Search

In Chapter 12 of his book Material Beings (Van Inwagen, Peter. 1990. Material Beings. Ithaca: Cornell University Press) van Inwagen argues that there are no artefacts, or very few, certainly fewer than most people believe. Artisans very rarely create, at least in the sense of causing things to come into existence. The argument in Chapter 12 is a very powerful one. I do not think that it establishes van Inwagen's conclusion, but it does, I think, given its (plausible) premise, establish that if there are not far fewer material things in the world than we ordinarily believe, then there are far more. In this sense it establishes, as Russell once said, 'the truth about physical objects must be strange'. Furthermore, I argue at the end, we cannot avoid this conclusion even if we reject van Inwagen's premise. Thus the defender of our common sense ontology is caught on the horns of a dilemma. So our commonsense ontology is indefensible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss some fundamental issues regarding the roles that statistical models play in surveys. Many survey applications "borrow strength" from statistical models such as regression models and mixed effects models, even though these popular statistical models rarely hold exactly, if at all, in the real world. Yet, the idea of borrowing strength carries on, and the practice proves to be useful in many cases. We discuss basic ideas of borrowing strength via a statistical model and suggest practical criteria for evaluating a model, knowing that it is likely to be incorrect in a strict sense. Furthermore, we discuss a model selection strategy, known as the fence methods, which can incorporate practical interests into the selection criterion. Examples are used for illustration. Further remarks on challenging problems are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article sheds light on Gramsci's use of the term fetishism. Despite not being as present and pervasive within the Prison Notebooks as other concepts, more deeply rooted in Gramscian scholarship (such as hegemony and historic bloc), fetishism is not as marginal in Gramsci's reflection as it is usually believed. Linking his understanding of the term to the one developed by Marx and by the later unorthodox Marxist scholarship, I shall argue that fetishism can be seen as a key component of Gramsci's theory of revolution or, better, of a theory of the failure of the revolutionary process. For this reason, the article will also link Gramsci's occasional reference to fetishism to his use of more developed concepts such as common sense, hegemony and passive revolution. Fetishistic views of reality, in Gramsci, appear as facilitating the conservation of the status quo, while the re-acquisition of individual and collective responsibility that comes along with de-fetishising practices is the necessary component of any revolutionary project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the 3DNFDM method, which extends the natural force density method (NFDM) to three-dimensional problems. The NFDM was first proposed by Pauletti in 2006, as a method for finding configurations of membranes and funicular shell structures, providing viable equilibrium geometries in a single linear equilibrium analysis (Pauletti, in: Proceedings of the IASS symposium/APCS conference—New Olympics, New Shell and Spacial Structures, Beijing, 2006; Pauletti and Pimenta Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 197(49):4419–4428, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2008.05.017). It is an extension of the force density method (FDM), which was originally proposed by Linkwitz (IASS Pacific symposium on tension structures and space frame, Tokyo, pp 145–158, 1971), Linkwitz and Schek (Ingenieur-Archiv, 40:145–158, 1971. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF005321463) for the shape finding of cable nets and has since become ubiquitous in the field of membrane design. Directly treating the continuous membrane problem, the NFDM overcomes limitations of the original FDM, by dealing with irregular meshes and accurately representing continuous surface stress fields. The 3DNFDM represents a further extension of the FDM to three-dimensional problems, which allows for the exploration of a novel class of shape finding problems, generating relevant viable volumetric shapes. Some of these shapes may not be readily interpreted by common sense, but we believe that the 3DNFDM unveils new possibilities for shape finding, as demonstrated by the elementary problems investigated in this foundational paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postage stamps are sites of nationalist imagery, produced continuously by the US government since 1847. Over time, a limited group of people deemed worthy of representing the nation on stamps—white male politicians and military heroes—was diversified to include different kinds of persons: women, Native Americans, African Americans, and people in the arts, sciences, athletics, and entertainment. This paper focuses on a singular exception to this iconographic diversification: workers, people who labor. Stamps that seem to be about labor (those devoted to such topics as labor leaders, collective bargaining, and employment for the disabled) are, we claim, about something other than "labor as such." Drawing on Marx's Grundrisse , we argue that in capitalist societies, waged labor and pauperism are indissolubly linked because laborers have no control over the reliability of their employment. Laborers are "humanity ground zero," people deemed (in capitalist common sense) to have accomplished nothing beyond working for a wage and who therefore cannot be represented in postal iconography as builders of the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how the ideological divide between the radical right and liberal left is anchored in the common sense reasoning of ordinary citizens. Across Western Europe, cleavage research has documented a divide in attitudes towards immigration and cultural liberalization which some view as a new cleavage of 'universalism' versus 'particularism'. Yet it is unclear how this squares with the fact that most citizens are non-ideologues with only moderate political