Although he was born in Gaza, Palestine, Elias Rashmawi was issued a permanent deportation order by the Israeli High Court because of his involvement in Palestinian organizing while a student in the United States. In November 2000, as the Second Intifada raged on, Rashmawi’s father passed away, and he was granted a limited permit to his homeland to attend the funeral. “How many fathers must die before we are all allowed to return,” he asks in this essay (...) that reifies the brevity and pain of his truncated visit. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most acute global crises in recent history, which profoundly impacted the world across many dimensions. During this period, racism manifested in ways specifically related to the pandemic, including xenophobic sentiments, racial attacks, discriminatory policies, and disparate outcomes across racial/ethnic groups. This paper examines some of the pressing questions about pandemic racism and inequity. We review what research has revealed about the nature and manifestations of racism, the entrenchment of structural racism, and trajectories (...) of racism during COVID-19. (shrink)

Systematic entomology flourished as a branch of Natural History from the 1750s to the end of the nineteenth century. During this interval, the “era of Heroic Entomology,” the majority of workers in the field were dedicated amateurs. This article traces the demographic and occupational shifts in entomology through this 150-year interval and into the early twentieth century. The survey is based on entomologists who studied beetles (Coleoptera), and who named sufficient numbers of species to have their own names abbreviated by (...) subsequent taxonomists. In the eighteenth century, 27 entomologists achieved this level of prominence, of whom 37% were academics, 19% were doctors, 11% had private incomes, 19% were clergymen, and 8% were government officials. Many of those with private incomes were members of the European aristocracy, and all but one were European men. The nineteenth century list included 192 entomologists, of whom 17% were academics, 16% were museum curators, 2% were school teachers, 15% were doctors, 6% were military men, 7% were merchants, 2% were government entomologists, 6% had private incomes, 5% were clergymen, 5% were government officials, and 4% were lawyers. The demographics of entomology shifted dramatically in the nineteenth century. Whereas many of the noteworthy entomologists of the eighteenth century were German, Swedish, or French, in the nineteenth century, many more European countries are represented, and almost one-fifth of the noteworthy entomologists were from the United States. The nineteenth century list, like the eighteenth century list, contains no women. By the twentieth century, 63% of 178 noteworthy systematic entomologists were paid professionals, teaching entomology courses in universities, or studying insect taxonomy in museums and government-sponsored laboratories. Only one person on the twentieth century list had a private income, but women (ten individuals) were included on the list for the first time. (shrink)

No cure yet exists for devastating Alzheimer's disease (AD), despite many years and humongous efforts to find efficacious pharmacological treatments. So far, neither designing drugs to disaggregate amyloid plaques nor tackling solely inflammation turned out to be decisive. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and, in particular, extracellular vesicles (EVs) originating from them could be proposed as an alternative, strategic approach to attack the pathology. Indeed, MSC‐EVs—owing to their ability to deliver lipids/proteins/enzymes/microRNAs endowed with anti‐inflammatory, amyloid‐β degrading, and neurotrophic activities—may be exploited (...) as therapeutic tools to restore synaptic function, prevent neuronal death, and slow down memory impairment in AD. Herein the results presented in the most recently published studies on this topic are critically evaluated, providing a strong rationale for possible employment of MSC‐EVs in AD. (shrink)

Elias Baumgarten taught philosophy at the University of Michigan-Dearborn from 1972 to 2018. He was born in Brooklyn, grew up in California, and went to schools in Boston and Chicago. He was one of the first recipients of the campus’s “Distinguished Teaching Award.” He taught a wide variety of courses including Medical Ethics, Ethics of War and Peace, Ethics of Nationalism, and Darwinism and Philosophy. Most of his publications are in ethics, including “Zionism, Nationalism, and Morality” and “Curiosity as (...) a Moral Virtue.” Dr. Baumgarten also served for over 30 years on hospital ethics committees at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. A child of immigrants, Prof. Baumgarten was passionate, both as teacher and citizen, in celebrating multicultural diversity both on our campus and in our country. He sees travel as a form of education and traveled to over 70 countries. (shrink)

Elias wrote in both English and German, and in all his work runs to 14 books and around 90 other essays, along with poems and numerous interviews. The 18 volumes of the collected works contain many writings not previously published in English, and a small number never published before. All of the texts have thoroughly checked and revised, by editors who have a deep knowledge of Elia's thinking; they have inserted many clarifications, cross-references and explanatory notes.

