Dlittle30

LATEST ARTICLES ( 899 )

• Organizations and Dysfunction

  

  A recurring theme in recent months in Understanding Society is organizational dysfunction and the organizational causes of technology failure. Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2019 SOCIETY

• Ethical Disasters

  

  Many examples of technical disasters have been provided in Understanding Society, along with efforts to understand the systemic dysfunctions that contributed... Read more

  Posted on 01 April 2019 SOCIETY

• Development Ethnography and the Life of the Poor

  

  Indian economists V. K. Ramachandran and Madhura Swaminathan have edited a highly interesting volume, Telling the Truth, Taking Sides: Essays for N. Read more

  Posted on 01 April 2019 SOCIETY

• Guest Post: VK Ramachandran on Details of Life as a Day Laborer in India

  

  [V. K. Ramachandran was a Professor of Economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, and is at present vice chairman of the State Planning Board of the state o... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2019 SOCIETY

• Social Ontology of Government

  

  I am currently writing a book on the topic of the "social ontology of government". My goal is to provide a short treatment of the social mechanisms and... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2019 SOCIETY

• Regulatory Failure and the 737 MAX Disasters

  

  The recent crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft raise questions about the safety certification process through which this modified airframe was certified for... Read more

  Posted on 27 March 2019 SOCIETY

• Nuclear Power Plant Siting Decisions

  

  Readers may be skeptical about the practical importance of the topic of nuclear power plant siting decisions, since very few new nuclear plants have been... Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2019 SOCIETY

• Philosophy of Technology?

  

  Is there such a thing as “philosophy of technology”? Is there a “philosophy of cooking” or a “philosophy of architecture”? All of these are practical... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2019 SOCIETY

• Conflicts of Interest

  

  The possibility or likelihood of conflict of interest is present in virtually all professions and occupations. We expect a researcher, a physician, or a... Read more

  Posted on 12 March 2019 SOCIETY

• The Morandi Bridge Collapse and Regulatory Capture

  

  Lower image: Eugenio Ceroni and Luca Cozzi, Ponte Morandi - Autopsia di una strageA recurring topic in Understanding Society is the question of the... Read more

  Posted on 06 March 2019 SOCIETY

• Skilled Bodily Capacities

  When philosophers think of action they generally have in mind a combination of intentionality and simple motor movements. "John flips the switch to turn on the... Read more

  Posted on 01 March 2019 SOCIETY

• Bodily Cognition

  

  Traditional cognitive science has been largely organized around the idea of the brain as a computing device and cognitive systems as functionally organized... Read more

  Posted on 23 February 2019 SOCIETY

• Marx's Ideas About Government

  

  Marx had something of a theory of politics and somewhat less of a theory of government. The slogan “the capitalist state serves as the managing committee of... Read more

  Posted on 20 February 2019 SOCIETY

• Is the Xerox Corporation Supervenient?

  

  Supervenience is the view that the properties of some composite entity B are wholly fixed by the properties and relations of the items A of which it is... Read more

  Posted on 18 February 2019 SOCIETY

• Deficiencies in Practical Rationality in Organizations

  

  Suppose we are willing to take seriously the idea that organizations possess a kind of intentionally -- beliefs, goals, and purposive actions -- and suppose tha... Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2019 SOCIETY

• The Place for Thick Theories of the Actor in Philosophy

  

  image: Bruegel, The Dutch Proverbs (1559)When philosophers of the social sciences take seriously the importance of individual action within the social realm,... Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2019 SOCIETY

• The Research University

  

  Where do new ideas, new technologies, and new ways of thinking about the world come from in a modern society? Since World War II the answer to this question... Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2019 SOCIETY

• The Mind of Government

  

  We often speak of government as if it has intentions, beliefs, fears, plans, and phobias. This sounds a lot like a mind. But this impression is fundamentally... Read more

  Posted on 14 December 2018 SOCIETY

• Is Corruption a Social Thing?

  

  When we discuss the ontology of various aspects of the social world, we are often thinking of such things as institutions, organizations, social networks,... Read more

  Posted on 03 December 2018 SOCIETY

• Exercising Government's Will

  

  Since the beginning of the industrial age the topic of regulation of private activity for the public good has been essential for the health and safety of the... Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2018 SOCIETY