We introduce the notion of generic design from a new perspective, though the term does have a history in fields like systems science and along somewhat different paths in cognitive science, artificial intelligence and software engineering. For the latter, it was hypothesized as a unique type of thinking with similarities among design activities in different situations but with crucial differences between these and other cognitive activities. For the former, it was an approach to management of complexity through systems design via (...) socialtechnical systems theory. The focus of our work is different from both. We do not investigate design as a unique type of activity, though we do not deny that it could be. Also, our work is not solely ensconced in a social-technical system. For us, the latter can also be seen as a physical and/or biological system from which materials for new construction can also be employed. Also for us, the arts are as important to address as science or engineering. Our work is generic because it does not start by limiting itself to designated disciplines or paradigms, fields or domains. Rather for us, generic design supposes an encompassing multi-disciplinary, multi-field approach for dealing with the ever-growing number and diversity of knowledge islands that are becoming more interconnected with support for going somewhat native. We also show how generic design participates in the qualitative or what are sometimes called incommensurable paradigmatic shifts in which knowledge grows. We begin development of generic design by combining philosophy and engineering, situating them in craftwork through the use of an integrative object from the construction crafts – scaffolding. Scaffolding becomes a way station between knowledge in its current state toward new conceptions under development. This paper is itself a way station, which links generic design with developments in philosophy, in science and engineering. (shrink)

Our view is not to see engineering from the point of view of philosophy, nor is it to see philosophy from the point of view of engineering. We are offering neither a philosophy of engineering, nor a re-engineering of philosophy, nor a philosophy from an evolutionary point of view, nor do we see engineering as applied science. Moreover our focus is not on validation or justification. Rather, we are proposing that the relationships among philosophy, engineering, science and the arts needs (...) also to be seen from an interdisciplinary, concept genericity perspective, where philosophy, the disciplines or crafts are on equal footing, no one dominating or making decisions for any of the others, where the emphasis is on producing unstable integrative objects seen from the future or played with in virtual environments or multiply configured in different philo/science/engineering theoretical fictions. This is not to say that the other perspectives do not have an important role or are insignificant, but rather that this interdisciplinary generic perspective sets in relief issues that are usually not considered, though are also important. Our aim is to forge new relationships between philosophies, the sciences, the arts and engineering through a reconfiguration of design and philosophy into a unilateral duality of non-standard design/philosophy. From a non-standard design/philosophy orientation, both human subjects and objects are taken as indefinite and generic, capable of assuming determinations not countenanced in standard disciplines. This is not to say that standard disciplines and standard philosophy are ignored. Quite the contrary, they are hyper-retained but decomposed into flows of fragmentary materials that can be recomposed into non-disciplinarily flows of superposed counterpoint or inchoate harmony or melody. For example, conceptual fragments from quantum theory become entangled with those of philosophy (identity and superposition), study of space-time, biology, information and computing, psychology, linguistics and fiction. These compositions can split into unstable and uncertain integrative objects and also into equally unstable heretic collectives or perhaps even forgo splitting into a subject/object duality. In the process of conjugating relationships between philosophies, the sciences, engineering and the arts a generic epistemology emerges that is at once esthetic and ethical. Collective identity, generic decomposition and recomposition and architecting an interdisciplinary generic space to house and support collective and compositional processes, techniques and apparatuses are mutually formed and produced. This generic work needs scaffolding at the boundary between generic space inside and contexts outside to moderate and modulate the entrenched philosophic and disciplinary forces that seek to impose certain human and object identities. The scaffolding both protects the generic non-disciplinary space of non-standard design from the impositional effects of outside contexts and also enables materials from the outside to be used generically inside. For example, the individual as homo-economicus can be refashioned as homo-non-standard-economicus and value as competitive advantage can be refashioned as value for generic humanity. Non-standard philo/design fictions are modes of resistance to the well-entrenched disciplinary and philosophic stories repeated as sound-bites in our mediatized world that also point toward a new non-standard design engineering ethic. (shrink)

This article aims to provide a metaphysical elucidation of a specific model of the doctrine of the Trinity: Monarchical Trinitarianism, within the formal, neo–Aristotelian ontological and metaphysical framework of Jonathan Lowe (i.e. his four–category ontology and serious essentialism). Formulating the model through this ontological and metaphysical framework will enable us to explicate it in a clear and consistent manner, and the important 'multiple–natures' problem raised against the proposed model will be shown to be ineffective.

