Tricotyledons, systems and social problems: TAKE ii iii iv

Act I, Scene 3 

'Thomasina What a faint-heart! We must work outward from the middle of the maze. We will start with something simple. (She picks up the apple leaf) I will plot this leaf and deduce its equation. You will be famous for being my tutor when Lord Byron is dead and forgotten.' p.31.

It appears that polycotyledon seed growth beyond tri-form is rare:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cotyledon&oldid=1356872880

We must hope that the four-leaf clover is recognised and not just trampled underfoot.

One of the benefits of a four-leaf conceptual framework is that should you have the germ of an idea, you can reflect in (relative?) safety, exploring the conceptual ecosystem, its cognitive environs and nurture it to realisation.

n.b. In care making a difference, does not mean you have to be exceptional. ...

See post i: Tricotyledons, systems and social problems

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2026/07/tricotyledons-systems-humanities.html

New Journal Alert - Philosophy and Urban Affairs

Dear Philosophers,

I'm pleased to announce that Philosophy and Urban Affairs is now operational. Below is a description.

Philosophy and Urban Affairs is a peer-reviewed journal that explores the ethical, political, epistemological, metaphysical, and social dimensions of cities. Articles may be theoretical, applied, or both, provided they illustrate how philosophical investigation can elucidate, critique, or inform city living.

Unsolicited manuscripts are not accepted. Instead, the journal solicits submissions through public calls on emerging topics or through invitations to scholars working on specific themes. On occasion, a focus article will be published to prompt response papers and foster sustained scholarly dialogue.

Philosophy and Urban Affairs is fully open access and charges no fees of any kind.

Check out the first CFP, Philosophical Perspectives on Coastal and Island Cities. 

All the best - Shane

Shane Epting, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Missouri University of Science and Technology

New Book: Creating Future Cities: Technology, Ethics, and the Fight for the Good Life

Shane Epting, in Creating Future Cities, insightfully analyzes complex normative challenges in urban planning and design—from organizing urban residents' political power to building for resilience—and passionately argues that citizens of cities must fight for their cities and their futures. - Ronald R. Sundstrom, University of San Francisco, USA

My source:

Philos-L "The Liverpool List" is run by the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/ Messages to the list are archived at http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/philos-l.html. Recent posts can also be read in a Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/PhilosL/ Follow the list on Twitter @PhilosL. Follow the Department of Philosophy @LiverpoolPhilos 

v Book: Bill Ross - 'Order and the Virtual'

'The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology'

Systemists will find much here: 'principle of least action', 'principle of least resistance', equilibrium, open / closed systems, and entropy. A useful question is posed: 'Is complexity increasing? Is that average complexity across the universe; or the complexity of the most complex object? Deleuzes's Difference and Repetition is quoted:

'The values of implication are centres of envelopment. These centres  are not the intensive individuating factors themselves, but they are their representatives within a complex whole in the process of explication. ...' (p.255-6)'

Reading this I immediately thought of Bohm, who followed shortly after (still in Chapter 1!). In chapter 1, 'Chaos' could be read as Cosmos, hence the term rolling them together - chaosmos. This is the tract from which existence and becoming arise (re-reading). Deleuze's awareness of physics and quantum theory and its influence on his work is discussed, with chapter 2 providing continuity reaching to Leibniz (and 'The Calculating God'), also contributing is 'the complete concept', 'principle of sufficient reason', 'intensive individuating factors' and 'principle of identity of indiscernibles', for example. Even while the context is metaphysics (and it is not!), (for me) this seemingly presages a comprehensive health assessment:

'The necessity in question is the necessary inclusion of all predicates pertaining to an individual in the complete concept of that individual.' p.24.

A reason to look up Lautman's philosophy is that it - 

'... entails a dialectic; a dialectic comprised of the movement of Ideas. While a given theory may achieve the desired tractability of the paradoxical element in question, this can only be the provisional resolution of the problem. This does not imply that the paradoxical element is in itself resolved; it retains its disruptive powers, its `remainder` within the explanatory framework, which will itself once again redistribute, redeploy, in an inevitable encounter with the next explanatory framework. In this sense (a sense which Deleuze embellishes), the 'problem' and the 'solution' are profoundly different in kind to question and answer. Whereas an answer might be understood to put a question to rest, the solution cannot resolve the problem finally.'

Plato's perpetual questioning wins the day and night (that is 24 hour care). This is why, for me Hodges' model is powerful - "Nursing: Be the difference"^ - and more relevant than ever:

INDIVIDUAL

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

Self-Knowledge/Care Literacies Reasoning*	KNOWLEDGE - FACTS ... Self-Knowledge for Self-care
Dialectic* Guided discovery Perpetual questioning	Education Government provision Access for all Voice(s): being heard*

Ross explains that Deleuze is not limited to the realm of mathematics: 

and: 'By Ideas, we do not mean models whose mathematical entities would only be copies, but in the true Platonic Idea sense of the term, the structural schemas acccording to which effective theories are organised.'

Is the 'paradoxical agent' at work here, now a digitalized homonculus ready to preside acting as a superior dialectic that runs over the stream of conciousness? Hodges' model is a conceptual framework and ever-ready (we hope) aide-mémoire:

'Problems are always dialectical; the dialectic has no other sense, nor do problems have any other sense. What is mathematical (or physical, biological, psychical or sociological) are the solutions' (DR, 179).' (p.43).

