Education at all levels is increasingly augmented and enhanced by data mining and analytics, catalysed by the growing prevalence of automated distance learning. With an unprecedented capacity to scale both horizontally and vertically, data mining and analytics are set to be a transformative part of the future of education. We reflect on the assumptions behind data mining and the potential consequences of learning analytics, with reference to an issue brief prepared for the U.S. Department of Education entitled Enhancing Teaching and (...) Learning Through Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics. We argue that the associated gains conceal subtle, but important risks. Data-ism, an underpinning paradigm, assigns unjustified veracity to data-driven science and the application of personalised analytics may compromise individual privacy, agency and inventiveness. This holds serious ethical implications, particularly when considering the impact on minors, rendering wholesale adoption premature. (shrink)

This article traces publishing patterns in the Swedish humanities between 1840 and 1880; a period characterized by a new publishing regime yet bridging two dominant publication forms, the dissertation, and the disciplinary journal. Using the prominent historian Wilhelm Erik Svedelius as an entry point, the article charts how scholars in the humanities navigated the publishing landscape in a more diverse era in European historiography, before the advent of disciplinary platforms for research and boundary work. The article demonstrates that Svedelius and (...) his contemporaries used a plethora – or smorgasbord – of formats and hybrid genres; learned journals, transactions, yearbooks, and commercial printers that together formed an ephemeral ecosystem shared across the humanities. In this pre- or semi-professional system, neither platforms nor formats were guarantors of epistemic value and forgotten genres such as printed speeches or biographies provided the opportunity to express scholarly tradecraft, evaluated by the community on the basis of their ‘scientific’ quality. (shrink)

The parable of the widow and the unjust judge is unique to Luke. It forms part of three other parables shedding light on the coming of the Son of Man. It also bears striking resemblances with the parable of the friend at midnight, but unlike the friend of midnight, persistence is a focal point for interpreting the parable. There is an intersection between the parable of the unjust judge and resilience theory. Resilience may be understood as the ability to have (...) positive, better-than-expected outcomes in the face of adversity. The widow persists and manages to persuade the judge to aid her plight. Accordingly, this article explored the intersections between resilience theory and the parable of the unjust judge as an interpretive aid.Contribution: This article explored a multidisciplinary approach to Luke 18:1–8. Resilience theory was incorporated with exegesis, thereby offering another hermeneutical lens to the text that enriches our understanding. (shrink)

The self-revelation of God through His Manifested Presence occurred in a variety of natural, cultural and historical spaces. This manifested in the liturgical communion of His people during public worship events, which in the Old Testament took place in the Tabernacle and the Temple. In the New Testament the role of the Temple changed, and the Church as God’s community became the space where believers experienced spirituality. The historical development of the Church was supported by spaces that were created for (...) spiritual experience and liturgy. In these spaces, spirituality was aided by liturgical activities, music, art, education and other aesthetic symbols. With the dawning of the 21st century the world has changed drastically. The Pentecostal experience after Azusa street gave emphasis to the spreading of the gospel into a variety of missionary and apostolic spaces. Therefore, the Church must think strategically regarding the spaces created to experience spirituality. (shrink)

When one starts reading in the nascent field of everyday aesthetics of aestheticians from predominantly the Anglo-American sphere, it soon becomes apparent that some are attempting to carve out an academic niche for everyday aesthetics by defining it against art. I agree with Thomas Leddy, who has the following to say about the problem of philosophical definitions in general: “Although philosophical definition can be valuable, the process of creating a philosophical definition, insofar as it involves making strict distinctions, tends to (...) hide continuities and dynamic interactions, the understanding of which is sometimes more important than setting up limitations.”1 I am concerned that the attempts under... (shrink)

In December 2019 a virus named COVID-19 appeared in China, precisely in the city of Wuhan. This virus was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. Since no adequate medical treatment has yet been discovered for this virus, many world institutions are committed to share with each other the data they collect and process in their laboratories. A large amount of these data is shared with citizens in order to inform about the risk that threaten (...) us by virus COVID-19. Various credible world institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), etc., are providing various statistical data to address the issues raised by this emergent situation, but these reports in some cases are putting doubts on the completeness and the transparency of the data, which are not sufficiently processed and which then create confusion about the risks that we are facing. In this paper we are conducting a study of the quality of current global datasets from the must credible sources related to COVID-19. Also, we are comparing datasets collected from Republic of Kosovo and Republic of North Macedonia with corresponding data from WHO, ECDC and JHU datasets. To analyze datasets from different sources, we are using Power BI tool, making the improvement through the implementation of adequate dimensions and methods of improving the quality of datasets. (shrink)

