Social Science

Making Progress Work: A New Life for the Old Idea

Authors: Gennady Shkliarevsky
Comments: 33 Pages.

The pursuit of progress has been a distinct feature of civilization at least over the last three hundred years. Yet the appeal of progress is now in decline. Many attribute several major problems we face today to our relentless pursuit of progress, including the degradation of the environment and climate change, the growing gap between the rich and the poor, the increasing control of governments over the life of their citizens, social instability, economic decline, and much else. Widespread criticism has raised fundamental questions about progress that even relatively recently we would not dare to raise without risking our intellectual credibility. The intense questioning encourages, indeed necessitates, a revisiting of the theory and practice of our pursuit of progress.This article represents an attempt at re-examining some critical issues that are related to progress. There are several questions to be addressed in the following pages: Is progress really necessary? What fundamental purpose does it serve? Can our civilization survive without progressing? Does progress have roots in nature or is it merely a human fancy? In answering these questions, this article will explain the important relationship between our idea and practice of progress, on one hand, and nature, on the other. It will show that progress is not a human fancy; it has deep roots in the evolution of nature and the universe. Substantive criticisms should not only point to mistakes and flaws. They should also lead to alternatives. This article will conclude by outlining some fundamental principles to be used in reshaping our progressive practice. The main feature of this reformed practice, as argued in the pages that follow, should be the process of creation that plays a vital role in the survival and evolution of our universe. The failure to embrace and understand this process has generated major flaws that that continue to plague our pursuit of progress. The article will explain that the reason for this failure is not an accident but a necessary result of anthropocentrism that has dominated and continues to dominate our civilization.By using the process of creation as the main organizing principle of our theory and practice of progress will make possible to eliminate the main cause of our numerous problems with progress.
Category: Social Science

La Ruta Del Tercer Viaje de Don Quijote
the Route of the Third Voyage of Don Quixote

Authors: Daniel Consalles
Comments: 13 Pages.

La ruta del tercer viaje de Don Quijote desde el Toboso a Zaragoza generalmente aceptada presenta unas inconsistencias evidentes, especialmente al incorporar la visita a la Cueva de Montesinos como parte deltrayecto. Las hipótesis planteadas hasta el momento implican varios cambios de dirección incoherentes con el propio relato. En este trabajo planteamos una hipótesis distinta, la "Ruta Sur", donde todo el relato cobra coherencia, incluida la visita a la Cueva de Montesinos. Asumir esta nueva ruta nos permite localizar otros puntos del relato con relativa facilidad.

The route of Don Quixote's third voyage from El Toboso to Zaragoza generally accepted presents some evident inconsistencies, especially when incorporating the visit to the Cueva de Montesinos as part of the journey. The hypotheses put forward so far imply several changes of direction that are inconsistent with the own story. In this work we propose a different hypothesis, the "South Route", where the entire story takes coherence, including the visit to the Cueva de Montesinos. Assuming this new route allows us to locate other points of the story with relative ease.
Category: Social Science

Transcending Human Sociality: Eco-Cosmological Relationships Between Entities in the Ecosphere

Authors: Luis Gregorio Abad Espinoza
Comments: 17 Pages.

Based on a discussion of the theoretical contributions of Claude Lévi-Strauss and Pierre Clastres, this article explores social relationships as more than a human dimension. Though strongly analysed by both anthropologists, these relationships appear to involve indigenous societies’ whole ecological and cosmological system. In this sense, reciprocity, social cohesion, and exchange can be understood as material and immaterial interrelationships between entities of a more than a corporeal world. I argue, then, that to go beyond the mere anthropocentric conceptualisation of sociality in a nature good to think, we need to holistically conceive the interconnected levels of trophic, socio-structural and socio-cosmic relationships and exchanges between human and non-human beings in the ecosystem.
Category: Social Science

Setting Right LGBTQ Rights

Authors: Gennady Shkliarevsky
Comments: 40 Pages.

In the current social and political turmoil, few issues are more divisive and cause more controversy than issues related to the rights of sexual minorities and gender dissidents. The polarizing impact of these issues is really astounding given the size of these two groups. Obviously, controversies over gender and sexuality have touched the nerve in wide segments of the population. Explanations for this divisiveness generally focus on either the recalcitrance of conservatives or on the recklessness of progressive advocates of change. This article questions these explanations. It sees the main problem in the very approach used by groups on both sides of the divide. The LGBTQ community uses the human rights approach. In this approach, the rights of sexual minorities and gender non-conformists emerge as absolute, universal, and thus non-negotiable. The opponents of the LGBTQ agenda use universalistic claims of their own, usually centered on religion. These opposing claims make the controversy irresolvable.The dominant view of human rights is that they are absolute, universal, and non-negotiable. They have roots in human nature that is also regarded as absolute and universal. The article offers an analysis of human nature and defines its fundamental properties. The conclusion that follows from this analysis is that only rights that protect these fundamental properties can properly be defined as human rights. These properties make human rights absolute, universal, and non-negotiable. Other types of rights (for example, civil rights or the rights related to self-expression) are important but they are not absolute and universal; consequently, they are negotiable. The tendency to assign the status of absolute and universal to rights that are not related to fundamental properties of human nature is what makes conflicts over LGBTQ rights irresolvable.The article outlines a new approach to the rights of sexual minorities and gender non-conformists that would avoid the trap of absolutism and universalism. Through understanding of the process of creation that is central to human relationship with reality and, consequently, to human nature will make possible a realistic approach toward LGBTQ rights and will help create a more effective strategy for protecting these rights. The article also looks at sexuality education as an important contributor to the controversies related to gender and sexuality.Key words: LGBTQ, human rights, gender differentiation, sexual orientation, transgender, sexuality education
Category: Social Science

The Case for Score Voting

Authors: Warren D. Smith
Comments: 9 Pages. New version after slight changes mainly suggested by referees & readers.

Score voting (also called range voting) uses a ratings ballot. Each voter assigns (to as many candidates as she wishes) a number in a specified range. Greatest average score wins. Two main lines of evidence show score voting is a good decision-making method: biology and computer simulation. Honeybees achieved evolutionary success by annually deciding their new hive location via score voting. Some ants also use score voting. Computer simulations have been used to compare score versus other election methods by the criterion of Bayesian regret (BR), i.e. the expected value of the avoidable human unhappiness caused by an action—in this case the use of an election method. Score voting consistently outperforms other election methods measured by BR. Score voting also is among the simplest voting methods.
Category: Social Science