Suchergebnisse

This article introduces a collection of studies of biological concepts crossing over to other disciplines and nonscholarly discourses. The introduction discusses the notion of nomadic concepts as introduced by Isabelle Stengers and explores its usability for conceptual history. Compared to traveling (Mieke Bal) and interdisciplinary (Ernst Müller) concepts, the idea of nomadism shifts the attention from concepts themselves toward the mobility of a concept and its effects. The metaphor of nomadism, as outlined in the introduction, helps also to question the relation between concepts' movement and the production of boundaries. In this way conceptual history can profit from interaction with translation studies, where similar processes were recently discussed under the notion of cultural translation.

The social and behavioral sciences need distinctive concepts to escape entrapment in cultural assumptions. Currently there are several sources for concepts, but vernacular words are most frequently used. These words are usually ambiguous and may reaffirm the status quo. This essay proposes that a new approach is implied in Goffman's work. Most of the new terms he invented went undefined. However, he can be seen as struggling in much of his writing to develop two basic components of the "looking-glass self," awareness structures and embarrassment. His method seems to have involved using many vernacular cognates and close examination of detailed examples of each concept. The implication is that it might be possible to ground concepts by 1. Listing and examining links to vernacular and technical cognates, and 2. Closely exploring many concrete examples. A study of one type of awareness structure, collective denial (Zerubavel 2006), can also be used to illustrate the potential of this method.

Wittgenstein's complex and demanding work challenges much that is taken for granted in philosophical thinking as well as in the theorizing of art, theology, science and culture. Each essay in this collection explores a key concept involved in Wittgenstein's thinking, relating it to his understanding of philosophy, and outlining the arguments and explaining the implications of each concept. Concepts covered include grammar, meaning and meaning-blindness language-games and private language, family resemblances, psychologism, rule-following, teaching and learning, avowals, Moore's Paradox, aspect

An international team of experts explores the distinction between 'thin' concepts (general, evaluative terms like 'good' and 'bad') and 'thick' concepts (more specific concepts, such as 'brave', or 'rude'). Their essays touch on key debates in metaethics about the evaluative and normative, and raise fascinating questions about how language works

Global history needs common concepts. European concepts are deeply problematic, as Dipesh Chakrabarty has shown, because their genealogy in European experience makes them particular and universal at the same time and reduces the rest of the world to a history of lack. Taking the history of the ashraf and their relation to the middle classes as an example, Pernau's article moves beyond the impasse of European thought as "both indispensable and inadequate." In the first step, it claims, it makes sense to use those analytical categories to create a common field of reference, while marking their use as provisional. In the second step conceptual history becomes central in two respects; investigating the history of the analytical concepts allows us to destabilize the boundary between the interpretation offered by the historical actors and the one offered by historians. To this needs to be added the history of colonial actors' concepts, taking into consideration translingual practices. The third step addresses the problem of how to transform the existing analytical concepts in order to do greater justice to the ways in which actors conceived of their world.

Les concepts évoluent dans un processus de filiation. La créativité ne peut survenir que dans la reconnaissance d'une dépendance relative aux générations antérieures. La richesse des réflexions en psychanalyse et notamment celles portant sur la relation pulsion/objet et sur le traumatisme permet d'alimenter des questions chez les psychanalystes s'intéressant aux couples et aux familles. L'analyse de groupe, et d'un autre point de vue l'approche systémique, ont influencé nos domaines théoriques. Des concepts plus spécifiques tels que les alliances inconscientes, le transgénérationnel, l'incestuel nous permettent d'adosser notre pratique. Il est souhaitable et probable que l'étude des couples et des familles donne naissance à d'autres avancées conceptuelles.

"Provides a clear introduction to the technical concepts and policies of contemporary governance through short definitional essays"--Publisher description