Recenzja książek W. Buchner, Wojna i konkwista. Hiszpańska myśl polityczna Złotego Wieku i A.A. Chaufe, Wiara i wolność. Myśl ekonomiczna późnych scholastyków.

W artykule autor chciałby, na przykładzie XX‑wiecznego czeskiego filozofa Jana Patočki, przedstawić problem wolności człowieka skonfrontowanej z dwojakiego rodzaju doświadczeniami: wojny oraz przemocy politycznej reprezentowanej przez państwo totalitarne. Te dwa doświadczenia można z pewnością traktować jako historyczne doświadczenia zła. Chodzi więc o konfrontację między ludzką wolnością a złem. W tym kontekście czeski myśliciel starał się odpowiedzieć na pytanie: jakiego rodzaju odpowiedzi moralnej w takiej sytuacji może czy nawet powinien udzielić człowiek? Jak człowiek może lub powinien się zachowywać, doświadczając zła? Freedom (...) and evil in politics. Reflections on war and totalitarianism in the thought of Jan Patočka Taking the 20th century Czech philosopher Jan Patočka as an example, in this paper, the author would like to illustrate the problem of human freedom when dealing with two kinds of experiences: war and political violence, as exemplified by the totalitarian state. Indeed, it is possible to treat these two types of experiences as historical experiences of evil. What is at stake, then, is the juxtaposition of human freedom and evil. Given this context, the Czech thinker sought to answer the question: in such a situation, with which moral response can or should one reply? When experiencing evil, how can or should a person behave? (shrink)

W 1768 roku Turcja zagrożona ekspansywną polityką Moskwy, w tym zwłaszcza rozwojem sytuacji w Rzeczypospolitej, wypowiedziała Rosji wojnę. Toczyła się ona do 1774 roku i zakończona została klęską Turcji i podpisaniem pokoju w Küczük Kajnardży, na mocy którego Rosja umocniła się kosztem Turcji w basenie Morza Czarnego, a caryca Katarzyna II zrealizowała dążenia podjęte już za Piotra I Wielkiego. Zmagania wojenne Rosji z Turcją obserwowane były w Rzymie z dużą uwagą, a nuncjusze papiescy starali się nadsyłać do Rzymu wszelkie informacje, (...) jakimi dysponowali na ten temat. Stolica Apostolska w swoich zabiegach dotyczących ratowania statusu Kościoła katolickiego w Rzeczypospolitej musiała też uwzględniać przebieg wojny rosyjsko-tureckiej. Ten istotny aspekt polityki Stolicy Apostolskiej nie był dotychczas poruszany w literaturze przedmiotu – zarówno polskiej, jak i obcej – stąd też niniejszy artykuł jest pierwszą próbą podjęcia tego tematu. Informacji na temat wojny papiescy dyplomaci przesyłali wiele. Pochodziły one nie tylko z dworów, przy których byli akredytowani, lecz także od ich informatorów. Często jednak wiele z tych wieści, co w tym czasie było normą, nie było zbyt dokładnych lub zawierało nieprawdziwe dane, lecz w Sekretariacie Stanu konfrontowano je z innymi źródłami, sprawdzając ich wiarygodność, tak że obraz wojny uzyskany tą drogą dawał dobrą orientację zarówno w przebiegu konfliktu, jak i staraniach dyplomatycznych mających na celu doprowadzenie do zawarcia pokoju. Szczególnie bałamutne były informacje napływające z pogranicza turecko-rosyjskiego i pogranicznych ziem Rzeczypospolitej, sugerujące rozszerzenie konfliktu rosyjsko-tureckiego na Rzeczypospolitą. Jednak konfrontacja informacji napływających z różnych źródeł pozwalała kierownikom dyplomacji papieskiej na odtworzenie w sumie poprawnego obrazu wojny. Nuncjusze papiescy trafnie interpretowali też intencje poszczególnych krajów czy to zaangażowanych w konflikt, czy działania dyplomatyczne mające na celu doprowadzenie do pokoju, jak również realizację interesów poszczególnych państw. (shrink)

