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Shame and Philosophy: An Investigation in the Philosophy of Emotions and Ethics
by P. HutchinsonEngaging with current research in the philosophy of emotions, both analytic and continental, the author argues that reductionist accounts of emotions leave us in a state of poverty regarding our understanding of our world and of ourselves.
The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation
by Cathy O'Neil'With moral clarity and powerful storytelling, Cathy O'Neil reverse engineers the 'shame machine,' revealing its inner workings and inciting nothing short of a cultural reckoning that has the potential to blow this machine to bits' - Ruha BenjaminShame is being weaponized by governments and corporations to attack the most vulnerable. It's time to fight backShame is a powerful and sometimes useful tool. When we publicly shame corrupt politicians, abusive celebrities, or predatory corporations, we reinforce values of fairness and justice. But as best-selling author Cathy O'Neil argues in this revelatory book, shaming has taken a new and dangerous turn. It is increasingly being weaponized -- used as a way to shift responsibility for social problems from institutions to individuals. Shaming children for not being able to afford school lunches or adults for not being able to find work lets us off the hook as a society. After all, why pay higher taxes to fund programmes for people who are fundamentally unworthy?O'Neil explores the machinery behind all this shame, showing how governments, corporations and the healthcare system capitalize on it. There are damning stories of rehab clinics, reentry programs, drug and diet companies, and social media platforms -- all of which profit from 'punching down' on the vulnerable. Woven throughout The Shame Machine is the story of O'Neil's own struggle with body image and her recent weight-loss surgery, which awakened her to the systematic shaming of fat people seeking medical care.With clarity and nuance, O'Neil dissects the relationship between shame and power. Whom does the system serve? How do current incentive structures perpetuate the shaming cycle? And, most important, how can we all fight back?
The Shame of Reason in Organizational Change: A Levinassian Perspective (Issues in Business Ethics #32)
by Naud van der VenRational thought according to Levinas has the merit of making the world lucid and controllable. But at the same time it strips things and people of their identity and incorporates them in a homogenized rational order. Illusory, but nonetheless oppressive. Rationality’s totalitarian character can provoke resistance and grief with people who are enlisted by it. This can lead to a shameful confrontation in which the thinker is being confronted with his victim’s resistance and sees himself and his thinking made questionable. By proceeding along this route, thinking can be brought to self-criticism and to revision of standpoints.This description by Levinas of rational thinking shows similarity to what managers do in organizations. They make their business controllable, but at the same time with their planning and schemes they create a totalitarian straitjacket. This similarity suggests that also the reactions to imperialistic rationality from Levinas’ description ought to be found in organizations. Is it indeed possible to indicate there the kind of resistance and grief Levinas speaks about? Does that give rise to confrontations between managers and their co-workers who are supposed to subordinate to their schemes? Do managers then feel shame? And do those shameful confrontations consequently lead to self-reflection and change?Desk research suggests that the above elements are partly to be found in the literature of management theory. Interviews with managers show that Levinas’ line of thought can also be found in its completeness within organizations. At the same time it becomes clear that becoming conscious of the elements of that line of thought – that rationality is all-conquering, that it provokes resistance, that that can lead to shame as well as to a new beginning – this is a difficult path to travel. The related experiences are easily forgotten and sometimes difficult to excavate. Translation of Levinas’ thinking into terms of management and organization can help us spot them where they play their role in organizations.
Shame Punishment (Crime and Punishment: Critical Essays in Legal Philosophy)
by Thom BrooksShame punishment has existed for perhaps as long as people have been punished, and the issue has been revisited in recent years to help improve crime reduction efforts. In this collection, shame punishment is examined from various critical perspectives, including its relation with expressivism, the diversity of shame punishment used today, the link between shame punishment and restorative justice, the relationship between dignity and shame punishment, shame punishment and its use for sex offenders, and critics of shame punishment in its different incarnations. The selected essays are from leading experts and represent the most important contributions to scholarly research in the field.
