This paper discusses literacy as a socio-political phenomenon from the perspective of several relatively independent educational discourses. The first is critical education theory and research revealing the hidden mechanisms by which education policies act in the interests of a global market economy. The second is the perspective of critical pedagogy scholars on contemporary educational challenges, who offer responses similar to those discussed in current discourse on informal civic education. The third is the heated discussion of high-stakes literacy testing (related to (...) OECD literacy studies such as PISA, IALS, etc.) the results of which are used as a source of argumentation for diverse attitudes and educational consequences. Based on an analysis of literacy theory, research on active citizenship and civic education, the term “civic literacy” is proposed and argued as a relevant conceptual frame for conceptualizing school as an institution which can be involved in resistance to all forms of power politics or ideological indoctrination and manipulation, while at the same time, respecting the traditional values and aims of general education. (shrink)

The prominent Russian intellectual, Nikolai Berdyaev, is renowned for his metaphysics of creativity, which he founded on a unique concept of freedom. His unorthodox interpretation of human freedom and the reality of the Spirit became a kind of manifesto for religious existentialism. This article analyzes the social and metaphysical significance of Berdyaev's philosophy of creativity in the context of the European and Russian philosophical traditions.

The modernizing global world with new sociocultural practices actualizes the study of creativity as a constitutive phenomenon of human personality in the context of the challenges of modern era. The object of this research is creativity as a cultural phenomenon. The subject is creativity in the S. Freud's concept of psychoanalysis. In the era of change and uncertainty, when the role of creativity is increasing, the ideas of S. Freud acquire special significance. The article considers the unconscious in the context (...) of the social, in correlation with social factors and as a key position in creativity. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study includes cultural-historical and comparative methods. The systemic approach allowed viewing the phenomenon of creativity as a system in combibation of elements. The author also used the methods of analogy, analysis, comparison, and generalization. The discovered by Freud mechanism of sublimation is considered through the lens of creativity, as a way of redirecting energy displaced into the field of the unconscious by social factors, the sphere of creativity. The psychoanalytic concept serves as the methodological basis for explaining creativity as a complex process in combination of the conscious and unconscious. (shrink)

Bell-type inequalities on orthomodular lattices, in which conjunctions of propositions are not modeled by meets but by maps for simultaneous measurements -maps), are studied. It is shown, that the most simple of these inequalities, that involves only two propositions, is always satisfied, contrary to what happens in the case of traditional version of this inequality in which conjunctions of propositions are modeled by meets. Equivalence of various Bell-type inequalities formulated with the aid of bivariate maps on orthomodular lattices is studied. (...) Our investigations shed new light on the interpretation of various multivariate maps defined on orthomodular lattices already studied in the literature. The paper is concluded by showing the possibility of using \-maps and \-maps to represent counterfactual conjunctions and disjunctions of non-compatible propositions about quantum systems. (shrink)