In Hodges' model, the solutions are fixed in time, for what is (usually) an ongoing situation and context. Certain results in mathematics may be fixed, appear as a standing wave, but the flux, dyanamic remains. And, with it noise that is incessant and increasingly political.

This is a challenging, but rewarding read. 

^Have constant regard for representation, creation, being, becoming and how this affects and impacts (the) becoming.

Many thanks to Edinburgh University Press for my review copy.

More to follow here ...

Bill Ross (2024) Order and the Virtual: The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-order-and-the-virtual.html

iv Book: Bill Ross - 'Order and the Virtual'

'The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology'

Systemists will find much here: 'principle of least action', 'principle of least resistance', equilibrium, open / closed systems, and entropy. A useful question is posed: 'Is complexity increasing? Is that average complexity across the universe; or the complexity of the most complex object? Deleuzes's Difference and Repetition is quoted:

'The values of implication are centres of envelopment. These centres  are not the intensive individuating factors themselves, but they are their representatives within a complex whole in the process of explication. ...' (p.255-6)'

Reading this I immediately thought of Bohm, who followed shortly after (still in Chapter 1!). In chapter 1, 'Chaos' could be read as Cosmos, hence the term rolling them together - chaosmos. This is the tract from which existence and becoming arise (re-reading). Deleuze's awareness of physics and quantum theory and its influence on his work is discussed, with chapter 2 providing continuity reaching to Leibniz (and 'The Calculating God'), also contributing is 'the complete concept', 'principle of sufficient reason', 'intensive individuating factors' and 'principle of identity of indiscernibles', for example. Even while the context is metaphysics (and it is not!), (for me) this seemingly presages a comprehensive health assessment:

'The necessity in question is the necessary inclusion of all predicates pertaining to an individual in the complete concept of that individual.' p.24.

There are several 'completes' to be unwound, and so better understood. Ross provides a key. This isn't a book to read and pass-on to a student, second-hand bookshop. It really deserves re-reading, mandatory here - to get hold of the ideas and interplay of Deleuze, Ross's understanding and it must be said interpretation, that also calls upon Dan Smith's Essays on Deleuze, (EUP) and directly Leibniz's work. 

'The complete concept idea of predication is furnished to map faithfully onto these principles concerning the nature of things.' p.26.

The expanse of thought and literature from across the channel, 'French Theory' has long tempted, teased and taunted (not-quite as severely as mathematics!). At least here you can get a sense of the traffic in thought and ideas. Deleuze is difficult (in-/compossibilities, kuklos exothen ...), until you relate: becoming over being, difference over identity, and creation over representation. Order and the Virtual helps in this task. Delueze is 'embedded' in the mechanics of complexity, and mathematics, but Deleuze and Ross can see - across - to the humanities (virtual and actual). 

'Lastly, while mathematical concepts are frequently adopted to illuminate Deleuze's argument, they should not be taken as metaphorically representative of processes in the world; this would be to ignore the broadside and extended attack on representation as a mode of thinking as such which occupies so much of Difference and Repetition. Rather, they serve as a particularly direct example of the differential processes to which all phenomena - natural, social, psychological are subject. In an unambiguous sense, it is eminently possible for problems prompting a mathematical response to express themselves in altogether different domains - natural, social, etc. The problem is, so to speak, a common root of all domains.' p.39.

Still grappling, I noted integration, actualization, parity of esteem, maths - the linear and non-linear. It seems Deleuze was challenged by the question of integration. Leibniz's contribution of the calculus is acknowledged. History and even the present remain preoccupied with finding boxes. Ross explains how for Deleuze, we should not discount turbulent phenomena that cannot be simply integrated, written off as random disorder.

If we associate complication, with implication and explication, do we invite two-fold (as a minimal - keyhole) 'surgery': (re-)constructive and destructive? Thank you Mr Ross. I see now, how the (infinity →) continuum will not be exhausted. Exploring axioms for Hodges' model, and what is axiomatic, I must check Albert Lautman's model of dynamic structuration, especially when set (against / with?) the problematic mode:

'The two modes relate to each other dialectically - a period of exploration followed by the resulting period of axiomatisation. Deleuze recognises both modes and their respective utility, but for his philosophy the problematic mode is by far the more important.' p.41.

Do our boxes still have a purpose? To tame the situation - at hand/mind/virtual?

More to follow here ...

Bill Ross (2024) Order and the Virtual: The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-order-and-the-virtual.html

iii Book: Bill Ross - 'Order and the Virtual'

'The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology'

My book 'reviews' are unconventional in that they are not journal fare (format and quality-wise...); the book, or my reading of it - invariably refers to Hodges' model. I could argue that is not my fault, but a quality, something built in to the model. Anyway, what of the physical book itself?

The cover image is a marvel: Stone Quartet 1 by Patrick Haughton. 
[ Did someone say 'quartet'!* 😉]

Cover design by www.paulsmithdesign.com

Typeset in 10.5/13 Sabon, the fonts and styling through the book is clear, and easy to read (without regard to the technical content). The paper is thick, the quality contributing to a high contrast. 

