Archives
Download Entire Collection (This collection of scholarly works features 32 editions published between 2010 and 2026. It reflects a diverse range of research and academic contributions in humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS).) / 357.16 MB
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: Existing scholarship in the field of traditional African ethics has identified three broad themes namely communitarianism, personhood, and the vital force, instrumental for the common good of all. The present paper argues that African traditional ethics allows ample room for an individual’s personal cultivation, regardless of the community’s view on the ultimate good. In order to substantiate this argument, the paper seeks to undertake an analysis of proverbs as used in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The paper begins by surveying existing scholarly approaches to African ethics. It then compiles proverbs related to the ‘communitarian’ aspects of ethics and those that depict ‘individual cultivation’ in Achebe’s African trilogy (Things Fall Apart, No longer at Ease, Arrow of God).It examines how the proverbs are woven into the first novel, guiding the actions of the protagonist and other characters toward personal growth, illustrating ethical principles of personal development. Finally, the paper concludes by summarizing the arguments developed through this analysis.
Keywords: Chinua Achebe, communitarianism, cultivation, personhood, Things Fall Apart, traditional African ethics
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This research paper examines Ravinder Singh’s novel Your Dreams Are Mine Now (2014) through the theoretical framework of Michel Foucault’s power relations and resistance concepts. Previous scholarship primarily focuses on the novel’s romantic elements and social commentary; however, this analysis employs Foucault’s theories to illuminate how the text navigates institutional power structures, mechanisms of control, and forms of resistance within contemporary Indian society. Through close textual analysis, this study demonstrates how Singh’s narrative reveals the complex interplay between power and resistance in educational institutions, gender relations and social activism. The research argues that the novel’s portrayal of love and activism represents what Foucault terms ‘points of resistance’ against systemic oppression while simultaneously illustrating how power relations permeate all aspects of social interaction. This paper examines the novel Your Dreams Are Mine Now through the lens of Michel Foucault’s terms and concepts, including the microphysics of power, institutional space, the panoptic mechanism, counter-conduct, the regulatory ideal, technologies of the self, the practice of freedom, subjugated knowledge, games of truth and parrhesia.
Keywords: power relations, resistance, social activism, gender violence, Foucauldian analysis
31 / 2025
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Abstract: In recent years, the phenomenon of what we can call of technological love has dramatically increased. The search for love through the use of technologies has resulted in new ways to experience love and sexuality. Many of the online platforms are based on the premise that love is the most important, with social networks and chats reaching their peak because of this, in such a way that they were extrapolated to TV shows or contests like “Love on Top” or “Adam and Eve”. But now the level is different: it seems that an absolute sexual revolution will take place in the coming decades, in which sexual partners may be exchanged for social and sexual robots – sexbots –, and with neuronal stimulation programs for personal satisfaction. In this sense, this essay seeks first to reflect on the current situation in which personal relationships are found, and secondly, to deepen the hypothesis of another sexuality, concluding with a reflection on the most radical possibility that will be the annulment of sexuality as an experience of love, that is, becoming a mere robotization of sexuality. In view of this possibility, a sexual revolution can reshape the phenomenon of intimacy which characterizes the human mind and essence.
Keywords: intimacy, sexual revolution, sexbots, social robots, technological love interaction
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This study aims to analyze the effects of sports on individual existence from the perspective of Aristotle’s virtue ethics. By focusing on the concepts of eudaimonia, mesotes, and phronesis, the study examines how sports contribute to the moral and ethical development of individuals. Adopting a qualitative research approach, the analysis categorized information derived from relevant sources under thematic headings. Each theme was interpreted to provide an in-depth analysis of the relationship between Aristotle’s virtue ethics and sports. The findings reveal that sports are not merely physical activities but also platforms that foster individuals’ ethical, intellectual, and existential development. Particularly, the experiences gained through sports by young athletes can enhance both their individuality and social responsibilities. Aristotle’s concept of phronesis can serve as a guiding principle for ethical decision-making processes among athletes and coaches. The societal dimensions of sports become more evident in platforms like the Olympic Games, which promote international collaboration. Pierre de Coubertin’s Olympic movement illustrates that sports facilitate the dissemination of ethical values and contribute to the development of socially responsible individuals. This understanding aligns with Aristotle’s virtue ethics, encouraging an ethical life for both individuals and society. Aristotle’s phronesis is critical for interpreting ethical decision-making processes within the context of sports. While emphasizing the impact of sports on mental development, the study highlights how ethical decision-making processes strengthen individuals’ mental resilience and moral maturity. Sports, as a field often marked by ethical dilemmas, provide fertile ground for such analyses. Despite differences between professional and amateur sports, the study identifies a common ground in the ethical issues present in both domains. Aristotle’s virtue ethics offers a robust framework for addressing these issues. By advocating for the avoidance of extremes and the pursuit of the mean, the Aristotelian approach can guide individuals and communities in addressing ethical challenges.
Keywords: Aristotle, sports ethics, individual existence, virtue ethics, philosophy of sport
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This research paper presents a technoromantic analysis of William Gibson’s science fiction novel, Neuromancer. Through the lens of technoromanticism, this paper examines the tensions and interdependencies between human and artificial intelligence, underlining the paradoxical nature of technological advancement. The novel’s portrayal of cyberspace,simstim and cybernetic enhancements challenges traditional notions of reality, identity and human connection. The characters Case, Molly and Armitage embody technoromantic ideals and seeking to transcend their human limitations through technology. In contrast, the artificial intelligences like Neuromancer and Wintermute rely on human agency to overcome their technological constraints in the physical world. This study also raises important inquiries regarding the implications of technological advancement on human identity, experience and society. As individuals navigate in the complexities of technological world, it is very important to remain aware about the dynamics between humans, machines and technology. Analysing these dynamics enables the individuals to understand, how technology shapes their sense of selves and their place in the world. This research contributes a deeper understanding of evolving boundaries between humans and machines and the significance of technoromanticism in navigating these complexities.
Keywords: matrix, technoromanticism, cyberspace, simstim, cyborg, augmentation, technological enhancements
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This paper investigates the feminist dimensions of Madeline Miller’s Circe through post-structural, cultural, and intersectional feminist frameworks, it analyses the reimagined mythological narrative of a character overshadowed in ancient Greek literature. From a post-structural viewpoint, Circe’s repudiation of static identities such as nymph, goddess, or witch stresses that fluidity also accompanies identity and language. Her narrative reclaims traditionally marginalized feminine traits, such as emotional labour and empathy, aligning with cultural feminism’s emphasis on revaluing these characteristics. The intersectional lens highlights how Circe’s story navigates multiple layers of alienation and power dynamics, offering insights into the interplay of gender, status, and autonomy within the constraints of both mythological and contemporary societal structures. By examining Circe’s transformation from exile to empowerment, this paper reveals how feminist reinterpretations of ancient narratives can challenge entrenched gender norms and expand the understanding of identity and power.
Keywords: post-structural feminism, cultural feminism, intersectional feminism, ancient mythology, gender and power
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This study examines Jennifer Saint’s 2021 novel Ariadne as a retelling of the classic myth of Ariadne. Saint’s novel aims to reclaim the feminine agency denied to most female characters in Greek mythology. Through the lens of Butler’s performativity theory, we analyze Saint’s novel to explore how the novel portrays and challenges the oppressive gender norms of ancient Greek society. Furthermore, the focus of the analysis is the motif of dance as a performative act and the development of Ariadne’s character in the novel through subversion and retaliation. Ariadne goes through a challenging journey starting as a compliant princess and growing into an empowered woman who eventually defies patriarchal expectations. Saint’s retelling challenges the traditional representation of women in Greek mythology by highlighting the potential for individual agency and resistance within oppressive structures. Ariadne’s character disrupts the socially constructed gender roles by her actions and decisions that defy the social expectations – thus illustrating the power women can reclaim to redefine their narratives and destinies.
Keywords: feminist retelling, Greek mythology, gender performativity
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Gaia has undergone a stunning evolution over millennia from a primordial Greek Goddess representing the Earth, to a more scientific hypothesis suggesting that the planet operates as a self-regulating organism, has sparked the imagination of generations. This study aims to shed light on the historical pathway of Gaia through a systematic review capturing its progress from a myth to a scientific theory, being portrayed in different types of literature throughout history, in addition to studying how the notion of Gaia has impacted human views of the Earth and their role in it. This review assists an exploration study, drawing on cross-disciplines, covering mythology, science, literature, and arts, to acquire a better understanding of the cultural and academic relevance of Gaia from a broad range of literature sources. Building on this understanding, the outcome of this study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of Gaia, thereby enriching its academic significance in contemporary scientific, artistic, mythical, and cultural discourse
Keywords: literature, mythology, Gaia, Gaia hypothesis, Gaia theory, Earth system science
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This research paper explores the profound philosophical dimensions embedded within the Yaksha Prashna episode of the Mahabharata, analysed through the interpretive lens of Soren Kierkegaard’s existentialist philosophy. The Yaksha Prashna, characterised by its enigmatic and deeply reflective questions, presents a formidable challenge to conventional notions of life, morality, and the universe. By engaging with these ancient dialogues, this study uncovers nuanced insights into the human condition and the nature of reality, demonstrating the enduring relevance of these philosophical traditions in contemporary discourse. The research posits that the questions posed by Yaksha serve not merely as a narrative device but as a means to challenge and expand our conventional understandings of existence and ethics. This hypothesis is examined through a detailed analysis of the text, employing Kierkegaard’s existentialist framework, which emphasises the subjective experience of individuals as they confront existential dilemmas. By drawing parallels between Yaksha’s inquiries and Kierkegaard’s existential concerns, this paper elucidates the philosophical significance of the Yaksha Prashna in addressing timeless questions of human existence. Central to this study are the research questions: How do the questions posed by Yaksha challenge conventional notions of life, morality, and the universe? What insights can be drawn from the Yaksha Prashna regarding the human condition and the nature of reality? The exploration of these questions reveals that the Yaksha Prashna episode offers profound insights into the human psyche, ethics, and the quest for understanding in a seemingly indifferent universe. The objective of this research is to illustrate how the philosophical inquiries of the Yaksha Prashna are not only relevant but also applicable to contemporary life, offering timeless reflections on existence that resonate with modern existentialist discourse. By employing a rigorous methodological approach rooted in existentialist theory, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how ancient Indian philosophical traditions can inform and enrich contemporary philosophical thought.
Keywords: Yaksha Prashna, existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard, human condition, ancient Indian philosophy
31 / 2025
Gobi D. and V. Suganthi, Exploring existence in Namita Gokhale’s Priya: In Incredible Indyaa
Abstract: Existence refers to the state of being alive or real. In philosophy, it explores questions about the nature of being, the purpose of life, and the individual’s place in the universe. Central to existentialist thought, existence is viewed as a dynamic process where humans must create their own meaning and identity through choices and actions in a world that lacks inherent purpose. It emphasises freedom, responsibility, and the struggle to find significance amidst uncertainties. In Indian society there are women who live and there are women who exist. The existence of an Indian woman and her struggle to live her life are well explored by Namita Gokhale in her novel Priya: In Incredible Indyaa. It is a vivid and a satirical portrayal of contemporary Indian society, exploring the complexities of womanhood against the backdrop of a rapidly modernising yet deeply traditional culture. Namita Gokhale, through the protagonist Priya and other female characters in the novel, has represented nuanced existence of Indian women. Namita Gokhale has portrayed the duality of modern Indian womanhood, the dynamics of marriage and relationships, and the role of women in preserving and challenging societal norms. Priya, the wife of a politician, exemplifies the resilience and adaptability of Indian women as she balances the roles of homemaker and nurturer. Her life reflects the broader societal expectations placed on women, highlighting their silent sacrifices and unwavering dedication to family. As a mother to twin sons, Priya confronts cultural norms, including the difficulty Indian mothers face in addressing sensitive topics like their children’s private lives. Her journey encapsulates the tensions between tradition and modernity, offering a microcosm of the challenges faced by women in contemporary India. Namita Gokhale uses Priya’s story to deliver a poignant commentary on the personal and collective struggles of women navigating these complexities.
Keywords: existence, womanhood, Indian women’s struggles, tradition and modernity
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The paper applies Fluidity theory, a theoretical framework that explores marginalized identity and power dynamics in a society riddled with cultural resistance, hostility and oppression in N.K. Jemisin’s novel The Fifth Season. The concept of fluidity in general refers to the flexible and adoptable nature of the residents. The paper aims to shed light on how marginalized group - Orogenes and communities survive in the oppressive system. The novel is set in a dreary and geologically unstable world of the Stillness where marginalized groups – particularly Orogenes reside. Orogenes are individuals who have the ability to manipulate seismic events but systematically oppressed by their own society. The society dehumanizes, exploits, and controls orogenes. Through the Orogenes’ experiences, the novel delves into themes of trauma, resilience, and survival within oppressive systems. This paper also examines the brutality of the society and its dominance over Orogenes through intersections of oppression, resistance and identity. Thus, Fluidity theory analyses Jemisin’s portrayal of power structures and marginalized community’s struggle and resilience. The endearing feature of the survival instinct and the modality adapted by the people to resist oppressive force are underscored.
Keywords: fluidity, marginalized, identity, resilience, hierarchy, seismic power
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Language has transforming power to shape thought, inspire action, and communicate complicated concepts. In religious discourse, it serves as a medium for communicating spiritual truths, and a means for persuasion; affecting beliefs and directing actions.The current study employs the pragma-rhetorical concept developed by Dascal (2003) in that he treats rhetorical appeals and figures of speech as both pragma rhetorical devices. It further investigates the way they affect the ultimate goals of discourse. The research explores how Dr. Israr Ahmed uses rhetorical techniques such as ethos, pathos, and logos along with rhetorical tropes to transmit theological teachings to diverse audience effectively. His speech titling ”Human Personality and Two Types of Knowledge” has been taken as a case study. By answering the essential questions about the type and the role of rhetorical strategies in Dr. Israr Ahmed’s speeches,this research establishes the critical role that English rhetoric plays to establish the pragmatic purposes of religious discourse.The analysis shows that he uses a variety of rhetorical strategies, including ethos, pathos, logos, metaphor, parallelism, repetition, understatement, exaggeration, and rhetorical questions to attain the pragmatic functions like motivation, persuasion, information, justification, evidence, understanding, overcoming cultural boundaries, and promoting spiritual and social solidarity in the modern context of religious thinking.The findings suggest that the role of rhetorical strategies is indispensable in religious speeches. This study would provide a solid foundation for future linguistic researches on pragma-rhetorical strategies in various languages and religions.
Keywords: language, religious discourse, rhetorical strategies, pragmatic functions, pragma-rhetorical
31 / 2025
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: This paper aims to examine a selected number of numerical proverbial expressions that are used in Jordanian everyday talks. Given the importance of numbers in our lives, it is clear that these proverbs have referenced a wide range of themes in most spheres of life. Proverbs are short, concise sayings that have been handed down through the ages. These proverbial phrases contain true conventional beliefs and knowledge disguised as memorable metaphors. Additionally, these phrases are regarded as useful tools for disseminating information and insight about human nature. Numbers occupy great importance in human life, as they are used in all aspects of life. In addition to employing numbers mathematically and scientifically in different aspects of life, they were employed linguistically and culturally in the intangible human heritage such as proverbs and wisdom. The current research aims to study the use of cardinal numbers in Jordanian folk proverbial expressions through a sample of selected proverbs that were chosen from multiple sources. After collecting the targeted proverbs, they were analyzed, as the results showed the diversityof these numbers the multiplicityof the formulas of the proverbs that in which they were used, and the diversity of the pragmatic purposes for which these proverbs were employed.
Keywords: Jordanian culture, folklore, proverbs, numbers, mathematics
31 / 2025
Abhignya Sajja and Vaibhav Shah, Examining Rogerian empathy in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment
Abstract: The paper examines Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment employing the conceptual framework of empathy as delineated by psychologist Carl Rogers. Murderer-hero Raskolnikov is crafted such that his guilt-ridden angst elicits the empathy and emotional investment of a reader who, in the real world, would likely not interact with someone like Raskolnikov, let alone understand the trajectory of his morally-complex life and fragmented thoughts. Like Humbert Humbert, Emma Bovary, Captain Ahab, or Dorian Gray, Raskolnikov too occupies a liminal space wherein the reader acknowledges the problematic nature of his action(s) but does not withhold readerly empathy; the reader practices Rogerian unconditional positive regard in order to participate in the workings of Raskolnikov’s psyche by suspending the emotions of disgust or shock. Dostoevsky’s narrative, the paper argues, strategically achieves this feat as he allows the reader to enter into the conflicted, schism-mind of his hero (interiority, indwelling) by 1) depicting Raskolnikov’s pitiful state in defamiliarised detail; his ideology at odds with his (latent) Christian beliefs (incongruence), 2) wielding the language of disease and trauma and 3) presenting Raskolnikov as a ‘good’ person with a distorted internalised locus of evaluation. The study is a qualitative examination of the nature of Dostoevsky’s writing in the context of Raskolnikov’s story.
Keywords: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, empathy, narrative analysis, Raskolnikov, Carl Rogers
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Motivation is a psychological driving force that helps an individual achieve certain goals. It is a strong energy that shapes human behaviour, encouraging individuals to take the initiative and carry out specific duties. Every human being has a certain need that acts as a motivation to lead his/her daily life. Abraham Maslow, a humanistic psychologist, derived a theory that represents human needs in five levels in the form of a pyramid in his “A Theory of Human Motivation” (1943), published in Psychological Review. The theory elucidates physiological needs, safety needs, the need for love and belonging, esteem needs and self-actualization in a hierarchical manner, denoting that only after satisfying the primary needs, one can progress towards the next. Easterine Kire is a renowned novelist and short story writer from Nagaland. Her novel Sky Is My Father: A Naga Village Remembered elucidates the lives of the Angami Naga people. Set in a culturally rich tapestry of 1800s Khonoma, Kire picturises Levi, the protagonist as a great warrior and a cultural ambassador. This paper aims to analyse Levi in the light of Maslow’s theory of motivation, which is also known as the ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, exploring from his basic needs till his step of attaining self-actualization in the novel Sky Is My Father: A Naga Village Remembered.
Keywords: Abraham Maslow, Easterine Kire, Levi, motivation, needs, self-actualization
31 / 2025
Daniela Cârstea, Death-equivalents and low-level trauma: Literary representations of dread
Abstract: The discernible sources of dreaded states of the self are experiences which can be deemed traumatic. Corresponding occurrences comprise early object loss or other loss events, like those brought about by death or the proximity thereof, but also those occasioned by death equivalents. Such daunting affect states are plentifully indicated in Edgar Allan Poe’s work. The article puts forth, therefore, an analysis that could be legitimately interpreted as a staunch commitment to record the powerful ways of allowing reference to emerge and to represent unassimilable catastrophes. Thus, the first contention of this project has been the recognising of the trauma problematic in the analysed texts. The failure of the (literary) subject to gain immediate understanding of his/ her environment came forth as the focal point of the argument. The analysis thus served as a launching pad for a large theoretical quest, aimed at exploring the ways in which literary texts speak both about and through the profound story of traumatic experience. Viewed in this way, Poe’s aesthetics are no less an extension of his fiction than a commentary on it.
Keywords: Edgar Allan Poe, states of dread, low-level trauma, death-equivalents
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Literature acts like a magical pill, providing solace to the readers to overcome their psychological trauma or emotional shock by witnessing the trauma of the fictional characters. Positive transformation from trauma is a rare act, as precious thoughts lurk in its rarity; this article is the first scholarly insight on Vendela Vida’s novel And Now You Can Go (2003). This critical study aims to vindicate the importance of self-preservation during crises and shows how it enhances the chance of survival when one has to face the life-threatening situation like the protagonist Ellis. This research would provide a new insight into the literary canon as it alludes to Natti Ronel’s concept of ‘positive victimology’, which is a sub-branch of victimological studies in criminology and psychology. This paper elucidates how one can use the components of positive victimology like humour and forgiveness, as a coping mechanism to erase the impact of trauma in their memory in order to make the victim psychologically feel relieved from the tagline of the ‘victim’. Despite connecting various fields, there is hardly any explicit literary research related to this topic. By connecting this notion with the optimistic strategies in the novel, this study aims at broadening the scope of literary studies. The study also provides a holistic approach regarding trauma as it puts light on how one has to confront trauma by not submitting oneself to the offender and how one has to move towards positive transformation by also commenting on the stress one undergoes in the intermediary process.
Keywords: psychological trauma, self-preservation, positive victimology, forgiveness, humour
31 / 2025
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Abstract: At the beginning of the 17th century, as colonisation was in its initial phase, England was expanding its territories and establishing trade relations across the world. This economic venture was followed by social and cultural interactions, particularly with the Middle Eastern and North African countries. As Shakespeare in The Tempest delivered a powerful defence of the colonial enterprise on Jacobean stage, several playwrights of the age also employed their talents to emphasise on the cultural contrasts that existed between the European and non-European, Christian and non-Christian worlds. Many notable playwrights, inspired from the tales of the travellers and historians, recreated these inter-cultural exchanges on the English stage which were full of biasness, ignorance and misconception. They often painted Jews and Muslims, Asian and African ethnicities alike. The countries, the lands were defined as ‘Other’, in opposition to the civilised Christian world. The reason behind such representations was not just ignorance but also a deliberate erasure of their unique identities and individuality. Epithet like the ‘Turk’ represented their association with either Islam or the Ottoman Empire, and was applied as a blanket term to denote anyone hailing from the North African or Middle Eastern regions without any regard or awareness of their cultural nuances. This homogenisation was done in order to vilify them, to devoid them of any plurality, and proclaim the Christian-European socio-moral ethics as superior to the ‘Other’.This paper aims to study the politics of this misleading representation and deeply analyse how the multifarious identities and cultures have been reduced to a few debilitating tropes with the help of three Jacobean plays – William Shakespeare’s Othello, Robert Daborne’s A Christian Turn’d Turk and Philip Massinger’s The Renegado.
Keywords: colonial discourse, identity, Orient, othering, representation, superimposition
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The most interesting scientific publications of world and Ukrainian researchers in the modern costume design field and the fashion design innovations and technologies usage have been analysed. The features of tectonic costume design have been studied. The basic principles of the origami techniques usage in the modern clothing design have been formed and illustrated based on the world and Ukrainian designers’ experience. The principles of volume-spatial structural elements formation have been examined based on the practical examples. Different types of relief costume finishing elements based on origami systems have been analysed. The visual signs of structural forms expressiveness, their transformational dynamic properties, decorative and utilitarian application have been determined. The differences between the world and Ukrainian design with the volume-spatial structures inclusion in the costume designs have been evaluated. The possible further development of clothing design with the current technologies and scientific achievements usage have been predicted according to the scientific literature basis and the origami tools practical application in the designers work.
Keywords: clothing design, origami, texture, pleated systems, volume-spatial structures
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This research paper explores into an insightful conversation with India Edghill, an American writer of biblical historical fiction. She is a distinguished modern author known for her historical fiction novels that intimately investigate the lives of women from the Hebrew Bible. Her works include, Queenmaker, Wisdom’s Daughter, Game of Queens, Delilah,and File M for Murder.The conversation delves into Edghill’s inspirations, difficulties, and thought processes when telling the tales of oversized female characters, illuminating her distinct style and its significant influence on historical fiction. The three most well-known Indian works—Queenmaker, Wisdom’s Daughter, and Game of Queens—are the foundation for this interview. Edghill’s journey into crafting novels centered around biblical women is explored in-depth. The interview reveals her inspiration rooted in the quest for the “other side of the mirror” and the desire to unveil the female perspective often overshadowed by traditional historical narratives.
Keywords: biblical historical fiction, feminism, India Edghill
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Manthara is a minor character from the original epic Ramayana. The epic portrays Manthara as a woman who is ugly, poor and has a hunch-back. She becomes the factor leading to the death of King Dashrath and the distress in the lives of Rama and Sita. Through the ages, Manthara is blamed for causing the upheaval in the lives of Ayodhya royals. However, the question arises as to how a woman who is poor, unattractive, and disabled can transform the lives of royalty. Or was she simply a scapegoat in the story? Sarah Joseph’s Black Holes retells the story of the Ramayana from the perspective of Manthara. It is part of a short story collection from the text Retelling the Ramayana: Voices from Kerala, published in 2005. The work is an alternative viewpoint on the epic. Black Holes explores the feminist interpretation of the mythological narrative. Anand Neelakantan is an Indian novelist whose expertise lies in mythological fiction narratives. His work, Valmiki’s Women, published in 2021, is a collection of short stories from the perspective of minor women characters from the epic Ramayana. Neelakantan’s collection of stories provides a new perspective on the characters who are often sidelined from the main retelling and narratives.
The purpose of this article is to analyse the character of Manthara through the qualitative methodology of close-reading analysis of the short stories, Sarah Joseph’s Black Holes and Anand Neelakantan’s Valmiki’s Women. This article also examines the theory of Feminist Disability Studies within the viewpoint of Western and Indian contexts. The article focuses on understanding the stigma around disability and women. The desired conclusion of the article is to present a survey of how disability leads to the double marginalization of women.Keywords: disabled women, Manthara, Feminist Disability Studies, feminism
31 / 2025
Mesut Günenç and Ahmet Gökhan Bıçer, Refugeetude and its discontents: Anders Lustgarten’s Lampedusa
Abstract: Anders Lustgarten’s Lampedusa is a play that addresses the contemporary issue of refugeetude through the parallel stories of two distinct characters. The play humanises the refugee crisis by focusing on Stefano and Denise’s personal experiences. Rather than presenting migrants as statistics or political pawns, the play delves into their individual stories, struggles, and aspirations. Through Stefano and Denise, audiences gain insight into the human cost of migration and the challenges refugees and host communities face. Lampedusa also highlights the structural injustices that perpetuate the refugee crisis. The play rigorously investigates the fundamental causes of migration, including poverty, conflict, and environmental degradation, while elucidating the role of Western nations in aggravating these challenges. Through Stefano and Denise’s experiences, the audience confronts the systemic barriers and inequalities that prevent refugees from finding safety and security. This paper aims to discuss the refugee crisis in the play in light of Vinh Nguyen’s concept of refugeetude.
Keywords: contemporary British theatre, Anders Lustgarten, Lampedusa, Vinh Nguyen, refugeetude
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The novel The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2019) is written with the background of civil war that happens in the country of Syria which started in 2011 and continues even now. People living in the Syria try to flee from it so as to lead a peaceful life at other parts of the world. Christy Lefteri is the author of this war based novel. She is a contemporary writer who lives with her daughter in England. The objective of this study is to interpret war time violence that takes place in the chosen novel in the light of Sustainable Development Goals. The researcher has studied this novel of The Beekeeper of Aleppo using textual analysis as research method and attempted this framework. The findings of this novel include that civil war happening within a country disturbs the peace of human kind and ignites violence on children, women and other people. Women like Afra are abused sexually, parents had to lose their sons and daughters and further, the citizens of the country are deprived of their access to basic needs, right to live in peaceful place and right to lead a decent life.
Keywords: The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Christy Lefteri, violence, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), refugee, women
31 / 2025
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Abstract: All human beings seek a balanced life in the world which is achieved when one undergoes various stages in life from either equilibrium or disequilibrium. The transition from equilibrium to disequilibrium plays an intrinsic role in the personal growth of humans. Tzvetan Todorov, a Bulgarian literary theorist, proposes the narrative theory of fantasy to explore the stages of equilibrium in fantasy and other genres. Narrative theory provides a lens to discover how narratives play a major role in blurring the boundary between fantasy and reality. His theory enriches the perception of literature as an artistic expression and an impression of the human quest for balance. This theory is a systematic study to analyse the structure, organization, and meaning of literary works that reflect the complexities of life. Rebecca Ross is an American young adult fantasy writer whose writings explore the journey of young adults who face the challenges of the equilibrium theory and transformations in the world to achieve harmony in life. This research article analyses Rebecca Ross’s The Queen’s Rising (2018) through Todorov’s equilibrium theory.The novel is set with the characters having an equilibrium stage of life, hindered by disruptions that transform them as they progress with the restoration of harmony and purpose in their life. Her narration reflects how the characters travel through various phases of life, crossing impediments to attain a balanced life through self-realisation and resilience. It shows how Ross’s novel spotlights the narrative construction in terms of emotion and moral growth. It exemplifies the narrative structure that bridges the gap between the real and the unreal.
Keywords: Rebecca Ross, Todorov, equilibrium, disruption, recognition, resolution, new equilibrium
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This study attempts to investigate the role of satire in urban graphic novels with Sarnath Banerjee’s All Quiet in Vikaspuri (2015), a dystopian narrative that critiques the socio-political fabric of contemporary urban cities in India, at the pivot. Unsheathing on Dustin Griffin’s apprehension of satire as an inquiry rather than polemic, the study posits Banerjee’s novel within an extensive praxis of urban satire that examines infrastructural deterioration, ecological inequity, and bureaucratic inertia. By carefully examining the text’s visual-textual convergence, this paper inspects how satire is marshalled to decipher the complexities of neoliberal urbanity, particularly the commodification and politicisation of the quintessential resource, water. By encapsulating ecocritical theories from Karen Bakker’s conceptualization of “production of thirst,” investigation emphasizes how Banerjee reconstructs the urban city as a site of resources under contention and systemic alienation. The novel’s ironic juxtapositions, fractured structure, and grotesque imagery manufacture a critique that is both analytical and affective, coercing readers to tackle the ethical and environmental catastrophe of contemporary urban governance. This study posits that satire, in Banerjee’s premise, turns into an epistemological apparatus that unveils the rifts of late capitalist urbanism, questioning its assurance of progress and prosperity.
Keywords: urban satire, Indian graphic novels, hydropolitics, neoliberal urbanity, shades of violence
31 / 2025
Vanya Bardeja, Vinaya Kumari and Beulah Victor, The concept of female madness
Abstract: Throughout history, women have been linked to madness, whether it be characters like Medea in Ancient Greece, the witch trials in Salem during the Middle Ages, or women labelled as “hysterical” in the Victorian era. Some female writers used the portrayal of a mad woman to illustrate the impact of a male-dominated society on women.This paper argues that the depiction of madness in both Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and Fadia Faqir’s Pillars of Salt (1996) does not challenge authority but instead represents the oppression of “women by patriarchy and colonialism.” The article utilizes Marta Caminero Santangelo’s feminist criticism perspective, asserting that insanity does not equate to liberation and a mad woman is also unable to communicate, referencing Gayatri Spivak’s work “Can the Subaltern Speak?”
Keywords: feminism, madness of women, Orientalism, women’s writing
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The 2011 census demographic report released by the Central Statistical Office of Trinidad and Tobago declared that a majority of their population comprised of Indians and people of Indian descent. Majority of them trace their association with the island nation to the times of Indentureship (1845-1917), when a sizeable population of Indians were uprooted and transplanted to the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations. Displaced from their homeland, these immigrantsfaced the difficult task of repositioning themselves in a new land. In such scenarios, culture becomes a vehicle for the diasporic community to establish a connection with the new land, maintain solidarity within the group and to gain a sense of self without severing all ties with their homeland. The Trinidadian Carnival is the greatest street parade in the world and an important emblem of Trinidadian culture. Often associated with the Afro-Trinidadian community, over the years it has grown to be a crucible of cross-cultural associations with elements from both African and Indian culture influencing the festivities. Inspired from Indian folk culture, chutneymusic now finds an increasingly stronger presence in the Trinidadian Carnival alongside its African creole counterparts of calypso and soca. Another important element of the Carnival is the steelband, which now witness a strong Indian presence. The Indian diaspora in Trinidad thereby continue to enrich the cultural space of Trinidad, often maintaining the rich culture of India alive and flourishing in the island nation. Indian cultural elements therefore take up the vital role of identity construction and value addition, even so far away from home.This paper intends to study the enduring presence of Indian cultural elements in the Trinidadian Carnival and how the Indian immigrants constructed, and continue to construct, their identity through social memory and popular culture. In discussing these questions, the paper refers to concepts of cultural identity and draws information froma repertoire ofcontemporary scholarly literature, governmental and non-governmental records, and news articles.
Keywords: culture, identity, India, Trinidadian Carnival, chutney, tassa
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Implicated subjects play a crucial role in activism by revealing hidden truths and reviving suppressed voices. This study investigates the potential of a ‘complexly’ implicated subject in narrativizing the experience of Sri Lankan Tamil and Sinhala communities during the Sri Lankan civil war and engaging in memory activism. The textual analysis of Shehan Karunatilaka’s The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (2022) through the lens of hauntology deliberates on memory, absence, truth and their intricate entanglement. Situated on the intersections of implication and spectrality, the protagonist Maali Almeida acts as a reminder and a remainder, continually underscoring the inextricable links between the past and the present. Firstly, this paper dwells on the construction of Maali Almeida as a subject of complex implication. Secondly, it examines how witnessing and spectrality influence the protagonist’s functions of reminding and remaining. The paper thus illustrates the unconventional modes of memory activism initiated by a specter and its indispensability in charting absences.
Keywords: implication, memory activism, specter, absence
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The Goddess movement that emerged in the 1960s at the intersection of third-wave feminism and neoliberal religious movements has left an indelible mark on the artistic and cultural representations of gender-spirituality associations of the time. Artists like Mary Beth Edelson, Judy Chicago, and Monica Sjoo attempted to reclaim the ancient pre-patriarchal mother goddess iconography to signify the emergence of a ‘divine feminine’ counter-narrative, and many subsequent artists actively engaged with the images of the Great Goddess as a potent means of re-imagining and re-empowering women in contemporary society. This paper intends to explore the impact of the Goddess movement on artistic expressions of the time by analysing three aspects: (i) the role of the movement in contributing a corpus of imagery and symbolism of the Great Goddess to contemporary art; (ii) the evolution of the goddess iconography and its transference to contemporary artists; and (iii) how the artists used the goddess imagery to build parallel counter-narratives of feminist spirituality. Thus, this paper aims to understand the evolving iconography of the Great Goddess in art, foregrounding the social and cultural impact of the Goddess movement on feminist artistic practices.
Keywords: Goddess movement, iconography, Great Goddess, feminist art, reclamation, contemporary art
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This research article delves into the intricate mother-daughter relationship depicted in the Netflix film Qala directed by Avnita Dutt, through the lens of Adrienne Rich’s seminal work, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. Focusing on the characters Urmila and Qala Manjushree, the study explores the complex dynamics of their bond within a patriarchal context. By examining the psychological and emotional underpinnings of their relationship, the research highlights how cultural norms shape the experiences of motherhood and daughterhood. The analysis employs Adrienne Rich’s and Andrea O’Reilly’s feminist critique of motherhood and provides a framework for understanding how the film portrays the dual role of women as both enforcers and victims of patriarchal authority. The study reveals how the characters navigate their identities and relationships in a world dominated by paternal values, ultimately reflecting broader societal themes of power, control, and resistance within familial structures. This article aims to contribute to the discourse on gender, power, and familial relationships in contemporary cinema, offering insights into the nuanced portrayal of mother-daughter bonds in Qala.
Keywords: mother-daughter relationship, Adrienne Rich, motherhood, feminist theory, contemporary cinema, patriarchy
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Research on Jewish women converting to Islam, especially within the Egyptian context, remains a nascent field of study. This article aims to contribute to this under-explored area by examining the portrayal of Lucy/Zainab in Ihsan Abdel-Quddous’s Don’t Leave Me Here Alone. Unlike the often-stereotypical representations found in European literature, Lucy/Zainab’s characterization offers a nuanced exploration of the complexities surrounding religious conversion for Jewish women. In contrast to stereotypical portrayals in European literature, Lucy/Zainab embodies the concept of liminality faced by Jewish converts to Islam. This article argues that such converts often occupy a transitional space, unable to fully relinquish their Jewish heritage while simultaneously struggling to embrace a fully realized Muslim identity. Furthermore, the analysis delves into the possibility of a non-binary Jewish-Muslim identity, one that transcends the limitations of these singular classifications. Lucy/Zainab’s characterization exemplifies this concept, existing between these religious identities and belonging fully to neither. Lucy/Zainab’s dedication to Zionism underscores a unique interpretation of Jewish identity that extends beyond religious practice alone. This close reading investigates how her portrayal challenges or reinforces preconceived notions about Jewish identity and religious conversion. By analyzing the experiences of Egyptian Jewish-Muslim women like Lucy/Zainab, this essay contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between gender, identity, and religion within Egyptian society. Drawing on postcolonial feminist theory, the analysis explores Lucy/Zainab’s relationship with her Jewish heritage and how her identity develops within a global context. The analysis also explores how Lucy/Zainab negotiates a patriarchal society, wielding calculated strategies to subvert traditional expectations.
Keywords: Egyptian Jewish-Muslim woman, identity, Ihsan Abdel-Quddous, religion
31 / 2025
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: This research investigates how young Balochi women, aged 18 to 24, utilize social media platforms to express their gender identities, challenge traditional gender expectations, and experience empowerment within their cultural context. Employing a mixed-methods approach, involving a quantitative survey on 110 university students and in-depth interviews with 15 participants, and utilizing Goffman’s dramaturgical framework, the findings reveal Facebook as the favored social media platform. The results suggest that participants conscientiously project femininity online to align with cultural norms, yet they strategically manage their online personas, particularly in the presence of family members to avoid judgement and social backlash. However, utilizing the technical affordances of social media, participants gain control over their online presence and create a desired persona by striking a balance between their backstage and frontstage performance. While social media serves as a source of empowerment for these women, it does not completely liberate them from the offline patriarchy and traditional gender expectations.
Keywords: self-presentation, impression management, gender identity, traditional gender expectations, empowerment
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Media literacy is an essential communication tool that helps develop individuals’ ability to evaluate and interpret media content consciously and analyze it critically. In today’s digital age, the dissemination of media literacy education not only protects individuals from misleading or manipulative content but also improves their ability to access correct information. Public service announcements (PSAs) are considered a vital tool for creating media literacy by enhancing social awareness, raising consciousness, and educating the public, thanks to their potential to reach large masses. This study was conducted to examine the importance of PSAs in creating media literacy. The study sample comprised a PSA series titled ‘Nuclear Family’ prepared by the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council. The study was conducted using content analysis, which is a qualitative research method. The data were analyzed using the MAXQDA 2024 qualitative data analysis program. The results of the study highlighted the use of PSAs as an effective tool in raising media literacy awareness. Especially, the issue of information reliability was at the forefront in terms of combating disinformation. The results conformed to the international and national findings on media literacy and PSAs, revealing that they play an important role in media literacy. The study systematically examined the relationship between media literacy and PSAs, thus contributing to the available findings and offering suggestions for increasing social awareness.
Keywords: media literacy, public service announcements, communication, media, awareness, information
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The aim of this research is to determine the impact of social media addiction on organizational alienation. The study utilizes primary data sources within the scope of quantitative research analysis methods. The data collection technique involved using online survey forms sent to participants. A snowball sampling method was preferred for distributing the survey forms. The survey included two scales for measurement purposes. This study is quantitative and empirical in nature. The research findings indicate that social media usage has a significant effect on employees' feelings of alienation in the workplace. Limitations of the study include the inclusion of participants from only one sector, which may restrict the generalizability of the relationship between social media addiction and organizational alienation. Furthermore, the study was conducted in a specific time frame and within a specific city’s healthcare institution; different results may be obtained in studies conducted in different time frames or geographical regions. By examining the relationship between social media addiction and organizational alienation, the study aims to contribute to the enhancement of management strategies for businesses. Therefore, the findings of the research will be valuable and pioneering both academically and practically.
Keywords: social media addiction, organizational alienation, healthcare institutions
31 / 2025
Nancy Aranjuez, Transformative struggles: The lived experiences of probationers in the Philippines
Abstract: Probation is a form of community-based correction; after probationers are released from jail, they face various obstacles to their personal and social lives. This study investigated the lived experiences of probationers. A qualitative-descriptive phenomenological research design was used in this study to explore the experiences, challenges, and impact of the probation programs on the quality of life of probationers. The responses were transcribed and analyzed using the thematic code analysis of Braun and Clarke (2006). Purposive sampling was used in this study as the researcher’s sampling method. The study identified 10 probationers from the Province of Zamboanga del Norte who participated in an in-depth interview and focus group discussion using a researcher-made interview guide. Three themes emerged from the experiences of informants as recipients of probation: Happiness Despite Difficulties, Striving for fulfillment, Unfathomable Misery of Probationers, Besmirched Reputation, Economic Distress; All-Around Crisis, Life-Changing Techniques, and Probationer’s Dedicated Heart were the three themes from addressing the challenges encountered and three from the impact of the programs to the quality of life of the informants which were the Probationer’s Extraordinary Development, Absolute Life Transformation, and A Change Person. The findings asserted that they were victims of circumstances and needed to be part of a community-based correction by the probation program. They all have the potential to change and renew their lives. They deserve to be on probation rather than in jail, where they may be tainted by incorrigible persons deprived of liberty. Their happy stories are signs and the road to their stable recovery. The miseries of probationers however are the repercussions of their past deviant actions. The recognition of this detrimental effect can be viewed as a positive indication of recovery.
Keywords: probationer, therapeutic modality, lived experiences, quality of life
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This study elaborates characteristics of the theory of Golden Arches (GA) to assess whether the military ambitions concerning Pakistan–India relations were affected in the wake of McDonaldization or not, while establishing connections with the theory of Complex Interdependence (CI) for a more critical inquiry. McDonald’s and other multinational corporations create economic interdependence between countries and increase the costs of the conflict, which can contribute to more peaceful relationships. However, the relationship between India and Pakistan is tensed with historical distrust. Although economic interdependence may limit the freedom of maneuver in the security sphere, the competition in the security and military fields, along with the conflicting claims to the territory of the disputed region of Kashmir, still has a significant impact on Islamabad and New Delhi’s policies. Larger volumes of trade and investment do not erase periodic crises and militarized disputes in the region. Consumer brands can only partially erase geostrategic dynamics from the calculations of States. Security based nationalist approaches continue to play a significant role in decision making while globalization influences economic policies. Still fast-food diplomacy that could comprehensively be called McDonaldization between India and Pakistan could be seen, yet the impact it could bring on changing the bitter rivalry between the two countries is questionable without addressing the core issues as emphasized by CI.
Keywords: Golden Arches, complex interdependence, McDonaldization, Pakistan, India
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Influencer marketing has become a powerful tool in a digitally driven world, particularly for millennials. This study compares the impact of influencer marketing on Gen Xers (ages 45–60) and millennials (ages 29–44), focusing on key factors such as authenticity, credibility, and content style. A survey of 300 respondents (150 from each group) reveals that platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok significantly influence purchasing decisions, with transparency and authenticity critical for building trust. Millennials value influencers who openly disclose sponsorships and share personal stories, while relatability strengthens brand loyalty. The studyțs outcome supports the hypothesis that Gen Xers are more likely to make purchasing decisions based on the credibility of influencers and practical, straightforward content. The results also support the second hypothesis, millennials are more likely to make purchasing decisions based on creative, visually engaging content, while Gen Xers may respond better to more conventional strategies that acknowledge their skepticism and preference for less frequent influencer interaction. Millennials prefer dynamic, interactive content, such as short-form videos and live sessions, which drive engagement and purchasing decisions. At the same time, the results in the case of Gen Xers are different to some extent.
Keywords: marketing influencers, millennials, Gen X, purchase decision, social media platforms
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This study aims to investigate the effects of inflation and corruption on women’s labor force participation using data from 67 countries in 2022. While conducting this research, GDP and Gross Capital Formation, which is an indicator of investments, were also analysed, but since they were found to be statistically insignificant, the model was constructed by excluding these variables and the analysis continued. Findings reveal a negative impact of inflation and a positive impact of reduced corruption on female labor force participation. Moreover, the test of reverse causality reveals the effect of female labor force participation on corruption. Another important finding of the analysis is that the corruption index parameter is statistically significant, while inflation is insignificant. This shows that in countries with low female labor force participation, inflation is not the reason for the low rate. In addition to this finding, one of the important findings of the analysis is that the severity of the effect of corruption on women’s labor force participation rate increases as the quantile decreases. These results underscore the importance of anti-inflation and anti-corruption policies to promote gender equality in the workforce. Understanding the effects of economic variables like inflation and corruption on female labor force participation is crucial for implementing effective policy measures. This study distinguishes itself from the limited existing literature through some of its findings, making a significant contribution to the field.
Keywords: corruption, inflation, women’s labor force participation rate, quantile regression
31 / 2025
Zhiyong Wang, Tolerance and coercion: The political scenes of European modern design movement
Abstract: The social origins of European modern design was not only associated with technological change but also had a strong relationship with other factors such as social system. With the assistance of the method characterised as historical sociology, this article makes a comparative analysis on the rise of European modern design. It tries to clarify how European political systems were diversely modernised and how they had the distinctive effects on the modern movements of different European countries. Particularly, the constitutional system and liberalism of Western Europe did not develop recognised pattern of modern design but contributed to the democratic idea of modernism through benign inactivity. The centralised bureaucratic system and nationalism of Central and Eastern Europe did directly stimulate the birth of modern design but then repressed its later development. In addition, this study illustrates why Germany became conspicuous in the diverse political situations during that period.
Keywords: European modern design, social origins, politics, tolerance, coercion
31 / 2025
Roya K. Mirzabayova, Medieval Islamic science in Western studies: A historical overview
Abstract: The problem of studying the roots of modern science has always been one of the most debated issues, and there are various opinions on this. Some researchers seek the roots of science in the Greco-Roman civilization, some in the Islamic world, and some in the Indian and Chinese civilizations. Modern science is often presented under the name of Western science. It was not by chance that the West began to study the history of science in the Muslim East. Although the beginning of the study and analysis of scientific research in the Islamic world by the West is considered to be the 19th century, there were important stages that shaped this history. The study reflects important historical events that led to the study of Medieval Islamic science by the West, which as a result of these events began Islamic scientific research in Western historiography.
Keywords: Islam, science, west, historiography, study
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the leadership factor in the select characters of Sharankumar Limbale’s Bahujan novel. The method employed is Textual Analysis. The methodology used is The Leadership Framework propounded by the NHS Institute of Innovation and Improvement, University of Warwick. This is executed by analysing the character sketch of all the characters that are leaders in the novel and evaluation of these characters with the help of the framework. My primary text is the fictional Marathi novel, Bahujan by Sharankumar Limbale. This research will assist in understanding the different leaders from various strata of the society.
Keywords: Marathi Dalit literature, Sharankumar Limbale, Bahujan, leadership factor & Marathi fictional novel
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This article examines the ways in which motherhood identities are constructed on social media. With the increasing digitalization, individuals present their selves and social roles on social media platforms. In this process, which can be analyzed within the framework of Goffman’s dramaturgical approach, individuals construct identities by performing idealized roles on a specific “stage” in accordance with the expectations of their audience. Motherhood is also influenced by this process and is represented in various forms on social media, bringing different motherhood typologies to the forefront. The article defines the motherhood identities such as tiger mom, alpha mom and wine mom in the literature, in additional to them beige mom identity, which is increasingly widespread in social media. The tiger mom prioritizes childrențs academic success with a strict and demanding parenting style. The alpha mom strives for success in both her child’s and her own life, often pursuing unattainable perfection. The wine mom adopts a humorous, sarcastic approach to the struggles of motherhood but risks normalizing alcohol consumption. The beige mom, characterized by minimalism, natural living, and neutral-toned aesthetics, promotes a specific parenting ideal but may impose rigid lifestyle expectations. Each model presents unique challenges for mothers, children, and families. This study has established a theoretical framework by reviewing academic sources indexed in the Web of Science database between 2020-2025, while also incorporating an analysis of the beige mom identity, which has not yet been academically examined in the context of social media. The aim of this article is to analyze how motherhood identities are constructed on social media, how they are shaped by societal expectations, and the impact these representations have on women. The findings highlight that the romanticization of motherhood and its portrayal within rigid frameworks on social media may create pressure on mothers and reinforce traditional gender norms.
Keywords: social media, good mothering, tiger mom, wine mom, alpha mom, beige mom
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This paper explores the role of currency design in the Chinese Soviet Republic as a tool for ideological dissemination and cultural transformation. By analyzing the integration of Soviet Socialist Realism and traditional Chinese artistic elements, the study highlights how visual strategies in currency design were used to reinforce Communist values and reshape national identity. Comparative analysis with the currency designs of the contemporaneous Republic of China, led by the Kuomintang, underscores differences in political and cultural messaging. This research emphasizes the strategic use of visual culture to influence public perception and behavior, illustrating the potency of art in political and social contexts. The findings suggest that currency design can be an effective medium for ideological indoctrination and offers insights into the broader significance of revolutionary art forms in shaping collective consciousness.
Keywords: 1930s, design criticism, design history society, Chinese designers, cultural nationalism
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Anchoring the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this study harmonized the policies in research and extension of Cebu Normal University, a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the Philippines, towards an archetype that will help align, aid and operationalize governance based on the existing laws, guidelines, rules, regulations and the like. As such, the research is a policy-excavation on the available issuances and/or instruments, for example, the constitution as a legal framework, legislative enactments, executive orders/dicta of statesmen, resolutions, memorandum circulars, special orders, and similar documents by authorities that are subject to the widest dissemination, information and proper guidance that are not contrary to law, setting the strategic directions in compliance with the goals set-forth by the university. Referencing policies, Cebu Normal University commits in the delivery of research and extension that advances public interest concerning the community and all stakeholders concerned. This all the more proves that Cebu Normal University adheres on the minimum-maximum requirement of the policies therein, thereby recommending an archetype in governance that will intensify the programs and/or initiatives undertaken by the university.
Keywords: policies, research and extension, Cebu Normal University, governance archetype
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Lockdown is a contradictory state in which inhabitants of any country are told to stay indoors to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, yet they are only allowed to leave their homes to acquire necessities (Piryani, 1-5). During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown creates disorientation in people’s lives and puts them in predicaments. The lockdown compels individuals to grapple with their dilemmas in this paradoxical situation. The recorded testimonies of Tenzin Palyon, Jose K. Jose, and Roy A. Parekatt depict their responses to their predicament by selecting the right choice to survive and adapt to the new normal. The paper posits that the choices Tenzin Sherab, Jose K. Jose, and Roy A. Parekatt made in their contradictory situations, along with their varied responses, helped them regain their identity and achieve autonomy, enabling them to live a meaningful life in the new normal. Barry Schwartz’s theory of the paradox of choice as a tool to critically investigate the varied responses identified in their lockdown testimonials. Barry Schwartz mentions paradoxical choice in his (2004) book The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. In 2008, a new term, the new normal, emerged. In the context of this study, this term explores how the COVID-19 epidemic altered significant aspects of human survival. Cultural theorists contend that emotions within a person interact with culture during a crisis. Human resilience, recuperation, and reconstruction overcome a paradoxical circumstance to give rise to the new normal. The study highlights risks and problems by delving into the contradictory lives of people who endured distortion, negative liberty, anxiety, and restricted access to necessities while under lockdown.
Keywords: paradoxical lives, lockdown, choice, autonomy, new normal
31 / 2025
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Abstract: The declining gap between education and economic growth in Nigeria needs urgent policy attention. This paper therefore examines educational levels-economic growth nexus in Nigeria by applying autoregressive distributed lag and Toda-Yamamoto causality test to time series data spanning 1981 to 2020. Augmented Dicky-Fuller, Phillips-Perron and Zivot-Andrews unit root tests indicate a mixture of I(0) and I(1) stationarity properties of data. Bounds test reveals cointegration between primary, secondary and tertiary education indices, and real gross domestic product (RGDP). Findings indicate positive impact of primary, secondary and tertiary education indices and education policy dummy (NEP) on RGDP with the tertiary education index being significant. Toda-Yamamoto causality test reveals that secondary and tertiary education indices and NEP cause RGDP without a feedback effect. Diagnostic tests justify reliability of the parameter estimates. Hence, the study recommends for educational reform in line with the actual needs of the global economy, increased educational funding and strict implementation, monitoring and periodic evaluation of education policies in Nigeria.
Keywords: educational levels, economic growth, ARDL, Toda-Yamamoto causality, Nigeria
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Environmental awareness and consumer behavior have been increasingly shaped by societal shifts towards sustainability, manifesting in the rise of green consumerism worldwide. This research focused on green consumer behavior in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan while comparing their economic, cultural, and environmental elements. Based on the learning theory of consumer behaviour, the study explored the role of environmental awareness and knowledge and their impact on green purchase intentions and consumer behavior in relation to the SDGs. A stratified random sample of 500 respondents was collected from each country. Structural Equation Modelling was employed to test relationships and mediation analysis which led to the confirmation of hypotheses. Further, the mediated moderation analysis showed that perceived value for green products strengthen the relationship between purchase intentions for green products and overall green consumer behavior. The study’s findings highlighted the role of environmental education and policy intervention in promoting sustainable consumption, tailored to unique socio-economic and environmental contexts of each region.
Keywords: green consumer behavior, green purchase intension, environmental knowledge, environmental awareness, green product value
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Leadership involves setting common goals within a group, influencing others' behaviors, and directing them toward a target. Leadership behaviors and styles can vary depending on the individual and professional characteristics of the leaders. Kitchen organizations are structured in a way that requires division of labor due to their inherent nature, with sections such as cold, hot, pastry, bakery, soup, breakfast, and butchery. Therefore, individuals working in various positions within the kitchen, such as head chefs, sous-chefs, section chefs, and line cooks, must possess leadership qualities. This study aimed to determine the leadership behavior tendencies and leadership styles of students studying gastronomy and culinary arts at Artvin Çoruh University. Consequently, the study group comprised students in gastronomy and culinary arts programs at Artvin Çoruh University. The saturation (complete enumeration) technique was applied during sampling, and 128 candidate students were included in the study. It was found that participants demonstrated higher participation in “people-oriented leadership” behaviors. Significant differences in leadership behavior tendencies and leadership styles were observed only between genders. Male participants indicated higher adherence to structural and political leadership styles than did female participants. In conclusion, adopting a people-oriented leadership style by students of gastronomy and culinary programs could be an advantage in their careers, as they are likely to lead many people throughout their professional lives.
Keywords: leadership, cookery, gastronomy and culinary arts, Artvin Çoruh University
31 / 2025
Melek Kaymaz Mert, Acceptable women of Müfide Ferit: A blend of nationalism and feminism
Abstract: From the Second Constitutional Monarchy to the early years of the Republic, Müfide Ferit Tek was one of the significant woman writers. Her feminism is a fusion of nationalism and feminism, which is quite different even if she is cited among feminist writers. Her conception of feminism differed from that of many of her counterparts and from what is understood now. Her works presented a strong, patriotic, self-reliant woman who was loyal to her own principles and stood on her own two feet as the ideal of an acceptable lady. This article is particularly interested in the feminist views of Müfide Ferit. The purpose of this study is to examine how Müfide Ferit Tek contributed to the history of feminism in Turkey by fusing nationalism and feminism from the late Ottoman era to the Republic. Müfide Ferit, a significant woman author of the late Ottoman and early Republic period, approached feminism from a unique angle and made a clear contrast between women who were acceptable and those who were not in her writings.
Keywords: Müfide Ferit, Ottoman feminism, nationalism, feminism
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Student expectations are crucial in shaping academic engagement, learning experiences, and eventual success in higher education. This study examines how expectations align with actual experiences among Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Social Studies (BSEd-SocStud) students at Jose Rizal Memorial State University (JRMSU), Dapitan City, Philippines. Employing a multi-method approach, this research combines descriptive quantitative analysis of students’ socio-economic characteristics with thematic analysis highlighting gaps in their expectations and experiences in four key areas: instructors, administration, school environment, and subjects. Results indicate that most students met their expectations, particularly regarding instructional quality and academic support. However, unmet expectations emerged in areas such as limited institutional support for online learning, inconsistent classroom facilities, and perceived discrimination. Notably, students whose expectations were fully met exhibited higher academic performance, including better GPAs and licensure examination outcomes. Full-time students and those who independently chose Social Studies as a specialization demonstrated more realistic expectations. In contrast, students from lower-income brackets displayed a more pragmatic approach to academic challenges. The findings highlight the critical role of expectation management in shaping student success and institutional strategies for improving learning experiences.
Keywords: student expectations, actual experiences, academic performance, licensure examination, Social Studies education
31 / 2025
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Abstract: Since the onset of the current democratic experimentation in Nigeria in 1999, the authorities have continued to deploy the military on routine internal security duties. This is evident in the various internal military operations (IMOs) and preponderance of military checkpoints, especially in the Southeast geopolitical zone of the country comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states. The practice has served as an enabler of undemocratic tendencies in the southeast, provoking insecurity. Meanwhile, extant explanations of the security conundrum in the southeast have revolved around securitisation analysis, frustration-aggression thesis, elite politics, and leadership failure. In the process, scant attention has been paid to the phenomenon of militarised democracy and its implications for insecurity in the zone. Using a documentary approach and anchoring analysis on the theoretical frame of authoritarianism, this study argues that the militarisation of the democratic space in the southeast, which is home to the Igbo ethnic group, springs from the overall nature and character of politics in Nigeria, which has tended to privilege militarising tendencies over democratic ethos such as negotiation, compromise, and accommodation. It further argues that this proclivity is due in part to vestiges of dictatorship inherited from colonialism, but is also partly a result of embedded ethic animosities arising from Nigeria’s immediate post-independence history. It concludes that until the political class purges itself of militaristic tendencies and imbibes cherished democratic values of tolerance and pluralism, insecurity in the southeast shall continue to fester as an inevitable consequence of the militarisation of the zone.
Keywords: militarisation, democracy, authoritarianism, insecurity
31 / 2025
Mark Herman Sumagang Potoy, Themes of the world’s select destination slogans
Abstract: One simple yet primordial contributor in promoting the tourism of a certain nation is a well-crafted destination slogan. As such, country destinations are challenged to craft a slogan that stands out from the rest. It is in this view that this study is undertaken to take a closer look into the underlying themes of the world’s select destination slogans. It utilizes the qualitative method of research where ninety-eight destination slogans are randomly selected as corpus of the study. After the analysis, the following themes are found, Endless Discovery, Originality, Emotional Association, One and Only, Hospitality, Ego Targeting, Ancient Aura, and Physical Dimension. Among these eight themes, Emotional Association is recorded to be the most frequently used reaching up to thirty-five actual usage. The second most prevalent theme is Endless Discovery which is present in eighteen slogans such as that of Canada, Maldives and Saudi Arabia. Construction of destination slogans should be viewed as a complex process that needs in-depth analysis on how it should be phrased since language is an essential vehicle in successfully conveying the message it intends its tourists to decipher. A destination slogan’s deep structure has to be the first element to be considered upon its creation because it will serve as the backbone that will hold everything about it. The meaning behind its surface structure has to be the primordial concern for those who are assigned to come up with a slogan.
Keywords: semantics, deep structure, destination slogan, themes, analysis
31 / 2025
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Abstract: This article addresses the current situation in the field of social services in the Czech Republic, focusing on key challenges and opportunities that affect the quality and accessibility of these services. We discuss financial constraints, the shortage of qualified personnel, the implementation of quality standards, technological innovations, and the need for service integration across different sectors. Special attention is given to legislation, which after nearly 20 years brings changes and necessitates adaptation to new conditions. The article emphasizes the importance of coordinated efforts at all levels to ensure sustainable and high-quality social services that effectively support vulnerable population groups.
Keywords: finance, legislation, quality of care, social services, staffing
31 / 2025
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: The main purpose of the article is to reconstruct the theory of culture of the most famous Indian thinker of the 20th century, Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950), whose work in recent years has again aroused increased interest among philosophers from different countries. Modern authors consider different aspects of Aurobindo's work, but the philosophy of the thinker's culture remains a little-explored problem. Aurobindo Ghosh in the «Human Cycle» offers his original personal-psychological concept of culture as a transitional stage from the lowest state of the ordinary human mind to the highest levels of the mind. Thus, everyday consciousness goes through several phases of development: barbarism, civilization, culture and spiritual transformation of man. The whole problem is what a person identifies himself with, what he considers his true Self, because in reality he is a multi-complex being. A person can absolutize his body and achievements in the sphere of material life or identify himself with vital power and pleasures, or he can recognize pure reason as the supreme force. The essence of barbarism is reduced to the identification of consciousness with the body, the material world and well-being. At the second stage, civilization, we are already talking about the intellectual structuring of society, about achieving some kind of harmony for comfort and general prosperity. In the third phase, culture, pure reason becomes the ideal. However, the question boils down to moving on to the fourth stage of development – the spiritual transformation of a person. If the spiritual principle is brought to the fore by a person, becoming the only sovereign «master» of his nature, then a person will fill his life with divine meaning and harmony. Humanity will turn into a Gnostic society.
Keywords: barbarism, civilization, culture, ordinary consciousness, supermind
30 / 2025
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Abstract: This article examines one of the most complicated issues of social research, namely social singularity as a process of producing unpredictable meanings, both in the life of modern society and an individual. The essence of social singularity is generally interpreted in the context of the coevolution of nature and society in the conditions of rapid technological shifts and changes in the role of the information environment. Therefore, this study aims to define and analyze the methodological tools of cognition of the social singularity phenomenon as a structural part of the new digital paradigm of philosophical discourse. The article considers the methodological approaches of various schools of philosophy represented by opposing views on anthropological reality in the context of its digital transformation.Within the framework of methodological structuring, the degree of the social singularity issue elaboration can be represented by the methodologies of postmodern and post-humanism philosophy. The conceptual approaches to the criticism of computational thinking, which forms the phenomenon of singularity eliminating the Human, are presented in the works by Baudrillard, Deleuze, Massumi, and Haraway. The article emphasizes that the papers of these scholars study digital ontology of the post-human state, where the boundaries between man and machine are blurred. Those studies include the analysis of cyber and biotechnological changes that affect human nature and create the concept of social singularity as a negative scenario for the development of the Human. Analyzing the phenomenon of social singularity, we emphasize that non-objectified human feelings come into conflict with computational thinking, since subjectivity, carried beyond the limits of the Self, turns into the non-human Other. Therefore, the article raises the question of how algorithms and artificial intelligence affect human subjectivity and free will; hence, the understanding of how computational processes can limit or expand human capabilitiesare of crucial importance.
Keywords: social singularity, digital ontology, computational thinking, consciousness, free will
30 / 2025
David-Augustin Mândruț, Martin Buber’s inborn Thou: A phenomenological account
Abstract: This paper investigates Martin Buber’s concept of the inborn Thou in relation to the concept of trust. Drawing mostly on phenomenological and psychological resources, I want to argue that the inborn Thou is a form of proto-trust, or more exactly, the first manifestation of what could be called trust towards the other, and towards the world. Trust will also be considered in its relation to familiarity, and I am going to suggest, using different conceptions from several authors, that the connection between familiarity and trust could be better highlighted using once again Buber’s main concept from the book I and Thou. I will investigate the phenomenon of cooperation and companionship in infancy, drawing mostly on the phenomenological theory of intersubjectivity and the one of interaction. My starting point will be Martin Buber’s few pages on the development of the dialogical life on the infant. The phenomenological side of our inquiry will consist mainly in the tradition of the dialogical side of this broad discipline, and here I could recall the contributions of Beata Stawarska and Stephan Strasser. Concerning the psychological side of our thesis, Daniel Stern, Colwyn Trevarthen and Stein Bråten are going to be fundamental sources for our argument that there is an innate sociality of the human being, which manifests itself in the desire for establishing genuine relations between I and Thou. Moreover, trust will again be addressed when we are going to analyze the early interactions between the infant and her primary caregiver. Familiarity and trust will prove themselves in the end to be directly proportional to each other. My main claim would be that one does not speak about an acquisition of trust and familiarity, but rather about the development of both of them from the very beginning of the infant’s life.
Keywords: Martin Buber, inborn Thou, trust, familiarity, contact
30 / 2025
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Abstract: This article investigates the reflection of archaic beliefs in Evenk, Russian and Yakut cosmogonic riddles. Metaphorical images that are found in this genre of folklore provide insight into patterns of traditional culture and mythology. Folk riddles were investigated by means of contextual, semantic, and semiotic analyses that allowed us to identify archaic representations encoded in metaphorical descriptions of the sky and celestial bodies. We found that cosmogonic texts contain various illustrations of ethnic beliefs and artifacts of culture verbalized in the images of human beings, animals, household items, and natural and sacred objects. In the paper we also highlight key primordial ideas traced in the analyzed texts that reconstruct pagan mythological plots and storylines of an original or borrowed nature. Our ancestors, observing the sky and cosmic phenomena, through the genre of riddles transferred to subsequent generations the fragments of their perception of the universe encoded in metaphors linked with mythologemes of the world tree and primordial ocean. We conclude that riddles may serve as a reliable source for analyzing archaic representations of the universe and illustrating the specifics of the landscape, culture, traditions and households of an ethnos. As for similar motifs, they might be rooted in myths of borrowed character or caused by the similitude of human associative thinking in the allegorical encoding of universal natural phenomena. Overall, our research demonstrates that key images of the sky and cosmic bodies reflect the traditional representations and ideas of the three ethnic groups under consideration and allow us to identify similarities and differences in their perceptions of the world.
Keywords: cosmogonic riddle, archaic representation, myth, metaphor, image
30 / 2025
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Abstract: Throughout history, mystical writers have consistently inspired humanity. Kahlil Gibran stands as a prominent figure in this tradition, revered for his celebrated work, The Prophet. The perspective offered in his book transcends ordinary, mundane concerns and evokes a sense of the mystical and the sublime. Gibran's reflections encourage readers to consider their lives from a higher, more transcendent viewpoint, aligning with mystical practices that seek to elevate consciousness and connect with a higher reality. This study aims to identify the mystical elements in Gibran’s works, thereby establishing his significance as a mystical writer. Moreover, it employs conventional understandings of mysticism from various mystical traditions to explicate the concept. A chronological analysis of Gibran's major works, culminating with The Prophet, is conducted to examine the progression and maturation of Gibran as a mystic.
