The title of the article refers to the excessive ideological force deployed in Zionism to foster national and religious unity. As a closed and totalizing system, the Zionist enterprise precludes the representation of minority cultures and has yet to provide, if it ever can, an adequate definition of Palestinians, Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origins) and other minorities – Karaites, Bedouins and Samaritans – much less one of gender sexuality, religion or personhood. Ironically, it was through the (...) contemporization of Hebrew that a distinctive Israeli society was forged, which set the limits of the imagined geography of the body. Modern Hebrew also produced a hierarchy of different literatures, each with its own ideological parameters of inclusion and exclusion. Paradoxically, as I argue, the cacophonous intertextualiy of the Hebrew canon drowns out the voices of minority Jewish writers, who are ‘relegated to constantly repositioning themselves’ within dominant (Ashkenazi) Israeli culture and society. Eli Bachar and Shelly Elkayam are among the Mizrahi poets I introduce here, whose work powerfully illustrates the colonizing aspects of hunger, eating and feeding through the trope of the ma'akhelet, Abraham's sacrificial knife, as a way to rethink intertextuality. (shrink)

How we experience space by listening: the concepts of aural architecture, with examples ranging from Gothic cathedrals to surround sound home theater. We experience spaces not only by seeing but also by listening. We can navigate a room in the dark, and "hear" the emptiness of a house without furniture. Our experience of music in a concert hall depends on whether we sit in the front row or under the balcony. The unique acoustics of religious spaces acquire symbolic meaning. Social (...) relationships are strongly influenced by the way that space changes sound. In Spaces Speak, Are You Listening?, Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter examine auditory spatial awareness: experiencing space by attentive listening. Every environment has an aural architecture.The audible attributes of physical space have always contributed to the fabric of human culture, as demonstrated by prehistoric multimedia cave paintings, classical Greek open-air theaters, Gothic cathedrals, acoustic geography of French villages, modern music reproduction, and virtual spaces in home theaters. Auditory spatial awareness is a prism that reveals a culture's attitudes toward hearing and space. Some listeners can learn to "see" objects with their ears, but even without training, we can all hear spatial geometry such as an open door or low ceiling. Integrating contributions from a wide range of disciplines—including architecture, music, acoustics, evolution, anthropology, cognitive psychology, audio engineering, and many others—Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? establishes the concepts and language of aural architecture. These concepts provide an interdisciplinary guide for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of how space enhances our well-being. Aural architecture is not the exclusive domain of specialists. Accidentally or intentionally, we all function as aural architects. (shrink)

The mythical1 hungry ass, facing two identical bundles of hay equidistant from him, has engendered two related questions. Can he choose one of the bundles, there seemingly being nothing to incline him one way or the other? If he can, the second puzzle — pertaining to rational choice — arises. It seems the ass cannot rationally choose one of the bundles, because there is no sufficient reason for any choice.2In what follows, I will argue that choice is possible even when (...) there is no option which is better than the others (section II), and that it is perfectly reasonable to choose an option even when there is no sufficient reason for it (section III). I will then (section IV) point to another puzzling feature of the .. (shrink)

What does it mean to say that ethics committees that provide prospective review of research involving human beings should be “independent”? In the United States, IRBs—which are typically located within and review research protocols at the institution for which most of their members work—cannot really be considered independent. Yet separating the IRB from the research institution may in turn mean less independence from a trial’s sponsors, as this kind of IRB is commercially motivated and paid directly by the sponsor. One (...) possible answer is to create independent IRBs that are not for profit, but how this model would attract financial and administrative support is unclear. (shrink)

L’émission Terre à terre diffuse chaque semaine, depuis 17 ans, des paroles de luttes, de résistances, d’émotions et d’émerveillements, qui parviennent à exprimer un rapport à l’environnement nourri d’un lien vécu avec une nature concrète. Dans cet entretien, Ruth Stégassy discute la façon dont elle parvient à faire émerger cette parole, ainsi que sa vision de ce que représente la nature dans nos luttes et nos positionnements politiques contemporains.

The prelims comprise: Introduction Public Policy Actions Strong Reactions to Human Cloning A Rational Approach to Public Policy.