The contents:

Abbreviations
Preface by Robin Durie and David Webb
1. Chaos
2. Entropy and the Complete Concept in Leibniz and Deleuze
3. Order
4. Order as Complexity
5. Sufficient Reason as Dissymmetry and the Evolutionary Paradigm
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

The EUP website only lists four chapters for Order and the Virtual, but the book clearly has five. The conclusion is similarly omitted online: running from pp.175-181, I wish I'd written it.

That nursing and healthcare practice are bound up in philosophical considerations, values and ethics is fairly obvious. Care dilemmas would arise, calling for a multidisciplinary approach, and cross-disciplinary advice. Through this book, Bill Ross keeps highlighting for me, the way that once the uniform is donned, or the clock denotes an inbetweenness '0900-1700' for community staff, philosophy goes on the back-burner. The heat of the issue, and first rule of first-aid is felt, but it is not the primary concern. There is an international group of scholars for philosophy in nursing (and journal), but practitioners have, by definition - a job to do. If time is chaos and complexity (or appears as), then in health it is continuity, avoiding disruption and more often trying to 'heal' it.

Although Hodges' model presents as a symmetry; it is anything but. If we wish to symmetry-break, Hodges' model may assist. The flux and dynamics of care [insert your context] means that Hodges' model constantly changes its shape, form. Not as an objective statement, but an interpretation. Bill Ross's discussion on Nietzchean chaos and the superior principle of sufficient reason, demands and rewards a close reading (as does the whole text). Whether it is chaos, equilibrium, law and possibility cognitive - conceptual spaces invite ergodic (a cyclic) exploration. The mix of Deleuze and Leibniz's system makes for complex ideas, one probably needs to swim in. The book's first chapters are deep, technical but also inviting. There are encouraging links to psychotherapeutic thought, in the philosophy of difference, and how this is recognised, and change negotiated.

The scale is cosmological, with a section on ergodicity; and (inevitably) time, as per the quotation (p.10):

'Everything which happens and everything which appears is correlated with orders of differences: differences of level, temperature, pressure, tension, potential, difference of intensity. Carnot's principle says this in one way, Curie's principle in another, Gilles Deleuze (DR, 222)' (DR - Difference and Repetition).

There is a ponderous sense when assessment is routinized: assessment must be comprehensive. Do: tick all the boxes. Don't miss anything! How many levels of assessment should there be? If you want this number of assessments, what should I leave out? It is fascinating how we can frame time, not just 'set' against the axes of  Hodges' model, but a product of lifestyle, bio-physics, and even bio-psycho-social-politics. Is back to Earth - back to the individual? Not now. Contrast chronological and pathological time and not just for humanity. Ross follows Deleuze, Poincare, Neitzche and others in the long-term diagnosis of the universe, no less. A heat-death: the anti-fever. Now there's the collective, while in mental health, a diagnosis (or two ...) is still (often) contested, at least on twitter/X.

'The distinction for me is that metaphysics lives in that plane above where the concepts are not tied specifically to one field, but remain free to mobilise the salient questions as they play out among several fields.' p.15.

I don't think this just applies to metaphysics, but the extent (now) to which problems (clinical and generally) are multi- inter- and transdisciplinary (Ross acknowledges the pragmatic). Otherwise, with each step across a disciplinary boundary, our concepts lose their meaning, and the ergodic action (the around and around, back and forth ... our models and frameworks) is more akin to a drunken random-walk.

More to follow ...

Bill Ross (2024) Order and the Virtual: The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-order-and-the-virtual.html

*And is that the fifth domain floating above?

The preface is titled 'Playing Cortázarian Hopscotch':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopscotch_(Cort%C3%A1zar_novel)

There is also a brief  'Series Editor's Preface'

Book: Bill Ross - 'Order and the Virtual' ii

'The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology'

Now I can say: "This year, Hodges' model will be presented at WCCS 6th World Conference on Complex Systems", so current reading needs to match this project. And, it does. In spades, in fact c/o and with thanks to Edinburgh University Press. Look at chapter 1! 'Chaos' with Mandelbrot fractals, smooth space drawing from Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus. For readers unfamiliar with the Deleuzian oeuvre, abbreviations of texts that feature in Bill Ross's book Order and the Virtual are listed (xii) and includes key sources by Michel Serres, Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead. This works as you mentally take a note, of work to lookup. Almost twenty years ago, I related some ideas of Michel Serres to Hodges' model:

Jones, P. (2008) Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons, IN Kidd, T., Chen, I. (Eds.) Social Information Technology Connecting Society and Cultural Issues, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 7, pp. 96-109. 

Ross discusses the extent and proximity of Deleuze's thought to chaos, complexity theory and science more generally as identified by commentators. Now up to chapter 4, it would have helped to have a look at the bibliography at the book's end. Deleuze saw how his work resonated with chaos theory. Steve Strogatz's book (now in a 3rd edition):

Strogatz, S.H. (2015) Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Application to Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Engineering. 2^nd edition. Perseus Books Publishing, Cambridge. 

- explains in the introduction how 'home computing' contributed to the aesthetic appeal of fractals, which could display incredible patterns derived from seemingly simple mathematics. Even though, the programs often required many hours of running to deliver their results.

