Rationale At the request of a Dutch governmental organization, a multidisciplinary group of osteoporosis experts in the Netherlands published in 2002 a guideline on case finding, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. These guidelines were evaluated for their validity and applicability. Methods Analysis by 5 external osteoporosis experts using the 'Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation' ('AGREE') instrument. Results The score for the 6 domains of AGREE was 88% for the scope and purpose domain, 76% for stakeholder involvement, 81% (...) for rigour of development, 84% for clarity and presentation, 77% for applicability and 73% for editorial independence. For single components of the domains of AGREE, highest scores were found for systematic methods used to search for evidence (100%), inclusion of individuals from all the relevant professional groups (95%) and ease of identifying key recommendations (95%). Lowest scores to single components of the several domains were given for piloting among target users (44%). All experts recommended the guidelines for use in practice. Conclusions The AGREE instrument scored high for development, clarity and presentation but low for piloting among target users and implementation. Based on the guideline, algorithms from case finding to treatment were constructed that could be tested for piloting among target users and for implementation of the guideline. (shrink)

Whatever track history is on, the coach bearing French intellectuals always seems to be leaving the station as the coach bearing us is pulling in. Place, for example, George Bataille's erotic novel, Story of the Eye, first published in 1928, next to works by Hemingway and Fitzgerald from the same period. The comparison is less perverse than it sounds. Story of the Eye has the sanatoriums and the incest of Tender is the Night, the bullfights of The Sun Also Rises, (...) and the international rich—found in both American novels—who cruise Europe for sexual adventure. But Bataille's bullfight is not Hemingway's: “First, Simone bit into one of the raw balls, to my dismay, then Granero advanced toward the bull, waving his scarlet cloth. (shrink)

Essays over onze kennis, met name de mogelijke gevolgen daarvoor van de dominantie van de technologie in onze samenleving.

This article presents the results of a discourse analysis of press coverage on the Quantified Self (QS) movement in the German and British (online) press between 2007 and 2018. The analysis is driven by two questions: What discursive patterns can be discerned within this coverage? And, what characterizes the translation of the experimental practices and imaginaries of this pioneer community into an overall societal reflection of deep mediatization? In essence, the article shows that the QS movement becomes a ‘general signifier’ (...) for a dystopian view of deep mediatization. So, while the QS movement itself understands its practices and community as self-empowering, self-reasoning, and experimental, the constructions of the QS movement in public discourse suggest the opposite. Paradoxically, however, another basic imaginary of the pioneer community is adopted and confirmed, namely that of the (simple) mutability of society as a consequence of digital media technologies. (shrink)

This essay discusses whether an indigenous African ethic, as expressed in ubuntu, may serve as an example of how to decolonise Western knowledge. In the first part, the key claims of decolonisation of knowledge are set out. The second part analyses three strategies to construct models of ‘African’ ethics, namely transfer, translation and stating of a substantive rival model as contained in ubuntu ethics. After a critical appraisal of this substantive proposal, part three indicates the potential and limitation of the (...) decolonisation project: possibilities lie in the -contextualisation of knowledge, whereas limitations are related to constructing an alternative to what is known as ‘scientific’ knowledge. As far as the author knows, this is the first attempt to frame ethics in terms of the epistemological search for ‘decolonised’ knowledge. (shrink)

The book argues that mainstream economists, who base their analyses only on the economic motivation of people, fail to explain and understand real-life economic phenomena. The economic crisis, which began in 2008, illustrates the relevance of psychic and social motivations, especially when combined with each other. This book discusses orthodox and heterodox economics, and offers the reader ample material on philosophy of science, psychology and sociology. A multidisciplinary economic perspective is constructed in which economics, psychology, and sociology are integrated, and (...) this multidisciplinary approach offers an understanding of real-life problems. Moreover, it offers researchers a rich source for further analysis. (shrink)

The political philosopher Hannah Arendt develops several arguments regarding why truthfulness cannot be counted among the political virtues. This article shows that similar arguments apply to lying in business. Based on Hannah Arendt's theory, we distinguish five reasons why lying is a structural temptation to businessmen: business is about action to change the world and therefore businessmen need the capacity to deny current reality; commerce requires successful image-making and liars have the advantage to come up with plausible stories; business communication (...) is more often about opinions than about facts, giving leeway to ignore uncomfortable signals; business increasingly makes use of plans and models, but these techniques foster inflexibility in acknowledging the real facts; and businessmen easily fall prey to self-deception, because one needs to act as if the vision already materializes. The theory is illustrated by a case study of Landis, which grew from a relatively insignificant organization into a large one within a short period of time, but ended with outright lies and bankruptcy. (shrink)