Keywords: Khalil Gibran, mysticism, The Prophet, mystical writers, literary analysis
30 / 2025
Vicentiu Buzduga, The ethical axiotropism between moral development and amoral optimization
Abstract: This article aims (using the philosophical method) to raise fundamental questions regarding the possible directions of ethics, particularly the survival of authentic moral values in a world dominated by amoral optimization—an algorithmic process that prioritizes efficiency over ethical considerations. One of its most pervasive effects is digitcultism, a phenomenon characterized by excessive belief in and irrational dependence on digital technology. As algorithmic systems increasingly dictate social interactions and decision-making, digitcultism emerges as an inevitable consequence of efficiency-driven automation—gradually eroding human presence and meaning. A rational response to this crisis is ethical axiotropism: a reevaluation of ethical structures, a redefinition of key moral concepts, and a restoration of values necessary for sustaining genuine human autonomy in the algorithmic age.
Keywords: moral philosophy, artificial intelligence (AI), ethics, ethical axiotropism, optimization, digitcultism
30 / 2025
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: Since the preceding studies on Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood are predominantly psychoanalytic, the current work aims to be distinctive by presenting a semiotic interpretation of the tale. Its objective is to demonstrate that the four protagonists—Little Red Riding Hood, the Mother, the Grandmother, and the Wolf—constitute a structural, i.e., differential, relationship. The nucleus of this relationship lies in the act of seeing, a verb that, in this brief text, conspicuously recurs (9 instances). An initial grouping of characters is evident: on one side, the Wolf and the Mother represent the “living”; on the other, there are the “dead”, namely the Grandmother and Little Red Riding Hood. What distinguishes the two groups is the act of being seen. Characters who expose themselves, for instance by undressing, meet a tragic fate, whereas those who successfully conceal their identity survive. This underscores that in the universe of this tale, appearance is vital: to dispense with this appearance is to perish; to live, it is forbidden to be seen. Another grouping is conceivable. The Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood prove capable of seeing, of exploring the world. In contrast, the Mother and the Grandmother, symbolically lacking the ability to see, are somewhat blind. Furthermore, the two groups are sexualized: unlike the distinctly unisex blind characters, those capable of seeing are endowed with bisexuality. This reveals that in the universe of this tale, being bisexual allows one to “see,” to know, to discover, while unisexuality is closely linked to blindness, even ignorance. The visualization of these two structures through a semiotic square lead to the conclusion that among the four protagonists, the Wolf stands out due to his superior position: he is a bisexual being who lives on and sees everything without revealing himself. Could this not be a god?
Keywords: Le Petit Chaperon rouge, Charles Perrault, tales, French literature, 17th century, semiotics
30 / 2025
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Abstract: This study examines the portrayal of oceanic spaces as a part of the holistic nature in Hergé’s texts The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure from his graphic series The Adventures of Tintin. It aims to analyse the interactions between European characters of the texts and the oceans as a holistic part of nature, exploring how these interactions reflect broader colonial attitudes and environmental perspectives. It traces the unfolding of the early depictions of the marine realm from its early representations in the narratives as a hostile and wild force to later narratives showcasing attempts at human mastery over the blue space of the Earth. The paper adopts the theories of blue ecocriticism as propounded by Sidney I. Dobrin to critically analyse the texts and focus on the historical trajectories of European colonial inclination towards the marine environment. The paper explores Tintin’s initial encounters with the treacherous blue spaces as presented in the texts as a symbolic resistance to colonial ambitions. It then continues to examine the select texts to exemplify the narratives of conquest and technological domination of the oceanic realms. The analysis reveals the tension between the human drive for exploration and conquest and growing awareness of ecological responsibilities. It also critiques anthropocentric and exploitative standpoint towards the marine environment prevalent in colonial enterprises. This blue ecocritical reading from Eurocentric perspective of the select texts from the series reflects critically on how colonial narratives shape the interactions of the colonizers with that of the natural world, and how these interactions influence their perception as a superior species over the non-humans within the marine realm
Keywords: oceanic spaces, blue ecocriticism, exploitation, domination, anthropocentrism
30 / 2025
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Abstract: Taking Shen Dan’s “Covert Progression” as the theoretical perspective, this paper aims to analyze multi-sided characteristics of Claudius and Gertrude in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Through the comparative analysis of the explicit narrative and the covert progression, the paper aims to discover the other sides of the two characters different from the traditional comments. In shaping the characteristics of Claudius and Gertrude, there is a contradictory relationship between the explicit narrative and the covert progression. Under the perspective of “Covert Progression”, we can see the multi-faceted character images, which is quite important for future research.
Keywords: William Shakespeare, Hamlet, explicit narrative, covert progression, Claudius, Gertrude
30 / 2025
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Abstract: Cultural practices serve as platforms for children to explore the heritage of varying traditions. Exposure to cultural practices and beliefs from an early age through literature and social interactions establish a sense of ethical value among children. Indian cultural tales introduce children to the multiplicity of languages, traditions, and festivals prevalent across the country. They often depict the village lifestyle with vivid descriptions of nature. Using pastoral ecology and cultural ecology as eco-critical theories this paper explores how rituals and customs of Hinduism teach the harmonious coexistence of humans with nature from early childhood. Through eco-critical reading and analysis of Sudha Murthy’s novel The Magic of the Lost Temple, this paper aims to develop ecological consciousness in children from Hindu cultural perspectives.
Keywords: cultural ecology, Indian children’s literature, human and nature, eco-consciousness
30 / 2025
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Abstract: The Book of Psalms remains a text full of meanings for researchers in different fields: theology, philology, Byzantine music, visual arts. The angle from which the present analysis was made is a linguistic one, comparatively researching the introductory sequence of ‘mourning psalms’ which follow, from a compositional point of view, a typical structure. Our attention was directed to eight Romanian translations of the Psalter, texts from different eras with the specific language peculiarities of the time. For the sixteenth century, a text containing rhotacization was chosen, namely, the Hurmuzaki Psalter. The seventeenth century was represented by the psalms extracted from the collection of the Bucharest Bible and those versified by Dosoftei. The Psalms of Anthim the Iberian were the exponents of the eighteenth century, and those from the Bible of Andrei Șaguna from Sibiu for the nineteenth century. For the twentieth century, the Psalter of Bartolomeu Anania and the Book of Psalms from the Bible of Gala Galaction were chosen, and the text of the Athonite psalms as representative for the twentieth first century.
Keywords: Book of Psalms, comparative analysis, ‘mourning psalms’, introductory sequence, translations
30 / 2025
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Abstract: Human history is defined, fashioned and determined by its inextricable entanglement with environmental forces. In The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis (2021) Amitav Ghosh explores the impact of colonialism and the ‘civilising mission’ of the West on planetary ecology. The paper argues that wars of extermination were essentially biopolitical in nature where non-human forces partake in the settler-colonial conflict leading to the displacement or annihilation of aboriginal population. Material forces and natural processes triggered into action by structured colonial strategies mediate destruction of the natural environment culminating in ecological collapse that has far reaching regional as well as planetary consequences. The nutmeg - one of the most coveted and valued of all spices - sets in motion a progression of invasion, warfare, genocide, and terraforming in the Indonesian Banda islands. The paper would investigate the evolution of the nutmeg as a parable for the contemporary climate crisis placing it in the larger context of the Anthropocene. The intersection between human and non-human forms of agency in our centuries-old geopolitical order, governed largely by mechanistic ideologies of conquest and colonisation, has invariably plummeted the planet into a climate catastrophe. The paper would argue that collective flourishing where human and non-human life forms live in consonance and mutual dependence is the key to saving our planet in the face of unrelenting apocalyptic violence. The non-human voices which are an integral and manifest part of our natural world need to be heard and restored into the narrative of contemporary modernity to survive the impending ecological collapse.
Keywords: colonisation, terraforming, genocide, modernity, biopolitics
30 / 2025
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Abstract: This paper argues that the structural linearity of language is revealed in General American English morphemes and phonemes of “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe. It analyzes the phonological and morphological structures in select textualities. It focuses on phonemic structures in terms of segmental and suprasegmental phonemes and morphemic structures according to lexical and grammatical free morphemes, inflectional and derivational bound morphemes, and word-formation processes. Findings reveal that for segmental phonemic analysis in terms of vowel sounds, the center vowel [ə] or schwa is the most dominant vowel phoneme in both poems against diphthong [oy], which never appeared in both textualities. Meanwhile, in terms of consonant sounds, nasal [n] dominated the poems. Fricative [zh], affricate [ch], and syllabic consonants [‘l] and [‘n] are absent in the textualities of these poems. Both poems also show suprasegmental features in their textualities as they display stress patterns, pitch level combination of 2-3-2/2-3-1, sustained or level 1 juncture, and non-final intonation level 2-3-2 patterns. Both poems contain 71 lexical morphemes or content words and 43 grammatical morphemes or function words on their textualities. They contain eight (8) inflectional morphemes, such as suffix -s, and 5 derivational morphemes, such as suffix -ly and -y, that cause the change in the meaning of the words. Word formation processes of the two poems reveal more folk etymology and derivational processes. Therefore, the linearity of phonemes and morphemes are revealed in the linguistic structure of the textualities of “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe. It is recommended that these poems are to be used as learning materials, specifically in phonology and morphology lessons.
Keywords: morphophonemic analyses, “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer, “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, phonemic structure, morphemic structure
30 / 2025
Seher Aktarer, Proto-feminism in the utopian works of Christine de Pizan and Margaret Cavendish
Abstract: The feminist movement, particularly in the French school of the 1980s and 1990s, has emphasised the necessity for women writers to establish an assertive feminine identity and authority that are not constrained by the masculine hegemonies observed thus far. However, a retrospective examination of literary history reveals that women had already produced remarkable works prior to the emergence of the movement. This study examines two women writers from different historical periods who predated the emergence of feminism as a literary and intellectual movement: Christine de Pizan who wrote during the Middle Ages, and Margaret Cavendish who wrote during the 17th century. The paper suggests that in Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies (1405) and Margaret Cavendish’s The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World (1666), both women have produced proto-feminist properties that explicitly address the reconstruction of women’s roles in society and assert their authorial autonomy as female writers, by employing utopian approach.
Keywords: Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies, Margaret Cavendish, The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing World, feminism
30 / 2025
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Abstract: Through a close textual analysis of Kapil Krishna Thakur’s notable short story “The Other Jew” this research article attempts to analyze how the traumatic displacement from the native land has shaped the lives of the Bengali Dalit refugees in post-partition West Bengal. In a noteworthy manner, Thakur’s narrative shifts from the point of view of Bengali upper-caste elite refugee experiences and provides a counter-narrative of it. Centering the argument on Thakur’s short fiction “The Other Jew” this article tries to inquire the effects of the loss of a familiar space, the notion of traumatic displacement, painful suffering situations in the host nation, and the sexual violence imposed on the Bengali Dalit women refugees from the purview of trauma theory and Johan Galtung’s conceptualization of violence. It demonstrates the multidimensional aspects of the refugees’ experience from a Dalit’s point of view, the idea of traumatic suffering, displacement, pain, violence, and its representation in Thakur’s fiction which severely contradicts the upper caste refugee experience in the post-partition West Bengal.
Keywords: Bengali Dalit refugee, Dalit women, trauma, displacement, violence
30 / 2025
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Abstract: This paper examines Soji Cole’s dramatic portrayal of the atmosphere of agony and predicament that subsist in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Northeast Nigeria in the play Embers. The play relays the disquieting social implications brought about by the rebellion and insurgency, such as the wanton destruction of lives and properties, rapidly growing poverty due to loss of livelihood, and investment halt. By applying the Jungian theory of archetypes, this paper examines the play characters' exhibition of the archetype (shadow), which exemplifies man's moments of inordinate, despicable, and inhumane behaviour. In the end, through the words and actions of the characters, the story indicts the political elite and the Government for failing to avoid the atmosphere leading to insurgency, their inability to end it immediately, and their poor handling of IDP. The play serves as a reminder that poor governance will lead to a socio-economic crisis and inhumane proclivity.
Keywords: Boko Haram, IDP, insurgency, Northeast Nigeria, proclivity
30 / 2025
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Abstract: S. Hareesh’s Meesha (Moustache) is a Malayalam novel set in Kuttanad, Kerala, that unravels the tale of a Dalit Christian, Vavachan, popularly known as ’Moustache.’ During an era when growing a moustche was forbidden for a Pulaya, he became infamous for owning one. Moustche’s story majorly takes place between 1939 and 1947, when Kerala had a caste-based social stratification. Dalits are viewed as mere exchangeable goods and are otherwiseabsent in the tales produced by the upper caste. However, the folksongs and polyphony in Moustache consciously assert the existence of a multicultural society. The songs become strong political statements potent for social change.They foreground the Dalit community’s existence, mark their plight, and elevate their life by reclaiming their capacity. The article thus analyses the politics of employing folk polyphony, the concept of Mikhail Bakhtin, as a narrative device in exerting Dalit identity in the novel. The folksongs themselves have a polyphonic nature, along with the polyphonic structure of the novel. With the aid of folk polyphony, the Dalit characters, Vavachan, Seetha, Chella, and Pachuppilla, open up to diverse viewpoints, multiple possibilities, and contradicting positions. They compel the uncouth, savage, seductive Dalit representations to step aside while negotiating and renegotiating their existing Dalit identities. Amongst them, Vavachan transforms himself from a starving lower caste body to the larger-than-life immutable ’Moustache.’ Through those narratives, he becomes a man of multiple identities- a Dalit, a saviour of poor people, a lover, a villain, a rapist, a trickster, and many more. Moustache unravels a Dalit traversing an elite casteist patriarchal delta space, exerting his agency and multiple identities through the folk polyphonic narrative that tides against the subordination of voices. It extends him as an open-ended tale- a living myth.
Keywords: Dalit, identity, folksongs, polyphony, multicultural, Moustache
30 / 2025
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Abstract: A British novelist of Tanzanian origin, Abdulrazak Gurnah, attempts to rewrite the German cultural memory of colonialism through characters who are either victims or propagandists of the regime. Native resistances were brutally suppressed during the colonial period. Focusing on such suppression and later marginalisation via the concept of historiographic metafiction, this paper offers a close reading of Gurnah’s anglophone novel Afterlives (2020), delving not just into the concept of colonial amnesia but also into the empire’s ideological imperatives as reflected in the fictional lives of its characters. From this perspective, this paper seeks to explore the condition of native people and their relationship with the protection force for German East Africa. The colonial discourses highlight the exploitative marginalisation of native populations, emphasising the hierarchical structure of imperial power. By considering the interpretations generated by characters during and after the German colonial period, this study explores the native resistance vis-à-vis imperialism that reconstructs dominant historical discourses and their associated amnesia in the postmodern world.
Keywords: Abdulrazak Gurnah, German colonial empire, historiographic metafiction, resistance, power, marginalisation, Afterlives
30 / 2025
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Abstract: This study expatiates on the roles of hand-made illustrations in self-determined Igbo cultural education. In simplistic terms, to illustrate means to draw or craft images for information passage. Totemism is the practice of harmless co-habitation between humans, animals, plants and lifeless objects. The Igbo culture is multifarious in existential mythologies that seem as doubtful as they are credible. Igbo mythology consolidates totemism and axiomatic expressions, thereby forming strong philosophical hedges around the people over the centuries. This study adopted the desktop qualitative research design. The specific objectives of the study were to: ascertain the cultural chattels of Igbo totemism and numerology, relive some Igbo axioms and mythology through illustrations, and buttress on illustration as catalyst for Igbo cultural heutagogy. The instruments for data collection and review were: journal articles, books and 53 researcher-made illustrations exemplified for advancing Igbo cultural heutagogy. Histrionic interpretations of axioms were also made.
Keywords: numerology, heutagogy, Igbo totemism, cultural chattels
30 / 2025
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Abstract: The article deals with the problem of using profanity in speech among students. The article shows the general social nature of this problem. At the same time, it was noted that speech free from vulgar, rude words and expressions is both professionally and socially significant for young people. An educated person who has received higher education should be a carrier of speech etiquette. The article reveals the reasons and motives for the widespread use of profanity, and establishes their correlation with the cultural, political, and socio-economic situation in modern society. Based on the materials of sociological research, it is shown that, although the majority of students tolerate profanity, they, at the same time, are aware of the negative nature of this phenomenon, and show a desire to change their habits.
Keywords: normative and non-normative speech behavior, profanity, obscene expressions, obscene vocabulary, youth, student environment, language, slang, jargon
30 / 2025
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Abstract: The study provides an interpretive analysis of the creative vision shades and visual metaphor contexts in the depictions of bipolar disorder praxis in Marta Araujo’s painting and Sohrad Allaie’s drawing from the interpretations of ten respondents. The study discusses the areas of portrayal convergences and divergences in the arts’ articulation of bipolar disorder as a universal commonality, the evidences of effectual clarity and cathartic ambiance in the painting and drawing. More so, the cognitive channels through which plausible interpretive attempts are projected through visual metaphor and creative vision are assessed through the respondents’ responses. The study adopts a viewer-response analysis approach in its attempt to come up with plausible deductions and extrapolations explaining the embedded significations in the painting and drawing. To deepen the purview on efficacy of art as stimulus for emotion activation, the study applies select theories explaining contexts of visual metaphor, creative vision, and erratic mood swings propelled by the painting and drawing. In the end, the study suggests that Marta Araujo’s painting and Sohrad Allaie’s drawing are effectual attempts at depicting bipolar disorder syndrome, which yielded variant interpretations in line with art theories adumbrating the ability of art to instigate differing ideas and attributions.
Keywords: bipolar disorder, creative vision, visual metaphor, painting
30 / 2025
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Abstract: The development of the psyche is greatly important for an individual and society as it embraces the emotional, cognitive and behavioural changes in them throughout their lifetime. It is the psychological development that helps an individual to attain self-realization and enhance a better well-being in society. Erikson’s theory outlines the crucial tasks and conflicts an individual faces and suggests solutions to resolve them in a way that promotes tranquil mental health. This study on the character Frank Mackey from the novel Faithful Place by Tana French examines the quandary and its remedy from childhood to adulthood through the stages of the psychosocial developmental theory by Erik Erikson.
Keywords: psychological, social, development, behaviour, crime
30 / 2025
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: The gap between desire and what is socially accepted often leads to tremendous inner turmoil; when that turmoil is disallowed, it can lead to tragic and bloody consequences. This research article examines the psychological effects of repressing one’s desires and the costs of living with the reality of never living a whole life through the protagonist, Etsuko, in Thirst for Love (1950) by Yukio Mishima. The paper identifies the psychological substructure of repressed desires and examines how Mishima has presented them as a source of inner conflict and a driving element of Etsuko’s actions. The research employs the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan to understand the repressed desires of Etsuko that manifest in destructive activities: obsession, self-punishment, and self-destruction. The study further explores how Mishima has employed the themes of sexual desires, unrequited love, and unfulfilled emotions and represents through Etsuko the tangle of social obligations and personal inhibitions in post-war Japan. Through a qualitative approach and textual analysis, it explores how the unknown desires of Etsuko lead to the emotional and psychological deterioration of her being, disclosing the dangers of repression within the context of Japanese post-war society, wherein traditionalism and the individual’s desires often clash with one another. This research argues its ability to elucidate the potential for violence when these desires are denied.
Keywords: desire, identity, post-war Japan, psychoanalysis, repression, violence
30 / 2025
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Abstract: Critical debates as well as everyday discourses treat caste and gender experiences as distinct categories often failing to address the complexities of the intersectional lives. The presumption of maleness in Dalit Studies and the apparent presence of privilege in feminist studies often leave out Dalit women’s experiences. The paper proposes to critically read Samata B Deshmane’s Matangi Deewatige (2015), the first autobiography by a Dalit woman in Kannada to explore the intersectional experience of Dalit women. Deshmane’s text, written from the margins, once again takes us back to the fundamental aspects of life and living. Deshmane, in her life narrative, describes how she and her family suffered the injustices of the caste system although her father was a freedom fighter and a communist party member. However, the family was also ostracised by their own people because they did not conform to certain conventions of the community. Deshmane says and believes that education is the only way out of caste discrimination. Deshmane’s narrative gives us important insights into the intertwined nature of caste and gender when it comes to the lives of Dalit women. Despite being an important site of oppression and discrimination in the Indian subcontinent, caste seldom gets critical attention within the discourses of South Asian decoloniality and critical race studies (Dwivedi 2023). The paper intends to read Deshmane’s life narrative to see how the intersectional experiences of Dalit women illuminate the emerging field of critical caste studies.
Keywords: intersectionality, critical caste studies, Devadasi system, gender discrimination
30 / 2025
Ana-Maria Teleoacă, Single-parent family and its effect on child development
Abstract: The single-parent family is a type of family that can influence the harmonious development of a child. Once the child becomes an adult, the imprint of childhood experiences can propagate into the social sphere, on other social actors. In order to prevent these possible negative effects, both on the individual and on society, it is necessary to have as broad an understanding as possible of the phenomenon of single parenthood. The article analyzes the effects of single parenthood on parents and children, based on the literature and available statistical data, with an emphasis on the implications on child development. An exploratory study based on the case study method supports the theoretical approaches presented in this regard. The analysis carried out took into account the gender structure within the family, through the case study method with several cases. Characteristics considered to be specific to the gender were taken into consideration: obsession for the male gender and hysteria for the female gender, and the way in which the two balance each other was analyzed. In addition, the cases were analyzed from the perspective of the socio-economic opportunities of children from this type of family, in order to visualize the evolution of the quality of life of individuals. Following the analysis, the effects on the child were presented as diverse, multiple and sometimes unexpected.
Keywords: single-parent family, gender structure, effects on the child
30 / 2025
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Abstract: As globalization increased its importance in the world after the 1980s, local governments emerged as an active administrative subject in this process. As a matter of fact, local governments increased their capacity in terms of democracy and efficiency by integrating with the new public administration reforms that increased their impact in this period. As a matter of fact, a similar process took place in Turkey. In this study, it is aimed to focus on democracy, participation and effectiveness at the principle and institutional level after the regulation of local governments in Turkey with new public management reforms. The method of the study is literature review within the framework of qualitative analysis.
Keywords: local governments, new public management, democracy, effectiveness, Turkey
30 / 2025
Andreea-Denisa Trășcan, Family policies and the evolution of natality in Romania
Abstract: In recent years, birth rates have faced significant challenges, and every country is trying to reduce their demographic aging in a way or another. This article aims to analyse Romania’s key fertility indicators within a European context, with a particular focus on the effectiveness of implemented family policies in promoting higher birth rates. Romania, like many European countries, is grappling with an aging population, leading to economic and social concerns. With a focus on the implemented family policies, this analysis seeks to determine their effectiveness in encouraging natality. By examining these aspects, we can identify how natality can be increased in Romania and determine the real challenges preventing the population from achieving a demographic balance free from aging concerns.
Keywords: fertility indicators, birth rate, family policies, natality, natural growth, demographic aging
30 / 2025
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Abstract: The COVID-19 Pandemic became one of the biggest threats that confronted societies and governments all over the world including Pakistan. It may, therefore, be relevant to assess the Pakistani media, which still is the source of information for the masses. Though the Pandemic in now over, the media today must learn or rather re-orient with a ‘New Pandemic Narrative’ for Pakistan whilst keeping the highest standards of truth, accuracy, and responsibility. It is crucial to return the focus to actual science, evidence, and consensus rather than partisan misinformation and sensationalism. Only with informed citizens can Pakistan effectively come out from a future crisis and that cannot happen without the anchoring of facts. Public and community health is often overlooked by mainstream media, which tends to prioritize politico-social issues. This poses a greater challenge for media professionals in gathering data, reporting facts, and disseminating information. This study employs a descriptive method that uses empirical data to assess the function of the media in Pakistan and analyze its responsibilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Keywords: COVID-19, Pakistan, media, crisis communication, public health
30 / 2025
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Abstract: The present study aims to determine the peculiarities of the first (February–April 2022) response of the leaders of the leading Slovak parties to the start of the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war. The research methodology involves a comparative analysis of the key Slovak parties’ evolution (historical-comparative method), party statutes and programs, posts on social networks and official speeches of politicians (content analysis), and determination of the characteristic features of Slovak parties’ ideologies based on their pro-European or pro-Russian orientations (comparative political studies). The study is topical as it considers the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian war from the perspective of European (Slovak) politicians. It also analyses correlations between Euro-optimism and Russophilia/Euroscepticism in the wake of a large-scale Russian military aggression in Ukraine. The research findings ascertain that at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in February–April 2022, the influential political parties of the Slovak Republic separated into three groups, based on the following criteria: “supporting Ukraine – condemning Russia” (HLAS-SD, SaS, OĽaNO, “WE ARE FAMILY”, Progressive Slovakia, KDH, “Za Ľudí”), “neutrality – European Union criticism” (SMER-SD); “Russophilia – the war between the United States and Russia” (REPUBLIC, ĽSNS, SNS). The study found that there is a correlation between the party radicalization and the pro-Russian position, i.e. right-wing radical parties (Eurosceptics) support Russia; liberal or populist parties (mostly Euro-optimists or moderate Eurosceptics) are unanimous the European Union and support Ukraine. In their backing of Ukraine, Slovak political parties differ in providing humanitarian and military aid or speculating on the domestic economy deterioration due to the Ukrainian war.
Keywords: Slovak party system, russophilia, eurooptimism, euroscepticism, Russian-Ukrainian war
30 / 2025
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Abstract: Creating an impressive online persona has become a crucial aspect of people’s digital lives, especially in the realm of social media. The digital landscape has reshaped the way young individuals navigate self-expression and identity formation, with social media platforms serving as the canvas for their self-presentation. In the realm of youth culture, crafting an online persona has become an integral part of shaping relationships, building communities, and establishing personal brands. From curated Instagram feeds to witty Twitter banter, the ways in which young people present themselves on social media offer insights into their values, aspirations, and sense of self. This article explores the literature of the complex world of self-presentation on social media among youth, exploring its relationship with other factors such as digital environment dynamics and demographic characteristics.
Keywords: self-presentation, self-presentation strategies, social media, youth
30 / 2025
Philosophical Avenues
Adrian Muraru, Advanced schools in Caesarea Maritima during the third century AD
Abstract: A short overview of Caesarea Maritima is succeeded by an examination of the schools dedicated to advanced learning in the capital of the Roman province of Palaestina during the third century AD. Although the available evidence is limited, it appears that these schools were quite numerous, primarily concentrating on religious education.
Keywords: Caesarea Maritima, schools, third century AD
29 / 2024
Albert Piette, Back to the substance: Interpreting Aristotle for a radical anthropology
Abstract: This article is presented as a reading of Aristotle, in particular his Metaphysics. It is not a philosophical or philological commentary. Written by an anthropologist on the basis of Aristotle’s propositions, it is a plea for observation of the human being as a substantial unit. It proposes a radical change of scale for social and cultural anthropology, which is accustomed to observing social and cultural facts. By drawing on Aristotelian lexicon (substance, substratum, movement, predicate), the article attempts to clarify some possible points of observation of a human being in his singularity.
Keywords: Aristotle, anthropology, existential anthropology, substance, individual, human being, motion, stability
29 / 2024
Carmen Cozma, Eudaimonía revisited, and human well-being
Abstract: A concept of great interest in our incessant search for well-being, especially in the nowadays movement from crisis to crisis of a general evolution seriously marked by the challenges of cutting-edge technologies with the rise of AI, is eudaimonía. Comingfrom the teachings provided by eminent Greek philosophers and being always relevant, such a topic needs to be recovered if we want to develop the best of ourselves in a humane horizon of beingness-in-becoming in a real (and not artificial, and superficial) world. This crucial idea is to be valued as the purpose of a desirable life, finally designating the highest good for human beings with and in the variety of everything-there-is-alive. The attempt to revisit eudaimonía leads us to draw a comprehensive approach of tackling and activating at least part of the very own human potential for a ‘life worth living’ according to Socrates, which is so much required to be discussed with greater depth due to the particularities of the current complex and turbulent context we have to cope with; and eventually, to find a healthy and balanced humanistic perspective on life.
Keywords: eudaimonía, ancient Greek philosophers, well-being, moral philosophy
29 / 2024
Melchor L. Cuizon, Rakhamim: A model of love and responsibility in the discourse of Emmanuel Levinas
Abstract: Love is the most worn-out and debased word that humanity often utters. In modern times it is understood in the Freudian views as an instinct–dominated outlook whose function is instinctual gratification that is narcissistic and infantile. On the other hand, this type of love relation also reflects a utilitarian motive of using the "other" merely as a tool or means to an end and motivated by the maxim of quantifiable happiness or pleasure. This seemingly “love for – the – other” dominates the passionate aspect characterized by mere pleasure or genital sexual primacy, a “need-satisfying object”. In contrast, the true essence of love is grounded on responsibility “for – the – other” as the good in itself as proposed by Emmanuel Levinas. The absorption of humanity towards this “disintegrated love” lurks a certain danger, a danger as such. This paper argues that (1) “love without lust” is possible as depicted in Levinas’ discourse on “Being – for – the – Other” and (2) this concept of “love without lust” grounded on the “otherness of the other” is possible through the act of motherhood (Rakhamim).
Keywords: Rakhamin, love, responsibility, Emmanuel Levinas, other
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The Copernican revolution that Kant initiated in theoretical philosophy involves several types of transcendental arguments: expositions, deductions, and proofs. Among these, the expositions concern the concepts of space and time. Among the arguments put forth by the philosopher are those supporting the idea that space and time are not concepts, but intuitions. I shall briefly outline the main positions in Kant-Forschung, then present my own position. Space and time are, indeed, concepts, but not discursive ones; at the same time, they are intuitions because they directly relate to objects.
Keywords: transcendental idealism, transcendental arguments, metaphysical exposition of space, a priori intuitions, discursive concepts
29 / 2024
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Abstract: Care is a vital context of human experience and is essential to a life of thinking that promotes the restoration of nature amidst the advent of technological challenges. The environmental crisis is more than just a mere disruption and human intervention in the natural environment. The absence of care as a shepherd implies humanity’s negligence in granting technological structures that displace all other human values. This paper reflects on the interconnectedness of the Filipino perspective and Heideggerian environmental thinking and aims to demonstrate our fitting place with the world and not as lords and masters of the earth. This work explores the effects of environmental degradation and strives for an attunement of human existence that promotes environmental concern. It discloses the need to revisit the path of meditative thinking to live environmentally and to realize the significance of nature as home. Finally, this paper argues for the relevance of continually asking the question of the Filipino worldview concerning his relationship with nature.
Keywords: care, environment, Filipino perspective, Heidegger, meditative thinking, technology
29 / 2024
Bogdan Popoveniuc, Moral psychology as ethical practice
Abstract: The development of GenAI, exhibiting intelligent behavior without comprehension, challenges traditional views that link morality to comprehension, emphasizes the crucial role of moral psychology in advancing humanity and argues for a significant paradigm shift to address the negative impacts of digitalization, virtualization, and increasing reliance on AI in moral and legal matters. It explores the complex recessive relationships between ethics and morality, as well as between moral psychology and moral philosophy. The paper critiques the current state of moral psychology, which is overly focused on positivism and often neglects the nuanced nature of moral judgments. It is argued that this approach relies excessively on “computing thinking,” which diminishes the subjective and emotional aspects of morality. The paper advocates for a humanistic psychological perspective grounded in a comprehensive ethical foundation, emphasizing the importance of emotions, cognition, social evolution, and character development in shaping moral behavior. It highlights the critical role of moral character and critiques purely rational approaches to ethics and morality. This “second-generation cognitivism” (e-cognitivism) must incorporate the enactive, embedded, embodied, extended, and mainly experiential and emotional aspects of the mind. This shift is crucial for preserving human understanding and preventing the surrender to a technological singularity. Considering its profound influence on human self-image, the necessity of embracing a pedagogical and visionary role in psychological research is underscored.
Keywords: e-cognitivism, moral consciousness, scientific image, scientific paradigm, technological singularity
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The full-time workers of a Protestant church in the Northern Philippines have significantly altered people’s lives in the locality. However, scant studies have unraveled their significant role in transforming their local church and community. The phenomenological method was used to unravel the lived experiences of the ten (10) church full-time workers. Moreover, the role of structure and agency that influenced them have been explored. An in-depth interview was conducted among the study participants. Their narratives were transcribed verbatim. Clark Moustakas’ phenomenological analysis was employed to deduce the themes and to elicit the essence of their lived- experiences. This phenomenological study was anchored to descriptive phenomenology and Giddens’ structuration theory. Results showed that their life of poverty, the church’s doctrine, the spiritual guidance of the missionaries, and spiritual formation have both constraining and enabling power that shaped them to become effective church workers. They also experienced many challenges in serving their local church. However, they exercise their agency to go beyond constraints. Further, they passionately preached the gospel, serving their communities through relief giving and medical missions for spiritual and social transformation.
Keywords: lived experience, structuration theory, phenomenology, agency
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The recollection of ancient manuscripts has been through long and challenging processes since Indonesia gained its independence. There have been different views about repatriating ancient manuscripts in Western countries and the countries of origin from which manuscripts were obtained, while these different views present difficulties when no good faith between the two parties is involved. This research aims to investigate the challenges faced by museums in the Netherlands, and the methods of coping with the issue of ancient manuscripts in Indonesia to allow for maximum access to help improve the national identity. This research shows that Indonesia and Netherlands had successful projects together, both physical cultural object’s repatriation and digitalized manuscript’s cooperation. However, the success of repatriating the manuscripts seems far-fetched. Following the outbreak of the Covid 19, the number of visitors to the museums in the Netherlands has shrunk, followed by financial problems and outcries over justice and moral violations expressed by the state of origin. Therefore, regulations aiming to cope with the problems are paramount by repatriating the ancient manuscripts of Indonesia housed in the Netherlands, improving collaborations in digitization and access to ancient manuscripts, education, and research, improving museum programs, and empowering visitors in accessing ancient manuscripts.
Keywords: repatriation, colonial, ancient manuscript, Dutch museums
29 / 2024
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: Focusing on the prolific Turkish translator Nihal Yeğinobalı, this study seeks to establish whether she can be considered a feminist translator. In doing so, her Turkish translation of the feminist author Erica Jong’s Fear of Fifty is elaborated on as a case study. Drawing on von Flotow’s and Massardier-Kenney’s feminist translation strategies and Allan and Burridge’s (2007) work on sexual taboo, the study homes in on (1) translator’s notes to explore Yeğinobalı’s visibility as a feminist translator, and the translation of (2) sexual language/swearing and (3) neologisms, which are both used as feminist strategies by Jong in the aforementioned book. The study reveals that Yeğinobalı’s translator’s notes are merely of explanatory nature and she is not consistent in her use of neologistic translation. Furthermore, she seems to have toned down the explicitness and offensiveness of sexual language used by Jong in the target text she produces. These all imply that Yeğinobalı’s translation strategies derive from a neutral stance rather than a feminist one. Nevertheless, Yeğinobalı–intentionally or unintentionally–uses the recovery strategy by translating and enabling the publication of a feminist author’s personal recount of her own experiences. In this way, she widens the canon of the women’s literature through translation. In this sense, the study argues that Yeğinobalı can be accepted as an accidental feminist translator who ends up serving for the feminist agenda.
Keywords: Erica Jong, Elli Yaş Korkusu, Fear of Fifty, feminist translation studies, Nihal Yeğinobalı
29 / 2024
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Abstract: This paper studies the select literary narrative to underscore the idea that urbanisation is not a neutral process, rather, it has a constitutive political function as well. Analysing the fictional urban space based on Simon Parker’s four Cs—culture, consumption, conflict, and community— the article studies the theme of the interplay between the city and other factors such as memory, history, and identity. This paper sheds light on how cities are political spaces that constitute the mode and meaning of human life itself. Memory and forgetting became two important political factors here. While underlining that any political space is designed, controlled, and utilised to advance certain political objectives, this paper attempts to explore through the literature of the city, how the urban space can be conceptualised as such a political arena where urbanisation itself is a political process and goal. Urbanization is the evolution of an ecosystem of life where things and beings acquire totally different meanings and functions. The study asks questions such as: how is urbanization [re]constitutive of various values and meanings? How should urbanization be looked at first from within the narratives of the urban life (inside) and then from the narratives on urban life (from outside)? and how does certain narratives play a role in legitimising or contesting dominant spatial paradigms? The article will analyse the novel’s concern over the ‘the urban future’ if left to sway between memory/forgetfulness, tradition/modenity and human/machine. The paper also names the self-writing characteristic of the ‘anti-tradition’ urban space ‘ecriture-city. The paper also claims that the city, mediating through it population entropy and dynamic necessities, often rejects given traditions, and writes itself through its narratives of the present.
Keywords: urban utopias, urban dystopias, urbanization, literary urban narratives, ‘ecriture-city’
29 / 2024
Alpaslan Toker, Love as reflected in the poetry of Jalaluddin Rumi and Yunus Emre
Abstract: This paper sought to explore and examine love - one of the most affirmative and pleasant encounters that an individual may endure in his/her lifespan. This unique emotion is regarded as a unique form of human relationship laden with the most genuine, profound, and passionate emotions. The article aimed to discover how Jalaluddin Rumi and Yunus Emre reflected and addressed love in their respective works of poetry. These two prominent figures of Turkish literature were deeply affected by mysticism and considered eminent and celebrated Sufi religious Turkish poets. Rumi and Emre fostered a profound and deep-seated love for human beings as they embodied overt manifestations and strong reflections of divine power. They both maintained an all-embracing, welcoming, and inclusive attitude toward people from diverse spiritual denominations, nations, ethnicities, and cultures. Their mystical poems provided a great deal of evidence and manifestation on the issue of love for humans and that of God.
Keywords: love, human, divine, humanism, Sufi, mysticism
29 / 2024
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Abstract: In this article we address the undulations of self in the face of pendular delirium represented in Isla partida by Daniela Tarazona.Between the neurological disorder and the idea of suicide, delirium is the center and starting point for the body and memory to be recognized in the narrative. The self overflows in the looks of a woman who multiplies. Writing becomes evidence, bastion and container for delirium.
Keywords: autobiographical acts, testimony, delirium, body, memory
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The portrayal of ailing characters in literature demonstrates that as these characters articulate their experiences of the disease, they employ cognitive mechanisms facilitated by paradoxical metaphors. This paper aims to examine the existence of paradoxical metaphors in the selected illness novel, Maryam Awaisu’s Burning Bright. Furthermore, it investigates how the ailing character in the illness novel, employs these paradoxical metaphors as a form of religiotherapy to support and bolster her mental wellbeing. Jacques Derrida’s Deconstruction and Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theories are used for the critical analysis of the selected illness novel. Recognising and valuing the expressions of ailing individuals holds the potential of enhancing effective communication within medical situations.
Keywords: paradoxical metaphors, religiotherapy, sickle-cell anaemia, ailing characters in fiction, Maryam Awaisu’s Burning Bright, illness narratives, mental process, medical communication
29 / 2024
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Abstract: This paper investigates the ecofeminist themes in the poetry of contemporary American poet Louise Glück, with a particular focus on how her selected animal poems subvert anthropocentric paradigms and challenge patriarchal narratives that marginalize both nature and women. Through a close textual analysis of these poems, the research elucidates Glück’s strategies for blurring the rigid boundaries that delineate humans from nature, thereby illuminating value dualisms and unjust hierarchies.Furthermore, the study highlights how Glück’s poetry critiques the logic of domination and advocates for a more interconnected and reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment. It posits that poetry serves as a powerful medium for ecofeminist discourse, offering valuable insights into the revaluation of women’s relationships with nature and animals. Ultimately, this research contributes to a nuanced understanding of ecofeminist thought and animal studies, while also exploring their implications for environmental ethics and activism.
Keywords: anthropocentrism, cultural ecofeminism, contemporary poetry domination, patriarchy, value dualisms
29 / 2024
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Abstract: As an outstanding representative of contemporary writers in Canadian animal literature, Farley Mowat has created a new form of animal story called the documentary animal novel. While inheriting the realistic writing style of Sidon and Roberts, Mowat has developed the ecological thoughts of his predecessors in three aspects. Firstly, he pioneered the use of non-fiction in the creation of animal stories. Secondly, he developed the ecological ethics thought of his predecessors. Finally, his evaluation of human beings is more objective. As a conclusion, Mowat’s animal novels put the increasingly serious ecological problems on the agenda, reflecting the author’s concerns about some existing ecological problems and providing a classic model for the world’s ecological literature.
Keywords: Canadian animal literature, Farley Mowat, documentary novel, inheritance, transcendence
29 / 2024
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Abstract: Proverbial expressions have their linguistic connotations and literary and social importance as they summarize a lot of speech and statements to indicate a specific situation or to judge a situation and to clarify it in a clear manner. The just few words of the proverb would enable the person to understand and comprehend the intended meaning without the need for further speech and explanation in many times. The proverb is a summary of the repeated human experiences which are confirmed by the practices and consequences that result from it. Proverbial expressions are important in promoting the social and cultural values that contribute to controlling, promoting and directing the individual and collective behaviors in the society. The present study aims to explore a number of socio-cultural values in Jordanian spoken Arabic by investigating the proverbial expressions that are used to show them. The study showed that these values were expressed with different proverbial expressions which were formulated in different linguistic forms and which use different tools and products to confirm their social functions.
Keywords: Jordan, values, proverbs, culture and society, national folklore
29 / 2024
Gassim H. Dohal, American literature: What to teach?
Abstract: When the opportunity arises to teach American literature, and whoever sets the curriculum has the opportunity to choose the course content, s/he will discover that there are many challenges. Among these challenges are what should be included in this course, and which poems, plays, stories or novels to be taught. There are a lot of literary works, but time, the level of the students, and the goals of the intended curriculum may affect all of this process. In this short article, I will present some suggestions that should be taken into consideration, and to provide an overview of the worth of American literature, I will also highlight a few of the numerous works from which a thorough, varied, and representative course can be assembled.
Keywords: canon, American, college, literature, minority
29 / 2024
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Abstract: This study probes deep into the linguistic taboos and euphemisms in the speech of young women within Batna community and looks at how they relate to the sociocultural elements that influence language usage. Employing a qualitative approach, the study involves 45 female English-major students from the University of Batna 2, selected through purposive sampling. Data collection methods include systematic observations, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions. The results reveal that taboo categories include sexuality, unclean places, metaphysical entities, admiration expressions, fatal diseases, and context-dependent animal names. They also demonstrate that the participants tend to avoid the direct usage of these taboos, opting instead for euphemistic substitutions. These substitutions encompass a variety of linguistic strategies, including religious terms, jargon, Modern Standard Arabic expressions, non-offensive conventional phrases, loanwords, metaphors, and softeners. The study underscores the role of religious and sociocultural factors in determining taboos and highlights gender disparities in their usage, with societal norms making taboos more socially acceptable for men than women. This research contributes to sociolinguistics by shedding light on language dynamics within a specific cultural context and elucidating the intricate relationship between language, culture, and gender.
Keywords: linguistic taboos, euphemism, gendered language use, sociocultural factors, Batna speech community
29 / 2024
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Abstract: Cooking transforms raw food into cooked food and raw materials into an edible culture. It is a performance art that requires skill. This paper analyses a multi-genre film, The Menu (2022), and how food plays a performative role. The setting is a restaurant where the dining space becomes a site of performing food. A satirical horror-thriller, The Menu presents the efforts of the chef to prepare the food relished by the customers. But what happens when they fail in their purpose? The theatrical experience of the film draws from the social experience of food, especially the satire on haute cuisine served in posh restaurants. Food is not always what is eaten; the paper looks at the inedible elements in the food that contribute to the performative quality of the film. Thus, this paper contributes to establishing the performative aspect of food through factors associated with culinary experience.
Keywords: performance studies, haute cuisine, The Menu, Mark Mylod, satire, inedible food
29 / 2024
Ishani Choudhury, Food and memory in Parimal Goswami’s autobiographical writing Smriti-Chitran
Abstract: Food is central to our identity and existence. Food is a medium of one’s own expression. Food, cooking, eating, meal experiences- all are often loaded with memories. The present article aims to investigate the ways in which memories about meal experience occupied a central place of importance in an autobiographical writing of twentieth century Bengal. Smriti-Chitran was composed between 1956 and 1958 by Parimal Goswami (1897-1976). He was a renowned Bengali litterateur, photographer and newspaper editor. He himself did not claim his composition as an autobiography, rather he mentioned that he was trying to draw a sketch of his memory and in such a sketch he had tried to preserve his self and his time. The present study intends to focus on- food as a signifier of a range of emotions, as a tool for personal expression, and as a reminder of the past- through the prism of Goswami’s Smriti-Chitran. While analysing food memories reflected in the Bengali autobiographical text Smriti-Chitran, the goal of the present author is to explore how any good food invoked such spontaneous memory, how meal experience got enmeshed with emotional-social-material relations, how food memories became integrally connected with some memories of illness and how food became signifier of happy as well as troubled days.
Keywords: memory, food, autobiography, Bengal, twentieth century, nostalgia
29 / 2024
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Abstract: Climate change is real and it is a global crisis that needs to be addressed with inspiring artwork. In view of this, the study examines the nature of creative fecundity at the level of creative ideology for select “Nsukka School” artists who through the manipulation of common-place materials sourced from the environment, created artwork that draws attention to climate change, as well as issues bordering our natural environment, particularly in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria where oil wells, tankers, as well as pipelines that spill oil from time to time on farmlands and natural waters. For the study, data was collected from extant literatures and personal communications with the artists. As a qualitative research, the study employed historical, technical, descriptive, and interpretative methods of data illumination and analysis. To back up the points being made, visuals of the artwork have been embedded. The study reveals that these artists as social commentators have conveyed ideas centering on climate change and environmental crisis with unconventional media. At the tapestry level of artistic fecundity, they have exquisitely created enchanting statement pieces, as part of their positive contributions to tackling the exploitation of the natural environment. Undoubtedly, this would inspire other artists, who are interested in these creative initiative and advocacy, since they would widen the scope of their creative imaginations of proffering solutions to tackling mundane issues.
Keywords: climate change, environmental issues, installation art, Nsukka School artists
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The article seeks to enhance our comprehension of comics by investigating them as products shaped by historical factors within the context of Mizoram’s regional comics. It delves into various aspects related to the socio-cultural circumstances under which these comics were created, shedding light on previously unnoticed or unexplored dimensions. Furthermore, through an analysis of the comic book Sudden Muanga, this article explores the portrayal of prominent political figures who have been caricatured within the realm of long-form political cartoons. This analysis aims to incorporate a more accurate depiction of historical reality into discussions about history. Ultimately, the article underscores the importance of studying the development of regional comics in India, an area that has received relatively little research attention compared to its more widely recognized counterpart, such as Amar Chitra Katha, while preserving the unique regional characteristics of these comics.
Keywords: Mizo, comics, region, history, culture
29 / 2024
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Abstract: As technology developed, storytelling advanced from being told from mouth to mouth to a phase wherein the mise-en-scene or diegesis of stories could come alive through the magnetic audio-visual medium known as film. Animation, a unique technique of film, has gone beyond merely amusing its ever-increasing audience with its exciting non-human characters to becoming an effective means of portraying reality with its incredible storytelling mechanism. This article uses the eco-critical theory to undergird its arguments on realism in animation. It employs literary, direct observation and media content analysis methods to examine selected animated films (FernGully: The Last Rainforest, The Lion King and Moana representing different environments of the Australian rainforest, African Savannah and Polynesian area respectively). The study considers the nature of animation in telling realistic ecological stories that live camera lenses, angles and conventional classroom situations may not be able to capture. It bared the fact that animation is an incredible film technique that can demonstrate stylistically the effects of the negligence of the environment by humans in a manner that film audiences/learners can gain insights and pragmatically become advocates for nature/green culture and environmental protection. The conclusion is that if the animation technique is creatively utilized in schools in different ecosystems, it can present to its audience/learners, complex ideas such as the need to preserve Mother Earth from wanton destruction for the common good of human beings in a simple but imaginative way.
Keywords: animation film, ecological storytelling, nature, ecocriticism, human behaviour, Green Culture
29 / 2024
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Abstract: In many climes, witchcraft is designated a paranormal phenomenon because its manifestations lack empirical evidence, interpretation, and clarity. In Nigeria, the acknowledgment of the efficacy of witchcraft as an abiding and pervasive reality reflects a culture-specific worldview. Stories of witchcraft manifestations abound in Nigeria and in Nollywood films; however, the veracity of these narrations remains a continual subject of passionate argumentation because the supposed deeds by witches are not empirically verifiable. This paper represents another interpretive attempt, seeking a deeper elucidation of witchcraft phenomenon portrayals in a Nollywood film, which looks at the role of music and creative vision in narrative realization. In addition, this study interprets the application of choice authorial utilization of magical realism and relevant creative arts to generate visual metaphors in scenes of shape shifting in My Village People, a Nollywood film which until now, has not received a dedicated study, examining its portrayal of witchcraft and the utility of music in extending witchcraft narratives. Furthermore, this study highlights the film’s efficacy as a platform for worldview re-aggregation and in the end; the study concludes that the shape-shifting depictions with distinct creative vision represent a critical intersection of arts and ideology, and a narration-enhancing approach that motivates quality-screening experience.
Keywords: magical realism, social ecology, visual metaphor, witchcraft, worldview
29 / 2024
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Abstract: Due to the fact that they suggest ‘visual’ and ‘audial’ aids within the learning environment, this article discusses several movies that can be benefited in sociology and social policy classes as educational instruments. That’s why, based upon his own experiences, the author describes a cinematographic approach to teach this discipline, which creates a ‘productive’ as well as ‘inclusive’ pedagogical environment for college level students. In this study, the scenes and related themes of sociology and social policy within those scenes were unveiled for a number of movies. In line with sociology and social policy discipline, topics uncovered in this paper include gender roles, discrimination, addiction, industrial labor, disadvantaged groups, racism, unionism, aging, prisoners, class conflict, unemployment, inequality of opportunity, family, the future of labor as disadvantaged group, and immigration. As research method, content and document analysis were used. Actually, the paper consists of three main parts. In the first section of the study, related literature about the usage of cinema particularly in sociology as well as social policy education was shared. In the second part of the paper, the scenes in the movies listed and their associations with sociology and social policy content was mentioned. Concluding remarks and discussions constitute the last episode of the paper.
Keywords: social policy, education, sociology, social policy and movies
29 / 2024
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: As the COVID-19 pandemic dawned, society was reduced to a state of exception. The most turbulent sight in India was the exodus of migrant labourers onto their homelands as the formal labour market collapsed. This act of ’migrating back’ emerged from the desire for ’home’ during an uncertain phase of societal existence. This research examines the social and spatial liminality of migrant labourers during a necropolitical era of restricted mobility. The same state of exception invoked by the coronavirus demanding a curbing of mobility turned out to be a counterforce behind the act of migration migrant labourers embarked on. Cartoons on migrant labourer migration during the COVID-19 pandemic by select artists such as Satish Acharya and Manjul are explored in detail to understand how the various visual techniques are exploited to portray the liminal state of the communitas of migrant labourers. Placed within the methodological framework of ’liminality and communitas’ put forth by Victor Turner, the discourse analysis method would be aided by Scott McCloud’s comic theories. The migrant labourers, while performing the act of migration, constitute a ’communitas’ and exhibit the traits of a collective community that experiences a state of liminality. Further, the study analyses how select artists have used the spaces within the medium of cartoon to depict the ’liminal space’ and the ’collective liminal identity’ the migrant community inhibited while on an exodus to homelands. The study examines the same by analysing visual narratives within the cartoons, focusing on visual symbols and metaphors, dialogues, colour palettes, lines and perspectives, etc. The spacing of these elements uncovers the larger social, political, and economic discourses within which the plight of the migrant labourer community is embedded. Thus, examining the same reveals the politics of migration of these migrant labourer communities within the geopolitical backdrop of India.
Keywords: COVID-19, cartoons, communitas, discourse, liminality, migrant labourers
29 / 2024
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Abstract: Lockdown is a paradoxical state of affairs implemented by the government to control the pandemic, in which people remain inside their homes and only leave for necessary purposes. In an ironic experience, it makes a case for people’s spiritual aspects of health and well-being to maintain interpersonal interactions during the lockdown. A notion or concept known as "lockdown as a paradox" is applied to examine the rejuvenating influence on welfare, health, and interpersonal relationships. The real-life paradoxical experiences of people will be found through qualitative methods such as textual analysis and recorded testimonials. The main sources for the research include written accounts of people’s actual experiences and literary works like My Day’s in Solitude by Annie Issac, Thoughts Unlocked: Lockdown Days Musings by G. Sreenivasan and The Day Before Today: Lockdown Stories by Gayathri Gill Lock Tales. Through personal accounts and first-hand accounts of individuals’ experiences throughout the lockdown, the research observes good health and well-being. In the interim, it investigates how lockdowns might be used as a chance for all-encompassing growth.
Keywords: lockdown, paradox, new normal, survive, life
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The narratives of illness attempt to capture the well rounded experience of illness which include the patient’s life before and after the illness. They present the patient as an individual with a complex structure of their many identities that interact with each other. These narratives draw attention towards the effects and role of the patient’s identity and environment in their experience of trauma and healing. They expose the nuanced and complex pathology of the illness experience which does not begin and end with the trauma of the physical body. In the context of prolonged experiences of chronic illness the changes it demands of the patient are life altering. It does not only affect the physical health of the individual but also impacts the various aspects of the personal and even professional lives. The layers of the patient-author’s identity such as their gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality etc. impact the experience of their trauma of illness. In this context the paper attempts to analyse the connection and role of the patient’s diasporic experience into their journey of illness through Anita Moorjani’s Dying to Be Me. The paper will employ frameworks from diasporic studies- Homi Bhabha’s work on the third space to analyse the impact of her diasporic identity on the experience of illness and healing.
Keywords: health/medical humanities, trauma, autopathography, patient-authors, cancer, NDE, identity
29 / 2024
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Abstract: Efforts have been made to reduce high maternal mortality in Ethiopia through the expansion of health facilities, training of health professionals, and the promotion of delivery attended by skilled personnel. On the other hand, defensive medicine is one of the obstacles to ensuring maternal health. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the extent of defensive medicine, the reasons for its practice as well as its implications for maternal health in South West Ethiopia. We used mixed research and collected data from maternity wards in four public hospitals. We found that health professionals in maternity wards practice a significant degree of defensive medicine. However, the practice is difficult to detect since it is embedded in local contexts. Therefore, although commendable efforts have been made so far, maternal health and healthcare services are left with a long way to go in the study area.
Keywords: maternal health, defensive medicine, Ethiopia, maternity ward, referral system
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The main problems and prospects for ethical and legal regulation of artificial intelligence in the field of healthcare have been researched. It has been stated that artificial intelligence is one of the promising directions in medicine, its implementation will make it possible to analyze significant amounts of information about patients from different databases, which, as a result, will contribute to both saving time and the accuracy and timeliness of prescribing or adjusting treatment. The issues of the legal nature of artificial intelligence, the main legislative acts at the national and international level, which regulate activities in this direction, have been considered. The European Union (EU) draft of Artificial Intelligence Act, which provides for the classification and regulation of an artificial intelligence program based on its potential risk, has been analyzed, its main tasks and requirements for EU member states have been outlined. It has been found that Ukraine is also taking part in the implementation of this bill (the sandbox regulator “was launched”, a working group on the legal regulation of artificial intelligence was created in the National Bar Association of Ukraine). The issues of legal personality of artificial intelligence, protection of the right to privacy in the process of functioning and operation of artificial intelligence have been considered. The basic ethical principles of using artificial intelligence in medicine and the main legal aspects of introducing artificial intelligence into the healthcare system have been determined. Attention is focused on the need to regulate native legislation that governs activities in this field, because namely the lack of clear legal regulation of these issues contributes to both rapid technological development in this direction and the emergence of risks that will be accompanied in connection with its popularization.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, medicine, legislation, ethical principles, protection of the right to privacy, databases
29 / 2024
Foram Patel, The concept of free speech right: Indian trajectory journey
Abstract: Free Speech as a practice impacts society at large along with a deep impact on the nature of the working of a nation as well. Free speech has been discussed as a theory and practice for ages but the impact of how far it is freely provided to the society matters a lot. Theorizing free speech and implementing it shall impact the society and the people living in it, as such rights are not only fundamental but also human in nature. This paper focuses on discussing the right of free speech, its legal trajectory through judicial review, and its facets such as rights, reasonable restrictions, etc. especially with reference to the Indian perspective. This paper shall draw the baseline to understand the concept of free speech as a right in India that shall affect the society at large.
Keywords: constitutional rights, legal regulation, internet law, free speech
29 / 2024
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Abstract: The notion, in the driver’s seat, sustainable leadership as catalyst for sustainable development is of highly importance in the embryonic age of community development. Prior research highlighted the importance of sustainable mechanisms and identified various limitations within the realm of sustainable leadership (SusL) and sustainable performance (SusP). With this in mind, this endeavor was designed to offer managerial and policymaking professionals insights into various potential avenues, encompassing areas like poverty mitigation, sustainable education, and community development. Building upon theoretical foundations of the Resource-Based View (RBV) and a comprehensive synthesis of integrated literature we formed a research framework with aims to investigate how SusL influences SusP. We also introduce a mediating mechanism of a novel concept of sustainable project management (SuPM) in this relationship. This research introduced four propositions that await additional validation. These propositions emphasize the need for further empirical evidence in the context of SMEs, thereby setting the stage for future studies. In essence, this research elaborated on both theoretical and practical contributions concerning the influence of SusL on SusP through the novel concept of SuPM.
Keywords: sustainable leadership, sustainable performance, sustainable project management, Resource Based View (RBV)
29 / 2024
Book Review
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Oluwakemi M. Balogun et al. Africa Every Day: Fun, Leisure, and Expressive Culture on the Continent. 2019. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. Pp. 371.
29 / 2024
Philosophical Avenues
Albert Piette, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle: Essay on the foundations of an existential anthropology
Abstract: This article is presented as an essay seeking to construct an anthropological epistemology centered on an observation of the human being as entity. Critical of the history of anthropology as social and cultural, the author calls upon Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle. The Parmenidean notion of ball, folded on it, serves the author to consider that there is an entity to be observed. The allegory of the cave allows him to make an analogy between the gaze of the prisoners and those of the anthropologists. From Plato himself, the allegory is positively followed by an invitation to look at reality in its imperfections. Aristotle allows, especially from the notion of substance, a large set of empirical interrogations focused on a human being. The author sees in these different texts the foundations of an existential anthropology.
Keywords: Aristotle, Parmenides, Plato, human being, observation, existential anthropology, singularity
28 / 2024
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Abstract: In this paper, I consider the possibility that Abbot Isaac of Stella may have known Maximus the Confessor’s writings directly or, more likely, indirectly, thanks to Scotus Eriugena’s translations. Of all the texts preserved from Isaac, I think I can best argue for this (possible) influence based on the Epistola de anima ad Alcherum and the Epistola de canone missae, recently published in the prestigious series Sources Chrétiennes. Even though the Cistercian abbot conceals his sources very well, rarely citing clear sources such as Augustine and Dionysius the Areopagite, I nevertheless believe that we can detect some clues leading to the conclusion that he was familiar with the texts of Eriugena and, by extension, with the teachings of Maximus the Confessor.
Keywords: Isaac of Stella, Epistola de anima ad Alcherum, Epistola de canone missae, Maximus the Confessor, Scotus Eriugena, tradition, 12th century
28 / 2024
Zoulaikha Elbah, On Bertrand Russell’s logical atomism
Abstract: The theory of logical atomism, introduced by Bertrand Russell, claims for a general correspondence between language and reality. As such, it seeks to describe reality via adopting an analysis of linguistic symbols. Yet, admitting an inevitable mediation of the mind, this theory has to submit to a certain subjectivity and appeal to some undeniable data. Opposing to an idealistic monism, Russell claims that one can never access reality unless it is divided into its constituents. However, showing a certain loyalty to a certain form of complexity, Russell’s logical atomism is found at a crossroad. Also, showing an hesitation regarding what might be the last residue in the analysis, this theory calls for some refinements, some of which may bring to the ground some basic assumptions of this latter.
Keywords: logical atom, fact, symbol, analysis undeniable
28 / 2024
Vicentiu Buzduga, A new method to test all 256 moods of categorical syllogism
Abstract: This paper introduces a fast and efficient graphical method (arrows with symbols and distribution signs) to verify all 256 syllogistic moods, including conditional ones. By emphasizing the role of distribution signs, the method achieves high accuracy and offers an intuitive approach, making it accessible to a large audience interested in logical analysis.
Keywords: logic, syllogism, inference, deductive, reasoning
28 / 2024
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Abstract: Thomas Hardy’ The Ruined Maid (1866), has been extensively examined within the context of the nineteenth century. It is often regarded as a representation of social themes during the Victorian era, the plight of working-class women as victims of sexual exploitation, the depiction of fallen women, the challenges of prostitution, and the incorporation of local attributes associated with the Dorset dialect. Moreover, the text’s discourse is typically interpreted as a dialogue occurring between two characters, namely Melia and an unknown speaker. However, this study introduces a novel perspective by identifying a third character inherent within the recounted interaction. Furthermore, this paper aims to deviate from conventional interpretations, instead, it concentrates on aspects of the verse that pertain to philosophical concepts such as the influence of social ideologies. This objective is achieved by following the semiotic approach; the words are meticulously analyzed to unveil their underlying meanings, drawing inspiration from the works of Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes. In addition, the notion of the gaze, as expounded by Michel Foucault, is engaged to shed light on the work’s implications. The existentialist insights of Jean-Paul Sartre are also linked to the analysis. Furthermore, the poem’s exploration of capitalism is informed by the views of Karl Marx, while gender-related aspects are interpreted through the lens of Simone de Beauvoir’s theory.
Keywords: Thomas Hardy, The Ruined Maid, gaze, existentialism, capitalism, semiotics
28 / 2024
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Abstract: In André Gide’s The Immoralist, four animals, namely bird, horse, rabbit and dog, appear with striking frequency. A semiotic reading shows that each of the four animals in question has a sexual connotation and this connotation is revealed by the fact that, being interdependent, the bird, the horse, the rabbit and the dog are systematically arranged with each other, in such a way so as to constitute a relationship of differential values, a structure of oppositions and contradictions. The bird is opposed to the horse: the first animal connotes conjugal relationship, father, wind, and death while the second signifies homosexuality, mother, water, and life. The rabbit, negation of the bird, is opposed to the dog, negation of the horse: contrary to the dog which is associated with prostitution, non-mother, fire, non-life, the rabbit is linked with incest, non-father, earth, non-death. The discovery of the structure of the symbolic values of the four animals makes it possible to observe the dynamism of Michel’s sexual life: this life begins with Christian marriage and ends with prostitution, and in this course of sensuality, the protagonist moves away from humanity and gradually becomes inhuman, that is to say immoralist.
Keywords: André Gide, L’Immoraliste, animal in French literature, semiotic reading, sexual connotation
28 / 2024
Volodymyr Naumchuk, Essential characteristics of game in the cultural dimension
Abstract: Game is a comprehensive integrative factor of human existence and knowledge of the world around them and themselves. Acting as a universal way of passing on to future generations the previous achievements of mankind, a versatile way to reveal the symbolic incarnations of civilization and construct new values, meanings and ideas, this complex and multifaceted phenomenon helps each individual to realize their main purpose - to appear as a person. The objectives of the research work are aimed at determining the characteristics and main provisions of the phenomenon of game in the cultural dimension. This is necessary to identify and reveal the inner unity of different views on game, the core of which is the philosophical and pedagogical idea of transforming the world through spiritual growth and physical improvement of the individual, the formation of humanistic guidelines and values. The results of the study allow us to make sure that the essential characteristics of game correspond to the basic elements of culture.
Keywords: game, cultural approach, essence, characteristics, interdisciplinary research
28 / 2024
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Abstract: The presentations with distinctive national features in the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics have worked together to render to the world a unique and splendorous visual show. Notably, every part of the performance involved in this discussion is characterized by the extensive employment of traditional Chinese cultural elements. To be specific, the performance of the body art is connected to the making of a Chinese landscape painting, which overtly gives prominence to the mediality of the human body in the creation of the traditional national cultural images such as sun, mountain, river, cloud and the like - the very representative cultural symbols of Chinese nation. The famous Dunhuang dance in the section of the Silk Road is presented with a long green satin which is heavily vested with national cultural connotations. The pillars used as stage props are engraved with the images of loong - a symbol of auspiciousness in Chinese culture, for the loong embodies courage. The invention of the movable-type printing significantly involves the wisdom of the Chinese people, and Tai Chi performance evokes the harmonious spirit that the Chinese nation and people greatly value. The rendering of these images through creative ways has casted the opening ceremony into a unique cultural text - as narrated in well- designed artistic forms, it has presented the world with an extraordinary visual feast.