Some of Wilber’s “holoarchies” are gradations of being, which he views as truth itself; however, being is delusion, and its gradations are gradations of delusion. Wilber’s supposedly universal ontogenetic holoarchy contradicts all Buddhist Paths, whereas his view of phylogeny contradicts Buddhist Tantra and Dzogchen, which claim delusion/being increase throughout the aeon to finally achieve reductio ad absurdum. Wilber presents spiritual healing as ascent; Grof and Washburn represent it as descent—yet they are all equally off the mark. Phenomenologically speaking, the Dzogchen (...) Path is “descending,” but not in Washburn’s or Grof’s sense—and “transpersonal” is not a synonym of “sanity.” A synthesis of Wilber, Grof, Washburn, Jung, Laing, Cooper and non-transpersonal authors in the framework of Wisdom traditions is imperative. (shrink)

This article contributes to the literature on national varieties of socially responsible investment (SRI) by demonstrating how Scandinavian SRI developed from the 60s and onwards. Combining findings on Scandinavian SRI with insights from previous research and institutional theory, the article accounts for the role of changes in societal values and norms, the mechanisms by which SRI practices spread, and how investors adopt and transform practices to suit their surrounding institutional contexts. Especially, the article draws attention to how different categories of (...) investors act as institutional entrepreneurs during specific historical periods, and how these roles come to shift as institutional rule systems of varying societal levels change. Thus, the insights gained are useful in the future research agenda concerned with advancing knowledge on idiosyncrasies and commonalities of national SRI manifestations, and to understand the reasons underlying such characteristics. (shrink)

A master educator speaks to his talmidim heart to heart.

We develop a relativistic perspective on structures of quantum observables, in terms of localization systems of Boolean coordinatizing charts. This perspective implies that the quantum world is comprehended via Boolean reference frames for measurement of observables, pasted together along their overlaps. The scheme is formalized categorically, as an instance of the adjunction concept. The latter is used as a framework for the specification of a categorical equivalence signifying an invariance in the translational code of communication between Boolean localizing contexts and (...) quantum systems. Aspects of the scheme semantics are discussed in relation to logic. The interpretation of coordinatizing localization systems, as structure sheaves, provides the basis for the development of an algebraic differential geometric machinery suited to the quantum regime. (shrink)

A Associação Brasileira de Famílias Homotransafetivas (Abrafh) é uma entidade que luta pelo reconhecimento das populações cujo núcleo é formado por sujeitos LGBTQIA+. A instituição busca representar os anseios e expectativas dessas famílias em diferentes âmbitos sociais, assim como combater os desrespeitos e preconceitos advindos de um sistema heterossexista. Este trabalho busca compreender como a Abrafh mobiliza as dimensões do afeto e da solidariedade na luta política. Para isso, entrevistamos quatro representantes do primeiro conselho diretor. Por meio de uma análise (...) qualitativa de conteúdo discursivo, pudemos compreender que a Abrafh, segundo os diretores, surge para acolher, defender e representar as famílias homoafetivas no sentido de tornar estes cidadãos emancipados e com direitos reconhecidos. Conclui-se que a instituição atua principalmente a partir da possibilidade de responder satisfatoriamente à necessidade que os sujeitos têm de desenvolverem conexões baseadas na confiança afetiva na continuidade da dedicação mútua. (shrink)

A compreensão sociológica da realidade religiosa plural do nosso tempo conduz à reflexão sobre como o_ fator pluralidade_ é elemento constitutivo de cada sistema religioso e da identidade religiosa da pessoa crente. Manifesta-se aqui, de um lado, a exigência de uma identidade religiosa dialógica. De outro lado, para muitas pessoas a pluralidade alarga a identidade religiosa por uma fé sincrética e a múltipla pertença. A compreensão sociológica desse fato conduz à reflexão teológica que busca entender a pluralidade no próprio Mistério, (...) o divino, como objeto de fé, analisando-o nas formas como as religiões entendem a sua natureza e afirmam a sua relação com a humanidade. Nesse fato a teologia fundamenta a natureza transcendental e reveladora de toda religião, com significativas implicações e desafios para uma fé cristã, cuja pluralidade se intensifica no tempo atual. (shrink)

