8,669 research outputs found
LAJOS JĂNOSSYâS REFORMULATION OF RELATIVITY THEORY IN THE CONTEXTS OF âDIALECTICAL MATERIALISMâ AND TRADITIONAL SCIENTIFIC RATIONALISM
The late Hungarian physicist Lajos JĂĄnossy is respected in international physics first of all for his results achieved in the field of cosmic radiations, but his work in the alternative, Lorentzian tradition of relativity theory is also of historical importance. As an adopted son
of the Hungarian Marxist philosopher, Georg LukĂĄcs, he was socialised in a left-wing spirit. He formulated a philosophical criticism of Einsteinâs theory in terms of dialectical materialism in the 1950s and 1960s. In contrast to the new Soviet thesis valid in Soviet ideology
from 1955, he insisted that the positivist, Machian epistemological foundation determinatively influenced the physical level of Einsteinâs relativity theory and distorted its real physical meaning. He also rejected the anti-commonsense character of Einsteinâs new concepts
of space and time and argued for the necessity of a commonsense-conform physics. However, in contrast to the Soviet critics of relativity theory of the Stalinist period, JĂĄnossy never used ideology to destroy the scientific authenticity of Einsteinâs theory, but, accepting the Einsteinian-Lorentzian mathematics as one of the great achievements of the history of physics, he announced and successfully implemented a positive program of a commonsense-conform, non-positivist, Lorentz-based reformulation of the theory. The socialcultural background of JĂĄnossyâs reformulation of relativity theory is characterised by the strain of two contradictory elements: on the one hand, his left wing, Marxist commitment,on the other, his socialization in Western, âbourgeoisâ science and culture. Through a Marxist, âdialectical materialistâ criticism of the positivist, Machian aspects of Einsteinâs theory as well as through his work for a commonsenseâconform physics, JĂĄnossy defended not only Marxism but also the classical tradition of scientific rationalism as an essential element of European culture
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Economies of signs in writing for academic publication: the case of English Medium âNationalâ Journals
The centrality of publishing in academic journals to academic knowledge work globally is largely taken as a given. Publishing is a defining aspect of scholarsâ labour in the academic world, tied to both current and possible future material conditions in which they/we work. The aim of this paper is to focus on one part of this knowledge work, the production of English medium ânationalâ journals in local contexts where English is not the official or widely used medium of communication yet where English, in a global context, is increasingly viewed as the âacademic lingua franca.â The paper begins by outlining the longitudinal study from which this focus emerged, followed by a discussion of case studies of four English medium ânationalâ journals in the field of psychology located in four southern and central European national contexts: Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and Portugal. I argue that a focus on the specific phenomenon of EMN journals brings into sharp relief the nature and workings of the dominant knowledge economy and also illustrates the ways in which some of the key ideological values, including a market model of academic knowledge production, are to some extent being challenged. A goal of this paper is to explore this particular fragment of the academic knowledge making worldâwhat scholars are doing, why and under what conditions âto illustrate the need for closer scrutiny of the practices surrounding academic production and to open up debate about what kind of practices we want to be involved in and why
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Prison and university: a tale of two institutions?
For many years prisons have had a reputation as universities of crime providing novice criminals with opportunities to learn from more experienced criminals. Over the last 20 years, as prison populations have grown there has been a simultaneous expansion of university places and of courses specialising in studying crime. Academic criminology has experienced rapid growth with some suggesting that there are more students studying criminology now than sociology. There have never been more criminology courses on offer, or institutions offering them. Amidst this growth, there are indications that there are significant numbers of criminologists with more personal experiences of both crime and prison, combining experience of the Academy and its poorer relation at the opposite end of the social structure. What accompanies the transition from crime and prison to criminology and university? The instrumental relationships between prisons and criminology are notorious, long-standing and controversial, but rarely examined at the personal level. In this paper the author reflects on such an experience of prison, conducting research, studying and teaching criminology. The intention is to foster a reflexive exploration of relations, both institutional and structural as well as personal, between prison and university
The Spanish Gitanos of Mexico City: Rhythmicity, Mimesis and Domestication of the Payos
This text addresses a tentative approach to groups in Mexico such as the Roma, who remain poorly known. The analysis focuses on problematizing the particular cultural and economic reproduction strategies of an urban group of Gitanos
(CalĂłs) in Mexico City. Greater attention is placed particularly onthe performance and the mimesis in economic exchange with the Payos (non-Gitanos). The idea is that the processes of cultural identification refer to the basic CalĂł social universe, which reveals epistemological beliefs and assumptions shared by the group in relation to the
Payo universe. The idea is that the CalĂłs construct idealized models of the real world during everyday experience in the ecological context within the community. Instead, it relates to the direct perceptual involvement of subjects in a relational context of
shared patterns of daily activities in environments that are experienced. The effect is the domestication of the Payoâs world
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Evaluating LEADER: canonical, endogenous and systemic learning
In this paper, we touch on a key theme in rural overnance 'the reconciliation of centralised procedures and the embedded institutions of rural society â through the lens of the evaluation procedures embedded in the European LEADER programme. LEADER is in many ways a highly
devolved European initiative, true to its origins as a progressive rural laboratory in terms of innovation, stakeholder engagement, social learning and systemic methodology for addressing rural needs. The design and operationalisation of national and local LEADER programmes and projects is tailored to local circumstances, and aims to direct LEADER funding to local needs while building the institutional and social capital that underpins successful rural development. Yet while the delivery of LEADER embraces heterogeneity, programmatic evaluation is centralised and learning at the national and local level is subservient to the need to defend the LEADER approach in
Brussels. This requires evaluation to be held at arms length from delivery organisations, even though there is evidence that where local evaluative capacity is robust, centralised evaluation is enhanced.
This paper reviews progress to date on improving the canonical forms of evaluation employed in LEADER, based on cumulative feedback from previous iterations of the programme. We then consider alternative evaluation traditions that engage with endogenous capacity for sense making,and the extent to which they might be taken up within LEADER. We conclude by proposing that more attention needs to be paid to institutionalisation of systemic evaluation within LEADER,which could engage with a much wider range of perspectives in rural development, across different scales of governance and national and regional contexts. This would require the reconciliation
canonical and endogenous forms of evaluation, but would align LEADER evaluation with the values and methods embodied in the rest of the programme
On some Symmetry Axioms in Relativity Theories
In this paper we review two symmetry axioms of special relativity and their
connections to each other together with their role in some famous predictions
of relativity theory, such as time dilation, length contraction, and the twin
paradox. We also discuss briefly counterparts of these symmetry axioms in
general relativity and formulate a conjecture, namely that without them the
axioms of general relativity would capture general relativistic spacetimes only
up to conformal equivalence.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur
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