ESSENTIAL WEPA

         INTRODUCTION C onflict resolution education programs focus on developing critical skills and abilities for a person to deal constructively with conflict. In most cases these programs occur in schools, but they may also be used in after-school programs, community centers, church groups, etc. What do children learn in conflict resolution education? These programs give children an understanding of the nature of conflict-what conflict is and how it develops as well as what one can do to manage it. Children learn to appreciate that conflict exists whenever there is a disagreement about goals and/or methods to achieve those goals; and as a result, conflict is natural, necessary, and important. Children learn to understand the dynamics of power and influence that operate in all conflict situations. Furthermore, they become aware of the role of culture in how we see and respond to conflict. An awareness of the nature of conflict helps children apprecia...

INTRODUCTION A verage persons, unschooled in philosophical reasoning, assume that when they make a choice they are free to choose from among various alternatives , the simplest of which are to assent or deny - to say yes or no - to some simple action. Humans everywhere have what Immanuel Kant called "The Idea of Freedom" in his great work Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals . Kant based his "categorical imperatives" - without which morality and responsibility would be impossible - on the presumed fact that freedom is a universal idea. Now determinists generally deny both freedom and moral responsibility , while compatibilists generally assert a special form of free will compatible with determinism that allows them to defend responsibility .   But note the curious fact that all the participants in the free will debates are in basic agreement with Kant that there exists an Idea of Freedom , even as some deny that there is something phenomenally and ph...

          INTRODUCTION P olitical economy is the study of the role of economic processes in shaping society and history.  Nevertheless, most of the writings in political economy, including the work of Marx, have been concerned specifically with understanding the role of  capitalism (as the prevalence of a specific class arrangement or set of class processes) in shaping society and history. Thus, political economy makes extensive and intensive use of  class analysis  in making sense of society and history, but does so in the context of political, cultural, and environmental processes, as well as other economic processes.  In the architecture of this new form of political economy, all social processes are significant determinants of economic outcomes, the behavior of economic agents and institutions, and the direction of historical change.  In other words, the post-structuralist approach studied in this course  rejects eco...

INTRODUCTION P olitical economy is the study of the role of economic processes in shaping society and history.  Nevertheless, most of the writings in political economy, including the work of Marx, have been concerned specifically with understanding the role of  capitalism (as the prevalence of a specific class arrangement or set of class processes) in shaping society and history. Thus, political economy makes extensive and intensive use of  class analysis  in making sense of society and history, but does so in the context of political, cultural, and environmental processes, as well as other economic processes.  In the architecture of this new form of political economy, all social processes are significant determinants of economic outcomes, the behavior of economic agents and institutions, and the direction of historical change.  In other words, the post-structuralist approach studied in this course  rejects economic determinism  in favor of...

INTRODUCTION P olitical economy (particularly when the word "radical" is added as an adjective) has come to be closely associated with the work of economists who adopted key concepts developed by Marx, in particular his focus on  class processes or relationships, but who rejected the economic determinism of orthodox versions of Marxian theory.  Thus, political economy makes extensive and intensive use of  class analysis  in making sense of society and history, but does so in the context of political, cultural, and environmental processes, as well as other economic processes. For instance, unlike orthodox economic theory or economic determinist versions of Marxian theory, the post-structuralist approach would view cultural processes as no less significant than economic processes in shaping investment decisions.  The same could be said for political or environmental processes.  This point, among others, will be made by essays and papers read duri...