interest and knowledge. Building on Clifford Geertz, Pierre Bourdieu, and recent research into the politics of group identities, we theorize how even in the absence of fully worked-out political ideologies, citizens mobilize forms of common sense reasoning based on group distinctions and moral intuitions. We apply this approach in a rare qualitative comparison of political reasoning on both sides of the new divide, analyzing narrative interviews (N=64) with groups positioned on its opposing sides: workers or small owners voting for the radical right; and sociocultural professionals voting for the liberal left. We show how 'common sense particularism' and 'common sense universalism' draw on distinct intuitions regarding the worthy self, the scope of solidarity, and the normative status of community. These intuitions resonate with class-specific social experiences and group referents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments are often viewed as basic service and infrastructure providers that are neither particularly proactive nor innovative: in certain influential circles, this view has taken on the trappings of "common-sense," and underpins the protracted undermining of public-sector organizations, a hallmark of neoliberalism. However, the COVID crisis required municipalities to act with agility and speed, belying this "common sense." We examine 54 examples of how municipalities in Québec adapted to the pandemic. The range of adaptation and innovation that we report illustrates that local government can be flexible, agile, and innovative when necessary. Our analysis suggests that innovation is not always desired by the innovator, that the impact of a project should be distinguished from its innovativeness, and that any assessment of municipal innovativeness and its impact requires careful consideration of who it is evaluated for, who it is evaluated by, and in what context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The short-video platform TikTok/Douyin becomes a space not only for individuals to express and articulate their interests, but also for the authorities to negotiate with the public on various ideological boundaries. This article specifically examines a Douyin campaign in which the platform attempts to prescribe a standard of body exposure that falls within the tolerance level of the authorities and, meanwhile, favours users' interests to gain support. To conceptualize such discursive negotiations and the relevant tactics, we propose the term 'discursive concession' to describe the process of compromise by temporarily challenging, obscuring, and rearticulating the discursive boundary, eventually legitimizing the subordinated discourse by aligning it with the dominant ideological logic. By analysing discourses of representative short videos and comments, we identified three tactics of discursive concession: cooptation, hijacking, and normalization. They respectively describe how dominant, subordinated, and middle powers leverage each other to push the discursive boundary forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much has been said on the connection between dominant rationality standards and systemic oppression, the specific role of logic in supporting epistemic injustice has not received much explicit attention. In this paper I highlight several ways in which it is possible for logic – as a discipline, as a particular system and as a gloss for rational common sense – to be implicated in epistemic injustice. Concrete examples are given for testimonial, content-based, hermeneutical and contributory injustices. I conclude by elaborating on how the need to address these injustices affects the attitudes we should carry toward logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During a pandemic, there is a fine line between distancing and avoiding other people, with stigmatizing classifications sometimes transforming social distance into social exclusion. Drawing on Bourdieu's under-utilised theory of classification struggles, this paper conceptualises schemes of pandemic Othering in terms of Negative Health Classifications. Complementing the interactionist approach in pandemic stigma research, classification struggles are a social practice that denote a conceptual link between the individual and social structures of inequality. When social structures are unstable, as was the case during the pandemic, an established common sense can become questionable. Based on the analysis of survey data from 2606 respondents collected during one of the peaks of COVID-19 in Austria and Germany, the paper explores two struggles over health classifications, (1) social cleavages created and exacerbated by individuals who strive to tackle medical crises by avoiding the 'disease carriers', and (2) conflict over illegitimate pandemic practices resulting in the loss of social capital and a polarization of social groups. The findings offer evidence of widespread negative health classifications emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic that future research should explore in their implications for inequalities in other health policy contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Hospitals are hot zones of the US gun injury epidemic. To shelter these facilities from the dangers of gun violence, state legislatures have enacted laws to reduce the carrying of firearms on hospital premises. However, these efforts currently face serious Second Amendment challenges in federal courts. The ongoing legal battles, which have wide-ranging implications for patient and clinician safety as well as public health generally, are setting the stage for a Supreme Court case that may decide the fate of firearm regulations in US hospitals. A permissible pathway for advancing sensible gun regulation in hospitals is urgently needed. Observations: Since the Supreme Court established a new constitutional test for firearm laws in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen (2022), states now face unprecedentedly high barriers to enacting health-protecting legislation regarding firearms. Post-Bruen, the Supreme Court requires that laws be consistent with "this Nation's historical tradition of firearms regulation." This means that