Reasoning in a Multicultural Society

Multicultural society as a way of being-with-others needs a certain form of public reasoning. Unfortunately, the current yet dominant form of public reasoning is infiltrated by biases from occidental culture. This mode of reasoning does nothing but uproot participants from their cultural identity for the sake of universal consensus. Multicultural society, however, consists of identities which are embedded in the individuals' cultural tradition. This sociological fact demands a richer form of rationality that does not deny the multiplicity of cultural values and embedded identities. We need a form of public reasoning which emphasizes cultural understanding rather than abstract consensus. We might call it a multicultural, contextualized and other-regarding form of public reason

Serbian Orthodoxy Between Two Worlds

Orthodoxy has, by the Providence of God, been placed between Western Christianity, and Sunni Islam. Church nationalism (phyletism) has always been present in political and linguistic nationalism in the former Yugoslavia. The relationship between Serbian Orthodoxy, with Islam and Western Christianity is not satisfactory. In order to become satisfactory, it would be important for the Orthodox Church to create a new theology which would, primarily, be a theological (Orthodox) response to the signs of the times. However, this has not become the reality as of yet

Economic Freedom as Political Virtue: An Insight from the Perspective of Value Pluralism

This paper considers the market process as the essence and intrinsic core of liberal democracy. It disentangles market means from welfare ends and recognises the importance, constitutional status and independent stand of the former. Freedom is placed in the same categories as rights. Each constitutional right is protected not because it is efficient, useful or self-executable. On the contrary, rights are protected as a matter of evolutionary choice, as a matter of public principle, as an ethical rather than a practical value.Economic freedom usually leads to success. Its successfulness however sometimes transforms into its biggest enemy. Economic prosperity is a category which can find supporters more rapidly than the notion of economic freedom does. Therefore the latter is often perceived as a means to reach former. The main argument of this paper is that freedom itself loses its internal legitimacy if it is constantly subordinated to the tangible outcomes which it can eventually generate. Freedom can generate welfare, indeed, but welfare maximisation is neither an unconditional nor a quintessential feature of freedom. Freedom must be perceived as a driving force for entrepreneurial discovery, and a prerequisite to democracy, rather than as a mere component of the economic success. Freedom cannot be seen as purely rational, predictable and calculable

Bridging the Gap Between Organisational Needs and ERP Functionality

International audienceWe argue that ERP installations are difficult to align to specific requirements of the enterprise because of the low level at which ERP functionality is described. We raise this level from a functional description to a goal-oriented one. We use SAP R/3 to illustrate this. A SAP goal expresses the task that a SAP function carries out and abstracts away from the performance of this task. Since a SAP goal can be achieved in many ways, we introduce the notion of SAP strategies. We organise goals and strategies as a directed graph called a map. We illustrate the map with the Materials Management Module of SAP. In order to evaluate and compare the use of the map with the functional approach, we develop an evaluation framework. The evaluation and comparison is presented. The materials management map is then used to align the SAP module to the stores and purchase department of an academic institute

Some Remarks to the Future of the Social Dialogue in the Hungarian Constitutional System

In October 2008 the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional certain provisions of the drafts on National Council for the Reconciliation of Interests and on Council of Social Dialogue on Branch Level. In my opinion with this decision an era of the social dialogue ended, but without elaboration of a new concept

Argumentation topoi and South Africa\u27s Truth and Reconciliation Committee

The Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) is a constitutional body dealing with South Africa\u27s history of human rights abuses. A commitment to forms of religio-political language is evident in the stories presented to the TRC and in subsequent repo rts. The relationship between this religio-political language and a moral civil society is explored by analysing religious topoi in discourses reflecting the TRC\u27s activities. Religious justification and evaluation of actions are not noticeable whilst m oral implications and assessment are often left implicit. Possibly there is continuation rather than intervention in the value systems generating these topoi

Evidence, Persuasion and Diversity

My topic is the theme of the E-OSSA 12 conference, namely Evidence, Persuasion and Diversity. I will present relevant material from a selection of Canadian legal cases, along with background information as needed and commentary. My primary focus will be on two landmark Supreme Court of Canada cases—an Aboriginal law case and a case that was both a constitutional law case and a criminal law case.  Mon sujet est le thème de la conférence E-OSSA 12, à savoir La preuve, la persuasion et la diversité. Je présenterai des documents pertinents tirés d'une sélection de procès juridiques canadiens, ainsi que des renseignements généraux au besoin et des commentaires. Je me concentrerai principalement sur deux affaires historiques de la Cour suprême du Canada - une affaire de droit autochtone et une affaire qui était à la fois une affaire de droit constitutionnel et une affaire de droit pénal