In this paper, I discuss the current thesis on the modern origin of the ad hominem-argument, by analysing the Aristotelian conception of it. In view of the recent accounts which consider it a relative argument, i.e., acceptable only by the particular respondent, I maintain that there are two Aristotelian versions of the ad hominem, that have identifiable characteristics, and both correspond to the standard variants distinguished in the contemporary treatments of the famous informal fallacy: the abusive and the circumstancial or (...) tu quoque types. I propose to reconstruct the two Aristotelian versions (see sections 1 and 2), which have been recognized again in the ninteenth century (sec. 3). Finally, I examine whether or not it was considered as a fallacious dialogue device by Aristotle and by A. Schopenhauer (sec. 4). (shrink)

In “Context and Communication” Stephen Neale argues that the referential use of descriptions differs from the attributive use only in the pragmatics, making referential descriptions applicable to Russellian analysis. Marga Reimer disagrees with Neale’s view and argues that the difference is in the semantics, making referential descriptions semantically ambiguous. In this paper, I argue that Neale’s Modified Occam’s Razor overlooks the behavioral data of how we actually use language. I attempt to accommodate the strength of both Neale’s and Reimer’s explanations, (...) putting them in a framework governed by the principle of cognitive economy. (shrink)

RESUMENEl artículo que se presenta aquí traducido se editó en alemán en un volumen homenaje al filósofo Heinrich Rombach, quien se ha sabido unido a la «escuela de Freiburg » (en Briesgau) y determinado por la conexión entre Husserl y Heidegger, que, a pesar de las diferencias, es Fenomenología. Amigos, colegas y discípulos del profesor Rombach, por entonces profesor activo de la Universidad de Würzburg, dejaron en ese volumen huellas de haber oteado brechas y caminos muy distintos, en pos de (...) alcanzar espacios abiertos, libres y diversos, propios de un filosofar que se sabe estructural, intermundano e intercultural. La participación de Franco Volpi, que se concentró en el Welt und Gegenwelt de Rombach, caminó a la par de quienes transitaron el primero de los tres movimientos, que emprendió la filosofía de Rombach y que se llama Hermética filosófica. Inspirado, pues, por la lectura del Welt und Gegenwelt, Volpi defiende que con el proyecto de la hermética el pensar de Rombach aventaja, de modo radical, la Zeitkritik de Heidegger de los fundamentos epocales, en cuyo caso el profesor italiano pone a consideración el aporte de la Hermética en la tradición de la filosofía alemana, que alcanza al fundador de la escuela hermeneútica. La carta de respuesta de Rombach, por su lado, desmiente el haber tenido que ver con la Zeitkritik heideggeriana, y lleva a primer plano lo fundamental del fenómeno hermético, esto es, la unidad inmediata e inseparable de ser humano y realidad, lo cual acontece como el respectivo caminar juntos o a la par, y sería algo con lo cual se topa quien lo pueda ver. Hermética sería entonces el arte de ver esa unidad inmediata.PALABRAS CLAVEROMBACH–HERMÉTICA–HERMENEÚTICA–FENOMENOLOGÍA–CONCREATIVO.ABSTRACTThis is a translation of an article originally published in German in a special issue dedicated to philosopher Heinrich Rombach. Rombach identified himself as a member of the “Freiburg School” in Breisgau, and delimited by the connection between Husserl and Heidegger, which, despite their differences is Phenomenology. Friends, colleagues and disciples of Professor Rombach, who was back then an active Professor at the University of Würzburg, left traces in this volume of having glimpsed very different paths and gaps in the pursuit of reaching free, open and diverse spaces, characteristic of a structural, intermundane, and intercultural way of doing philosophy. Franco Volpi’s contribution moved along others who focused on the Rombach`s Welt und Gegenwelt, following the first of three movements undertaken by Rombach`s philosophy, namely philosophical Hermetics. Inspired by Welt und Gegenwelt, Volpi claims that with the hermetic project, the thought of Rombach surpasses, in a radical way, the Heideggerian Zeitkritik, and so the Italian Professor examines the contribution of the Hermetics in the tradition of German philosophy, that includes the founder of the school of hermeneutics. The letter with Rombach`s reply to Volpi`s claim, on the other hand, denies Rombach`s involvement with the Zeikritik. Instead, Rombach emphasizes the centrality of the hermetic phenomenon, that is, the immediate and inseparable unity of human being and reality, which happens as they respectively move along together or at the same time, understood by Rombach as a special discover for who can grasp it. According to this, Hermetic is the art of seeing that immediate unity.KEYWORDSROMBACH–HERMETICS–HERMENEUTICS–PHENOMENOLOGY–CONCREATIVE. (shrink)

This study explored the effect of word knowledge facets on second language Chinese lexical inference by highlighting the moderating effect of language proficiency level and learners’ heritage status. L2 Chinese learners with a mixture of linguistic and cultural backgrounds completed a series of word-knowledge measurements as well as a lexical inferencing task. Through a moderated path model, the study demonstrated that word-general knowledge and word-specific knowledge contributed to L2 Chinese lexical inference. In addition, the study underlined the moderating effect of (...) heritage status on the correlation between word knowledge and lexical inference. Given the distinct patterns between heritage and non-heritage learners, morphological awareness may define the characteristics of reading profiles in the Chinese heritage learner population. (shrink)

