The emergence of ‘realism’ in political theory has the potential to change how we think about the real world of politics.

What should political theory aim to achieve? Mark Philp writes on the emergence of ‘realism’ in political theory and philosophy. While political philosophy has often been dominated by abstract normative debates of the kind epitomised by John Rawls, realism is based on the principle of determining how we should act in less than ideal circumstances. Outlining the main features of political realism, he notes that its growing prominence in debates partly reflects frustration with the intellectually indulgent approach of some political philosophers

Public ethics and political judgment

The idea of providing elected politicians with programmes to increase their awareness of their ethical responsibilities is seen by many representatives and members of the executive as impugning their integrity and their common sense. It is also seen by many politicians as presuming that other (unelected) people are in a better position to know what to do than are representatives who are elected precisely to exercise their judgement on matters of controversy

Justice, realism and family care for the aged

Starting with a particular case of familial care for the aging, the discussion points to the difficulties in deriving practical judgments from ideal theory in cases where there seems to be injustice, but where there are multiple competing dimensions of value and cost. The essay argues that the problems discussed are deeply embedded in modern western cultures, where life expectancy has risen dramatically and has been coupled with a range of other social and demographic changes that make familial care for the aged difficult and burdensome, and where our thinking about justice and rights are integral to the conflicted ways in which people construct and experience these situations, rather than standing independently as a solution to them. The essay argues for a set of partial, limited, and “realist” responses that reduce some elements of burden, without pretending to provide a solution that is in any sense ideal or wholly just. The argument from a case is integral to the essay’s case for realism in moral and political philosophy

Unconventional calling

This is a paper about a quintessential mode of sociability in radical circles in the 1790s–visiting and calling on friends and acquaintance, primarily in each other’s homes. It centres on William Godwin (1756-1836), philosopher, novelist and literary figure, husband of the now more famous Mary Wollstonecraft and thereby father to the still more famous Mary Shelley. Godwin rose to public prominence in the opening years of the French Revolution with his magnum opus, An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793), but his career was a major casualty of the backlash against radicalism after 1798.Godwin made and received a lot of visits–hundreds each year. Although scholars have often referred to his carefully kept Diary their use of it has been relatively impressionistic. In this chapter I want to explore more systematically some of the complexities of domestic visiting, drawing on the digital edition of Godwin’s diary

Archetypes of Footfall Context: Quantifying Temporal Variations in Retail Footfall in relation to Micro-Location Characteristics

The UK retail sector is constantly changing and evolving. The increasing share of online sales and the development of out-of-town retail provision, in conjunction with the 2008–09 economic crisis, have disproportionately impacted high streets and physical retail negatively. Understanding and adapting to these changes is fundamental to the vitality, sustainability and prosperity of businesses, communities and the economy. However, there is a need for better information to support attempts to revitalise UK high streets and retail centres, and advances in sensor technology have made this possible. Footfall provides a commonly used heuristic of retail centre vitality and can be increasingly estimated in automated ways through sensing technology. However, footfall counts are influenced by a range of externalities such as aspects of retail centre function, morphology, connectivity and attractiveness. The key contribution of this paper is to demonstrate how footfall patterns are expressed within the varying context of different retail centre architypes providing both a useful tool for benchmarking and planning; but also making a theoretical contribution to the understanding of retail mobilities. This paper integrates a range of contextual data to develop a classification of footfall sensor locations; producing three representations of sensor micro-locations across Great Britain: chain and comparison retail micro-locations, business and independent micro-locations and value-orientated convenience retail micro-locations. These three groups display distinct daily and weekly footfall magnitudes and distributions, which are attributed to micro-locational differences in their morphology, connectivity and function

Long Intergenic Noncoding RNAs Mediate the Human Chondrocyte Inflammatory Response and Are Differentially Expressed in Osteoarthritis Cartilage

Objective To identify long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), including long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs), antisense RNAs, and pseudogenes, associated with the inflammatory response in human primary osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes and to explore their expression and function in OA. Methods OA cartilage was obtained from patients with hip or knee OA following joint replacement surgery. Non-OA cartilage was obtained from postmortem donors and patients with fracture of the neck of the femur. Primary OA chondrocytes were isolated by collagenase digestion. LncRNA expression analysis was performed by RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Modulation of lncRNA chondrocyte expression was achieved using LNA longRNA GapmeRs (Exiqon). Cytokine production was measured with Luminex. Results RNAseq identified 983 lncRNAs in primary human hip OA chondrocytes, 183 of which had not previously been identified. Following interleukin-1β (IL-1β) stimulation, we identified 125 lincRNAs that were differentially expressed. The lincRNA p50-associated cyclooxygenase 2-extragenic RNA (PACER) and 2 novel chondrocyte inflammation-associated lincRNAs (CILinc01 and CILinc02) were differentially expressed in both knee and hip OA cartilage compared to non-OA cartilage. In primary OA chondrocytes, these lincRNAs were rapidly and transiently induced in response to multiple proinflammatory cytokines. Knockdown of CILinc01 and CILinc02 expression in human chondrocytes significantly enhanced the IL-1-stimulated secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Conclusion The inflammatory response in human OA chondrocytes is associated with widespread changes in the profile of lncRNAs, including PACER, CILinc01, and CILinc02. Differential expression of CILinc01 and CIinc02 in hip and knee OA cartilage, and their role in modulating cytokine production during the chondrocyte inflammatory response, suggest that they may play an important role in mediating inflammation-driven cartilage degeneration in OA