“你不是个玩意儿。”
这句话当然不是骂人，这是一个宣言。人当然不是玩意儿，不是机器，而是人。
在网络化程度越来越高的今天，我们每个人似乎都有足够的理由，无限欣喜地拥抱互联网。然而，你有没有想过互联网那些不完美的设计却是某种潜在的威胁……
为什么如此多的暴民在社交网站上争吵不休，很多骂人的脏话我们在现实的人际交往中可能从来不会使用，但在匿名网络环境中却漫天飞舞？
互联网的本质真的就是免费吗？为什么在宣扬免费与共享的互联网文化的笼罩下，苹果以及皮克斯这样的封闭“王国”能够取得极大的成功？
当科学家们疯狂地想让超级智能机器人统治整个地球时，人类是否应该接受被机器化的命运？
拉尼尔认为，博客以及社交网站个人主页的模式化设计，模糊了个体差异和多样性。他警告人们，类似维基百科、Facebook和Twitter之类的Web2.0网站正在提升“群体的智慧”，降低了个体在网络中的地位；由于网络的匿名性，各种创意都失去了源头，商业机构会把各种匿名的创意碎片聚合成自己的产品，并对其进行炒作，但人们已无法知道这些创意的真正来源；网络的匿名性还会激发人性恶的一面，导致网站上经常充斥着网络暴民掀起的各种口水战……

倘若货币经济带来的不安全感和不忠感——与具体财产的情况针锋相对——不得不造成十足的现代情绪的恶果：即人们满心期望占有某件东西得到满足，一瞬间马上又有了超出这件东西的欲望，即生命的内核与意义总是从人们手中滑落，那么这就证实了人们有一个深切的渴望，要给予事物一种新的意义，一种更加深刻的意义，一种事物本身的价值。
现代，尤其看起来是在最近的阶段，浸透着焦虑、期望和没有消除的渴望的感觉，好像最重要的、终极性的事情要来了，那就是生活和事物的真正意义与中心点。这当然是手段剧增在感觉上带来的结果，我们复杂的生活技术迫使我们在手段之上建筑手段，直至手段应该服务的真正目标不断地退到意识的地平线上，并最终沉入地平线下。在这个过程中，影响最大的因素就是金钱。

An outstanding feature of this book is the broad range of the contributors, drawn from Europe, the Middle East and North America, testifying both to the range of Professor Agassi's interests and the geographical spread of his influence. Most contributors use Agassi's ideas as a springboard to engage in debate on issues, or offer a contribution in an area that interests him. In this volume contributors consider such questions as Agassi's philosophy of education, in practice as well as in theory; the impact of psychologism in philosophy; the origins of critical rationalism in the Bible; the debates in economics stimulated by the work of Popper and Agassi, and many other topics. Besides the special topics, the reader gains some sense of the fruitfulness of critical rationalism in the hands of Agassi's friends and colleagues.

《社会的经济》所收集的论文并非是想对社会学通常的出发点进行批判。它更不应被理解为是对经济学理论形态的批判。它只是另辟蹊径——估计人们通过其他别的途径偶尔也会相遇（尽管可能是以某些出人意料的方式），然后才能决定意见是否一致以及运用哪些先行规则。社会学家一般在研究经济问题的时候，对经济学研究的看法更容易是补充性的甚至是“批判性的”。例如，塔尔科特•帕森斯至今还处在1929年世界经济危机的印象中，他在认真拜读了社会学经典作家的著作之后宣称，经济科学中关于个人功利主义的出发点是能持久的，甚至是完全不现实的。每个行为都有一个文化因素和社会因素。所以，与阿罗讨论社会性这个个体优先权聚集问题，一开始就错了。甚至连赫尔穆特•舍尔斯基也谈到对《决策》评价过高的问题。新近的出版物要求更多地考虑经济的外部因素，更多地考虑把合理性、竞争和冲突的观念置于其中。这可以被概括为经济的“制度化”观点并追溯到一种连经济学家本身都不知道的传统之中，从而与经济学理论问题，尤其与合理的决策以及孕育着矛盾的分配问题联系起来，同时也避免了去涉足另一座科学的殿堂。

Among the most widely cited books in the social sciences, "The External Control of Organizations" has long been required reading for any student of organization studies. The book, reissued on its 25th anniversary as part of the Stanford Business Classics series, includes a new preface written by Jeffrey Pfeffer, which examines the legacy of this influential work in current research and its relationship to other theories. The "External Control of Organizations" explores how external constraints affect organizations and provides insights for designing and managing organizations to mitigate these constraints. All organizations are dependent on the environment for their survival. As the authors contend, "it is the fact of the organization's dependence on the environment that makes the external constraint and control of organizational behavior both possible and almost inevitable." Organizations can either try to change their environments through political means or form interorganizational relationships to control or absorb uncertainty. This seminal book established the resource dependence approach that has informed so many other important organization theories.