Introduction. The author analyzes the features of the ideological confrontation and conflict between Iranian emigrant communities and the political elites of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The position of Iranian emigration is analyzed in the context of the activity of the Pahlavi dynasty representatives. The purpose of the article is to analyze the ideo- logical confrontation between the two projects of Iranian political identities in contexts of criticism of the clerical regime of Iran by representatives of the Iranian political emigration (...) of Pahlavi dynasty. Methods. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles of analyzing intellectual communities with the elements of the universal method of his- toricism and a comparative approach, which make it possible to identify and systematize the main features of the process of ideological confrontation between the Iranian elites and their critics from the Iranian political monarchist emigration. Scientific novelty of the study. On the one hand, the article analyzes the ideological confrontation between the clerical political regime of Iran and its critics from the communities of monarchical emi- gration as a state of remote or delayed conflict. On the other hand, the author analyzes this ideological controversy as a conflict not between society and power, but between two versions of political power: if the Iranian regime controls the political discourse in the country in fact, then its monarchist oppo- nents in exile attribute to it symbolic legitimacy and continuity with the tradition of Iranian statehood. Results. The main directions and features of criticism of the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran by Iranian political emigrants of a monarchist orientation are analyzed; features of political ideol- ogy are shown; the forecast of the development of the political activity of the Iranian emigration is presented. Conclusions. The author believes that 1) the mo- narchical Iranian emigration is one of the centers of attraction for emigrants from Iran in Western Europe and North America; 2) the ideologists and theorists of the monarchical emigration are consist- ent critics of the political regime established in Iran in 1979; 3) criticism of the clerical, anti-secular and undemocratic regime of Tehran, its accusations of violating human rights and freedoms in in the cen- tre of the political doctrine of the Iranian emigra- tion; 4) the political ideal of emigration is a secular and democratic Iran, where rights and freedoms are respected, and religious minorities have equal rights with the Shiite Iranian majority. (shrink)

This note's communication explores the symbolism and reimagining of the California state animal, the extinct California grizzly bear (Ursus arctos californicus). The modern California flag's bear is modeled after a real grizzly named Monarch, who lived in captivity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The core image, "Repub Grizzly Monarch I," depicts an armored, futuristic Monarch against the backdrop of the Transverse Ranges. This illustration blends nature with technology, serving as a potent symbol of California's enduring, untamed spirit.

Through a selection of primary sources, this article demonstrates the political and legal languages which articulated monarchist ideas in interwar Yugoslavia. Variations on the theme emerged in different periods. First, the national and so democratic character of the monarch and monarchy was a prevalent image at the end of the First World War and in the first decade of the Yugoslav state’s existence. During the domestic political crises in the second half of the 1920s, the language of monarchism shifted (...) toward discourses of stability and public order. After the declaration of the royal dictatorship in January 1929, the language of monarchism became fully invested in expressing the monarch’s absolute political authority, legally inviolable character, and the resulting ‘unity of state and nation’. For the political Right, the king embodied the spirit of integral Yugoslavism. While the language of monarchism could serve disparate political ideologies – as in the liberal monarchist emigration after spring 1941 – it was rather primarily linked to the political visions of the Right in the final decade of interwar Yugoslavia. (shrink)

