DAOISM AS CRITICAL THEORY

Classical philosophical Daoism as it is expressed in the Dao-De-Jing and the Zhuang-Zi is often interpreted as lacking a capacity for critique and resistance. Since these capacities are taken to be central components of Enlightenment reason and action, it would follow that Daoism is incompatible with Enlightenment. This interpretation is being refuted by way of developing a constructive dialogue between the enlightenment traditions of critical theory and recent philosophy of action from a Daoist perspective. Daoism\u27s normative naturalism does neither rest on a primitivist call for a return to the past, nor does it suggest future-directed activism. By way of reconstructing its descriptive, explanatory and emancipatory dimensions, it is shown that Daoism constitutes an alternative form of critical theory. In contrast to future-directed purposive action or blind rule-following, Daoism\u27s key normative concept of wu-wei emphasizes effortless non-calculative responsiveness in the present. Drawing on recent insights in the philosophy of action, a reconstruction of wu-wei allows to conceive of a promising form of emancipatory agency

Neutral Backward Stochastic Functional Differential Equations and Their Application

In this paper we are concerned with a new type of backward equations with anticipation which we call neutral backward stochastic functional differential equations. We obtain the existence and uniqueness and prove a comparison theorem. As an application, we discuss the optimal control of neutral stochastic functional differential equations, establish a Pontryagin maximum principle, and give an explicit optimal value for the linear optimal control

Maximum Principle for Optimal Control of Neutral Stochastic Functional Differential Systems

In this paper, the optimal control problem of neutral stochastic functional differential equation (NSFDE) is discussed. A class of so-called neutral backward stochastic functional equations of Volterra type (VNBSFEs) are introduced as the adjoint equation. The existence and uniqueness of VNBSFE is established. The Pontryagin maximum principle is constructed for controlled NSFDE with Lagrange type cost functional

Leave No Charter Behind: An Authorizer Guide to the Use of Growth Data

The purpose of this brief is to guide the reader in the effective use of data for measuring student academic growth. It explores the use of different measurement models in school accountability systems. While targeted to the authorizers of charter schools, the brief is helpful to anyone who evaluates the performance of a portfolio of schools