Keywords: cultural input, artistic arrangement, creative rendering, splendorous scene, visual impact
28 / 2024
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: In a world of materialism where humanism has been lost among humans, studying human aspects holds great importance as it advances our understanding of human nature, facilitates cross-cultural communication, and encourages empathy for others. Little attention has been drawn to humanism in literature by the researchers, though. This study explores Idris’ Arkhas Layali from the perspective of critical humanism, focusing on how Idris uses storytelling to highlight the inherent richness and diversity of the human experience. Idris’s stories serve as a testament to his eminence as a humanist and universalist as well as his standing as an actual member of the world community. The objective of this study is to pinpoint the lofty ideas that inspire people to strive for humane values and to work to see them manifested in their own lives and communities. To achieve the objective of the study, a descriptive analysis approach along with humanist theories is adopted. The study shows how Idris’ humanism provides a potent critique of the dehumanizing impacts of oppression and exploitation and celebrates the fortitude, creativity, and empathy of common people in the face of hardship. Additionally, it embodies the fundamental values that Idris upholds, like human equality, decency, and freedom. The analysis of human elements in Arkhas Layali provides a significant insight into what it is to be human, in addition to adding to the conversation about how literature can probe the essence of the human experience. By using a realistic and captivating storytelling approach, Idris manages to capture the reader’s interest and elicit in him a range of social and moral issues.
Keywords: love, humanism, Yousif Idris, values
28 / 2024
Kübra Baysal, Depictions of women in the Odyssey
Abstract: Following Homer’s first great work, the Iliad, the Odyssey is the second oldest epic work forming the background of the Western literature. It recounts the adventures and misfortunes of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, after the Trojan War, which lasted for ten years. Although the focus of the epic poem is on Odysseus himself, several female characters, including Penelope, leave an impact on him, add different shades to his story and mature him. Through various female characters, Homer indeed reflects admirable qualities of women in the patriarchal Greek tradition. There is also the depiction of women as unfaithful seductresses by male characters like Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Menelaus in the same tradition. Thus, this study aims to point out the two different approaches towards women in the Odyssey as a patriarchal work and analyse Homer’s attitude through the depiction of women.
Keywords: Homer, the Odyssey, women, patriarchy
28 / 2024
Raisun Mathew, Betwixt and between: Liminality in George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo
Abstract: The Civil War (1861-65) and the presidency of Abraham Lincoln have been game-changers in the history of America predominantly because of the Emancipation Proclamation that provided freedom to the slaves. George Saunders’ debut novel Lincoln in the Bardo extends the scope of the plot through the fictional depiction of Abraham Lincoln’s personal and presidential roles. The paper seeks to focus on the in-between state/s of the fictional character of Abraham Lincoln influenced by the settings and situation that produces transitional attributes to the novel. Availing the ’processual framework’ of liminality proposed by Victor Turner, the liminal existence of Abraham Lincoln in the novel caused by the demise of his son Willie Lincoln and the savage political situation in America is traced. The findings derived from the analytical interpretation of the text reveal the presence of multiple liminal experiences in the character of Abraham Lincoln.
Keywords: Abraham Lincoln, American literature, civil war, liminality, slavery, George Saunders
28 / 2024
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Abstract: The Victorian Age was a period of economic progress for England, driven by technological advancements and the expansion of power. During this era, the British Empire dominated much of the world, and the imperialists bragged that the Sun never sets on the vast empire. The main factor behind this rapid economic progress was industrialization, which was marked by the establishment of various industries across the nation. But the industrialization of Great Britain was not without its consequences; the advent of the Industrial Revolution brought with it an increased demand for cheap industrial labour. It was the poor working-class families that were brought in to supply this cheap labour to meet the increasing demands of the fast-progressing nation. Many children from such families were also hired to keep the nation’s economic graph pointing upward. Child labour, thus, became a by-product of industrialization in England. While the mighty nation revelled in the glorious result of the Industrial Revolution, the poor children toiled hard, hidden away in dark, gloomy factories. This paper aims at exploring the issue of child labour during this period through the poem A Voice from the Factories: In Serious Verse by Caroline Norton, a prominent Victorian poet and activist. It examines the sufferings and depravity of child labourers in Industrial England as addressed by Norton and many of her contemporaries.
Keywords: child labour, industrialization, economic progress, Industrial Revolution
28 / 2024
Liudmyla Harmash, The genesis of a poetic title: Georgy Ivanov’s poetry collection The Roses
Abstract: The article is devoted to a poetry collection, The Roses, by Georgy Ivanov. The purpose is to analyze the meaning of its title. The genesis of the image of the rose is revealed. Having considered the evolution of the rose as a poetic concept in Russian poetry of the 18th-20th centuries, we found that the concept of the rose and cross was borrowed from medieval Europe, the poetic rhyme ’rose and frost’ and the pair ’rose and nightingale,’ which came from Eastern poetry, were very popular in Russian literature. The last two semantic complexes are actualized in the poetry of Georgy Ivanov. The transformation of the original meanings was caused by the change in the political situation in Russia after the October Revolution (1917). Emigration transformed Ivanov’s poetic world, splitting it into two parts: the beautiful past, preserved only in memory but becoming more and more ghostly, and the present, which the poet did not want to accept. Therefore, Ivanov’s texts actualize the tragic connotations originally inherent in the rose as a poetic symbol but are traditionally balanced by the meanings associated with the images of youth, beauty, blossoming, and love.
Keywords: concept of the rose, poetry book, semantics of a title, genesis of a title, Georgy Ivanov, Russian poetry
28 / 2024
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Abstract: The article aims to find the main problems of the aesthetic content of modern architectural creativity, interaction with the latest achievements of science in terms of identifying the specific expressiveness of the material and, in this regard, always topical issues of the architect’s creative freedom. The authors focus on discussions about the permissible degree of “violence” over the material and the definition of criteria for its naturalness as a significant part of the theoretical heritage of researchers.
Keywords: expressiveness of the material, “purity” of the material, “violence” against the material, aesthetic expressiveness of the material, figurative solution of the building, architect’s creative freedom, environmentally friendly materials
28 / 2024
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Abstract: The so-called ’Platonic dilemma’ is a product of Plato’s under- rating of the capacity of imaginative writing to aid the cause of good leadership in the society. This is probably what impelled Oscar Wilde to claim that “all art is quite useless.” This paper distances itself from such Platonic and Wildean broadside against literary creativity. Rather, the paper argues that imaginative literature conscientizes state steersmen to be positive and useful in the management of the polity and its scarce resources. The paper interrogates the reactionary but progressive dialogic on corruption and misappropriation, neo-colonialism and mal-administration with the consequences thereof, in the African environment as represented in Nwabueze’s A Parliament of Vultures and Irobi’s Cemetery Road. Underscoring the necessity for positive change through the reining-in of inordinate, greedy, and self-decapitating power, the paper details how literary creativity and its creators labour to whip power into line for the harnessing and advancement of the society.
Keywords: surugede, Platonic dilemma, the deaf, A Parliament of Vultures, Cemetery Road
28 / 2024
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Abstract: This paper focuses on Vandana Mishra’s autobiography I, the Salt Doll which was originally published as Mee Mithaachi Baahuli in Marathi in 2014 and translated by Jerry Pinto in 2016. It attempts to analyze the concept of protofeminism by unfolding some significant sociocultural reformations in women’s lives in the colonial metropolis of Mumbai. The study explores how a section of women revolted against the rigid gender norms to assert themselves in the public realm. It also concentrates on the miserable plight of widows who adopted the nursing profession. This paper features how male stalwarts, in those days, advocated not only for the upliftment of women through education, but also championed women’s involvement in theatres. The study employs narrative analysis and highlights how protofeminism can be useful to unearth Vandana Mishra’s mother’s strenuous challenge against regressive gender stereotypes surrounding female education and nursing profession while setting an example for women of the next generation to follow.
Keywords: protofeminism, feminism, widowhood, patriarchy, autobiography
28 / 2024
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Abstract: This study interpretively discusses two characters in Wole Soyinka’s play The Lion and the Jewel to ascertain how their behaviours and idiosyncrasies reflect the established theoretical understanding elucidating self-presentation and impression management as human day-to-day realities propelled by phenomenon of nature and dynamics of nurture. Specifically, our focus is on self-presentation as a conscious and strategic action in line with Sandra Metts (2009) elucidation, which highlights on behaviour dynamic patterns as that, which provides an observer with suppositions and attributions about an individual’s propensities and capabilities, and the motivations behind the displays. To discuss the select examples of self- presentation, impression management, or lack of it, as exhibited by the three characters in The Lion and the Jewel, we shall focus on content analysis to examine how the characters through self-presentations project themselves as ’tackles’, ’abstinent’, ’helpless’, ’worthy’, ’competent’ or ’friendly’, strategically or otherwise. Our finding is that self-presentation by a person during interaction may or may not be strategi
Keywords: self-presentation, impression management, humility, strategic
28 / 2024
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Abstract: The aim of this article is to compare the transformation process of women exploring two different spaces. This study primarily analyses the representation of women in post-apartheid and postcolonial South Africa and India. Flora Nwapa’s novels, such as Efuru (1966), Idu (1970), and One Is Enough (1986), provide critical analysis of the condition of women from different walks of life in these contexts. This research article also examines Perumal Murugan’s novels, including One Part Woman (2013), A Lonely Harvest (2018a) and Trial by Silence (2018b). These selected novels direct the study of this research to talk about certain women characters’ living conditions in the suburbs, the countryside, and the university campus, like colleges and educational institutions. For this study, the social context and class structure of the post-independence Indian and South African cultures have been taken into account. The research paper also unfolds the sets of social, cultural, political, and ethical conditions of the postcolonial world. The following facets, like cultural violation, power dynamics, use of physical force to marginalise, and lack of self-respect and self-esteem, also draw attention. This article delves into women’s relationships with men to represent their lifestyle, feelings and emotions. Here, the observation of women’s endurance of specific traumatic experiences at the hands of men and how their struggles help them express themselves to the outside world. It also throws light upon the persistence of women and their voices to be heard in postcolonial South Africa and India during their lives. Therefore, this study culls out the life experiences of women in South Africa and India.
Keywords: Flora Nwapa, motherhood, Perumal Murugan, postcolonial studies
28 / 2024
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Abstract: Literary works of all kinds, particularly those categorised as life writings, have explored and narrativized poignant memories of grandmothers and their comfort cuisines. This article examines the relationship between food and grandmothers in Salt and Pepper and Silver Linings: Celebrating our Grandmothers (2019) by Abhirami Girija Sriram and Babitha Marina Justin, a compilation of bittersweet memories of forty-four young women about their grandmothers. Despite the cultural differences, what is common in all the writings are anecdotes of grandmothers cooking, feeding or eating. These accounts of the daily labour of food preparations are not merely fond recollections of childhood memories. Rather, they serve as narratives that shed light on the presence of social, cultural and gender disparities that dictate the assignment of food responsibilities and food obligations to femininity and its effects in the lives of older women. This essay, therefore, is an attempt to analyse the ’gender performativity’ of the grandmothers especially through the means of food. It also looks into the culinary habits of the grandmothers which granted them a sense of empowerment when coupled with the privileges of their age and the culinary metaphors employed to convey the same. The paper further explores the elements of ’culinary nostalgia’ in the book and the features that categorise it as a ’feminised food memoir’ based on the concepts by Mark Swislocki and Nandini Dhar respectively.
Keywords: grandmothers, food, gender performance, culinary nostalgia, feminised food memoir
28 / 2024
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: The hospitality industry has seen a revigorating boost following COVID-19. As people start to embark on new travelling experiences, hotel owners have to keep the pace and enhance their hotel branding strategies in order to attract as many guests as possible. One such strategy is finding a compelling hotel name, which ideally should tell about the hotel’s history and its link to the local culture, to entice the customers to sojourn there. This study has explored the way in which hotel owners in Maramureș, a very touristic and traditional region in Romania, have decided to insert the local culture and values into the names of the establishments they manage. Based on an analysis performed on 502 types of accommodation in the County of Maramureș (hotels, pensions, motels, hostels), the findings show that there is indeed a great tendency of transposing the local culture into hotel names linguistically, in the form of anthroponyms, toponyms, specific cultural elements related to the Maramureș countryside life as well as semantic word associations suggesting culture. This study brings novelty in this scarce field of research and suggests that the liaison between hotel names and local culture could be a helpful way of promoting not only the hotels, but also the whole region of Maramureș, being useful for the hotel owners and local and national decision-makers alike.
Keywords: hotel name, culture, Maramureș, anthroponym, toponym, marketing strategy
28 / 2024
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Abstract: The role of a parent is important in promoting the development of character, behaviour, discipline, resilience, academic success, social skills, emotional skills, and coping skills in children. Positive parenting styles have far-reaching benefits for children, families, communities and society, and negative styles have reverse effects. This research paper conducts a comparative analysis of the parenting styles depicted in Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, focusing on Marcus as an authoritarian parent of Four and Natalie as an authoritative parent of Tris. Through the lens of Diana Baumrind’s theory of parenting styles, this study examines the behaviours, interactions, and effects of these contrasting parenting approaches on the characters’ development, relationships, and overall well-being. By examining the impact of these parenting styles on the characters’ development, this research paper provides insights into the influence of authoritarian and authoritative parenting within the framework of Baumrind’s theory. It contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between parenting styles and individual outcomes.
Keywords: parenting styles, authoritarian, authoritative, Divergent, Diana Baumrind
28 / 2024
Hamid Farahmandian, Socio-cultural influences of identity constructive behaviors on self-esteem
Abstract: The formation of a healthy self-esteem in early ages is of great significance for people’s forthcoming social behaviors, as it paves the way for taking healthy risks, solving problems and trying new things in their future life. People, especially young individuals, with a healthy self-esteem, will conceivably demonstrate more positive behavioral characteristics in the future in context of a society. Although, the study of self-esteem as a concept has been widely investigated psychologically; it has been overlooked in the recent socio-cultural studies. Therefore, this paper aims at the study of the links between self-esteem and upcoming social behaviors from an interdisciplinary point of view trying to combine the specific value tendencies with social possibilities and contingencies of pursuing those desires. To achieve these goals, this paper firstly presents the challenges and demands facing the research on social-cultural perspective of self-esteem; then it talks about the relationship between the influence of self-esteem in a person’s future life and identity constructive behaviors and also enquiries the sort of identities that individuals will give worth and follow after their self- esteem is formed; finally the last part displays the way that the pursuits of self-esteem are mediated and intertwined with social occurrences.
Keywords: self-esteem, identity construction, social behavior, future studies, socio-cultural pursuits
28 / 2024
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Abstract: A distant thunder reverberates across the world, echoing a deepening crisis that extends far beyond the realm of hunger. The global food crisis, with its multifaceted dimensions, strikes at the core of societies, politics, and ethics, exposing the complex interplay of forces shaping our modern world. This crisis, as depicted in Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s evocative work Distant Thunder symbolizes the impending danger and urgency surrounding the issue of food shortage. This research paper therefore interrogates the hunger paradox and offers insights into the food crisis probing into food insecurity, socio-economic disparities, the intricate relationship between geopolitics and famine through a critical examination of how cultural representations depict relationships within and between human societies, exploring these connections any ways in which these interactions influence and are influenced by the social relationships.
Keywords: hunger paradox, food crisis, ecoculture, socio-economic disparities
28 / 2024
Ebrahim Mohammed Alwuraafi, Lalami’s Secret Son: A new perspective on terrorism
Abstract: Lalami’s Secret Son presents a new perspective on terrorism, challenges the old and narrow categorizations of terrorism and creates an important contribution to the persistent discussion of the relation between Islam and terrorism. This new perspective suggests that terrorist acts are not always driven by religious motivations; rather they may be driven by desperation resulting from poverty and discontent over the unequal and unfair distribution of economic resources and are committed by desperate individuals to voice their desperation due to socioeconomic deprivation. The present article aims to discuss the relation between poverty, desperation and terrorism as represented in Lalami’s novel. Using selected theoretical writings pertaining to desperation and terrorism, the article focuses on desperation, the way it emerges out of definite social and financial conditions and tracks the complexity of different responses it entails and explores the conceptual terrain that separates, or rather links, poverty and social injustice with desperation and terrorism. It argues that there are many factors, as the novel makes clear, that contribute to the rise of terrorism including poverty, social injustice, deprivation and desperation.
Keywords: poverty, social injustice, deprivation, desperation, terrorism, Morocco
28 / 2024
Oana Ursu, Building business communication skills: Storytelling
Abstract: In our present-day information-driven world, oversaturated with data and facts, storytelling - or the ability to create and tell stories - constitutes a competitive advantage. Storytelling is not only a very important social ’glue’, a skill that allows people connect with peers, but also a business tool used to persuade, inspire, or trigger emotions. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the use of storytelling in a Business English teaching context, that is, as an essential communication skill that business learners should master. To this purpose, we carried out an analysis on a sample of 60 students enrolled in the second year at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași. The study was conducted during the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022, and it revealed that storytelling enabled students to engage more easily in classroom activities, it stirred their interest and boosted their confidence when speaking in front of their peers.
Keywords: business communication, storytelling, Business English, presentations
28 / 2024
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Abstract: This article examines representations of desire, disorder, and disability in Rudyard Kipling’s stories. Using the theoretical framework of postcolonial disability, this article offers a close textual analysis of stories titled ’Yoked with an Unbeliever’, ’In the Pride of His Youth’, and ’Beyond the Pale’. The analysis points to the psychological conflicts formed within the colonial desire and colonizing subjects that made them suffer from the disease, dysfunctional behaviours, and madness. One of the central foci of this article is to locate the physical and psychopathological disabilities as represented in these stories. This study not only points at the fallibility of the rhetoric of empire but also attempts to understand the ideologies of the British Raj. I argue that whereas the orientalist discourse defines the colonized space as weak, diseased, and lacking sanity, the colonists in India are represented as highly prone to disease, sickness, and disability in many ways. The discussion also reveals that the colonial enterprise has been harboring an unmethodical system that deliberately dehumanizes the colonists living in the colonies.
Keywords: British Empire, colonial desire, disorder, disability, Rudyard Kipling
28 / 2024
Philosophical Avenues
Lekshmi R. Nair, Human Precarity and Posthuman Ontology in the Anthropocene
Abstract: Posthumanism as an ontological philosophy contemplates the nature of reality and existence, and the notions of being and becoming in a techno-modified world. Posthumanism displaces man from his privileged position as the master of his universe and generates multiplicity of interpretations and theoretical perspectives. Technological and evolutionary theories of human enhancement and radical life-extension, constructed around the idea of the posthuman, position man firmly within his material milieu where he co-habits with other non-human life forms. The traditional notion of the human body as a sacrosanct entity has given way to the concept of the human as an embodied and embedded being. Technological posthumanism debilitates the grand narrative of anthropocentricsm and celebrates plurality, hybridity and diversity as the defining traits of future humanity. In the age of the Anthropocene, humans have evolved into a geological force directly influencing and determining the fate of millions of non-human species. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of the corporeal frame hastening our march towards the posthuman era as we seek ways to transcend the limitations of our body with the aid of technology. The proposed paper tries to understand how the pandemic has reconstituted traditional notions of the corporeal self, human subjectivity and identity in the age of the Anthropocene. The paper would also consider technology as an ontological manifestation, in the specific context of the pandemic, focusing on its potential to re-engineer ’human’ in anticipation of the posthuman future.
Keywords: posthuman, Anthropocene, pandemic, precarity, subjectivity, agency
27 / 2023
Ana Bazac, The Concept of Order: Philosophical Insights
Abstract: The short analysis allows the emphasis of interdependence between epistemology and ontology, by focusing on types and structures of thought which shed light on the different meanings and importance of (the concept of) order. We, as observers, belong to the world we describe, and thus the paper is a combined effect and interplay of both the inner order we do or we do not have feelings about, and our images about the order of our outside. How we do understand the concept of order and how we do describe the order from within and from without are related to an entire system of concepts we assume. Thus, the message is the importance of the critical evaluation of perspectives and the optimism to having criteria.
Keywords: order, chaos, telos, epistemology, ontology, phenomenology, cause, logic, balance
27 / 2023
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Abstract: The team of authors has done systematic work to update the interpretation of happiness in the global high-tech world, and also created the basis for studying the path to well-being in these conditions. The aim of the work was to analyze the happiness of a modern person and search for its criteria at the level of humanistic and intercultural dialogue. We paid special attention to attempts to improve human nature. In our opinion, such optimization leads to an obsession with creating subjectively comfortable worlds that do not interact with each other. As a result, we came to the conclusion that the understanding of happiness and well-being during the ’renewal’ of a person depends on the vision of freedom of existence and self-development, which is formed in different ways in East and West. The team of authors sees the resolution of this contradiction as the beginning of a successful coexistence in a global and highly developed community.
Keywords: freedom, happiness, well-being, superman, Homo Deus, humanity, intercultural dialogue
27 / 2023
Literature and Art Studies
Samridhya Moitra, Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Precursor to Reader-Response Theory
Abstract: This article contends that there exists significant similitude between the fundamental principles of twentieth-century Reader-Response theory and the notions of the role of the reader and the reading process ideated by nineteenth-century American Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). Through a close reading of the multifarious references, sporadically scattered through Emerson’s essays, addresses and journals, and the theories of Louise Rosenblatt, Stanley Fish, Wolfgang Iser and Jonathan Culler, this article attempts to shed light on how Emerson presages the Reader-Response theorists’ emphasis on the instrumental role of the reader in meaning formation, on the essentially creative and active, inherently subjective and unique nature of the reading process, the relentlessly dynamic and unduplicable experience of the act of reading; and, lastly, the indispensable importance of literary knowledge and competence as prerequisites to signification and meaning construal of the interpretative reading process.
Keywords: Reader-Response theory, Emerson, reading process, reader, literary competence
27 / 2023
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Abstract: This article presents the results of a project on the visualization of Yakut folklore texts aiming to explore figurative representations of Earth and space expressed through riddles. Folk riddles are regarded as a valuable source of material for research aimed at identifying traditional ideas about the world and its objects. A comprehensive analysis of riddles about natural phenomena, described in the forms of metaphors, reveals archaic mythological images and motifs about the structure and creation of the world. In order to construct a model of the Yakut Universe verbalized in folklore texts, the author initiated a school art project titled ’Postcards: Illustration of Yakut folklore texts’. The process of illustration was inspired by Yakut riddles collected by S.P. Oyunskaya (1975) and involved students and a teacher of Art and Technology. Within the project children conducted semantic, semiotic and interpretational analyses of Yakut riddles about the earth, the sky and celestial bodies. The children’s interpretation of key metaphors resulted in the construction of a visual model of the Yakut Universe and the generation of anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and subject-related images of the earth and cosmic objects. The postcards with drawings were subsequently processed by InVision App and transformed into pictures with animated 3D graphics accompanied by recorded audio texts in the Yakut and Russian languages. The further promotion of the art project at various conferences as well as the publication of the animated pictures in the Sakha Republic’s children’s magazine contributes to the conservation of Yakut cultural heritage verbalized in riddles that metaphorically describe the world and reflect the traditional mythological worldview of the Yakut people.
Keywords: riddles, the Yakut language, key metaphors, cultural codes, representation, visualization
27 / 2023
Omar (Mohammad-Ameen) Hazaymeh, The Proverbial Questioning Expressions in Jordanian Spoken Arabic
Abstract: Proverbs are an important element in society that reflects its culture, styles of thinking, and methods of dealing with life variables. The proverb is an important source for providing the language with many formulas and words where linguistic forms and social functions of them vary in order to serve the human being and to give him the ability to deal with things in an expressive linguistic style. The Jordanian society, like other societies, is characterized by the presence of different types of proverbs that people use in their daily lives, including the proverbial questioning expressions that the present research aims to investigate. The study data were collected from several sources and were subjected to in-depth analysis in order to clarify the linguistic components and social functions of these expressions where the findings showed the multiplicity and diversity.
Keywords: Jordan, linguistic folklore, intangible heritage, proverbs, questioning, social functions
27 / 2023
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Abstract: This study expounds on African American women writers’ fidelity to their ancestral legacy, and manipulation of the White master to the blacks in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker, and Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison. For this purpose, this study claims that these writers create a space, very much similar to the postcolonial space, where their characters exercise freedom, reshape their independent identities, inscribe their brutal experiences, and rebuttal to White masters. This textual analysis takes the postcolonial dimension with the significant perspectives of Andrew Teverson and Sara Upstone’s Postcolonial Spaces, interlinked with Homi K. Bhabha’s Third Space Theory. The study sums up that it was the keenness of the Afro-American women writers that they, through the postcolonial space, wrote about the dark legacy of the past, for the socio-political changes, to regain their identity, and liberated themselves through their stories.
Keywords: postcolonial space, identity, Third Space, ethnicity, African American writers
27 / 2023
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Abstract: The study is an interpretive discourse of creative vision nuances in Kareem Olamilekan and Alex Idoko’s select hyperrealism arts. It presents a theoretical assessment and fresh articulation of key cognitive or information-processing approaches detailing the mechanisms underlying an interpretive reading of art. In addition, it illuminates the metaphors of anxiety, aesthetics, creativity, and ingenuity in the select works. It utilizes an interpretive assessment approach to provide a plausible way of explaining the anxiety aura and creative vision similarities in the works. Our finding is that perspectives and comments about a given work of art by different individuals represent their flow/stream of consciousness towards the art, and these responses and comments, reflect abiding inclinations, experiences, and worldviews.
Keywords: aesthetics, arts, emotive, hyperrealism, narrative, pyrography, utility
27 / 2023
Ahmet Gökhan Biçer, Žižekian Violence in Martin Crimp’s Cruel and Tender
Abstract: Martin Crimp is regarded as a difficult dramatist to categorise since he does not obey standard theatrical and literary rules. Though his playwriting technique has a misty atmosphere, there is one thing that is definite about his theatre. Throughout his career, Crimp has utilized the horrific impacts of violence to awaken people. Highlighting the grotesque vulgarity and relentless savagery of today’s society Crimp, as the dramatist of the new millennium, exposes the terrible repercussions of violence, oppression, torture, power struggle, cruelty, fear, and victimisation on fe/male bodies. Crimp nakedly exposes explicit and implicit components of violence in diverse contexts in Cruel and Tender, his adaption of Sophocles’s play Trachiniae to the post/modern world. What is remarkable about adapting an ancient play into the contemporary world is to confront people with violence as a never-changing reality of human civilisations. Cruel and Tender is also notable for depicting images of war against terror in its historical circumstances and emotional violence with the purpose of a revolution and justice. The aim of this study is to examine the representation of violence in Cruel and Tender using Žižekian subjective, symbolic, systemic, and divine violence notions.
Keywords: contemporary British theatre, Martin Crimp, Cruel and Tender, Slavoj Žižek, violence
27 / 2023
Shobitha M.N., For the Love of Food: A Gastrocritical Reading of Alphonse Puthren’s Premam
Abstract: Through the lens of culture studies, everyday practices that were hitherto overlooked have gained heightened interest of late. Food Studies is one such burgeoning field of inquiry, building upon the complex relationship between human, the social being and his/her gustatory practices and foodscapes. It transcends the basic notion of food as sustenance and interprets its representations as cultural codes, gateways to traditions and as markers of identity, fixing class, gender, ethnic and familial classifications. This paper focuses on one particular cultural product, the famous Malayalam film Premam and studies the employment of food tropes and notions of consumption in it to identify food as a semiotic device, contributing to the film’s meaning-making practices. It interprets gastrocritically (Ronald W. Tobin), how such an employment furthers the genre adhering trope of the film, which is a romantic comedy. It locates food as a metaphorical vehicle that enables the formation and evolution of notions of ‘love’ as appropriated in the film. Borrowing broadly from various disciplines like psychoanalysis and gender studies, the paper argues that food aids in the construction of underlying ideologies like masculinity, gaze, and desire as embedded within the film’s fabric.
Keywords: food studies, film studies, gastrocriticism, masculinity, love, gaze, romantic comedy
27 / 2023
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Abstract: In this article I will read Jordanian American author, Jasmine Warga’s middle-grade verse-narrative Other Words for Home (2019) to examine how the young, twelve-year old protagonist, Jude, combats her loss and pain and how she retrieves her self-esteem in an emblematic manner as she migrates as a Syrian refugee to the United States. Drawing from my theoretical discussion on melancholia I will argue that introjecting any loss does not impoverish the ego, but can also invoke alternative ways toward emancipation and self-worth. Consequently, my discussion will highlight how children’s voices are required to be heard to reimagine the complexities of migration and melancholia in promising ways. It will also emphasize the need for re-considering the unfortunate predicaments of forced migrations as it contains opportune ways of generating a sense of conviviality in the midst of similarities and differences.
Keywords: melancholia, migration, home, middle-grade, verse-narrative, Jasmine Warga
27 / 2023
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Abstract: American dream of Indians usually speaks of the realized or unrealized aspirations in the land of opportunities, how the characters try to cope with their conflicted lives, and the struggles associated with settling in their dreamland. What about their family members? What about those who are never able to even reach that land to get an opportunity to realize their dreams or see them fail unpleasantly? Prashant Nair’s Umrika gives us a glimpse into such lives; it lends an eye to the struggle of the family members left-behind, waiting endlessly for their migrated family members. The winner of the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival 2015, Umrika is a film that explores America as the ultimate Land of opportunities, a place where working-class people of the 1980s yearned to go and earn a living. The film portrays the plight of family members of migrants through the settings of an old isolated village in India, the grim city of Mumbai, and the imagined city of America, the land of opportunities. The paper would focus on the value of this film as a cinema of the people dedicated to the working class attempting to create a better life for themselves in bigger brighter cities and the price that the family members pay.
Keywords: left-behind family, American Dream, migration, Prashant Nair, Umrika, Bollywood
27 / 2023
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Abstract: The appeal to The Lord of the Rings comes not only from Tolkien’s handling of the plot, characters, mythology, language, and themes, but also from the strong portrayal of evil. It stems from the Orcs being powerful physical images of evil. They are salient to the plot of the novel and are indispensable in complementing other images of evil. This paper discusses the two forms of evil, spiritual and physical, and how there exists a form of dependence of spiritual evil (Sauron) on physical evil (the Orcs). The Orcs come across as an important image of physical terror because of their sheer physicality and pervasive presence throughout the epic. They symbolise Sauron’s authority and the spread of evil throughout the realm and their countless involvement in many events have shaped them into compelling physical images of terror which inadvertently transform Tolkien’s epic into an inspiring and riveting novel. My study of the Orcs as powerful physical images of evil also seeks to unveil the influential role of secondary images of evil in the novel. The Orcs are an example of Tolkien’s ingenuity; they reflect the extent of his astute imagination in creating a host of characters, each unique in its own form and function. The presence of the Orcs also symbolises the necessary existence of darkness that is essential for the aesthetic experience of art to be felt. In that, it is from the coexistence of evil and good, and the conflict that is generated from it that inspires the dualities and complexities of our philosophical understanding of good and evil from the lens of Tolkien’s epic mythology
Keywords: Tolkien, evil, physical evil, Orcs, spiritual, mythology
27 / 2023
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: This qualitative study aims to explore university teachers’ perceptions on using flipped classroom in the didactic context of higher education. Based on extensive reading of the educational research literature that dealt with the flipped or inverted pedagogical framework and the perceptions of teachers, we argue that a limited number of previous studies addressed the issue in higher education. The present study attempts to fill this gap, by reviewing the literature and conducting a qualitative study with university teachers. The sample consisted of 25 university teachers from various faculties at three public universities in Egypt, who previously employed flipped classroom as a pedagogical approach or an instructional strategy in different disciplinary domains. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants in order to collect the data, and transcripts were subsequently thematically analysed. The findings indicate that Egyptian university teachers’ perceptions towards the use of the flipped classroom are overall positive. Moreover, flipped classroom is grasped as an authentic support for the teaching and learning processes in higher education, and also enables university teachers to effectively embed technology into their pedagogy.
Keywords: flipped classroom, higher education, university teachers, perceptions
27 / 2023
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Abstract: Women today want to work in the business world, and they prefer to be with their partners in social and business environments rather than be supporters. Dual-career couples are defined apart from traditional couple roles. Both members of the couple follow their own professional goals and are rewarded for them. This study focuses on the concept of dual-career couples. The concept’s equal gender perspective is questioned in general. Even though the concept of dual-career couples is still popular, does experience support collaborative family structures? This question serves as the study’s starting point. In the study, in which purposive sampling was used, 196 dual-career couples who work at a public university in Turkey were interviewed. A holistic method was used to assess the responses to multiple-choice, open-ended, and Likert-type questions. According to the results, when the attitudes of women in dual-career couples are taken into account, the concept of dual-career women is seen as a much fairer approach.
Keywords: dual-career couples, quality of life, women, gender, academic
27 / 2023
Amar Loucif, Accelerating Digital Transformation to Achieve Sustainable Development in Algeria
Abstract: Since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, digital transformation has become a crucial tool in several aspects of life. Experts and scientists agree that digitalization is the essential key for all governments to implement sustainable development in both developed and developing countries. For example, many African countries are focusing on improving their digital systems in order to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Today, this Agenda represents United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to improve the lives of billions. In the last few years, Algeria has seriously taken up the issue of digital transformation to achieve sustainable development. This research paper discusses the concept of sustainable development in Algeria and how digital transformation can contribute to reaching sustainable development. It also illustrates different aspects of sustainable development that can be impacted by the digitalization process. The paper demonstrates the efforts deployed by the Algerian government in terms of digitalization to reach sustainable development. The other objective of this study is to highlight the different challenges faced by the Algerian government during the digital revolution. To do this study, the researcher adopts a descriptive analytical method. In addition, data was gathered from various research sources (national and international literature), reports, documents, and websites in order to make a comprehensive assessment of Algeria’s efforts to reach sustainable development via digitalization.
Keywords: digital transformation, ICT, Algeria, sustainable development, 17 SDCs, coronavirus
27 / 2023
Sreelakshmi K.P., An Inquisitive Gastro-Political Survey of Tribal Foodways in Pushpamma’s Kolukkan
Abstract: The paper tries to analyze the diverse politics involved in food transactions in the tribal narrative Kolukkan. The novel is a repository of the life and history of the Urali tribal community in Kerala. The author Pushpamma molds food habits and culinary practices as an integral part of her community’s culture. A close reading of these habits and practices points to the hidden meanings of social hierarchy, ranking, privilege, power, and agency at the intersections of age, caste, class, and gender. Food is an effective cultural lens that magnifies human evolution, existence, and interactions. Drawing inspiration from the methodological framework of Arjun Appadurai’s ’gastro-politics’, the paper elucidates the layers of politics embedded in the foodways within and outside the Urali tribal community. The various stages of foodways: procurement, preparation, distribution, consumption, and disposal create harmony, and unity as well as tensions and conflicts among people. It is potent enough to unite and separate people. Though tribal communities are widely studied centering their customs, practices, belief systems, folklore, and socio-economic backgrounds, research on their culture through foodways is minimal. Hence, the reading is significant as food is one of the richest sources of cultural expression.
Keywords: tribes, gastro-politics, foodways, hierarchy, exploitation, Kolukkan
27 / 2023
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Abstract: The present study aims to explore the level of professionalism and the self-perceptions of community interpreters who work in different settings such as hospitals, sports clubs, courts, police stations, churches, and schools in Türkiye. To this end, this study adopted a fieldwork in which 34 students, who enrolled in Community Interpreting course offered at the Department of Translation & Interpreting, administered a survey to 32 community interpreters. The goal of this awareness-raising task was twofold: 1) to provide students with opportunities to interact with market participants in order to improve empathy and observational skills; 2) to provide some insights into the current portrayal of community interpreters, their professional competencies, shortcomings, and, consequently, their self-perception. Findings have revealed that the interpreters are skilled in different interpreting modes such as consecutive and sight interpreting; however, they have difficulties in taking notes while interpreting and lack knowledge of interpreting theories and technological advances. More importantly, they cannot improve those deficiencies through an established self-development program. This research further revealed discrepancies between the expectations from the self-development programs and their contributions in practice. Overall, student feedback demonstrated positive effects of the direct interactions with the interpreters to observe the status quo of the profession.
Keywords: community interpreting, self-awareness, professional development, professional competency, fieldwork
27 / 2023
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Abstract: This article is concerned with the issue of socialization in the context of considering the conceptual and methodological elaborations of structuralist thought representatives. This largely refers to modern social scholars, who have been involved in the studies of effective socialization mechanisms in so-called “advanced societies”. When examining the given issue, it was revealed that the criticism, inherent in postmodern post-structuralism as well as conceptualization of sociological structuralism are related to the common understanding of the productive determinants significance for “conserving” and, consequently, reproducing the established social order. Furthermore, the developers of these contemporary social thought concepts share a common belief in the dependence of the individual’s mental structure on the institutional framework of society. In other words, according to most representatives of the structuralist paradigm, the basic personality orientation patterns are a function of the social system, in which the individual was socialized. The same can be said about the individual’s affective-motivational structure, i.e., it largely depends on the specifics of the corresponding social system. Thus, the direct aim of this paper consists in revealing the general logic and arguments in favor of social determinism in the structuralist theory of personality development as well as considering the relevance of structuralist ideas as such.
Keywords: affective alienation, affective values, affective structure, socialization, structuralism, motivation
27 / 2023
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Abstract: The study discusses the role of human resource management (HRM) in administering and managing the diversity of the workforce and investigates critical issues of HRM’s discrimination in Malaysia. Malaysia is a unique country with a multi-diverse background. Unfortunately, discrimination issues are deeply ingrained among Malaysians and manifest into employment market. The article adopted a philosophy approach to investigate issues of HR discrimination by presenting relevant evidence and simultaneously interpreting data on three-level units of analysis: micro, meso, and macro. Philosophically, the present study makes a solid argument based on previous findings which has been synthesized to illustrate on how discrimination issues within HRM practice rippling the social system existed in a country. The study also aims to forward the holism approach into HRM theory and expanded the field across social science fields; at the same time, fill in the literature gaps on HRM discrimination issues that are scanty in Malaysia. It looks at a broad idea that goes beyond HRM and into fields related to social science, instead of focusing on HRM itself, which moves into holism to get practitioners to act in a professional way and paves the way for future research on the reality impact of HRM on three levels of analysis.
Keywords: HRM, workforce diversity, discrimination, ripple effect, social issues
27 / 2023
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: In this article, our main hypothesis is that in the future, if more technology is allowed in the Paralympic Games than in the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games will be more spectacular than the Olympic ones, becoming a referent. We conclude that this statement is possible, but cannot be confirmed with an absolute statement. This impossibility is generated by the fact of being this article based on a future projection susceptible to some variations such as culture and rules. Nevertheless, we present the difference between physical activity and sports, and between the Olympics and Paralympics. At the same time, we clarify the important role of the spectator and its motivations when approaching the sport. Not less important, we note that if sport becomes too efficient thanks to the technology allowed, can exclude an essential factor of every sport, such as its inefficiency. Due to all this factors, we conclude that Olympics and Paralympics could be seen from different aesthetic motivations, even for those puritan spectators who are mainly interested in the aesthetics and enhancement from the sport and its athletes.
Keywords: aesthetics, Olympics, Paralympics, philosophy of sport, ethics
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Ywain and Gawain narrates Ywain’s knightly adventures due to which he is spiritually transformed into a perfect knight. His adventure begins with his departure from Arthur’s court with the intent of avenging his cousin Colgrevance upon hearing his anecdote of combat with a knight and his subsequent defeat. At the beginning of Ywain’s journey, culture/nature binary opposition becomes visible with the sudden change in topography from the civilised court to the wilderness. According to anthropocentrism, culture and nature are often thought to be separate from each other and dichotomous. At first glance, it seems that Ywain and Gawain also adopts such an anthropocentric viewpoint, that is, culture predominates nature. However, it can be observed that culture/nature binary opposition and its rigid definitions are challenged and blurred throughout the romance. In this regard, this paper aims to explore Ywain and Gawain’s treatment of culture/nature binary opposition and analyse how the narrative challenges the strict boundaries of these two concepts through the lens of Donna Haraway’s term “natureculture(s)” which acknowledges the inseparability and equal importance of culture and nature.
Keywords: Ywain and Gawain, Donna Haraway, natureculture, dualisms, medieval romance
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein: A Love Story (2019) draws analogies to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818), which is a protocyberpunk novel. The postmodern novel interweaves Mary Shelley’s writing of Frankenstein in Switzerland and transgender Ry Shelley’s acquaintance with artificial intelligence in Britain. Frankissstein also connects the tale of the Titan Prometheus, Professor Victor Frankenstein creating a cyborg in Frankenstein and Ry’s beloved, Victor Stein, experimenting on cyborgs with artificial intelligence. Thus, the novel’s narrative switches between the nineteenth and the twenty-first centuries to depict the posthuman condition over the centuries. What it means to be human, the validity of grand narratives and all kinds of binarism are put into question throughout Frankissstein as a postmodern extension of the nineteenth-century novel Frankenstein. The paper argues that the novel provides insights into the posthuman condition through technocultural discourses. A posthumanist reading of the novel indicates that Frankissstein contributes to the deconstruction of anthropocentric binaries in humanist thinking regarding the relationship between not only humans and nonhumans but also men and women. The study also reveals that despite the time lapse, the concerns related to the posthuman condition remain the same because transgressing dichotomies lead to ambiguity in human’s life.
Keywords: posthuman, binaries, Jeanette Winterson, Frankissstein, Frankenstein
26 / 2023
Literature and Art Studies
Fatbardha Statovci, The Nature of God in the Gitanjali of Rabindranath Tagore
Abstract: This article offers a broad discussion of the nature of God in the Gitanjali of Rabindranath Tagore. Its principal focus is to outline in all its contours the nature of God as an entity from which all things are generated and as a gravitational centre to which all things are drawn, always underpinned by a personal experience of faith in and understanding of God expressed by Tagore, philosophically and poetically. An elaboration of the question of God forces us unavoidably to confront issues that are in one way or another connected with God, including the philosophy of religion, an investigation of the acceptability of God as Infinite Being in Infinite Existence, the absoluteness of God, his omnipresence, life as an aspect of existence and death as a transition from the physical to the metaphysical, the problem of the union between God and man, and so on. This constellation of issues will be explored through a distinctive prism, and will assist in uncovering and understanding the nature of God in Tagore’s masterpiece.
Keywords: Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali, God as afferent centre, God as Absolute, spiritual union
26 / 2023
Dana Bădulescu, Translation and Transcreation in Ezra Pound’s One-Image Poem
Abstract: This article tackles Ezra Pound’s one-image poem “In a Station of the Metro” as an epitome of the modernist Zeitgeist. Being essentially a reaction to the cultural tenets and philosophical underpinnings of Victorianism, which saw reality as material and objective, modernism sought to develop aesthetics rooted in a completely new model of reality. William James anticipated the modernists’ interest in “the stream of thought,” Henri Bergson looked into time and consciousness and discovered “duration,” Sigmund Freud focused on dreams and the unconscious. Very early in the 20th century Max Planck and Albert Einstein formulated their quantum theories. Thus, the late 19th and early 20th century psychology, philosophy and physics countered Newton’s neat model of an orderly reality with one governed by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. The arts contributed to the new Zeitgeist by rendering reality as abstract, eerie, flickery and “spiritual”: a reality of the mind and soul. In 1910 Wassily Kandinsky painted his “First Abstract Watercolour” and in 1911 he published his treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Reading it, Ezra Pound found a “language in colour” to which he added the Japanese hokku aesthetics, and those led him to his one-image poem. I argue that Pound’s creative process was translational and transcreational, cutting across the arts, their aesthetics, and across languages and cultures.
Keywords: one-image poem, “superposition,” “sudden emotion,” translation, transcreation
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Jungian mother archetype has a variety of representations including mother goddess, grandmother, witch and mother (in the simplest sense). As is seen in the examples Jungian mother archetype can manifest in different ways, both positive and negative. However, these positive and negative features may also appear in a single body, which explains Jungian mother archetype’s having two opposite sides, both being a creator and a destroyer. In this context, this study analyses Euripides’s Medea, Güngör Dilmen’s Kurban and Yüksel Pazarkaya’s Mediha comparatively, in relation to the idea of ambivalent mother figure based on Jung’s mother archetype with its contradictory nature both as a loving and terrible mother. Although, the latter two plays have numerous similarities with Euripides’s Medea, this study dwells on the idea of ambivalent mother figure specifically. Despite the fact that Kurban and Mediha have similar themes with Medea, such as the betrayal of the wife by the husband, the theme of revenge, and also a similar ending of the death of children at the hands of their mothers, the motives lying beneath the act of killing are mostly different from each other depending on different social conditions the three plays were produced in and their cultural backgrounds. Therefore, this study aims to search for the traces of these motives behind the act of killing of these three women.
Keywords: Medea, Kurban, Mediha, archetypes, Jungian mother archetype, ambivalent mother figure
26 / 2023
Petya Tsoneva, Rethinking Insularity in The Wind Under My Lips by Stephanos Stephanides
Abstract: The article discusses the role of insularity and island-born narratives in the context of cultural interaction. It poses questions about the role of insular structures in the production and concentration of cross-cultural narratives to contest I-land models of self-location. To illustrate this flexible aspect of insular being/thinking, I read analytically fragments of The Wind Under My Lips by Stephanos Stephanides, a Cypriot-born writer who writes in English.
Keywords: insularity, cultural crossways, linguistic identity, exophony, cultural translation, Cyprus
26 / 2023
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Abstract: The efficacy, messages and aesthetic value in a socially-engaged art depend on a number of variables such as the artist’s creative vision, skill, inclination, worldview, emotional disposition, and agenda. Similarly, the audience/beholders’ meaning-making and contextualization trajectories are in many ways attributable to their interpretive competence which are enabled by the variables listed for the artist. In this study, our focus is to provide a clear description of what ’socially-engaged art’ and a ’protest art’ denote, and how the designated arts of EB Mike Asukwo and Ganiyu Jimoh fall within each interpretation. In addition, this study seeks to deepen understanding of the dimensions of creative application of ’subtlety’ and ’aggressiveness’ as artistic metaphors in select protest cartoons by Asukwo and Jimoh. This study utilizes interpretive analysis to provide plausible insight into the embedding of metaphors in a cartoon in conjunction with applicable communication theories of art, to elucidate the kind of information the beholders can draw. In the end, this paper provides logical collocation behind the classification of the designated cartoons by Asukwo and Jimoh as ’socially-engaged cartoons’ and ’protest cartoons’, and how some variables influence the shades of meaning and message both artists infuse in the selected works.
Keywords: cartoon, creative vision, protest art, socially engaged art
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Though Marvel Studios sets its movies in the USA, the themes discussed are universal with great relevance in the contemporary age. Race, boundaries, stereotypes, politics and patriotism have always been important topics for academic discussions. However, the narratives around these topics usually spark controversy. Marvel Studios makes the discussion of such issues under the guise of entertainment palatable and educational for the masses, especially in the recent releases. This article is structured thematically, and a socio-psychological framework is used to analyse the mentioned themes in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (April 2021). In the process, the article probes into how some of the characters in the series develop their self-concept through their interactions with others and the world around them. Additionally, it explores how these ideologies reflect society through the medium of a web series using the seven functions of bardic television as delineated by John Fiske and John Hartley.
Keywords: Marvel Studios, media, racism, thematic analysis, semiotics, web series
26 / 2023
Mariia Lihus, The Commodification of Music: Performative Dimensions
Abstract: The article focuses on the phenomenon of the commodification of culture that is analyzed through the prism of the art of music. The premodern, mechanical, electronic, and digital stages of the commodification of music are defined and discussed. The article demonstrates the narrowness of the critical theory approach in considering the commodification of culture as a threat to the cultural value of art. The phenomenon of commodification is reinterpreted from the perspective of cultural sociology. In particular, based on the ideas of J. C. Alexander’s strong program in cultural sociology, the performative dimensions of communication concerning cultural objects as commodities are considered. Such theoretical framework enables to justify the contextuality of the artwork’s “aura” and its sociocultural value as a collectively created meaning in the process of performance communication. The research demonstrates that commodification creates new opportunities for the performative success of cultural communication widening its contexts. At the same time, it is emphasized that commodification may lead to the degradation of the sociocultural value of musical compositions in case of the audience’s passivity in musical performances.
Keywords: commodification, music, aura, performance, value, cultural sociology
26 / 2023
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Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to contribute in the history of the coconut industry in the Philippines. It employed historical (historiography) and literary methods (textual, contextual, subtextual, and intertextual) in the analysis of texts to understand the recollections about the coconut industry in historical and literary narratives and to determine their use in shaping the essence, dignity, and identity of coconut farmers in the Philippines. Then, from the analysis conducted on the recollections of the coconut in the historical and literary narratives from 1940 to 2018, this study discovered the ideas and knowledge that can be the foundation for the strengthening of the coconut industry in the future. Likewise, this study investigated and highlighted the value of coconut farmers in the Philippines, particularly, their major role in the cultivation of the coconut as the tree of life and their role in the development of the coconut industry which is the source of the country’s wealth.
Keywords: coconut industry, literature on coconut in the Philippines, historical and literary narrative, Philippine agriculture
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Gender inequality is among the most commonplace practices of civil rights violation which exists in all parts of the world with distinct consequences in different regions. It is quite a customary and prevalent issue in Nigerian society. This form of wrongdoing is a reoccurring decimal in Nigerian literature. A great multitude of authors, ranging from Chinau Achebe to Flora Nwapa, from Femi Osofian to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, have used their literary works as veritable tools to address the delicate and sensitive gender inequality. This article studied the impacts and implications of gender inequality and discrimination which is perpetuated within the ambit of obnoxious cultural practices as contained in the works of Buchi Emecheta and Sefi Atta.
Keywords: gender, inequality, discrimination, Buchi Emecheta, Sefi Atta
26 / 2023
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Abstract: This research paper is an inquiry into the inclination of the two principal characters in Shubhangi Swarup’s debut novel Latitudes of Longing to relate their own lives with the components of their respective ecological environment(s) that they come into contact with in the narrative. The plight of immigrants from India and Burma in the colonial Andaman Islands that the novelist implicitly and explicitly touches upon has prompted this research to be carried out through the perspective of postcolonial ecocriticism. Given that the Karen are a relatively recent population to be recognized as a separate community, another aim of this paper is to bring to light the sort of representation found by the Karen in contemporary novels, with respect to their treatment and perception of nature through the years of resettlement, rebellion and seeking an identity.
Keywords: identity, ecology, ecocriticism, Karen, Andamans, subaltern, marginalization
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Focused on eco-drama decrying polemics of conflicts between elders and youths, government and inhabitants, because of the subsisting environmental degradation in Niger Delta, the article exposes dimensions of frightening inhumanity, wastage, and monumental governance failure. Eco-literati such as Ahmed Yerima and Barclays Ayakoroma objurgate a repulsive culture of hypocrisy, mediocrity, nepotism, lack of patriotism, social injustice, and dysfunctional socio-political structure. This paper discusses the nuances of convergences and divergences in the playwrights’ utilization of eco-critical language in portraying shades of victimhood claims, and deplorable actions and inactions, which are inimical to the environment and wellbeing of the people in the region. Drawing from eco-criticism and interpretive approach, the paper examines the portrayal of implicit and overt instances of complicity in the actions and inactions of key characters in the plays as metaphors representing social-political negativities propelling retrogression, pain, and restiveness in the Niger Delta. The observation is that both plays blame the upsurge in discontent and violent restiveness on abysmal leadership by local elders/leaders, as well as the state, federal government and the multinationals.
Keywords: eco-criticism, eco-heritage, leadership failure, Niger Delta, oil, restiveness, Yerima, Ayakoroma
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Social relations emerge in a certain order and continue within the framework of certain rules. Just as the rules of law prevent the emergence of disorder and looseness, unwritten rules such as morals and traditions regulate social relations. In this context, etiquette also has an important place in establishing quality and effective communication. Effective communication between individuals as well as between groups, societies and states is possible with mutual respect and courtesy. This becomes even more important in political communication. Conducting communication between states, between politicians or between the state and citizens with mutual respect and courtesy is a necessity for the continuation of the culture of democracy in social peace. As many politicians have underlined and complained about, political expectations and passions have recently made etiquette less important in political communication. For the political institution to move away from the belligerent attitude and enter into a conciliatory, tolerant and respectful political atmosphere, political communication should be re-examined and questioned in the light of etiquette and protocol rules. In this article, the importance of etiquette and protocol rules in the communication of political persons/institutions/organizations is discussed with examples.
Keywords: diplomacy, etiquette, manners, political communication, politics, protocol, rules of courtesy
26 / 2023
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Abstract: Equal opportunity and fair access to quality education for children/pupils/students should be among the basic pillars of human rights. One of the major influences, and not only in pedagogical, social, economic and cultural terms, is the family. It influences the outcomes of pupils’ school success, the educational process and, last but not least, the life and career track too. Another of the main pillars that undeniably influence the upbringing, education and whole development of an individual is the educational institution. Considerations of social change have to include changes within the family environment. One such critical change is the very relationships between parents and children when moments arise where a parent does not, for example, know how their child spends their free time, what are the child’s interests and who her/his friends are. The pace of society stemming from a stressful environment that is hectic, and ethically and morally, in certain areas, socially unanchored, and felt not only by the parents themselves also increases the gap in family relationships. The family is more isolated from the world around them, and an increasing number of parents are unable to handle the child-raising process and attempt to shift certain areas of child-raising and responsibility to various institutions and specialists. The expert article reflects on the topic of the importance of the cooperation of various actors, who can contribute to the successful educational process of a child thanks to mutual cooperation, listening, reflection or engagement.
Keywords: cooperation, engagement, educational process, pupil, teacher
26 / 2023
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Abstract: This study aims to examine whether there is a significant relationship between the counterproductive work behaviors of organizational employees and the states of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, which are expressed as the dark triad in the literature, and if there is a significant relationship, to determine in what direction and at what level Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy affect counterproductive work behaviors. In line with this purpose, data were obtained from the employees of a tourism company operating in Antalya province of Turkey by applying the survey method. Internal consistency reliability, composite reliability, convergent validity, and divergent validity tests were conducted for these data. The research hypotheses were tested by estimating the structural equation model with the least squares method. As a consequence of the analyses, it was found that narcissism and psychopathy significantly increased counterproductive work behaviors in employees, while Machiavellianism had no statistically significant effect on counterproductive work behaviors.
Keywords: Dark triad, counterproductive work behaviors, Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, personality
26 / 2023
Vikrant Sopan Yadav, AI and Human Rights: A Critical Ethico-Legal Overview
Abstract: The capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) in ensuring human rights are tremendous. However, it may also have some denting effect on human rights. The use of AI-based surveillance, face detection, etc. has proved racially discriminatory, resulting in grave human rights violations. AI experts have also admitted to the possibility of developers’ bias resulting in biased AI inventions. This research article is an attempt to analyze the possible adverse impact of AI technology on the protection of human rights. The author has done an analytical overview of practical instances of AI-related human rights violations in the recent past. An empirical analysis comprising of an observation tool was employed to observe and analyze the expert opinion expressed during a conference. Based on doctrinal and empirical analysis, the author has made some recommendations, such as including technology-related human rights in national and international human rights statutes, to strike a balance between human rights and AI innovation, with the ultimate goal of protecting human rights.
Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI), human rights (HR), issues, statute
26 / 2023
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Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic, which devastated social and economic life all over the world, led to significant changes in the organizational processes within educational, social, medical, and working settings. The primary aim of this study is to explore the perceptions and first-hand experiences posed by the actors of the translation industry regarding the permanent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on socio-economic and psychosocial conditions in the wider and personal context through inductive content analysis. With this purpose, drawing upon a course-based applied research project, a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews administered to 86 participants were instrumentalized to scrutinize socio-economic vulnerability, the dynamics of work-life balance, work-family balance, changes in the translator and interpreter profiles, and permanent changes in the field on the basis of the evolving translation market during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed that participants informed about negative experiences about teleworking or telecommuting during the pandemic, (i.e., lower performance, demotivation, work-life imbalance, work-family conflict, and the risk of burnout) in addition to some favorable outcomes such as enhancement of quality of life, increasing job performance and satisfaction, lesser work-family imbalance, reduced rates of stress. In spite of a rise in the required qualifications of the workers in the sector concerning technology literacy, skills in using CAT tools and familiarity with remote interpreting, promotion opportunities and wages were reported to decrease. Moreover, this study underlines the emergence of an interpreting mode and the required technology literacy impel a revolutionary change in the translation training and inevitably jeopardize the job of those who cannot keep up with the digitalization and technological development.
Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, translation industry, first-hand experiences work-life balance, work-family balance, new translator profile, permanent changes in the sector
26 / 2023
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: The paper discusses the concept of sin in its two appearances: as a characteristic of the subject’s deeds and thus tantamount to its guilt, and as a social labelling, as a concept. Beyond the religious standpoint, the analysis of sin emphasises the differences between different types of mistakes, the criteria of their appraisal, the meanings of the sin and the feelings around it, the ideological difference between who control the information and value generation in society and those who are oblige to assume these information and values, and the hegemony of the point of view of the former are mentioned. In the hegemonic view, the background and meaning of the sin is disobedience, the infringement of the most important moral constitutive rules, thus of the moral order of things. This phenomenon emphasises the feature of the sin, the irreversible. However, it is possible and necessary to distinguish between different kinds of irreversible, and the criterion is, obviously, that of the consequences of the irreversible facts. In this line, the paper shows the determinism of the sin and of the social labelling of facts as sins, and points the dominant way to avoid the sin and its limits, as well as the alternative way to not sin. Demonstrating the constitution of moral choices (moral discourses, moral logic, moral feelings), the analysis emphasises that the biggest sin is to use words improperly to the moral choice of the good.
Keywords: words, mistake, sin, Kant, irreversible, choice, trust, moral distress, information, logic
25 / 2022
Lyudmila Molodkina, Philosophy of Scientific Knowledge and the Architectural Science
Abstract: This article presents an attempt to analyze the philosophy of the formation of architecture as a scientific sphere on the basis of an interdisciplinary approach, taking into account the accumulated changes in historical time and space, as well as in the context of philosophical and ideological transformations.
Keywords: philosophy of science, architectural science, interdisciplinary approach, philosophical problems and foundations of architecture
25 / 2022
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Abstract: Notions of hybridity, augmentation and virtual embodiment permeate the technocultural scape of contemporary times. The avalanche of information and technology has ushered in a novel way of perceiving our world. The evolving context of self-improving sentient artificial intelligence and the resultant demand for conferring personhood rights and civil privileges to electronic personality cannot be examined without placing it in the larger milieu of human civil rights and the risks and benefits it entails for the human race. Emerging and converging technologies are shaping and redefining our material world in hitherto unimaginable ways. Hence it becomes imperative that such technologies be designed and deployed in a manner that ensures the safety and survival of the one sentient organic life form on the face of the earth. Regulation of AI rights is quintessential to ensuring human rights. Speculative fiction has time and again come out with cautionary tales of the possible aftermath of exponential technological growth. An AI that is programmed with self-improvement and problem-solving abilities to mimic and act like a human being might consider itself an equal to his organic counterpart. Thus all distinctions between the organic and the non-organic, man and machine would be obliterated and humanity shall witness the emergence of a super intelligent race infinitely stronger and powerful than itself. The present paper discusses the intersection of AI rights with human rights by analysing its diverse fictional treatment by writers such as Isaac Asimov, Brad Aiken and Dan Brown. As autonomous beings with abilities that surpass human intelligence and capabilities would greatly be integrated into our socio-cultural fabric with the coming technological singularity, human rights would be significantly refurbished in terms of AI rights.
Keywords: technological singularity, human rights, artificial intelligence, automata, sentient machines
25 / 2022
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: In Migrations, poetry is also the testimony of collective memory, memories that always take part in the poem while acting as voices. Gloria Gervitz takes up the stories of the past, its echoes, while memory appears fragmented like a kaleidoscope in constant self-construction, where new records, marks and traces are added as seeds of remembrance, layers that merge through new editions. This article proposes to analyze the poems of Migrations, utilizing the concepts of collective memory as understood by Maurice Halbwachs and intertextuality, inspired by the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin and Gérard Genette, with the objective of contemplating and reflecting upon the “cosmic fire” of Gloria Gervitz’s poetics.
Keywords: collective memory, cosmic fire, Gloria Gervitz
25 / 2022
Philo Igue Okpeki, The Relevance of Music in Nollywood
Abstract: The paper examines the relevance of music in Nollywood, the Nigerian home video film industry. There is a dearth of critical works on music studies in Nollywood. Film critics and scholars engage themselves more on socio-political, economic and technical issues when Nollywood is discussed as a means to promote cultural art form. It is against this backdrop of the neglect of sounds, especially music in Nollywood in critical discourses, that this paper attempts to examine the relevance of music in the realization of the composite sense of realism in the Nigeria film practice. Also, this research uses content analysis method to investigate how music facilitates the easy communication of the cineaste’s message to the film audience. The research reveals that while music and actions are complimentary, they are also imperative for the audience to fully decode the meaning of the film.
Keywords: Nollywood, film, realism, music, audience
25 / 2022
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Abstract: This paper discusses cultural sayings, known as proverbs, as a body of special speeches in which meanings are encrypted in figurative codes and deep structures by way of analogy and elevated comparisons. Within this corpus are proverbs, anecdotes, idioms, and epigrammatic sayings which constitute the wisdom of the elders of the communities, having been distilled from over the ages. The data investigated for this paper comprise 20 aspects of the meaning of Nigerian proverbs from two major cultural blocks namely, Yoruba and Mbube. The selected proverbs and their meanings were obtained from community leaders, traditional rulers, senior citizens, clan heads and other leaders of opinions in both communities while some others were gathered from the public domain. We posit that proverbs are capsules of knowledge that have both surface and deep meaning structures. This linguistic arsenal of verbal fireworks constitutes a safeguard for elders and community leaders in the way they deploy important messages, judgments, and counsel. This present study establishes a common link between the two cultural environments by the social values upheld in both communities, as demonstrated in their proverbs under study. We attempt to demonstrate the importance of this cultural-linguistic tool by using the theoretical framework of the Hallidayan interpersonal function in addition to Eugene Nida’s theory of equivalency in translating the proverbs into English. Findings from the results reveal that proverbs do serve as regulators of behaviours and moral templates upon which socio-cultural values are built both among the Yoruba and Mbube people of Nigeria. Proverbs contribute immensely to character reformation, value re-orientation and social redemption in the ideal African society. The use of a proverb or a cultural maxim portrays its user as a wise person. Simultaneously, hearkening to the messages contained in them is capable of making one wise as they serve as informal processes of teaching the lore, norms and nuances of any culture.
Keywords: wisdom, proverbs, sociolinguistics, Yoruba, Mbube
25 / 2022
Omar Hazaymeh, A Linguistic Study of Jordanian Popular Metonymic Expressions
Abstract: Metonymy is a kind of rhetorical art that people use to express different purposes. It is related to the social context which in turn is related to the linguistic behavior because the relation between the metonymy and the social context shows the communicative role of the metonymy and the function it achieves in the social context. Besides, the temporal and spatial elements play important role in building metonymy. The study aims to investigate metonymic expressions in Jordanian Arabic. It focuses on three sides ’body parts, winter condition, and English borrowed words.’ The corpus of the study is collected from various related sources; then it undergoes deep investigation where the findings show that inside and outside body parts are used for metonymic expressions. The study also showed that winter conditions are other sources of metonymic expressions in addition to a number of English loanwords. The outcomes also concluded that these metonymic expressions were used for different social functions in Jordan.
Keywords: Jordan, metonymy, body parts, weather, English loanwords
25 / 2022
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Abstract: The Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which is oil rich, is one of the environmentally devastated places in the world. This stems from decades of gas flaring, crude oil spillages, oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the region. While academic disciplines such as geography and anthropology have engaged in critical explorations on environmental mitigation especially on the Niger Delta, film critics in Nigeria have not fully explored the environmental discourse that has gathered strength in other disciplines central to the greening of the humanities. Therefore remains a dearth of critical underpinning for environment and cinema. Consequently, I examine environmental crises in the films The Nigerian Oil Thieves and The True Price of Crude Oil. I investigate environmental awareness in the documentaries understudy. The research adopts literary and content analysis methods to interrogate The Nigerian Oil Thieves and The True Price of Crude Oil on environmental crises in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The study is anchored on Adrian Ivakhiv’s biocentric model of ecocriticism, which involves the acknowledged unity of man and all the creatures and the environment around him. This approach recommends a shift toward biocentrism
Keywords: biocentrism, performance aesthetics, documentary films, Niger Delta
25 / 2022
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: Modern economies are heavily dependent on business and industrialization. A steady supply of energy at an economical price is crucial to all industrial activities. Moreover, industrialization in the 21st century is being re-conceptualized from the optic of sustainable development. Starting with the Rio Conference (1992) and gaining momentum through the Paris Agreement (2015), governments worldwide are taking a lot of measures to ensure eco-friendly development and inclusive growth that can be equally rewarding to people, profit, and the planet. Accordingly, there is a remarkable shift in focus from the conventional sources of energy such as fossil fuel to a spectrum of more sustainable and renewable sources such as solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, and biomass. Energy sources such as hydroelectricity projects and nuclear power plants are mostly government-driven. Energy sources such as geothermal projects, biomass, solar, wind, or tidal energy projects are open to private investments. The private sector consists of several players: large scale industries, MSMEs, or individuals. To sum up, modern economies need sustainable energy entrepreneurs to keep them thriving. In this perspective, a developing country like India, with huge potentials and aspirations to emerge as a developed nation, needs thousands of sustainable energy entrepreneurs to keep the India growth story alive. In this context, this paper discusses the importance of training and education to promote sustainable energy entrepreneurship in India.
Keywords: energy entrepreneurship, energy policy, renewable energy, entrepreneurial education, development communication
25 / 2022
Cătălin Dîrţu, I Dream, Therefore I Am
Abstract: According to the poet’s inspired words, dreams enable “our inner eye” to catch a glimpse of another reality. The “different” reality always has the ability of surprising and even shaking us, given that none of us mortals has ever been able to escape dreaming. Impregnated by strong emotions, the dream is often experienced so intensely, that it can influence our mental state for the entire day. Accompanied most often by the sensation that everything happening to us is real, the dream seems to be the second-ranking game of the human psyche, worth taking seriously. And the fact that scientists have only been able to get a shallow grasp of its secrets, my goal in this paper is to conduct a periplus of the primary theories that have attempted to surprise, in its essence, this sleep-related process capable of marking everyone’s awakening.