This chapter provides an introduction to the four surviving imperial commentaries to the Laozi, an aspect of the commentarial tradition that has very little representation within English language scholarship. Written by emperors from the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, these commentaries offer readings of the text from the very political role the text addresses; the ruler. Key themes such as politics and spirituality, strategy and cultivation, along with central topics like Dao, wuwei, guarding frugality, nurturing life, and spiritual exercise (...) are uniquely extrapolated upon through the lens of those intimately involved in the practical affairs of governance at the highest level. Moreover, these imperial commentaries reflect the historical, intellectual, and cultural shifts spanning nearly a millennium, particularly insofar as they legitimated the syncretic fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, or “the unification of the three doctrines.” The emperor’s interpretations of the Laozi offers a distinctive and important layer of nuance to both the text itself as well as its historical reception and function. (shrink)

This article recovers a largely forgotten and quite surprising argument about the origins of political liberty in Britain: that the Norman Conquest, by making possible an extremely powerful absolute monarchy, paradoxically set in motion the historical process which would later lead to the emergence of limited constitutional monarchy. The article shows how the eighteenth-century writer Jean Louis de Lolme initially made this argument to explain the divergent constitutional orders of Britain and France. De Lolme’s hypothesis was then taken up by (...) numerous historians and political theorists. François Guizot and his fellow Doctrinaires, Alexis de Tocqueville, and John Stuart Mill were among the writers who further developed his historical explanation of the British constitution. The liberal philosophy of history in the nineteenth century sprang from De Lolme's account of how absolute monarchy leads paradoxically to constitutional liberty. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:September 27, 2008 (1:09 pm) G:\WPData\TYPE2801\russell 28,1 048RED.wpd Reviews 81 CAUSATION: A PREMATURELY DEPOSED MONARCH? Chad Trainer 1006 Davids Run Phoenixville, pa 19460, usa stratof{[email protected] Huw Price and Richard Corry, eds. Causation, Physics, and the Constitution of Reality: Russell’s Republic Revisited. Oxford: Clarendon P.; New York: Oxford U. P., 2007. Pp. x, 403. isbn: 978-0-19-927819-0. £58 (hb); £19.99 (pb.). us$35 (pb). In 1911 the Aristotelian Society elected Bertrand Russell (...) its president, and in November of 1912 Russell’s presidential address to the Society was “On the Notion of Cause”, which, in addition to being published in the Society’s Proceedings, was later included in Russell’s book Mysticism and Logic. Russell’s address to the Aristotelian Society occurred during an interesting, brief era in the history of physics. This was a stage after the science of gravitational astronomy had beneWted from the use of diTerential equations but before the British physics community was aware of the German physicists’ advances. Less than three years after Russell delivered “On the Notion of Cause”, Einstein revolutionized the Weld of gravitational astronomy; and the quantum physicists were to eventually unearth phenomena that proved to be especially recalcitrant to comprehensive mathematical analysis. At the time of “On the Notion of Cause”, though, physics was understood as providing a thorough account of all the phenomena within its domain. In this address, Russell speaks of how Certain diTerential equations can be found, which hold at every instant for every particle of the system, and which, given the conWguration and velocities at one instant, or the conWgurations at two instants, render the conWguration at any other earlier or later instant theoretically calculable. … This statement holds throughout physics, and not only in the special case of gravitation. But there is nothing that could be properly called “cause” and nothing that could be properly called “eVect” in such a system.… [T]here is merely a formula. (ML, p. 194, Papers 6: 202; my emphasis) Russell further remarked: All philosophers, of every school, imagine that causation is one of the fundamental axioms or postulates of science, yet, oddly enough, in advanced sciences such as gravitational astronomy, the word ‘cause’ never occurs…. To me it seems that … the reason September 27, 2008 (1:09 pm) G:\WPData\TYPE2801\russell 28,1 048RED.wpd 82 Reviews why physics has ceased to look for causes is that, in fact, there are no such things. The law of causality, … like much that passes muster among philosophers, is a relic of a bygone age, surviving, like the monarchy, only because it is erroneously supposed to do no harm. (ML, p. 180; Papers 6: 193). What Russell has in mind here when saying “in advanced sciences such as gravitational astronomy, the word ‘cause’ never occurs” is that it is rash to infer from the observation of particular uniformities that there necessarily is a legitimate apriori category of causality (ML, p. 205; Papers 6: 209). Rather, “the law of causality, as usually stated by philosophers, is false, and is not employed in science” (ML, p. 207; Papersz 6: 210). Huw Price and Richard Corry’s Causation, Physics, and the Constitution of Reality: Russell’s Republic Revisitedz features thirteen chapters from diTerent contributors (except for Huw Price who authors one and co-authors another) who address diTerent aspects of this matter. Price and Corry explain: One key theme of the volume turns on the possibility that in presenting philosophy with a stark choice between Wnding causation in physics and rejecting it altogether, Russell missed an important range of intermediate views. In particular, he missed what, by a natural extension of his own constitutional analogy, we may call the republican option. In the political case, rejecting the view that political authority is vested in our rulers by God leaves us with two choices: we may reject the notion of political authority altogether ; or we may regard it, with republicans, as invested in our rulers by us. Arguably, the republican option exists in metaphysics, too. Causal republicanism is thus the view that although the notion of causation is useful, perhaps indispensable, in our dealings with... (shrink)

