bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
‘The Work’: The Teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky in Russia and Beyond
Authors: Sutcliffe Steven J. , Willmett John P.
Published: September 2020

This chapter sets out the lives and careers of the independent teachers G. I. Gurdjieff (1866?–1949) and P. D. Ouspensky (1878–1947) in the context of their early careers within the Russian empire, followed by their emigration to Paris and London after the Russian Revolution and Civil War. We argue that the system of ‘practical mysticism’ taught by both figures was strongly flavoured by elements of the ‘occult revival’ as this flourished in Silver Age Russia. It bore the impress of an imperial syncretism responsive to both Greek-Armenian folk culture (Gurdjieff) and Russian metropolitan mysticism (Ouspensky). We outline the main elements of ‘the Work’, which we present as a co-production by both teachers, despite its schismatic history since the 1920s, and we discuss the main theories on the sources of this practice. Overall we argue that fin de siècle imperial Russia was a more potent cultural crucible for the creation of ‘the Work’ than has hitherto been acknowledged. Paying greater research attention to the Gurdjieff–Ouspensky movement will improve our understanding of the depth and scope of its sources within pre-revolutionary Russia and the émigré cultures that emerged in London and Paris in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War.
Seeking God and Spiritual Salvation in Russian Cinema
Authors: Birzache Alina
Published: September 2020

This chapter will investigate various Russian cinematic treatments of the salvific aspiration invested in either the nation or the individual as conceived in the Russian Idea. The works of the selected directors are looked at against the backdrop of this national narrative with which they engage directly or indirectly. The chapter argues that from Andrei Tarkovsky, whose oeuvre has come to epitomize the spiritual search in Russian cinema at its most intense, to contemporary filmmakers Alexander Sokurov, Pavel Lungin, and Andrei Zviagintsev, the portrayal of Russian society has increasingly lost the idealized spiritual aura of its messianic destiny, leaving salvation as an individual solution.
Alexander Men and Russian Religious Thought in the Post-Soviet Situation
Authors: Bauer Kateřina Kočandrle , Noble Tim
Published: September 2020

Alexander Men was the major representative in Soviet times of Russian religious philosophy within post-Stalinist Russia. This chapter contextualizes his spiritual formation and then presents his major theological themes, based on an openness to the world inspired by a belief in the possibility of co-creation between God and humanity. In this he shared Russian religious philosophy’s focus on the person of Jesus Christ as the centre of history, on its concept of Godmanhood, and its supreme ideal of deification. Men’s notion of freedom and creativity, a significant part of his theological anthropology and his theology of culture, are important contributions to the development of this religio-philosophical tradition. The ecumenical dimension of his work is also presented, as well as his attempts to engage with other religions, particularly Judaism and Islam. Lastly, his legacy for Orthodoxy in the Soviet Union and also in the West will be briefly noted.
Judaism and Russian Religious Thought
Authors: Rubin Dominic
Published: September 2020

This chapter examines the role played by Judaism, the pre-1917 Russian ‘Jewish Question’, and anti-Semitism in the philosophical and cultural formation of key Russian religious thinkers. It explores how Vladimir Soloviev laid the foundations for a common ‘liberal–conservative’ approach to Jews and Judaism, by using them as tropes for his thinking on Russian nationhood and religious identity. It then examines how Sergii Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky and Vassily Rozanov each used Judaic elements to forge a philosophy of ‘sacred materialism’. The question of these three thinkers’ anti-Semitic writings is considered as part of a more general irrationalist element in Russian conservative religious thought, and the philosophical effects of the 1911–1913 Beilis blood libel trial on the work of Rozanov and Florensky are analysed. Finally, the chapter looks at the work of four Jewish thinkers: Aaron Steinberg, Mikhail Gershenzon, Lev Shestov, and Semyon Frank (the latter, despite his conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, preserved a connection to a particular form of Jewishness, it is argued, especially through his devotion to the German language). The author concludes that they succeeded in creating a pan-European universalist version of Russian thought that enabled them to find an outlet for an original fusion of Russian and Jewish elements, which was forged in creative tension with their dual heritage.
Russian Orthodox Thought in the Church’s Clerical Academies
Authors: Michelson Patrick Lally
Published: September 2020