Inimvajadus seletatavana on empiirilis-teoreetiline mõiste, mille kaudu on sõnastatavad mitmed humanoloogilised normtasemeseadused . Vajadus seletajana on teatavate otsuste õigustaja. Artiklis visandatakse vajaduse teoreetiline mudel, mis kirjeldaks kindlat hulka praktiliselt paratamatuid inimelu fenomene, mida nimetatakse vajadusteks, seletaks vajaduste ilmnemist ja õigustaks vajaduste rahuldamisele ehk kahju vältimisele suunatud tegevust. Mudeli tarvilikud tingimused on vajaduse subjekt - inimisik või inimgrupp; vajaduse objekt ehk otstarve, mis rahuldab vajaduse ja kõrvaldab vajaduspinge; potentsiaalne kahju , mis vältimatult sünnib vajadushüve puudusest; vajaduse vältimatuse tingimused - kindlad sõltuvusseosed (...) inimkeha ja inimvaimu ning materiaalse ja kultuurilise elukeskkonna vahel; vajaduse pingetegur - sõltuvusseostest tulenev sund tegutseda vajaduse rahuldamise sihil. Inimvajadused on liigitatavad kahte kategooriasse ja mitmesse tüüpi. Vahetud vajadused on organismi füsioloogilised ja psüühilised vajadused ning organismi ja isiksuse keskkonna- ja elutingimusvajadused. Vahendlikud ehk funktsionaalsed olukorrakohased vajadused on tarbed vahendite järele, vältimaks või vähendamaks tõsist sattumuslikku kahju (nt kirurgia, ravimid); tarbed vahendite järele, rahuldamaks vahetuid vajadusi (nt toiduainete tööstus); tarbed vahetuid vajadusi rahuldava koostöö ja ressursiallikate järele; lõpuks tarbed innovaatiliste vahendite järele, millega tagada normtasemele vastavat eluviisi (nt elatusraha, osasaamist kultuuripärandist). Sellisena väljendab vajadus teatavat elutähtsat tingimust, mille kestev puudus tekitab vältimatult inimisikule tõsist kahju ja mille potentsiaalne või lühiajaline puudus avaldab inimesele praktiliselt paratamatut motiveerivat survet. Mis tahes vajaduse rahuldamise tõeliseks aluseks on isiksuse tõsise kahjustumise vältimine. Human need is an empirical-theoretical concept allowing formulation of humanological normic-level laws . The author proposes a theoretical model, which is able to describe a certain set of practically necessary phenomena of human life, to explain the appearance of these phenomena, and to justify decisions aiming at need-satisfaction, i.e. avoidance of serious harm . The necessary conditions of the model are a subject of the need (personal or collective), an object of the need (an appropriate operational function (purpose)), the potential harm of an unsatisfied need, nomological and humanological conditions of unavoidability of need , and the tension-factors of the need. There are two categories and several types of human needs. The immediate needs are the physiological and psychological functionality of an organism and the immediate life-conditions of an organism and personality. The intermediate , i.e. functional and circumstantial, needs are for the innovative means of direct harm avoidance and remedy, for the innovative means of the basic need-satisfaction, for the cooperation and for the sources (resources) of the basic need-satisfaction, and for the innovative providers of normal ( normic-level ) life-conditions. Therefore, the need is a vitally important condition, ongoing shortage of which inevitably and seriously harms a person, but a potential or a short-term shortage of which motivates him or her to practically necessary action. The genuine ground of need-satisfaction is the avoidance of causing serious harm to the human personality. (shrink)

Tax havens and tax secrecy have risen to the top of the global policy agenda and may constitute the most important impediment for reducing inequalities. Moreover, complex corporate structures allow charging for services undertaken in various countries through one low-tax country. Transferring profits to low-tax jurisdictions will significantly reduce a multinational corporation’s overall tax burden. Individuals are assisted in opening shell corporations that officially own bank accounts where the real owner is not revealed. Reducing this practice of tax dodging has (...) proven to be difficult, despite substantial efforts by several international organizations and states over the last decade. It is too easy to be removed from the list of tax havens; mere membership in OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes qualifies. Tax dodgers add to global inequalities and severely weaken states’ capacity to undertake their task of creating a solid tax base, embedded in the principle that all actors are taxed according to the income generated in each country. A weak tax base will lead to less trust, more violence and more deaths. Keywords: country-by-country reporting, EU, OECD, tax avoidance, tax evasion, tax havens. (shrink)

The present paper outlines some basic concepts of Alain Badiou’s philosophy of the subject, tracking down its inherent and complex philosophical implications. These implications are made explicit in the criticism directed against the philosophical sophistry which denies the pertinence of the concept of truth. Badiou’s philosophical innovation is based on three nodal concepts, namely truth, event and subject, and it must be revealed how the afore-mentioned concepts are organized and interrelated, eventually leading to reformulating the concept of the subject. In (...) its exercise, philosophy is intimately affiliated to the four adjacent procedures of mathematics, art, love and politics that could be understood as overall conditions on the margins of which philosophical thinking takes place. Separating philosophy from ontology and charging philosophy with what exceeds being, Badiou transforms it to the general theory of the event. Consequently the concept of the subject is disconnected from that of the object, the subject being not an instance of knowledge, but always a part of generic procedures and thus definable simply as a finite fragment or an operative configuration of the traces of the event. Therefore, it could be stated that Badiou’s theory of the subject is formal and refuses all essentialist connotations. (shrink)