Shame Punishment (Crime and Punishment: Critical Essays in Legal Philosophy)
by Thom BrooksShame punishment has existed for perhaps as long as people have been punished, and the issue has been revisited in recent years to help improve crime reduction efforts. In this collection, shame punishment is examined from various critical perspectives, including its relation with expressivism, the diversity of shame punishment used today, the link between shame punishment and restorative justice, the relationship between dignity and shame punishment, shame punishment and its use for sex offenders, and critics of shame punishment in its different incarnations. The selected essays are from leading experts and represent the most important contributions to scholarly research in the field.
The Shaming of Sexual Offenders: Risk, Retribution and Reintegration
by Anne-Marie McAlindenWinner of the 2008 British Society of Criminology Book PrizeSex offenders, particularly those who offend against children, feature prominently in contemporary law and order debates. Child sexual abuse is a small component of the broader category of 'gendered and sexualised violence' which causes significant trauma for victims yet continues to evade conventional approaches to justice. This is evidenced not only by the low number of prosecutions, due mostly to low levels of reporting and evidential difficulties at trial, but also by the failure of the justice system to prevent re-offending, largely due to the limited availability and effectiveness of prison treatment programmes. Following Braithwaite's dichotomy of 'reintegrative' and 'disintegrative' shaming, this book argues that contemporary popular and state-led responses to the risk posed by sex offenders are largely disintegrative in nature. At best, the offender may be labelled, stigmatised and ostracised from the community, while at worst, he may be subjected to violence and vigilante action and ultimately return to offending behaviour. The failure of these retributive responses means there is considerable scope for exploring alternative forms of justice and their potential for improving the outcome for victims, offenders and communities affected by sexual offences.This book examines the controversy of whether restorative justice can be applied to child sexual abuse as one of the most intractable of contemporary societal problems, and if so, what special considerations might apply. Although restorative schemes with sex offenders are in short supply, a few initiatives have developed in Canada and parts of the United States which have effected significant benefits in 'reintegrative shaming.' The book examines whether such ad hoc schemes may be of general application with child sexual abuse and whether they may be implemented on a more holistic basis.
The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China
by Frank Langfitt'A unique, kaleidoscopic view of Chinese society ... A must read' Qiu Xiaolong, author of Shanghai RedemptionAs any traveller knows, the best and most honest conversations take place during car rides. So when journalist Frank Langfitt wanted to learn more about the real China, he started driving a cab - and discovered a country amid seismic political and economic change.The Chinese economic boom, with its impact on the environment, global trade, and the tech industry, has been one of the most important stories of the twenty-first century. Yet few realise that the boom is largely over, and that the new reality in China is unequal growth, political anxiety and a newly empowered strongman president in Xi Jingping.In order to understand this new world, Frank Langfitt offered the citizens of Shanghai a simple deal: a conversation in exchange for a free taxi ride. Rides turned into follow-up interviews, shared meals and even a wedding invitation. In this adventurous book, we get to know an array of quirky yet representative characters like Beer Horse, the pushy dealer who sells Langfitt his used car; Rocky, a stylishly dressed migrant worker who loves John Denver music; and Xiao Chen, who moved his family to Hawaii to escape China's oppressive education system but was unable to get out of the country himself.Unfolding over the course of several years, The Shanghai Free Taxi is a sensitive and eye-opening book about a rapidly changing country.'Langfitt excels at humanising a country increasingly presented in purely oppositional terms [and] achieves a breadth rarely found in journalistic accounts' Financial Times
The Shape of Ice
by Douglas HurdPrime Minister Simon Russell's personal alarm clock is ticking away, while outside, beyond No. 10, prison riots, bombs in Ireland, corporate blackmail in China and civil unrest in Russia jostle for attention. From the smallest details of the PM's office to the global significance of an international crisis, Douglas Hurd's fine political novel illustrates the political process with real authenticity.With the narrative momentum of a gripping thriller, The Shape of Ice demonstrates how ominous events can develop from near-invisibility into momentous crises. Set in the near future, the novel eloquently conveys the stress of life at the top of the political ladder – the pressure slowly builds to the point where it distorts judgement and relationships.