This chapter identifies and examines various currents of thought in the Russian Church’s four clerical academies (dukhovnye akademii), ranging from their founding in the first half of the nineteenth century to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Located in the dioceses of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, and Kazan’, the academies were established to revitalize right belief on the suspicion that authentic Orthodoxy, however imagined, had been undermined by Scholasticism, Pietism, sectarianism, and other confessional threats. Consequently, these schools played a key role in the development of neopatristic Orthodoxy, academic Orthodoxy, and, more broadly, Orthodox thinking about state, society, religion, law, culture, history, Russia, and the West. Faculty members, administrators, and students regularly engaged the works of religious and atheistic thinkers from across ancient, medieval, and modern Europe, which helped to make the clerical academies centres not just of theology, canon, and doctrine, but also of philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and literary criticism. The focus on recovering genuine Orthodoxy, however, generated a new set of problems for the Russian Church. Drawing upon sources, theories, and methods learned at school, Orthodox intellectuals began to interpret their faith through an array of antagonistic lenses, fracturing the schools into competing ideological camps. As the Church responded to the disruptive forces of war, revolution, and modernity (ca. 1905–1917), educated clergy and laity soon discovered that Orthodoxy was more cacophony than harmony. In its efforts to bring the faithful (back) to right belief, the Church, through its clerical academies, had sown its own divisions.
Slavophilism and the Origins of Russian Religious Philosophy
Authors: Poole Randall A.
Published: September 2020

This chapter presents Slavophilism as having laid the foundations for the further development of Russian religious philosophy. The leading Slavophile thinkers in this respect were Aleksei Khomiakov and Ivan Kireevsky. Two main principles guided their religious thought: the compatibility of faith and reason, and the defence of human freedom, dignity, and personhood. Their signature religious-philosophical concepts are sobornost, faithful or believing reason, and integral personhood. The chapter explores the different sources of their religious thought, prioritizing their own faith and religious experience. Khomiakov and Kireevsky were convinced that human beings, through integrating faith and reason and achieving spiritual wholeness, could apprehend reality in its ontological or noumenal depths, in a way that abstract rationalism could not. This intuition of being came to be hailed as the distinctive ontologism of Russian religious philosophy. It provided a foundation for the development of Russian philosophical personalism. The Slavophiles, especially through the concept of sobornost, also emphasized the communal nature of personhood: persons realize themselves through free and loving interaction with each other. For Khomiakov and Kireevsky, the ideal community was the Church.
Privacy and Confidentiality in Psychotherapy
Authors: Maatz Anke , Schneller Lena E. , Hoff Paul
Published: September 2020

This chapter situates privacy and confidentiality as central ethical, legal, and anthropological concepts for psychotherapeutic practice. It first provides some conceptual background and clarification of the concepts before considering their specific relevance in the context of psychotherapy. In particular, it explores a unique significance that, it is argued, privacy and confidentiality acquire in the therapeutic process to do with the anthropological dimension of privacy, its psychological function, and the specific dynamics of the therapeutic relationship. Based on four case vignettes, potential ethical conflicts about privacy and confidentiality are then discussed. Finally, principles that can guide practitioners in responding to ethical conflicts about privacy and confidentiality in clinical practice are provided.
Social Media Ethics for the Professional Psychotherapist
Authors: Pikiewicz Kristi
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores the ethical considerations that can guide a therapist’s personal and professional use of social media. The incredible pace of change in the social media landscape has led many institutions to delay the development and distribution of specific guidelines or recommendations; however, the literature establishing the boundaries and best practices for the patient–therapist relationship, along with privacy concerns in both directions, and the termination of this relationship, offer a context in which to develop personal competency in the use of social media, both to avoid detrimental entanglements and to enhance progress toward therapeutic goals. While social media platforms and the uses of these platforms change, the basic ethical considerations framing the patient–therapist relationship do not. By using established ethics to guide the use of evolving technologies, a therapist can ensure their use of these technologies remains consistent with long-held best practices.
Ethical Processes in Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Authors: Drozek Robert P.
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores the foundational role of ethical experience in psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy, from the perspective of theory as well as technique. The author reviews seminal ethical constructs across the range of analytic perspectives, including classical psychoanalysis, object relations theory, self-psychology, and contemporary relational/intersubjective thought. While all forms of psychotherapy recognize the importance of ethically grounded principles of care, psychoanalysis is unique in its theorizing about the relevance of ethics to fundamental aspects of the clinical process itself, including therapeutic goals, therapeutic outcomes, and “how change happens” in psychotherapy. These areas of theory are surveyed, along with some basic ethical tensions generated by defining aspects of psychodynamic praxis: the ethics of unconscious exploration, the ethics of “working in the transference,” the ethics of exploratory technique, and the ethics of treatment intensity.
Ethical Issues in Psychotherapy of Other Therapists: Description, Considerations, and Ways of Coping
Authors: Shefler Gaby , Lederman Shai , Yonatan-Leus Refael
Published: September 2020

