Sumantra Ghoshal’s condemnation of “bad management theories” that were “destroying good management practices” has not lost any of its salience, after a decade. Management theories anchored in agency theory (and neo-classical economics generally) continue to abet the financialization of society and undermine the functioning of business. An alternative approach (drawn from a more classic institutional, new ecological, and refocused ethical approaches) is reviewed.

Wincenty Lutosławski was a multilingual Polish philosopher and author who coined the term 'stylometry'. Originally published in 1930, this book presents the outline of a course in metaphysics delivered by Lutosławski at a variety of academic institutions from 1890 onwards. Numerous aspects of reality are discussed in an effort to form a unified conception of it, from the material world through to abstract spirituality. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in metaphysics and the development (...) of philosophy. (shrink)

This is a new release of the original 1928 edition.

The article deals with several issues related to the concept of happiness that emerge from Plato’s triptych: the Gorgias, the Republic and the Laws. The focus is on (1) the question of the alleged overcoming of the eudaimonistic imperative, i.e., natural human pursuit of happiness, in the didactic message of the Republic; (2) the question of to what extent the path of cognition ending in the contemplation of the perfect being is at the same time a strive for the supreme (...) happiness; (3) the dilemma of choosing between a reductive and a cumulative model of complete satisfaction in human life; and finally (4) the problem of affiliative condi­tions of full life satisfaction. (shrink)

The “Tower of London” puzzle was adapted to tablet PCs to be used as a clinical bedside test. “Iso-problems”, a specific class of problems, require identical moves but ball colours are permuted. Thus difficulty is the same even if the appearance is different. We wanted to determine the impact of these as yet little-studied tasks and hypothesised that there may be a learning effect specific to them (the “iso-effect”). We interspersed a set of six iso-problems within one selection of 22 (...) tasks and analysed problem solving by 81 healthy adults (mean age 41.6 years). Participants showed learning across iso-problems (less time, fewer moves, increasingly efficient solutions). This effect was distinct from general learning, as was obvious from comparison with a series of non-isomorphic tasks. However, participants seem not to be aware of solving such problems. This “iso-effect” may be related to implicit memory, a domain that so far has not been assessed using the Tower of London. (shrink)

L’auteur définit l’extase comme l’union d’une âme avec un être qui lui est très supérieur, qui intensifie son intelligence et qui fortifie sa volonté. Cette union consiste dans un accord complet entre deux êtres inégaux qui s’aiment mutuellement. Elle élargit les connaissances et élève l’être inférieur moralement, d’une manière permanente. Il en résulte une plus grande aptitude à remplir les devoirs quotidiens. Comme exemple intéressant, l’auteur décrit un cas peu connu, l’extase mystique de Mickiewicz ; elle fournit la meilleure explication (...) du fait étrange et presque incompréhensible, que ce grand poète, à l’âge de 35 ans, renoncera entièrement à la poésie, et vouera les vingt dernières années de sa vie à une activité sociale, politique et religieuse. (shrink)

This study investigated how problem solvers get into and out of a state of impasse while solving difficult problems. 47 participants had to decipher the secret method behind 33 magic tricks while r...