The canonical statue known as the Barberini Faun is roundly viewed as a mysterious anomaly. The challenge to interpret it is intensified not only by uncertainties about its date and origin but also by the persistent idea that it represents a generic satyr. This paper tackles this assumption and identifies the statue with the satyr that King Midas captured in the well-known myth. Iconographic analysis of the statue's pose supports this view. In particular, the arm bent above the head, (...) the twist of the torso, and the splay of the legs are paralleled in many well-understood figures and furnish keys to interpreting the Barberini Faun as an extraordinary sleeping beast, intoxicated and fit for capture. The paper then explores the links between kings and satyrs in the Hellenistic age and finds grounds for understanding the statue within the context of royal patronage before the mid-second century BC. (shrink)

It is the ambition of natural science to provide complete explanations of reality. Collingwood argues that science can only explain events, not actions. The latter is the distinctive subject matter of history and can be described as actions only if they are explained historically. This paper explains Collingwood’s claim that the distinctive subject matter of history is actions and why the attempt to capture this subject matter through the method of science inevitably ends in failure because science explains events, not (...) actions. It argues that Collingwood’s defence of the methodological autonomy of history vis-à-vis natural science is not based on a commitment to human exceptionalism, i.e. the exclusion of human beings and their doings from the rest of nature, but on the view that explanations which appeal to norms are different in kind from explanations which appeal to empirical regularities. Given the close relationship between the method and the subject matter of a form of inquiry, actions elude any attempt to explain them through the scientific method because the application of this method entails that what is thus explained is not an action but an event. (shrink)

The Invention of Market Freedom, Eric MacGilvray , 216 pp., $94 cloth, $26.99 paper.What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, Michael Sandel , 256 pp., $27 cloth, $15 paper.Money: The Unauthorised Biography, Felix Martin , 336 pp., £20 cloth, £9.99 paper.Money has always inspired obsession, both in those who amass it and in those who think about it. “Man will never be able to know what money is any more than he will be able to know what God (...) is,” wrote the French financier Marcel Labordère to his friend John Maynard Keynes. The analogy is apt. Money, like God, injects infinity into human desires. To love it is to embark on a journey without end. (shrink)

Evaluation of contemporary morality, conduct of life, etc. according to Islamic viewpoints; collected articles.

This paper further extends the existing GARCH-MIDAS model to deal with the effect of microstructure noise in mixed frequency data. This paper has two highlights. First, according to the estimation of the long-term volatility components of the GARCH-MIDAS model, rAVGRV is adopted to substitute for the RV estimator. rAVGRV uses the rich data sources in tick-by-tick data and significantly corrects the impact of the microstructure noise on volatility estimation. Second, besides introducing macroeconomic variables, deposits in financial institutions, industrial (...) value-added, and M2), Chinese Economic Policy Uncertainty index and Infectious Disease Equity Market Volatility Tracker are introduced in the long-run volatility component of the GARCH-MIDAS model. As indicated by the results of this paper, the rAVGRV-based GARCH-MIDAS is slightly better than the RV model-based GARCH-MIDAS. In addition to the common macroeconomic variables significantly impacting stock market volatility, CEPU also substantially impacts stock market volatility. Nevertheless, the effect of EMV on the stock market is insignificant. (shrink)

" Les réflexions de Frédéric Schiffter, qu'on les tienne pour philosophiques ou anti-philosophiques, sont inséparables d'une humeur portée sur le scepticisme et le pessimisme, un peu à la manière de Cioran. Frédéric Schiffter fait de l'ennui une composante essentielle de la vie humaine (tel Schopenhauer) ; mais en même temps il défend sans cesse la réalité contre les utopies qui en interdisent une vision lucide et qu'il range dans deux catégories philosophiques qui lui sont personnelles : l'ordre du blobla et (...) l'ordre du chichi. L'homme du blabla vante l'irréel : c'est un charlatan. L'homme du chichi décrie le réel : c'est un précieux dégoûté. Mélangeant comme Montaigne anecdotes et considérations philosophiques, écrit dans une langue simple et élégante, ce livre se lit d'une traite et très agréablement. " Clément Rosset. (shrink)

" Les réflexions de Frédéric Schiffter, qu'on les tienne pour philosophiques ou anti-philosophiques, sont inséparables d'une humeur portée sur le scepticisme et le pessimisme, un peu à la manière de Cioran. Frédéric Schiffter fait de l'ennui une composante essentielle de la vie humaine (tel Schopenhauer) ; mais en même temps il défend sans cesse la réalité contre les utopies qui en interdisent une vision lucide et qu'il range dans deux catégories philosophiques qui lui sont personnelles : l'ordre du blobla et (...) l'ordre du chichi. L'homme du blabla vante l'irréel : c'est un charlatan. L'homme du chichi décrie le réel : c'est un précieux dégoûté. Mélangeant comme Montaigne anecdotes et considérations philosophiques, écrit dans une langue simple et élégante, ce livre se lit d'une traite et très agréablement. " Clément Rosset. (shrink)

Aeneas ends his first speech to Dido as follows: quae te tam laeta tulerunt saecula? qui tanti talem genuere parentes? in freta dum fluuii current, dum montibus umbrae lustrabunt conuexa, polus dum sidera pascet, semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt, quae me cumque uocant terrae. A number of parallels have been cited for 607–9, notably Eel. 1.59f. and the positive statement at Eel. 5.76ff., which even ends with the same line.

