A “Calvinist” theory of matter? Burgersdijk and Descartes on res extensa

In the Dutch debates on Cartesianism of the 1640s, a minority believed that some Cartesian views were in fact Calvinist ones. The paper argues that, among others, a likely precursor of this position is the Aristotelian Franco Burgersdijk (1590-1635), who held a reductionist view of accidents and of the essential extension of matter on Calvinist grounds. It seems unlikely that Descartes was unaware of these views. The claim is that Descartes had two aims in his Replies to Arnauld: to show the compatibility of res extensa and the Catholic transubstantiation but also to differentiate the res extensa from some views of matter explicitly defended by some Calvinists. The association with Calvinism will be eventually used polemically against Cartesianism, for example in France. The paper finally suggests that, notwithstanding the points of conflict, the affinities between the theologically relevant theories of accidents, matter and extension ultimately facilitated the dissemination of Cartesianism among the Calvinists.     

One Country Two Peoples?

This article weighs the demographic evidence for either assimilation or separation among Hong Kong residents who were born in British Colonial Hong Kong or Mainland China. Using successive waves of Hong Kong census data from 1991 to 2011, we show the effects of nativity on four indicators of social distance and differentiation: residential segregation, linguistic assimilation, wage inequality and educational opportunity. On the one hand, there is some evidence of assimilation in terms of residential location and home language. On the other hand, in terms of wage inequality and access to postsecondary education, our findings suggest that Hong Kong's population could become more divided depending upon birthplace.     

Tacit coopetition: chimera or reality? Evidence from the Basque Country

Coopetition is a strategy by which firms benefit from both collaboration and competition. Collaboration among competitors allows these to obtain advantages such as the joint creation and diffusion of knowledge, the exploration of new market opportunities, the identification of long-term innovation projects related to potential market, product or process diversification, or the gaining of access to external sources while still competing in certain areas. This paper focuses on the concept of tacit coopetition, which is defined as cooperation activities between neighbouring competitors located in the same region. Our goal is to assess the influence of tacit coopetition on the cooperative pattern of firms, as an alternative to promoting innovative projects among competitors. The analysis is performed in the county of Durango, located in the Basque Country (Spain). In particular, we seek evidence of whether tacit coopetition is a reality that can be objectively observed in Durango, and therefore, has the potential for a wider generalization of the phenomenon, or is instead a conceptual rhetoric (i.e. chimera) that is only observable in specific cases. The paper provides three major results. First, it sets out to identify whether tacit coopetition is occurring in Durango. Second, it identifies the factors influencing it, and finally, assesses the impact of tacit coopetition on firm performance.     

Geography of Knowledge-based Collaboration in a Post-communist Country: Specific Experience or Generalized Pattern?

This article addresses the role of geographical proximity for knowledge and innovation collaboration patterns in the Czech Republic and assesses the factors which determine the spatial distribution of innovation co-operation. The article uses alternative sources of empirical data to map collaboration patterns of innovating companies, research institutes and universities and to find basic regularities. By this, the article aims to fill in the gap in current research focused rather on most advanced regions by adding new knowledge from a transformation, post-communist economy. Also, it aims to shed light on the issue of the role of proximity between actors involved in collaboration in the sphere of knowledge and innovation creation which still remains rather elusive. The findings indicate that even though co-location and intra-regional knowledge and innovation collaboration exist, it cannot be regarded as a decisive characteristic. Geographical proximity is not a crucial condition in knowledge and innovation collaboration as all actors are involved to an important degree in international linkages. Yet, the role of the specific institutional context and factors at micro-level influence the innovation co-operation pattern.     

A NEW ORIENTALISM?

Jean-Louis Schefer's study takes as its point of departure Uccello's predella, Profanation of the Host. The painting in question has generally been interpreted within the context of medieval anti-Semitism. However, Schefer argues that the meaning of the work, and of numerous other representations of this particular miracle, must be referred ultimately to the codification by Charlemagne of the dogma of the Real Presence. Uccello's painting in effect makes manifest the requirement that the profaned host should reveal its nature through the gushing of blood. This also involves a political significance, since the Carolingian theology organized around the consecrated host stands in direct opposition to the Byzantine theology of the icon. Schefer's argument leads him to make a thorough investigation not only of the many iconographic precedents, but also of some key Latin texts such as the Libri Carolini , which are published in a French translation. It also advances a methodology that is strikingly at variance with some of the more simple-minded attempts of historians to crack the codes of a complex visual tradition. One of its most original aspects is the new light that the overall thesis casts upon extremely well-known texts like The Merchant of Venice and Dracula. Thus the tendency to identify vampirism as an East European phenomenon, already discernible in Western sources in the eighteenth century, is shown to be closely linked to the historical extension of the myth of Profanation of the Host. In exploring the outcomes of this doctrinal split between East and West, Schefer has identified a deep fault-line in post-antique European history whose consequences are far from being understood at the present day.     

A Christian Islamist?

Abstract

In this review, the author discusses Volf’s paradigm from an Islamic perspective, and compares and contrasts some of Volf’s assertions with those of his avowed counterpart: the Muslim fundamentalist Syed Qutb. Some interesting questions are raised, and the differences between these two paradigms, it is claimed, is not as great as what might initially appear.