Palaeontology developed as a field dependent upon comparison. Not only did reconstructing the fragmentary records of fossil organisms and placing them within taxonomic systems and evolutionary lineages require detailed anatomical comparisons with living and fossil animals, but the field also required thinking in terms of behavioural, biological and ecological analogies with modern organisms to understand how prehistoric animals lived and behaved. Yet palaeontological material often worked against making easy linkages, bringing a sense of mystery and doubt. This paper will look (...) at an animal whose study exemplified these problems: the Chalicothere. Increasingly recognized as a specific type from finds across North America and Eurasia from the early nineteenth century onwards, these prehistoric mammals showed short back legs terminating in pawed feet, long front limbs ending in sharp claws, a long flexible neck, and herbivorous grinding teeth. The Chalicothere became a significant organism within palaeontological studies, as the unexpected mix of characters made it a textbook example against the Cuvierian notion of “correlation of parts,” while explaining how the animal moved, fed and behaved became puzzling. However, rather than prevent comparisons, these actually led to comparative analogies becoming flexible and varied, with different forms of comparison being made with varying methods and degrees of confidence, and with the anatomy, movement and behaviour of giraffes, bears, horses, anteaters, primates and other organisms all serving at various points as potential models for different aspects of the animal. This paper will examine some of the attempts to reconstruct and define the Chalicotheres across a long timescale, using this to show how multiple comparisons and analogies could be deployed in a reconstructive and evolutionary science like palaeontology, and illustrate some of the limits and tensions in comparative methods, as they were used to reconstruct organisms which were thought to be incomparable to any modern animal. (shrink)

The Peking Man fossils discovered at Zhoukoudian in north-east China in the 1920s and 1930s were some of the most extensive palaeoanthropological finds of the twentieth century. This article examines their publicization and discussion in Britain, where they were engaged with by some of the world's leading authorities in human evolution, and a media and public highly interested in human-origins research. This international link – simultaneously promoted by scientists in China and in Britain itself – reflected wider debates on international (...) networks; the role of science in the modern world; and changing definitions of race, progress and human nature. This article illustrates how human-origins research was an important means of binding these areas together and presenting scientific work as simultaneously authoritative and credible, but also evoking mystery and adventurousness. Examining this illustrates important features of contemporary views of both science and human development, showing not only the complexities of contemporary regard for the international and public dynamics of scientific research, but wider concerns over human nature, which oscillated between optimistic notions of unity and progress and pessimistic ones of essential differences and misdirected development. (shrink)

Possibilities for critical social theory and Foucault’s work: a toolbox approach The benefits and constraints of philosophical frameworks using the work of Michel Foucault and critical social theorists, such as Fay, Giroux and McLaren, are examined in the light of their traditions. The reasons nurse researchers adopt these frameworks are explored, as are the tensions between the respective theories. A complementary ‘toolbox’ approach to the research process addresses some of the theoretical and methodological challenges presented by each framework. Such an (...) approach provides distinctive insights into nursing practice that the other has ignored or missed. It is argued that by converging the two frameworks into a toolbox approach, it is possible to examine or deconstruct existing practices, whilst also providing an avenue for nurses to reconstruct or change such practices. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This essay examines a dispute between the French and German anthropological communities in the aftermath of the Franco‐Prussian War. While the debate ostensibly revolved around the ethnological classification of the Prussian population presented in Jean Louis Armand de Quatrefages's La race prussienne, this overlays much deeper points of contention, presenting a case study of how commitments to nationalism and internationalism in late nineteenth‐century science were not mutually exclusive but could operate in a highly synergistic manner, even during periods of (...) intense international crisis. In the controversy, a group of scholars attempted to reconcile national rivalries with a commitment to scientific universalism and define how anthropological ideas of race and progress related to political developments. The French and German communities retained similar views that anthropology was an international science and that politically defined nationality was separate from scientifically discerned race. Yet they nevertheless regarded their work as strongly affected by processes of national consolidation and employed the language of scientific universalism to accuse their rivals of misusing science for political purposes. (shrink)

Over the first decades of the twentieth century, the fragmentary remains of a huge prehistoric ungulate were unearthed in scientific expeditions in India, Turkestan and Mongolia. Following channels of formal and informal empire, these were transported to collections in Britain, Russia and the United States. While striking and of immense size, the bones proved extremely difficult to interpret. Alternately naming the creature Paraceratherium, Baluchitherium and Indricotherium, paleontologists Clive Forster-Cooper, Alexei Borissiak and Henry Fairfield Osborn struggled over the reconstruction of this (...) gigantic fossil mammal. However, despite these problems, shared work on the creature served as a focus for collaboration and exchange rather than rivalry between these three scientific communities. Not only did the initial interpretation and analysis depend on pre-existing connections between British and American paleontological institutions, but the need for comparative material, recognition and contacts brought British and American scholars into communication and exchange with their counterparts in the Soviet Union. This article examines these processes. It first uses these excavations as a comparative case-study of different manifestations of colonial science in this period, examining how scholars in the Britain, the Russian Empire and the United States used formal and informal colonial links to Asia to pursue new research. It then moves to examine how the common problem of reconstructing this giant animal drew metropolitan scientific communities together, at least for a time. The construction of the Baluchitherium and Indricotherium illustrates the drives to expand research both imperially and internationally in the early-twentieth century, but also the continual problems in resources, institutionalization, transport and communication that could run up against scientific work. (shrink)

