Rationality bashing has become a popular sport. Critiques have quite rightly challenged models of rational planning that follow a linear progression from predefined ends to achieved goals. There have been several alternative theoretical and empirical developments including incrementalist projects, networktheories, critical communication approaches, and heuristic models.Notwithstanding critiques of linear models of policy-making and planning, rationality as a general idea remains an important reference point for designing and evaluating policy-making and for orientating planning projects. We suggest that the concept of rationality (...) needs to be revised rather than abandonedand this article discusses how rationality in decision making may be reconstructed.We first review and critique some of the main preconceptions of rationality in policy-making and planning. We then discuss the nature and purpose of rationality from the perspective of John Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy and in light of contemporary theoretical and empirical analyses. We position rationality as a procedural standard of excellence that evolves and informs practices in the context of problematic situations. We propose that a theory of rationality, as a guide for planning and policy, should be developed for application in concrete problematic situations and at the same time should play a normative role and be orientated to moral, socio-historical, and ecological considerations. Dewey’s pragmatist theory is a promising source for such considerations.In this article we identify four ‘pillars’ of pragmatism to support such a revised rationality construct: (i) situationality, (ii) normativity, (iii) philosophical via media between foundationalism and relativism, and (iv) democratic inquiry. We discuss the application of a pragmatist rationality, that we refer to as ‘situational transactive’ rationality, using a model of decision making that builds on current understandings in planning and policy science. Finally, we discuss some of the possible advantages and challenges of undertaking such a pragmatist revision of rationality. (shrink)

In a seminal article C. Henry (1974) presented the irreversibility effect, which pointed out that under uncertainty, the optimal sequence of decisions depends on not only the payoffs, but also the flexibility, in terms of availability of future options, associated with each decision. But the irreversibility effect pertained to certain particular conditions and definitions. In this paper, a more general model is developed to re-examine the notion of an irreversible decision, its relation with flexibility and the irreversibility effect. It is (...) shown through two propositions that the irreversibility effect need not hold always and the notion of irreversibiity can be used only under certain circumstances to derive the optimal sequence of decisions ex-ante. (shrink)

Study on Śārīrakamīmāṃsābhāṣya by Śaṅkarācārya.

This article delves into the profound and intricate relationship between consumerism, identity, and interpassivity, a concept describing the delegation of personal enjoyment and experience to external entities such as technology and media. The focal point of this study is to scrutinise how consumerism shapes individual identities and impacts personal authenticity, thereby challenging the traditional understanding of selfhood in a market-driven society. Drawing upon the theoretical frameworks of Žižek, Althusser, and Freud, the authors’ investigation critically examines how market forces manufacture complex (...) identities and influence individual behaviour through surrogate enjoyment and interpassivity mechanisms. The exploration begins with the assertion that what we consume significantly shapes who we are, suggesting a deep entanglement between our choices and identity formation. This process often goes unnoticed, leading to an unconscious acceptance of an objectified and market-aligned self, a phenomenon intensified by the modern consumption cycle. (shrink)

This general article offers an overview of the ethical concepts in Indian philosophy and their organic interrelationship. The article tries to indicate that ethics is a way of life for the Indian mentality, and the basic concepts are so intimately connected that they form a holistic framework within which ethics, economy, and spirituality make sense. The authors take up ten fundamental notions of Indian philosophy related to ethics and trace their philosophical significance and contemporary relevance, with special reference to business (...) ethics and practices. The authors show that the ancient Indian philosophical tradition provides a pertinent understanding for handling contemporary ethical, social, cultural and environmental issues. By incorporating these ideas into daily life, people and civilisations can lead a more fair, compassionate, and morally fulfilling life. (shrink)

This articles tries to understand the theological approach of Soares-Prabhu, the best known Indian biblical scholar as being both dialogical and inclusive. The author tries to show that his approach was basically one of openness and receptivity to the East and West, to Religions and Cultures of Asia and Europe. Such an approach to Catholicism will make it both a World-Church and an Inclusive One, which accepts good tidings from all sides. In order to achieve this goal, he starts with (...) the Indian/Asian context of religiosity and poverty and moves on to a deeper dialogue. The imagery he uses is “Marriage between East and West.” Then he indicates the need for the Catholic Church to become a truly world Church, where she is always open to creative dialogue. (shrink)

Review article on the inspiring book, Shubhrangshu.. Zara's Witness: A soul journey into the nature of being, highlights the philosophical quest for meaning and fulfilment from Indian traditions. It is a never ending novel where a teenage girl is the heroin, who searches for truth, permanence and values.

Inspired by the challenging encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, issued by Pope Francis, the articles in this volume reflect on our collective responsibility to live together as brothers and sisters. Looking at the spiritual and moral foundations for a sustainable and viable lifestyle, the book urges us to introspection. The aim is to help us to live lives sustained by viable ethics, and open to others with hope and joy, in spite of the challenges that we face collectively and individually.

The work on the initial writings of Paul Riceour (symbols, metaphor, myth and parable) and their application to not only religious realm, but to human life itself.

