Despite the central place of suffering in medical care, suffering in infants and nonverbal children remains poorly defined. There are epistemic problems in the detection and treatment of suffering in infants and normative problems in determining what is in their best interests. A lack of agreement on definitions of infant suffering leads to misunderstanding, mistrust, and even conflict amongst clinicians and parents. It also allows biases around intensive care and disability to affect medical decision-making on behalf of infants. In this (...) paper, I propose the concept of suffering pluralism, which is a novel multidimensional view of infant suffering based on subjective and objective components. The concept of suffering pluralism is more inclusive of the multiple ways in which infant suffering can occur. It acknowledges and defines a subjective component to infant suffering, while also focusing moral attention on objective well-being by describing it using the language of suffering. This concept allows us to better weigh up subjective and objective components of well-being. It also encourages clarity and consistency in claiming suffering, which is likely to improve communication and reduce conflict in medical decision-making for unwell infants and children. I will end by exploring possible critiques and limitations of this concept. (shrink)

In this paper, we explore three separate questions that are relevant to assessing the prudential value of life in infants with severe life-limiting illness. First, what is the value or disvalue of a short life? Is it in the interests of a child to save her life if she will nevertheless die in infancy or very early childhood? Second, how does profound cognitive impairment affect the balance of positives and negatives in a child’s future life? Third, if the life of (...) a child with life-limiting illness is prolonged, how much suffering will she experience and can any of it be alleviated? Is there a risk that negative experiences for such a child will remain despite the provision of palliative care? We argue that both the subjective and objective components of well-being for children could be greatly reduced if they are anticipated to have a short life that is affected by profound cognitive impairment. This does not mean that their overall well-being will be negative, but rather that there may be a higher risk of negative overall well-being if they are expected to experience pain, discomfort, or distress. Furthermore, we point to some of the practical limitations of therapies aimed at relieving suffering, such that there is a risk that suffering will go partially or completely unrelieved. Taken together, these considerations imply that some life-prolonging treatments are not in the best interests of infants with severe life-limiting illness. (shrink)

The acquaintance principle (AP) and the view it expresses have recently been tied to a debate surrounding the possibility of aesthetic testimony, which, plainly put, deals with the question whether aesthetic knowledge can be acquired through testimony—typically aesthetic and non-aesthetic descriptions communicated from person to person. In this context a number of suggestions have been put forward opting for a restricted acceptance of AP. This paper is an attempt to restrict AP even more.

Humans are capable of extracting recurring patterns from their environment via statistical learning (SL), an ability thought to play an important role in language learning and learning more generally. While much work has examined statistical learning in infants and adults, less work has looked at the developmental trajectory of SL during childhood to see whether it is fully developed in infancy or improves with age, like many other cognitive abilities. A recent study showed modality‐based differences in the effect of age (...) during childhood: While visual SL improved with age, auditory SL did not. This finding was taken as evidence for modality‐based differences in SL. However, since that study used auditory linguistic stimuli (syllables), the differential effect of age may have been driven by stimulus type (linguistic vs. non‐linguistic) rather than modality. Here, we ask whether age will affect performance similarly in the two modalities when non‐linguistic auditory stimuli are used (familiar sounds instead of syllables). We conduct a large‐scale study of children's performance on visual and non‐linguistic auditory SL during childhood (ages 5–12 years). The results show a similar effect of age in both modalities: Unlike previous findings, both visual and non‐linguistic auditory SL improved with age. These findings highlight the stimuli‐sensitive nature of SL and suggest that modality‐based differences may be stimuli‐dependent, and that age‐invariance may be limited to linguistic stimuli. (shrink)

Even those who consider themselves lucky to have escaped trauma, long-term illness and death, have experienced radical changes to their conception of life in its relation to public and private domains due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When public space turned into a dangerous realm, private interiors were assigned a new role and with these shifts, also new questions about the relation of interiority to any type of exteriority emerged. The first four contributions in this ‘Projected Interiorities’ issue of Technoetic Arts (...) (TA) reflect from an architectural and urban point of view on the conception of the public and private, their past, present and future. Yet, the pandemic contributed more widely to a re-evaluation of interiority, not least because the public and private realms seemingly coalesced via digital processes. While this journal issue cannot cover all these questions, it indicates the range of the pandemic turn in thought, collecting contributions from theory and practice, including architecture, art, philosophy and literary studies. With authors of a variety of disciplinary backgrounds based in China, India, Norway, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, this issue of TA covers not only a multiplicity of methodological approaches but also diverse regional and cultural perspectives on the idea of ‘Projected Interiorities’. (shrink)

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), such as ChatGPT, shows great promise and potential and is gradually being used in mental health care, but it also raises ethical concerns. These relate t...

