Trapman Episode 6: The Rift in Reality

This study aimed at assessing the perceived barriers and attitudes of health care providers towards PITC services. A cross sectional study was conducted for one month between April and May, in the goverment health care facilities of the Mbeya City Council. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select both health facilities and health care providers. All the participants reported to be aware about PITC services. Various perceived barriers to effective PITC provision were reported, including; too many patients Although PITC is an effective strategy for identification of unrecognized HIV infections, there is still missed opportunity which occurs at the health facilities, as some of health care providers had negative attitude and others faces various barriers in offering the PITC service.

Motivation and incentives of rural maternal and neonatal health care providers: However, progress is impeded by challenges, especially in the area of human resources. All three countries are striving not only to scale up the number of available health staff, but also to improve performance by raising skill levels and enhancing provider motivation. Methods In-depth interviews were used to explore MNH provider views about motivation and incentives at primary care level in rural Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania.

Interviews were held with 25 MNH providers , 8 facility and district managers, and 2 policy-makers in each country. Results Across the three countries some differences were found in the reasons why people became health workers. Commitment to remaining a health worker was generally high. The readiness to remain at a rural facility was far less, although in all settings there were some providers that were willing to stay.

In Burkina Faso it appeared to be particularly difficult to recruit female MNH providers to rural areas.

There were indications that MNH providers in all the settings sometimes failed to treat their patients well. Job satisfaction was shown to be quite high, and was particularly linked to community appreciation. With some important exceptions, there was a strong level of agreement regarding the financial and non-financial incentives that were suggested by these providers , but there were clear country preferences as to whether incentives should be for individuals or teams.

Conclusions Understandings of the terms and concepts pertaining to motivation differed between the three countries. The findings from Burkina Faso underline the importance of gender-sensitive health workforce planning. The training that all. Assessing healthcare providers ' knowledge and practices relating to insecticide-treated nets and the prevention of malaria in Ghana, Laos, Senegal and Tanzania. Background Research evidence is not always being disseminated to healthcare providers who need it to inform their clinical practice. This can result in the provision of ineffective services and an inefficient use of resources, the implications of which might be felt particularly acutely in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods This study compares what is known about ITNs to the related knowledge and practices of healthcare providers in four low- and middle-income countries. A new questionnaire was developed, pilot tested, translated and administered to healthcare providers in Ghana , Laos , Senegal and Tanzania Ten questions tested participants' knowledge and clinical practice related to malaria prevention. Additional questions addressed their individual characteristics, working context and research-related activities. Ordinal logistic regressions with knowledge and practices as the dependent variable were conducted in addition to descriptive statistics.

Statistically significant factors associated with higher knowledge within each country included: Statistically significant factors associated with better clinical practices within each country include: Determinants of community health fund membership in Tanzania: In many developing countries, initiatives are underway to strengthen voluntary community based health insurance as a means of expanding access to affordable care among the informal sector.

However, increasing coverage with voluntary health insurance in low income settings can prove challenging. There are limited studies on determinants of enrolling in these schemes using mixed methods. This study aims to shed light on the characteristics of those joining a community health fund, a type of community based health insurance, in Tanzania and the reasons for their membership and subsequent drop out using mixed methods.

A cross sectional survey of households in four rural districts was conducted in , covering a total of 1, members of CHF and non-insured households and 7, individuals. In addition, 12 focus group discussions were carried out with CHF members, non-scheme members and members of health facility governing committees in two rural districts. Logistic regression was used to assess the determinants of CHF membership while thematic analysis was done to analyse qualitative data.

The quantitative analysis revealed that the three middle income quintiles were more likely to enrol in the CHF than the poorest and the richest. CHF member households were more likely to be large, and headed by a male than uninsured households from the same areas. The qualitative data supported the finding that the poor rather than the poorest were more likely to join as were large families and of greater risk of illness, with disabilities or persons with chronic diseases.

Households with elderly members or children under-five years were also more likely to enrol. Poor understanding of risk pooling deterred people from joining the scheme and was the main reason for not renewing membership. On the supply side, poor quality of public care services, the limited benefit package and a lack of provider choice were the main factors for low enrolment.

Maternal and newborn healthcare providers in rural Tanzania: Major improvements in maternal and neonatal health MNH remain elusive in Tanzania. The causes are closely related to the health system and overall human resource policy. Staff motivation is also a challenge. In rural areas the problems of recruiting and retaining health staff are most pronounced.

Yet, it is here that the majority of the population continues to reside. A detailed understanding of the influences on the motivation, performance and job satisfaction of providers at rural, primary level facilities was sought to inform a research project in its early stages. The providers approached were those found to be delivering MNH care on the ground, and thus include auxiliary staff.

Much of the previous work on motivation has focused on defined professional groups such as physicians and nurses. While attention has recently broadened to also include mid-level providers , the views of auxiliary health workers have seldom been explored. In-depth interviews were the methodology of choice.

An interview guideline was prepared with the involvement of Tanzanian psychologists, sociologists and health professionals to ensure the instrument was rooted in the socio-cultural setting of its application. Interviews were conducted with 25 MNH providers , 8 facility and district managers, and 2 policy-makers. Key sources of encouragement for all the types of respondents included community appreciation, perceived government and development partner support for MNH, and on-the-job learning. Discouragements were overwhelmingly financial in nature, but also included facility understaffing and the resulting workload, malfunction of the promotion system as well as health and safety, and security issues.

Low-level cadres were found to be particularly discouraged. Difficulties and weaknesses in the management of rural facilities were revealed. Improvements in access to malaria treatment in Tanzania after switch to artemisinin combination therapy and the introduction of accredited drug dispensing outlets - a provider perspective. Background To improve access to treatment in the private retail sector a new class of outlets known as accredited drug dispensing outlets ADDO was created in Tanzania. Tanzania changed its first-line treatment for malaria from sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine SP to artemether-lumefantrine ALu in The effect of these interventions on access to malaria treatment was studied in rural Tanzania.

Data collection consisted of: The data were complemented with DSS population data. Particular improvements were observed in the availability from 0. In-season monitoring of crop conditions provides critical information for agricultural policy and decision making and most importantly for food security planning and management. Nationwide agricultural monitoring in countries dominated by smallholder farming systems, generally relies on extensive networks of field data collectors. In Tanzania , extension agents make up this network and report on conditions across the country, approaching a "near-census".