states hoping to enact laws barring public carry of firearms in hospitals must demonstrate that hospitals are a "sensitive place" as a historical matter (ie, analogous to a location where firearms were traditionally restricted). By reasoning from analogy, it is clear several historical comparators exist for regulating firearms in hospitals. Although the hospital (as understood today) did not exist in the 1700s, it is sufficiently analogous to asylums and schools, to name a few examples. These settings all share a common denominator with the modern-day hospital: serving vulnerable populations or individuals who may be at heightened risk of misusing firearms. Conclusions and Relevance: The Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms is threatening democratically enacted laws seeking to shelter hospitals from firearm violence. However, it is clear that hospitals and other health care settings are a sensitive place with compelling historical analogies. Policymakers' strategic deployment of the sensitive places designation, along with its rightful judicial recognition in the hospital setting, are critical to upholding laws that protect health care facilities, patients, and professionals from firearm violence—a conclusion consistent with the US Constitution, history, medical ethics, and common sense. This Special Communication explores whether US hospitals fall under the "sensitive places" exception to the Second Amendment and the ethical and practical considerations that support advancing firearm regulations in health care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractBackgroundMethodsResultsConclusionsPeople with dysfunctional breathing (DB) experience symptoms such as air hunger and breathing pattern irregularities. The condition is often comorbid with other respiratory conditions, as well as anxiety and depression. Illness perceptions, the beliefs an individual has of an illness may explain health and wellbeing outcomes.In this cross-sectional study we examined the illness perceptions of those diagnosed with DB, symptom severity, and psychosocial outcomes of depression, anxiety, and impact on daily living. Data were analyzed using tests of comparison and regression analysis.82 people diagnosed with DB completed the brief illness perception questionnaire, the Nijmegen symptoms questionnaire, and questionnaires measuring mood and impact on daily living. The illness perceptions of those with DB were overall negative. There was a positive correlation between illness perceptions and mood, indicating that the stronger the beliefs that individuals had that DB is a serious condition, the more negative their mood. Illness perceptions significantly predicted psychosocial outcomes, even when controlling for demographic factors and symptom severity (depression: adj. R2=.352, F(10,51)=4.32, p<.001; anxiety: adj. R2=.40, F(11,47)=4.55, p<.001; impact on daily living: adj. R2= .33, F(8,53)=4.79, p<.001).This is the first study to examine illness perceptions held by those diagnosed with DB. Our study found significant relationships between illness perceptions and psychosocial outcomes. It is possible that psychological interventions that target illness perceptions may also improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay begins with preliminary observations about the nature of agnosticism. Based on the term's etymology, in this essay an agnostic about some proposition (e.g., God exists) is someone who does not know whether the proposition is true. Being an agnostic about the truth of a proposition is compatible with the proposition appearing to be true or the state of affairs obtains but incompatible with an agnostic knowing its truth or that the state of affairs obtains. (Reference to propositions and states of affairs is intended to be inclusive, rather than a controversial metaphysical distinction.) Based on apparent virtues and vices, reasons are offered about when agnosticism (or the profession of agnosticism) is virtuous or philosophically desirable and when either actual agnosticism or its profession seems to be a vice or undesirable. The essay concludes with challenging Anthony Kenny's case for agnosticism about theism based on the virtue of humility. The central claims about apparent virtues and vices rest on the positive epistemic standing of appearances as defended by many so-called "common sense philosophers" Thomas Reid, Roderick Chisholm, and, more recently, Thomas Nagel's thesis about the justified status of the appearance of values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many K–16 educators agree that active learning is a key component for student success in life sciences. At the same time, some instructors are frustrated by inconsistent student participation in these activities and may revert to traditional teaching strategies. Horse caregivers face a similar frustration when they lead a horse to water and it will not drink. However, they do not stop offering water. Instead, horse caregivers consider two possibilities: the horse is not thirsty or the water is not good. In this article, we apply horse sense to student engagement. We start by framing common challenges within two larger categories: student mindset ("Are the student's thirsty?") and activity design ("Is the water good?"). For each challenge, we subsequently provide strategies to intentionally increase student learning while also empowering instructors to keep perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of Khwabnama as one is treated to several roving apparitions, almost invariably those who died violent deaths, it occurs that the point of the ghostly dead is not direct involvement in human lives but simply making an appearance. I would go even further in saying that the thick descriptions of the moments of death and the resurfacing of the dead as ghosts or ghostly elements don't have a behind of them, they don't stand for anything other than for themselves and it is their appearance with which we have still to contend if we are to understand what is happening. it is precisely when the dead appear that we can inquire into their appearance to ask what sense they make in themselves, what is the ontology intrinsic to them? Toward this end, in this