Is there a theory of the subject in Georges Canguilhem?

Although there is no clear-cut doctrine of the subject in the work of Georges Canguilhem, nevertheless there is a sense in which the subject functions as a kind of operator in his work. This article delineates three aspects of such an operative function: a quasi-ontological discontinuity separating the living from the non-living; a discontinuity separating technique from science; and an ethical discontinuity that can be exemplified in the case of medicine. It is at these points of discontinuity that the notion of the subject effectively comes into operation in Canguilhem's work.     

Hume Reads Freud: Empiricism as Rhetorical Event

Abstract

The two competitive currents in French philosophy initiated by Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze tackle the difference between empiricism and idealism in contrary motion. In Derrida, the move is toward a critique of representation. In Deleuze, it is toward recovery of the real. Nevertheless, this paper nominates their meeting in a kind of ‘radical empiricism’. Both Derrida and Deleuze engage with empiricism at certain points in their work, although many who go by that label would be surprised to hear it.     

代理治理模式：一种统治类型的讨论--以基层政府治理体系为分析单位

代理治理模式揭示基层政府治理的性质,指出基层政府治理体系的核心元素是政治治理而不是科层治理,是党政统合体系与威权治理结构的多重因素作用结果。代理治理模式有三个基本特征：代理治理是政治职能与行政职能的统合体系;代理治理与社会是一种统治关系;代理治理是一种多中心权威治理结构。代理治理模式的权力来源在国家,不在基层社会,向上级政府（国家）负责,与基层社会没有授权关系。代理治理模式的现代转型,应从基层政府的政治职能与行政职能的分离着手,以民主法治原则来建构基层政府的权力结构和治理体系,在行政职能上建构政府治理的公共本质,在政治职能上建构基层治理的社会授权关系。     

Characteristics of individuals with integrated pensions

Employer pensions that integrate benefits with Social Security have been the focus of relatively little research. Since changes in Social Security benefit levels and other program characteristics can affect the benefit levels and other features of integrated pension plans, it is important to know who is covered by these plans. This article examines the characteristics of workers covered by integrated pension plans, compared to those with nonintegrated plans and those with no pension coverage. Integrated pension plans are those that explicitly adjust their benefit structure to help compensate for the employer's contributions to the Social Security program. There are two basic integration methods used by defined benefit (DB) plans. The offset method causes a reduction in employer pension benefits by up to half of the Social Security retirement benefit; the excess rate method is characterized by an accrual rate that is lower for earnings below the Social Security taxable maximum than above it. Defined contribution (DC) pension plans can be integrated along the lines of the excess rate method. To date, research on integrated pensions has focused on plan characteristics, as reported to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) through its Employee Benefits Survey (EBS). This research has examined the prevalence of integration among full-time, private sector workers by industry, firm size, and broad occupational categories. However, because the EBS provides virtually no data on worker characteristics, analyses of the effects of pension integration on retirement benefits have used hypothetical workers, varying according to assumed levels of earnings and job tenure. This kind of analysis is not particularly helpful in examining the potential effects of changes in the Social Security program on workers' pension benefits. However, data on pension integration at the individual level are available, most recently from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of individuals aged 51-61 in 1992. This dataset provides the basis for the analysis presented here. The following are some of the major findings from this analysis. The incidence of pension integration in the HRS sample is 32 percent of all workers with a pension (14 percent of all workers). The HRS can also identify integrated DC plans, a statistic that is not available from BLS data. The rate of integration for workers with only DC plans is 8 percent. After controlling for other variables, several socio-demographic characteristics are significantly related to the incidence of integration. The probability of having an integrated pension is 4.6 percentage points less for men compared to women. Non-Hispanic blacks are 6.4 percentage points less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have integrated pensions. Union members are 14 percentage points less likely to have integrated pensions, while workers with less than a graduate level education are at least 15 percentage points more likely to have a pension that is integrated. Some earnings and pension characteristics are also significantly correlated with pension integration. Earnings are positively related, with the probability of having an integrated pension increasing by 2 percentage points for an increase of $1,000 in annual pay. An even larger effect comes from earning at or above the Social Security taxable maximum. Workers at or above this income level are 10 percentage points more likely to have an integrated plan, but for those with more than one plan the probability of pension integration goes up by 13 percentage points.     