Data is collected on paper which is resource and time intensive, as well as prone to errors. Data quality is ambiguous and there is a general lack of clear and functional feedback loops between farmers, extension agents, analysts and decision makers. Moreover, the data are not spatially explicit, limiting the usefulness for analysis and quality of policy outcomes. Despite significant advances in remote sensing and information communication technologies ICT for monitoring agriculture, the full potential of these new tools is yet to be realized in Tanzania.

Their use is constrained by the lack of resources, skills and infrastructure to access and process these data. The use of ICT technologies for data collection, processing and analysis is equally limited. These tools are developed and applied in Tanzania through the National Food Security Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives MAFC within a statistically representative sampling framework area frame that ensures data quality, representability and resource efficiency.

Method for providing a compliant cantilevered micromold. A compliant cantilevered three-dimensional micromold is provided. The compliant cantilevered micromold is suitable for use in the replication of cantilevered microparts and greatly simplifies the replication of such cantilevered parts.

The compliant cantilevered micromold may be used to fabricate microparts using casting or electroforming techniques. When the compliant micromold is used to fabricate electroformed cantilevered parts, the micromold will also comprise an electrically conducting base formed by a porous metal substrate that is embedded within the compliant cantilevered micromold.

Methods for fabricating the compliant cantilevered micromold as well as methods of replicating cantilevered microparts using the compliant cantilevered micromold are also provided. Narratives of Nurse-Midwives and Obstetricians. Postpartum education can save lives of mothers and babies in developing countries, and the World Health Organization recommends all mothers receive three postpartum consultations. More information is needed to better understand how postpartum education is delivered and ultimately improves postpartum health outcomes.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how postpartum care was delivered in three postnatal hospital clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

[VRChat] IS VRCHAT HIDING SOMETHING?!?! *Creepy* (Episode 8)

Semistructured interviews with 10 nurse-midwives and three obstetricians were conducted. Feminist poststructuralism guided the research process. Postpartum education was seen to be an urgent matter; there was a lack of supportive resources and infrastructure in the hospital clinics, and nurse-midwives and obstetricians had to negotiate conflicting health and traditional discourses using various strategies. Nurse-midwives and obstetricians are well positioned to deliver life-saving postpartum education; however, improvements are required including increased number of nurse-midwives and obstetricians.

Job satisfaction and turnover intentions among health care staff providing services for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From March to April , a questionnaire asking about job satisfaction and turnover intentions was administered to all nurses at 36 public-sector health facilities offering antenatal and PMTCT services in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with job dissatisfaction and intention to quit one's job. Most of the providers were dissatisfied with low salaries and high workload, but satisfied with workplace harmony and being able to follow their moral values. The odds of reporting to be globally dissatisfied with one's job were high if the provider was dissatisfied with salary adjusted odds ratio aOR 5. The following factors were associated with providers ' intention to leave their current job: Job dissatisfaction and turnover intentions are comparatively high among nurses in Dar es Salaam's public-sector maternal care.

If malaria patients who cannot be treated orally are several hours from facilities for injections, rectal artesunate prior to hospital referral can prevent death and disability. The goal is to reduce death from malaria by having rectal artesunate treatment available and used.

How best to do this remains unknown. Villages remote from a health facility were randomized to different community-based treatment providers trained to provide rectal artesunate in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania , and Uganda. Prereferral rectal artesunate treatment was provided in villages: Differences in treatment coverage with rectal artesunate in children aged Effectiveness of artemether-lumefantrine provided by community health workers in under-five children with uncomplicated malaria in rural Tanzania: Home-management of malaria HMM strategy improves early access of anti-malarial medicines to high-risk groups in remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa.

However, limited data are available on the effectiveness of using artemisinin-based combination therapy ACT within the HMM strategy. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of artemether-lumefantrine AL , presently the most favoured ACT in Africa, in under-five children with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Tanzania , when provided by community health workers CHWs and administered unsupervised by parents or guardians at home.

An open label, single arm prospective study was conducted in two rural villages with high malaria transmission in Kibaha District, Tanzania. Children presenting to CHWs with uncomplicated fever and a positive rapid malaria diagnostic test RDT were provisionally enrolled and provided AL for unsupervised treatment at home. Patients with microscopy confirmed P. Primary outcome measure was PCR corrected parasitological cure rate by day 42, as estimated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials. A total of febrile children were enrolled between March-August Two patients were lost to follow up on day 14, and one patient withdrew consent on day The PCR corrected cure rate by day 42 was Provision of AL by CHWs for unsupervised malaria treatment at home was highly effective, which provides evidence base for. Systems and Methods for Providing Insulation. Systems and methods provide a multi-layer insulation MLI that includes a plurality of sealed metalized volumes in a stacked arrangement, wherein the plurality of sealed metalized volumes encapsulate a gas therein, with the gas having one of a thermal insulating property, an acoustic insulating property, or a combination insulating property thereof.

The MLI also includes at least one spacer between adjacent sealed metalized volumes of the plurality of sealed metalized volumes and a protective cover surrounding the plurality of sealed metalized volumes. Estimates shows exclusive breastfeeding EBF has the potential to prevent This study aimed at examining factors that affect EBF practice among women in Muheza district, Tanga region, northeastern Tanzania. A community based cross-sectional study using both qualitative and quantitative methods was conducted from April to June To collect relevant information, a total of women with infants aged months were interviewed using a questionnaire and 12 key informants using in-depth interview guide.

Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis while bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used assess association between EBF and predictor variables. The prevalence of EBF was The perception that mothers' breast milk is insufficient for child's growth, child being thirsty and the need to introduce herbal medicine for cultural purposes were among the important factors for early mixed feeding.

In multivariate analysis advanced maternal age OR 2. The prevalence of EBF in our study is low compared with the national prevalence.

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Strategies to target beliefs that breast milk is insufficient for growth need to be strengthened in the community. Demand for HIV counselling services is increasing in developing counties, but there have been few previous studies that describe counsellors' roles and experiences providing HIV-related counselling in developing countries. Such information can be used to better supervise and support counsellors and thereby improve counselling services. As a sub-study of the Voluntary Counseling and Testing Efficacy Study, we conducted focus groups and individual interviews with 11 counsellors and counselling supervisors providing HIV counselling services in Kenya and Tanzania.

Counsellors told us that their jobs were both rewarding and stressful. In addition to their obligations in the counselling relationship providing information, protecting confidentiality and being non-judgemental , they perceived pressure to provide information and be good role models in their communities. Additional stresses were related to external economic and political conditions, 'spillover' of HIV issues from their personal lives and providing counselling in a research setting. Counsellor stress might be reduced and their effectiveness and retention improved by 1 allowing work flexibility; 2 providing supportive, non-evaluative supervision; 3 offering alternatives to client behaviour change as the indication of counsellor performance; 4 acknowledging and educating about 'emotional labour' in counselling; 5 providing frequent information updates and intensive training; and 6 encouraging counsellor participation in the development of research protocols.

