Search results for ""Author Simon Thompson""

In recent years the political landscape has changed: established ideas about class, economy, nation and equality have been challenged by a new politics of identity, culture, ethnicity and difference. The political theory of recognition is a response to these challenges. In this, the first introductory book on the subject, Simon Thompson analyses the argument that a just society is one that shows all its members due recognition. Focusing on the work on Charles Taylor, Axel Honneth and Nancy Fraser, he discusses how political theorists have conceptualised recognition, the different accounts they have given and the criticisms made of the very idea of a politics of recognition. Through the political theory of recognition, Thompson argues, we gain a better understanding of identity and difference. Practically, the concept of recognition can serve as a basis for determining which individual rights should be protected, whether cultures ought to be valued, and whether a case can be made for group representation. This clear and accessible book provides an excellent guide through the ongoing and increasingly significant debate between multiculturalism and its critics.

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To achieve society's goals, as set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, the finance sector has a crucial role to play in driving sustainable business and the transition to a net zero economy. To achieve this change, it is vital for the finance sector to allocate capital to the firms, investments and activities looking to create a more sustainable world. Green and Sustainable Finance offers a comprehensive guide to green and sustainable principles and practice in banking, investment and insurance to help finance professionals manage sustainability risks and support their clients and customers in transition. Given the need for urgent, rapid and sustained change, it is essential that all finance professionals understand and apply these principles so that every professional financial decision takes account of sustainability. Written by the CEO of the Chartered Banker Institute this fully updated second edition includes the most recent assessments of climate science from the IPCC, extended coverage of sustainability reporting and carbon accounting, and regulatory and market developments in sustainability risk management. It also features material on the rapid growth of sustainable lending and investment and the latest finance sector alliances and initiatives. Endorsed by the Chartered Banker Institute as the core text for the global benchmark Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance, this book is essential reading for finance professionals, university students and individuals working to embed sustainability in business, finance, policy and regulation.

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To achieve society's goals, as set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, the finance sector has a crucial role to play in driving sustainable business and the transition to a net zero economy. To achieve this change, it is vital for the finance sector to allocate capital to the firms, investments and activities looking to create a more sustainable world. Green and Sustainable Finance offers a comprehensive guide to green and sustainable principles and practice in banking, investment and insurance to help finance professionals manage sustainability risks and support their clients and customers in transition. Given the need for urgent, rapid and sustained change, it is essential that all finance professionals understand and apply these principles so that every professional financial decision takes account of sustainability. Written by the CEO of the Chartered Banker Institute this fully updated second edition includes the most recent assessments of climate science from the IPCC, extended coverage of sustainability reporting and carbon accounting, and regulatory and market developments in sustainability risk management. It also features material on the rapid growth of sustainable lending and investment and the latest finance sector alliances and initiatives. Endorsed by the Chartered Banker Institute as the core text for the global benchmark Certificate in Green and Sustainable Finance, this book is essential reading for finance professionals, university students and individuals working to embed sustainability in business, finance, policy and regulation.

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The go-to guide in machine learning projects from design to production. No ML skills required! In Managing Machine Learning Projects, you will learn essential machine learning project management techniques, including: Understanding an ML project's requirements Setting up the infrastructure for the project and resourcing a team Working with clients and other stakeholders Dealing with data resources and bringing them into the project for use Handling the lifecycle of models in the project Managing the application of ML algorithms Evaluating the performance of algorithms and models Making decisions about which models to adopt for delivery Taking models through development and testing Integrating models with production systems to create effective applications Steps and behaviours for managing the ethical implications of ML technology About the technology Companies of all shapes, sizes, and industries are investing in machine learning (ML). Unfortunately, around 85% of all ML projects fail. Managing machine learning projects requires adopting a different approach than you would take with standard software projects. You need to account for large and diverse data resources, evaluate and track multiple separate models, and handle the unforeseeable risk of poor performance. Never fear — this book lays out the unique practices you will need to ensure your projects succeed!