What are the specific ethical aspects of psychotherapy with patients who are themselves therapists (patient-therapists)? This chapter argues that the main difference between psychotherapy with patient-therapists and non-therapist patients is that in the former, the therapist is both the patient’s therapist and colleague. Potential multiple relationships may arise in such cases since the therapist and the patient are both members of the same professional community. In addition, therapists are faced with the challenges of maintaining boundaries between the therapeutic and other professional roles. The most complex dilemma in this situation concerns the therapist’s duty to report patient-therapists’ professional impairment, incompetency, ethical violations, or suspected illegal behavior. The authors suggest that the therapist’s primary ethical duty in this case is to the patient and that reporting should only be as a last resort. The chapter concludes with a call to professional organizations and other regulating bodies for establishing guidelines for managing such dilemmas.
The Metaethics of Psychotherapy Codes of Ethics and Conduct
Authors: Snelling Paul
Published: September 2020

Codes of ethics and conduct are important documents in healthcare practice, and must be evaluated alongside an understanding of the role of the organizations that write and publish them. In the UK, established professions like medicine and nursing are subject to statutory regulation and codes that articulate minimum conduct. However, the regulation of psychotherapists in the UK has been the subject of changes in government policy during the last decade, resulting in a fragmented regulatory environment where a number of organizations function both as regulator and professional body. There are about forty codes of ethic and/or conduct in the UK relating to the various professions of psychotherapy. This chapter details the regulatory framework in the UK, and the places of codes within it. The codes’ regulatory role in establishing minimum practice is difficult to assess because so few cases of malpractice are brought, and their role in guiding practice is questioned by using disclosure of confidential information as an example. Psychotherapists are invited to assess whether the codes and associated guidance are sufficiently detailed to guide practice.
The Study of Eye Movements in Empirical Aesthetics
Authors: Locher Paul
Published: September 2020

Knowledge obtained using eye-tracking techniques has for many years contributed in a major way to the development of contemporary information processing-based models that detail the mechanisms and processes underlying the perception of visual art. The purpose of this chapter is to present an overview of the findings of recent eye movement studies designed to expand the body of knowledge concerning the complex dynamic interaction among contemporary person–artifact–context relational models and the interplay between top-down and bottom-up influences across the time course of an aesthetic experience with art. Huge leaps in our knowledge of the interaction of these components have occurred in recent years as a consequence of the development of new methods for the visualization and analyses of eye movement data and the use of mobile eye-tracking techniques described in this chapter.
Historiometric Methods
Authors: Simonton Dean Keith
Published: September 2020

Historiometrics is a quantitative and nomothetic method for the study of aesthetic masterpieces, artistic geniuses, and the sociocultural context in which those masterpieces emerge and their creators operate. The technique specifically depends on the scientific analysis of biographical and historical data, including the (often computerized) content analysis of actual works. The units of analysis can range from products to creators to whole eras or periods. Historiometric research can sometimes rely on standard statistical methods, such as factor analysis and multiple regression, but often more advanced techniques are required, such as hierarchical linear modeling. Although historiometric research on the arts has been carried out since 1835, the practice remains less common than other methods used in empirical aesthetics. Even so, it provides the investigator with the unique opportunity to examine the psychological and sociocultural foundations of genuine masterworks in literature, music, the visual arts, and cinema.
Scotland as a Political Community
Authors: Keating Michael
Published: September 2020

Modern perspectives on Scotland see it neither as an undifferentiated part of a unitary nation state, nor as a radically distinct or ‘ethnic’ community. Rather it is a component nation within a union, which itself changes over time. Since the late twentieth century, Scotland has become more important as a political community and at the end of the century it gained an autonomous Parliament. It is not a homogeneous unit but a space in which political contestation takes place. Even as it increasingly resembles the rest of the UK in its economic and social structures and values, it is politically differentiated. Devolution in 1999 started an institutional dynamic whose effects are still being worked out. Scotland now has a distinct party system. Its constitutional future is unresolved after the independence referendum of 2014 and the European referendum of 2016, in which Scotland voted to remain in the European Union whilst England and Wales voted to leave.
Ethnic Minorities and Political Citizenship in Scotland
Authors: Hill Emma , Meer Nasar
Published: September 2020

There is a gap between the ‘aspirational pluralism’ espoused by political elites, and Scotland’s record on the representation of ethnic minorities in politics. In this chapter we explore the status of a Scottish multicultural citizenship broadly conceived, and identify three clusters. The first centres on an aspirational pluralism, characterized by an ambition to avoid ethnically determined barriers on membership of Scottish nationhood. The second concerns the competing ways in which Scotland’s imperial role is used by different political actors. The third cluster points to potential limitations in minority claims-making and recognition, and questions the extent to which national-level, elite ‘pluralist’ discourse is translated into a successful model of political participation. Ethnic minority populations are disproportionately under-represented in local government across Scotland as a result of three features of local government recruitment and selection processes that adversely impact the participation of ethnic minorities in local politics. We discuss their implications for representation at the local and national levels. We conclude with a discussion of how the gap between elite ‘aspirational pluralism’ and the reality of ethnic minority under-representation in Scottish politics might be addressed.
Green Politics
Authors: Brown Antje
Published: September 2020

