L’usage de la notion d’ontologie dans la philosophie politique de Charles Taylor

Charles Taylor suggère aux philosophes politiques un retour à la discussion ontologique. Il faut, selon lui, retourner aux fondements des prescriptions politiques et discuter des valeurs qui guident constitutivement nos choix. Cette suggestion trouve son origine dans la conception de l’horizon de signification que défend C. Taylor. Pourtant, cette conception ne permet pas de comprendre comment les valeurs contraignent moralement les êtres humains, sauf si on lui juxtapose l’idée d’instinct moral qui ne se justifie qu’a posteriori, c’est-à-dire en regard d’une certaine nécessité.Charles Taylor argues that political philosophers should discuss ontological propositions. To explain how constitutive goods guide our choices, we must focus debate on the foundations of political advocacies. In fact, C. Taylor's "inescapable framework" conception leads to this proposition. This conception is, however, unable to account for the moral constraint which exists within political communities without supposing a moral instinct. The latter seems to get an a posteriori justification, i.e. stands in the explanation as an unfounded necessity

Éléments de pensée politique autochtone contemporaine

En parallèle avec les luttes politiques menées par les différents peuples autochtones au Canada et dans le monde au cours des trente dernières années, il s’est développé un discours dans lequel je veux reconnaître ici une « pensée politique autochtone contemporaine ». Cette pensée obtient aujourd’hui une réception qui, il y a encore dix ans, était inimaginable. Cela dit, la pensée politique autochtone contemporaine est encore marginalisée dans la production de recherche canadienne et elle est, de surcroît, très peu connue dans le monde francophone. Cet article vise à contribuer à combler ces deux lacunes en présentant une étude exploratoire d’un pan de la littérature politique autochtone des trente dernières années. En abordant systématiquement les écrits de Howard Adams, de Taiaiake Alfred, d’Olive P. Dickason, de Daniel N. Paul et de Georges E. Sioui, cette étude vise à identifier et à analyser les thèmes organisateurs de cette littérature et à explorer le sens et les limites de l’unité de ce mouvement de pensée contemporain. De manière complémentaire, il s’agit d’explorer l’éclairage nouveau que ce dernier offre sur la relation entre vérité et politique qui caractérise l’Occident.In relation to political struggles led by Aboriginal peoples in Canada and elsewhere in the last thirty years, a coherent new stream of thought has developed that can be identified as a “contemporary Aboriginal political thought.” Today, that discourse is largely being heard in a variety of forums, including social, governmental, and academic spheres. That being said, contemporary Aboriginal political thought is still marginalized in the academia in Canada, and it is very little known in the Francophonie. By offering a preliminary study of Aboriginal political literature of the past thirty years, this article aims to contribute to filling such gaps. By way of a close reading of the work of Aboriginal authors Howard Adams, Taiaiake Alfred, Olive P. Dickason, Daniel N. Paul, and Georges E. Sioui, this study engages with the major themes of that literature, and further explores the signification and limitations of the coherence of that contemporary stream of thought. In the end, the results of the study shed a new light upon the relationship between politics and the concept of truth in Western thought

The effects of additions of urea and sulfate sulfur to corn silage at varying stages of maturity used for the production of market beef heifers in Tennessee

One hundred and twenty medium grade heifers were involved in a three-year study of the production of market beef heifers fed urea, limestone and/or sulfur treated corn silage cut at various stages of maturity. The heifers were full fed silage for approximately 116 days and then full fed grain for approximately 74 days or until they reached a condition grade of low good to average good. Each year 40 heifers were uniformly lotted into eight lots on the basis of weight and type and condition grades. The heifers were fed four treatments with two lots per treatment and 28 day weights were recorded throughout the trial. The heifers were graded and subjec-tively evaluated at the beginning and end of both the silage and con-centrate phases. At the completion of the concentrate phase the heifers were sold to a packing plant and carcass data were obtained. In 1968 and 1969 there was no significant difference (P\u3c.05) in ADG of the heifers when fed urea-limestone treated com silage harvested at three stages of maturity. The results also showed no significant difference (P\u3c.05) in ADG, feed consumption and total ADM per pound of gain when sodium sulfate was added to the urea-limestone treated corn silage to maintain a 12:1 nitrogen to sulfur ratio. During the three-year study (1968-70) there were no significant carryover effects (P\u3c.05) from the silage phase to the concentrate phase due to the addition of urea, limestone and sulfur to green chop at ensiling time. In 1970 one of the four treatments of silage contained 20 pounds of urea, 10 pounds of limestone and 3 pounds of sodium sulfate per ton of green chop. The additional 3 pounds of sulfur was added to maintain a nitrogen to sulfur ratio of approximately 12:1, None of the results showed any significant difference (P\u3c.05) due to the additional urea and/or sulfur. There were no significant differences in carcass data results due to the treatment effects of the silage