The cliché of the clergymen or the religious scholars battling against modern science oversimplifies the history of the encounter between modern science and religion, especially in the case of non-Western societies. Many religious scholars, Muslim and Christian, not only did not oppose modern science but used it instrumentally to propagate their religions. Marwa Elshakry, in her brilliant study of Darwin's opinions among the Arab World, concentrates more on Arab Christians and Sunni Muslims rather than on Shiite Muslims. Muḥammad-Riḍā Iṣfahānī, a (...) Shiite clergyman educated in Islamic theology in Najaf, composed A Critique of Darwin's Philosophy in 1912 as a review of the theory of evolution. However, even before the publication of this book, controversy concerning this topic had been raging in the Arab World for decades. Under the influence of Muslim scholars (Sunni and Shiite) to reconcile modern science with Islam, Iṣfahānī did his best to gather knowledge of modern biology. He applied his self-taught knowledge of modern biology to find new solutions to the difficulties of establishing a dialogue between Islam and modern science. Thanks to the rationalism of his premodern scientific education, Iṣfahānī was more sympathetic towards science than many of his Arab counterparts and able to deeply engage in these debates. Iṣfahānī believed that the theory of evolution in nonhumans did not contradict Islamic discourse nor experimental and rational facts. Nevertheless, he denied the theory of human evolution as a nonscientific hypothesis. He justified his opinion through a detailed refutation of Darwin's heuristic evidence for human evolution in the first chapter of Descent of Man, such as the similarities between anatomy, embryology, and vestigial organs in humans and other animals. He also referred to other Western evolutionists of his time, such as Alfred Russel Wallace and Rudolf Virchow, who also rejected human evolution, and added some other scientific refutations of his own. Undoubtedly, Iṣfahānī's final aim was to demonstrate the possibility of reconciliation between religion in general, and Islam in particular, with modern science. This article provides a detailed consideration of Iṣfahānī's opinions, identifying his Arabic sources and comparing them to the original non-Arabic sources. I also examine the scientific details of Iṣfahānī's achievements and the roots of his misunderstandings. (shrink)

In recent years, firms have greatly increased the amount of resources allocated to activities classified as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). While an increase in CSR expenditure may be consistent with firm value maximization if it is a response to changes in stakeholders' preferences, we argue that a firm's insiders (managers and large blockholders) may seek to overinvest in CSR for their private benefit to the extent that doing so improves their reputations as good global citizens and has a "warm-glow" effect. (...) We test this hypothesis by investigating the relation between firms' CSR ratings and their ownership and capital structures. Employing a unique data set that categorizes the largest 3000 U. S. corporations as either socially responsible (SR) or socially irresponsible (SI), we find that on average, insiders' ownership and leverage are negatively related to the firm's social rating, while institutional ownership is uncorrelated with it. Assuming that higher CSR ratings is associated with higher CSR expenditure level, these results support our hypothesis that insiders induce firms to over-invest in CSR when they bear little of the cost of doing so. (shrink)

Ptolemy presents only one argument for the eccentricity in his models of the superior planets, while each one of them has two eccentricities: one for center of the uniform motion, the other for the center of the constant distance. To take into account the first eccentricity, he introduces the equant point, but he provides no argument for the eccentricity of the center of the deferent. Why is the second eccentricity different from the first one? The 13 th century astronomer Quṭb (...) al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, a member of the famous school of Marāgha, who was interested in this problem, suggests the “retrograde arcs” as the empirical origin of the second eccentricity and develops an argument to justify this conjecture. Although his argument is not without difficulty, his suggestion is in line with the suggestions made by some historians of astronomy in recent decades. Résumé Ptolémée ne donne qu'un seul argument pour expliquer dans son système l'excentricité des planètes supérieures, alors que chacune d'elles a deux excentricités: l'une par rapport au centre du mouvement uniforme, l'autre par rapport au centre de la distance constante. Pour rendre compte de la première excentricité, il introduit le point équant, mais il ne donne en revanche aucun argument pour l'excentricité par rapport au centre du cercle déférent. Or, pourquoi la seconde excentricité est-elle différente de la première? Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, astronome du xiii e siècle membre de l'école de Marāgha, qui s'est intéressé à cette question, a fait l'hypothèse que les “arcs de rétrogradation” constituent l'origine empirique de cette seconde excentricité. Bien que l'argument sur lequel il appuie cette hypothèse ne soit pas exempt de difficultés, sa suggestion rejoint celles faites par des historiens de l'astronomie durant les dernières décennies. (shrink)

