title: Narrative persuasiveness without a narrative essence: A rejoinder to Talbi’s “Recognizing Something Human”

authors: Ulatowski, Joseph W.

subjects: disagreement

abstract: Merel Talbi’s (2024a) main article, “The Epistemic Import of Narratives,” concerns how narratives of personal experience can be persuasive in reaching across a significant social or political divide. A primary goal of the article was to defend their role and value against the assumption that our form of argument must be based on logic and science. At the same time, she alerts us to some dangers associated with the use of such narratives, which she develops in her response (2024b) to us (2024b), a theme that we shall discuss, recognising the political context in which these situations occur. What she identifies as the main difference between us about the persuasiveness of narratives of personal experience may be framed as a question: what are the relative contributions of the narrative form and the personal quality? 

We shall return to that question by way of a reframing which avoids the assumption that there is an essence of narrative structure. En route to that topic we shall look at ideas about how narratives may mesh well with the structure of the human mind. That will include Schechtman’s (2024) ideas about fiction as a process which mirrors the way human memory works. It will also include the thought that the self is a product of narrative self-creation. This may suggest that narratives can be persuasive given that they mesh well with our makeup. However our makeup is described, we hold that there is no essence of narrative structure that explains persuasiveness, for it comes down to the particularities of the situation. Narratives can occur in a variety of situations and a variety of forms; accounting narratives represent one kind of narrative with a distinct form and function. While there is no essence of a narrative that is linked to persuasiveness, narratives in particular situations certainly can be persuasive, as indeed they are designed to be.

text: Narrative persuasiveness without a narrative essence: A rejoinder to Talbi’s “Recognizing Something Human” Merel Talbi’s (2024a) main article, “The Epistemic Import of Narratives,” concerns how narratives of personal experience can be persuasive in reaching across a significant social or political divide. A primary goal of the article was to defend their role and value against the assumption that our form of argument must be based on logic and science. At the same time, she alerts us to some dangers associated with the use of such narratives, which she develops in her response (2024b) to us (2024b), a theme that we shall discuss, recognising the political context in which these situations occur. What she identifies as the main difference between us about the persuasiveness of narratives of personal experience may be framed as a question: what are the relative contributions of the narrative form and the personal quality? 

We shall return to that question by way of a reframing which avoids the assumption that there is an essence of narrative structure. En route to that topic we shall look at ideas about how narratives may mesh well with the structure of the human mind. That will include Schechtman’s (2024) ideas about fiction as a process which mirrors the way human memory works. It will also include the thought that the self is a product of narrative self-creation. This may suggest that narratives can be persuasive given that they mesh well with our makeup. However our makeup is described, we hold that there is no essence of narrative structure that explains persuasiveness, for it comes down to the particularities of the situation. Narratives can occur in a variety of situations and a variety of forms; accounting narratives represent one kind of narrative with a distinct form and function. While there is no essence of a narrative that is linked to persuasiveness, narratives in particular situations certainly can be persuasive, as indeed they are designed to be.

year: 2025

title: The nature of sustainability as viewed by European students

authors: Lockley, John

subjects: sustainability

abstract: Sustainability as a concept, though well understood in general terms, is often politically captured by interest groups and as such expressed through issues like concern for global climate change or the need to develop more efficient energy sources, to address regional, national or international priorities. Education for sustainability as a concept similarly is generally becoming well understood; however, it is expressed in different ways by different educational communities.
This research investigates a conceptual framework for the nature of sustainability to describe the way students and teachers from five European countries express their ideas of sustainability.
The results indicate that despite the diversity of education systems and the range of nationally important issues of sustainability identified by the participants from five significantly different European countries (from Eastern and Western, Northern, Central and Southern Europe), there exists a common understanding of the nature of sustainability that can be expressed through a conceptual framework. The framework, based on a matrix of sustainability aspects (ecological, social, cultural and economic) and concepts (equity, interdependence and personal responsibility for action), allowed dialogue to occur to such a large extent that the nearly 200 participants agreed to a common resolution for future action on living more sustainably, applicable across the five countries.

text: The nature of sustainability as viewed by European students Sustainability as a concept, though well understood in general terms, is often politically captured by interest groups and as such expressed through issues like concern for global climate change or the need to develop more efficient energy sources, to address regional, national or international priorities. Education for sustainability as a concept similarly is generally becoming well understood; however, it is expressed in different ways by different educational communities.
This research investigates a conceptual framework for the nature of sustainability to describe the way students and teachers from five European countries express their ideas of sustainability.
The results indicate that despite the diversity of education systems and the range of nationally important issues of sustainability identified by the participants from five significantly different European countries (from Eastern and Western, Northern, Central and Southern Europe), there exists a common understanding of the nature of sustainability that can be expressed through a conceptual framework. The framework, based on a matrix of sustainability aspects (ecological, social, cultural and economic) and concepts (equity, interdependence and personal responsibility for action), allowed dialogue to occur to such a large extent that the nearly 200 participants agreed to a common resolution for future action on living more sustainably, applicable across the five countries.

year: 2013-03

title: Proposing an indigenous power of veto in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Te Aho, Linda

abstract: Tom Fookes was an architect of New Zealand's Resource Management Act passed in 1991 (RMA). When interviewed about his life's work, Tom responded that he had sought to create a 'fair, integrated consideration of the decisions and policy to do with the social, economic and environmental conditions of our people'. I am told that he worked hard to provide a fair opportunity for all people to have a voice in decisions that affect them and places they care about. Processes were included in the RMA to allow this to occur, with particular provisions for a distinctive Maori voice. Because of these provisions, and the Act's lodestar of sustainable resource management, the RMA was promoted as one of the 'world's finest national environmental policies'.

text: Proposing an indigenous power of veto in Aotearoa New Zealand Tom Fookes was an architect of New Zealand's Resource Management Act passed in 1991 (RMA). When interviewed about his life's work, Tom responded that he had sought to create a 'fair, integrated consideration of the decisions and policy to do with the social, economic and environmental conditions of our people'. I am told that he worked hard to provide a fair opportunity for all people to have a voice in decisions that affect them and places they care about. Processes were included in the RMA to allow this to occur, with particular provisions for a distinctive Maori voice. Because of these provisions, and the Act's lodestar of sustainable resource management, the RMA was promoted as one of the 'world's finest national environmental policies'.

year: 2015