Whilst Scottish environmental policies feature many characteristics typical for modern systems of governance, addressing similar environmental challenges and wicked problems of the twenty-first century, many environmental policy responses in Scotland are nevertheless distinctly contextual and often driven by the ongoing constitutional debate whilst also being ambitious, if not pioneering. This is not to say that Scotland leads in environmental politics on all fronts; where coalition networks and other factors may not promise the desired results, Scottish decision makers shy away from a determined green approach. This chapter therefore argues that in order to understand green politics in Scotland as a whole we need to study environmental policies carefully and individually and take into consideration a number of factors (or parameters) such as resource availability and, more importantly, the strategic consideration of whether or not a co-framing between green ambitions and national identity can be achieved successfully.
The State of Scotland
Authors: Ascherson Neal
Published: September 2020

In the context of Brexit, it is easy to see Scottish government as a model of consistency and stability whilst the UK government displays the opposite. This is a false impression, with Scottish politics dominated by the constitutional question. One view is that Scotland’s constitutional journey can end only with independence; that would be excessively teleological. Devolution has revived distinctive ‘European’ features in Scottish constitutional thinking as political relations between London and Edinburgh grow less consensual. This is incompatible with the archaic English doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, an inconsistency which hardly mattered until devolution. Harder to measure has been the quiet, continuing sundering of ‘Britishness’ in civil society. Independence, in short, remains a serious option. It is which the voters in 2014 chose not to select. But it is probable that they will be offered that choice again, in the not-distant future, in different circumstances. There can be no going back from devolution. But going forward from it could make the United Kingdom unrecognizable and project the old ‘British’ nations—England included—into a more modern and flexible relationship.
Scotland, Britain, and the Union
Authors: Ansari Ali M.
Published: September 2020

This chapter argues for the continued relevance and importance of the United Kingdom as a liberal and progressive idea which has bound and harnessed the competing nationalisms of the peoples of these islands for the benefit and welfare of all. Assessing the stresses and strains which have been imposed on the idea of Britain over the last decade, the chapter acknowledges that much political capital has been expended during a series of crises, foreign and domestic that have afflicted the state, and that there is an urgent need to reinvest in the political, as well as the economic infrastructure of the country. Ultimately the strength of the British state and the ideals that have shaped it, lies in its ability to adapt and change according to circumstance and need, and it is this salient fact that has been a cornerstone of the most successful political union of modern times.
Youth Politics in Scotland
Authors: MacLeod Iain , Eichhorn Jan
Published: September 2020

This chapter focuses upon key questions around efforts to include young people in the political process in Scotland. The two areas we choose to focus on are the commitment and subsequent efforts made by the Scottish Parliament to encourage and accommodate young people’s participation in its work. The second is the more recent decision to reduce the voting age in Scottish Parliament and local council elections to sixteen in 2015 (although the first manifestation of Votes at 16 was in fact the 2014 independence referendum). Both of these developments have, in theory, challenged prevailing notions of young people’s place in politics. We deal with each in turn, providing an overview of the Scottish experience, the impact of the initiatives in question, and the implications this has for questions around young people’s political involvement in a broader international context.
Scotland’s Dual Public Sphere and the Media
Authors: Schlesinger Philip
Published: September 2020

Mediated communication and culture are central to the analysis of nations and nationalism. Scotland has a distinctive media landscape: newspapers, TV and radio, as well as new digital actors, all carry content specifically tailored for Scottish audiences. After Scottish devolution in 1999, the Scottish media became increasingly central to the new democratic polity. Their role was also crucial during the Scottish independence referendum of 2014. The nation’s mediated public sphere intertwines with that of the UK as a whole. Scottish publics are therefore diversely addressed through a dual public sphere. Of late, the audiovisual media’s role in the Scottish creative economy has grown as a public policy focus. However, the survival of the UK’s public service media is challenged by global internet-based majors in the digital economy, posing new problems for content regulation by states and nations, and the very constitution of national audiences.
James and Psychical Research in Context
Authors: Sommer Andreas
Published: September 2020

