Le présent suffit-il à faire l'histoire?

Our study discusses the ability of the présent historique, a tense « plus abstrait et donc plus difficile à comprendre » [more abstract and therefore more difficult to understand] (Béguin 1998, p. 36), to replace the passé simple (PS) in historical narration. It is based on a diachronic corpus of extracts taken from history books on the French Revolution, ranging from the beginning of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century. Firstly, we justify the primacy of the passé simple for historical narrative, while considering the wider areas of tense and aspect. After a description of the corpus and a summary of the hypotheses under study, we present our quantitative results with the aim of assessing the use of the présent historique in the corpus in comparison with other tenses. Finally, we study our corpus from a qualitative perspective and we try to conclude upon our initial hypotheses. © Revue Romane.

South African football tours at the turn of the twentieth century:Amateurs, pioneers and profits

Academic and popular studies of South African sport generally reveal a bias towards cricket and rugby and this perpetuates the myth that these games are the most popular in South Africa. This in turn is often viewed through the lens of 'race' in which the simplifications of sport along racial lines occur. This paper argues that football was more important in South Africa among all South Africans in the late 19th and early 20th century than has been previously acknowledged. It reveals that not only was the game important and popular in South Africa but its teams and administrators played a significant role in globalising the game during this period. Tours to and from South Africa were important politically, financially and for sporting reasons. Five ground breaking football tours took place during a ten year period and these serve as the basis of discussion in this paper.

Editorial

This second issue of Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP) continues the international nature of the first issue, with papers from authors based on four different continents. There are five regular papers, plus the first of what is intended to be an occasional series of 'position papers' from respected figures in the knowledge management field, who have specific issues they wish to raise from a personal standpoint. The first two regular papers are both based on case studies. The first is 'Aggressively pursuing knowledge management over two years: a case study a US government organization' by Jay Liebowitz. Liebowitz is well known to both academics and practictioners as an author on knowledge management and knowledge based systems. Government departments in many Western countries must soon face up to the problems that will occur as the 'baby boomer' generation reaches retirement age over the next decade. This paper describes how one particular US government organization has attempted to address this situation (and others) through the introduction of a knowledge management initiative. The second case study paper is 'Knowledge creation through the synthesizing capability of networked strategic communities: case study on new product development in Japan' by Mitsuru Kodama. This paper looks at the importance of strategic communities - communities that have strategic relevance and support - in knowledge management. Here, the case study organization is Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), a Japanese telecommunication firm. The third paper is 'Knowledge management and intellectual capital: an empirical examination of current practice in Australia' by Albert Zhou and Dieter Fink. This paper reports the results of a survey carried out in 2001, exploring the practices relating to knowledge management and intellectual capital in Australia and the relationship between them. The remaining two regular papers are conceptual in nature. The fourth is 'The enterprise knowledge dictionary' by Stuart Galup, Ronald Dattero and Richard Hicks. Galup, Dattero and Hicks propose the concept of an enterprise knowledge dictionary and its associated knowledge management system architecture as offering the appropriate form of information technology to support various different types of knowledge sources, while behaving as a single source from the user's viewpoint. The fifth and final regular paper is 'Community of practice and metacapabilities' by Geri Furlong and Leslie Johnson. This paper looks at the role of communities of practice in learning in organizations. Its emphasis is on metacapabilities - the properties required to learn, develop and apply skills. This discussion takes work on learning and core competences to a higher level. Finally, this issue includes a position paper 'Innovation as an objective of knowledge management. Part I: the landscape of management' by Dave Snowden. Snowden has been highly visible in the knowledge management community thanks to his role as the Director of IBM Global Services' Canolfan Cynefin Centre. He has helped many government and private sector organizations to consider their knowledge management problems and strategies. This, the first of two-part paper, is inspired by the notion of complexity. In it, Snowden calls for what he sees as a 20th century emphasis on designed systems for knowledge management to be consigned to history, and replaced by a 21st century emphasis on emergence. Letters to the editor on this, or any other topic related to knowledge management research and practice, are welcome. We trust that you will find the contributions stimulating, and again invite you to contribute your own paper(s) to future issues of KMRP.