The political philosopher Hannah Arendt develops several arguments regarding why truthfulness cannot be counted among the political virtues. This article shows that similar arguments apply to lying in business. Based on Hannah Arendt's theory, we distinguish five reasons why lying is a structural temptation to businessmen: business is about action to change the world and therefore businessmen need the capacity to deny current reality; commerce requires successful image-making and liars have the advantage to come up with plausible stories; business communication (...) is more often about opinions than about facts, giving leeway to ignore uncomfortable signals; business increasingly makes use of plans and models, but these techniques foster inflexibility in acknowledging the real facts; and businessmen easily fall prey to self-deception, because one needs to act as if the vision already materializes. The theory is illustrated by a case study of Landis, which grew from a relatively insignificant organization into a large one within a short period of time, but ended with outright lies and bankruptcy. (shrink)

Betoog over de waarde van het zien i.t.t. het kijken. De kern van dit non-duale en onmiddellijke zien is dat je 'bent wat je ziet', een soort Schlüssel- of grenservaringen die tot een woordeloze wijsheid leiden en alle vanzelfsprekendheden laten vervagen.

Adrianus van Selms as protestantse Teoloog. Van Selms het in 1938 vanaf Nederland na Suid-Afrika toe gekom om Semitiese Tale te doseer in die Fakulteit Lettere en Wysbegeerte aan die Universiteit van Pretoria. Hy het ook deeltyds in die Fakulteit Teologie doseer. Die Universiteit van Pretoria het hom as een van denkleiers van die 20ste eeu aan die universiteit erken. Hy het geslagte van teologiese studente beïnvloed tydens sy amptelike dienstydperk aan die universiteit, vanaf 1938 tot 1971. Meer as 300 (...) publikasies staan agter sy naam. Behalwe vir werk wat hy op die terrein van die Semitiese Tale gelewer het, het hy ook verskeie kommentare oor Ou-Testamentiese boeke geskryf. Verder was hy ook aktief as prediker in die kerk en het ook 'n uitsonderlike bydrae tot die kategesemateriaal van die Kerk gelewer. As teoloog het Van Selms aansluiting gevind by die reformatoriese tradisie van die 16de eeu. As eksegeet het hy die uitdaging aanvaar om die Bybelse tekste te lees in die erkenning van die historiese afstand wat die hedendaagse leser van die oorspronklike tekste skei. Hy is sodoende gekonfronteer met die knaende probleem van die benadering tot die Bybelse tekste: dogmaties of histories-krities? Deur as eksegeet sy eie dogmatikus te word, het hy die twee benaderings nie apart gehou nie, maar tot 'n eenheid gebring en op die manier 'n hervorming in die beoefening van die teologie verteenwoordig. Hy aanvaar met hierdie werkswyse die verantwoordelikheid vir die erfenis van die Kerkhervorming vir die kerk van sy dag. Die hoofstuk ontwikkel langs die verwagtinge wat aan die amp van predikant in die reformatoriese tradisie gestel word: teologie, prediking, kategese en herdelike sorg. (shrink)

The rise of Big Data changes the context in which organisations producing official statistics operate. Big Data provides opportunities, but in order to make optimal use of Big Data, a number of challenges have to be addressed. This stimulates increased collaboration between National Statistical Institutes, Big Data holders, businesses and universities. In time, this may lead to a shift in the role of statistical institutes in the provision of high-quality and impartial statistical information to society. In this paper, the changes (...) in context, the opportunities, the challenges and the way to collaborate are addressed. The collaboration between the various stakeholders will involve each partner building on and contributing different strengths. For national statistical offices, traditional strengths include, on the one hand, the ability to collect data and combine data sources with statistical products and, on the other hand, their focus on quality, transparency and sound methodology. In the Big Data era of competing and multiplying data sources, they continue to have a unique knowledge of official statistical production methods. And their impartiality and respect for privacy as enshrined in law uniquely position them as a trusted third party. Based on this, they may advise on the quality and validity of information of various sources. By thus positioning themselves, they will be able to play their role as key information providers in a changing society. (shrink)

Essays over de wijze waarop filosofische problemen figureren bij schrijvers als Goethe, Broch, Kafka en Gombrowicz.

The article represents auto-ethnographical reflections about the author's journey towards reconciling diversity with the advent of democracy in South Africa. The author recounts aspects of his participation in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It focuses on aspects of Reformed theology and spirituality as instruments for reconciling diversity. Local and international theologians opposed apartheid, calling it an unjust and indefensible political system, using their Reformed conviction, often applying the very same notions and principles. The article discusses the opposition to apartheid in (...) the Reformed world, which culminated during the Ottawa meeting of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1982 when apartheid was denounced as a 'sin and a heresy' - a legitimate cause for a Status Confessionisin a classical Reformed manner. The article demonstrates the way in which the TRC took note of all of this and includes testimonies of Reformed theologians and leaders who opposed apartheid, often paying a costly price. (shrink)