James’s open advocacy, practice, and defense of unrestrictedly empirical approaches to telepathy, mediumship, and other alleged “supernatural” phenomena was a central part of his work, yet it is still often misunderstood or passed over. By placing James back into an international network of contemporary elite intellectuals who were also preoccupied with reported occult phenomena as fundamental scientific anomalies that may or may not have spiritual significance, this chapter argues that James’s psychical research can be reconciled with the progressiveness for which his canonical ideas are often regarded. When appreciated within important political and medical contexts of his time, and in view of his long-term collaborations in the study of trance states and hallucinations in non-pathological populations with F. W. H. Myers and other figures connected to Henry Sidgwick in England, James’s psychical research was an integral part of his evolving experimental psychology. Growing out of James’s deep discontent with dogmatism in science and religion, his unorthodox work also shared mutual origins with his pragmatist and radical empiricist philosophy. Moreover, by illustrating the polemical nature of simultaneous attacks on James’s psychical research and pragmatism by fellow psychologists, and the employment of religious arguments by supposedly scientific critics, this chapter suggests the story of James and psychical research is a reminder that “scientific naturalism” as an inconsistently defined yet absolute standard of modern Western academic activity has grown out of concerns that were not as self-evidently science-based or humanistic as we may be accustomed to believe.
Grammar and Rhetoric c.1100–c.1400
Authors: Copeland Rita
Published: September 2020

Fourteenth-century readers depended, often without historical awareness, on the innovations of the twelfth century in the trivium arts of grammar and rhetoric. The literary culture of the fourteenth-century grammar classroom could trace itself back to developments of the twelfth century and the standardized forms these assumed in the thirteenth. Without the decisive classicism of twelfth-century teaching, the ‘digested’ and anthologized classicism of the later periods would have been unlikely. Fourteenth-century literary learning was more professionalized than that of earlier periods, and often more streamlined. But its particular achievements, as reflected in the work of Chaucer, Gower, and others, would have been impossible without the pedagogical and theoretical breakthroughs of the earlier period.
Philosophy, Logic, and Nominalism
Authors: Michelet Fabienne , Pickavé Martin
Published: September 2020

This chapter attempts a reappraisal of the philosophical nature of Chaucer’s writings and sketches the philosophical currents that may have formed the intellectual background of his poetry, in particular medieval nominalism and realism. A brief outline of fourteenth-century English philosophy assesses the nature and content of contemporary debates, offering insights on the kind of philosophical knowledge that may have been accessible to Chaucer. An overview of nominalism and realism follows, exploring in particular the differing views these two currents had of the signification of singular and general terms, and of the status of scientific knowledge. This part also scrutinizes some of the traditional arguments for nominalism and realism in Chaucer’s poetry. Chaucer’s use of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy is key to the last section, which focuses on the question, extensively debated during the fourteenth century, of human agency and more precisely the possible compatibility of human freedom and divine foreknowledge.
‘Anticlericalism’, Inter-Clerical Polemic and Theological Vernaculars
Authors: Kerby-Fulton Kathryn , Mayus Melissa , Bugyis Katie Ann-Marie
Published: September 2020

This chapter examines Chaucer’s use of ‘anticlericalism’ and ‘vernacular theology’ in the Canterbury Tales, arguing that he uses neither in a straightforward way. While many examples of anticlerical and antifraternal language appear in the Canterbury Tales, and while such language carries theological and polemical weight, Chaucer’s use of antifraternal/anticlerical sources is literary rather than theological or polemical. By applying antifraternal language to non-fraternal figures and having clerical figures use such language against each other, Chaucer highlights the intraclerical debates among his pilgrims. An examination of the Second Nun’s Tale shows that Chaucer was engaged not so much with the creation of a ‘vernacular theology’, but rather with a process of ‘theological vernacularizing’ where he translated theological ideas, expressing them in his characters’ voices. Through his fictive guises Chaucer performed an essential truth of all theological discourse: whatever vernacular it is expressed in, it is always in via, always in translation.
Fictions of Espionage
Authors: Yeager Suzanne M.
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores the uses of pilgrimage, crusading, and Muslim scripture in the creation of auctoritas using fourteenth-century travel accounts of Jerusalem. Medieval travellers contended with a popular view which held their writing suspect, as seen in Chaucer’s satire of the pilgrim’s tendency to curiositas. I show that some pre-modern travel writers negotiated the pitfalls of curiositas and even used it to their advantage. In their pilgrim accounts, writers like Simon Simeonis and Thomas Brygg strove to create models of their own religious, political, or social aspirations through their associations with the Holy Land. Using crusading tropes, appeals to the Bible, and even the Qur’an to negotiate the omnipresent cultural critique of pilgrimage, they fashioned an authoritative persona for writers whose exploits may have enjoyed some social utility at home. This study thus recontextualizes Chaucer’s critiques of travellers, and sheds new light on his pilgrim narrators.
Vernacular Authorship and Public Poetry
Authors: McCabe T. Matthew N.
Published: September 2020