Traductoras gallegas del siglo XX:reescribiendo la historia de la traducción desde el género y la nación

Within the newly established field of Galician Studies, Feminist Theory has played a major role in revealing how women have contributed to the development of the Galician cultural polysystem. However, it is my contention that the translative facet of many women translators has not yet received enough critical attention. Therefore, within the framework of a growing interest in the roles played both by women and by translation in the development of societies, this article seeks to explore the history of translation in the context of Galicia, with a view to underscoring the contributions of women translators throughout the 20th century. The aim of the article is twofold: firstly, to offer an overview of translators such as Mercedes Vázquez Fernández Pimentel, Mari Luz Morales, Teruca Bouza Vila, María Barbeito, Amparo Alvajar, Xohana Torres, and Teresa Barro, in order to open up new areas for research so that subsequent studies can further examine their contributions in more depth. Secondly, it seeks to analyse the power relations which inform the activity of translation both from a gender and national approach.

Géniuszok párharca. Milton Friedman és J. M. Keynes vitája Tim Congdon és Robert Skidelsky előadásában = War of the geniuses. The debate between Milton Friedman and J. M. Keynes as presented by Tim Congdon and Robert Skidelsky

Tavaly ünnepelte a közgazdász-társadalom Milton Friedman Nobel-díjas közgazdász születésének századik évfordulóját. A jubileumi megemlékezésnek különös aktualitást ad, hogy a 2008 óta tartó pénzügyi világválság hátterében ismét fellobbant a 20. századi közgazdaságtan két meghatározó irányzata - a Friedman nevével fémjelzett monetarizmus és a Keynes és követői által követett keynesizmus - közötti vita. E szerteágazó vitasorozat egyik "gyöngyszeme" két nemzetközileg ismert és elismert közgazdász, Tim Congdon és Robert (Lord) Skidelsky, összecsapása a Standpoint hasábjain 2009-ben. A szerző megmutatja, hogy a vita valójában nem a pénz fontosságáról vagy a mennyiségi pénzelmélet igazságáról folyt, hanem egyrészt egy sokkal elvontabb fogalomról: a bizonytalanság közgazdasági szerepéről, másrészt gyakorlati, gazdaságpolitikai kérdésekről: a monetáris és a fiskális politika lehetséges hatékonyságáról. A máig is tartó vitában "az inga többször kilengett", hol a keynesiánusok, hol a monetaristák javára, de még semmi nem dőlt el. ____ Last year economists marked the centenary of the birth of genius among them, Milton Friedman. The commemoration was especially topical because the world financial crisis that erupted in 2008 has brought sharply into focus again the old division in 20th-century economics between monetarism and Keynesianism. One highlight in this series of disputes was the 2009 clash between two internationally known and appreciated economists Tim Congdon and Robert (Lord) Skidelsky in the columns of Standpoint. The central element in the discussion is the role of money: what kind of economic policy to pursue, monetary or fiscal, to pull troubled economies out of crisis. The question closely resembles a decisive dilemma for Keynes in the 1930s. Though Keynes turned against some basic propositions of neoclassical economics, he never challenged the importance of money to the functioning of the economy, or the validity of the quantity theory of money. The author argues here that the issue is not about the formal category of money or demand for it, but about the far deeper economic concept of the role of uncertainty in economics. Another aspect concerns the relative efficiency of various kinds of economic policy, i. e. the strengths and weaknesses of monetary and fiscal policies.

What is the Future of Strategic Management?

The history of planning and creating strategies has a past of over half a century. Throughout this lifetime period we have witnessed both the evolution of theory and practice. The MBA study books in the last-third of the 20th century have with predilection exhibited this very process as a complex of monetary centered budget planning, forecast-based planning, strategic planning and strategic management. There might be a controversy existing about the naming, characteristics and timing of these different sections but there is an accordance that the changes that we have taken place in the last decade as a whole without a doubt can be derived from these very changes in the business environment or in some outstanding cases (like 9/11) they can be acknowledged as the ability of corporate foreseeing and the ability to adapt to the vision of the future. The main purposes of the research is to provide a summarized picture about the changing process of this procedure during last decades as far as the planning and creating strategies are concerned and also their milestones and periods. Try to explore and systemize the very aspects of these changes. The happenings of the first decade of the new millennium are outstandingly interesting if we consider their real effect on the theory and practice of strategic management. Let us remember the euphoria around the year 2000, the predictions of „new technologies”, „new economy”, „new organization” and „new leadership”. We have implied before on the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center which meant a new era, a new quality of international terrorism and its consequences (Afghanistan, Iraq). But the „product” of this decade is the strategic aim that companies focus on, which is the social responsibility regarding the unavoidance of the effects of climate change on the long run. During the research the big question has risen concerning how did the science of strategic management do as far as the predictions of the global monetary and economic crisis are concerned? And also its solutions this very science has to offer in order to handle and get over the crisis. Does it conclude from the answers given to the questions that a change in paradigms are necessary, a new quality is needed or may be we have come to a new crossroad of the development process that will take over strategic management? (...)

