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10 - After Virtue as a Narrative of Revolutionary Practical Reason
- from Part III - After Virtue and Narrative
- Edited by Tom Angier, University of Cape Town
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- Book:
- MacIntyre's <i>After Virtue</i> at 40
- Published online:
- 12 October 2023
- Print publication:
- 26 October 2023, pp 179-198
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Summary
Two themes unite seventy years of Alasdair MacIntyre’s writings in ethics and politics: the rejection of modern normative theories and the pursuit of practical reasoning. While conventional moral philosophers and their critics fight over which normative theory provides the true criterion of morality or whether philosophy can guide morals at all, MacIntyre takes a different course. MacIntyre’s account of practical reasoning answers an Aristotelian question: how can we become the kind of people who recognise what is good and best for us to do and who exercise the moral freedom to act on that judgement? MacIntyre finds that communities discover the practical demands of life together through the narratives they have created to make sense of practices, whole human lives and traditions. Conventional scholars may expect to find a normative theory in MacIntyre’s work, but local narratives about choosing well, not abstract theories about duties and obligations, play the central role in his ethics and politics. For MacIntyre, modern normative theories are merely one kind of narrative, one that distorts practical reasoning by separating morality from human desire. This chapter will examine the critical argument of After Virtue (chapters 1–9) in the broader context of MacIntyre’s background and writings in order to illuminate the conditions it imposes on any constructive effort in moral philosophy and to show how MacIntyre’s narrative of revolutionary practical reason (chapters 10–18) meets those conditions by uniting morality and desire.
7 - Nitrogen processes in aquatic ecosystems
- from Part II - Nitrogen processing in the biosphere
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- By Patrick Durand, INRA, France, Lutz Breuer, Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management, Penny J. Johnes, University of Reading, Gilles Billen, University Pierre & Marie Curie, Andrea Butturini, University of Barcelona, Gilles Pinay, University of Birmingham, Hans van Grinsven, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Josette Garnier, UMR Sisyphe UPMC ' CNRS, Michael Rivett, University of Birmingham, David S. Reay, University of Edinburgh, Chris Curtis, University College London Environmental Change Research Centre, Jan Siemens, University of Bonn Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation – Soil Sciences, Stephen Maberly, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Øyvind Kaste, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Christoph Humborg, Stockholm University, Roos Loeb, B-ware Research Centre, Jeroen de Klein, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Josef Hejzlar, Institute of Hydrobiology, Nikos Skoulikidis, Pirkko Kortelainen, Finnish Environment Institute, Ahti Lepistö, Finnish Environment Institute, Richard Wright, Norwegian Institute for Water Research
- Edited by Mark A. Sutton, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK, Clare M. Howard, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK, Jan Willem Erisman, Gilles Billen, Albert Bleeker, Peringe Grennfelt, Hans van Grinsven, Bruna Grizzetti
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- Book:
- The European Nitrogen Assessment
- Published online:
- 16 May 2011
- Print publication:
- 14 April 2011, pp 126-146
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Summary
Executive summary
Nature of the problem
Freshwater ecosystems play a key role in the European nitrogen (N) cycle, both as a reactive agent that transfers, stores and processes N loadings from the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems, and as a natural environment severely impacted by the increase of these loadings.
Approaches
This chapter is a review of major processes and factors controlling N transport and transformations for running waters, standing waters, groundwaters and riparian wetlands.
Key findings/state of knowledge
The major factor controlling N processes in freshwater ecosystems is the residence time of water, which varies widely both in space and in time, and which is sensitive to changes in climate, land use and management.
The effects of increased N loadings to European freshwaters include acidification in semi-natural environments, and eutrophication in more disturbed ecosystems, with associated loss of biodiversity in both cases.
An important part of the nitrogen transferred by surface waters is in the form of organic N, as dissolved organic N (DON) and particulate organic N (PON). This part is dominant in semi-natural catchments throughout Europe and remains a significant component of the total N load even in nitrate enriched rivers.
In eutrophicated standing freshwaters N can be a factor limiting or co-limiting biological production, and control of both N and phosphorus (P) loading is often needed in impacted areas, if ecological quality is to be restored.