paper I attempt to focus on the lurid descriptions of the deaths of specific characters and their re-appearance as the dead to draw out how, rather than what, they are presenting. In this process of skewing our apperception of the novel, we stand to see how the novel may not aspire to absolute truth or historical significance, but rather be attempting to show the struggle over sense-making in our times, which is ultimately that over forging community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Bank's International Finance Corporation has produced three research reports on gender equality and ride-hailing, in collaboration with ride-hailing companies. This article examines these reports in light of wider conversations about the growing corporate co-production of development knowledge. Focusing on research claims about the gender and development potential of 'sharing economy' firms like Uber, it argues that the shortage of women drivers has been successfully framed as a gender and development problem, rather than a labour supply problem to be resolved by ride-hailing companies themselves. Multi-stakeholder solutions are proposed, involving licensing actors, charities, government development agencies, banks, and insurance providers. Gender equality research contributes to a new development common sense involving expanding the numbers of indebted 'independent contractors' in the gig economy; reducing 'regulatory burdens' on platforms; and binding nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) ever tighter to corporate interests. This article shows the centrality of gender research to the Bank's broader reorientation towards business-led development, and highlights some distinctive lessons of work on ride-hailing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to clarify Mendelssohn's stance on speculative philosophy by connecting the conflict between common sense and speculation with the notion of approval-drive. It argues that Mendelssohn identifies a principle of existence in the faculty of approval, aligning common sense with the divine nature, thereby challenging the skepticism inherent in metaphysical speculation. By invoking God's creative impetus, Mendelssohn demonstrates that the ontologically abundant world conceived by common sense is more consistent with the divine nature than the ontologically impoverished worlds envisioned by metaphysicians. This approach positions Mendelssohn within the tradition of Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz, emphasizing the role of the divine intellect as the guarantee of the accord between perceived and actual reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusion: What matters for any norm is personal time rather than time. Personal time is a time-like relation (roughly, the time measured by your wristwatch) that knits together scattered temporal parts so that they conform to familiar patterns. David Lewis introduced personal time as an interpretive fiction that allows readers to consistently read fictions about time travelers. Inadvertently, Lewis thereby introduced a metric for all value (including prudence, morality, and aesthetics). Premise: The application of any norm requires personal time rather than time. This principle of reasoning is illustrated by recent debate about Bertrand Russell’s 5 minute hypothesis. This skeptical hypothesis would be undercut if one needs more than 5 minutes to reason about it. But what reasoners actually require is personal time. Once its priority over time is established for the norms governing reasoning, all remaining norms synchronize to personal time. Re-writing diachronic epistemology in Lewis’ atemporal vocabulary salvages much of what is literally true – and exposes the primacy of causation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspect level sentiment analysis aims to predict the emotional polarity of specific aspects of a sentence. However, there is still the problem of insufficient use of semantic information in the current stage of research, on the one hand, most of the existing work focuses on learning the dependency information between contextual words and aspect words, and does not make full use of the semantic information of sentences; on the other hand, the existing research does not focus on the syntax construction of dependency trees, so it does not make full use of the grammatical structure information to supplement the semantic information. In view of the above problems, this paper proposes a multi-information augmented graph convolutional neural network (MIE-GCN) model. It mainly includes two parts: one is to form a multi-information fusion layer through aspect perception attention, self-attention and external common sense to make full use of semantic information; the second is to construct a grammatical mask matrix of sentences according to the different grammatical distances between words, and supplement semantic information by obtaining comprehensive grammatical structure information. Finally, the graph convolutional neural network is used to enhance the node representation. The experimental results on the benchmark dataset show that the proposed model has a certain improvement over the comparison model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the behavior of individuals when two intuitive rules in their minds lead to two different outcomes concerning a problem. In the absence of the formal knowledge, intuitive rules can affect the mathematical thinking. Hence, studies have usually compared the correct answer of the related formal knowledge with the incorrect one obtained from one intuitive rule. What has been rather less explored is the situation where both correct and incorrect answers are obtained from intuitive rules. In so doing, comparing infinite sets as a challenging issue for learning was selected as the theme of the study. Two specific geometric representations regarding the comparison of two intervals were employed, one in line with the intuitive rule 'More A - More B' and the other in line with the 'Same A - Same B' rule, so that two different results are produced by each of the rules. 