusing on the balance of power between borrower and non-borrower country shareholders. It also digs much deeper into the mechanics of how the financial imperatives built into the MDB model affect MDB behavior, in particular the need to obtain three types of resources: shareholder capital, external funding and borrower demand for loans. The book is targeted to both academia and the development policy community, as well as those with a general interest in international organizations and international development.
Borrower-Led MDBs
Authors: Humphrey Chris
Published: January 2023

Some twenty-odd MDBs owned and controlled by developing countries themselves operate around different regions of the globe. Although smaller than the legacy MDBs and long-overlooked by academic and policy research, a number of these borrower-led MDBs have begun growing rapidly in recent years in Latin America, Africa, and western Asia. The chapter explores the particular challenges and opportunities faced by these MDBs. Because they have no or only small influence of wealthy non-borrower nations in their governance, borrower-led MDBs have a harder time offering the low-cost loans and high-quality technical assistance of the legacy MDBs. On the other hand, they are much closer to regional member countries, quicker and unbureaucratic, and less inclined to force their policy ideas on borrower governments. The chapter begins with an overview of borrower-led MDBs, followed by an in-depth examination of the characteristics of a set of twelve borrower-led MDBs. The subsequent section takes CAF as a case study, reviewing its evolution from obscurity in the 1970s to a major development institution now.
New MDBs Step onto the Stage
Authors: Humphrey Chris
Published: January 2023

In 2016, two new multilateral development banks were launched: the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB). By the end of 2020, AIIB and NDB were both well on their way to establishing themselves as major new players in global development finance, with a substantial shareholder capital, a rapidly growing staff, and over US$20 billion in approved loans each. AIIB and NDB’s founders looked closely at existing MDBs, and have replicated many aspects of their organizational design, governance structures, and financial and operational policies. By following this basic model, AIIB and NDB are facing the same tensions and trade-offs faced by the other MDBs discussed in this book so far. These are playing out in unique ways, however, due to the context in which they were founded and the constellation of countries making up their membership, and in particular the role of China. This chapter explores how governance dynamics and financial realities have play out over the first five years of AIIB and NDB. The chapter begins with a brief review of the background of and motivations for the creation of AIIB and NDB, before moving on to their governance, operations, environmental and social safeguards, and financial performance.
Looking Forward
Authors: Humphrey Chris
Published: January 2023

The preceding chapters have illustrated how useful the MDB model can be to face the challenges of coming decades, but also the trade-offs and problems posed by financial and governance pressures. This chapter lays out a number of conclusions and implications from the book’s analysis to help inform how MDBs can be reformed going forward. Underneath it all is governance, and all three groups of MDBs reviewed in this book need to consider reforms to their governance arrangements to improve their operational usefulness. The core financial model of the MDB remains solid and should be bolstered with more capital from shareholders. To build consensus on greater MDB capitalization, shareholders need to rethink the developmental purpose of the MDBs, moving away from old rhetoric and looking fresh at the best way to make use of MDBs to help reach the SDGs and face the realities of climate change.
Melville, Beauty, and American Literary Studies
Authors: Marrs Cody
Published: January 2023

This book examines Herman Melville’s engagements with beauty as both a concept and a shared experience. Throughout his prose and poetry, Melville reflects on the origins and effects of beauty, which he associates with natural forms and states of interdependence. Melville develops this perspective on beauty across his career, and it anchors the philosophy and aesthetics of books such as Moby-Dick, Timoleon, and Weeds and Wildings. In this book, Cody Marrs reconstructs how and why Melville cultivated this perspective on beauty, which emerged out of Melville’s lifelong interest in painting, sculpture, science, and metaphysics. The book begins by reconsidering Melville’s longstanding reception as a writer of the sublime and retracing the evolution of American literary studies as a field. The chapters examine three of the major modes through which Melville apprehends beauty, moving from ancient aesthetics to floral forms to psychological experiences of beauty. The book concludes with a reflection on the methods of literary studies and the viability of Pragmatism for thinking about aesthetics. Melville, Beauty, and American Literary Studies thus provides a revisionary account of Melville’s career and a new interpretive framework for literary studies.
Postscript
Authors: Marrs Cody
Published: January 2023