Keywords: dream, interpretation, psychoanalysis, evolutionary psychology, cognitivism
25 / 2022
Iryna G. Utiuzh and Laryssa V. Sazanovych, Sociocultural Determinants of Public Health
Abstract: The article discusses public health in terms of national security, and socio-cultural aspects that influence its promotion. A complex socio-philosophical methodology underlies the findings analysis of social and medical surveys, national health-promoting lifestyle programs, television advertising content. The logically based approach of historical and philosophical parallelism allows discerning the path and outcome of current Ukrainians’ attitude toward health promotion. The study looks at several socio-cultural stages in the evolution of personal health attitudes as a moral concern and the foundation for public health promotion: the social transformations that the paternalistic model of medicine underwent, and the correlation between the individual and public health attitudes. The research of the personal health attitudes of Ukrainians demonstrates its deep embedment in religion and ideology. The current surveys have proved the emergence of a new tendency related to personal health - the recognition of health’s significance as a means of achieving productive wellbeing grounded on individual efforts regardless of governmental paternalism.
Keywords: healthcare, personal/public health promotion, sociocultural data, Christianity, Soviet ideology, State paternalism, national security
25 / 2022
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Abstract: This article is an attempt from the authors to look into the position of women at workplace in India. The authors have tried to show different situations where the women are facing unwarranted harassment at workplace. The sexual harassment at workplace affects women not only physically, but also psychologically. That psychological scourge bothers women for good amount of time. Some women have taken extreme steps like committing suicide for not getting the justice. On the other hand, some women have fought till the justice is delivered to them. Instances of sexual harassment at workplace seem to be increasing in India in recent times. The evolution of protection of women from discrimination at workplace has been discussed here. The authors have discussed important constitutional provisions which protect women from physical and psychological harassment at workplace, and they have incorporated different case laws and legal framework on protection of women from harassment at workplace. The authors have analyzed all the constitutional framework, judicial decision and statutory laws to find out how Indian legal system is securing the safety of women at workplace.
Keywords: gender rights, women’s rights, sexual harassment at workplace, physical harassment, psychological harassment, discrimination against women
25 / 2022
Huseyin Yener, A Research on Home Workers’ Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Pandemic Period
Abstract: Working life has been transformed and its dynamics experienced a new break with the Covid-19 outbreak which made working home model as a new normal. Coronavirus caused significant changes in all aspects of life, which an important one was compelling people staying and working home. Hence, increasing sedentary lifestyle and spending more time on internet and television affected musculoskeletal health negatively. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of working home arrangements on work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) during Covid-19 pandemic. Research was conducted with a group of 424 participants who experienced working home style in pandemic period in Turkey. A questionnaire containing demographic questionnaire and Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) was sent to participants. The findings of this study showed that the working home arrangements during pandemic period worsened the musculoskeletal health of the participants. It is predicted that this deterioration will continue to increase with the continuation of working from home. Consequently, in order to decrease this negative situation, organizations and individuals should take the necessary precautions, regulations and training.
Keywords: Covid-19, working home, work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD), ergonomics, Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ)
25 / 2022
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Abstract: The Covid-19 viral disease has spread worldwide very rapidly and was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The unexpected rapid increase in the number of infected people has resulted in adverse impact on all spheres of life, and countries have turned to various practices in combating the pandemic. Smart city applications and artificial intelligence technologies were among the first tools that various countries utilized to get quick results in their fight against Covid-19. The aim of this study is to reveal the importance of smart city applications and artificial intelligence in combating Covid-19 by presenting China, US, France, Italy, and Turkey as examples. These countries were comparatively analyzed in terms of their policies, smart city applications and artificial intelligence technologies they have been utilizing to contain and cope with Covid-19. Our findings indicate that these countries mostly benefited from smart city applications, broadband technologies, 5G technology, mobile applications, health code, radiation management, early diagnosis kit and face recognition technologies in coping with the pandemic.
Keywords: covid-19, pandemic, smart city, artificial intelligence (AI), comparative analysis
25 / 2022
Karim El Guessab and Oleksandr Masalykin, The New Social Reality: Post-Capitalist Challenges
Abstract: The article explores the modern socio-philosophical dynamics of late capitalism and its crisis, and considers the new functioning principles of the post-capitalist model of the future. It is emphasized that the main characteristics of the new social post-capitalist model will be automation of labour, reduction of the working week, unconditional basic income, which guarantees a sufficient amount to live on. A special attention is paid to the main human value, namely to be together and overcome the “end of the social”, to the desire to achieve something universally significant; however, capitalism is constantly tightening competition, which makes many people fall into frustration. Thus, the authors aim to search for instrumentalism in the development of a social state, post-capitalist type of society existence. The article focuses on the significant problem of our time: inequality, with “new peasants”, “new lords”, “new global aristocracy”, including not only financial institutions, but also digital platforms. It is noted that the structure of complex networks shows why modern capitalism tends to neo-feudalism. The integrated networks undermine equality and strengthen hierarchy through inclusiveness, free choice and democratic participation. Therefore, the search for new models of coexistence in the global world becomes an urgent scientific problem for the socio-philosophical discourse.
Keywords: post-capitalism, late capitalism, inequality, digitalization, platform capitalism, neo-feudalism
25 / 2022
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Abstract: The present-day Slovak Republic has overcome two systemic political polarizations, ’Mečiarism - anti-Mečiarism’ and ’Fico - anti-Fico’, that further determined the format of political confrontation in the elections. The degree of crisis in Slovak politics, as well as a level of trust in politicians, shaped the voters’ electoral preferences. In the Slovak electoral field, the national dimension of politics is predominant (in both parliamentary and presidential elections), while regional and ’European’ elections are, in essence, second-order elections. The 1999 and 2019 presidential elections had specific communicative markers that determined the communicative strategy behind each candidate’s electoral campaign, along with the choice of a leadership pattern. In 1999, the Slovak electorate fragmented on the principle of popular populism vs Euro-Atlantic integration, whereas in 2019, a confrontation between social populism and progressive liberalism was the main driving force behind the fragmentation. A political confrontation between a conservative Vladimír Mečiar and a potential reformer Rudolf Schuster in 1999 was highly antagonistic, resulting in the country’s conventional electoral division into north and south by the region. The 2019 presidential elections took place under the confrontation between a systemic, albeit nominally independent, candidate Maroš Šefčovič and non-systemic Zuzana Čaputová (electoral cleavage ’west versus east’).
Keywords: Slovak Republic, turnout, communicative markers, electoral fragmentation
25 / 2022
Book Review
Marcela Alina Fărcașiu, Romanian Youth on EU-Related Topics
Mihaela Cozma and Adrian Cîntar (Eds.) The European Union through the Eyes of the Romanian Youth. Timișoara: West University Press, 2021. Pp. 176
25 / 2022
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: Ethos, pathos and logos frame effective rhetoric. The three basic ingredients together offer an intertwined thread in communicating emotion that is stronger and worthier than any other individual thread. Aristotle views ethos as a morally virtuous activity that reflects quality of one’s character. He understands pathos as feelings, emotions that can be positive or negative and thus the impact and the response. By logos Aristotle counterparts with an analysis of an object through a structured principle that is rational and comprehensible. Employing ethos, pathos and logos during communication does not make people believe what is wrong or right; rather provides strong arguments when argued unfairly so that one can make confutation. Clear contents and supportive views often lead to arguments that are always easy to prove. Shakespeare is very passionate about the art and skill of delivery of speech. His fascination towards eloquence is widely found in his plays. Shakespeare as a classic dramatist sequesters and explores the rhetorical practice, its nature in Portia who is believed to have the command to stir emotions among the audiences. This paper exhibits the concept of ethos, pathos, and logos as demonstrated by Portia through various acts and scenes that are not only critical in their sense but also a composition of boundless multiplicity of combination of ethics, emotions and logic expressing the real state of an appeal to ethos, pathos and logos in the play.
Keywords: ethos, pathos, logos, Portia, character, sympathy, intelligence, logic
24 / 2022
Constantin C. Lupașcu, The Old New Soul of the Interwar Romanian Thought
Abstract: After the minimum criteria for unity - a common language and a unified polity - have been achieved in the aftermath of the Great War, the monopoly over Romanian identity in the interwar period has been strongly contested by several parties. Debating what is the direction that Romanian thought should take in the burgeoning plurality of ideas and concepts that have begun to take root, a few voices have emerged, some with a stronger echo than others. In this regard, Romania’s situation is not entirely different from that of Germany or Italy. However, whereas Germany saw its national monument unfolding at the end of the Great War, for Romania it was a matter of fulfilling the aspirations of the new spirit through the now unified Romanian cultural space. Having accomplished its hitherto historical imperative, this new soul underwent a brief identity crisis in order to redefine its ideology, which left enough space for the old spirit to resurface. Amidst this crisis, culture ultimately became a political ideology. And this ideology is the essence of the old new soul of the interwar Romanian thought. In addition to the need to formulate a coherent philosophy of culture, Romanian thinkers also faced the challenge of developing a politics of culture to go along with it.
Keywords: interwar philosophy, Romanian philosophy, culture, mystery, modernism, conservatism
24 / 2022
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Abstract: The image of the Posthuman has commanded considerable critical attention and academic speculation in recent times. The prospects of radically transforming the human species with the interpolation of biotechnological and informatics technologies converge on the vision of the techno-modified, cognitively augmented human, shattering the multicultural perception of humanity as a civilisation structured in terms of race, class and gender. The prevalent techno-cultural discourse of the 21st century finds a vibrant manifestation in the phenomena of Transhumanism and Posthumanism. With the integration of technology into our lives, the self-concept of the humans has undergone a transformation giving rise to the concept of the posthuman – a techno-cultural Übermensch. This transformation becomes evident in space explorations, cybernetics, artificial intelligence and the creation of bionic organisms that have become the defining aspects of the techno-scientific age. It presages the erasure of the natural self and materializes at the point where human intelligence is theorized as being co-produced with machine intelligence. The transition of humans as a species is towards a more cognitively enhanced autonomous variant of its current state of being. It envisions a techno-modified cultural space where the traditional parameters of race, class and gender are thoroughly refurbished. Placing the concepts of transhumanism and posthumanism within the larger context of cultural and interdisciplinary studies, this paper investigates the notion of cultural identity, human hybridity and the erasure of embodiment that the new techno-modified cultural scape of the twenty-first century ushers in.
Keywords: Übermensch, techno-culture, transhumanism, posthumanism, disembodied subjectivity, hybridity
24 / 2022
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Abstract: The body model is a relatively new concept, which originates from the science of human embodiment. Cognitive neuroscientists and psychologists that work in this research field usually interpret the concept of body model as an internal model or reference description of anatomical, volumetric and structural properties of human corporality. It has been demonstrated that the body model plays a normative role in shaping a pre-reflective sense of body ownership, which is centrally involved in the lived experience of incorporating (’phenomenal incorporation’) medical devices, such as prostheses or implants. Further investigation is required to understand the normativity of the body model, especially in relation to the emerging generation of so-called biosynthetic devices designed to lead physiological and phenomenal incorporation to a qualitatively higher degree compared to traditional medical devices. The main objective of this article is to contribute to a critical analysis of the normative role of the body model in the phenomenal incorporation of biosynthetic devices. My starting point is an interdisciplinary methodology, which is inspired by that developed by postphenomenologists such as Don Ihde and Peter-Paul Verbeek. I will adopt, however, a classically inspired critical perspective of which postphenomenology has proved to be lacking. More specifically, I will use as a reference frame for critical analysis the genetic phenomenology of human embodiment, which was developed by the founder of classical phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, in a mature phase of his production.
Keywords: body model, body ownership, technological incorporation, genetic phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, biosynthetic devices
24 / 2022
Adrian Hagiu and Sergiu Bortoș, The Imperative of Responsibility in the Era of Fake News
Abstract: Fake news concern has caught the attention of the researchers by the necessity to identify solutions in order to combat this phenomenon. Thus, intervention in the field of ethics could be a possible solution. Therefore, we propose to update, rethink and reformulate the imperative of responsibility of Hans Jonas in the era of fake news. In order to do this, we will start with some clarifications on fake news, arguing that the appeal to the responsibility of the actors involved in creating and spreading the phenomenon has a threefold responsibility: towards us, towards others and towards those from the future. This could lead to a better life; therefore, using the phenomenological method, we briefly describe the fake news phenomenon; and completing this method with the hermeneutic analysis, we propose a new imperative of responsibility that would respond to the actions and behaviour of people in the fake news era. The purpose of the present study is to suggest a new imperative of responsibility, which brings together critical reflection and commitment to self and otherness. Starting from this, a digital ethics can be developed based on the concept of responsibility.
Keywords: fake news, ethics, responsibility
24 / 2022
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: This article seeks to look at how Bengali women travellers during the early twentieth century looked at and idealized Japan as a model for Bengal/India under colonial British rule. As women they were most influenced by their Japanese counterparts and their role in society both in the domestic and the public space. The two travel writings by Hariprabha Takeda and Sarojnalini Dutt in comparative and complementary ways bring out the reasons why Bengal/India should not emulate the West but rather look at Japan as an Asian model to consolidate their national identity when resisting colonial rule.
Keywords: travel writing, women’s writing, colonial Bengal, women’s education, Japan, Asia
24 / 2022
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Abstract: In the early autumn of 2019 Sean Cotter who, before 2000, translated some of Nichita Danilov’s poems and two essays by Mircea Eliade, followed, in the new century, by some of Nichita Stănescu’s poems and Mircea Cărtărescu’s novel Orbitor, came to Iaşi for the Festival of Literature and Translation (FILIT). Sean Cotter’s latest feat of translation is Rakes of the Old Court, which the translator deems to be one of the “reperformances” of Mateiu Caragiale’s Craii de Curtea Veche. In 1995, this particular novel was chosen by a poll of more than one hundred literary critics as the best Romanian novel of all times. On the 4th of October 2019 Sean Cotter gave a talk about his translation of the novel in a FILIT-related event organised by the Faculty of Letters of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, and answered some questions about translation in an interview published in Revista de Traduceri Literare. This study looks into the cultural, aesthetic and linguistic challenges posed by a text which is an intersection of Balkan and Western, Latinate and Turkish, Roman and Greek, seasoned with French and German elements. This cultural and linguistic mix of coarseness and elegance, a dense forest of symbols, heraldic emblems and myths, shaped by Mateiu Caragiale in a refined novel of Romanian decadence, baffles the mind. The question is: how does it translate? I am inclined to give credit to Walter Benjamin’s approach to translation contending that “the kinship of languages manifests itself in translations” and “this is not accomplished through the vague resemblance a copy bears to the original.” I argue, therefore, following the line of Benjamin’s argument, that Sean Cotter’s Rakes is contained in Mateiu Caragiale’s Craii, as an “abyme” is in a “mise en abyme.”
Keywords: translation, Mateiu Caragiale, Sean Cotter, Decadence, transtext, paratext, topos atopos
24 / 2022
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Abstract: Folklore as an oral tradition of literature plays a significant role in conveying the cultural legacy of a society from one generation to another. The current study investigates the cultural heritage of kopuz (lute) as a folkloric musical instrument in the Turkic folktale of the Book of Dede Korkut. In this folktale, kopuz (lute) is one of the sacred and oldest musical instruments of the Oghuz tribe. However, Dede Korkut as the main character of the stories is the inventor of Ashik (minstrel) musical poetry in Turkic-speaking communities. Thus, this research demonstrates the cultural legacy of kopuz (lute) in the Book of Dede Korkut’s stories, showing that the folkloric musical instrument plays a vital role in creating Ashik musical poetry in the Azerbaijani Turkic-speaking communities; in fact, this cultural heritage was flourished from the past and has been transmitted to the contemporary times of Turkic-speaking societies.
Keywords: Azerbaijani folktale, Turkic-speaking communities, Book of Dede Korkut, cultural heritage, musical instrument, kopuz (lute)
24 / 2022
Esen Gökçe Özdamar, Flaneur/Flaneuse’s Home and Articulation in the Netherlands
Abstract: This article focuses on the experience of walking, cycling, the emotional experience of mobility and (in)visibility in urban space in rhizomatic urban spaces in different cities in the Netherlands by an architect flaneur/flaneuse, presented in an autoethnographic interpretation. The flaneur/flaneuse interprets the urban narrative and lived space through direct encounters and experimentation with everyday practices. This subjective experience leads to questions on the kinds of articulation that rhizomatic cities and architecture weave for the flaneur/flaneuse and architecture. How does a contemporary flaneur/flaneuse locate him/her being in an urban space in this era? Can a flaneur/flaneuse, today, set down roots in a home environment emotionally? How does contemporary architecture embed its dwellers or temporary perceivers in this era? As in Rilke’s experience of a single lighted house, mentioned by Bachelard, are we confronting more solitary houses in urban space that remind us of our isolatedness and separatedness as a contemporary flaneur/flaneuse? Where does the warmth of the house/home start, when we have already started living in a world of “designed” narratives of housing policies? Therefore, the research highlights the experimentality of Dutch architecture based on the author’s personal experience with urbanism in Utrecht, Rotterdam, Delft, and Amsterdam.
Keywords: autoethnography, flaneur/flaneuse, rhizomatic city, urban space, Dutch architecture
24 / 2022
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: Afet Inan is one of the first engagée historians of the early Republican Era who was particularly interested in providing historical bases to Kemalist concepts of history and governance. She was very close to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and, in that sense, her thoughts and intellectual preferences reflected those of Mustafa Kemal. This essay is particularly interested in Inan’s conception of citizenship. As citizenship, State, and history are inseparable, the article also tackles with Kemalist historiography, Kemalist feminism and Turkish thesis of history. The aim is to examine how Inan “reinvents” the Turkish citizen that would fulfil all the duties necessary to make the nation progress. As a pioneering woman historian of the early Republican era, Inan often emphasized the importance of “unity and order” within the society, and to reach this “internal cohesion” she saw the rights and duties of the citizens as outstandingly important. Although far from the progressivist attitudes some earlier feminists adopted in the Republic, Inan nevertheless provided a theoretical basis for the extension of suffrage to “women citizens” in the young Kemalist Republic.
Keywords: Kemalist feminism, Afet Inan, Kemalist historiography, Kemalist citizenship, Inan’s conception of citizenship, Turkish thesis of history
24 / 2022
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Abstract: Gender issues have ignited great debates and contestations in Africa and the West over the years. Mainstream feminist ideologues present the society as a patriarchal system where the men-folk institute and maintain structures that ensure their domination of the women-folk. They argue as if men at a point in human history connived among themselves and carried out a coup through which they dethroned women and took control of the society’s socio-economic and political structures. Such feminist analogies project women as victims of men’s paternal structural orchestrations. This study while capitalizing on the views enunciated in Chinweizu’s Anatomy of Female Power appraises his vocal masculinist dissenting view which sees the society as being sublimely matriarchal with men as victims of matriarchal chicaneries; thus positioning women as villains in the gender war. Applying the masculinist approach, the paper posits that women seem not to be aware of their enormous latent powers. Reviewing Chinweizu’s onerous role in balancing the gender discourse, it highlights some clandestine matriarchal machinations identified by Chinweizu while noting that women should utilize more of their nature-given powers rather than going about complaining and seeking powers where there seems to be none.
Keywords: feminism, masculinism, patriarchal, matriarchal, gender war, Chinweizu
24 / 2022
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Abstract: The concept of natural therapy is a product of the evolution of social work theories. The ecological model of social work was formed in the 60s of the twentieth century and assumed the inclusion of an ecological context in the social sphere and social work as a practical activity. In the 21st century, environmental methods of social work have changed the focus and social rehabilitation has become a priority using such environmental technologies as animal therapy, garden therapy, agrotherapy, aesthetic therapy, and so on. The article examines the Ukrainian national experience in the development of social and physical rehabilitation of various categories of the population using environmental technologies. One of the main features of the formation of national experience in the implementation of the concept of natural therapy is that today the use of its components is at the initial level. The technologies for animal-assisted therapy are somewhat better developed in comparison with agrotherapy and garden therapy. The combination of these technologies into a single rehabilitation complex makes it possible to use the advantages of each of these technologies (animal therapy, agrotherapy and garden therapy) to achieve the maximum rehabilitation effect for each client, which requires social and physical rehabilitation.
Keywords: natural therapy, agricultural therapy, garden therapy, social rehabilitation, physical rehabilitation, social work, landscape gardening, ecological technologies of social work
24 / 2022
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Abstract: In the context of the technological revolution combined with globalization and increasingly complex socio-economic environments, a significant shift in the training of human resources can be noticed. Education and training based on the integration of computerized tools have some of the most serious implications for higher education institutions, which need to develop and implement feasible strategies to ensure more skilled, flexible and adaptable graduates for the labor market. Thus, the first part of the paper provides a conceptual framework from the point of view of the current state of knowledge regarding the challenges faced by students and teachers as active parts in higher education conducted online or in blended format. In the second part, I will speculate on issues relating to the practices of the military higher education system in online or blended format and how civil experience can be used to address the training-education process in this field.
Keywords: computerized tools, higher education, online, blended system, military education
24 / 2022
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Abstract: This study looks at the development of cross-linguistic knowledge in articulating the English long vowel sounds by Turkish EFL learners. The population for this descriptive research consisted of all the 49 Turkish EFL learners studying at the Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja. The instrument used is a 20-item researcher-designed minimal pair of both long and short English vowel sounds as well as long and short English vowel sounds at the sentence level. The instrument was given to experts in the Arts Education department for its content validity while, its reliability was ascertained via a test re-test statistical means, thus yielding a reliability index of 0.56 at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Frequency counts and percentage distribution were used to analyze the data. The findings in Section A indicate that greater respondents ranging between 46 and 49 (representing 93.88%, 97.96%, and 100% respectively) were unable to distinctively differentiate between long and short vowel sounds in instrument items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Averagely, 21 and 26 respondents representing 42.86% and 53.06% respectively were unable to distinctively distinguish between long and short vowel sounds in instrument items 9 and 10, while only 11 and 14 respondents (representing 22.45% and 28.57 were able to correctly and distinctively differentiate between long and short vowels in instrument items 8 and 7 respectively. At the sentence level, the findings in Table 3 show that greater respondents ranging between 43 and 49 (representing 87.76%, 95.92%, and 100% respectively) were unable to distinctively differentiate between long and short vowel sounds in instrument items 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 10, an indication that the colon (:) is not instrumental to the long stretch of /a:/, among other findings. It was concluded that the majority of them were affected by mother tongue interference. It is recommended among other things that, teachers of language (English by implication) should systematically employ the use of drills with minimal pairs and allow active participation of students.
Keywords: Turkish EFL learners, errors, English long and short vowel sounds, Nile University of Nigeria
24 / 2022
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Abstract: In recent times, Pakistani journalistic English has a propensity to become more American. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the mounting impact of American English and British English on the Pakistani newspapers. The most influential and strong selection of English is American English. The effect of American English on newspaper writing indicates that Pakistani English speakers tend to prefer American English, particularly in the lexical and grammatical levels instead of British English. The findings show that the use of US English is growing rapidly in Pakistan’s English newspapers. Although in Pakistani newspapers, British English is preferred, the quantitative results of the study show that the traces of American English are very simple and visible. In earlier research, Pakistani English was examined at different levels into the disparity between Pakistan and British English. The trending of the newspaper inclined toward the American English predominantly. In Pakistani English this is a less investigated area, and this study is intended to fill the void.
Keywords: British English, American English, Pakistani graduates, Pakistani institutions, language features
24 / 2022
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Abstract: The practice of psychology in Ghana is growing and this growth has further been facilitated by the strengthening of the Ghana Psychological Association and the passing of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857). The practice of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology has also benefited from the general growth in the practice of psychology in Ghana. In this paper, I provide an update on the training and practice of I-O psychology since the last major publication about the field in Ghana (see Oppong, 2013a). Some of the major developments since the last publication include the achievement of autochthonization through the production of home-grown doctoral-level I-O psychologists and the fact that I-O psychology research seems to be moving away from a focus on professionals (salaried workers) in the formal economy in high-income jobs to non-salaried workers in the informal economy. Prospects for the future are discussed in line with the recent developments in the business environment in Ghana and Africa, especially the establishment of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The lessons learned from the training and practice of I-O psychology in Ghana may have implications for the growth and practice of the discipline in other non-Western societies and worldwide.
Keywords: I-O psychology, applied psychology, professional practice, AfCFTA, COVID-19
24 / 2022
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Abstract: Research shows that no nation is likely to experience development that is sustainable without viable political leadership and properly organised and functioning public administration. Without the work of the public administrators in the area of implementation of policies, the formulated policies would only amount to mere paperwork devoid of practical societal development. With the analysis of secondary data, the paper revealed that Nigeria has failed in the different sectors to experience development. This is not, however, because of lack of human and material resources, but due to unethical behaviour and accountability challenges of some public administrators at the highest level of government that are entrusted to manage the public resources. To overcome this ugly situation, would be public administrators need grooming from the early age through the schools, religious centres and improved compensation for public administrators. The outcome is likely to be enhanced public service delivery and national development.
Keywords: ethical issues, challenges of accountability, public administration, sustainable development, Nigeria
24 / 2022
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: This study investigates the effects of information supplied by self-tracking technologies on the human-technology relationship through a post-phenomenological approach. Self-tracking technologies, which have become increasingly popular among users since 2000, nowadays, provide biodata to individuals in many different areas from daily step count to heart rhythm or from sleep quality to symptom tracking. The first part of the paper revisits post-phenomenological approach that is a relatively new approach analyzing the human-technology relation. The empirical focus of the study is grounded on the motivation for applying self-tracking gadgets, perceptions of gathered data, potential changes in the conception of the self-knowledge through mediated data and its possible consequences. For the empirical research an open-text survey is conducted with 26 people who were users of a self-tracking device. The findings suggest that self-tracking activity through wearable technology affects the perception of self-knowledge and preliminary results also indicate a dependency to measured data more than it is needed. The results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of adoption of the emerging wearable technology in daily life.
Keywords: self-tracking, post-phenomenology, activity tracker, self-knowledge
23 / 2021
Marius Popescu, Challenges of Expressing the Self in Cyberspace
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to examine the possibilities of person manifestation within the context of virtual communication, the transformations and the challenges involved by such a means of communication with reference to the personal identity. We emphasize that we could speak about an Identity of the individual that is not subject to change, as well as its many identities that can be assumed in accordance with the variety of roles displayed either in the real world, or in the virtual one. The personal dimension is the one through which we can relate to others, the person being the human instance by which we affect and we, in our turn, are affected by the other; and as a result we consider necessary to settle the concept and to envisage it within the virtual world. At the time when we consider the manifestation of the person on the internet, we implicitly speak about relational structures existing in this environment. On the internet, similar to the real world, humans manifest in relation to the others - even if we speak about the connection among the avatars, and at the other end about the connection another human being or its virtual substitute will be always identified as constituted by an artificial intelligence seeking to imitate the human being.
Keywords: persona, personal identity, virtual identity, virtual communication, avatar, cyberspace
23 / 2021
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Abstract: Fake news is seen as creating a parallel reality by the media. The spread of fake news is associated with the worldview transformation of society, where truth has ceased to be a harmonious whole. Fake news in the context of an alternative reality presupposes unconditional faith in the information presented to people, which is typical for games. The authors of this study came to the conclusion that the playful nature of fake news explains the accompanying phenomena of this issue: the non-critical perception of information, the unwillingness of the media to suppress fake news, and the involvement of a large number of people in this process.
Keywords: alternative reality, fake news, game, hoax, mass media
23 / 2021
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Abstract: The article attempts to philosophically analyze a very important and always topical problem of the relationship between memory and monuments as guardians of the centers of human culture in its past and present. The phenomenon of memory is viewed through the prism of the modern recipient’s perception of the “dialogical” relationship between “bygone times” and the current socio-cultural situation. Memory, quantitatively consisting of memories of specific things, events, images, etc., takes on the character of a holy substance, transforming various attributes into monuments. It is emphasized that the memorial functionality of a monument consists in the preservation and identification of the spiritual quintessence of some historical or individual-personal phenomenon, not really repeated, but able to be phenomenologically reproduced in consciousness as an intentional object. Containing a memorial meaning, the monument reflects the culture and history of a particular era. It becomes an object of a value relationship, serves as a mediator and bearer of continuity in the dynamic dialogue of cultural cycles. Referring to historical examples of the development of architectural and natural works, we outline the philosophical and phenomenological contours in the aesthetic interpretation of memorial objects.
Keywords: monument, memory, cultural memory, dialogue of cultures, architectural and natural landscape/monument, phenomenological aesthetics
23 / 2021
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: The idea of the anthropocentric nature of language predetermines and shapes the character of the paper. The article overviews riddles as a unique cumulative material that contains culturally important information about the worldview of Yakut ethnic group. The purpose of our research is to single out the lexical units representing cultural codes that metaphorically describe denotations (answers) of riddles. In the paper, we analyze the codes that cipher the denotations connected with the sky and celestial bodies. Such codes reflect some archaic representations of the Yakuts of the world and its structure. In order to achieve the purpose of the research we applied the methods of semiotic, semantic, descriptive and interpretational analyses that revealed the key cultural codes that encrypt references to celestial bodies and the sky. These codes are zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, spatial, color, somatological, attributive, numerical and object-related.
Keywords: paroemia, riddles, Yakut language, denotation, representation, cultural codes
23 / 2021
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Abstract: In this article we address the sacred in Mexican poets from the first decades of the 20th century. We start from the vision of María Zambrano, Rudolf Otto and Octavio Paz to analyze paradoxical and ambivalent aspects that are integrated as sacred manifestations in the poetry of Nahui Olin, Concha Urquiza, Griselda Álvarez, Margarita Michelena, Margarita Paz Paredes, Pita Amor, Dolores Castro, Rosario Castellanos and Enriqueta Ochoa.
Keywords: sacred, Mexican poetry, 20th century
23 / 2021
Victoria Bilge Yılmaz, Who Receives a Therapy in Peter Shaffer’s Equus?
Abstract: Twentieth century has become a pivotal period in the production of literary works that emphasise human beings’ inadequacy to experience what they sincerely wish for. Peter Shaffer (1926-2016), an English playwright with an acute sense of understanding of human nature, is one of the authors of the twentieth century. His careful examination and empirical observation of people around him helped him to write Equus (1973), a remarkable play about 17-year-old Alan Strang and his doctor, a child psychiatrist Martin Dysart. The play mainly focuses on people’s inability to give ear to their sincere emotions and desires. Alan’s violent acts with his horse lead him to meet Dysart and, this consequently, leads to Dysart’s re-evaluation of his current way of life. This study will develop a discussion about who receives a psychiatric therapy in the play? Is it Alan, who harshly harms his horse, Dysart, who symbolically empties children’s insides, or the society that imposes these exceptionally harsh deeds on the individuals?
Keywords: Peter Shaffer, Equus, modern man, English drama
23 / 2021
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Abstract: The term magical realism has always been fraught with multiple interpretations. When we look at the large corpus of postcolonial novels, especially the Indian novel Alik Manus or Mythical Man in question, we discover how the societal fabric, interpersonal relationships, and religious disorders all get intertwined within the broader perspectives of magical realism. The complex and variegated notions of magical realism not only percolate deeper as part of an emerging economy and mode of resistance against cultural orthodoxy, but the novel also becomes an appropriate document of the voices that have long been forgotten in history. So, studying magical realism in Mythical Man is also about the major foregrounding of the complexities associated with realism itself. This paper discusses the course of literary binaries, realistic voices, and magical apprehensions that are constantly pitted against each other. There are instances of sheer primitivism in underlining how myths make rural stories survive across the rugged landscape of Bengal (in the Asian context). The English translation is not just of myth and realism, but it is an adept presentation by the author how political rivalries, dislocation from one’s farming land, black, white, literate, illiterate, civilized, savage all undergo multiple forms of transformation. Magical realism in the novel insists on incredible incidents that are related to the lives of the common people who worship not just the totems and ancient gods, but who also worship the buzurgpir (the old religious leader) as an earthly reincarnation of the Almighty. From an earthly individual, the religious man thus becomes a mythical man.
Keywords: magical realism, postcolonial novel, translation, Mythical Man
23 / 2021
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Abstract: This article analyzes the link between the sacred and the erotic as a revelation of the sacred fire, present in the lengthy poem Migraciones by the Mexican poet Gloria Gervitz (1943). This is accomplished through the contemplation of a new theoretical perspective called Pyrophany. Gervitz’s polyphonic poem is in constant renewal, born of an intimate memory that illuminates a collective song that, from its evocation, is capable of reliving a past and giving it a space in the present. As a result, the poem emerges once and again in constant rebirth like the mythical Phoenix.
Keywords: pyrophany, sacred, erotic, Gloria Gervitz
23 / 2021
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Abstract: T. S. Eliot’s critical apotheosis “Tradition and Individual Talent” (1919) has received undivided critical attention on the subject of the dispute between antiquity and authorial originality, besides also being viewed as a forerunner of the post-modernist theory of intertextuality. What this paper argues is that decades before Eliot, American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson presaged Eliot in his contribution—first, to the inquiry into literary history; and second, to the theory of intertextuality, in his essay “Quotation and Originality” published in his work Letters and Social Aims (1875). The first section of the paper enunciates how by dismantling the prejudice of “pure originality” (1886, 170), Emerson akin to the Eliotesque vision, locates the act of artistic creation, suffused with the fusion of the twin faculties of assimilation and originality, as an act marrying the echoes of the past to the cadences of the present—a process of artistic transfusion that not only makes the borrowing one’s own, but also goes on to accentuate its own originality. The second section of the paper articulates how Emerson’s expatiation of the inextricable inter-referentiality of art and culture delves unknowingly, but almost prophetically, into the realms of Bakhtinian, Kristevan and Barthesian intertextuality.
Keywords: Emerson, Eliot, quotation, originality, tradition, intertextuality
23 / 2021
Jovelyn M. Cantina, Analysis on the Linguistic Landscapes in Dipolog City, Philippines
Abstract: The modern cities across the globe are surrounded by countless written language that includes warnings, public signs, billboards, commercial advertisements, and more which are publicly displayed. These writings are called linguistic landscapes. This study analyzes the pragmatic features of commercial signs in Dipolog City Boulevard, which utilizes the descriptive-qualitative research. In addition, the study explores what linguistic devices are used in the creation of signs. Data are collected at Dipolog City Boulevard. Permission from the city mayor as well as the shop owners is sought prior to the conduct of the study. All signs of every single store in the boulevard are photographed. Furthermore, a rigorous library and internet research is done for the analysis and interpretation of the data. Analysis of the data revealed that linguistic strategies are found in the commercial signs of Dipolog City Boulevard to attract costumers or tourists to visit a shop. These strategies are described in terms of lexical blends, initialisms, homonyms, personifications, trasliterations, speech acts, politeness strategies, gender-biased styles, alliterations, consonance, assonance, jargon, and proper names. Moreover, pragmatic features which include politeness strategy, indirect speech act, extended speech act, bonding, sophistication, qoutation, personification, metaphor and humor are found in commercial signs in Dipolog City Boulevard. This study concludes that the commercial signs in Dipolog City Boulevard contained linguistic strategies and pragmatic features which are aimed to attract local costumers and tourists.Thus, this study recommends that a monograph on linguistic landscapes to create tourist space can be developed to serve as reference to novice business enthusiasts on the kind of enterprises that they will be having. English teachers may also utilize these commercial signs as authentic source of teaching and learning linguistic strategies and pragmatics.
Keywords: linguistic landscapes, commercial signs, linguistic strategies, pragmatic features
23 / 2021
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Abstract: In the present paper, we formulate the working hypothesis that computer-mediated communication (CMC) used for the purpose of language learning, as well as communicative processes via a selection of popular technological devices, activates the multimodal communication mechanism in human communicators. This study draws on the background of several basic features of interpersonal communication we explored in previous studies (Bogusławska-Tafelska 2013, 2015; Bogusławska-Tafelska, Dragoescu Urlica & Malenko 2020). The theoretical proposal is followed by a concise presentation of the research results collected in a pilot study in the student community of the USAMVBT ’King Michael I of Romania’ from Timișoara, Romania.
Keywords: computer-mediated communication (CMC), ecolinguistics, multimodal communication, evolution
23 / 2021
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: This article analyzes some innovative potential and some emerging issues in the application of wearable technologies at school. The results regarding some knowledge and skills following the implementation of two educational activities based on the application of wearable technologies in a secondary school were evaluated. The methodology used included a group self-assessment of the processes carried out by the students, an assessment carried out by the teachers, and finally a qualitative interview with the participating teachers. The interviews with the teachers assessed interest, curiosity and motivation found in the students; the facilities and barriers in teamwork; the quality of the final product. The results showed that activities with wearable technologies helped to stimulate students’ interest towards the problems and topics discussed, and their participation in the construction of knowledge and the acquisition of skills.
Keywords: constructivism, school, skills, wearable technologies, physical activity
23 / 2021
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Abstract: The coordinate system of the world is allowed to associate any thing with its limiting equilibrium states (dynamic equilibria) and consider it from the point of view of these limits. The coordinate system of the world relies on three types of limits: identification, communication and main rhythm of the formation (thing). Capabilities of the world coordinate system in natural sciences, social sciences and humanities are considered. Capabilities of the world coordinate system in culture are considered, too. The interaction of the natural and the artificial things interaction of the humanitarian and natural sciences based on the coordinate system is the way of further investigation in the paper.
Keywords: coordinate system, world, dynamic equilibrium, being, thing, identification, communication, rhythm
23 / 2021
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Abstract: The article attempts to consider globalization processes in society from the standpoint of intercultural interaction. At this level, it is important to define interaction as a coordination vector for the common cultural realization of society. The multidimensionality of the European community is defined as a combination of its own unique constituents of a specific society and global qualities of world society, which require balanced strategies and proper programs in the field of intercultural cooperation at the European and international levels. This fact is considered as a social field for the emergence of intercultural dialogue. The next step is the paradigm of dialogue and its cognitive component as a way for constructive thinking in the global context of social interpersonal communication. Further, the dialogue of cultures in the modern information and communication environment will create conditions for the realization of cognitive and communicative qualities of the person, which will create opportunities for adaptation in various situations in the world, and expand opportunities for cultural heritage exchange, cultural information, cultural formation and development, communication and interaction.
Keywords: globalization, intercultural cooperation, intercultural dialogue, communication and interaction
23 / 2021
Amarendra Kumar Dash and Vivek Kumar, The Limits and Leverages of Ecological Entrepreneurship
Abstract: The New Environmental Paradigm envisions a green social economy demanding substantial changes in the leadership and managerial attitude, public policy and governance framework, technological innovation, and mass communication and outreach. At the international level, the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals seek to address the global challenges related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, peace, and justice. Notwithstanding such ideological grandstanding, ecological entrepreneurs are often stranded at the margins of the mainstream economy. This study posits that the global aspiration for a paradigm shift to an eco-friendly mode of production and distribution founded upon socio-environmental justice cannot be possible as long as all the stakeholders of the mainstream economy including the global policy behemoths do not come forward through consensus and commitment to promote Ecological Entrepreneurship.
Keywords: Ecological Entrepreneurship (EE), sustainability, marginalization, environmental policy, stakeholders, eco-growth
23 / 2021
Nidhi Jha and Smriti Singh, Challenging Absoluteness and Fixities in the Post-9/11 World
Abstract: The attack on the world Trade Center, New York in 2001 literally shook the world. This attack brought about major changes in security laws across the globe. One major category of people affected by the new laws were the migrants. Politicians across the globe established connections between terrorism and immigration; this further alienated and marginalized the immigrants. In short one may say that the incident of 9/11 essentially altered the face of migration across the world. This paper looks at the challenges faced by the immigrants through the writings of Tabish Khair’s How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position and Amitava Kumar’s A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb. Delving into concepts of identity, the paper reads how both the writers describe the manner in which concepts of absoluteness and fixity interrogate immigrant identity. Similarly, they show how governments in delegitimizing immigrant identity help to legitimize it. In its entirety, the paper delves into the idea of the challenges and the helplessness of the immigrants in the post 9/11 era.
Keywords: migration, 9/11, identity, absoluteness, fixity, necropolitics, securitization
23 / 2021
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Abstract: This work is a descriptive study of the factors affecting the 2016-2017 suicide phenomenon in Cebu City, Philippines, based on the responses of the victims’ significant others. Despite the surge of suicide cases in the country (there is an increasing rate since 1992), however, to date, there are not so many scholarly researches and comprehensive studies done on the subject. Given that suicide remains a serious public concern across the globe, and even more so in the Philippines, we strongly believe that discovering the factors why suicide cases happen is not only relevant and important but also very much necessary and called for, especially that there is almost a never-ending new addition to suicide statistics in many places. It is in the light of this present necessity that this study examined what triggered the suicide phenomenon in Cebu City based on: a) the occasion of the suicide; b) the social location of the suicide; and c) the reasons for the commission of the suicide according to: c1) sociocultural factors and c2) psychological factors. This study employed guided interview with the suicide victims’ significant others - persons related to the victims themselves either by affinity or consanguinity. The results revealed that the 2016-2017 suicide trend in Cebu City was more a phenomenon among males who were between 25-40 years old, married or cohabiting, graduates of secondary education, unemployed, and Catholics. The results further indicated that social factors and psychological factors played a significant role in the victims’ commission of suicide based on the responses of their significant others.
Keywords: suicide phenomenon, Cebu City, significant others, suicide factors
23 / 2021
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Abstract: ’The dance of those who are left over’, a song released in 1986 composed by Jorge Gonzales and performed by the Chilean band Los Prisioneros is a theme song that has been played increasingly in recent months in the context of protests in Chile. It is being considered as a protest anthem both in the eighties and today against the social economic model adopted illustrating the imperfection of a government model that does not care about generating conditions of equality in society, although is apparently concerned about the guarantee of a so-called autonomy or freedom. Song that has transcended the borders of the country where it originated, resonating in other spaces such as Colombia, or Uruguay, is recognizing even a global vocation as a soundtrack of social discontent and outbreaks of protests around the world. Through this paper we do not pretend to discover the real meaning that Jorge Gonzales or any of the members of the band wanted to give to the musical theme, nor limit ourselves to narrating the historical antecedents of it. The aim of the paper is to present a review of the lyrical composition of ’The dance of those left over’ from the theory of justice of John Rawls and through the method of Discourse Analysis.
Keywords: Los Prisioneros, protests, neoliberalism, Discourse Analysis, Rawls
23 / 2021
Philosophical Avenues
Ana Bazac, Exegi monumentum: Epistemological Significances of a Challenging Old Literary Wisdom
Abstract: Horace’s phrase is interesting for it draws attention to the purpose of intellectual creation. Intellectual creation is not analogous to intellectual activity, and the attitudes towards these two heterogeneous facts have complex significances for the human being as such, for different social strata/for society and for the question of the human manifestation. Intellectuals aim at a monument/to construct a monument, although only some of them do it. (And this situation generates different mentalities). But what does “monument” mean here? It is different from prestige or fame – and obviously it is quite the contrary to notoriety – and represents the characteristic of two intertwined acts; or better, it is the name (metaphor) of the system formed by the relationship of the intellectual with his/her concrete creation, and by the relationships between this creation and the competent communities capable to evaluate it. The first problem raised in the present analysis is the distinction between a finite literary work and an open scientific research. From this standpoint, we have to separate the finite “matter”/form/expression of the literary work and its infinite significances one may understand and constitute. We should also consider the different intentions backing the literary and scientific creations (the presumable intention in literature is the erection of an untouchable monument, while in science, researchers intend to contribute to a better cognizance of the domain or of the whole they have in view). Consequently, scientific theories and formulas change, while literary works as such remain unchanged. The second problem arises from the contradistinction between formal “scientific papers” and the free and sincere scientific research. Nowadays, the bigger the number of the former is, the less is the probability of important (monumental) contribution to science. An entire area of problems related to the freedom of and access to scientific research, literature and publishing houses and journals, as well as to the values and criteria of scientific and extra-scientific evaluation, and to the psychology of intellectuals (scientific researchers) has to be considered. This last issue highlights an interesting philosophical concept, that of the ephemeral. Starting from a concrete observation of Nietzsche, three aspects are dealt with: the probable antagonism between the tendency of erecting a monument and the one of carpe diem; the contrast between man’s ephemeral existence and his representation of science (and philosophy), as well as the real state of science; and man’s struggle against the ephemeral in the real dialectical process of life.
Keywords: exegi monumentum, literature, Arendt, Nietzsche, science, intellectuals
22 / 2021
Stuart Dalton, 10 Philosophy Departments Reinvent Themselves: An Essay and a Story
Abstract: First I argue that there is always a comical distance between the ideals of education and our human-all-too-human attempts to realize these ideals, and that specifically within the field of philosophical education this space is filled with comedy generated by philosophy professors, since all of us (myself included) are sophists. By analyzing the comedy that philosophy professors unfailingly create we can gain a deeper understanding of how to make philosophical education work better, and therefore it is a good and noble thing to write funny stories about philosophy professors. I then present one such story, which concerns some of the many ways that philosophy professors and philosophy departments have tried to reinvent themselves in order to prevent their greatest fear from being realized: a future when no students whatsoever will want to listen to them profess. 1-sentence description: An argument for the educational value of funny stories about philosophy professors in general, followed by a particular funny story about philosophy professors trying to reinvent their ancient discipline in order to make it attractive to 21stcentury college students.
Keywords: comedy, teaching, classroom, philosophical marketing, applied philosophy, history of philosophy, education, philosophical education
22 / 2021
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Abstract: In the Northern Philippines, the Tuguegarao Presbyterian Church (TPC) has dramatically altered the course of the lives of its members and the community. This is attributed to full-time workers who use their physical and spiritual strength to become the forerunners of evangelizing mission in Tuguegarao and the whole Cagayan Province. Today, they are agents of transformation in their local church and communities. The study used a phenomenological method to unravel the lived experiences of nine full-time workers of TPC along with embodiment and transcendence. The participants were interviewed and their narratives were transcribed for thematic analysis. Further, Marcelian existentialism was used as a frame. Results showed that their physical bodies were integral in interacting, engaging, and serving their local church and the people of their community. However, there were also limitations and difficulties that they encountered. These propelled them to fully surrender themselves, realizing their transcendental exigency, which enabled them to hope and keep their faith despite the challenges they encounter. Moreover, this research is essential in knowing who are they to come up with church policies and frameworks to empower them further to become better agents of transformation in their local church and community.
Keywords: lived experiences, TPC, Marcel’s existentialism, phenomenology, embodiment, transcendence
22 / 2021
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Abstract: Globalisation has changed the face and practice of medicine intertwining national and economic interests with patient care. Medicine has evolved into a true science installing new technologies and active therapies developed in state-of-the-art laboratories sponsored by universities, governmental agencies and private companies. The discovery of the major histocompatibility complex, genome editing and CRISPR/CAS9 technologies significantly altered the field of organ transplantation and also the treatment of cancer, heart diseases and HIV infections. Robin Cook draws the readers’ attention to the ethical quandaries of such bold experimentations with the natural order in his works Chromosome 6 and Pandemic. Such transmutations and permutations to the genetic framework of organisms would undoubtedly upset the balance and stability of the planetary ecosystem. The concept of human autonomy and identity is seriously jeopardised with bodies being transformed beyond the natural order. Cook points to the general dehumanisation that has crept into the healthcare industry as a result of scientific and technological advances that threaten to tamper with the fundamental dimensions of humanity and upsetting age-old notions of human autonomy and identity. This article attempts a revaluation of the ethical and moral ramifications of transforming human bodies using cutting-edge technologies and its possible impact on human destiny both as an individual and as a species.
Keywords: autonomy, identity, xenotransplantation, transgenic, transmutation, ethics and morality, Robin Cook
22 / 2021
Carmen Cozma, On Ethical Counseling
Abstract: Philosophical counseling became a topic of particular interest in recent years. More than ever, our world in disarray, with the moral crisis deepening the human alienation phenomenon, seems to call for the philosophical practice that provides a fulcrum to wisely coping with many and various challenges. Seeing that dilemmatic experiences mostly depend on morality, we aim to highlight the importance of the ethical counseling as the core of the philosophical practice. We take ‘ethics’ as ‘moral philosophy’ able to offer paths of a robust learning and of exercising a necessary wisdom in life. Grounded on moral philosophical teachings from ancient times to the present, the ethical counseling proves valences for guiding, managing and solving personal and social everyday problems. It gives us pivots to facing and overcoming inevitable trials and setbacks. The aim of this paper is to emphasize ethical counseling as an axis in the endeavour to find a propitious vision of life in its entirety, to reach and cultivate human well-being. Ethical counselors can enlighten and support persons to decipher and improve their moral potential for succeeding to deal with difficult existential situations, and eventually to experience a balanced and meaningful life.
Keywords: ethical counseling, moral philosophy, wisdom, moral health, well-being
22 / 2021
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Abstract: This article examines Manjula Padmanabhan’s science fiction short story “Interface” (2018) to explore the technologized mediation of the human body and the human world. And through this mediation examine the implications of nature and state of human subjectivity, what Ihab Hassan (1977) stated, “we must helplessly call posthumanism”. In its foregrounding of a posthumanist vision, the paper argues, Padmanabhan’s story explores the networks of power expressed in the values and culture of our anthropocentric age, and its subversion by technological assemblages to highlight the limits of neo-liberal capitalist regimes. Padmanabhan’s story, the paper argues, in its rethinking of the very idea of human in material and cosmic universe enabled because of the fuzzy boundaries between human and machines is an encounter to consider the politics of disability in both humanist and posthumanist world. The main tenets of this paper in its examination of Padmanabhan’s story focuses on the politico-ethical imperatives of posthuman sensibility that is predicated on the genre of science fiction and disability politics to rethink the nature of agency as non-hierarchical and collective.
Keywords: posthuman, performative, science fiction, body, technology, disability, Padmanabhan
22 / 2021
Literature and Art Studies
Hilal Kaya, Reading Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion as a Postmodernist Text
Abstract: Jeannette Winterson’s novels can always be studied from a postmodern perspective. Postmodernism, though a loosely-defined term, makes reference to a cultural, intellectual, or artistic condition which does not have a direct predominant hierarchy, and epitomizes extreme entanglement, discrepancy, uncertainty, diversity, and heterogeneity. In this sense, The Passion (1987) is written to deconstruct the various domineering cultural, social and moral conventions or constructed realities and norms of Western civilisation. Techniques of postmodernism – temporal and spatial distortions, gender roles, parody, pastiche, historiographic metafiction, irony – are often used by postmodernist writers in their works. This article aims to pinpoint that Winterson is resisting dominant ideologies and discourses in The Passion, and trying to reconstruct a free and alternative discourse in the same society through postmodernist techniques in the narrative of the novel.
Keywords: Jeanette Winterson, The Passion, postmodern novel, historiographic metafiction, gender roles
22 / 2021
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Abstract: The struggle between good and evil is a perennial conflict that has been ongoing throughout human history. It has been unfolding from the time of the first man and woman. It is also one of the most common conventional themes in literature and is sometimes considered to be a universal part of the human condition. This paper attempts to discover and reveal the elements of the clash between good and evil in Beowulf and the Book Dede Korkut. The title character in Beowulf, as a representative of goodness, fearlessly and gallantly faces Grendel, his mother, and the dragon who are the embodiments of evil in this epic poem. On the other hand, in the Book of Dede Korkut, evil is represented by a goggle-eyed monster named Tepegoz and tyrant and cruel tekurs (feudal landlords) who oppress people and inflict them different sufferings. Heroes fight with these people to relieve people of their problems. One of the heroes, Basat avenges his brother’s death and delivers people from the oppression of evil that goes by the name of Tepegoz (goggle-eyed monster), who terrorizes people and causes chaos among the people of the community. Other heroes, such as Salur Kazan, Segrek, and Yigenek, fight with evil tekurs to free their loved ones and to deliver their people from the dangers of these personifications of evil.
Keywords: clash, good, evil, epic, hero, fight, Beowulf, the Book of Dede Korkut
22 / 2021
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Abstract: This essay deals with the preconditions of the emergence of art criticism center in Kamianets-Podilsky. Chronological borders cover the period of 19th and early 20th centuries. The investigation mentions cultural workers of the region, the participants of museum and local lore work, the associations of different directions, and the creative work that became the solid foundation for the formation of cultural art criticism center.
Keywords: Kamianechchyna, cultural life, art criticism, museum, artistic activity
22 / 2021
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Abstract: The focus of the article is based on modern ex libris collection as a significant segment of Ukrainian printmaking, which largely determines its place in the nowadays art world. The paper reviews some transformations of the bookplate from 1991 to the present, specifying the main schools of the Ukrainian ex libris, and designating its leading artists. It also characterizes the tendencies that marked the ex libris of Ukraine at the turn of the century, the main storylines and the dominant techniques belonging to particular schools. The stylistic characteristics of leading representatives of the most important schools are indicated, trying to emphasize the change of ex libris role in Ukraine’s artistic processes during the recent years. The attraction of ex librists to philosophical semantic codes, to the language of allegory and symbolism is also noted in the article.
Keywords: printmaking, ex libris / bookplate, engraving / etching
22 / 2021
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: Internationalization has become a new phenomenon and reality impacting on higher education systems across the globe presenting varied challenges, opportunities and risks. It has also become a matter of immense policy significance to governments and institutions with the increasing benefits associated with integrating into the global network of knowledge and ensuring global competitiveness. The writing of this article is motivated by the conviction that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) operate in line with institutional, political, economic and cultural context of the nations in which they exist. The level of support extended and policy directions set by national governments influence the nature, motivation and strength of the internationalization ventures by HEIs where objectives and rationales need to be integrated with national policies and strategies. The review article assessed the policy provisions for internationalizing the higher education system in Ethiopia. It involved a critical review of Education Sector Development Programs and national development plans in the post 1991 period. It discovered that comprehensive and organized policy framework (except for scanty provisions) that defines aims, rationales and objectives of internationalization is lacking. This has left the universities to operate in a vacuum and less planned and unorganized manner. The study suggests that most of the missions assigned to the universities, such as ensuring quality in education and research, and preparing graduates for the international market, needs to be accompanied with policy commitment towards internationalization. In dealing with such a policy, government should follow an integrated approach combining all the important elements and dimensions of internationalization.
Keywords: higher education, internationalization, policy and strategy, Ethiopia
22 / 2021
Emanuel Copilaș, Romanian Capitalism: Oligarchic, Technocratic and Digital Trends
Abstract: This essay stresses the transformations of Romanian capitalism after 1989, taking into account both its continuities and discontinuities along several historical and (geo)political lines. I argue that oligarchic, technocratic and digital capitalism are best understood in relation to both the internal and the externally induced transformations Romania underwent in the last three decades. In the foreseeable future, it is probable that digital capitalism will take the lead, thus further shifting apart capitalism from the more and more vulnerable democratic regime that is ruling the country today.
Keywords: democracy, ideology, anticommunism, anticorruption, anti-statism, oligarchic capitalism, technocratic capitalism, digital capitalism
22 / 2021
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Abstract: The article deals with the geopolitical transformation of the modern world. It shows the transition from geopolitics to geo-economics, which is defined as a paradigm characteristic of development of global society and individual regions of the world. It is determined that geo-economic interaction stipulates functioning of multipolar centrality in the development of world systems and justifies the choice of global strategies as well as strategies for national development of sovereign states. The leading strategy of the modern world is the model of economic nationalism. Economic nationalism is a steady growth of the national economy, encouragement of domestic manufacture and protection of domestic manufacturers through the policy of protectionism; therefore, the main goal of economic nationalism is the transition from a raw material economy to a high-tech economy.
Keywords: geopolitics, geo-economics, world order, economic nationalism, globalization, regionalization
22 / 2021
Bronisław Bombała, The Question of Management Science Paradigms
Abstract: The article presents results of the comparative analysis of the various classifications of social sciences paradigms and their reflection in management science. It should be emphasized that management science requires transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research based on crossing the boundaries between particular scientific fields and joint usage of different theoretical achievements and methodological workshops. Trans- and interdisciplinary approach is a general epistemological principle of management science. Furthermore, the thesis about the necessity to distinguish the phenomenological paradigm in management science based on A.-T. Tymieniecka’s phenomenology of life is justified in the paper. Tymieniecka’s phenomenology allows, on the one hand, to overcome the theoretical incommensurability, while, on the other hand, it makes it possible for representatives of various paradigms to cooperate with each other.
Keywords: paradigm, themata, social sciences, management science, phenomenology of life, phenomenological praxeology
22 / 2021
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Abstract: The success of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be determined by understanding consumers’ behaviors, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences. In the case of Islamic banking, a skeptical attitude and atmosphere of distrust prevail because the consumers cannot find effective CSR outcomes through Islamic banks. In a competitive environment with a constant challenge of CSR differentiation and credibility, this research identifies factors that can guide Islamic banks to construct a favorable CSR image. Moreover, the research findings suggest that a ’one-size-fits-all’ CSR communication strategy does not work, due to the range of consumers and their ability to perceive information differently. Based on many articles on CSR of Islamic banks and on CSR communication, this research proposes the distinguished characteristics of consumers’ categorization to establish a positive relation with CSR approach in Islamic banks that are suggested to consider the consumers’ expectations, interests and information.
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), communication, consumers, Islamic banks, corporate image
22 / 2021
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Abstract: With over 250 indigenous languages and ethnicities, Nigeria typifies the proverbial tower of Babel for which English is both the official language and a tool for political stability. The National Education Policy (2004) adopts English as the medium of instruction from primary four upwards while the country’s Constitution (1999) provides that English is the language of business in its bicameral legislature. Since the dawn of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999, physical fights and other aggressive behaviors have remained constant features of the legislative houses. Using the descriptive analytical methodology, this paper contextualizes the linkage between language, rhetorical (in)capacity and violence. It contends that the dialogical discontinuity between thought and expression and lack of appropriate rhetorical skills among some legislators are traceable to their low educational level and the use of a second language (English) for official business. The paper recommends the improvement of the educational qualification benchmark for membership of the National Assembly.
Keywords: English language, violence, National Assembly, legislator(s), communication, fighting
22 / 2021
Anisur Rahman Khan, Hegemonic Masculinity in the Marginal Societal Context
Abstract: The concept hegemonic masculinity developed by R.W. Connell is considered as the most commanding tool to analyse the power dynamics in gender relations. But the discursive notion of the Western model of hegemonic masculinity falls short apart to deliver extensive conceptual and practical implications in the complicated context of marginal society. Although there are obvious ideals of hegemonic masculinity in the marginal societal context, several complications are also associated with this concept. I critically examine the implications of a few cross-currents of marginality such as migration, poverty and unemployment in relation to men’s situatedness and positionalities in the context of Bangladesh. As men in this marginal society are in constant negotiations with their livelihood means, the conceptual version of Western hegemonic masculinity seems unpersuasive to express men’s real-world situations. It is imperative for non-Western (Global South) scholars involved in research and analysis of men and masculinities to embrace the local context and cultural realities more conspicuously in order to get rid of conceptual imperialism.
Keywords: hegemonic masculinity, marginality, poverty, migration, unemployment, Bangladesh
22 / 2021
Meltem Ince Yenilmez, Mind the Gap in Turkish Labor Market
Abstract: The feminist theory equally focuses on the concept that the efforts of women are underrated. Nevertheless, this concept is not an appropriate analytical tool to checkmate the gender gaps in the labor market in Turkey. This is owing to the fact the contributions of women to their households are not undervalued but that these women are perceived to have predetermined roles already and discouraged from trying to break through the barrier. Bridging this gender gap is vital for diverse reasons. It can help tackle poverty due to the direct and interrelated contributions to the welfare of the household. It also improves the position held by women as they can now take part in family decisions and making sure that primary income is used for necessities such as health care and children’s education. Besides analyzing the characteristics fissures, and cracks in employment in Turkey, this paper will also uncover the principal drivers of gender inequality in employment. Therefore, it looks in particular at the main drivers of the gender gap in employment in Turkey and is necessary towards finding the best policies that can transform the Turkish labor market into a more inclusive setup while promoting gender equality.
Keywords: determinants of gender equality, women’s employment, opportunities and challenges
22 / 2021
Book Review
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Petya Tsoneva Ivanova, Negotiating Borderlines in Four Contemporary Migrant Writers from the Middle East. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018. Pp. 272
22 / 2021
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: In the following, there is an attempt to make some arguments about the possibility of communication between philosophy and religious thinking. At this level, it is important to identify “the data of a possible analogy” from the perspective of issues such as the object of metaphysical philosophy and that of theology, and the pragmatic language and intentionality assumed by the two types of “cognitive experience”. Next, given the reporting of philosophy to religion – as a specific area of human experience, reporting by several specificities of the religious discourse (philosophy of religion, metaphysics, phenomenology of religion, cultural anthropology, etc.) -, the focus is on the Kantian point of view, aiming at capturing the possibilities and the limits of philosophy in relation to religious thinking and experience. Kant is also aimed at as somewhat provocative from the perspective of the question: How much justification does the philosopher have when proposes a new meaning for religion; actually, a kind of “philosophical religion”, which Kant calls “pure rational religion”, or “moral religion”?
Keywords: philosophy, religion, Kant, transcendental ideal, moral theology, rational faith, pure rational religion
21 / 2020
Christian Paúl Naranjo Navas, Problems of the Post-Truth and How to Visualize the Idea of God
Abstract: The article attempts to visualize the dangers of the post-truth era, while relativizing the relative to argue that the postulates of this era are irrational. The only way to understand a moral structure in a post-truth society is through imposition, persuasion or manipulation. In all cases, morality is relegated to the subjective. The argument is constructed based on the law of non-contradiction, stating that the truth exists, and its characteristics are universal, static and logical.
Keywords: post-truth, Christ, morality
21 / 2020
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Abstract: The article presents a comparative analysis of both research in psychoanalytic philosophy and some philosophic strategies in the context of socio-cultural interpretations (’reading’) of human feelings. In solidarity with the ’philosophy of life’, in the framework of these studies, the existence of mental structures dependent on social circumstances and cultural tradition was proved. Therefore, human immanence should be regarded as a phenomenon largely caused by sociocultural experience, that is immutable, rather than as an ’autonomous entity’. In other words, these studies are based on the idea of ’sociogenesis’ of human feelings or so-called doctrine of ’genealogy of the subject’. This is relevant not only to some sociocultural determinants, but also to the issue of possible psychic genesis, including ’sociogenesis’ of human aggressiveness.
Keywords: aggressiveness, affective codes, mental structure, psychoanalytic philosophy, passionate love, sociogenesis
21 / 2020
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Abstract: From the first pages of Scheler’s Wesen und Formen der Sympathie, the Einsfühlung, which is the focus of this article, is analyzed in details. We will concentrate on this long Schelerian route, to distinguish the derived meanings of fellow-feeling (Mitfühlen) from the primitive one, i.e. the fusional emotional fellow-feeling, which occurs in subjects who participate with their own Leib to the same universal life-stream. Subsequently, we will pay attention to the similarities and the differences between Schelerian Einsfühlung and Edith Stein’s conception of empathy (Einfühlung), to explore the fascinating possibility of a debate that unfortunately has never occurred. The thesis discussed in this paper is that a new philosophy of life can flourish from the meeting of these two different philosophical standpoints, a philosophy aware of the importance in relationships both of the emotional participation and of the knowledge of the real-life of the other. This kind of philosophy is obviously open to metaphysical experiences, intended in terms of relationships with the living otherness in us and beyond us.
Keywords: Einsfühlung, empathy, Max Scheler, Edith Stein, Wesen und Formen der Sympathie, philosophy of life
21 / 2020
Lyudmila Molodkina, Phenomenological Dimensions of Architectural Creativity
Abstract: The specific character of a creative activity in the sphere of architecture, in both historical and contemporary perspectives, has been analyzed in this paper on the basis of Roman Ingarden’s phenomenological and aesthetic interpretation of the artwork in general, and of the architecture in particular. Heuristic power of phenomenological approaches to the study of architectural creativity has been shown, underlying the dimensions of intersubjectivity within the dialogic process of ’reading’ the architecture’s ’event’.
Keywords: architecture, cultural meanings, intersubjectivity, creativity, intentionality
21 / 2020
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Abstract: The characteristic features of post-non-classical philosophy and science are examined, where the priority of philosophy over science is emphasized. It is investigated how a broad and stable philosophical foundation will make possible to identify the contribution of basic concepts of post-non-classical science to the development of its methodology. Among these concepts, we will single out primarily the basic ideas of phenomenology, hermeneutics, synergetic, co-evolution, global evolutionism, universal interdisciplinarity, global studies, and ecology.
Keywords: world coordinate system, dynamic equilibrium, chaos, harmony, phenomenology, hermeneutic triangle, synergetic, self-organization
21 / 2020
Literature and Art Studies
Kübra Baysal, Pastoral Tradition from Andrew Marvell’s Renaissance Perspective: The “Mower” Poems
Abstract: Estimated to be written between 1651 and 1652 (Pole 1966), Andrew Marvell’s four “Mower” poems are the products of the same period following a similar pattern which places each one of them in a consecutive position. Following a similar fashion, the “Mower” poems are brought together as a “suite” (Cousins 2011) among Marvell’s other pastoral works published in the 1681 Folio. In the sequential pattern of the “Mower” poems, the voice of the same speaking persona, Mower, is heard from different angles, literary, scientific and political influences and a distinct perspective of the pastoral tradition. Thus, it is evident that Marvell is a man of his age experiencing the religious, social as well as political turmoil of the seventeenth century England, albeit through his Renaissance background and mind. With this, the focus of the paper is Marvell’s “Mower” poems: “Damon the Mower”, “The Mower to the Glo-Worms”, “The Mower against the Gardens” and the fourth poem, “The Mower’s Song” - pastoral works by Andrew Marvell in his unique perspective reflecting the influence of social and political state of England at the time and the poet’s talent of extracting different traditions and incorporating them to his work.