The Pebble Limited Partnership proposes to create the Pebble Mine, one of the world’s largest open-pit mines, in the Bristol Bay watershed, home to Alaska’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. De...

En la obra de Jenofonte, Sócrates es un modelo de virtud a imitar por aquellos que aspiran a adquirir las virtudes que él encarna. La ejemplaridad de Sócrates es entonces esencialmente la de un modelo que se puede imitar. El Sócrates de Platón no ocupa nunca el rol de modelo a imitar por aquellos que aspiran a la virtud, sin duda porque la virtud, para el Sócrates de Platón, no es el fruto del ejercicio (askêsis). Si la virtud consiste esencialmente (...) en un conocimiento, no tiene ninguna utilidad imitar a Sócrates, pues una imitación tal no procura ningún conocimiento. (Traducción de: María Sol Oliva y Graciela Marta Chichi). (shrink)

Building on work by Popper, Schweber, Nozick, Sober, and others in a still-growing literature, I explore here the conceptual kinship between Adam Smith''s ''invisible hand'' and Darwinian natural selection. I review the historical ties, and examine Ullman -Margalit''s ''constraints'' on invisible-hand accounts, which I later re-apply to natural selection, bringing home the close relationship. These theories share a ''parent'' principle, itself neither biological no politico-economic, that collective order and well-being can emerge parsimoniously from the dispersed action of individuals. The invisible (...) hand operates on ''memes'' the way natural selection operates on genes. Like Darwin''s concept, it brings together traditional opposites, ''nature'' and ''selection,'' forming a saltation-mitigating transition between biological instinct and full-blown conscious design. Herschel''s criterion of confirmation, which Darwin long strove to satisfy, is itself an invisible hand-like meme – a ''Midas effect'' revealing and rewarding the fittest theories, Darwin''s and Smith''s emphatically among them. (shrink)

In his first research project, Greimas developed and applied new methods in the historical lexicology of modern French. His theoretical articles formulate a sociological approach that analyses vocabulary as a history of culture, illustrated in his two dissertations on fashion in 1830. In the 1980s, from the perspective of his semiotics, Greimas dismissed his early scholarship as failed experiments that taught him what not to do. In the changed epistemological context of the 21st century, the work appears as pioneering research (...) in cultural studies which possesses clear scholarly value. Greimas’ philological and lexicological training bore fruit directly and indirectly throughout his career. Two decades before he launched his semiotics, his project for lexicology proposes a semantic methodology, envisions the construction of an organon for the human sciences, and explicitly calls for a multi-generational collaborative enterprise. Like his structural semantics and semiotics, this lexicology entails three inseparable components: epistemological foundations, concrete methodologies, and robust applications. Moreover, a focus on the lexeme characterizes Greimas’ structural semantics and persists in his semiotics.В своей первой научно-исследовательской работе Греймас разработал и применил новые методы в исторической лексикологии современного французского языка. В его теоретических статьях сформулирован социологический подход, который анализирует лексику как историю культуры. Это иллюстрируют две диссертации Греймаса о моде в 1830 году. В 1980-х годах он отошел от своих ранних работ, считая их неудачными. Но в изменившемся эпистемологическом контексте 21-го века эти работы выглядят в культурных исследованиях новаторскими, обладающими несомненными академическими достоинствами. Филологическое и лексикологическое образование Греймаса давало прямые и косвенные результаты в течение всей его карьеры. За два десятилетия до начала семиотических исследований Греймас предлагает в своем лексикологическом проекте семантическую методологию, строительство органона для гуманитарных наук, а также призывает к междисциплинарному сотрудничеству. Как и структурная семантика и семиотика Греймаса, эта лексикология включает в себя три неразделимых компонента: эпистемологические основы, конкретные методологии и возможности применения. Кроме того, внимание к лексеме характеризует всю структурную семантику Греймаса и сохраняется в его семиотике. Oma esimeses teadusprojektis tootas Greimas valja nuudisprantsuse keele ajaloolise leksikoloogia uued meetodid ning rakendas neid. Tema teoreetilistes artiklites sonastatakse sotsioloogiline lahenemine, mis analuusib sonavara kui kultuuriajalugu ja mida illustreerivad tema kaks vaitekirja 1830ndate aastate moe kohta. 1980ndatel aastatel taandus Greimas oma varajastest uurimustest kui ebaonnestunud katsetustest. 21. sajandi muutunud epistemolooglises kontekstis osutub tema looming teedrajavaks uurimistooks kultuuriuuringute vallas. Greimase fi loloogiline ja leksikoloogiline ettevalmistus kandis kogu tema karjaari valtel vilja nii otseselt kui kaudselt. Kaks aastakummet enne seda, kui ta tuli valja oma semiootikaga, pakkus tema leksikoloogiaprojekt valja semantilise metoodika, nagi ette humanitaarteaduste organoni loomist ning kutsus otsesonu ules multidistsiplinaarsele koostoole. Nagu tema strukturaalne semantika ja semiootika sisaldab ka see leksikoloogia kolme uksteisest lahutamatut komponenti: epistemoloogilisi aluseid, konkreetseid meetodeid ja julgeid rakendusi. Lisaks iseloomustab lekseemile keskendumine Greimase strukturaalset semantikat ning jaab pusima tema semiootikas. (shrink)

