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The flesh of negation: Adorno and Merleau-Ponty contra Heidegger
No full textTheodor Adorno’s 1960–1961 lecture course Ontology and Dialectics, recently translated into English, provides the most systematic articulation of his critique of Martin Heidegger. When Adorno delivered three of the lectures at the Collège de France, Maurice Merleau-Ponty was reportedly scandalised as he was at that time developing his own ontology, informed by Heidegger. However, this article problematises the assumption that Adorno’s negative dialectic and Merleau-Ponty’s late ontology are incompatible. First, Adorno’s criticism of Heidegger’s ontology is delineated, with particular focus on how Adorno argues that Heidegger’s subordination of the human being to being is homologous with the logic of capitalism. Then, we turn to Merleau-Ponty’s own engagement with Heidegger, with particular focus on how Merleau-Ponty cannot be accused of denigrating ontic beings. Finally, it is argued that Merleau-Ponty’s indirect ontology has the same implications as those which allow Adorno to position his dialectical method as politically opposed to Heidegger’s ontology
Essential strategies for securing transformational initiatives in growing organisations
No full textThe most important contribution a star employee can make to your business is to improve it. However, over-zealous implementations of quality-paradigms valuing consistency and compliance over innovation can inhibit management from identifying, let alone reaping the benefits of, the richness of diversity in their labour force and the variety of employees’ passions and imaginations.
Too often by the time a pet project’s contribution to the bottom-line is appreciated the project designer has grown disaffected by a lack of recognition, and/or has moved on to pastures which are more geared to encourage innovation.
My latest study of high performing professionals revealed six strategies for protecting transformational initiatives from dissolving into the bureaucratic wilderness and ensuring their normalisation across an operation. These are described within the acronym STAIRR and address six thematic areas: Structure, Transition, Authority, Inspiration, Reporting, and Reward.
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The effects of reputation on collaboration
Get PDFThis study explored how direct and indirect reputations impacted collaboration in an online dictator game. Previous research shows that human participants in dictator games are more generous towards players with a positive reputation. In our study (n = 260), the participant played a multi-round trivia game with three "agents" (presented as real players, but they were not): one "key agent" and two regular agents. The agents' predetermined behaviours allowed us to isolate their influence on the participant's decision-making process. In certain rounds, an agent was guaranteed to win and received 100 tokens. They then “decided” whether to share the tokens with the participant, imitating an online player's decision. In other rounds, the participant was guaranteed to win and received 100 tokens. They then decided whether to share the tokens with the other player (an agent). After each round, the results of the other matchup and the tokens shared by the victor were displayed in a results section. This allowed the participant to see how the key agent interacted with the regular agents. We measured participant collaboration using the key agent's behaviour in four conditions: generous, selfish, exclusive (generous to the participant, selfish to regular agents), and excluded (selfish to the participant, generous to regular agents). The dependent variable was the mean number of tokens sent to the key agent in the final round. The statistical analysis focused on the difference in the mean number of tokens sent to the key agent across the four conditions. We found that reputation significantly influenced collaboration; participants gave more tokens to the key agent in the generous condition than in the selfish condition. Also, “reputation discounting” occurred between the selfish-exclusive and generous-excluded conditions, but not between the selfish-excluded and generous-exclusive conditions. The results indicate that the participants primarily based their collaborative behaviour on direct reputation, with indirect reputation being less influential on decision-making
Smart infrastructures: Artificial Intelligence-Enabled lifecycle automation
Get PDFThe deployment and maintenance of large smart infrastructures used for powering data-driven decision making, regardless of retrofitted or newly deployed infrastructures, still lack automation and mostly rely on extensive manual effort. In this article, we focus on the two main challenges in the lifecycle of smart infrastructures: deployment and operation, each of which is rather generic and applies to all infrastructures. We discuss the existing technologies designed to help improve and automate deployment and operation for smart infrastructures in general and use the smart grid as a guiding example to ground some examples across the article. Next, we identify and discuss opportunities where the broad field of artificial intelligence (AI) can help further improve and automate the lifecycle of smart infrastructures to eventually improve their reliability and drive down their deployment and operation costs. Finally, based on the usage of AI for web and social networks as well as our previous experience in AI for networks and cyber-physical systems, we provide decision guidelines for the adoption of AI
‘D’un usage de la donation en théologie’: the question of revelation through the prism of givenness in the phenomenological work of Jean-Luc Marion