A discussion of The New Yorker profile of monarchist Curtis Yarvin. The claim here is that while the author, Ava Kofman, correctly points out a number of Yarvin's shortcomings, she fails to see that American democracy would not be improved by juicing up Madisonian constraints. Quite the contrary in fact.

This chapter examines the trajectory of presidential monarchism as a common phenomenon in postcolonial Africa. Africa is home to many of the world’s longest-ruling heads of state posing as presidents. Presidential monarchism conveys the notion of ‘life presidents,’ who are indeed ‘disguised monarchs’ without limited tenures of office. This phenomenon developed in postcolonial Africa under distinct historical phases, which have not been clearly discerned, and historicised in extant scholarship. This chapter sets out to address this largely understudied sphere (...) in the scholarship of Africa’s constitutional history. The methodology deployed is essentially qualitative, and the author exploited extant documentary sources, including online newspapers. This study revealed that the first 3 decades after African independence witnessed the development of presidential monarchism, with over 25 African presidents reigning for 20 years and above with all powers concentrated in their hands. In 1990, presidential monarchism was seriously shaken to its foundations by the global third democratic wave that blew over Africa and the introduction of constitutional term limits that restricted the ability of African leaders to stay in office beyond two terms. Nonetheless, presidential monarchism persisted in the post-1990 period after the scrapping or circumvention of the term-limit clauses. It metamorphosed into ultra-presidential monarchism in the shape of presidential dynasties, as a disturbing retrogressive development. However, an overall decline in presidential monarchism occurred as most African states adopted presidential fixed term limits, which was a positive sign. (shrink)

For several decades, conservation biologists seeking to prevent the extinction of rare species have invoked a distinction between conservation ‘in the wild’ (in situ) and conservation in captivity (ex situ). They prefer the former because it maintains the species in a ‘natural’ state rather than one ‘contaminated’ by human culture. Drawing on long-standing critiques of the nature-culture dichotomy, however, several critics have recently challenged the in situ/ex situ dichotomy on the grounds that it is both theoretically and practically untenable. Here, (...) we extend these critiques through a case study of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), an iconic and beautiful species that summers in Canada and the U.S. and winters in southern California and Mexico. This case not only demonstrates several ways that in situ and ex situ conservation interweave, but necessitates further reconsideration in the face of climate change (specifically in terms of the question of assisted migration ). Through this case study, we unveil several ecological complexities that further emphasize the need for thinking across the in situ/ex situ divide. (shrink)