A history of the presidency of National Taiwan University: The relationship between the university and an evolving democratic nation

Higher education always plays an important role in the development of a nation. Taiwan is no exception. Graduates of the National Taiwan University have occupied most of the important positions in this country and today many devote themselves to the development of Taiwan since the central government of the Republic of China (ROC) withdrew from Mainland China and re-located to Taiwan in the winter of 1949. The higher education system in Taiwan, including university and junior colleges, received special attention from the government except from 1945 to 1949 during the transitional period; the time of the early restoration year and the central government's retreating period from Mainland China.^ The five presidents of National Taiwan University who served from 1949 to 1993, Fu Szu-nien, Chien Seu-liang, Yen Chen-Hsing, Yu Chao-chung, and Sun Chen, are the subject of this research. All of the presidents were appointed by the government which established a direct connection between the government and the university leadership. The purpose of this study is to understand how each president balanced politically assigned roles and expectations with personal visionary academic responsiveness to the principles which define the university.^ Each president and his tenure were analyzed using historical research, a developed leadership model, an integration of role theory, Locke's leadership model, Wiles and Bondi curriculum leader tasks, and Burn's leadership style. Results of analyses of documents showed that all presidents of the National Taiwan University were highly respected due to their academic background, personal characteristics, and contribution to the university as a leader. Meanwhile, implementation and achievement of the presidents led to the conclusion that appointed university presidents had significant relationships with government policy. Their leadership style was affected strongly by their personal traits and knowledge and the social and political climate of the time. ^

The knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies of faculty in associate degree nursing education programs

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and use of critical thinking teaching strategies by full-time and part-time faculty in Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) programs. ^ Sanders CTI (1992) instrument was adapted for this study and pilot-tested prior to the general administration to ADN faculty in Southeast Florida. This modified instrument, now termed the Burroughs Teaching Strategy Inventory (BTSI), returned reliability estimates (Cronbach alphas of .71, .74, and .82 for the three constructs) comparable to the original instrument. The BTSI was administered to 113 full-time and part-time nursing faculty in three community college nursing programs. The response rate was 92% for full-time faculty (n = 58) and 61% for part-time faculty (n = 55). ^ The majority of participants supported a combined definition of critical thinking in nursing which represented a composite of thinking skills that included reflective thinking, assessing alternative viewpoints, and the use of problem-solving. Full-time and part-time faculty used different teaching strategies. Full-time faculty most often used multiple-choice exams and lecture while part-time faculty most frequently used discussion within their classes. One possible explanation for specific strategy choices and differences might be that full-time faculty taught predominately in theory classes where certain strategies would be more appropriate and part-time faculty taught predominately clinical classes. Both faculty types selected written nursing care plans as the second most effective critical thinking strategy. ^ Faculty identified several strategies as being effective in teaching critical thinking. These strategies included discussion, case studies, higher order questioning, and concept analysis. These however, were not always the strategies that were used in either the classroom or clinical setting. ^ Based on this study, the author recommends that if the profession continues to stress critical thinking as a vital component of practice, nursing faculty should receive education in appropriate critical teaching strategies. Both in-service seminars and workshops could be used to further the knowledge and use of critical thinking strategies by faculty. Qualitative research should be done to determine why nursing faculty use self-selected teaching strategies. ^

Dean of the school board: An oral history of the distinguished career of G. Holmes Braddock

