*** MATTHEW LIPMAN, ANN MARGARET SHARP: MARK. Recherche Sociale. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050, Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2009, 417 pp., €37.50. ISBN 978-90-5201-544-6.
In this book, Matthew Lipman presents us with a “philosophy of the children” programme. This programme does not aim to provide an insight into the teachings of ancient philosophers but rather, a view of what citizen training should consist of. Lipman is an American teacher, philosopher and expert in logic, but was very disappointed with his studies and its role as teacher very early on. The mediocrity of education and the disconnection between American youth with reality (this problem is not exclusively American?) was of great concern to him and he sought other alternatives to a system whose results were becoming increasingly catastrophic. He was haunted by the following questions, “why do young people not understand? Why are they discouraged? Why does school have such distaste for research and culture? Why do so many people allow themselves to be manipulated? Why is democracy so difficult to achieve?” In an effort to find an answer to these questions he set about developing an education system, which has subsequently been recognised by UNESCO and is successfully practised in more than 60 countries. This system does not put emphasis on “retaining and regurgitating” but rather on thinking, reasoning and seeking information. The author believes that the current system is only interested in socialising young people so that they adapt to society's mould, which prevents them from understanding society and, subsequently, means that it is very difficult for them to become responsible citizens because the tools for tackling and identifying social situations are not available to them. For example, given the lack of a clear understanding of the concepts of freedom, justice and equality, individual rights and democracy, how can we tell whether those we elect and the institutions in which they work are functioning efficiently? It is quite easy to understand and respect the law but if we are unaware of a minimum of constitutional questions underpinning it, in addition to a number of philosophical aspects on which it is hinged, attitudes with regard to laws will be contaminated by doubt, negative criticism and incorrect interpretation.
Matthew Lipman therefore proposes a method that is devised for developing a capacity for students to think for themselves by using a familiar and accessible language that focuses on social experiences with which they can identify. Emphasis is put on “an ability to think” - critical logic and reasoning, methods that are valid for research, as well as a broad range of intellectual exercises, such as deduction, induction, comparison, abstraction and interpretation …-and dialogue, the favoured instrument for sharpening reflection. The book is divided into eight chapters consisting of an anthology, which provokes reflection and dialogue through reasoning exercises, with the goal of developing cognitive attitudes and encouraging and developing critical reflection and application in specific situations. Although this book is primarily aimed at students, it could also prove useful for a more mature readership because it promotes not only social and political insertion, but also intercultural and intergenerational relations. Ultimately, this book deserves to be read and reflected upon in the US and in Europe, as well as in other parts of the world. Nuno Duarte
*** PATRICK AUVRET (Editor): Les médias et l'Europe. Le contenu de l'information: entre errance et uniformisation. Larcier publications (Groupe De Boeck, 39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5480720 - fax: 5480722 - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). “Europe(s)”. 2009, 390 pp, €70. ISBN 978-2-8044-3522-6.
This is a book that will obviously be of interest to those who are operating in or gravitating towards the world of the media. It provides an exchange of reflections by eminent legal experts made during a conference organised in autumn 2008 by the European Legal Studies Centre at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, as part of their gradual homogenisation of publishing law. This process was instigated by the Council of Europe and the jurisprudence of the European Court of human rights, as well as, of course, the Union's legal system, which tackles issues such as the freedom of expression in all its different aspects and on an increasingly frequent basis. The first part of the book exclusively focuses on the question of this freedom, as well as “politically correct media”. The second axis of reflection focuses on penalties for abuses of this freedom of expression, particularly in light of the French context. The third part of the book is dedicated to legal problems connected with the interactive nature of the media, which is in the full throes of revolution. (MT)
*** MARTA DYCZOK, OXANA GAMAN-GOLUTVINA (editor): Media, Democracy and Freedom. The Post-Communist Experience. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). “Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe” series, No. 6. 2009, 246 pp. ISBN 978-3-0343-0311-8.
What role did the media play in the political, economic and social transition that followed the fall of the Communist regimes 20 years ago? This is the question that university specialists from a broad range of different disciplines - political scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and media specialists … - seek to provide in their instructive answers in this book. The book follows a debate on the subject at a conference organised by the Interdisciplinary Institute for Central and Eastern Europe at the University of Fribourg and is structured around four main subject areas. Firstly, relations between the state and society, on which several of the contributions demonstrate that dynamic civil societies opened up the media to the risk of provoking tension with the state because the latter has often given in to the temptation of attempting to keep control of the media. The book then tackles the question of how the weight of the communist past still weighs down on this field. The book also reveals limitations to a comparative approach because developments in the media have been so different in the different countries examined, namely Latvia and Serbia, but also in Ukraine, Belarus, Albania, Georgia, Kirghistan and Russia - the latter has been the only country to redefine itself in relation to the past, while all the other countries have rebuilt themselves to a greater or lesser extent under the influence of Western Europe or … Russia. Finally, what is acutally highlighted, unsurprisingly, is the, “complex and contradictory role of the market” in this arena. (MT)
*** HANS GEYBELS, SARA MELS, MICHEL WALRAVE (editors): Faith and Media. Analysis of Faith and Media: Representation and Communication. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). “Gods, Humans and Religions” series, No. 46. 2009, 257p p., €29.90. ISBN 978-90-5201-534-7.