In the late 1980s I was fascinated with a subscription to Fractal Report:

https://stephen.shawweb.co.uk/Fractalreportindex.html

The relevance for me of Order and the Virtual is apparent on page 1, Deleuze and Guattari's thought having an immediate transdisciplinary application, crossing boundaries, and the creation of regions of bifurcation. Ross connects Deleuze's thought and Ilya Prigogine & Isabelle Stengers' text:

Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature. London: Heinemann, 1984 

Ross is encouraging (to me and for Hodges' model), as he notes how the notions may be inexact, but they are nonetheless rigorous. Spanning as they do, philosophy, science - what is scientific(? - itself a boundary - demarcation) and artistic. I've often thought of Hodges' model as filled with folds, and multiple bifurcations. It looks like Bill Ross is going help me to isolate several, and possibly make my search more efficient (the latter really would assist). The memorial event held in Manchester last September was revalatory. Since the early 2000s I'd grown to  really appreciate the availability of books by Michel Serres. I was not aware of the force behind the Clinamen Press, which Bill Ross established in 1999. 'Clinamen' is a useful concept too, which I have encountered previously, through Serres and Lucretius. 

Readers new to philosophy, sociology and the development of ideas must often grapple with a new and specific vocabulary. This is a primary purpose of such texts. On page 2 the springboard is sprung, the Event is key in Deleuzian scholarship. The Event is a force for creative and disruptive force for thought,  idea generation and creativity. The Event is experienced in our current 'realities' of: time and space (Kronos) where things are actualised, and the virtual (Aion) - the pure Event. This lack of hesitation is welcome. Our 'virtual' world quickly provides access to reading:

parrhesia 27 · 2017 · 1-12
extract from the birth of physics
michel serres, translated by david webb, with an introduction by bill ross
https://parrhesiajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/parrhesia27_serres.pdf

Where you have bifurcations, you have convergences and divergences, stasis, state - stasis or not, paths, a series and metrics. We are reminded that science is not just about theory - metaphysics, it is, sleeves rolled-up about doing too; as I've noted in subsequent reading. As 'chaos' predicts, there is no let up,  the Choasmos, quickly follows. I'm thinking of a 'situation' clinically as a rollercoaster - 'constant displacement' seeking a difference, and repetition, the ravages of alcohol, dementia, low mood, psychosis, obsession and compulsive 'states'. The chaosmos is central in Hodges' model, although as both continua and oppositions. Ross explains how Deleuze's chaosmos is not necessarily scientific, but belongs to the ancient cosmologies of the Greeks (p.3). I thought of flux here. 'Parity' is not just a physical metric, but a quality that acts, seeks resolution - equilibrium(?) - between the mental chaos and physical chaos.*

Thinkers like Deleuze 'trap' words, concepts, in boxes, drawing from other other sources (for chaosmos - with Guattari again); then they can be examined and tested for their scope, application, meaning and association. Hodges' model provides a trap, for any situation. Not as specific as a physicist's ion (or Penning) trap, but the model can act as a series of holistic traps. To provide a metric of holistic bandwidth.

*Of course, equilibrium is never found - until the 'End'; such is the nature of flux. 

More to follow...

Bill Ross (2024) Order and the Virtual: The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-order-and-the-virtual.html

KU Leuven - LCHH2 Health Humanities Lecture Series 2025-2026

Dear all,

The Leuven Centre for Health Humanities organises a yearly lecture series and we would love to invite you!

This year’s lecture series explores the entangled relations between nature and health. Bringing together perspectives from medical history, psychology, disability studies, colonial studies, and environmental humanities, the talks examine how ideas of nature have shaped — and have been shaped by — practices of care, control, and coexistence. Topics range from the rise of disposable medical technologies and their environmental costs, to colonial disease management at the cattle frontier, and from the ambivalent role of “nature” in the lives of people with disabilities to contemporary debates on the restorative effects of natural environments. The series also turns to the microbial world, challenging human exceptionalism and rethinking health as multispecies interdependence rather than biological mastery. Together, these lectures invite critical reflection on sustainability, vulnerability, and care, and offer new ways of imagining health in a world where human and nonhuman lives are profoundly interconnected.

Join us online and on campus, at KU Leuven, for a series of inspiring health humanities talks.

You can find more information about the lectures and how to register here:

Health Humanities Lecture Series 2025-2026 — 
Leuven Centre for Health Humanities (LCH²)

Best wishes,

Lore Delahaye (she/her)
Administrative Support

KU Leuven
Doctoral School for Humanities and Social Sciences
Blijde Inkomstraat 5, box 3000
3000 Leuven

https://ghum.kuleuven.be/phd

Beyond Empathy to System Change: Four Poems on Health by Bertolt Brecht

The canalization of a river 
The grafting of a fruit tree 
The education of a person 
The reconstruction of a state. 
These are all instances of a fruitful critique 
And they are also
 Instances of art. 
—Bertolt Brecht, “On the Critical Attitude”

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

'The education of a person'	'The canalization of a river The grafting of a fruit tree'
'These are all instances of a fruitful critique And they are also Instances of art.' —Bertolt Brecht, “On the Critical Attitude”	'The reconstruction of a state.'