This essay examines the Mission paléontologique française of the 1920s, a series of scientific expeditions into the Ordos Desert in Inner Mongolia in which a team of Jesuit scholar-scientists worked with local collaborators to provide material for the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. The case study shows that the global and colonial expansion of Western science in the early twentieth century provided space for traditional scientific institutions, such as universalizing metropolitan collections and clerical scholarly networks, to extend their research projects. (...) The linking of approaches, agendas, and geographic regions was facilitated by the concepts and practices of the deep-time sciences of geology, paleontology, and human prehistory. These were based on the interchange of expertise, common projects of unveiling the development of life, and the alignment of different regions and specimens. Moreover, the expeditions did not just conduct research based around global movement and transmission. They also conceptualized the ancient development of life in terms of movement, migration, and exchange. The act of forming research networks that linked Asia and Europe also led scientists to conceive of these regions as bound by deep natural processes. Circulation and transfer became important actors’ categories used to understand the origins and history of life. (shrink)

The German ethnologist Gustav Klemm (1802–67) occupies a rather problematic position in the history of ideas, alternately hailed as a seminal figure in the development of concepts of race and culture, or belittled as a rather derivative marginal thinker. This article seeks to clarify Klemm's significance by rooting his theories in their contemporary intellectual and social context. It argues that his system, a linear model of human development driven by the interworkings of race and culture, grew from an attempt to (...) synthesize Enlightenment notions of universal progress with major shifts of the mid-nineteenth century, including experiences of dramatic social, political and technological change, commitments to constitutional liberalism, and changes in contemporary ethnology and museology. His works therefore illustrate the complex manners in which ideas of heredity, environment, civilization, development and gender could be blended in this often neglected period, and how their meanings and implications altered as syntheses were built. (shrink)

LIU W, MANIAS E and GERDTZ M. Nursing Inquiry 2011; 18: 290–302 Understanding medication safety in healthcare settings: a critical review of conceptual modelsCommunication can impact on the way in which medications are managed across healthcare settings. Organisational cultures and the environmental context provide an added complexity to how communication occurs in practice. The aims of this paper are: to examine six models relating to medication safety in various hospital and community settings, to consider the strengths and limitations of each (...) model and to explore their applications to medication safety practices. The models examined for their ability to address the complexity of the medication communication process include causal models, such as the Human Error Model and the System Analysis to Clinical Incidents Model, and exploratory models, such as the Shared Decision‐Making Model, the Medication Decision‐Making and Management Model, the Partnership Model and the Medication Communication Model. The Medication Communication Model provides particular insights into possible interactions between aspects that influence medication safety practices. The implications of all six models for healthcare practice and future research are also discussed. (shrink)

Snap‐shots of live theatre: the use of photography to research governance in operating room nursingThe use of photography is an underreported method of research in the nursing literature. This paper explores its use in an ethnographic research project, the fieldwork of which was undertaken by the first author. The aim was to examine the governance of operating room nursing in the clinical setting and the theoretical orientation was the work of Michel Foucault. The focus of this paper is on how (...) photography was used as a means of data generation. To establish some context we begin by drawing on writers from sociology and anthropology to provide an overview of the status of vision and visual research methods in contemporary social research. We then move to a brief discussion of the uses of photography in social research and the limitations imposed by ethical considerations of its use in clinical nursing settings. As well, the process and approach involved in this research project, and issues of analysis are discussed. Three ‘snap‐shots’ of operating room nursing, taken by participants, are presented. Each is analysed in terms of its contributions to the research process as well as its substantive contribution to the theoretical framework and the research aims. (shrink)

Health professionals communicate with each other about medication information using different forms of documentation. This article explores knowledge and power relations surrounding medication information exchanged through documentation among nurses, doctors and pharmacists. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in 2010 in two medical wards of a metropolitan hospital in Australia. Data collection methods included participant observations, field interviews, video‐recordings, document retrieval and video reflexive focus groups. A critical discourse analytic framework was used to guide data analysis. The written medication chart was the (...) main means of communicating medication decisions from doctors to nurses as compared to verbal communication. Nurses positioned themselves as auditors of the medication chart and scrutinised medical prescribing to maintain the discourse of patient safety. Pharmacists utilised the discourse of scientific judgement to guide their decision‐making on the necessity of verbal communication with nurses and doctors. Targeted interdisciplinary meetings involving nurses, doctors and pharmacists should be organised in ward settings to discuss the importance of having documented medication information conveyed verbally across different disciplines. Health professionals should be encouraged to proactively seek out each other to relay changes in medication regimens and treatment goals. (shrink)