This chapter approaches the question of what poetry in English was, c.1390–1410, from the perspective of the colophons and authorizing signatures that are so plentiful in the manuscripts of Gower’s works. These texts and pictures, clearly intended to consolidate Gower’s reputation as an English auctor, are remarkable for two qualities: their imagining of a lay reading public and their celebration of Gower as a lay exponent of religious truth. By doing so, Gower’s works partake of the same excitement that surrounded other fourteenth-century works conveying theology to wider audiences in a new language context which necessarily lent his writing a new cultural potency. If we are to understand Gower’s claim to auctor status, we need to read his works in a way that is mindful of their author’s ostentatiously lay position, on the one hand, and their persistent religiosity, on the other.
Chaucer and Contemporary Courts of Law and Politics
Authors: Giancarlo Matthew
Published: September 2020

Appreciating the significance of courts in Chaucer’s day requires understanding the connections among noble households, courts of law, and the practices of social interaction and play in late medieval culture. This chapter briefly summarizes important aspects of medieval court cultures. It summarizes Chaucer’s biographical history of legal and court connections. It explains the connections between legal courts and the social environments of noble households, and their relation to political events such as the Uprising of 1381. With specific reference to several stories and tales (The Summoner’s Tale, The Friar’s Tale, and the Second Nun’s Tale), this chapter explains how the worlds of aristocratic courtliness and the growing legal consciousness of late medieval England are examined and often criticized by Chaucer’s narratives. Chaucer’s life and work were richly informed by court contexts and understanding them helps the modern reader to better appreciate the direct impact that court cultures had on his literary practice.
Dante and the Author of theDecameron
Authors: Eisner Martin
Published: September 2020

The chapter explores the relationship between Boccaccio’s Decameron and the work that it evokes from the first full statement of its title, Dante’s Commedia. Critics have often noted how Boccaccio exploits Dante’s work for individual characters and narrative moments, but less attention has been given to how Boccaccio uses Dante to structure his collection. This chapter investigates how Boccaccio constructs the three authorial interventions in the frame of the Decameron on Dantean materials. Investigating the Decameron’s Proem, Introduction to the Fourth Day, and Author’s Conclusion in light of Inferno 5, the Terrace of the Lustful in Purgatorio, and the Heaven of Venus, respectively, this chapter reveals how Boccaccio transforms Dante’s own reflections on love, literature, and authorship to create his own very different authorial persona.
Developing Dynamic Capabilities: Identifying and Bridging Capability Gaps
Authors: Mayer Kyle , Rich Beverly
Published: September 2020

Firms constantly seek to update their resources and capabilities to effectively compete with a variety of competitors. The process by which firms seek to develop new capabilities requires bridging the gap between the resources and capabilities that firms currently possess and those that firms need in order to compete in the future. Bridging a capability gap begins with the process of sensing and seizing a new opportunity. We propose that between sensing and seizing a new opportunity, firms must also undergo a critical process that involves identifying what capabilities they have and what they need; and bridging, which involves acquiring what is needed to fill the identified capability gaps. We discuss common challenges that firms may face as they identify and bridge capability gaps, as well as a strategy for identifying and bridging capability gaps as firms sense and seize new opportunities.
Newton’s Scientific Method
Authors: Harper William L.
Published: September 2020

One central feature of Newton’s methodology is the use of theory-mediated measurements to make empirical phenomena carry information about causal dependencies. Accurate measurements of theoretical parameters by phenomena is a conception of empirical success that goes beyond the restriction of empirical success to accurate prediction of phenomena in the hypothetico-deductive model of scientific inference. This is informed by Newton’s account of provisional acceptance of propositions gathered from phenomena in his Fourth Rule of reasoning. Another feature is to follow up the discovery of forces of nature by applying those forces to additional phenomena. This is illustrated by the sequence of refinements of the model for solar system motions as more and more dependencies corresponding to Newtonian interactions were taken into account. Given that his theory would recover these Newtonian causal dependencies, Einstein’s Mercury perihelion result made his theory of gravity more empirically successful than Newton’s.
Petrogenesis of the Higashi-Akaishi Ultramafic Body: Implications for Lower Crustal Foundering and Mantle Wedge Processes
Authors: Guild Meghan R , Till Christy B , Mizukami Tomoyuki , Wallis Simon
Published: September 2020