In-depth interviews were used to explore MNH provider views about motivation and incentives at primary care level in rural Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania. Across the three countries some differences were found in the reasons why people became health workers. This was shown to be interlinked with differences in how the term 'motivation' was understood, and in the views held about remuneration and the status of rural health work.

Understandings of the terms and concepts pertaining to motivation differed between the three countries. The training that all levels of MNH providers receive in. Research evidence is not always being disseminated to healthcare providers who need it to inform their clinical practice. This study compares what is known about ITNs to the related knowledge and practices of healthcare providers in four low- and middle-income countries. Is Development Assistance for Health fungible?

Findings from a mixed methods case study in Tanzania. The amount of Development Assistance for Health DAH available to low- and middle-income countries has increased exponentially over the past decade. However, there are concerns that DAH increases have not resulted in increased spending on health at the country level. This is because DAH may be fungible, resulting from the recipient government decreasing its contribution to the health sector as a result of external funding. The aim of this research is to assess whether DAH funds in Tanzania are fungible, by exploring government substitution of its own resources across sectors and within the health sector.

Government health expenditure data for the same period were obtained from the Government of Tanzania , World Bank, public expenditure reviews and budget speeches and analysed to assess the degree of government substitution. We found some evidence of substitution of government funds at the health sector and sub-sector levels and two mechanisms through which it takes place: We found fungibility of external funds may not necessarily be detrimental to Tanzania 's development as evidence suggests the funds displaced may be reallocated to education and the mechanisms used by DPs to prevent substitution were largely ineffective.

We recommend DPs engage more effectively in the priority-setting process, not just with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare MoHSW , but also with the Ministry of Finance, to agree on priorities and mutual funding responsibilities at a macroeconomic level. We also call for. Supply-related drivers of staff motivation for providing intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy in Tanzania: Background Since its introduction in the national antenatal care ANC system in Tanzania in , little evidence is documented regarding the motivation and performance of health workers HWs in the provision of intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy IPTp services in the national ANC clinics and the implications such motivation and performance might have had on HWs and services' compliance with the recommended IPTp delivery guidelines.

This paper describes the supply-related drivers of motivation and performance of HWs in administering IPTp doses among other ANC services delivered in public and private health facilities HFs in Tanzania , using a case study of Mkuranga and Mufindi districts. Methods Interviews were conducted with 78 HWs participating in the delivery of ANC services in private and public HFs and were supplemented by personal communications with the members of the district council health management team.

The research instrument used in the data collection process contained a mixture of closed and open-ended questions. Some of the open-ended questions had to be coded in the form that allowed their analysis quantitatively. Results In both districts, respondents acknowledged IPTp as an essential intervention, but expressed dissatisfaction with their working environments constraining their performance, including health facility HF unit understaffing; unsystematic and unfriendly supervision by CHMT members; limited opportunities for HW career development; and poor HF infrastructure and staff houses.

Data also suggest that poor working conditions negatively affect health workers' motivation to perform for ANC including IPTp services. Perspectives of healthcare providers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The specific age to which an HIV infected child can be disclosed to is stipulated to begin between ages 4 and 6 years. It has also been documented that before disclosure of HIV positive status to the infected child. Health care providers should consider children's cognitive-developmental ability.

However, observation and situation analysis show that, health care providers still feel uncomfortable disclosing the HIV positive status to the infected child. The aim of the study was to explore healthcare providers ' experiences in disclosure of HIV-positive status to the infected child. A qualitative study involving 20 health care providers who attend HIV-positive children was conducted in September, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. An interview guide, translated into participants' national language Kiswahili was used during in-depth interviews.

Sampling followed the principle of data saturation. The interviews focused on perspectives of health-care providers regarding their experience with paediatric HIV disclosure. Data from in-depth interviews were transcribed into text; data analysis followed qualitative content analysis. The results show how complex the process of disclosure to children living with HIV can be to healthcare providers. Confusion was noted among healthcare providers about their role and responsibility in the process of disclosing to the HIV infected child.

This was reported to be largely due to unclear guidelines and lack of standardized training in paediatric HIV disclosure. Furthermore, healthcare providers were concerned about parental hesitancy to disclose early to the child due to lack of disclosure skills and fear of stigma. In order to improve the disclosure process in HIV infected children, healthcare providers recommended further standardized training on paediatric HIV disclosure with more emphasis on practical skills and inclusion of disclosure.

The challenges of developing an instrument to assess health provider motivation at primary care level in rural Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania. Prytherch, Helen; Leshabari, Melkidezek T. Background The quality of health care depends on the competence and motivation of the health workers that provide it. In the West, several tools exist to measure worker motivation, and some have been applied to the health sector. However, none have been validated for use in sub-Saharan Africa. The complexity of such tools has also led to concerns about their application at primary care level.

Objective To develop a common instrument to monitor any changes in maternal and neonatal health MNH care provider motivation resulting from the introduction of pilot interventions in rural, primary level facilities in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania. Design Initially, a conceptual framework was developed. Based upon this, a literature review and preliminary qualitative research, an English-language instrument was developed and validated in an iterative process with experts from the three countries involved.

The instrument was then piloted in Ghana. Reliability testing and exploratory factor analysis were used to produce a final, parsimonious version. Results and discussion This paper describes the actual process of developing the instrument. Consequently, the concepts and items that did not perform well psychometrically at pre-test are first presented and discussed. The final version of the instrument, which comprises 42 items for self-assessment and eight for peer-assessment, is then shown.

This is followed by a presentation and discussion of the findings from first use of the instrument with MNH providers from 12 rural, primary level facilities in each of the three countries. Conclusions It is possible to undertake work of this nature at primary health care level, particularly if the instruments are kept as straightforward as possible and well introduced. However, their development requires very lengthy preparatory periods. The effort needed to adapt such instruments for use in different countries within the region of sub-Saharan Africa should not be underestimated.

Factors influencing job preferences of health workers providing obstetric care: Task shifting from established health professionals to mid-level providers MLPs professionals who undergo shorter training in specific procedures is one key strategy for reducing maternal and neonatal deaths. This has resulted in a growth in cadre types providing obstetric care in low and middle-income countries.

