Topic
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.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
01 Jun 2008
TL;DR: In a world of iPod and myyahoo, it appears as though communication technologies exist primarily to celebrate the individual rather than to bridge geographical distances or overcome physical barriers as mentioned in this paper, and it is difficult to see how such technologies can meet human need for information, entertainment, and social contact.
Abstract: In a world of iPod and myyahoo, it appears as though communication
technologies exist primarily to celebrate the individual rather than to bridge
geographical distances or overcome physical barriers. What do new and
emergent media technologies really add to the world of human communication? Are they simply meeting human need for information, entertainment,
and social contact in a mediated setting or are they extending, as McLuhan
(1964) claimed, our communicative abilities in space and time? In the brief
history of computers and the internet, technology has advanced so rapidly
that they have called into question fundamental assumptions about the
nature of both interpersonal and mass communication.
123 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the anomalous case of early Title VII enforcement is analyzed to challenge the standard political-institutional account of state capacity, and the authors argue that state capacity is a moving target, with state and societal actors building on legal as well as administrative resources to construct and transform capacity.
Abstract: This article analyzes the anomalous case of early Title VII enforcement to challenge the standard political‐institutional (PI) account of state capacity. Title VII prohibited employment discrimination, but the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was granted scant enforcement resources. Yet the early EEOC aggressively enforced and developed Title VII. To solve the anomaly, the authors integrate insights from the literatures on social movements and the sociology of law. In the absence of conventional administrative resources, apparently weak state agencies can expand their capacity through the legal strategy of broad statutory construction. This strategy is more likely with the presence of social movement pressure from below. The authors argue that state capacity is a “moving target,” with state and societal actors building on legal as well as administrative resources to construct and transform capacity. By reconceptualizing state capacity, the authors contribute to nuanced explanations of state policy ...
123 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: This article argued that the subject of personal identity is one of the most central and most contested in philosophy, and that any resolution to the debate is bound to be revisionary, and they proposed a revisionary theory for personal identity by first inquiring into the nature of persons.
Abstract: The subject of personal identity is one of the most central and most contested in philosophy. This book argues that, as things stand, the debate is unresolvable since both sides (psychological and bodily) hold coherent positions that our common sense will embrace. Our very common sense, the author maintains, is conflicted, so any resolution to the debate is bound to be revisionary. The author offers such a revisionary theory of personal identity by first inquiring into the nature of persons.
122 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework for understanding transformations through a power analysis that aims to confront and subvert hegemonic power relations is proposed, that is, multi-dimensional and intersectional; balancing ecological concerns with social, economic, cultural and democratic spheres; and is multi-scalar, and mindful of impacts across place and space.
Abstract: A transformation to sustainability calls for radical and systemic societal shifts. Yet what this entails in practice and who the agents of this radical transformation are require further elaboration. This article recenters the role of environmental justice movements in transformations, arguing that the systemic, multi-dimensional and intersectional approach inherent in EJ activism is uniquely placed to contribute to the realization of equitable sustainable futures. Based on a perspective of conflict as productive, and a “conflict transformation” approach that can address the root issues of ecological conflicts and promote the emergence of alternatives, we lay out a conceptual framework for understanding transformations through a power analysis that aims to confront and subvert hegemonic power relations; that is, multi-dimensional and intersectional; balancing ecological concerns with social, economic, cultural and democratic spheres; and is multi-scalar, and mindful of impacts across place and space. Such a framework can help analyze and recognize the contribution of grassroots EJ movements to societal transformations to sustainability and support and aid radical transformation processes. While transitions literature tends to focus on artifacts and technologies, we suggest that a resistance-centred perspective focuses on the creation of new subjectivities, power relations, values and institutions. This recenters the agency of those who are engaged in the creation and recuperation of ecological and new ways of being in the world in the needed transformation.
122 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Foucault's work marks an important break with conventional ontological dualism, epistemological realism and rationalist and intentional notions of individual action and human agency.
Abstract: Michel Foucault's work marks an important break with conventional ontological dualism, epistemological realism and rationalist and intentional notions of individual action and human agency. In thes...
122 citations