85 first grader high school students who had no formal knowledge about comparing infinite sets were participated in the study, and the data were collected through interview. Analysis of the data showed that when the two intended different intuitive rules can be activated in mind and, in turn, create a cognitive conflict, individuals rank intuitive rules based on the degree of transparency of the concepts they have already known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technology chief executive officers have become public figures, their personae operate as loci for journalistic discourse about the intersection of moral responsibilities, regulation, and political-economic power of the tech industry. They possess a power often construed as beyond the reach of politics or civil society to address. This study considers how the ubiquity of tech power has become a kind of common sense in journalistic discourse, specifically looking at news, commentary, and analysis that has circulated around Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg since 2016, arguing that even as critiques of Zuckerberg's moral fitness and leadership capacity proliferate, they construct the epistemic bounds within which tech industry power over American public life is understood as legitimate, even as journalists and commentators question certain executives' ability to wield the tech industry's infrastructural and cultural power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text examines the interconnection between tragedy, logic, and action in Hegel's works, notably in "Outlines of the Philosophy of Right." Hegel correlates tragedy with negativity and reconciliation, influenced by ancient tragedy and Christian consciousness. Tragedy serves as a means for self-knowledge, where negativity and death are pivotal in unveiling the spirit's truth. Hegel's philosophy is enriched by the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles, depicting the ethical crisis in Athens and the ensuing reconciliation of opposing ethical forces. Hegel identifies tragic elements in Christianity, a religion that perceives death and contradiction not as endpoints but transitional phases in reality. Christian religious consciousness, marked by finitude and sin, seeks reconciliation between the mutable and immutable. Hegel's practical philosophy is grounded in a distinctive ontological logic, with dialectics as a core element, not a function of subjective thinking but the animating essence of matter. The focus of the article is Hegel's stance on the manifestation and reconciliation of freedom, assessing the relationship between individual will and universal practical law. He critiques the limited legal perspective of individual freedom, advocating for a deeper, ethical interpretation of freedom. This view is distanced from common sense and consensus and rooted in speculative understanding developed through scientific and philosophical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of continent-wide neoliberal restructuring prompted by the Eurozone crisis, the demise of concertazione (tripartite bargaining) by technocratic and centre-left governments represented a key trait of the 'authoritarian' neoliberalisation of the Italian political economy after the 2011 sovereign debt crisis. The article traces the reasons behind this 'authoritarian' turn by relying on a historical materialist framework centred around the Gramscian notion of 'common sense'. The end of concertazione was premised on societal dissensus over the management of the crisis, and on the rise to dominance of a narrative portraying neoliberalising 'structural reforms' as both urgent and necessary. Amid declining legitimacy of neoliberal practices, the unilateral adoption of these measures was facilitated by supranational pressures and by decades-long transformations in Italian capitalism. The 2022 election results illustrate that the legitimation crisis of neoliberalism remains unresolved in the current post-Covid-19 context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very typical for people to think that the understanding of psychological phenomena is a matter of common sense. In many parts of the world, the general public and even some professional groups, often express commonly held beliefs about topics in psychology that are not in line with up-to-date scientific literature. To date, comparable data from Malaysia is lacking. In this study, 101 psychology officers serving the Ministry of Home Affairs as well as 130 student and community members in Malaysia completed a survey on beliefs about human memory, detecting lies and police interviews. Generally, participants possessed beliefs that were not in line with current psychological research, which is consistent with findings from many parts of the world. This study serves as an important gauge of the advancement of the field in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay addresses a concern that significant dimensions of the consciousness and language associated with modern revolutions have gone missing from discussions related to agency. It centers on Quilombos, who in the early seventeenth century created Palmares as a unique constitutional experiment and yet have been excluded from disciplinary common sense in political and international theories on the matters of modern consciousness, constitutionalism, and republicanism. The essay revisit questions of world-historical events that cast Africans as outside of time. The author counters disciplinary common sense by revisiting the moral statuses of modern political apologias, which are associated with the will to independence, and abjurations, taken to be formative expressions of self-determination. Both modern apologias and abjurations are taken to be the point of origination of modern consciousness associated with the birth of modern republicanism. Quilombo revolution demonstrates that political rationality, which underpins political action, is an expression of cognitive, material, and symbolic conditions due to time. The associated consciousness and actions may simultaneously take place across multiple spaces. This is to say that the expression of political subjectivity, which is a matter of consciousness and language, may in time be more widespread than parochial or national histories suggest. The