This afterword contends that American literary studies, particularly when it comes to matters of aesthetics, should pay less attention to European philosophers and more attention to Pragmatist philosophy. Literature inspires an astounding array of feelings, sensations, and ideas, many of which are quite intense and impactful, and that makes it necessary to discover precisely what a piece of writing does. To be useful and accurate, criticism must concentrate not on a priori beliefs (whether the author’s or the critic’s) but on the distinct cluster of impressions produced by a work of literature. Through a rereading of John Dewey’s Art and Experience, this Postscript outlines some ways in which Pragmatism might be integrated into the emerging methods of American literary studies. It also discusses recent scholarly debates about historicism, critical versus postcritical reading, ideological critique, and the purpose of literary studies.
Introduction
Authors: Atrey Shreya , Fredman Sandra
Published: January 2023

The purpose of the introductory chapter is twofold: first, to explain the meaning of the term ‘exponential inequalities’ which is the subject of this book; and, secondly, to set out the context and significance of the research in the individual contributions and the book as a whole. The chapter shows how the book uses a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to isolate the features of exponential inequalities that have arisen during the pandemic and other past crises, and to lay down a template of thinking about exponential inequalities in future crises such as climate emergencies, democratic deficits, wars, refugee crises, etc. It also explains how equality law in international and comparative contexts has responded to exponential inequalities and identifies the normative and doctrinal gaps that exist in equality law across jurisdictions. Finally, the chapter points to the possibilities within the extant normative and doctrinal framework of equality law to address exponential inequalities.
Social Security, Exponential Inequalities, and Covid-19
Authors: Reeves Aaron , Andersen Kate , Reader Mary , Warnock Rosalie
Published: January 2023

Covid-19 has put social security systems under immense pressure. Governments saw demand for social security rise dramatically whilst attempting to support those whose employment had temporarily stopped once severe economic restrictions were put in place. Drawing on a range of evidence (including original interviews), this chapter focuses on the experience of larger families (households with three or more children) during the pandemic as a way of illuminating how these pandemic-induced policy responses often failed to reach those groups who have been subject to austerity measures over the previous decade. We explore this in three ways. First, we unpack how the government’s response to Covid-19 left larger families in a precarious position. Secondly, we situate the experience of larger families in the context of a wider set of reforms to social security—such as the benefit cap, the two-child limit, and the benefits freeze—which have already pushed even more larger families into poverty over the last decade. The final section of the chapter draws out how these policy decisions exacerbate inequalities between groups, while alluding to implications for protected characteristics as enshrined in the Equality Act 2010. This analysis not only illuminates how the pandemic has increased gender and ethnic inequalities but also suggests that the degree to which the pandemic was inequality-generating is rooted in policy decisions made before the pandemic even began. Avoiding exponential inequalities in response to future crises requires that policies—and the discourses which surround them—are sensitive to the potential for other kinds of societal shock.
The Proportionality of an Economic Crisis
Authors: Campbell Meghan
Published: January 2023

Is imposing income poverty on vulnerable groups a proportionate response to an economic crisis? The regularity of ‘unprecedented’ fiscal emergencies means the United Kingdom (UK) Supreme Court has repeatedly been asked this question. It has accepted that the austerity measures implemented in light of an economic crisis are indirectly discriminatory against women, children, and disabled persons. However, these inequalities are justified in pursuit of economic recovery. The violation of the right to equality is permitted through a highly deferential light-touch limitation review. The justification analysis ignores the role of the economic crisis in prompting the welfare reforms and, echoing the political rationale for austerity, overemphasizes the recklessness of unchecked welfare spending. This chapter rebalances the limitation arguments by placing the need for discriminatory austerity policies within its full context. A more searching justification analysis, which uses a high intensity proportionality framework, can accurately account for the economic emergency. This in turn shifts the focus at justification away from the perceived overdependence of welfare recipients and towards questioning whether it is fair to ask the most vulnerable and marginalized to bear the costs of the crisis. Taking seriously the role of the economic crisis in perpetuating inequalities can challenge the accepted political–economic orthodox narrative and call into question whether the discrimination against protected groups who live in poverty can be justified in the name of austerity.
Introduction
Authors: Kopf Simon Maria
Published: January 2023

