Post-globalization trends have left many people with a sense of insecurity—on both the economic and the employment fronts. Business re-engineering, downsizing, lay-offs, excessive consumerism and greed have altered the rules of the business game. Skewed attention to mere economic criteria in many business organizations, even at the cost of societal and environmental factors, is leading to a sense of hollowness, ‘something missing’, in the organization and its employees. People are making every attempt to discover this ‘missing component’ in their lives, (...) with particular reference to their work lives. This ‘missing component’ is referred to as ‘spirit at work’ in management literature. Bringing in spirit at work has become a matter of priority for many business organizations, in their drives for sustained success. Spirit at work is about care, compassion, integrity, and about attempting to live one’s values at the workplace. It is about employees who are passionate and energized by their work, who find meaning and purpose and pursue excellence in their work, and who feel that they can express their complete selves at work. It is about individuals and organizations that see work as an opportunity to grow and to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Spirit at work can be better understood by gaining clarity about the key aspects that constitute this concept. This article reviews the extant litera-ture on spirit at work, highlights the key dimensions of spirit at work, and elaborates on each of them. A number of Indian scholars like S.K. Chakraborty, Subhash Sharma, M.B. Athreya, Panduranga Bhatta and others have proposed an Indian perspective of spirit at work and have elaborated on it since a decade and a half. This article extends the Indian perspective further, based on Indian psychophilosophy, and establishes its comprehensive and inclusive nature that enables incorporation of most of the key dimensions of spirit at work as identified in literature. (shrink)

We present a model of steady state solute and water reabsorption along the rat proximal tubule. Major co-and counter-transport systems in the apical and basolateral cell membranes are described using kinetic descriptions based on data from the flows and solute concentrations along the length of the proximal tubule as a function of filtration rate and peritubular solute concentrations. We show that for many aspects of proximal tubule transport physiology this kinetics-based model is an adequate representation of the mammalian proximal tubule.

Die Wissenschaftspsychologie wird als ein Gebiet interdisziplinärer Forschungen an der Grenze zwischen Psychologie und allgemeiner Theorie und Geschichte der Wissenschaft erörtert und ihr Verhältnis zu den anderen Richtungen der Wissenschaftsforschung, insbesondere zur Logik der Wissenschaftsentwicklung und zur Wissenschaftssoziologie dargestellt. Dabei heben die Autoren hervor, daß die Ausarbeitung jeder dieser Disziplinen eine Umgestaltung ihrer Ausgangsbegriffe und -methoden voraussetzt, was der Natur der Wissenschaft als spezifischen Systems und als besonderer sich historisch entwickelnder Tätigkeitsform entspricht. Als Grundprobleme werden u.a. behandelt: Kreativität, Motivation und (...) Schaffensdynamik des Wissenschaftlers, das Verhältnis von Persönlichkeit und Kollektiv in der modernen Wissenschaft und das Funktionieren "kleiner Gruppen". (shrink)

This book, first published in 1940, accomplishes three tasks: 1) it gives a lucidly fascinating account of the theology underlying St. Bernard's diagnosis of man's condition and the cure proposed by him--monastic asceticism leading to mystical union; 2) it rectifies misinterpretations of St. Bernard's doctrine of carnal love as the first step to pure love; and 3) it uncovers the major sources of this system of theology: Cicero, Augustine, the Epistle of St. John, Dionysius and the Rule of St. Benedict. (...) The interest of the work is enhanced by appendices on Abelard, on the relation of Cistercian Mysticism to courtly love and on William of Saint-Thierry.--R. G. S. (shrink)

Rome, the author holds, is not only the symbol of a political empire and a world at peace but also of a definite image of man. As a consequence it became the focus of the controversy between humanistic and other worldly Christianity. The present work deals with Augustine's views on Rome as political symbol and as moral symbol.--R. G. S.