Schelling's philosophy can be seen as perpetrating the philosophical fallacy known as the Myth of the Given, in that it takes rational activity to be affected by an experience which is not conceptually mediated. This is supported by Schelling's repeated claim that there is an experience which is indescribable, and which forces us to silence. In the first part of the paper it will be shown how different readings of Schelling result in this fallacy. In the second and third parts (...) an alternative reading will be developed which avoids the fallacy while still making room for unsayable experience. Finally, the proposed interpretation will enable us to interpret Schelling's claim that expressing the unsayable, conveying it to another, is possible after all. »The wish for intelligibility is a terrible one. It means that we are willing to reveal ourselves through the self 's betrayal of itself.« (Stanley Cavell, The World Viewed. (shrink)

If God commanded you to do something contrary to your moral conscience, how would you respond? Many believers of different faiths face a similar challenge today. While they take scripture to be the word of God, they find scriptural passages that seem incompatible with their modern moral sensibilities. In Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond, philosopher Amir Saemi identifies this as the problem of divinely prescribed evil. -/- Saemi unpacks two approaches to answering this problem. In the (...) first part of the book, Saemi demonstrates how Islamic thinkers of various historical traditions (including the Ash'arites, the Mu'tazilites, and the Greek influenced Philosophers, falasifa) adhered to a scripture-first view. By appealing to hidden moral facts known only to God or the prophet, a scripture-first approach views moral reasoning, at least when it conflicts with Scripture, with skepticism. An ethics-first view, however, places our independent moral judgments before scripture. In the second part of the book, Saemi offers two ethics-first solutions, with some roots in the Islamic tradition, to the problem of divinely prescribed evil. Each solution argues that our own moral reasoning is reliable in the face of skeptical arguments presented by Scripture-first views and shows how a theist can maintain their belief in scripture's divinity while relying on their own moral judgments. By studying the conflict between morality and revelation in Islamic thought, Saemi offers unapologetic solutions not only for progressive Muslims but for all theists who take their moral judgments seriously. (shrink)

The existing research on Peshitta has mostly overlooked the translation techniques used in Peshitta Psalms. Prior studies have primarily focused on comparing Peshitta Psalms with the Masoretic Text (MT), the Septuagint and Targum, leaving a gap in the analysis of Peshitta Psalms within the context of Classical Syriac Poetry. This study will delve into how adeptly the Syriac translator employed poetic elements to construct strophic structures and poetic style within the Peshitta Psalm. This article presents an analysis of strophic structure, (...) word repetition, sound figures and versification in the Syriac translation of Psalm 29, comparing them with their Hebrew counterparts. In this study, the utilisation of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) is employed for the MT, while the ‘Leiden edition’ is employed for the Peshitta. The findings from this analysis reveal that the Syriac rendition of Psalm 29 within the Peshitta incorporates numerous poetic elements. This suggests the translator’s familiarity with the strophic arrangement, word repetition, alliteration and various other poetic characteristics utilised by Hebrew scribes. The Peshitta translation of Psalm 29 closely resembles the MT Hebrew text, resulting in a balance of fidelity and aesthetic elegance. The Syriac rendition incorporates poetic elements like strophic arrangement, word repetition and alliteration but employs these features in a distinct manner. The Syriac text has a lower frequency of alliteration and word repetition but still possesses appealing poetic characteristics. The Syriac approach to verse composition closely resembles the Hebrew method, with some exceptions. Contribution: This study explores the Syriac translator’s use of poetic elements in Peshitta Psalms, revealing their familiarity with Hebrew techniques and the unique incorporation of elements. It provides insights into the evolution of Classical Syriac Poetry and contributes to our understanding of Biblical and Syriac poetry. (shrink)

Because you are highly unlikely to cast the deciding vote in the next elections, it is often said that you don’t have a reason to vote in order to change the outcomes. In a recent paper, however, Zach Barnett forcefully argues that this is a mistake. He shows how it follows, from rather conservative assumptions, that in many real-life cases the expected social value of voting is higher than its cost. Barnett is successful, we believe, in showing that the commonly (...) held belief – that voters do not have a reason to vote in order to change the outcomes – is way too hasty. However, Barnett is – we argue in this paper – too quick on one key premise, and once this is noticed, it becomes unclear how often Barnett’s reasoning can point to a justification of voting to change the outcomes. Barnett’s reasoning, we conclude, may apply to significantly less real-life scenarios than he suggests. (shrink)