In 1817, in the preface to his Rein analytischer Beweis, Bernard Bolzano revealed that he had decided to postpone the publication of any subsequent instalment of his Beyträge zu einer begründeteren Darstellung der Mathematik because of the few and ‘superficial’ reviews of its first instalment, published in 1810. Bolzano’s transcriptions of the only two known reviews of this book are conserved at the Literární archiv Památníku národního písemnictví / Muzea literatury, in Prague, together with another manuscript on his Beyträge, the (...) provenance of which was unknown to Bolzano’s scholars until recently. In this paper it is shown that this latter manuscript is a draft of an announcement that was published at the time and that was indeed written at least to some extent by Bolzano himself. This hitherto unknown announcement of Bolzano’s Beyträge not only solves the mystery surrounding that manuscript, but also helps to date the publication of this book more precisely and provides an unusual insight into what we must take Bolzano himself to have considered most noteworthy about his work, namely his study on logic. The paper includes a transcription of the manuscript and an English translation of the announcement. (shrink)

This volume examines the historical end of the Platonic tradition in relation to creation theories of the natural world through the Neoplatonist philosopher Proclus' (412-485) elaboration of an investigation of Plato's theory of metaphysical archetypal Forms. Proclus proceeds to a systematic construction of this theory and grounds it in ontological monism. He presents the Forms as constructing, through their combinations, the presuppositions for the creation of the natural world, in such a way that it functions in an orderly and harmonious (...) way, showing the natural world is not produced by chance or means of automatizations, but on the basis of a teleological planning. This volume also reflects Proclus' dealing with the topics of objective reality and the nature of the "universals.". (shrink)

According to the naive theory of vagueness, the vagueness of an expression consists in the existence of both positive and negative cases of application of the expression and in the non- existence of a sharp cut-off point between them. The sorites paradox shows the naive theory to be inconsistent in most logics proposed for a vague language. The paper explores the prospects of saving the naive theory by revising the logic in a novel way, placing principled restrictions on the transitivity (...) of the consequence relation. A lattice-theoretical framework for a whole family of “tolerant logics” is proposed and developed. Particular care is devoted to the relation between the salient features of the formal apparatus and the informal logical and semantic notions they are supposed to model. A suitable non-transitive counterpart to classical logic is defined. Some of its properties are studied, and it is eventually shown how an appropriate regimentation of the naive theory of vagueness is consistent in such a logic. (shrink)

O artigo objetiva analisar o pluralismo eclesial no mundo cristão, as tensões e os conflitos que aí existem, mas também as possibilidades de encontro no testemunho do Evangelho. Pelo método da análise qualitativa da bibliografia pertinente ao tema identifica, de um lado, fatores socioculturais e teológicos do pluralismo que são expressões de contradição na compreensão e vivência da fé cristã. De outro lado, aponta para elementos que podem favorecer a superação das divisões. Mostra que para isso se faz necessário um (...) redimensionamento da leitura teológica do pluralismo de igrejas verificando as possibilidades para um reconhecimento das legítimas motivações de fé, para assumir as exigências do diálogo e para rever os pressupostos da separação dos cristãos. Como resultado, compreende-se que o pluralismo eclesial não implica diretamente apenas em divisão da igreja, mas pode expressar também possibilidades distintas da fidelidade ao Evangelho. Assim, a superação da divisão cristã não se dá pelo cancelamento de um sadio pluralismo eclesial, mas pela interação entre diferentes tradições eclesiais no testemunho da unidade da fé em Cristo, “para que o mundo creia”. (shrink)

Ever since the early days of quantum mechanics it has been suggested that consciousness could be linked to the collapse of the wave function. However, no detailed account of such an interplay is usually provided. In this paper we present an objective collapse model where the collapse operator depends on integrated information, which has been argued to measure consciousness. By doing so, we construct an empirically adequate scheme in which superpositions of conscious states are dynamically suppressed. Unlike other proposals in (...) which “consciousness causes the collapse of the wave function,” our model is fully consistent with a materialistic view of the world and does not require the postulation of entities suspicious of laying outside of the quantum realm. (shrink)

Desde la tradición de los estudios de gubernamentalidad y sus resonancias en las sociologías políticas y de la educación, en este artículo se recuperan los debates vigentes en torno a las nociones de gubernamentalidad, gobierno y biopolítica desarrolladas en la vasta obra de Michel Foucault y sus continuadoras/es para enlazarlas con las discusiones sobre el objeto de estudio y el campo teórico de la política educativa, enfatizando el potencial analítico que ofrece su grilla de inteligibilidad para los fenómenos educativos propios (...) de las sociedades posdisciplinares. En esa dirección, este trabajo esboza una serie de propuestas epistemológicas, teóricas y metodológicas producidas a partir de una investigación empírica recientemente finalizada (Aguirre, 2022), de corte descriptivo y de carácter cualitativo. En vistas a estos propósitos, se producen diálogos interdisciplinares a la vez que se tensionan y discuten algunos supuestos clásicos y tradicionales de la política educativa, para incitar una renovación analítica que posibilite el estudio de las relaciones sociales de autogobierno y gobierno de las/os otras/os en tanto articulaciones históricas entre el saber, el poder y la subjetividad. Finalmente, se exponen algunos indicios y propuestas para el abordaje sociológico de los fenómenos educativos contemporáneos, que convocan y promueven la necesidad de producir ciertos desplazamientos epistemológicos en el campo teórico de la política educativa, así como invitan a la reconfiguración de sus objetos de estudio en el marco de la adscripción a un enfoque posestructuralista. (shrink)