With contributions by John J. Cleary, Gregor Damschen, Rainer Enskat, Francisco J. Gonzalez, Jürgen Mittelstraß and Carlo Natali (all on Plato) as well as by Enrico Berti, Nicolas Braun, Graciela M. Chichi, Wolfgang Kullmann, Helmut Mai, Alejandro G. Vigo, Franco Volpi and Hermann Weidemann (all on Aristotle).

The article’s aim is to present plastic semiotics, one of the most recent branches of the Greimassian School. In his Structural Semantics: An Attempt at a Method (1966) Algirdas Julius Greimas stated that sensorial perception was the dimension in which the grasping of meaning takes place, but explicit principles of the analysis of this nonlinguistic dimension were published only years later, in his article “Figurative semiotics and plastic semiotics” (1984). Since then, plastic semiotics has been leading independent existence, focused on (...) the eff ects of sense generated by the form and the substance of expression. Plastic analysis has turned out to be a fruitful approach not only in the field of visual studies, but also in the research into other sensorial expressions.Статья знакомит с одной из наиболее молодых ветвей греймасовской семиотики – пластической. В книге Греймаса ≪Структурная семантика: поиск метода≫ (1966) чувственное восприятие было определено как измерение, в котором осуществляется схватывание смысла/значения. Основы анализа этого неязыкового измерения были изложены им позднее в статье ≪Фигуративная семиотика и пластическая семиотика≫ (1984). С тех пор пластическая семиотика превратилась в самостоятельную дисциплину, которая фокусируется на сенсорных эффектах смысла, произведенных формой и сущностью выражения. Пластический анализ оказался плодотворным подходом не только в области визуальных исследований, но и в исследованиях других сенсорных выражений.Artikli eesmargiks on tutvustada plastilist semiootikat, uht Greimase koolkonna uuemat haru. Greimase teoses “Strukturaalne semantika: meetodi otsingul” (1966) nimetati meeletaju selleks mootmeks, milles leiab aset tahenduse tabamine. Selle mittekeelelise mootme analuusi sonaselged pohimotted ilmusid aga aastaid hiljem Greimase artiklis “Figuratiivne semiootika ja plastiline semiootika”. Sestsaadik on plastiline semiootika muutunud iseseisvaks distsipliiniks, keskendudes meelelistele tagajargedele, mida tekitavad valjenduse vorm ja sisu. Plastiline analuus on osutunud viljakandvaks lahenemiseks mitte uksnes visuaaluuringute vallas, vaid ka teiste meeleliste valjenduste uurimisel. (shrink)

This book is also concerned with world economics, but it is approached from the viewpoint of ethics. It argues that the hubris of the present global market is destroying communities and wreaking irrevocable damage to the planet: we live in a modern version of the Midas myth.Justice in its broadest sense -- fair shares for all -- is eloquently held up as the prime virtue of human communities. Timothy Gorringe, Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Exeter, offers (...) practical suggestions for an ethical transformation to replace the spiraling profit-driven economy with a steady-state economy that meets human needs and encompasses the well-being of other species and the environment. (shrink)

In the twenty-eighth book of the Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elder claims that, if a chameleon’s left leg is roasted together with a herb bearing the same name, and everything is mixed with ointment, cut in lozenges, and stored in a wooden little box, this will bestow on those who own it a perfect camouflage. The ring of Gyges (Plato, etc.), that of Midas (Pliny), the heliotropium (Pliny), the dracontitis (Philostratus): ancient cultures abound with references to objects, recipes, and (...) techniques able to bestow different kinds of invisibility, meant as a perfect resemblance with the environment. At the same time, these same cultures also teem with references to how to avert the perfect camouflage: for instance, by being endowed with a pupula duplex, a double pupil (Ovid).The paper explores such vast corpus of texts from the point of view of a semiotics of cultures, in order to track the roots of a conception of camouflage that, from these ancient cultures on, develops through intricate paths into the contemporary imaginaires (and practices) of invisibility.The paper’s more general goal is to understand the way in which cultures elaborate conceptions of invisibility meant as the perfect resemblance between humans and their environments, often on the basis of the observation of the same resemblance between other living beings and their habitat. Ancient texts aretherefore focused on in order to decipher the passage from camouflage as an adaptive natural behaviour to camouflage as an effective combat strategy. (shrink)

