Suchergebnisse

Examines the relation between political knowledge & interest in public affairs, after George Bishop's (1987) observation that an inability to answer a political knowledge question decreased self-reported interest in public affairs. This effect was unaffected by the introduction of up to 101 unrelated buffer items. Explanations for the effect are tested here by providing 454 respondents (Rs) to a national telephone survey with an alternative explanation to lack of knowledge. Results reveal that a single buffer item giving Rs an external explanation for their lack of knowledge greatly reduced the context effect. Implications for the operation of buffer items are discussed. 1 Appendix, 11 References. Adapted from the source document.

This book considers the place and value of knowledge in contemporary society. "Knowledge" is not a self-evident concept: both its denotations and connotations are historically situated. Since the Enlightenment, knowledge has been a matter of discovery through effort, and "knowledge for its own sake" a taken-for-granted ideal underwriting progressive education as a process which not only taught "for" and "about" something, but also ennobled the soul. While this ideal has not been explicitly rejected, in recent decades there has been a tacit move away from a strong emphasis on its centrality, ev

MANY POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS RELY HEAVILY UPON GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANTS (T.A.S) TO STAFF THEIR LARGE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT CLASSES. AMONG THEIR MANY DUTIES, T.A.S ARE USUALLY REQUIRED TO LEAD DISCUSSION GROUPS AND PREPARE THEIR STUDENTS FOR MAJOR EXAMINATIONS. GIVEN THE WIDE VARIATION IN TEACHING SKILLS AND CLASSROOM DEMEANOR AMONG T.A.S, THIS STUDY EXAMINES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 1,500 STUDENT TEST SCORES AND T.A. EVALUATIONS IN THREE LARGE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT CLASSES AT A MIDWESTERN UNIVERSITY. THREE CENTRAL QUESTIONS ARE ADDRESSED: WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE WHETHER OR NOT A T.A. IS CONSIDERED COMPETENT? WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES A T.A. MAKE IN EXPANDING STUDENT KNOWLEDGE OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT? TO WHAT EXTENT ARE STUDENTS' SCORES ON MASS LECTURE EXAMINATIONS A REFLECTION OF THEIR-T.A.S' ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE, CLARIFY CONCEPTS OR STIMULATE INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT MATTER? RESULTS INDICATE THAT STUDENTS RATE CLASSROOM DEPORTMENT, RATHER THAN TEST SCORES, AS THE MOST IMPORTANT CRITERION OF T.A. COMPETENCY. T.A.S WHO RANKED HIGHEST ON OVERALL COMPETENCY WERE THOSE WHO WERE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE AND INTERESTING, AND NOT THOSE WHOSE STUDENTS RECEIVED THE HIGHEST GRADES. HENCE, T.A.S MERIT NEITHER PRAISE NOR CRITICISM FOR THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF THEIR STUDENTS ON MAJOR EXAMINATIONS.

THIS PAPER WAS STIMULATED BY AN ASSERTION MADE BY CORNELL, NOLL, AND WEINGAST IN THEIR EXCELLENT DISCUSSION OF SAFETY REGULATION (1976). HAVING OBSERVED THAT COMPLETE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH ALL PRODUCTS AND OCCUPATIONS IS NOT AND, PERHAPS, CANNOT BE MADE AVAILABLE, THEY NOTE THAT THE LITERATURE ON STATISTICAL DECISION THEORY SHOWS THAT INVESTMENT IN RESEARCH DESIGNED TO REDUCE OUR IGNORANCE ABOUT PRODUCT AND WORKPLACE HAZARDS SHOULD LEAD TO BETTER DECISIONS (ASSUMING, OF COURSE, 'FLEXIBLE DECISIONMAKING PROCEDURES, OVERSEEN BY INSTITUTIONS CAPABLE OF RESPONDING EXPEDITIOUSLY TO PAST MISTAKES') AND CONCLUDE WITH A PLEA FOR CAUTION IN DEALING WITH 'UNKNOWN HAZARDS.' (CORNELL, NOLL, AND WEINGAST, 1976: 469).