In little more than six months, Britain and Denmark witnessed the transition from a queen to a king. This episode was welcomed by (inter)national celebrations. Yet, it also coincided with a moment of uncertainty: a new monarch entails a new personality, a different reigning style, and some mystery about his/her management of international relations. How does the community react? Does the coronation appear as a fully positive event? This multidisciplinary research analyses Britain’s monarchical transition according to Hofstede’s cultural category of (...) ‘uncertainty avoidance’. In a case-study, Britain and Denmark are compared with emphasis on some aspects they shared in the transition process to the new sovereigns. Elizabeth II and Margrethe II were the only two queens left among all the sovereigns in the world, their reigns gave the countries a long period of stability, and in both cases the new monarch is a man – a feature which points to Hofstede’s taboo trait of ‘masculinity/femininity’. By studying the recent evolution of monarchy as a fundamental institution for the British cultural identity, this research merges data from different sources to offer a fresh perspective on how Britain perceives itself and is globally perceived, focusing on uncertainty. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to analyze the figure of the monarch presented in Dante's “De Monarchia”. The study of Dante's political project will provide us with an opportunity to see the shifts in intellectual environment of the late Middle Ages through the evolution or perhaps return from the theocratic model to the earlier pre-Christial concept of the ruler. The study of Dante's political lexicon will demonstrate the revival of the original meanings starting to challenge and shift the consensus (...) of the political philisophy at the time. (shrink)

Resumen: Las dinastías Ming y Qing marcaron un periodo de grandes cambios en el pensamiento político y cultural chino. Durante este periodo, la relación monarca-súbdito fue un tema central en el estudio del confucianismo y un componente central de la cultura tradicional china, que durante mucho tiempo ha sido objeto de interés entre estudiosos de diversos campos. Este artículo examina el desarrollo de las antiguas relaciones monarca-súbdito chinas desde la perspectiva de los factores históricos y el desarrollo del confucianismo. Además, (...) se analiza y discute la relación monarca-súbdito en el confucianismo Ming y Qing a partir de las teorías de influyentes pensadores como Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi y Wang Fuzhi. Este análisis ofrece valiosas perspectivas sobre la innovación integral del confucianismo en el nuevo contexto histórico. (shrink)

This paper has three main goals. Firstly – to draw attention to the phenomenon of the democratic paradigm in the study of modern state systems (especially monarchical ones), characterise it and outline its sources. Also - to question the basis of this phenomenon (by pointing out, among other things, the durability of monarchical systems and the phenomenon of partial ‘re-monarchization’ – real or apparent – of certain contemporary republican systems on the examples of: Montenegro, Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and (...) Poland). Secondly, to present the negative consequences of the functioning of the democratic paradigm, also (paradoxically) those affecting the political practice of republics. Thirdly, to propose a way to reduce these negative consequences by changing the optics adopted in comparative studies about monarchies and republics. This change is based on the restoration, in comparative analyses of contemporary state systems (including monarchical ones), of the concepts of ‘mixed system’ and ‘monarchical principle’, which are still used in research on the history of the state and law, and should be disseminated in research on contemporary political systems and constitutional law. An explanation of the terms ‘mixed system’ and ‘monarchical principle’ as I use them here will follow in the final part of the paper. (shrink)

This paper presents a model that generates testable hypotheses concerning the evolution of long-range migratory behavior in the Monarch Butterfly,Danaus plexippus and the general absence of such behavior in a related form, the Queen,D. gilippus (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Danainae). An attempt is made to reconstruct a probable transition within the Neotropical forest-dwelling danaines associated with woody Asclepiadaceae (and to a lesser extent, perhaps some Apocyanaceae) as larval food plants to a progenitor stock of the Monarch and Queen in more seasonal tropical (...) regions, and eventually temperate regions, and associated with herbaceous asclepiads such asAsclepias. A basic premise of the proposed hypothetical model is that the colonization of secondary habitats in seasonal tropical regions of Central America preadapted both forms to an eventual colonization of the sub-temperate and temperate zone of North America. The assumed evolutionary diversification of the herbaceousAsclepias species in North America provided an evolutionary stepping stone for the expansion of these danaines into this region. Owing to strong selection arising from the co-association of the Monarch and Queen with the same species ofAsclepias in the subtropical region of North America, eventually there was selection for the colonization of the higher latitudes by the Monarch, whereAsclepias thrived. Being essentially a tropical insect, the Monarch evolved an obligatory long-range migratory behavior to allow colonization of the temperate zone annually, and necessitating the use of overwintering sites in Mexico and other places. (shrink)