The emergence of New Realism in philosophy and the Ontological Turn in anthropology testify to the increasing attention paid in the human sciences to the topic of ‘reality’. The aim of this essay is to reread and translate Greimas’ proposal of a semiotic of the natural world, so as to suggest how his concepts might contribute to the contemporary intellectual debate. From a discussion of Greimas’ attempt to solve the problem of the relation between ‘language’ and ‘world’ in nonreferentialist terms, (...) the essay will then move to identify the four forms of correlation that constitute natures and worlds, objects and subjects. In bringing his argument to the extreme consequences, I will call for a reevaluation of structuralism, and propose to distinguish ‘reality’ from ‘the real’. Both hypotheses rest on the idea that relations are the matter we are made of.Появление нового реализма в философии и ≪онтологического поворота≫ в антропологии свидетельствует о росте внимания к теме ≪реальности≫ в гуманитарных науках. Цель статьи – перечитывание и интерпретация греймасовского определения ≪семиотики естественного мира≫ (semiotics of the natural world), чтобы понять, каким образом его концепции могли бы способствовать решению вопросов в интеллектуальных дебатах современности. Автор статьи исследует попытку Греймаса решить проблему взаимосвязи между ≪языком≫ и ≪миром≫ в нереференциальных терминах, затем переходит к определению четырех возможных форм корреляции, которые создают природы и миры, объекты и предметы. Доводя аргументы Греймаса до крайних выводов, автор призывает к переоценке структурализма и предлагает отличать ≪реальность≫ от ≪реального≫. Обе гипотезы опираются на идею, что именно отношения создают нашу основу.Uusrealismi esiletous fi losoofi as ja ‘ontoloogiline poore’ antropoloogias annavad tunnistust uha kasvavast tahelepanust, mida humanitaarias pooratakse ‘tegelikkkuse’ teemale. Kaesoleva kirjutise eesmargiks on ule lugeda ja tolgendada Greimase esitatud “loomuliku maailma semiootikat”, et naidata, kuidas tema moisted voiksid kaasa aidata praegusele intellektuaalsele debatile. Greimase katsest lahendada ‘keele’ ja ‘maailma’ vahelise suhte probleemi mittereferentsiaalsetes terminites liigutakse edasi maaratlema nelja korrelatsioonivoimalust, mille moodustavad loomused ja maailmad, objektid ja subjektid. Greimase vaidete aarmuslike jareldusteni joudes kutsun ules strukturalismi umber hindama ning teen ettepaneku eristada ‘reaalsust’ ‘reaalsest’. Molemad hupoteesid lahtuvad ideest, et suhted moodustavadki ainese, millest me koosneme. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Three Poems JANE BLANCHARD Persephone This business of dividing time is not The easiest. Six months below with him; Six months above with her—such means a lot Of moving out and settling in. For them, I must abandon home and habits twice A year and never have a moment to Myself. It seems the greater sacrifice Is mine than theirs. I come and go when due As set forth (...) in a compromise once made Or rather ordered. Being loved so much Is less a blessing than a curse. Afraid I may get used to staying out of touch, My husband and my mother have proved loath To understand I always care for both. arion 26.3 winter 2019 Midas Whatever touched would turn to gold! Allowed one wish, he made his choice, Then reached to grasp all he could hold: Whatever touched would turn to gold! The impact could not be controlled. The wish he wished he could unvoice? Whatever touched would turn to gold! Allowed one wish, he made his choice. 70 three poems Sisyphus I roll the bolder up the hill. The bolder rolls back down again. There is to be no standing still. My efforts take no thought or skill; The next is what the last has been: I roll the bolder up the hill. Repeatedly, I find no thrill In this relentless discipline. There is to be no standing still. Time after time, the selfsame drill Gets old and even older when I roll the bolder up the hill. The chance of any change is nil. Since I am doomed, to my chagrin, There is to be no standing still. According to some greater will, The bolder rolls its rolls, and then I roll the bolder up the hill. There is to be no standing still. Jane Blanchard 71... (shrink)

The psychopathological profile of patients with medication overuse headache appears to be particularly complex. To better define it, we evaluated their performance on a targeted psychological profile assessment. We designed a case-control study comparing MOH patients and matched healthy controls. Headache frequency, drug consumption, HIT-6, and MIDAS scores were recorded. All participants filled in the following questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory-II Edition, trait subtest of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale. The primary (...) endpoint was to establish if MOH patients have an altered psychopathological profile. The secondary endpoint was to establish whether the worst profile correlates with the worsening of headache and disability measures. We enrolled 48 consecutive MOH patients and 48 HC. MOH patients showed greater difficulty in recognition/regulation of emotions, depression, anxiety, and impulsiveness. We found a positive correlation among DERS, BDI-2, STAI-Y, and BIS scores and MIDAS and HIT-6 scores and among DERS and headache frequency and drug consumption. MOH patients showed a high rate of emotion regulation difficulties, depression, and anxiety, which may negatively affect their headaches. The ability to regulate/recognize emotions may play a central role in sustaining medication overuse. (shrink)