The study of Kant’s anthropology, proposed by Viktor Kozlovskyi in its original and thorough monograph, is an entirely new interpretation of Kant’s answer to the fundamental question “What is man?”. On the basis of the philosopher’s heritage and taking into account the large body of research lit-erature, Kozlovskyi reconstructs five conceptual “human models” in Kant’s anthropological discourse. However, this study contains a number of problematic statements and conclusions. I argue first, that there is some inconsistency between Kant’s understanding of the (...) concept of “anthropology” and Ko-zlovskyi’s explanation. Second, the model of man as intelligible being, made explicit through the con-cepts of “freedom” and “spontaneity”, is a justified construction within the limits of criticism, but not quite correct with regard to the place and function of “anthropology” in it. Third, we can see a disso-nance between Kozlovskyi’s explanation of the constellations as “chronotopes-events” and interpreta-tion of this concept by Dieter Henrich’s school, where the methodology of “research constellations” was used to elucidate the early phase of German idealism. However, this leads to the cardinal question of how far this methodology is applicable for the analysis of Kant’s philosophy. (shrink)

Review of Vassallo, C.. The Presocratics at Herculaneum. A Study of Early Greek Philosophy in the Epicurean Tradition. Berlin: De Gruyter.

L'analisi dell'aristotelismo «platonizzante» nell'ambito della filosofia araba prima della sistemazione della Shifa di Avicenna, secondo cui Dio non avrebbe conoscenza dei particolari, consente all'A. di dimostrare come ci siano stati anche approcci platonici ad Aristotele , che non sono passati attraverso il filtro dei neoplatonici greci. L'altra cosa significativa è il fatto che all'interno della scuola di Baghdad vi sono modi diversi di intendere lo stato ontologico degli universali. L'A. tenta anche di ridimensionare la figura di al-Farabi all'interno della scuola (...) di Baghdad. I filosofi considerati sono al-Farabi, Yahya b. Adi e Ibn al-Tayyib. (shrink)

Reasoned disagreement is a pervasive feature of public life, and the persistence of disagreement is sometimes troublesome, reflecting the need to make difficult decisions. Fogelin suggests that parties to a deep disagreement should abandon reason and switch to non-rational persuasion. But how are the parties to know when to make such a switch? I argue that Fogelin's analysis doesn't clearly address this question, and that disputes arising in areas like medical decision making are such that the parties to them have (...) reasons to act as if they can be rationally resolved even if they are deep. Fogelin's analysis is thus of limited value as regards the practical moral demand of addressing concrete moral dilemmas. (shrink)

Offering a field-defining survey of the topic, this is the first book to engage all the key figures in the social imaginaries field. It offers new perspectives on the productive tension between social imaginaries and the creative imagination, providing the first programmatic approach to the field as a whole.

In this article I argue that although the prevailing interpretation within the Thomistic contemporary critical literature, claiming the inaccessibility of God’s quid sit, is faithful both to Saint Thomas and to John Capreolus’s account of Aquinas’s doctrine, it is far from being uncontroversial in the first steps of the history of Thomism. A central step in this history is marked by the Parisian Condemnation of 1277, which is at the origin of relevant debate within the Dominican Order on the question (...) of the knowledge of God’s quid sit. Aquinas’s contemporaries, indeed, interpreted the condemnation of Proposition 214 as a measure taken against Saint Thomas’s negative theology, as confirmed by John Capreolus’s testimony. Capreolus defends Aquinas, claiming that Saint Thomas’s doctrine is not a radical negative theology; in spite of this, he maintains that we cannot know God’s quiddity. In the following history of the debate, however, two influential representatives of the Dominican Order, Tommaso de Vio and Francesco Silvestri will affirm the accessibility of God’s quid sit, restoring an old doctrine by Durand of Saint Pourçain and Hervé of Nédellec. (shrink)