Little is known about the relative importance of the different factors in determining motivation and retention amongst these cadres. This paper presents findings from large sample respondents discrete choice experiments to examine the employment preferences of obstetric care workers across three east African countries. The strongest predictors of job choice were access to continuing professional development and the presence of functioning human resources management transparent, accountable and consistent systems for staff support, supervision and appraisal.

Consistent with similar works we find pay and allowances significantly positively related to utility, but financial rewards are not as fundamental a factor underlying employment preferences as many may have previously believed. Location urban vs rural had the smallest average effect on utility for job choice in all three countries. These findings are important in the context where efforts to address the human resources crisis have focused primarily on increasing salaries and incentives, as well as providing allowances to work in rural areas.

The internal migration between public and faith-based health providers: To assess the magnitude, direction and underlying dynamics of internal health worker migration between public and faith-based health providers from a hospital perspective. Two complementary tools were implemented in 10 public and six faith-based hospitals in southern Tanzania. A hospital questionnaire assessed magnitude and direction of staff migration between January and June Interviews with 42 public and 20 faith-based maternity nurses evaluated differences in staff perspectives and motives for the observed migration patterns.

The predominant direction of staff movement was from the faith-based to the public sector: Nurses were the largest group among the migrating health workforce. Faith-based hospitals lost Interviews revealed significantly inferior staff perspectives among faith-based respondents than their public colleagues. Main differences were identified regarding career development and training, management support, employee engagement and workload.

This study revealed considerable internal health worker migration from the faith-based to the public sector. Staff retention and motivation within faith-based hospitals are not restricted to financial considerations, and salary gaps can no longer uniquely explain this movement pattern. The consequences for the catchment area of faith-based hospitals are potentially severe and erode cooperation potential between the public and private health sector. Evaluation of collection methods for Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti, and Aedes simpsoni in northeastern Tanzania. In East Africa, significant morbidity and mortality are caused by infections spread by Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti.

Sticky traps have been shown to be effective tools for sampling populations of Aedes mosquitoes and have been found to catch Cx. Thus, they could potentially be used to sample populations of this species. A follow-up experiment was carried out using traps set for a h period to accommodate the oviposition habits of Aedes aegypti and Ae.

All three trap types should be considered for monitoring Aedes mosquitoes. Child Sexual Abuse in Tanzania and Kenya. Most research on child abuse in Tanzania and Kenya is unpublished in the international literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the various commentaries and reports extant, toward an overview of the nature and frequency of child sexual abuse in Tanzania and Kenya. Contacts were made with academics, government….

Comparison of detection methods to estimate asexual Plasmodium falciparum parasite prevalence and gametocyte carriage in a community survey in Tanzania. The use of molecular techniques to detect malaria parasites has been advocated to improve the accuracy of parasite prevalence estimates, especially in moderate to low endemic settings. Molecular work is time-consuming and costly, thus the effective gains of this technique need to be carefully evaluated.

Light microscopy LM and rapid diagnostic tests RDT are commonly used to detect malaria infection in resource constrained areas, but their limited sensitivity results in underestimation of the proportion of people infected with Plasmodium falciparum. This study aimed to evaluate the extent of missed infections via a community survey in Tanzania , using polymerase chain reaction PCR to detect P. Three hundred and thirty individuals of all ages from the Kilombero and Ulanga districts Tanzania were enrolled in a cross-sectional survey. Gametocytes were detected by LM and by amplifying transcripts of the gametocyte-specific marker pfs Results from all three diagnostic methods were available for a subset of individuals.

Gametocyte prevalence was Thus, LM is not a sufficiently accurate technique from which to inform policies and malaria control or elimination efforts. However, it is also insufficient when precise prevalence data are needed for monitoring intervention success or for determining point prevalence rates in countrywide surveillance.

Does training on performance based financing make a difference in performance and quality of health care delivery? Health care provider 's perspective in Rungwe Tanzania. In recent years, Performance Based Financing PBF ; a form of result based financing, has attracted a global attention in health systems in developing countries. PBF promotes autonomous health facilities, motivates and introduces financial incentives to motivate health facilities and health workers to attain pre-determined targets.

This observation has been confirmed by my own experi- ence. I was raised in a strict Calvinist environment. And yet, Vestdijk accused them of being intolerant tyrants who could stand dissention from nobody. Though he went a long way in trying to understand this apparent contradiction, I was not convinced. Thus, I felt the need to develop a theory of my own, without pre- judging either Sierksma or any Calvinist. I did this by trying to find a systematic correlation between outward behavior polemic and social position authority. To outsiders, it might be a bit surprising that I was researching a controversy that, though it dealt with religion, was hardly religious in and of itself.

And yet, I would like to thank all those within the confines of the Faculty of Theology and the De- partment of the History of Religions and Comparative Religion who allowed me to continue with the project. To my colleagues at the Faculty of Theology, I am espe- cially grateful and I admire their tolerance. I wonder how they are able to breed so many Trojan horses among themselves. Surely, the discipline of Religious Studies might serve as an introduction to Theology.

To claim a legitimate position within a Fac- ulty of Theology, however, it is obliged to do so. In the end, however, I have to apologize for not having been able to contribute to the Study of Religion, let alone to provide for any progress in Theology. They often forced me not to take things so lightly and to continue searching in areas which I was not familiar with before. These articles indicated that a fruitful dia- logue between Theology and Science is possible when the former actually belongs to the field of Religious Studies as Tiele already argued more than hundred years ago.

Tony Watling was kind enough to send me his PhD dissertation on the construction of religious identities in the Netherlands—a fine example of empirical research indi- cating how religion accommodates to changing circumstances and new challenges. I am grateful to Damian Pargas for editing and correcting my English.

His comments clearly confirm the common wisdom that improving foreign language skills after your teenage years is almost impossible. I want to express my gratitude to the Hotels van Oranje at Noordwijk ZH for allowing me to finish my study at their night desk. I thank all of the colleagues who repeatedly asked me when this book would be fin- ished. Despite the importance of the institutional setting as well as the professional and personal support from professors, colleagues and others, they do not deserve the respect I owe my family—my parents in particular. The same did not apply to those who belong to the community in which I was raised.

My decision to study at Leiden University—with atheism and moral decadence lurking at every corner and taught by professors ex cathedra—was perceived as a threat to the orthodox-Calvinist faith and lifestyle. And yet, whatever the moral objections to some of the choices which I have made during the last few years, my parents never failed to support me.

This is not only because I am their son. And it is certainly not because they do not believe that a difference between good and evil exists—on the contrary. I am talking about the type of tolerance that allows people to pursue their own goals, but which forces us to be accountable and, if necessary, to face our social responsibilities. Whereas my parents willfully supported my endeavors—though they were free to choose whether or not to withdraw their support—I am aware that most people in the Netherlands do not have the opportunity which I have been given. My parents granted me the financial resources needed to undertake this project.