MacGregor, W., Horn, M. & Raphael, D. Beyond Empathy to System Change: Four Poems on Health by Bertolt Brecht. J Med Humanit 45, 53–77 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-023-09801-5

My source: 

Politics of Health Group Mail List Messages
Visit PoHG on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/282761111845400
Follow us on Twitter: @pohguk
You can subscribe to / unsubscribe from the PoHG mail list here: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/POHG
And SDOH list - https://listserv.yorku.ca/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=sdoh&A=1

See also: 'drama' : 'empathy' : 'poetry' : 'change' : 'art'

Book: Bill Ross - 'Order and the Virtual' i

'The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology'

'ORDER and the VIRTUAL'

The preface, pp.ix-xi - 'Playing Cortázarian Hopscotch' begins:

'Gilles Deleuze argued that the most significant characteristic of an encounter is that it forces us to think. Order and the Virtual dramatises multiple encounters between the philosophies of Deleuze, Michel Serres, Henri Bergson, Alfred North Whitehead, Leibniz and Lucretius, and the scientific theories of general relativity, quantum mechanics, information theory, thermodynamics, evolutionary theory, chaos theory and complexity theory. Each of these encounters forces the reader to think anew, to imagine new possibilities for both philosophical and scientific thought. Each encounter also reveals the depth with which Bill Ross himself had thought about these matters.'

Reading Order and the Virtual, I am beyond the preface, but can see the point regards the depth of Bill Ross's reading of a broad range of philosophy and thought (which can be distinct).

The care die is rolled in the first sentence:

'Gilles Deleuze argued that the most significant characteristic 
of an encounter is that it forces us to think.'

When the encounter is clinical, complexity rains, and you really do need to think.

As the professions continue to find out. 

Finding and attending the workshop in September, Bill Ross's legacy and his book is a welcome coincidence as I write and prepare for April's conference. Much more to follow ...

Many thanks to Edinburgh University Press for my copy.

Bill Ross (2024) Order and the Virtual: The Philosophy and Science of Deleuzian Cosmology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-order-and-the-virtual.html

See also:
https://www.thebsp.org.uk/bill-ross-memorial-workshop-deleuzian-cosmologies/

https://technophany.philosophyandtechnology.network/article/view/24392

'Serres'

Just imagine ... caseloads, payloads and careloads

Just imagine ... no, not like that - really imagine!

You are in a situation. Unsurprisingly, let's say it's in health, or social care. We find ourselves in a care or nursing home, on a ward, or in the individual's home, even if the patient does not currently recognise it as such.

The patient is mobile. That is, and isn't a problem.

Physically, apart from thoughts about a chest, or urine infection, yes they are mobile, but they're also confused - disoriented.

We are concerned about their safety. 

Noisy, increasingly agitated, they are making it clear they want to leave.

Their carer, family, or staff are trying to limit the patient / resident's access to the exits, be that the front, or back door, the spare room, their room, or main entrance. They are not in agreement about where they need to be. Persuasion and distraction aren't working either. They appear to lack the level of mental capacity required to decide for themselves what needs to happen.

It is one thing to have this assessment of the situation running through one's mind; but quite another to 'pick up' a care concept mentally and carry it over the care (knowledge) domains of Hodges' model.

Hodges' Health Career - Care Domains - Model

Try it for yourself ...

Have a think about the following care concepts: mobility, capacity, consent, confusion, mobility, liberty, a locked-door while spouse/partner goes shopping, and safeguarding? 

As we engage in critical thinking, these concepts have a literal payload. They carry varying degrees of informational value, salience that helps us prioritise, what else do we need to factor in, what help is needed, and when; how do we  decide what to do?

As a concept is evaluated against Hodges' model, it changes. It is as if it morphs subtely, or starkly as other concepts, by association, are brought into play.

This process is influenced in so many ways; our training to date, our prior experience, biases and cultural baggage we might also carry, who else is present (this is of course potentially both a positive and negative), past and current role-models, our (team's) preparedness - what to do if .., teamwork, access to leadership (who is 'duty'?), and our confidence in them (Oh no!). And, them in us.*

Vitally, there is the small matter of our understanding, attititude and response to the person in-front of us. 

The delivery of healthcare is often stressed as emotional labour. Whether we use Hodges' model or not, perhaps the labour, the physical and psychological work involved, is experienced through carrying and feeling the careload. A reason too for supervision.

*Do seek help - advice if needed.

Further reading [ please contact me if needed - h2cmng AT yahoo.co.uk ]:

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

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

On the 'front' - or behind the line(s)?

In many sources on socio-economics, politics, health policy ... I still note the challenge to represent the INDIVIDUAL and COLLECTIVE within a figure. Of course the author's subject, purpose, the context all influence the final depiction and the message to be conveyed. 

I wonder if Hodges' model can provide a starting point to explore relationships, oppositions, arguments and synergies?

Hodges' model provides an 

expansive and potentially powerful 'front' 

through its horizontal axis 

[ HUMANISTIC ↔ MECHANISTIC ].

This axis - drawn across and through the model vertically, may make it easier(?) to analyse and synthesize the relations at work and produce a diagram?