Unmet Need for Workplace Accommodation

We use experimental survey methods in a nationally representative survey to test alternative ways of identifying (1) individuals in the population who would be better able to work if they received workplace accommodation for a health condition; (2) the rate at which these individuals receive workplace accommodation; and (3) the rate at which accommodated workers are still working four years later, compared to similar workers who were not accommodated. We find that question order in disability surveys matters. We present suggestive evidence of priming effects that lead people to understate accommodation when first asked about very severe disabilities. We also find a sizeable fraction of workers who report they receive a workplace accommodation for a health problem but do not report work limitations per se. Our preferred estimate of the size of the accommodation‐sensitive population is 22.8 percent of all working‐age adults. We find that 47 to 58 percent of accommodation‐sensitive individuals lack accommodation and would benefit from some kind of employer accommodation to either sustain or commence work. Finally, among accommodation‐sensitive individuals, workers who were accommodated for a health problem in 2014 were 13.2 percentage points more likely to work in 2018 than those who were not accommodated in 2014.     

The unacceptable inconstancy of data

The theory of modernization can be combined with historical structural analysis into a single explanatory schema to account for the determinants of migration. The pertinence of data with respect to the proposals contained in the theory is also discussed. The author illustrates an approximation between the kind of questions used in the investigation and the kind of answers delivered by various statistical instruments. Current problems of methodology such as the construction of data and analysis and diachronic-synchronic levels are discussed. Cortes states that 1) mechanical application of any technical statistics without considering the validity of the assumptions on which it is based or structure type produces invalid information and empirical answers without theoretical significance if structural felicity and the conjunction of theoretical relationships are not considered; 2) the internal connection between the various areas of social activities gives rise in empirical social investigation to matrices of data with high intercorrelation; 3) simple correlation analysis has serious limitations and can induce erroneous results from data due to the absence of control mechanisms; and 4) controlling the effect of other variables which may obscure the net effects of one variable over another happens at the moment of generating occurrences or through statistical control for which it is necessary to incorporate those variables in the analysis. Cortes uses the multiple linear regression model to control the effect of the other variables and uses partial correlation instead of regression coefficients. For the theory of migration this investigation points out that the volume of potential migrants is spurred by the farmers' modernization and discouraged by changes in the agrarian structure. Structural change would lessen the effect of modernization. Urban penetration played no significant role in determining potential migration.     

婴儿情绪的发展:从基本情绪到情绪图式

人类生而便具备情绪能力,这些情绪能力称为基本情绪,它们先于认知而发生,有其独立的功能。它们会随着相应的认知与行为发展,形成一种动态的情绪——认知相互作用,这便为情绪图式。情绪图式可以作为一种文化基因被传播和复制,它的作用与认知的发展中认知图式所起的作用有许多共同之处。另外时常循环的一些相关的情绪图式可能被解释为气质或者人格特质。     

Cycles of the third kind

Abstract. This paper delineates three kinds or senses of the cycle concept as used in social science theory and research. Cycles of the weak or first kind merely refer to fluctuations or state changes. Cycles of the moderate or second kind refer to fluctuations with some constant periodicity in fact or in principle. Cycles of the strong or third kind have several analytical properties that require explanation. I argue that the term cycle should be reserved for cycles of the second or third kinds and that the terms fluctuation or alternation should be used for cycles of the first kind. The paper concludes with some comments on sources of resistance to the cycle concept.     

How can ‘Britishness’ be Re‐made?