We propose a sheaf-theoretic framework for the representation of a quantum observable structure in terms of Boolean information sieves. The algebraic representation of a quantum observable structure in the relational local terms of sheaf theory effectuates a semantic transition from the axiomatic set-theoretic context of orthocomplemented partially ordered sets, la Birkhoff and Von Neumann, to the categorical topos-theoretic context of Boolean information sieves, la Grothendieck. The representation schema is based on the existence of a categorical adjunction, which is used as (...) a theoretical platform for the development of a functorial formulation of information transfer, between quantum observables and Boolean localisation devices in typical quantum measurement situations. We also establish precise criteria of integrability and invariance of quantum information transfer by cohomological means. (shrink)

Psychiatric examinations in official institutions of the Brazilian government include examinations of individual convicts – some of whom are highly dangerous – carried out by court decision. These individuals are taken handcuffed under police escort from penitentiaries to the examination site. In most Brazilian states, medical examiners or experts adopt the basic procedure of asking the police officers to remove the handcuffs from the convict for the examination to be carried out. This article analyzes, from the bioethical standpoint, the behavior (...) of 49 forensic psychiatrists in eight Brazilian states in relation to procedures adopted as protection measures against any possible danger posed by their examinees. In the context of a developing country, where sophisticated protection means are not available, the practice of keeping convicts handcuffed during such examinations is compared to other measures and more advisable alternatives are discussed from the ethical standpoint. Considering the dilemma between showing minimum respect for the autonomy of examinees and ensuring the security of examiners, the need to adopt equitable procedures based on the recognition of the different needs of examiners and examinees is addressed. (shrink)

We put forward a proposal that combines objective collapse models, developed in connection with quantum-foundational questions, with the so-called Weyl curvature hypothesis, introduced by Roger Penrose as an attempt to account for the very special initial state of the universe. In particular, we explain how a curvature dependence of the collapse rate in such models, an idea already shown to help in the context of black holes and information loss, could also offer a dynamical justification for Penrose's conjecture.

The book deeply analyses the bilateral relations between Switzerland and the European Union and their effect on the former's sovereignty in the context of Europeanisation. This touches on philosophical debates on the complexity of sovereignty. What sovereignty is at stake when talking about Swiss-EU relations? This issue not only faces the elusiveness of sovereignty as a concept, but also the proliferation of hypocrisy on its presence within states. The book encounters the deconstructionist hypothesis stating that there is nothing to worry (...) about but the belief there is something to worry about. Derrida's deconstruction of sovereignty allows indeed one to grasp the fictional essence of sovereignty based on the metaphysics of presence. The presence of self-positing sovereign inches per secondeity is fictional since absent in the present, but spectrally present in the belief of its presence to come. Sovereignty is a matter of credibility, or the credible promise of a normative statement to come. Hence, the book challenges the realist/neorealist argument stating that states are credibly sovereign until proven otherwise and explains that the debate on state sovereignty calls for the unveiling of this hypocritical epistemology cunningly disguised as an objective presence. Swiss-EU relations thus become the cornerstone to not only theorise but also test sovereignty and deconstruct the two ontological and epistemological sides of the same coin, or the modern hypocrisy of sovereignty. This deconstruction constitutes the very problématique of any attempt to understand whether and how a state can be sovereign and solve the problem as to how to neutralise the différance and identify the difference between credible and incredible claims of sovereignty. This problématique connects the theory and practice of sovereignty innovatively, providing positivist evidence on the arguable credibility of the Swiss claim of sovereignty and confirming the presence of a theological dimension within politics.<. (shrink)