While research on political violence often focuses on its outcome, there is little attention to the process of political violence. Filling the knowledge gap, the present research applies the theory of instrumentalism to understand political violence as a means to achieve certain political ends. The research is a qualitative case study on Lyari, which was a comparatively peaceful neighborhood in Karachi but transformed into a violent no-go area during 2000s. The paper describes the process of instrumentalization of political violence in (...) Lyari with the objective of outlining the relationship of three key actors – political parties, state authorities, and criminal gangs – using violence for their respective interests. The paper explains how the convergence of their interests influenced the intensity of political violence and converted it into an ethnic conflict. Hence, it expands the literature on political violence by outlining the complexities of the real world where multiple political actors simultaneously use violence to achieve varied objectives that sometimes compliment and sometimes clashes with each other, resulting in further extension of violence. (shrink)

This book investigates the role of humor in the good life, specifically as discussed by three prominent French intellectuals who were influenced by Nietzsche's thought: Georges Bataille, Gilles Deleuze, and Clément Rosset. Lydia Amir begins by discussing Nietzsche's reception in France, and she explains why and how he came to be considered a "philosopher of laughter" in the French academe. Each of the subsequent three chapters focuses on the significance of humor and laughter in the good life as advocated (...) by Bataille, Deleuze, and Rosset. These chapters also explore the complex relationship between the comic and the tragic, and of humor and laughter to irony, satire, and ridicule. The Legacy of Nietzsche's Philosophy of Laughter makes an invaluable contribution to recent interpretive work done on Bataille and Deleuze, and offers further introduction to the relatively understudied Rosset. It illuminates the philosophies of these three thinkers, their connection to Nietzsche, and, overall, the significant role that humor plays in philosophy. (shrink)

From the end of the 19th century until his death, one of history's most brilliant mathematicians languished in an asylum. The Mystery of the Aleph tells the story of Georg Cantor (1845-1918), a Russian-born German who created set theory, the concept of infinite numbers, and the "continuum hypothesis," which challenged the very foundations of mathematics. His ideas brought expected denunciation from established corners - he was called a "corruptor of youth" not only for his work in mathematics, but for his (...) larger attempts to meld spirituality and science. (shrink)

This paper shows how we can plausibly extend the guise of the good thesis in a way that avoids intellectualist challenge, allows animals to be included, and is consistent with the possibility of performing action under the cognition of their badness. The paper also presents some independent arguments for the plausibility of this interpretation of the thesis. To this aim, a teleological conception of practical attitudes as well as a cognitivist account of arational desires is offered.

Este artículo estudia una corta narración en árabe muy conocida a través de diversas versions populares documentadas en manuscritos de diferentes orígenes (Siria, Egipto y Norte de África), comenzando en el siglo XVII. La narración describe cómo un peque.o gorrión queda atrapado en la trampa de un cazador y cómo, mediante todo tipo de estratagemas y usando su ingenio, logra escapar de su terrible destino. Si bien esta narración aparece frecuentemente en los círculos tardíos más populares, muchos de sus elementos (...) esenciales, se pueden rastrear en los escritos árabes medievales clásicos de los orígenes islámicos de Oriente y Occidente, en la mayoría de los casos como dos fábulas distintas. La historia de esta narración se mueve así entre la literatura clásica medieval y la popular premoderna. Incluso toca los márgenes de la historia de las Mil y una noches. En un artículo reciente se ha examinado un manuscrito datado en el siglo XVII que presenta toda la narración tal y como se encuentra con el ritmo y metro del dialect egipcio en el mawwāl. El presente estudio, basado en un manuscrito, analiza en cambio la adaptación de la narrative popular a la prosa. (shrink)

I will argue that Raz’s defense of the doctrine of the guise of the good rests on a over-intellectualized account of action. Raz holds that attributing evaluative beliefs to agents is justified on explanatory grounds. I argue that this account fails to do justice to the first-personal character of action explanation. Moreover, I will argue that Raz’s account of action has its root in his restrictive and over-intellectualized understanding of normative explanation. I will suggest that we can have a more (...) plausible understanding of the guise of the good that is not over-intellectualized, if we adopt a broader understanding of normative explanation. (shrink)

Music plays an important role for adolescents since personal and social identities are formed during this period of life, but they also build musical preferences. Within this paper, an online survey was conducted, which included 200 respondents, i.e. primary school students from five Croatian counties aged 13 and 14. The aim of the research was to find out the musical preferences of students and whether sociodemographic variables and music teaching influence their preferences. The girls showed a slightly greater preference for (...) all types of music offered, and especially for popular music. Respondents whose parents are involved in music are significantly more inclined to artistic and popular music. When it comes to place of residence, significant differences were observed in the preference for rock music, which is significantly higher among respondents from the city. Respondents who estimate that there is an impact of music teaching and those who listen to compositions from classes at home report an interest in art music significantly more often. The results of the research indicate the need for greater involvement of music teachers and parents in acquiring children’s musical preferences, especially towards quality music. (shrink)

