Over three decades, the IPCC has been no stranger to controversies. Given its institutional character as a boundary organisation working between science and policy, it is no surprise that IPCC reports often reflect wider controversies in the scientific and political life of climate change, especially those concerning its consequences and potential solutions. In this chapter, we explain why controversies about the IPCC’s knowledge assessment are inevitable and point out how the IPCC could use controversies for adapting and developing its assessment processes in constructive ways. That is, we show how controversies serve as ‘generative political events’ for the IPCC’s own learning process. To do so, we classify IPCC knowledge controversies into four types (factual, procedural, epistemic and ontological) and, using two illustrative cases, distinguish between controversies which the IPCC triggers and those which the IPCC absorbs into its knowledge assessment.

Psychopathic Personality Disorder (PPD) plays a central role in forensic clinical practice. It has relevance for violence risk and treatment responsivity; those suffering from it place financial and other burdens on services. PPD remains a controverted concept; the essence of the disorder remains disputed. In this chapter I examine the history of the concept, methods for its evaluation, its demography and its relevance to clinical practice—from the first interview, through risk formulation to intervention. I describe recent attempts to explicate the concept of the PPD, including the development of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP). I conclude by considering current controversies regarding the diagnostic significance of criminal behaviour, the predictive utility of historical instruments such as the Psychopathy Checklist Revised and the reliability of that instrument in forensic clinical practice.

John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509 in Noyon, France to his parents, Gérard Cauvin and Jeanne LeFranc; he was a second-born son, between an older brother Charles and two younger brothers Antoine and François. His mother, whom he remembered for her piety, died when Calvin was only six years old. Gérard Cauvin remarried, and his second wife bore two daughters. Gérard had obtained bourgeois status in 1497 and served as a city magistrate in Noyon. Intending Calvin for the priesthood, his father made arrangements to fund his education through his connections with the bishop and diocesan chapter of Noyon. Consequently, in the spring of 1521, Charles de Hangest, bishop of Noyon, provided Calvin his first ecclesiastical benefice of a third share of the Chapel of La Gésine. A second benefice was added in 1527 providing revenues from Saint-Martin de Martheville.