Keywords: Andrew Marvell, pastoral tradition, seventeenth-century poetry
21 / 2020
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Abstract: Virginia Woolf, one of the most gifted female authors of 20th century England, is recognized as a major female modernist author of her time. Woolf’s use of the (feminist) narrative voice has been the hallmark of her work and an influence to many of her contemporaries. Her description of female characters often overshadow their male counterparts in domestic and social spheres of life in the past century. This paper dissects the female protagonist in To the Lighthouse and Mrs. Dalloway and their role in maneuvering through the patriarchal framework of their societal construct, simultaneously demonstrating their individual strengths to achieve a transcendence of consciousness that is illuminating while amalgamating moments of transient happiness with the turbulence of life through the use of the narrative voice dominant in her two novels.
Keywords: social identity, psychology, gender, feminism, narrative voice, transcendence
21 / 2020
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Abstract: The first three decades of the twentieth century are considered the golden age of the Philippine literature in the vernacular language. In Western Visayas, Philippines, where the popular language is Hiligaynon, Rosendo Mejica was at the forefront of advocating nationalism through his publication Ang Makinaugalingon. One of Mejica’s legacy was the Hiligaynon translation of Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo. Translations were initially serialized in the local newspaper, Makinaugalingon, before they were published as books. This paper discusses the history of the Hiligaynon versions of Rizal’s novels. It explores how the early 20th century political, social, cultural and literary upheavals influenced Mejica towards promoting the Hiligaynon language and literature, and ultimately publishing the said literary pieces. Mejica’s success reflects how authors and publishers of that era contributed to the development of regional literature in the Philippines.
Keywords: Hiligaynon literature, Rosendo Mejica, Jose Rizal, Noli Me Tángere, El filibusterismo
21 / 2020
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Abstract: This article pretends to show us reconstruction and updating of the work of literary art, as mechanisms of concretization of reader, in front of the ominous world represented by four contemporary Mexican writers. Thus, from the concept of concretization exposed by the Polish philosopher Roman Ingarden in The Work of Literary Art and The cognition of the Work of Literary Art, and from ominous as feeling of strangeness that Sigmund Freud develops in The Ominous, we enter in the world represented by Beatriz Meyer (1961), Patricia Laurent Kullick (1962), Guadalupe Nettel (1973) and Daniela Tarazona (1975) to investigate the transformation of subject in that world delineated by blurring that comes from the other who live in it.
Keywords: concretization, ominous, Mexican writers
21 / 2020
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Abstract: The present article provides the results of a comparative analysis of biomorphic images of comparison; epic tales of the Turkic peoples served as the material for the analysis. The aim of the given research is to single out the general and special features of comparison implemented in the Yakut, Altai, Khakas and Shor epics. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that being a constituent part of comparison in the Turkic epic texts, biomorphisms have not been studied from the comparative point of view. The importance of the work is based on the necessity to conduct an in-depth comparative study of genealogically related Turkic epics on different poetic levels of the text structure; these findings will make a new contribution regarding the origin and formation of the Yakut Olonkho. Special focus is given to the structure of the comparative images embedded in the creative canvas of the analyzed epics. We also overview the special features of the traditional beliefs about animals and birds in the above-mentioned Turkic peoples’ culture; these beliefs had an impact on the semantic structure of the comparative images. We also completed a thorough analysis of the comparative structure, which might potentially be “common” for all the cultures overviewed in the analysis. We further make assumptions on the presence of such transformations of the epic texts, as the cultural replacement of the image and a deactualization of the object of comparison.
Keywords: linguistic tool for epic imagery, comparison, biomorphic images, anthroponyms, zoonyms, ornithonyms
21 / 2020
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Abstract: The paper explores the use of humour as a literary device to protest, criticize and reject the ruling class and its culture in the early novels of R. K. Narayan. He, generally labeled as an apolitical writer, maintains the equilibrium between tacit criticism of the colonial system and the projection of Indian values, thereby building a counter narrative against the British hegemony with his subversive humour. His lighthearted humour is overtly charged and politically loaded with strong anticolonial arguments that open new vistas and presents humour as a literary weapon. R. K. Narayan appears naive and is engaged in the apparent projection of Indianness, but behind the veil of simplicity, his writing emerges as a strong medium of criticism.
Keywords: humour, postcolonialism, anticolonial, culture, character, identity
21 / 2020
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Abstract: This study intends to discuss how today’s readers play an active and decisive role pertaining to re/translation processes and affect publishing houses in many ways. Benefiting from readers’ views in electronic data such as journals, blogs and discussion platforms, this article will analyze the efforts of readers to make their voices heard for their demand of “complete retranslations.” The analysis focuses on a specific case, namely Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries in Turkish that have been translated and reprinted many times in years. It makes use of a qualitative analysis of readers’ comments and criticisms and tries to understand readers’ reasons for demanding retranslations. It also discusses the nexus between the notion of “retranslation” and readers’ role as participants of re/translation. It concludes that readers are not passive, but rather active and conscious participants of re/translation processes. They express their opinions, make explicit criticisms, compare translations at various levels and issue a call for “completeness” in translated texts. This study indicates that, as one of the decisive agents of translation, readers highly influence the publishing world and often canalize online platforms to direct the publishing houses.
Keywords: retranslation, complete retranslation, readers’ voices, Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries
21 / 2020
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Abstract: This research seeks to analyse Amitav Gosh’s novel Sea of Poppies in order to explore the sociolinguistic strategy of code-switching with respect to its various types. The term ’code-switching’ denotes the connection of elements from multilingual interaction. Thisphenomenon has been approached by various sociolinguists, linguists, anthropologists and sociologists. It refers to mixing between various languages to a certain extent that confuses the traditional sociolinguistic conventions. The study also focuses on the close ties between various languages and their strong impact on structure of Standard English as manifested in the selected text. The research is qualitative and descriptive, and the data has been taken from the textual conversations and dialogues of various characters of the novel. It attempts to classify code-switching into its different types exemplified by the selected data. This research attempts to highlight the variety of English language used in the literary milieu of contemporary India. It explores the text through application of Charlotte Hoffmann’s theory proposed in her 1991 book An Introduction to Bilingualism. Moreover, content analysis as a research method is used to trace the presence of code-switching in certain words, dialogues and conversations between the characters. It finds out the distinct varieties of English (Pakistani and Indian) as mininarratives against the single Standard English in order to explore that English Indian fiction writers use native words in their work/novels to describe local lifestyles, culture, food, relationships, and religion.
Keywords: Indian English fiction, Standard English Language, code-switching, typology, Sea of Poppies
21 / 2020
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: The focus of this article is the development of Pedagogy as a higher Ukrainian theological school’s subject during K. Pobedonostsev’s counter reforms in the field of higher theological education. The authors present a comparative analysis of the statutes of 1869 and 1884, and reveal the influence of 1884 statute rules on the quality of academic pedagogical education. They focus on the content of Pedagogy courses taught by different lecturers in the academy. The main disadvantage is the lack of preparation for teaching in seminaries. Forms of teaching Pedagogy are exposed; also, at stake are the increase of the quantity of theses concerning different problems of education (in spite of reactionary measures of the Holy Synod), the activities of Pedagogy lecturers (Markelin Olesnytskyi, Victor Chekan, Fedor Ornatskyi, Mykola Makkaveiskyi) and their contribution to educational and methodic support for teaching the matter between 1884 and 1905.
Keywords: Kyiv Theological Academy, Pedagogy content, K. Pobedonostsev, M. Olesnytskyi, V. Chekan, F. Ornatskyi, M. Makkaveiskyi, educational and methodic support
21 / 2020
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Abstract: The article presents the features of measuring the quality of educational services in the higher education system of Ukraine through the evaluation by the recipients of educational services: the students. The main aim of the research is to find the state of satisfaction of students with the provision of educational services. To find the students’ level of satisfaction electronic questionnaire was applied. The proposed questionnaire consisted of 16 questions, 2 of them - of an organizational nature (specialty and course) and 13 closed questions, and 1 open-ended question. To determine the validity of the survey results it was applied the χ2 test. The information obtained gives a scientifically sound picture of the quality of the provision of educational services in higher education institutions as a whole, and identifies specific gaps for identifying problematic areas of the activity for further improvement at different levels of management.
Keywords: education quality, education quality measurement, recipient of services, university rating, educational process
21 / 2020
Anna Koteneva, Psychological Factors of Biopsychological Age of Law Enforcement Personnel
Abstract: The article presents the results of a study of psychological resources of law enforcement personnel and their relationship with biopsychological age indicators. The sample involved 121 people, 77 males and 44 females. The average age of specialists was 31 years, the average length of service - 9 years. Research methods of bio-psycho-social aspects developed by A.V. Makhnach, K.A. Abulkhanova and T.N. Berezina were used. Methods of mathematical statistics such as T-criterion for independent samples and correlation analysis were used for data processing. The results of the study show that men differ from women according to a number of indicators: they have lower indicators of all components of resilience, an accelerated rate of biological aging, but psychologically they feel younger than women. The biological age of law enforcement personnel reduces self-efficacy, perseverance, internal locus of control, constructive coping strategies and family support. Spirituality slows down the rate of biological aging. Psychological age and psychobiological age maturity also increase as resources such as self-efficacy, internal locus of control, and resilience.
Keywords: biological age, coping, family resources, locus of control, persistence, psychological age, psychobiological maturity, self-efficacy, spirituality
21 / 2020
Elpidio H. Nodado, Jr, Understanding the Vicarious Mechanism of Social Anxiety in Profession
Abstract: The study asserts to determine the social anxiety experience among professionals and their mechanism predisposed in work. The social experience tends to threat individual personality engaging social interaction with unpleasant perceptual beliefs and shattered with negative effects. The principal purpose of this study was to find out the understanding of vicarious mechanism of social anxiety, the discomfort and loneliness associated with the discrepancy of self-concept that develops between men and women, which could freely exercise the feeling of security and less suspicion in the profession. The awareness catches a direct information to correct the negative practices and to change what is appropriate and ceasing the formidable behavior that is identified as social and personal odds. The self-hurtful situation is often and corollary producing drives to tension and unacceptable attitude with the underlying effects of frustration and emptiness. The study employed a descriptive and evaluative method of research using quota sampling techniques and adopted a checklist, which consist of a set of self-made questionnaires. The collection of data was made for statistical treatment using the centrality of frequency distribution, percentage and chi-square. The test significant difference is at 95% level with 4 degrees of freedom. The respondents were working professionals composing 60 males and 60 females that included in any kind of expertise consisting of 120 respondents utilized in the study. The results of the study revealed that most of the behavior displayed by the respondents manifested negative and the impact is intense and crucial to individual that characterized by withdrawal in the social context. The complexities and disappointment are excessive and unable to manage the ill-feeling experience and have the tendency to increase risk depression.
Keywords: vicarious, mechanism, social anxiety
21 / 2020
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Abstract: This study was conducted to examine whether there was a significant correlation between the glass ceiling barriers that female employees encountered in organizations and their career anchors, and if there was a significant correlation, to determine the direction and level of the effect of glass ceiling syndrome on their career anchors, and to examine the statistical difference between the glass ceiling syndrome and the career anchor according to certain demographic factors. To this end, data were collected from 302 female employees from public and private sectors by using a questionnaire. These data were evaluated by using the SPSS software program and analyzed through factor analysis, correlations, multiple regressions, MANOVAs, independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs. According to the findings, a negative correlation was found between the glass ceiling syndrome and the career anchor. The glass ceiling barrier was found to have the strongest effect on the entrepreneurial creativity dimension among the career anchors of the employees. Moreover, it was found that the glass ceiling syndrome was more common among the public sector employees than among the private sector employees. Through the present study, the glass ceiling syndrome was also contributed to the literature as a new factor among the factors affecting career anchors.
Keywords: glass ceiling, career anchor, modern workforce
21 / 2020
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Abstract: This article attempts to provide some insight into the way Somalia is represented by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to normalize and legitimatize western military presence in the coastline of the Federal Republic of Somalia under the banner of fighting piracy. Hence, the article analyzes BBC online news through critical discourse analysis to uncover how superior-subordinate power duality works on BBC online news reports. The article also attempts to look at how the depiction of Somalia as ’an inert fact of nature’ normalizes the involvement of western military power to establish western hegemony in Somalia in particular and in the Horn of Africa region in general. The article aims to show how BBC coverage works in ’othering’ the people of Somalia and why such discourse portrays Somalia and its people as distant ’other’.
Keywords: piracy, media, representation, orientalism, Somalia, Horn of Africa
21 / 2020
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Abstract: The paper is dedicated to the generalized analysis of the problem of rebranding non-governmental organizations of national minorities in some of the democracies of modern Central Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine). The process of changing their positioning by highlighting the importance of using four principles - the perception of the political regime, the legal regulation of activity, the nature of interethnic coexistence, and the enhancement of social role - has been in the focus of the author’s attention. An attempt has been made to determine the symbolic rating of a group of states by the degree of rebranding non-governmental organizations of national minorities. The author’s vision of this process as well as the self-presentation in the conditions of the national non-governmental society of European countries haves been presented; the focus being on the views of Ukrainian researchers.
Keywords: rebranding, non-governmental society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), public administration, state policy
21 / 2020
Amarendra Kumar Dash and Vivek Kumar, Can Ecological Entrepreneurship Address Ecological Anxieties?
Abstract: This study calls into question the effectiveness of Ecological Entrepreneurship (EE) as a solution to abuses on the natural world in the absence of political will power and appropriate governance and visionary clarity at the macro-level of society. This article uses a range of literature on EE to discuss the limitations and ideological underpinnings of EE. Findings support that EE is rooted in mainstream science and technology and, therefore, offers predominantly market-based solutions. The study critically examines the limitations of EE as a concept as well as practice.
Keywords: Ecological Entrepreneurship, sustainability, entrepreneurial discourse, environmental policy, stakeholders
21 / 2020
Philosophical Avenues
Rogério Lopes dos Santos, Epicureanism and politics
Abstract: This article aims to present the relation that Epicureanism had with politics in Greece and Rome. Epicurus instructed his disciples to not participate in public life which meant to not participate in politic. We will discuss the reasons why he did so and whether his disciples accurately followed this teaching. Thus we use as bibliographic source the following books: (i) Book X from Lives of Eminent Philosophers of the Greek doxographer Diogenes Laertius; (ii) Vatican Sayings; Principal Doctrines; Letter to Menoeceusof Epicurus; and (iii) On Nature of the Things (De Rerum Natura), the book of the Roman Epicurean poet Titus Lucretius Carus.
Keywords: Epicurus, Lucretius, Epicureanism, politics, happiness
20 / 2020
Marius Dumitrescu, Hobbes’s Theory Regarding the Hypothesis of a Natural State of Mankind
Abstract: Due to Thomas Hobbes’s long exile (i.e. eleven years, between 1640 and 1651) in France, at that time governed de facto by Cardinal Mazarin, the founder of Louis XIV’s expansionist policy, some researchers consider that the political work of the British thinker refers to such a kind of political leadership. Other voices, however, associate Hobbes with the way Charles I tried to lead, namely as a sovereign monarch relative to the Parliament. However, Hobbes’s correspondence with Descartes comes to clarify this issue, in fact demonstrating the enormous influence of Oliver Cromwell on Hobbes’s political work. In this article we will analyze the relationship between law and natural right in the Hobbesian work of Leviathan in order to identify the manner in which the British philosopher explains the genesis and specificity of civil society.
Keywords: Hobbes, Leviathan, natural law, natural right, will of power, political power
20 / 2020
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Abstract: Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body is, now more than ever, vulnerable to the challenges brought about by the expanding capitalist hegemonic order, which is approached here phenomenologically, starting from Heidegger’s concept of technique. Still, Merleau-Ponty’s political vision is, despite lacking a proper ontology - which is a key ingredient of every concept of the political - far more reasonable and mature than that of Heidegger. How was that possible, and what are some of the phenomenological implications of the issue represents the main tenet of this essay.
Keywords: body, techno-capital, metaphysics, alienation, being
20 / 2020
Marius Popescu, Holistic perspective of meaning and “radical interpretation”
Abstract: The aim of this article is to outline the changes occurred within the philosophical analysis of language as a result of adopting the holistic perspective of meaning. These transformations are obvious as Donald Davidson’s papers are taken into account, ever since the “Truth and Meaning” (1967), where he sketches a theory of meaning which appears under the paradoxical form of a theory of truth. But the grounds of this semantic program are even older, this being developed under the combined influence of Quine’s holistic thesis and Tarski’s truth theory. Using Quine’s intuitions, Davidson develops the so-called “radical interpretation” theory, which is introduced as a radical reconstruction of Quine’s semantic holism, lacking the concept of “meaning” and also the epistemological behaviorism approach. The “radical interpretation” contributes to freeing language theory from the burden of ontological decision and, at the same time, to transcending the dualism of “conceptual schema” and “empirical content” - which is in fact the third and the last dogma of empiricism.
Keywords: meaning, holism, Quine, Davidson, “radical interpretation”
20 / 2020
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Abstract: This article presents an exploratory approach to the question of the Italian migration. The relationship between migration, cultural identity, digital media and virtual communities among Italian migrants in London and within an online community is explored. The main objective is to understand how the experience of migration is today modeled in the online methods of aggregation and participation in the life of the community. Two questions result: how the feeling of being part of an ethnic group is recreated in online communities, and if and to what extent the use of communication technologies is able to improve the quality of life of migrants. The research used a mixed methodological approach: the Social Network Analysis (SNA) and the Narrative approach, Digital Ethnography and the Interview method. The choice to adopt a mixed methodological approach responds to the need to understand: the actors and actions as interdependent units; the network models as new structural environments; the community that is generated by social actors. What emerged is the complexity of the network as a social space. The web has proved to be an agent of the process of international migration, and the network has proved to be a useful tool for various aims: from the simplification of reality in the adaptation phase, to the stabilization of the identity, up to the cross-cultural integration in the host-community.
Keywords: migration, cultural identity, integration, online communities, digital media
20 / 2020
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: This paper examines the politics and didactic nuances of authorial projection of rational choice behavior in Emeka Nwabueze’sRainstorm in the Desert in relation to social burden of concealment. Thus, this paper analyzes the playwright’s portrayal of the multiple effects of devious concealment to individuals and the society. To this end, this paper attempts to discuss how aspects and forms of concealment have become subsisting tradition in families, communities, professional conducts, and state governance. Thus, this paper applies the ideas espoused in ‘Rational Choice Theory’ as a deliberate means of creating a thematic foci aimed at deepening discussion that will enhance the understanding of the propelling forces and variables that compel individual’s to make their preferred choice of actions. Also we shall apply the theory of Interpretive Community as a means of discussing the rationale of locale specific perspectives on rational choices and irrational choices. As regards to the analysis of the portrayals, authorial inclinations of the playwright and our application of the selected theories, we adopt interpretive discuss approach. In the end, this study observes that behaviors are describable and measurable as rational or irrational in line with a given Interpretive Community’s inclinations even though rational choices are ultimately influenced by factors and variables such as awareness, knowledge, intent, ideology, philosophy and state of mind.
Keywords: Emeka Nwabueze, concealment, conflict, interpretive community, irrational choice, rational choice
20 / 2020
Dana Monah, Fragile Fictions: Shakespeare and Musset in Concentrationary Theatre
Abstract: This article explores the use of the play-within-the-play device in two dramatic works belonging to the concentrationary theatre – Holocaust survivor Charlotte Delbo’s Les Hommes (1977) and Communist Gulag survivor András Visky’s Juliet (2002) – in denouncing trauma related to imprisonment in totalitarian political systems. It sets up to address the role of the play within in the fictive actresses’ endeavor to tell their stories, as well as the modalities in which they appropriate two classical texts (Alfred de Musset’s Un Caprice and respectively Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet) in order to voice their love and pain for their muted husbands, lovers or brothers.
Keywords: concentrationary theatre, play-within-the-play, trauma, memory, Delbo, Visky
20 / 2020
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Abstract: “A literary work is not an object which stands by itself and which offers the same face to each reader in each period” (H.R. Jauss). The reception of Gogol’s “Dead Souls” in France is the best illustration of this. Having entered into the French literary environment in the 1850th not for its aesthetic value, but due to utilitarian reasons, the ‘poem’ evolved into the “reservoir of the modern literature” by the 1880th. The study of the role of Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé and of concomitant factors in this evolution is at the heart of the proposed research.
Keywords: Gogol, Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, Dead Souls, French reception
20 / 2020
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Abstract: This paper critically discusses the realities of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria, the attendant consequences, the polemics of casualties, and how portrayal of disenchantment in Ahmed Yerima’s drama Pari projects nuances of instigating factors and variables. Thus this paper reviews critically the heart-rending questions that regularly pervade the various social communication mediums and platforms in Nigeria and beyond about the frightening complexity of terrorism that envelopes parts of north-east Nigeria. Hence, this paper adds to the existing scholarly efforts towards deepening of people’s understanding of the intricate realities – which are perplexing, ugly and incongruous – that appear to instigate, propel and sustain the embers of discord which apparently keeps Nigeria in throes and on the brink. To add intellectual rigor to the scholarly polysemy and interpretation, this paper applies psychoanalytical theories of war according to Joost Meerloo, which espouses several angles to social struggles in which case ‘mass discharge of accumulated internal rage’ represents ‘the inner fears of mankind’ dissipated in mass destruction. The intent in applying the mentioned theoretical frame is to provide clear rational tangents that help to advance our interpretive analysis on human drive towards violence when in state of disillusionment and how war instigators use the disillusioned individuals as viable means of achieving their objectives as projected in Yerima’s Pari. To analyze some trajectories of violence describable as terrorism in selected literature, this paper adopts interpretive analysis approach. The objective behind the adoption of this analytical approach is to see how logical deductions through the application of locale specific perspectives can aid towards finding domain specific prognosis to terrorism in Nigeria. Lastly, analytical deductions in this paper, in many ways add dense insight on the perspectives that can instigate an end to the debilitating consequences of terrorism in Nigeria and other similar troubled spots.
Keywords: Boko Haram, counter-ideology method, political conditioning, terrorism, war
20 / 2020
Julia Romanenkova, Ivan Bratus, and Anna Gunka, Historical Jewels in the Museums of the World
Abstract: The purpose of the article is to characterize the museum biography of the famous jewels of the world, to systemize and summarize the information about historical jewels of world importance in various collections. The scientific work novelty is to identify the failure of complex scientific developments in art history that would systematically cover the historical jewels of the worldwide level in the context of their museum biography, with the provenance emphasis and works storage, so information systematization relevance about these art works as about museum objects is hard to deny especially in the light of current realities when tourism is growing rapidly and visits to museums are highly increasing. There is a number of world museums, exhibits and funds of which contain a significant quantity of historical jewels described in the article, museums visits by connoisseurs of art masterpieces specificity and such goods exhibiting peculiarities are emphasized.
Keywords: historical jewel, jewelry, collection, jewel, attribute of power, gem stone
20 / 2020
Noor Abutayeh, Communication between Staff and Users in Academic Libraries: An Assessment Study
Abstract: The current study aims at assessing communication between librarians and users in the library of Al-Hussein bin Talal University from users’ perspectives themselves. It shows the characteristics of qualitative- quantitative research by adapting the Sequential Explanatory strategy. It recommends that libraries leaders should pay attention to the necessity of holding training sessions for employees on how to communicate with users with disabilities. In addition, the researcher has found related reasons for problem in communication from outside sources. The probable causes of communications gap occur when there is a difference between service delivery intentions and what is communicated, as mentioned in SERVQUAL model descriptions of gaps.
Keywords: academic library, librarians, communication, library services, Al-Hussein bin Talal University, Jordan
20 / 2020
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: The focus of this research is to investigate some characteristics of discourse that are useful in analyzing and understanding different segments of spoken and written text. The main objective of this study is to reveal the features of spontaneous speech and written text and explain how the spoken and written narratives deviate from each other in their different perspectives. The research also emphasizes both the spoken and written texts and highlights the use of English language in our teaching system. The study focus on the significance of the spoken and written narratives at micro and macro levels of discourse is recorded and transcribed and on the other hand the text of the story (clever fox) analyzed; both the narratives have same similarities and differences in their discourse structures. This study recommends some suggestions regarding to English language teaching in order to bring awareness among the teachers of English towards understanding the use of discourse analysis and may support them in their teaching career.
Keywords: micro & macro discourse analysis, Labov model, comparison of oral and written forms of narratives
20 / 2020
Khadija Belfarhi, Displacement and Inversion in Address Terms in Algerian Arabic
Abstract: The present paper discusses the extrapolation of address terms in Algerian Arabic. In particular, it sheds light on how inversion and displacement occur in address terms in the speech of Algerians. Inversion in the roles of the addressee-addresser marks the use of address terms in the informal use of language. Speakers invert the role of the addresser in a way to perform or mark a particular act. Displacement refers to the movements that some address terms underwent along similar settings. Examples are provided from real speech situations. The analysis is based on daily conversations recorded from different settings with the aim to collect a large number of address terms in their real occurrence. Inversion includes roles other than child-adult relation. Besides, the dominant roles in the domain of family direct inversion. The same dominant roles of mother and father resulted in a movement along other domains that can be similar or dissimilar.
Keywords: displacement, inversion, pragmatics, address terms, Algerian Arabic, domains
20 / 2020
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Abstract: The paper aims to examine the concept of child personality development from the perspectives of Islamic philosophy and contemporary Western psychology. In recent decades, the parental journey associated with the healthy development of children has become increasingly complex and sometimes stressful across all societies and communities of the world. Major world religions and social sciences delineated various aspects and perspectives relating to sound personality development in children. The present article seeks to present the findings of a study that found to give an overview of fundamental principles related to child personality development drawn from Islamic philosophy and contemporary Western psychology. Drawing on these two perspectives, the paper seeks to explain personality development, highlighting both similarities and differences associated with these perspectives. The study employed qualitative content analysis to explore relevant data from the Qur’anic verses and Prophetic traditions, as well as theoretical studies and empirical research of psychology. The research findings predominantly highlight an integrated approach towards child personality development as framed within the perspective of Islamic philosophy and contemporary Western psychological understandings. The paper serves to link Islamic thought to contemporary Western psychological aspects as a means of highlighting the utility of religious wisdom to predominant Western constructs of child development.
Keywords: conceptualization, development, personality, children, Islamic philosophy, contemporary Western psychology
20 / 2020
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Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the causes of street life, challenges they experienced on the street, existing rehabilitation services and opportunities of children returned from street life in Facilitator for Change [FC], Jimma town. Qualitative research approach was used to get in-depth feelings and opinions of the children returned from the street life. Case study was employed to explore the life situation of these children. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select children, organization’s workers, care givers (mother takers) and key informant interviewees from women and children affairs office. The participants’ selection was based on the saturation of the information gathered. Accordingly, two FGD, ten in-depth interview and five key informants were conducted. As the finding shows, the potential causes which driven the children in to the street life were poverty, family separation, disagreement or conflict with their parents and child abuse at home. There are also challenges both during their stay on the street and in the rehabilitation center. According to the finding, the children were suffered with the problems like sexual abuse, child exploitation, substance abuse, suffering with diseases (loss of sleep, lack of food) and violence before they came to FC organization. There were also challenges during the rehabilitation process. Lack of comprehensive services in the center was the main challenge reported by the study participants. The duration these children have been staying in the organization is very short (not more than three months) which seems incredible to fully reintegrate the children in to the community. The study therefore concludes that the services provided by facilitator for change, non-government organization is substantial to reduce the risks of street life. But, there are still many things that remain to be done by the government, non-governmental and other stake holders in order to improve rehabilitation programs and reduce street life of children.
Keywords: street children, facilitator for change, challenges, opportunities, rehabilitation center
20 / 2020
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Abstract: The surviving passion for cockfighting or sabong among Filipinos has made it a culturally and legally acceptable form of gambling. As an established cultural phenomenon, sabong has largely influenced the ways its practitioners make a living. It is in this context that this qualitative study explored the experiences of two old Filipinos who had been engaging in the blood sport for a very long time. This study employed an in-depth interview technique and was guided by the principles of an indigenous research method known as pagtatanong-tanong or ‘asking questions.’ Through a thematic analysis of the responses obtained from the interviews, this study has surfaced six key themes that characterized the informants’ experiences: (1) cockfighting as an all-consuming pastime, (2) cockfighting as a thrill-seeking activity (3) family influence on cockfighting, (4) cockpits as venues for socializing, (5) betting as a way of earning money, and (6) gambling as a family issue. Such experiences could be regarded as both positive and negative illustrations and consequences of gambling in later life.
Keywords: cockfighting, gambling, elderly Filipinos, Philippines, thematic analysis
20 / 2020
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Abstract: In this study we propose typologies of situational categories on eliciting hurt and anger from the perspective of the emotion’s receptor and source. Using two samples from two European countries, we present a derived-etic approach. One hundred and thirty-five young Romanians (n = 87) and Spaniards (n = 48), aged between 18 and 30, involved in a romantic relationship, has described the recalled affective events in which they experienced the two emotions from both perspectives (receptor and source of emotions). We used a mixed approach to data analysis. The results are presented from both etic and emic perspective. Specifically, we aimed to present similarities and differences on categories’ frequencies, categories’ ranks, categories’ meanings, and categories’ specificity. The results revealed nine versus twelve typologies of situational categories that elicit hurt; and nine versus seven typologies of situational categories, which elicit anger. Clinical implications and futures directions are discussed.
Keywords: anger, hurt, romantic relationships, cross-cultural comparison, typologies of emotions
20 / 2020
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Abstract: Nowadays, cultural competence has become an important component of health care service. Hence, this study intends to explore the extent to which biomedicine is culturally competent in Jimma University Specialized Hospital. To this end, we used ethnographic design and purposive sampling technique to select study participants. We then conducted non-participant observation, in depth interviews, and focus group discussion to collect primary data. The study reveals health professionals are less cognizant of how culture affects health and how it interferes with treatment interventions. Neither does the hospital have a policy to deal with it. A number of barriers are found to limit cultural competence in the hospital. Therefore, the health care service at the specialized hospital is less in touch with cultural competence. National and organizational policies should be in place to overcome the problem.
Keywords: cultural competence, biomedicine, culture and health, Ethiopia
20 / 2020
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Abstract: The aim of the study is to identify the level of burnout among professionals working in oncology and palliative care departments. Material and methods: 65 healthcare professionals were included in the research. Socio-demographic, medical and job-related data were gathered. Two psychological instruments were included: the Maslach Burnout Inventory in order to measure the burnout dimensions (depersonalization, personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion) and the Big Five Inventory, used to identify personality factors. Data were processed using SPSS v.21. Results: 1/3 of participants have high scores on Emotional Exhaustion, 1/10 on the Depersonalization scale, and for Personal Accomplishment subscale, 16.7% obtained low scores. 38.5% of subjects declared that they often got attached to their patients. Doctors seemed to be more emotional exhausted compared to nurses (t(46) = 2.49, p = 0.01). Most of the participants believed that their job in oncology or palliative care departments changed their vision on life. Job-related issues were also presented in the research. Conclusion: Professionals working in palliative and oncology departments scored high on burnout dimensions. Personality factors were found to be strongly correlated with burnout dimensions. Hospital policies should take into consideration the presence of burnout among medical professionals, especially for doctors, given the fact that they were found to be more prone to emotional exhaustion.
Keywords: physicians, nurses, burnout syndrome, personality factors
20 / 2020
Anna Koteneva, Personal Health in the Context of Christian Worldview
Abstract: The article presents the results of a theoretical study of human health. The ideas about the nature and criteria of personal health from the standpoint of modern humanitarian knowledge are generalized. The main approaches to the problem of personal psychological health are presented. The study of personal health was carried out from the standpoint of the Christian doctrine of man, formed in line with the Eastern Christian worldview, according to which human nature is a trinity of spirit, soul and body. The spiritual basis is considered as the main basis in man, which, in the normative type of his organization, has a transformative effect on his soul and body. Various characteristics of personal spiritual and moral health are given and their role in implementation of man’s life mission is shown. The interrelations of spiritual, mental and physical health, as well as the causes of diseases and their spiritual meaning are investigated. Personal health is considered as an integral, complex, multi-level socio-cultural formation, including psychophysical, psychological, spiritual and moral characteristics of man.
Keywords: chastity, disease, mental health, psychological health, spiritual and moral health, sin
20 / 2020
Cătălin Dîrțu, Argument for Psychotherapy
Abstract: The soul hurts, too! It also crouches in the mother’s womb when surrounded by the danger causing terrible fear. It can also joyfully dance on Earth, among clouds or stars when... But what is the soul? We are in the 21st century and we still cannot brag that we know a great deal about it. However, the purpose in the following lines is not to provide an answer to the question “What is the soul?” Their goal is to draw attention on the fact that we do have it, that we do not know it and that – most of the times – we have no clue what it really wants. And, precisely because we do not really know how to treat it, I wish to argue that we can always find a support in a psychotherapist. Such specialist – if gifted – can add the word art to the science status of psychotherapy.
Keywords: psychotherapeutic relation, fears, humanism
20 / 2020
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Abstract: In this article we use a variety of philosophical literature to support and clarify the tenets and importance of a form of nondirective genetic counseling. We do this by referring to the problem of other minds and our philosophy of place which is informed by Jung, Lacan, Heidegger, Malpas and Zizek. Our major thesis is that nondirective counseling is the most ethical way to help a counselee. A genetic counselor cannot enter into the lived first person conscious experience of the counselee and so can never really know the best decisions for each individual person. Ultimately, we argue that in most cases, choices and decisions need to be made by the counselee so that they are able to discover their non-obstructed home or place in the world where their mental health awaits them. We argue that counselee decisions in genetic counseling cannot be prescribed as ‘prepackaged’ solutions because the best outcome is facilitated by the nature of the therapeutic alliance and the unique interaction between the place of each individual counselor and counselee.
Keywords: genetic counseling, other minds, place
20 / 2020
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Abstract: Along with global influences and changes brought by the ages, expectations and needs of citizens have multiplied in the vast majority of the world. For this reason, governments have to cope with problems in numerous policy areas. In this process, as unofficial public policy actors, think tanks undertake significant tasks in order to provide various policy alternatives and even solutions to governments. Therefore, the participation of think tanks in the policy-making process makes a crucial contribution to policy outputs. The number of think tanks, the policy areas in which they operate, and their global interactions are functional indicators of a country’s level of development. The foremost aim of this paper is to put forth the worldwide success of think tanks in Turkey and the Czech Republic in a comparative manner. To this end, “Global Go To Think Tank Index Reports” (GGTTT Rankings) are taken as the starting point in order to conduct a 10-year perspective analysis with regards to domestic economy policies, international economy policies, education policies, foreign policies and international affairs, defence and national security policies, and university-affiliated think tanks. Furthermore, functional determinations and policy recommendations will be offered in a systematic way for the think tanks in both countries.
Keywords: think tanks, public policy, participation, Turkey, Czech Republic
20 / 2020
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Abstract: The aim of this study is to analyze the impacts of green innovation applications in restaurants on their competitive advantage. In line with this purpose, questionnaires have been implemented on 468 first class restaurant establishments in Turkey. The questionnaire was sent to all of these establishments and 275 questionnaires were taken into consideration. Factor and regression analyses were conducted on the obtained data. At the end of factor analysis, statements were grouped under four variables: environmental, product, process and production innovations. Regression analysis was conducted for the relation between competitive advantage and environmental, product, process and production innovations. Competitive advantage was observed to be impacted significantly by environmental, product and production innovation variables. Environmental innovation was observed to be the variable that explains competitive advantage best, followed by production innovation and product innovation. Restaurant establishments’ managers are required to place importance on product, production and environmental innovations in order to gain competitive advantage.
Keywords: green, green innovation, competitive, competitive advantage, restaurant, restaurant establishments
20 / 2020
Ephrem Ahadu, Does Democracy Affect Ethnic Minority Rights? Evidence from Ethiopian Minorities
Abstract: The management of internal minorities is one of the main problem to exercise democracy this is typically about the treatment of individuals that are not viewed as indigenous to the region in which they exist in. It is a broadly held conviction that democracy is useful for minorities. Even though no single Ethiopian region is ethnically homogeneous, ethnic minorities within each region are subjected to segregation and marginalized from political power and decision making. In order to conduct this study, academic literature papers, both Federal and Regional constitutions, theoretical literatures, laws, national and international covenants, policy documents, reports, and other legal documents were used. The purpose is to analyze the nexus between democracy and ethnic minority in Ethiopia. Protecting the rights of minorities is the main problem of a democracy due to the basic principle of democracy that is majority rule and minority right. In a situation where “majority rules” by what means can states ensure their citizen have fair treatment and equal opportunities, even those who are not part of the majority? This article follows to find answer for these questions and to recommend some solutions.
Keywords: democracy, minority rights, Ethiopia, FDRE Constitution, indigenous peoples
20 / 2020
Hakan Kolçak, The Kurdish Question in Turkey: Shortcomings of Socio-Economic Methods
Abstract: The Kurdish issue is one of the biggest political problems of Turkey leading to many democratic, humanitarian and economic costs. According to some Turkish circles, the Kurdish issue is not an ethno-cultural problem, but a question of regional terrorism rooted in feudalism, ignorance and poverty. They argue that the issue would be resolved by means of socio-economic methods aimed at improving ethnic Kurds’ living conditions in Eastern and South-eastern Anatolia. They maintain that the improvement would curb Kurdish nationalism and suppress ethno-nationalist attitudes and beliefs among Turkish-citizen Kurds, rendering them loyal citizens of Turkey. At the end of the day, there would be no Kurdish issue, but loyal Kurds who welcome all Turkish-based integrationist policies of Turkey. This essay contends that the socio-economic approach may contribute to the resolution of the Kurdish issue, but this approach alone would not enable Turkey to solve the issue because it would still need to come up with a political formula that satisfies multiculturalist Kurdish demands.
Keywords: Kurds, Turkey, integration, multiculturalism, ethno-cultural diversity
20 / 2020
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Abstract: The 9/11 caused chaotic order in the Middle East in two episodes. The first episode starts from 2001 and ends in 2011, but the second episode start from 2011 and continues till date. The active military intervention as attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq was not able to destroy the Taliban and Al Qaida. Also, the collapse of Saddam Hussein has created a complex instability in the country. This was a turning point for Iran to widening its influence over Iraq without paying huge cost. The new situation disrupted the regional balance of power and has caused concerns for rival actors such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The current state of instability and regional disorder in Middle East is mismanagement of crises and developments held from 2001 to 2011. This study shows that after 2011, religious conflicts and geopolitical competitions had a huge regional transformation from a relatively static state to a quite chaotic condition. It seems that the time has come and the countries involved in the conflict, must sign a comprehensive and durable convention on all aspects like the Westphalia post-war period. The involved countries must realize that they have to avoid the spread of proxy war to an unlimited war between nations in the Middle East.
Keywords: Geopolitics, Middle East, Hobbesian conflicts, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia
20 / 2020
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Abstract: This desk study was employed secondary data which are gathered from various literatures to assess the achievements and challenges of post 2018 political reforms in Ethiopia. The development of Ethiopia political trajectory is entangled with numerous paradoxes that raising both challenging and interesting questions. After the down full of the military junta, the current ruling party i.e. EPRDF take the power and come up with different legal and political reform such as adoption of progressive constitution, recognition of multi-party system and federal state structures to end the long lasting civil war in Ethiopia. However, through time the EPRDF party also become dictator like its predecessors, the ruling party also extensively engage in high political stifling, blocking of internet and website, arbitrarily detention of the country calibers such as figure of political leaders, bloggers, journalists and activists that works on human and democratic rights and dumping of Diaspora media which are an artery of voiceless peoples of Ethiopia and uneven factor mobility. These measures triggered the public to stand against it. The massive public protest coupled with bloodshed of civilians shocked the party and forced to look inside so as to rescue the country from disintegration. As the result of deep reform held within the party, Abiy Ahimed becomes the chairman of the party and by default the prime minster of the country. After he come into power, unexpected remarkable achievements have been recorded in fostering regional peace, widen political landscape and liberalize the key economic sectors. However, the reform of Abiy is not unchallenged rather there are various challenges that impede the speed of reform. Hence, the authors are intended to as the achievements and challenges of post 2018 political reform in Ethiopian and forward the possibly solution to overcome the challenges.
Keywords: political reforms, achievements, challenges
20 / 2020
Book Reviews
Herdi Sahrasad, On Democracy of Last Two Decades in Indonesia
Jamie S. Davidson, Indonesia: Twenty Years of Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [Elements in Politics and Society in Southeast Asia], 2019
20 / 2020
Carmen Cozma, In-Between Phenomenology and Hermeneutics Applied to Literature
Gloria Vergara, La Hermenéutica literaria de Roman Ingarden / The Literary Hermeneutics of Roman Ingarden. Cuernavaca, Morelos : Editorial Praxis, 2018. Pp. 242
20 / 2020
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Adrian Muraru, Influențe platonice asupra lui Galenus / Platonic Influences on Galen. Bucharest: Eikon Press, 2019. Pp. 215
20 / 2020
Emeka Aniago, Attributions and Perspectives in Wole Soyinka and the Poetics of Commitment
Emeka Nwabueze (ed). Wole Soyinka and the Poetics of Commitment. Enugu: CNC Publishers, 2018. Pp. 341
20 / 2020
Philosophical Avenues
Ioan Buș, The Metaphysical Deduction of Categories in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
Abstract: In the Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant presents a transcendental and a metaphysical exposition of time and space as pure intuitions and as forms of sensibility. In a later chapter he presents a metaphysical and a transcendental deduction of a priori pure original concepts. According to Kant the metaphysical exposition “contains that which exhibits the concept as given a priori”. I will give a short account of Kant’s arguments regarding the metaphysical deduction, underlining some key points. Firstly, Kant needs a principle to establish the table of such concepts and uses, for this purpose, transcendental logic, mainly the functions of unity in judgment. From here he states the table of categories. Kant makes four observations about the correlation between the two tables, of judgments and of categories, and three observations about the table of categories. I will address some issues concerning the “metaphysical deduction”: the completeness of the table of the functions of unity as the guideline for the table of categories is debatable and the “deduction” may seem a circular argument. The correlation principle between the functions of unity and categories is not mentioned, but on the third observation on the table of categories Kant implies that it is, more or less, self-evident; further, I will argue that the correlations in the first class, that of quantity, could be different. One can consider that metaphysical deduction is a necessary proof, but it is not enough; at this point categories don’t have a proven objective validity. This, I think, is the task of the transcendental deduction; in the end I will address Ewing’s claim that the order of the two deductions should be reversed. I find that the metaphysical deduction discovers the categories, and the transcendental deduction establishes their objective validity, therefore the term “deduction” has two meanings for Kant.
Keywords:
Kant, deduction, categories, metaphysical, transcendental, Critique of Pure Reason
19 / 2019
Codruța Hainic, Aesthetic Experience in the Semiotics of Charles S. Peirce
Abstract: My paper takes into account one of the ideas that analytic aesthetics puts forth. Namely, that it defines itself as the study, not of art, but of the language in which we discuss about art. The outcome of this perspective is, among other study directions, the continuity between art and everyday activities, which led to taking high art out of its isolation. Given that, as Mikel Dufrenne noted, in continental phenomenology the art-object is understood as a cognitive object, in analytic philosophy, and more specifically in pragmatism, art has had its context and its connections with human activities and technology restored. According to the laws of pragmatism, Charles S. Peirce has considered art to be of central importance to understanding the human condition, even though he did not have an explicit theory of aesthetics. Despite the idea that Peirce is not generally considered an aesthetician - at least in a manner corresponding to traditional categories of aesthetics -, I want to outline that we can talk about Peirce’s contribution to aesthetics. My assumption is that we can find in his semiotics a theory of aesthetic experience, developed as a part of a general theory of knowledge.
Keywords: Peirce, aesthetic experience, aesthetics, sign, semiotics
19 / 2019
Shahid Mobeen, Intellective Living-Experiences (Erlebnisse) in E. Stein and A.-T. Tymieniecka
Abstract: Edith Stein and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, two women philosophers, in their philosophical anthropology delineate the essential structure of the human being, which is enlightened from within, therefore bring forward the distinctive living-experiences (Erlebnisse) in their essence and depth. The eternal and temporal modes of intellect are the insights into the logoic structure of thought that appear through the phenomenological analysis of both the philosophers. The intellective living-experiences in the individual and in different types of communities, in which human being lives, is marked out from two different phenomenological perspectives as method. These philosophers put forward also the question of metaphysical foundations of our reality starting from two different points of view but arriving almost at the same goal.
Keywords: essence, constitution, Erlebnisse, intellect, logoic, spiritual-eye, transcendental-realism
19 / 2019
Emanuel Copilaș, Phenomenology and the Political: Dialectical Inertias and Ontological Ambiguities
Abstract: This essay takes as its point of departure some overlooked implications recognizable in the intersection between phenomenology and political thought, political theory or, simply, the concept of the political, as it is used in this entire intellectual endeavor. In order to do so, it ventures on the realm of dialectic and ontology, before concluding that phenomenology is reciprocated by a universal philosophical quest for liberty and liberty, not matter how it is approached, remains only an isolated, stoic and/or skeptic abstraction if it is pursued exclusively in an individual manner. Consequently, in order to be meaningful and relevant, liberty cannot be separated from communities and societies and, taking this last aspect into account, it follows that is intimately tied to the political. Since the political is deeply imbued with dialectic and ontology, the pretention of phenomenology to accessing only the effective and the immediate, dismissing anything outside, is not valid; even though it has numerous desirable and praiseworthy outcomes.
Keywords: alienation, liberty, immediacy, metaphysics, becoming
19 / 2019
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Abstract: The article is an attempt to solve two interrelated tasks. The first is related to understanding the nature of creative activity. There are different answers in the literature on this point. That’s why the analysis of the main paradigms or models of the creative process prevailing in the history of philosophy and in the history of world culture was being carried out. The attention was drawn to the source of the creative process in connection with the three basic elements of the psyche: “subconsciousness”, “consciousness” and “superconsciousness”. The second most important issue is the relationship between artistic freedom and moral responsibility in human activity, considered on the basis of ancient mythology and the Holy Scriptures. This appeal to the mentioned sources is connected with the fact that archetypes of thinking and behavior, in their pure form, that became the basis of Western European culture, were recorded and described in these documents. Turning to the primary sources, including philosophical classics, is useful because it allows us to see the problem in a clear, and not obscured by “historical circumstances”, form. The “original sin” split up the holistic nature of man and led to the autonomy and even the opposition between the creative abilities of man and the moral obligations to the self and others. It was concluded that free limitless creativity makes the preconditions for the destruction of culture and degradation of man. Methodologically, the article uses analysis and synthesis, comparison, generalization, turn from abstract to concrete, the historical method, the method of system analysis and, finally, the dialectical approach.
Keywords: creativity, integration, culture, materialization, morality, ethics, paradigm
19 / 2019
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Abstract: Knowledge is crucial to human survival and flourishing as it is one of the means by which human beings seek to master and control their space. The quest for knowledge gears towards a better understanding of man and his environment as this is strictly part of his inclination and nature to do so in order to promote social change. The essence of knowledge is to liberate and expand the horizons of intelligence of the people, which is aimed at mobilising them towards a patriotic zeal to transforming their society. It is this quest for knowledge that allows human beings from diverse backgrounds to understand one another through inter-cultural communication. An attempt to understand and acquire knowledge in traditional (Western) epistemology demands that three conditions must be met and satisfied. They are: what we claim to know must be true; we must believe that thing we claim to know; and we must have evidence for believing that thing we claim to know. This was the basis for certainty in knowledge until Gettier’s sledge hammer destroyed the whole edifice of Western epistemology. In inter-cultural debates and analyses, knowledge is sacrosanct but there is the tyranny today of making Western form of knowledge by the interpretative community as the only means by which problems of humanity could be adequately examined and resolved without recourse to knowledge from diverse cultural backgrounds. This paper, therefore, argues for the acceptance of cultural knowledge as alternative to Western hegemonisation in the quest for making humanity a reality in this contemporary age essentially as it affects inter-cultural debates and encounters. Hence, it is expected that this paper will initiate a new trend in making inter-cultural encounters less cumbersome through the acceptance of cultural knowledge from societies of the Global South.
Keywords: epistemology, Western tradition, cultural knowledge, global South
19 / 2019
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Abstract: In many definitions of being, it is emphasized that it is closer to man than any other ’things are existence’ and at the same time the most distant from him. The saying ’things are existence’ - as if affirms the ’thing’ for a long existence - and ’being in the form of text(s)’ become available to any other thing, such as a person; but it is difficult to decipher them. Everything becomes visual if both ’thing’ and ’things are existence’ are refracted through the world’s coordinate system based on the limiting dynamic equilibria. According to the concept of this coordinate system, all things tend to the three limit fundamental equilibria: identification (I - limit), communication (C - limit) and rhythmic (K - limit). Being is the text(s) of ’things are existence’, and through it the text(s) of any particular thing. In all ontological areas of the world (non-living, living, social, humanitarian) we are dealing with deciphering texts; and in the social and humanitarian areas, the situation is more complicated. However, if we proceed from the above-stated scheme of thing(s)’ interaction, and the ’thing is existence’ with the coordinate system, then all the texts of the world become quite accessible.
Keywords: being, text, ’things are existence’, world coordinate system, limiting dynamic equilibria, rhythm of the harmony
19 / 2019
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: The relevance of common ground is of utmost significance in the production and interpretation of literary plays, especially, those of African refracted universes. However, much as the contribution is to linguistic scholarship, little has been done in this direction, especially on the plays of Ahmed Yerima. Applying the relevance and common ground principles, therefore, this study sets out to investigate how the principles enhance the production and reader’s interpretation of Ahmed Yerima’s perspectives in Ajagunmale, so selected because it is rich in data. We found out that with the notion of relevance and common ground, Yerima effectively selects such lexical items of idioms, personal pronouns, proverbs and wise-sayings in the constructions of utterances of his characters in Ajagunmale, thereby aiding our easy understanding of Ahmed Yerima’s perspectives in the play. A study of the relevance of common ground therefore significantly enhances our interpretation of the use of language and authorial perspective in the play, and could also be useful if applied to other Ahmed Yerima’s plays as well as other African refracted universes.
Keywords: relevance, common ground, Ajagunmale, Ahmed Yerima, African refracted universes
19 / 2019
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Abstract: The gentility and strength of the female gender is intrinsically woven within the very detailed chromosomes of her deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). It has been an expression from the beginning of her existence within the cosmos. The expression of selfless love and sacrifice is explicit in the very make up of her place(s) in time. Today we see changes we think of being distinct only to Government and our social climate. Yet, we fail to look at the past and we fail to look at other beginnings. My paper will look at the subtle yet profound phenomenological contributions to humanity through the sung/unsung poetica works of Professor Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (1923-2014) and the poetica expressions of my own voice. The delicate and profound voice of the works of Tymieniecka was the force that connected her works to mine. It will reflect the value of womanhood, the value of relationship, the value of a feminine poet, but most importantly the value of phenomenology and its place in the on-going mystery of women’s evolution in the cosmos: “If I could pick the pieces of all our pain, / and build the hopes of the strength remain. / We would hear the chorus of all before us, / and harmony welcome those to come.” (Christine McNeill-Matteson, Women Before).
Keywords: woman, poet, cosmos, love, humanity, phenomenology, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka
19 / 2019
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Abstract: In this article we analyze elements of fire represented in the poem books À dix ans sur mon pupitre / A diez años sobre mi pupitre(1924) by Nahui Olin and Polvo (1949) by Pita Amor, to reflect about the mythical image of the Phoenix, as a fire of rebirth. Our study starts from the cosmic image that manages Gaston Bachelard, to enter into dialogue with the poets, and see the correspondences between them, as well as their contribution of this mythical-philosophical vision of the Mexican poetry of the 20th century.
Keywords: Phoenix, Nahui Olin, Pita Amor, Mexican poetry
19 / 2019
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Abstract: The life of James Arthur Baldwin (1924-1987) is full of mystery, difficulty and problems on the account of racism and skin color. The racial problems and issues are not associated with Baldwin only, but every black African American undergoes this unpleasant experience. Non-fiction essay ’Notes of a Native Son’ of James Baldwin demonstrates the life of every black African American who comes across the problems of racial discrimination because of the skin color ultimately that results into the racial comments, sexual harassment, threats, unwelcome remarks and verbal abuses in the American organizations. Therefore, the difficulties are shared in his non-fiction essay. The lines from the essay ’Notes of a Native Son’ are analyzed to provide an insight into hitches and hardships that black people sense and encounter in the United States and to help the readers to look at America from black people’s vantage point. Marxism theory is adapted in order to achieve the needs of this current research. Here Marxism theory’s application makes it easier for the readers to comprehend the differences between African black Americans and white Americans on the basis of ethnic grounds.
Keywords: non-fiction essay, racism, discrimination, life of black people, Marxism theory
19 / 2019
Gassim H. Dohal, The Nameless Hero’s Struggle for Survival in Welch’s Winter in the Blood
Abstract: In his classic Winter in the Blood, the Native American author James Welch (1940-2003) introduces his nameless hero as a lost person. His connection with his tribal roots and his past is known. His daily life is no more than flashes of broken memories about his dead brother and father. This disconnection with the past causes him to wander without an aim in his life. This lost hero struggles to survive by trying to have ties with the present through going to town, drinking, and having women; a way to avoid the identity headache. Yet, he is not able to construct his present as long as he has no past to rely on. In other words, it is impossible to create something out of nothing. After a lot of efforts, things change: the hero becomes part of what takes place in his environment, and finds himself involved in what is around him. This paper deals with how the nameless protagonist struggles in order to find his identity, which is important for any person to create the present and the future. In addition, it will address the changes that promise a new life for the hero at the end of the novel.
Keywords: identity, James Welch, Winter in the Blood, Native American
19 / 2019
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Abstract: In Poulet aux prunes, space contributes considerably to the semantization of Nasser Ali’s character. This character is tragic, in vain searching for maternal love. The universe of Nasser Ali includes 3 spaces: the here, the elsewhere, and the hereafter. The here, represented by the maternal body and Iran’s homeland, designates the maternal figure. Yet, this land is occupied by another, it is an inaccessible land for our hero. Driven by the here, the protagonist hopes to find a substitute mother figure in the elsewhere, represented by the world of women and the world of music. But he is disappointed because elsewhere gives him only illusory substitute mothers. The tragedy of Nasser Ali is that of space: he finds nowhere his mother; in his quest, everywhere, here as elsewhere, he is perpetually frustrated. In such a situation, there remains only one space: the hereafter, represented by his room, where he locks himself after deciding not to live, and the grave being his last home. For this tragic character, only suicide and death allow him to relive the intrauterine existence and thus to join the maternal body, a space from which he was excluded as long as he lived.
Keywords: Marjane Satrapi, Poulet aux prunes, cartoon, graphic novel, psychoanalytic reading, space, return to the womb
19 / 2019
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Abstract: The paper examines Alex Asigbo’s Once upon a School as a drama of social criticism through an interpretive analysis of embedded metaphors as forms of behaviour intrigues, twists and turns that characterize humans in quest to achieving their aspirations. The play evaluates behavioural tendencies as products of social construction of reality, which revolve around influences of nature and nurture, locale specific social realities and contexts. To discuss the behaviour of the characters in the play, the paper adopts content analysis approach regarding specific aspects of the play such as characters’ choice of language, particularly humour, the characters’ projected ideological inclinations, the existing didactic values, and the socio-cultural variables that propel the social construction of certain realities. Furthermore, the paper adopts Abraham Maslow’s view on the humanistic perspective as the theoretical paradigm applicable to the analysis of the play’s characters’ conducts in specific circumstances. Lastly, the paper asserts that human behaviours are manifestations of locale specific social construction of realities and the propelling forces of an individual’s nature and nurture.
Keywords: intrigues, social criticism, intentionality, humanistic perspective, nature, nurture
19 / 2019
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Abstract: Yiannis Ritsos (1909-1990) is a national poet. He wrote about Greece and expressed his love for Hellenism. It is beyond the scope of this paper to explain how Ritsos expressed this love for his country, and how he responded to crucial historical events in his other poetic works. Having said that, his enormous (in terms of extent and value) work vividly shows the poet’s connection with his country. In this paper, we are going to explore Ritsos’ poetic reaction after the Cyprus tragedy of 1974, focusing on his collection Ύμνος και Θρήνος για την Κύπρο (Hymn and Lament for Cyprus). Then, Greece’s fortune suffered under the military regime, which deprived the Greek people of their natural rights and freedoms. Greece was a country where democracy had no place, and people were forced to oppress their voice. To a very great extent, it was the junta’s misjudgements that led to the Turkish invasion and the de facto partition of Cyprus. However, in the five poems of the collection, the ‘invaders’ (we refer to in the article) are not meant to be connected with one or the other country. Ritsos’ response to the events is not a reproach or an attack against ethnic groups. It is a voice of protest against the abolishment of democracy, peace and freedom. Thus, the ‘invaders’ are those who opposed these values, and through certain allusions to Orthodox tradition Ritsos intends to show human suffering.
Keywords: Modern Greek poetry, Ritsos, Cyprus, politics, history, Orthodox tradition
19 / 2019
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Abstract: This paper endeavors to explore the ethical and pragmatic issues of online writing in an international environment. On the one hand, the literary interactivity experienced on the francophone sites Scribay, Atramenta and De plume en plume is heavily indebted to the ethics of reciprocity and to the obligation to engage in what the pragmatic-interactionist model conceptualizes as “face-work” (Goffman), by using linguistic strategies meant to avoid or soften “face-threatening acts” (FTA: Brown & Levinson) and to achieve “face-flattering acts” (FFA: Kerbrat-Orecchioni). In the milieu of online literary sites, it is highly recommended to open up to one’s interlocutors’ sensitivity to “face”, by maximizing the weight of FFAs and by minimizing that of FTAs. It is only the site Oniris that prioritizes politically correct non-politeness, by advising authors against complimenting their commentators. On the other hand, scientific interactivity provides many rewarding possibilities that can be tested on professional sites such as Academia.edu or Linkedin.com, which appear to be less demanding in terms of “face-work”, confining their expectations to the mere popularization of research results corresponding to certain thematic horizons of expectations, without imposing any regular activity on their users. In order to “cut a fine figure” in these social worlds, it is enough to tag and reference one’s publications, while the “polite / political acts” (Kerbrat-Orecchioni) take a freer, suppler shape. The present paper analyzes a corpus of personal data comprising francophone interactive instances of “face-work” promoted by international sites of literary and academic writing, and provided by the avatars Eva Dam (from a writer’s standpoint) and Brîndușa Grigoriu (from a researcher’s). The sociolinguistic paradigm is tested on authentic experiences of online communication.
Keywords: French literature, Francophone research, social writing site, face-threatening acts, face-flattering acts, linguistic (im)politeness
19 / 2019
Social Sciences Research
Kolawole Oladotun Paul, Examining the Concept of Righteousness in the Gospel of Matthew
Abstract: Matthew, the first gospel account recorded in the Bible is embedded with several terms and concepts; notable among which is ’righteousness.’ The concept arguably forms the central significant theme of Matthew’s gospel. Though, righteousness here is seen in the ethical sense; Matthew refers to the proper behavioral norms and attitudes for his community, which connotes the quality of being morally correct and justifiable; therefore, Matthew made use of the term in a vital and significant manner understandable to his readers. On this note, Matthew’s style of presentation and expression of righteousness as a central significant theme of his account is examined and this in turn forms the theoretical framework of this paper.
Keywords: righteousness / δικαιοσύνη, Christ, Gospel, Matthew
19 / 2019
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Abstract: This study aimed at assessing center-region relations regarding whether regions enjoy full autonomy or not in their jurisdictions. The study employed a qualitative approach. Interview was the main primary data collection method. The findings of the study show that the federal government through the incumbent party, the EPRDF network, severely undermined regional autonomy more seriously before 2016. There have been dramatic changes observed in the post2016, particularly, in the Oromia region. With the coming into power of the reformist leader within the EPRDF coalition on April 2nd, 2018, various reforms have been introduced that can strengthen the practices of democratic federalism in Ethiopia. This study, accordingly, recommends among others that the federal government should respect constitutional jurisdictions given to regions and encourage a democratically negotiated autonomy between the federal government and the federated units; there should be negotiation among the ruling EPRDF coalition members on the basis of equality, respect and trust; there should be separation between the Party and the state administration (replacing democratic centralism ideology by participatory democracy); and titular and non-titular national minorities should get fair representation in their respective regional councils.
Keywords: federalism, regional autonomy, Oromia, SNNPR, Tigray, Ethiopia
19 / 2019
Ujomu Philip Ogo, Human Dignity and Social Order as Key Values for an Endogenous African Development
Abstract: This study looks at the issues of instability, lack of human dignity and social disorder as endemic problems in most parts of Africa. The problem has its roots in the African traditional thought and is now carried over into the modern African experience. In much of traditional Africa anachronism, supernaturalism and authoritarianism were the core values of social control hence posing threats to human dignity, but ensuring a tightly controlled social system. In the modern era, human dignity and even social order were challenged by a seemingly high rate of ethno-religious conflicts, wars, poverty, intolerance, authoritarianism, corruption and lack of equity and social justice. These led to serious weak points in human and humane values for African development defined by a problem of rationality. Since the primary beneficiaries are the human beings and societies of Africa, then the paper aims to philosophically examine what kinds of values are required for African development. Values are desirable or important, and some values are needed for development in Africa. More importantly, there is a need for a philosophical foundation for key values without which Africa’s quest for development will be a mirage. Basically, the quest for an endogenous approach to development reinforces the search for an African identity. This can be attained via the role of conceptual decolonization in African philosophy as a means of building a critical and tolerant disposition to ideas and life in Africa. This decolonization will help establish the two values of human dignity and social order in Africa so as to improve the quality of mental and social life of people.
Keywords: social order, human dignity, Africa, development, decolonization
19 / 2019
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Abstract: This paper examines the issues and challenges inherent in executive-legislative relations in Nigeria’s presidential system with special focus on the Eight National Assembly of the Fourth Republic. The paper notes that cordial and symbiotic relations between these two arms of government are irreducible minimum requirements for entrenching robust participatory democracy and ultimately development. However, the above have not taken firm footing, due to the prevalence of acrimony, squabbles and perfidy in executive-legislative relations. Data for this study were collected from secondary sources, and the adoption of textual analysis invigorated the discussion, findings and recommendations. Among others, the paper canvasses the need for deliberate cultivation/deepening the culture of civic engagement, consensus building and respect for constitutional provisions and delineation of boundaries in political and governance spheres. Other recommendations proffered are capable of redressing the irritants and challenges observed.
Keywords: executive, legislative, Nigeria, presidential, relations, system
19 / 2019
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Abstract: Private security is a sector where security services are provided to many industries within protection packages for people or the environment. With the occupational health and safety (OHS) training conducted in the workplaces, it is aimed to increase the safety behaviour tendency of all the employees from all sectors and to contribute to the formation of a positive safety culture. The study aims to examine the effect of OHS training given by OHS Specialist and Workplace Physician on safety behaviour and to evaluate this effect within the framework of demographic characteristics of employees. The demographic characteristics of private security personnel based on evaluation are gender, age, educational status, marital status, the condition of an occupational injury at workplaces in which he/she is currently working and worked in the past, occupational tenure, union membership, hazard class perception and position. The research is in cross-sectional and quantitative research design. In this study, the employees working in the private security sector in the Anatolian side of Istanbul constitute the working environment of the study. In total, the valid data from 540 private security personnel were used in research analysis. In the analysis of the study, descriptive statistics, and Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis H tests from inferential statistics were used. According to the findings of the study, it was determined that the training performed by the OHS Specialist and Workplace Physician had a “high” positive effect on the behaviour of the employees. It is concluded that training affects the behaviour of employee more positively as the employee’s age increases, in case of any work-related accident in any period, in the range of 5-10 years of working time, in case of holding position close to the senior management.
Keywords: private security, occupational health and safety, training, occupational health and safety specialist, workplace physician
19 / 2019
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Abstract: The objective of this study is to examine the effect of corporate governance, and government influence on non-performing loans of Chinese banks. It is further identified the main causes of non-performing loans in developing and transition economies. The problem of non-performing loans causes inefficiency and non-productivity in the banks. Chinese banking sectors has suffered with this chronic disease. Several reforms and measures have taken to counter with NPLs problem by China. The data on Chinese listed commercial banks over the period of 2000-2013 has used for the analysis. The data of Chinese Banks are collected from CSMAR, a very reputable database of Chinese listed firms and from Almanac of China Finance and Banking a detailed periodic survey book on Chinese banking. The results of this study revealed that after getting privatized, the banking performance of Chinese banks has improved significantly. Further, The results suggest that the corporate governance practices has some influence on Chinese banking sector NPLs such as, board size and board independence are negatively and positively influence the Chinese banking sector NPLs respectively. This result is rather unusual as banking NPLs literature suggested. Our results suggest that a large board size may reduce the banking NPLs in China. However, the increased board independence works oppositely.