Cares Act Gimmicks: How Not to Give People Money During a Pandemic and What to Do Instead

The coronavirus pandemic upturned Americans\u27 lives. Within the first few weeks, millions of Americans reported being laid off from their jobs. Other people were working reduced hours or were working remotely from home. Children\u27s daycares and schools closed, and parents were thrown into new roles as educators and full-time babysitters, while, in some instances, also continuing to work full-time jobs. The profound financial effects caused by even a few weeks of the coronavirus\u27 upheaval spurred Congress to pass the CARES Act, which purported to provide economic relief to individuals and businesses. For individuals, the CARES Act includes five provisions that were effectively designed to provide people money: a direct payment in the form of a tax rebate, enhanced employment benefits, additional paid sick leave, a limited mortgage foreclosure and eviction moratorium, and temporary suspension of some student loan payments. Of these provisions, the direct payment and enhanced employment benefits were the two touted as centerpieces of the CARES Act and the two most likely to aid the majority of American households. Ultimately, this financial support will prove to be shockingly minimal. The direct payments represent a fraction of the average American households\u27 monthly budget. It also quickly became apparent that the payments were unlikely to reach most people within any sort of useful timeframe, and that once they did, they could be garnished immediately by debt collectors and even banks themselves. The unemployment benefits, while providing people with more money over several months, required that people be laid off and similarly were unlikely to reach people quickly enough to be effective. These corner pieces of the CARES Act are best understood as gimmicks. Through them, the federal government told people that it would take care of them in ways that were immediately salient to them as the coronavirus crisis began. People\u27s wages decreased at the exact time they were spending more money to stock up on supplies. The CARES Act promised to send people small checks and augment unemployment benefits. Americans very soon began to discover that these promises would do little to help them survive the coming months of financial and social upheaval. It also became quickly apparent to at least some lawmakers that Congress would need to pass at least one additional stimulus package. And with projections that the pandemic could last for twelve to eighteen months,it seems that Congress may have several more opportunities to craft legislation that actually will help American families survive the pandemic. This legislation must provide people with true funding to stay current with their minimum necessary expenses as these expenses are incurred. In this Essay, we discuss the gimmicks of the CARES Act\u27s individual provisions and what Congress should do for people in future bills to address this pandemic. If done right, helping individuals will cost the government more than $2 trillion next time, and the time after that, and possibly the time after that. And, if done right, it will be worth every penny

La culture contemporaine du powwow chez les nations autochtones de l’est canadien

Le powwow compte parmi les pratiques culturelles les plus importantes de l’autochtonie nord-américaine, et constitue une pratique artistique en pleine expansion : alors que le powwow existe depuis le XIXe siècle dans le sud-ouest des États-Unis, de nombreuses communautés du sud-est canadien (essentiellement dans les provinces de l’Ontario et du Québec) ont investi cette forme culturelle dans les dernières décennies. L’étude présentée dans ce texte se penche sur ce phénomène des powwows du sud-est canadien, en s’attardant à la fois à la dimension de transferts culturels qui le définit, et à la dimension politique qui y est sous-jacente. Nous nous pencherons pour ce faire sur la définition et les influences autochtones aux origines du powwow contemporain, sur la géographie de ce que les praticiens qualifient de « retour des traditions, et sur la structuration géocultu­relle des powwows du sud-est, parmi lesquels nous distinguerons le powwow ojibway (région ontarienne du nord des Grands Lacs), le powwow haudenosaune (péninsule de Niagara et vallée du Saint-Laurent), et le powwow est-algonquien (Outaouais, Haute Mauricie, Lac Saint-Jean).The modern powwow is a landmark of Indigenous North American cultures, and has been attracting a growing number of practitioners over the past century. Finding its origins in the rituals of warriors’ societies of the Southwest in the 19th century, the practice has in the past few decades extended to communities situated in eastern Canada (south of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec). This study focuses on contemporary powwows in eastern Canada, with emphasis on the cultural transfers component of the phenomenon, as well as its underlying political dimension. We will address the following: a definition of modern powwow and of its constitutive influences; a geographical account of the powwow based of what powwow practitioners call “the return to the tradition”; a geo-cultural map of eastern Canadian powwows, including the Ojibway powwow (Ontario and north of the Great lakes), the Haudenosaune powwow (Niagara peninsula and Saint-Laurence Valley), and the Algonquian powwow (Ottawa river Valley, Haute-Mauricie, Lac Saint-Jean)

