Pragmatism, Internalism and the Authority of Claims

This paper develops and defends an internalist account of having authority for one's claim. It begins with Robert Brandom's pragmatist account of thinking which locates the root notion of reasoning in a primitive language game of asking for and giving reasons. The idea is that the authority of a claim can be spelled out pragmatically in terms of the social practice of undertaking commitments and attributing entitlements. It is argued that this account fails to acknowledge the role of the subject's grasp of the higher-order concept of the evidence on which I base my claim.     

Long-term school-level effects of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP)

In agreement with two predictions, this somewhat unusual study documented that 70 elementary schools (A-schools) with continued and repeated use of the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire (OBQ) in a four-year follow-up period of 2007–2010, two to eight years after original implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), had a clearly more favorable long-term development in terms of being-bullied problems, as measured with a completely independent data source, the National Pupil Survey than 102 comparable schools (B-schools) that had not conducted any OBQ-surveys in the same period. The odds of being bullied for students in a Norwegian average elementary school were also almost 40% higher than for students who attended a school with continued use of the OBQ, and very likely, other components of the program. Several alternative explanations of the findings were explored and found wanting. Results suggested that A-schools with continued use had changed their “school culture” for the better with regard to awareness, preparedness and competence in handling and preventing bullying. This form of ‘organizational learning’ has major consequences in that new groups of students will benefit from such a school environment. It was generally concluded – in spite of a highly stable average of the level of bullying problems in Norway – that it is fully possible to substantially reduce such problems not only in one-year evaluations, as has been amply documented before, but also in the long term, up to eight years after original implementation, with a program such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.     

浅谈藏传佛教音乐典籍的保护与传承

藏传佛教音乐是中华经典音乐的重要组成部分,是中华优秀传统文化中的一颗璀璨明珠。藏文化总体分为大五明和小五明,藏传佛教音乐艺术应归于大五明之工巧明。然而,从藏族传统文化中的工巧明分类而言,又可以分为身工巧、语工巧、意工巧。那么,藏传佛教音乐便可归入语工巧之中,世称藏传佛教六十种梵音,乃是用深如雷音、美妙悦耳、赏心可意、悠扬明晰和入耳中听的佛音五支来赞颂诸佛菩萨之殊胜功德。     

Management Consulting: Planning,Entry, Performance

The counseling profession has much in common with that of organizational consulting. The authors provide an overview of consulting practices that those in counseling might find useful should they decide to investigate the promise of organizational consulting. Included are aspects of market research, gauging competition, and target markets. They also consider promotion, networking, and elements of consulting performance. Last, they provide an extensive overview of relevant associations and materials of potential value to the prospective consultant.