Shaping a Modern Ethics: The Humanist Legacy from Nietzsche to Feminism
by Benjamin BennettIs there any such thing as a single ethical system to which all human beings could conceivably subscribe? The short answer is no; and most people, being tolerant, would probably agree with this answer. Yet most people, precisely in being tolerant, also subscribe to an idea of “human rights” which presupposes just such a universal ethics. This basic question of ethics is similarly treacherous when approached on a higher technical level. Specialists have long recognized that Kant's categorical imperative is neither theoretically nor practically tenable. But efforts to revive and repair the Kantian project-including especially the monumental work of Jürgen Habermas-have all themselves been theoretically questionable, while developing a complexity that makes them impractical. Must we then simply do without ethics in the sense of a universal ethical method? By way of a close study of literary and philosophical texts, from Freud to Machiavelli, Benjamin Bennett shows why the failure of a universal or propositional ethics is indeed unavoidable. He uncovers a modern non-propositional ethics that cannot be grasped in a single theoretical move but can only be approached as a collection of instances of a modern ethical “we”, three key examples of which Bennett explores in this book: - The “we” of irony, whose speakers share a strictly preter-verbal knowledge which is concealed in their actual utterances - The insistent exclusive “we” of a group that has neither its own physical locality nor even a clear intellectual identity, comparable to the “we” of Jews in the diaspora - The “we” of feminism, a separate “we” from that embracing people who happen to have been born women.
Shaping a Modern Ethics: The Humanist Legacy from Nietzsche to Feminism
by Benjamin BennettIs there any such thing as a single ethical system to which all human beings could conceivably subscribe? The short answer is no; and most people, being tolerant, would probably agree with this answer. Yet most people, precisely in being tolerant, also subscribe to an idea of “human rights” which presupposes just such a universal ethics. This basic question of ethics is similarly treacherous when approached on a higher technical level. Specialists have long recognized that Kant's categorical imperative is neither theoretically nor practically tenable. But efforts to revive and repair the Kantian project-including especially the monumental work of Jürgen Habermas-have all themselves been theoretically questionable, while developing a complexity that makes them impractical. Must we then simply do without ethics in the sense of a universal ethical method? By way of a close study of literary and philosophical texts, from Freud to Machiavelli, Benjamin Bennett shows why the failure of a universal or propositional ethics is indeed unavoidable. He uncovers a modern non-propositional ethics that cannot be grasped in a single theoretical move but can only be approached as a collection of instances of a modern ethical “we”, three key examples of which Bennett explores in this book: - The “we” of irony, whose speakers share a strictly preter-verbal knowledge which is concealed in their actual utterances - The insistent exclusive “we” of a group that has neither its own physical locality nor even a clear intellectual identity, comparable to the “we” of Jews in the diaspora - The “we” of feminism, a separate “we” from that embracing people who happen to have been born women.
Shaping Children: Ethical and Social Questions that Arise when Enhancing the Young (Advances in Neuroethics)
by Saskia K. NagelThe volume offers a unique collection of articles on pediatric neuroenhancement from an international and multidisciplinary perspective. In recent years, the topic of “neuroenhancement” has become increasingly relevant in academia and practice, as well as among the public. While autonomous adults are free to choose neuroenhancement, in children it presents its own ethical, social, legal, and developmental issues. A plethora of potential (neurotechnological) enhancement agents are on the market. While the manifold issues surrounding the topic have been extensively discussed, there is little work on the specific questions that arise in children and adolescents. This book addresses this gap in the literature: Next to conceptual and normative work on autonomy and self-control, the collection explores the implications for parenting and schooling, and provides input for a discussion of public attitudes. It is a valuable resource for the different academic communities confronted with questions of how to evaluate and approach enhancement in children and is of interest to neuroethicists, scholars in applied ethics and neurology, psychiatrists and psychologists as well as scientists developing enhancement interventions for children.