Effective school board leadership is often an ephemeral ideal in today's highly politicized public education arena. However, effective leadership is necessary in order to ensure a fair and equitable education for all students. This dissertation described and explained one school board member's perspective of his career as a lens from which to view and assess public educational policy making in Miami-Dade County. ^ Now retired after thirty-eight years of service, G. Holmes Braddock is the longest serving, contemporary, urban school board member in the country. Spanning nearly four decades, his perspective provides a comprehensive view of urban education both locally and nationally. The significance of his longevity and the impact of his leadership on educational policy-making was the focus of indepth interviews with Mr. Braddock and other key educational “influentials.” From this transcript data, recurring themes were revealed and categorized. Five elements of his perspective, i.e., teacher professionalization; desegregation; athletics; bilingual education; and his comprehensive leadership role, were identified and analyzed, as were five variables of his perspective, i.e., fairness; integrity; honesty; courage; and the situational context. Other secondary source material, such as excerpts from newspaper articles, school board minutes, and items from Mr. Braddock's own personal effects further augmented and triangulated the data. ^ Given that the purpose of this study was to describe and explain Mr. Braddock's perspective of his school board career, the findings can be understood from two different viewpoints. The elements of Mr. Braddock's perspective describe or characterize his career and represent the significant policy issues in which he demonstrated exceptional vision and leadership. However, taken alone, these elements cannot fully explain his distinguished career. Rather, an analysis of the variables of Mr. Braddock's perspective provides an explanation for the effectiveness of his leadership role. Personality traits such as fairness, integrity, honesty and courage and the impact of the situational context were factors that strongly influenced Mr. Braddock's decision-making. Thus, Mr. Braddock's school board career can be holistically understood as the intersection of person, place and time with significant public education policy issues. ^ The results of this study provide a unique and historical perspective of school board politics in Miami-Dade County. From Mr. Braddock's perspective, we are able to view one individual's leadership role over time and its impact on local public education policy. ^

A history of a policy-level curriculum change in California

With the publication of A Nation at Risk (1983) educational reform has had a prominent place on the agenda of virtually every one of the sovereign states. As in many other states California focused much of its reform effort on the teaching of reading. In a political battle over the reading curriculum, California went from the English/Language Arts Framework of 1987, widely viewed as giving the state's imprimatur to whole language (an approach rooted in the learner's experience), to the English/Language Arts Frameworks (a more traditional or basic approach) of 1998 that called for the inclusion of phonemic awareness as the building block of reading instruction in all elementary schools. This study examined the historical record to determine the major forces behind this curriculum change. The results of this study are helpful to those who wish to better understand the relationship between political forces and curriculum change in the current age of educational reform. ^ This study utilized qualitative research methods and is presented as humanistic historical research (Landes & Tilly, 1971). The organizational framework for the study is taken from the work of M. Frances Klein (1991) which identifies seven different levels of curriculum decision-making. In this analysis particular attention was paid to the interaction of academic, formal, and societal levels, as the problem under consideration casts curriculum decision-making in the political realm. Three sources of information were used to provide the historical record. They include articles from popular newspapers and magazines, government documents, and interviews with individuals directly involved in the political process. ^ The results of this study demonstrate the power of societal forces over formal authority in making curriculum policy decisions. ^

Latinoamericanismo y modernidad en la obra ensayistica de Arturo Uslar Pietri

This dissertation follows the political and literary ideas of the late Venezuelan writer Arturo Úslar Pietri. Analysis of his essayistic production focuses on his reflections on three major topics: universality, Latin Americanism, and Venezuelan national identity. By "universality" I refer to Úslar's reflections on general human culture and the way in which the crises of many ethical, philosophical, and scientific postulates of modernity are felt and expressed by this author through his critical appraisal of 20th-century history and culture. His most extensive and controversial reflections are those on Latin American identity, historical, socio-cultural and political processes, and philosophical thought, configuring what might be called a Latin American "rationality." National reflections follow the author's ideas on three topics: oil and its (mostly negative) impact on all aspects of Venezuelan life, the rescue of national history as a means to construct a Venezuelan identity, and the quest to identify/configure a national "subject" akin to the new rationality. My conclusion examines the essay-novel relationship as a compendium of Úslar's ideas and public political practices, as illustrated in his novels, where changing global realities are reflected in the most concrete aspects of Venezuelan daily life.^

Carmen de Burgos: La educacion de la mujer y la literatura de viajes como genero narrativo

This study analyzes Carmen de Burgos' European travel literature, and focuses on two themes: education and travel literature as a literary genre. An examination of her travel literature reveals two essential elements related to her view of education. The first is the influence that the European educational system had on her way of thinking, particularly with respect to the idea of tolerance, the practice of hygiene, and the important role of nature in education. The second is the development of her view of education as the foundation for the emancipation of women in Spain. Carmen de Burgos espoused the view that the reform of the Spanish educational system was the primary and foundational goal to further social, political and economic progress of women in Spain at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century. ^ In the second part of this dissertation I support the theory that her travel literature was her main source to convey to Spanish women the need for social change. I do this by analyzing four properties that are considered characteristic of women's travel literature: (1) the woman as a hero, (2) scientific authority of women, (3) feminine style, and (4) feminine content. I argue that Carmen de Burgos's travel literature uses these properties to facilitate her access to women audiences and to assure that this audience regarded her as an authoritative voice. ^

