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"Reflections on reflective practice (6a/7): Argumentation theory and communicative rationality: Habermas 1"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, September-October 2009 (in this site).*  

Ulrich (2009e)

First half of an introduction to Habermas' practical philosophy, with a particular focus on methodological foundations.

654 KB

"Cloudspotter's summer break: Reading Habermas in the garden chair"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, July-August 2009 (in this site).*  

Ulrich (2009d)

Some notes on the experience of reading Habermas once again, some thirty years later.

524 KB

"Reflections on reflective practice (5/7): Practical reason and rational ethics: Kant"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, March-April 2009 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2009c)

An introduction to Kant's practical philosophy, with special emphasis on the link it establishes – in the form of the principle of moral universalization – between ethics and rationality.

489 KB

"Can we secure future-responsive management through systems thinking and design?"

Revised postpublication version of an article written in honor of C. West Churchman, originally published in Interfaces, 24, No. 4, 1994, pp. 26-37, and previously revised in 2002.*

Ulrich (2009b)

A discussion of the requirements of future-responsive management in the light of C.W. Churchman's philosophy of social systems design
(2009 revision)

269 KB

"Reflections on reflective practice (4/7): Philosophy of practice and Aristotelian virtue ethics"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, January-February 2009 (in this site).*  

Ulrich (2009a)  

To prepare the ground for mobilizing practical philosophy as a third pillar of reflective practice, this article offers a general introduction to practical philosophy, followed by a review of Aristotle's early ideas on the subject.

356 KB

"Practical reason: drawing the future into the present"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, December-November 2008 (in this site).*  

Ulrich (2008e)  

A Christmas reflection on the role of faith and its relation to practical reason, inspired by Benedict XVI's Encyclical letter Spe Salvi.

252 KB

"Reflections on reflective practice (3/7): In search of practical reason"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, September-October 2008 (in this site).*  

Ulrich (2008d)  

A detailed review of the "personal knowledge" paradigm of the founding fathers of today's reflective practice mainstream reveals the deeper reasons for its failure to ground its concept of professional competence in practical philosophy, in addition to psychology and science theory. This leads to a basic exploration of what might be done to increase the appeal of practical philosophy to reflective practitioners.

311 KB

"Lugano Summer School (LSS 2008) memories"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, July-August 2008 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2008c)  

Memories of the Doctoral and Postdoctoral Summer School on Soft and Critical Systems Thinking, which took place at the University of Lugano from the 2nd to the 13th of June, 2008. Includes photos of the class and contributions by participants.

589 KB

"Reflections on reflective practice (2/7): Applied science and expertise, or the art of testing and contesting practical claims"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, May-June 2008 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2008b)  

A look at the role of science education today, and an attempt to redefine applied science and expertise so that they would be conducive to reflective professional practice.

283 KB

"Reflections on reflective practice (1/7): The mainstream concept of reflective practice and its blind spot"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, March-April 2008 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2008a)  

A critique of the soft (psychological) bent of the notion of "reflective practice" as it has developed in the professional education literature, and of the way this neglects essential challenges that professional education faces today.

255 KB

"The greening of pragmatism (3/3).
Part (iii): The way ahead"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, September-October 2007 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2007f)  

An analysis of the interdependence of three methodological cornerstones of critical pragmatism – discourse theory (as understood in critical theory), pragmatic thought (as understood in American pragmatism), and reflective practice (as understood in critical heuristics).

389 KB

"Philosophy for professionals: towards critical pragmatism"

Prepublication version of a "Viewpoint" published in the Journal of the Operational Research Society 58, No. 8, 2007, pp. 1109-1113.

Ulrich (2007e)  

Pragmatism may be one of the most underestimated philosophies of our epoch. Here are a few thoughts, prompted by a review of pragmatism in JORS, as to whether a critically revised pragmatism might not become the basis of a proper "philosophy for professionals."

127 KB

"The greening of pragmatism (2/3).
Part (ii): Current issues in developing critical pragmatism – a methodological trilemma"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, May-June 2007 (in this site).*  

Ulrich (2007d)  

A discussion of the way in which the proposed notion of critical pragmatism differs from other current notions, and of some of the methodological issues it raises.

371 KB

"The greening of pragmatism (1/3). Part (i): The emergence of critical pragmatism"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, March-April 2007 (in this site).*  

Ulrich (2007b)  

A brief history of the term "critical pragmatism" reveals its emergence from the confluence of different strands of pragmatic thinking

238 KB

"Rethinking critically reflective research practice: beyond Popper's critical rationalism"

Published in Journal of Research Practice 2, No. 2, 2006, article P1. Also available in both HTML and PDF format directly in the  Journal's web site:
[HTML] http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/64/63
[PDF] http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/64/120 

Ulrich (2006i)  

A critique of the foundationalist underpinnings of today's most widely adopted model of reflective research, the "fallibilist" model of critical rationalism and its "primacy of theory" doctrine

100 KB

"A plea for critical pragmatism"

PDF version of Ulrich's Bimonthly, September-October 2006 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2006h)  

The aims, hopes and chances that I associate with critical pragmatism, and the methodological challenge they imply – a "critical turn" of pragmatism

174 KB

"The art of boundary crossing"  

PDF version of the Picture of the Month, May 2006 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2006f)

A brief introduction to the basic idea of boundary critique and its importance for the "critical turn" of systems thinking.