This dissertation treats the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730) in the context of the European early enlightenment. Intellectual historians have generally placed the Ottoman Empire outside the Enlightenment movement, while Ottoman historians have viewed the early eighteenth century as a transitional period between the crisis of the seventeenth century and the reformist movements of the late eighteenth century. The research presented in this work seeks to call these interpretations into question and suggests that the defining features of Ahmed III's regime were similar to those of the early enlightenment : cosmopolitanism, sociability, religious tolerance and, the valorization of philosophy and of social mobility. It was in this enlightened atmosphere that natural philosophy became a contested space where different parties negotiated their new social status: What was the function of natural philosophy? Who could legitimately speak about nature? The Greek commercial elite argued that the Aristotelian universe was an orderly whole and claimed that the rational contemplation of natural order engendered virtue. And virtue legitimized social status. Ottoman physicians, a second group aspiring to high office, contended that their empirical philosophy was superior to Aristotelianism. They believed that their innovative approach to nature was the right one because it yielded effective results. It was experience and effectiveness that entitled them to social and political recognition. Thus, moral virtue and technical expertise became competing values that represented different upwardly mobile groups in Ahmed III's Istanbul. The Ottomans had no experimentalist tradition that could accommodate both logical methods and novel empirical knowledge. A young Ottoman bureaucrat, a Socinian convert to Islam and a Polish Pietist finally presented systematic experimentation as a possible solution to the Empire's social and epistemic problems. Their goal was to reconcile the two competing views of nature and to cultivate solidarity among the new elite. The Ottoman imperial printing press, which was established in 1729, served to disseminate the new experimental knowledge. The founding documents of the press drew an explicit connection between knowledge and political power, and showed that the Sultan intended to offer widespread access to both

The conventional conception of the linkage between science & policy making is based on a rational & positivist science model of decision making that creates a false dichotomy between allegedly legitimate rational research utilization & illegitimate political research utilization. However, the rational decision-making ideal bears little resemblance to the reality of actual policy formulation. Alternative decision models -- eg, the satisfice model, cost-benefit analysis of rationality, & the garbage can model -- produce a more realistic account of social science research utilization. Awareness that research is transferred to & becomes part of a discourse of action reveals that the contribution of science to policy making is less tangible & potentially more influential than usually assumed. 67 References. Adapted from the source document.

THIS PAPER REVIEWS THE LOCAL AUTHORITY PLANNING STATEMENTS (LAPS) PLANNING SYSTEM INTRODUCED TO IMPLEMENT A NATIONAL PLANNING SYSTEM FOR LOCAL PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES. THE SYSTEM ATTEMPTED TO OVERCOME CENTRAL DEPARTMENT PROBLEMS OF CO-ORDINATION, CONTROL, IMPLEMENTATION, AND DEFENDING THE BUDGET, BUT WITH LITTLE SUCCESS. LAPS DID YIELD INFORMATION ON THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE PERSONAL SERVICES, AMONG OTHER THINGS, BUT THE TYPES OF INFORMATION MUST BE DISTINGUISHED IN ORDER TO BE EFFECTIVE. LAPS CLEARLY BELONGED TO THAT CATEGORY OF INFORMATION WHICH IS USEFUL TO THE CENTRAL DEPARTMENT.

Jonathan Israel, Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650–1750 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)Jonathan Israel, Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670–1750 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)"A public can only attain enlightenment slowly," Kant famously observed. His use of the term "public" (Publikum), of course, is notoriously slippery, and even now, after decades of academic discussion of Öffenlichkeit and l'opinion publique, it regularly trips up the unsuspecting undergraduate intent on answering Kant's central question: What is enlightenment? And yet it is clear that whatever else he meant, Kant envisioned a central role for the scholar (Gelehrter) in constituting the public, and furthering enlightenment. And so we might say, in a Kantian gloss, that scholars attain enlightenment, and knowledge of the Enlightenment, only slowly.

A historical review reveals that the convergence of science & government led to a perception of omnipotent governments. Here, it is suggested that epistemological underpinnings about the validity of scientific truth & problems with government legitimacy are eroding assumptions about government power. The capability of the social sciences to assist governments in improving social conditions is examined in the context of specific social problems such as improved race relations. It is concluded that limits on knowledge & a gap between theory & practice will always hinder governments in implementing their policies. L. Baker

This issue of JKGE is devoted to the specific conditions of educational processes in the pluri-cultural and multilingual regions of Eastern Europe. In the context of globally oriented research on the Enlightenment epoch, issues at the forefront include knowledge diffusion, translation, networking, interferences, asynchronicities, and ambivalences.