What is the difference between a wink and a blink? The answer is important not only to philosophers of mind, for significant moral and legal consequences rest on the distinction between voluntary and involuntary behavior. However, "action theory"—the branch of philosophy that has traditionally articulated the boundaries between action and non-action, and between voluntary and involuntary behavior—has been unable to account for the difference. Alicia Juarrero argues that a mistaken, 350-year-old model of cause and explanation—one that takes all causes to be of the push-pull, efficient cause sort, and all explanation to be prooflike—underlies contemporary theories of action. Juarrero then proposes a new framework for conceptualizing causes based on complex adaptive systems. Thinking of causes as dynamical constraints makes bottom-up and top-down causal relations, including those involving intentional causes, suddenly tractable. A different logic for explaining actions—as historical narrative, not inference—follows if one adopts this novel approach to long-standing questions of action and responsibility.

A more effective leadership model for the new business environment. Spiral Dynamics in Action explores the evolution of modern business, and provides a model for moving forward amidst ever-increasing complexity and change. Only by truly understanding other people's perspectives can you bring them together to achieve the extraordinary, and this book provides a field guide to the different motivations, behaviours and talents in your team to help you lead diverse groups more effectively. Focused on action over theory, the Spiral Dynamics model includes cutting-edge leadership practices, management systems, processes, procedures and techniques to help you bring about real-world results. The nature of change is consistent, but that doesn't make it any less enormous or complex to deal with. As a business leader, you are tasked with not only navigating change yourself, but also guiding others through the maze successfully. This book shows you how to shift your perspective, hone your focus and deliver what your people need by: Understanding the reasoning behind different perspectives. Helping people play off one another's strengths to achieve a shared goal. Adopting cutting-edge practices, processes and procedures for improvement. Taking action to re-connect an increasingly fragmented environment. The marketplace has gone truly global, workforces are increasingly diverse and companies are taking on powerful new social responsibilities. It's a lot to take in, let alone manage, but the responsibility of leadership is to gather disparate parts and make them into a whole. It's your job to turn anchors into rocket fuel, and motivate and inspire your team to the top. By digging to the core of each person, each culture and each problem, you uncover a roadmap to high performance; Spiral Dynamics in Action shows you how to guide your people through any changes and emerge stronger than before.

New variational methods by Aubry, Mather, and Mane, discovered in the last twenty years, gave deep insight into the dynamics of convex Lagrangian systems. This book shows how this Principle of Least Action appears in a variety of settings (billiards, length spectrum, Hofer geometry, modern symplectic geometry). Thus, topics from modern dynamical systems and modern symplectic geometry are linked in a new and sometimes surprising way. The central object is Mather’s minimal action functional. The level is for graduate students onwards, but also for researchers in any of the subjects touched in the book.

This new book provides a clear and accessible guide on best practice to support teachers when using process drama in establishing creative learning partnerships with their students. It offers a detailed analysis and explores the roles of actor, director and playwright that the teacher must adopt in order to develop the ‘thinking on your feet’ skills and knowledge necessary to deliver a complete process drama experience. Addressing the dynamic nature of process drama, it provides a clear and rigorous explanation of the theory of process drama and links it to practice. Drawing on a wide range of detailed examples from the authors’ international and cross-cultural practice, it demonstrates how an effective process drama operates in action. Written to help practitioners and students produce powerful, artistic and educative experiences, chapters cover: pedagogy and the improvised nature of the art form; the structural framework and making shifts in the drama; the role of actor, director, playwright and teacher; monitoring emotional range; progression and the importance of reflection; the spiral of creative exchange and the complexities of co-creativity. Putting Process Drama into Action will be an essential guide for students undertaking initial teacher training at primary level, in addition to those studying both Drama and English at secondary level. It will also prove to be essential reading for specialist and non-specialist teachers in the primary and secondary sectors who teach, or wish to teach, process drama.

A landmark book that strives to provide both grand theory and practical application, innovatively describing the structure and dynamics of human ecosystems As the world faces ever more complex and demanding environmental and social challenges, the need for interdisciplinary models and practical guidance becomes acute. The Human Ecosystem Model described in this landmark book provides an innovative response. Broad in scope, detailed in method, at once theoretical and applied, this grand study offers an in-depth understanding of human ecosystems and tools for action. The authors draw from Goethe’s Faust, classic anthropology and sociology studies, contemporary ecosystem ecology, Buddhist ethics, and more to create a paradigm-shifting model and a major advance in interdisciplinary ecology.

The author does a commendable job of taking what is known about groups, the unconscious, and psychodynamics in an academic sense, and grounding it in relevant experiential education examples. This book is appropriate for intermediate and advanced practitioners who want to stretch their own thinking about group processes and group management. Ringer's text provides a good bridge between academic journals (and contains an abundance of quality citations) and practical application related to group leadership. I [found] it engaging and thought provoking.' - Journal of Experiential Education 'Martin Ringer offers explanations of group processes with examples (both extensive and quite brief) that illustrate both concepts and strategies. Also a rare phenomenon, he positively encourages readers to relax their concentration on the written word and to think, make associations and learn by reflection on their own experiences of being leaders and members of groups.' - Leadership & Organization Development Journal 'It gives huge assistance to a thinking group-worker. [It] brings alternative viewpoints and slants of lighting that open up familiar territory in fresh and stimulating ways. Worth the read.' - ANZPA 2002 'The book's audience is not limited to those in training. Experienced group leaders will have their memories refreshed by his reviews of experimental learning and psychoanalytic and semi-systemic ways of understanding human and group behaviour practitionners in both the fields of adventure and group psychology will recognise that there is a maturity in Ringer's writing. He speaks from a profound understanding that comes from the practical lived level.' - Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Living 'In publishing this book, Martin Ringer has provided us with a companion for quiet reflection. It will support group leaders in developing insights into their own practice and in raising their conscious awareness. It is a counterpoint to the many texts that focus on recipes and heuristics for success. In contrast to these superficial quick fixes, the author offers a book that brings the reader to profound reflection...The book is invaluable as a companion to signpost directions for further inquiry and experience. It can act to stretch one's appreciation and understanding of group complexity... It is a book that rewards patient contemplation and delivers high returns for depth of study. As I journey through the troubled and pleasant waters of group life, Martin Ringer's book will be a companion to accompany my thinking and actions.' - Steve Kempster, MBA Programme Director, Lancaster University School of Management Groups provide a powerful medium for therapeutic work, and are the building blocks of all institutions - whether in the education, health, government, or private sectors. Martin Ringer, an internationally known consultant and writer on group psychology, here outlines techniques for understanding groups that will be relevant to those who lead teams in any setting. The result is an accessible guide both to leading a group, and to understanding the necessary dynamics that will result in the best team-work. Throughout, Martin Ringer uses his wide-ranging experience and an informal style to make his points as accessible as possible to all readers - whether or not they have a formal background in group psychology. Rich with new ideas and challenging perspectives, this book is strongly recommended for anyone who wants to improve their ability as a group leader. The author provides basic and fundamental reference points for leaders, whilst also encouraging them to adopt more experimental approaches.

This groundbreaking volume is the first to elaborate the theory of set families as a tool for studying the phenomenon of recurrence. The theory is implicit in such seminal works as Hillel Furstenberg's Recurrence in Ergodic Theory and Combinational Number Theory, but Ethan Akin's study elaborates it in detail, defining such elements of theory as: open families of special subsets the unification of several ideas associated with transitivity, ergodicity, and mixing the Ellis theory of enveloping semigroups for compact dynamical systems and new notions of equicontinuity, distality, and rigidity.