The social and cultural changes of the last century have transformed death from an everyday fact to something hidden from view. Shifting between the practical and the theoretical, the professional and the intimate, the real and the fictitious, this collection of essays explores the continued power of death over our lives. It examines the idea and experience of death from an interdisciplinary perspective, including studies of changing burial customs throughout Europe; an account of a"dying party" in the Netherlands; examinations of (...) the fascination with violent death in crime fiction and the phenomenon of serial killer art; analyses of death and bereavement in poetry, fiction, and autobiography; and a look at audience reactions to depictions of death on screen. By studying and considering how death is thought about in the contemporary era, we might restore the natural place it has in our lives. (shrink)

We settle a number of questions concerning definability in first order logic with an extra predicate symbol ranging over semi-linear sets. We give new results both on the positive and negative side: we show that in first-order logic one cannot query a semi-linear set as to whether or not it contains a line, or whether or not it contains the line segment between two given points. However, we show that some of these queries become definable if one makes small restrictions (...) on the semi-linear sets considered. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 9.2 (2002) 159-160 [Access article in PDF] The Nine Lives of the Dynamic Unconscious Jerome Kroll IN THEIR PROVOCATIVE ARTICLE "Dispensing with the Dynamic Unconscious," O'Brien and Jureidini offer two basic arguments against the existence or, more accurately, because we are dealing here with constructs, the plausibility, of the dynamic unconscious. First, they assert, in contradistinction to the psychoanalytic claim that evidence of a cognitive (...) unconscious supports the claim for a dynamic unconscious, that the notion of a cognitive unconscious is incompatible with that of a dynamic unconscious. Second, they argue on the grounds of parsimony that the phenomena explained by a dynamic unconscious can be better explained (accounted for) by other mechanisms.I would argue that neither of their contentions is correct. O'Brien and Jureidini have essentially taken data and evidence from cognitive science, issued a new vocabulary, and then asserted that their vocabulary is superior and constitutes better explanations for the phenomena and observations under question. They have failed to show any incompatibility between the two explanatory constructs. O'Brien and Jureidini agree with the basic Freudian tenet that most mental activity is unconscious, that is, out of consciousness, and that much of what is out of consciousness can be brought into consciousness with proper cueing. No problem so far.The problem with the dynamic unconscious, as O'Brien and Jureidini see it, is that the cognitive unconscious is modular, best described as a series of subpersonal systems akin to a set of narrowly focused computational specialists, whereas the dynamic unconscious contains fully formed repressed memories. What O'Brien and Jureidini have now given us are multiple homunculi rather than just one CEO or executive homunculus. How literally do we want to take these subpersons? Are subpersonal mental states more satisfactory scientifically than personal-level mental states? Second, O'Brien and Jureidini unfairly attribute to the psychoanalytic position the claim that the dynamic unconscious "is presumed to contain fully formed repressed memories." With the compelling evidence from psychology and neuroscience that all memory is a reconstruction, I do not think that any contemporary psychodynamicist makes a case for fully formed repressed memories, nor is this notion essential to a theory of a dynamic unconscious. O'Brien and Jureidini invoke Occam's razor by invoking a straw horse argument. Their description of the action of subpersonal parts doing sufficient specific cuing sounds suspiciously like the work done in the dynamic unconscious. In the next section, an emotional response is described as pushing images out of mind before they can be reported on (assumedly, before they become conscious). What is doing the pushing here? Upon what principles or priorities are images pushed out of mind?The authors explain that mental "representations are inaccessible to consciousness by virtue [End Page 159] of architectural constraints rather than the operation of a repressive force." But architectural constraints sounds like another way of describing neural facilitation and inhibition. Certainly most neural activity, perhaps all, involves facilitation and inhibition of signals at multiple synapses. Repression is just a psychological construct to describe what the processes of facilitation and inhibition bring about in terms of meaningful mental activity. While we are on the topic of choice of words, the repeated description of the dynamic unconscious as subterranean is an inflammatory locution designed to rally opposition to the notion. The cognitive unconscious is equally subterranean.To look further into the supposed superiority of explanation via the cognitive unconscious, we see that O'Brien and Jureidini attribute the following processes to the cognitive unconscious: evaluation, decision making, editing out, filling in, reconstruction, and reconfiguration. But what are the bases of these processes? What guides or influences the way ideas, images, and emotions are reconstructed and reconfigured? It does not appear to be done randomly. When the reconstructive narrative becomes "significantly distorted" because the memory to be retrieved is fraught with distress, what accounts for the shape of the distortion and what (dare we say who?) recognizes that a memory is about to be distressing? We may all be unhappy with the notion of a dynamic unconscious... (shrink)