Shaping Contracts for Work: The Normative Influence of Terms Implied by Law (Oxford Labour Law)
by Gabrielle GoldingShaping Contracts for Work provides an in-depth examination of the common law's role in shaping employment contracts through the mechanism of implied terms. It constructs a theory which views the nature of the employment contract as distinct from other types of work contract. Terms implied by law into employment contracts, as well as their potential to operate in other non-standard contracts for the performance of work, are critically examined by reference to the test that courts adopt when they are asked to imply such terms. In part one, Golding provides an overarching survey of the law which governs express and implied terms in contracts. In doing so, she considers the broader judicial role in implying terms and assesses how it can fundamentally alter the nature of the relationship between contracting parties. Part two draws comparisons between England and Australia, tracing the origins and status of select terms across both jurisdictions, and exploring how the application of these terms is often presumed. Golding also examines the duties of mutual trust, confidence, and good faith in both jurisdictions, investigating their potential application in employment contracts. In part three, Golding demonstrates why courts need to better articulate their understanding of what constitutes an 'employment contract' as a distinctive class of contract. By focussing on the impact of terms implied by law, this work adds a unique dimension to the debate concerning the regulation of waged work in the context of ever-increasing non-standard modes of work.
Shaping Contracts for Work: The Normative Influence of Terms Implied by Law (Oxford Labour Law)
by Gabrielle GoldingShaping Contracts for Work provides an in-depth examination of the common law's role in shaping employment contracts through the mechanism of implied terms. It constructs a theory which views the nature of the employment contract as distinct from other types of work contract. Terms implied by law into employment contracts, as well as their potential to operate in other non-standard contracts for the performance of work, are critically examined by reference to the test that courts adopt when they are asked to imply such terms. In part one, Golding provides an overarching survey of the law which governs express and implied terms in contracts. In doing so, she considers the broader judicial role in implying terms and assesses how it can fundamentally alter the nature of the relationship between contracting parties. Part two draws comparisons between England and Australia, tracing the origins and status of select terms across both jurisdictions, and exploring how the application of these terms is often presumed. Golding also examines the duties of mutual trust, confidence, and good faith in both jurisdictions, investigating their potential application in employment contracts. In part three, Golding demonstrates why courts need to better articulate their understanding of what constitutes an 'employment contract' as a distinctive class of contract. By focussing on the impact of terms implied by law, this work adds a unique dimension to the debate concerning the regulation of waged work in the context of ever-increasing non-standard modes of work.
Shaping EU Law the British Way: UK Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union
by Graham Butler and Adam ŁazowskiIn this book, leading scholars of EU law, judges, and practitioners unpack the judicial reasoning offered by the UK Advocates General in over forty cases at the Court of Justice, which have influenced the shape of EU law. The authors place the Opinions in the wider context of the EU legal order, and mix praise with critique in order to determine the true contribution of the UK Advocates General, before hearing the concluding reflections by the UK Advocates General themselves. The role of Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union remains notoriously under-researched. With a few notable exceptions, not much ink has been spilled on analysing their contribution to the judicial discourse that emerges from the Court's Palais in Luxembourg. More generally, their impact on the shaping of EU law is only sporadically explored. This book fills the lacunae by offering an in-depth analysis of the way in which the UK Advocates General contributed to development of EU law during 47 years of the UK's membership of the EU.During their terms of office, Advocates General Jean-Pierre Warner (1973-1981), Gordon Slynn (1981-1988), Francis Jacobs (1988-2006), and Eleanor Sharpston (2006-2020) delivered over 1400 Opinions. This staggering contribution of the four individuals and their cabinets of legal secretaries was supplemented by an Opinion of a then Judge of the Court of First Instance, David Edward, who was called to act as an Advocate General in two joined cases in what is now the General Court. With the last UK Advocate General departing from the Court of Justice in September 2020, an important era has ended. With this watershed moment, it is apt to take a look back and critically analyse the contribution to development of EU law made by the UK Advocates General, and to elucidate the lasting impact they have had on the nature of EU law.
