Thinking About Almost Everything brings together original thinking on a staggering range of topics across the sciences, arts and humanities, grouped into nine imaginative and sometimes startling thematic categories. Entries on terror, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and climate change are juxtaposed in the 'settlement' section, while 'Presences' brings together plant genetics, race, humans and animals, music theology, and the Willmore Conjecture. The short essays are written in a lively and accessible style, and the book is illustrated with original and (...) challenging images. Thinking About Almost Everything shows how even the most intricate and complex knowledge can enliven public curiosity and spark new thinking on issues either known or yet to be discovered. (shrink)

The question posed in this article is whether Catholics can fully, unreservedly, and conscientiously carry out their duties as citizens and as holders of their various public offices (legislative, judicial and executive) of the State, in accordance with the laws and constitution of the democratic and pluralist States in which they live. My concern—as a practicing Catholic and a practicing lawyer—is that the increasingly fierce Church criticism, which arose during the papacy of John Paul II and now of Benedict XVI, (...) of the perceived trend towards secularization in the social and political mores of Western (particularly European) democracies, and the greater readiness by Church officials to take it upon themselves explicitly to instruct the laity in political matters, puts this whole issue again into question. Should the bishops of the Catholic Church be seeking to use their ecclesiastical authority (over the faithful) to oppose or promote changes in the laws which apply to all within our society and/or to influence the way we might vote or carry out civic duties? This is a big and complex area involving the interplay of politics and theology; of private and public morality. It touches on the role of teaching office of the Catholic Church and the assent (and possibility of dissent) on the part of the faithful. It takes in questions of conscientious objection and unjust laws. It concerns individual conscience and the hope of salvation. It is about voting as sinning. It is about judging, and being judged. (shrink)

Critical and comparative analysis on the philosophical thoughts of ʻAlī Sharīʻatī and Sir Muhammad Iqbal, 19th and 20th centuries Muslim philosophers.

On Islamic religious life and Islamic ethics in view of various Islamic stories.

Resumo Uma das reivindicações centrais dos movimentos políticos islâmicos é cumprir ou impor a sharī'a . Mas a visão que esses movimentos têm destoa da maneira como os sistemas jurídicos muçulmanos funcionaram historicamente. A própria definição de sharī'a , sua relação com o poder político, e sua aplicação num processo que leva a uma decisão jurídica, foram simplificados durante o processo de codificação dos séculos XIX e XX, e os movimentos islamistas são herdeiros dessa concepção "ocidentalizada" de sharī'a. Frequentemente traduzido (...) com "lei religiosa" ou "direito islâmico" o termo sharī'a não corresponde ao conceito ocidental de "lei" nem tampouco engloba todo o campo do direito dos povos muçulmanos. Paralelamente à sharī'a , também há o qānūn (o direito do soberano), e as regras derivadas do costume ( 'urf , adalat ). O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a formação da dualidade entre sharī'a e qānūn no direito muçulmano até a codificação da sharī'a no século XX e a dissolução dessa dualidade nas ideologias islamistas contemporâneas. Palavras-chave: sharī'a; islamismo; direito muçulmano. One of the main claims of contemporary Islamic political movements is to implement the sharia. But the view of the sharia held by those movements diverges from the Muslim judicial systems as they actually functioned throughout history. The very definition of sharia, its relation with the political power, and its implementation in specific cases, were simplified during the process of codification that took place between the 19 th and 20 th centuries, and contemporary Islamic movements inherited this "westernized" conception of sharia. Though often translated as "Islamic law", the term does not correspond exactly to the Western concept of "law", and neither does it comprise the whole field of law among Muslim peoples. Parallel to the sharia, there is also the qānūn (the law of the ruler), and the rules derived from costume ( 'urf, adalat ). This article intends to analyze the formation of the duality between sharia and qānūn in Islamic law until the codification of the sharia in the 20 th century, and the dissolution of this duality in contemporary Islamist ideologies. Keywords: sharia; Islamism; Islamic law. (shrink)

O Fasl al-maqal, umas das obras originais de Averróis, se destaca por seu caráter polêmico. Sendo redigida como um pronunciamento jurídico, tem como um de seus objetivos principais analisar o estatuto da filosofia em face da Lei islâmica, ao verificar qual é a atitude que deve ser adotada por todo aquele que travar contato com as obras da antiguidade grega. Em um cenário em que a legitimidade da filosofia se coloca em questão, o diagnóstico e a solução propostos por Averróis (...) se destacam ao apresentar uma interpretação singular da Lei ante a filosofia, concebendo a segunda como um elemento necessário para a saúde da comunidade. Este artigo pretende analisar essa interpretação, na qual três pontos se colocam na consideração da relação entre filosofia e revelação: o (1) asseguramento da possibilidade do assentimento religioso individual e (2) da manutenção do bem-estar geral junto à (3) possibilidade de se afirmar a legitimidade de um intérprete que garanta o assentimento correto aos crentes não filósofos. (shrink)

A review of deVries' and O'Shea's books, both titled "Wilfrid Sellars". By Jaroslav Peregrin.

