Concerns about the unsustainability of the conventional food system have brought attention to so called alternative food networks, which are widely thought to be more sustainable. However, claims made about AFNs’ sustainability have been subject to a range of criticisms. Some of them present counterevidence, while others have pointed to problematic underlying features in the academic literature and popular discourse that may hamper our understanding of AFNs’ sustainability. Considering these criticisms, together with the fact that the literature often addresses a (...) specific type of AFN or a specific sustainability-related issue, it is hard to form a clear overall picture of the sustainability promise of AFNs. In this article, we seek to contribute to a clearer understanding of this promise through a structured review, focusing on links between AFN characteristics and sustainability. Through an analysis of AFN conceptualizations reflected in the literature, we identify and consolidate their key characteristics. We then synthesize claims of how these characteristics may translate into sustainability, finding a wide range of potential direct and indirect impacts. Examining these from different angles, we find that the sustainability promise of AFNs found in these claims is qualified by the presence of potentially unaddressed issues, by criticisms regarding for example the evidence base of the assumed impacts and their power in addressing sustainability, and by considerations of how these impacts might play out in actual, real-life food networks. Indirect impacts of learning and participation may be highly significant for sustainability. We conclude with recommendations for research and practice. (shrink)

Peltokorpi and Hood provide a systematic review of theory and research examining the ways communication and conversations help dyads, groups, and teams form and maintain transactive memory systems (TMS; Wegner, Erber, & Raymond, 1991) through overlapping encoding, storage, and retrieval processes. Peltokorpi and Hood organized their systematic review of 34 articles published in psychology, communication and organization research and management into four main themes: i) communication frequency and quality; ii) communication medium and group development, iii) communication styles, and (...) iv) communication networks. (shrink)

In this groundbreaking work, Carlo Sini, one of Italy's leading contemporary philosophers, brings American pragmatism to the Milan school of phenomenology.

Concerns about the unsustainability of the conventional food system have promoted interest in alternative food networks, which are typically conceptualized through their differences from conventional food networks. Real-life AFNs, however, tend to show some similarities to the conventional food system. This hybridity has caused some criticism, but also, increasingly, calls for a more open examination of AFNs. Indeed, AFNs can be seen as relational to and shaped by the prevailing food system, for example the expectations the conventional system has promoted (...) among consumers. In this paper, through a multiple case study of nine alternative food retailers, we examine the negotiation of acceptable practice in AFNs and the challenges encountered in trying to do things alternatively. We employ convention theory, which encourages a view of action as socially negotiated and situational, and acknowledges plural legitimate notions of worth in guiding and justifying actions. Our findings show a plurality of ideals in the domain of AFNs and a complex navigation between the retailers’ own expressed ideals and considerations and perceived consumer expectations. The retailers’ justification of actions highlights several areas of tension in AFN practice, helping also to understand the challenges in adopting sustainable practices. While responding to consumer expectations sometimes involved adopting more conventional practices, the retailers also challenged consumers on certain issues. Our findings also show how even market-oriented AFNs may take radically alternative courses of action. The study supports the broader argument for examining all food networks in an open way, focusing on actual sustainability outcomes. (shrink)

Ernest Gellner was a unique scholar whose work covered areas as diverse as social anthropology, analytical philosophy, the sociology of the Islamic world, nationalism, psychoanalysis, East European transformations and kinship structures. Despite this diversity, there is an exceptional degree of unity and coherence in Gellner's work with his distinctly modernist, rationalist and liberal world-view evident in everything he wrote. His central problematic remains constant: understanding how the modern world came into being and to what extent it is unique relative to (...) all other social forms. Ten years after his death, this book brings together leading social theorists to evaluate the significance of Gellner's legacy and to re-examine his central concerns. It corrects many misunderstandings and critically engages with Gellner's legacy to provide a cutting edge contribution to understanding our contemporary post-9/11, global, late modern, social condition. (shrink)

Già alle origini del pensiero occidentale la questione della materia del soggetto è tema problematico e controverso: Platone e Aristotele ne tracciarono i confini essenziali. Democrito, Epicuro e gli Stoici ne segnarono una specie di controcanto. Con la scienza moderna da un lato e lo storicismo hegelo-marxista dall’altro si aggiunsero al tema nuovi orizzonti e nuovi confini, nuove maniere di considerare il soggetto e di teorizzare la materia. Oggi sembra necessaria una reimpostazione inedita dell’intera questione relativa alla materia della soggettività: (...) essa non può prescindere dalla pratica concreta dei discorsi precategoriali e dalla materialità dei supporti e delle connessioni socioeconomiche e tecnologiche grazie a cui tali discorsi si manifestano e si rendono possibili. Una nuova postura «materialistica» sembra allora delinearsi e con essa una nuova visione della soggettività. (shrink)

Estratto da C. Sini, Le arti dinamiche. Filosofia e pedagogia, Jaca Book, Milano 2005, pp. 209-213. La forma del testo è quella di un dialogo tra il "Maestro" e il "Discepolo".

The end of philosophy as science of truth and traditional culture. The speech as a new space suitable for philosophical education.

Denaro e informazione sono entrambi segni della civilizzazione umana. La loro connessione con il linguaggio è evidente. Il loro valore si basa sulla fiducia nella creatività del lavoro umano. La minaccia odierna è di ridurre denaro e informazione a mera merce.

1. L'analogia della parola -- 2. Il mente e il corpo -- 3. L'origine del significato -- 4. La virtù politica -- 5. Raccontare il mondo.

The paper focuses on Giulio Preti’s idea of discourse. According to Preti, everyday speech is the basis for scientific and logical research. The logical signs are not linguistic signs, are not a language, are not able to substitute the human language. Common speech contains historical presuppositions and fleeting figures of truth.