The Reality of Relations the REALITY of RELATIONS Abstract
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Renewable Energy Partnerships in Development Cooperation: Towards a Relational Theory of Technical Assistance
Sustainability Research Institute SCHOOL OF EARTH AND ENVIRONMENT Renewable energy partnerships in development cooperation: Towards a relational theory of technical assistance Lena J. Kruckenberg January 2015 Sustainability Research Institute Paper No. 77 Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy Working Paper No. 200 SRI PAPERS SRI Papers (Online) ISSN 1753-1330 A later version of this paper is forthcoming in Energy Policy: Kruckenberg, L.J., 2015. Renewable energy partnerships in development cooperation: Towards a relational understanding of technical assistance. Energy Policy, 77, 11–20. Doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2014.11.004 First published in 2015 by the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) Sustainability Research Institute (SRI), School of Earth and Environment, The University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)113 3436461 Fax: +44 (0)113 3436716 Email: [email protected] Web-site: http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/sri About the Sustainability Research Institute The Sustainability Research Institute conducts internationally recognised, academically excellent and problem-oriented interdisciplinary research and teaching on environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability. We draw on various social and natural science disciplines, including ecological economics, environmental economics, political science, policy studies, development studies, business and management, geography, sociology, science and technology studies, ecology, environmental science and soil science in our work. The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP) brings together some of the world's leading researchers on climate change economics and policy, from many different disciplines. It was established in 2008 and its first phase ended on 30 September 2013. Its second phase commenced on 1 October 2013. -
Relations in Categories
Relations in Categories Stefan Milius A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Program in Mathematics and Statistics York University Toronto, Ontario June 15, 2000 Abstract This thesis investigates relations over a category C relative to an (E; M)-factori- zation system of C. In order to establish the 2-category Rel(C) of relations over C in the first part we discuss sufficient conditions for the associativity of horizontal composition of relations, and we investigate special classes of morphisms in Rel(C). Attention is particularly devoted to the notion of mapping as defined by Lawvere. We give a significantly simplified proof for the main result of Pavlovi´c,namely that C Map(Rel(C)) if and only if E RegEpi(C). This part also contains a proof' that the category Map(Rel(C))⊆ is finitely complete, and we present the results obtained by Kelly, some of them generalized, i. e., without the restrictive assumption that M Mono(C). The next part deals with factorization⊆ systems in Rel(C). The fact that each set-relation has a canonical image factorization is generalized and shown to yield an (E¯; M¯ )-factorization system in Rel(C) in case M Mono(C). The setting without this condition is studied, as well. We propose a⊆ weaker notion of factorization system for a 2-category, where the commutativity in the universal property of an (E; M)-factorization system is replaced by coherent 2-cells. In the last part certain limits and colimits in Rel(C) are investigated. -
On the Ontology of Spacetime: Substantivalism, Relationism, Eternalism, and Emergence
Found Sci DOI 10.1007/s10699-015-9476-1 On the Ontology of Spacetime: Substantivalism, Relationism, Eternalism, and Emergence Gustavo E. Romero1 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 Abstract I present a discussion of some issues in the ontology of spacetime. After a characterisation of the controversies among relationists, substantivalists, eternalists, and presentists, I offer a new argument for rejecting presentism, the doctrine that only present objects exist. Then, I outline and defend a form of spacetime realism that I call event substantivalism. I propose an ontological theory for the emergence of spacetime from more basic entities (timeless and spaceless ‘events’). Finally, I argue that a relational theory of pre-geometric entities can give rise to substantival spacetime in such a way that relationism and substantivalism are not necessarily opposed positions, but rather complementary. In an appendix I give axiomatic formulations of my ontological views. Keywords Ontology Á Physics Á Spacetime For there neither is nor will be anything else besides what is, since Fate has fettered it to be whole and changeless. Parmenides (Fragment 8. From the translation in Kirk et al.1983). 1 Introduction Discussions and controversies about the nature of space and time in Western thought can be traced to the early Pre-Socratic philosophers (Graham 2006; Jammer 2012; Romero 2012). The position of Aristotle, who understood time as a measure of motion, and its contrast with the Platonic view, shaped the ontological controversy of the Hellenistic period, the Late Antiquity, and even the Middle Ages (see Sorabji 1983). It was not, however, until the development of Newtonian physics and the Leibniz–Clarke corre- spondence (Leibniz and Clarke 2000), that what is now called relationism-substantivalism & Gustavo E. -
An Introduction to Relational Ontology Wesley J
An Introduction to Relational Ontology Wesley J. Wildman, Boston University, May 15, 2006 There is a lot of talk these days about relational ontology. It appears in theology, philosophy, psychology, political theory, educational theory, and even information science. The basic contention of a relational ontology is simply that the relations between entities are ontologically more fundamental than the entities themselves. This contrasts with substantivist ontology in which entities are ontologically primary and relations ontologically derivative. Unfortunately, there is persistent confusion in almost all literature about relational ontology because the key idea of relation remains unclear. Once we know what relations are, and indeed what entities are, we can responsibly decide what we must mean, or what we can meaningfully intend to mean, by the phrase “relational ontology.” Why Do Philosophers Puzzle over Relations? Relations are an everyday part of life that most people take for granted. We are related to