The authors aptly describe their work as a narrative. The protagonists are sometimes great thinkers, sometimes ideas about literary criticism, sometimes different approaches to literature whose intermingling histories are here described. At the same time the authors are in quest of a varied and many-sided presentation of the nature and writing of literature. Accordingly the insights of philosophers and literary men are stressed more than the consistency of their opinions; understanding is valued more highly than the certainty of systems. In (...) this way classical texts are placed in an interesting new light and lesser known episodes of this history are brought to life.--R. G. S. (shrink)

A "scientific...objective study of a social phenomenon," not an argument for democracy. The author maintains that the historical opposition between autocracy and democracy reflects the opposition between philosophical absolutism and philosophical relativism. Only relativism can justify an egalitarian democracy ruled by a majority, since today's truths may be to-morrow's errors; Christian and Natural Law theories of democracy are criticised. The work, unfortunately, lacks an adequate philosophical foundation. The discussion of the function of democracy fails to be fully convincing because the (...) underlying distinction between philosophical absolutism and relativism is oversimplified and unclear.--R. G. S. (shrink)

The unity of Plato's writings is discovered in their connection with Plato's life; they are parts of a "great confession." Wolff reconstructs Plato's life on the basis of his works and interprets his works in the light of his biography. The relevant facts of Plato's life, on Wolff's view, are the trial and death of Socrates, political movements and the study and criticism of other philosophers. These facts tend to throw light on Plato's development but contribute little to our understanding (...) of the internal unity of individual dialogues.--R. G. S. (shrink)

This volume contains shorter pieces of Scheler's dealing with phenomenology and ethico-religious problems. All but two had been published posthumously in 1933, and are now reissued within the framework of the new edition of Scheler's works.--R. G. S.

The author tries to clarify the differences between the Conservative and Labor parties and to justify his preference for the latter. The argument, owing to its informality, makes little contribution to political theory. The earlier case for and against socialist egalitarianism is thoughtful and honest; later chapters on Communism and on America are of lesser merit.--R. G. S.

Believing that the law is "a rich repository of moral knowledge" and that moral rules gain full reality only in their application to concrete cases, the author, a professor of law, examines actual court cases for the moral conflicts they reveal and the moral insights they may yield. The aim is not merely to instruct the reader but to develop his ability to make wise moral choices by presenting, with full attention to their complexities, a number of difficult cases. Professor (...) Cahn's analyses are carried out with wisdom and sensitivity.--R. G. S. (shrink)

The author attempts a classification of types of orders in the universe. This is followed by characterizations of the types of order possessed by various modes of being.--R. G. S.

An index listing all the places in which words occur in Thomas' Summa Theologica. Only philosophically indifferent words have been omitted. --R. G. S.

Glum defends two theses: that Rousseau's political philosophy can be understood only against a religious background, and that Rousseau can supply the West with the democratic theory of the state which it is now lacking. To support the latter claim, he attempts a detailed refutation of those commentators who regard Rousseau as the father of totalitarian regimes and doctrines.--R. G. S.

With considerable intellectual agility the author defends the traditional Catholic views on such varied themes as faith and reason and marriage and celibacy. One must admire the author's intellectual resourcefulness even where his philosophy verges on homiletics. --R. G. S.

A sober account of some striking examples of various "para-normal phenomena," like telepathy, clairvoyance, materializations, and poltergeists. The author tries to show that "here in para-psychology are facts which completely undermine the complacent materialism of the past century." He adduces interesting evidence derived from experiments and controlled observation, but the explanatory hypotheses put forward are less convincing.--R. G. S.

A careful discussion of the major logical and epistemological issues raised and solutions suggested by the original members and followers of the "Vienna Circle." The author shows the progressive elaboration of the positions of this school by its major figures and shows where opinions diverge within the movement. The discussion is amply documented with references to the standard literature. The book aims at reviving interest in the "scientific method of philosophising" in the German speaking world.--R. G. S.

Following von Arnim, the author regards De Virtute, the Magna Moralia and the Eudemian Ethics as genuine. He not only shows that Aristotle grounds his philosophy of law in the ethical virtue of justice, but he also traces the development from the early Aristotelian-Platonic concept of justice to the concept of justice of the Nichomachean Ethics. Justice both in the general and more specific senses, as well as Equity are discussed in considerable detail. A careful analysis with a slight Platonic (...) bias. --R. G. S. (shrink)

The Marxist theory of history and of the sources of cultural change is here applied to the Pre-Socratics. As a consequence, most of the book is devoted to pre-history and to the history of Greece from the Homeric Age on. The final portions discussing the Pre-Socratics show the economic sources of the different schools and the ways in which they anticipated confusedly the truths of Dialectical Materialism. The book contributes little either to Marxist theory or to philosophy, and is interesting (...) only as an application of Marxist theory to the history of philosophy.--R. G. S. (shrink)

A reprint of the 1951 translation of Kleines Lehrbuch des Positivismus, this work presents the positivist's view of the world for the layman, but introduces a few interesting variations on standard positivist positions. More space than is usual in similar books is devoted to a discussion of the social sciences, art, law, morality, and religion.--R. G. S.