The Folly of Credit as Pandemic Relief

Within weeks of the coronavirus pandemic appearing in the United States, the American economy came to a grinding halt. The unprecedented modern health crisis and the collapsing economy forced Congress to make a critical choice about how to help families survive financially. Congress had two basic options. It could enact policies that provided direct and meaningful financial support to people, without the necessity of later repayment. Or it could pursue policies that temporarily relieved people from their financial obligations but required that they eventually pay amounts subject to payment moratoria later. In passing the CARES Act, Congress primarily chose the second option. This option reflects a belief that offering people credit can bring them meaningful relief because it assumes that people will have the ability to pay back the loan as it becomes due. The assumption that people will be able to repay credit masquerading as “relief” in the wake of the pandemic is a serious error that will have enduring negative consequences. In short, Congress got the balance between providing true money versus what amount to credit products to people fundamentally backwards. But given that, unfortunately, the effects of the pandemic likely will continue for months, if not years, it is not too late for Congress to adopt a family financial well-being approach to relief that provides meaningful, widespread, and expanded direct payments to households in distress

The Debt Collection Pandemic

To curb the rapid spread of the coronavirus set to overwhelm the United States\u27 healthcare system, in mid-March 2020, the federal government declared a national emergency. Many states followed suit by implementing shelter-at-home orders and people began social distancing across America. As of this writing, the United States\u27 reaction to the unique and alarming threat of COVID 19 has partially succeeded in slowing the virus\u27s spread. Saving people\u27s lives, however, has come at a severe economic cost. Economic activity plummeted. Unemployment numbers soured to figures not seen since the Great Depression and countless other people saw their income disappear. Americans\u27 economic anxiety has understandably spiked. With no end in sight to the crisis, people have feared they would be unable to meet their basic expenses, such as buying food and paying for utilities. Those who have lost their jobs also now have had to find money to pay for health insurance. And car, house, and rent payments would be coming due soon and then again every month, regardless of whether people still had income. These worries were more acute among minority communities and lower-income households, who already faced concerns about their financial stability before the crisis. People\u27s anxieties about money have necessarily included what might happen if they could not cover already outstanding debts. In addition to auto loans and mortgages, debts like credit cards, medical bills, student loans, and past-due taxes are high on the minds of many households. If people defaulted on any of these debts, creditors and debt collectors could garnish their bank accounts and wages, repossess their cars, and foreclose on their homes and other property. The nearly 70 million Americans with debts already in collection are facing heightened anxiety about their inability to pay. As with people\u27s worries about money generally, these fears continue to be more acute for communities of color. Black and Latinx Americans are sued by creditors and debt collectors more often than others, and lawsuits against them are more likely to end with default judgments that lead to garnishments. They also are subject to heightened policing that saddles them with parking tickets, court fees, and other government debts that force them into modem-day debtors\u27 prison. The coronavirus pandemic is set to metastasize into a debt collection pandemic. The federal government can and should do something to put a halt to debt collection until people can get back to work and earn money to pay their debts. Yet it has done nothing to help people deal with their debts. Instead, states have tried to solve issues with debt collection in a myriad of patchwork and inconsistent ways. These efforts help some people and are worthwhile. But more efficient and comprehensive solutions exist. Because American families\u27 finances are unlikely to recover as soon as the crisis ends, debt collection brought by the COVID-19 crisis also will not dissipate anytime soon. Even after the crisis ends, the need to implement comprehensive, longer-lasting solutions will remain. As we detail below, these solutions largely fall on the shoulders of the federal government, though state attorney generals have the necessary power to help people effectively. If the government continues on its present course, a debt collection pandemic will follow the coronavirus pandemic