Shaping EU Law the British Way: UK Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union
In this book, leading scholars of EU law, judges, and practitioners unpack the judicial reasoning offered by the UK Advocates General in over forty cases at the Court of Justice, which have influenced the shape of EU law. The authors place the Opinions in the wider context of the EU legal order, and mix praise with critique in order to determine the true contribution of the UK Advocates General, before hearing the concluding reflections by the UK Advocates General themselves. The role of Advocates General at the Court of Justice of the European Union remains notoriously under-researched. With a few notable exceptions, not much ink has been spilled on analysing their contribution to the judicial discourse that emerges from the Court's Palais in Luxembourg. More generally, their impact on the shaping of EU law is only sporadically explored. This book fills the lacunae by offering an in-depth analysis of the way in which the UK Advocates General contributed to development of EU law during 47 years of the UK's membership of the EU.During their terms of office, Advocates General Jean-Pierre Warner (1973-1981), Gordon Slynn (1981-1988), Francis Jacobs (1988-2006), and Eleanor Sharpston (2006-2020) delivered over 1400 Opinions. This staggering contribution of the four individuals and their cabinets of legal secretaries was supplemented by an Opinion of a then Judge of the Court of First Instance, David Edward, who was called to act as an Advocate General in two joined cases in what is now the General Court. With the last UK Advocate General departing from the Court of Justice in September 2020, an important era has ended. With this watershed moment, it is apt to take a look back and critically analyse the contribution to development of EU law made by the UK Advocates General, and to elucidate the lasting impact they have had on the nature of EU law.
Shaping EU Public Procurement Law: A Critical Analysis of the CJEU Case Law 2015-2017
by Albert Sanchez-Graells Constant De KoninckThe first part of the book offers a unique reflection on enduring themes in public procurement law such as the shaping of the scope of this regulatory regime, the development of tighter criteria for the exclusion of candidates and tenderers, the conduct of qualitative selection, the consolidation of the court’s previous approach to technical specifications, new developments in tender evaluation, the inclusion of contract performance clauses with a social orientation, and, last but not least, the development of interpretive guidance concerning several aspects of the procurement remedies regime. The book shows that the period 2015–2017 has been an interesting and rather intense period for the development of EU public procurement law, where the CJEU has not only consolidated some parts of its long-standing procurement case law but also introduced significant innovations that can create future challenges for the consistency of this regulatory regime. The first part of the book concludes with some thoughts on some of the salient aspects of this recent episode of silent reform of EU public procurement law through CJEU case law. The second part of the book contains the essential excerpts of forty-one chronologically ordered judgments issued by the CJEU in the period 2015–2017, which have been selected because they either raise new issues or important matters of public procurement law. Each of the selected judgments is followed by an exhaustive and critical in-depth analysis, highlighting and providing insight into its legal and practical issues and consequences. An exhaustive subject-index offers the reader quick and easy access to the case law treated in this book. This unique book, a ‘must-have’ reference work for judges and courts of all EU Member States and candidate countries and academics and legal professionals who are active in the field of procurement law, will also be valuable for law libraries and law schools across the world and for law students who focus their research and studies on EU law.
Shaping Inclusive Workplaces Through Social Dialogue (Industrial Relations & Conflict Management)
by Alicia Arenas Donatella Di Marco Lourdes Munduate Martin C. EuwemaThis book presents Social Dialogue as a social innovation strategy for managing diversity at any step of the human resource circle. It showcases empirical research on how to improve open dialogue and constructive negotiations between management, trade unions and employee representatives using multi-disciplinary perspectives from psychology, business, law, gender studies, sociology and management. This book delivers the latest research to promote a change of attitudes, behaviors and competences on diversity and social inclusion, and develop effective organizational responses in terms of policies and procedural aspects to improve inclusion of vulnerable groups at work. The authors and editors explain effective development tools for an inclusive workplace through Social Dialogue, showing that it is possible to achieve this by integrating values, policies and practices at organizational level. The diversity of contributions from different organizational contexts, countries and cultures results in this being a valuable book for a wide range of scientists, researchers, students and human resource managers as they seek to shape inclusive workplaces through Social Dialogue.
