Book review: 'Categories: A Study of a Concept in Western Philosophy and Political Thought'

Categories

 

To - Edinburgh University Press. 

Many thanks for this book -

O’Sullivan L. Categories: A Study of a Concept in Western Philosophy and Political Thought. Edinburgh University Press; 2024.

Requested in May, your response was quick. So, my apologies for the delay in picking this up. In mitigation, what I have been learning since, will help my reading of O'Sullivan's text.

As readers of W2tQ will have realised, there is a built in bias to my reading of any text. In short: It's all about the model. 

Categories was spotted in Foyles on a visit to London. It recommended itself instantly: title, Venn diagrams, sets and all.

A larger format paperback of 335 pages, the print quality, font and design match the values and usual care of the publisher. 

Given the subject, there are appropriately distinct indices of subjects and proper names.

At pages 2-3, I have already succumbed (my emphasis):

'As a result, there is widespread contemporary recognition that categories are both important and problematic. A non-exhaustive list of academic fields and disciplines in which issues to do with categories arise includes anthropology, critical theory, cultural studies, feminist studies, history, linguistics, philosophy, political science, political theory, post-colonial studies, post-modernism, post-humanism, psychoanalysis, psychology, rhetoric and sociology. It is clear, moreover, that this recognition reflects the situation in society at large. Popular authors articulate a pervasive feeling that "Things are in the wrong place. Religion is in the box where science used to be. Politics is on the shelf where you thought you left science the previous afternoon." Categorical worries have penetrated public as well as academic discourse.' pp.2-3.

But how did Luke O'Sullivan know? On page 3 having given us the informal uses of the word 'category':

'These, moreover, are only the informal uses; there are also formal, logical and mathematical, senses which we shall largely have to pass over.^'13

For me it is a disappointment that the formal aspects will be passed over. It is also a relief. 

For a model that is situated, as far as nursing theory, and models of nursing/care were concerned in 1997-8; Hodges' model had been left on the shelf - gathering dust.

I recognised a slide from a Youtube video this past week, care of Cheng I think? I'll share soon.

More to follow.

13 Eugenia Cheng, Cakes, Custard, and Category Theory Easy Recipes for Understanding Complex Mathematics (London: Profile Books, 2015) provides an introduction to mathematical category theory.

15th Panhellenic Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (P.I.C.A.D.)

15th Panhellenic Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (P.I.C.A.D.) 
& 7th Mediterranean Conference on Neurodegenerative Diseases (Me.Co.N.D.)

24–28 February 2027 | KEDEA – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki, Greece

The Countdown Begins!

From 24 to 28 February 2027, Thessaloniki will host the 15th Panhellenic Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (P.I.C.A.D.) and the 7th Mediterranean Conference on Neurodegenerative Diseases (Me.Co.N.D.), at the KE.D.E.A. (Aristotle University Research Dissemination Center) – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).

This important scientific meeting will bring together healthcare professionals, researchers, academics, and experts in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative disorders, providing an opportunity to:

• present the latest scientific findings and emerging data;
• exchange knowledge, experience, and best practices;
• discuss current developments and challenges in the field; and
• foster new scientific collaborations and professional networks.

The Conference is jointly organised by the Panhellenic Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases, the 1st Propedeutic Department of Internal Medicine of AHEPA University Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Panhellenic Federation of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders.

The Conference will be held in a hybrid format, offering participants the opportunity to attend either in person or online.

Secure Your Participation

We invite you to register and join us in Thessaloniki for this important scientific event.
REGISTER NOW

Would You Like to Present Your Work?
Submit your abstract and contribute to the scientific programme of the Conference. This is an excellent opportunity to present your research, share your findings with the scientific community, and engage with colleagues from Greece and the wider Mediterranean region.

SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT

Save the Important Dates
Please plan ahead and make sure to complete your registration and, if you wish to present your work, your abstract submission within the relevant deadlines.

Timely compliance with the Conference schedule is essential for the effective organisation of the event and will contribute to the smooth preparation of both speakers and participants.

IMPORTANT DATES
For registration deadlines, abstract submission, programme updates, and all other Conference information:

For detailed information, please visit the OFFICIAL CONFERENCE WEBSITE

We look forward to welcoming you to Thessaloniki, 24–28 February 2027, and to an engaging and productive scientific meeting.

The Organising Committee


n.b. I enjoyed taking part in 2025 virtually. Blog post to follow re. 'Propedeutic' above. PJ

Living and Caring Dangerously

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

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group

mental health   Cognition Inability to consent  mental capacity	My liberty Locked doors Treatment - medication  'Secure (safe)' environment
Family - friends dignity, privacy, respect vulnerability Best interest decision	Lasting power of attorney - finance; health External safeguards human rights

 

My source: BBC Radio 4 'Today' 25th September 2026: From 0841

Sir Ranulph Fiennes ‘kept unlawfully in care home’ [ The Times ]

The explorer, 82, is being ‘deprived of his liberty’, according to the watchdog, and his wife Louise Millington-Cotes is refusing visitors.