And they never thought twice about spending money on a project from which they would not bene- fit directly and which they might have preferred to invest in other, more useful, enterprises. I have thoroughly enjoyed researching the controversy, and so I find it only fair to express my gratitude to all those decent fellows who continue to pay taxes to be invested for educational purposes that, often, do not make any sense to them. However, as long as any positive effects remain purely speculative, the least I can do is to dedicate this dissertation to my fellow taxpaying citizens.

ITS STYLE Introduction The relationship between style and authority Four styles of creating authority The style of polemical texts Different styles in practice The definition of religion The theory of religious projection Christianity as intolerant and repressive religion Socialism and Buddhism as religions of the future Some hints for the future Conclusions: Bertrand Russell As Plato once warned: The only thing people do there is sell their stories by trying to convince you it is the truth.

In the end, the only one to benefit from the deal is he who gets his merchandise paid for. If you think truth is something to be sold at the marketplace, you are wrong. On the contrary, trade and the easy talk that accompanies it are completely different from the painstaking efforts that philosophers make to get at the heart of those things which we are used to watching from the outside. And as soon as philoso- phers and their modern counterparts: The advantage of the latter are twofold. First, they are more easily confuted by everyday experience. Second, everybody has free access to the market, and, consequently, the chance to provide for some alterna- tive.

In the market economy of opinions in which we live, each day we receive offers which we are free to accept or turn down. Personally, I wish Christianity to die. And, as I will try to show in more detail, it will. How- ever, this does not mean that religion will die too. On the contrary, man has always been in need of religion, and he cannot be happy without.

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Even though Christianity will die, religion survives and will have a new life in the form of socialism and Buddhism. Apart from some hardhea- ded atheists, nobody would seriously argue any longer that Christianity will sooner or later die. Nor would anybody argue the idea that Christianity will someday be substi- tuted by either socialism or Buddhism. At the moment, the failure of the latter two worldviews to successfully compete with Christianity is all too obvious. In that time, any attack on Christianity and, worse, arguing for a new type of religion as its substitute was taken to be highly provocative and, in fact, cau- sed a great deal of polemics.

According to many critics, Vestdijk could only arrive at his conclusions by offering a distorted picture of Christianity. In the end, others ar- gued, this could only be due to some mental disorder. This is not to say that, today, attacks on Christianity or arguments for atheism would not trigger polemical controversy anymore.

On the contrary, the topic of religion is still highly relevant to many people. Forty years after Vestdijk published his essay, Henk Versnel was invited to the centennial anniversary of the Free University of Amsterdam to explain why he no longer believed in God. According to Versnel, the arguments in favor of Christianity were too arbitrary and inconsistent to be con- vincing. And even though he did not wish Christianity to die, some found him guilty of denying the truth and ignoring the unmistakable presence of God in the world. Hence, ac- cording to some critics, there was no other explanation than that something was mentally or morally wrong with Versnel.

Yet, there were some crucial differences between the polemics triggered by Ver- snel, Van het Reve and Philipse on the one hand, and that of Vestdijk on the other. Second- ly, the media and communities participating in the controversy around Vestdijk were far more diverse than those of later polemics. The cases triggered by Van het Reve and Versnel were limited to one newspaper—the NRC-Handelsblad and Trouw, res- pectively—and a few collections of essays. Philipse consciously addressed the broad public in his essay.

Reviews appeared in some newspapers and opinion magazines. And of those, only a few felt triggered to reply or react polemically. On the other hand, something that applies to all of the aforementioned contro- versies, is the diversity of ways in which people reacted to the arguments of either Vestdijk, Van het Reve, Versnel or Philipse.

Whereas some were fiercely polemical, others, though equally critical, were far more moderate, if not sympathetic. Whereas some denounced the essay outright and held that its author was indeed in need of treatment, others admitted that the arguments employed deserved attentive reading and detailed discussion. In this study, we focus on the controversy surrounding De toekomst der religie. Gi- ven the diversity of reactions, as well as the developments in the reception of the essay over time, we are tempted to ask what this controversy was all about.

To conti- nue our marketplace-metaphor, what kinds of ideas did people try to sell? Furthermore, based on this overview, I will try to for- mulate the problem that I have been dealing with over the past years. After that, I intend to develop a hypothesis which might give us an answer to the aforementioned problem. People who find somebody interfering in the market they tried to reserve for themselves, are more likely to raise their voice in order to discredit their colleagues. Finally, I will address the question whether my hypothesis transcends the polemical style of arguing.

And if so, in which sense does it differ from polemics? Even though the opinion I am trying to present or sell here myself is not to be found anywhere beyond the market economy of ideas, I will try to argue that it might be very helpful in understanding the way some people deal with their competitors. According to him, such a definition could not be justified if Buddhism was to be regarded as a religion.

Yet, apparently, this was not the case. Therefore, Vestdijk argued, religion had to be defined as something more universal and everlasting than the mere belief in God. According to him, inter- pretive psychology could be helpful. Accor- ding to Vestdijk, three types of religion were available in order to achieve this goal: The first type he almost exclusively identified with Christianity, and Calvinism in particular. Personally, Vestdijk explained to his rea- ders, he had serious problems with this conception.

He simply could not accept that somebody else was supposed to take responsibility for the crimes or sins he himself had committed. Moreover, Vestdijk felt strong aversions to the intolerance that, according to him, was one of the most dramatic effects of metaphysical religion. By means of projection, Vestdijk held, people are able to create images. Those images turn into metaphysical entities, however, when people forget that they themselves had created them; they tend to deny or ignore the fact that those images are mere dreams or myths, notably by claiming absolute validity for them; they are the Truth.

In consequence, war must be declared on all those who dared deny this Truth and the claims to Justice on which it is based. This was the reason, Vestdijk argued, that the history of Christianity—and indeed any metaphysical religi- on, including Judaism and Islam—offered so many examples of intolerance, violence, and persecution. The only solution for the problems inherent to the metaphysical-projective type of religion was the death of Christianity. According to Vestdijk, it had to be replaced by a mix of the social and the mystical introspective types.

This union a fusion of socialism and Buddhism would be the only possibility for people to be at peace with each other and with their inner selves. The images of their own inner drives would only have relative value and be related to the reality of everyday life. Yet, what kind of commentary did Vestdijk get? Critics acknowledged the value of his artistic work. And even though they did not agree with his arguments, some admitted that his ideas were original and challenging.