Get PDFThis thesis examines Jean-Luc Marion’s contribution to a phenomenal concept of revelation as achieved in D’ailleurs, la révélation, starting from the wider perspective of his anterior works on the formulation and implications of a phenomenology of givenness. ‘D’un usage de la donation en théologie (on the use of givenness in theology)’ (Jean-Luc Marion, De surcroît (Paris: ‘Quadrige’ PUF, 2010), p. 32) suggests at least that phenomenology, when it is guided by givenness, does not subsist on its own, that is without the immanent source of a given that it has not itself constituted. The ‘question of revelation’ is therefore not so much constituted in a thought of givenness as it constitutes already, in theology, the primary given of a response yet to be formulated: aporia constitutes, from the outset, the locus of revelation. Strictly speaking, not only is a revelation unspeakable and even unthinkable, but a revelation would have to contradict its own revealability to appear as such. And yet, is it not precisely from the impossibility for us of a revelation that a concept of revelation remains possible? As a phenomenal possibility, the phenomenon of revelation would, from the immanence of its appearing, operate a critique of the Kritik, as the phenomenon that breaks forth as the accomplishment and negation of all impossibility, thus opening the possibility of unconditionality. Ultimately, a givenness without measure, such as when Christ ‘loved […] to the end’ (John 13.1), would perfectly accomplish the phenomenality of revelation that reveals, from its unveiling, all phenomena to itself, according to the principle that ‘nothing is hidden (krupton) that will not be disclosed (phaneron), nor is anything secret (apokruphon) that will not become known and come to light (phaneron)’ (Luke 8.17)
The intersection of international and EU law for social rights protection of vulnerable groups: a focus on racial and ethnic groups
No full textWith a special emphasis on the social rights of racial and ethnic groups, this thesis aims to provide a critical analysis of the current state of social rights protection under EU law and offer recommendations for improvement to ensure greater social justice and equality for all. It aims to investigate the nexus between EU law and international law in the social domain. Focusing on the European Social Charter, it examines whether further engagement is required between EU and international instruments. The thesis broadly interprets social rights beyond labour rights and concentrates on welfare-related rights, such as healthcare, education, housing and work
Gendered forces at work: tentacular encounters from the nursery
Get PDFEngaging with a feminist relational onto-epistemology, my research seeks to produce generative re-imaginings of how a gendered workforce comes to matter in a North London Montessori nursery. Debates, policies and practices around gender in the early years workforce continue to be firmly rooted in binary male/female framings (DfE, 2017), in which the recruitment of men in some ways has problematically taken centre stage through “recuperative masculinity” interventions (Lingard & Douglas, 1999). While these issues are not separate from Montessori early childhood contexts, the gender-neutral framing of Montessori works to let gender completely fall off the agenda. By employing feminist theorisations that foreground materiality, affect, discourse, place and temporalities, this study unsettles such presumed neutrality, and demonstrates ways a “gendered workforce” can be understood differently.
The research emerged as situated evocations (Strathern, 1991) in a Montessori nursery in North London. Committed to Haraway’s (1988) situated knowledges and embodied perspectives, entangled authorship and “subjectivities” are emphasised as always already more-than-human. This is specifically made explicit in this thesis by how postcolonial and Dalit “subjectivities” intra-act to generate new theoretical connections, tensions and contradictions. Theoretical heterogeneity is thus welcomed by putting feminist “new” materialisms in conversation with anticolonial, decolonial and Dalit feminisms. These theoretical explorations have shaped the directions and orientations of this research.
By paying attention to everyday “objects” in the nursery such as tea, cameras and snot, Haraway’s (2016) SF practice is mobilised to make visible the complex intra-actions of manifold forces that are at once composed of gendered and more-than-gendered (i.e. racialised, “classed” and “casted”) relations, stories and worlds that would otherwise be lost through methodological individualism and human exceptionalism. The more-than-human orientation in this research allows for a reconceptualisation of a “gendered workforce” as gendered forces that work on, across and through bodies (human and not), spaces, places, and scales of time. The reconceptualisation grants the possibility to attune to the multiple, in/determinate and contradictory materialisations of gendered and more-than-gendered forces that cut through onto-epistemic boundaries. Each encounter is constituted and reconstituted by masculinist forces that privilege narrow gender formations that determine what counts as “human” (Wynter 2003), and at once composed of minor gestures (Manning, 2016) that present generative potentialities for the innumerable possibilities for becominggendered Otherwise (Huuki & Renold, 2015) amid the recuperative masculinity drives of neoliberal capitalism. An approach that foregrounds a more-than-human and relational conception of gender makes a hopeful, generative and expansive contribution to the field
Inhibition of the autophagy pathway modulates osteosarcoma chemoresistance
No full textOsteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumour. Although the introduction of chemotherapy has improved the survival rate of osteosarcoma patients, chemoresistance remains a major clinical problem underlying poor survival outcome. Previous studies have shown that deregulation of a cell survival process called autophagy is closely associated with this phenomenon. This study aims to further investigate the role of autophagy in osteosarcoma chemoresistance.