Hannah Crowe

Friday September 25 2026, 12.41am, The Times

 See also:

Living Dangerously: An Interview with Sir Ranulph Fiennes [Brighton Dome]

Wed 10th Apr 2019

From the bibliography (lower sidebar):

Hodges, B.E. (1989) The Health Career Model, IN, Hinchcliffe, S.M. (et al.) 1989 Nursing Practice and Health Care, 1st Edition only, London, Edward Arnold.

Adams, T. (1987) Dementia is a family affair. Community Outlook, Feb, 7-8. 

Merritt MK, Procter N. Conceptualising the functional role of mental health consultation-liaison nurse in multi-morbidity, using Peplau's nursing theory. Contemp Nurse. 2010 Feb-Mar;34(2):158-66. doi: 10.5172/conu.2010.34.2.158. PMID: 20509800.

Murphy, K., Welford C. (2012) Agenda for the future: enhancing autonomy for older people in residential care.International Journal of Older People Nursing. 7, 75–80.

Kernohan, W. G., & Jones, P. (2023). Hodges’ Health Care Model as a Framework for Quality. Paper presented at Interprofessional work: developing oral care and the health workforce for the future, Brescia, Italy.
https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/hodges-health-care-model-as-a-framework-for-quality

Jones, P. (2025). A Conceptual Mapping Exercise of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in Residential & Community Care Using Hodges' Model and Threshold Concepts. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 31: e70085. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.70085 

Jones, P. (2025), A Generic Model and Conceptual Framework to Prime Curiosity Across Health and Social Care Disciplines to Facilitate Lifelong Learning. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 31: e70252. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.70252

Previously: 'capacity' : 'law' : 'safeguarding' : 'health career'

I can't count the number of times in a nursing home, when a visit by a friend has re-ignited the flame of memory, passion and personhood; even if temporary. It was never my place to thank the friends for visiting, but they've made a difference, so crucial to acknowledge the courage on their part. Making the journey, being present and with. So difficult too, for families.

DSA Webinar: Gaining understanding by structuring inquiry: probing data with one right question after another

Dear colleagues,

 

You are warmly invited to an online webinar hosted by The Digital Statecraft Academy (DSA), which may be of interest to those working with data and evidence in social policy.

 

DSA Webinar: Gaining understanding by structuring inquiry:
probing data with one right question after another

 

Date: Thursday 8 October 2026

Time: 15:00 BST / 16:00 CEST

Register: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/c6b38f8d-8f6c-4324-8c98-a73eeb36af86@f8ff7417-c954-4bf8-ba5a-1c103f38279d

 

Good analysis on clean data can still give a poor answer if the question behind it is wrong. This session looks at how we move from questions to evidence, in two steps.

 

Dr Stefaan Verhulst (Co-Founder, The GovLab at New York University and The Data Tank; Co-Editor-in-Chief, Data & Policy) will look at where questions come from, which questions get asked, and how governance priorities and political context shape them long before anyone opens a dataset.

 

Professor David Hand (Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, Imperial College London) will look at the next step: turning a real-world question into a statistical one that data can answer, and how this step can go wrong.

 

The session will be chaired by Dr Zeynep Engin, Co-Founder and Director of The Digital Statecraft Academy.

 

The discussion draws on Professor Hand's new book, What is the Question? Deciding What You Really Want to Know (2026)

 

The webinar is open to all. Register via this form. Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues who may be interested.

 

Best wishes,

The Digital Statecraft Academy

 

My source: JISC SocioTech list - https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=SOCIOTECH

'Compositionality' - Journal

'Compositionality is a diamond open-access journal for research using compositional ideas, most notably of a category-theoretic origin, in any discipline. Compositionality describes and quantifies how complex things can be assembled out of simpler parts. Topics may concern foundational structures, an organizing principle, or a powerful tool. Example areas include but are not limited to: mathematics, computation, logic, physics, chemistry, engineering, linguistics, and cognition.

Compositionality is free of cost for both readers and authors (diamond open access). You can find our editorial policies here. Our first issue was published, under ISSN 2631-4444, in December 2019.'

Continued ... 