Others, however, found his statements on religion misleading and seriously doubted whether, in general, a novelist could make any legitimate claims on the future development of religion. Some tried to be reason- able, whereas others seemed outrageous. Some took his argument seriously; to others it was utter nonsense.

Some praised Vestdijk for his courage to spark a debate on highly important issues, whereas others accused him of cowardice for not daring to become either a Christian or Buddhist himself. Some appreciated his generous style of writing; according to others his attitude too much resembled that of an intellectual and outsider to serve as a useful starting point for discussion. Yet, how did critics arrive at their conclusions? Some found his essay in line with important trends in scientific research and modern thinking, whereas others dismissed the entire argument as misguided.

Some disagreed, offering reasons why they believed Vestdijk to be mistaken in his conclu- sions. Others, on the other hand, merely declared the argument misguided. Accord- ing to them, this should come as no surprise, given the fact that its author was either morally confused or suffering from a mental disorder, or perhaps even both.

These were also the critics Vestdijk and some of his adherents replied to. With some exceptions, among the politically more conserva- tive Roman Catholic and Dutch Reformed intellectuals, reactions were far more moderate. The orthodox Free Reformed commentators were highly critical, yet only some of them were polemical. Their fiercest attacks were mainly directed against the same progressive theologians that had criticized Vestdijk for his arguments. Apart from frequent re-editions of his essay, it was mainly through the intervention of a literary critic and a scholar of religion that the contro- versy would continue to grasp the attention of a broad public.

By means of an essay published in and a theoretical study on religious projection in , the debate over the issues triggered by Vestdijk, was given new momentum. And whereas the essay fiercely attacked theologians, the second publication was a massive challenge to the metaphysical presuppositions of Christianity.

It was published at the same time that the translation of an argument by the German atheist Gerhard Sczcesny became widely available. The number of polemical contributions, however, would steadily decrease, as would the interest of the broad public. On the other hand, the argument became too sophisticated to reach a wide audience.

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A notable exception to the general trend towards serious discussion or sheer ir- relevance would be a lecture by the journalist and historian J. Kamphuis from the Free Reformed seminary at Kampen in His was also what I consider to be the last polemical contribution to the controversy in His voice, however, would not be heard outside some orthodox religious circles.

Trying to draw some conclusions from this brief overview of the controversy triggered by De toekomst der religie, two things are of special importance to an analysis of polemical exchange. On the one hand, we see marked differences between people reacting polemically and those who were moderate. On the other hand, the role of polemics has decreased considerably during the fifty years of reception we are study- ing. These conclusions allow me to start with a more detailed discussion of the prob- lems we must address in the course of our analysis of the controversy.

The problem When attempting to analyze polemical contributions, we must avoid taking sides with either the polemist or the putative victim. This is something of which Monique Despret, in her thesis on the reception of De toekomst der religie, was not sufficiently aware. Too easily, she takes Vestdijk to be the victim of the controversy.

And her antipathy for the intellectuals attacking his arguments is at times quite explicit throughout her study. Yet, this way, the term implies a mere judgment, without having much analytical value. It is lamentable that her advisor, the Belgian expert on Dutch literature Roger Henrard from Leuven, agreed with the terminology which Despret employed.

Yet, the fact that he himself was part of the reception of De toekomst der religie by defend- ing Vestdijk may have interfered with his own judgment of theologians. On the contrary, as I will argue, distorting elements always play a role. Yet, the same might be the case in moderate criticism. Some critics praised Vestdijk for things which he, in fact, had not advocated at all. Instead of accusing people of being polemical, I will attempt to understand why.

How to account for the fact that the history of its reception developed the way it did? Why did people feel tempted to react the way they did? Why did some people regard his arguments as highly provocative and feel the need to react polemically, while others did not? And why did the polemic turn out to be less interesting for an increasing number of people throughout the history of the reception we are studying? In order to give some direction to the analysis, I will develop a hypothesis that might account for some important features of our controversy.

Then I shall indicate how this hypothesis is put into practice in each of the following chapters. In the end, it is my ambition to arrive at a theory that can possibly be applied and tested on a wider field of phenomena than only the polemic which we are dealing with. Hypothesis To put things briefly, I will argue that our polemic is a means by which intellectuals attempt to defend themselves against—or establish their authority over—others who 9 Despret In this sense, polemic is the way in which a structural contradiction between the ambition of intellectuals and the behavior of a certain audience leads to a conflict in the media in which specific individuals try to defend themselves against—or establish their author- ity over—that of others, in an attempt to defeat them.

Though highly abstract, in what follows I make some further remarks on crucial elements in the definition of the hypothesis. First, I will attempt to identify in a pre- liminary fashion what type of people are involved in public controversies in general, and those of a textual nature in particular, whether polemical or not. Then, I will focus on what exactly those people are aiming at.

If we say that authority is the ideal, what we are indicating by that? On the one hand, in the case of textual interactions, we are talking about encounters between intellectuals, deliberating, exchanging opin- ions, criticising each other, and at times attempting to excommunicate their oppo- nent. On the other hand, in the case of encounters that are not limited to private correspondence, there is also a public addressed, or at least attending the show.

And it is before this public that authority has to be defended or established. Thus, while polemic is the actual encounter between intellectuals, authority is the problem which stimulates the people involved to participate and try to play their role as opinion leaders for a certain group of people. Finally, we must focus not only on textual en- counters in general, but define more exactly some characteristics of polemic in par- ticular and explicitly distinguish it from other kinds of interactions between intellec- tuals, such as discussion, dialogue and criticism in general.

This is especially the case because many of the participants in the controversy were theologians. And how is it possible to count the latter among the intellectuals? According to many critics, theologians are the very opposite of true intellectuals. Along with an immense corpus of literature on intellectuals, the Netherlands has an academic tradition in the field of sociology of intellectuals. Perhaps it is more accurate to speak of three different traditions. The first one started with Lolle Nauta in Groningen and was soon joined by a group of sociologists in Amsterdam.

The latter were inspired by American Alvin Gouldner and organized around the figure of Joop Goudsblom. In the early s, Nijmegen sociologist J. Tijdschrift voor empirische filosofie. Verhaasdonk are the main representatives of this direction in research on intellectuals. As I will argue in more detail, the latter is too heavily burdened by ideological assumptions to be of analytical value.