Activation of autophagy in HOS-143B cells following chemotherapy was confirmed by an increased autophagic flux and autophagic clearance of p62. Autophagy-related microRNA (miRNA) expression was found to be decreased in chemotherapy-treated HOS-143B cells. To investigate the role of the key autophagy gene ATG7, CRISPR/Cas9 technology was employed to disrupt ATG7 (ATG7-/-), resulting in the inhibition of autophagy and increased sensitivity to cisplatin. A kinase screen revealed a reduction in the phosphorylation of p53 (S15) in ATG7-/-HOS-143B cells (with/without cisplatin treatment), and ATR inhibition (ATR phosphorylates p53 at S15 responsible for DNA Damage Response; DDR) increased cisplatin sensitivity of HOS-143B cells by inducing cell death via apoptosis. Subsequent protein analysis verified that ATR inhibition decreased phosphorylation of p53 at S15 and reduced ATG7 levels/blocked autophagy in cisplatin-treated HOS-143B cells.
In summary, autophagy is activated in HOS-143B cells following chemotherapy, facilitating the recycling of damaged cellular components for sustained cell survival and proliferation. Knockout of ATG7 inhibited the autophagy pathway and enhanced cisplatin sensitivity, and ATR inhibition mimicked this effect of autophagy inhibition. These findings could ultimately lead to novel adjuvant therapy for osteosarcoma, lowering the dosage of cisplatin required. This could reduce the harsh side effects of cisplatin treatment and prevent tumour progression, potentially improving overall survival rate of osteosarcoma patients
Arab Protestant women in theological education: a contribution to ecclesial understanding of Christianity in the Middle East
No full textThis thesis offers a contribution to the wider study of theological education (TE) through exploring the TE of Arab Protestant Women (APW) in the Middle East (ME). Historical and qualitative research is combined to present an account of APW in TE.
Despite the deeply historic and complex ecclesial character of Christianity in the region, ecclesiology is rarely given due consideration in modern history of Protestantism for the ME. In this thesis the contemporary state of APW is explored in the context of dialogue with the Eastern Christian traditions which are the dominant ecclesial of the Christian tradition in the Middle East. I propose a reorientation away from the ecclesial perspectives traditionally offered by Protestant missions. This ecclesial proposition for Protestant mission and presence in the Middle East is a central aspect of the originality and contribution of this research. Hence, my work develops a Protestant ecclesiology which allows itself to be situated within this complex ecclesial context. My research on women is posited within this ecclesial context for Protestant presence and mission in the Middle East. My work makes an original contribution, not just developing ideas on Protestant ecclesiology and TE, but how women are situated in a religious and ecclesial context of unique diversity and plurality. The thesis also examines how religious education (RE) with a comparative awareness that also in the majority Muslim culture there has also been a reconsidering of questions about religious education and the transmission of religious identity.
In analysing the current situation of the TE of APW, the thesis addresses outcomes from first-hand ethnographic experience, observations from field research and ethnographic interviews. A triangulation method is used to understand the experiences of APW in TE. The autoethnographic voice contributes further triangulation enabling the researcher to express her own voice and experience as an Arab Protestant woman in TE. This use of the ‘own voices’ (‘emic’) insider approach has enabled APW to speak with great candour about their roles in, perceptions of and experiences in TE.
Their historical and contemporary context has meant that APW have not been able to make the contribution to which they naturally aspire. However, we are now at an ecclesial turning point which has been able to resource women to make a contribution to theology within this distinct ecclesial context. I call this the Third Nahda, following the historical First and Second Nahdas in the ME. In so naming I am suggesting that this ecclesial term be used to indicate a distinct contribution to Protestant thought and practice. Hence my work has at its heart the question of ecumenical intent and reciprocity. My research thus makes a contribution to the development of Protestant thought in relation to APW within the complex ecclesial world of the ME
A study of an emerging missions movement in urban China: from the perspective of four Beijing pastors
Get PDFThis dissertation is a study of the missiology, characteristics, factors, and trajectory of a new missions phenomenon in the unregistered house churches of urban China called Missions China (originally Mission China 2030). This research seeks to uncover the distinctiveness of the Mission China phenomenon from the perspective of four Beijing house church leaders this movement. Following a series of revivals in rural and urban China, a house church overseas cross-cultural missions movement has emerged within the context of intense persecution and both economic and geopolitical rise.
The research methodology combines a case study approach regarding four Beijing pastors, supplemented with qualitative, semi-structured interviews with forty house church leaders. Several missiological concepts have emerged within a persecution context, including the ‘positivity of suffering’, ‘cross missiology’, ‘creative sending’, ‘City on a Hill’, ‘Back to Jerusalem’, and the recovery of the Great Commission mandate.
This thesis has been analysed from a theoretical framework called the 'Missionisation Cycle' adopted by Las Ekström. In his research on the Newer Sending missionary movements from the Global South, Ekström builds on Andrew Walls’ ‘translatability’ and ‘contextualisation’ principles by introducing ‘self-missionisation’ as the final phase of an indigenous missions development. Several of these missiological concepts will be compared with the writings of contemporary missiologists Paul Fiddes, Karan Kilby, Jürgen Moltmann, and Kosuke Koyman for further theological reflection.
The concluding chapter includes key findings about the emergence of Mission China, a general trajectory of the movement, and a possible new missionary paradigm with vestiges of the past coming from the Global East