Glazba ima važnu ulogu za adolescente jer se u tom životnom razdoblju oblikuju osobni i društveni identiteti, ali izgrađuju i glazbene preferencije. U okviru ovoga rada provedeno je online anketiranje koje je obuhvatilo 200 sudionika, odnosno učenika osnovnih općeobrazovnih škola iz pet hrvatskih županija u dobi od 13 i 14 godina. Cilj istraživanja bio je doznati glazbene preferencije učenika te utječu li sociodemografske varijable i nastava glazbe na njihove preferencije. Djevojčice su iskazale nešto veću sklonost prema svim ponuđenim vrstama glazbe, (...) a posebice prema popularnoj glazbi. Sudionici čiji se roditelji bave glazbom značajno su skloniji umjetničkoj i popularnoj glazbi. Kada je u pitanju mjesto življenja, značajne razlike uočene su kod sklonosti rock glazbi koja je značajno viša kod sudionika iz grada. Sudionici koji procjenjuju da postoji utjecaj nastave glazbe i oni koji kod kuće slušaju skladbe s nastave značajno češće izvještavaju o interesu za umjetničku glazbu. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na potrebu većeg angažmana učitelja glazbe i roditelja u stjecanju glazbenih preferencija djece, posebice prema kvalitetnoj glazbi. Music plays an important role for adolescents since personal and social identities are formed during this period of life, but they also build musical preferences. Within this paper, an online survey was conducted, which included 200 respondents, i.e. primary school students from five Croatian counties aged 13 and 14. The aim of the research was to find out the musical preferences of students and whether sociodemographic variables and music teaching influence their preferences. The girls showed a slightly greater preference for all types of music offered, and especially for popular music. Respondents whose parents are involved in music are significantly more inclined to artistic and popular music. When it comes to place of residence, significant differences were observed in the preference for rock music, which is significantly higher among respondents from the city. Respondents who estimate that there is an impact of music teaching and those who listen to compositions from classes at home report an interest in art music significantly more often. The results of the research indicate the need for greater involvement of music teachers and parents in acquiring children’s musical preferences, especially towards quality music. (shrink)

Vrednovanje i ocjenjivanje u nastavi Glazbene kulture važna je sastavnica odgojno-obrazovnog procesa koja sa sobom nosi razne poteškoće i subjektivnost. U nastavi Glazbene kulture realiziraju se različite glazbene aktivnosti i sadržaji, koji su više ili manje specifični te se navedeno odražava i na vrednovanje i ocjenjivanje. Navedene aktivnosti i sadržaji u okviru Kurikuluma nastavnog predmeta Glazbena kultura za osnovne škole i Glazbena umjetnost za gimnazije organizirane su u okviru tri domene/nastavna područja: Slušanje i upoznavanje glazbe, Izražavanje glazbom i uz glazbu (...) i Glazba u kontekstu. U radu je prikazano istraživanje provedeno tijekom 2019. godine, a koje je obuhvatilo 269 ispitanika, tj. 30 osnovnoškolskih učitelja Glazbene kulture i 239 učenika osmih razreda. Istraživanje je provedeno u Osječko-baranjskoj i Požeško-slavonskoj županiji te je obuhvatilo učitelje Glazbene kulture i učenike osmih razreda šest osnovnih škola od kojih se četiri nalaze u urbanom, a dvije u ruralnom području. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je doznati stavove učenika i učitelja o vrednovanju i ocjenjivanju u nastavi Glazbene kulture, utvrditi moguću povezanost sociodemografskih varijabla i mišljenja učitelja i učenika te utvrditi na koji se način provodi ocjenjivanje u nastavi Glazbene kulture. Slušanje glazbe i pjevanje su aktivnosti koje se, prema mišljenju i učitelja i učenika, najčešće vrednuju i ocjenjuju u nastavi Glazbene kulture. Ujedno, učitelji u većoj mjeri smatraju da provode individualno i skupno ocjenjivanje nego li to smatraju učenici. Utvrđeno je da učitelji najčešće ocjenjivanje provode tako što tijekom svakog sata prate učenike, skloni su učenike ocijeniti odmah na satu i najčešće usmeno. Utvrđeno je da su učitelji i učenici mišljenja da učenik ne treba imati razvijene glazbene sposobnosti za ocjenu ‘odličan’ u predmetu Glazbena kultura. S obzirom na povezanost sociodemografskih varijabla i mišljenja ispitanika o vrednovanju i ocjenjivanju, pokazalo se kako su područje na kojemu se nalazi škola i spol značajni prediktori učeničkih stavova, dok se kod učitelja nijedna varijabla nije pokazala prediktorskom. Evaluation and grading in the teaching of Music Culture is an important component of the educational process that carries various difficulties and subjectivity with it. In the course of Music Culture, various music activities and contents are realized, which are more or less specific and also reflect on the evaluation and evaluation. The activities and contents of the Curriculum for the Elementary School Music Culture and High School Musical Arts curricula are organized within three domains/teaching areas: Listening and learning about music, Expressing music and with music, and Music in context. The research was conducted in 2019 and included 269 respondents, i.e. 30 elementary music teachers and 239 eighth grade students. The survey was conducted in Osijek-Baranja and Pozega-Slavonia counties and it included Music teachers and eighth grade students from six primary schools, four of whom are in urban and two in rural areas. The aim of this research was to find out students’ and teachers’ views on evaluation and assessment and to determine the possible correlation of sociodemographic variables and teachers’ and students’ opinions on evaluation and assessment in Music Culture teaching and to determine how the assessment is conducted in Music Culture teaching. Listening to music and singing are activities that, in the opinion of both teachers and students, are most commonly evaluated and graded in teaching Music Culture. At the same time, teachers are more likely to carry out individual and group assessments than students. Teachers usually conduct their assessment by monitoring students every class, they tend to evaluate students during class and most often orally. Teachers and students think that student should not have the developed musical skills to score excellently in Music Culture. Considering the correlation between sociodemographic variables and the respondents’ opinions on evaluation and grading, it was shown that the area in which school is located and gender are significant predictors of students’ attitudes, while in the teachers no variables proved to be predictive. (shrink)