That is why they, with Mannheim, prefer to speak of the relativ freischwebende Intelligenz. By that they wish to suggest that this category of people is intellectually independent from any group interests and is able to think about the common good. They are able to transcend the limited viewpoints of local and religious authorities and often reach out for the interest of the world as a whole. Among these theologians he also includes philosophers with any religious affiliations. It is especially curious that Nauta should argue so, given his own contribution to the controversy surrounding Vestdijk in Wending, a magazine edited by exactly the kind of people he would denounce some twenty years later.

And Despret, as we have seen, shows a similar bias. She suggested that only theologians employed the polemical style of arguing, and that a possible explanation for this would be that theologians are by nature unfair to their opponents. Here she uncritically follows the argument Vestdijk himself had defended. According to him, theologians were the people who used to sell the images they themselves had created for the truth. Their projections he called metaphysical, be- cause these were not to be corrected or refuted by everyday experience.

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And every critique of their truth would trigger fierce attacks and an aggressive kind of intoler- ance. Today, the intolerance and inability of many theologians to take facts into account and argue reasonably is taken for granted. Critics and so-called intellectuals do not require any explanation of the kind Vestdijk offered. The opinions of theolo- gians is no longer seen as relevant. At that time, the Dutch Reformed, the Roman Catholics, as well as the Socialists had their own set of organizations, ranging from scout groups to political parties and labor unions.

Now, these theologians were surely aiming at the common good, attempting to transcend group boundaries and contribute to discussions being held in the public square at that time. Were they justified in doing so? What kind of im- plicit criteria did they use in order to distinguish between intellectuals and other 19 Nauta The answer, I believe, is to be found in a highly specific association between persons, their social position and the content of their ideas. In any case, the people involved here are intelligent people who were at least academically trained to formulate their opinions.

Secondly, they did not belong to any of the established pillar organizations that dominated the public sphere in the Netherlands till the s. Thirdly, intellectuals were generally making a case for both oppressed and depressed people while employing the state as a means to create the institutional facilities to address these social problems. Rather then being the product of private initiatives, society had to be constructed by means of state intervention.

And this is precisely the reason why I believe the sociological tradition initiated by Thurlings and Inglehart to be important. This school focused on the mechanisms of change within the pillar organizations and the role of intellectuals in the process of secularization in particular. Rather than being freischwebend or independent from any social group, intellectuals are considered to deal with issues of public importance.

Of course, they must be intelligent. They are able to formulate their own opinions. That is, they do not deal exclusively with issues that they are supposed to deal with professionally teaching or doing research at the university; visiting people who are poor, sick, disabled or on their deathbed; being a missionary or a member of the parliament.

Rather they argue for their ideas and are able to publicly defend them against others. And if we consider the terminology developed by Bourdieu to analyze the field of intellectual production in more detail, often we find distinc- tions like those between priests and prophets, the curators and the creators of culture. In an attempt to follow the argument developed in his study on academics, Bourdieu distinguished between people who reproduce and transmit legitimate bodies of knowledge on the one hand, and those who create new forms of knowledge on the other.

This distinction has its parallel in the distinction between teachers and researchers, between professors and independent intellectuals. They try to convince the public somehow, i. This brings us to the second im- portant term in my hypothesis. The concept of power was mainly developed within the field of sociology.

Every ideology was em- ployed for the benefit of the establishment and prevented people from taking the necessary steps to overthrow the dominant political system. Ordinary people usually did not realize that their worldview as well as behavior rested on the assumption that there exists a certain class of people who not only are capable, but also competent to direct their lives. In fact, however, the norms and values that are employed to govern the life of the people are the symbolic counterpart of an economic and political sys- tem to which those people are submitted and by which they are exploited.

And this symbolic system is violent because it forces people to act according to the interests of the establishment without any regards for their own interest, as Marxist and Althusse- rian philosophers concluded. Yet, as other philosophers and some anthropologists have argued, the suspicion of these clerics of the proletariat against the dominant classes rests on the speculative assumption that the ordinary people are always suffering.

The critical approach to social phenomena fails account 27 Lukes , Honneth , Hindess Marx , Althusser According to them, science can only provide some elements for worldviews that people employ in order to find solutions for some problem situations; in order to satisfy them and to organize and guide their social life, it has to be complemented by a set of culturally specific sym- bols. On the contrary, instinctively, people feel the need for ideology in order to get their lives in order.

This focus on the role of ideology as an integrative power is typical of the functionalist approach to social phenomena. For an analysis of a polemi- cal controversy, these approaches do not provide any useful analytical tool. They stop where we have to start. Whereas the critical tradition simply assumes that a dominant worldview cannot be an expression of the will and interest of the people, the functi- onalist approach is merely stating the opposite.

Apart from the fact that in present day pluralist societies worldviews often only dominate limited areas of life, they will ne- ver remain uncontested, nor do we find a society without internal conflict. If other- wise, how are we supposed to account for polemical controversy? Rather than starting with assumptions made by other approaches, in the case of our polemic we will have to focus on the interrelationship between intellectuals, power and the people or public in more detail. And it cannot be denied that this relationship might have some violent aspects, especially when intellectuals serve poli- tical power as curators of culture.

Yet, does that mean that creators of culture do not exploit the people whose very interest they claim to express? Apart from serving the interests of either power or the people, is it reasonable to assume that intellectuals do not have any interest of their own? Again, limiting ourselves to the polemic we have to analyze, first of all, it is im- possible to show empirically that people are suffering from symbolic violence as long as they themselves do not show any signs of discomfort.

The only ones showing dismay about the argument that they took to be a personal attack were fellow intel- lectuals, rather than the ordinary public. And if they felt triggered to counter this attack by means of a polemical style of arguing, were they not exploiting the audien- ce for their own benefit?

And what about the author they tried to derogate? Were they not trying to defeat him? And if so, whose interest were they serving by that? Might it be their own interest? And if so, how should we define this interest? Instead, the people might be a force of their own as well, directing the movements of intellectuals them- selves. Here the perspective of traditional sociology must be supplemented by that of cultural studies focusing on the possibilities for resistance and turning the balance of power in favor of the people.

Yet, does this mean that, rather than the people, they wish to be in power? As I have suggested, the disciplines of sociology and cultural studies disagree about exactly where power is to be located within social systems. As soon as it appears that the concept might be applied to explain every movement within society —whether that of politics, the intellectuals or the public— then perhaps it is time to be more specific, or to even choose another term that more accurately applies to the reality of pole- mics.

Intellectuals are interested in something other than power alone; what they desire is authority. Authority is distinct from power in the fact that the concept excludes the possibility of physical violence or punishment for which only politics or the public have the means. In my opinion, however, this is a rash judgment. Even the so-called authoritarian regimes which usually inspire fear among the populace, are based on authority rather than sheer power.