Keywords: banks performance, corporate performance, NPL, banking reforms
19 / 2019
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Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the effect of job autonomy (JA) on work engagement (WE) and job satisfaction (JS) of employees within different private banks in Lahore-Pakistan. This cross-sectional study intended to find out the impact of job resources (autonomy) on positive job attitudes by looking into the moderating role of psychological-capital on these job attitudes. Six hypotheses were developed to see the impact of JA on the overall positive job attitudes. A survey was conducted, and the primary source of data was used to collect the data from respondents by using the snowballing technique. PLS Algorithm, Bootstrapping and Blindfolding were used to analyze the study hypotheses. Test analysis showed that job autonomy has a significant relationship with work engagement and insignificant with job satisfaction through the moderating role of Psy-Cap.
Keywords: job autonomy, work engagement, job satisfaction, job resources, psychological-capital
19 / 2019
Book Reviews
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Yemi Ogunbiyi (Ed.). Drama and Theatre in Nigeria: A Critical Source Book. Lagos: Tanus Books Limited, 2014. Pp. 736
19 / 2019
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Frăguța Zaharia, [Și] Fenomenologia vieții personale în filosofia lui Constantin Micu Stavila / [And] Phenomenology of Personal Life in Constantin Micu Stavila’s Philosophy. Iași: „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University Press, 2019. Pp. 435
19 / 2019
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: Plato describes the philosopher in the Republic as an ideal person, but taken in his dialectical contradiction. Therefore, the article is based on a textual analysis of Plato’s works in the historical and philosophical vein, considers the question of the ideal and «false philosophers», their nature, functions in public life, position in the State structure. Complicated contradictory relationship of the ideal philosophers with the State power is shown in the article. On the one hand, they should pursue their higher predestination, and perceive the Good spending the contemplative life. On the other hand, as the citizens of the State, they should for the sake of people bring the supreme knowledge to public life. But the materialization of ideas is always connected with big problems. The false philosophers are only apparently philosophers. They are ready to actively participate in the political life of the country because of their psychology and goals. Unfortunately being greedy and ambitious they become not a source of creation, but a source of destruction of the spiritual and moral foundations of the State and man. In the modern world the role and responsibility of true philosophers is incredibly increasing due to the emergence of a global civilization facing the face of a third world war. In this context, let’s recall that the main function of philosophy - that Plato told about - is the development of the worldview which values may affect the adoption of practical solutions to improve the world and make it safer.
Keywords: Plato, Aristotle, philosopher, pseudo-philosopher, Republic
18 / 2019
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Abstract: Starting from the actuality and the fruitfulness of a key phrase belonging to Constantin Micu Stavila (1914-2003) that „culture is the expression of human perfectibility’s impetus”, we try to emphasize part of the thinking the Romanian-French philosopher has unfolded in his too little known but significant work. The frame of the present paper is both hermeneutic and phenomenological, according to the very own manner Micu Stavila has developed his philosophical reflection. The center is made by ‘culture as phenomenon’ – in its origins, meaning, purpose, influences, etc. – related to what does really define the Human being, namely the humanity that wo/man is able to accomplish during a life worth living.
Keywords: culture, Human, humanity, consciousness, freedom, creativity, morality
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The necessary understanding of good and evil comes through the acceptance of the other. It is with the other that I reach the understanding of good and evil. Starting from the studies of H. Arendt, we discuss how in some situations we have come to “bureaucratize” relationships, to lose so the sense of self and the other, and therefore the sense of good and evil. The suffering that in psychopathological field is created for these reasons must be considered in the light of the understanding of good and evil, which comes through the other.
Keywords: ethics, psychological suffering, otherness
18 / 2019
Thomas Ryba, On the Possibility of Multiple Indisponible Grounds for a Global Bill of Human Rights
Abstract: In his Tanner Lecture, “Law and Morality,” Jürgen Habermas makes a complex argument that law is necessarily related to morality on the basis of an indisponible moment—a moment of relative independence but one in which it is impossible to dissolve law’s relation to religion and politics. Habermas’ solution is to find a substitute for religion and politics by re-grounding this indisponibility in a formal procedure—discourse theory, a solution that presumes that other parties to international law will accept its modernist-secularist assumptions as a fait accompli. While accepting the value of discourse theory as a method, this paper contests Habermas’ substitution of a formal procedure for a substantial ground and suggests that the idea of the ius gentium provides a more realistic basis for multiple indisponible grounds of international law, grounds that preserve its connections to religion and natural law.
Keywords: Habermas, Suárez, indisponibility of law, ius gentium, international law, human rights, theory of communicative action
18 / 2019
Carmen Cozma, An Insight into Logos and Logos of Life
Abstract: A crucial idea challenging the entire cosmology, ontology and metaphysics from the Pre-Socratics to the contemporary philosophy is that of the grounding and first principle of the All. We refer to the universal principle that orders and unifies the whole being-in-becoming, designated by Heraclitus of Ephesus, around 500 BC, through the term of logos / λόγος. Over the centuries, during the last decades of the twentieth century and the beginning of the new third millennium, we (re)find it as the logos of life, which represents even ‘the sense of all senses’ within the phenomenology elaborated by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. In this paper we aim to unfold an insight into a major concept that crosses – as a red thread - the philosophical thinking from the ancient Greeks to nowadays. Our attempt is to disclose part of the in-depth meaning of the logos and the logos of life as regards the potential of the philosophical language to enlightening towards the need of harmonizing particular and general / individual and communal levels of the complex beingness in the cosmos we get access. Deciphering the valences and the strengths of the Heraclitean acknowledged concept and, no less, those of the renewal of it established by Tymieniecka - who, in the frame of her phenomenology of life, properly has brought to the fore and she has originally developed the vision of the famous “Skoteinós” -, we try to better understand some about our status in the present globalizing world. Actually, we face great teachings about the universal reason, eventually, offering us a serious support in the effort of meditating and working on the side of the so needed ontological harmony beyond any opposites and tensions, by comprehending some of the divided-undivided dynamic cosmic whole we are part of.
Keywords: logos, Heraclitus, logos of life, Tymieniecka, wisdom
18 / 2019
Lyudmila Molodkina, Phenomenology of the Formation of “Meanings” in Architecture
Abstract: The content of the article presents a philosophical and phenomenological analysis of the specifically expressed perception of architectural space as a culturally defined locus (“place”) with a multitude of included social and individual personalized meanings and other meanings that form the basis of architectural intersubjectivity. The author formulates own position on the basis of the phenomenological methodology of E. Husserl, R. Ingarden, M. Heidegger and other philosophers. The scientific stimulus for writing the article was also the interesting heuristic judgments of representatives of architectural phenomenology: C. Norberg-Schulz, S. Holl and other well-known modern architects.
Keywords: “place” / locus, intersubjectivity, architectural space, cultural meanings, constructing subject, meaning constitution process, corporeality
18 / 2019
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: The Romantic Period in England can be considered as indicative of ’an age of crises’ because the era witnessed several political affairs, ideologies and strategies such as slaver trade, colonialism, American and French Revolutions. These political and social changes all signalled ’chaos’ which would dominate European political, cultural, and literary life for the next quarter of a century. Therefore, it was inevitable that Romantic writers were influenced by the political and social events in Europe. They were considerably aware of British expansionism. It would not be incorrect to claim that there is a direct correlation between socio-political revolution and the literary revolution in Britain. No matter what their ideological stance was, some Romantic poets of the era, like S. T. Coleridge, William Cowper, William Blake and Robert Southey, reflected their observations of the colonialist activities in their works. Some other poets of the era, however, like Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, tried to especially avoid subjects concerning European colonialism in their writings. They were concerned with escape from day-to-day reality, with images and narratives remarkable for their historical or geographical exoticism. This paper will analyse these two reactions of the English Romantic poets; those who directly dealt with colonialism and those who principally presented orientalist and exotic elements in their poems.
Keywords: Romantic period, colonialism, orientalism, exoticism, Coleridge, Blake, Shelley, Byron
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The paper examines the didactic values embedded in The Trials of Afonja, a drama created through a combination of history and imaginative resourcefulness, which projects lack of foresight and progressivism as hubris as well as the key variables responsible for the socio-economic down-turn of individuals, empires and nations. Thus, these contexts form the focus of our discussion in relation to Nigeria’s subsisting economy and polity restructuring debate paradox and incongruities. Hence, the researchers espouse on how social change as projected in The Trials of Afonja can be rationalized as the reason behind the down-turn of the enacted Oyo Empire, as well as the lessons subsumed in the play’s conflicts dimensions and tragic paradigms. To elucidate on the suggested thematic purviews, the researchers apply social change theories alluding to nuances of restructuring as plausible methodological, dynamic and progressive response in attempt at accommodating and containing the realities of social change vagaries and phenomena. To discuss these theories and the study trajectories, the researchers employ interpretive analytical approaches. In the end, the study affirms the essence of unavoidable vital force of social change and the crucial importance of embracing the tenets and variables of restructuring as integral reality of life and status sustainability.
Keywords: didacticism, dramatic social change, history, hubris, progressivism, restructuring
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The concept of a superfluous man is mainly the result of some social and political issues in Russia in the 19th century. That is why Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time can be seen as a projection of these issues in literature. The novel dwells upon such features of a superfluous man like intelligence, self-awareness, isolation, doubts, and loss of meaning. However, these personal characteristics can also be seen in English literature in the remote 16th century and the modern 20th century. Shakespeare’s young prince in Hamlet and Conrad’s young captain in The Shadow-Line can easily be analysed under the same personal traits. This fact shows that some human characteristics can be analysed as categories that fall upon people under various circumstances. This study concludes that although there is a difference between the social, cultural, and political environment in the 16th, 19th, and 20th centuries in Russia and England, human beings breed similar reactions against changes in their societies.
Keywords: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time, Conrad, The Shadow-Line, superfluous man
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The integral artistic image, architectonics and rhythms of the Yakut heroic epos are studied from the point of view of the three limit relative dynamic equilibria, presented in our previous works. Three directions in research of heroic epos are singled out, in connection with these limits: identification (I), system-communication (C) and limit rhythms of epic work (K). We correlate the integral artistic image to the identification limit, the architectonics to the system communication limit, and the rhythm to the limit of world harmony. These limits are unattainable in reality, so to understand particular epic works it is necessary to focus on the intermediate cell of the epos: the phenomenon (F), the corresponding horizon (H) and the main rhythm of the epic work (K). They are associated with the limits I, C, K by the calibration ratios ensuring the correspondence of the rhythms of the epos to the rhythms of world harmony. In the framework of the phenomenological approach, the intermediate cell and its limits belong to the phenomenological space, but the works of heroic epos in most cases are models of limit states of real world objects, so the transition from real equilibria to phenomenological ones is completely justified. Sets of rhythms, rhythmic cascades, and their resonant sound throughout the work of the Olonkho are narrated as easily as they are perceived. A transition is made from the rhythms of individual lines to the rhythms of epic formulas, epic places, then to the rhythms of plots and digressions. A set of these rhythms calibrates integral images and architectonics.
Keywords: identification limit, artistic integral image, system-communication limit, architectonics, rhythm, harmony, Yakut epos, Olonkho, equilibria
18 / 2019
Ioana Cătălina Antaluță and Bogdan Olariu, George Matei Cantacuzino: A Role Model in Architecture
Abstract: One of the most remarkable Romanian architects of the 20th century, George Matei Cantacuzino (1899 – 1960) is the creator of a theoretical and practical work, as well as an educational one that needs to be explored and understood in its very own articulations; especially, because the particular discretion characterizing the author and his lesser known but so important contribution he has brought in a too short life. By combining traditional and neoclassical Romanian style of building with an original manner of interweaving elements of classicism, Renaissance and modernism, G. M. Cantacuzino left a memorable legacy not merely as an architect and urban designer, but also as a theoretician, restorer, painter, essayist, aesthetician, historian and professor, whose complex work is worth to be earnestly investigated and revealed. In this article we try to emphasize some peculiarities of an exceptional personality having a considerable influence on the development of the contemporary Romanian theory, practice and education in architecture.
Keywords: George Matei Cantacuzino, architectural theory and practice, classic attitude, Brâncovenesc style, architect role model
18 / 2019
Lisa Rockford, Science as Means for Making in Contemporary Art
Abstract: The conceptual underpinnings of twentieth century modern and contemporary art established new directions for art making that led to a widespread use of non-traditional media in art making. This mindset paved the way for current artists to explore and integrate other disciplines and methodologies. The paper will offer evidence of visual artists who have used scientific methods in conceptually driven projects that blur the line between Art and Science. Nathalie Miebach, Berndnaut Smilde, Luke Jerram, Roger Hiorns, Peta Clancy, Hubert Duprat, Hilary Berseth, Aganetha Dyck, and Tomas Saraceno are contemporary artists utilizing microbiology, geology, apiology, arachnology, meteorology, chemistry, and physics as method for creating sculptural objects, installations and images. Through their interdisciplinary investigations, these artists have also made unique scientific discoveries and unprecedented contributions. Appreciating the close link between creativity and scientific experimentation, several science-based laboratories are now offering artist residencies, collaborative opportunities, or commissioning artists to assist with research and data visualization.
Keywords: art, science, collaboration, interdisciplinary, creativity
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The article deals with clarinet concertos composed in the 20th–21st centuries. Many different works have been created, either in one or few parts; the longest concert that is mentioned has seven parts (by K. Meyer, 2000). Most of the concertos have 3 parts and the fast-slowly-fast kind of structure connected with the Italian overture; sometimes, the scheme has variants. Our question is: How does the concerto genre function during this period? To answer, we had to search many musical compositions. Sometimes the clarinet is accompanied by orchestra, other times it is surrounded by an ensemble of instruments. More than 100 concertos were found and analyzed. Examples of such concertos were written by C. Nielsen, P. Boulez, J. Adams, C. Debussy, M. Arnold, A. Copland, P. Hindemith, I. Stravinsky, S. Vassilenko, and the attention in the article is focused on them. A special complete analysis is made as regards “Domaines” for clarinet and 21 instruments divided in 6 groups, by Pierre Boulez that had a great role for the concert routine, based on the “aleatoric” principle. The conclusions underline the significant development of the clarinet concerto genre in the 20th -21st centuries, the high diversity of the compositions’ structures, the considerable expressiveness and technicality together with the soloist’s part in the expressive concertizing (as a rule). Further studies suggest the analysis of stylistic and structural peculiarities of the found compositions that are apparently to win their popularity with performers and listeners.
Keywords: clarinet concerto; form-building; genres of instrumental music; creativity of the composers of the 20th and 21st centuries; schemes of \the structures.
18 / 2019
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: It is increasingly becoming a common practice to get people with tattoos, especially the youth, in Uganda today. In the past, tattoos were reserved for special subgroups like seamen (sailors), and motorcycle riders (bikers). However, it is now prevalent in other segments of the population, especially the young people. To many, tattoos are still strange and mysterious. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate perceptions of such an act in order to bring to fore meanings that either justify or invalidate the trend. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods in the analysis. It was discovered that tattooing is premised on deep-root cultural meaning and beliefs. This study, therefore, concluded that ancient tattooing was intricately woven around the cultural perception of tattoos among the young people and their underlying reasons for the practice, which is generally accepted, whereas, modern tattooing is a practice that majority of the youth do not seem to embrace, considering it foreign, merely imported and obscene, relating it mostly to negative behaviours or vices in the society.
Keywords: tattoos, culture, foreign, fashion, Uganda, Africa
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The defects in the application of 1950s’ Green Revolution brought the discussion in 1962 Silent Spring about the negative consequences regarding sustainable environment, which in turn created a new notion in 1980s that needed further work. In Turkey, environmental problems were first discussed within the framework of the 3rd Five-Year Plan (1973-1977). However, actual studies on environment and sustainable development began in the 2000s. The primary aim of this paper is to present sustainable development activities and policies in Turkey to determine the progress in this regard. Moreover, the effect and the role of education in sustainable development will be investigated. The main argument of the paper is that educational activities on environment are not designed to accommodate sustainable development. In this manner, this paper will offer new suggestions about the adaptation of environmental literacy to the education system and turning people’s interest in attitudes towards the environment into behavioural patterns so as to establish sustainable development.
Keywords: sustainable development, education policy, environment policy, public policy
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The phenomenon of rural to urban migrant street children is rapidly becoming one of the Ethiopia dynamic social problems. The problem is pervasively found in Jimma city where the number and situations of those children is so complex and demanding. To this end, the study aimed to explore the situations of independent rural to urban migrant street children in Jimma city, South Western Ethiopia. The study employed qualitative approach. In-depth interview with fifteen rural to urban migrant street children; key informant interview (KII) with nine key experts from Jimma City Social and Labour Affair Office, police office, and Jimma city Women and Children Affair Office; three Focus group Discussion (FGDs), and observation were methods of data collection. Samples were selected through purposive and snow ball sampling techniques. Thereby data were transcribed, categorized, schematized and interpreted based on their respective contents and themes. The study revealed that the majority of rural out migrant street children were males. Various causal factors have contributed for their streetism, and poverty was found to be the leading one. Those children drive their life by involving in numerous multifaceted livelihood strategies. They are vulnerable to wide range of violation. Their situation becomes worse by the negative attitude and actions against them. Consequently, they develop abnormal behavior like inhaling plastic, chewing chat, drinking alcohol, robbing and theft, and insulting others. Even though some local NGOs and Jimma University have been providing them with some basic needs and educational materials, they couldn’t decrease the number and worse situations of those children. So the issue needs an intervention of all stakeholders at all levels in improving the life style of rural people so as to decrease the number and harsh situations of rural to urban migrant street children.
Keywords: street children, rural to urban migrant, independent child migration, violations, situations
18 / 2019
Kolawole Oladotun Paul, A Critical Examination of Broken Homes in Nigeria
Abstract: Marriage is an important part of man’s social life; a covenant and commitment between a man and woman. At a particular stage in life, people are questioned if they are not married. Yet, some people see the cure for unhappy marriage as separation (divorce), it’s often seems to be a problem than a solution; meanwhile, the society is heavily affected. Divorce remains a severe crisis; it inflicts pains on people concerned, children and the society at large. Many have seen the marriage covenant “till death do us part” as an unrealistic and obsolete phrase. Day by day majority of homes (especially in Nigeria) are faced with the threat of divorce in the contemporary society. Divorce is the order of the day; people even say it with pride without remorse. People no longer take marriage as a serious commitment for life. In view of this, the research presents a discourse on the subject matter explaining its effects on the Nigerian society.
Keywords: marriage, divorce, Nigeria
18 / 2019
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Abstract: Stock market is the best indicator of any country’s growth. If the stock market of any country performs better, it means the economy of that country is growing. At the same time, interest rate is the biggest enemy of any country’s economy. Any economy with the higher interest rate faces the problem of devaluation in its currency, which means an increase in the exchange rate. So, in this way interest rate and exchange rate become very important factors for any economy. In this project, we want to study how the stock market reacts to the interest rate’s and exchange rate’s movements. To examine this reaction, we have used the data of interest rate, exchange rate and stock returns for the period of 2007 to 2017 in Pakistani perspective. By applying the multiple regressions, our findings indicate that interest rate and exchange rate have a significant impact on stock returns with the alpha 10%. The interest rate is negatively correlated with the stock returns while the exchange rate is positively correlated with the stock returns.
Keywords: stock market, interest rate, exchange rate
18 / 2019
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Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the trend and development of CSR disclosure reporting among Chinese listed firms in the Shanghai Stock Exchange during 2008-2015. The CSR disclosure items include shareholders protection, creditors and staff protection, suppliers and customers’ protection, environment protection, public relations, system construction, and safety. The study finds that different Chinese industries have their priority for CSR disclosure items; the data being collected from CSR disclosure reports issued by all Chinese listed firms on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (2008-2015). The results of the study show that there is a significant increase in CSR disclosure reporting trend among Chinese listed firms; each CSR disclosure item has a different trend over the period, and across industries; some important CSR disclosure items are pinpointed, such as system construction and safety, which is largely ignored by firms.
Keywords: CSR disclosure, shareholders protection, system construction, supplier protection, environment, safety
18 / 2019
Book Reviews
Gloria Vergara, El sujeto deseante y disidente / The Desiring and Dissident Subject
Gabriel Govea Acosta, El sujeto deseante y disidente en dos poetas hispanoamericanos: Odette Alonso y A. E. Quintero. Colima: Universidad de Colima, 2016. Pp. 285
18 / 2019
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Greg Mbajiorgu and Amanze Akpuda (eds.). 50 Years of Solo Performing Art in Nigerian Theatre 1966 – 2016. Ibadan: Kraft Books Limited, 2018. Pp. 614
18 / 2019
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: A great figure of the ancient world gaining reputation as both a physician and a philosopher, Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus, well known worldwide as Galen, keeps the interest alive over centuries. And the inquiry is usually beginning with the question of the time for the year of his birth, stirring up different comments that are largely due even to the writings of Galen. In this article I focus on the chronological dispute - maintained so far - concerning the date of Galen’s birth. At the same time, I aim to highlight part of the value of Galenic philosophy, which is much less known comparing with the high-entitled appreciation given to his work in medicine that continues to register developments.
Keywords: Galen, Galen’s birth, medicine, philosophy
17 / 2018
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Abstract: The new Renaissance spirit was the crucible for a new type of Christianity that appreciated man for his involvement and accomplishment in the terrestrial world. This new way to describe someone as a true Christian will find fulfillment in Calvinism and the Protestant ethics based on the principles introduced by the Pastor of Geneva. In this paper I will analyze Spinoza’s approach of philosophy and theology in his book Theological-Political Treatise, which proposed solutions, hardly accepted by his contemporaries. In the first part of the paper, I will present Descartes’ influence on Spinoza’s thinking, pointing out on the white, non-philological
Keywords: Spinoza, value conflict, Theological-Political Treatise, rational state, Christian teaching
17 / 2018
Santino Cavaciuti, A Metaphysics of Freedom for the Post-Modern Times
Abstract: The essay upholds the theory of the ontological and metaphysical supremacy of freedom, starting from the thesis of Maine de Biran, concerning the anthropological supremacy of freedom as it is the “power” of initiative and creativity. In the essay, it is showed that the anthropological being-freedom has an essential “vocation” for becoming “love” in the passage from the power of creativity to the act. This passage happens on the basis of the transcendency of the original Being, which, by its for free giving rise to the “multiplicity” of the beings, manifests itself as Absolute Freedom and Creativity, which ab aeterno becomes “love”. Such a passage from freedom to love can be phenomenologically observed also in the life of the Saints, in the life of families and in the life of some religious and ascetic communities. According to some extracts from the religious tradition, this passage could also have a cosmic realization. In that way, the draft of a metaphysics of freedom can be delineated, this could also answer the modern crisis of metaphysics founded on pure reason, and its relative nihilism.
Keywords: creativity, freedom, love, Maine de Biran, metaphysics, original Being, vocation
17 / 2018
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Abstract: In the pages of this article I will try to briefly analyze the issue of ‘deconstruction’ [Destruktion / Abbau] in the texts of M. Heidegger. The intention is to catalogue some of the sources that may have inspired the German philosopher in this sense. However, unlike his predecessors who have discussed the aspect of ‘deconstruction’, M. Heidegger is perceived as an author that applies this procedure to diverse areas of his thought. In the posterity of the German philosopher, a significant contribution having J. Derrida, ‘deconstruction’ creates its way towards certain autonomy. From this point on, ‘deconstruction’ is no longer a simple method applied in various areas at a certain moment in time.
Keywords: M. Heidegger, metaphysics, method, deconstruction, hermeneutics, tradition
17 / 2018
Ana Bazac, The Limit and the Burden: Around the Significances of the Finitude of Life
Abstract: The paper links the concepts of limit and burden from the standpoint of the human understanding of the finitude of life. However, this finitude is not felt by humans as burden, but only as an obstacle. The importance of the contents of life as “antidote” to death is highlighted. They are relative since death is a natural phenomenon, but since the consciousness of death means sorrow just because its stake is life/the highest value is life, it results that in order to “oppose” death one needs lives full of the values (the good, the truth, the beautiful) worth to be realised. The meanings of life are arrived at when people judge the contents of life they face. Since humans are both unique and very similar, their attitudes towards death depend on the manners they consider this situation. We must not forget the dialectic of the human as both individual and member of society: according to first aspect, people feel sorrow when the individual dies, but they think that death is only a relay race since the community the individual belongs to does not die. However, and certainly because of historical and social causes, people differentiate between their appurtenance to a particular cultural community and their appurtenance to the human species. The paper proposes just the necessity of the consciousness of the appurtenance to the human species and the factor of social ideal as a construct and vector of this consciousness.
Keywords: limit, burden, finitude of life, obstacle, death, life, contents of life, man as species being
17 / 2018
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: Árboles petrificados is the story that gives title to the book for which Amparo Dávila (Zacatecas, Mexico, 1928) won the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize in 1977. Here Dávila achieves narrative excellence and consolidates her fantastic style. In these pages we will analyze how in an imprecise and supernatural atmosphere in which everything can either be true and rational or not. Árboles petrificados [Petrified Trees] narrates the horror that is triggered by the confrontation of human loneliness and finitude, before which beings have nothing but the emptiness of uncertainty. We will also see that some beauty, however, survives in every petrified tree.
Keywords: Amparo Dávila, Árboles petrificados, loneliness, horror, Mexican literature
17 / 2018
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Abstract: This paper focuses on spatiality in Madame d’Aulnoy’s fairy tales. In this world, space is closely related to the Eros of the characters. Locked up, the characters are not only deprived of liberty, but must encounter certain sexual problems. Three disorders are identified. First, for lack of clear-sightedness in confinement, the prisoners have a perverted choice as to the object of desire. Secondly, besides the fact that the prison blocks the body from moving, it prevents the Eros from developing normally. Lastly, the closed space separates the character from the outside world and from their masculinity; he is therefore symbolically castrated.
Keywords: space, sexuality, psychoanalytic reading, fairy tales, 17th century’s French literature, Madame d’Aulnoy
17 / 2018
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Abstract: In this article, we will review the role played by hunger and food in the represented characters of the Rulfian universe. We will specifically deal with the ideas of Roman Ingarden about the sets of circumstances projected by the sentences in the work of literary art. According to Ingarden, here we can find different types of sentences, depending on the sets of circumstances that refer to a content of ’this is it’, ’it seems’ or ’it happens’. It is thanks to the functions of these sets of circumstances that we perceive the objects, because they ’illuminate’ or so to speak the field of vision and ’disappear’ so that we can perceive the objects. This determines, on one hand, the configuration of the represented world and, on the other, makes us to perceive, as readers, that rickety and hopeless world where the Rulfian characters are just shadows that wander in search of survival.
Keywords: hunger, food, Juan Rulfo
17 / 2018
Anna Kawalec, Philosophy of Rhythm: Grotowski reads Eliot
Abstract: The paper discusses the well-known Grotowski’s work Apocalypsis cum figuris from two overlapping perspectives. It interprets the first dimension of the work of Laboratory Theatre as embodying the poetic words of T. S. Eliot (neglected in the interpretations of Apocalypsis) within the dynamic process of performance – within the rhythm of body, emotions and lived experiences of the theatre artists (Grotowski, Cieślak). The second dimension is universal and closer to human existence: it concerns perfecting transformation of the subject. Adopting in subsequent stages of performing Apocalypsis Eliot’s assumption about dynamic and rhythmic character of human life and accepting (Biblical and Eckhart’s) thesis about inner and outer man in the work of Laboratory Theatre leads to soteriological potency rhythmically performing different dimensions of human being to her perfection. Finally, the paper proposes to look at Apocalypsis as work of “practical soteriology” (with open content of this notion).
Keywords: rhythm, performance, soteriology, Thomas S. Eliot, Jerzy Grotowski
17 / 2018
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Abstract: The study examines The Prime Minister’s Son written by Greg Mbajiorgu as a drama of social criticism by discussing the trajectories of social construction of depravity and the apparent destructive re-calibration of psychical disposition of the concerned individuals. Thus, the study analytically looks at the playwright’s authorial perspectives on social class segregation paradigm and the subsisting realities as phenomena that are products of social construction of reality. In a bid to illuminate on the deliberate attempts by Mbajiorgu to use drama to criticise a society’s problems, in pursuance of plausible conceptual suppositions, the study applies the theory of social construction of reality and the polemics of social criticism as the preferred conceptual and analytical frames. Lastly, in applying content analysis as the preferred analytical approach, the study projects that the analytical conclusions arrived at in the study will further the appreciation of Mbajiorgu’s portrayals of contexts and dimensions to actions and inactions of the society towards mitigation or exacerbation of socio-economic depravation and dehumanization.
Keywords: authorial perspective, drama of social criticism, social construction, social depravity
17 / 2018
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Abstract: Art, aesthetics and the response to art over time cannot be encapsulated as a commodity or dissolved in the needs of current events. Imagine a creative phenomenological river flowing through perceptions, space-time and humanity. Its life breath pings into the universe with the chords of the past, present and future. The true artists and their work is not of the commercial commodity of financial gain, although it can be caught up in it, as we look at the value of the classics. The artistic expression is universal and timeless, its muse is part of the phenomenology of life, and its effects priceless.
Keywords: phenomenology, arts, psychology of creation, posthumanism, poets, song writers
17 / 2018
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: Starting from phenomenological psychopathology, in particular from studies on the “delusional atmosphere” (Wahnstimmung) by K. Schneider and B. Callieri, and from Husserl’s phenomenology, the author discusses the difficulty of change in psychotherapy due to the need of patient to find himself again in his own world. This condition can hinder a change in the world view, while a particular experience intervenes, comparable with “the end of the world experience” (Weltuntergangserlebins) and comparable to that of psychotic onset, however reversing the terms. The psychotherapeutic change for phenomenological studies occurs when the type of meeting (Begegnung) is realized, which, taking into account the experience and the vision of the other’s world, manages to stem the experience of anxiety for the change that one intends to start.
Keywords: Erlebnis, Wahnstimmung, phenomenology, psychopathology, psychotherapy
17 / 2018
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Abstract: The democratic developmental state ideology emerged in response to neoliberal failures. Ethiopia is now pursuing a democratic developmental state ideology to ensure simultaneously democracy and development. In the educational curriculum, civics and ethical education was introduced in the 1990s so as to promote democracy and development in Ethiopia. The main objective of this study was to assess the role of democratic developmental state, civics and ethical education in promoting democracy and development in Ethiopia. The method this study used was qualitative methods. Instruments of data collection included: interviews, observation and document analysis. The findings of this study show that democratic developmental state has brought some successes on economic growth and social services; limitations on ensuring democracy as the space for citizens political and civil society participation is limited. Regarding civics and ethical education, some successes achieved on producing informed citizenry who can defend their democratic and constitutional rights, and accept diversity; and constraints in molding the moral values of youngsters. This study suggests that, widening the space for civil society and political parties’ participation in the democratization and development of the nation, the curriculum of civics and ethical education should be revised to incorporate important issues for the development of the nation, such as, democratic developmental state and other policies philosophy as a case study so that students reflect their views. Regarding moral issues, the study found that there is moral decadence among the people which is affecting both the politics and development; hence, in order to influence the character of the young generation as the Ministry of education (2010) noted the curriculum expected to be revised should address adequately moral issues. Moreover, teaching professional ethics in all disciplines of the higher learning institutions efficiently, and working deeply on building the moral character of the wider section of the society using media, public forums, traditional and modern civic institutions so that democratic developmentalism, the civics and ethical education play a meaningful role towards promoting democracy and development in Ethiopia.
Keywords: citizenship education, democratic developmentalism, democracy, ethical education, Ethiopia
17 / 2018
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Abstract: The study identifies the level of motivation, the rate of perceived stress and the relationship with socio-demographic characteristics among medical students. The research questioned 601 students enrolled in a medical university. The level of motivation was evaluated using Strength of Motivation for Medical Students – revised and the perceived stress, by the Perceived Stress Scale – 10.Medical students have a high level of motivation. Women are more motivated but there are no differences when it comes to the level of perceived stress. The least motivated students are those from the 5th and the lowest score for perceived stress was obtained by 3rd-year students. Persistence correlates negatively with perceived stress. The results proved that the less educated their parents are, the more motivated students are Results are important for students to find strategies to decrease their level of stress and to increase their level of motivation, and for university policy makers to find methods of helping students achieve their goals.
Keywords: medical students, motivation, perceived stress, academic performance
17 / 2018
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: The paper addresses an apparently unsolvable philosophical question: can the Christian Dogma of the Trinitarian nature of God be rationally explained? The authors argue that the conflict between fides and ratio can be resolved by a novel interpretation of the concept of time within a new philosophical paradigm: the Purposeful Evolution Theory (PET), where time, as in Plato, is a movable image of Eternity. In this paper, the PET is used to explain the Christian Dogma of Trinity through a deductive reasoning centred on the concept of atemporality. The Purposeful Evolution Theory has strict links with Plato’s philosophy and represents a key for a systematic interpretation of Plato’s unwritten doctrines. The authors argue that Plato’s unwritten doctrines already addressed and partially solved the problem of Eternity and Time, indirectly giving a reason-based explanation of the Trinitarian Nature of God and His Goodness, before it was even revealed.
Keywords: Plato’s unwritten doctrines, Dogma of Trinity, time, atemporality, Anthropic Cosmological Principle
16 / 2018
Victor Alexandru Pricopi, Augustine of Hippo on creatio ex nihilo
Abstract: In the early Christian centuries, there were disputes over the creation of the world. In vogue, following the tradition established by Plato, was the belief that the world was created from a pre-existing matter. In the second century, begins to appear the first Christian authors who adopt the idea of a creation out of nothing. Augustine is part of this tradition, dedicating a series of treatises on the book of Genesis. He often writes against the Manicheans and tries to prove that the world was created out of nothing.
Keywords: Augustine, creation, matter, creatio ex nihilo, rationes seminales
16 / 2018
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Abstract: Evil has always fascinated. Tormenting questions, such as: Why does God allow evil to exist? and How does God Almighty allow demons to get the science of divination?, has found categorical responses in St. Augustine’s works. The bishop of Hippo, who over the centuries become one of the most important theologians influencing the development of Western Christianity and philosophy, has defined the concept of evil in the world and its image associated with the demons. The Augustinian position is to be followed in the author’s Christian doctrine rejecting the Manichaeism.
Keywords: St. Augustine, demons, divination
16 / 2018
A.L. Samian, Unity and Social Cohesion in Malay Akal Budi
Abstract: Malay wisdom, by and large, is circumscribed in the traditional aphorisms. While being a Malay certainly hinges on a necessary spatio-temporal existence, there should be some commonalities in being a Malay that satisfy the sufficient requirements of more than being human: the Malay Akal Budi or conscientiousness, for instance. In this paper, the author examines some aphorisms, which points to the holistic unity, harmony and social cohesion underlying their conscientiousness and he argues for their importance in shaping a more humanistic philosophy in tandem with the Malay traditional belief and wisdom.
Keywords: Malay, aphorisms, unity, wisdom
16 / 2018
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Abstract: This article is about the circulation of modern science in Europe during the 18th century. Specifically, I focus on the works of two Portuguese science popularizers, Jesuit Inácio Monteiro and Oratorian Teodoro de Almeida, and identify some of the actors they recruited to make the new sciences available to the public. Then, I compare their work to that of science popularizers in other European countries, and show that, contrary to prevailing national stereotypes, Portugal was not lagging behind the rest of Enlightened Europe with respect to the dissemination of the new natural philosophy.
Keywords: public circulation of knowledge, Portuguese 18th century eclecticism, natural philosophy, scientific fact making
16 / 2018
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Abstract: In what follows, we consider Heidegger’s “ontological reading” proposed in connection with the distinction between “the objective validity” of the categories of the intellect, which supposes a logical and epistemological signification (as they are logically necessary conditions for the representation of objects), and their “objective reality”, which implies their practicability in relation with any object that would be given to our intuition. The famous interpreter reproaches Kant for having neglected the problem of the objective reality of the categories, which is their ontological meaning. For Heidegger, The Critique of Pure Reason leads to a new meaning given to metaphysics, which represents, in fact, “a fundamental ontology” (of Dasein), defining itself as ontological knowledge that precedes, conditions and guides the empirical knowledge of things. This type of knowledge is configured by the a priori forms of human spirit: the sensible intuitions, the patterns of imagination and the categories of the intellect. On the one hand, Heidegger subordinates thinking to intuition, the knowledge being marked by the finitude of Dasein, and dictated mostly by “temporality” of this one. On the other hand, he says that the transcendental imagination is “the common root” of the two sources of knowledge; the patterns of imagination being determinations of time. Under these conditions the a priori synthetic knowledge is possible due to “the transcendental determinations of time” and the objective reality of categories (their ontological statute) can be proved starting from the presumption that Dasein (Being-opened temporally) expresses “the original time”.
Keywords: Kant’s categories, transcendental deduction, objective validity, objective reality, temporality, imagination
16 / 2018
Melentina Toma, The Mediated Character of Immediate Inferences
Abstract: In the present article we aim to illustrate the mediated character of inferences designated as being immediate. We analyze immediate inferences through equivalence, respectively deducted immediate inferences based on the oppositional hexagon relations. For both types of inferences, the illustration is made using both Aristotelian and composite sentences. The result of this approach indicates that, in the cases of both of the two types of immediate inferences being discussed, it comes as a mediated inference, namely a two-premise inference, following the hypothetic-categorical inference model and the disjunctive-categorical model from the logic of composite sentences. In conclusion, the most frequently used immediate inferences are built on three hypothetical dyadic relations and three disjunctive relationships, and the composite sentence (which expresses the relationship) is the absent, but tacitly assumed, premise. We refer to premise without which the conclusion could not be established. The absence of the premise that expresses the logical relation between the sentences involved in the inference ensures the immediate aspect of the approach. So, in reality, immediate inferences are incomplete, mediated approaches.
Keywords: immediate inference, mediated, equivalence, opposition
16 / 2018
Literature and Art Studies
Hilal Kaya, The Modern in Huxley’s Brave New World and Tanpinar’s The Time Regulation Institute
Abstract: In this study Aldous Leonard Huxley’s 1932 Brave New World and Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s 1962 The Time Regulation Institute (Saatleri Ayarlama Enstitüsü) are brought together and analyzed in a comparative manner because they indicate a similar conceptualization of the modern that challenges the limits of conventional time and deconstructs the binary oppositions like the past and the present, the progressive and the primitive, and the private and public time. And therefore this study argues that their conceptualization of the modern, which is defined in terms of time, implies that a plural experience of modernity is possible.
Keywords: Turkish modernization, Multiple Modernities, A. L. Huxley, A. H. Tanpınar, modern satirical novel
16 / 2018
Ion Gagim, La Musique : La Loi de la boucle divine (Music: The Divine Loop Law)
Abstract: Long-time research on the science of music, especially focusing on the theory and methodology of the musical audition as a distinct activity grounded on its own laws, led the author into finding a peculiar phenomenon. It is about what the development of melodic elements does generate: the starting point of the motif / phrase in almost every musical work emerges into an ascendant axis and, after reaching a climax, it descends, thus creating a kind of loop (curve). The first motif of Bach/Gounod Ave Maria is a fine example in this regard. The analysis of more than three hundred musical works, belonging to different forms, genres, styles, etc. of various regions and periods, serve to prove such an assertion. The author coined the law of the divine loop to encompassing this phenomenon. An in-depth scrutiny of the objectivity of the stated premise made possible to ascertain the fact that some particular processes are to be discovered within the musical language (beginning with its source element: the sound). Based on this investigation, the author emphasizes the potential of some philosophical, psychological and musicological approaches his supposition opens toward.
Keywords: music, the divine loop law, melody
16 / 2018
Social Sciences Research
Cătălin Dîrțu, Pythagoras, Plato, and the Lyre-Soul
Abstract: The soul is singing! And it delights in playing its music. It does so spontaneously and naturally, not because it discovers music by chance or studying systematically the art of producing sounds; but because in its essence, at the very core unaffected by spatial and temporal coordinates, there is music, sonorous vibration, harmony or however we would want to call this peculiar art. At least this is what Pythagoras and then Plato let us understand, as two of the most convincing philosophers who believed such a truth. The personality of a psychologist – like of the philosopher - is craving for metaphors able to contain and to give meaning for the very own study “object”: the soul as a whole. No doubt, the soul is singing; it is playing; and the metaphor I considered to be the appropriate one is that of the lyre-soul.
Keywords: soul, sound, music, lyre, metaphor
16 / 2018
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Abstract: The main ideas of the world coordinate system based on the extreme dynamic equilibria are considered: three fundamental limits (identification, system-communication, orientation to the rhythms of world harmony), the corresponding axes, and the cells of the phenomenal space. It is noted that natural or cultural objects can be stable only if they are in the calibration nodes of the coordinate system, which are separated from each other by intervals corresponding to the frequency of oscillations of the rhythms of the world. Calibration is to identify the optimal and stable “step” of these rhythms. It is “the full-time existence” of the natural/cultural objects. The universalism of the coordinate system rests on the cell of consciousness considered in accordance with Husserl’s ideas in the phenomenal world. Two processes form the cell: from real equilibria to phenomena and horizons, and further refinement of this cell in the phenomenal space. “Intentional” and “horizontal” dimensions of consciousness are revealed in the process of phenomenological reduction. Intentional measurement is associated with the process of constant purification of consciousness, and the full consciousness of the phenomenological horizon takes into account all its possible forms (scattered, determined by memory, imagination, etc.). The model that connects the dimensions of consciousness in a phenomenal cell is much simpler than in the original cell based on the natural setting of consciousness. Therefore, the phenomenological method is the most convenient for the development of ideas about the world coordinate system based on extreme dynamic equilibria.
Keywords: dynamic equilibrium limit, coordinate system, three types of equilibria, consciousness, phenomenological reduction
16 / 2018
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Abstract: This article aims to analyze the utility of loyalty in organizations, and to locate employee loyalty at the level of the group. There are some questions about the terminology, the coverage of the ’loyalty’ idea, the possibility of it to be inversely proportional to integrity, so it could be a professional imperfection, precisely to those lacking empowerment, just a means of control of the ones in lower positions.
Keywords: ethics, loyalty, integrity, virtue, employee, organization
16 / 2018
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Abstract: This desk study, employing secondary sources of data obtained from various literatures, aims to assess the role of foreign aid in promoting democracy and democratic institutions, and the challenges to this end in Ethiopia. Aid Donors, especially western countries, used to set democracy, human right protection, freedom of speech and so on as a necessary precondition so that citizens and governments of developing countries could benefit from these aids. As various figures show, Ethiopia is one of the top beneficiaries of foreign aids mainly channeled from western countries, and these days, very recently, Chania’s aids. However, there is a problem on the ethics of aid: From the side of recipient countries, usually the poor, the expected target, is not benefiting from these aids due to corruption where officials used to redirect these aids for their own political and personal gains. Besides, usually, opposition political parties and institutions like the Human Right Watch, Transparency International, etc…used to question the real goal of donor countries: “is it to strengthening democracy or promoting their geo-political interests through these aids?” arguing that since these aids help strengthening oppressive rules of Ethiopia’s government not promoting democracy and strengthening democratic institutions rather. Thus, donors shall make sure and devise a good checkup mechanism to realize whether the aid they are providing is used for its intended target or not, unless should either lower or cut their aid until the recipient country’s (Ethiopia’s) leaders change their behavior.
Keywords: democracy, democratic institutions, donors, ethics of aid, foreign aid
16 / 2018
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Abstract: This article will provide a thorough Lacanian and Heideggerian analysis of Jung’s 1923 book Psychological Types. In particular, this article will demonstrate how one-sidedness of introversion or extraversion leads an analysand to experience the obstructiveness of a complex. I will use my past writing, which integrated Žižek’s interpretation of Lacan with my Heideggerian interpretation of Jung to show why this one-sidedness leads to the obstructiveness of a complex. In contrast, an analysand adheres to ‘the ethics of psychoanalysis’ when there is not an one-sidedness of introversion or extraversion. This can be simplified by noting that introverts neglect the desire of the Other compared to the extrovert who neglects acting “in conformity with the desire that is in you”. I aim to show that a balance is required between introversion and extroversion for the analysand to be at ‘home in the world’ and this can be restored with a unification of opposites through Jung’s transcendent function.
Keywords: Jung, Lacan, Heidegger, Žižek, desire, introversion, extroversion
16 / 2018
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: The study of the pathology of argumentation is correlated with the study of rational health, certified by the correctness of the logical operations, both being on the field of Logic. In this paper we propose to approach the logical errors from the point of view of argumentation as a concrete rational process of justification or rejection of an idea, in which, together with the strictly logical factor, give their best, the reference, the subjective intensity, the interlocutory factors, the enunciating factors; and the all in a complex process of communication. These key factors in argumentation can also represent some sources of error; and that is the reason for which we’ll use them as criteria for delimitating errors. The approach finishes in an integrating picture of argumentation errors, overcoming the disputes about the foundation of the division and the difficulty of framing different types of errors. This picture allows the systematization of all inventory errors over time and stimulates the identification of free places through the six essential points for argumentation.
Keywords: argumentation, pathology, errors, reference points, pathology of argumentation
15 / 2017
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Abstract: In 1950, according to Paul Evdokimov, a Russian and French theologian and professor of theology at St. Sergius Institute in Paris: „Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox have commonly referred to Biblical teachings. They were all grouped around the Bible. The closed Bible really unites us, but as soon as we open its pages, the open Bible divides us.” Indeed, every religious confession developed overtime, its own cannon, its own rules of interpretation, its own translations, and hence, its own editions, networks of diffusion, and places of reading. But, since 1960, there are common editions of the Bible. Therefore, we can be sure that the Second Vatican Council played a decisive role, no less, as it relates to the practices and the experiences of the National Bible Societies grouped in the United Bible Societies (UBS). In this article, after looking at the historical interconfessional and cooperation in translating the Bible, we find that it depicts the different types of translations, as well as the different models they have followed.
Keywords: United Bible Societies (UBS), interconfessional cooperation, Bible translation
15 / 2017
Anton Adămuț, The Yoke of Eros and the Incomplete Erotic Education: Notes on the Dialogue Phaedrus
Abstract: The Socratic method has four processes, out of which the first one is double. Briefly, the processes of the Socratic method are irony and self-irony, maieutics, induction and universal definition at the end. It does not matter that, by applying the processes of the Socratic method, one does not reach any truthș it only matters that the method in its whole or on segments is completely unable to be applied to the theory of Eros. The paradox is that if Socrates speaks besides truth when he brings into play the processes of method, it seems to have much more success when one excludes the method. This is possible when it is dealt with the theme of Eros and manifestations of madness as prophecy, as a ceremonial form, as religious delirium and poetic as well. Looking for here everything is happening in excess.
Keywords: Eros, love, education, madness, god, enthusiasm, excess
15 / 2017
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Abstract: On account of the 17th century optics, the Scholastic theory of the unity of senses has been viewed in a critical manner. A true revolution was engaged by the new theory of vision initiated by Johannes Kepler who had a great influence on the philosophical thinking of that time, especially on Descartes’ and Hobbes’ works. Being the first who applied the camera obscura principle to reveal the mechanisms of sight, Kepler emphasized the importance of the subject in the process of imaging, ultimately leading to the idea of an external reality that subjectivized itself. The new theory of vision has been speculated by Early Modern philosophers in support of the idea that the senses are deceptive. From science and philosophy, the idea of deceiving senses penetrated into Baroque painting and architecture, performing the illusory effect of trompe l’oeil in which two-dimensional images would be perceived as three-dimensional ones. Thus, science, philosophy and especially art developed a vision centered on the subject, on its freedom in creating and especially interpreting the idea of reality. For early Modern thinkers, reality is no longer a single one, and the subject ceases to be a passive reproducer of it, but rather an artisan, a demiurge of his own world. This new quality of the free subject recalled a new interpretation of the relationship with the Creator in the 18th century.
Keywords: subjectivity, camera obscura, trompe l’oeil, Early Modern philosophical thinking
15 / 2017
Raffaella Santi, Psychology and Politics: Hobbes, Chrysippus the Stoic and the Passions
Abstract: This article highlights the key role played by human psychology and the passions in Hobbes’s theoretical construction of politics as civil science. It analyses the connections with some stoic theories, in particular with the philosophy of Chrysippus. In fact, despite several differences, Hobbes was influenced by Stoic philosophy, especially with reference to the essential dynamics of the passions as “impulse” (hormé) and “repulsion” (aformé).
Keywords: Hobbes, Stoicism, passions, psychology, politics
15 / 2017
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Abstract: In 1943, when World War II was in full roar, a period marked by atrocities and actual degeneration of the human spirit, the Reynald and & Hitchcock in New York published the fantastic tale The Little Prince. Its author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a fierce enemy of the Nazis, was engaged in the war, living fully the horrors of the conflagration as a reconnaissance pilot flying missions in the GR II/33 squadron of the Armée de l’Air. What I would like to put forth in this essay is a new and original point of view from an anthropological but also psychoanalytic perspective on the tale, namely an exposition of the main archetypal motifs identified in this poignant declaration of love and friendship. One of the most important questions that come to mind is: How the aviator and war participant Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is the author of this tale? Why did the book appear exactly at that time, in full-blown war? And yet another important aspect: How was The Little Prince received by the public and transformed into what it is today: the most translated book in the French language? Last but not least, why does this tale touch us so?
Keywords: The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, psychoanalysis, regression, archetypes and archetypal symbols, Freud, Jung
15 / 2017
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Abstract: Woolf’s Orlando is the only novel in which the author creates real physical androgynous characters to shatter the stability of being, sex and gender – rigid backbones of patriarchy – by inserting her characters, namely Orlando, Archduchess and Sasha, into a state of physical, mental and sexual ambivalence. This article analyses the novel’s androgynous characters in terms of mind, body and sexuality and claims that the aim to destabilise traditional notions of individualism and the image of Woolf’s concept of androgyny in Orlando are similar to those of Bakhtin’s notion of grotesque, which is also based on the idea of instability and constant change.
Keywords: Virginia Woolf, Orlando, Bakhtin, androgyny, grotesque
15 / 2017
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: The ‘I’ of the feminine is often reflections/expressions of the most intricate of all consciousness; yet it is the blatant of all that is human. The feminine phenomenology of our existence is intricately woven into the reality of our limited understanding and knowledge. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka wrote of it in her publication, “The Song of the ‘Promised one’” (2011), where she discerns the maiden and the Mother, from the Father and the son. To understand feminine experiences within the limits of human/non-human reality is to explore humanness in the objective reality, and the subjective reality of feminine humanism. Phenomenology has little research in the past in exploring feminine phenomenology. Is it different in terms of understanding or in the feminine expression? Yes, the women who have braved and surged in their academic writings, particularly the phenomenologist of Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. There is a gender consciousness and gender reality in humanness, which is often overlooked or not often explored in phenomenology. This paper will explore the poetic creatrix of the feminine of Tymieniecka’s poetic expressions of the “logos of life”, and the ‘I’ of her feminine; what my poem, She and the Sea, explicitly, artistically expresses the feminine existence of the universe; the soul, the logos and the ‘she’.
Keywords: Tymieniecka, poetry, phenomenology, feminism of poetics
15 / 2017
Marius Chelaru, A “Country Project”: Convorbiri Literare at Its 150th Anniversary
Abstract: This year, the Romanian literary magazine Convorbiri Literare [Literary Conversations] celebrates 150 years since the appearance of the first issue, on March 1st, 1867. The role and place of the “country project” proposed by the Junimea literary society’s members (“Junimişti”) who are the founders of the Convorbiri Literare - either being Western-educated persons, or gazing toward the West - are well known, as well as the manner this journal has been realized. But the image of the “country project” linked to Convorbiri Literare can’t be complete without considering some other value connotations of this literary magazine; that is the aim of the present article.
Keywords: Convorbiri Literare, country project, Junimea, “Convorbiriști”
15 / 2017
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Abstract: In this paper, we are going to look at Karyotakis’ friendship with Sakellariadis and its reflection in three Karyotakis’ works. The main goal is to show the close relation between life and work in Karyotakis’ poetry. Apart from these works by Karyotakis, the correspondence between the two men provides us with very useful material, as this is further evidence on their friendship. While they were really close friends once, this changed through the years; and Karyotakis shows these changes in his works. The letters that Karyotakis sent to his friend is a verification of this change, but also a proof that Karyotakis’ poetry is a kind of ’life writing’. Former critique saw Karyotakis as a poet whose works revolve around his personal tragedy and pessimism; an element which permeates the whole of his poetic corpus and it affected several other poets. This identification between life and poetry was seen by some critics as a weakness of his. Nevertheless, such a view is rather misleading, as Karyotakis used his personal experience in a very productive way. In contrast, the fact that Karyotakis’ poems frequently allude to his personal experience challenges readers to seek further meanings.
Keywords: Modern Greek poetry, Karyotakis, Sakellariadis, (auto)biography
15 / 2017
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Abstract: Proposition 14: Color is used to assist in the development of form, and to distinguish objects or parts of objects one from another. Proposition 15: Color is used to assist light and shade, helping the undulations of form by the proper distribution of the several colors (Jones 1856, 7). Through a labyrinthine searching on the unknown roads of history about the importance of color and form in architectural surfaces Owen Jones was led to a number of conclusions that were to define new coordinates in the second half of the nineteenth century British and world design and thus to constitute fundamental principles in the history of ornamentalism and decoration. His ‘Grand Tour’ in rich in ancient, medieval and renaissance history Mediterranean countries was not a simple travel tour, but a precious bet with science and art which he had to win. Many historians would agree that his profound studies in the color application in both architecture and object forms can be compared to Aristotle’s classic color theory which was not challenged until Renaissance, when other, more sophisticated color models were developed by Franciscus Aguilonius and Aaron Sigfrid Forsius. But what were the targets and the main objectives of this magnificent nineteenth century ‘Grand Tour’? What new principles emerged for the relationship of color with form and how were they adopted? Why his famous colorful book entitled The Grammar of Ornament is still considered the color and pattern Bible? All this will be dealt with the historical and scientific accuracy required by Jones’ diverse and enthusiastic eternal journey in the color and form evolution in world art.
Keywords: color, form, historic styles, design, mid-nineteenth century, Great Britain
15 / 2017
Social Sciences Research
Ana Hriscu, Fashion Ethics: A Path towards Human Progress and Wellbeing
Abstract: Impacting all people, because we all wear clothes, depending on the personal, social or professional context of our lives, fashion is today a phenomenon and as well a global industry that moves the world economy and creativity, having a huge number of world-wide workers. In the last decades, under the auspices of the growing impact of the fashion industry on individuals and society at global level, stakeholders of the field are involving not only in the promotion of objects resulting from the fashion industry’s production process, but also in the widespread transmission of the values and virtues by which the fashion sistem can become a consistently ethical creative field. The core of this paper consists in a plea for the fashion ethics as path to human progress, a concept that shapes our aspirations through common values and motivates our actions for the wellbeing of the next generations.
Keywords: fashion ethics, sustainable fashion, wellbeing, human progress, education for moral values
15 / 2017
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Abstract: The author focuses on the difficulties that exist in order to understand the experience (Erlebnis) when moving from psychopathology to psychotherapy. The relationship between the patient and the psychotherapist, the consideration of the patient’s subjective experience and the relationship between the clinic, the epistemology and the ethics are fundamental in psychotherapy. For the understanding of the experience, the therapist’s involvement is necessary, through the use of empathy, in the meaning of Edmund Husserl and Edith Stein. A clinical case is examined.
Keywords: Erlebnis, suffering, psychopathology, psychotherapy
15 / 2017
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Abstract: Cognitive flexibility is the degree to which an individual has and uses one of the several available types of information processing strategies or styles during different tasks (Battig, 1979), as well as different states of awareness or the ability to generate and modify responses according to the changing demands of the environment (Lezak, 1995). In the present literature review, we first focus our efforts on the conceptualization of cognitive flexibility, highlighting its conceptual history and potential problem areas, we evaluate the magnitude of the effect of hypnosis on an individual’s cognitive flexibility and we cover the most relevant studies in this domain. A scientific background and the usefulness of a hypnotic approach in increasing an individual’s cognitive flexibility were presented, since a lot of studies have shown that highly hypnotizable individuals can shift into alternate states of awareness more easily than low hypnotizable individuals (Crawford, 1989). Evidence to suggest that cognitive flexibility represents an important process factor in pain treatment was exposed and future implications are pointed.
Keywords: cognitive flexibility, hypnosis, pain management, hypnotizability
15 / 2017
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Abstract: This article presents studies resulting from the observation of 8 sessions of heuristic play involving children aged 4-5 years. Heuristic play was described and implemented in pre-school education by Elinor Goldschmied (1910-2009). This kind of play is sensory and motor in nature, and uses everyday objects, including waste materials. The studies were of the qualitative kind. The objective of the observations was to discern the creative mindsets and approaches of children. The findings are categorised under 3 headings, corresponding to 3 criteria - the nature of the cognitive contact, the conceptual approach to playing and while playing, and the personality traits of the subjects. Considering the character of the child’s cognitive contact with the material while playing, we can distinguish between four types of experimental approaches: explorer, enumerator, master of structures, and master of descriptions. When considering full-blown play, one can observe such conceptual types as originator, imitator, creator of meanings, and re-organiser. In terms of personality type, playing can reveal such types as introvert, pedant, extrovert, adventurer, instructor, and altruist. The presented classification can facilitate a better understanding of the diverse ways and manners of children’s exploration, and their creative mindsets on and while playing. It also directs our attention to the traits of character and temperament, which determine the styles of research and the methods of determining meaning.
Keywords: Elinor Goldschmied, heuristic play, children’s creative mindsets, experimental approaches, exploring
15 / 2017
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Abstract: The present text aims to present the argument that there is a new vocabulary being developed to support the new models of institutional development (in the public and private sector), an argument that has emerged in recent years. We argue that this new vocabulary, although not restricted to the academy, is designed from the standpoint of rejection of Enlightenment metaphysics and its terms can be integrated into the reflective support of pragmatism. We also present some examples of institutional management models that represent some facets of the terms of this new vocabulary.
Keywords: philosophy, pragmatism, contemporaneity, management, reform
15 / 2017
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Abstract: The emergence of Democratic Republic of the Congo needs some unified precedents. The people, dwelling with these decisive precedents, is not a wealthy one. This paper aims to emphasize a problem that claims a peculiar attention. Although the antimalarials action enters the people’s consciousness, there is still a lot of doubt, generally speaking. Properly, we face a kind of fight happening within a very volatile context.
Keywords: action, antimalarials, emergence, Kinshasa
15 / 2017
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Abstract: The influence of modern people’s activity on the environment leads to non-equilibrium and irreversible damage. Industrial and innovative landscapes create a lot of new problems for humans and interact with traditional landscapes very badly. These problems are particularly evident in the circumpolar zones of the world where there are weak mechanisms of self-cleaning of air and water. Rates chemical and biological inactivation of toxicants, arriving in northern ecosystems, is slowed down considerably. These regions of the Earth can be seen as polygons for testing of advanced scientific models uniting within it natural, artificial and information phenomenon. Peoples that live in the circumpolar territories have special medical, biological and ecological problems that lead to sharp change in character of a food, susceptibility to diseases. These peoples are tending to conservative way of life, preferring “spiritual” to “material” with relatively simple cultural landscapes. However, the organization of simple cultural landscapes is a difficult and complex problem and leads to the need explore of the philosophical, cultural, political and sociological questions. Development of the noobiogeospheric class of sciences helps protect the lifestyle of the northern people, to preserve of their cultural diversity and multi-ethnicity. All of these studies are carried out in the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field of modern knowledge. The concept of noobiogeocenosis as the basis of the circumpolar landscape correlates well with the strategy of northern Russia. This is an international strategy closely linked to the geographical picture of the world, and requires both the natural sciences and humanities research methods. At the same time, systematic and synergetic approach complements the analysis codes and chronotopes of the circumpolar culture. Additionally, it is necessary to create a new world based on the concepts of “noobiogeospheric personality”, “noospheric mankind” as parts of noobiogeosphere. The network of these concepts will contribute to real harmonious integration of humanity, preserving the identity and diversity of its cultures.
Keywords: circumpolar regions of the Earth, noobiogeocenosis, noobiogeosphere, noobiogeospheric personality, cultural landscape, stability, optimality, self-organization, mutual complementarily, integration of mankind
15 / 2017
Book Reviews
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Antonio De Luca, Quelle pagine incancellabili. I vissuti dell’uomo e la passione di Cristo / On the Indelible Nucleus of Living Human: Meditating on the Passion of Christ. Assisi: Cittadella Publishing House, 2017. Pp. 262
15 / 2017
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Alexandru Boboc, Stil și stiluri de gândire în cultura contemporană / Style and Thinking Styles in the Contemporary Culture. Cluj-Napoca: Tribuna Publishing House, 2016. Pp. 278
15 / 2017
Carmen Cozma, The Inspirational Feminine in the Poetry of Mihai Eminescu
Vasile C. Nechita, Femeia în creația eminesciană / The Woman in the Eminescian Creation. Iași: PIM Publishing House, 2017. Pp. 183
15 / 2017
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: This article was prepared, first, as a review of Rodica Croitoru’s book The Harmony of the Soul. From Plato’s Ontogenesis to Kant’s Cognitive Multifunctionality (in Romanian). But the problem is so interesting that the analysis became too long for a review. Anyway, it is an opportunity to remember some cardinal problems related to the specific of the soul as it constitutes in its relations with the human individual as such (thus with its body) and the environment. The problems are here only as they were referred to in Plato and Kant. Both thinkers are essentialist, but at both essentialism as such is limited by the human constructivism (through reason and action). Therefore, the harmony of the soul is both pre-figured and a result of the human endeavour: a valuable idea against the dogmatisation of any conclusion about the existence of entities.
Keywords: Plato, Kant, soul, harmony, holism
14 / 2017
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Abstract: In the following pages we try to make a comparative analysis regarding the way in which Kant and Blaga approached the concept of “experience”. For Kant, when he takes into account the knowledge issue, experience means empirical knowledge which consists in “the synthetic chaining of the phenomena in a conscience”. At the same time though, in the transcendental analysis of the experience, which is not reducible to the knowledge issue, Kant distinguishes between “the theoretical experience”, characteristic of the scientific knowledge, and “the moral experience”, based on an unconditional law, having the free will as a principle. It is not supposed to be a neat separation between the two: on the one hand, the theoretical experience is not self-conclusive, referring, in extreme, to the sphere or pure rationality (postulated as limit of the theoretical processes); on the other hand, the moral law, as an act of the pure rationality, pretends to be accomplished in the sensitive world itself. Lucian Blaga stays partially faithful to Kant when stating that experience refers to “an ensemble of sensitive data made available for the intellect”. But, due to the fact that Blaga makes the difference between two types of knowledge, the paradisiacal one (in a Kantian meaning) and the luciferical one, the concept of experience will be slightly different according to this distinction. Moreover, Lucian Blaga is preoccupied to differentiate “the experience functions” in the particular sciences from those in philosophy.
Keywords: experience, empirical knowledge, science, creation, transcendent brakes, metaphysics
14 / 2017
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Abstract: Schopenhauer’s situation is ambiguous: without being a theologian - he does not even consider himself as a believer - he faces the situation that his system cannot be totally separated of the Christian teachings. In this article, starting from the central role played by the body in his philosophical system, I will try to show that some of the fundamental theses proposed by Schopenhauer may be interpreted in a Christian key. Firstly, the relation between the knowing subject and will represents nothing else, but an analogical relation with the one that exists between man and Christ; secondly, the metaphysics of the will formulated by the German philosopher is very close to the religion revealed by Christ (Didier Franck); thirdly, the analogical structures between body and world may be seen as the relation that may be found in Christianism between microcosmos and macrocosmos.
Keywords: Schopenhauer, theology, will, body, metaphysics, analogy
14 / 2017
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Abstract: In 1950, according to Paul Evdokimov, a Russian and French theologian and professor of theology at St. Sergius Institute in Paris: „Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox have commonly referred to Biblical teachings. They were all grouped around the Bible. The closed Bible really unites us, but as soon as we open its pages, the open Bible divides us.” Indeed, every religious confession developed overtime, its own cannon, its own rules of interpretation, its own translations, and hence, its own editions, networks of diffusion, and places of reading. But, since 1960, there are common editions of the Bible. Therefore, we can be sure that the Second Vatican Council played a decisive role, no less, as it relates to the practices and the experiences of the National Bible Societies grouped in the United Bible Societies (UBS). In this article, after looking at the historical interconfessional and cooperation in translating the Bible, we find that it depicts the different types of translations, as well as the different models they have followed.
Keywords: United Bible Societies (UBS), interconfessional cooperation, Bible translation
14 / 2017
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Abstract: Focusing on the importance of a phenomenology of personal life encompassing a moral axiology, the philosophical work of the Romanian-French thinker Constantin Micu Stavila (1914-2003) stands for a possibility to overcoming the present moral crisis through the process of human self-fulfilling by dignity. The purpose of this paper is to comment and develop such an idea, following the concept of individuality in relation with the character of space and time, the creative human activity, and the internal unity, by emphasizing the value of love as principle of differentiation and self-transcending. We try to underline some conceptual and methodological connections between Micu Stavila’s view and the visions belonging to other phenomenologists like Paul Ricoeur and Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. By comparing Constantin Micu Stavila’s philosophy to various contemporary theories, we can disclose the core of a significant manner to thinking upon personal life grounded on an acute sense of self-awareness, of fidelity and self-consistency.
Keywords: phenomenology of personal life, moral axiology, self-fulfillment, love, dignity
14 / 2017
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: In this article we will discuss about the image of the city in Octavio Paz’s poetry from the water-fire duality that gives shape to the metaphor of the foundation of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. In this sense, we will reflect on the pre-Hispanic elements that influence its configuration. We will be analyzing the relationship with the myths of Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli and Coatlicue and the legend of the suns: 4-water, 4-Tiger (dark), 4-Rain (fire), 4-wind and fifth sun (4- movement). The poems that mark the way to our interpretation are: Seeds for a Psalm, Violent Season, Return, A Draft of Shadows, and A Tree Within.