In recent theological scholarship, it has become common to conceive of God’s providence in action terms. A telling example is the so-called divine action debate, which is largely based on two principles: (i) providence is best conceptualised in terms of divine action; and (ii) divine action is best modelled on human action. The introduction first indicates that due to principle (ii), the main challenge for this action-based approach has been to find room for God to act in nature, which appears to be fully accounted for by natural causes. More importantly, while problems concerning principle (ii), namely the modelling of divine action on human action, have not gone unnoticed in recent years, principle (i), the exposition of divine providence in terms of divine action, has gained relatively little scholarly attention. The introduction thus outlines how this book challenges the more fundamental assumption that the concept of action best conceptualises divine providence, and advocates a reframing of the doctrine of providence and a notion of providence modelled on the virtue of prudence rather than human action. To this end, this chapter introduces the notion of divine providence as well as two historically relevant approaches to the doctrine of providence that function as central categories for the book’s analysis: action-based, or ‘actionistic’, and prudence-based, or ‘prudential-ordinative’, providence. The chapter also gives a quick overview of the divine action debate, its current state, and the nature of the contribution this book seeks to make. The introduction concludes with a brief chapter overview.
The Divine Action Project (1988–2003)
Authors: Kopf Simon Maria
Published: January 2023

Chapter 2 shows how, within the Divine Action Project (1988–2003), the previously established category of special divine action (SDA) was turned into a new and systematic research programme. First, the chapter outlines the wider theological debate and how the perceived chasm between Protestant liberalism and conservatism affected the Divine Action Project. The chapter suggests viewing the non-interventionist objective (special) divine action (NIODA) research programme as an alleged breakthrough between ‘liberal’ subjective SDA and ‘conservative’ objective but interventionist SDA, by decoupling objective SDA and divine intervention. Next, the chapter takes a closer look at the notion of intervention and its purported entailment of a violation of the laws of nature. After this critical evaluation of the NIODA framework, the chapter presents the three main NIODA models—whole-part, chaos, and quantum divine action—concluding that all of them face considerable scientific objections.
The Reason for the Deadlock
Authors: Kopf Simon Maria
Published: January 2023

It has become a common view in the contemporary theological debate to assume that God needs room to act in the world. Chapter 3 argues that this purported need for metaphysical space arises primarily from theo-physical incompatibilism, or the view that special divine action (SDA) in an objective sense is incompatible with causal determinism. First, this chapter introduces the notion of theo-physical incompatibilism, which, it argues, is firstly an import from the philosophy of action and secondly a corollary of an action-based, or ‘actionistic’, approach to providence: just as human (libertarian) free action presupposes causal indeterminism, so, too, divine action in the world is assumed to presuppose causal indeterminism. Next, the chapter shows that theo-physical incompatibilism is not only a core assumption of the NIODA programme examined in Chapter 2 but also among the main reasons for the current deadlock in divine action theories. The chapter then argues that this approach is tantamount to a new, ontologically rendered God-of-the-gaps strategy that should be avoided for theological, philosophical, and scientific reasons. Finally, the chapter indicates that dropping this presupposition, which is compatible with other forms of incompatibilism, such as libertarianism, may open up new avenues of research.
Divine Providence, Natural Contingency, and the Doctrine of Transcendence
Authors: Kopf Simon Maria
Published: January 2023

Aquinas’ theory of providence has two major features that are essential for the purpose of establishing a prudential-ordinative view of providence: the doctrine of divine transcendence and natural teleology. Chapter 5 examines the relation of divine providence to natural contingency in Aquinas’ account. It argues that divine transcendence is key in understanding the compatibility of divine providence and natural contingency. First, the chapter goes through various meanings of contingency and its relation to providence. Next, the chapter develops what Bernard Lonergan calls ‘the doctrine of divine transcendence’ in Aquinas, by showing a parallelism between divine intellect, will, and operation. On this basis, the chapter concludes that, on Aquinas’ account, divine operation is transcendent, universal, and holistic. Finally, the chapter suggests moving beyond theo-physical incompatibilism, by rejecting a zero-sum perspective of divine and natural causation.
The Teleological Nature of Providence and the Teleological Natures of Creatures
Authors: Kopf Simon Maria
Published: January 2023