El 40 aniversario de la Pacem in Terris de Juan XXIII muestra su continuidad con Kant y Rawls. Los tres proclaman no a la guerra; se oponen al clash of civilisations; afirman que la paz exige el Estado de Derecho y de derechos, el respeto a los derechos humanos y fundamentales de las personas y de los pueblos y el sometimiento a las Naciones Unidas. Mientras que para Kant el imperativo ético conlleva la erradicación de la guerra, también para Rawls (...) el orden internacional supone la eliminación de la guerra y el triunfo del Derecho; para Juan XXIII el reconocimiento y el respeto universal a los derechos humanos y/o fundamentales es condición y a la vez presupuesto y efecto de la paz que también exige la igualdad y la garantía de las necesidades primarias. (shrink)

Tracheostomy with invasive ventilation may be required for the survival of patients at advanced stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In Japan it has been shown that a proactive approach toward TIV may prolong the survival of ALS patients by over 10 years by preventing the lethal respiratory failure that generally occurs within 3-5 years of the onset of the disease. Measures to prolong life expectancy without foregoing quality of life have produced better results in Japan than in other developed countries. (...) This ‘Japanese bias’ has been attributed to socio-cultural and religious factors as well as to the availability of material resources in Japan. In this article, we use the concepts of onozukara in kadō and amae to illuminate features of patient care that may contribute to this ‘Japanese bias’. (shrink)

Let T be a complete theory with infinite models in a countable language. The stability function g T (κ) is defined as the supremum of the number of types over models of T of power κ. It is proved that there are only six possible stability functions, namely $\kappa, \kappa + 2^\omega, \kappa^\omega, \operatorname{ded} \kappa, (\operatorname{ded} \kappa)^\omega, 2^\kappa$.

This paper attempts to combat the false narrative about the Spanish transition to democracy that some sectors are trying to impose. To this end, the role played by Spanish society stands out, which was the one that drove the change, which could materialize thanks to a political class that knew how to channel what the citizens wanted. Two of the main milestones of the transition are analysed in detail: the drafting of the Political Reform Act of 1976 and the configuration (...) of the electoral system, both in that Law and in the 1977 Decree-Law on Electoral Regulations. The true memory of the transition is claimed, which must not be excluded from the democratic memory of the Spanish nation. (shrink)

Para comprender el significado del mensaje de Jesús sobre el amor es preciso situarlo en el contexto del mundo religioso judío y, en cierta medida, de la cultura helenística. Ésta aporta gran parte del vocabulario y del universo expresivo simbólico. Sin embargo, para el conocimiento de la enseñanza del Jesús histórico este contexto no adquiere tanta importancia, ano ser el ya incorporado dentro del judaísmo, sobre todo en las comunidades de la diáspora. Por lo que respecta al contexto judío, hay (...) que superar la visión simplista que considera al judaísmo como la "religión del legalismo" en contraposición al cristianismo como la "religión del amor". El judaísmo, entre otros muchos factores que lo integran, también está basado y organizado en torno al amor. En el Antiguo Testamento existen abundantes perspectivas que enfatizan el amor de Dios hacia los seres humanos, un amor vinculado a la alianza (Dt 4, 37; 8, 17; 9, 4-6; 10, 15) y que se manifiesta como: fidelidad (Ex 3, 14; Sal 103, 4.8.13), misericordia (Sal 51, 1; 89, 23. 25. 29; 98, 3; 145, 8), ternura (Os 11, 1. 3-4; Jer 31, 20). (shrink)

The article attempts to trace the evolution of the concept of civil society. Drawing from the work of political philosophers from the classical period, the period of renaissance, scientific revolution, the period of Enlightenment in the 18th century, and ideologies from the Marxist and Gramscian discourses, the article demonstrates the shifts in the meaning and implications of the concept, its relations to public spaces, accountability, governance, normative ideals of state and the relationship between the state and its citizens. The article (...) concludes its historical progression with the New Social Movements, wherein the civil society became synonymous with strategic action to construct 'an alternative social and world order’, a site for problem solving. Other contenders who put forth a renewed interest in the resurgence of civil society were the New Left, who assigned civil society a role to defend people’s democratic will in the face of state power, and the neoliberals who considered civil society as a site for subversion from authoritarian regimes. The article finally concludes with a call for urgent attention towards reclaiming the authority of the civil society in education scenario. (shrink)

At the Inserm Ethics Committee's annual conference in October 2021, the "Gender and Health Research" working group presented a study comparing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in France and the United States. This comparison highlights the dysfunction of public policies in the United States regarding equitable access to healthcare for women and minorities, in contrast to France where the public authorities have taken exceptional measures, notably to guarantee access to abortion and care for victims of violence.In France, during the (...) first lockdown, statistics from the national toll-free number "Sexualities, Contraception, Abortion" revealed that reports of difficulties related to abortion or contraception access... (shrink)

