This paper explores the implications of uses of the word ‘we’ in post-apartheid South African fiction. ‘We’ in these novels is typically a contested linguistic site – which tells of the loss of inherited communities, and reflects the ethically complex negotiations of a ‘we’ perhaps still to come. Yet if the internal narratives assert a loss of community, each event of the novel’s being-read inaugurates a new ‘community’ of readers. The paper considers the ethical implications of the act of reading (...) a literary text in post-apartheid South Africa. In the course of the argument, I draw links between African philosophies of community, and Jean-Luc Nancy’s proposition that ‘I’ does not precede ‘we’. Thus I suggest some ways in which philosophies from Africa contribute towards current debates about ‘we’ in contemporary continental philosophy. (shrink)

On the fundamentals of Mimamsa school in Hindu philosophy.

Philosophical and anthropological explorations of the state of modern culture testify to its crisis nature, connected with a fundamental change in the civilizational type of development. In a society that is transformed from industrial to post-industrial, informational, and global, the whole mechanism of cultural formation undergoes dramatic changes. The exhaustiveness of the technological and technological path of human development, which has come from the times of the European Renaissance, and at the same time the need for a radical reformation of (...) the foundations of the further existence of the global society are becoming apparent. Lack of understanding of the real means of such reforming leads to a total disregard for the possibilities of the mind. And as a consequence, the current crisis of rationalism is a sign of the current socio-cultural situation. (shrink)

t. 1. Domarksistskai︠a︡ teorii︠a︡ poznanii︠a︡ --t. 2. Sot︠s︡ialʹno-kulturnai︠a︡ priroda poznanii︠a︡.

Kate Storey is experienced in direct service, education and administration in both hospital and community settings. She is a family member; she was diagnosed with depression in 1980 and is “in recovery”. She is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario with research interests in recovery education and empowerment. Tanya Shute is Executive Director of the Krasman Centre: a Consumer Survivor Initiative, which embraces a wellness and recovery focus. She is a social activist (...) who identii es as having personal experience with mental health challenges and substance abuse. Her undergraduate degree from York University is in Public Policy and Administration; she is completing her MSW in social policy at Laurentian University. Ann h ompson is a “survivor/ provider” trained in critical social work at York University, who is exploring the application of recovery principles in programs/organizations supporting consumer/survivors and family members. Ann is a certii ed Wellness Recovery Action Plan Facilitator and has adapted the WRAP framework to a family setting. She developed the Critical Perspectives in Mental Health curriculum in the Masters Social Work program at York University. (shrink)

In this paper we aim to shed light on the dynamics of regional identity construction and deconstruction. We will argue that four forms of identity can be identified that are linked through various processes of change. To that end, we will theoretically conceptualise 'identity' by discussing historical and current scholarly debates on identity in a variety of scientific disciplines. Then, we will argue that the mutual contradiction of the current theories is a paradox if seen from the angle of regional (...) identity construction and deconstruction. Building upon elements from the various theoretical approaches, we propose a heuristic model describing the dynamics of identity construction and deconstruction, which will be explored by means of the example of the Green Heart region, a spatial planning concept in western Holland. (shrink)

Kant's readers have disagreed about whether, according to his account of cognition, concepts, representations of the understanding, are involved in intuitions, representations of sensibility. But proponents of the affirmative 'conceptualist' answer and those of the negative 'non-conceptualist' answer have alike presupposed that such involvement should be construed in a particular way: i.e., as the involvement of particular concepts in particular exercises of sensibility. I argue, on the contrary, that it should not be: that though, for Kant, no concepts are applied (...) in exercises of sensibility, nonetheless the understanding, the faculty of concepts, is teleologically internal to sensibility and, therefore, to its exercises. That is, those exercises are per se directed towards the provision to the understanding of objects to which its fundamental concepts, the categories, are applicable, though no act of categorical application is internal to them. This conception of sensibility, available only in light of a careful distinction between capacities and acts, is demanded, I argue, by Kant's conception of a priori knowledge as elaborated in his Transcendental Deduction. (shrink)

In early major works, Cassirer and Schlick differently recast traditional doctrines of the concept and of the relation of concept to intuitive content along the lines of recent epistemological discussions within the exact sciences. In this, they attempted to refashion epistemology by incorporating as its basic principle the notion of functional coordination, the theoretical sciences' own methodological tool for dispensing with the imprecise and unreliable guide of intuitive evidence. Examining their respective reconstructions of the theory of knowledge provides an axis (...) of comparison along which to locate Cassirer's Neo-Kantianism and Schlick's pre-positivist empiricism, and an immediate background of contrast to the subsequent rise of logical empiricism. For in the absence of intuition all our knowledge is without objects and therefore remains entirely empty. (Kant A62/B87) And how awkward is the human mind in diving the nature of things when forsaken by the analogy of what we see and touch directly? (Boltzmann 1895). (shrink)

Supercommentary on Dīdhiti of Raghunātha Śiromaṇi, commentary on Vyādhikaraṇa section of Tattvacintāmaṇī by Gaṅgeśa, 13th cent. basic work on Navya-Nyaya philosophy.