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC =========================  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

INDIVIDUAL	INDIVIDUAL
GROUP - POPULATION	GROUP - POPULATION

Relational Equality and Intergenerational Justice

Relational Equality and Intergenerational Justice
edited by Devon Cass and Andre Santos Campos

ABSTRACT

Intergenerational justice has in recent decades become an increasingly important subfield of political philosophy. However, due to the absence of coexistence and other aspects of the intergenerational context, it is often unclear whether and how many ideals of justice apply. As such, relational egalitarianism – the view that justice requires equal social relationships – may appear particularly implausible in this domain. In this introduction, we explain this issue, motivating its further examination. Finally, we briefly summarize how the papers in this volume take up this challenge and offer insightful developments on both fronts, advancing our understanding of intergenerational justice and relational egalitarianism.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

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

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

I - self - identity ancestor - descendant	space - resources past - now - future
INTERGENERATIONAL -	- JUSTICE

My source: WHO - Humanizing Health Care Through Relationality: Exploring The Science And Practice Of Community Engagement

ImROC: Briefing Paper 24 - Recovering Adult Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Wards

"Explanation, compassion and a holistic understanding of the person’s situation are critical (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2017)." p.39.

(my emphasis)

"It requires practitioners to critically reflect on their values, beliefs, and biases and actively work to reduce as far as is possible the oppressive systems and practices within inpatient wards." p.15.

What models / frameworks for/of care do practitioners use? 

What models invite - are primed for:

• critical reflection (individually, or as a group, p.56)?
• recognition of oppressive situations, phenomena, ethical dilemmas?
• citizenship - citizenry (p.18)?
• deciding whether it is a journey, or not?
• a possible role in burnout (p.54) mitigation?
• reflection, development, and restoration (p.56)?
• are all models situated?

Individual
   |

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

Group

neurotypical neurodivergent/autistic [Yes.] Can what has been stressed for decades - compassion, listening, validating, empathy, rapport, the therapeutic alliance, seeing the person ... in mental health nurse education, theory and practice, be strengthened through review of skill-mix, and workforce? Whilst, in-turn, being sensitive to the pressures on mental health RNs, as cohorts of students, seek to assure their learning experiences; and as qualified nurses old and new seek to protect their professional identity, values, standards, and ethics - responsive to the demands of the 21st century.

close to home transport physical environment: noise, smells, space, decor, light.. While (originally?) aimed at elective in-patient care, the mantra of discharge planning begins upon admission (even before) has reached mental health services and community mental health teams. Even as the reduced number of beds (perversely) provides ideal conditions, this should (must) not mean the 'game' becomes 'pass the parcel', 'musical chairs' - the person lost in the many processes.

Hell is other people - as the saying goes ... When the therapeutic value and potential of relationships are recognised, the need for a tool to identify and critique what is relational is even more critical. Not just to realise what has long-been psycho-social, but the 'alt-def' of person-centred. This demands simultaneity in assurance. We contrast the humanistic with the mechanistic - service-centred. Let's not forget the need for integrated** care. See community/society as the safety net it can be. So DO NOT: raise a patient's / family's expectations (p.49) only to let them down.

least restrictive Let's not re-learn the lessons of history, but if you insist...?^ One mention of (social) 'determinants' (p.37)! Please take a look out of the [safety] window; and beyond the APPG Committee room...  Wither ambition, courage in policy - to discover what is evidence-based (the lesson since 5th July 1948)? In-patient care is too late.* For sustainable health services and systems we need to act sooner, educate, to try to address all the determinants. Please remember what 'you' (through policy..) have done to the patient as a concept: patiency. <- Recovery carries political heft.

Please remember what 'you' (through policy..) have done to the patient as a concept: patiency. Recovery carries political heft. No one wants to create, foster, instill dependency, but (emotional labour) care delivery demands space and time: being with, or at least available.

*If this was the guiding principle for all disciplines, stakeholders, policymakers, researchers could this:

• place emphasis (again) on prevention; staying well - relapse prevention;
• help generate alternate modalities for therapy / care;
• help concentrate services to deliver person-centred, recovery and trauma informed in-patient experiences - where therapeutic outcomes are  at least feasible/possible;
• begin from literacy-first stance: take up educational focus in schools - PSHE, work-place;
• health career - life chances?

**physical-mental, care context, philosophy of care - trauma - recovery - strengths, funding, disciplines, pastoral, health - social care - housing ...

^Dept. of Health. Caring for people: the CPA for people with a mental illness referred to specialist mental health services. London: 1990

Joint Health/Social Services Circular  C(90)23/LASSL(90)11

Rachel Perkins, Sharon Gibbard, Yasmin Blackwood, Simon Barnitt, Lowri Smith, Anna Cheetham, Poppy Repper, Anne Rackham, Ben Dorey, Jo Luck, Julie Repper. Recovering Adult Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Wards: Creating Recovery-Focused, Trauma-Informed and Neuro-Inclusive Culture, Relationships and Practice. ImROC. Briefing Paper 24. 2024.


See also:

ImROC (2023) Thinking about Recovery Together

ImROC (2023a) Team Recovery Implementation Plan for Acute Inpatient Wards

Wand, T. (2024), We have to cancel psychiatric nursing and forge a new way forward. Int J Mental Health Nurs. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13301

Warrender, D., Connell, C., Jones, E., Monteux, S., Colwell, L., Laker, C. et al. (2024) Mental health deserves better: Resisting the dilution of specialist pre-registration mental health nurse education in the United Kingdom. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 33, 202–212. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.13236

Plus:
Jones P. (2014) Using a conceptual framework to explore the dimensions of recovery and their relationship to service user choice and self-determination. International Journal of Person Centered Medicine. Vol 3, No 4, (2013) pp.305-311.