Shaping Internet Governance: Regulatory Challenges
by Rolf H. WeberThe information society is a key issue in everyday life and a phenomenon enc- passing social, cultural, economic, and legal facettes. Currently, an information society’s legal framework is gradually crystallizing under the newly introduced term of “Internet governance”. During the last few years, intensive discussions about the contents of Internet governance have addressed manifold aspects of a possible regulatory regime. In light of the general comprehension that an international treaty structure is mi- ing and that self-regulation as a normative model does not sufce in all respects, new architectural and constitutional theories have been developed; furthermore, the international body of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) came to life. N- withstanding the available literature on IGF, however, a thorough and systematic study sheding light on the main topics of Internet governance (such as legitimacy, transparency, accountability, and participation) and on the key regulatory issues (for example critical Internet resources, access, protection of civil liberties/- man rights, realization of security, safety and privacy standards, as well as the overcoming of the digital divide) from a legal perspective is not yet at hand. The present publication aims at discussing these legal challenges. This book has benefted from many inputs and encouragements from colleagues that I am deeply grateful for. In particular, I am indebted to the very meaningful discussions and valuable support in the preparation of the publication by my - search assistants lic. iur Mirin . a Grosz and lic. iurR . omana Weber, to lic. iur.
Shaping National Security: International Emergency Mechanisms and Disaster Risk Reduction
by Pawel Gromek Mariusz Feltynowski Monika WojakowskaShaping National Security: International Emergency Mechanisms and Disaster Risk Reduction presents international emergency mechanisms relative to disaster risk reduction (DRR). The goal is to share knowledge about existing frameworks, and utilize established DRR policies and programs, as another means to reinforce and strengthen national security in countries around the world. The book outlines, in detail, the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC), the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) DRR programs. While these entities’ versions of DRR best practices are largely directed at decreasing the impact of disaster hazards, limiting relevant exposure, local vulnerabilities, increasing capacities to cope with disaster, the authors present these frameworks as potential tools, and effective means, to support national security efforts. This is especially important in disaster circumstances when local, and national emergency resources, may be insufficient to face hazards and multi-hazards, and result in cascading effects to occur as hazard events transpire. Chapters present various resources available to them, through these programs, to encourage authorities from every country to effectively apply the mechanisms—and emergency mechanisms specifically—to offer domestic solutions. Due to these programs proven track records in providing organisational standards, the use of such mechanisms can serve as both the basis to foster sound DRR practices and, by extension, can supplement resiliency, security, and continuity within countries. This concept is based on the premise that the UNDAC, INSARAG, NATO and ECPM emergency mechanisms have been developed to be implementable (directly or indirectly) in every country in the world when disasters occur. Shaping National Security takes a "big-picture," holistic view of DRR and national security to offer innovative ideas and solutions to professionals and officials working in disaster management, disaster risk reduction, emergency management, crisis management, civil protection, public security management, national security, criminal justice, international studies, and homeland security.
Shaping National Security: International Emergency Mechanisms and Disaster Risk Reduction
Shaping National Security: International Emergency Mechanisms and Disaster Risk Reduction presents international emergency mechanisms relative to disaster risk reduction (DRR). The goal is to share knowledge about existing frameworks, and utilize established DRR policies and programs, as another means to reinforce and strengthen national security in countries around the world. The book outlines, in detail, the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC), the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) DRR programs. While these entities’ versions of DRR best practices are largely directed at decreasing the impact of disaster hazards, limiting relevant exposure, local vulnerabilities, increasing capacities to cope with disaster, the authors present these frameworks as potential tools, and effective means, to support national security efforts. This is especially important in disaster circumstances when local, and national emergency resources, may be insufficient to face hazards and multi-hazards, and result in cascading effects to occur as hazard events transpire. Chapters present various resources available to them, through these programs, to encourage authorities from every country to effectively apply the mechanisms—and emergency mechanisms specifically—to offer domestic solutions. Due to these programs proven track records in providing organisational standards, the use of such mechanisms can serve as both the basis to foster sound DRR practices and, by extension, can supplement resiliency, security, and continuity within countries. This concept is based on the premise that the UNDAC, INSARAG, NATO and ECPM emergency mechanisms have been developed to be implementable (directly or indirectly) in every country in the world when disasters occur. Shaping National Security takes a "big-picture," holistic view of DRR and national security to offer innovative ideas and solutions to professionals and officials working in disaster management, disaster risk reduction, emergency management, crisis management, civil protection, public security management, national security, criminal justice, international studies, and homeland security.
