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The founding of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (SAC) can only be understood within the cultural context of its heritage. This paper is an historical narrative tracing the intellectual lineage of the SAC. The immediate causes were a series of symposia in 1974, including several on the challenge to anthropology represented by Carlos Castaneda, who attacked the way a critical part of anthropology was conducted. The argument in his own narrative was that one could not understand the shamanic world view without becoming a shaman. No informant could ever convey this, because so much of it was experiential. It could not be properly known unless one entered with sincerity into the experience, as a participant not just an observer. Two insights central to this thesis are particularly relevant to SAC: an aspect of human consciousness exists independent of time and space susceptible to volitional control; and, there is an interconnection between all life forms, which must be understood if the universal impulse humans feel toward the spiritual component of their lives is to properly mature. The SAC can be seen in pure Kuhnian terms as one response to the reassessment that Castaneda forced on anthropology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists tend to see G. H. Mead's conceptualization of self as fundamentally correct. In this paper, we develop a critique of Mead's notion of the self as constituted through social interactions. Our focus will be on Mead's categorial distinction between the socially constructed self and subjective experience, as well as on the tendency of post‐Meadian sociologists to push Mead's position in ever more radical directions. Drawing inspiration from a multifaceted understanding of selfhood that can be found in Husserlian phenomenology, we then propose that the most basic level of selfhood is anchored in irreducible subjective experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey is a product of high nutritional value, used as a raw material for obtaining mead. However, adding fruit juices, including chokeberry juice, can improve mead quality. This paper aims to assess the effects that adding different quantities of chokeberry juice, with the variation of 3 amounts of inoculated yeast, has on the fermentation and physicochemical, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties of mead. The parameters analyzed are the dry matter content, pH value, and content of volatile acids, ethanol and methanol, total phenols and flavonoids, FRAP, DPPH, and ABTS tests, and antimicrobial properties. The results obtained in this paper show that adding chokeberry juice improves the antioxidant properties of the final product and positively affects the course of mead fermentation, i.e., it has led to an increase in the maximum concentration of ethanol. Regarding the chemical composition of mead, there is no significant difference, except in the obtained ethanol content, which is the highest in samples with 10% of added chokeberry juice. Furthermore, the control sample showed the best antimicrobial activity, while the sample with 5% added chokeberry juice showed the weakest effect. Finally, the strongest effect was seen in the sample with 20% of added chokeberry juice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances the hypothesis of a theoretical affinity between alienation and shame. This attempt will be circumscribed by a narrow intention based on the work of the philosopher Rahel Jaeggi (2014). Specifically, the paper will try to outline a sociological translation of Jaeggi's thought, attempting at the same time to identify interpretive affinities between a Meadian social-theoretical reading of shame and a sociological translation of the German philosopher's theory of alienation, which is widely debated in the context of social philosophy. Shame and alienation can be associated in reference to their common twofold root: they are, at one and the same time, social events, objectified and exteriorized, and individual events, linked to subjective experience. Moreover, they both show further ambivalences. They are necessary to the stabilization of social bonds, but at the same time they can indicate the emergence of social pathologies. As we will see, a Meadian reading of shame can thus help to compensate for Jaeggi's lack of discussion of the social aspects of alienation and, at the same time, emphasize the alienation side of shame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper does not claim to be a novel contribution to any field. It simply opposes claims by philosophers of consciousness-I take Daniel Dennett as an example (though no more than that) that non-conscious robot-like neurons (Dennett's phrase) can, taken together, add up to an explanation of (even the illusion of) consciousness. To this I oppose G. H. Mead's so-called social behaviorism. My argument, such as it is, proceeds in well-defined stages: 1. I first introduce the history of anti-reductionism among philosophers, including those of the analytical persuasion, especially among North American philosophers; 2. the 'new archaeology' of hominid prehistory is then introduced to show how some eminent archeologists oppose the reductionist view that large brains-deduced from finds of larger and larger skulls-constitute the best explanation we have for the advent of Homo sapiens; 3. the heart of my