1. Respectful Critique – This blog will promote respectful critique of scholarly work, institutional policy and current developments in my principal fields of interest (see here). As part of this process, the blog will host leading scholars, practitioners and policy makers who are committed to respectful critique that is not ad hominem in style, overly emotive in tone or inconsistent with the desire for constructive intellectual dialogue.
2. Normative Creativity – The blog will seek out, celebrate and broadcast normative creativity. That creativity may take the form of innovative conceptual critiques, attempts to move fields beyond dominant conceptual paradigms or original ideas about normative development, whether progressive or conservative. This creativity will help found a genuine intellectual community.
3. Aesthetic Excellence – The blog will also celebrate works of aesthetic excellence. Elegance is a fundamental tenet of convincing argument, a key part of what makes scholarly life pleasurable and something of an antidote to the heavy quality of the issues this blog addresses. Promoting scholarship that audiences will find stylistically pleasing is another of the blog’s main objectives.
4. A Plural Intellectual Community – The primary purpose of the blog is to create, stimulate and sustain a robust and plural intellectual community. In this context, pluralism means perspectives that derive from a diverse array of disciplinary backgrounds, divergent normative positions and multiple solutions to any given problem. Diverse, respectful critique is key to the success of this blog.
5. A Predominantly Conceptual Orientation – The blog will focus primarily on conceptual issues rather than current affairs. This is not to say that it may not address issues of immediate contemporary significance, just that it will seek to couch them in conceptual frameworks that contribute to intellectual understandings of these fields. The objective is to create an eclectic, fertile intellectual space.
6. Symbiosis with Practice – Although the blog will seek to engage with theoretical questions, it will also continuously attempt to create symbiosis with practice. Consequently, I will invite practical perspectives on contemporary debates wherever possible, creating greater dialogue between scholars, practitioners and members of civil society. This, in an attempt to ensure that practice is defensible and theory is informed.