Popper, Objectification, and the Problem of the Public Sphere

Shearmur argues for the importance of Popper’s ideas about World 3, and against the idea that they should be re-interpreted in social terms. However, he also argues for the importance of Popper’s ideas about methodological rules—and that these may be given a partially social interpretation. The content of our ideas may in consequence differ from what we take it to be, as a consequence of our institutions and practices operating as methodological rules. He also explores related ideas about the interplay between World 3 and social factors in connection with Darnton’s ideas about the book and work that has built on it, and related issues about the public sphere and the problem of effective deliberative feedback on public policy

L’évolution spatiale de l’emploi dans la région métropolitaine de Montréal, 1981-1996

Un des principaux thèmes de la littérature urbaine contemporaine porte sur la répartition intramétropolitaine des activités économiques. Dans les métropoles nord-américaines, la phase la plus récente de la décentralisation de l'emploi a donné lieu aux « centre-villes périphériques » ou «  edge cities  » qui sont souvent en compétition directe avec le centre-ville traditionnel. Dans un premier temps, cette recherche examine l'ampleur de la décentralisation de l'emploi entre 1981 et 1996 dans la région métropolitaine de Montréal. Dans un deuxième temps, nous analysons la nature de la décentralisation observée : la reconcentration de l'emploi dans un nombre restreint de pôles d'emploi (polycentricité) ou une dispersion généralisée («  scatteration  »). Notre analyse utilise des données portant sur le nombre d'emplois selon le lieu d'emploi des secteurs de recensement. Nos résultats indiquent que, bien que la décentralisation existe à Montréal, elle est de nature polycentrique plutôt que dispersée, même si la dispersion généralisée semble caractériser plusieurs métropoles américaines.A major theme in contemporary urban literature concerns the intrametropolitan distribution of economic activities. In North American metropolitan areas, the most recent phase of post-WWII employment decentralisation has culminated in the creation of « suburban downtowns » or « edge cities » that are often direct competitors to the CBD. In this paper, we first examine the extent to which Montréal has undergone a decentralisation of employment over the period 1981-1996, then attempt to determine whether the observed decentralisation involves a reconcentration in a limited number of employment poles (polycentricity) or a more generalised dispersion (scatteration). Our analysis is based upon place-of-work employment data at the census tract level. The results indicate that decentralisation is indeed a reality in Montréal, and that it tends to be of a polycentric nature, rather than the more widely dispersed form that appears to be characterizing many U.S. metropolitan areas

Reassessing Britain’s ‘post-war consensus’: the politics of reason 1945–1979

Since the late-1970s, scholars have been engaged in a vibrant debate about the nature of post-war British politics. While some writers have suggested that the three decades that succeeded the Second World War witnessed a bi-partisan consensus on key policy questions, others have argued that it was conflict, not agreement, that marked the period. This article offers a novel contribution to this controversy by drawing attention to the epistemological beliefs of the Labour and Conservative parties. It argues that once these beliefs are considered, it becomes possible to reconcile some of the competing claims made by proponents and critics of the ‘post-war consensus’ thesis. Labour and Conservative leaders may have been wedded to different beliefs, but they also shared a common enthusiasm for empiricist reasoning and were both reluctant to identify fixed political ‘ends’ that they sought to realise. Consequently, they were both committed to evolutionary forms of change, and they eschewed the notion that any social or political arrangement was of universal value

A Philosophically Plausible Formal Interpretation of Intuitionistic Logic

This study addresses the mediating role of settlement patterns in the relationship between urbanization and start-up activity. Places do not operate in a vacuum and to understand the effect of 'own' density on start-up patterns, we need to account for the urban spillovers or borrowed size that they may experience from other places nearby. The results can explain the empirical ambiguity in the relationship between urbanization and start-up patterns: the relationship between urbanization and start-up rates becomes more similar between countries when controlling for country-specific settlement patterns by including a spatially lagged urbanization variable and variables measuring the distance to urban centers. Accounting for the relative location of places and relevant sorting effects, we find that 'own' density has a consistently negative effect on start-up activity. Yet, access to other places has a generally positive effect. This implies that nearby regions profit from the advantages offered by urban environments without having to deal with the costs involved

Friedrich Hayek and his visits to Chile

F. A. Hayek took two trips to Chile, the first in 1977, the second in 1981. The visits were controversial. On the first trip he met with General Augusto Pinochet, who had led a coup that overthrew Salvador Allende in 1973. During his 1981 visit, Hayek gave interviews that were published in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio and in which he discussed authoritarian regimes and the problem of unlimited democracy. After each trip, he complained that the western press had painted an unfair picture of the economic situation under the Pinochet regime. Drawing on archival material, interviews, and past research, we provide a full account of this controversial episode in Hayek’s life