Keywords: Octavio Paz, pre-Hispanic myths, Mexico City
14 / 2017
Christine McNeill-Matteson, Children Gather
Abstract: Artists and Poets and Philosophers try to put reason to the human spirit, soul and the divine. Too often the nature of humanity is not reasonable, as Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka expresses in many places of her Phenomenology of Life. My paper - a poem - is looking at the effects of war on the children of today. It is only an observance of the atrocities being witnessed/experienced by the innocent.
Keywords: poetry, phenomenology, life, war/’child of war’, hope
14 / 2017
David C.E. Tneh, Marvell and the Quality of Wit
Abstract: This paper discusses the quality of wit in the poetry of 17th century English poet Andrew Marvell and why Marvell’s philosophy and technique of wit has earmarked his poetry to be the wittiest poet among his contemporaries. The main question is: how the quality of wit in Marvell’s poetry is deeply layered and how does it reveal the multiplicity of images that depicts the socio-political and socio-cultural aspects of 17th century England.
Keywords: Marvell, language, wit, metaphysical, 17th century English poetry, philosophy
14 / 2017
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: As it is well known, serious problems - such as violence, dogmatism, discrimination, poverty, social injustice - have deteriorated education at all levels and in all countries of the world. We can face these problems in education and propose possible solutions for different regions of the world. It is evident that these problems constitute violations of human rights, which cannot be overcome, unless we foster in the minds dispositions inciting their respect. We want to explain and evaluate the gravity and the dimensions of these problems which concern the different aspects Republic Sakha (Yakutia). Many of these problems is implementing already. Republic Sakha (Yakutia) is one of the least populated regions of Russian Federation, known for frigid, sharp-continental climate. It is situated on the north-east of Asia (Siberia): area of 3083523 km2, 2500 km from north to south, 2000 km from west to east, including three time zones. The population is 955580 people, 64.94% of urban population. 53.7% of people are native population - Yakuts, Evens, Evenks, 49.9% Yakuts alone. Other people are Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, and lots of other nations.
Keywords: education, Republic Sakha (Yakutia), Russian Federation, educational policy, (the) Concept of National School
14 / 2017
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Abstract: This paper explores the opportunities of a semiologic model in reading the complex manifestations of humanities and social sciences research ethics, by interpreting the ’research situation’ of the intertwined basic factors implied in such an activity. We focus on a peculiar interpretation by dividing, which leads to typologies of research factors in six of six classes at each level, engaging as many types of ethics. The analysis reveals, finally, 36 compartments for each level, and also as many registers of ethics’ manifestation. We approach the topic of research ethics considering by priority the meaning of ethics as moral philosophy; consequently, relating it to philosophy as way of life and no less to education as a determinant of developing the ethical conduct of human being in various social contexts.
Keywords: semiologic model, ethics, research, interpretation
14 / 2017
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Abstract: In this paper, the author claims the hypothesis that, before an overt psychopathological event arises in the life of a subject, it may be a violent suffering condition such as to imprison a person and to suspend him/her in a situation where he/she cannot get out. The comparison with the Passion of Christ helps us to understand better the structure and the dynamics of this hard suffering and its possible overcoming. A clinical case, that highlights these processes, is discussed.
Keywords: suffering, Passion of Christ, psychopathology, recovery
14 / 2017
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Abstract: This paper disserts about the link between ethics in social anthropology and economic retribution to informants during fieldwork. After feeling guilty to use money and gifts in our work as a ’technique’ to establish, to keep, to build and to rebuild relationships with research subjects we also noticed that there is a contradiction between what it is said and what it is done among co-workers. They condemn publicly the use of incentives, compensations or rewards to approach research subjects; nevertheless, they use them. Hence, we did a research and found that it is not only an insufficient debated issue, also a taboo. Moreover, none of the ethical codes revised offer guidelines to conduct ethically the process of economic retribution to informants. We begin the essay by comparing experimental and social sciences while recruiting informants for their researches. Then, we present some evidence about the use of money and gifts to recruit participants, as some anthropologist, such as Malinowski and Rabinow, have done, to show that it has been a useful technique during history of social anthropology. Finally, we discuss differences between voluntary, altruist and paid and unpaid informants.
Keywords: ethics, social anthropology, economic retribution, Latin America
14 / 2017
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Abstract: Television ethics makes a great subject for opening the discussion about what’s worth being watched by us on TV screen. I think that the real democracy on TV screen depends directly on the democracy of ideas that concerns a country. In the case of Romania, for example, this topic is largely expanded on TV reality shows, news programs or TV shows with a doubtful method of deontological view in a journalistic sense. In this article, I’m trying to defend the moral statement of TV programs. It seems to be the greatest challenge nowadays, especially for the Romanian TV watchers, where the rate of TV watching is higher than the rate of read books in a year.
Keywords: television ethics, manipulation, morality and TV manipulation, Romania’s television
14 / 2017
Eronim-Celestin Blaj, On Cyber-Ethical Challenges
Abstract: Information is an essential element for the present society development at all the levels: economic, financial, political, cultural, etc. Beyond a lot of advantages, our peculiar status as actors in the information and communication society shows no less a serious problem as regards the risk to removing of human values and heading toward imbalance and chaos. By consequence, the need of ethics becomes more and more a reality. As a delicate issue for the most profound human relationships, ethics stands for our education and action management, offering us guidelines to think, to know and understand, to act by responsibility and mutual respect, too. Ethics gives us a fundamental frame to supporting and protecting the human freedom through a continuous updating the moral values and principles, in the endeavour to deal with both the positive and negative impact of the nowadays cybernetizing process. A plea for the cyber/ethics makes the core of this paper.
Keywords: ethics, information, digital communication, cyber/ethics, Internet
14 / 2017
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Abstract: Public policy evaluation is a sine qua non and unavoidable exercise for any nation states in the world. This paper discusses three major stages of policy evaluation i.e. evaluation at the formulation, implementation and post-implementation or impact assessment. In every stage evaluation must follow appropriate standard and criteria. For the sake of greater public interest and maintaining real worth or value for money, subjectivity should be avoided in doing evaluation studies rather proper objectivity should be maintained through choosing of right professionals or experts for doing right evaluation. In doing evaluation, evaluators should try to choose proper sampling, produce unbiased interpretation and analysis, and maintain reliability and validity with ethical manners. The evaluator or decision-makers should never hide and distort the research findings and the competent authority should ventilate the findings and try to utilize the results and recommendations with no time.
Keywords: evaluation, policy implementation, policy formulation, impact assessment, evaluation standard
14 / 2017
Aluko Opeyemi Idowu, Urban Violence Dimension in Nigeria: Farmers and Herders Onslaught
Abstract: Nigeria is a deeply divided multiethnic state par excellence. Every ethnic group has its unique socio-cultural and political economy patterns. As humans interact daily, there are clashes in some interactions due to uncoordinated and divergent interests of the involving parties. The farmers’ and herders’ clashes are dimensions of such interaction in Nigeria. In recent times, the rate of clashes among the herders and the farmers had become alarming. It had cost the country a fortune in terms of socio political and economic stability. Farmers had abandoned fertile farmlands due to cattle invasion which destroys tender crops. The resultant responses include cattle rustling and killing of trespassing animals by farmers while the herdsmen invade communities to kill everyone possible. Community members had become internally displaced and the social contract with the state is in jeopardy. The question the paper seeks answer to is does the agricultural sector of Nigeria have a viable policy prospect with the frequent farmers and herders’ clashes? Conflict theory will be use to explain farmers-herdsmen clashes phenomenon. Conclusion and recommendations are premised on good neighbourliness and respect for the rule of law.
Keywords: conflict, internal displacement, farmers-herdsmen, rule of law, Nigeria, urban violence
14 / 2017
Book Reviews
Leila Tavakoli, A New Integrating Overview in the History of Long-Range Linguistics
Hellas Vuosaly, The Untaught: Latest Horizon in Long-Range Historical Comparative Linguistics. New York: International Committee of Koinoetymology and Post-Metaphysical Thinking, ICKPT, 2017. Pp. 132
14 / 2017
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Manuela Teodora Mihoci, Între filosofie şi artă. Fenomenologia din arta brâncușiană / Entre la filosofía y el arte. Fenomenología de la escultura brancusiana. Iaşi: Performantica, 2014. Pp.178
14 / 2017
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Maurizio Ferraris, Emergenza / Emergency. Torino: Giulio Einaudi Publishing House, 2016. Pp. 128
14 / 2017
Philosophical Avenues
Eleni Papamichael, The Concept of Place in Platonic Ontology
Abstract: In Platonic ontology, all beings, both the visible or physical and the invisible or metaphysical ones, are located somewhere. Why however does Plato attribute such importance to the concept of place and in what specific way should we exactly consider this need in general of Plato to locate all beings without exception in a certain place? This is the main question which is elaborated in this paper. Through the attempt to give an answer to it, that which is in essence being sought, is to make it evident that, for Plato, “Being” and “place” are concepts inseparable from each other, and that the general concept of place cannot be identified with physical, geometric space.
Keywords: Plato, visible, invisible, place, Being, Ideas, somewhere
13 / 2016
Anton Adămuț, Three Augustinian Principles Regarding the Agreement of Grace with Freedom
Abstract: Augustine never retracts his theories on freedom and on the plenitude of man to choose or to self-determine. He does not reproach to Pelagians to ask the power to choose, he even proclaims with them that, without this power, the responsibility would be canceled. God cannot command a constrained will, and the fact that he commands shows that man’s will is free. God has endowed me with free will; if I have sinned, I am the one who sinned (si peccavi, ego peccavi). Christ’s real disciple is the one that approaches Christ not for understanding what he wants, but to want what he understands.
Keywords: grace, freedom, will, faith, sin
13 / 2016
Adrian Măgdici, Sui limiti della dignità kantiana (On the Limits of Kantian Dignity)
Abstract: In contemporary culture, due to a loss of transcendence and the spread of the so-called ‘Hume’s law’ (the famous is-ought problem), there is ever more propagation of the idea that morality cannot be deduced from ‘on high’ (metaphysics), nor from ‘below’ (empiric reality). The demarcation between good and bad, in other words, would be the outcome of a mere human convention. It is evident therefore that even the concept of ‘dignity’ appears like a type of empty and arbitrary intellectualization. Starting with Kant, in fact, the ancient invitation of the Stoics to act in conformity with the rationality-divinity of the cosmos and the successive foundation of morality based in a transcendent source were substituted with the imperative of ‘autonomous’ reason, of that reason which would participate, with its universal moral law, in the “kingdom of ends”. The Kantian foundation of dignity, however, is very controversial in our days because the so-called ‘autonomy’ reveals itself as too subjective and weak, conditioned by the environment and social conventions; those who pay the consequences are the people who mostly need to be defended, the disinherited of history, that is, human beings without a face and voice.
Keywords: Kant, autonomy, reason, subjectivity, dignity, fragility
13 / 2016
Ionuț Ștefan, Authenticity of Human Behavior in Freud and Heidegger
Abstract: The research theme is the question of the authenticity of human behavior examined from two perspectives: the psychoanalytical one, developed by Sigmund Freud, and the one of philosophy of being embodied by Martin Heidegger. As concerns the Freudian psychoanalysis, I am primarily interested in the conflict among: self, ego, and superego. Because of the requisitions of the supergo, the subject mostly behaves according to the censorships imposed by this psychic instance. The self, dominated by sexuality and aggressiveness, exhibits the pulsional tendency to manifest itself in the conscious behavior of the individual. As regards the Heideggerian endeavor, I am interested in distinguishing between the authentic and non-authentic existences. In Heidegger’s vision, the non-authentic existence manifests when we are living together with the others in society. This is the horizon of the impersonal “as it is done”, the Heideggerian das Man, which may be understood by the three dimensions: curiosity, ambiguity, and chatter. The authentic existence manifests when the individuals live on their own, in privacy, and acknowledge the fact that their existence develops over a strictly determined time period, the imminent confrontation with their own death coming closer and closer.
Keywords: authenticity, psychoanalysis, philosophy of being, Freud, Heidegger
13 / 2016
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Abstract: In this paper we would like to grasp – in the context of our comments on the Marges de la philosophie of J. Derrida – the word of philosophical discourse as the movement of the metaphysical male element (light) deep into the dark abyss of the metaphysical female element, in order to swell the mysterious material carrier of light – the sign – to release it and give it over to attack; respectively, as to try and tear the life and death mystery out of it... In a philosophical hermeneutics, we realize that every word –including the philosophical word – originates in emptiness, so it cannot have an “empty margin”; but every word is “immersed” in various types of linguistic expression, which defines meanings contextually. So, we noticed, that when the author of Marges… writes about “the logic of the margin” – which, to us, does not seem “something so different” to the linguistic description of context as the tangle of “various forces”, deprived of “any center” – yet this subject of margin, being deprived of central forces, is at the center of Derrida`s considerations! This is similar to the situation in which we write about synchronous or articulate synchronous, but it is not the synchronous itself. Similarly, writings about the margin are not the margin...
Keywords: phenomenology, margin and center, philosophical hermeneutics, unknowable meanings, Derrida
13 / 2016
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: A man fertile, married and loyal who wants to be a father and to take care of a child, but he can’t materialize his desire – this is the argument for the novel Los últimos hijos by Antonio Ramos Revillas of Monterrey, along the border of Mexico and the USA. It is not a common story in Mexican literature, so I propose to study this novel from the perspective of new masculinity and new fatherhood, as an alternative to the traditional forms. My intention is to define the proximity or the demarcation for Los últimos hijos about new or traditional masculinity and fatherhood in Mexican narrative of the North, with intertwining views constructed by the literary and genre studies written on this topic in Latin America.
Keywords: Mexican narrative, new masculinity, new fatherhood, genre studies, Antonio Ramos Revillas
13 / 2016
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Abstract: The aim of this work is to show certain threads of Nietzschean philosophy in the context of performance and performance studies, understood here as various actions of mostly artistic provenance (performance) complemented by theoretical analysis (performance studies). The crossing point between Nietzsche’s philosophical legacy and the performative content will consist of certain literary strategies performed and documented by the German thinker himself, commented by researchers of his philosophy, and later in similar forms by performance studies as well as by standpoints of psychoanalysis, hermeneutics, or phenomenology. I try to show that it is possible to interpret the author of Thus spoke Zarathustra as a performer and performance studier – a thinker who treated philosophy as an artistic experience, namely as various forms of writing, but also as writing about writing, a more theoretical attitude.
Keywords: hermeneutics, literature, performance, performance studies, phenomenology, psychoanalysis
13 / 2016
Social Sciences Research
Camelia Grădinaru, The Metaphor of “Voice” in Computer-Mediated Communication
Abstract: This paper stresses some significant ways in which the voice appears in the new media studies. Whether as a dominant metaphor in the early stages of computer-mediated communication, whether in opposition with silence or listening, whether as an important component of the participatory culture, the voice remains a key concept and a helpful lens trough which the communicative, social, and cultural parts of the digital era are illuminated. In these processes, the “digital” voice is conceived as a powerful tool that can be easily heard and disseminated, in spite of the obvious limitation of its strengths or of its access. Thus, the rethinking of voice in contemporary frame brings at surface the issues of politics of voice and also ethical challenges.
Keywords: online voice, listening, participatory culture, storytelling, technological imaginary, silence
13 / 2016
Carmen Cozma, Sur la resémantisation des termes de l’éthique (On Resignificating Some Ethics Terms)
Abstract: A serious concern within the territory of the ethics language is represented by the endeavour to continuously clarify even the basic concepts of ethics, morals, and morality. Face to the reality as regards moral philosophy in its wholeness and dynamics, as a very complex and dilemmatic field of knowledge and practice, we have to take into account the temptations to pointing out the significance of its very own terminology. In this paper we aim to emphasize some of the relevant contributions to enlightening us, in a proper way, about a sort of resemanticization especially focused on the above mentioned concepts.
Keywords: ethical language, dilemmatic concepts, ethics, morals, morality
13 / 2016
Andra Jacob Larionescu, The House as Support of Gender Relations
Abstract: The article examines the relationship home - gender, using a fieldwork carried out between 2009 and 2011 in the Romanian village of Marginea, a rural community strongly affected by the international migration. I show that migrants from Marginea, even by changing the configuration of their homes, still continue to preserve some old practices related to gender relations such as the responsibility of the man and his family to build the new house or the newlyweds’ settlement in the boy’s house. While home furnishing and decoration are supposed to be performed largely by women, the construction process is related to men. However, today, with the feminization of international labor migration, women are taking a more active role in both house design and construction process.
Keywords: Marginea village, gender relations, migration, new houses, old practices
13 / 2016
Raffaella Santi, “Commonweale”: Platonism and Political Thought in Renaissance England
Abstract: The thesis developed in this article is that, concerning the elaboration of the notion of Commonweale / Commonwealth, the political thinkers of the English Renaissance were influenced by Plato’s philosophy. In fact, if we read the Timaeus in connection to the Republic, we find the idea that political order must be placed within the wider cosmological order, and this mechanism is at the base of the conception of Commonweale / Commonwealth, as is shown especially by A Comparative Discourse of the Bodies Natural and Politique (1606) of Edward Forset.
Keywords: Commonweale / Commonwealth, Platonism, Timaeus, political thought, Renaissance
13 / 2016
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: Aristotle was concerned with the comedy genre as a kind of poetry. Its creators, the comic poets, interested him only marginally. This genological approach to its subject-matter dominated the theory and philosophy of art for subsequent centuries as evidenced by the subsequent elaborations of interpretations of Aristotle’s catharsis. The alternative approach focused instead on subjects as creators of art. As a consequence of the long-term development of anthropocentrism in the humanities, however, this approach took over. The “performative turn” represents its more recent version. It allows one to interpret Poetics and other classical works not in the context of an object (comedy), but in the context of the acting subject. I claim that social anthropology further explores the concept of comedy and itself presumes it in its conceptual foundations and research approach. I elaborate the argument on the basis of the concept of the “spirit of comedy” coined by Alfred Gell.
Keywords: comedy, interpretation of catharsis, social anthropology, Aristotle, Alfred Gell
12 / 2016
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Abstract: This paper is an inquiry into the problems concerning the construction of the legal system: the theme represented by human quality called to building and completing the legal system. The human being is ontologically placed between Dike / Legal Justice and Themis / Transcendent Justice. The person called to judge is the link between two different ontological orders: the order of the Absolute, of Themis, and the order of the Relative, of Dike. This person is the one who guides Themis to perform Dike, in order to do Justice in coincidence with Legal Justice. The Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to his Son Theodosie was written at almost the same time as The Prince by Machiavelli. If we look at Machiavelli’s work and that of Neagoe Basarab, we are able to see two distinct ways to build and give legitimacy to the legal system. The Teachings do not approach a sophisticated architecture of the legal system, with hierarchies and complex abilities. The discourse about justice especially implies the moral valuation of the people summoned to judge and to do what is right. This work is about the foundation of the legal system regardless of its structure. And the foundation of the system is the person called to judge in such a way that Δίκη should coincide with Θέμις. From Machiavelli we have a different vision about Justice and the Legal system: he focuses on the system and not on the person who performs those functions within the system.
Keywords: Dike/Legal Justice, Themis/Justice, anthropocentrism, theocentrism, Christian values
12 / 2016
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Abstract: The focus of this article is on the role played by members of the Society of Jesus, the Order of the Oratorians, and the Jewish community in the introduction of Modern science in Portugal during the 18th century. The record of their publications prove, contrary to common stereotypes on the permanent conflict between science and religion, that they all embraced Modern, anti-Aristotelian, natural philosophy fairly equally and unreservedly. The rhetoric they used in manuscript Dedications to prospective patrons also show that they were actively engaged in shifting Modern science from a context of private consumption to one of public circulation. I acknowledge that the dissemination of Modern science in Portugal during the 1700’s was slow and protracted. This phenomenon, however, was not, as typically argued, caused by scientific conservatism on the part of the religious Orders, or the ill will of patrons of the sciences, but by the political motives of enlightened despots João V, José I and his Prime-Minister the Marquis of Pombal.
Keywords: Modern science, Society of Jesus, Congregation of the Oratorians, enlightenment, University of Coimbra, rhetoric of science
12 / 2016
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Abstract: This article will retrieve Heidegger’s interpretation on Nietzsche’s Will to Power and a phenomenological interpretation of Jung’s writing on complexes and the Rosarium Philosophorum to project a new meaning to explain Jung’s transcendent function. By the end of this article, the reader should have gained a more detailed and specific description of complexes, the Rosarium Philosophorum and the transcendent function because further aspects of the phenomenology and ontology have been highlighted which includes understanding the transcendent function as Nietzsche’s Will to Power
Keywords: Will to Power, Heidegger, Nietzsche, transcendent function, ontology, Jung
12 / 2016
Literature and Art Studies
Christine McNeill-Matteson, Love’s Symphony: Multiplicity of Existence
Abstract: Love, although universal in thought, is explicitly complex and articulately multi-defined in almost every idea and expression. Love written is timeless from the molecules we possess within us, to the cosmos we study and explore. We can only exist and continue to exist in harmony with creation. Harmony reaches far beyond galaxies and universes, flowing back into the most separate of the smallest molecules. Within all common denominators of harmony there is love: the very catalyst of harmony itself. This paper will look at harmony from a poetic point of view and examine how it is expressed always in the context of the mystery of sentience and conscience from human biology to the divine cosmos.
Keywords: love, harmony, symphony (of existence), eternal-internal, poem
12 / 2016
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: In the limits of the name, individual and collective nicknames fulfill a basic function in orality, while identifying features of the subject. In this “be and not be, or be like” - to paraphrase the discourse of metaphorical construction -, the subjects interweave their stories of life with the name you give and receive, in the centrifugal and centripetal collective memory game. In this article, we analyze these metaphorical mechanisms that affect the construction of cultural identity.
Keywords: nicknames, identity, cultural metaphor, Tonila, Mexico
12 / 2016
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Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop “The Scale of Determining Self-Directed Learning Implementing Skills” for primary school students. Data were gathered by a survey method. In order to develop this scale, draft items was developed through a literature survey (tarama), observations and interviews done with teachers, parents and students, and presented to experts for evaluation. After alterations based on experts’ suggestions, a pilot study with 16 primary students was held to revise the items. After the revision the scale was administered to a sample of 500 3rd and 4th primary school students. In order to determine the validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. As result of the analyzing data, The Self-Directed Learning Implementation Skills Scale which had 45 items contained five factors and these factors explained % 48.01 of total variance. The five factors were named as “Inquiry Skills” (α=.90), “Thinking Skills” (α=.86), “Using Strategies Skills” (α=.79), “Evaluation Skills” (α=.81) and “Collaborative Learning with Peers Skills” (α=.73). The overall internal reliability coefficient (Cronbach Alpha) of the scale was found as .95.
Keywords: implementing self-directed learning, primary school students, developing scale
12 / 2016
Magdalena Iorga, Self-Medication among First-Year Nursing Students
Abstract: The aim of the study was to identify self-medication practices among nursing students. Material and methods: A number of 89 first-year nursing school students voluntarily answered a questionnaire regarding self-medication. The data were processed using SPSS 17. Results: Regarding the acquisition of certain drugs, the results are the following: antibiotics (M = 2.29 ± 1.04), analgesics (M = 2.50 ± 1.26), sleeping pills (M = 1.29 ± 1.15), vitamins (M = 3.03 ± 1.10), anti-inflammatory drugs (M = 2.48 ± 1.07) and natural products (M = 3.24 ± 1.17). TV promotion and price do not change students’ choice of a special drug. A total of 94.32% claimed that they store drugs at home and 62.50% declared that they keep drugs out of reach (bags, private car, office, etc.) Variables like age and nursing experience had no influence on drug-buying behaviour. The conclusion was that a high number of students from nursing school use drugs with no medical prescription. Vitamins and natural products are the most frequent drugs bought without medical indication.
Keywords: self-medication, nursing students, drug, chronic disease
12 / 2016
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Abstract: Contrary to the widespread belief that the Muslim community in British India unanimously championed the idea of separatism in the Subcontinent, there were, after all, some key figures among them who opposed this tendency wholeheartedly. This paper seeks to set out the example of a prominent Muslim leader, Badruddin Tyabji (1844-1906), a lawyer and later a judge, who had a different conception as to the lot of his coreligionists in the Indian Subcontinent.
Keywords: Muslim separatism, Badruddin Tyabji, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Indian National Congress
12 / 2016
Book Review
Adrian Muraru, Re-Significating the Dyad of Greek Mythology and Philosophy
Abstract: Gh. Vlăduțescu, Mit și filosofie în Grecia veche / Myth and Philosophy in Ancient Greece. Bucharest: Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2014. Pp. 208
12 / 2016
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: This study aims to investigate the approach of cognitive dimensions of science in the ontological, cultural and historical context as Lucian Blaga (1895-1961) has developed it through an interdisciplinary integration of philosophy of science and gnoseology within the philosophy of culture. Some original ideas are interpreted, following Blaga’s stylistic cultural vision upon the scientific phenomenon: his theory of the categorical doublets, his conception about supra-method and minus-knowledge, his view on the differences/interferences of philosophy and science placed in neopositivism and phenomenology debates. Such ideas are explored within their potential to fruitfully encounter the current directions of theories of presupposition, the disciplinary matrix, and anthropological knowledge.
Keywords: science, creation, supra-method, transcendent brakes, unity of culture forms
11 / 2015
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Abstract: The purpose of this article is to focus on the most important works which Gaston Bachelard devoted to the poetic analysis of the element “fire”. First, we delve into La Psychanalyse du feu, to demonstrate that this is the moment in the trajectory of the philosopher where he discovers that there is a path different from rationality that can unveil aspects of the element fire which escape a scientific approach. Then, we look into his posthumous Fragments d’une poétique du feu in an effort to aprehend the meaning of what Bachelard calls complex. Our intention is to have a deeper understanding of what he identifies as the Empedocles complex and the Prometheus complex, both of which clarify the role of the element fire in poetic seduction. In the conclusion of this article we will be analyzing an issue that chases the reader throughout this last Bachelardian work about fire, i.e., whether the book ought be understood as a book of philosophy, of literary criticism, or a book of poetry.
Keywords: Bachelard, poetics of fire, Empedocles complex, Prometheus complex
11 / 2015
Horia Bădescu, Poésie et être (Poetry and Being)
Abstract: This essay focuses on the value of poetry to fill up the infinite horizon of the Absolute by a positive halo, stressing that poetry is/means, among other things, an ontological memory: it is the memory of Being. Especially in nowadays – so “poor” in authentic life, in humanness and sacred – we experience an acute awareness of the need to return to Meaning. And the poem mostly offers a path of the man’s search for meaning. It unveils a profound necessity to being through and into the Meaning perspective. Poetry is to be considered as the Being of self – the human and the cosmic alike -, in the play of essence and existence. The poem is part in the enhancement of the endless world, seeing that it is able to create Reality. The very condition of the poem is to be concomitantly created and creative. Poetry reveals a proximity, but not a limitation. Ceaselessly the poem opens and no less it encloses the mystery of Being; so, it challenges to questioning upon the Meaning, eventually finding the great worth of poetry.
Keywords: poetry, Being, (the) Meaning, ontological memory, essence and existence, sacred, Reality
11 / 2015
Matthew Gildersleeve, The Gay Science and the Rosarium Philosophorum
Abstract: This article will continue the work presented in a previous one (Gildersleeve, 2015) by combining Heidegger’s work on Nietzsche’s The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra with Jung’s work on the Rosarium Philosophorum. The overall purpose is to illustrate the further congruency between Heidegger and Jung’s work. Specifically, the article will focus on providing an ontological explanation of Jung’s interpretation of the Rosarium Philosophorum with the use of Heidegger’s writing on Nietzsche.
Keywords: Heidegger, Nietzsche, Jung, alchemy, ontological interpretation
11 / 2015
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Abstract: If sacred in any way is a vehicle of religious experience there is nothing new about what it is vehicle of but if we focalize on what sacred is in itself we need a method to do so and in this regard I would mention the need of analyzing what the philosophical school of phenomenology of religion in and from Italy has been working on in the person of Angela Ales Bello as its Maestro in particular in last four decades. Several works of the author have paved the path, considering various points in scientific articles and texts but the main conceptual map is developed in the following three: Culture e religioni. Una lettura fenomenologica, Citta Nuova, Roma, 1997; a co-authored work with me Lineamenti di Antropologia Filosofica: Fenomenologia della religione ed esperienza mistica islamica, Editrice Apes, Roma, 2012; and the latest Il senso del sacro. Dall’arcaicità alla desacralizzazione, Castelvecchi, Roma, 2014.
Keywords: archeological phenomenology, complex sacred, hyletic, mystical theology, Ales Bello
11 / 2015
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Abstract: In this article we want to pinpoint the actual exigencies of the place of worship as one keeping the spiritual memory and the artistic beauty. Beyond that, it must not be forgotten that the place of worship is a place for devotion, the house of God and it cannot be confused with anything else. We take in consideration the subject of the Pazzi Chapel in Florence, Italy, which calls the conscience of the fact that we are invited to keep and to confess the sacred and artistic beauty and at the same time the historical consciousness of it. Thus, we’ll focus on the artistic and spiritual side, and the symbolic one, since the church is a place where we understand our affiliation at sacred.
Keywords: sacred, beauty, symbolic, devotion, Pazzi Chapel
11 / 2015
Social Sciences Research
A. L. Samian, A General Theory of the Malay Akal Budi
Abstract: What does it mean to be a Malay? Or rather what is ‘malayness’ of a Malay? Apart from the physiological aspect that could be clearly observed, it is the cognitive, affective and spiritual aspect that warrants further examination. While being a Malay certainly hinges on a necessary spatio-temporal existence, there should be some commonalities of being a Malay that satisfy the sufficient requirements of more than being human; the Malay conscientiousness for instance. In this paper, the author examines the Malay Akal Budi in light of the human hierarchy of existence and levels of reality of the cosmos. A general theory of the Malay Akal Budi is formulated towards the end.
Keywords: Malay, Akal, Budi, reality, values
11 / 2015
Li Liu, The Research of IPO Inquiry System-Based on Institutional Investors’ Lack of Integrity
Abstract: IPOs have been issued in China formally for nine years. Although both the efficiency and marketization level have improved, it still has many shortcomings. Especially, institutional investors who often lack integrity have led to inquiry results that are not meaningful for pricing. This work studies the institutional investors’ lack of integrity and its impact on the current IPO system in China. The goal is to begin a discussion of potential problems and possibly to suggest a few solutions.
Keywords: institutional investors, integrity, IPO (Initial Public Offering), inquiry
11 / 2015
Carmen Cozma, Reviving Some Basic Concepts in Ethical Register
Abstract: Being sensitive to the challenges placed before us in a globalizing world, it is obviously that the ethical benchmark became one of the priorities in our individual and communitarian life. An in-depth knowledge of both the axiological and normative dimensions of ethics can open an important way for an adequate approach of today’s problems. By rethinking the foundations, we may reach accuracy as regards what does really matter in life. So, a call to revive some value-laden concepts coming from the ancient Greek moral philosophy represents the aim of this paper, to emphasize the support given us by healthy roots for reflection and understanding, in part at least, our present problematic situation in the world.
Keywords: ethics, virtue, phronēsis, sophrosýne, philía
11 / 2015
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Abstract: Constructing the farmer in the 19th-and-20th-century dominant political discourses in Greece pertains to a passage from the peasant to the farmer/farm worker and farmer/patriot, on to the professional farmer; this passage ought to be studied in terms of a specific model which is characterized by small-size family farm units. The above model was mainly promoted by bourgeois forces which led the modernization process in Greek society, and it was the model which the rival socialist movements consented to after their defeat in the Civil War. In the postwar period the acceleration of agricultural development, particularly following the country’s integration in the European Community, imposed a certain consensus in seeking a unitary model of agriculture, whereby the dominant role was assigned to the small farmer-landowner-entrepreneur. At the dawn of the new century, the European agricultural policy reforms entail new vicissitudes for the small landowner, who is now finding him/herself seeking new roles in order to be integrated into a post-industrial developmental model for the countryside. He/she is constituted, once more, a subject of new ontological ventures, such as, for instance, the much-discussed symbolisms of the “warden of the countryside”, and “protector of the environment” and/or the “national cultural heritage”.
Keywords: farmers, social representations, Greek history, rural sociology
11 / 2015
Raffaella Santi, Devolution and Education Policy in Northern Ireland 2013-2015
Abstract: After the so-called “Troubles”, since 1998, Northern Ireland is experiencing a complicated but lasting peace process (or “conflict transformation” process). Despite this, the society remains divided along ethnopolitical and religious lines, with a polarized politics. The education system is mainly separated, with more than 90% of school population attending schools which are either Catholic or Protestant, and only 7% attending integrated schools of a mixed nature. The policy of “shared education” tries to connect different schools with several projects and activities. Following the integrated-shared education debate, the article reconstructs the education policy of the Northern Irish executive and of the Assembly of Northern Ireland under devolution, in the period 2013-2015.
Keywords: Northern Ireland, social identity, devolution, integrated education, shared education
11 / 2015
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Abstract: The prescription of drugs is influenced by a number of factors with a great impact upon the health of the main beneficiaries of health services. The purpose of the study is to identify the perception of doctors and pharmacists on drug prescription practices adopted by doctors. Material and Methods: a number of 349 subjects (149 pharmacists and 200 doctors) answered a survey about the perception of drug dispensing in Romania. Variables like age, work environment (urban, rural), length of employment were taken into account. Results: When prescribing a treatment, 93% of doctors follow the standard treatment protocol for the given diagnosis and 93,5% of them are declaring that personal resources are the main source for training while the percent appreciated by pharmacists is evaluated to 65,78%. A total of 50% of doctors are considering other criteria than the treatment when prescribing a drug (financial contribution for the patient or National Health Insurance House). A total of 59% of doctors are recommending over-the-counter products while pharmacists consider that is happening in more than 70% of the cases. Conclusions: There are differences of opinion between doctors and pharmacists regarding doctor’s practices of prescribing drugs to their patients, like: kinds of sponsorship for the continuing education, the relationship with the pharmaceutical representative or the frequency of prescribing over-the-counter products or supplements when they are recommending a certain treatment.
Keywords: doctor, pharmacist, ethical practice, prescription, drug
11 / 2015
Philosophical Avenues
Daniela Verducci, The Re-Found in A. - T. Tymieniecka’s Phenomenology of Life
Abstract: Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka carries out and gives structure to the idea of philosophical solidarity between logos and life, both pursuing the subjective road in empathizing with the profound intentionality of her masters, Leibniz and Ingarden in primis, and applying herself to the objective level to give rise to a phenomenology of phenomenology, through which she intends to realize an intuitive re-seeding of phenomenology itself. The surprising result of this phenomenological work has been the discovery of the ontopoietic logos of life, which runs through and pervades every sphere of being, from the physical to the metaphysical level, with its expansive and evolutive dynamic of impetus and equipoise.
Keywords: life, logos, being, phenomenology, A.-T. Tymieniecka
10 / 2015
Ana Bazac, Fidelity towards Forms: An Ontological Approach - Part II
Abstract: The paper opposes to a common attitude towards forms – as being something non-important, superficial, “formal” – Plato and Aristotle’s philosophy, according to which things exist because of forms. From the inquiry of their logic that mixes the epistemological and the ontological standpoint, the analysis goes on to the problem of the understanding of forms as events: as mirrors of the manner we see the world/as mirrors of the way of thinking. I contrast the event to the situation – in Alain Badiou’s manner – and I show that there is a logic of continuity between Aristotle’s insistence on the concrete face of form (σύνoλoν) and Badiou’s concept of fidelity: because this concept always relates to the concrete which deserves to be faithful towards. The value of things we support gives their “forms”. If so, fidelity towards forms is something more complete and suggestive than to follow essences: forms are as important as essences; this is obvious when the forms change but the essence do not; in fact, it is not a real change. The real change is when the form changes bringing also the change of the essence.
Keywords: form, essence, σύνoλoν, existence, event, shadow, surprise, fidelity (Plato, Aristotle, Badiou)
10 / 2015
Melentina Toma, The Educational Values of Philosophy
Abstract: A real change for the good of education process claims also to consider the necessity and utility of a new integrative philosophicalperspective. The “pedagogical situation paradigm” offers a semiological approach of the formative process, by which one may highlight various opportunities in education that can be generated and no less powerfully activated by philosophy. From the perspective of fundamental references such as ontological, gnoseological, psycho-logical, methodological, sociological and axiological, the education is no more truncated in unfolding maybe the best frame of knowledge and practice to improve the human being as an individual and part of the society and the entire environment of living.
Keywords: education, philosophical view, pedagogical situation, vertical and horizontal interpretation
10 / 2015
Liviu Iulian Cocei, Ethical Implications Regarding the Use and Abuse of Irony
Abstract: The analysis of the ethical implications concerning the use of irony is not an easy task. Even though there are notable differences between the various ironical expressions, it looks like irony in general plays with people’s emotions. Ironically, it seems that it gets them together and pulls them apart at the same time. Thus, whether we refer to philosophical or rhetorical irony, it is hard to say when is it morally right to turn into ridicule. Therefore, in this paper, considering Linda Hutcheon`s view on the edge of irony and Richard Rorty`s neo-pragmatist philosophy, we analyze the moral limits of ironization. We emphasize that, in some cases, the difference between the use and the abuse of irony is cancelled, the limit between innocent irony and real offence being almost inexistent. For this reason, we claim that irony is acceptable only in a culture that is opened to all ironic modalities, such as satire, parody, caricature, pamphlet and even humor.
Keywords: irony, ethics, Socrates, Linda Hutcheon, Richard Rorty
10 / 2015
Literature and Art Studies
Christine McNeill-Matteson, Pieces of the Divine Masterpieces: Poet’s Voice
Abstract: To express feelings often wrapped in the literary world of poetry and prose, the creative mind pulls from the energy of the cosmos. The writer/poet’s words become the universal truth that is retold by artists over time and offer more explicit insights to consciousness and sentience. Robert Salter, a novelist and writer wrote, “Everything is a dream, all that exist is what has been written down.” Albert Einstein, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” In my following poems, I write about the complexity of the human interaction with the spirit. We are unaware of our consciousness and how intricately it is a part of the universe and the cosmos. We look for those who go ahead of us, and question their journey into the present awareness of time. Searching for the meaning of life and for the consciousness, poets and philosophers record the eternal from the internal and call upon the cosmos.
Keywords: consciousness, divine, cosmos, poet, philosopher, creativity
10 / 2015
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: The essay aims to reflect on the helping relationship starting from the contributions of phenomenology (Edmund Husserl, Edith Stein, Max Scheler, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka) to the problem of intersubjectivity and from the phenomenological psychiatry (Karl Jaspers, Eugène Minkowski, Ludwig Binswanger, Bruno Callieri) on clinical and therapeutic aspects in a therapeutic relationship. Clinical data will be examined in the light also of the contributions of religion.
Keywords: relationship, suffering, intersubjectivity, therapeutic relationship, ecology of relations
10 / 2015
Marius Liviu Ciuraru, Christian Values and Public Sphere: Giuseppe Lazzati’s Paradigm
Abstract: Human nature is both political and religious. Like politics, religion has numerous forms that always coexist. Modernity is regarded by many as the disappearance of religion from public sphere, but today it is obvious that faith is a part of public reason. The relationship between religion and state is uniform in the democratic spaces. State must assure liberty and safety to its citizens. Religion is not any more a structuring element, but a source of motivation in public sphere. Religious values are criteria for political choice. In European Union the Christian traditions must translate their values in a secular language, which is possible through institutional activities or personal statements. After the Second World War, in Europe, Giuseppe Lazzati was an important actor of public reason, developing significant values within his activity as a Christian and a political man. He loved God and the city. He has projected a paradigm of building la città dell’uomo (the citadel of man) in connection with human dignity of the Bible (an embodiment of faith and politics). It stands for that the Christian faith can offer one of the best patterns in the construction of the common good, even the community is secular and in a context of pluralism.
Keywords: religion, secularism, public reason, modernity, politics, public sphere, Lazzati
10 / 2015
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Abstract: This paper would revisit Hobbes and Locke’s work, namely Leviathan and The Essay Concerning Human Understanding so as to reconnect the work of the two philosophers to the present reading of politics and philosophy. The paper discusses Hobbes and Locke’s importance in laying the foundations for the field of political science and acknowledges their role for incorporating human reason and understanding in their seminal works. And in the age of 21st century of modern politics where strife and dissent are commonplace in the era of technology and interconnectivity, perhaps it is timely that Hobbes and Locke’s fundamental philosophies are re-emphasized for their core focus on humanity and reasoning in the perspective of the sovereign state and the individual.
Keywords: Hobbes, Locke, state, nature, law, philosophy, political science
10 / 2015
Cătălin-Constantin Diaconu, Globalization and the Ethical Grounds of Cosmopolitanism
Abstract: Globalization is a far-reaching process in which economic, technological and social changes have dissolved the borders of space, becoming the messengers of a world without frontiers. All these should serve the interests of the general public and of progress. But do they? How could we find out, or what does this depend on? The issue is, in this case, a complex one. Many things certainly depend on the moral standards of all parties involved in the process. This paper presents several ethical reference points around which cosmopolitanism is built and that can provide a normative legitimacy given by the universal rights which constitute the condition of the coexistence of human beings, especially in a complex and multicultural society, as well as the gradual transformation of international law in a cosmopolitan order.
Keywords: cosmopolitanism, ethics, globalization
10 / 2015
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Abstract: Education exhibits the characteristics of a mixed product and provides social and private returns. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the private and social returns of education at the secondary and higher education levels between 2010 and 2014, giving also an outlook based on gender and country. This study is a document research. The data have been taken from the OECD Education at a Glance issued between 2010 and 2014. It is observed that private rates of return at higher education level are higher than the secondary education level except for the male context in 2014. The private rates of return at secondary education level in Turkey are lower than OECD averages both in 2010 and 2014. The social rates of return increased at higher education level in 2014 compared to 2010 based on both genders. Considering both education levels, while social rates of return tend to decrease in secondary education, they tend to increase in higher education. The social rates of return in Turkey are lower than OECD averages based on both gender and period dimensions. Considering private and social rates of return, it can be observed that private rates of return are higher than social rates of return based on both education levels and other variables. Various qualitative and quantitative studies have been suggested for private and social returns based on different years and education levels.
Keywords: education, economy, private returns, social returns, secondary education, higher education
10 / 2015
Book Reviews
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Codrina Laura Ioniță. Simboluri ale artei medievale / Symbols of Medieval Art (2nd edition). Iași: Artes Publishing House, 2011. Pp. 200
10 / 2015
Cristian Hainic, Using Narrative Analysis in Understanding Cultural Policy
Constance DeVereaux and Martin Griffin. Narrative, Identity, and the Map of Cultural Policy: Once Upon a Time in a Globalized World. Farnham: Ashgate, 2013. Pp. 184
10 / 2015
Philosophical Avenues
Richard J. Klonoski, Plato’s Invisile Hero of Democracy: Socrates in the Republic and Crito
Abstract: The author argues that a careful reading of Republic VIII 557a-558a, coupled with an analysis of the mythic backdrop to the conversation between Socrates and Crito in the Crito, reveals that Plato intends the reader to see Socrates as an invisible moral and political hero of the democratic polis even though Socrates was, for much of his life, a critic of the Athenian democracy, and even given the fact that Socrates doesn’t give democracy the highest standing among the political regimes in the Republic. The author discusses the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and Hesiod’s races of man, in order to show that in the Republic and the Crito Socrates is portrayed as a hero, specifically one who supports democracy as the only regime in which philosophy and the philosopher can exist. Finally, the author argues that Socrates’ final act of heroism in the Crito is the act of remaining in prison, in large measure out of respect for the laws of Athens and its democratic legal procedures, a respect evident in the very structure of the conversation among Socrates, Crito, and the Athenian laws. It is suggested that the conversation in the Crito is indeed an imitation of a democratic legal procedure that would likely have been used to convict Socrates of a crime against the democracy were he to have followed Crito’s advice and escaped from prison
Keywords: Plato, Socrates, hero, democracy, Crito, Republic, Gorgias, Hesiod, Theseus
9 / 2014
Victor Alexandru Pricopi, Platonists and Gnostics on Negative Theology and True Inner Self
Abstract: Late Antiquity is characterized by a strong search for human’s true nature. This is proper to almost all philosophical and religious movements in the first three Christian centuries. Christians, Gnostics, and philosophers of those days aim to find the true nature of man. In this study we will deal mainly with anthropology and gnoseology of Valentinian Gnostics and Platonists. In their case, knowledge of human nature is inextricably linked to knowledge of God’s true nature. These thinkers say that the first Principle/the Father/the source of this universe is inherently unknowable, indescribable and unspeakable. However, God can be known, either through secret revelation (Gnostics) or through a purely rational approach (Platonists). For these thinkers, the true knowledge of the Divine Principle and knowledge of the human being or the world we live in is carried out in a double sense. By knowing God is possible the knowledge of human nature, while knowing human nature unfolds the nature of the first Principle. This is due to the fact that although the creator is alien to this world, he is now here through man true nature. In other words, in man there is a spark of the divine that has fallen or was dropped in the sublunary world. These ideas are found in Plato’s Phaedrus, Meno or Phaedo and also in some Valentinian gnostic texts as Gospel of Truth, Tripartite Tractate, Gospel of Philip and Treatise on Resurrection. Therefore, in this paper we will analyze the Platonists conceptions about human nature in comparison to Gnostic conception of man, as it appears in Plato’s works and Coptic texts discovered in Egypt, at Nag Hammadi.
Keywords: Gnostic, Plato, Negative Theology, Divine origin, Dualism
9 / 2014
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Abstract: The period between 1670 and 1740 is considered a time of “crisis of Christian rationalism” (A. McKenna) or a time of “skepticism” (V.Cousin), since the Christian apologetics, trapped between Protestantism and the Rationalism, are gradually reduced to a row of inefficient and traditional “proofs” for the existence and kindness of God. In 1680, Nicolas Malebranche publishes the Treatise on Nature and Grace, following to explain the way in which God granted His grace to all mankind. In order to fight the skeptical thesis according to which God takes not directly part in this world, Malebranche refers the action of God to the concept of “general/divine will”. If such a theory is useful at a certain metaphysical level in explaining the presence of the evil in the world (God does not createbut allows the evil), it raises some anthropological issues, especially concerning the nature of the human free will. If anything in the world emerges as a direct consequence of God’s “general will”, how can be conceived a real free human will? The theory of God’s general will generates an unexpected anthropological consequence (the dissolution of the human free will) that Malebranche tries to hide it by inventing the concept of “inclination of the will”: God does not interfere (by causation) with the human will, but He influences it (by inclination). Is it philosophically defensible? The aim of the article is to analyze some philosophical and methodological difficulties related to the new Malebranchist concept of “inclination of human will” in order to prove that the passage from the occasionalist theory of general will to an inquiry about the human will is quite problematic.
Keywords: occasionalism, general will, free will, causation, inclination
9 / 2014
Robert Dolewski, Nietzsche’s Philosophy as “Wandering through the Forbidden”
Abstract: The aim of this work is to show the transgressive aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophy described here with the phrase of “wandering through the forbidden”, and applied to some of the main issues of the German thinkers philosophy, such as revaluation of all values, the superhuman, or the genealogical critique of the Western Platonic and Christian morality. The Nietzschean philosophy will be interpreted as a process of “wandering”, initialized by the genealogical critique of the Platonic and Christian morality, then pointed towards redefining all values, and the idea of the superhuman. The benchmark of this work will be the analysis of Nietzsche’s genealogy as the main tool used for criticising the Western morality. Questioning the traditional dichotomy of values as well as morally underpinned truth, the genealogical critique thus opens the horizon to a new kind of philosophy, the “philosophy of future”, exceeding towards everything that traditional morality considers cursed and forbidden. Thus comprehended “philosophy of future” will require redefining all values and redefining the very man culminating in the plan of the superhuman. The transgressive motif of Nietzsche’s philosophy will finally be illustrated through Bataille’s concept of the holy day, understood as transgressing the forbidden frontiers. From this perspective, the German thinker’s philosophy will transpire as consecration of transgressive, therefore transcending the moral boundary’s of human life.
Keywords: transgression, redefining all values, superhuman, Nietzsche
9 / 2014
Ana Bazac, Fidelity towards Forms: An Ontological Approach - Part I
Abstract: The paper opposes to a common attitude towards forms – as being something non-important, superficial, “formal” – Plato and Aristotle’s philosophy, according to which things exist because of forms. From the inquiry of their logic that mixes the epistemological and the ontological standpoint, the analysis goes on to the problem of the understanding of forms as events: as mirrors of the manner we see the world/as mirrors of the way of thinking. I contrast the event to the situation – in Alain Badiou’s manner – and I show that there is a logic of continuity between Aristotle’s insistence on the concrete face of form (σύνoλoν) and Badiou’s concept of fidelity: because this concept always relates to the concrete which deserves to be faithful towards. The value of things we support gives their “forms”. If so, fidelity towards forms is something more complete and suggestive than to follow essences: forms are as important as essences; this is obvious when the forms change but the essence do not; in fact, it is not a real change. The real change is when the form changes bringing also the change of the essence.
Keywords: form, essence, σύνoλoν, existence, event, shadow, surprise, fidelity (Plato, Aristotle, Badiou)
9 / 2014
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: In this article we review the indigenous myths of the Nahua world in the poetry of Octavio Paz. We start from the idea of a myth as an identifying aspect of culture, located as a manifestation of syncretism of Mexico. Quetzalcoatl, the legend of the suns and the Aztec calendar, as well as the image of Coatlicue constitute our dialogue, although some other gods of the pre-Hispanic imagery will be referred to Octavio Paz’s poetical work.
Keywords: Sunstone, Quetzalcoatl, Coatlicue, poetry, Octavio Paz
9 / 2014
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Abstract: In the nowadays acknowledged moral crisis in/of art, a split has occurred between the public and some artistic manifestations. Stuck in the so called “radical actionism” - as the artistic short and violent movement developed by Fluxus Group during 1960-1970, with origins in the “Viennese Actionism” -, the art segment dealing with contemporaneity, disputing the traditional art as well as social and moral conventions, has created a new area of expression, in which art and life converge, arising questions that go beyond the aesthetic experience, and managing to introduce an ethical dimension in artistic expression. In a plurality of theoretical and practical concerns, the contemporary art has produced repeated attacks on human dignity or animal life. So, the present art manifestations may include people, animals, corps/thereof parts (human or animal), explicit sexual images, psychological abuses as well as references to self-harm. A balance between art and morality, a good – by responsibility in act - relationship between aesthetics and ethics, finally, might generate a different type of visual art, a creative and clean one, able to opening up some new possibilities of expression for humanity.
Keywords: contemporary art, morality, aesthetics, ethics, autonomism, moralism
9 / 2014
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Abstract: A drama represents scenes which are based on people’s actions and interactions, characters play a central role in this regard and hence deserve our close attention for research study. Plays have to have Plot, Character, Thought, Diction and Spectacle. Characters are the mediators who commit the actions that make up the plot, thus one cannot have a play without them. The characters in drama can be divided into major characters and minor characters, depending on how important they are for the plot. Major characters usually have a lot to say and appear frequently throughout the play, while minor characters have less presence or appear only marginally. The present study aims to study minor characters in the Kalidasa’s Abhijnansakuntalam and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Keywords: drama, major, minor, plot, story, character
9 / 2014
Social Sciences Research
Cristina Lucia Șutiu, Human Nature: Between Persuasion and Manipulation
Abstract: Each word is an attempt to influence other persons, as Alex Mucchielli said. Communication, by using words, is a characteristic of human beings, and it plays an important role in everyday life. Communication can be seen as an attempt to share information through a process of symbolic interaction between human beings. It is an essential life process through which humans create, transmit and utilize information by words. Putting words in act, we can express feelings, we can share opinions and we can obtain whatever we want, finally. It is essential to take into account certain ethical rules whenever we start a communication process. As the main purpose of communication is to convince people, this goal can be achieved only by using persuasion and/or manipulation. The last century is a sort of witness as regards the use of words in order to persuade people to adhere to certain ideological precepts and to determine them to act in a certain desirable way by the initiators of the communication process. Practically, there is a fine line between persuasion and manipulation; and in this situation, it is hard for ordinary people to distinguish between them. Manipulation appears like a persuasive process and it hides its true aims. This is the only way by which it can operate and for that it is considered immoral and invasive in the mind and soul of people. Human beings are now in the position to look for a way to protect themselves against such an invasive act and to find a way to distinguish between correct and false information. What can we do? In this study we analyze persuasion and manipulation from an ethical point of view and we search for paths to protect ourselves from the manipulative techniques.
Keywords: persuasion, manipulation, ethics, communication, ethical responsibility
9 / 2014
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Abstract: What E. O. Wilson calls here “deep history” I have chosen to call “deep structure.” As he points out, deep history in his research is nothing less than “biological history,” and since he believes “that biology must someday serve as part of the foundation of the social sciences,” we will suggest here then that the deep structure of human nature is imbedded in human culture and vice versa. The genetic composition of Homo sapiens implies a “deep structure” within the human animal itself. In this deep structure, we will find “genetic propensities shared by enough humans to be called ‘human nature’,” according to Wilson. The deep structure of human nature is imbedded in the deep history of biological evolution which has produced human culture, a culture dependent upon both biological evolution and psycho-social evolution. These cultural propensities appear in the behavioral matrices of the human animal, as we shall see, in the tripartite interconnectedness of biology, sociology, and psychology. These propensities are explored here.
Keywords: cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, psychogenesis, human nature, culture and the social sciences, E. O. Wilson
9 / 2014
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Abstract: What is the meaning of ’nature’ in Asian cultures? How do Asian people perceive their relations to nature? What types of environmental ethics do Asian cultures exhibit? This paper considers these questions in two major Asian traditions, Indian and Chinese. It points out that the concept of nature has played a crucial role in Asian people’s lifestyles, beliefs, and ethical thinking. To them, nature is seen not merely as a means of livelihood, but rather the fountain of harmony, spirituality, and inspiration. The paper examines whether Asian environmental ethics is anthropocentric or nonanthropocentric. It concludes that, despite some limitations, Asian traditions nourish an alternative environmental ethic, which is a companionship with nature, and should be granted as a valuable resource for environmental education.
Keywords: Asian cultural traditions, environmental values, environmental education, ethics, human-nature relationship
9 / 2014
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Abstract: Recent years, along with the economy development of LAN Zhou, the energy consumption has increase year by year. And the energy saving and emission reduction would be the bottleneck of economic and social development. LAN Zhou is one of the old industrial bases. The secondary and tertiary industries have absolute predominance. The proportion of heavy industry is large. And the proportion of industry with high energy consumption is large. The industrialization and urbanization of LAN Zhou is in the stage of fast promotion. So the research of energy saving and emission reduction is useful. In this paper, the energy-saving potential of LAN Zhou is analyzed based on industrial structure evolution. And the result of research could provide the decision support for the improvement of energy saving and emission reduction work.
Keywords: energy saving and emission reduction, industrial structure evolution, energy-saving potential, correlation analysis
9 / 2014
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Abstract: The mission, desire and preoccupation of each teacher are or should be to ensure academic achievement for each student, by mobilizing all necessary resources. We observe the academic achievement through a variety of educational finalities, and involving socio-affective and personality dimensions indispensable for an effective functioning of the individual within the community. The objective of the research is to underline the influence of the sociometric status of students upon academic achievement. We formulated the hypotheses that positive sociometric status is associated with academic achievement, while negative sociometric status is associated with academic failure. In order to assess them, we applied a three-item sociometric test, and we elaborated the sociomatrices and the sociograms for each group/class in order to extract the annual qualifications for the students within the investigated sample from class registers; afterwards, we carried out the statistical analysis of the data. The findings partially confirm the working hypotheses. Overall, we found a significant relation between the sociometric status of students and academic achievement. A difference was found between students with a positive status and those with zero sociometric status, from the perspective of academic achievement. The investigation revealed that the gender variable has no significant influence on the degree of the relation between sociometric status and academic achievement; while the degree / the stage of schooling variable has a moderating role.
Keywords: academic achievement, sociometric test, sociometric status, cross-sectional study
9 / 2014
Book Review
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Constantin Micu Stavila, Descoperirea vieții personale / Discovering the Personal Life. Bucharest: Paideia Publishing House, 2006. Pp. 560
9 / 2014
Inaugural Study
Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Possibility, Life’s Ontopoiesis, and the Vindication of the Cosmos
Abstract: How could we better understand the cosmic-positioning of human being/becoming in the territory of life we have access? Discussing some issues about the real and possible existence, on the ground of Tischner, Ingarden and Husserl’s philosophical/phenomenological perspectives, I argue the significance of my own phenomenology of the ontopoiesis of life, focusing on the opportunities of grasping the imaginative/intellective forces in deciphering the logos of life’s manifestations; finally, reaching to the comprehension of the indivualization within the cosmos, by life-transcendental architectonics of beingness/becoming.
Keywords: ontopoiesis, cosmos, logos of life, cosmic-positioning, Tischner, Ingarden, Husserl, transcendentalism
8 / 2014
Philosophical Avenues
Ionuț Ștefan, On the Primary-Synthetic Unity of Apperception in the Critique of Pure Reason
Abstract: This research focuses on the primary-synthetic unity of apperception, as it appears in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, in a larger framework called transcendental idealism. Descartes’ philosophy may be considered the first step towards transcendental idealism: the first occurrence of the idea of an epistemic subject. The essence of the epistemic subject through the method of systematic doubt is that of being a thinking corpus: I exist because I think. In the System of Transcendental Idealism, Schelling starts with a classical question of Western metaphysics: knowledge means an accord between something that is objective and something that is subjective. From here, the following question arises: what is the conjunction between the objective datum and the subjective one, or how can both of them be put together, so that no contradiction should arise? When the subjective takes priority, we are talking about transcendental philosophy, a philosophy which holds as central to itself the epistemic subject; and starting from it, we can accomplish the accord between subject and object, within knowledge. For all this mechanism described above to work, we need an organon, which is above the mediated knowledge, meaning it is direct. According to Shelling, this instrument is the intellectual insight. Returning to Kant, the transcendental subject depends on perceptiveness; therefore the transcendental subject cannot have intellectual insights. The primary-synthetic unity of apperception belongs to the intellect and includes perceptiveness and the categories. This unity creates an accord between “I think” and “my representations”. “I think” is the essence of the epistemic subject. Representations must be associated with the exterior objects. The subject-object accord, created by Schelling by the means of intellectual insight, is achieved, in Kant’s view, through the unity of apperception.
Keywords: epistemic subject, transcendental idealism, intellectual insight, subject-object accord, primary-synthetic unity of apperception
8 / 2014
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Abstract: In the vision of the Romanian-French philosopher Constantin Micu Stavila, the Truth, Good and Beauty are different modes of the individuality’s valuation in its main forms, as: activity, freedom and internal unity; respectively, as thought, will and sensitivity. The mysterious trinity of the phenomenological manifestations of individuality is translating throughout an indivisible and a mysterious axiological trinity, as well. It finds its own complete and coherent power in love that is also the place of its very own reason of beingness. The question of our paper is: How the individuality may disclose itself within the idea of accomplishing as much as possible being aware of and fully personal towards a principle of systematizing the entire experience of beingness? We try to highlight the way by which, under the mystery species and tempting to the spiritual fulfillment, we can disclose both of the togetherness capacity and the feeling of belonging to the nature, and no less the trust in individuality’s forces, eventually the so much disputed principium individuationis.
Keywords: love, creative activity, freedom, internal unity, Truth, Good, Beauty
8 / 2014
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Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the theory of imagination and ideology in the work of Paul Ricœur. The imagination can be classified from two perspectives, first from the perspective of the imagined object, linking the imagination to what is present or absent. This refers to the present representation of an absent thing. The other related to the problem of the subject, shown how imagination produces confusion between the imaginary and the real. But the representation of reality through the imagination can be distorted. Ricœur regard poses a semantic analysis of three levels of ideology: distortion, justification and integration. This analysis allowed to criticize the illusions of collective representations of social groups. The central hypothesis here is that the study of imagination on the collective level, shows how is originate the false representations of social imaginary.
Keywords: subject, imagination, intersubjectivity, social imaginary, ideology
8 / 2014
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: Patricia Laurent Kullick (1962) is a remarkable Mexican writer whose narrative production emphasizes in the panorama of present Literature. In these pages I analyze, in its novel El camino de Santiago (1999), the experience of the search of the individual identity through the narrative experimentation that allows her to explore the voices of its interior, as well as to represent the network of relations with the outer reality. I will approach on the other, as on the one hand, Laurent recovers the subject of the identity like an inherent problem to the human being, and how it locates to us, simultaneously, in the specific panorama that raises our 21st century for the encounter of the being with itself and with the other.
Keywords: Patricia Laurent Kullick, identity, Mexican narrative, 21st century
8 / 2014
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Abstract: This paper aims to scrutinize: a) two slang categories of both complimenting and slightly rebuking people over the intended listeners’ behavior, and the intended speakers’ attitudes; b) sociocultural implications in slang used by Taiwan university students; and c) slang culture and its using contexts of two slang categories.
Keywords: slang culture and its using context, sociocultural implications, Taiwan’s university students, complimenting and rebuking
8 / 2014
Carla Cesare, The Habit of Curiosity
Abstract: Curiosity is commonly referred to as a way of being, or an object of curiosity. How curiosity is part of our daily lives, how we engage with curiosity intellectually has a long and interesting history. Since the sixteenth century it has been manifest in cabinets of curiosity, museums and curio cabinets; exercises in collecting, self-reflection and discovery. However, the end of the twentieth-century has altered our sense of the world, through the speed and accessibility of information leaving a changed relationship with wonder. This paper discusses the role of curiosity in research as a “habit of curiosity”, (Benedict 2001, 2) a method for discovery. It reviews its historical manifestations and concerns, locating it through objects and actions, and questions what new meanings the twenty-first century brings with it. Is curiosity at risk? Is it still risky? The relationship between the individual and their interior and exterior socio-cultural landscape continually creates new meanings for knowledge and how we achieve it. This shadowy landscape of our curiosity has not lost meaning intellectually, but it in our shrinking, globalized world how we engage with it requires a new investigation.
Keywords: curiosity, cabinets of curiosity, research, collecting
8 / 2014
Social Sciences Research
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Abstract: The order of Templars has always been seen as a complex and interesting phenomenon in many different fields, that’s why it is difficult to define its nature exactly. Similarly, the Holy Grail can be considered a particularly fascinating subject, which otherwise appears to have an interesting connection with Templars. As a matter of fact, it can be seen as a medley of various themes and topics which take origin in man’s inner needs and dreams and above all in his continuous research for the infinite and the supernatural world. From one side, it can be seen as a material object, associated to Jesus Christ’s Holy Shroud; its origin is still discussed, but we can say that it refers to a mysterious energy linked to human body and to the forces of the cosmos. At the same time, it can assume the function of a real myth, that is to say a representation on unconscious contents, a creation of human psyche which can become a sort of fantastic knowledge, or a real teleological factor, as it emerges in the perspective worked out by psychology of depth (particularly by Jung’s analytical psychology). In this sense it appears also as an expression of the development of “forming spontaneity” which is rooted in the wide field of phenomenology of life, that is to say “the universe of human existence within-the-unity-of-everything-there-is-alive”.
Keywords: creations of human psyche, perspective of Depth Psychology, unity-of-everything-there-is-alive
8 / 2014
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Abstract: By a remarkable synthesizing capacity and a multidisciplinary thinking, the pioneer of cybernetics, Ștefan Odobleja, offered us – through its major work Psychologie consonantiste (1938-1939) – an outstanding vision as regards creativity and education for human beingness. In this paper, I try to emphasize the contribution of the Romanian scholar in building a theory about innovation, in the framework of a philosophy of creation on the ground of education; by priority, following the topics of the genesis of great ideas within the personality unity, together with the action of the reversibility law linked to the sentiment, desire, aspiration in the self-fulfillment of human being. I approach the problem of creativity and the plurality of education’s divisions, according to Ștefan Odobleja, such as: intense, positive, total, general, etc. education, by pointing out his idea on creativity and education as the foundation of modelling future generations.
Keywords: creation, creativity, education, Ștefan Odobleja, orthopaedy, consonance, equilibrium
8 / 2014
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Abstract: The regional tourism development would affect the national tradition revitalization and national culture communication. It would lead to a special culture in which features disappear, national values variety, and many other consequences. In this paper, Luoshui village of Yunnan province was the research object, and through the analysis on the regional tourism development’s influence on the unique national culture, the useful measures of protection and inheritance on national cultural resources have been proposed.
Keywords: energy, tourism development, national culture communication, national tradition revitalization, Luoshui village
8 / 2014
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Abstract: Malaysia’s various ethnic groups make interesting study both sociologically and culturally. With such a heady mix of cultural elements to explore, it is often natural that the many groups stumble upon ‘rare gems’ that reflect their ‘Malaysianess’. Have Malaysians really ever appreciated the many and varied aspects of culture that they are seemingly suddenly thrown into? Do we embrace these happily or are we constantly rejecting them? Fortunately, through the medium of film, we are, from time to time, allowed to reflect on our obvious similarities and even more apparent disparities. In this paper, we explore the culture and perceptions of people from the major ethnic groups that are the human base of this very country. When was it we have last laughed at ourselves … heartily? Nasi Lemak 2.0 provides an interesting, if not disturbing insight into the workings of the Malaysian ‘mind’. Nasi Lemak 2.0 was released on 8th September 2011 and impacted a whole generation of Malaysians. The characters have been well chosen and have done a wonderful job of being representations of the various communities in this nation. Ethnocentrism is a reality and often rears its head, ‘ugly’ or otherwise in several situations. Are we able to grapple with the levels of ethnocentrism that we encounter? These are some of the issues that will trigger much debate and discussion among ourselves and perhaps also reflect our cores.