In this paper, we investigate the impact of economic policy uncertainty on the conditional dependence between China and U.S. stock markets by employing the Copula-mixed-data sampling framework. In the case of EPU, we consider the global EPU, the American EPU, and the China EPU. The empirical analysis based on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index in China and the S&P 500 index in the U.S. shows that the tail dependence between China and U.S. stock markets is symmetrical, and the t (...) Copula outperforms alternative Copulas in terms of in-sample goodness of fit. In particular, we find that the t Copula-MIDAS model with EPU dominates the traditional time-varying t Copula in terms of in-sample fitting. Moreover, we observe that both the GEPU and AEPU have a significantly positive impact on the conditional dependence between China and U.S. stock markets, whereas CEPU has no significant impact. The tail dependence between China and U.S. stock markets exhibits an increasing trend, particularly in the recent years. (shrink)

Chronic migraine is a difficult disease to diagnose, and its pathophysiology remains undefined. Its symptoms affect the quality of life and daily living tasks of the affected person, leading to momentary disability. This is a pilot, randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trial study with female patients between 18 and 65 years old with chronic migraine. The patients underwent twelve mindfulness sessions paired with anodal transcranial direct-current stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with current intensity of 2 mA applied for 20 (...) min, three times a week for 4 weeks. In addition, 20 min of mindfulness home practices were performed by guided meditation audio files. A total of 30 participants were evaluated after the treatment, and these were subdivided into two groups—active tDCS and sham tDCS, both set to mindfulness practice. The FFMQ-BR, MIDAS, and HIT-6 questionnaires were used to evaluate the outcomes. After the treatment, the active mindfulness and tDCS group showed better results in all outcomes. The sham group also showed improvements, but with smaller effect sizes compared to the active group. The only significant difference in the intergroup analysis was the outcome evaluated by HIT-6 in the post treatment result. Our results provide the first therapeutic evidence of mindfulness practices associated with left DLPFC anodal tDCS with a consequent increase in the level of full attention and analgesic benefits in the clinical symptoms of patients with chronic migraine. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Men Becoming Gods in "Style"Gioia and Girard on Divinized DesireJoshua Hren (bio)In our secular age we hear seekers of the sacred and religious devotees alike decry the soul-deadening, spirit-dumbing consequences of materialism. René Girard contends that—on the contrary—in the "leveled," horizontal world of a purportedly materialistic modernity this transcendent authority is deviated and distorted but it does not disappear. In his first major work, Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, (...) he argues that "the passion that drives men to seize or gain more possessions is not materialistic; it is the triumph of the mediator, the god with the human face."1 In a materialistic age, the gods are "pulled down from the heaven, the sacred flows over the earth" and men become "gods for each other."2Dana Gioia, former businessman and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, is no stranger to the economy of divinized desire. The stakes of our passions—whether we are wrecked by dubious wants or able to shed our infernal imitations—pierce his poetry. Gioia cites Girard as a significant influence alongside St. Augustine and Kierkegaard, though he does not indicate whether his own poetic investigations of mimesis are a direct yield of [End Page 149] his encounter with Girard or the independent discovery of attentive artistic intuition.3The refuge of lies so central to Girard is particularly palpable in Gioia's long narrative poem "Style."4 Charlie, the self-deprecating narrator, divinizes his college friend Tom, a business mogul who "prospered like one chosen by the gods."5 Tom uses his easy money to purchase gaudy metamorphoses, hosting magnificent events with his "flawless" wife Eden. An antihero of the unremarkable variety, Charlie attends all Tom's parties until he stops receiving invitations. When he discovers his deity's disappearance is tied to a terminal illness, he descends into the infernal "slums" of Tom's new hideout, and he finds his former hero hell-bent, ready to commit an arson that will erase his own existence in style. Charlie is confronted with a difficult decision that any coward would waver before. He has the chance to become an atheist—at least with respect to his dying god. After painting a portrait of man-made gods, the poem probes the question of whether and how we can cut short our penchant for great deceits.Charlie opens this narrative poem with an invective directed against himself.Just look at me. Isn't it obvious?I have no style. I'm just a human blur.On me expensive clothes look second-hand.They droop or sag. The color's never right.I wear the wrong apparel to the party.I pick the dullest item on the menu.Each haircut brings some new humiliation.6Crucially, we never receive an audit of this dour self-consciousness. By poem's end, no one has corrected or confirmed Charlie's condemnations. He may be right; his might be the antinomy of Midas's modus operandi. His hyperbolic portrait of Tom's greatness suggests that he is less than just to himself. His preoccupation with something as small as a menu item betrays a brutal obsessiveness. He employs the ascetical word "humiliation" in conjunction with a "haircut"—further revealing his unforgiving inner harshness. Charlie "always loved to visit Tom" precisely because he himself is Pathetic, Inc.7Were René Girard Charlie's older brother, he might sit the sad sap down on a comfortable couch and spell out the difficult truth as follows: The anti-hero "dreams of absorbing and assimilating his mediator's being."8 This highfalutin description of "the Other implies an insuperable revulsion for one's own substance."9 We ought not to take seriously the excuses these types give for their [End Page 150] failings and their fawning, for they "hate themselves on a more essential level than that of 'qualities.'"10 When Charlie disparages his badly cut bangs or his mismatched outfits, he's really incriminating his very being."The desire," Girard argues, "is aimed at the mediator's being."11 Charlie evinces this dynamic when he insists that Tom's "success was existential: / It wasn't what... (shrink)

