Emergent properties of global political culture were examined using data from the World History Survey (WHS) involving 6,902 university students in 37 countries evaluating 40 figures from world history. Multidimensional scaling and factor analysis techniques found only limited forms of universality in evaluations across Western, Catholic/Orthodox, Muslim, and Asian country clusters. The highest...

The aim of this study is to examine Shanghai residents’ perceptions of the impact of 2010 EXPO and to identify different groups of residents. A survey using a 42-item impact scale was conducted in Shanghai. The results showed that there were five factors of positive impacts and three of negative impacts. The majority of respondents perceived the impacts of 2010 EXPO positively, particularly tho...

In an influential article published in 1982, Bas Van Fraassen developed an argument against causal realism on the basis of an analysis of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations of quantum mechanics. Several philosophers of science and experts in causal inference – including some causal realists like Wesley Salmon – have accepted Van Fraassen’s argument, interpreting it as a proof that the qua...

Please do not cite without permission The concept of 'tradition' is used in a range of different ways within studies of British politics. Despite this there have been only a few attempts to theorise notions of tradition within British political science. Furthermore the different concepts of tradition forwarded by conservatives, interpretivists and realists have each been contested. This paper e...

Ontic structural realists draw support for their view from fundamental theories in modern physics. Quantum mechanics is uncontroversially regarded as being amongst those theories. In this paper, I defend the idea that quantum mechanics cannot play this role of a fundamental theory without assuming that a solution for the measurement problem is available. I go on to illustrate that, in the light...

Are judicial rulings based solely on laws and facts? Legal formalism holds that judges apply legal reasons to the facts of a case in a rational, mechanical, and deliberative manner. In contrast, legal realists argue that the rational application of legal reasons does not sufficiently explain the decisions of judges and that psychological, political, and social factors influence judicial rulings...

Convergent realists desire scientific methods that converge reliably to informative, true theories over a wide range of theoretical possibilities. Much attention has been paid to the problem of induction from quantifier-free data. In this paper, we employ the techniques of formal learning theory and model theory to explore the reliable inference of theories from data containing alternating quan...

Research in cognitive development has highlighted important differences between conceptions of natural kinds and artifacts. One interpretation of the distinction is that natural kinds are categories one discovers, whereas artifactual kinds are invented. Four studies assessed whether children and adults saw categorization decisions as objective matters of fact or as invented conventions. Prescho...

A NEW SOURCE OF HOPE Some might say that the title of this book has an oxymoronic quality: can a realist believe that a Utopia is achievable? By the end of the argument I remained uncertain, but there is no doubting the author’s command of his evidence or his degree of commitment to his cause. Bregman is described as ‘one of Europe’s most prominent young thinkers’, and this book became a bestse...

A comparative sociologist who has spent her international career in academia—Marion Fourcade—and a practically minded academic economist with an extended stint in the Swiss government—Aymo Brunetti—offer their views on the role of economists in politics and society. Although Fourcade and Brunetti differ a lot in terms of experience and interest, their insightful and nuanced assessments of econo...