Pakistan is a developing country and it has been showed remarkable development in many areas since its foundation in 1947. However, still some issues have not been handled properly, like poverty, corruption, load shedding, water crises etc. Apart from other issues, poverty is a big issue of the country and it can be observed more or less in every province. In this paper, we have analyzed the ground situation of district Ghotki, through surveys, which is considered last district of Sindh. (...) We tried to find the problems of poor people of district Ghotki, observed their general life style, discussed their issues and inquired about government’s role to provide the people with basic necessities of life. In this paper, mainly qualitative method is adopted to reach to best conclusion. However, partially quantitative style could also be observed, especially where concepts of Microfinance are discussed. We realized that around 40% people of the district need microfinance services and they are ready to welcome Islamic Microfinance banks, because people don’t want to opt interest based conventional microfinance services, and secondly, conventional microfinance banks don’t have capacity to cover vast area of the district. (shrink)

Protagoras’ declaration that “man is the measure of all things” is conventionally discussed in the context of epistemology. There was, however, a communal or social dimension to this even in ancient Greece. In the unfolding process of time, this latter dimension assumed greater intensity and expanded systematically into all aspects of human relations. The centrality of money in these relations speaks to the transition from “man is the measure of all things” to money is the measure of all things. It (...) is precisely this thesis that the present essay proposes to defend. (shrink)

Medical paternalism has long been a common medical practice. However, patient autonomy in healthcare has been recently adopted by doctors and patients alike. This study explored whether doctors and patients in a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia preferred autonomy or paternalism in shared decision‐making. A total of 118 participants (51 patients requiring total knee replacement, owing to stages 3–4 of osteoarthritis, and 67 doctors) from the Eastern province, Saudi Arabia. responded to a 17‐question category‐based questionnaire involving four scales of (...) autonomy. Descriptive statistics and chi‐square test results revealed that in this hospital, patients preferred a paternalistic approach toward their medical care along with a full disclosure of the risks related to surgical procedures. We recommend health education regarding the specific autonomy subscales (doctor knows best, patient should decide, right to non‐participation, and obligatory risk information), and the implementation of protocols that protect patients' rights and enhance personal autonomy. (shrink)

The third of Berman and Hafner’s early nineties papers on reasoning with legal cases concerned temporal context, in particular the evolution of case law doctrine over time in response to new cases and against a changing background of social values and purposes. In this paper we consider the ways in which changes in case law doctrine can be accommodated in a recently proposed methodology for encapsulating case law theories, and relate these changes the sources of change identified by Berman and (...) Hafner. (shrink)

A Comparative Dictionary of Raute and Rawat: Tibeto-Burman Languages of the Central Himalayas. By Jana Fortier. Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 88. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019. Pp. xx + 276. $50.

Institutions are naturally seen as the stable and relatively fixed backbone of the social world. While the structural role of institutions is usually discussed in social ontology, the temporal implications of this regulation are often overlooked. It is indeed tempting to take a present-centred approach to institutions. The latter clearly are instrumental in stabilizing and structuring the social coordination between a number of actors. But it is all too easy to focus only on their role in syn...

The purpose of this paper is to consider the following three problems:(1) Whether selective conscientious objection is morally reasonable in general; and if so,(2) Whether selective conscientious objection should be recognized as a constitutional right by judicial interpretation; or(3) Whether selective conscientious objection should become part of any new draft law that would be passed by Congress.

The article discusses the theoretical and analytical relevance of spontaneity, the basis of creativity, considered as a central aspect of the semiotic model of C. S. Peirce, through the study of its incidence on human identity, on the self. To do so, I work with a series of technical concepts ..

Through accessible analyses of Merleau-Ponty’s views of linguistic expression and understanding, and by tracing the evolution of these views throughout the course of his philosophical career, Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Language offers a comprehensive picture of his engagement with the philosophy of language.

Through their sociopolitical activism, business leaders increasingly call for citizens to become more politically engaged in favor of a partisan position. This research develops and tests a framework that reveals that corporate sociopolitical activism can indeed elicit such political engagement but runs the risk of simultaneously inciting backlash from citizens who oppose the company’s envisioned political ends. Whereas politically congruent citizens perceive a company’s activism to be morally courageous and are thus inspired to support the company’s stance, politically incongruent citizens (...) feel threatened by the company’s activism and become politically engaged in protection of their political identity. Companies may, however, succeed in increasing moral courage attributions without simultaneously affecting citizens’ political identity threat by acting as first movers in their activism. A series of experiments, including a stimulus sampling approach with 30 real cases of corporate sociopolitical activism, lend support for this framework. The results provide several implications for the political responsibilities of business leaders in contemporary democracies. (shrink)