Keywords: nasi lemak 2.0, ethnocentrism, ethnic identity, Malaysia
8 / 2014
Book Reviews
Carmen Cozma, Focusing on the Hermeneutic Approach of the Early Greek Philosophy
Gh. Vlăduțescu, Interpretări la presocratici / Interpretations of the Presocratics. Bucharest: Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2011. Pp. 190
8 / 2014
Isabel Pinto, On Hospitality in a Plural Philosophical Perspective
Thomas Claviez (ed.). The Conditions of Hospitality: Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics on the Threshold of the Possible. New York: Fordham University Press, 2013. Pp. 213
8 / 2014
Inaugural Study
Christine McNeill-Matteson, Summer Solstice
Abstract: The eternal miracle: Nature – this is what continuously does amaze the human conscience and daily existence. Our paper - a poem - is generated by the cosmic beauty highlighting the creative human condition. We just try to stop, for an instant, face the most impressive ground, which makes us to reveal part of our in-depth living of life, in a phenomenological artistic way that challenges the best in our sensitivity and meditation upon “everything-there-is-alive” – according to Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka’s philosophy of the “logos of life”.
Keywords: solstice, summer, sun
7 / 2013
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: One of Montesquieu’s major theories established in The Spirit of the Laws is the separations of powers, according to which there are three kinds of powers in a state: legislative, executive and judiciary which must be separated, but, at the same time, kept in balance in order to guarantee the freedom of the individual. In support of the deist theory, Montesquieu considered that the separation of the powers would be the magical condition that would make society to function on itself, as an autonomous mechanism, fixing itself, without the need of external intervention, being inspired by an invisible power. Montesquieu, like Voltaire, was the pioneer of introducing the deism in France as a consequence of the fact that he had entered in contact with the English space. His major work, The Spirit of the Laws, influenced the elaboration of constitutions in numerous countries and was chosen as a starting point in drafting the Constitution of the United States of America by which the leaders of the American Revolution wanted a free, republican and confederate country.
Keywords: separation of state powers, deism, political liberty, social equilibrium, spirit of the laws
7 / 2013
Lena Hopsch, Ocean Journey - Between Horizons
Abstract: Could it be that there is pure thinking and that sensuous experience comes, as it were, afterwards? Or is it like the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty says: that we can only think about the world that we are a part of, the only world we know? That what is given a priori and what is given as an experience exist at the same time? “I abandon myself to it and plunge into its mystery, it ‘thinks itself within me’, I am the sky itself as it is drawn together and unified, and as it begins to exist for itself; my consciousness is saturated with this limitless blue,” writes Merleau-Ponty. This essay discusses the act of in-the-world-being experienced in dense moments during a voyage that lets us return to the ‘things themselves’. In the following it will be examined how the moment in a given situation captures a way to knowledge, how the relation of knower to known, subject to object, always take place in a specific situation. How is sensuous experience related to questions of: what is knowledge, what is experience, perception? What part does the perceived moment play in transferring knowledge by experiencing? Can we talk of a knowledge of discovery, an articulating rather than a confirming knowledge?
Keywords: knowledge, sensuous experience, Merleau-Ponty, in-the-world-being, discovery, phenomena
7 / 2013
Victor Alexandru Pricopi, Is Plato a Dualist?
Abstract: Generally, Plato is seen as a monist philosopher. But this fact is true only if we take in account his written works. Since the Tübingen School reveals the importance of Plato’s inner-Academic teachings, the Plato monism is questionable. In this paper we try to find out if Plato is a dualist. We will see that, according to his successors, Plato spoke about two first supreme principles: the One and the indefinite Dyad. Moreover, some Modern scholars have proved that those teachings aren’t contradictory to Plato’s dialogues. In that case, the answer to our question will be positive.
Keywords: Plato, dualism, unwritten teachings, Dyad, first principles
7 / 2013
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Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the episode of the banishment of the Muses of Poetry found in Boethius’ Philosophiae consolatio (Book I, meter 1, 26-41), from the perspective of ancient consolatory tradition. The episode in question can be read by taking into account the scope and character of ancient consolation defined as a form of exhortation to rational and responsible behaviour in the face of grief. Like many ancient authors of consolatory writings, in his last work Boethius seems to acknowledge that the primary task of a consolatory discourse is not one of sharing in the grief of others, but one of removing that grief by speaking frankly and by recoursing to rational arguments. Unlike the Muses of Poetry, who get human minds used to their sickness and don’t liberate them, Philosophy will diagnose Boethius’ spiritual illness and will provide a discursive therapy to heal him.
Keywords: Boethius, ancient consolation, philosophy and poetry, Muses of Poetry
7 / 2013
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: In this article we review the cosmic image of water, from the theory of Gaston Bachelard, in two long poems of João Cabral de Melo Neto: O Rio ("The River") and O cão sem plumas ("The dog without feathers"). I will see the river as cosmic image of the helpless in "The River" and the first part of "The dog without feathers", Paisagem do Capibaribe, understanding that poetry is not a complaint, but these texts denouncing misery. This poems project the worldview of those who resist the rigor, not only hunger and social spoils, but the river. The creatures that inhabit this world are as far away, the neglected, ignored what society. In the river, these beings are confused with the lama, not just your bank or depth, but the margin between liquid and solid, between the filth and survival. The gift of the destitute is his strength. Thus, the different shades reaching cosmic water image helps us to perceive the existence deployments in the "helpless" than lyrical subjects are depicted in Brazilian poetry.
Keywords: Joao Cabral de Melo Neto, cosmic image, water, river, helpless
7 / 2013
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Abstract: In order to show the way in which the first avant-garde trend was founded in art, my aim is to outline one of the greatest masterpieces that the Pre-Raphaelite movement provided the humanity culture with, particularly through its representative painter John Everett Millais (1829-1896). The famous and much-discussed painting by Millais, Christ in his parents’ house (1850) is a unique biblical scene: The Holy Family in the carpentry workshop of Saint Joseph (Fig.1). The painting was extremely controversial because, at its first exhibition, it generated many negative interpretations in various magazines, most notably being that of the writer Charles Dickens. Criticism, however, anticipates and prepares the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s obscure notoriety, bringing major contributions as regards the debate about realism in art.
Keywords: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Hermeneutic Movement, Mystagogical Analysis, Iconographic Representations, Critic Art
7 / 2013
Social Sciences Research
Francio Guadeloupe, The Netherlands, A Caribbean Island: An Autoethnographic Account
Abstract: Almost every critical essay penned about West Indians in Western Europe describe them as residing in places where rampant ethnic discrimination and racism, institutional and every day, are part and parcel of their life. Understandable and truthful as this may be, I argue in this essay that we need to develop a language that does not unwittingly reinforce the ethno-racial divide between Aboriginal Dutch (the so-called natives) and Dutch Antilleans. Employing an autoethnographic account—autobiography enriched by ethnographically based sociological analysis—I present an alternative picture where the agency of Dutch Antilleans in their quest to transform the Netherlands into a hospitable multiculture is highlighted. The richness of life that they are helping bring about, which crosscuts and continuously unravels the racialized Manichean representation of the Netherlands, needs to complement the existing writings on the secondarization of the Caribbean Diaspora in the West.
Keywords: The Netherlands, Dutch Antilleans, racism, ethnicity, multiculturalism
7 / 2013
An Jin-Zhao, Study on Enterprise Total Management Mechanism of Energy Conservation
Abstract: The energy saving management is important to enterprise’s competitiveness and a key factor of social sustainable development. This study proposes a way of enterprise energy management optimizing with total energy saving management. Total energy saving management must have the nature of entire personnel, overall process, and enterprise scope. So, the systems engineering theory is essential to total energy saving management. In this paper, the systems engineering theory is employed to build the enterprise total energy saving management system. The optimizing of energy saving management system should contain total energy saving management guarantee system, total energy saving measuring system, total-staff energy saving management, overall process energy saving control, and analysis of overall process energy-saving potential. The way proposed is useful to improving the effectiveness of energy saving management.
Keywords: total energy saving management, three-grade energy saving management network, analysis of overall process energy-saving potential
7 / 2013
Belkacem Belmekki, Revisiting Colonial Behaviour in French Algeria and British India
Abstract: The British and the French differed in both the approach and method adopted in governing their overseas subjects during their colonial enterprise in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This had a tremendous impact on the psyche of the colonized and was a determinant factor in shaping the nature of the relationship between the colonizers and colonized before and after independence. Therefore, this paper seeks to juxtapose the colonial behaviour of two colonial powers, French and British, in two major colonies, Algeria and India.
Keywords: British India, French Algeria, colonialism, resistance, violence, racism
7 / 2013
Lakshmi Priya Rajendran, Everyday Landscape and Meaning in Urban Living
Abstract: This paper conceptualizes landscape from a temporal and spatial perspective which emphasizes peoples’ interactions and activities as an inherent part of understanding the landscape itself. Today, peoples’ interaction with the landscape has become more complex, largely owing to the changing notions of place in contemporary urban living. In this context, the paper examines the role and significance of the landscapes of everyday life in urban environment and delineates how it (re)constructs ordinary human and social meanings that are necessary conditions for our existence. The paper is presented in three sections. In the first section, it discusses the concept of everyday life and its relevance in the contemporary urban living. In the following section, it examines the complexities encountered in urban landscapes today. The third section of the paper discusses how meaningful interaction experienced with everyday landscapes offer valuable insights for addressing the challenges posed by the complexities of urban city living. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for attention towards the largely neglected or overlooked domains of ’ordinary’ everyday landscape by designer professionals, which plays a crucial role in creating meaningful relationship between people and place.
Keywords: everyday, landscape, identity, design, urban
7 / 2013
Book Review
Manuela Teodora Balașca-Mihoci, Semio-Logical Perspectives upon the Didactic Situation
Melentina Toma. Perspective semio-logice ale situației didactice. Iași: „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University Publishing House, 2012. Pp. 202
7 / 2013
Inaugural Study
Carmen Cozma, Phenomenology of Life in Understanding the Cosmopolitan Humanness
Abstract: One of the most significant directions of the world-wide contemporary philosophy, phenomenology of life of Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka represents a major path of thinking and acting for the promotion of what does mean the universal valuable in human beingness by disclosing and unfolding an essential modality of understanding and shaping some paradigms of world culture. We face an original author and a reputed activist doing exceptional work to foster a culture of dialogue in the world. The impressive Tymienieckan philosophical work has imposed itself as a great contribution to the heralding of a “New Enlightenment” encompassing humanity in the endeavour of creating, maintaining and developing the well-being and the common good of mankind, in securing the human common destiny. Putting in act a holistic and dynamic philosophy upon life and human condition, phenomenology of life offers a viable pattern of communication between different cultures, of overcoming any kind of contradictions in dealing with the fundamental issues of living together and sharing-in-life. We can find elements for tackling and comprehending in a better way our cosmopolitan humanness, due to the opening of a creative approach of identity and otherness, by admitting differentiation and also by working for harmony in the play of life. Throughout new concepts and a very own complex vision of the respect for life, the philosophy-in-act of Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka manifests valences of an integrator enterprise in interpreting the cosmopolitan status of the philosopher in nowadays, in affirming the role of a responsible citizen of the world.
Keywords: phenomenology of life, Tymieniecka, logos, cosmopolitan(ism), humanness
6 / 2013
Philosophical Avenues
Aleksandra Pawliszyn, Game as an Inexpressible Source of Philosophy: A Not too Serious Trifle?
Abstract: Our intention is to present the chosen philosophical viewpoints (Kant, Husserl, Lévinas, Heidegger) as illustrating the presumption that rational, philosophical narratives are a kind of a game with an inexpressible kernel of philosophy. Referring to an antique idea, presupposition will be reconstructed from the Heraclitean aphorism: “All things are ruled by lightening” - inspiring a meditation on things present in the horizontal perspective but ruled by, grasped by this meditation, stitching this perspective together, the thunderbolt - a sign from the vertical order. So, we will look at the chosen philosophies from the point of view of grasping that light, of being revealed through them - as if emanating from the darkness of an unknowable incitement that provokes this light. In Kant’s critical analysis we pay attention to the unknowable root of two trunks of learning, in Lévinas’ philosophy - related to the difference of the lightening, the difference of the Other, in Husserl’s phenomenology - to the impulse ruling the development of modern philosophical systems, and in Heidegger’s considerations - to the acts of Being directing the history of European metaphysics.
Keywords: inexpressible source of philosophy, critical logos, otherness, truth, serious philosophizing
6 / 2013
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Abstract: In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu tried not to discuss about laws, but in fact, about the type of power hiding behind them. Inspired by Plato and Aristotle, he built his own vision on the palingenesis of the political forms and of the principles governing them. Baron de La Brède started from ideas, from spiritual structures, that have the role to create certain social behaviors, and identified three types of government forms, each characterized by its own nature and principle: monarchy, democracy, and despotism. The French philosopher tried to understand, besides the principles ensuring the nature of each government, the key elements legitimating the power and also its sources. The monarchy is seen by Montesquieu as the most suitable regime, for his time, to rule free societies. The aristocracy helps to the maintenance of freedom in royalty by resisting to any attempt of the crown to exceed its constitutional prerogatives. The transition from one form of government to another is done because of the alteration of principles. Democracy is maybe the most exposed to alteration as its excess of freedom leads to the affirmation of the spirit of endless equality that makes everybody wanting to be the equals to the rulers. Montesquieu sees no other solution to replace the degraded forms of political organization than the confederative republic. Such a political organization would answer the need for permanent political flexibility.
Keywords: government forms, degradation of democracy, confederative republic, political phenomenon
6 / 2013
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Abstract: The fact that in Romania the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas was received in a delayed and limited manner is due to the religious and cultural particularities. The researchers refer to the entering of the Thomistic thought at the same time with the establishment of the Catholic education system and, later, of the Greek-Catholic one. But the impact of this Christian philosophy on the Romanian thought was insignificant until the first decades of the 20th century, when the Neo-Thomism has been authorized by the Greek-Catholic school of Blaj. An important fact regarding the reception of the Thomistic philosophical thought in Romania to be taken into account is the attitude of several religious and political consignees who, by pursuing merely their own petty interests, rejected a productive relatedness with the philosophy and theology of the Latin Church in general and with St. Thomas in particular.
Keywords: Thomism, Christian philosophy, education, thought, inspiration
6 / 2013
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: If the surrealist group has attracted the interest of philosophers, one can also note that some of these artists have attempted to develop their own philosophical reflection. This was the case of Hans Bellmer obsessed with the themes of desire, body and metamorphosis and, through that, with the games of identity and otherness. The anatomy of the image, one of Bellmer’s essential books, also shows the role of the artistic creation in the efforts to illuminate the “enigma of existence”.
Keywords: surrealism, Hans Bellmer, desire, body, metamorphosis, identity and otherness
6 / 2013
Codrina-Laura Ioniță, The Icon or the Therapy through Image
Abstract: In traditional thinking, human existence was conceived like a fall from a state of grace in consequence of the original sin. Thus, life did not have any other purpose, but to recovering the initial state by healing off the disease of being in becoming and ephemeral. Holy places or objects have always mediated the contact between the human being and the absolute, perceived like the only true reality. As an expression of the “sacred”, the icon becomes a way of spiritual healing, implicitly a way to heal the soul. Therefore, all the levels at which it can be deciphered do not have another purpose but to justify this function. From a formal perspective of the elements that make up the image, the sacred is suggested by some geometrical forms with colors having a symbolic value or by relations considered to be perfect - relations and proportions that are to be found again in the intimate structure of the whole universe and of the human being itself. That is why the contemplation of an icon determines the resonance with its enciphered rhythms meeting the need for the sacred, and it harmonizes the human being. From a phenomenological point of view, the icon proves to be a place of presence, of meeting. It is the part of transition to the transcendental horizon. The look of the bystander crosses the visible and the objective in order to meet a prototype, which is not an original or a second visible beyond the first one, but it is a second look that penetrates the materiality of the icon. This second look is a commanding authority to the perceiver. It is the light of the invisible divine eye, which lightens and purifies the spirit of the one contemplating it.
Keywords: icon, proportions, contemplation, place of presence, prototype
6 / 2013
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Abstract: In this article we will study the poetry of Dana Gelinas, highlighting the strategies to representing the contemporary world. This Mexican poetess sees humans as entranced in front of windows or powerless in the social struggle. Dana Gelinas’ poetry is naked and strong like the desert. Her verse come without much of preamble to define the image of the 21st century.
Keywords: Gelinas, poetic removal, plastic, soot, department stores, modern world
6 / 2013
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Abstract: The surprising connection of the terms “milk” and “black”, which represents the leitmotif and structuring symbol in the poem Death Fugue by Paul Celan, also appeared in various forms, during the year 1939, in the works of two other poets, living in Chernovtsy, namely Alfred Margul Sperber and Rose Ausländer. As early as January 1939, this oxymoron has appeared in the poem More Nightby Vasile Voiculescu, being published in the journal “Gândirea” / “The Thinking”, in Bucharest. In Voiculescu’s poem, the mystical significance of “black milk” - that comprises within itself two icons: the life-giving milk and the renewing wine - seems to be appropriate, considering the spiritual development of the poet. As regards Paul Celan, the understanding of this double symbol is more difficult because the current interpretation is a political one. Beyond the Holocaust black and white smoke rising as a witness of the mass killing of Hebrews, one can interpret, though, the “black milk” as an allusion to Shekinah, the flow of life that nourishes all living creatures. This interpretation becomes possible through the scales proposed by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Otto Pöggeler.
Keywords: oxymoron, “black milk”, Vasile Voiculescu, Paul Celan, Holocaust, Shekinah, mystic, Kabbalah
6 / 2013
Social Sciences Research
Milos Rastovic, Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Society in One-Dimensional Man
Abstract: Nowadays, Marcuse’s main book One-Dimensional Man is almost obsolete, or rather passé. However, there are reasons to renew the reading of his book because of “the crisis of capitalism,” and the prevailing framework of technological domination in “advanced industrial society” in which we live today. “The new forms of control” in “advanced industrial societies” have replaced traditional methods of political and economic administration. The dominant structural element of “advanced industrial society” has become a technical and scientific apparatus of production and distribution of technology and administrative practice based on application of impersonal rules by a hierarchy of associating authorities. Technology has been liberated from the control of particular interests, and it has become the factor of domination in itself. Technological domination stems from the technical development of the productive apparatus that reproduces its ability into all spheres of social life (cultural, political, and economic). Based upon this consideration, in this paper, I will examine Marcuse’s ideas of “the new forms of control,” which creates a one–dimensional society. Marcuse’s fundamental thesis in One-Dimensional Man is that technological rationality is the most dominant factor in an “advanced industrial society,” which unites two earlier opposing forces of dissent: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Keywords: Marcuse, technology, domination, consumption, production, society, capitalism
6 / 2013
Ana Pascaru, Beyond Contemporary Society: A Socio-Philosophical Approach
Abstract: This paper represents a synthesis of several longitudinal investigations, aiming to elucidate the quantum of challenges of the contemporary society condition and its particularities in a developing society, like the Moldavian one, and how the new democracies try to find their places in the context of changes since the 2008 world economic crisis.
Keywords: contemporary society, development, confluence, multicultural, challenge
6 / 2013
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Abstract: Great achievements have been made in the folk-custom tourism of Xiaozhuang village in Huzhu County over the past years; however, a variety of problems is still there. Based on the case of Xiaozhuang village, this paper discussed the problems according to the survey; and the possible solutions are also proposed.
Keywords: folk-custom tourism, Tu nationality, Xiaozhuang village, Huzhu County, agritainment
6 / 2013
Inaugural Study
Gloria Prado Garduño, Las Humanidades en el siglo XXI (The Humanities in the 21st Century)
Abstract: From the Middle Ages until today, it is possible to appreciate that the so called “Humanities” are focused on different perspectives and considerations. As of 1900, under the Positivism egis, Humanities were considered sciences, but in order to distinguish them from the natural and exact sciences, they were called “Sciences of the Spirit” or Human Sciences. Gradually, along the 20th century, a fusion among them took place, together with many other different sciences like medicine, in an interdisciplinary combination. Nowadays, the rampant technology, the mass media and the social networks have contributed to change their appreciation, however, these facts will not succeed in making Humanities disappear.
Keywords: Humanities, sciences, language, interdisciplinary
5 / 2012
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: Is it possible a comparison between phenomenology and neurosciences, empathical Erlebnis and embodied cognition or simulation? The phenomenological living body is really the same of the neurophisiological one? What is the philosophical difference between culture and nature? The thesis asserted here is that intersubjectivity constitutes the originary root of personal subjectivity. It is proved through the empathical Erlebnis analysis elaborated by Edmund Husserl and Edith Stein, which allows for the phenomenologico-anthropological foundation of personal otherness and for the deep sense of the world as common space of action, connected to the identification of the essential structure of human being: living body (Leib as psycho-physical dimension), soul (Seele as nucleus or centre of personal identity, via individuationis) and spirit (Geist as intentional life and activity of consciousness). To answer these questions, I follow two phenomenological paths: the first one is the Logos and Leib philosophical nexus, meaning the subject-body; the second is the link between empathy and otherness, meaning the roots intersubjectivity. That is why from my point of view phenomenology means a first person philosophy.
Keywords: empathy, living body, embodied cognition or simulation, mirror neurons, intersubjectivity, first person philosophy
5 / 2012
Ionuț Ștefan, David Hume and the Critical Examination of Empiricism
Abstract: The research is related to David Hume. This philosopher is described as being an empiricist, but it should be noted that the empiricism promoted by Hume represents the development up to the final consequences of this philosophical doctrine that should be subjected to the observability requirement. The core problem for Hume’s philosophy is the difficulty of causality thinking. The Scottish philosopher promotes a moderate and inconsistent skepticism because he does not doubt the permanency of facts. The Humean epistemology is mixed with elements belonging to some naïve ontology of a materialistic nature and with elements of a sensualistic psychology of an associationist type. The causality or the causal connection between events is based on a psychological belief, which has a pragmatic end for people, in that it offers us the psychological comfort of habitual events and the familiar existential. Causality refers to certain events that have already happened in a certain way, but it cannot constitute a necessary and sufficient basis for similar future events.
Keywords: David Hume, John Locke, empiricism, causality problem
5 / 2012
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Abstract: Starting from some of the dogmatic Christology’s significations, we are trying to show that the Son of God can be considered, through the idea that supports him, a scope of a Christology that tries to present itself as a philosophy. To sustaining this, we refer to a few excerpts of a philosophical creation born out of Christological meditation, excerpts belonging to Pascal, Kierkegaard, Berdyaev, and Kant.
Keywords: Philosophia Christus, Divine Logos, dogma, transcendental man, Christology
5 / 2012
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: This article is an analysis of a play by Tom Murphy, “The Sanctuary Lamp”, against the background of Nietzschean philosophical concept of overcoming nihilism as well as an attempt at discovering the parallelisms between Murphy’s characters in their search for the essence of existence and their desire for a meaningful life and Nietzschean philosophy. In the play, self-realisation of an individual, that is, overcoming nihilism, is mainly achieved by means of one’s individual strength, which is characterised by the ability to combine destruction and creation, employ one’s will to power, create new values, affirm life as it is, forget and forgive one’s enemies, and employ art in life. The playwright conveys an individual’s loss of purpose and the inevitable chaos in the aftermath of the death of God and the methods to surmount this nihilistic condition. The study comes to the conclusion that all the above Nietzschean elements build a solid background for Murphy’s drama, where the dramatist draws a picture of systematicity of existence of an individual who struggles to attain meaning.
Keywords: Nietzsche, nihilism, will to power, Irish drama, Tom Murphy
5 / 2012
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Abstract: The example of Notre-Dame of Noyon illustrates the process of sanctuarization and, in its case, its adjustment to the liturgical and historical- religious evolutions of the building. Thus, the chevet was at first conceived according to a liturgy which provided a larger space to the Chapter, whose liturgical choir expanded into the nave, of reduced dimension for the faithful. The most sacred space of the altar was highlighted by the architectural treatment of the first bay of the choir. The stained glass windows, no doubt, diffused a diaphanous light which offered a paradisiacal view of the sacred space of this place. Secondly, in order to enhance the importance of the sacred relics preserved in the cathedral, and in order to ensure his religious authority, the bishop and the Chapter wished to magnify the sanctuary and, therefore, to modify it. A new setting was designed to highlight the sacred relics, the Christological symbols, while the color of the paintings reinforced the symbolic luminosity of the embodied God. At the same time, the aim being that of encouraging pilgrims in their walking towards and into the cathedral, the liturgical choir was pushed backwards to the crossing to leave more space to the faithful in the nave. The openwork choir screen also favored the visibility of the sacred relics that the pilgrims went toward. Thus, two distinct periods of the religious history of Noyon determined two types of sanctuarization.
Keywords: Noyon, liturgy, sanctuarization, sacred space, rood-screen, Saint Eloi, canopy, altar, sacred relics, Christological symbols
5 / 2012
Ion Gagim, Le vécu spirituel de la musique comme expérience métaphysique
Abstract: Interested by the inward relation of ’appearance-development’ between human being and the great music, the author aims to highlight part of this peculiar communication, which covers a unique spiritual manner of living thanks to the hidden message that sonorous art is able to put in act. Much more than the usual aesthetic experience, during an authentic listening to music, man is able to perceiving the “beyond”, a meta-physical “voice” to be deciphered in its in-depth meaning. The article focuses on the possibility of catching and understanding the fullness of music, by challenging human being to be aware of a complex metaphysical experience of life.
Keywords: experience, music, metaphysics, spiritual living
5 / 2012
Social Sciences Research
Fred Guyette, Friendship and the Common Good in Aristotle
Abstract: For theorists of political liberalism, individual rights take priority over the good. Communitarians hold, however, that a society focused exclusively on individual rights will be made up of atomistic selves who cannot sustain any commitment to the common good. Aristotle’s discussions of friendship and the common good can contribute to the conversation concerning the polis and its ends. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics emphasizes homonoia, but his Politics envisions “political friendship” more as a space for agonistic struggle. Aristotle knows about the destructive effects of pleonexia, and he describes several community-building virtues that are opposed to it: justice, temperance, and liberality. Aristotle also claims that the genre of tragedy can inform a commitment to work for the common good.
Keywords: Aristotle, friendship, common good, justice
5 / 2012
Cristina Lucia Șutiu, Propaganda: How a Good Word Went Wrong
Abstract: What is propaganda and what is wrong with it? This may be the main question when studying this complex phenomenon. In this article we shall try to give an answer to this question and to find the most appropriate definition for this disputed concept. Nowadays, propaganda has a negative connotation and usually it is used to discredit somebody’s speech or actions, by implying that he is both illogical and unethical. But propaganda wasn’t seen always like that! In order to give an objective definition of this concept, it is very important for us to understand first what exactly happened with this word throughout history.
Keywords: propaganda, manipulation, persuasion, communication, mass media
5 / 2012
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Abstract: This paper seeks to study the way in which the human body is socially constructed, with emphasis on the case of aesthetic surgery. Drawing from semi-structured qualitative interviews with plastic surgeons and individuals who modified their body through aesthetic surgery, it is illustrated a contrast between the medical discourse and the patient’s discourse, in terms of the motives for conducting these surgical procedures. For plastic surgeons, on the one hand, the reasons prompting individuals into aesthetic surgery pertain to their psychological improvement and the enhancement of their inner self, something that legitimatize their intervention as “therapeutic”. Persons submitted to these interventions, on the other hand, waive the psychology aspect and give priority to the superficial factor, elevating body appearance to a supreme value and attributing a purely utilitarian character to their decision.
Keywords: sociology of the body, embodiment, cosmetic surgery, social constructivism
5 / 2012
Inaugural Study
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Abstract: Starting from the New Enlightenment, announced by Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka to be emerging in the post-postmodern era, a conflict is possible to manifest between the positive spirit in the name and the awareness of today’s societal and cultural problems. The paper focuses to resolving this conflict. The idea of New Enlightenment comes out of Tymieniecka’s phenomenological analysis of the logoic networks of life with identification of logoic unification of reason and intuition, and the insight into the ontological self-poiesis of life, i.e. ontopoiesis. Scientific progress takes place due to the ontopoietic self-disclosure of life. Understanding the ontopoiesis refocuses attention from trauma to the growing loci of the self, and creates an emergent alternative to existential pessimism of postmodern therapies. The paper examines healing aspects of ontopoietic direct intuition that mediate living engagement with the real. Human subject is not thrown into existence against the will, but is integrated into the flow of life and posesses self-reflective freedom of choice. This reframing of existential yearning invokes new clinical theory. The expanded interpretation of self and other, of health and disease calls for transformation of the mind towards the rise of ontopoietic intuition and direct perception of logoic ontopoiesis.
Keywords: Tymieniecka, phenomenology, self, postmodernism, clinical theory
4 / 2012
Philosophical Avenues
Ionuț Ștefan, Heidegger and Parmenides
Abstract: The research is concerned with the philosophy of Parmenides of Elea. This philosopher is one of the most famous thinkers of the Greek antiquity. His philosophy is important because it represents, in the history of philosophy, the first moment of thinking of Being in the horizon of ontology. This act of thinking depends on three conditions of possibility: 1. The co-affiliation of dasein and Being; 2. The fundamental identity between thinking and being (“thinking and being is the same thing”); 3. The primary language in which we call gods and all things in their essence. This research represents a reconstruction of Parmenides’ philosophy using the German transcendental idealism and especially Heidegger’s phenomenology. I think that Parmenides’ philosophy represents an essential moment in the history of philosophy, as compared with Heraclitus’ philosophy.
Keywords: Parmenides, Heidegger, transcendental idealism, intellectual intuition, ontology, Being
4 / 2012
Aaron C. Vlasak, Plato’s Kunikos Kosmopolitēs
Abstract: Many are willing to ascribe certain cosmopolitan principles of justice to Socrates. This is not surprising as the later cosmopolitans claimed a Socratic heritage. Few are willing to extend such principles to Plato. The philosophic dog as the image of the ideal political leader that we see in Republic, Book II seems to confirm this common reading. The dog, we are told, is friendly with the familiar and angry at the strange. If this were Plato’s ideal, indeed he would not be cosmopolitan. I argue, however, that on Plato’s own terms it is irrational to get angry at strangers. The image of the political leader in the form of the dog depicts the realistic leader, and this realistic image is juxtaposed to the ideal ruler, the true philosopher, someone like Socrates.
Keywords: cosmopolitan, daimonion, philosophic exile, Plato, Socrates, Republic
4 / 2012
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Abstract: The following article focuses on Richard of St. Victor´s most original treatise: On the Four Degrees of Violent Love. Although the topic of violence within the Christian view on ethics, politics and theology was not at all new by 1173, the major contribution of this short but dense mystical writing consists in developing systematically the violence as an inherent consequence of the infinite charity. The love is so powerful that it “wounds, binds, languishes and brings on a faint”, but the same force may have different effects: if these four steps appear to be destructive when oriented to satisfy the “profane” desires, their infinite strength show providential effects when turned to the divine source of the charity.
Keywords: Richard of St. Victor, love, violence, degrees, infinity, mystics
4 / 2012
Iosif Tamaș, The Whole Realism: The Cornerstone of Ioan Miclea’s Philosophy
Abstract: Ioan Miclea’s so-called “meeting” with the Thomist philosophy took place in Tg. Mureş, (while he was a professor of religion), through the works of Jacques Maritain. What he had tried to find out until then in philosophy, he found in the work of St. Thomas. He felt that the truth lay beyond the surface of things, within their intimate reality. Lost in the scruffy of the modern philosophy, Miclea finds the path and reaches to find Thomas, before giving up philosophy, as he was going to do at a given moment. The first reading of one of Ioan Miclea’s texts (usually, any first reading is somehow superficial) shows us an exuberant author, a simple man who honors the writings of the Thomist writings or those of Maritain whose poor scientific training is hiding under the guise of a neophyte’s exaltation. Not true! To avoid these mistakes we recommend going through the original texts of his work that will build a good relationship with Miclea’s writings and will facilitate the study of the Thomist teachings.
Keywords: Thomism, Christian philosophy, truth, real, faith, reason, whole humanism
4 / 2012
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: The example of Notre-Dame of Noyon illustrates the process of sanctuarization and, in its case, its adjustment to the liturgical and historical-religious evolutions of the building. Thus, the chevet was at first conceived according to a liturgy which provided a larger space to the Chapter, whose liturgical choir expanded into the nave, of reduced dimension for the faithful. The most sacred space of the altar was high¬lighted by the architectural treatment of the first bay of the choir. The stained glass windows, no doubt, diffused a diaphanous light which offered a paradisiacal view of the sacred space of this place. Secondly, in order to enhance the importance of the sacred relics preserved in the cathedral, and in order to ensure his religious authority, the bishop and the Chapter wished to magnify the sanctuary and, therefore, to modify it. A new setting was designed to highlight the sacred relics, the Christological symbols, while the color of the paintings reinforced the symbolic luminosity of the embodied God. At the same time, the aim being that of encouraging pilgrims in their walking towards and into the cathedral, the liturgical choir was pushed back¬wards to the crossing to leave more space to the faithful in the nave. The openwork choir screen also fa-vored the visibility of the sacred relics that the pilgrims went toward. Thus, two distinct periods of the reli¬gious history of Noyon determined two types of sanctuarization.
Keywords: Noyon, liturgy, sanctuarization, sacred space, rood-screen, Saint Eloi, canopy, altar, sacred relics, Christological symbols
4 / 2012
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Abstract: Our proposal is to analyze the tale Macário by Juan Rulfo, originally published in the magazine Pan and America in the early ’50s and, in 1953, in his book of short stories El Llano en Llamas. Our aim is to highlight the importance of the bestiary, influencing on the construction of a narrative seemingly simple, but which reaches density and accuracy to the extent that its narrator-protagonist - easily identified as crazy -, makes it emerge situations of religious conflicts and traumas which come from experiences of sexual repression.
Keywords: Macário, Rulfo, bestiary, narrative
4 / 2012
Social Sciences Research
Kiymet Selvi, Phenomenological Way of Thinking in the School
Abstract: Education should take into account the phenomenological investigation of individuals in order to encourage students to create and construct their own knowledge. It is known that current educational system mainly approves of objective knowledge and phenomenological ways of thinking of individuals cannot be approved. Thus, individuals leave their own naturalistic ways of thinking and learning that it creates serious problems in current educational system related to students’ learning in school. This study aims at reflecting the subjective knowledge, that is perceptions of students concerning “desire of learning” and also analyzing what those students felt and experienced in reflecting their subjective knowledge related to the given concept. The data were collected from the twelve master students studying at Institute of Educational Sciences between 2006 and 2010. It can be said that the students reach their own meaning related to the concept of “desire of learning”. The phenomenological way of thinking and reflecting should be covered in school study in order to create and construct the authentic knowledge of self.
Keywords: phenomenology, desire of learning, reflection, creation, construction, knowledge
4 / 2012
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Abstract: The League of Nations and the United Nations Organization were two post-World War (World War I and World War II) organizations established for the maintenance of peace and security in the international system. One of the cardinal objectives of these organizations was the promotion of a Collective Security System which was considered as vital in the pursuit of global peace and security. In other words, Collective Security is an institutional mechanism established to address a comprehensive list of major threats to peace and security around the world. With the escalation of conflicts and wars in different parts of the world, there is therefore the need for collective responses at global, regional and national levels in conflict situations. The achievement of collective security in the international system would be based on the principle that any attack on any member of the United Nations would be considered as an attack on all the members. After a panoramic discourse of the meaning and nature of Collective Security, the paper also examines the problems of collective security in the international system; its failure under the League of Nations and the United Nations. The paper concludes that the weaknesses inherent in the system do not make it unuseful as it is a relevant factor in the maintenance of international peace and security.
Keywords: security, sanction, charter, organization
4 / 2012
Patrik Fridlund, The Fragility of Religious Freedom
Abstract: One implication of freedom of religion is that the State must accept a variety of religious beliefs and practices. Yet, not everything can be accepted. One way of dealing with such a conflict is to state that freedom of religion is absolute in so far that it does not infringe upon some other more important value. Another way is to limit what is considered ’religious.’ Both these ways are insufficient. In this contribution it is argued that the whole freedom of religion construct is a fragile edifice and it be better seen as such; only if the fragility is recognised can non-conformist and anti-totalitarian approaches flourish. Such approaches may vitalise political life and encourage ability to discern and make judgements concerning what is permitted and what is not with regard to religion in the public sphere.
Keywords: freedom of religion, institutional agnosticism, linguistic mobility, non-conformist liberalism and religion, religion and public life
4 / 2012
Book Review
Carmen Cozma, Overarching: Duns Scotus and Edith Stein on Individuality and Individuation Problem
Francesco Alfieri, OFM. La presenza di Duns Scoto nel pensiero di Edith Stein. La questione dell’individualità. Roma: Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis, 2011. Pp. 331
4 / 2012
Inaugural Study
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Abstract: The aim of this essay is to highlighting the issue of being(ness) and of modality in Plato’s philosophy under the Socratean influence for the ontological design in its metaphysical significance. I follow some cardinal concepts, like: eidos and idéa within the development of the doctrine of ideas, trying to stress the importance of a holistic reading in the dynamic unity of Plato’s Dialogues, to enlightening the central category of being(ness).
Keywords: ontology, being(ness), metaphysics, Plato, doctrine of ideas
3 / 2011
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: The complexity of the work of Edith Stein is made by the concatenation of the early Husserlian ideas with themes of ethics, psychology, politics, that are significantly in the present days. In this paper I insist on the centrality of human being in Steinian phenomenological anthropology, which is emphasized as communion with the others by activating the value of empathy. The problem of inter-subjectivity is very important for the entire philosophy of Stein to understanding the human being within the dynamism of the life-world, in the process of self-thinking and, no less, of thinking the other humans.
Keywords: phenomenology, anthropology, Edith Stein, empathy, Erlebnis, inter-subjectivity, epoché, identity, solidarity
3 / 2011
Thomas Ryba, Eugenics, the Girardian Theory of Sacrifice, and the New Darwinian Ethics
Abstract: In this paper I argue that, though many ethical systems recognize sacrifice as moral action, the utilitarian appropriation of Neo-Darwinian theory especially as it justifies eugenics as a “winnowing of the human stock” is in Girardian terms analogous to the sacrificial scapegoating of innocents. This argument is accomplished in four steps. (1) I show that within some ethical systems sacrifice is recognized as moral behavior driven by a specific axiology (or theory of value) (2) I discuss some of the meta-ethical problems connected with Neo-Darwinian naturalism and naturalism, in general. (3) I show how modern varieties of naturalism and Darwinian naturalism, in particular are especially inclined to lead to a moral justification of eugenic scapegoating and how Girardian theory is helpful in identifying the moral disorder connected with eugenics. (4) Finally, I conclude by arguing that Darwin’s thought is susceptible to another kind of interpretation, one that need not lead to the valorization of eugenics.
Keywords: Girardian theory of scapegoating, Neo-Darwinianism, Neo-Darwinian ethics, Naturalism in ethics, eugenics, G.E. Moore, John Searle, Rene Girard, P.T. Geach, Michel Foucault
3 / 2011
Raffaella Santi, Metus Revealed: Hobbes on Fear
Abstract: Fear is a universal emotion, experienced by everybody. When it becomes collective and social, it can enter into the processes of political imagination, being used for political purposes. This article is a brief examination of the meanings and functions of fear(s) in Hobbes’s thought. Some of his views may be ‘historically’ related to his own time, the Seventeenth Century, and others may be linked and confined to his own theory. However, his reflections on the importance of the perturbatio animi of fear for human psychology, and its impact on human interactions and collective behaviour, are still interesting for us today. The various meanings of fear highlighted by Hobbes (especially in his political works: Elements of Law, De cive, and Leviathan) are here synthetically reconstructed, with particular emphasis on fear as passion, expectation and will, and on fear in his various social aspects: mutual fear and fear of death, which give rise to the political community; fear of punishment and fear for the laws, which help to maintain the State and finally, fear of invisible power and timor Dei, from which religion originates, and the religious power that Hobbes wanted to be held by the State.
Keywords: Hobbes, political imagination, fear/metus, mutual fear, fear of death, fear for the laws, Timor Dei
3 / 2011
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Abstract: In the encyclical letter Fides et ratio, no 42, Pope John Paul II submits to debate the beginnings of the scholastic philosophy, of the philosophically educated reason. The period beginning with the IXth century is generically called scholastic. The concept (schola-school) refers, as it’s well known, to those responsible for the sciences in a school. We refer to the teachers who activated within the diocesan and the court schools built by Carol the Great and afterwards in universities. As we know, by scholastic we pertain nowadays to the method of work applied in educational didactics, where the pros and cons of the questions are judiciously examined in order to find an explicit and distinct solution. Historically speaking, we already find ourselves in the period where the history of religion was assigned for the primacy of logos. From a specific point of view, belief means more than taking a decision – in favour of the truth. In other words, belief means sharing the conviction that intellection and meaning don’t represent an additional and coincidental product of the human being. On the contrary, every being is a product of thought and, in its most intimate structure, constitutes in itself a thought.
Keywords: intellect, belief, reason, existence, supernatural, method
3 / 2011
Literature and Art Studies
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Abstract: Returning to medieval spirituality seems to be a common feature of the artistic currents, claimed by romanticism: expressionism, abstract expressionism or neo-expressionism. In romanticism the aspiration toward the absolute was obviously. In expressionism the place dedicated to the divinity is found to be empty, and art becomes a cry of despair facing the solitude. Abstract expressionism does not even try to aim for transcendence, but it does probe the interiority, subjectivity and reaction of the human being in the midst of being. However, there are artists belonging to the abstract expressionism who express in their art the harmony of the human being within the cosmos. An example is the art of J. Pollock. It is an art for which not only the artistic image, but also the technique, the dripping, and the means of working become expressions of the cosmic harmony. It is something alike a part of science (F.Capra) or the medieval mysticism where we find the same need of communion with nature, a spiritualization of the world, as the first step on the path towards divinity.
Keywords: medieval spirituality, expressionism, abstract expressionism, J. Pollock, cosmic harmony
3 / 2011
Gloria Vergara, Coral Bracho: Hacia una poética del ser (Coral Bracho: Towards a Poetics of Being)
Abstract: In this article we review the work of Coral Bracho as a poetics of being. Inserting into the Mexican tradition, the poet constructs the way of interiority. Everything happens at the moment: life and death. And in that full time, people are around and within the Being, they are part of the dynamism of the universe. Being dreams, hopes, struggles, convulses, and finally reaches the elasticity of time to join the other, the beloved one. But the Being is diffused in the sperm of time and has the mark of that “Being-going-to-die”. In this “oracle” the erotic and the divine join; the body is the temple, the night, the space of delirium. The body is also the seed and core, the humus, the edge and halo. It mixes the impulses of life and death, overlooking the archetypes of time.
Keywords: Coral Bracho, poetics, being, time, interiority
3 / 2011
Carmen Cozma, Ethos of Music Art and Human Well-Being
Abstract: What does make the ground of the authentic works of music art crossing the centuries and what does move the human soul any time and anywhere? Which is the support of music art – generally speaking – beyond its aesthetic dimension? How could we explain and understand, in a better and in a more efficient way, the real power of musical artistic creation upon the human well-being? These are merely part of the interrogations challenging our interest in finding and revealing the profound link between: ethical values, music art and human health (in its integrality). The purpose of this essay is to emphasize the foundation of human equilibrium considering the offer of the harmony carried by music art, exploring the significance of a nucleus-concept of the Greek philosophers that has been acknowledged as kalokagatheia – the self-fulfilled cultivation of body and soul, as a micro-cosmos living within the macro-cosmos. In terms of a philosophical hermeneutics of art, we reach to disclose part of the salutogenic function of the great music art concerning the human well-being in nowadays.
Keywords: ethos, music art, well-being, humanness, moral health, kalokagatheia
3 / 2011
Social Sciences Research
Magdalena Iorga, Being Workaholic in the University: Teacher, Researcher or Manager?
Abstract: Belonging to the university guild supposes the fact of recognizing of a high scientific level and peculiar relationship skills. To be a teacher in the contemporary Romanian university is a real challenge. Being overwhelmed by frequent and not always wise changes as regards the academic demands, teachers have developed abilities to continuously adapting to the new contexts. Instead of focusing to the necessary improvement of their lectures, they had to orient themselves towards the increase of the quantity of various courses and towards the manifestation first of all as project managers and researchers. So, teachers turned from the status of mentors for the students toward the position of a kind of “workaholics” under the threatening slogan: “publish or perish”. In the Romanian university of nowadays, teacher became more and more a walker facing a crossing point where a difficult choice must be made, seeing that three ways are to be followed at the same time: the didactic, the research and the management activities.
Keywords: teacher, university, workaholic, researcher, manager
3 / 2011
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Abstract: Using some writings of Luisa Avitabile, I outline the Steinian vision upon State, law, community and person. The essay focuses on the spiritual community and the ethical values, especially, in the framework of an onto-phenomenological analysis after Edith Stein, the author who succeeded to approach the juridical question by relating it to an ethics of empathy.
Keywords: community, law, phenomenology, empathy, alterity
3 / 2011
Mihaela Morariu, Public and Private in the Anthropology of Hannah Arendt
Abstract: This article focuses on the ancient and modern meanings of the “public” and the “private” spaces – carefully analyzed by Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition –, and on the way in which these meanings appeared, also on how they reflect themselves in establishing the relation public-private. The perspectives of the relation “public” and “private” shade away the tendency of “being together”, alienating the public space from that spectacular attribute of the commonly shared deliberations, bringing the decisions towards an absolute sovereignty. Whereas in the ancient Greece the question of the conflict between the “public” and the “private” has appeared, through the shading of the private sphere and through the over-bidding of the public one, in the Western exegesis the inability to make a distinction between the public and the private did not have the same explanations, but it is rather based on an interpretation and transfer gap. The author acknowledges the decline of the “public” to its extinction in the totalitarianisms of the 20th century, as being due to the modern loss of the meaning and practice of the political action.
Keywords: public, private, political, social, Hannah Arendt
3 / 2011
Book Review
Carmen Cozma, (Re)Thinking about the Dynamic Experience and Meaning of the Other(ness)
Anton Adămuţ. Fenomenologia celuilalt. (Cazul Platon – „Banchetul”). Bucharest: Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2011. Pp. 256
3 / 2011
Inaugural Study
Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Heralding a New Enlightenment
Abstract: The present-day anatomy of disarray we have to cope with brings out the necessity of a fundamental change in our spiritual attitude and societal conduct, aiming to reassess the value of wisdom in connection with the scientific and technological progress; all, being grounded in the network of the manifestations of the logos of life. This approach highlights the articulations of our very own vision of heralding a New Enlightenment for humankind, throughout a new critique of reason, by framing a new philosophical insight able to lead us to a better understanding of the meaning of life.
Keywords: logos, New Enlightenment, reason, wisdom, meaning of life, communication
2 / 2011
Philosophical Avenues
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Abstract: The concept of self-determination is the central category of person in the understanding of Karol Wojtyła. He perceived and developed it thanks to the application of a phenomenological method so that in the full description of experience gained by man one arrives at the noumenal bases of man himself.
Keywords: experience, act, self-determination, truth
2 / 2011
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Abstract: Edith Stein’s interpreters usually read her discussion of the ontological question of singularity of the human being as a further development of Aristotle’s and Thomas’ thought. I hold that Stein’s link to the Thomistic-Aristotelian tradition is not more intense and tighter than the one with Duns Scotus. Through the analysis of Scotus’ works I’ll try to show that for Stein the Thomistic materia signata quantitate is not sufficient to grasp the deep meaning of the (unique) individuation principle, because it doesn’t allow go beyond the general relationship between matter and form that cannot tell anything about the individual. Hence, Stein claims that the principium individuationis cannot be found simply by specifying somehow connected genera and species, but it has to be observed in its qualitative fullness as it acts in the human reality. It is related to our being’s deep ontological levels that can be grasped through the “spiritual perception of the Fühlen”.
Keywords: singularity, Fühlen, ultima realitas entis, qualitative fullness, principium individuationis, spiritual perception of the Fühlen
2 / 2011
Iosif Tamaș, “Totalmente diverso”: San Tommaso
Abstract: In order to synthesize the exploration of above presented ideas, we suggest the following conclusions: Pope John Paul II cherished Saint Thomas as representing „that eternal novelty of thinking” which brought us close to the ontic space of knowledge, the dynamic principle of which is Being. The climax of this condition would be the moment of embracing the truth, which would trigger that vital necessity for metaphysics. According to the stated objective of the necessary and indispensable ratio between reason and faith, we see that Tomas suggested the vision of the objective, transcendent and universal truth. This fact determined Pope John Paul II to appreciate that “passion” for truth. The man of our time must walk again towards the light of this truth. In this sense, Saint Thomas’ philosophy represents the guide above all. Its philosophic importance, meaning that “it is truly the philosophy of Being, and not the philosophy of a simple epiphany”, confirms its aim to provide a constant answer to many of the problems that concerns the human mind: the problems of knowledge and Being, the problems of speaking and doing, the problems of the world, and the problems related with Man and God.
Keywords: participation, wisdom, supernatural, plenitude, identity
2 / 2011
Ciprian Iulian Șoptică, A Phenomenological Research on Moral Philosophy
Abstract: The subject of this article concerns the what, the how and the why of moral phenomenology. The first question we take into consideration is “What is moral phenomenology”? The second question which arises is “How to pursue moral phenomenology”? The third question is “Why pursue moral phenomenology”? We will analyze the study Moral phenomenology: foundation issues, by which the American phenomenologist Uriah Kriegel aims three lines of research: the definition of moral phenomenology and the description of field research within the phenomenological tradition; the establishment of a method of moral phenomenology research; the emphasis of the purpose of such research and its importance for moral philosophy in general.
Keywords: moral philosophy, moral phenomenology, ethics, phenomenology of morality, meta-ethics, normative ethics, cognitive science
2 / 2011
Literature an Art Studies
Horia Bădescu, L’Ontologie de l’inconnu (The Ontology of the Unknown)
Abstract: To see in a poetical way, that means to see in a peculiar different way. It means to disclose under the “mask” of the transitory without face of the real. To catch the vision of the real. To enter the horizon and the mechanism of the dream. To enter the play of the inwardness within itself. But if the dream receives some existential tensions and it accomplishes some crisis existential projects during they emerge from the daily situation, the poetical dreamness becomes an ontological vision. It receives the tensions of a beingness’ project that is reported to itself and, no less, that does significantly reinvest it. The poetry is that which settles beingness’ projects by a process of potetialization of their own reality. Poetry opens towards the knowledge of the Unknown conceived not as an unknown, but as an absence. It activates the absence as “reality” of the Unknown, of the Noumen, that the poem does “dream” it to restoring it to the existence.
Keywords: dream, vision, inwardness, project, ontology, unknown, beingness, real, reality
2 / 2011
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Abstract: No doubt, if one comes to search for the truth, he/she will find it. It is a journey to the inner self translated as simple yet complex developments of narrative symbols and myths. We are transported into a magical world of subtle senses and meanings where one has to learn the different traces of history that we are transuded into. There are two sides of this mirroring that we find in those two tales. The first one takes us, metaphorically, in front of the tree of life, the source of knowledge that is accessible only by the pure hearted. The connection through the person of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami can only point out where the light does deviate all of us. The second one is an imperative message, as a meditation, the moment that we disconnect from our minds. Those two parts can feed us with the knowledge of the human beings, in order to fill the love core connected with the feeling coming out from the experience of these two tales. You can take a magical tour into the world of the mirrors that we are revealed here and try to gaze into the future, searching for meanings that perhaps you have never thought about. Either way it is a positive approach towards knowing who we really are.
Keywords: Amaterasu, tree, crystal, spare, wings
2 / 2011
Gerald Nyenhuis, Las dos caras de la hermenéutica (Two Faces of the Hermeneutics)
Abstract: This essay is focusing on the possibility of entering the horizon of text, by the offer of hermeneutics. The issue of comprehension and interpretation of human beingness in the world is viewed as a hermeneutical phenomenon. Pointing out the two acknowledged faces in understanding the hermeneutics - as a ’phenomenology of comprehension’ and a ’logic of validation’, respectively as an ’ontological hermeneutics’ and an ’analytical or critical hermeneutics’ - the problem of this enterprise is that of approaching them beyond any controversies, trying to disclose their communication. Such a perspective is more fruitfully in the endeavor of finding a better way to comprehending a text, generally; and to overcome any paradoxes in the interpretation and comprehension process, by activating the functions of sense and reflection, by disclosing, eventually, the dialogical relation between the interpret and the text.
Keywords: hermeneutics, interpretation, comprehension, phenomenological understanding, communication, horizon of text
2 / 2011
Social Sciences Research
Anca Croitoru, The Informal Side of Mathematics
Abstract: For the efficiency of mathematics education, one should constantly teach mathematics from its both sides perspective: the (formal) scientific side and the (informal) human, spiritual and cultural side.
Keywords: mathematics, education, philosophy, quality of life, teaching strategies, learning, informal, applications
2 / 2011
MD. Munir Hossain Talukder, Ethics in Health Care: Inducement and Human Subjects
Abstract: Currently, most health researchers or donor organizations consider inducement as a vital part in promoting research. They propose benefits, such as post research free medical treatment, food, insurance facilities, or even cash, in order to meet sufficient number of subjects. So, inducement may influence one to participate in a research. Is it ethical to offer inducement to human subjects? What are the risks in such practice? What will happen if the donor agencies use subjects by hiding possible risks from them? When an inducement can satisfy ethical criteria? The CIOMS, FDA, and other ethical guidelines hold that inducement is unethical because it involves enough risk for voluntary informed consent. Supporting this position, a group of ethicists has argued that inducement undermines voluntariness especially when subjects are poor and vulnerable, and thus, unethical. In contrast to them, others argue that inducement contributes to discover new knowledge which can improve miserable condition of the poor. In their view, an inducement maintains all ethical criteria including subject’s autonomy, and therefore, morally permissible. The paper focuses this debate and analyzes both types of argument. It examines whether inducement invalidate informed consent. Even if inducement may not violate the basic components of informed consent, the paper concludes, subjects may claim a prima facie right to enjoy research outcomes.
Keywords: benefits, ethical guidelines, inducement, informed consent, risks, subjects, prima facie right
2 / 2011
Book Reviews
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Karl Barth. Cunoaşterea lui Dumnezeu şi slujirea lui Dumnezeu conform învăţăturii reformate. (Prelegerile Gifford despre Confesiunea Scoţiană susţinute la Universitatea din Aberdeen în anii 1937 şi 1938). Romanian translation by Laurian Kertesz & Emanuel Fişteag. Bucharest: Herald, 2011. Pp. 251
2 / 2011
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Angela Ales Bello, Francesco Alfieri, Mobeen Shahid (eds.). Edith Stein. Hedwig Conrad-Martius. Fenomenologia Metafisica Scienze. Bari: Edizioni Giuseppe Laterza di Giuseppe Laterza, 2010. Pp.500
2 / 2011
Inaugural Study
Patricia Trutty-Coohill, Agathos in Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling
Abstract: Michelangelo’s design of the Sistine Chapel ceiling is examined from the sense of this new journal Agathos. The paper demonstrates to the modern world the point of view, the confidence, of the Christian humanism of the Renaissance. With agathos, that combination of noble and beautiful goodness, we ascend to the overarching realms Michelangelo depicts. We look at the architectural structure, the disegno, as a Jacob’s ladder that returns us to our rightful place, the home that we forgot when we descended to the world into which we were born. Michelangelo makes our origins apparent, shows us that we are scion of the great ancestors of Christ. Through the beauty of the design we are lead to the goodness that is our true place in the universe. Michelangelo then allows our spirit to return home and in that returning to properly view our place in the divine order.
Keywords: Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Renaissance, phenomenological aesthetics, Christian humanism, disegno, space, domain, agathos
1 / 2010
Philosophical Avenues
Teresa Castelão-Lawless, Is Discontinuous Bergsonism Possible?
Abstract: Gaston Bachelard’s position toward the philosophy of Henri Bergson is most interesting. In La Dialectique de la durée(1936), Bachelard claims that “of Bergsonism we accept everything but continuity” and that the rest of his book will be an attempt to show the possibility of a “discontinuous Bergsonism”. In this paper, I focus on the reaction of Bachelard to works of Bergson such as the Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience (1889), L’Evolution créatrice (1907), and Durée et simultanéité: à propos de la théorie d’Einstein (1922) and demonstrate that even though the conditions necessary for the possibility of a discontinuous Bergsonism are not the same ones which Bachelard had in mind when he accepted most of Bergsonism, their phenomenologies of the scientific spirit were analogous.
Keywords: continuity, discontinuity, epistemology, scientific creativity, metaphysics, nature of science, nature of physical reality
1 / 2010
A. L. Samian, Pluralism and the Study of Religion: A Comparative Perspective
Abstract: In the Malaysian government outline of Vision 2020, the importance of the study of religion as an integral component of general education is explicitly stated. This paper examines the present state of comparative religious studies in Malaysian Institutes of Higher Learning. Several philosophical issues are highlighted including the local concept and objective of religious studies, suitability of courses offered, and its relevance to the national development, i.e., industrialization of the country. An attempt is made to suggest how the religious course in a plural society like Malaysia, in the future, can be used to achieve Vision 2020 by integrating science and religion based on the position that science is a problem-solving activity.
Keywords: philosophy, multi religious, courses, pluralism, change, comparative
1 / 2010
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Abstract: The entailing creative labour reveals works that imply the whole human thinking and sensitivity aiming to comprehend them. Thus, we can reach the great Brancusian art in understanding that, beyond the glance and the material, we find the spiritual; the last is not something untouchable, but it is a sort of co-partner of the creative life experience. Fear, love, pain, happiness, and ecstazy, all the human affinities and the substance of beingness are created by art and by philosophy alike. Merely their expression is different as concerning the material and the word. We find sameness between the capacity of communication using and feeling life through wood or rock, for example, on one hand; and the gift of putting in act and writing words, of interpreting verse, on the other. Such a similarity belongs to the unique creative agent, finally, that is varying only by the material and the expressive shape.
Keywords: archetype, reduction, “Imaginatio Creatrix”, hierophany, Dies-da, transcending, simplicity
1 / 2010
Literature and Art Studies
Gloria Vergara, Metapoética del agua en Raúl Renán (Metapoetics of water in Raúl Renán’s Work)
Abstract: This essay represents our homage to the Mexican poet Raúl Renán. We put in dialogue the metapoetics of Raúl Renán with the ideas of Gaston Bachelard, emphasizing the cosmic image of the water and the salmon. In the agony of the salmon, we try to catch some of the unheard fight of the human being, the singing that aspires to the sacred thing and that, finally, is diluted within the ironic destination of a trivial death.
Keywords: metapoetics, cosmic image, water, salmon, divine aspiration, irony
1 / 2010
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Abstract: Tackling the first novel of Raymond Queneau, in this essay we analyze the relations between hazard and necessity, arbitrary and motivation, at the level of artistic fiction. We try to reveal the ways of the meaning creation, and the existential and philosophical implications resulting from the peculiar vision upon the world that is designed within the narrative of the French author.
Keywords: hazard, necessity, novel
1 / 2010
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Abstract: Beyond its apparent chaotic character, the contemporary art possesses certain structuring features. We agree the idea of the Romanian philosopher Tudor Vianu about the workart as a representation of the visible world or of its transcendent ideal. The question of limit, so obsessing in the contemporary art, can be understood like a perpetual temptation to surpassing the human condition, as a bound between the real and the ideal. ’To be’, ’to be aware of’, ’to be finite’, the intelligence, the body, sex, temporality, religion, etc. – all of these are determinations that human being gets as limits which would be established by „somebody else”. Such of determinations become favourite topics in contemporary artworks. Stelarc, Marina Abramovic, Ana Mendieta, and Bill Viola are merely part of the artists engaged in a continuous endeavour to transcending the human condition through their very own works.
Keywords: limit, contemporary art, the workart, human condition
1 / 2010
Ion Gagim, Ein Weg zur grossen Musik: MUSICOSOPHIA (A Pathway to the Great Music: MUSICOSOPHIA)
Abstract: Conceived as “sageness of music”, “Musicosophia” is a concept of the reputed philosopher of music George Balan. In this essay, we stress the plural significance of this notion: a philosophical term upon music art, which is considered in its ultimate valences of educating the spirit of human being; no less, a musicological term that makes the listener to the music to becoming a real “third creator” of this art. We try to emphasize “musicosophia” as grounding the status and the peculiar position of the listener during the musical communication, by motivating its importance as a decisive factor in the existence and the cultural-social function of music art. At the same time, we are interested about the musical-educational dimension of this concept, with its particular principles and methods guiding toward the making of an active, awared, scrutinizing, and reflective music audition, allowing a deep receiving of the artistic message and a spiritual appropriating of the art of harmonious sounds. Eventually, we stop around the activity of the International Institute “Musicosophia”, of Sankt Peter, Germany.
Keywords: “Musicosophia”, musical audition, scrutinizing musical audition, musical meditation, musical dramaturgy
1 / 2010
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Abstract: This work analyzes the transformations that exist in the representation of the individual identity in the Mexican narrative works published between 1995 and 2010 by the writers: Guillermo Fadanelli, Carlos Fuentes, Patricia Laurent Kullick, Héctor Manjarrez, Eduardo Antonio Parra, Aline Pettersson, Pedro Ángel Palou, Xavier Velasco y Socorro Venegas. The article has a general perception with the aim of emphasizing, from the individual poetics, the process of symbolization of the “I” in the Mexican narrative from the beginnings of the 21st century, that as cultural phenomenon unfolds in the borders of literariness and society. The theoretical perspective that encourages the analysis starts off, mainly, from the proposal of the North American psychologist Kenneth Gergen, the sociologist Zigmunt Bauman and the mythocritic proposal of Gilbert Durand.
Keywords: individual identity, Mexican narrative, the 21th century
1 / 2010
Magdalena Iorga, The University Teacher as a Moral Agent
Abstract: From Aristotle to nowadays, most of thinkers believe that ethics can be taught. The research demonstrates that the students’ moral profile is strongly shaped during the academic years. The actors of the university field are influencing each other and the university teacher, as a moral agent, has an important influence on students’ moral development. The communication of the two main actors must fulfil certain criteria in order to teaching and changing on each side. The discourse of the professor has not only to communicate a scientific message but, more importantly, it has to create relationships, to help the transformation of youth into adults, and to recreate themselves within interpersonal relationships. The article is focusing on the importance of the teacher-student relationship during the academic years, aiming to emphasize that such a relationship really can influence the moral profile and behaviour of the student.
Keywords: moral model, communication, university field
1 / 2010
Ani-Maria Gherghel, Ethics and Compliance Officer’s Role in ‘Healing’ Organizational Culture
Abstract: Last decades have strongly imposed in the public mind the importance of taking in to account the organizational life’s ethical dimension. If in the advanced states the terms of ethical management encouraging organizations to adopt compliance management programs, at ethical and legal level, are constituted in government strategies, in Romania these aspects are still little known. Today’s Romanian society largely reflects what does exist, happens or changes in the organizational space. The article sustains the idea of institutionalizing ethics in organizations as a way to making the society ‘moral draining’. Management specialists describe several ethics implementation strategies. We have chosen to dwell on the organizational culture changing strategy and creating a moral culture, focusing on the ethics and compliance officer’s role. Because managers are ‘products’ of the organizations that they lead, and their perceptions are influenced by the mental frame promoted by the organizational culture, it is difficult to make a correct diagnosis of the organization and to establish a strategy for change. Ethics and compliance officer, an occupation yet unknown by the Romanian trade nomenclature, is the person who works closely with the manager determining which are the organizational culture’s resorts; he or she is the one who, aiming organizational health, contributes to the development, the interpretation and the implementation of ethics policies and programs.
Keywords: ethics management, ethics and compliance officer, organizational culture, code of ethics
1 / 2010
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Abstract: This article aims to explore the relationship between morality and organizational culture with reference to the process of ethical decision making and to the cooperation between philosopher and psychologist for the improvement of ethical climate within a public institution. Firstly, we introduce the notion of organizational culture emphasizing the importance of moral values and their role in building a true ethical climate. Secondly, we focus on the study of ethical decision making. The process is examined from the perspective of the interaction between human personality and different elements of organizational culture. Philosophy and psychology differently approach this problem. Our intention is to bridge the gap between the two perspectives, by demonstrating their belonging to the same continuum as well as the need for knowledge from both fields in order to have a complete overview of its internal mechanisms. Deontological and utilitarian theories fail to explain by themselves the decision making process and so psychology does: moral development theories, the leadership type, and emotions have on their basis a personal moral philosophy. We will also consider the influence of social groups on individual decision making.
Keywords: organizational culture, moral values, decision making, social influence
1 / 2010
Book Reviews
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Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka. The Fullness of the Logos in the Key of Life. Book I: The Case of God in the New Enlightenment. Analecta Husserliana, Volume C. Dordrecht: Springer, 2009. Pp. xxxv + 258
1 / 2010
Manuela Teodora Balașca-Mihoci, A Philosophy of Music through the Artistic Education
Ion Gagim. Muzica şi filosofia. Kishinev: Ştiinţa, 2009. Pp. 159
1 / 2010