The power of routine and special observations: producing civility in a public acute psychiatric unit This study directly addresses controlling aspects of psychiatric nursing practice, which are currently marginalised in practice and research. We first consider the discursive tensions surrounding the mandated goal of social control in public acute psychiatric units, particularly referring to those units located within medical hospitals. We attest to the enduring social control mandate in psychiatric nursing and explore ways in which it is enacted.Specific nursing practices (...) of ‘doing the obs’ while scanning the ward and ‘special observations’ are investigated as important activities of social control, based on findings from an ethnographic study in one acute psychiatric unit in Australia. These practices are acknowledged as key modes of nursing surveillance. Contrary to past work, they are regarded as productive for engendering civil conduct among patients in acute psychiatric settings. We reframe these activities of surveillance as liberal therapeutic practices in themselves, to the extent that they assist patients to achieve treatment goals and promote self‐surveillance and self‐control. Instead of effacing practices of control, we encourage nurses to discriminate between more and less liberal modes of control in everyday practice and to build their skills in liberal controlling strategies. (shrink)

This open access book examines the debate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the evolving landscape of democratic governance, where technological innovation is reshaping participation, decision-making, and institutional practices. Drawing on four Horizon Europe projects—ORBIS, AI4Gov, ITHACA, and KT4D—it offers concrete insights into how AI can be designed and governed to reflect democratic values of inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability, while also confronting the risks of opacity, bias, and institutional unpreparedness that threaten legitimacy and public trust. Across its chapters, the book combines (...) design-led, participatory, and socio-technical approaches to offer actionable frameworks for: (i) improving data access and understanding; (ii) embedding ethical principles through co-creation and legal foresight; (iii) building human-centered AI systems via multi-stakeholder engagement; and (iv) addressing systemic marginalisation in AI development. Grounded in interdisciplinary research and real-world experimentation across Europe, the volume provides tools, lessons, and frameworks for responsible AI integration into democratic infrastructures. It is intended for policymakers, designers, researchers, and civic tech practitioners seeking to align technological innovation with democratic values of inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to present the most important voices on the role of the US in the international order during Donald Trump’s presidency in the debate held in the Foreign Affairs. The authors assume that Foreign Affairs expresses the opinions of the most crucial organisation bringing together the elites of American foreign affairs – the Council on Foreign Relations. The paper proposes a hypothesis according to which there is a difference of opinion due to the adopted theoretical (...) perspective regarding Trump’s role in the destruction of the liberal international order among the American power elites, even though they agree that the ideological conflict between democratic and authoritarian countries around the world is escalating. (shrink)

Background In Residential Aged Care Homes (RACHs), medication administration is typically carried out by aged care workers, rather than being under the control of older adults. Very little empirical qualitative evidence exists around situations where medication is refused by older adults. Research aim To explore aged care workers’, older adults’, and family members’ perspectives and experiences of medication refusal in RACHs. Research design A qualitative exploratory study design. Participants and research context Between November 2024 and May 2025, participants were purposively (...) recruited from two RACHs, and through a peak consumer group for people living with dementia and their families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with aged care workers (n = 10), older adults living in aged care (n = 9), and family members of older adults (n = 7). Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis. Ethical considerations Interview participation was voluntary, with either written or verbal consent obtained, depending on participants’ preferences. Identities were replaced with participant type and a numerical code. This study was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC) (ID 41475). Findings Three themes and four subthemes were developed regarding medication refusal in RACHs. These themes encompassed: (1) ‘Voices from different corners: medication refusals as more than just saying “no”’; (2) ‘the tightrope of role obligations – doing good, respecting choice, and avoiding harm’; and (3) ‘Competent to say yes, but not to say no: the erosion of the right to refuse’. Conclusions Medication refusals in RACHs are clinically and ethically challenging for aged care workers, who use a variety of well-intentioned strategies to respond to these events. Given the complex nature of medication refusals, it is important that aged care workers take older adults’ decisional competence into consideration, balancing respect for autonomy with beneficence and best interests decision-making. (shrink)