The article deals with surdotiflopedagogika, a doctrine of special education for deaf–blind–mute children as it was developed in the USSR in the 1920s and 1930s. In the spirit of social constructivism of the early Stalinist society, surdotiflopedagogika presents itself as a technology for the manufacture of socially useful human beings out of handicapped children with sight and hearing impairments, “half-animals, half-plants”. Surdotiflopedagogika’s institutionalization and rationale as these were evolving under the special patronage of Maxim Gorkij are analysed. Its experimental aspect (...) is also discussed. Exploring and implementing the most advanced ideas in the technology of communication, surdotiflopedagogika sought to compensate for the loss of speech, hearing, and sight by supplying the child with mechanical and human prostheses, including other people (assistants), technical devices, techniques of the body, and multiple communication codes to be translated from one into another. In the case of Soviet deaf-blind education, the Soviet subject appears as a technologically enhanced, collectively shared, and extended body in a permanent process of translation, internal as well as external. Technologies of language and acculturation that are of particular interest. Surdotiflopedagogika’s method as it appears in the theoretical writing of Ivan Afanasjevič Sokoljanskij (1889–1960), the teacher of the legendary deaf-blind author and educator Ol’ga Ivanovna Skorokhodova (1914?–1982) are given particular attention. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:“We all love with the same part of the body, don’t we?”Iuliia Voznesenskaia’s Zhenskii Dekameron, New Women’s Prose, and French Feminist TheoryYelena Furman (bio)Starting out as a poet who eventually turned to fiction, Iuliia Voznesenskaia was also one of the main figures of the Soviet feminist movement, a fact that makes her biography both unusual and courageous. In the 1970s, Voznesenskaia’s involvement with the dissident movement in Leningrad resulted (...) in several arrests, imprisonment, and time in the camps.1 Although she was not initially interested in women’s issues, her incarceration in all-women’s camps and prisons convinced her that “the situation of women in our country demands special attention” (“Zhenskoe dvizhenie v Rossii” [“The Women’s Movement in Russia”] 41). Along with several other women dissidents, she founded the Soviet feminist movement, putting out the samizdat women’s journal Zhenshchina i Rossiia (Woman and Russia), which precipitated immediate reprisals from the KGB. A women’s club, Mariia, and a journal by the same name followed, as did more KGB reprisals. For her feminist activity, Voznesenskaia was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1980, settling in West Germany.2In 1985, in West Germany, Voznesenskaia wrote her first and best-known novel, Zhenskii Dekameron (The Women’s Decameron). The novel is set in a Leningrad maternity ward containing ten new mothers from different backgrounds with different life experiences: Larisa, Emma, Natasha, Nelia, Galina, and Valentina are educated and all have careers except Galina, whose occupation, admittedly strange for a feminist novel, seems to be a dissident’s wife; Ol’ga works in a shipyard; Irishka is a secretary; Al’bina is an Aeroflot flight attendant doubling as an escort on the KGB’s payroll; Zina is homeless and has served time in the camps; Valentina is a Party worker, whereas Galina is part of the dissident community. Quarantined together for ten days because of a spreading infection and inspired by Emma’s reading of Boccaccio’s Decameron, the women begin to tell each other stories to pass the time. As its title makes clear, Voznesenskaia’s novel is heavily indebted to Boccaccio’s, borrowing its structure and many of its themes, such as an emphasis on storytelling and sexual explicitness. The humor and poignancy of the women’s stories make it a highly enjoyable read, and the focus on female sexuality and the author’s play with the narrative set this novel apart from other Soviet writers’ works.3 The novel also features what is surely a unique occurrence in Russian and Soviet literature: an openly feminist character (Larisa), referred to by the authornarrator as “zhenshchinoi vpolne emansipirovannoi, mogushchei ukrasit’ soboi liuboe zapadnoe feministicheskoe obshchestvo” [“a completely emancipated woman, capable [End Page 95] of adorning any Western feminist group”] (13), who is moreover depicted in a wholly positive light.4Yet despite enjoying a modicum of success, including being translated into several languages and staged as a play, Zhenskii Dekameron remains an under-read and underrated work.5 The reasons for its relative obscurity are closely allied with Voznesenskaia’s political activities in the 1980s. Exiled abroad for being politically undesirable to Soviet authorities, she could not have her work published in the Soviet Union; rather, the novel came out in Russian in Israel in 1987 (Curtis 186n2).6 The lack of visibility from which she suffered in her native country changed only in the (post)glasnost’ period: in 1991, the novel was published in Russian in Tallinn, and in 1992, in Moscow.7 Despite being able to be published, however, Zhenskii Dekameron seems not to have made a strong impact on either readers or critics, and there does not appear to be any discussion of it in Soviet/ Russian literary journals.The novel likewise suffers from a lack of familiarity in the West. The interest Voznesenskaia generated among Western European and American feminists in the early 1980s was for her feminist activism in the Soviet Union, which preceded her novel writing. Zhenskii Dekameron seems to have made a modest impact on readers; scholars, too, discuss it only occasionally. The most comprehensive treatment of the work to date has been Jerzy Kolodziej... (shrink)