Thomas Kuhn had little to say about scientific change in biological science, and biologists are ambivalent about how applicable his framework is for their disciplines. We apply Kuhn’s account of paradigm change to evolutionary microbiology, where key Darwinian tenets are being challenged by two decades of findings from molecular phylogenetics. The chief culprit is lateral gene transfer, which undermines the role of vertical descent and the representation of evolutionary history as a tree of life. To assess Kuhn’s relevance to this (...) controversy, we add a social analysis of the scientists involved to the historical and philosophical debates. We conclude that while Kuhn’s account may capture aspects of the pattern of an episode of scientific change, he has little to say about how the process of generating new understandings is occurring in evolutionary microbiology. Once Kuhn’s application is limited to that of an initial investigative probe into how scientific problem-solving occurs, his disciplinary scope becomes broader. (shrink)

This study explores consumer expectations and attitudes related to gender-based price discrimination. Although much research has focused on pay inequalities and gender diversity, considerably less attention has been focused on situations in which men and women are charged different prices based on gender. In two studies, expectations and attitudes toward gender-based price discrimination are examined. In Study 1, two scenarios related to prices at hair salon and dry cleaning services were manipulated to measure expectations and attitudes toward gender-based price discrimination. (...) We found that the nature of the service results in expectations of price differences between men and women. We also found men expect gender-based pricing more than women. In Study 2, qualitative research was conducted to reveal the cognitions that men and women experience when exposed to gender-based price discrimination. (shrink)

Here we prove the existence of sheaf cohomology theory in arbitrary o-minimal structures.

Recent discoveries of geographical patterns in microbial distribution are undermining microbiology’s exclusively ecological explanations of biogeography and their fundamental assumption that ‘everything is everywhere: but the environment selects’. This statement was generally promulgated by Dutch microbiologist Martinus Wilhelm Beijerinck early in the twentieth century and specifically articulated in 1934 by his compatriot, Lourens G. M. Baas Becking. The persistence of this precept throughout twentieth-century microbiology raises a number of issues in relation to its formulation and widespread acceptance. This paper will (...) trace the conceptual history of Beijerinck’s claim that ‘everything is everywhere’ in relation to a more general account of its theoretical, experimental and institutional context. His principle also needs to be situated in relationship to plant and animal biogeography, which, this paper will argue, forms a continuum of thought with microbial biogeography. Finally, a brief overview of the contemporary microbiological research challenging ‘everything is everywhere’ reveals that philosophical issues from Beijerinck’s era of microbiology still provoke intense discussion in twenty-first century investigations of microbial biogeography. (shrink)

In this paper, I aim to clarify the role of ‘wonder’ in education. Most of us who work in education want to provide valuable experiences for our students, and we want them to be driven by intrinsic values such as truth and recognition of the dignity of human existence. However, whilst I echo many of the sentiments espoused by advocates of the utility and ethical significance of wonder, I contend that some recent developments—and in particular, Schinkel’s argument that ‘deep’ (‘contemplative’ (...) or ‘cosmic’) wonder has a ‘fundamental’ role in education—are misconceived. This is, I argue, because any concept deployable within educational spaces (whether formal or informal) must pay due regard to the conceptual constraints of the concept of ‘education’; that is, attention must be paid to the role of ‘learning’. Schinkel’s proposals are, I suggest, vulnerable to a critique of sentimentalism and excessive romanticism. As such, they offer little in terms of practical import for educators. As I will propose, if we are to take ‘wonder’ seriously in educational contexts, we must pay attention to the purpose of wonder as an epistemic emotion; namely, aiming for knowledge and understanding, and getting there requires sensitivity to practical know-how and conceptual competence. (shrink)

This study examines the communication strategies employed by MeritCare's public relations staff during the fen-phen case. The ethic of significant choice was the primary lens for the study. The study revealed that MeritCare's public relations staff members believed they did, in fact, follow the ethic of significant choice. Specifically, they perceived that the biases held by staff helped maintain the public's safety as the primary issue during the fen-phen events. They also believed that their communication strategies allowed them to avoid (...) ambiguity and emotionalized language. Finally, the staff members felt that teaming with Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota enabled them to influence the marketplace of ideas by capitalizing on the credible standing of Mayo Clinic. (shrink)

The tremendous recent growth of the women's movement as a political force has been accompanied by an event of equal import to the academic world--the development of the discipline of women's studies. Colleges across the nation are establishing programs in this area. Women's Studies is a classroom anthology designed for use in these newly-introduced courses.