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic patterns in South Florida coastal ecosystems: Modern and paleoceanographic perspectives

Long term management plans for restoration of natural flow conditions through the Everglades increase the importance of understanding potential nutrient impacts of increased freshwater delivery on coastal biogeochemistry. The present study sought to increase understanding of the coastal marine system of South Florida under modern conditions and through the anthropogenic changes in the last century, on scales ranging from individual nutrient cycle processes to seasonal patterns in organic material (OM) under varying hydrodynamic regime, to century scale analysis of sedimentary records. In all applications, carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic compositions of OM were examined as natural recorders of change and nutrient cycling in the coastal system. ^ High spatial and temporal variability in stable isotopic compositions were observed on all time scales. During a transient phytoplankton bloom, δ 15N values suggested nitrogen fixation as a nutrient source supporting enhanced productivity. Seasonally, particulate organic material (POM) from ten sites along the Florida Reef Tract and in Florida Bay demonstrated variable fluctuations dependent on hydrodynamic setting. Three separate intra-annual patterns were observed, yet statistical differences were observed between groupings of Florida Bay and Atlantic Ocean sites. The POM δ 15N values ranged on a quarterly basis by 7‰, while δ 13C varied by 22‰. From a sediment history perspective, four cores collected from Florida Bay further demonstrated the spatial and temporal variability of the system in isotopic composition of bulk OM over time. Source inputs of OM varied with location, with terrestrial inputs dominating proximal to Everglades freshwater discharge, seagrasses dominating in open estuary cores, and a marine mixture of phytoplankton and seagrass in a core from the boundary zone between Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Significant shifts in OM geochemistry were observed coincident with anthropogenic events of the 20th century, including railroad and road construction in the Florida Keys and Everglades, and also the extensive drainage changes in Everglades hydrology. The sediment record also preserved evidence of the major hurricanes of the last century, with excursions in geochemical composition coincident with Category 4-5 storms. ^

Latin America and the Caribbean in 2011 and Beyond: A conversation among Latin America and Caribbean Specialists.

