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)

У статті представлений погляд на природу і самотність Еріха Фромма. Розкриваються основні положення теорії Фромма, особливий акцент робиться на співвідносності дихотомії, екзистенціального конфлікту та структури характеру з феноменом самотності. Характерною рисою сучасного суспільства є криза, а вона негативно впливає на світ людини, як це було за часів Фромма. Тому проблематика статті є актуальною.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Journal of Aesthetic Education 38.1 (2004) 23-34 [Access article in PDF] Mind Ahead of the Tone:Integration of Technique and Imagination in Vocal Training at Tanglewood Summer Institute Svetlana Nikitina The use of the body and the mind at the same time is one of the most fascinating things and magic things about music. 1The purpose, indeed the sole purpose, of training for the profession of singing is (...) to improve the connection between the imagination and the sounds that eventually issue from the singer's mouth. 2The utmost goal of art is achieving unity between form and content, the subjective idea and the medium, technique and imagination. Success and livelihood of dancers, actors, and musicians depends on their ability to translate mental ideas into bodily actions and, at its height, merge technical bodily and mental wisdom so seamlessly that we would forget the path that led to it.What is this path? How do individual singers mesh, melt, and marry the technical rigor coming from years of musical training and their ability to imagine and express themselves with those tools? How is the unity betweentechnique and imagination achieved and experienced? And, what is the pedagogy that could support the connection? These are the core questions that guided the study.The goal here is not to propose a conclusive theory of connection, biological or psychological. My hope is to open the curtain for discussion of what is generally considered an "undiscussable" topic in art and music education books because it deals with what is thought of as implicit knowledge that no one could or should teach. Through my observation of Phyllis Curtin's classroom and conversations with her students, some general thoughts and principles of building unity between the technical and artistic selves of a singer emerged. I would like to share those insights and strategies.While this essay does not offer simplistic how-to strategies of fostering creative synergy, it also does not suggest that the connection just happens, [End Page 23] regardless of whether we think or teach about it. What it aspires to do is create a space for thinking about the complexity of integrative experienceand ways in which bridge-building could be facilitated. As such, it could offer insights to both beginning vocalists and voice teachers, as well as be of interest to a broader range of educators and public concerned with core issues on the integrative nature of arts education. Method To serve the goal of presenting complex experiences of creative artists, Ichose to combine analytical and descriptive elements in my research method. Building an analytical argument about the ways integration between imagination and technique could be achieved and supported, I tried to stay close to student stories of connection and disconnection, employing a qualitative rather than a quantitative method of inquiry. This takes the form of large amounts of direct interview data and personal vignettes, from which I traced general patterns of meaning. Research Context A very brief and in no way exhaustive survey of literature on voice education points to a large volume of text spent on training vocal technique. Breath control, charts depicting the larynx and the thyro-arytenoid muscle at work far outnumber chapters on interpretation or "The Work of Imagination" in musical education literature. 3There are precious few books, however, that do not keep the technical and the mental concerns separate, and give the work of imagination an explicit and central role in training of performing artists. Two of those books, Thomas Hemsley's Singing and Imagination and Michael Chekhov's On the Technique of Acting, have not fallen in my lap by chance. 4 Curtin referred to them several times in her classes as books of "singular" resonance to her own singing and teaching.Chekhov's book conceptualizes the basic processes that are involved in the actor's work on character development. These processes include extensive work on the text and its interpretation (understanding, living the text, and essentializing it in performance), in parallel with developing the body... (shrink)

A new English translation of the founding text of the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school of Buddhism, with the Tibetan version of the text included. The Root Stanzas holds an honored place in all branches of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as in the Buddhist traditions found in China, Japan, and Korea, because of the way it develops the seminal view of emptiness (shunyata), which is crucial to understanding Mahayana Buddhism and central to its practice. It is prized for its pithy and (...) pointed arguments that show that things lack intrinsic being and thus are “empty” (shunya). They abide in the Middle Way, free from the extremes of permanence and annihilation. (shrink)

Journal Name: Cognitive Linguistics Issue: Ahead of print.

The authors of the article consider the main directions of the development of choral culture of the twentieth century in the context of domestic and regional socio-cultural processes through the prism of the legacy of the multifaceted creative personality of A. S. Anokhin, as well as through the analysis of the biography and creative path of the composer, based on his diaries and memoirs; presenting his views on the historical events of that time from the point of view of the (...) musician and a teacher. The figure of Afanasy Stepanovich Anokhin is one of the key figures in the musical education and enlightenment of the Altai Territory in the XX century, about his creative and educational activities. The novelty of the research lies in the reconstruction of the integral creative image of the composer in the context of the formation of musical culture in the Soviet period in the Altai Territory. In this work, for the first time, a complete list of the composer's published works is published. A. S. Anokhin's main compositional legacy is connected with mass songwriting, one of the most popular genres of the Soviet era. The article also examines the development of musical and choral culture in the Altai Territory from amateur groups to professional performance and the development of musical education throughout the twentieth century, as well as raises issues of preservation and reclamation of regional cultural heritage. (shrink)