Recycling of ultramafic lower crustal cumulates via delamination or foundering is often invoked as a mechanism to return mafic material to the mantle during continental crust formation. These recycled pieces of the lower crust are rarely sampled but are preserved in several locations including the Kohistan and Talkeetna arc sections, Sierra Nevada and Colorado Plateau pyroxenite xenoliths and, as discussed here for the first time, the exhumed Higashi-Akaishi (HA) ultramafic body in Japan. The HA is located in the Besshi region of the Sanbagawa metamorphic belt in southwestern Japan and is dominantly composed of dunite with lesser garnet pyroxenite and harzburgite lenses. Although the petrogenetic history of the HA body is still debated, our new bulk major and trace element compositions, radiogenic isotope data, as well as petrologic and field observations, are consistent with a lower crustal cumulate origin for the HA dunite and pyroxenite, with a later slab-derived fluid overprint. Clinopyroxene and olivine in the foliated HA dunite have compositions consistent with ultramafic cumulates with high Mg#s (Mg# clinopyroxene = 0·94, Mg# olivine = 0·88), high NiO in olivine (∼0·26 wt %) and low-Al clinopyroxene. In addition, the bulk major element chemistry of the HA dunite and garnet pyroxenite follow systematic behavior in Mg# vs SiO2 wt %, similar to those observed in other lower crustal cumulate lithologies and corresponding intrusive lithologies, pointing to different liquid lines of descent for the corresponding melts. Our new thermobarometric estimates (peak pressure–temperature at 2·6 GPa, 713ºC) are consistent with a hot slab surface subduction path, rather than the lower crustal temperatures recorded in arc sections (Kohistan & Talkeetna: 1 GPa, 800ºC). A pervasive slab-fluid influence is also indicated in the HA lithologies by LREE and Ce enrichments and strong Nb and Zr depletions. The trace elements and the pressure–temperature estimates, as well as the thermodynamic modeling results necessitate removal of the HA body from the lower crust and incorporation into cooler portions of a mantle wedge. At lower crustal conditions, the bulk density of the HA lithologies is greater than the background mantle, indicating the feasibility of lower crustal foundering into a mantle wedge where the HA was incorporated in the subduction channel to reach its peak conditions. Hydration of the HA body while in the subduction channel likely provided the change in density necessary to facilitate its rapid exhumation to the surface. Thus, the HA cumulate likely represents a piece of the subduction system that is rarely preserved, as well as a key component in the compositional evolution of the continental crust.
Mutual Funds as Venture Capitalists? Evidence from Unicorns
Authors: Chernenko Sergey , Lerner Josh , Zeng Yao
Published: September 2020

“Founder-friendly” venture financings and nontraditional venture investors have both flourished over the past decade. Using detailed contract data, we study open-end mutual funds investing in private venture-backed firms. We posit that conflicts between early-stage venture investors and liquidity-constrained later-stage ones influence the classic agency problems affecting entrepreneurs and investors. We find that mutual funds with more stable funding are more likely to invest in private firms and that financing rounds with mutual fund participation have stronger redemption, stronger IPO-related rights, and less board representation. These findings are consistent with our conceptual framework.
Do College Social Justice Activists Stop When They Graduate? Explaining Volunteer Activist Participation in a Life Course Transition
Authors: Horowitz Jonathan
Published: September 2020

Why does volunteer participation by college social justice activists decline dramatically following graduation? Using a new, multimethod longitudinal study that spans college and the early post-graduate years, I test existing theory about how changes in time constraints, social support, and organizational opportunities affect volunteer activist participation in social justice movements. Analyzing qualitative data from semi-structured interviews to further understand decreases in activism, I find no evidence showing that changes in time constraints or social support lead to changes in activist volunteering, but there is evidence to support the effects of organizational opportunities. Findings from the qualitative data further emphasize that activist opportunities are easier to access on college campuses, specifically because activism is physically convenient to the potential participant. Future research and practice should explicitly address the spatial proximity of potential activists to social movement opportunities, and should additionally remain sensitive to different needs of activists at different points in the life course.
Acting Wisely: Eliminating Negative Bias in Medical Education—Part 2: How Can We Do Better?
Authors: Plews-Ogan Margaret L. , Bell Taison D. , Townsend Gregory , Canterbury Randolph J. , Wilkes David S.
Published: September 2020

In Part 1 of this 2-article series, the authors reviewed the problem of unmitigated bias in medical education and proposed a wisdom-based framework for a different way of educating medical students. In this article, Part 2, the authors answer a key question: How can medical educators do better? Is a bias-free environment possible? The answer to the latter question likely is “no.” In fact, having a zero-bias goal in mind may blind educators and students to the implicit biases that affect physicians’ decisions and actions. Biases appear to be a part of how the human brain works. This article explores ways to neutralize their destructive effects by: (1) increasing awareness of personal biases; (2) using mitigation strategies to protect against the undesirable effects of those biases; (3) working to change some negative biases, particularly learned biases; and (4) fostering positive biases toward others. The authors describe the concrete actions—interpersonal, structural, and cultural actions—that can be taken to reduce negative bias and its destructive effects.
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Case Study: A Process for Understanding and Addressing Bias in Clerkship Grading
Authors: Colson Eve R. , Pérez Maria , Blaylock Leslie , Jeffe Donna B. , Lawrence Steven J. , Wilson Sherree A. , Aagaard Eva M.
Published: September 2020