施尔马赫博士的新书，几乎称的上是一部情节紧张、扣人心弦的犯罪小说。与此同时，他洋洋洒洒旁征博引，史学家、经济学家、科学哲学家、现代计算机先驱人物的一颦一动见诸笔端，满卷注释，不尽其详，论述如同咒语般斩钉截铁，再加上半明半昧的暗示，令读者深陷其中，勉力跟从他的逻辑，力求作出判断。弗兰克•施尔马赫，兼文学批评家、资深报人及政论作家于一身，是当代德国文学评论和媒体圈中举重若轻的人物，他继莱希-兰尼基（Marcel Reich-Ranicki）之后，入主《法兰克福汇报》文学评论编辑部，34岁便跻身这家德国最有影响力的报业集团最高决策层，成为报社5位发行人之一，执掌该报文化副刊逾20年，成功创办《汇报周日刊》，并且著述颇丰，频频出镜。他是一位“对题材具有天然嗅觉的偏执报人”，用《明镜》撰稿人雅各布•奥古斯坦的话来说，“他并不是一位普通的专业书籍作者。基因问题、老龄化问题、家庭解体问题、个人数据保护问题、互联网和金融市场问题，都是他论战的战场。这些话题并非由他而起，然而他却总能让争论更为深入。批评他的人指责他危言耸听，好斗成性，曝光成瘾，贪恋成功，这都没错。他本就是这个国家最让人欲罢不能的媒体人。”这一次，他将论战的矛头直接指向了失控的利己主义。
本书正式发行前一周，就已经在各大德语媒体激起争议，七嘴八舌，沸沸扬扬。“本书展开论述的基础是一个颇为独特的命题”，施尔马赫在前言中这样写道：“经济学的思维模式已经征服了其他所有社会科学领域，并控制了非经济学学科”。后果不外乎此：“接触过这种思维模式的人，会因此改变自己的行为。所有人类活动的背后，都是无从回避的自利逻辑在发挥作用，这样的世界观像流水线一样，生产出大量自私自利的人。”
施尔马赫的故事中，一切发端于冷战时期。当年，如果哪一方能够洞烛先机，正确分析对手的意图与行动计划，实在是占尽先机，生死攸关的大事。将对手复杂的心理和行为过程做一点简化，就成为官方战略思路的出发点。为了谨慎行事，避开对方的陷阱，只有求助于一个独一无二的假设，假设人人都遵循自利原则，在他人面前一定会或多或少地隐瞒一些真相，目的只是赢取一场生命的游戏。只有接受这个大前提，才有可能利用数学方法预测对手的下一步行动。

Climate change, the resource constrained economy, and sustainability in general are amongst the hottest and most problematic topics in contemporary business today. Increasingly, new enterprises are being established to address key twenty-first century environmental challenges, incumbent industries are implementing new strategies to comply with stringent legislation to retain their licenses, and multi-nationals are endeavouring to link tackling issues from poverty to deforestation to their bottom line. This textbook is one of the first to offer students a comprehensive overview of how the world's sustainability challenges are affecting, and being affected by business, and has been written specifically to cater for the growing number of courses and modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels focused on sustainability in the business context. The author adopts a mix of practitioner and theoretical perspectives and offers an insightful review of the subject across three core areas: the global business context, business management and ownership, and the external environment. Each of these areas contains chapters on particular aspects of sustainability and management, and draws from a range of global case studies and exercises. This textbook serves as a concise summary of contemporary sustainability issues for lecturers and students wanting a single resource on the subject. Online Resource Centre: For Students: Links to web resources e.g. company sustainability initiatives, sustainability organisations For Lecturers: Teaching suggestions for the case studies PowerPoint slides Links to films, online video and other AV resources for use in the classroom, including summaries of their content and how they could be used Electronic versions of figures and diagrams from the book