Este artículo pretende analizar la relación entre la biopolítica, la teoría de la securitización y la geopolítica en el contexto de la pandemia por COVID-19. Para ello se ha revisado la bibliografía sobre la pandemia en estudios de seguridad, postestructuralistas y geopolíticos, confirmándose una ausencia de investigaciones que consideren conjuntamente estas tres dimensiones de la pandemia. Por este motivo, este artículo propone un enfoque diferente que integra estas tres dimensiones. De este modo, el argumento principal de la investigación engloba las (...) siguientes afirmaciones. En primer lugar, que la securitización de la salud es un tipo específico de biopolítica. En segundo lugar, que la biopolítica es una práctica geopolítica debido a las consecuencias espaciales que genera en la gestión de los procesos biológicos de la sociedad. En tercer lugar, que la securitización del coronavirus conllevó una forma específica de organizar el espacio para maximizar el control de la población por parte de las autoridades. Para comprobar estas hipótesis se han analizado las políticas de salud pública adoptadas por las democracias liberales de América, Europa, Asia y Oceanía, así como sus efectos en la organización del espacio. Los resultados de este estudio muestran que la securitización del COVID-19 creó un espacio biopolítico a nivel local, nacional e internacional que implicó la restricción y suspensión de la libertad de movimiento y del derecho a reunión. Además, el Estado asumió poderes extraordinarios, lo que permitió a las autoridades intervenir en casi todas las esferas de la vida y en todas partes dentro de las fronteras nacionales. (shrink)

Here in more than a hundred photographs is portrayed Liebling's Minnesota. During two decades marked by social, political and cultural change, Liebling travelled the state and found his largest subject -- the depiction and interpretation of commonplace human experience. The images range from the grain elevators and skid row of Minneapolis to the slaughterhouses in South St. Paul and the poor, working-class streets of St. Paul's West Side; from the Iron Range and the Red Lake Indian reservation in the north (...) to the farming towns in the south. The vision of Minnesota that emerges from the extraordinary photographs is uniquely that of the artist, yet it leads viewers effortlessly to an enhanced understanding of the places, the times, and, always, the people. (shrink)

Much of our understanding of human thinking is based on probabilistic models. This innovative book by Jerome R. Busemeyer and Peter D. Bruza argues that, actually, the underlying mathematical structures from quantum theory provide a much better account of human thinking than traditional models. They introduce the foundations for modelling probabilistic-dynamic systems using two aspects of quantum theory. The first, 'contextuality', is a way to understand interference effects found with inferences and decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The second, 'quantum entanglement', (...) allows cognitive phenomena to be modeled in non-reductionist ways. Employing these principles drawn from quantum theory allows us to view human cognition and decision in a totally new light. Introducing the basic principles in an easy-to-follow way, this book does not assume a physics background or a quantum brain and comes complete with a tutorial and fully worked-out applications in important areas of cognition and decision. (shrink)

To begin with -- Genealogy of the cerebral subject -- Disciplines of the neuro -- Cerebralizing distress -- Brains on screen and paper -- Up for grabs.

This collection of articles pays homage to the creativity and scientific rigor Jerome Singer has brought to the study of consciousness and play. It will interest personality, social, clinical and developmental psychologists alike.

There is an argument by M. Dummett about the relative priority of language as a social phenomenon. The first step is to explain how the speaker and the hearer have to know the same language, ceteris paribus. The second step is to show how the speaker's idiosyncratic beliefs depend on his knowledge of common language; the last step is to appeal to Quine's principle of translation between languages in order to have a language at all.

Jackson has ellaborated an argument to show that our experiences or qualitative states gather information which cannot be obtained in any other way. Functionalists reject in many ways that experience may bring new information. The point of this paper is to argue that, if func-tionalism is right, if experiences or "qualia" are not informative, then functionalism cannot report about them. The functionalist criticism of Jackson's argument makes it impossible for any functionalist theory to know experience.

Two thousand five hundred years ago, in 507–506 B.C.E., the institutions of Athen were rocked by the reforms of Cleisthenes. Although the word did not yet exist, here was the foundation of democracy. First published in French in 1964, Cleisthenes the Athenian has become the classic study of the philosophical, political, and aesthetic background and significance of these reforms. The book has influenced a generation of scholars in anthropology, sociology, urban planning, political science, philosophy, and classical studies. This English translation (...) contains the complete text of the original essay and is supplemented by a discussion among Vidal-Naquet, Leveque, and the philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis on the invention of democracy, as well as a new authors' introduction. (shrink)

In this book, Jerome Kagan takes a provocative look at the mental developments underlying the startling transitions in the child's second year.It is Kagan&...

Living in the Borderland addresses the evolution of Western consciousness and describes the emergence of the "Borderland," a spectrum of reality that is beyond the rational yet is palpable to an increasing number of individuals. Building on Jungian theory, Jerome Bernstein argues that a greater openness to transrational reality experienced by Borderland personalities allows new possibilities for understanding and healing confounding clinical and developmental enigmas." "Living in the Borderland challenges the standard clinical model, which views normality as an absence of (...) pathology and which equates normality with the rational. Jerome S. Bernstein describes how psychotherapy itself often contributes to the alienation of Borderland personalities by misperceiving the difference between the pathological and the sacred. The case studies included illustrate the potential this has for causing serious psychic and emotional damage to the patient." "This challenge to the orthodoxies and complacencies of western medicine's concept of pathology will interest Jungian Analysts, Psychotherapists, Psychiatrists and other physicians, as well as educators of children. (shrink)