Käesoleva artikli eesmärgiks on välja töötada olenditeooria mõningad põhimõisted. Olendit määratletakse teatavate eristumisprotsesside lõimimisena ehk "läbivaatusena". Nendel protsessidel on kaks külge, "esi-" ja "isekülg". Esikülg on kõrvutuvuslik, st. paljusus, mille elemendid on üksteise kõrval; isekülg on läbistuvuslik, st. paljusus, mille elemendid läbistavad üksteist. Need kaks külge ei sarnane teineteisega ja nende vahel liikumine kätkeb taandamatut ajalisust, ontogeneesi. Artiklis laiendatakse olendi mõistet "vertikaalis" erinevatele keerukustasanditele (eluline, molekuliline, atomaarne jt) ja "horisontaalis" erinevatele individualiseeritusastmetele. Isekülge käsitletakse liigendatuna piki afekteerimis- ja afekteeritavusviise, mis tähistavad (...) seda, mida olend suudab tajuda ja teostada, ehk seda, milleks ta on võimeline. Lõpuks käsitletakse esi- ja isekülge olemise kui protsessi kahe aspektina, esinemise ja isenemisena. Esinemise ja isenemise ringluste arvukus ja tempo variatiivsus määravad olendi väehulga. A Theory of Beings The paper proposes to work out concepts for describing the individualization of beings on various levels of organization. A being with a certain degree of individuality comes into being when certain processes of differenciation are being integrated together. It is conceived of as having two aspects, self-relation (isekülg) and other-relation (esikülg). The former is a multiplicity where the elements interpenetrate each other and the latter is a multiplicity where the elements are exterior to each other (juxtaposition). The articulations of interpenetrating multiplicity determine how a being can affect its surroundings and be affected by it, and the modes of this articulation can be seen as attractors of the "phase-space" of a being. Ontogenesis is on the one hand the actualization of this virtual phase-space in an actual form with its characteristic ways of spatialization and temporalization. On the other hand, ontogenesis means the revirtualization of juxtaposing elements and processes. The number and intensity of these circuits determines the degree of power of a being. The paper proposes to extend all these notions also to pre-biotic systems.  . (shrink)

The Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman seemingly had the “Midas touch” in reverse. Oxford, Littlemore, Dublin were all sites of failures; the “Achilli Affair” was a humiliation; the quarrel with Faber was an embarrassment. Nonetheless, most people today think of Newman as a rousing success story. Why? Newman serves as an object lesson in living the Paschal Mystery, whereby each moment of crisis can be transformed into a moment of grace.

This article compares two different approaches to the humanities in general and to anthropology in particular, represented by two renowned French scholars, Claude Levi-Strauss (1908–2009) and Germaine Tillion (1907–2008). While Levi-Strauss emphasized the importance of an objective stance in the humanities and wanted to eliminate all subjectivity, Tillion desired to reserve an exclusive role for subjectivity, preferring human individuals to abstractions. The article suggests looking for the reason for these opposite positions within the disparate experiences the two scholars had during (...) World War II: an American university life for Levi-Strauss, and “humanist classes” in a German concentration camp for Tillion. A person who had been through the schooling at Ravensbruck could not arrive at the same conception of the field as another whose experiences came from the campus of an American university.В этой статье сравниваются два разных подхода к гуманитарным наукам вообще и к антропологии в частности, представленные двумя знаменитыми французскими учеными Клод Леви-Строссом (1908–2009) и Жерменой Тильон (1907–2008). В то время как Леви-Стросс подчеркивал важность объективной позиции в гуманитарных науках и хотел устранить всякую субъективность, Тильон хотела зарезервировать исключительную роль для субъективности, предпочитая людей абстракциям. В статье предлагается найти причину этих противоположных позиций в несопоставимом опыте двух ученых во время Второй мировой войны: жизнь американского университета у Леви-Стросса и «уроки гуманизма», усвоенные Тильон в немецком концентрационном лагере. Человек, прошедший школу жизни в Равенсбрюке, не мог прийти к той же концепции, что и другой, живший в кампусе американского университета.Artiklis korvutatakse kahte erinevat lahenemist humanitaarteadustele uldisemalt ning antropoloogiale konkreetsemalt, mida esindasid kaks tunnustatud prantsuse teadlast, Claude Levi-Strauss (1908–2009) ja Germaine Tillion (1907–2008). Kui Levi-Strauss rohutas objektiivse hoiaku olulisust humanitaarias ning tahtis vabaneda igasugusest subjektiivsusest, siis Tillion soovis reserveerida subjektiivsusele eksklusiivset rolli, eelistades inimesi abstraktsioonidele. Artiklis pannakse ette otsida nende vastandlike seisukohtade pohjusi kahe opetlase erinevatest kogemustest II maailmasoja ajal: Levi-Straussi elust Ameerika ulikoolis ning Tillioni Saksa koonduslaagris omandatud “humanismioppetundidest”. Inimene, kes oli teinud labi Ravensbrucki koolituse, ei saanud hakata valdkonda kontseptualiseerima samamoodi kui teine, kelle kogemus parines Ameerika ulikoolilinnakust. (shrink)