Forest as hazard,forest as victim: Community perspectives and disaster mitigation in the aftermath of Kelowna's 2003 wildfires

Situated within the political ecology of hazard, this article is an extended case study of the devastating 2003 wildfires in and around Kelowna, British Columbia (also known as the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire). This article reveals how compliance (or lack thereof) with fire mitigation strategies recommended by provincial, regional, and municipal agencies is complicated by differing social constructions of what constitutes ecologically sustainable forest management and community safety. Three perspectives emerge regarding the urban forests: “nature as hazard”—a volatile force to be controlled; “nature as instrumentally valuable”—a contribution to the character of one's surroundings and subsequent sense of place; and “nature as intrinsically valuable”—a distinct entity to be preserved and protected for its own sake. The article also examines how experiences of disaster influence community perceptions and result in a greater willingness to engage in fire mitigation strategies due to perceptions of heightened vulnerability. Forestry and fire mitigation agencies need to determine multiple courses of action among the varied and valid range of residents’ nature perspectives. The role of human agency in disaster mitigation must be examined, particularly as the risk of fire at the wildland‐urban interface continues to be exacerbated by encroaching human settlements and climate change.     

The Socio‐Nature of Local Organic Food

Abstract: The concept of socio‐nature asserts that social relations are inherently ecological and that ecological relations are inherently social. This paper examines how, and with what consequences, discourses and practices of support for local and organic food reflect this idea. It argues that proponents of local organic agriculture view the food they promote as simultaneously social and the product of human labor. However, advocates’ understanding of the concept is partial and constrained by social privilege. It does not extend to industrial agriculture or paid farm labor. The literature on socio‐nature coheres around the revelation that what is understood as natural is also social and vice versa. In contrast, this paper takes a new approach, examining socio‐nature as a practice‐shaping discourse already embedded in social life. Investigating the on‐the‐ground ideological work performed by the concept also allows for assessment of its political consequences.     

Sign Geography

Signs are significant elements of cultural landscapes throughout the world. Through their form and content, signs reveal a variety of information about places ranging from locational and physical geographic data through social, economic and political characteristics. Signs, which tell of past events, current conditions and future expectations, are landscape notes on the geography of change. Signs are frequently evidence of cultural diffusion and convergence. Many signs give direction to human activity and symbolize societal quest for order. Others reflect tastes, values and attitudes, in concert with prevailing belief systems. Signs are both cultural phenomena and landscape statements that attest to the way of life in a place.     

Descartes and the pineal gland in animals: A frequent misinterpretation

Abstract

Rene Descartes presented a number of reasons for his choice of the pineal gland as a logical place for the soul to interact with the physical machinery of the body. It is often stated that one of his reasons was that be believed animals do not have pineal glands, whereas humans alone possess a soul and this small structure. This is a misinterpretation of Descartes. The philosopher knew that barnyard and other animals possess pineal glands, having seen this with his own eyes. His point was that the pineal is unique in humans only because of a special function — acting as the seat for the rational soul.     

Beauty and belief: Aesthetics and religion in Victorian literature

This article is in part an intervention in the ongoing debate inaugurated by Peter Harrison in 2002 when he called into question the validity of what had come by then to be called ‘the voluntarism and science thesis.’ Though it subsequently drew support from such historians of science as J.E. McGuire, Margaret Osler, Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs and, more recently, John Henry (in rebuttal of Harrison), the origins of the thesis are usually traced back to articles published in 1934–1936 and 1961 respectively by the philosopher Michael Foster and the historian of ideas Francis Oakley. While classifying Foster’s work as pertaining to the ecology of ideas rather than their history, the article argues for the complementarity of the two approaches and seeks, not only to vindicate the voluntarism and science thesis itself but also to locate it within the broader constellation of ideas embracing legal and political as well as natural philosophy that the political philosopher Michael Oakeshott characterized as pertaining to a fundamental tradition of European thinking dominated by the master conceptions of Will and Artifice.     

从《文心雕龙·隐秀》看中国古代文论对不可言说之物的言说

中国古代文论的言说主体、言说对象和言说方式中都体现出了对不可言说之物的诉求与重视。本文将以《文心雕龙·隐秀》为例来窥探中国古代文论中对不可言说之物的言说,此种言说方式总的来说具有“虚实结合”的特点,即将“言内之意”与“言外之意”相结合,不脱离言语与具体对象,同时又追求实存之外的东西,以期言语之外无穷的意味与物象之外不尽之内涵。     

中国画的欣赏、鉴赏和创作

从中国画欣赏和创作的角度,谈中国画的本质特征,国画与西方绘画的关系、与中国古典哲学的关系,中国画的审美境界、中国笔墨文化等等,说明中国画是淡泊,养生,向善的艺术。强调“文”是进入中国画创作和欣赏的门槛,也是沟通画家和社会的桥梁。     

Science and the Fate of the Human Soul in Tom Wolfe

Abstract

This article investigates Tom Wolfe's assessment of the age-old debate between nature and nurture, the Cartesian mind–body problem, and the tensions between science, politics, and morality that result from the human struggle to explain what the components of a human being are. I begin with Wolfe's own study of what evolution and neuroscience tell us about the “Human Beast.” Wolfe is not certain that evolution tells the whole story of how human beings came to be who and what they are in the twenty-first century. Evolution got us to the point of speech but Wolfe is persuaded that at that point, evolution ended and speech took over. Speech, according to Wolfe, made the development of reason and ingenuity and the creation of culture possible. And it is culture, the shared set of human behavior, knowledge, and beliefs, manners, and mores, and, above all for Wolfe, status, which then informs human motivation and actions. Wolfe is open to the idea that neuroscience might eventually be able to explain every detail of how and why the human brain functions as it does but he is skeptical that it will be able to explain away completely the idea that each of us is an individual, striving for honor and success within our status sphere.     

英国贵族阶级属性和等级制的演变

在一千多年的历史中 ,就阶级属性而言 ,英国先后出现了原始部落军事贵族、封建贵族、资本主义土地贵族、工商业资产阶级贵族和中产阶级“工党贵族”;而贵族等级制和名号的变化则主要有五次 :先后在盎格鲁 -撒克逊时期、诺曼征服之后、1 4— 1 5世纪、1 7世纪初和 1 958年。     

论我国《合同法》关于违约金责任的规定

违约金是一种重要的违约责任的实现方式。自《合同法》颁布以来,理论界和司法实践中,围绕着《合同法》第114条关于违约金责任的规定进行了激烈的争论,至今未形成一致的意见。本文认为,我国《合同法》中的约定违约金,既具有惩罚性也具有赔偿性。两种不同性质的违约金与损害赔偿、定金等违约责任的其他承担形式的关系也各自不同。应当承认存在单纯的惩罚性违约金,立法上应当清楚地界定两种性质违约金的区别,以消除理论认识上的矛盾和司法实践中的混乱。