Dutch and Quilombos revolutions prove this point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed the existing literature on digital citizenship definitions and curricula to identify the essential elements of digital citizenship that must be addressed in a digital citizenship curriculum. A modified tripartite approach was adopted for this comprehensive literature review that involved three steps woven throughout the review process: description, synthesis, and critique. Four most commonly used digital citizenship definitions, two widely implemented digital citizenship standards, and four digital citizenship curricula were included in the review. Through open coding and axial coding, the review identified six categories and 18 elements for the definition of digital citizenship. The synthesis review of the existing digital citizenship curricula found that all curricula covered some essential elements, with the Common Sense Media curriculum addressing most of them. Further research is needed to refine the list of elements necessary for today's students to become empowered digital citizens who can act safely, ethically, legally, and responsibly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is part of a wider project that addresses gaps in the scholarly knowledge of the philosophical and theological foundations of the Biblical Fundamentalism that originated in North America. Through exploring the relevant literature, including primary sources from within Fundamentalism, the article examines the anti-European sentiment in early Fundamentalism and how this sentiment led to a rejection of philosophical values associated with Europe, especially with Germany. The article will show that anti-European, especially anti-German, sentiment bolstered Fundamentalism's rejection of subjectivity in thinking, and even its rejection of human subjects themselves. In the place of subjectivity associated with European philosophy, Fundamentalism embraced an extreme objectivity that claimed the heritage of Reid and Bacon but eliminated subjectivity from the Fundamentalist horizon. This article thus shows how Fundamentalism radically opposes God and human beings, and faith and philosophy, with the resulting way of thinking that can be characterised as "naïve realism", an approach to thinking that excludes the active thinking subject and does not allow for critical judgement or personal understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we offer a conjunctural analysis of policing and incarceration, examining their expansion in relation to structural economic conditions over the last 50 years and interrogating how the sudden onset of the Covid-19 pandemic enabled extraordinary growth in policing powers in the Australian jurisdictions of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (VIC). We examine how popular support for police-led responses to crisis and fines as a common-sense solution to social problems were sought during the period that the Public Health Orders were in effect in the two states. We argue that the discursive project of naturalizing the police-led response to the pandemic—via official communications from the state governments as well as media coverage of the pandemic—attempts to further entrench a vision of law and order governance in which infrastructures of discipline and punishment are necessary and inevitable. We identify this vision as a direct barrier to abolition and a significant limit on the capacity to imagine alternative frameworks for justice. We end by considering a small archive of tweets from users in NSW and VIC published on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter (now called X) in 2020–21. We argue that this archive registers the way the common-sense status of the fine as an efficient, effective, and equitable punishment gives way to punitive fantasies about police and prisons. We read this archive alongside the broad refusal to pay Covid-related fines and the ongoing legal disputes contesting the legitimacy of their issuance, concluding by proposing that the conjunctural moment of the Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to unresolved contradictions between the naturalized logic of law and order crisis management and the potential for this logic to come undone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the studies of human cooperation, the problem is always the choice between individual benefit and collective benefit, which is modeled by the game. On the other hand, based on the Dual processing of decision-making, whether cooperative decision-making is the type I or type II has been discussed a lot. Some studies consider cooperative decision-making as type 1 and others as type 2. According to some theories, the human self is inter-subjective, and it is created by the interaction between I and Me. The classical model of game theory does not consider it. In this article, we first enter common sense and intersubjectivity into the game theory model and show that a level of estimation of the intention of the opposite player is necessary for cooperation. Then we show that if the individual perceives himself in a joint situation through the knowledge of the opposite player’s intention, the cooperative decision-making process is carried out Fast, and therefore it must be considered type 1, and if he considers himself as an individual, his decision-making must be considered type 2. As a result, belonging to a social environment has priority over the type of decision-making. The statistical population includes 20 master’s students who each made 100 binary decisions and produced a total of 2000 data. The analysis method is regression analysis. Based on an intersubjective model of game theory the result of the analysis of a linear regression model shows that the response time decreases and the level of cooperation increases significantly as people’s understanding of another’s intention increases, and also the response time increases and the level of cooperation decreases at the same time as this intention decreases. Because collaborative decision-making takes place in an intersubjective space, it is said that it is influenced by common sense before than dual cognitive processing. Therefore, if