Modern Britishness is widely seen to be based on shared values like ‘fair play’, ‘tolerance’, and respect for ‘diversity’. Can such a ‘values‐based Britishness’ be effective as a national binding agent in an era of devolution and globalisation? The idea that a uniquely ‘British’ character is based on shared values of some kind is not new. The contemporary debate is framed by decisions made over a century ago in the Victorian era—when the decisive shift occurred from a British identity based on religious difference to one based on shared moral values. Through political rhetoric, legislation, and the courts, Victorian governments shaped and changed the character of Britishness. The same tools remain available to contemporary lawmakers in shaping a twenty‐first century Britishness that embraces modern universal values, but also defines some more uniquely British emotional connection points around which national identity can be built.     

资本话语与构建社会主义和谐社会——一种社会意识形态层面的论析

本文认为:在当下中国学术界理论界由种种与马克思不同甚至是根本对立的关于“资本”的观点和看法,汇集形成了一种颇具声势的“话语”;这种“资本话语”使得社会主义和谐社会建设的基本认识基础、深层价值纽带和根本指导思想都处于一种“不在状态”,因而不利于社会主义和谐社会建设。     

科学:理性还是信仰

什么是科学？它是一种理性还是一种信仰？在当今社会,科学正处在一个高高在上的位置。似乎可以说,科学成了一种信仰。然而说科学是一种信仰,并没有要贬低科学的价值,也不是要抹杀掉科学所带来的积极影响,而只是说,科学不该受到这样待遇,不能独占鳌头。科学只是人类文化中的一部分,它与其他知识体系具有同样的地位。人是需要信仰的,但是不能盲目地去信仰,所以我们可以以理性为基础去信仰。信仰和理性不是完全割裂开来的,信仰寻求理性的理解,理性也从信仰中获得支撑。二者之间具有合力也有张力。而对于科学的信仰,就可以认为是理性与信仰合力作用的结果之一。     

On the political economy and limits of crisis insurance: the case of the 2008–11 bailouts

The bailouts of 2008–10 are the most recent in a long series of insurance-like policies designed to limit the losses of those harmed by a crisis of some kind—but enacted after a crisis is under way. This paper analyzes the economics and politics of “crisis insurance” programs. The analysis helps explain why ex-post insurance is popular, why it tends to be undersupplied by private markets, and why governments may be better able to provide it. The analysis also points out that there are limits to what losses can be covered. The routine adoption of new programs to limit losses from crises tends to require greater expenditures through time because of moral hazard problems and the nature of crises. Eventually, this trend may produce “uninsurable” crises. The analysis of this paper suggests that such problems can be moderated, although not eliminated, through appropriate standing polices for ex-post funding of crisis insurance.     

The Politics of the Strategic Defence and Security Review: Centralisation and Cuts

This article examines the politics of the October 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), focussing on the points of difference between the main political parties (and within the Cameron coalition government) and the political dynamics of the review process. In examining how the government's core mission to reduce the country's ‘historic deficit’ impacted on the review process and outcomes, we are also able to highlight the practical results of a political philosophy that is currently being implemented across Whitehall. We argue that defence is a path‐finding policy area for a new kind of post‐industrial bureaucratic environment typified by a ‘thin‐client’ and ‘smart customer’ function that interacts with industry.     

公民政策参与的功能分析

公民政策参与是指公民参与和影响公共政策过程的行为和活动。公民政策参与对于实现民主价值、保障公民权利,维护和增强政府合法性,保证政策的科学制定和顺利执行,保证政策的公共价值和提高公共服务的品质和效能等方面都有重要的积极意义。但公民政策参与并不必然对所有方面的政策问题解决都带来积极的效果,它也可能会使政策的质量、成本、利益取向以及政府效率和权威方面产生问题。重要的是要把握好“度”,尽可能地因势利导,使其扬长避短。     