Beware of the Concept

Yesterday Alan Ayckbourn's gold-nugget-laden book -

The Crafty Art of Playmaking by Alan Ayckbourn. Faber, 2004, softcover, ISBN 0571215106.
https://www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/s/45898/the-crafty-art-of-playmaking 

- found a new owner. Beforehand, I turned up the following helpful advice (or, 'obvious rules'): 

ix Introduction

'The following is an attempt to describe, as far as I can, this double process [writing and directing, PJ]. Some of it is quite probably unique to me and contains procedures and practices that it would be highly unwise for others to try and copy. The rest is really just plain common sense. But if I've learnt anything it is that it never hurts to point out the obvious occasionally, certainly in the theatre - to actors, directors or writers and sometimes even to designers, stage managers and technicians. Often we quite wrongly suspect simplicity. We go digging around in the creative sand trying to make.our art more meaningful, somehow 'deeper'. Generally all we do is end up with our heads entirely buried, presenting the audience with our rear ends.'

Obvious Rule No. 3
If you don't have the initial inspiration, put down the pen,put the pencil back in the jar, switch off the computer and go and dig the garden instead.
.. 
'At its most successful, theatre views things from a human standpoint. It is after all the most human in scale of all the performance media. My feeling is that that's also a good place for a dramatist to start, at the human level. As a playwright it may be your intention to build a vehicle to take us to the stars. But do make sure you have people aboard.

Initial inspiration - that essential starting point - comes in all shapes and sizes.' p..9.

Obvious Rule No. 49
Beware of the Concept.

DIRECTING

'Don't be talked into anything you feel instinctively you'll regret later. If you must have a concept (God save us from that word) then let the concept be something that's worked out between you. Let it spring from the play and not from the fact that the production manager has 5oo square metres of black lino left over from their last production. I once heard the fateful words, 'I think it's about time we did something with mirrors.' If at all possible, try and persuade the producer, whoever it is, to let you make as many scenic decisions as late on as possible. There will always be an intense pressure to decide everything before you start. This can be fatal.' pp.118-19.

In pencil I noted: 'Hodges' model is different. So, don't panic.' Is it? Really?

I've saved this for the last: 

'Then there is the new old playwright. Far more difficult to deal with. They have probably nursed this script for twenty-five years and they're damned if you're going to mess it up for them when they've waited so long. Especially someone your age who wasn't even born when their harrowing play about World War Two was still raging, dammit.' p.110.

It's not that I believe I'm a (potential) playwright, it's the learning.

See also: 'Ayckbourn' : 'drama'

Violence is a . . .

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

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group

violence is a STATE of mind: and ...?
	Photo: Nidal Eshtayeh

My source: Financial Times. 9 September, 2026, p.1.

Previously: 'violence' : 'law' : 'power'

'Shattered' by Hanif Kureishi

Cathleen Schine, Ungovernable, Capricious Life, The New York Review of Books, April 10, 2025, Volume LXXII, Number 6, pp.15-16.

Shattered by Hanif Kureishi. Ecco, 328 pp., $28.00

'Shattered' c/o Penguin  

'Hanif Kureishi, the English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist, posted these words on his Substack in January 2023: 

  On Boxing Day, in Rome, after taking a comfortable walk to the Piazza del Popolo, followed by a stroll through the Villa Borghese, and then back to the apartment, I had a fall.

I had been following Kureishi's Substack for a while out of admiration, curiosity, and loyalty-though Id met him only once, briefly. His dispatches were warm and entertaining, often about the writer's life. But this one was shocking: 

   I cannot move my arms and legs. I cannot scratch my nose, make a phone call or feed myself. As you can imagine, this is both humiliating, degrading and a burden for others. 

According to his hospital report, his fall resulted in neck hyperextension and immediate tetraplegia. An MRI scan showed a severe stenosis of the vertebral canal with signs of spinal cord injury from c3 to C5. It was unclear, he said, whether he would be able to walk again "or whether I'll ever be able to hold a pen." He was speaking these words through Isabella, who was slowly typing them into her iPad.' p.15.

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

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group

shattered	SHATTERED
SHATTERED	shattered

'A hospital is the place from which modesty and dignity disappear, desert you, seemingly forever, as soon as you cross the threshold. Kureishi, a reliably sexy, unrestricted writer, presents the physical deterioration and indignities he undergoes with his usual wit. The sense of vulnerability is crushing, but it is also one of the characteristics Kureishi reveals about himself that makes him so likable here, and the writing so intimate. The tone is remarkable: even the self-pity has no self-pity. One way he achieves this is by sprinkling punch lines throughout:

I woke up and started to cry. When you cry you must wipe away your tears, which is something I'm unable to do. So my eyes filled with bitter salty water and I got into a panic and thought I might lose my eyesight along with everything else. Finally, a kind nurse came into my room and downed me with a good dose of Lorazepam, then she touched me on my cheek and said, "It's not so bad, at least you're not in a coma."' pp.15-16.