paper is then a reference to-not a proper summary of-Terence Deacon's masterful book, The Symbolic Species: The Co- Evolution of Language and the Brain-where the idea of co-evolution of human communication and brain development (along with other physiological traits such as a proper voice box) is put forward as a better-as co-evolutionary-explanation of human symbolic behavior than the standard ones (including Dennett's); 4. I then make equally brief summaries of confirming evidence of such co-evolution; 5. this is followed by similar summaries of the alleged science of historical linguistics-none of it explaining the beginning, but only the development of human languages in non-reductionist terms; 6. I then introduce Berger and Luckmann's Social Construction of Reality to make a central claim: that even reductionist science-whether genetic reductionism or brain-studies-based reductionism-is and must be socially constructed; and 7. I conclude with a preference for a Meadian (similar to a Deweyan) social responsibility activism. One note relative to item number 1: I make no claim here to discuss Merleau-Ponty or any other well-known anti-reductionist; this is in answer to one referee of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to show how Habermas used the writings of George Herbert Mead. This subject has already been examined by the critical literature; however, the originality of this analysis with respect to previous studies lies in its philological approach. The result of the research proves that the interest of Habermas towards the American social psychologist originates well before the Theory of Communicative Action and accompanies the elaboration of Habermas' research programme for over two decades. It is interesting to observe that the references to Mead's writings continued to be very selective and focused on the same three particular areas: on the methodological level, around the problem of the foundation of the social sciences; on the theoretical level, around ontogenetic and phylogenetic development; on the moral level, around the justification of the discourse ethic and, more generally, the idea of a post-metaphysical concept of reason. This paper also shows the remarkable coherence with which Habermas is developing a general theory of society and a philosophy of rational discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George Herbert Mead's social psychology went off in two different directions; one explained the social world in terms of language, the other in terms of (individual) biology. This paper addresses the latter approach, in Mead's early social psychology in terms of instincts and in his later social psychology in terms of fundamental impulses. The approach derives from William McDougall's An Introduction to Social Psychology in 1908 and changed in response to criticism of instincts following World War I by John Dewey, Ellsworth Faris, Floyd Allport, and Luther Bernard, among others. The paper argues that such an approach was a dead end and had to be rejected to allow for a scientific social psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals predominantly with the theory of moral reconstruction in George H. Mead's thinking. It also points out certain underdeveloped aspects of Mead's social-psychological theory of the self and his moral philosophy, and attempts to develop them. Since Mead's ideas concerning ethics and moral philosophy are anchored in his social psychology, the paper begins with a description of his theory and underlines some problematic areas and tries to solve them. The most important of these, as the author argues, is the hypothesis that social conflicts should be seen as the root of reflective, discursive thinking. Unlike some of his contemporaries (such as Vygotsky), Mead failed to appreciate this aspect of the genesis of the dynamics of the self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Face transplants have been performed, in a small number, since 2005. Popular concern over the morality of the face transplant has tended to focus on the role that one’s face plays in one’s sense of self or one’s personal identity. In order to address this concern, the current paper will explore the significance of face transplants in the light of a theory of the self that draws on symbolic interactionism, narrative theory, and accounts of embodiment. The paper will respond to certain presuppositions concerning personal identity made by Huxtable and Woodley. A theory of the self will be articulated that draws on the work of Merleau-Ponty and G. H. Mead, in order to place embodiment and social interaction centrally to an understanding of self-identity. This will allow an account of the nature of the suffering that a face transplant seeks to remedy, and its worth as an operation, and crucially the impact that it may have on the sense of personal identity of the recipient of the transplant. The conclusion will review the treatment in the context of the prejudices that members of contemporary societies may hold against those with disfigurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by G.H. Mead's philosophy of time and his focus on the present as the site of interpretation of past experiences and thoughts about the future, this paper makes cross-national comparisons between four cases of young Norwegian and British men. The method is case-based biographical analysis. Levels of biographical time, family time and historical time intersect in young men's orientation to the future in a present set in the current contexts of Norway and Britain. The overarching question addresses if and how timing at the biographical level, related to family time and resources, harmonise with features of opportunity structures in the national contexts. Two typologies are identified: those whose future orientations correspond with standards for 'successful' trajectories are named confident continuity while cautious contingency characterises the orientation of those whose biographical timing of transitions is not in synchrony with family time nor with standards in the current opportunity structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT:There have been many readings of Mead's work, and this paper proposes yet another: Mead, theorist of the social act. It is argued that Mead's core theory of the social act has been neglected, and that without this theory, the concept of taking the attitude of the other is inexplicable and the contemporary relevance of the concept of the significant symbol is obfuscated. The paper traces the development of the social act out of Dewey's theory of the act. According to Mead, Dewey's theory does not sufficiently account for consciousness. Grappling with this problematic leads Mead to several key ideas, which culminate in his theory of the social act. The social act and taking the attitude of the other are then illustrated by the analysis of a game of football. The interpretation presented has two novel aspects: first, symbolisation arises not simply through self taking the attitude of the other, but through the pairing of this attitude with the complementary attitude in self; second, self is able to take the attitude of the other to the extent that self has in actuality or in imagination previously been in the social position of the other. From this standpoint the key issue is how the attitude of self and other become integrated. New directions for empirical research, aimed at advancing this question are outlined. Finally, the paper shows how the social act can contribute to our contemporary concerns about the nature of the symbolic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses George Herbert Mead's behaviorism on the basis of Gary A. Cook's George Herbert Mead: The Making of a Social Pragmatist. It links the functionalism of his early social social psychology to the behaviorism of his later social psychology, differentiates his behaviorism from that of John Watson, and points out the influence of John Dewey on both his functionalism and his behaviorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Montes de María is one of the subregions with the highest honey production rates in Colombia. Despite this, most of it is sold in bulk, without differentiation, which leads to a lower sales price. Beekeepers recognize that the honeys collected come from different geographical and botanical origins and have different characteristics. However, they believe these will not be accepted by consumers, so they sell it at low prices. In Montes de María, there is a beekeepers' cooperative called the Multiactive Cooperative of Organic Beekeepers Montes de María (Cooapomiel). This organization produces, purchases, and sells honey, beekeeping materials, and technical services. In this article, the fermentation process to obtain mead with honey from Montes de María was evaluated. Three different types of honey (from different geographical origins) and two commercial yeasts (S. cerevisiae) were used. Brix degrees during the fermentation process were measured. All fermentations started with a must of 24°Bx. After 548 hours at 23°C, all musts reached 8.8 and 10.3 °Bx. One of the yeasts showed slightly faster fermentation, mainly due to its fructophilic capacity. The alcoholic content and volatile acidity were within the range of Colombian regulations for wine-type beverages. All parameters showed variation due to fermentation time. In the future, mead production can be performed by Cooapomiel. Mead quality from this research, investment necessity, and possible commercial partners must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years arguments focusing on process have gained ascendancy over traditional dualist arguments in various areas of sociological inquiry, including that of the moral self. This paper challenges current convention by offering a defence of Émile Durkheim’s now largely discredited dualism-based homo duplex theory of the moral self by engaging it in a dialogue with one key exponent of the rival process view on this theme, namely the American pragmatist thinker George Herbert Mead. A seminal essay published in 1909 by one of Durkheim’s former students, the anthropologist Robert Hertz, will be drawn upon when arguing for the continued relevance of binary or dualistic thought, contra Mead, and, by extension, Durkheim’s classical homo duplex theory. The idea of a ‘dynamic dualism’ will be introduced in the face of Mead’s critical claims as a way forward for binary thought in future sociological debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general aim of this paper is twofold. First, we evaluate Mead’s later efforts at developing a non-conscious theory of meaning that refutes the primacy of Descartes’s cogito as a foundational explanation of adult human understanding and social interaction. However, paired with this first goal, we also intend to use Mead’s theoretical framework as a paradigmatic example of a theory of intersubjectivity. We will show how Mead problematically reintroduces the presence of conscious awareness in order to provide an intersubjective account of mutual human understanding and interaction. We argue that this position reveals a lacuna in both Mead’s theory of meaning specifically, as well as in theories of intersubjectivity more broadly. Such approaches require a foundational account of practical meaning and knowledge. We conclude by exploring the links between these arguments and the emerging theory of interobjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, I show how Mead's theory of emergence can prove explanatory in how the theory-practice gap is co-created and sustained in front- end loading university programs. Taking teacher education as an exemplar, I argue that trainee teachers encounter different and oft-times conflicting environmental, social and cultural conditions in the two 'fields of interaction' of their training program, namely, the on-campus pre-service program and the in-school experience. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian pre-service teacher education program. My conclusions are two-fold. First, I argue that role taking and self-regulated behaviour within the two environmental fields of interaction in front-end loading programs inhibit the trainee professional from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university in practice in the workplace. Second, I conclude that Mead's theory of emergence proves effective in predicting the obduracy of the gap between theory and practice in front-end programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author introduces a post-Meadian concept useful for contemporary ethnography. Emergent ideal types capture the imaginary (that which is not bound to space and time coordinates) in the doing ethnography and making empirical claims (the empirical is considered that which is limited to space and time coordinates). She uses a heuristic device, grounded narrative fictions, as one way of depicting the imaginary for ethnographic audiences. The exploration draws on the ethnography of a kindergarten/Grade 1 class. The author does not use many scholarly references. Instead, she tries to develop two innovations to ethnographic analysis (emergent ideal types and grounded narrative fictions) from within an ethnographic example. She tries in this thought piece to explicate the linguistic mechanisms through which ethnographers draw on the imaginary to link empirical patterns with interpretive analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study traces the evolution of a research program that frames the human mind as an embodied social phenomenon. The essay is divided into two parts, the first one focused on historical issues, the second on contemporary developments. The discussion begins with the mind-body problem central to the scholarship in this area and then focuses the changing perspective on consciousness as a symbolically mediated process. Next, the paper surveys the relevant writings of Mead and Vygotsky, tracks the debate about the place of body in interactionist sociology, and connects this debate to current research in neuroscience. The report concludes with reflections on the prospects for embodied sociology and the contribution it can make to the debate about extended mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollen is the reproductive agent of flowering plants; balneology is utilized by archaeologists because perplexing, a major component in the exine of pollen grains, is resistant to decay and morphologically distinctive. Wine, beer, and mead have been identified in the archaeological record by palynological assessment due to indicator species or due to a pollen profile similar to that recovered from honey, a common source of sugar in a variety of fermented beverages. While most pathologists have assumed that pollen grains are resistant to alcoholic fermentation, a recent study in food science implies that pollen is a yeast nutrient because pollen-enriched meads produce more alcohol. The experiment presented here explores the potential distortion of the pollen record through fermentation by brewing a traditional, pollen - rich mead with Saccharin chervils. In this experiment, the pollen grains did not undergo any discernible morphological changes nor were distorted in the pollen profile. Any nutrition that the yeast garners from the pollen therefore leaves perplexing intact. These results support palynological al research on residues of alcoholic beverages and confirms that the fermentation process does not distort the pollen profile of the original sub stance. The paper concludes with the potential and limits of palynological study to assess fermentation within the archaeological record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances the hypothesis of a theoretical affinity between alienation and shame. This attempt will be circumscribed by a narrow intention based on the work of the philosopher Rahel Jaeggi (2014). Specifically, the paper will try to outline a sociological translation of Jaeggi’s thought, attempting at the same time to identify interpretive affinities between a Meadian social-theoretical reading of shame and a sociological translation of the German philosopher’s theory of alienation, which is widely debated in the context of social philosophy. Shame and alienation can be associated in reference to their common twofold root: they are, at one and the same time, social events, objectified and exteriorized, and individual events, linked to subjective experience. Moreover, they both show further ambivalences. They are necessary to the stabilization of social bonds, but at the same time they can indicate the emergence of social pathologies. As we will see, a Meadian reading of shame can thus help to compensate for Jaeggi’s lack of discussion of the social aspects of alienation and, at the same time, emphasize the alienation side of shame.

The aim of this study was the analysis of 25 commercially available meads obtained from three leading producers in Poland. In the course of the analyses, the concentration of nine organic acids was determined using the capillary isotachophoresis technique, and the total polyphenol content (58–699 mg/L GAE) and the antioxidant activity were expressed as FRAP (234–6422 µmol/L Fe2+) using spectrophotometric methods. We were able to indicate the acids whose main source was honey—gluconic acid (561–2287 mg/L) and formic acid (35–176 mg/L), the one that was formed during alcoholic fermentation—succinic acid (280–845 mg/L), and also those originating from the additives in the form of fruit juices, or as a result of acidification—tartaric acid (< LOD–159 mg/L), malic acid (135–1611 mg/L) or citric acid (125–4576 mg/L). Our results provide a further contribution to the general knowledge of the chemical composition of meads, and, in particular, these are the first results of this kind for meads commercially available in Poland. The analysis of principal components showed the correlation structure of the examined parameters and the existence of two clusters containing specific meads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social psychologist George Herbert Mead and the cognitive linguist Noam Chomsky both investigated the nature of language and mind during the 20th century. They approached the issues broadly, pursuing both philosophical and scientific lines of reasoning and evidence. This comparative analysis of Mead and Chomsky identifies fourteen questions that summarize their collective effort, and which animated much of the debate concerning language and mind in the 20th century. These questions continue to be relevant to 21st century inquiries. This paper identifies which questions have been resolved and which have not, and discusses each in the context of relevant literature. The net result is a set of questions that inform interdisciplinary-minded inquiries today into the nature of language and mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Human agency can be defined in terms of acting independently of the immediate situation. Humans have a considerable independence from immediate situational demands because, on the one hand, they are able to distanciate from ongoing activity and reflect upon it, while on the other hand, they are able to identify with other people in different situations. It is argued that this form of agency arises through intersubjectivity because intersubjectivity enables the actor to take a perspective outside of the immediate situation and thus extricating the actor from the immediate situation. The paper contributes to the question of how intersubjectivity, as the basis of agency, develops. Explanations from phenomenology, child development and mirror neuron research are critically reviewed and the novel idea of position exchange is advanced. The paper concludes by examining some of the implications of position exchange for our understanding of the development of agency focusing upon mirror neurons, role play and autism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the present paper an interpretation of the political dimension of pragmatic aesthetic reflection is proposed. The interconnection between politics and aesthetics in three classic American pragmatists: William James (1842-1910), John Dewey (1859-1952), and George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) is evoked. The author claims that by emphasizing the role of democratic values in philosophy and life, the classic American pragmatists encroach upon the field of the arts and aesthetics. Their emphasis put upon individual activity, free expression of thoughts, plurality of the forms of expression, and acceptance of criticism as a tool helping create better solutions in human cooperation can easily be converted into the postulates about the character of the artistic principles and of the nature of the aesthetic norms and values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the canonization process of George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) in sociology through a recounting of the history of the book Mind, Self, and Society (1934). The relation between Mead and this particular work has no parallel in the history of sociological theory. Although the book was not written by Mead, or even organized under his direction, it has been through it that generations of academics and students have come in contact with Mead’s ideas. There are two main goals behind this exercise in historical reconstruction. First, the study of how Mind, Self, and Society came into existence and acquired classical standing offers an insightful view of the contingency and the complexity of canon formation. It is on this continuous process of reception, through which certain texts and authors acquire classical value, which the second part of the article focuses. It discusses the extent to which the history of the reception of Mead’s ideas would have been very different, and the impact of his ideas for theory building substantially larger, if it had been based, not on a posthumously published transcript, but on his own work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Descartes argued that the existence of reflective thought should be the first principle of philosophy because it is indubitable. The present paper draws on Bakhtinian and Meadian theories to analyse the three key paragraphs in the Meditations in which Descartes argues this point. The analysis demonstrates: (1) that Descartes' text contains the traces of significant others and the discourses of his time; (2) that the sequence of thoughts that leads Descartes to his first principle is fundamentally dialogical; (3) that Descartes' self-awareness, which he takes as primary, depends upon his reflecting upon himself from the perspective of a more or less generalized other; and finally (4) that Descartes takes the perspective of the other by reversing his own reactions towards others, such that he reacts to himself in the same way that he previously reacted to others. This re- analysis challenges Cartesian solipsism, arguing that the mind, or self-reflection, is fundamentally social. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT:In order to delimit the realm of social phenomena, sociologists refer implicitly or explicitly to a distinction between living human beings and other entities, that is, sociologists equate the social world with the world of living humans. This consensus has been questioned by only a few authors, such as Luckmann, and some scholars of science studies. According to these approaches, it would be ethnocentric to treat as self-evident the premise that only living human beings can be social actors. The methodological consequence of such critique is a radical deanthropologization of sociological research. It must be considered an open question whether or not only living human can be social actors. The paper starts with a discussion of the methodological problems posed by such an analysis of the borders of the social world, and presents the results of an empirical analysis of these borders in the fields of intensive care and neurological rehabilitation. Within these fields it must be determined whether a body is a living human body or a symbol using human body. The analysis of these elementary border phenomena challenges basic sociological concepts. The relevant contemporary sociological theories refer to a dyadic constellation as the systematic starting point of their concept of sociality. The complex relationship between at least two entities is understood as the basis of the development of a novel order that functions as a mediating structure between the involved parties. Based upon empirical data, I argue that it is necessary to change this foundational assumption. Not the dyad but the triad must be understood as the foundational constellation. This implies a new understanding of the third actor, which is distinct from the concepts developed by Simmel and Berger and Luckmann. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study traces the evolution of a research program that frames the human mind as an embodied social phenomenon. The essay is divided into two parts, the first one focused on historical issues, the second on contemporary developments. The discussion begins with the mind-body problem central to the scholarship in this area and then focuses the changing perspective on consciousness as a symbolically mediated process. Next, the paper surveys the relevant writings of Mead and Vygotsky, tracks the debate about the place of body in interactionist sociology, and connects this debate to current research in neuroscience. The report concludes with reflections on the prospects for embodied sociology and the contribution it can make to the debate about extended mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pyment is a type of mead that is produced from the alcoholic fermentation of a honey solution with the addition of grape juice. Due to the demand for new beverages, pyment can be a profitable alternative for both grape and honey producers. Therefore, this work aimed to characterize the aromatic and physicochemical composition of pyments. The pyments were prepared with addition of 10, 20 and 30% of Moscato juice, and compared with Moscato wine and traditional mead. The results showed an increase in the fermentation rates of Moscato-pyments, indicating that the addition of Moscato juice reverses the low fermentative vigor often reported in mead fermentations. Physicochemical parameters showed an increase in total acidity and a decrease in residual sugar and alcohol, depending on Moscato juice concentration. Moscato-pyments showed an intermediate concentration of volatile compounds between the traditional mead and Moscato wine, with a better balance between fruity, floral and buttery, manifesting characteristic aromas of wines made with Moscato grapes and simultaneously, exposing characteristic aromas of honey. The sensory analysis reveals a significant difference between mead, pyments and Moscato wine. In general, pyments were considered, by the panelists, as the most equilibrated with intermediary aroma intensity, floral, fruity and honey aromas, and good persistence in the mouth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will see Bjarni Kolbeinsson as a representative of the new kind of skaldic poetry that had developed around the turn of the thirteenth century. By then, formal skaldic poetry had become an art form cultivated by men who had received schooling and clerical ordination. Skalds such as Bjarni had turned their attention from the praise of kings of the present or the near past towards subjects of the more distant past and religious themes. In Jómsvíkingadrápa, Bjarni brushed aside the Odinic mead hailed by former skalds and preferred to apply techniques of poetic composition that he had learned through the formal study of Latin poetry. A tongue-in-cheek rejection of the traditional exordial topoi and a sensibility for love poetry allowed him to compose a poem that not only rejected the past but also pointed towards the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The turn towards nonhuman animals within sociology has shed a critical light on George Herbert Mead, his apparent prioritisation of language and the anthropocentric focus of Symbolic Interactionism (SI). Although Herbert Blumer canonised Mead as the founder of this perspective he also played a key role in excising the evolutionary and 'more-than-human' components in Mead's work. This intervention not only misrepresented Mead's intellectual project, it also made symbols the predominant concern in Blumer's version of SI. Since groundbreaking animal sociologists in America framed much of their thinking in opposition to Si's emphasis on language, because it excluded alingual animal others from sociological consideration, Mead's Mind, Self, and Society has largely functioned as a negative classic within this sub-field. Although some scholars recognise there is more in Mead's work that is potentially applicable to this interspecies area the attempt to recover what might be helpful has yet to begin (e.g. Alger & Alger 1997). This paper suggests that if the ambiguities and contradictions that exist alongside Mead's oft-quoted anthropocentrisms are also attended to this may open up a more positive reading and use of Mead's work for animal sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose · The paper tries to explore the possibility of developing a theory of science that is compatible with the non-dualizing way of speaking. Problem · The difficulty of developing a non-dualism-compatible theory of science consists in the difference of the perspectives of the theory of science and the non-dualizing way of speaking. The nondualizing way of speaking deals with descriptions as results of inquiries, whereas science theory thematizes the process of gaining descriptions in empirical research. If we want to reach compatibility between these different perspectives, we are led to the question of what kind of relationship exists between inquiry and description and what is the source of attaining knowledge. In respect of social sciences, there is the additional problem that a great deal of their objects are text; therefore the relationship between text and interpretation is relevant for the empirical research process of social sciences. Findings · George Herbert Mead's theory of action and communication allows a productive approach to the above-mentioned problem to be found. Mead conceives of speaking as potential acting, as action that is initiated but not carried out. In this way, describing and inquiring can be connected non-dualistically. The source of gaining knowledge and descriptions is, however, according to Mead's action theory, practical activities. Objects are not presupposed, but are results from action. New experiences and descriptions come from inquiries that are stimulated by action problems and action inhibition and the endeavor to overcome the inhibition. Implications · The result of the argumentation is that Mead's conception of action and language can serve to develop a theory of science that is compatible with non-dualizing thinking. The reason for this is that in Mead's conception, acting and speaking, experiencing and describing are not conceived of as categorical differences but are related to each other as executed and initiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2009 post-election violence on the streets of Tehran was brought to world attention by the image production and distribution activities of Iranian citizens. This paper considers the communicative potential of these images as they are encountered by distant observers. Beginning with George Herbert Mead's concept of a generalised other that establishes the ground for intersubjective person formation and the moral basis of self–other relations, I build a critical framework for considering the limits and potentiality of self–other encounters in mediated contexts. Arguing that communication presupposes a shared cultural attitude to images, I explore the distinctive cultural frame and image-encounters that the Internet establishes for its users, before turning attention to the activity occurring on the other side of the screen. Setrag Manoukian has observed that in the 2009 Iranian situation the once distinct categories of action and mediation collapsed together; "everyone was acting and reporting" simultaneously. I shall examine the claims for a new reflexivity associated with this situation. Turning again to the perspective of the distant observer, I explore some of the constraints on the functioning of the Iranian images as communicative acts. In conclusion I briefly consider what work is required on the part of the viewer to build a context for empathetic regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can human agency be reconciled with bio-physical determinism? Starting with a discussion of the long standing debate between determinism and agency, we argue that the seeds of a reconciliation can be found in George Herbert Mead's ideas concerning social acts, perspectives, differentiation, self-other interactivity, and conscious understanding. Drawing on more recent reformulations of Mead's ideas, we present an integrated account of the ontogenesis of human agency. Human agency, we argue, should be conceptualized in terms of distanciation from immediate experience, and we show how social interactions, institutions and symbolic resources foster the development of agency in increasingly complex ways. We conclude by situating our work in relation to other developmental accounts and the larger project of theorizing and empirically supporting a compatibilist rendering of human agency as the 'determined' self-determination of persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new approach to perform cell dielectric characterization from their electrorotation spectrum. At first, a variance analysis is carried out to quantify the dispersion in electrorotation spectra due to the different parameters involved. On this basis, the impact of each parameter is emphasized by weighing the spectrum with an appropriate frequency-dependent coefficient: this technique enables to minimize the coupling effects which deteriorate the accuracy of parameter extraction. In addition, the Nelder–Mead simplex algorithm used in the identification procedure is modified to account for bounded intervals in which the unknown parameters are expected to vary. Both these techniques have proven to give increased confidence levels compared to previous work reported in the literature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper summarises the findings obtained by using multi-electrode detector CoulArray in HPLC analysis of biologically active compounds. The methods for analysis of selected phenolic compounds were optimized. Optimal conditions of separation and detection were applied to real sample analysis. White and red wines as well as meads were analyzed and the content of phenolic acid was evaluated. Further the roots of Japanese knotweed were analyzed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper we take up Chang's (2004) challenge to apply Mead's theory of emergence in sociological inquiry. Largely overlooked by scholars, this theory is shown to prove explanatory in one field where limited solutions have been found to date. Specifically, the theory sheds light on how the theory-practice gap is created and sustained in pre-service teacher education. The argument is that under current institutional arrangements the trainee/beginning teacher encounters different and oft-times conflicting environmental, social and cultural conditions in the two 'fields of interaction' (Mead, 1934: 249) of their training program, namely, the on-campus pre-service program and the school. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian pre-service teacher education program. We conclude that the Meadian mechanisms of role taking and self-regulated behaviour within the two environmental fields of interaction inhibit the trainee/beginning teacher from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university in practice in the classroom. In this sense Mead's theory of emergence predicts the obduracy of the gap between theory and practice in teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Ruth Landes each made significant contributions to American anthropology that have been obscured by enemies and by time. Recent reappraisals of their work suggest that these women and their ideas are of much more than antiquarian interest. They either prefigured or provided sophisticated visions on a variety of issues including processes of embodiment, cultural selection, and improvisation in the face of power. A reexamination of these women's work and times may yet provide anthropology with a cautionary yet useful past as well as revivify the greater Boasian project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite decades of scholarship on G.H. Mead (1863-1931), we are still far from an adequate estimate of the full scope of his contributions. In this article, I examine the standard caricature that portraits Mead as an essentially idealist thinker, without much to say on the ‘material conditions of reproduction’ of modern industrialized societies. Focusing on Habermas's version of this interpretation, I try to show that if ‘science and democracy’ is a common theme amongst classical pragmatists, Mead is the only of these to whom we owe a communicative social theory that systematically connects science's problem-solving nature to democracy's deliberative character by means of social psychology that establishes the social nature of the human self. To suggest otherwise is to ignore that Mead's intellectual edifice is perhaps best described as a system in a state of flux, a structure that comprises three ever-evolving pillars: experimental science, social psychology, and democratic politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]