Overview * Part I: Introduction * Philip Appleman, Darwin: On Changing the Mind * Part II: Darwin’s Life * Ernst Mayr, Who Is Darwin? * Part III: Scientific Thought: Just before Darwin * Sir Gavin de Beer, Biology before the Beagle * Thomas Robert Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population * William Paley, Natural Theology * Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet Lamarck, Zoological Philisophy * Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology * John Herschell, The Study of Natural Philosophy (...) * William Whewell, Astronomy and General Physics Considered with Reference to Natural Theology * Alfred Russel Wallace, On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type * Part IV: Selections from Darwin’s Work * The Voyage of the Beagle * o Chapter I. St. Jago-Cape de Verd Island o Chapter XVII. Galapagos Archipelago * On the Tendency of Species to Form Varieties; and On the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection * o I. Extract from an unpublished Work on Species, by C. Darwin, Esq.... o II.of Letter from C. Darwin, Esq., to Prof. Asa Gray, Boston, U.S., dated Down, September 5th, 1857 * An Historical Sketch of the Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species, previously to the : Publication of This Work The Origin of Species * o Introduction o Chapter I. Variation under Domestication o Chapter II. Variation under Nature o Chapter III. Struggle for Existence o Chapter IV. Natural Selection o Chapter VI. Difficulties on Theory o Chapter IX. On the Imperfections of the Geological Record o Chapter XIII. Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs o Chapter XIV. Recapitulation and Conclusion * The Descent of Man * o Introduction o Chapter I. The Evidence of the Descent of Man from Some Lower Form o Chapter II. On the Manner of Development of Man from Some Lower Form o Chapter III. Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals o Chapter VI. On the Affinities and Genealogy of Man o Chapter VIII. Principles of Sexual Selection o Chapter XIX. Secondary Sexual Characters of Man o Chapter XX. Secondary Sexual Characters of Man-continued o Chapter XXI. General Summary and Conclusion * Part V: Darwin’s Influence on Science * THE VICTORIAN OPPOSITION TO DARWIN * o David L. Hull, Darwin and His Critics o Adam Sedgwick, Objections to Mr. Darwin’s Theory of the Origin of Species o Sir Richard Owen, Darwin on the Origin of Species o Fleeming Jenkin, Review of the Origin of Species * VICTORIAN SUPPORTERS OF DARWIN * o Joseph Dalton Hooker, Flora Tasmaniae o Thomas Henry Huxley, On the Relations of Man to the Lowe Animals o Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology o Alfred Russel Wallace, The Debt of Science to Darwin * DARWIN AND THE SHAPING OF MODERN SCIENCE * o Scientific Method in Evolution o National Academy of Sciences, Evolution and the Nature of Science o Richard Dawkins, Explaining the Very Improbable o Lewis Thomas, On the Uncertainty of Science o Noretta Koetge, Postmodernisms and the Problem of Scientific Literary o Richard Dawkins, Science and Sensibility o The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis o Peter Bowler, The Evolutionary Synthesis o The Human Genealogy o Adam Kuper, The Chosen Primate o Ian Tattersall, Out of Africa Again... and Again? o Stephen Jay Gould, The Human Difference o Punctuated Equilibrium o Stephen Jay Gould, [On Punctuated Equilibrium] o Niles Eldredge, The Great Stasis Debate o Rethinking Taxonomy o Kevin Padian, Darwin’s Views of Classification o David L. Hull, Cladistic Analysis o Kevin Padian and Luis M. Chiappe, Cladistics in Action: The Origin of Birds and Their Flight o Evolution as Observable Fact o James L. Gould and William T. Keeton with Carol Grant Gould, How Natural Selection Operates o Peter r. Grant, Natural Selection and Darwin’s Finches o John A. Endler, Natural Selection in the Wild * Part VI: Darwinian Patterns in Social Thought * COMPETITION AND COOPERATION * o Richard Hofstadter, The Vogue of Spencer o Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth o Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid