Theorizing the social: Émile Durkheim's theory of force and energy

This paper offers a new interpretation of Émile Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) as the basis for reconsidering the Tarde–Durkheim debate of 1903 and the distinctions between a theory of social force and a theory of social assemblage. Resisting traditional interpretations of Durkheim's scientism, this essay traces how concepts of force and energy are centrally developed in Elementary Forms to draw new lines between epistemology to ontology for twentieth-century theory. I argue that Durkheim develops an ‘energetic epistemology’ that conceives of the human capacity for shared meaning as a product of invested energy in the form of continually enacted and evolving material practice, thought, and attention. According to Durkheim, when a member of a collective perceives a god or feels belief, he or she actually perceives the accumulated energy of on-going creation and maintenance of objects and ideas by members of a collective. Sacred objects, images, and ideas bear the trace of collective energy the more they are carefully crafted, maintained in spaces that are specially arranged, and written into behavioural codes. This reading of Durkheim allows us to consider him in a lineage of social constructivists and, particularly, in relation to Ludwik Fleck, who has been largely confined to different theoretical discussions when his contributions to sociology have been acknowledged at all. By reconsidering Durkheim, we have occasion to rethink his sociology and understand how he redrew the lines between thought and action, between epistemology and ontology, through the material framework of energy and force.     

论亨普尔的科学观

亨普尔的科学观是以逻辑经验主义为其基本立场,以数理逻辑为其科学研究的方法,在此基础上对科学的结构与功能、科学的形成过程及其合理性、进步性的根据进行深入探讨,从而达到进一步改进科学,为科学的发展服务的目的。他的科学观指引他对科学的重要问题进行深入系统逻辑严密的研究,其所有作都是围绕对科学问题的研究展开的。他放宽了经验主义认识观的范围,指出在方法论中对科学目标的解释存在一个从语义的本体论到认识论地相对化的转向,逻辑经验主义认识意义标准具有整体论的倾向;在关于科学合理性问题上他试图融合历史的和逻辑经验主义的观点。     

认真贯彻“发展”的主题

通过对“三个代表”重要思想和十六大报告的深入学习 ,我们要综合把握“发展是执政兴国的第一要务”的重要主题 ,全面认识发展这一战略思想在现代化建设、达小康和三个文明建设中的主导作用 ,牢固树立发展的理念。     

人类审美活动的层次构成与整体性质——兼论我国当前的美学论争

人类审美活动具有分属为不同层次的双重性质 :既是受生理、心理机能影响的智能性活动 ,属于自然层次 ;又是受社会文化影响的精神性活动 ,属于观念层次。自然层次决定了审美活动不同于其他活动的特殊性质 ,使审美具有着全人类性 ;观念层次决定了审美观及审美价值的具体形态 ,必然受到社会文化状况的影响 ,使审美具有着发展性、社会性。审美活动就是由这两大层次交织而成的整体 ,是以非功利认知方式为智能基础的社会精神性活动。仅仅强调实践的社会性或仅仅强调生命的自然性 ,都不能合理说明审美活动的整体性质     

"三界"宇宙观与社会空间的建构——广西那坡县黑衣壮族群空间观念的研究

本文根据文化人类学社会空间建构理论对黑衣壮族群的空间观念加以分析,以民族志资料说明黑衣壮族群的宇宙观为社会成员对空间的划分和赋予意义的行为提供了认知基础,黑衣壮人通过房屋建筑的象征意义、空间方位的确定、生活空间和仪式场所的安排等途径表达出其族群文化中对空间概念的哲理思考。面对急剧的社会经济变迁,黑衣壮人传统的空间观念也在产生变化,体现出黑衣壮人对自身生存状态和文化变迁过程的反思。     

绩效考核对高校教师工作满意度的影响:职业压力的中介作用

在中国高校全面实施校内岗位津贴及配套政策的情境下,探讨绩效考核对教师工 作满意度的影响。大样本调查结果显示,绩效考核对工作满意度的影响有3条路径：绩效考核对工作满意度直接的积极影响;绩效考核通过职业压力的中介作用,间接影响工作满意度;绩效考核通过考核认知的中介作用,影响职业压力,进而影响工作满意度,其中第1条路径的影响最强,第2条路径的影响相对较弱。高校教师这一职业存在高职业满意度、低薪酬满意度并存的现象。     

Incumbent capability enhancement in response to radical innovations

Schumpeterian market disequilibrium marked by entrepreneurial entry and incumbent exit has long held an important place in management literature. The extant literature has overwhelmingly championed the newcomer, despite incumbents' obvious advantages in resources, experience and market knowledge. The current research provides evidence for the effectiveness of the incumbent's strategy of capability enhancement (along an established technological trajectory) while responding to radical technological innovations. We develop a cognitive process model that integrates managerial cognition with capability development and deployment views, depicting the dynamics of the incumbent's capability enhancement process. We analyze the cognitive drivers of organizational actions in all stages (rigidity, triggering event, and capability renewal) and elucidate the role of top management cognition in the processes of detecting and correcting errors in a strategic course of action. We ground our model in the case of a cork-stopper industry veteran's decline as corks ceded ground to screw tops and other stoppers in the wine industry. How a major company fought back in response to the emergence of these, in the industry context, radical technological innovations, provides the basis for our narrative. The proposed theoretical model contributes to literature on technology management (with regard to incumbent strategies in response to radical innovation threats) as well as the role of cognition in strategy (providing an explanation of the cognitive underpinnings of capability development).     

Individual differences in numerical representations of risk in health decision making: A fuzzy-trace theory approach

Fuzzy-trace theory predicts that decisionmakers process numerical information about risk at multiple levels in parallel: the simplest level, nominal (categorical some-none) gist, and at more fine-grained levels, involving relative comparison (ordinal less-more gist) and exact quantities (verbatim representations). However, little is known about how individual differences in these numerical representations relate to judgments and decisions, especially involving health tradeoffs and relative risks. To investigate these differences, we administered measures of categorical and ordinal gist representations of number, objective numeracy, and intelligence in two studies (Ns = 978 and 956). In both studies, categorical and ordinal gist representations of number predicted risk judgments and decisions beyond objective numeracy and intelligence. Participants with higher scores in categorical gist were more likely to choose options to avoid cancer recurrence risks; those who were higher in ordinal gist of numbers were more likely to discriminate relative risk of skin cancer; and those with higher scores in objective numeracy were more likely to choose options that were numerically superior overall in terms of relative risk of skin cancer and of genetic risks of breast cancer (e.g., lower numerical probability of cancer). Results support parallel-processing models that assume multiple representations of numerical information about risk, which vary in precision, and illustrate how individual differences in numerical representations are relevant to tradeoffs and risk comparisons in health decisions. These representations cannot be reduced to one another and explain psychological variations in risk processing that go beyond low versus high levels of objective numeracy.     

Cognitive skills and leadership performance: The nine critical skills

Over the years, a growing body of evidence indicates that certain cognitive skills are a critical determinant of leader performance. In the present effort we show that application of these skills is typically founded in case-based knowledge. Subsequently, we identify nine key skills people in leadership positions employ when working with case-based knowledge to address leadership problems: 1) problem definition, 2) cause/goal analysis, 3) constraint analysis, 4) planning, 5) forecasting, 6) creative thinking, 7) idea evaluation, 8) wisdom, and 9) sensemaking/visioning. Individual and situational contingencies shaping effective application of these thinking skills is discussed. In addition, the implications of findings bearing on leader thinking skills for leader assessment and leader development are considered.