Psychiatrists are frequently called upon to make assessments of the rationality or irrationality of persons for a variety of medical-legal purposes. A key category is that of evaluations of a patient's capacity to grant informed consent for a medical procedure. A diagnosis of mental illness is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for a finding of incompetence. The notion of competency to grant consent, which is a mixed psychiatric-legal concept, shares some features with philosophical conceptions of rationality, but differs (...) from them in a number of important respects. This article describes the actual practice of psychiatrists when making such judgments, along with the standards of competency they employ. A comparison is made between those notions of competency and predominant philosophical conceptions of rationality. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to encourage reflection about the harm that could result if the positive aspects of team-organized health care are compromised during the health care reform process. While other models of health care delivery could replace teamwork and serve patients as well or better, the interdisciplinary health care team probably will not be abandoned. However, one or more disciplines whose members play important roles on various teams may be sacrificed in the hasty effort to define essential (...) health care. Moreover, a significant proportion of the types of IHCTs in existence could be rashly eliminated from health plans. These changes should not take place randomly or by default. (shrink)

Walt Disney’s animation film Bambi is transparently liberal, and in the post-1968 era could even be seen as post-modern and deep-ecological. The reading offered here, however, makes three counter-moves to this prevailing interpretation: First it follows in both broad technique and ultimate conclusion Žižek’s critique of The Sound of Music wherein he unmasks a fascist ideology encoded in this ostensibly liberal musical. Second, it introduces a gender lens via Silvia Plath’s autobiographical poem, “Daddy,” and third, it employs Lacan's Mirror Stage (...) as key to this construction of a gendered identity and hierarchy. These three moves combine to show that, far from a simple coming-of-age cartoon about a cute little deer, the perennial classic Bambi can be read decidedly other-wise. (shrink)

Max Stirner pioneered a radically existentialist thinking in which the ego or the Unique One is able to appropriate its “predicates” or determinations as objects of consumption. In this sense the singular event is privileged over the intellectual “spooks” that express the predicate’s independence from and mastery over its subject. Karl Marx’s thinking was decisively altered by his encounter with Stirner, to whom he replied at length in The German Ideology. I propose that Marx and Engels’s critique and appropriation of (...) Stirner provides the basis for what I call “communist existentialism,” and that this is the proper standpoint for radical philosophy today. After giving an account of this position, I briefly adopt it to critique two of the communist standpoints associated with “communization,” those of Tiqqun and Theorie Communiste. (shrink)

What I learned from you and what helped me in the ensuing years to find my way around in reality without selling my soul to it the way people in earlier times sold their souls to the devil is that the only thing of importance is not philosophies but the truth, that one has to live and think in the open and not in one's own little shell, no matter how comfortably furnished it is, and that necessity in whatever form (...) is only a will-o'-the-wisp that tries to lure us into playing a role instead of attempting to be a human being.On YouTube, you can find a recording of Flannery O'Connor reading "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." It is fun to hear the audience erupt in laughter when O'Connor, in her thick southern accent, has... (shrink)

This examination of the concept “work of art” has been prompted by the desire to find a starting point for aesthetic inquiry which, to begin with at any rate, will arouse no dispute. A claim for general agreement such as Clive Bell's: “The starting point for all systems of aesthetics must be the personal experience of a pecular emotion”, is countered by I. A. Richards's “the phantom aesthetic state”, and any attempt to claim “beauty” as the central concept is straightway (...) confused by the varied contexts in which “beauty” and “beautiful” may function. We hear much more often of a beautiful stroke in cricket than in painting, and many of our moral judgments have an aesthetic flavour. An action may be bold, dashing, mean, underhanded, unimaginative, cringing, fine, as well as right or wrong. Aesthetic adjectives and adverbs may occur in any context, and part of our job is to separate out the various uses and establish their inter-relationships. (shrink)