Curation of posts on W2tQ

     Curation: Quote(s) to follow?

Several years ago I reviewed the blog's posts starting from post #1 in April 2006. Some posts, such as, journal calls for papers, conference announcements ... were clearly of time-limited value, even as to the degree they may document the history of ideas. The exercise also highlighted my adopted role of curator, which had not occurred to me before. 

Previously, tentatively, I tried to weigh the value of content. The value to scholarship of Hodges' model, and not wishing to sound grandiose - nursing theory (someone should - given the vacuum over the past 20-30 years?). There are person-centred items, with some that make me cringe (the personal ones, the ones premature and not quite 'fully-formed'), while others stand the test of time (I think). 

Eighteen years is not long and yet the change in several dynamic histories is very obvious, across society, politics, ecosystems, policy, education, nursing and of course technology. Many posts were deleted, others with:

• too many links (for which you can be penalised?)
• broken links;
• missing images / videos;
• typos ...

- where updated accordingly.

Revision #2 beckons in the near future, an effort to rationalise the wheat from the chaff.

It is - same old, same old regards the elephant in the room: that is, the missing new 'platform' - as it keeps reminding me.

W2tQ - "Welcome the the QUAD" - this blog.
Book image: Waterstones.

There is no need for models of nursing ... they are 'old hat'

'Old hat'

"In nursing, however, its neglect of theorising and its obsession with 'doing' without thought have meant there is no commonly accepted model. Furthermore, the huge differences in the settings and client groups associated with nurses make it impossible ever to arrive at such an all-embracing model." p.51. Alan Pearson.

Since, nurses do think. Psycho-socially they use an implicit model - as we all do.

The health and social care workforce would benefit from a shared model of care, as would the general population as per assessment of literacy and health literacy in particular.

"Most nurses live in communities like Tameside*, where local staff of varied academic, practical and intellectual abilities nurse local people. Thus I would like to emphasise two major points:

1. Models must be built, described and used in language that is accessible to all levels of nursing staff.
2. A nursing model which focuses solely on the patient, and neglects or under estimates the nurses themselves and the social backcloth of the hospital and community is of little value. ...
   

... Elsewhere in this volume McFarlane notes how each nurse carries with her a 'private image of nursing'. One of the steps to creating a working model of nursing is that those private worlds must be brought closer together, to work in common and as a whole." p.40. Steve Wright.

*Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. Hodges' model was created by Brian E. Hodges (Ret. Senior Lecturer) at Manchester Polytechnic College, now Manchester Metropolitan University.

B. Kershaw and J. Salvage (Eds)  (1986) Models for Nursing, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Limited.

Hat image: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-35243823

This nurse needs to 'think' less, and do, act.
 

Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research Congress 2023 - Call for Papers

We are delighted to announce that the Call for Papers for Critical: NNMHR Congress 2023 has now gone live: http://nnmh.org.uk/nnmhr-congress-2023-call-for-submissions-and-theme-announcement/

The congress will be held online April 19-21 2023.

Reflecting on a decade since the ‘critical’ turn in medical humanities heralded by an experimental 2013 symposium hosted by Durham University, this congress—online for the second time—explores questions like:

• What does the ‘critical’ in critical medical humanities mean to you?
• What has critical medical humanities accomplished in the past ten years, and to what extent has it delivered on its early claims and promises?
• What is happening in the field today (and conversely, what is not happening enough)? Where is this happening, who is involved, and who and what has been left out or marginalised in this turn?
• What should be the aims and ambitions of critical medical humanities for the next ten years? What forms of material change should the field seeks to bring about, in what sites and settings, how, and for whom?

Abstracts are invited for: 

• ready-formed panels
• individual papers
• lightning talks
• video poster presentations

We particularly welcome abstracts from those who do not necessarily identify themselves as medical humanities researchers, as well as those working outside the formal structures of the university.

Please note that proposals should address one of the following thematic strands:

• Critical (what?)
• Collaboration (with whom?)
• Contexts (where?)
• Methods (how?)
• Materialities (to what effects?)

More information, including how to apply, can be found on the NNMHR website here. We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Best wishes,

The NNMHR Congress 2023 team

#nnmhr2023

I'm a critical thinker and no I don't carry a card ;-)

"One of us (PD) had a conversation recently with a new Director of Nursing (DoN) of a large hospital trust. They started to talk about “these new graduates today” and “what was wrong with them.” For shame, PD was just waiting for the usual tired diatribe about “university nurses” and what they “could not do” and why they were all “too academic” and so on ad nauseum. I could not have been more wrong. The DoN talked about “these new nurses” and how they did not seem to be critical thinkers who could question and challenge existing systems and practices. What I need, they said, are nurses who can advocate, challenge, step in to prevent incidents or patient deterioration, who can see better ways of doing things and make that happen. The last thing they need, they said, were nurses who could only tick boxes or follow algorithms and orders. To say this conversation was an eye-opening highlight in the oft-reported “decay” of critical thinking in nursing (Morrall & Goodman, 2013) was an understatement, especially since every university School of Nursing will swear blind that it produces nurses who are card-carrying “critical thinkers” and every hospital will testify that it encourages this, rather than erects barriers to prevent it (Cornell, Riordan, Townsend-Gervis, & Mobley, 2011). It is a real concern that so few Schools or health services even know how to ask the question, “How do we know?”, let alone answer it." p.2.