o Martin A. Nowak, Robert M. May, and Karl Sigmund, The Arithmetics of Mutual Help * NATURE AND NURTURE * o Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis o Stephen Jay Gould, Biological Potentiality vs. Biological Determination o Barbara Ehrenreich and Janet McIntosh, The New Creationism: Biology under Attack * EVOLUTION AND GENDER * o Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman’s Bible o Nancy Makepeace Tanner, On Becoming Human o Evelleen Richards, Darwin and the Descent of Woman o James Eli Adams, Woman Red in Tooth and Claw * EVOLUTION AND OTHER DISCIPLINES * o Edward O. Wilson, [On Consilience] o Randolph H. Nesse and George C. Williams, Evolution and the Origin of Disease o Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works o Steve Jones, The Set within the Skull * Part VII: Darwinian Influences in Philosophy and Ethics * John Dewey, The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy * Daniel C. Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Natural Selection as an Algorithmic Process * Michael Ruse Darwinian Epistemology * Thomas Henry Huxley, Evolution and Ethics * Julian Huxley, Evolutionary Ethics * Michael Ruse and Edward O. Wilson, The Evolution of Ethics * Frans de Waal, Good Natured: The Origin of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals * Matt Ridley, The Origins of Virtue * Part VIII: Evolutionary Theory and Religious Theory * MAINSTREAM RELIGIOUS SUPPORT FOR EVOLUTION * o Pope John Paul II, Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences o Central Conference of American Rabbis, On Creationism in School Textbooks o United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., Evolution and Creationsim o The Lutheran World Federation, [Statement on Evolution] o The General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Resolution on Evolutionism and Creationism o Unitariuan Universalist Association, Resolution Opposing "Scientific Creationism" * FUNDAMENTALIST CREATIONISM * o Eugene C. Scott, Antievolution and Creationism in the United States o The Scopes Trial o Thomas McIver, Orthodox Jewish Creationists o Harun Yahya, [Islamic Creationism] o Seami Srila Prabhupada, [A Hare Krishna on Darwinian Evolution] o Institute for Creation Research, Tenets of Creationism o Henry M. Morris, Scientific Creationism o Thomas J. Wheeler, Review of Morris o Richard D. Sjolund and Betty McCollister, Evolution at the Grass Roots o Richard D. Sjolund, [Creationism versus Biotechnology] o Betty McCollister, [The Politics of Creationism] o Molleen Matsumara, What Do Christians Really Believe about Evolution? o National Center for Science Education, Seven Significant Court Decisions Regarding Evolution/Creation Issues * PERSONAL INCREDULITY AND ANTIEVOLUTIONISM * o Richard Dawkins, [The Argument from Personal Incredulity] o Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial o Eugenie C. Scott, Review of Johnson o Michael Behe, Darwin’s Black Box o Robert Dorit, Review of Behe o Michael Ruse, Darwin’s New Critics on Trial * SCIENTISTS’ OPPOSITION TO CREATIONISM * o American Association for the Advancement of Science, Forced Teaching of Creationist Beliefs in Public School Science Education o American Institute of Biological Sciences, Resolution Oposing Creationism in Science Courses o National Association of Biology Teachers, Statement on Teaching Evolution o National Academy of Sciences, Frequently Asked Questions about Evolution and the Nature of Science * FUNDAMENTALIST CREATIONISM AND THE VALUE OF SATIRE * o Michael Shermer, Genesis Revisted: A Scientific Creation Story o Philip Appleman, Darwin’s Ark * Part IX: Darwin and the Literary Mind * DARWIN’S LITERARY SENSIBILITY * o Charles Darwin, Autobiography o L. Robert Stevens, Darwin’s Humane Reading o George Levine, Darwin and Pain: Why Science Made Shakespeare Nauseating o Gillian Beer, Darwin’s Plots * DARWIN’S INFLUENCE ON LITERATURE * o Lionel Stevenson, Darwin among the Poets o George Levine, Darwin among the Novelists o Joseph Wood Krutch, The Tragic Fallacy o Herbert J. Muller, Modern Tragedy o Philip Appleman, Darwin-Sightings in Recent Literature. (shrink)