For the first time in more than fifty years, the domestic and external conflicts in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are not primarily ideological in nature. Democracy continues to thrive and its promise still inspires hope. In contrast, the illegal production, consumption, and trading of drugs – and its links to criminal gangs and organizations – represent major challenges to the region, undermining several States’ already weak capacity to govern. While LAC macroeconomic stability has remained resilient, illegal economies fill the region, often offering what some States have not historically been able to provide – elements of human security, opportunities for social mobility, and basic survival. Areas controlled by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are now found in Central America, Mexico, and the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, reflecting their competition for land routes and production areas. Cartels such as La Familia, Los Zetas, and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC-Brazil), among others, operate like trade and financial enterprises that manage millions of dollars and resources, demonstrating significant business skills in adapting to changing circumstances. They are also merciless in their application of violence to preserve their lucrative enterprises. The El Salvador-Guatemala-Honduras triangle in Central America is now the most violent region in the world, surpassing regions in Africa that have been torn by civil strife for years. In Brazil’s favelas and Guatemala’s Petén region, the military is leaving the barracks again; not to rule, however, but to supplement and even replace the law enforcement capacity of weak and discredited police forces. This will challenge the military to apply lessons learned during the course of their experience in government, or from the civil wars that plagued the region for nearly 50 years during the Cold War. Will they be able to conduct themselves according to the professional ethics that have been inculcated over the past 20 years without incurring violations of human rights? Belief in their potential to do good is high according to many polls as the Armed Forces still enjoy a favorable perception in most societies, despite frequent involvement in corruption. Calling them to fight DTOs, however, may bring them too close to the illegal activities they are being asked to resist, or even rekindle the view that only a “strong hand” can resolve national troubles. The challenge of governance is occurring as contrasts within the region are becoming sharper. There is an increasing gap between nations positioned to surpass their “developing nation” status and those that are practically imploding as the judicial, political and enforcement institutions fall further into the quagmire of illicit activities. Several South American nations are advancing their political and economic development. Brazil in particular has realized macro-economic stability, made impressive gains in poverty reduction, and is on track to potentially become a significant oil producer. It is also an increasingly influential power, much closer to the heralded “emerging power” category that it aspired to for most of the 20th century. In contrast, several Central American States have become so structurally deficient, and have garnered such limited legitimacy, that their countries have devolved into patches of State controlled and non-State-controlled territory, becoming increasingly vulnerable to DTO entrenchment. In the Caribbean, the drug and human trafficking business also thrives. Small and larger countries are experiencing the growing impact of illicit economies and accompanying crime and violence. Among these, Guyana and Suriname face greater uncertainty, as they juggle both their internal affairs and their relations with Brazil and Venezuela. Cuba also faces new challenges as it continues focusing on internal rather than external affairs and attempts to ensure a stable leadership succession while simultaneously trying to reform its economy. Loosening the regime’s tight grip on the economy while continuing to curtail citizen’s civil rights will test the leadership’s ability to manage change and prevent a potential socio-economic crisis from turning into an existential threat. Cuba’s past ideological zest is now in the hands of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, who continues his attempts to bring the region together under Venezuelan leadership ideologically based on a “Bolivarian” anti-U.S. banner, without much success. The environment and natural disasters will merit more attention in the coming years. Natural events will produce increasing scales of destruction as the States in the region fail to maintain and expand existing infrastructure to withstand such calamities and respond to their effects. Prospects for earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes are high, particularly in the Caribbean. In addition, there are growing rates of deforestation in nearly every country, along with a potential increase in cross-sector competition for resources. The losers might be small farmers, due to their inability to produce quantities commensurate to larger conglomerates. Regulations that could mitigate these types of situations are lacking or openly violated with near impunity. Indigenous and other vulnerable populations, including African descendants, in several Andean countries, are particularly affected by the increasing extraction of natural resources taking place amongst their terrain. This has led to protests against extraction activities that negatively affect their livelihoods, and in the process, these historically underprivileged groups have transitioned from agenda-based organization to one that is bringing its claims and grievances to the national political agenda, becoming more politically engaged. Symptomatic of these social issues is the region’s chronically poor quality of education that has consistently failed to reduce inequality and prepare new generations for jobs in the competitive global economy, particularly the more vulnerable populations. Simultaneously, the educational deficit is also exacerbated by the erosion of access to information and freedom of the press. The international panorama is also in flux. New security entities are challenging the old establishment. The Union of South American Nations, The South American Defense Council, the socialist Bolivarian Alliance, and other entities seem to be defying the Organization of American States and its own defense mechanisms, and excluding the U.S. And the U.S.’s attention to areas in conflict, namely Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan – rather than to the more stable Latin America and Caribbean – has left ample room for other actors to elbow in. China is now the top trading partner for Brazil. Russian and Iran are also finding new partnerships in the region, yet their links appear more politically inclined than those of China. Finally, the aforementioned increasing commercial ties by LAC States with China have accelerated a return to the preponderance of commodities as sources of income for their economies. The increased extraction of raw material for export will produce greater concern over the environmental impact that is created by the exploitation of natural resources. These expanded trade opportunities may prove counterproductive economically for countries in the region, particularly for Brazil and Chile, two countries whose economic policies have long sought diversification from dependence on commodities to the development of service and technology based industries.

Martin Heidegger's Mathematical Dialectic: Uncovering the Structure of Modernity

Martin Heidegger is generally regarded as one of the most significant—if also the most controversial—philosophers of the 20th century. Most scholarly engagement with Heidegger’s thought on Modernity approaches his work with a special focus on either his critique of technology, or on his more general critique of subjectivity. This dissertation project attempts to elucidate Martin Heidegger’s diagnosis of modernity, and, by extension, his thought as a whole, from the neglected standpoint of his understanding of mathematics, which he explicitly identifies as the essence of modernity.

Accordingly, our project attempts to work through the development of Modernity, as Heidegger understands it, on the basis of what we call a “mathematical dialectic.“ The basis of our analysis is that Heidegger’s understanding of Modernity, both on its own terms and in the context of his theory of history [Seinsgeschichte], is best understood in terms of the interaction between two essential, “mathematical” characteristics, namely, self-grounding and homogeneity. This project first investigates the mathematical qualities of these components of Modernity individually, and then attempts to trace the historical and philosophical development of Modernity on the basis of the interaction between these two components—an interaction that is, we argue, itself regulated by the structure of the mathematical, according to Heidegger’s understanding of the term.

The project undertaken here intends not only to serve as an interpretive, scholarly function of elucidating Heidegger’s understanding of Modernity, but also to advance the larger aim of defending the prescience, structural coherence, and relevance of Heidegger’s diagnosis of Modernity as such.