Darbyshire, P., Thompson, D. R., & Watson, R. (2019). Nursing schools: Dumbing down or reaching up? Journal of Nursing Management, 27(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12730

Still ready to help teach, share, collaborate - while still learning here ...

"Being Horizontal: Vulnerability, Interdependence and Resistance" c/o Confabulations

The title of this event last week struck a cord ...

For those who missed "Being Horizontal: Vulnerability, Interdependence and Resistance" last week - which touched on topics as diverse as austerity, invisibility, repetition and rhythm - a recording of the live event is available until 24th February: https://t.co/WnGFdmkMqF

— Confabulations (@con_fabulations) February 13, 2022

 

From the website with some additions:

 

"Being Horizontal: Vulnerability, Interdependence and Resistance"

  Self - INDIVIDUAL - Person

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC -----------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

Community - Group - Population

sleep* ('in dreams') (found) un-consciousness (beware - risk?) intent non-verbal psychoanalysis patient personal vulnerability	gravity collapse position - posture horizontal - vertical human body, form 3D mobility, movement above - below look up/down angle - inclination clinical positions 'other' positions - sex birth, rest, deceased reclined nude "recline -
The 'games that people play', especially those seeking / in power. social customs dance - history - culture social hierarchies	is often associated with feminised and/or racialised powerlessness." fallen soldier (civilian?) choice*: of position look up/down to "Deliberately assuming a horizontal position in front of others can also, as the complex works grouped in this project reveal, challenge, subvert, and politicise dynamics of vulnerability and power."

 

Special issue - International Review of Psychiatry "Conceptual Psychiatry"

   patient / client  PERSON student / practitioner
|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

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

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

society - group - profession

psycho philosophy, ethics..	bio Einstein's physics, chemistry too!
social	political

 

The bio-psycho-social model is insufficient 

- in care, to care, for care -

in the 21st century.

Hodges' model is a series of conceptual spaces(?). 

In healthcare contexts for all students, what threshold concepts may pertain? ...

'Concepts' here in W2tQ.

International Review of Psychiatry, Volume 33, Issue 5 (2021)

Conceptual Psychiatry; Guest Editor: Awais Aftab

Includes:

Sanneke de Haan (2021) Bio-psycho-social interaction: an enactive perspective, International Review of Psychiatry, 33:5, 471-477, DOI: 10.1080/09540261.2020.1830753

 

My source:

I'm pleased to share the special issue of @IntRevPsych on the theme of "Conceptual Psychiatry." My editorial 👇 provides an overview of the articles in the collection along with some general reflections on current trends & the importance of philosophy /1 https://t.co/GCRSn9jyDb

— Awais Aftab (@awaisaftab) August 11, 2021

There is a marked difference of course in the purpose of this special issue, examining conceptual issues in psychiatry and Hodges' model as a generic conceptual framework for reflection, integrated and person-centred care and critical thinking. I still find the diametrical relationship between the individual and their 'mind' and the political domain with the structures that are invariably found there. The law, mental health legislation, consent, mental capacity, institutions (and in psychiatry the old (asylums) and the new (and how have they changed?) the professions, policy, standards and governance. Then the relationships (social) that define expectations, healthcare and outcomes and how practitioners are socialised and how power is negotiated, expressed and shared (to whatever extent?). 

 

Hodges' model: What is the Question? (ii)

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

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

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

What is the basis for meta-cognitive and meta-conceptual claims for Hodges' model? Does Hodges' model have a role in secondary education and if so, what is it? If Hodges' model facilitates reflection and is reflexive how is this achieved and demonstrated? Is Hodges' model a meta-semantic framework and if so, is this what provides genericity? What is the foundation of the axes in Hodges' model and what characteristics can be described?

Is Hodges' model safe? "Cold, Warm, Hot, Hotter!" nearer to 'navel gazing' than 'reflective practice'? Are 'concepts' sufficient to explain the structure of Hodges' model, and account for its claimed role(s) in assessment, planning, evaluation and assurance? Is Hodges' model a constant: as the contemporary model? Are 'individual', 'group', 'humanistic', and 'mechanistic' sufficient as conceptual anchors; and if so are they sufficient to give rise to the two continua that then invoke four knowledge (care) domains?

Can Hodges' model simultaneously preserve, protect and assure 'patiency' whilst also facilitating self-care? What forms of literacy are encountered by users of Hodges' model and are they accessible to the public, patients and carers? Hodges' model: Show me the praxis. What does Hodges' model say about holism (and consequently reductivism) and why should anyone listen?

Is there such a thing as a generic 'model of care' in a multidisciplinary world? Is there a 'logic' to the seemingly diametric opposition of 'power' as exercised here and the two individual domains in Hodges' model? If claims for Hodges' model of universality, genericity and global scope are 'true' is this also a risk for healthcare professions and specialisation, as it supports the 'universal worker' and automated processes?