It is common knowledge that Frank Kermode is engaged in a major study of fiction and the theory of fiction. I assume that "Novels: Recognition and Deception" in the first number of Critical Inquiry is part of that adventure, and that it should be read in association with other essays on cognate themes which he has published in the last two or three years. This may account for my impression that the Critical Inquiry essay is not independently convincing. There are (...) splendid things in the essay, perceptions so definitively phrased that I cannot promise not to steal them. My copy of the journal is heavily marked on Kermode's pages, invariably on passages I dearly wish I had had the wit to write, notably his remark of certain fictions by Henry James that "they create gaps that cannot be closed, only gloried in; they solicit mutually contradictory types of attention and close only on a problem of closure." But these perceptions are like indelible events in the diction of a poem which, as a whole, does not seem to cohere. Denis Donoghue is professor of Modern English and American literature at University College, Dublin. His recent books include The Ordinary Universe: Soundings in Modern Literature, Emily Dickinson, Jonathan Swift: A Critical Introduction, William Butler Yeats, and Thieves of Fire. (shrink)

Social work supervision is a forum in which social workers and supervisors have the opportunity to explore ethics within their practice. It is also where social workers experience ongoing learning and development regarding ethics. This article is a selective review of social work supervision and ethics literature. Key areas identified are: 1) the role of supervision in the monitoring and development of ethical social work practice; 2) supervisors’ knowledge and application of codes of ethics, ethical theories, principles and ethical decision-making (...) models; 3) ethical supervisory relationships, processes and practices. A lack of research evidence was identified regarding the application of ethics within supervision and in relation to the interactional process of ethical exploration, inquiry and dialogue within sessions. Considering this lack of evidence, we propose that ethics be integrated throughout the supervision process through the development of care ethics culture, ethical sensitivity and ethical dialogue. The article concludes with recommendations about bringing ethics to the forefront in supervision. Recommendations are also made concerning further research pertaining to the monitoring and development of ethical social work practice through supervision, supervisors’ ethics knowledge, the interactional process of ethical supervisory practice with supervisees and the influence of organisational culture upon ethics and supervision. (shrink)

Higher education institutions are increasingly relying on learning analytics to collect voluminous amounts of data ostensibly to inform student learning interventions. The use of learning analytics, however, can result in a tension between the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) principles of autonomy and non-malfeasance on the one hand, and the principle of beneficence on the other. Given the complications around student privacy, informed consent, and data justice in addition to the potential to do harm, many (...) current practices around learning analytics within higher education can be considered to be in violation of CAS standards. This paper aims to explore this tension in greater detail and argues that the student voice offers a promising way to ensure that students’ autonomy is respected, harm is reduced, and that higher education institutions can still fulfil the principle of beneficence. (shrink)

Robert Donoghue ABSTRACT: G.W.F Hegel offers a thorough, complex, and unique theory of free will in the Philosophy of Right. In what follows, I argue that Hegel’s conceptualization of free will makes the mistake of collapsing the possibility of organic freedom into the potential for moral freedom ….

Background: Nurse managers are placed in a unique position within the healthcare system where they greatly impact upon the nursing work environment. Ethical dilemmas and moral distress have been reported for staff nurses but not for nurse middle managers. Objective: To describe ethical dilemmas and moral distress among nurse middle managers arising from situations of ethical conflict. Methods: The Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing–Middle Manager Questionnaire and a personal characteristics questionnaire were administered to a convenience sample of middle managers from four (...) hospitals in Israel. Results: Middle managers report low to moderate levels of frequency and intensity of ethical dilemmas and moral distress. Highest scores were for administrative dilemmas. Conclusion: Middle managers experience lower levels of ethical dilemmas and moral distress than staff nurses, which are irrespective of their personal characteristics. Interventions should be developed, studied, and then incorporated into institutional frameworks in order to improve this situation. (shrink)

A central topic in the scholarship of Laʒamon's Brut has been the apparent inconsistency between its verse style, in many ways reminiscent of classical Old English verse, and its content, much of which vilifies the first generations of Anglo-Saxon invaders in Britain and praises their enemies the Britons. Jorge Luis Borges, an admirer of Old English poetry and Laʒamon, sets this opposition in the strongest possible terms: “Layamon sang with fervor about the ancient battles of the Britons against the Saxon (...) invaders, as if he were not a Saxon and as if Britons and Saxons had not been, since Hastings, conquered by the Normans.” He goes on to note how little we know about the author of Brut and the circumstances of its composition, and concludes by calling Laʒamon a “forgotten man, who abhorred his Saxon heritage with Saxon vigor, and who was the last Saxon poet and never knew it.”. (shrink)

In this acticle I want to introduce the work of the painter Marlene Dumas. The human condition and religion are important themes in her work. I explore the question if she is a feminist, religious or neither but an artist with just provoking ideas? In my opinion she is in her provoking ideas at the edge of both feminism and religion.