We examine combinatorial aspects and consistency strength properties of almost Ramsey cardinals. Without the Axiom of Choice, successor cardinals may be almost Ramsey. From fairly mild supercompactness assumptions, we construct a model of ZF + ${\neg {\rm AC}_\omega}$ in which every infinite cardinal is almost Ramsey. Core model arguments show that strong assumptions are necessary. Without successors of singular cardinals, we can weaken this to an equiconsistency of the following theories: “ZFC + There is a proper class of regular almost (...) Ramsey cardinals”, and “ZF + DC + All infinite cardinals except possibly successors of singular cardinals are almost Ramsey”. (shrink)

We prove, relative to suitable hypotheses, that it is consistent for there to be unboundedly many measurable cardinals each of which possesses a large degree of strong compactness, and that it is consistent to assume that the least measurable is partially strongly compact and that the second measurable is strongly compact. These results partially answer questions of Magidor on the relationship of strong compactness to measurability.

Pretendemos mostrar neste artigo que Nietzsche também compreende de modos positivos o ascetismo em sua filosofia tardia. A partir da reconstrução dos sentidos do ascetismo na filosofia do espírito livre e na obra Assim falou Zaratustra, defendemos que Nietzsche estimasempre mais o ascetismo dos filósofos em suas obras Além do bem e do mal e na Genealogia da moral. Entretanto, é em 1888, que ele aprofunda a concepção de arte como forma de vida, estreitamente ligada a formas de ascetismo filosófico. (...) Nesse último ano de produção filosófica são desenvolvidos os projetos da fisiologia da arte e da construção de valores estéticos.Assim, o ascetismo, enquanto “dureza do artista”, é condição para a tarefa da transvaloração dos valores, que Nietzsche pretende efetivar em si mesmo. (shrink)

Considering the lack of substantive scientific or theoretical studies about ethics in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America, this paper examines the context of an existent paradox, based upon the perspective of experts and academicians of Latin America and the Caribbean. These countries live different realities, due to their respective European cultural influences, as well as to racial and economic issues. Such facts impact the size and characteristics of their industries. On the other hand, the SMEs face (...) more similarities in the region, so they will be treated as a group in the discussion of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Latin American SMEs. As this topic has not been sufficiently investigated in this geographic area, the objective of this exploratory study is to offer a contribution for future research. It raises the main dilemmas and intends to explain how legislation and common practices enable and perhaps lead SMEs to choose unethical strategies to survive and compete in the market. These enterprises are growing in number and in job creation, but do not participate in the Gross National Product in the same proportion. Informality, tax evasion and corruption are gradually caused or erode morality in business, but can contribute to corporate social responsibility in the region. The paper tries to show positive and negative aspects of apparently unethical practices and discusses challenging ways to solve complex problems that are common in most Latin America. (shrink)

Panel data from the German SOEP is used to test for risk vulnerability in the wider population. Two different survey responses are analysed: the response to the question about willingness-to-take risk in general and the chosen investment in a hypothetical lottery. A convenient indicator of background risk is the VDAX index, an established measure of volatility in the German stock market. This is used as an explanatory variable in conjunction with HDAX, the stock market index, which proxies wealth. The impacts (...) of these measures on risk attitude are identifiable by exploiting the time dimension of the panel and matching survey months with corresponding observations from these time-varying factors. Both of the survey responses allow us to test for decreasing absolute risk aversion ; in one case, we find strong evidence of DARA, while in the other, we do not. Both survey responses also allow us to test for RV, and in both cases we find strong evidence. In the case of the hypothetical lottery response, we are also able to estimate a “coefficient of risk vulnerability”. This is defined as the absolute amount by which absolute risk aversion rises in response to a doubling of background risk. We estimate CRV to be between 1.03 and 1.27. (shrink)