This publication follows on from an international conference organised by the University Centre of Saint-Ignatius in Antwerp and two other Belgian universities. It is a very comprehensive book that explores the different facets of the prevailing relationship between religious belief and media in modern society. As opposed to what happened in the past, religions and ideologies do not have any pride of place in the media arena and, on the contrary, they find themselves in a position of weakness and victim to diktats of the audience and the sometimes-subsequent constraints imposed by way of a policy that is more respectful of diversity. The first contributions analyse this evolution from a critical point of view of religion, particularly in light of the chasm that has developed between media discourse and language and the possible ways of overcoming this divide. Other writers focus on themes located in current affairs, such as the veil and Islam. Professor Jacques Guyot (Université Paris 8) states that even in the country of republican and secular doctrine, the public audiovisual service is lending a more indulgent ear to religious messages and action that are both indigenous to the country and those that have recently arrived there. This trend is largely shared throughout the Union countries (other contributions more specifically concentrate on the situation in Great Britain and the Netherlands). This angle is taken up by the researcher, Fadi Kabatilo (the Finnish University of Joensuu), who tackles the question of discourse in the Western media with regard to Muslim culture, and arrives at the conclusion that the action taken against the veil is not primarily in defence of women's rights and should instead be instrumentalised to achieving other aims. Overall, this publication puts forward ideas in defence of a new cohabitation between religion and the media. (MT)
*** GRACE BROCKINGTON ( editor): Internationalism and the Arts in Britain and Europe at the end of the century. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 -email info@peterlang.com internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). “ Cultural Interactions Studies in the Relationship between the Art” series No. 4. 2009, 355 pp., €44.40. ISBN 978-3-03911-128-2.
Do the thoughts, actions, trajectories and controversies of artists at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century have anything to teach us 100 years later? Yes they do, reply in unison the art historians who contributed to this book, after having exchanged their ideas during a conference in summer 2008 at Magdalene College Cambridge University. In her introduction, Grace Brockington explains that they have something to teach us because, “the end of the century created conditions for the wars of the 20th century but also the conditions for the globalisation of the 21st-century”. This senior lecturer at the University of Bristol, therefore argues that our epoch of “European expansion, integration and scepticism” still contains undiscovered territory and deserves examination by way of historically exploring the cultural exchanges and internationalism that prevailed over the last two centuries. This approach proves fruitful because it succeeded in describing the journeys of those who refused to sanctify national borders. The nationalist forces that would soon spark off the First World War were not the only contenders at the time and had to compete with artists and intellectuals and personalities who supported cosmopolitanism, trans-nationalism and even supranaturalism (a concept that, according to the editor of this book, will first appear in 1908) and a brief internationalism that, according to Akira Iriye, responded to the, “apparently endless concern of the major powers to strengthen themselves militarily”. We are certainly not in that situation again but is it not true that European integration is still suffering, perhaps more than ever, from a battle being waged against it and all those who defend it by those ferociously seeking to defend national identity and sovereignty? It is therefore highly pertinent that we can return to the peaceful theatre of war inhabited by men and women of the time in the four corners of Europe (in addition to Great Britain, the authors look at Germany, Belgium, France and Italy and, of course, but also countries that were for a long time judged to be peripheral, such as Bohemia, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Russia and Slovakia). There is no one-size fits all image that springs forth from this study or any moral platitudes because although it is true that certain supporters of cultural internationalism at the same time were not averse to flirting with reactionary and leftist themes or even racist ideas, they were, nonetheless, the people who formed to a greater and lesser extent the bedrock of what would ultimately prove possible in the aftermath of the Second World War … and which still remains under permanent threat from the Ancients and Moderns! (PBo)
*** ALEXANDRE MIGUEL MESTRE: The Law of the Olympic Games. T. MM. C. Asser Press (P. O. Box 16163, 2500 BD Den Haag. Distribution: Cambridge University Press, the Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 326050 - fax: 315052 - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). “ Asser International Sports Law Series”. 2009, 242 pp., £45. ISBN 978-90-6704-304-5.
Alexandre Miguel Mestre is a Portuguese lawyer specialising in sports issues. In this book he examined from a legal point of view, “Olympic Law” since the invention of the Olympic Games in antiquity. The most contemporary developments in this context come under the magnifying glass and only a few pages focus on the contribution of European law and jurisprudence from the European Court of Justice. In the second part of the book, the author scrutinises the different legal and institutional aspects of the Olympic movement, particularly in light of the role and structure of the International Olympic Committee and its national equivalents, as well as new structures such as the World Anti-Doping Agency. In the last part of the book, legal problems currently confronting the Olympic movement are examined: amateurism and/or professionalism, the participation of women and transsexuals, cohabitation with the Paralympic games, boycotting the games, advertising, media cover, and intellectual property etc . Basic documents such as the Olympic Charter are published in annexes, as well as a very practical index. (MT)
*** ShiftMag. Europe talks to Brussels. Tipik Communication Agency (270 av. de Tervuren, B-1150 Brussels. Email: editors@tipik.eu). 2010, No. 13, 36 pp..
In addition to an interview with a man “born in the United States of Europe”, aka Guy Verhofstadt, the current president of the Liberal Democracy Group, this magazine also provides a series of portraits of lesser-known Europeans but who deserve to have the spotlight far more directed on them.