Starting from the premise that firms are distinct in terms of their capacity to create innovations, this article explores the rationale for R&D cooperation and the choice between alliances that involve information sharing, cost sharing or both. Defining innovative capability as the probability of creating an innovation, it examines firm strategy in a duopoly market, where firms have to decide whether or not to cooperate to acquire a fixed cost R&D infrastructure that would endow each firm with a firm-specific innovative (...) capability. Furthermore, since emerging industries are often characterized by high technological uncertainty and diverse firm focus that makes the exploitation of spillovers difficult, this article focuses on a zero spillover context. It demonstrates that asymmetry has an impact on alliance choice and social welfare, as a function of ex-post market competition and fixed costs of R&D. With significant asymmetry no alliance may be formed, while with similar firms the cost sharing alliance is dominant. Finally, it ascertains the settings under which the equilibrium outcome is distinct from that maximizing social welfare, thereby highlighting some conditions under which public investment in a technology park can be justified. (shrink)

The game theoretical approach to R&D cooperation does not investigate the role of trust in the initiation and success of R&D cooperation: it either assumes that firms are non-opportunists or that the R&D cooperation is supported by an incentive mechanism that eliminates opportunism. In contrast, the present paper focuses on these issues by introducing incomplete information and two types of firms: opportunist and non-opportunist. Defining trust as the belief of each firm that its potential collaborator will respect the contract, it (...) identifies the trust conditions under which firms initiate R&D alliances and contribute to their success. The higher the spillovers, the higher the level of trust required to initiate R&D cooperation for non-opportunists, while the inverse holds for opportunists. (shrink)

In recent years, there has been considerable pressure on corporations doing business in South Africa to divest and withdraw from that country. While this moral view espouses withdrawal, this article seeks to provide insight into the practical consequences of divestment. One of the questions addressed is how does foreign divestment affect Black South Africans, those who are supposed to benefit from a divestment policy.

This research investigates the mediating influence of intrinsic motivation on employee isolation and job performance of work-from-anywhere Information Technology professionals in India. Intrinsic motivation and ethical integrity are fundamentally intertwined, each enhancing and reinforcing the other. The lenses of the self-determination theory underpin the study. The research questions covered in the study are: (a) Does employee isolation affect job performance? (b) Does intrinsic motivation during employee isolation affect job performance? (c) Does intrinsic motivation mediate the connection between employee isolation and (...) job performance? The SEM based approach survey was conducted to collect data from 410 IT employees who work from anywhere for a minimum of one or more days per week. The findings indicate that (a) employee isolation has a negative influence on job performance, (b) intrinsic motivation significantly influences job performance during employee isolation, and (c) intrinsic motivation mediates indirect-only (full mediation) the link between employee isolation and job performance. The employers need to build upon intrinsic motivation tools for work-from-anywhere Information Technology professionals, which ensures employees’ relatedness by giving rewards, a sense of purpose towards assignments, autonomy through intrinsic motivation and ethical integrity, and developing IT expertise, which significantly increases performance among employees in work isolation situations. Through the lens of self-determination theory, the research contributes to the work-from-anywhere literature by exploring the relations between employee isolation, job performance, and the mediating influence of intrinsic motivation on IT professionals in India in the current scenario. (shrink)

Recent history makes clear that the quantum leaps being made in technology are the leading edge of a groundswell of paradigm shifts taking place in science, politics, economics, social institutions, and the expression of cultural values. Indeed it is the simultaneity and interdependence of these changes occurring in every dimension of human experience and endeavor that makes the present so historically distinctive. The essays gathered here give voice to perspectives on the always improvised relationship between technology and cultural values from (...) Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Pacific. Contributors: Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, Roger T. Ames,Yoko Arisaka, Carl Becker, Francesca Bray, James Buchanan, Arindam Chakrabarti, Frank W. Derringh, Rolf Elberfeld, Charles Ess, Andrew Feenberg, Susantha Goonatilake, H. Jiuan Heng, Peter Hershock, Thomas P. Kasulis, George Khushf, David Farrell Krell, Joel J. Kupperman, William R. LaFleur, Lois Ann Lorentzen, David Loy, Joseph Margolis, Hans-Georg Möller, Robert Cummings Neville, Peimin Ni, Monica Atieno Opole, Kuruvilla Pandikattu SJ, Helen Petrovsky, Ramon Sentmartí, Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Vasanthi Srinivasan, Marietta Stepaniants, Vyacheslav S. Stiopin, Henk ten Have, Paul B.Thompson, Mary Tiles, David B.Wong. (shrink)

This is a book review of Kuruvilla Pandikattu, ed., Gandhi: The Meaning of the Mahatma for the Millennium.

This is a book review of Kuruvilla Pandikattu, ed., Gandhi: The Meaning of the Mahatma for the Millennium. In Acorn: Journal of the Gandhi King Society (Fall Winter 2005–2006), pp. 42–44. DOI: 10.5840/acorn2016/2017161/25.