there is a community of common sense, collective rationality and as result cooperation is internalized and shows itself as system 1. But if there is no common sense, people decide to cooperate or not as separate individual atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evacuation rules for pedestrians in emergencies are of great significance for the design of building exits, exit management, and evacuation facilities. Based on the mixed reality evacuation LVC simulation system we developed, in this paper, three kinds of pedestrian exit selection experiments were carried out, in which the influence of distance and exit selection on pedestrian exit selection was studied. In line with common sense, during the single-factor control tests, the participants preferred the exit with fewer people and at a closer distance. The two-factor combined effect of the above two factors was also studied. It can be found that the participants preferred to choose the least crowded exit with a closer distance for evacuation. Among these two factors, the participants would give priority to the number of people at the exit. In addition, participants show different trajectories for the difference in the number of people at the two exits. Their walking trajectory was close to an arc line in the case of an equal number of people at two exits. The results of this paper provide a theoretical basis for research on designing evacuation facilities and guiding evacuees, and allows us to explore a new approach for mixed reality evacuation research by conducting virtual crowd experiments in a real environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The goal was to determine whether or not there is an association between the belief that human development and family science (HDFS) is "just common sense" and academic performance in a rigorous research methods class in HDFS. Background: Naïve realism is a cognitive bias that creates a belief in common sense that is difficult to challenge. It is unknown whether student commitment to common sense impedes students' ability to learn. Method: Students (N = 112) in an HDFS research methods class were followed for a semester. Potential barriers to learning were measured through a self‐report survey before the start of the semester. The outcome variable was objective performance in the course as measured by exam scores. Results: Exam scores were positively correlated with prior academic achievement and negatively correlated with student belief that the discipline is just common sense. Conclusion: Naïve realism, expressed as the belief that HDFS is just common sense, predicts poor performance in a research methods class. Implications: Higher education faculty in HDFS must directly confront the problem that our discipline is perceived as just common sense. Naïve realism must be challenged directly in coursework if students are to learn about the science of HDFS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What makes a language alive is its rich heritage of both proverbs and idioms, which are part of our daily speech, giving voice to popular wisdom and common sense, not to mention their ironic thrust. These features of proverbs, passed on from generation to generation, are to be widely found in The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni. As the most recent studies are showing, proverbs and idioms can be considered the core of Manzoni's linguistic inquiries in his search for a model of language of speech to be used in the novel. The main linguistic tools Manzoni employed for his studies were therefore vocabularies, extensively annotated (such as the Crusca veronese, but also the Vocabolario milaneseitaliano by Francesco Cherubini and the Dictionnaire des proverbes français by Pierre de la Mésangère) and, above all, the Florentine comedians of the XVI, XVII and XVIIIth century. Manzoni treasured these comedies as examples of texts which tried to mirror the oral speech of the Florentines, as the hundreds of notabilia (underlined expressions), including proverbs, attest. This article will highlight some significant cases of concordances between the notabilia and the novel, in order to show the double role of proverbs: a means to portray oral speech (but not only for the dialogues of the less educated characters) and a way to make the prose smooth, as proved by their use in the diegesis or in the historiographic digressions. The study of the Florentine comic tradition not only has affected the language of the novel, but it has even worked at a deeper and creative level, inspiring Manzoni in the creation and development of memorable episodes which were not present in the Fermo e Lucia, the first draft of the novel. This is the case of two well-known episodes, which will be fully analyzed in this contribution: the episode built on the expression fare orecchie da mercante ('to turn a deaf ear') and the creepy refrain «A chi la tocca, la tocca», mumbled by Tonio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advocates a realist position with respect to science and common sense. It considers the question of whether science provides knowledge of reality. It presents a positive response to that question. It rejects the anti-realist claim that we are unable to acquire knowledge of reality in favour of the realist view that science yields knowledge of the external world. But it remains to be specified just what world that is. Some argue that science leads to the rejection of our commonsense view of the world. If so, the world about which science informs us is not the world of common sense. Common sense is “stone-age metaphysics”. It is false theory inherited from our primitive ancestors that is to be eliminated in favour of science. Against such an elimination of common sense, it is argued that science both preserves and explains our commonsense experience of the world. Science may well lead to the overthrow of some of our most deeply held beliefs. But common sense reflects a more basic and durable level of experience. Commonsense beliefs are well-confirmed beliefs that are vindicated by their role in successful practical action each and every day. Common sense provides a firm basis on which to base a realist philosophy of science.