Chapter 6 discusses the notion of teleology and elaborates on the teleological nature of ‘prudential-ordinative’ providence. First, the chapter revisits the notions of teleology and final causation, it illustrates the modern transformation of teleology, and shows why final causation matters for the doctrine of providence. Next, the chapter defends the view that Aquinas envisions the providential ordering of all creatures through immanent teleology against an inconsistency objection stating that due to the so-called ‘cognition condition’, Aristotelian teleology is not available in Aquinas’ account of providence. The chapter argues that this claim can be illustrated by the scholastic notion of appetitus. The chapter then develops at length a theory of appetency, by revisiting the notion of a (natural) appetite, which the chapter renders and explains in terms of formal and material natural inclinations. Finally, the chapter shows how God can providentially guide the world through appetites and what role final causes play in his providence.
Replaying the Tape of Life
Authors: Kopf Simon Maria
Published: January 2023

What would happen if one were to rerun the tape of life? This question is at the centre of the evolutionary contingency debate between palaeontologists and evolutionary biologists Stephen Jay Gould and Simon Conway Morris, and has been variously linked with the doctrine of providence, especially in its application to biological evolution. Chapter 7 examines this debate and the presumed link with the doctrine of providence. First, this chapter outlines the famous evolutionary controversy between Stephen Jay Gould and Simon Conway Morris about the directionality and repeatability of biological evolution, and discusses the role evolutionary contingency plays in their accounts of evolution, at times labelled the ‘gospel of contingency’ and the ‘gospel of inevitability’. Then the chapter presents a critical assessment of some of the debate’s implications, including a certain secularisation of providence, assuming providence to imply a necessity of the consequent instead of a necessity of the consequence. On a traditional theological account, however, providence implies the necessity of the consequence, not the necessity of the consequent, as the evolutionary contingency debate would suggest. For the fact that necessarily, if God wills human beings, then human beings will evolve (□[God wills p → p]) does not entail that human beings evolve necessarily (□p). The chapter reaches the conclusion that only according to a secularised notion does God’s providence concerning biological evolution equal evolutionary directionality.
Evaluating the Theological Responses
Authors: Kopf Simon Maria
Published: January 2023

Chapter 8 evaluates the theological responses to the evolutionary contingency debate outlined in Chapter 7, both from an actionistic and a prudential-ordinative perspective, and addresses the question of what form of directionality, if any, divine as opposed to secularised providence implies with regard to biological evolution. The chapter argues that the actionistic (quantum-based) NIODA theory outlined in Chapters 1 to 3 faces further and more specific limitations in the context of biological evolution, and suggests that the prudential-ordinative theory proposed in Chapters 4 to 6 can remedy at least some of these limitations. In particular, the chapter shows how God can providentially guide biological evolution and argues that a (divinely guided) immanent form of teleology, as employed by the prudential-ordinative theory, is theologically preferable to an externally imposed form of teleology, as utilised by the rival actionistic model. The chapter concludes that while both the actionistic and prudential-ordinative model of providence can in principle incorporate contingency, the prudential-ordinative theory of providence can better accommodate and integrate evolutionary contingency.
World Moves Towards Industrial Revolution
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

From the earliest known history of mankind till the beginning of the eighteenth century, the pattern of man management in the world remained almost the same. The first changes came when machines came to be invented to supplement or substitute human efforts during the industrial revolution, which not only altered the methods of production but also modified the production relations in the business organizations, first in the concerned countries and then elsewhere. The world also witnessed an unimaginable increase in the scale of production which was termed as ‘mass production’ and generation of wealth to such an extent that industrial activities came to acquire national importance. The ‘State’ became involved in guarding the interest of industries through various legislations which, of course, were meant primarily to insulate the industries from workers’ agitations by legally restraining the workers from combining and agitating in pursuance of their demands and providing for certain safety and welfare measures. Slowly but surely the concept of man management was set to change.
Man Management in Early Twentieth Century
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