ABSTRACT According to David Lewis, alteration is "qualitative difference between temporal parts of something." It follows that moments, since they are simple and lack temporal parts, cannot alter from future to present to past. Here then is another way to put McTaggart's paradox about change in tense. I will appeal to my theory of Aspects to rebut the thought behind this rendition of McTaggart. On my theory, it is possible that qualitatively differing things be numerically identical. I call these differing, (...) numerically identical things "aspects." I will argue that alteration can be a qualitative difference between temporal aspects of something that lacks temporal parts. So a moment can alter in tense. By rejecting Lewis's assumption my theory can solve this version of McTaggart's paradox. (shrink)

Mark Doyle's Utopian and Dystopian Themes in Tolkien's Legendarium reads Tolkien's work through the history of utopian and dystopian thought. The aim of this new study is not to prove that Tolkien set out to write dystopian fiction or create a blueprint for a utopian society, but that utopian and dystopian societies and settings crucially inform his legendarium. By placing his study outside of its usual fantasy context, Doyle gives us a valuable societally focused and historicized contribution to both Tolkien (...) and utopian studies respectively, yet one occasionally marred by the author's own unexamined value judgments.The book examines several aspects of Tolkien's legendarium, from its utopian and dystopian literary... (shrink)

In the light of the environmental crisis caused by unprecedented accelerating interrelated changes accompanied by the most recent ones caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the humanitarian, refugee, and nuclear crisis provoked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, contemporary society has been challenged to confront these complex and uncertain times and to recognise a considerable need to respond not only to the environmental crisis but to multiple crises in general. Another critical question to be answered by contemporary society, which is (...) also a research question in this review, is how an efficient response to crises caused by those accelerating interrelated changes should be organised. Therefore, for the purpose of answering the above research questions, this literature review-based article aims to examine the empirical studies on community responses to environmental crises. The results of the seventeen analysed articles on community responses to environmental crises and disasters indicate that these responses, given by either members of the directly affected community or by local, regional, or central authorities, were in majority of cases not integrated, as if the collective effort to cope with the emergency were organised simultaneously yet apart. Another observation is that the first respondents on site, who often were also directly affected by an emergency, performed a significant role in response as they had and pooled necessary material and non-material resources, for instance, experience, practical knowledge, and equipment. Based on these findings, the author argues that for future crisis and disaster research, it is essential to examine those cases where there has been indeed an efficient integrated response organised as a result of joint cooperation between all affected actors so that such accounts are incorporated into future disaster preparedness strategies for the organisation of more effective response. (shrink)

This paper reflects on certain working assumptions of Husserlian phenomenological practice, using an investigation of interkinaesthetic affectivity as an example. I suggest that in some cases, Husserl’s “stratificational” model should be replaced with the notion of the ongoing dynamic efficacy of mutually co-founding, interpenetrating, and interfunctioning moments-“through”-which experience proceeds. Finally, I relate the latter model to Patočka’s call for a genuine integration of the three movements of embodied human life.

Depuis des temps immémoriaux, le loisir a existé sous les formes du jeu, de la tête, de la vie contemplative, créative ou récréative et, d'une façon générale, de la consommation de l'abondance lorsque cette dernière a pu être obtenue ou réalisée. Élément majeur d'un mode de vie pour les nantis et les classes privilégiées, épiphénomène plus ou moins occasionnel pour les masses dominées ou laborieuses, il acquerra graduellement un droit de cité plus étendu pour devenir, avec le XXe siècle, un (...) droit humain reconnu et constituer une dimension relativement structurante de nombreux aspects de la vie personnelle, sociale, économique, culturelle et sociopolitique des temps modernes. Ce faisant, le loisir accroît sans cesse la gamme des modes et styles de vie accessibles sur base de droit et d'exercice des libertés reliées à la citoyenneté, malgré et avec les forces sociales intéressées à son orientation et à sa programmation. Il s'inscrit de plus en plus comme un élément incontournable du développement culturel, sans oublier les considérations économiques et politiques dont il est aussi l'objet, de même que les questionnements éthiques que sa présence suscite. Michel Bellefleur nous présente ici une analyse critique de l'évolution contemporaine du loisir comme phénomène particulier d'une civilisation en marche malgré tous ses avatars, mais néanmoins ouverte à une quête constante de liberté, de tolérance, d'hédonisme ou d'eudémonisme, ainsi que d'une qualité de vie à construire. (shrink)