Evaluation and grading in the teaching of Music Culture is an important component of the educational process that carries various difficulties and subjectivity with it. In the course of Music Culture, various music activities and contents are realized, which are more or less specific and also reflect on the evaluation and evaluation. The activities and contents of the Curriculum for the Elementary School Music Culture and High School Musical Arts curricula are organized within three domains/teaching areas: Listening and learning about (...) music, Expressing music and with music, and Music in context. The research was conducted in 2019 and included 269 respondents, i.e. 30 elementary music teachers and 239 eighth grade students. The survey was conducted in Osijek-Baranja and Pozega-Slavonia counties and it included Music teachers and eighth grade students from six primary schools, four of whom are in urban and two in rural areas. The aim of this research was to find out students’ and teachers’ views on evaluation and assessment and to determine the possible correlation of sociodemographic variables and teachers’ and students’ opinions on evaluation and assessment in Music Culture teaching and to determine how the assessment is conducted in Music Culture teaching. Listening to music and singing are activities that, in the opinion of both teachers and students, are most commonly evaluated and graded in teaching Music Culture. At the same time, teachers are more likely to carry out individual and group assessments than students. Teachers usually conduct their assessment by monitoring students every class, they tend to evaluate students during class and most often orally. Teachers and students think that student should not have the developed musical skills to score excellently in Music Culture. Considering the correlation between sociodemographic variables and the respondents’ opinions on evaluation and grading, it was shown that the area in which school is located and gender are significant predictors of students’ attitudes, while in the teachers no variables proved to be predictive. (shrink)

Who is not utopian? Only narrowly specialized prisoners working to order without the slightest critical examination of stipulated norms and constraints, only these not very interesting people escape utopianism. Utopian projects are rarely discussed in current official programs in urban design.1 The common perception about the conceptualization of utopia is that utopia is a code word synonymous with modernist urban design and architecture.2 The failure of modern urban planning and architecture, along with their attributed paternalist qualities, leads some critics to (...) be hostile toward utopia in disciplines related to architecture, and modernist architecture has been attributed with utopian impulses.3 In .. (shrink)