The authoress questions the historiographic dogma that, tracing back to F.W. Maitland, gave the pure «Englishry» of English law for granted, thus building its history on its exceptionality with respect to European tradition, from which it would not have been contaminated at all. The Anglo-Saxon historiographical analysis of the most important English constitutional document aims at answering to the provocative question: how English is Magna Carta? What role did jus commune play in its drafting? What is its relationship with contemporary (...) Roman Canon law? Through the examination of its cultural roots, the essay shows not only the substantial influence of Roman Canon law on Magna Carta, but also, more generally, the affinities and the common elements that characterize in principle the relationship between English juridical tradition and the continental one. (shrink)

Since classical antiquity debates about tyranny, tyrannicide and preventing tyranny's re-emergence have permeated governance discourse. Yet within the literature on the global legal order, tyranny is missing. This book creates a taxonomy of tyranny and poses the question: could the global legal order be tyrannical? This taxonomy examines the benefits attached to tyrannical governance for the tyrant, considers how illegitimacy and fear establish tyranny, asks how rule by law, silence and beneficence aid in governing a tyranny. It outlines the modalities (...) of tyranny: scale, imperialism, gender, and bureaucracy. Where it is determined that a tyranny exists, the book examines the extent of the right and duty to effect tyrannicide. As the global legal order gathers ever more power to itself, it becomes imperative to ask whether tyranny lurks at the global scale. (shrink)

Background: Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation is the default procedure during cardio-pulmonary arrest. If a patient does not want cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, then a do not attempt resuscitation order must be documented. Often, this order is not given; even if thought to be appropriate. This situation can lead to a slow code, defined as an ineffective resuscitation, where all resuscitation procedures are not performed or done slowly. Research objectives: To describe the perceptions of nurses working on internal medicine wards of slow codes, including the (...) factors associated with its implementation. Research design: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Participants completed a personal characteristics questionnaire and the Perceptions and Factors of Slow Codes questionnaire designed for this study. Participants and research context: The sample was a convenience sample of nurses working on internal medicine wards in two Israeli hospitals. Ethical considerations: The study received ethical approval from both institutions, where data were collected and stored according to institutional policy. Findings: Most reported that resuscitations were conducted according to protocol (n = 90, 76.2%). Some took their time calling the code (n = 22, 18.3%), or waited by the bedside and did not perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (n = 45, 37.5%). Factors most associated with slow codes were poor patient prognosis (mean = 3.52/5, standard deviation = 1.27) and a low chance of patient survival (mean = 3.37/5, standard deviation = 1.21). Two-thirds (n = 76, 66.8%) reported that slow codes were done on their unit and the majority (n = 80, 69%) perceived slow codes as ethical. Discussion: This study confirms that slow codes are part of medical care on internal medicine wards, where most nurses perceive them as an ethical alternative. These perceptions are in contrast to most legal and ethical opinions expressed in the literature. Conclusion: Nurses should be educated about the legal and ethical implications of slow codes, and qualitative and quantitative studies should be conducted that further investigate its implementation. (shrink)

Denis Donoghue has been a key figure in Irish studies and an important public intellectual in Ireland, the UK and US throughout his career. These essays represent the best of his writing and operate in conversation with one another. He probes the questions of Irish national and cultural identity that underlie the finest achievements of Irish writing in all genres. Together, the essays form an unusually lively and far-reaching study of three crucial Irish writers – Swift, Yeats and Joyce (...) – together with other voices including Mangan, Beckett, Trevor, McGahern and Doyle. Donoghue's forceful arguments, deep engagement with the critical tradition, buoyant prose and extensive learning are all exemplified in this collection. This book is essential reading for all those interested in Irish literature and culture and its far-reaching effects on the world. (shrink)

The lost language of stones -- Phantasmal fragments -- Libido awakened : in transit and enframed -- The painting of everyday life -- Paper dreams : illustrated books and the magic of the manifest.

Background and aims. In pediatrics receiving a diagnosis of a chronic condition is a matter that involves caregivers at first. Beyond the basic issues of caring for the physical body of the ill child, caregivers’ manners of facing and making sense of the disease orient and co-construct their children’s sensemaking processes of the disease itself. The aim of this article is to explore the experience of a rare chronic illness, Hereditary Angioedema (HAE), in pediatrics, from the caregivers’ perspective. Hereditary Angioedema (...) is characterized by subcutaneous swellings that can involve the mucosal tissues of external as well as internal parts of the body, manifesting in a highly variable and unpredictable way in terms of localization, severity, and frequency. Materials and methods. Within a qualitatively-driven research design, we conducted a qualitative narrative semiotic analysis of n.28 mothers’ narratives on their children’s disease experience. Narratives were collected by an ad hoc interview on three domains of the disease experience: A. interpretation of the disease variability; B. dialogical processes; C. management of the disease. Subsequently, we executed a TwoStep cluster analysis for categorical data to detect cross-sectional profiles of the maternal sensemaking processes of the disease. Results. The coding grid was built analyzing the characteristic of the narrative links that orient the connection between the elements of the experience within each domain: A. the connection among events, for the domain of the interpretation of the disease variability; B. the connection between self and other, for the domain of the dialogue; C. the connection among sensemaking and actions, for the domain of the management of the disease. Results from cluster analysis show three narrative profiles: 1. adempitive; 2. reactive; 3. dynamic. Discussion. Profiles will be discussed in the light of the general conceptual framework of the Sense of Grip on the Disease (SoGoD) highlighting the importance of those sensemaking processes which, instead of relying on a coherent and close interpretation of the disease, are characterized by a degree of tolerance for the uncertainty and the unknowingly. (shrink)