341 KB

"A brief introduction to Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH)"

Original publication prepared for ECOSENSUS, an e-Social Science project of The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom (11 October 2005), also available at http://kmi.open.ac.uk/projects/ecosensus/

Ulrich (2005f)

A 15-page introduction to critical systems heuristics, both for beginners and for advanced students. (Note: beginners may prefer to start with the two very short mini-primers offered in the "CSH" section of this site, cf. Ulrich 2002a and 2002b)

256 KB

"The new globalization"  

PDF version of the Picture of the Month, February 2005 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2005c)

A brief reflection on the ethical face of globalization and its implication for building a global civil society – the need for globalizing civil society to civilize globalization

230 KB

"Happy New Year? Reflecting on some conditions of peace." 

PDF version of the Picture of the Month, January 2005
(in this site).*  

Ulrich (2005a)

A New Year reflection on Kant's essay Perpetual Peace of 1795.

229 KB

"The safe-harbor metaphor: a mistaken conception of professional competence"

PDF version of the Picture of the Month, November 2004 (in this site).*

Ulrich (2004h)

Professional practice as ship-at-sea repair, or the vain search for grand theory.

214 KB

"In memory of C. West Churchman (1913-2004): reminiscences, retrospectives, and reflections"

Prepublication version (with definitive layout and pagination) of a tribute paper published in the Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change, 1, Nos. 2-3, 2004, pp. 199-219.

Ulrich (2004d)  

A commemorative essay on C.W. Churchman's life and work, with a section on the core concerns and concepts of his philosophy of social systems design

323 KB

"A brief introduction to 'Critical Systems Thinking for Professionals & Citizens'"

Short version of a talk given to the 8th International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics and Cybernetics (InterSymp '96) in Baden-Baden, Germany, August 14-18, 1996. *

Ulrich (2003b)

A short introduction to the author's research program "CST for professionals & citizens"

203 KB

"Pragmatizing critical systems thinking for professionals and citizens"

Revised and expanded version of a talk given to the Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull, UK, on 28 November 1995. *

Ulrich (2003a)

Another short introduction to the author's research program "CST for professionals & citizens"

300 KB

"A bibliography of C. West Churchman's writings from 1938 to 2001"

Updated and expanded version of a bibliography originally compiled in 1999 for the Web Site of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). First published as an independent  on-line source in November 2002, last updated in April 2006. *

Ulrich (2002g) – 2006 revision and extension - now both in HTML and PDF format 

A bibliographic source of reference for people interested in the work of one of the founding fathers of the fields of operations research, management science, and the "systems approach"

242 KB

"An appreciation of C. West Churchman"

Revised version of a contribution of 1999 to the Section "Luminaries of the Systems Approach" of the Web Site of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). The current version was published in the Section "A Tribute to C.W. Churchman" of the present site in 20002 and last updated in March 2006. *

Ulrich (2002f) – 2009 revision

A personal appreciation of C.W. Churchman's philosophy of social systems design, and the role it played in my work on critical systems heuristics

256 KB

"Public policy analysis"

Prepublication version of a contribution to the Informed Student Guide to Management Science, ed. by H.G. Daellenbach and R.L. Flood, Thomson, London, 2002, 213-215.

Ulrich (2002c)

A mini-introduction to the aims, history and present state of policy analysis

122 KB

"Critical systems heuristics"

Prepublication version of a contribution to the Informed Student Guide to Management Science, ed. by H.G. Daellenbach and R.L. Flood, Thomson, London, 2002, 72-73. *

Ulrich (2002b)

The shortest available introduction to CSH

96 KB

"Boundary critique"

Prepublication version of a contribution to the Informed Student Guide to Management Science, ed. by H.G. Daellenbach and R.L. Flood, Thomson, London, 2002, 41-42. *

Ulrich (2002a)

A very short introduction to the methodological core principle of CSH

104 KB

"Critically systemic discourse: a discursive approach to reflective practice in ISD (Part 2)"

Published in Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA), 3, No. 3, 2001, 85-106 (online journal: http://jitta.org )

Ulrich (2001c)

Outlines a practical framework for applying the "philosophical staircase" presented in Part 1 (Ulrich 2001b) as a way to promote reflective ISD practice

543 KB

"A philosophical staircase for information systems definition, design, and development: a discursive approach to reflective practice in ISD (Part 1)"

Published in Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application (JITTA), 3, No. 3, 2001, 55-84 (online journal: http://jitta.org )

Ulrich (2001b)

Philosophical foundations of a critical approach to ISD, with special regard for a discursive approach

679 KB

"The quest for competence in systemic practice and research"

Prepublication version of a paper published in Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 18, No.1, 2001, 247-268.

Ulrich (2001a)

How can we develop competence in research and practice?

332 KB

"Reflective practice in the civil society: the contribution of critically systemic thinking"

Prepublication version of a paper published in Reflective Practice, 1, No. 2, 2000, 247-268.

Ulrich (2000a)

The most up-to-date account of my research program on CST for professionals & citizens;  at the same time a  review of the current state of CSH

312 KB

"Systems Thinking as if People Mattered"

Working Paper No. 23, Lincoln Management School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK, 1998, 15pp.

Ulrich (1998c)

An introduction to my research program "CST for professionals & citizens"

298 KB

"Can we secure future-responsive management through systems thinking and design?"

Revised postpublication version of an article written in honor of C. West Churchman, originally published in Interfaces, 24, No. 4, 1994, pp. 26-37, and previously revised in 2002.*

Ulrich (1994) – 2009 revision

A discussion of the requirements of future-responsive management in the light of C.W. Churchman's philosophy of social systems design

269 KB

"Some difficulties of ecological thinking, considered from a critical systems perspective: a plea for critical holism"

Revised postpublication version of a paper first published in Systems Practice, 6, No. 6, pp. 583-611.

Ulrich (1993)  

Can systems thinking remedy the difficulties of ecological thinking? The need for a critically normative concept of ecology

278 KB