Nurse engagement, empowerment and strong relationships among staff, residents and families, are essential to attract and retain a suitably qualified and skilled nursing workforce for safe, quality care. There is, however, limited research that explores engagement, empowerment and relational coordination in long‐term care (LTC). Nurses from an older persons’ mental health and dementia LTC unit in Australia participated in this study. Forty‐one nurses completed a survey measuring psychological empowerment, work engagement and relational coordination. Twenty‐nine nurses participated in individual interviews to (...) further explore these concepts. Although nurses reported high psychological empowerment and work engagement, their relationships with key stakeholders varied. Our findings suggest that nurses in LTC require both supports and opportunities to contribute as active members of the multiprofessional care team that includes tailored education, professional development and positive interactions within the care team. Regular support is needed to enable nurses to feel empowered, foster relationships and communication, and facilitate work engagement. Based on these findings, we suggest that it is important to find ways to ensure that all who provide care perceive that they are part of the whole care team and able to contribute to the care and well‐being of people in LTC. (shrink)

Grouping research participants by culture or language proficiency may no longer suffice to investigate cognitive universals and differences cross-culturally, due to the interconnectedness of our multicultural world. Based on immigration psychology research, we provide a ‘proof of principle’ for three culture screening tools. Across five online experiments (total N = 440), we developed (1) The Cultural Traditions Questionnaire (CTQ), (2) the Arts Engagement in Childhood Questionnaire (AECQ), and (3) the Enculturation and Acculturation Quiz (EAQ). While these screening tools are tailored (...) to Iranian and English cultures, the procedures provided here are expandable to other cultures. The screening scores predicted emotional attachment to a culture better than traditional variables used in cross-cultural research (self-ascribed culture group, country of residence during formative years, mother tongue). Continuous measures of enculturation and acculturation are potentially better predictors for downstream variables of interest, due to their finer granularity and capability to capture multifaceted cultural identities. (shrink)

We present the opinion of some authors who believe there is no force between a stationary charge and a stationary resistive wire carrying a constant current. We show that this force is different from zero and present its main components: the force due to the charges induced in the wire by the test charge and a force proportional to the current in the resistive wire. We also discuss briefly a component of the force proportional to the square of the current (...) which should exist according to some models and another component due to the acceleration of the conduction electrons in a curved wire carrying a dc current (centripetal acceleration). Finally, we analyze experiments showing the existence of the electric field proportional to the current in resistive wires. (shrink)

Strategic Environmental Assessment, as a support to strategic planning, is a starting point in the creation of a sustainable concept of managing waste that is based on the principles of a circular economy. The role of SEA is to guide the planning process towards the goal of securing the best effects in relation to the quality of the living environment and the socio-economic aspects of development. SEA is also an instrument that can be used when making optimal decisions about spatial (...) development, which further contributes to its importance and role in the planning process. The implementation of SEA allows developers to establish the benefits and implications of the proposed spatial changes, taking into account the capacity of the space to sustain the planned development, and to determine the degree of acceptability of the proposed spatial changes. This paper presents a specific method used for impact assessment in SEA for the Agro-Waste Management Plan for Oplenac Vineyard. The specificity of this method is that it combines specific goals, indicators and criteria for assessing the effect of planning solutions formulated in the simulated AWMP for Oplenac Vineyard using a semi-quantitative expert method. The results of the paper indicate the possibility of using GIS tools to increase objectivity in the expert evaluation of planning solutions, particularly in relation to a group of criteria for assessing the spatial dispersion of the impacts. This reduces the subjectivity that is characteristic of all expert methods. The graphical presentation of the results in GIS technology and the use of matrices and graphs to present the results makes them easier to understand and creates a good basis for making optimal decisions on future activities concerning the elimination of waste from wineries and viticulture. The research was carried out within the framework of the NoAW project, which is supported by the European Commission through the Horizon2020 research and innovation program. (shrink)

This chapter explores the development of human-centered AI (HCAI) systems as a means to support and enhance democratic processes. Building on earlier discussions of data governance, participation, and ethics, it examines how AI technologies can be shaped by democratic values, citizen needs, and participatory design methods. The chapter first outlines the theoretical underpinnings of HCAI and its relevance for democratic governance, drawing on and extending the conceptual foundations proposed by Régis et al. (Human-centered AI: a multidisciplinary perspective for policy-makers, auditors, (...) and users, Chapman and Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, 2024) to build a framework for systematically analyzing AI-enhanced democracy. It emphasizes how co-creation and participatory design approaches enable diverse stakeholders to actively shape the goals, values, and operational logic of AI systems, ensuring that resulting technologies reflect pluralistic and inclusive perspectives. Central to this vision is the concept of ‘democracy-in-the-loop,’ which calls for embedding democratic principles into the design, governance, and deployment of AI. Moving beyond the state of the art, the chapter then examines how this vision is interpreted and operationalized across four Horizon Europe projects—ORBIS, KT4D, AI4Gov, and ITHACA—each addressing specific challenges and research gaps in the application of HCAI within democratic innovation. (shrink)