In 2018, in response to a news story featuring the Icahn School of Medicine’s decision to eliminate its chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) due to perceived racial inequities, students at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WUSM) brought similar concerns to leadership. WUSM leadership evaluated whether students’ race, ethnicity, and gender were associated with their receipt of honors in the 6 core clerkships, key determinants of AOA selection. In preliminary analysis of the school’s data, statistically significant racial and ethnic disparities were associated with receipt of honors in each clerkship. Leaders shared these findings with the WUSM community along with a clear message that such discrepancies are unacceptable to the school. An effort to further analyze what lay behind the findings as well as to identify steps to resolve the problem was launched. Using a quality improvement framework, data from focus groups and student surveys were analyzed and 2 overarching themes emerged. Students perceived that both assessment and the learning environment impacted racial/ethnic disparities in clerkship grades. In multivariable logistic regression models, shelf exam scores (a part of student assessment) were found to be associated with receipt of honors in each clerkship; in some (but not all) clerkships, shelf exam scores attenuated the effect of race/ethnicity on receipt of honors, so that when the shelf scores were added to the model, the race/ethnicity effect was no longer significant. This case study describes WUSM’s process to understand and address bias in clerkship grading and AOA nomination so that other medical schools might benefit from what has been learned.
Postgraduate Assessment Approaches Across Surgical Specialties: A Systematic Review of the Published Evidence
Authors: Hanrahan John Gerrard , Sideris Michail , Pasha Terouz , Dedeilia Aikaterini , Papalois Apostolos , Papalois Vassilios
Published: September 2020

Purpose

Ensuring competence for surgical trainees requires holistic assessment of the qualities and competencies necessary to practice safely and effectively. To determine the next steps toward achieving this aim, the authors conducted a systematic review to summarize and appraise the available evidence related to any assessment approach to postgraduate surgical training and to identify the dominant themes for assessment approaches across different specialties or countries.

Method

Medline and Embase were searched on January 10, 2019, without language or time restrictions. Any peer-reviewed study that described an assessment framework (in practice or novel) throughout postgraduate surgical training globally was included. An iterative review and thematic analysis were performed on full-text articles to determine assessment themes. Studies were then grouped by assessment themes. A tailored quality assessment of the studies included in the final analysis was conducted. Assessment themes and validity were compared across surgical specialties and countries.

Results

From an initial 7,059 articles, 91 studies (evaluating 6,563 surgical trainees) were included in the final analysis. Ten defined assessment themes were extracted. Ten studies (11.0%) were deemed low risk of bias based on the quality assessment tool used and thus were determined to be high quality. Minor differences in assessment themes were observed between specialties and countries. Assessment themes neglected by individual surgical specialties and assessment themes that need validated assessment tools were identified.

Conclusions

This review highlights the low quality of evidence and fragmented efforts to develop and optimize surgical assessments. The minor differences observed demonstrate a common approach, globally and across specialties, related to surgical assessments. A paradigm shift in assessment approaches, which will require national and international collaboration, is required to optimize design and validation so that a comprehensive assessment of surgical competence can be implemented.
Feedback That Helps Trainees Learn to Practice Without Supervision
Authors: Bearman Margaret , Brown James , Kirby Catherine , Ajjawi Rola
Published: September 2020

Feedback pedagogies and research tend to focus on immediate corrective actions rather than learning for the longer term. This approach means that feedback may not support trainees who are managing complex, competing, and ambiguous practice situations, often with limited supervision. There is an opportunity to consider how feedback can help medical trainees sustain their own development into the future, including when they have completed formal training. This article explores how feedback pedagogies can facilitate medical trainees’ abilities to develop challenging aspects of practice across multiple clinical environments to eventually practice without supervision. From a sociocultural perspective, clinical training takes place within a practice curriculum; each clinical environment offers varying opportunities, which the trainees may choose to engage with. The authors propose feedback as an interpersonal process that helps trainees make sense of both formal training requirements and performance relevant information, including workplace cues such as patient outcomes or colleagues’ comments, found within any practice curriculum. A significant pedagogic strategy may be to develop trainees’ evaluative judgment or their capability to identify and appraise the qualities of good practice in both themselves and others. In this way, feedback processes may help trainees surmount complex situations and progressively gain independence from supervision.
COVID-19 antibody testing: future directions
Authors: Zolton Jessica R.
Published: September 2020

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread around the world, impacting every aspect of life. Valuable research is currently being conducted to understand disease transmission, detection, and treatment. As countries begin to relax policies aimed to reduce disease transmission, contact tracing and antibody testing will likely be incorporated to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, future research is needed to determine if the presence of COVID-19 antibodies offers immunity.