The First World War left a lasting impact on labour management relations in advanced countries. The war torn world could no longer take labour for granted. ILO, which was formed immediately after the war ended, came out with a new charter for handling labour by treating the workers as partners instead of factors of production. The developed countries came out with a series of labour legislations regulating the conditions of work and defining the rights of workmen to combine and agitate. The role of Personnel Management now became more dynamic and more challenging. With global focus on labour and labour relations, the man managers had now to rediscover their role and responsibilities in industry and being armed with the new theories of management, they realized that they had now to look beyond their traditional role and understand the capabilities and performance of individual workers if they were to really act as managers of men.
Dynamics of Industrial Relations in India and Elsewhere in the Later Part of Twentieth Century
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

The post-Second World War period, more specifically from the 50s and 60s of the last century India as well as many other countries witnessed trade union supremacy and militancy at such a level which was never observed in the past. Labour now acquired a new political power in the democratic political system and that put the management on the defensive. Up to a certain stage, the management looked helpless though they continued with their efforts to overcome the problems at the unit level. The political leadership could not also remain a silent spectator and had to come out with strong reactions when the national economy was at jeopardy and public sentiment, in many cases went against the union activities especially when their actions interfered with the lives of people. Ultimately, the entire environment underwent a major change when economic reforms were initiated and a competitive environment compelled the workers and the unions to cooperate with each other.
Indian Experience After Liberalization
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

The reforms initiated in India after 1980 culminated into full-fledged liberalization in 1991. This had a lasting impact on economy, society, and labour relations. Many strong citadels of earlier times collapsed after liberalization. Labour confronted a new reality. The Personnel managers who went into defensive earlier came forward to secure cooperation of the employees for making the companies stable and competitive; they even negotiated for modifying the terms of employment to the advantage of organizations. The impact of liberalization on Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) was more direct; disinvestment and privatization of PSUs was a part of the process of liberalization. The Government of India took determined effort to overcome the resistance of trade unions to proceed with strategic sale of even profitable PSUs to mop up resources. PSUs were now largely exposed to domestic or global competition.
New Economy After Liberalization
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

After liberalization India slowly learnt to live with the new realities characterized by competition, instability, and strive for betterment. Cost control especially reduction of labour cost became a necessity. It required restructuring of labour force, redeployment of labour through training and retraining and use of low-cost contract labour. In some new establishments nearly 100% workers were employed through contractors. As various industries were following different methods of engaging labour, the role of personnel managers was now different in different industrial units. However, even during these difficult times personnel managers did not lose sight of the needs of workers and continued with their task of integrating them with the organization. Personnel managers got more and more involved in manpower development and communication.
Corporate Social Responsibility—Social Obligations of Industry
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

India has been the first country to make Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandatory for industries falling within the specified criterion. Even before it was done, many Indian industries carried out CSR work on their own especially in mining and other industries carried out in remote areas, mainly to establish ties with the local people and to secure their acceptance of a new entrant in their own area. Even in cities and towns industries contributed in building temples, schools, etc. CSR being legally mandatory at present, the scope of CSR work has expanded many folds. Now Indian industries spend around 1.2 billion USD on CSR every year. The Personnel professionals who to a large extent handle CSR work take it as an opportunity to integrate the organization with the society by building trust and harmony.
Phenomenal Growth of India’s IT Industry
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

The growth of IT industry in India has been phenomenal after liberalization. It has a high contribution to India’s GDP and creation of employment. IT industry has demanded a new role from personnel managers which the personnel people have effectively played by hiring right people, organizing effective training, and nourishing individual growth. IT industry has largely contributed to replacing the industrial relations approach by human relations with individuals instead of unions being in focus.
The Future of Personnel Management
Authors: Som Rana
Published: January 2023