Shaping Our Selves: On Technology, Flourishing, and a Habit of Thinking
by Erik ParensWhen bioethicists debate the use of technologies like surgery and pharmacology to shape our selves, they are, ultimately, debating what it means for human beings to flourish. They are debating what makes animals like us truly happy, and whether the technologies at issue will bring us closer to or farther from such happiness. The positions that participants adopt in debates regarding such ancient and fundamental questions are often polarized, and cannot help but be deeply personal. It is no wonder that the debates are sometimes acrimonious. How, then, should critics of and enthusiasts about technological self-transformation move forward? Based on his experience at the oldest free-standing bioethics research institute in the world, Erik Parens proposes a habit of thinking, which he calls "binocular." As our brains integrate slightly different information from our two eyes to achieve depth of visual perception, we need to try to integrate greatly different insights on the two sides of the debates about technologically shaping our selves-if depth of intellectual understanding is what we are after. Binocular thinking lets us benefit from the insights that are visible from the stance of the enthusiast, who emphasizes that using technology to creatively transform our selves will make us happier, and to benefit from the insights that are visible from the stance of the critic, who emphasizes that learning to let our selves be will make us happier. Parens observes that in debates as personal as these, we all-critics and enthusiasts alike-give reasons that we are partial to. In the throes of our passion to make our case, we exaggerate our insights and all-too-often fall into the conceptual traps that language sets for us. Foolishly, we make conceptual choices that no one who truly wanted understanding would accept: Are technologies value-free or value-laden? Are human beings by nature creators or creatures? Is disability a medical or a social phenomenon? Indeed, are we free or determined? Parens explains how participating in these debates for two decades helped him articulate the binocular habit of thinking that is better at benefiting from the insights in both poles of those binaries than was the habit of thinking he originally brought to the debates. Finally, Parens celebrates that bioethics doesn't aspire only to deeper thinking, but also to better acting. He embraces not only the intellectual aspiration to think deeply about meaning questions that don't admit of final answers, but also the ethical demand to give clear answers to practical questions. To show how to respect both that aspiration and that demand, the book culminates in the description of a process of truly informed consent, in the context of one specific form of using technology to shape our selves: families making decisions about appearance normalizing surgeries for children with atypical bodies.
Shaping Our Selves: On Technology, Flourishing, and a Habit of Thinking
by Erik ParensWhen bioethicists debate the use of technologies like surgery and pharmacology to shape our selves, they are, ultimately, debating what it means for human beings to flourish. They are debating what makes animals like us truly happy, and whether the technologies at issue will bring us closer to or farther from such happiness. The positions that participants adopt in debates regarding such ancient and fundamental questions are often polarized, and cannot help but be deeply personal. It is no wonder that the debates are sometimes acrimonious. How, then, should critics of and enthusiasts about technological self-transformation move forward? Based on his experience at the oldest free-standing bioethics research institute in the world, Erik Parens proposes a habit of thinking, which he calls "binocular." As our brains integrate slightly different information from our two eyes to achieve depth of visual perception, we need to try to integrate greatly different insights on the two sides of the debates about technologically shaping our selves-if depth of intellectual understanding is what we are after. Binocular thinking lets us benefit from the insights that are visible from the stance of the enthusiast, who emphasizes that using technology to creatively transform our selves will make us happier, and to benefit from the insights that are visible from the stance of the critic, who emphasizes that learning to let our selves be will make us happier. Parens observes that in debates as personal as these, we all-critics and enthusiasts alike-give reasons that we are partial to. In the throes of our passion to make our case, we exaggerate our insights and all-too-often fall into the conceptual traps that language sets for us. Foolishly, we make conceptual choices that no one who truly wanted understanding would accept: Are technologies value-free or value-laden? Are human beings by nature creators or creatures? Is disability a medical or a social phenomenon? Indeed, are we free or determined? Parens explains how participating in these debates for two decades helped him articulate the binocular habit of thinking that is better at benefiting from the insights in both poles of those binaries than was the habit of thinking he originally brought to the debates. Finally, Parens celebrates that bioethics doesn't aspire only to deeper thinking, but also to better acting. He embraces not only the intellectual aspiration to think deeply about meaning questions that don't admit of final answers, but also the ethical demand to give clear answers to practical questions. To show how to respect both that aspiration and that demand, the book culminates in the description of a process of truly informed consent, in the context of one specific form of using technology to shape our selves: families making decisions about appearance normalizing surgeries for children with atypical bodies.