State aids law has become a major subject in its own right. Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which lays down the substantive rules on state aid, and Article 108 TFEU, which provides for the procedural rules, form part of the treaty chapter on competition. However, there are now several important pieces of legislation. The first is Council Regulation 994/98/EC, which applies Articles 107 and 108 TFEU. The gist of the regulation is that (...) the Commission is authorized to adopt block exemptions for certain categories of aid. On this basis, the Commission has adopted a number of regulations, which will be discussed in this chapter. The enforcement of the state aid rules by the Commission has been essential in containing the crisis. The Commission efforts have been supplemented by the policies of the European Central Bank, which provided enhanced credit support. (shrink)

We discuss the nature of reality in the ontological context of Penrose’s math-matter-mind triangle. The triangle suggests the circularity of the widespread view that math arises from the mind, the mind arises out of matter, and that matter can be explained in terms of math. Non-physicists should be wary of any claim that modern physics leads us to any particular resolution of this circularity, since even the sample of three theoretical physicists writing this paper hold three divergent views. Some physicists (...) believe that current physics has already found the basic framework for a complete description of reality, and only has to fill in the details. Others suspect that no single framework, from physics or other sources, will ever capture reality. Yet others guess that reality might be approached arbitrarily closely by some form of future physics, but probably based on completely different frameworks. We will designate these three approaches as the fundamentalist, secular and mystic views of the world, as seen by practicing physicists. We present and contrast each of these views, which arguably form broad categories capturing most if not all interpretations of physics. We argue that this diversity in the physics community is more useful than an ontological monoculture, since it motivates physicists to tackle unsolved problems with a wide variety of approaches. (shrink)

After the presentation of different views on the relation between narrative and life it is argued that Paul Ricoeur's view offers a framework that allows an answer to questions that remain unanswered in the work of MacIntyre and Carr. Although Ricoeur's view has its own flaws, the concepts of triple mimesis and of narrative identity can be incorporated in a post-foundationalist view. Within this resulting frame of reference narratives in narrative research are interpreted as compositions, as the result of emplotment. (...) Thus the characteristics of a narrative apply to the participant's stories, to personal identity and to the researcher's narrative. (shrink)

Instead of speaking of conscious experience as arising in a brain, we prefer to speak of a brain as arising in conscious experience. From an epistemological standpoint, starting from direct experiences strikes us as more justified. As a first option, we reconsider the ‘hard problem’ of the relation between conscious experience and the physical world by thus turning that problem upside down. We also consider a second option: turning the hard problem sideways. Rather than starting with the third-person approach used (...) in physics, or the first- person approach of starting with individual conscious experience, we consider starting from an I-and-you basis, centered around the second-person. Finally, we present a candidate for what could be considered to underlie conscious experience: ‘sense’. We consider this to be a shot in the dark, but at least a shot in the right direction: somewhere between upside down and sideways. Our notion of sense can be seen as an alternative to panpsychism. To give an analogy, using the notions of space and time is more convenient than trying to analyse the phenomenon of motion in terms of a space-based ‘pandynamism’. Similarly, when approaching the phenomenon of consciousness, we prefer the triad of space, time and sense, over a spacetime-based form of panpsychism. (shrink)

While no classicist would deny that Quintilian’s “Institutio oratoria” is the most complete handbook of rhetoric transmitted from Antiquity, the work is usually mined for its information on both the Roman educational system and technical aspects of the art of speaking. The “Institutio” may be useful as a guide to eloquence, but its author frequently hints to higher aspirations. This article focuses on the literary merits of the “Institutio”, arguing that it deliberately competes with the poetical works of Horace, Vergil, (...) and, possibly, Statius. (shrink)

Based on a turn to the rational human subject in Descartes, Kant and Feuerbach, this paper critically examines four efforts at shaping sustainability discourse: the definition of sustainability in Our common future; stewardship Christian theology; forms of partisan justice; and GDP as measure of economic growth. These efforts made certain advances, but because they share the underlying anthropocentric bias of Western philosophy, they fail to step out of the current sustainability paradigm. The paper closes with two suggestions of how to (...) de-centre the human subject and to build a network-view of all species. (shrink)

This paper argues that an African business ethic should take the promotion of cultural justice as one of its major tasks. After an explanation of globalisation as homogenizing cultural force that shapes moral identity, the notion of cultural justice as "unselfconscious living" is explained. This is then set in the context of an agenda for business ethics in Africa that would require more work on how a narrative moral identity is constructed, and how trans-cultural business environments could be created and (...) sustained. (shrink)

This article starts with a brief statement on the well-known contradictory nature of the Reformed tradition in South Africa, defending injustice and struggling for justice in the name of the same tradition. By following the work of Reformed systematic theologian D.J. Smit, it argues that the justice-affirming potential of the Reformed tradition is a hermeneutical task built on three specific re-interpretations: the reinterpretation of Scripture from the perspective of the weak, the poor and the oppressed a rereading of John Calvin (...) to affirm the dignity and freedom of all humans a rereading of Karl Barth with a focus on God's inclusive grace, Christian confessions and the nature of the Christian life. The article closes with a brief look into the agenda for social transformation faced by us in the second decade of the 21st century, and under what conditions the Reformed faith will be able to make an enduring contribution to public life in Africa. (shrink)