Personnel management is a part of business management and with changes in business environment and the economy, the structure of personnel management also undergoes changes. The future of personnel management therefore depends on the economic situation that is expected to emerge in future. Large multinational corporations are not only expected to continue but they may also expand and many new ones may come up. These organizations will demand an environment where individual capabilities may flourish. The personnel professionals will be responsible to create such an organizational climate. There may be many medium-sized organizations in which the personnel managers will continue to play their traditional role. There may be a large number of micro organizations which may not require designated personnel managers at all. However, it is certain that the role of personnel people will expand and grow in importance in future since people will be recognized more and more as value creators and personnel managers will be managing people more directly than ever before.
The Body and Human Concepts
Authors: Tanton Tobias
Published: January 2023

The conceptualisation hypothesis proposes that concepts are grounded in sensorimotor content. It is motivated, in part, by the ‘symbol grounding problem’, a philosophical problem which observes that if all symbols in a symbol system are defined exclusively in terms of other symbols, then the symbols will be meaningless since they lack reference. Cognitivism typically assumes concepts which are arbitrarily related to their referents and therefore fails to address the symbol grounding problem. By contrast, embodied cognition proponents propose a ‘modal’ theory, in which concepts are (at least partially) encoded by perceptual states. In addition to overcoming the symbol grounding problem, this theory is supported by a raft of empirical findings from brain lesion, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, behavioural, and developmental studies. Despite the strengths of a modal theory of concepts, it struggles to account for abstract concepts which are not readily associated with sensorimotor content. Some initial findings suggest that particular classes of abstract concepts are at least partially comprised of sensorimotor states. Conceptual metaphor theory offers a broader framework, proposing that abstract concepts are grounded through metaphorical relationships with concrete, embodied concepts.
Grounding God? Embodying Theological Meaning
Authors: Tanton Tobias
Published: January 2023

The conceptualisation hypothesis of embodied cognition (Chapter 3) proposes that human concepts are grounded in sensorimotor states. That theory is applied to theological concepts. If abstract concepts pose a challenge for a theory of concepts grounded in sensorimotor states, theological concepts create particular difficulties. The God-concept provides a test case: God is definitively unavailable to perception since God is not an object in the universe, but attempts to associate God with sensorimotor content risk theological charges of idolatry. Hence grounding concepts in sensorimotor states and idolatry-avoidance seem difficult to reconcile. Three strategies are canvased. First, Schleiermacher and Rahner’s religious experience accounts guard against idolatry by distinguishing these experiences from experiences of things in the world. I argue that these experiences fail to ground the concept of God since it isn’t clear how proposed ‘meta-experiences’ relate to sensorimotor experience. Second, metaphors which employ concrete imagery may serve to ground the God-concept. While such metaphors fulfil the grounding criterion in concert with conceptual metaphor theory, it is not clear that they avoid idolatry since they risk likening God with finite objects. Third, the incarnation is proposed as the ultimate solution. As ‘anthropomorphism without the idolatry’, it serves to ground the God-concept in a theologically licit fashion. I explore how the incarnation provides concrete content for the God-concept by supplying direct sensorimotor access to the divine through Christ and - its extensions in narrative, sacrament, and other material vehicles. The incarnation thus accommodates the embodied nature of human concepts.
Cognition Beyond the Brain
Authors: Tanton Tobias
Published: January 2023

This chapter details and evaluates of the ‘replacement’ and ‘constitution’ hypotheses, the two remaining hypotheses of embodied cognition which were introduced in Chapter 2. The replacement hypothesis seeks to explain cognitive processes by replacing internal mental representations with sensorimotor engagement with the world. It elegantly describes how internal mental models are not required for outfielders catching a ball or robots navigating a maze. However, certain ‘representation-hungry’ cognitive tasks reason about objects not immediately available to perception and are therefore less amenable to replacement-style explanations. The significance of sensorimotor engagement with the environment leads to the constitution hypothesis, which suggests that cognitive processes extend beyond the brain, and are co-constituted by bodily states and environmental resources. However, significant disagreement persists concerning the criteria by which to circumscribe cognition, and some argue that few if any cognitive tasks are implemented on extra-cranial physical media. Even if strong versions of the replacement and constitution hypotheses are limited in scope, weak versions nevertheless draw attention to the way in which a multitude of cognitive tasks are ‘scaffolded’ by environmental resources. In following chapters these views of cognition will be applied to analyse embodied religious practices.