If one observes over time the introduction of zero into Safety and its evolution, one sees the strangest developments (https://www.humandymensions.com/product/zero-the-great-safety-delusion/ ). The use of zero as a language, semiotic, icon, ideology and discourse changes everything. When Zero … [Read more...] about Zero as a Worldview
worldview
Can There Be Other Valid Worldviews Than Safety?
Can There Be Other Valid Worldviews Than Safety? This is the challenge worldviews is the challenge of the unknown unknowns. How can I know another worldview, when all I know is my own? Can there be a different view of the world other than the lens I use to see it? Could it be that another worldview … [Read more...] about Can There Be Other Valid Worldviews Than Safety?
Evaluating Value by the Value of What You Don’t Know
You can’t know what you don’t know and so you can only evaluate a value by what you do know, by your worldview/paradigm. However, regardless of that worldview, there are other worldviews that are just as valid. All worldviews compete just as all values compete, for power, within a culture. Unless … [Read more...] about Evaluating Value by the Value of What You Don’t Know
Fear of Being-in-the-World
Fear of Being-in-the-World One of the valuable contributions of the philosophy of phenomenology is the concept of Dasein. Dasein is German for ‘being-in-the-world’ articulated by Martin Heidegger . Heidegger is a controversial philosopher because of his complicity with the Nazi party during WW2. … [Read more...] about Fear of Being-in-the-World
The Safety Worldview and the Worldview of Safety, Testing Due Diligence
Following the World Congress on Safety and Health I begin to wonder just how more absurd the safety industry can become. It is clear from the Congress that safety is now the filter through which one views life rather than, life being the filter through which one views safety. When one gets such a … [Read more...] about The Safety Worldview and the Worldview of Safety, Testing Due Diligence
The Purpose of Safety
‘The primary task for any organism—the task that must be accomplished before all others—is the preservation of life and the furtherance of conditions for the organism’s growth’ Damasio (2003) Looking for Spinoza, Joy, Sorrow and the Feeling Brain. Damasio begins by observing, in Looking for … [Read more...] about The Purpose of Safety
Starting Points, Worldviews and Risk
The Phenomenology of Perception (Merleau-Ponty) (https://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/?get_group_doc=26/1357000136-PhenomenologyofPerception.pdf) is not easy reading. If one is interested in the phenomena of consciousness, worldviews and ‘being’ then give it a go. Here is an introductory quote for … [Read more...] about Starting Points, Worldviews and Risk
Transdisciplinarity and Worldviews in Risk
‘We do not think of the ordinary person as preoccupied with such difficult and profound questions as: ‘What is truth?’, ‘What is authority?’, ‘To whom do I listen?’, ‘What counts for me as evidence?’, ‘How do I know what I know?’, ‘Why do the good suffer?’, How does any of this make sense?’... Yet … [Read more...] about Transdisciplinarity and Worldviews in Risk
I’m Concerned That We Can’t See The Safety Forest For The Safety Trees
Acknowledgement- This article draws heavily on the concepts of Dr Rob Long, and particularly his work on safety needing to take a transdisciplinary approach. A great article on this can be viewed here. I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that within our industry there are a few … [Read more...] about I’m Concerned That We Can’t See The Safety Forest For The Safety Trees