Qualitative research is a key form of research in education; the findings of such projects frequently play a central role in shaping policy and practice. First time qualitative researchers require clear and practical guidance from the outset. However, given the diversity of both subject matter and methodological approaches encompassed by qualitative research, such guidance is not always easily come by. _Qualitative Educational Research in Action: Doing and Reflecting_ is a collection of ten first-hand accounts by educational researchers of qualitative inquiries (...) they carried out. The subjects are diverse, taking in school restructuring, policy analysis, critical literacy, phenomenology and the student teacher relationship. Each chapter outlines the research question investigated and provides an overview of the project's findings, before going on to describe how each researcher approached the challenges of their particular inquiry. The researchers reflect upon the unexpected turns qualitative research can take and the way such projects can move through different theoretical and methodological positions, often ending up significantly removed from the original premise, but all the more valuable for that. Anyone conducting qualitative research in education will be heartened and inspired by this collection, and will also find in it invaluable guidance on dealing effectively with the idiosyncrasies and pitfalls of qualitative research - guidance that is all the more valuable for coming from those who have themselves navigated similar difficulties. (shrink)

This investigation addresses a pressing anxiety of our time - that of homelessness. Tersely stated, the philosophical significance of homelessness in its more modern context can be understood to emerge with Nietzsche and his discourse on nihilism, which signals the loss of the highest values hitherto. Diverging from Nietzsche, Heidegger interprets homelessness as a symptom of the oblivion of being. The purpose of the present enquiry is to rigorously confront humanity's state of homelessness, and at the same time illumine the (...) extent to which Heidegger's thought engages with this pervasive phenomenon. In questioning the nature of homelessness, Heidegger's preoccupations with nihilism and modern technology prove crucial. Moreover, his attempts to overcome or prepare for the overcoming of this state of homelessness are also of great import to the current investigation. Adorno and Lèvinas offer scathing critiques of Heidegger's thought as it relates to the motifs of homelessness, homecoming (Heimkunft) and the German Heimat, for they associate it with provincialism, paganism, and a pernicious form of politics. In providing these critiques they bring to light the risks involved in undertaking a homecoming venture, and they also show how a great thinker can err greatly. While acknowledging the importance of these criticisms, the present study reveals how Heidegger's various discourses on homelessness and homecoming bear fruitful insights that can contribute not just to a Germanic sense of homecoming but to a sense of homecoming that humanity at large can relate to and be enriched by. (shrink)

Constitutionalism offers a governance order a set of normative values including, amongst others, the rule of law, divisions of power and democratic legitimacy. These normative values regulate the relationship between constituent and constituted power holders. Such normative constitutional legal orders are commonplace in domestic systems but the global constitutionalisation debate seeks to identify a constitutional narrative beyond the state. This book considers the manner in which the global constitutionalisation debate has neglected constitutionalism within its proposals. It examines the role normative (...) constitutionalism plays within a constitutionalisation process, and considers the use of community at both the domestic and global governance levels to identify the holders of constituent and constituted power within a constitutional order. In doing so this analysis offers an alternative narrative for global constitutionalisation based within normative constitutionalism. (shrink)

DR JOSEPH BOBIK’S article The First Part of the Third Way is a notable contribution to the literature on the subject. Anybody who has wrestled with the text itself—a text as profound and disconcerting as anything St Thomas has written—will be grateful for the many fine elucidations the article provides, and will be grateful especially for the fact that he has kept to the text itself as given in Summa Theologiae I, q 2, a 3 and has not read into (...) it some argument of his own. This method is particularly helpful and fruitful when there is question of pointing to a flaw in the argument. Against Kant and against most critics of the argument no defence is possible, for no real effort has been made to understand the argument in its own terms, within its own ‘thought-world’—one can of course insist that the attack is misdirected, but this kind of non-discussion scarcely serves the common pursuit of truth and will never enlarge anybody’s horizons. Dr Bobik, on the other hand, is able to point to the exact proposition in the text which he finds faulty and he is in a position to situate this proposition in the general context of Thomist metaphysics. In such circumstances there is everything to be gained by a further examination of the proposition and its context. (shrink)