V^ulture though apparently elusive is always present in our day to day practice of psychiatry. A look at the history of cultural psychiatry amply demonstrates it. With the gradual and difficult entry of psychiatry into the realm of medicine came classification of various mental problems into disease entities. Proof of both scientific status and physical causation lay in finding universality of ...

Purpose – The governance of the relationship between humans and the biophysical world has been based on a paradigm characterized by dualistic thinking and scientism. This has led us to the Anthropocene. The purpose of this paper is to reframe human-biosphere governance in terms of “cyber-systemics”, a neologism that is useful, we argue, not only for breaking out of this dualistic paradigm in hu...

Culture is an emergent property of human systems. It differentiates humans from other animals because it describes how humans ‘make themselves’ through symbolism. Humans, unlike other creatures, create complex identities through symbols, knowledge, information and communication or ‘discourse’. Culture enables humans to construct a reality for themselves and, as such, humans prescribe their envi...

Purpose – The governance of the relationship between humans and the biophysical world has been based on a paradigm characterized by dualistic thinking and scientism. This has led us to the Anthropocene. The purpose of this paper is to reframe human-biosphere governance in terms of “cyber-systemics”, a neologism that is useful, we argue, not only for breaking out of this dualistic paradigm in hu...

The problem of the One and the Many is the central problem of philosophy and epistemology. Throughout history, it has been the single most important issue for philosophers. It relates to just about everything. The problem of the One and the Many relates not only to epistemology, but also to ethics, politics, economics, and other practical realms. William James wrote: “I wish to turn [pragmatism...

A year ago, we read with disappointment and dismay Damien Contandriopoulos's article entitled, ‘About academic bullshit in nursing’, published Nursing Inquiry (Contandriopoulos, 2019). At the time, wondered whether was a spoof or, at least, baleful provocation. Since then, have deliberated as to how or respond. Our dilemma this: by responding, perversely succumb self-referential arguments affor...

"the discovery and confirmation of universals". The genealogy of this enterprise is from A. Quetelet and Francis Galton to James McKeen Cattell, Lewis M. Terman, and David McLelland. The present book is primarily about the methodological problems involved in applying orthodox statistical and psychometric techniques to data pertaining to "historical individuals"; quantification, sampling, validi...

The introduction of the purchaser-provider principle into the NHS will have at least one uncomfortable consequence perhaps not fully expected by its authors. It will direct public attention even more to decisions about the level and distribution of resources, both nationally and locally. In the past decisions about who should (and should not) get what medical treatment have been perceived, and ...

Decision-makers are sometimes depicted as impulsive and overly influenced by ‘hot’, affective factors. The present research suggests that decision-makers may be too ‘cold’ and overly focus on rationalistic attributes, such as economic values, quantitative specifications, and functions. In support of this proposition, we find a systematic inconsistency between predicted experience and decision. ...

With allusions to Nietzsche, violent anti-GM organisms groups, nefarious ‘parallel scientists’ and numerous other actors and actions, Marcel Kuntz manufactures a bizarre alchemy to cast postmodernism as an ‘assault’ on science [1]. Whilst one can dispute his use of the ‘postmodern’ label itself and the idea that tolerance of ambiguity and diversity of opinion is a twentieth century phenomenon, ...