This chapter outlines key priorities and open research directions for advancing AI-enhanced democratic deliberation, drawing on comparative insights from multiple European research initiatives. It foregrounds the need to assess the effectiveness and societal impact of AI tools beyond technical performance, with particular attention to democratic values such as inclusiveness, transparency, deliberative quality, and civic empowerment. The chapter addresses persistent challenges related to appropriateness, bias, representational fairness, and the risk of echo chambers in AI-mediated participation. It further explores hybrid human–AI configurations (...) as socio-technical arrangements that can enrich collective reasoning while preserving human agency and institutional responsibility. Particular emphasis is placed on the evolving role of the public sector, including the strategic use of AI in policymaking and eGovernment, and on the necessity of interpretability, trustworthiness, and reliability as conditions for democratic legitimacy and regulatory alignment. The chapter concludes by reflecting on structural and methodological limitations and by identifying future research directions to support responsible, scalable, and value-aligned innovation in AI-supported democratic governance. (shrink)

This chapter will approach this challenge of balancing the opacity and value of efficiency that often sits at the heart of technology design, with the openness and individual voice required for functional democracy. It will do so by looking at the challenge from a number of different perspectives. The first of these will be the perspective of technological design and data. AI and big data systems are notoriously closed and opaque, and corporate approaches to the collection of training and testing (...) data have not always respected human values and democratic principles. The second perspective will focus on policies and principles, and the way in which we can create a common understanding not just of how these systems should be designed, but the constraints we need to place on how they are used, and with and for whom. Finally, we will look at the way in which both users and policymakers can be encouraged to develop a refined and enhanced sense of critical digital literacy so as to improve both the agency of the end user and the policymaker, fostering the emergence of the model of democracy-in-the-loop through the introduction of production friction. (shrink)

This chapter examines the evolving relationships between data, AI, and democracy, exploring how emerging technologies are transforming governance and civic participation. While AI holds substantial promise—enhancing public service delivery, facilitating citizen engagement, and streamlining communication between institutions and constituents—it also introduces significant risks, including algorithmic bias, misinformation, surveillance, and corporate dominance. These dual dynamics frame the chapter’s analysis, which is anchored in both theoretical foundations and empirical observations. In light of this, the chapter begins by unpacking the promise and risk (...) associated with AI in democratic contexts, situating current debates within the broader landscape of civic technologies and e-participation. It then examines the state of the art through two key sources: the 2025 Digital Participation Tools Ratings by People Powered and the IPU's 2025 report on AI use in parliaments. Finally, the chapter situates four EU-funded initiatives—ORBIS, KT4D, AI4GOV, and ITHACA—within this landscape, highlighting their contributions to advancing democratic innovation through technological, ethical, and participatory approaches. (shrink)

This chapter examines data understandability as a core epistemic condition for democracy and democratic deliberation, arguing that contemporary challenges stem less from data scarcity than from uneven capacities to interpret increasingly complex, AI-mediated information environments. Building on scholarship on visualisation literacy, epistemic inequalities, and the limits of model-centric XAI, the chapter reframes explainability as a matter of sensemaking rather than model disclosure. It theorises narrative scaffolding, critical interactivity, and participatory design as infrastructures capable of contributing to equitable interpretation in civic (...) contexts. The analysis is grounded in two EU projects, KT4D and ORBIS, which operationalise these principles in practice and offer empirical evidence of how visualisation becomes explanation, narrative becomes interpretation, and co-creation becomes a method of democratic alignment. (shrink)

This chapter examines the ethical dimensions of data use in democratic contexts, focusing on the responsibilities and dilemmas that arise as data and AI systems become embedded in public decision-making. While previous chapters explored the potential of data to enhance participation and transparency, this chapter turns to the normative foundations that should guide such processes. It discusses key ethical principles—such as transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy and explainability—and considers how these values can be upheld in both policy and technical design. The (...) chapter emphasizes that data ethics requires ongoing reflection, inclusive governance and public engagement. To ground these discussions, the chapter illustrates how different projects deal with data management and ethics in practice. These cases offer insights into the tensions, trade-offs and innovative approaches that emerge when aligning data-driven innovation with democratic values and underscore the importance of ethics as a dynamic and context-aware process. (shrink)

This chapter serves as the introduction to this study on AI and democracy. It introduces the central themes and motivations of this book, examining the opportunities and challenges AI presents for democratic processes—ranging from civic participation and public deliberation to policy-making and institutional trust. Emphasizing methodological approaches such as research-through-design and triangulation of theoretical and empirical knowledge, this chapter outlines the structure of the book and its aim to bridge theory and real-world experimentation. The chapter situates the work within a (...) broader European research ecosystem, grounded in the contributions of four Horizon Europe projects (ORBIS, AI4GOV, ITHACA, and KT4D), and reflects on how these initiatives collectively inform a practice-based, interdisciplinary investigation of AI-enhanced democracy. (shrink)