Value at Risk Determination of Complex Financial Assets Portfolio

Import 11/07/2012Předložená práce se zabývá stanovením ukazatele Value at Risk. Cílem práce bylo určit tuto hodnotu v riziku pro komplexní portfolio finančních aktiv. Využita byla metodika RiskMetrics, její postupy a předpoklady. V první kapitole jsou představeny obecné přístupy k měření rizika. Popsány jsou statistické ukazatele, míry rizika opcí, míry úrokového rizika zejména obligace, obecné faktorové modely, význam stresového testování či pravidel BASEL. Druhá část je věnovaná popisu postupu stanovení VaR dle obecných přístupů a dle Risk Metrics. V poslední části je pak tento postup aplikován. Je stanoveno portfolio složené ze dvou druhů akcií, měnového kurzu a obligace. Je použit postup RiskMetrics pro stanovení budoucích cash flow, naplánován budoucí rozptyl a kovariance aktiv pomocí modelu EWMA a s využitím Brownova geometrického pohybu s pomocí simulace Monte Carlo je zjištěna budoucí cena akcie. Po úpravách vstupních hodnot je pomocí metody směrodatné odchylky a korelace zjištěna velikost ukazatele VaR v českých korunách na hladině významnosti 0,05 a v horizontu jednoho dne. Na závěr jsou provedeny modifikace výpočtu a stanoveno doporučení pro změnu struktury portfolia.The submitted thesis deals with determination of the indicator of value at risk. The aim of this thesis was to determine the Value at Risk for a complex portfolio of financial assets. RiskMetrics methodology was used, its procedures and assumptions. The first part presents general approaches to risk measurement. Statistical indicators of the risk of options, interest rate risk especially for bonds, common factor models, importance of stress testing or Basel regulations are described. The second part includes description of VaR establishment using general approaches and then according to RiskMetrics. In the last part the described process is applied. A portfolio composed of two types of shares, bond and exchange rate is established. RiskMetrics procedure is used for the determination of future cash flow, future variance and covariance of assets are planned using EWMA model and future stock price is found using the geometric Brownian motion with Monte Carlo simulation. After adjustments of the input values, the VaR at significance level of 0.05 and a one-day horizon is computed by using the standard deviations and correlations. In conclusion, modifications are made to the calculation and recommendations for change in the structure of the portfolio are established.154 - Katedra financívýborn

La république de Weimar et l’espace

Ce texte part de l’hypothèse que la question de la spatialité s’est posée de manière aiguë et profonde dans la pensée allemande de la première moitié du XXe siècle, et ce au-delà des cercles intellectuels nazifiants. Dans un premier temps, le texte se penche sur les méditations de Heidegger sur l’espace, en particulier celles que l’on retrouve dans les cours des années 1929-1930. Il fait ensuite une incursion dans la pensée de l’espace d’Edmund Husserl, que l’on retrouve dans une série de notes atypiques des années 1930. Il propose enfin une discussion des notions de prise de terres et de nomos développées par Schmitt dans Der Nomos der Erde. Il s’agit par là, en dégageant une problématique politique de l’espace qui serait commune à ces auteurs, de commencer cette tâche ardue de dégager les éléments pour une analyse nomotique du monde politique contemporain.This paper poses the hypothesis that the question of “spatiality” has been a steady preoccupation and was at the heart of the German thought during the first half of the 20th Century, and well beyond the Nazi intellectual circles. First, I explore Heidegger’s meditations on space, especially those that are found in his courses in 1929 and 1930. Second, I move on to Edmund Husserl’s thought on space, as appears in very a-typical notes taken in the 1930’s. Third, I discuss the notion of “space appropriation” and “nomos” (the fundamental act of partition) as developed by Carl Schmitt in Der Nomos der Erde. In trying to see a common political thesis of space with these philosophers, I put up to task the project of finding the elements that could enable us to do a nomotic analysis of the contemporary world