A concise and informative discussion of key concepts in the New Testament: the kingdom of God; the ethic of the Sermon on the Mount; the concepts of guilt and redemption in Pauline theology. The author tries to interpret these concepts against the background of centuries of theological controversy.--R. G. S.

Through examination of organic process as well as intellectual achievements, the author discovers a creative principle underlying all being. This leads, indirectly, to a participation of all beings in one another and, therefore, to an ethic of unlimited responsibility of all for all.--R. G. S.

A reprint of a well-known introduction to Hegel's thought, first published in 1923.--R. G. S.

An Italian translation; the original French appeared in 1944. The preface by Léon Robin and an appendix on Galileo and Plato appear for the first time in this edition.--R. G. S.

An attempt to defend Bultmann's existentialist re-interpretation of Protestant Theology against its critics. The major areas of disagreement center around the existentialists' rejection of the subject-object scheme in epistemology, rival conceptions of history, and the relation of faith to the Bible as an historical document. Provides an interesting view of the troubled waters of contemporary Protestant Theology.--R. G. S.

An interesting essay in the phenomenology of moral value. The authors regard all traditional ethics as "deformations" of the Christian ethics of love and submission to God. Traditional mores, or the laws of the state, are seen as substitutes for Christian ethics--as are liberalism, identification of morality with honor, humaneness, self-development, altruism, self-control, moderation, etc. The work is primarily descriptive, and arguments in defense of viewing Christian ethics as the only genuine morality of which all others are preversions, are scarce.--R. (...) G. S. (shrink)

A comprehensive work, first published in 1948. The first volume is mostly critical, dealing with the philosophy of religion of neo-scholasticism and of many of the better known academic philosophers in Germany before World War I. The conclusion reached is that the phenomenological method alone is appropriate to this branch of philosophy. The second, systematic volume applies this method to the problems of the autonomy, the nature and truth of religion and of its objects.--R. G. S.

A fine example of phenomenological analysis, this book describes the locus of aesthetics but does not offer an aesthetic theory. The work of art is characterized by the peculiar way it has of presenting itself to and of laying hold of its observer. This leads to an analysis of form and structure, of beauty and aesthetic truth, both in art and in nature.--R. G. S.

This article presents an overview ofregulations, guidelines and societal debates ineight member states of the EC about a)embryonic and fetal tissue transplantation(EFTT), and b) the use of human embryonic stemcells (hES cells) for research into celltherapy, including `therapeutic' cloning. Thereappears to be a broad acceptance of EFTT inthese countries. In most countries guidance hasbeen developed. There is a `strong' consensusabout some of the central conditions for `goodclinical practice' regarding EFTT.International differences concern, amongstothers, some of the informed consent issuesinvolved, and the (...) questions whether anintermediary organisation is necessary, whetherthe methods of abortion may be influenced bythe possible use of EFT, and whether EFTTshould only be used for the experimentaltreatment of rare disorders. The potential useof hES cells for research into cell therapy hasgiven a new impetus to the debate about (human)embryo research. The therapeutic prospects withregard to the retrieval and research use of hEScells appear to function as a catalyst for theintroduction of less restrictive regulationsconcerning research with spare embryos, atleast in some European countries. It remains tobe seen whether the prospect of treatingpatients suffering from serious disorders withtransplants produced by therapeutic cloningwill decrease the societal and moral resistanceto allowing the generation of embryos for`instrumental' use. (shrink)

A key feature of facial behavior is its dynamic quality. However, most previous research has been limited to the use of static images of prototypical expressive patterns. This article explores the role of facial dynamics in the perception of emotions, reviewing relevant empirical evidence demonstrating that dynamic information improves coherence in the identification of affect (particularly for degraded and subtle stimuli), leads to higher emotion judgments (i.e., intensity and arousal), and helps to differentiate between genuine and fake expressions. The findings (...) underline that using static expressions not only poses problems of ecological validity, but also limits our understanding of what facial activity does. Implications for future research on facial activity, particularly for social neuroscience and affective computing, are discussed. (shrink)

An eminently readable essay in the history of ideas. Various strands of Primitive Christianity are identified against the backgrounds of their antecedents: the Old Testament heritage whose history of the world was the history of God's work; the legalistic ritualism of Judaism against which Jesus protested; the wedding of Judaism with Greek rationalism in Hellenistic Alexandria; and the philosophic schools of the Greek world.--R. G. S.