And even though for outsiders it might seem like something horrible, even here authority is a matter of cultural legitimacy rather than physical violence. Much like power, however, authority is often unstable and can be challenged. To borrow from Bourdieu once more, we might say that ideologies as a means to gain legitimacy,40 owe their structure and their most specific functions to the social conditions of their production and circulation, that is, first, to the functions they perform for specialists competing for a monopoly over the competence under consideration religious, artis- tic, etc.

And even if the third party, i. It serves as a jury, even though, in the absence of a judge to transmit the final verdict, we do not always know exactly what it says. To continue the marketplace-metaphor we have previous- ly employed: And it is difficult to figure out exactly whether or not the public which we are aiming at appreciates the offers we are making it. What holds for sellers at the marketplace also holds for the intellectuals involved in our controversy. As long as they have no reason to doubt that many people still regard them as authorities on the issues at hand, they are likely to feel confident.

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On the other hand, when their posi- tion within the cultural field does not provide them with the proper environment to feel secure, they are likely to feel vulnerable when others criticize the opinions with which they identify. What happens when intellectuals believe their authority to be threatened? How do they counter the imminent danger of losing sight of the cultural legitimacy they aim to achieve? Here we arrive at the last crucial term in my hypothesis. To say that polemic is a means of defending or re-establishing authority is one thing, but we still need to know what a concept like polemic might consist of.

There are many descriptions of polemics available. In general, however, no clear definition of the subject has been given. The controversies we are discussing are 40 Bourdieu Another striking feature of these studies is the fact that they are almost always focused on either anci- ent times Biblical, polemics between Jews and Christians, Protestants and Catholics, ideological dispute and controversy within early science or other cultures and religi- ons artistic circles, Zionism, Afro-American Christianity, Islam.

With the advent of so-called Modernity, polemic became superfluous and out of place. Surely, there has been extensive discussion on intellectual controversies in gene- ral. Whereas theologians and philosophers have advocated dialogue as an ethically superior kind of discourse, whether religious or not,41 philosophers and historians of science have dealt with the problem of either scientific progress,42 the conflict of paradigms,43 or scientific controversy in general.

Ours is a time of progress through serious discus- sion and dialogue. Polemic belongs to times past or portions of society that are governed by irrational behavior or religious beliefs. Often, it is assumed that the process of secularization has been a civilizing process as well. This, however, ignore the role polemics continue to play, not only in everyday life, but also in scientific and highly intellectual discourse. As my own analysis will show, theologians might well be polemical in their way of dealing with opinions of their opponents. On the other hand, we will find many examples of theologians deriving their status from institutional authority, thus keeping themselves miles away from any kind of polemical attack.

The only person who has devoted part of his work to the definition of polemic, as well as its role in social life, is the philosopher-linguist Marcelo Dascal. It is striking that Dascal defines polemics so broadly, including all kinds of disagreement in every- day life, whether leading to conflict or closure. While discussion is a logical way of solving problems and finding truth, and dispute tries to win a contest between ideologies, controversy is a deliberative attempt to persuade a critic and the audience by means of facts, evaluations, attitudes, goals and methods.

Dispute, on the other hand, never ends in agreement, but only attempts to gain victory over the other. First of all, his definition of polemics as an exchange between at least two persons fails to take the public nature of this type of exchange into account. Several times he mentions the audience, but it does not play any decisive role in the analysis 46 Dascal And that is exactly what I shall attempt to do in my explanation of the controversy on De toekomst der religie.

Secondly, Dascal extends the category of pole- mics too far, while including such diverse types of interaction as discussion, contro- versy and dispute. For that he equates polemics with criticism. And, I believe, he is correct to point to an element of criticism in all of these different types of exchange. Yet, as he himself seems to acknowledge, both discussion and controversy, are more or less opposed to dispute; unlike the former, dispute merely attempts to overpower the other.

When compared to this fundamental difference, those between discussion and controversy are of minor importance. Thirdly, Dascal interprets polemics as a form of dialogical activity. In this case, I believe, he extends the category of dialogue too far. And even though he follows a linguistic tradition,51 it is almost impossible to include the definition of dispute Dascal has offers into a useful conception of dialo- gue. At least dialogue, as it is commonly known, has the intention of arriving at some kind of agreement, and, consequently, has some similarities with discussion and con- troversy, rather than dispute.

Continuing our line of thinking in a more positive direction, I would like to in- terpret controversy rather broadly, including discussion, dialogue and polemics. And, instead of taking polemics broadly, I prefer to emphasize its similarities with dispute, while adding some further elements which are, according to me, highly important for a proper analysis of polemics, i. Derived from polemos, polemic stands out for its violence in the way it treats others. Even in the case of defense, polemic is an intensive and violent form of aggression. Both are highly personal encounters.

Howe- ver, whereas dialogue aims at mutual understanding, even when trying to convince others, polemics is merely an attempt to gain victory over the other. Whereas polemics and dialogue are personal encounters, discussion pretends to be an attempt to find a common ground without any respect for the persons involved.

For this reason, people tend to 51 Bakhtin , , Tyler Moreover, criticism may also be personal. But, whereas mere criticism resem- bles a contest in private, polemic is a contest on public display. Why not limit themselves to criticism or discussion, or try to find a common ground by means of dialogue? Why employ such an intensive and violent form of aggression?

As has been argued, there might be historical and situ- ational explanations for particular persons becoming victims of this type of violence, though these do not include their own immediate harmfulness or aggression towards the people attacked. In private, victim and aggressor might even be friends. Their elimination may be seen as a useful tool or their con- 58 tinued existence as an irritating obstacle in the execution of policy. This holds for all mammals, man included. Apart from physical abuse, however, in the case of human beings, abuse, insult, verbal at- tack and criticism can give rise to anger and aggression as well.

In sociological and social-psychological theory it is argued that the latter type of reactions are most likely to occur in an unstable environment in which individuals feel insecure and their 61 sense of self-identity is easily questioned. The person, as well as the pattern of behavior constituting the core of my hy- pothesis, is aptly described by Robin Robins and Jerrold Post in their study of indi- 62 viduals suffering from paranoia.

Earlier, I considered polemic as a distortion of ar- 55 Dascal Waves of Probability Science Fiction Oct Trapman - Episode 2: Trapman - Episode 3: Trapman - Episode 4: Magical Realism Science Fiction Oct Trapman - Episode 5: Trapman - Episode 6: Trapman - Episode 7: Trapman - Episode 8: