Rhapsodes of social science : Herodotus' performance of politeic inquiry

Herodotus' logos represents many examples ofthe relationship between political and paradigmatic authority, and the synthesis ofthese examples in a community characterized by free and equal speech. Herodotus' walkabout narrator sets forth an inquiry into knowledge-seeking he extends the isegoria principle from Athenian politics to the broader world. The History demonstrates (a) various modes of constructing meaning, (b) interacting notions ofhow people have lived and living questions as to how we ought to live, and (c) an investigation ofthe nature and limits ofhuman knowledge. Representing diverse wisdom, publicly and privately discovered and presented, Herodotus sets forth Solon's wise advice and law-making, the capital punishment of the learned Anacharsis, the investigative outrages of Cambyses and Psammetichus' more pious experiments. Their stories challenge and complement their communities' characters - the relative constraint under which the Egyptians and Persians make their investigations, the Scythians' qualified openness and the relative fearlessness and freedom in which the Greeks set forth their inquiries. Setting forth the investigator-storykeeper as a poetic historian, Herodotus shows that history as poetry thwarts natural decay by allowing custom to be reformed in an open milieu, and thus win through and survive. Despite the potential dangers that openness shares with tyranny, Herodotus' inquiry sets up a contest ofworld-views in which it is mutability that openness affords a community that ensures its survival.

Anàlisi de les revistes indexades al Journal of Citation Reports del Social Science Citation Index. Període 1997-2005

En aquest estat de la qüestió, s’hi presenten els resultats d’una anàlisi sobre l’evolució i les característiques principals de les revistes de geografia incloses al Journal of Citation Reports dins de la versió del Social Science Citation Index i, per tant, amb factor d’impacte. El període d’estudi escollit ha estat el que va de 1997 a 2005, és a dir, al llarg dels darrers nou anys amb dades disponibles. En total, hi han aparegut incloses trenta-nou revistes, una bona part de les quals ha romàs a la llista durant tot el temps estudiat. Hi ha hagut deu publicacions que han estat situades entre les cinc amb més factor d’impacte de cada any, i cap no ha estat la primera més de dos anys seguits. S’han trobat divuit temàtiques diferents en el conjunt de les revistes, en destaquen les de caire generalista i les de geografia econòmica i regional. Una gran majoria dels volums està publicada per editorials, Blackwell Publishing n’és la més destacada. L’origen de les revistes és clarament anglosaxó, només n’hi trobem dues d’escrites en una altra llengua. La segona part de l’article descriu totes les publicacions contemplades en els nou anys estudiats, amb una petita ressenya de cadascuna

Features of the Atlantic diet and its healthiness: Theory and evidence from social science

In order to understand diets, why and how they change and can be influenced, it is important to understand how food choices are made. The has been the subject of, considerable study within many of the social science disciplines and the humanities. The paper draws on the theoretical and empirical work of psychologists, sociologists, economists, market researchers, anthropologists, geographers and historians to understand better the forces behind food choice, derive some general empirical messages from the literature, to shed light on food choice in a European context and to address the question of whether there is, or has been, a recognisably Atlantic diet. The paper proceeds to analyse the characteristics of the food consumption patterns in the Atlantic diet countries, examines whether their food consumption patterns are homogenous (i.e. similar across the countries of this group), whether they are specific (i.e. different from the ones in other country groups) and finally evaluates the nutritional composition of the Atlantic diet against the WHO/FAO recommendations for a healthy and wholesome diet.

Applications of Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis for Social Science Research

Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (SIRA) is the measurement of variation in different isotopes of same elements in a material. This technique is well-established in the natural sciences and has been long part of the methodological arsenal in fields such as geology and biology. More recently this technique has begun to be utilized in the social sciences, moving from initial applications in anthropology to potential uses in geography, public health, forensic science, and others. This presentation will discuss the techniques behind SIRA, examples of current applications in the natural and social sciences, and potential avenues of future research.