The idea that a republic is the only legitimate form of government and that non-elective monarchy and hereditary political privileges are by definition illegitimate is an artifact of late eighteenth century republicanism, though it has roots in the “godly republics” of the seventeenth century. It presupposes understanding a republic ( respublica) to be a non-monarchical form of government. The latter definition is a discursive practice that goes back only to the fifteenth century and is not found in Roman or medieval (...) sources. This article explains how the definition emerged in Renaissance Italy. (shrink)

The Middle English romance Kyng Alisaunder, often considered a positive exemplum of kingship, criticizes the conqueror’s brutal treatment of conquered cities, incorporating references to the Aeneid and to Troy to heighten the horror of war and to connect Alexander clearly to Britain’s foundation myth. Alexander’s interactions with Queen Candace and her family also present him as an anti-Aeneas. Cities including Troy frame considerations of morality and justice, for Alexander as well as for his parents. The romance’s date, language, and descriptive (...) details all associate the romance with London, such that its late thirteenth-century urban audience would likely read the critique of Alexander as indirect censure of Edward I, who was identified with Alexander and had a contentious relationship with London. At the same time, the romance’s concern with right rule continues to speak to readers in later decades, when the text was copied into three significant manuscripts, annotated, and printed. (shrink)

Klasik İslam siyaset geleneği üzerine inceleme yapmak için bu geleneği siyasetin temellendirilmesi ve siyasal olanın merkezi ve en yüce değerini ele alarak başlamak pek çok başka çalışmaya ön ayak olması bakımından büyük bir önemi haizdir. Martin Heidegger’e göre temel ve en yüce değere dair bir soruşturma metafizikten başka bir şey değildir ve bu sebeple metafizik onto-teolojidir. Heiddegger’in düşünsel mirasından hareketle Jacques Derrida, onto-teolojinin bir mevcudiyet metafiziği olduğunu söylemekte ve bu metafiziğin temel argümanlarından hareketle kendini akamete uğrattığı durumları gösteren okuma stratejileri (...) – ki `yapıbozum´ olarak adlandırılmıştır. – ile metafiziğin olanaklarını incelemektedir. Bu çalışmada ilkin klasik İslam siyaset geleneğine ait siyasetnameler bu okuma stratejileri üzerinden ele alındığında geleneğin hükümdar-merkezli (monarchocentric) bir metafiziği olduğu ortaya konacaktır. Ardından hükümdarı merkeze alan bu söylemin merkezi yerinden ederek bağlamından çıkardıktan sonra onu yeni bir bağlama nasıl oturttuğu metinler üzerinden gösterilmeye çalışılacaktır. (shrink)

Perhaps one of the most controversial aspects of Hegel's Philosophy of Right for contemporary interpreters is its discussion of the constitutional monarch. This is true despite the general agreement amongst virtually all interpreters that Hegel's monarch is no more powerful than modern constitutional monarchs and is an institution worthy of little attention or concern. In this article, I will examine whether or not it matters who is the monarch and what domestic and foreign powers he has. I argue against the (...) virtual consensus of recent interpreters that Hegel's monarch is far more powerful than has been understood previously. In part, Hegel's monarch is perhaps even more powerful than Hegel himself may have realized and I will demonstrate certain inconsistencies with some of his claims. My reading represents a distinctive break from the virtual consensus, without endorsing the view that Hegel was a totalitarian. (shrink)

The way of a monarch is what should be followed by those who rule over a country. Two variables are analyzed here: the understanding of a monarch in governing his state introduced by a quote from The Book of Songs and the way to be followed by the rulers of men.

Athenian democracy depended upon political ‘champions’ in order to operate effectively, although the champions themselves were often heavily criticised. At the same time, critics of democracy looked for alternatives in the ‘best men’, or ‘best man’ to rule the state. Thucydides engages with both these issues, and informed by wider political debates and other representations of the ‘democratic monarch’ (especially that of Theseus), analyses and draws a character sketch of Pericles and Alcibiades, in their role as either ‘good king’ or (...) ‘bad tyrant’, in order to present a critique of democratic stability. (shrink)