Shaping Sustainable Change: The Role of Partnership Brokering in Optimising Collaborative Action
by Leda StottMulti-actor partnerships are promoted as central to the achievement of sustainable development. However, these relationships are not always easy, and calls are being made for more guidance on how partners can work together effectively to deliver results and achieve meaningful change. Shaping Sustainable Change explains the growing and significant role of partnership brokering in shaping these relationships. Drawing upon the work of the Partnership Brokers Association, it uses evidenced-based materials to show how the work of partnership brokering contributes to the management of collaborative relationships so that they are better positioned to have a positive and sustainable impact. As well as making the case for partnership brokering, the publication explores the profile and key activities carried out by partnership brokers, and the skills required to undertake this role. Examples are also provided to illustrate how partnership brokering works in practice in relation to different contexts, sectors and themes. This book will appeal not only to partnership brokers but also to professional and academic readers interested in achieving sustainable development.
Shaping Sustainable Change: The Role of Partnership Brokering in Optimising Collaborative Action
by Leda StottMulti-actor partnerships are promoted as central to the achievement of sustainable development. However, these relationships are not always easy, and calls are being made for more guidance on how partners can work together effectively to deliver results and achieve meaningful change. Shaping Sustainable Change explains the growing and significant role of partnership brokering in shaping these relationships. Drawing upon the work of the Partnership Brokers Association, it uses evidenced-based materials to show how the work of partnership brokering contributes to the management of collaborative relationships so that they are better positioned to have a positive and sustainable impact. As well as making the case for partnership brokering, the publication explores the profile and key activities carried out by partnership brokers, and the skills required to undertake this role. Examples are also provided to illustrate how partnership brokering works in practice in relation to different contexts, sectors and themes. This book will appeal not only to partnership brokers but also to professional and academic readers interested in achieving sustainable development.
Shaping the Bar: The Future of Attorney Licensing
by Joan HowarthThe comprehensive source on attorney licensing and how to reform it. In Shaping the Bar, Joan Howarth describes how the twin gatekeepers of the legal profession—law schools and licensers—are failing the public. Attorney licensing should be laser-focused on readiness to practice law with the minimum competence of a new attorney. According to Howarth, requirements today are both too difficult and too easy. Amid the crisis in unmet legal services, record numbers of law school graduates—disproportionately people of color—are failing bar exams that are not meaningful tests of competence to practice. At the same time, after seven years of higher education, hundreds of thousands of dollars of law school debt, two months of cramming legal rules, and success on a bar exam, a candidate can be licensed to practice law without ever having been in a law office or even seen a lawyer with a client. Howarth makes the case that the licensing rituals familiar to generations of lawyers—unfocused law degrees and obsolete bar exams—are protecting members of the profession more than the public. Beyond explaining the failures of the current system, this book presents the latest research on competent lawyering and examples of better approaches. This book presents the path forward by means of licensing changes to protect the public while building an inclusive, diverse, competent, ethical profession. Thoughtful and engaging, Shaping the Bar is both an authoritative account of attorney licensing and a pragmatic handbook for overdue equitable reform of a powerful profession.