The objective of this paper is to investigate climate change awareness and mitigation effort and their associated motivating and limiting factors to pro-environmental behavior and firm demographics in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland. For this purpose, a questionnaire was developed, conducted, and analyzed on motivating and limiting factors along with firm demographics, using descriptive statistics and ordinary least squares (OLS) and ordered probit regression models. The results show that Swiss SMEs are in general aware of climate change and (...) their resulting consequences. SMEs have taken steps to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through recycling, reduction of energy and water consumption, and use of recycled packaging. SMEs could however improve their environmental impact through low-carbon means of transport and use of public transport, sustainable raw material inputs, sustainable energy sources, and setting environmental goals and audits. There was a positive association between climate change awareness and mitigation. Motivating factors to pro-environmental behavior included financial advantage and responsibility towards the environment, while firm size and human resources were limiting factors. Lastly, different mitigation measures might be influenced by different motivating and limiting factors including financial advantage and pressure from interest groups, as well as firm size. (shrink)

Kur’an tefsirleri muhteva, metot, yararlandığı malzeme, odaklandığı meseleler, hitap ettiği okur kitlesi ve dil kullanımı gibi çeşitli açılardan benzerlik ve farklılık göstermektedir. Tefsirler bu kesişim ve ayrışım noktaları göz önünde bulundurularak sınıflandırılmıştır. Tefsirleri tasnif etme işinde kronolojik seyre tabi olmak diğerlerine nispetle daha az riskli bir çaba olarak görülebilir. Zira tefsirleri tematik başlıklar halinde kategorize etmek yahut tefsirlerin metodunu merkeze alarak sınıflandırmak öznel değerlendirmelerden hareket eden yapısı hasebiyle tenkitleri ve spekülatif yorumları da beraberinde getirebilir. Tasnif, basit bir kategorize işinden ziyade (...) zihinsel öncüllerin devreye girdiği bir süreçtir. Bu makalede John Wansbrough’un (öl. 2002) Kur’an tefsirlerine yönelik tasnifi incelenmektedir. İslam tefsir geleneğinde üretilen kavramları kullanmaktan ısrarla kaçınan yazarın, Kutsal Kitap tefsir literatüründen adlandırmalara yer vermesi tenkide açık bir meseledir. Rivâyet ve dirâyet kavramlarının yerine haggadic ve halakhic terimlerinin kullanımı, tefsir türlerinin tasnifinde etkileşim yahut intihal olgusunu ihsas ettirmesi bakımından araştırılmaya değer bir konudur. Her iki gelenekte tefsirin teşekkülüne dair tarihsel verilerin ortaya konması ve kültürel alışverişlerde hâkim unsurun tespiti sayesinde, İslam tefsir türlerinin tasnifinde orijinallik iddiası yahut intihal söylemi açığa çıkacaktır. Bu yazı, iki kültür arasında etkileşimin yaşandığı çeşitli sahalardan veriler sunmak suretiyle Wansbrough’un İslam tefsir geleneğine dair iddiasındaki çelişkileri ortaya koymayı hedeflemektedir. (shrink)

Inmunhak iran muŏt in'ga (T'onghap ŭi inmunhak, 2009) -- Tungji ŭi ch'ŏrhak (2010) -- Chonjae wa p'yohyŏn (2010) -- Mallarŭme ka mal hanŭn 'idea' ŭi kaenyŏm (Sorŭbon Taehakkyo paksa nonmun) -- P'ol Palleri e issŏsŏ chisŏng kwa hyŏnsil kwaŭi pyŏnjŭngpŏp ŭrosŏŭi si (Sŏul Taehakkyo sŏksa nonmun).

On Gandhian philosophy, socialism, and communism.

Příspěvek si klade dvojí cíl. V prvé řadě je jeho záměrem vyzdvihnout přínos monografie O revoluci pro celek myšlení Hannah Arendtové. Především pak nabízí interpretaci klíčového oddílu knihy, v němž spočívá vlastní jádro arendtovského návrhu „nové politické vědy“. Ústředním pro politický řád se ukazuje být rozdíl mezi pramenem moci a pramenem autority, která politickému řádu propůjčuje stabilitu. Příspěvek dokládá, že Arendtová v zakladatelském aktu politického společenství spatřuje dva „bludné kruhy“ – bludný kruh legitimity moci a bludný kruh legitimity zákonů. Zatímco (...) s prvním bludným kruhem si zdařilá americká revoluce věděla rady, druhý bludný kruh, který odkazuje k potřebě autority sankcionující pozitivní zákonodárství, ji uvedl do teoretických obtíží. Stať ukazuje, že Arendtová sama důsledně trvá na možnosti nalézt pramen autority výhradně v prostoru politického jednání. (shrink)