Dewey’s concept of experience for inquiry-based landscape drawing during field studies

The epistemological and educational philosophy of John Dewey is used as a theoretical basis to analyze processes of knowledge construction during geographical field studies. The experience of landscape drawing as a method of inquiry and a starting point for research-based learning is empirically evaluated. The basic drawing skills are acquired through an online drawing course. The main aim is to foster the self-organized acquisition of relevant skills to explore, describe and reflect on subjective mental and linguistic concepts in relation to scientific landscape models. The results, based on an evaluation of the students’ drawings, their responses to questionnaires and a review of students’ “reflective notes”, indicate that the approach motivated students to learn about the processes which formed the landscape and that the students perceived the method of inquiry after Dewey as a way to overcome cognitive dissonance.     

One for all,or all for oneself? Governance cultures in regional public transport planning

Due to the fragmented organizational landscape characterizing public transport, it is important to study and explore how regional governance of public transport adapts to national institutional reforms. By employing the term ‘governance cultures’ to a comparative case study of regional public transport planning in Sweden, we contribute to theories of governance by cultural sensitization. Combining governance theory with cultural analysis, we apply a cultural perspective to understand the two cases. We conclude that public transport planning in the Stockholm region is defined by ‘negotiations’ between stakeholders, whereas in the Västra Götaland region it is characterized by a governance culture of ‘collaboration’. The evidence from our case studies emphasizes the importance of understanding local governance practices as situated in cultural contexts as well as of viewing governance cultures as an important factor affecting the purpose, degree and outcomes of collaboration in planning practices.     

MacIntyre and Nussbaum on Diversity,Liberalism, and Christianity

This article argues that the politics of difference has been unsuccessful in its attempt to liberate itself from the modern politics of universal dignity and self-determination. As a result, theorists who emphasize difference ultimately must find a way to balance a conception of diversity with that of a universal normative ethics. To make this case, I examine the virtue ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre and Martha Nussbaum as two different examples of this tension, one constructing a particularistic virtue ethics around specific traditions, while the other presents a universalistic virtue ethics around universal human experience, thus serving as an example for how the “right” and “left” engage with diversity. There is a common denominator to the virtue ethics of MacIntyre and Nussbaum in that they both go about this by reconstructing an ethics of character out of elements of Aristotle's ethics of virtue in his Nicomachean Ethics as the basis for a model of pluralism and do so within a modern liberal and hence rational–individualist framework. Both are critical of certain elements of Aristotle's thought, while attempting to recover the “true” essence of Aristotelianism. While those who identify with the different political extremes are diverse, one basic premise is that the former believes in the role of tradition and the values of slow change in dialogue with the past, while the latter advocates the good of all individuals within a state that is blind to differences notwithstanding the practices of the past. Each approach faces a significant weakness: tradition is often unable to recognize that social benefits have often been brought about by modern liberalism's rejection of tradition, while universal human experience tends to forget that universal thinking is not universal but is a liberalization of a particular Christian way of approaching the world.     

Quelques repéres historiques sur la théorie des jeux

Résumé  L'article s'attache à dégager le fil rouge qui relie les réflexions de Wilhelm Gottfried Leibniz sur les jeux de société à la théorie des jeux, telle qu'on la trouve dans l'ouvrage de John Von Neumann et Oskar Morgenstern. L'itinéraire décrit passe par les travaux de plusieurs mathématiciens du XVIII^e siècle sur différents jeux de hasard, pour aboutir aux recherches de quelques-uns des fondateurs des mathématiques modernes, comme Ernst Zermelo pour la théorie des ensembles et émile Borel pour la théorie des probabilités. II montre comment une analyse mathématique des jeux de société a débouché sur l'élaboration d'une grille générale d'analyse des phénomènes sociaux. Son cheminement révèle, en outre, la longue parenthèse du XIX^e siècle où ce programme s'est trouvé abandonné et esquisse, en conclusion, quelques hypothèses pour l'expliquer. The paper strives to find the clue which links Leibniz' thoughts on parlour games to the mathematical theory of games in John Von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.Magna opera the way goes through the works of several XVIII^th century mathematicians on various games of chance to reach the research of some of the modern mathematics founders, as Ernst Zermelo for the sets theory and émile Borel for the theory of probabilities. The paper shows how a mathematical analysis of parlour games ends at a general framework to study the social phenomena. Its development also reveals how this research program has disappeared, all along the XIX^th century, and suggests, in conclusion, some tentative explanations of this development. Une version préliminaire de cet article a été publiée dans la revue de l'Association historique des élèves du lycée Henri IV,Jeu et histoire, n^o spéc.:L'émoi de l'histoire, 25–26, printempsautomne 2002, p. 94–115.     

救援、革命、外交——华工联合会研究

华工联合会原名中华旅俄联合会,1917年由在俄学习的中国留学生发起成立。成立以后,华工联合会对第一次世界大战时期进入俄国的华工提供了大量帮助。1918年底,华工联合会转变为“无产主义者组织”,它积极对在俄华工进行革命宣传,建立起与中国境内革命组织之间的联系,促进了中国革命事业的发展。此外,华工联合会还促成中国政府与苏维埃俄国之间进行对话,在俄中两国的外交活动中发挥了重要的作用。本文依据大量史料,追溯了旅俄华工联合会在救援、革命和外交等方面做出的卓越贡献,对华工联合会这一以往较少引人注意的华侨组织进行了深入的探讨与研究。