3. THE PUBLIC RELEVANCE OF HISTORICAL STUDIES: A REJOINDER TO HAYDEN WHITE1

Hayden White wants history to serve life by having it inspire an ethical consciousness, by which he means that in facing the existential questions of life, death, trauma, and suffering posed by human history, people are moved to formulate answers to them rather than to feel that they have no power to choose how they live. The ethical historian should craft narratives that inspire people to live meaningfully rather than try to provide explanations or reconstructions of past events that make them feel as if they cannot control their destiny. This Nietzschean‐inspired vision of history is inadequate because it cannot gainsay that a genocidal vision of history is immoral. White may be right that cultural relativism results in cultural pluralism and toleration, but what if most people are not cultural relativists, and believe fervently in their right to specific lands at the expense of other peoples? White does not think historiography or perhaps any moral system can provide an answer. Is he right? This rejoinder argues that the communicative rationality implicit in the human sciences does provide norms about the moral use of history because it institutionalizes an intersubjectivity in which the use of the past is governed by norms of impartiality and fair‐mindedness, and protocols of evidence based on honest research. Max Weber, equally influenced by Nietzsche, developed an alternative vision of teaching and research that is still relevant today.     

泰国——给你一个挥杆的理由

如果仅仅谈及购物、寺庙与大象,我们很难想象出一个不拥挤、不喧嚣的泰国。在大部分去过泰国的游客眼里,泰国与奢华沾不上边。最近,风兰假期推出的“泰国高尔夫之旅”让我了解到了泰国的另一面,蠢蠢欲动的“好游”之,叹让我出门了。事实上,一旦你摒弃嘈杂的旅游景点,踏入曼谷的高尔夫球场,在绿树云天中享受泰式按摩或水疗,晚上在空中酒吧听王子御用DJ打碟,最好的曼谷就会呈现在你眼前。     

旅游业发展趋势与面临压力:2012-2050

国内大学的旅游研究已有30余载,1980年代没有因特网和信息技术影响,那时可否推测2012年的旅游业动态呢?2012—2050年旅游发展态势又将如何?本文首先确定经济、人口、年龄分布、气候等旅游发展动力。然后根据Yeoman教授提出的"旅游前景"设想,以资源多少和政治合作对抗两个动力维度构成矩阵,引用其"生态天堂"单元提出启示。最后预测新技术推动未来旅游更快、更大规模地发展,但会受制于多种压力,环境保护需求凸显。新旅游将基于新技术操纵人们感受的模式,并在新兴的大型城市间进行。旅游学者则要在更广阔的社会技术场景和城市规划中来研究旅游。     

LIBERAL AND MARXIST THEORY WITH RESPECT TO WORK AND LEISURE: A GEOGRAPHER'S ANTITHESIS TO THEIR COMMON THESIS

The special number of the Canadian Geographer devoted to West Edmonton Mall raises important questions, notably that of the relative status, as values, of work (seen historically as fundamental to our culture), and of leisure, perceived, albeit controversially, as being embodied in wem. In preparing to present my principal thesis, I review recent reinterpretations of human behaviour advanced by workers in the fields of symbolic interaction and the sociology of knowledge. These schools ha ve given rise to the concept of, though not the term, functional religion. The meaning of this concept is close to that of ideology; a comparative analysis of the two terms justifies using the former. A survey of recent work by geographers who approach religion from a functional point of view closes the second part of the paper. In the course of this review the relative status of work and leisure emerges as a significant issue. The view of leisure as a norm presented in the third part of the paper is that advocated by Pieper, Huizinga, and de Grazia. They argue that the Classical view, according to which human life finds its meaning in activities that are carried on for their own sake (e.g., games), rather than in those pursued for the material rewards they offer, is correct. Following their lead, and in opposition to both Marxists and Liberals, I argue that the adoption of leisure as a fundamental value would provide a more satisfactory foundation for our culture than work has to this point. Le numéro spécial du Géographe canadien consacréà?étude du West Edmonton Mall soulève plusieurs questions importantes, notamment celle du statut relatif, comme valeur, du travail (valeur-clé historiquement dans notre culture) et du loisir, valeurs incarnées, bien que de façon controversées, dans le WEM. Pour établir les bases de la thèse principale, on examine les réinterprétations récentes du comportement hurnain avancées, dans les sciences humaines, par des chercheurs travaillant dans les domaines de ?interaction symbolique et la sociologie du savoir. Ces écoles ont engendré le concept, sinon le terme, de la religion fonctionelle. Le sens de ce terme est proche de celui de ?idéologie; une analyse comparative des deux termes justifie ?emploi du premier. Pour conclure la deuxièrne partie de ce mémoire, on passe en revue quelques écrits récents par des géographes qui abordent la religion ?un point de vue fonctionnel. De cet examen il ressort que le statut relative du travail et du loisir est ?une importance capitale. Dans la troisième partie, on présente une perspective sur le loisir qui est proche de celle qu'avancent Pieper, Huizinga, et de Grazia. Ceux-cisupportent la position des auteurs classiques, selon qui la vie humaine trouve sa signification dans les activités entreprises pour ellesměmes (par exemple, les jeux) plutǒt que pour le gain matériel. Appuyant leur argument, et m'opposant à celui des marxistes et des libéraux, je prétends que ?adoption du loisir comme vaieur fondamentale fournirait une meilleure assise à notre culture que celle offerte jusqu'ici par le travail.     

TSERING CHUGTSO AND HER ROAD TO SUCCESS

正I met Tsering Chugtso in the most beautiful season of Paltang grassland.Tsering,a young lady born in 1988,in her dark green Tibetan dress and white high heels with a Michael Kors cross-body bag,was a sight for sore eyes.She talked on her phone while opening the warehouse     

REPLY TO SUBSIDIES, ADDITIONALITY AND FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS

ABSTRACT. In Wren (1994) I find that industrial subsidies have significantly greater employment effects in small firms, and interpret this as arising from the poorer access that these firms have to private funds. Holden and Swales (1996) criticize this interpretation, arguing that financial constraints typically limit the effectiveness of subsidies. In this paper I show that their results arise from the particular properties of the homogeneous production function. More generally, I show that the effectiveness of assistance increases with the marginal cost of private funds and is greater in those firms facing financial constraints. As such, differential access to private funds can explain the greater effectiveness of assistance found in small firms.     

A DIALECTICAL APPROACH TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

This paper reports on the methodology and an application of a dialectical approach to research and development, planning. The methodology features a structured debate followed by argumentation analysis. The argumentation analysis in turn is followed by an assessment of the plausibility of the arguments. The application involved using the methodology to assess the level of funding for research and development for a transportation system that would employ advanced technology. The Dialectic Inquiry process, and specifically, the plausibility rating activity, were seen as valuable aids for policy analysis.