On the classic Hindu philosophies of Nyaya and Vaiśeṣika ; autocommentary on Bhāṣāpariccheda with Sanskrit and Hindi commentaries.

Мета. Реконструювати точку зору Гоголя щодо його антропологічного проєкту, тобто виявити його відповіді на питання про те, що собою являє людина у вимірах сущого та належного. Інакше кажучи, йдеться про з’ясування позиції Гоголя щодо принципів існування українця в російській імперії. Теоретичний базис. Наш погляд на спадщину Гоголя базується на концептуальних положеннях феноменології, екзистенціалізму та герменевтики. Наукова новизна. Вперше зроблена спроба вивчити спадщину Гоголя як розробку антропологічного проєкту. В процесі її реалізації автори, звертаючись до біографії мислителя, його листування та текстів, реконструювали (...) основні виміри цього проєкту. Уважне ставлення до особливостей антропології Гоголя дозволяє наблизитися до розуміння теоретичних парадоксів світогляду письменника та чинників його ранньої смерті як особистої життєвої трагедії патріота України. Йдеться про те, що Гоголь в процесі пошуку форм реалізації свого високого покликання поставив перед собою задачу — обґрунтувати утопічну мету. Для нього шляхи розбудови росії як великої держави передбачають вихолощення базових цінностей європейської культури та приниження гідності людини. Висновки. В ході дослідження творів Миколи Гоголя автори виявили: а) важливість світоглядно-філософських питань; б) проблеми людини в його спадщині. Аргументовано, що Микола Гоголь, вирішуючи задачу окреслення загальних рис природи людини, на ранньому етапі творчості демонстрував оптимізм та виразні життєстверджуючі риси, укорінені в україноцентризмі. Істотні зміни в світогляді нашого мислителя зумовили його намагання обґрунтувати альтернативний європейському варіант антропологічного проєкту, що передбачає виправдання нікчемності пересічного жителя росії та й самої імперії ціною заперечення здобутків європейської філософії та науки. Болісне переживання цього теоретичного дисонансу стало передумовою ранньої трагічної смерті Миколи Васильовича. Нині вона є своєрідним попередженням про неможливість поєднати українську культуру та культуру росії, тобто небезпеку нігілістичного ставлення до здобутків європейської культури, невід’ємною складовою якої є Україна. Перспективи подальшого дослідження спадщини Гоголя автори повʼязують із зосередженням уваги на його: а) критиці Просвітництва та б) зʼясуванні форм змістовної укоріненості його творчості в українській філософії, насамперед у вченні Григорія Сковороди. (shrink)

One of the basic categories of religious consciousness, which has an inexhaustible spiritual-moral potential that is relevant to our times, is undoubtedly the category of holiness. To understand how it was rooted and developed on our native soil it is important to note that the Old Kievan and the later Ukrainian culture did not invent a separate or special theory of holiness, but rather borrowed it from the Old Testament and the Byzantine-Christian traditions. Yet, the concrete image of holiness that (...) was formed on this theoretical foundation has very distinct unique features. To explain how the inherited general theoretical foundations of the image of holiness were absorbed into the cultural context of Kievan Rus' I shall try to determine which aspects of the traditional conception of holiness were predominant there. (shrink)

Aim: Patients with advanced cancer need information about end-of-life treatment options in order to make informed decisions. Clinicians vary in the frequency with which they initiate these discussions.Patients and methods: As part of a long-term longitudinal study, patients with an expected 2-year survival of less than 50% who had advanced gastrointestinal or lung cancer or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were interviewed. Each patient’s medical record was reviewed at enrollment and at 3 months for evidence of the discussion of patient wishes concerning (...) ventilator support, artificial nutrition and hydration , resuscitation and hospice care. A Kaplan–Meier analysis was also performed and 2-year survival calculated.Results: 60 cancer and 32 ALS patients were enrolled. ALS patients were more likely than cancer patients to have evidence of discussion about their wishes for ventilator support , ANH , DNR and hospice care . At 6 months, 91% of ALS patients were alive compared with 62% of cancer patients; at 2 years, 63% of ALS patients were alive compared with 23% of cancer patients .Conclusions: Cancer patients were less likely than ALS patients to have had documented advanced care planning discussions despite worse survival. This may reflect perceptions that ALS has a more predictable course, that advanced cancer has a greater number of treatment options, or differing views about hope. Nevertheless, cancer patients may be less adequately prepared for end-of-life decision-making. (shrink)

T. A. Cavanaugh defends double-effect reasoning (DER), also known as the principle of double effect. DER plays a role in anti-consequentialist ethics (such as deontology), in hard cases in which one cannot realize a good without also causing a foreseen, but not intended, bad effect (for example, killing non-combatants when bombing a military target). This study is the first book-length account of the history and issues surrounding this controversial approach to hard cases. It will be indispensable in theoretical ethics, applied (...) ethics (especially medical and military), and moral theology. It will also interest legal and public policy scholars. (shrink)

Exegesis, with text, on the Nyāyasūtra of Gautama, basic aphoristic text of Nyāya.