Agency (philosophy)

About: Agency (philosophy) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10461 publications have been published within this topic receiving 350831 citations. The topic is also known as: Thought & Human agency.

Leadership and Individuality in South Asia: The Case of the South Indian Big-man

Abstract: Although there has been great interest in how properly to conceptualize the person in Indian culture, few have explored Indian perceptions of leadership, achievement, and agency as valued features of individuality (Singer 1972; Mines 1988; Fox 1989). Indeed, since Dumont (1970a,b) forcefully argued that the values of equality and liberty that support the Western notion of the individual were absent from Indian society, the important roles that personal uniqueness, volition, and achievement play in Indian history have been largely overlooked or understated. This paper reconsiders an Indian sense of these roles by examining the south Indian concept of the “big-man” (periyar, periyavar), a notion of individuality and instrumentality that is central to the politics of south India and crucial to an understanding of the dynamic relationship that exists between action and organization in Indian society (cf., Fox 1989).

Technical code and the social construction of the internet

Abstract: This article employs and extends the concept of technical code (Feenberg, 1992, 1995a, 1995b) to examine the current state of the internet. The notion of technical code — the cultural and social assumptions and values that become manifest in a technology’s physical and structural forms — is invoked to examine design characteristics of the internet that, in turn, reflect and provide opportunities for important social outcomes. Overall, the internet’s technical design supports interoperability and open access, while suggesting an enormous capacity for personalization and innovation. In turn, these technical features support the emergence of myriad collective social activities, resulting in a sense of individual empowerment achieved through enhanced agency. Significant countervailing forces, however, inhibit this potential. By examining the values, priorities, and assumptions that have become built into the internet, both technically and socially, the present analysis clarifies this tension and serves to fra...

Teachers’ Personal Agency: Making Sense of Slope Through Additive Structures

Abstract: In the context of a three-year professional development program in mathematics, practicing elementary teachers persistently engaged in collaborative inquiry and reflection to build connected meanings for slope. One teacher invented a compelling representation for slope as a process of repeated addition, using Cuisenaire rods, based on teachers' shared experiences developing recursively defined linear equations. The presence of and tension between different representations of slope, brought forth by the teachers, catalyzed productive cycles of choice and inquiry for the entire class. Personal agency, purposeful choice, and performance provide a valuable lens for fine-grained analysis of mathematical learning.

A situated understanding of digital technologies in social movements. Media ecology and media practice approaches

Abstract: The article tackles two main aspects related to the interaction between social movements and digital technologies. First, it reflects on the need to include and combine different theoretical approaches in social movement studies so as to construct more meaningful understanding of how social movement actors deals with digital technologies and with what outcomes in societies. In particular, the article argues that media ecology and media practice approaches serve well to reach this objective as: they recognize the complex multi-faceted array of media technologies, professions and contents with which social movement actors interact; they historicize the use of media technologies in social movements; and they highlight the agency of social movement actors in relation to media technologies while avoiding a media-centric approach to the subject matter. Second, this article employs a media practice perspective to explore two interrelated trends in contemporary societies that the articles in this special ...

The Philosophy of Argument and Audience Reception

Abstract: Recent work in argumentation theory has emphasized the nature of arguers and arguments along with various theoretical perspectives. Less attention has been given to the third feature of any argumentative situation - the audience. This book fills that gap by studying audience reception to argumentation and the problems that come to light as a result of this shift in focus. Christopher W. Tindale advances the tacit theories of several earlier thinkers by addressing the central problems connected with audience considerations in argumentation, problems that earlier philosophical theories overlook or inadequately accommodate. The main tools employed in exploring the central issues are drawn from contemporary philosophical research on meaning, testimony, emotion and agency. These are then combined with some of the major insights of recent rhetorical work in argumentation to advance our understanding of audiences and suggest avenues for further research.