Beyond reason: the philosophy and politics of immigration

In this paper, I critically address the role of arbitrary and contingent features in philosophical debates about migration. These features play a central role, and display the importance of ‘unreason’ in the debate and the limits of rational criticism. Certain elements of political thought have to be taken as given, as essential starting points or indispensable building blocks. As such, they cannot be exposed to rational criticism. Political arrangements such as national borders, nation-states and national identities constitute these building blocks, and justify coercive borders in order to sustain them. If we are to subject these arrangements to critical examination, then we move beyond the limits of liberal political philosophy. I examine theorists who take this kind of approach to the ethics of immigration: Michael Blake, Samuel Scheffler and David Miller. I argue that such approaches ask us to balance arbitrary and contingent features of the political world against the non-contingent moral equality of the migrant. If we are to recognize the migrant as an equal reason-giver in the moral contestation of borders, then we are compelled to theorize beyond these limits, and to theorize instead about a global community of equals, a post-national world made up of transnational belonging.     

The State as Investment Market: A Framework for Interpreting the Post‐Soviet State in Eurasia

What type of state has emerged in post‐Soviet Eurasia, and what kind of theoretical framework can help us understand its behavior and performance? This article argues that we can usefully understand the logic of political and administrative organization in terms of a kind of “investment market.” Access to the state is frequently determined by actual financial payment. Would‐be officials invest in offices to obtain access to a stream of income associated with an office. This framework represents a novel perspective on the post‐Soviet state, which has hitherto either been premised on modernization theory or emphasized a robustly personalistic logic of political organization.     

Semiotizing a product into a brand

A product is simply something that is material or substance of some kind. In order to be transformed into a brand with its own code of meanings and system of rhetorical allusions, it needs to be semiotized. And the marketing and advertising industries have become semioticians in this sense, semiotizing a product by assigning it a name, a visual sign (logo), a system of language forms (slogan, taglines, etc.), and then textualizing the brand by creating appropriate ads and commercials for it. This paper will show how this network of semiotizing events coheres into an overall macrotext to produce the brand as a sign system.     

论视听资料的“查证”

视听资料作为一种证据材料，具有其他物证不能比拟的准确性和可靠性。实践中，因为视听资料容易被伪造或篡改，且不易被人识别，故而作为证据使用时，可以采用必要的方法和手段进行严格的查证，以确保其真实性和可靠性。对视听资料的查证包括检验和审查两个类别，前者是利用科技手段检查视听资料的真实性，后者主要审查视听资料的来源和合法性。     

Spatial voting in non-partisan cities: A case study

In spatial voting theory, voters choose the candidate whose policy preferences are most like their own. This requires that (a) voters and candidates have policy preferences that can be meaningfully summarized in terms of low-dimensional “ideal points” on a left-right scale; (b) voters are able to discern, either directly or through relevant cues, the ideal points of the candidates who are running for office; and (c) voters incorporate this information into the choices they make at the ballot box. Perhaps more than in any other elections, it is not clear that any of these requirements are met in non-partisan municipal elections: policy preferences may not be ideologically structured, information may be inadequate, and voters may choose candidates for reasons other than ideology. This makes non-partisan municipal elections an especially hard test for spatial voting theory. Using novel data from both municipal candidates and eligible voters in a major non-partisan municipal election in Canada, we show that municipal policy attitudes are ideologically structured and that these municipal policy ideal points are strongly related to mayoral and council vote choice. Thus, despite the institutional and informational obstacles, spatial voting can play an important role in non-partisan municipal elections.     

Trading party preferences: the Australian experience of preferential voting

Political parties respond to electoral rules in ways which gain them partisan advantage and enable them to make strategic choices about the use of their electoral support. The alternative vote (AV) and proportional representation by the single transferable vote (STV) provide considerable opportunity for this kind of partisan activity. The ability of the voter under such electoral systems to rank candidates in order of the voter's preference creates a kind of property which can be used by parties, especially minor parties, to influence the behaviour of both candidates and other parties. The paper investigates this aspect of preferential voting systems and the extent to which the context of electoral rules can encourage or discourage a trade in partisan preferences. Elections for the Australian House of Representatives and Senate are used to show how political actors can respond to electoral rules which permit the control and trading of preferences to be developed into a series of sophisticated transactions.