This essay turns to the late thought of Martin Luther King Jr. to bring matters of faith back into debates about dissent in liberal democracies. Drawing on unpublished speeches as well as scholarship in Black theology, religious studies, and political theory, I contend that the post-1965 King is not as interested in moral or pragmatic principles as many democratic theorists think. The late King’s movement, I argue, is animated by what Black liberation theologian James Cone calls “black faith.” Manifesting Jesus’s (...) liberating love—a love that the late King believes already transformed and was still transforming the world—this movement with the poor and dispossessed is caring yet forceful, quotidian yet spectacular, and nonviolent yet revolutionary. Foregrounding the late King’s black faith and the movement it animates, I conclude, opens up new horizons for theorizing dissent. (shrink)

Existing approaches to campaign ethics fail to adequately account for the “arms races” incited by competitive incentives in the absence of effective sanctions for destructive behaviors. By recommending scrupulous devotion to unenforceable norms of honesty, these approaches require ethical candidates either to quit or lose. To better understand the complex dilemmas faced by candidates, therefore, we turn first to the tradition of “adversarial ethics,” which aims to enable ethical participants to compete while preventing the most destructive excesses of competition. As (...) we demonstrate, however, elections present even more difficult challenges than other adversarial contexts, because no centralized regulation is available to halt potential arms races. Turning next to recent scholarship on populism and partisanship, we articulate an alternative framework for campaign ethics, which allows candidates greater room to maneuver in their appeals to democratic populations while nevertheless requiring adherence to norms of social and political pluralism. (shrink)

John Greco (2020) sets out to create a unified virtue-theoretic account of knowledge generation and transmission in his book The Transmission of Knowledge. One of the advantages of his view is that it can defend the achievement view from a known strand of counterexamples. To accomplish that, he relies on joint agency being essential to knowledge transmission. Joint agency can be characterized as a sort of interdependent and interactive cooperation between speaker and hearer that share an intention to transmit knowledge. (...) This paper introduces the phenomenon of unwanted knowledge transmission which shows that joint agency, as Greco presents it, is not essential to knowledge transmission. Four types of unwanted knowledge transmissions will be introduced that pose threats to Greco’s account by showing that shared intention, a key characteristic of joint agency, is not present in all instances of knowledge transmission. Finally, some potential ways to defend Greco’s view will be considered and discussed. (shrink)

What makes a government legitimate? Arthur Isak Applbaum rigorously argues that the greatest threat to democracies today is not loss of basic rights or despotism. It is the tyranny of unreason: domination of citizens by incoherent, inconstant, incontinent rulers. A government that cannot govern itself cannot legitimately govern others.

The adversary professions--law, business, and government, among others--typically claim a moral permission to violate persons in ways that, if not for the professional role, would be morally wrong. Lawyers advance bad ends and deceive, business managers exploit and despoil, public officials enforce unjust laws, and doctors keep confidences that, if disclosed, would prevent harm. Ethics for Adversaries is a philosophical inquiry into arguments that are offered to defend seemingly wrongful actions performed by those who occupy what Montaigne called "necessary offices."Applbaum (...) begins by examining the career of Charles-Henri Sanson, who is appointed executioner of Paris by Louis XVI and serves the punitive needs of the ancien régime for decades. Come the French Revolution, the King's Executioner becomes the king's executioner, and he ministers with professional detachment to each defeated political faction throughout the Terror and its aftermath. By exploring one extraordinary role and the arguments that can be offered in its defense, Applbaum raises unsettling doubts about arguments in defense of less sanguinary professions and their practices.To justify harmful acts, adversaries appeal to arguments about the rules of the game, fair play, consent, the social construction of actions and actors, good outcomes in equilibrium, and the legitimate authority of institutions. Applbaum concludes that these arguments are weaker than supposed and do not morally justify much of the violation that professionals and public officials inflict. Institutions and the roles they create ordinarily cannot mint moral permissions to do what otherwise would be morally prohibited. (shrink)

This book deals with more than political philosophy in medieval Islam. The Islamic community was a religio-political unity, and as a consequence Islamic thought drew no clearcut distinction between what was strictly religious and what was political or legal. This makes it impossible to study its political ideas without delving into its thought in general and the evolution of its institutions and legal systems. This delving Mr. Rosenthal has done well, and by doing so he has produced a book which (...) not only outlines the political philosophy of Islam... but gives us also an idea of its general thought and the development of its principal institutions. - American Historical Review. (shrink)