other people and to the world around us, to our political leaders and our economic systems, to our children and to ourselves. There are logical, emotional, physical, mechanical, technological, cultural, moral, sexual, aesthetic, logical, and imaginary relations, to name a few. There is no particular problem with any of this for most people. Philosophers have been perpetually puzzled about relations, however, and they have tried to understand them theoretically and systematically. Convincing philosophical theories of relations have proved extraordinarily difficult to construct for several reasons. First, the sheer variety of relations seems to make the category of “relation” intractable. Philosophers have often tried to use simple cases as guides to more complex situations but how precisely can this method work in the case of relations? Which relations are simple or basic, and which complex or derivative? If we suppose that the simplest relations are those analyzable in physics, we come across a second problem. -
Participation and Predication in Plato's Middle Dialogues Author(S): R
Participation and Predication in Plato's Middle Dialogues Author(s): R. E. Allen Source: The Philosophical Review, Vol. 69, No. 2, (Apr., 1960), pp. 147-164 Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of Philosophical Review Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2183501 Accessed: 10/08/2008 14:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=duke. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org PARTICIPATION AND PREDICATION IN PLATO'S MIDDLE DIALOGUES* I PROPOSE in this paper to examine three closely related issues in the interpretation of Plato's middle dialogues: the nature of Forms, of participation, and of predication. -
Exploring the Social Processes of Leadership and Organizing
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UNL | Libraries University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Leadership Institute Faculty Publications Leadership Institute 12-2006 Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing Mary Uhl-Bien University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/leadershipfacpub Part of the Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons Uhl-Bien, Mary, "Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing" (2006). Leadership Institute Faculty Publications. 19. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/leadershipfacpub/19 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Leadership Institute at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leadership Institute Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published in The Leadership Quarterly 17:6 (December 2006), pp. 654-676: The Leadership Quarterly Yearly Review of Leadership; doi 10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.007 Copyright © 2006 Elsevier Inc. Used by permission. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10489843 Published online November 16, 2006. Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing Mary Uhl-Bien Department of Management University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588 USA Abstract Relational leadership is a relatively new term in the leadership literature, and because of this, its meaning is open to interpretation. In the present article I describe two perspectives of relational leadership: an entity perspective that fo- cuses on identifying attributes of individuals as they engage in interpersonal relationships, and a relational perspec- tive that views leadership as a process of social construction through which certain understandings of leadership come about and are given privileged ontology. -
Peirce, Pragmatism, and the Right Way of Thinking
SANDIA REPORT SAND2011-5583 Unlimited Release Printed August 2011 Peirce, Pragmatism, and The Right Way of Thinking Philip L. Campbell Prepared by Sandia National Laboratories Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 and Livermore, California 94550 Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.. Approved for public release; further dissemination unlimited. Issued by Sandia National Laboratories, operated for the United States Department of Energy by Sandia Corporation. NOTICE: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represent that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily con- stitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors or subcontractors. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors. Printed in the United States of America. This report has been reproduced directly from the best available copy. -
Biology Assessment
Master thesis Biology Assessment on the feasibility of anticipating Synthetic Biology Wietse Hage Under the supervision of dr. Y. Saghai and dr. M.A.J. MacLeod January 21, 2021 ”It is not down on any map; true places never are.” Moby-Dick, or, the Whale Herman Melville MSc Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society - PSTS Faculty of Behavioural, Management, and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands Acknowledgements Arnhem, January 21, 2021 What a fascinating journey we’ve had. First and foremost, I would like to thank Yashar Saghai. During the one and a half year this thesis took to write, Yashar and I met almost every two weeks! This adds up to 40 plus meet- ings, not including our trip to the Anticipation conference in Oslo. It is hard for me to find words that convey my gratitude towards you Yashar: I hope that my future work shows the influence you had on me, both as a philosopher and a writer. The second person who played a crucial part lifting this thesis up to the level it standstoday is Miles MacLeod. Having someone with your background take a critical look at my work is a true gift: thank you for the insightful comments and the time you took to discuss Robert Rosen’s controversial ideas with me. Another individual who deserves mentioning is Virgil Rerimassie, who took the time to sit down over coffee to explain his work in his own words. I would like to thank my girlfriend Iris, who during all of these months remained patient, caring and loving; thank you for sticking by my side piertje, definitely during my grumpier phases. -
Redalyc.IDEALISM and REALISM in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: an ONTOLOGICAL DEBATE
JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations E-ISSN: 1647-7251 [email protected] Observatório de Relações Exteriores Portugal Ramon Fernandes, Vítor IDEALISM AND REALISM IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: AN ONTOLOGICAL DEBATE JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations, vol. 7, núm. 2, noviembre, 2016, pp. 14- 25 Observatório de Relações Exteriores Lisboa, Portugal Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=413548516002 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative OBSERVARE Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa e-ISSN: 1647-7251 Vol. 7, Nº. 2 (November 2016-April 2017), pp. 14-25 IDEALISM AND REALISM IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: AN ONTOLOGICAL DEBATE Vítor Ramon Fernandes [email protected] Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Lusíada (Portugal), where he teaches undergraduate courses in International Political Organisations and Regional Conflicts in International Relations. He is a Visiting College Research Associate at Wolfson College (Cambridge University), where he teaches seminars on International Security for Public Policy Master’s (MPhil in Public Policy). He was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge, Department of Politics and International Studies as well as Wolfson College, where he is a member. He received a PhD in International Relations from the Nova de Lisboa University, a Master’s in Economics from the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, a Master’s in Business Administration through the ISCTE–IUL, and a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics UNL. -
1 CS Peirce's Classification of Dyadic Relations: Exploring The
C.S. Peirce’s Classification of Dyadic Relations: Exploring the Relevance for Logic and Mathematics Jeffrey Downard1 In “The Logic of Mathematics; an Attempt to Develop my Categories from Within” [CP 1.417-520] Charles S. Peirce develops a scheme for classifying different kinds of monadic, dyadic and triadic relations. His account of these different classes of relations figures prominently in many parts of his philosophical system, including the phenomenological account of the categories of experience, the semiotic account of the relations between signs, objects and the metaphysical explanations of the nature of such things as chance, brute existence, law-governed regularities and the making and breaking of habits. Our aim in this essay is to reconstruct and examine central features of the classificatory system that he develops in this essay. Given the complexity of the system, we will focus our attention in this essay mainly on different classes of degenerate and genuine dyadic relations, and we will take up the discussion of triadic relations in a companion piece. One of our reasons for wanting to explore Peirce’s philosophical account of relations is to better understand how it might have informed the later development of relations as 1 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Northern Arizona University. 2 In what follows, I will refer to Peirce’s essay “The Logic of Mathematics; An Attempt to Develop my Categories from Within” using the abbreviated title “The Logic of Mathematics.” 3 One reason to retain all of the parts of the figures—including the diamonds that represent the saturated bonds—is that it makes it possible to study more closely the combinatorial possibilities of the system. -
Relationalism and (General) Relativistic Physics Relationalism and (General) Relativistic Physics
Relationalism and (General) Relativistic Physics Relationalism and (General) Relativistic Physics Two distinct issues: To what extent is GR a relationalist theory? Can we construct a Leibnizian relational theory with a particle ontology, which is as empirically adequate as GR? General Relativity Einstein’s field equations: G[g] = κT[g; Φ]: G[g] is the Einstein’s tensor. It encodes information about the 4-dimensional spacetime geometry. T[g; Φ] is the stress-energy tensor. It encodes information about the distribution of a matter field Φ in spacetime. A model of GR is a solution of Einstein’s field equation. It is a triple < M; g; T >. General Relativity Einstein’s field equations: G[g] = κT[g; Φ]: Space acts on matter, telling it how to move. In turn, matter reacts back on space, telling it how to curve. (C.W. Misner, K.S. Thorne, J.A. Wheeler - Gravitation. Freeman & Co., 1973, p.5) General Relativity It is commonly said that GR unifies gravity and physical geometry. GR describes gravitational forces as curvature effects of spacetime geometry. In this (weak) sense, GR succeeds in “geometrizing away” gravity. However, there is no straightforward reduction here: “spacetime” and “gravitational field” are two ways to refer to the same entity. Two Senses of “Relationalism” in General Relativity 1 Spatiotemporal facts fully reducible to material facts (eliminative relationalism). 2 Spatiotemporal facts fully reducible to facts about spatiotemporal relations instantiated by material relata (non-eliminative relationalism). Against Relationalism in GR GR admits cosmological models of the form < M; g; 0 >, which means that it makes physical sense in GR to think about a universe totally deprived of matter, where still there is spacetime. -
The Relational Account of Meaning in Life: a Critique
Journal of Philosophy of Life Vol.10, No.1 (July 2020):58-77 The Relational Account of Meaning in Life A Critique Joshua Chang and Michelle Pitassi* Abstract The relational account by Robert Nozick (1981; 1989) posits meaning as engaged, external connection to an array of value, and it has been widely influential in debates concerning life’s meaning. Thaddeus Metz (2001; 2013; 2016) proffers several counterexamples to the view, arguing that it does not best account for what is conceptually important to meaning in life. We evaluate these criticisms, determining that while some objections are less persuasive, others are more compelling, particularly Metz’s subjectivist critique which we go on to expand in developing a novel counterexample to the relational view. We conclude with positing another final counterexample—a being who accrues meaning in life solely through internal relations. 1. Introduction In recent decades, the relational theory has been one of the most prominent accounts in the philosophical literature on life’s meaning. The basic notion is simple: meaning in life requires that one intensely connects with an array of value beyond oneself. It was first made popular by Robert Nozick in his two works Philosophical Explanations (1981) and Examined Life (1989); many have subsequently adopted his approach, or at least prominent features of it, as a viable framework for grasping meaning in life (Cooper 2003: 29-30, 132; Bennett- Hunter 2014; Bennett-Hunter 2016: 1277; Benatar 2017: 18, 54). One of the most notable critics of this view is Thaddeus Metz (2001: 145-147; 2013: 29-31; 2016).