A debate persists over how to distinguish manic states from non-manic ones (such as depressions). A lacuna exists amongst these efforts, where a specifically agentive account of mania would sit. An agentive account centers the manic person’s view of practical reasons, rationalizing their actions in the same way that sympathetic understandings rationalize the actions of more neurotypical agents. In this paper, I argue that mania restructures our agency by creating a pervasive sense of urgency. This urgency changes the (...) kind of handling that our practical reasons seem to call out for. Whilst this can make us less reliable as agents, I argue that this does not undermine the basic capacities on which personal autonomy is founded. The greater threat to manic agents’ autonomy is nonrecognition of this restructured agency, undermining autonomy in its social dimensions. Without an agentive account, we will fail to recognize distinctly manic agency when we see it, limiting our understanding of autonomy, and withholding recognition, fundamental to autonomy in its social dimensions, from manic agents. (shrink)

Epidemiological studies of the last decade have shown a low prevalence of hypomania and bipolar I disorder in Western societies while pointing to a prevalence of unipolar mania in non-Western societies. This work seeks to investigate the explanatory role of the Stimmung concept to understand these differences, as much as the increase in the number of cases of mania in the West in the last two decades. It attempts to explore the relationship between the phenomenology of hypomania and (...) its adaptation to the atmosphere of its environment. Our hypothesis is that the experience of hypomania would be in harmony with the narrative of Western societies and with Stimmung (in the sense of the term used by Spitzer and Heidegger) of these societies. Finally, we will present a clinical case and analyzes of business leadership manuals that will illustrate the phenomenological relationship of Stimmung and mania, as well as its transformation in the sphere of work. (shrink)

Aproximem-se um pouco, filhas de Júpiter! Vou demonstrar que o único acesso a essa sabedoria perfeita, a que chamamos a cidadela da felicidade, é através da loucura. Erasmo, Êloge de la folie. Resumo: Sócrates, no Fedro, se diz louco por discursos (228b), nos diz também que o vulgo vê o filósofo como louco (parakínon 249d) justamente por não reconhecer que ele está divinamente inspirado. Assim, no Fedro, os maiores bens nos são transmitidos através da loucura (manía), quando são enviados como (...) uma dádiva dos deuses (244a). Contudo, há um tipo de loucura como doença e outro proveniente da liberação divina do comportamento habitualmente aceito (265a). E é esse segundo tipo de loucura que a filosofia promove, uma conexão noética. Há uma quebra de convenções que ocorre por meio do um desvio criativo, que pode ser facilmente confundido com um desvio patológico, mas na realidade é um processo que envolve o conhecimento de si e, por conseguinte, o cuidado de si, portanto uma perspectiva filosófica e terapêutica. Palavras-chave: Fedro; Mania Divina; Inspiração; Filosofia. Divine ManiaAbstract: Socrates, in Phaedrus, says he is crazy for speeches (228b), and he tells us as well that common folk see the philosopher as a mad person (parakínon 249d), precisely for not recognizing that he is divinely inspired. Thus, in Phaedrus, the greatest goods are transmited to us through madness (mania), when sent as a gift from the gods (244a). However, there is a kind of madness as a disease and another one that comes from divine liberation from usually accepted behavior (265a). It is the second kind of madness that philosophy promotes, a noetic connection. There is a breach in convention that occurs through a creative deviation, which could be easily mistaken for pathological deviation, but rather is a process involving knowledge of oneself and, therefore, selfcare, hence a philosophical and therapeutic perspective. Keywords: Phaedrus; Divine Mania; Inspiration; Philosophy. Manie Divine Résumé: Socrate, dans Phèdre, se dit fou de discours (228b), et il nous dit aussi que les gens ordinaires voient le philosophe comme un fou (parakínon 249d), précisément pour ne pas reconnaître qu'il est divinement inspiré. Donc, dans Phèdre, les plus grands biens nous sont transmis par la folie (manie), lorsque ils sont envoyés comme un cadeau des dieux (244a). Pourtant, il y a une sorte de folie comme une maladie et une autre qui vient de la libération divine du comportement socialement acceptable (265a). C'est le deuxième genre de folie que la philosophie promeut, une connexion noétique. Il y a une rupture de convenance qui se produit par une déviation créative, qui peut être facilement confondue avec une déviation pathologique, mais qui est plutôt un phénomène qui implique la connaissance de soi, et donc le soin de soi, par suite une perspective philosophique et thérapeutique. Mots-Clés: Phèdre; Manie Divine; Inspiration; Philosophie. Data de registro: 02/08/2023 Data de aceite: 18/10/2023. (shrink)