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Richard Rorty is one of the most influential and provocative figures in contemporary intellectual life. He argues that many of philosophy's traditional concerns are redundant, and that the goal of inquiry should not be truth but human betterment. In this collection a distinguished team of scholars grapples with the implications of his writings for social and political thought. Avoiding mindless adulation or ritual denunciation, they offer careful but critical investigations of the meaning of Rorty's work for a range of important issues. Topics explored include anti-foundationalism; irony and commitment; justice; liberalism and utopianism; reason and aesthetics; humanism and anti-humanism; the Holocaust; the theory of international relations; social democracy and the pragmatist tradition. Each essay is followed by a reply written for this volume by Rorty. The volume also includes a substantial essay by Rorty on 'Justice as a Larger Loyalty'. This volume is indispensable for any reader interested in Rorty's work, or in contemporary debates in social, political or ethical theory. Contributors: Molly Cochran; Daniel Conway; Matthew Festenstein; Norman Geras; John Horton; David Owen; Richard Rorty; Kate Soper; Simon Thompson.

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In 1894, Martin Conway became the first man to walk the Alps 'from end to end' when he completed a 1,000-mile journey from the Col de Tende in Italy to the summit of the Ankogel in Austria. On a midsummer's morning, nearly 120 years later, Simon Thompson followed in his footsteps, setting out to explore both the mountains and the man. A charming rogue who led a 'fantastically eventful' life, according to The Times, Conway was a climber and pioneering explorer of the Himalaya, Spitsbergen, the Andes and Patagonia; a serial pursuer of American heiresses; an historian, collector and Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge; a company director and stock market promoter of dubious gold mines and non-existent rubber forests; the founder of the Imperial War Museum; the first foreigner to see the Russian crown jewels after the revolution; a successful journalist and author of over thirty books; a liberal politician; and a conservative MP. Shortly before he died, he was created 1st Baron Conway of Allington. Conway was a clubbable man who counted Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, J. P. Morgan, John Ruskin, Mark Twain and Edward Whymper among his many friends and acquaintances. An imperialist, a dreamer, a liar and a cheat, Conway 'walked in sunshine all his life', according to contemporaries, but he was also a restless, discontented man, constantly searching for meaning and purpose in his life. And that search that led him back, time and time again, to the Alps. In A Long Walk with Lord Conway, Simon Thompson retraces Conway's long journey over the peaks, passes and glaciers of the Alps and rediscovers the life of a complex and remarkable English adventurer.

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To the impartial observer Britain does not appear to have any mountains. Yet the British invented the sport of mountain climbing and for two periods in history British climbers led the world in the pursuit of this beautiful and dangerous obsession. Unjustifiable Risk is the story of the social, economic and cultural conditions that gave rise to the sport, and the achievements and motives of the scientists and poets, parsons and anarchists, villains and judges, ascetics and drunks that have shaped its development over the past two hundred years. The history of climbing inevitably reflects the wider changes that have occurred in British society, including class, gender, nationalism and war, but the sport has also contributed to changing social attitudes to nature and beauty, heroism and death. Over the years, increasing wealth, leisure and mobility have gradually transformed climbing from an activity undertaken by an eccentric and privileged minority into a sub-division of the leisure and tourist industry, while competition, improved technology and information, and increasing specialisation have helped to create climbs of unimaginable difficulty at the leading edge of the sport. But while much has changed, even more has remained the same. Today's climbers would be instantly recognisable to their Victorian predecessors, with their desire to escape from the crowded complexity of urban society and willingness to take "unjustifiable" risk in pursuit of beauty, adventure and self-fulfilment. Unjustifiable Risk was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker prize in 2011.

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This is the tale of a shark who, rather than confronting his own fears, decides to scare other fish to make himself feel better. He is soon taught a valuable lesson in the importance of being kind.

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A Concurrent Approach to Software Development

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Richard Rorty is one of the most influential and provocative figures in contemporary intellectual life. He argues that many of philosophy's traditional concerns are redundant, and that the goal of inquiry should not be truth but human betterment. In this collection a distinguished team of scholars grapples with the implications of his writings for social and political thought. Avoiding mindless adulation or ritual denunciation, they offer careful but critical investigations of the meaning of Rorty's work for a range of important issues. Topics explored include anti-foundationalism; irony and commitment; justice; liberalism and utopianism; reason and aesthetics; humanism and anti-humanism; the Holocaust; the theory of international relations; social democracy and the pragmatist tradition. Each essay is followed by a reply written for this volume by Rorty. The volume also includes a substantial essay by Rorty on 'Justice as a Larger Loyalty'. This volume is indispensable for any reader interested in Rorty's work, or in contemporary debates in social, political or ethical theory. Contributors: Molly Cochran; Daniel Conway; Matthew Festenstein; Norman Geras; John Horton; David Owen; Richard Rorty; Kate Soper; Simon Thompson.

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