In “Professional Detachment: The Executioner of Paris,” I concluded with the cheap and some would say libelous suggestion that lawyers might accurately be described as serial liars, because they repeatedly try to induce others to believe in the truth of propositions or in the validity of arguments that they believe to be false. Good lawyers have responded with some indignation that, in calling zealous advocacy “lying,” I have misdescribed the practice of law. I wish to explain why I believe that (...) it is the practice of lawyering that engages in misdescription. (shrink)

One of the leading causes for failing at expatriate assignments is the accompanying expatriate partners’ unhappiness with life abroad or inability to adjust to the challenges of the host country. Strength-based therapeutic interventions have the potential to increase individuals’ mental health and well-being. The current study formed part of a multimethod study consisting of three related but independent sub-studies. The first sub-study identified the strengths of Gratitude, Curiosity and Hope to be positively associated with AEPs’ resilience and well-being. These results (...) were used to construct a quantitative model that illustrates the interplay between these constructs. In the second sub-study, the proposed model was qualitatively reviewed by a smaller group of AEPs to inform and enrich our understanding of AEPs’ personal experiences of these constructs. In the current study, a panel of practicing psychologists who provide counselling services for South African expatriates and AEPs were asked to qualitatively review a proposed quantitative model. A cross-sectional, interpretive descriptive research design, applying purposive sampling was used to identify and recruit participants. The objective for the current study was firstly to ascertain why participants thought strengths of Gratitude, Curiosity and Hope featured so prominently in the model. Secondly, the study aimed to determine how these participants would, from their experience in working with AEPs, enhance these strengths and AEPs’ resilience in therapy, and ultimately facilitate greater well-being and successful adjustment abroad. Participants completed an online questionnaire consisting of two semi-structured, open-ended questions. The data were analyzed using primary and secondary cycle coding to ultimately develop themes. Results indicated that strengths of Curiosity, Gratitude and Hope featured prominently because these strengths include elements that form part of the process of expatriation. Participants were able to suggest practical strength-based therapeutic techniques which would assist in enhancement of strengths, resilience and ultimately well-being. It is proposed that the therapeutic techniques and approaches suggested in this study could contribute to the success rate of expatriate assignments. (shrink)

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends couple human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) counselling and testing (CHCT) as one of the beneficial and cost-effective means for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV within couple’s relationships. However, CHCT within the PMTCT of HIV settings in Zimbabwe remains low. This study explored adult men and women’s views from a rural district of Zimbabwe regarding the possible factors that facilitate or inhibit the uptake of CHCT for the PMTCT of HIV. The study utilised (...) qualitative methods. Data were collected by conducting eight focus group discussions among adult men and women, as well as eight in-depth interviews with pregnant women admitted in antenatal wards in local hospitals. Thematic analysis was used for analysing the data with the aid of NVivo software. The study revealed that CHCT initiatives were hampered by certain patriarchal behaviours and beliefs that make it acceptable for men to have multiple sexual partners, thereby exposing their marriages and relationships to HIV. Social constructions around gender roles tend to prescribe women as the sole custodians of children’s health, and this led to stigmatisation against men who participated in PMTCT programmes. In addition, certain religious practices do not allow the use of medicine, which makes CHCT a nonevent. However, engaging men on platforms that advocate for progressive masculinities and raising awareness of this practice through information dissemination were identified as enablers in increasing CHCT. Contribution: The significant contribution of this study is that it demonstrated the importance of acknowledging the societal, cultural and religious practices inherent in a community, as they are central to their responses to HIV prevention interventions. (shrink)

We study partitions of Fraïssé limits of classes of finite relational structures where the partitions are encoded by infinite binary strings which are random in the sense of Kolmogorov-Chaitin.

In recent years, schools and education authorities world wide have been paying increasing attention to issues surrounding diversity and religious tolerance. The term 'tolerance' is, however, clouded by considerable confusion and vagueness. This article seeks to contribute to recent scholarly attempts at understanding tolerance and the term that denotes it. After a brief semantic analysis of the term 'tolerance', arguments concerning the onticity of tolerance as phenomenon or entity are discussed. By examining its onticity we explore and explain some of (...) the essential features of tolerance. The article ends with a brief discussion of some of the implications of our examination that we foresee for education. (shrink)