This article emphasizes the importance of rigorously evaluating health care quality measures before implementing them, particularly in accountability programs. The authors discuss conceptual and methodological issues related to validating process measures of health care quality. They stress the need for high-quality evidence linking the target process to important outcomes, careful consideration of measure specifications, and empirical verification of the association between process measures and outcomes. The article also cautions against using process measures as proxies for overall quality without sufficient evidence. Additionally, the authors highlight the importance of distinguishing between patient-level and entity-level analysis when evaluating the validity of process measures, and recommend using propensity-score-weighted mixed-effects regression models to evaluate the patient-level association between process measures and outcomes. They call for improved development and evaluation processes for quality measures in healthcare. [Extracted from the article]

The fast evolution of artificial intelligence frameworks has resulted in the creation of increasingly sophisticated large language models (LLM), ChatGPT being the most famous one. This study paper dives into this LLM with a case study of ChatGPT's architecture and provides a thorough comparative analysis of its numerous versions, tracking its history from its conception to its most recent incarnations. This research intends to give a full knowledge of the model's history by investigating the underlying mechanisms and enhancements provided in each edition. The comparative analysis covers key aspects such as model size, training data, fine-tuning techniques, and performance metrics. Furthermore, this study evaluates the limits of ChatGPT in its many incarnations. These limitations include common sense reasoning difficulties, biased replies, verbosity, sensitivity to input wording, and others. Each constraint is investigated for potential remedies and workarounds. This research article also provides a complete analysis of the ChatGPT architecture and its progress through multiple iterations. It gives vital insights for academics, developers, and users wanting to harness the promise of ChatGPT while managing its restrictions by exploring both the model's strengths and limitations. The distinctiveness of this paper rests in its comprehensive assessment of ChatGPT's architectural development and its practical strategy for resolving the myriad difficulties in producing cohesive and contextually relevant replies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Right-wing populist-nationalist parties in Europe have been challenging the established liberal order for an extended period, and the year 2024 poses numerous challenges. With the growing gap between traditional political parties and social strata, there is an urgent need for a deeper understanding of the discourse employed by right-wing populist-nationalist parties as they attempt to address this rupture. In Romania, recent polls indicate that the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) holds the third position, positioning it as the primary opposition party, as the top two parties, PSD and PNL, have formed a coalition since 2021. Originating during the 2018 referendum debate on redefining the family, AUR has grown, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, employing a discourse that incorporates nationalist, religious, and traditional family elements. This paper seeks to analyse the discursive elements employed by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party, utilizing a Gramscian approach. In a year marked by European, local, general, and presidential elections, understanding how this party is shaping a new common sense to counter the existing hegemony is crucial, as the common sense plays and important role in the functioning of democracy. The paper identifies the alternative narratives proposed by AUR and examines how symbols and references to traditions are incorporated into their discourse. Common sense, as Gramsci describes it, is not a homogenous set of ideas, but rather a multitude of ideas that are constantly changing. The task of this paper is to identify the elements that form the discourses of AUR and how they form an alternative common sense.

Review of Isabelle Stengers. 2023. Making Sense in Common: A Reading of Whitehead in Times of Collapse. Translated by Thomas Lamarre. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

This paper explores the relationship between common sense and taste in the history of aesthetic thought. “Common sense” guarantees the communication of tastes through different modalities. It can either facilitate agreement among individuals, fostering mutual understanding and envisaging a universal aesthetic community, or provoke disagreement. In the former scenario, common sense is literally common to everyone, while in the latter case, it implies diversity and dissensus. By associating the concept of taste with judgement and the sensible (Arendt and Rancière), we scrutinize some contemporary political interpretations of Kantian aesthetics. Through this analysis, we illustrate that common sense is intertwined with certain metaphysical assumptions that not only hinder its claims of universality but also introduce structural paradoxes within the system of aesthetic judgment. In the last section of the article, we explore these paradoxes, proposing another communicability beyond the confines of the judgment of taste or subjective limitations.

In this paper, we introduce Braidotti’s notion of transpositions as a methodology and strategy for ‘hopeful disruptions’ in the context of organizational inquiry. Transpositions consist of six interwoven practices―(1) embracing alternative ways of seeing and understanding the world, (2) assessing and critiquing imaginary forms, (3) preparing to make the ‘creative leap’, (4) accounting for locations and positioning, (5) storying the ‘in‐between’ space, and (6) developing new frames of resonance for existing cultural formations, such as heroic leadership. Underpinned by feminist posthumanist thinking, transposition practices produce ‘generative cracks’ in hegemonic systems and in dominant social imaginaries, as well as bringing forth affirmative alternatives for thought and practice. As a feminist approach, it is also concerned with engaging gender differently and strategically to chart paths out of restrictive categories and reductive, individualist notions of being. Playing with the inherently subversive nature of this approach and tapping into our desire to disrupt the masculine ‘common sense’ of much social science research, we draw on the insights and writings of feminist speculative fiction authors to elaborate on the six practices and their implications for researchers. We further demonstrate the potential for transpositions in organizational studies through a discussion of radical empiricist approaches to inquiry and collaborative research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]