ḥeleḳ 1. Hadrakhah le-shalom bayit : sefer hadrakhah meforaṭ be-ʻinyene shidukhim ṿe-shelom bayit be-niśuʼin ʻa. p. maʼamre Ḥazal -- ḥeleḳ 2. Hadrakhah le-ṭaharat ha-bayit : ʻiḳre ha-halakhot ha-ḥiyuniyot : ʻa. p. pisḳe maran ha-Shu. ʻa. ṿeha-Rema uve-tsiruf hakhraʻot aḥarone zemanenu.

Arguing that the universe is absolutely directioned and that there exist spatial (directional) relations that Leibniz overlooked, H. Scott Hestevold formulates a new relationalist theory of space, exploring its implications for the Special Composition Question, reductivism regarding boundaries and holes, and the nature of spacetime.

Professor H. James Birx shows how the never-ending controversy of human evolution came to be. He details the events that caused thinkers like Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution, and what ideas caused some people to reconcile a somewhat mystical theology with a concrete model of the universe. He tells you how Darwin's work infuriated everybody from "God-fearing" Christians to the church heirarchies. Birx explains how scientific advances and philosophical arguments have made beliefs about divine intervention as the (...) origin of man a moot point. He shows how creationism ignores proven scientific facts, and how human evolution remains a much sounder truth. You'll read how some western religions are starting to accept evolution as the process which creates life on earth. You'll also learn why scientific evolution and creationism have not been accepted together and how bold attempts to merge the two ideas have failed miserably. (shrink)

For two hundred years, Americans have believed that they have an obligation to improve the lot of humanity, a belief that has consistently shaped U.S. foreign policy. Yet within this consensus, there are two competing schools of thought: the "exemplarist" school (Brands' term) which holds that what America chiefly owes the world is the benign example of a well-functioning democracy, and the "vindicationist" school which argues that force must sometimes supplement a good example. In this book, H.W. Brands traces the (...) evolution of these two schools as they emerged in the thinking and writing of the most important public thinkers of the past two centuries. (shrink)

On the rights of husband and wife according to Islamic teachings.

Context: In 1974, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela published De Máquinas y Seres Vivos Autopoiesis: La organización de lo vivo in Santiago, Chile as a little book. A second edition of this publication was proposed in 1994, and the present document is a recent translation of Maturana’s reflections “twenty years after.” Problem: The book clearly enunciates what it means to say that living systems are molecular autopoietic systems, and this Preface reflects on the shift of understanding from earlier notions of (...) self-referred or auto-referred systems to the concept of autopoiesis. Implications: The Preface describes the systemic quality that is human living and human sense-making. It marks what we can retrospectively see as the bridge between the explicitly biological studies of Maturana (and Varela), and the later, more anthropological and therapeutic work of Maturana with Gerda Verden-Zöller between 1989 and 1994 and, especially, with Ximena Dávila Yáñez since the year 1999. Results: The underlying understanding implicit in this document outlines in great clarity the implications of Maturana’s fundamental insights. It presents both a logical and passionately argued case for mutual respect, grounded in scientific findings in biology. The Preface is a clear vision of why Maturana’s work has been so influential for reflexivity and constructivism. (shrink)

On the political and social views of Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Ṭūsī, 1201-1274.

Nachdem auf den Ursprung des Fortschrittsdenkens in der Aufklärung und seine Vorgeschichte in der jüdisch-christlichen Erwartung des „Endes aller Dinge" hingewiesen worden ist, wird die Grundlegung des Fortschrittsdenkens in der Philosophie bei Hegel herausgestellt. Die Geschichte der Philosophie ist dem Anspruch nach bis Hegel die Entfaltung der Logik, d.h. der Bestimmungen des reinen Denkens, in der Zeit. Wie die Logik kennt die Geschichte einen Abschluss, ein höchstes Niveau, das das Ziel der historischen Entwicklung ist. Das politische Äquivalent dieser Geschichte ist (...) der Fortschritt im Bewusstsein der Freiheit. Heidegger spricht von demselben geschichtlichen Zusammenhang der Philosophie von Parmenides bis Hegel. Er charakterisiert diesen Zusammenhang aber nicht als Fortschritt, sondern als „Seinsvergessenheit". Der Seinsvergessenheit entspricht die „Selbstmächtigkeit" des Menschen, und das Vergessen des Seins kann konkretisiert werden als Unfähigkeit, die Natur zu denken. Zu dieser Geschichte gehört nicht nur Freiheitsbewusstsein, sondern auch Beherrschenwollen. Foucault bestreitet ausdrücklich nicht nur den Fortschritt, sondern auch die Kontinuität der Geschichte. Wissen wird nicht mit Emanzipation, sondern mit Macht in Zusammenhang gebracht. Das Fortschrittsbewusstsein erweist sich als Illusion angesichts zunehmender Normalisierung und Disziplinierung. Diese Position wird als zu radikal charakterisiert.Fortschritt und Zusammenhang bleiben gültig in bezug auf begrenzte Aspekte der Geschichte, deren andere gegenüberstehen, die negativ zu sehen sind. Der späte Foucault nähert sich dieser Auffassung an. Irigaray und Derrida machen deutlich, dass zum Vergessenen und Verdrängten in der europäischen Geschichte die gleichberechtigte Rolle der Frau gehört. Auch dies ist ein Preis, der für den Fortschritt bezahlt wird. Zugleich verweist das Weibliche auf andere Dimensionen des Geschehens. Emanzipation ist Fortschritt, nimmt aber zugleich die Gestalt der Gleichmacherei an, die das Besondere der Frau zum Verschwinden bringt. Wesentlicher als Fortschritt ist Gleichgewicht, nicht als statische Gegebenheit, sondern als stets aufs Neue zu gewinnende Ordnungsfunktion im chaotischen Strom der Ereignisse. (shrink)

Recent magnetic resonance imaging and pathological studies have indicated that axonal loss is a major contributor to disease progression in multiple sclerosis. 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy, through measurement of N -acetyl aspartate, a neuronal marker, provides a unique tool to investigate this. Patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis have few lesions on conventional MRI, suggesting that changes in normal appearing white matter, such as axonal loss, may be particularly relevant to disease progression in this group. To test this hypothesis (...) NAWM was studied with MRS, measuring the concentration of N -acetyl derived groups. Single-voxel MRS using a water-suppressed PRESS sequence was carried out in 24 patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis and in 16 age-matched controls. Ratios of metabolite to creatine concentration were calculated in all subjects, and absolute concentrations were measured in 18 patients and all controls. NA/Cr was significantly lower in NAWM in patients than in controls, as was the absolute concentration of NA. There was no significant difference in the absolute concentration of creatine between the groups. This study supports the hypothesis that axonal loss occurs in NAWM in primary progressive multiple sclerosis and may well be a mechanism for disease progression in this group. (shrink)