Omnicide: Mania, Fatality and Future-in-Delirium (2019) finds Iranian-American philosopher and comparative literature theorist Jason Bahbak Mohaghegh carving the figure of the diffracted neo-Bedouin wanderer, whose mania we tail through the book’s haunted pages. The book’s namesake, “omnicide,” refers to the complete and total erasure of the Earth--the term has most recently been generally applied in ecological contexts, most markedly in regards to the Anthropocene and futurology. However, it is the explicitly poetic and literary intersection between mania and (...) the grotesque that Mohaghegh inches us towards, lifting omnicide from its proscriptive use in the Western philosophical/sociological tradition and goading it towards an unfamiliar cryptic terrain. Surveying ten contemporary Middle Eastern poets and fiction writers, including Sadeq Hedayat (Iran), Réda Bensmaia (Algeria), Samuel Adonis (Syria), Joyce Mansour (Egypt), Forugh Farrokhzad (Iran), Ibrahim al-Koni (Libya), Ahmad Shamlu (Iran), Ghada Samman (Lebanon), Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine) and Hassim Blasim (Iraq), Mohaghegh parses curious stanzas and plucks spectral paragraphs from myriad texts so as to navigate the largely occluded and excised narratives of the contemporary Middle Eastern philosophical-literary canon. Not only does Mohaghegh acuminate the multifaceted question of mania and its variegated networks, chambers, byways and sunken burrows--so as to juxtapose two different world literatures (East and West)--but Mohaghegh also illuminates this oeuvre to affront the Western psychoanalytic treatment of mania as an exclusionary vessel. Thus, despite Mohaghegh avoiding any explicit references to Western philosophers and scientists, both the codified dictum of the medical decree and the hyper-genealogical superlative tradition of Georges Canguilhem, Michel Foucault and their contemporaries rankle Omnicide’s annals. (shrink)

Penser aux manières de penser : voici l'enjeu de cet ouvrage. En éducation et en formation, comme dans bien d'autres domaines concernant les sciences humaines et sociales, on admet qu'il existe différentes visions d'ensemble, différentes représentations du sujet d'étude. Le propos de cet ouvrage est d'amorcer un nouvel exercice, afin de s'interroger sur l'utilité de mettre en perspective les manières de penser et les manières d'agir. Des manières de penser sont sous-jacentes à toute forme d'éducation et de formation. Elles influencent (...) la production des théories, des méthodes, des pratiques. Enfin, réfléchir sur les manières de penser nous conduit aux alternatives épistémologiques sur lesquelles elles reposent. Des différences de fond étant ainsi mises en évidence, on devrait mieux comprendre les différences, tout aussi profondes, qui se présentent dans les démarches disciplinaires, aussi bien que dans les activités concrètes. Les auteurs auxquels on a fait appel, en privilégiant une participation à la fois pluridisciplinaire et internationale, ayant accepté l'enjeu proposé, montrent que les itinéraires peuvent être pluriels, et offrent un riche éventail de pistes possibles, engageant chacun différents points de vue, et mobilisant les sciences de l'éducation bien sûr, mais aussi l'anthropologie, la philosophie, la psychologie, la sociologie. (shrink)

This paper explores the relationship between mania, or pathologically elevated mood, and philosophical theories of well-being. A patient, Mr. M., is described who oscillated between periods when he refused medication and periods when he was willing to accept it, and whose desires and life objectives were radically different in his medicated and unmedicated states. The practical dilemmas this raised are explored in terms of the three principal philosophical theories of well-being: hedonism, the desire fulfillment theory, and objectivism. None of (...) these adequately accounted for Mr. M.'s case: hedonism, because pleasure is increased in mildly manic states; desire fulfillment theories, because these suggest that an unending cycle of treatment and nontreatment would be in Mr. M.'s best interests; and objectivism, because, in a form that would be applicable to Mr. M., that theory brings with it substantial risks of paternalism. Four further philosophical approaches are explored briefly—approaches focusing on autonomy, rationality, personal identity, and illness, respectively—but these also provide no straightforward resolution of the clinical dilemmas. It is concluded that philosophical analysis, even if it does not resolve cases like Mr. M.'s, can deepen our understanding of the issues involved in clinical decision making in psychiatry, especially the importance of sensitivity to the patient's wishes and values; and conversely, that mild mania is an important "real life" case against which philosophical theories of well-being can be tested. (shrink)

