Does Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas Improve Our Understanding of Hegel's Philosophy of Right?

Mark Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas has received considerable attention recently. This article highlights a new problem with his weak intentionalism. Bevir's weak intentionalism holds that on occasion the meanings readers ascribe to texts may trump the meanings the authors express in texts. The article uses the example of Hegel's theory of punishment. The received wisdom is that Hegel is a pure retributivist. Yet, this strays far from his text and stated views. We might think we should keep to this text to uncover Hegel's views. However, Bevir's weak intentionalism has us side with how he has been read over what Hegel has said. This view is problematic as our meanings may well stray far from the texts, words or spirit. Thus, Bevir's weak intentionalism can fall victim to straying from the text when trying to interpret it.     

Efficient Nonprofits?

This article looks at efficiency as it relates to nonprofit activities. I argue that average return-on-investment measures are inadequate for nonprofit organizations, and that nonprofits should seek instead to measure marginal returns to investments in nonprogram areas, such as administration and fundraising. Using a national sample of approximately two hundred fifty thousand nonprofits from 2002, I find that some types of organizations spend their nonprogram funds efficiently, while other types do not. These findings have implications for nonprofit management.     

Toronto's gay village (1969–1982): plotting the politics of gay identity

Between the late 1960s and the early 1980s, a loose association of gay social spaces consolidated into what is now known as the 'gay village' in the Church and Wellesley street areas in downtown Toronto. Scholars argue that, while these residential and commercial districts evolved prior to the formation of organized gay political organizations, they suggest that the emergence of these districts as political and commercial districts was a direct result of deliberate local gay activism. I argue here that contrary to this literature and for much of its history, the gay movement was largely opposed to the existence of specifically gay-identified spaces, particularly those operated by both heterosexual and homosexual businesspersons. Toronto's gay activists, using different ideological frameworks, struggled to constitute a homosexual identity that stood mainly in opposition to the so-called 'ghetto gay' and to construct alternative spaces that were seen as more appropriate to the formation of a properly politicized homosexual identity. Nevertheless, by the early 1980s, as the gay village continued to thrive and as the players in gay movement politics changed, the gay ghetto became the gay village and was celebrated as a location of political strength and social necessity. This article explores that material and symbolic transformation.     

Scepticisme et politique

Scepticism is generally considered as leading to political conformity. But obedience to custom is not the only consequence of the separation between the private and the public spheres. The main result of this separation is to create an area of private life which is a space of freedom, away from the crowd and the authorities. It is thus easier to understand the sceptical stance in politics, advising the Prince secretly, while keeping out of the limelight. Above all, this helps us to appreciate the contribution of scepticism to modern conceptions of liberty in providing a social model for the free pursuit of truth.     

Site Identification and Correlation Using Geoarchaeological Methods at the Cabeço do Porto Marinho (CPM) Locality, Rio Maior, Portugal

Several geoarchaeological techniques have been employed in evaluating an open-air site within a uniform sand matrix, near Rio Maior, Portugal. Electrical resistivity data, acquired at the Upper Palaeolithic site complex of Cabeço do Porto Marinho (CPM), delineated an important new occupational locus. This result was confirmed, first by auger testing which recovered subsurface artefacts, and then by direct excavation. In addition, 107 samples were recovered at the site for magnetic susceptibility measurements. Comparisons between magnetic susceptibility profiles from two loci, including the new area at CPM, show distinctive patterns which allow direct correlation between the occupation areas. These methods provide quick and inexpensive means for investigators to evaluate new sites or to correlate between and within sites, without resorting to other more time-consuming and expensive techniques.     

L'Édit de Nantes et l'indifférence hollandaise

Did the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes find, in the Netherlands, an echo comparable to the one caused by the revocation of this same Edict, a century later? A first inquiry through documents directly related to events of that period (letters of politicians, pamphlets, synod acts, etc.) do not provide any revealing account of a Dutch interest in the French biconfessionalism settlement. The hypothesis put forward in this paper in order to explain this silence from the Dutch side are based on the stake shifting between France and the Netherlands, at that time, concerning tolerance.