The present study investigates the collocation-induced semiosis of the linguistic sign AFRICA as being used in the academic section of the Corpus of Contemporary American English (known as COCA) (Davies, Mark. 2008. The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA): one billion words, 1990-present. Available online at https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/). Drawing on a hybrid theoretical framework, the study utilizes Charles Peirce’s (1931–58) semiotic model of the sign and Roman Jakobson’s theory of “markedness” (Jakobson, Roman. 1972. Verbal communication. Scientific American (Special Issue, September 1). (...) 73–80) as well as Stuart Hall’s treatment of “code” (Hall, Stuart. 1980. Encoding/decoding. In Stuart Hall, Doothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, & Paul Willis (eds.), Culture, media, language: Working papers in cultural studies, 1972–79, 117–127. New York: Routledge) and John Swales’ notion of “discourse community” (Swales, John M. 1990. Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). The study empirically tests the hypothesis that, in a given discourse domain, the relevant interpretant can decode a linguistic sign (representamen) in the co-text of its marked collocates in a way that is collocationally used via the two modes of iconic and indexical signification. The concordance-based analysis conducted in the present study offers two findings, theoretical and practical. First, the study proposes the theoretical concept of collocational semiosis as one way of methodologically integrating the study of collocation into a structural-linguistic analytic framework that richly intersects with the genre-based notion of “discourse community.” Second, in the academic discourse community of the COCA, to the expert interpretant, the representamen AFRICA has been decoded due to its marked collocates which have been technically used in two modes of signification, viz. iconic and indexical. (shrink)

In his early writings up unto his so-called “middle period” Schelling treats art as having a crucial role with respect to philosophy. Yet there is no consensus in the secondary literature as to the nature of this role, and the extent to which Schelling changed his mind on the subject. The paper will defend the claim that Schelling holds consistently, from his early texts to the Philosophy of Art, that philosophy is in some sense prior to art while essentially dependent (...) on it. The paper will explore the development of this position from various perspectives. This will shed light on Schelling’s view on both art and philosophy and his view that in the future the two will merge. (shrink)

Background:Ethical conflict is a barrier to decision-making process and is a problem derived from ethical responsibilities that nurses assume with care. Intensive care unit nurses are potentially exposed to this phenomenon. A deep study of the phenomenon can help prevent and treat it.Objectives:This study was aimed at determining the frequency, degree, level of exposure, and type of ethical conflict among nurses working in the intensive care units.Research design:This was a descriptive cross-sectional research.Participants and research context:In total, 382 nurses working in (...) the intensive care units in Iranian hospitals were selected using the random sampling method. Data were collected using the Ethical Conflict in Nursing Questionnaire-Critical Care Version (Persian version).Ethical considerations:This study was approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee. Ethical considerations such as completing the informed consent form, ensuring confidentiality of information, and voluntary participation were observed.Findings:The results showed that the average level of exposure to ethical conflict was 164.39 ± 79.06. The most frequent conflict was related to “using resources despite believing in its futility,” with the frequency of at least once a week or a month (68.6%, n = 262). The most conflictive situation was violation of privacy (76.9%, n = 294). However, the level of exposure to ethical conflict according to the theoretical model followed was the situation of “working with incompetent staff.” The most frequently observed type of conflict was moral dilemma.Conclusion:The moderate level of exposure to ethical conflict was consistent with the results of previous studies. However, the frequency, degree, and type of ethical conflict were different compared to the results of other studies. Recognizing ethical conflict among intensive care unit nurses can be useful as it allows to consolidate those measures that favor low levels of ethical conflict, design appropriate strategies to prevent ethical conflicts, and improve the nursing work environment. (shrink)

In this paper I present a criticism of Sarah Moss‘ recent proposal to use scoring rules as a means of reaching epistemic compromise in disagreements between epistemic peers that have encountered conflict. The problem I have with Moss‘ proposal is twofold. Firstly, it appears to involve a double counting of epistemic value. Secondly, it isn‘t clear whether the notion of epistemic value that Moss appeals to actually involves the type of value that would be acceptable and unproblematic to regard as (...) epistemic. (shrink)

One of the major arguments for theological voluntarism offered by the Ash’arites involves the claim that that some of the factors upon which our salvation or condemnation depend are beyond our control. We will call this “the problem of salvific luck.” According to the Ash’arites, the fact that God does save and condemn human beings on the basis of factors beyond their control casts doubt on any non-voluntarist conception of divine justice. A common way to respond to this Ash’arite argument (...) for voluntarism is to eliminate the role of luck in God’s judgments. But this is not the Mu’tazilite way of resisting the argument. The Mu’tazilite, who oppose theological voluntarism, choose a more daunting solution to the problem of salvific luck. They reject the claim that God’s Judgment concerning the eternal destiny of some persons would be unjust if it depended upon factors beyond their control. The paper discusses this solution to the problem of salvific luck. (shrink)

It is argued that Hick’s theory of religion does not logically preclude non-pluralist responses to religious diversity. This contention has been overlooked in discussions of Hick’s thought. The implication is that one who accepts Hick’s theory is free to explore alternatives to religious pluralism. I gesture at some Islamic scriptural resources that may inspire a committed Muslim fond of Hick’s theory to seek an alternative to religious pluralism.