The ultimate aim of this dissertation is to determine whether libertarian theories of property can be adequately grounded in Locke's theory of natural rights. I defend the thesis that Locke's theory has no room for a fundamental commitment to natural rights, including property rights. ;In the first three chapters, I challenge each component of the dominant interpretation of Locke's theory of property in this century, viz., that of C. B. Macpherson. In Chapter One, I criticize Macpherson's claim that Locke's view (...) allows unlimited appropriation. In Chapter Two, I agree with Macpherson that Locke defended a state in which the franchise was restricted to those who held significant property, viz., land. However, this can be reconciled with an initial contract into civil society that meets certain standards of rationality and fairness. Thus, while political power is not equally distributed in the state Locke describes, that is not necessarily inconsistent with a rational, free, and voluntary social contract. This shows that we need not see Locke as committed to the interests of the wealthiest members of society. In Chapter Three, I agree with Macpherson that Locke's view is that the purpose of contracting out of the state of nature is the protection of one's property. But I briefly argue that Macpherson does not take seriously Locke's concept of property right and the wide range of objects that count as property. If we pay careful attention to Locke's terminology, we can see that although the purpose of the state is the protection of property, that does not guarantee greater protection for the wealthy than it ensures the poor. ;In Chapter Four, I challenge a quite different thesis. James Tully has argued that Locke did not defend private property at all, but attacked it. I criticize this interpretation on the grounds that Locke explicitly allows certain practices that Tully takes to be violations of the law of nature as Locke construes it. I also criticize the claim that certain developments in a commercial economy, such as the consumption of valuable land, necessarily violate the law of nature. In addition, I argue that the idea of conventionally established property rights is inconsistent with Locke's account of how and why government comes to be established. ;In Chapter Five, I provide an account of the principles underlying Locke's account of rights, both within and without civil society. I argue that Locke's view is improperly construed as a view which gives pride of place to rights. Rather, rights are almost always derivative from duties, and in those cases where they are not derivative, they are subordinate to certain primary duties that oblige us in virtue of our status as God's creations. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Suitors' GamesRuth ScodelScholars disagree about the goals of Penelope's suitors in the Odyssey-do they seek kingship, Odysseus' property, Penelope herself, or some combination? This disagreement is unsurprising: different passages imply different goals. Twice the suitors speak of dividing Odysseus' property (2.335-36, 16.384-86). In other passages, however, the kingship seems to be at issue; so Telemachus says that Eurymachus "is most eager to marry my mother and possess the (...) honor [geras] of Odysseus" (15.521-22)-which would seem to imply that he would have all Odysseus' wealth as well. Other passages stress the suitors' sexual desire for Penelope (1.365-66, 18.212-13). Hence scholars have often emphasized one aspect of the suitors' aims. Some think that Penelope herself is a mere excuse and the suitors' real desire is kingship in Ithaca.1 Others argue that Penelope is the only object and that "kingship" does not even exist.2 Many believe that Penelope and the kingship are somehow connected, and that the suitors seek both, while some admit that they are perplexed.3 The poet's failure to clarify Penelope's motives complicates the issue even further and has led to even more debate. Is she as loyal to [End Page 307] Odysseus as the poet claims? If so, why has she led the suitors on? Why does she appear before them in book 18? Why does she choose to hold the bow contest when there are so many indications of Odysseus' imminent return?4Scholars, however, have made the problems worse by assuming a single underlying situation. The suitors' actions, and those of Penelope, are easier to understand if we follow the narrative with the expectation that the characters adapt to changing situations. There are three basic situations in the poem, and so three "games." The first we must reconstruct, because Telemachus' new assertiveness ends it as the poem starts. His declaration of hostility toward the suitors and his attempt to use the assembly against them mark the transition to a new game. This game, too, fails to achieve an outcome, when the suitors fail to kill Telemachus on his return and an omen warns them against trying again. The third game begins when Penelope's appearance before the suitors inflames their desire for her and leads to the bow contest.I borrow the term "game" from the game theory widely used in the social sciences.5 In game theory, a "game" is a rule-governed situation in which each person must make choices in the knowledge that other people are also choosing and that the outcome depends in a prescribed way on all the choices. Game theory assumes "instrumental rationality": without considering why people want what they want, it assumes that people have preferences and use rational means to achieve them.6 Ends do not need to be rational, but means do. A rigorous application of game theory to a literary text would be foolishly reductive. Furthermore, game theory would require assigning a quantitative value to each possible outcome for each player. Still, a perspective influenced by game theory can clarify what strategies are available to the characters and the rationality or lack of rationality of their choices. [End Page 308]This argument treats the characters as possible people for whom the audience infers rational motives, provided that the narrator does not provide other motivations and such inferences offer an adequate explanation for otherwise confusing actions. This is the easiest way to discuss the narrative sequence, and it is not an inappropriate procedure for the authorial audience of this poem.7 After all, the Odyssey celebrates the cleverest of heroes and implies that Odysseus' wife resembles him. Without imagining people who calculate quite as tidily as the analysis does, we may still see them as consciously evaluating their options. However, even interpreters who reject the view of the characters as rational choosers may find this analysis helpful. They may, for example, see the characters as behaving more intuitively than through calculation yet still find it useful to examine how far their actions conform to a rational model. Even if the characters' motives are bracketed, this discussion seeks to... (shrink)