Joseph Conrad’s ‘The secret sharer’ has often been associated with what can be called initiation stories. However, in this article I argue that Conrad’s text is more than that. It can, I suggest, be read as an allegory of the inaccessibility to reveal the essence of being in command, being in education, and also the inaccessibility of the essence of the meaning of the text itself. It keeps its secret by allegorically staging alternative readings. This inaccessibility gives rise to a (...) feeling of strangeness, of the uncanny, that must be faced in order to pass through the initiation into the unknown that all the possible allegorical meanings of the text produce. In other words, ‘The secret sharer’ has an educational value that goes beyond the act of merely using it to exemplify a certain type of initiation. In this way I connect Conrad’s text to the themes of strangeness and the stranger and show how they mutually can involve a reading of education and literature as two distinct discourses of learning. (shrink)

Resumo O cenário religioso mutável e plural do nosso tempo implica na teologia cristã, particularmente aquela produzida nas universidades, espaços catalisadores de questões mundiais, sendo a religiosa uma das mais relevantes. O objetivo deste artigo é verificar como a teologia acadêmica, especialmente aquela produzida na universidade, expressa essa característica da atualidade: a pluralidade. O método é a análise qualitativa de estudos que valorizam o plural na fé e na teologia cristã. A hipótese é que as perspectivas ecumênicas e inter-religiosas são (...) fundamentais para uma teologia plural hoje. E isso requer uma revisão tanto no aspecto formal e epistemológico da teologia, quanto em seu conteúdo. A conclusão é que a teologia precisa ser construída como conhecimento plural, não só porque dialoga com culturas, ciências e diferentes formas de crer, mas também porque ela mesma é plural. Resumen El escenario religioso, cambiante y plural, del nuestro tiempo implica en la teología cristiana, particularmente la que se produce en las universidades, espacios catalizadores de las cuestiones mundiales, siendo la religiosa una de las más relevantes. El objetivo de este artículo es verificar como la teología académica, en especial la producida en la universidad, expresa esta característica de la actualidad: la pluralidad. El método es el análisis cualitativo de estudios que valorizan el plural en la fe y en la teología cristiana. La hipótesis es que las perspectivas ecuménica e interreligiosa son fundamentales para una teología plural hoy. Y esto exige una revisión tanto en el aspecto formal y epistemológico de la teología, cuanto en su contenido. La conclusión es que la teología necesita construirse como conocimiento plural, no solo porque dialoga con culturas, ciencias y diferentes formas de creer, sino porque ella misma es plural.The changing and plural religious scenario of our time implies in Christian theology, particularly that produced in universities, spaces that are catalysts for world issues, with religion being one of the most relevant. The objective of this article is to verify how the academic theology, especially that produced in the university, expresses this current characteristic: plurality. The method is the qualitative analysis of studies that value plurality in faith and in Christian theology. The hypothesis is that ecumenical and interreligious perspectives are fundamental for a plural theology today. And this requires a review both in the formal and epistemologia aspect of theology, as well as in its content. The conclusion is that theology needs to be constructed as plural knowledge, not only because it dialogues with cultures, sciences and different ways of believing, but also because it is itself plural. (shrink)

The quantum transition probability assignment is an equiareal transformation from the annulus of symplectic spinorial amplitudes to the disk of complex state vectors, which makes it equivalent to the equiareal projection of Archimedes. The latter corresponds to a symplectic synchronization method, which applies to the quantum phase space in view of Weyl’s quantization approach involving an Abelian group of unitary ray rotations. We show that Archimedes’ method of synchronization, in terms of a measure-preserving transformation to an equiareal disk, imposes the (...) integrality of the quantum of action, and requires the extension of the classical moment map from the real line to the circle. Additionally, the same synchronization method is encoded in the structure of the Heisenberg group, viewed as a principal bundle with a connection, whose curvature and anholonomy is expressed in terms of area bounding loops in relation to the underlying Abelian shadow on a symplectic plane. In this manner, we show that the geometric phase pertains to the minimal synchronized area \ of the 2-d symplectic Abelian shadow of the symplectic ball, modulo \. The integrality condition naturally leads to the consideration of modular commutative observables pertaining to the role of the discrete Heisenberg group. We prove that the structural transition from non-commutativity to modular commutativity in accordance to Weyl’s group-theoretic commutation relations takes place via universal factorization through the discrete Heisenberg group. In this way, we derive a homology-theoretic formulation of the synchronization method in terms of the area-bounding cells of the modular lattice \ in relation to any Abelian symplectic shadow. Thus, we finally obtain the physical interpretation of the analytic representation of quantum states as theta functions corresponding to the sections of a complex line bundle with an integral symplectic structure. (shrink)