Les variations de Gilles Châtelet Sur une petite phrase de Riemann, montrent que loin de constituer une variante de la « philosophie baroque » telle que la définit Deleuze, son maniérisme épistémologique le rapproche étonnamment de l’attention aux « modes de données » et aux « modes de visée » caractéristique de la phénoménologie transcendantale. Comme Hermann Weyl, il voit à l’œuvre dans la phénoménologie husser-lienne un approfondissement de l’esthétique transcendantale kantienne, en la tenant pour une approche philosophique pertinente et (...) ajustée à la science de son temps.Châtelet’s variation on a note by Riemann, shows that, far from constituting a variant of the “Baroque philosophy” such as Deleuze defines it, his epistemological mannerism pays attention to “modes of givenness” and “modes of constitution”, which is characteristic of transcendental phe-nomenology. This explains why he considers, like Hermann Weyl, phe-nomenology as a deepening of Kant’s transcendental aesthetics and as a philosophical approach, relevant and adapted to the science of his time. It is in this perspective that we should hear their joint statements that transcendental phenomenology is epistemologically contemporary to special and general relativity. Châtelets Variation auf einer kleinen Phrase von Rie-mann zeigt, daß sein erkenntnistheoretischer Manierismus, eine Variante der nach Definition „barocken Philosophie“ von Deleuze weit entfernt zu sein, im Gegenteil in der Nähe von transzendentale Phänomenologie und seine Aufmerksamkeit auf die „Gegebenheitsmodi“ und „Konstitution-sweise“ steht. Überdies betrachtet er, wie Hermann Weyl, die Phänomenol-ogie und die Vertiefung der transzendentalen Ästhetik als philosophischen Ansatz für die Wissenschaft seiner Zeit. Es ist in dieser Perspektive, dass wir ihre gemeinsamen Aussagen hören, dass die Kantische Ästhetik in Husserls vertieft wird, und dass die transzendentale Phänomenologie epistemologisch zeitgenössisch ist für speziell und allgemeine Relativität.This article is in French. (shrink)

Platão, no diálogo Fedro, apresenta Eros no papel de uma força irracional que possui ligação com a manía (delírio), cujas diversas formas, de acordo com o segundo discurso de Socrátes, não são todas negativas. No Banquete, Eros assume, de forma particular, uma dimensão constitutiva como epithymia (Desejo). Com efeito, a noção de Eros tanto como forma positiva de manía, quanto de epithymia tem um lugar de destaque na filosofia de Platão, pois adquire o papel de motor essencial da vida humana, (...) incluindo- se aí a própria atividade filosófica. (shrink)

What role did altered states of consciousness play in the life of ancient Greek society? With consummate skill and scholarship, Yulia Ustinova answers this question in her book, Divine Mania: Alteration of Consciousness in Ancient Greece. It appears that the secret of the extraordinary creativity of the ancient Greeks was their receptivity to, and approval of, a particular altered state of consciousness they cultivated. Mania is the name for this but it must be qualified as “god-given.” Mania (...) is a word that touches on a cluster of concepts: madness, ecstasy, and enthusiasm, engoddedness, to use Ustinova’s more vivid coinage. It seems a paradox that this special, strange and often quite frightening state of dissociation should be so closely linked to one of the most creative civilizations. Unlike the Roman and Egyptian, the Greek approved and recognized the value of god-inspired mania. Plato makes Socrates say in the Phaedrus that through mania we may obtain the “greatest blessings.” Whereas resistance to divine ecstasy can end in disaster, as Euripides illustrates in The Bacchants when Pentheus, a repressive authoritarian, tries to inhibit a posse of women from their ecstatic mountain dances. He is torn to shreds by his mother and her maniacal cohorts. This mindset of the ancient Greeks may have long ago petered out, but similar tendencies are constants, expressed in one form or another, throughout history. (shrink)

Neuf ans après la parution de son ouvrage Caves and the Ancient Greek Mind. Descending Underground in the Search for Ultimate Truth, qui explorait les rapports entre grottes et révélations dans le monde grec en mobilisant les apports des sciences cognitives, Yulia Ustinova (Y.U.) poursuit son examen des états modifiés de conscience dans l’Antiquité de manière plus générale en s’interrogeant sur la catégorie antique de la mania divine dans son nouvel opus. Déplorant la persistance d’un mythe d...

In this response to "Mild Mania and Well-Being" I propose a different analytic strategy and scrutinize the presented case of mild mania within the framework of a holistic theory of health. I distinguish between the following fundamental questions: (1) is mild mania a disease or illness? (2) does the mild mania of Mr. M. reduce his health significantly? and (3) should Mr. M. be recommended treatment with lithium or not? I answer the first question in the (...) affirmative. I propose some theoretical tools for resolving the second one. A complete resolution of it, however, requires a deeper analysis of Mr. M.'s state of mind and general situation. Finally, I hold that an affirmative answer to the first two questions does not imply an affirmative answer to the third, namely that Mr. M. should be recommended treatment with lithium. Other considerations, in particular ethical ones, should play a r. (shrink)

How do extreme degrees of positive emotion—such as those characteristic of mania—influence emotion perception? The present study investigated how mania proneness, assessed using the Hypomanic Personality Scale, influences the perception of emotion via touch. Using a validated dyadic interaction paradigm for communicating emotion through touch (Hertenstein, Keltner, App, Bulleit, & Jaskolka, 2006), participants (N=53) received eight different touches to their forearm from a stranger and then identified the emotion via forced-choice methodology. Mania proneness predicted increased overall accuracy (...) in touch perception, particularly for positive emotion touches, as well as the over-attribution of positive and under-attribution of negative emotions across all touches. These findings highlight the effects of positive emotion extremes on the perception of emotion in social interactions. (shrink)