Ulrich Beck's Cosmopolitanisation Thesis: A Philosophical Critique

For Ulrich Beck, the Enlightenment project aimed to subordinate religious truth to the authority of reason in questions of the true and the good, and thus to replace religious conflict with peace. Although the ‘First Modernity’ delivered risks like climate change rather than progress like peace, Beck discerns signs of hope for the Enlightenment project in the processes of individualisation and cosmopolitanisation. I argue, first, that Beck exaggerates his claims about the relative influence of tradition on religion and reason; second, that his cosmopolitanisation thesis fails to identify triggers for a paradigm conversion; third, that the thesis relies upon essentialist commitments of the kind he condemns; and finally, that only the classicist view of essentialism is vulnerable to his attack.

在乌尔里希·贝克看来,启蒙的目的在于,在真善的问题上,让宗教真理服从于理性权威,用和平代替宗教冲突。尽管“最初的现代性”引发了气候变化之类的风险而不是和平之类的进步,贝克却在个人化与都市化过程中看到启蒙的苗头。笔者认为,1）贝克关于传统对宗教和理性的相对影响有些夸张;2）他的都市化理论无法找到范式转变的诱因;3）他的理论依赖于他所反对的原教旨态度;4）只有古典的原教旨观点才在他那里不堪一击。     

The Heroic Presidency in the Era of Divided Government

Abstract

Contemporary democratic theorists focus on democratic processes to the exclusion of the substantive goods which motivated their predecessors. This undermines the legitimacy of democracy, especially in an era of emerging democracies. This article critiques underlying deficiencies in contemporary theory and prescribes revisiting early modern, natural-law-based democratic theory exemplified by John Locke. Locke argued that the ultimate legitimacy of democratic processes depends on their serving the good of the people, as distinct from the will of the people. The authors argue that this conclusion is unavoidable, because it is impossible for democratic legitimacy to rest ultimately on any kind of process at all, even a democratic process. Legitimacy must rest on a substantive norm used to govern (create or repair) processes. Contemporary democratic theory seems unwilling to revisit this important problem.     

Palaeolithic Human Subsistence in Mount Carmel (Israel). A Taphonomic Assessment of Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic Faunal Remains from Tabun,Skhul and el‐Wad

Detailed archaeozoological studies of Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic (250–40 kya) faunal assemblages from Tabun, Skhul and el‐Wad caves, located in Mount Carmel (Israel), are presented here, expanding on the previous palaeontological analyses carried out by Garrod and Bate in the 1930´s and by Garrard five decades later. Despite the well‐known excavation bias of the older excavations, this study makes greater use of modern taphonomic techniques and statistical procedures, providing new palaeoeconomic insights into the subsistence behaviour of modern humans, Neanderthals and their predecessors in the Levant. The results show that anatomically modern humans (AMH) were more efficient at hunting and foraging in terms of human mobility as well as an incipient prey specialisation. In addition, different uses of the Tabun cave through time have been identified. Tabun B, initially considered as a palaeontological accumulation, was also occasionally accessed by Neanderthals in order to exploit naturally trapped ungulates, and there were sporadic and logistic occupations in Tabun D, one of the oldest Middle Palaeolithic assemblages in the area. Contrastingly, Tabun C showed a comparatively more residential use, which coincided with the new mobility capabilities of AMH. Whereas the intensity of human occupation at el‐Wad varied through time, levels G and F showed very brief occupations in comparison with levels D and E, which showed abundant evidence of human activity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unraveling Ravelstein: Saul Bellow's Comic Tragedy

Abstract

This article argues that international relations (IR) theory, defined by its paradigms, theories, and models, has responded not to questions of human experience in world politics, but rather, has been primarily an exercise in self-definitional or privately satisfying research interests. I demonstrate this through analysis of two of the most cited and discussed IR approaches of the past half-century, Waltz's structural realism and Wendt's constructivism. The article argues that a reconstruction of IR premised on John Dewey's pragmatism would enable IR to succeed in responding to questions of practical import. Such questions inherently cannot be determined by privately satisfying research interests of academia, but rather, are defined as problems of lived human experience in world politics as determined by the public itself.     

Recent Advances in Mixtec Archaeology

Current research in the Mixteca region of Mexico has revealed that Formative communities were as populous as in other Mesoamerican regions. Evidence of emerging social complexity is associated with the use of and access to luxury items of foreign style and/or manufacture. Research efforts draw from indigenous models to interpret data and investigate urbanism. Regional and environmental approaches, household studies, and ethnohistory are integrated to study ethnic diversity and the complex history of human occupation. The politics associated with cultural resource management and community archaeology in the Mixteca also are discussed.     

NISP, Bone Fragmentation, and the Measurement of Taxonomic Abundance

Zooarchaeologists have long recognized that the number of identified specimens (NISP) is dependent on the degree to which bones are fragmented, but attempts are rarely made to control for the effects of fragmentation on NISP. This paper provides insight into those effects by presenting both a formal model of the relationship between NISP and fragmentation and experimental data on that relationship. The experimental data have practical implications regarding the effectiveness of potential measures of bone fragmentation, suggesting that specimen size—which can be determined easily through digital image analysis—is more useful than other variables that have been or might be used as fragmentation measures.     

SMALLHOLDERS,ORGANIC FARMERS,AND AGRICULTURAL POLICY

An increasing number of consumers find it important that food is produced locally and in an environmentally friendly way. This development is beneficial for small‐scale and organic farmers. It might also give them new opportunities to influence policy‐making. Agriculture is however a policy sector where conventional and large‐scale farming interests have had a strong position for a long time. This paper examines the possibilities for Scandinavian smallholders' and organic farmers' organizations to exert influence on agricultural policy. In Sweden, the main focus of investigation, the smallholders are marginalized. The organic farmers on the other hand have been successful and during the 1990s they managed to establish themselves in the policy network.