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The destruction of Buddhas: dissonant heritage, religious or political iconoclasm?

This article attempts to explore the main impulses that might have led to the destruction of Buddha statues by Taliban in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan. Drawing on existing literature, and anecdotal evidence, this article suggests that the main impulses that have led to destruction are rather linked to the overall political context of that time (i.e., political iconoclasm) rather than to pure Islamic iconoclasm or an explicit condition of disharmony in heritage (i.e., dissonant heritage). First, the Taliban did not consider the statues as "their" cultural heritage. The act of destruction, therefore, cannot be subscribed to the Afghan cultural dynamics but rather to the political-religious ideology imported by Taliban from outside of the country. Secondly, it seemed that Mullah Omar was viewing the statues as a revenue source at the beginning and as a political bargain chip at the end. In both circumstances, religion seems not to have played the main role. Lastly, the destruction seems a political iconoclasm-that is, a political exploitation, if not a direct political act. The Taliban and especially their external allies were very well aware of the consequences of the act of destruction. It seems implausible to suggest that there were no religion and/or culture in play when ordering the destruction of the statues. The latter is the least what this article aims for. However, to conclude that the destruction was solely triggered by theological and cultural factors might also be improbable. The author does not, in any way, attempt to rationalize the act of destruction, let alone justify the barbaric act.

Turkey.

A Conceptual Model for Implementing Explainable AI by Design

Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers organizations unprecedented opportunities. However, one of the risks of using AI is that its outcomes and inner workings are not intelligible. In industries where trust is critical, such as healthcare and finance, explainable AI (XAI) is a necessity. However, the implementation of XAI is not straightforward, as it requires addressing both technical and social aspects. Previous studies on XAI primarily focused on either technical or social aspects and lacked a practical perspective. This study aims to empirically examine the XAI related aspects faced by developers, users, and managers of AI systems during the development process of the AI system. To this end, a multiple case study was conducted in two Dutch financial services companies using four use cases. Our findings reveal a wide range of aspects that must be considered during XAI implementation, which we grouped and integrated into a conceptual model. This model helps practitioners to make informed decisions when developing XAI. We argue that the diversity of aspects to consider necessitates an XAI “by design” approach, especially in high-risk use cases in industries where the stakes are high such as finance, public services, and healthcare. As such, the conceptual model offers a taxonomy for method engineering of XAI related methods, techniques, and tools.

Research on Deinstitutionalisation

Tallinn University in co-operation with Tartu University has conducted a four month long research on deinstitutionalisation policies, financed by the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs, between August and November 2015. The research programme consisted of an international review on the experiences of seven selected European countries and on focus groups and individual interviews among Estonian stakeholders related to deinstitutionalisation and community based services in the field of disability care and mental health. Based on the research the international research group suggested a number of considerations for the Estonian Case. Some of the most relevant are reported in this Research note.

Asian and western Intellectual Capital in encounter

The purpose of the paper is to start a dialogue about differences between Western and Eastern cultures in the way they conceptualize knowledge and discuss the implications of these differences for a global intellectual capital (IC) theory and practice. A systematic metaphor analysis of the concept of knowledge and IC is used to identify common Western conceptualizations of knowledge in IC literature. A review of philosophical and religious literature was done to identify knowledge conceptualizations in the main streams of Asian philosophy. Fundamental differences were found in the way knowledge is conceptualized. In Western IC literature common metaphors for knowledge include knowledge as a thing and knowledge as capital. In Asian thought, knowledge is seen as unfolding truth based upon a unity of universe and human self and of knowledge and action. The research was performed on a limited sample of literature. More research is needed to identify how knowledge is conceptualized in the practice of doing business in Asia and to test the effects of introducing IC theories to Asian businessmen and managers. Moreover, it might be questionable whether different types of resources (Western management literature on IC and Asian cultural philosophies) can be put in a comparative perspective to extract conclusions out of it. This methodological starting point has its confinements, but is plausible partly as long as IC theories originating from an Asian background are still missing, partly as far as philosophical notions within Western IC publications are contrasted with Asian notions of knowledge. Despite this restriction we would like to emphasize that Western conceptualizations of knowledge, embedded in terms like intellectual capital and knowledge management, can not be transferred to Asian business without considering the local view on knowledge. Asian conceptualizations of knowledge should play an important role in the further development of a knowledge-based theory and practice of the firm. We choose deliberately to contrast Western philosophy with cultural and religious connotations in Asian philosophy, as the underlying paradigm is strongly influenced by these notions. This is clearly perceivable in revivalist and reformist tendencies in Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. Religious notions within these traditions have a strong paradigmatic function in a cognitive and normative sense. Not only in anthropology but also in epistemology, contemporary Asian thought is dominated by a discourse deeply embedded in religious and cultural traditions, in which the dimensions of 'nature', 'subjectivity' and 'history' have well defined boundaries. Anthropologically and epistemologically, all spheres of human reality are analyzed and described within the perspective of an integral and monolithic unity, in which all dimensions and spheres of being are bound. In Western philosophy these spheres of being have been separated from religious notions because of a longstanding secularization due to which religion and culture, metaphysics and philosophy have become separate disciplines.(Boom, 1993)

Report from the DIEM25 launch in Berlin