Nowrouz is the Iranian New Year that is celebrated during Eid, the longest Iranian festival. During the festival, families construct a Nowrouz cloth upon which several symbolic items are placed to celebrate the new year. One of these items is a goldfish who is placed in a bowl and discarded at the conclusion of the holiday. Goldfish are viewed as objects to be purchased, used, and disposed of without serious moral consideration. Given both the principle of the Nowrouz holiday as (...) a celebration of peace as well as the current scientific evidence supporting the existence of pain in goldfish, the use of one in the Nowrouz is ironic and ethically inconsistent. (shrink)

One of the measures taken by states to relieve the burden of providing for asylum seekers and refugees is privatization and delegation of asylum regimes. I analyze the privatization and delegation of authority that is taking place within asylum systems and describe three tiers of privatization/delegation: 1. admission at points of entry or criminalization of undocumented entry, 2. status determination, 3. social integration and provision of social and economic rights and benefits. I then ask why states are privatizing and delegating (...) authority within the context of asylum systems and argue that privatization and delegation of authority are intended to be used to maintain control and reduce immigration and integration of asylum seekers. Governments are often helpless in their attempts to manage refugee migration and need to recruit other sectors to assist them in regaining control over immigration. This “tool” is particularly instrumental as it allows governments to maintain—to a large extent—control of immigrations and at the same time distance themselves from their responsibilities, from human rights violations, etc. Governments attempt to have private or other actors carry out acts that they cannot—whether because of practical reasoning or due to legal constraints. Finally, I argue that asylums systems are a special locus; thus, special care, great caution, much regulation, or complete refrain from privatizing at all, is paramount since privatization of asylums systems carries unique and severe consequences. (shrink)

Neurofibromatosis type 1 is associated with peripheral and central nervous system tumors. It is noteworthy that the regions in which these tumors frequently arise are the optic pathways and the brainstem. Thus, we decided to trace the procedure of diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging alterations along with Short-Wavelength Automated Perimetry examinations of the OPs after surgery and chemotherapy over 1 year, which enabled us to evaluate chemotherapy's efficacy in an NF1 patient with an OP tumor. In this study, a 25-year-old woman (...) with NF1 and left optic radiation glioma underwent surgery to remove the glioma. Immunohistochemistry revealed a Pilocytic Astrocytoma WHO grade I. Post-operation chemotherapy done using nine treatment cycles of administering Temozolomide for 5 days every 4 weeks. Applying the region of interest differential tractography method and SWAP four times every 3 months allowed us to follow the patient's visual acuity alterations longitudinally. The differential deterministic tractography method and statistical analyses enabled us to discover the white matter tracts anisotropy alterations over time. Furthermore, statistical analyses on the SWAP results along time illustrated possible alterations in visual acuity. Then, we could compare and associate the findings with the SWAP examinations and patient symptoms longitudinally. Statistical analyses of SWAP tests revealed a significant improvement in visual fields, and longitudinal differential tractography showed myelination and dense axonal packing in the left OR after 1 year of treatment. In this study, we examined an old hypothesis suggesting that chemotherapy is more effective than radiotherapy for NF1 patients with OP gliomas because of the radiation side effects on the visual field, cognition, and cerebrovascular complications. Our longitudinal clinical case study involving dMRI and SWAP on a single NF1-OPG patient showed that chemotherapy did not suppress the OP myelination over time. However, it should be noted that this is a clinical case study, and, therefore, the generalization of results is limited. Future investigations might focus on genetic-based imaging, particularly in more cases. Further, meta-analyses are recommended for giving a proper Field Of View to researchers as a subtle clue regarding precision medicine. (shrink)

Asserting that humanitarian intervention is a highly ambiguous principle, Pasic and Weiss warn of the dangers of politically driven rescues that often force trade-offs between the pursuit of rescue and political order.

Using the Stroop paradigm, we have previously shown that a specific suggestion can remove or reduce involuntary conflict and alter information processing in highly suggestible individuals . In the present study, we carefully matched less suggestible individuals to HSIs on a number of factors. We hypothesized that suggestion would influence HSIs more than LSIs and reduce the Stroop effect in the former group. As well, we conducted secondary post hoc analyses to examine negative priming – the apparent disruption of the (...) response to a previously-ignored item. Our present findings indicate that suggestion reduces Stroop effects in HSIs. Secondary analyses show that LSIs had an NP effect at baseline and that suggestion influenced the NP condition. Thus, at least in this experimental context, suggestion seems to dampen a deeply-engrained and largely automatic process – reading – by wielding a larger influence on HSIs relative to comparable LSIs. (shrink)