Using a detailed analysis of scenes from Into the Wild, this study aims to demonstrate how the theory of the sublime, particularly Kant’s theory, can be applied to film. To this purpose, the sublime will be referred to in the film heuristically as the Cinematic Sublime. My basic assumptions here are as follows: First, Kant’s theory of the sublime can be seen as a philosophical and aesthetic emotion-oriented teaching. Second, the emotional-sensory experience of the sublime is always manifested in the (...) interconnection of both the film’s technical apparatus as well as its physical and mental perception. So the different modes of experiencing of the Cinematic Sublime can be described as filmic emotions. As a consequence, the phenomenon of the Cinematic Sublime is a textually constructed sensation, which can be analyzed with the help of textual analysis. Third, the Cinematical Sublime can be experienced through intersubjective activities of the audience during film reception, requiring a high degree of imagination, empathy and constitutive perception. Thus, I am undertaking a film-philosophical investigation that can be described as an analysis of film emotions based upon the textuality of film. (shrink)

This article explores the unusually high levels of cosmetic surgery in South Korea – for both women and men. We argue that existing explanations, which draw on feminist and postcolonial positions, presenting cosmetic surgery as pertinent only to female and non-western bodies found lacking by patriarchal and racist/imperialist economies, miss important cultural influences. In particular, focus on western cultural hegemony misses the influence in Korea of national identity discourses and traditional Korean beliefs and practices such as physiognomy. We show how (...) these beliefs provide a more ‘gendered’ as opposed to feminist analysis, which allows space for discussion of men’s surgeries. Finally, we critique the accepted notion of the ‘western body’, especially its position in some literature as a more unobtainable ideal for non-western than for western women. We argue that this body has little in common with actual western women’s bodies, and more in common with a globalized image, embodying idealized elements from many different cultures. (shrink)

v. 1. Sŏngnihak pʻyŏn -- v. 2. Kyŏngse sasang pʻyŏn.

Spécialiste de la pensée arabo-musulmane, plus particulièrement de la pensée de Ghazali, Farid Jabre mit à profit cet approfondissement pour envisager l'ouverture de leur legs à l'humanisme contemporain. Il procéda à l'analyse critique des catégories de pensée et des critères de vérité de la raison arabe. Il remania et réhabilita la terminologie philosophique arabe. Il fixa les conditions et les procédés de l'éclatement et du renouveau de la pensée philosophique arabo-musulmane en la soumettant à la raison parvenue à l'âge de (...) l'herméneutique. Mais sa principale contribution fut l'élaboration du projet de la création d'un courant de pensée philosophique humaniste d'expression authentiquement arabe. (shrink)

Olwen Bedford and Kwang-Kuo Hwang, Guilt and Shame in Chinese Culture: A Cross-cultural Framework from the Perspective of Morality and Identity, pp. 127–144.This article formulates a cross-cultural framework for understanding guilt and shame based on a conceptualization of identity and morality in Western and Confucian cultures. First, identity is examined in each culture, and then the relation between identity and morality illuminated. The role of guilt and shame in upholding the boundaries of identity and enforcing the constraints of morality (...) is then discussed from the perspective of each culture. The developed framework is then applied the emotions of guilt and shame in Chinese culture drawing on previous field research. Implications for future research are discussed. (shrink)

We review the concepts and the physics behind electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and lasing without inversion (LWI) for various models of the V-type configurations.

When naming certain hand-held, man-made tools, American Sign Language signers exhibit either of two iconic strategies: a handling strategy, where the hands show holding or grasping an imagined object in action, or an instrument strategy, where the hands represent the shape or a dimension of the object in a typical action. The same strategies are also observed in the gestures of hearing nonsigners identifying pictures of the same set of tools. In this paper, we compare spontaneously created gestures from hearing (...) nonsigning participants to commonly used lexical signs in ASL. Signers and gesturers were asked to respond to pictures of tools and to video vignettes of actions involving the same tools. Nonsigning gesturers overwhelmingly prefer the handling strategy for both the Picture and Video conditions. Nevertheless, they use more instrument forms when identifying tools in pictures, and more handling forms when identifying actions with tools. We found that ASL signers generally favor the instrument strategy when naming tools, but when describing tools being used by an actor, they are significantly more likely to use more handling forms. The finding that both gesturers and signers are more likely to alternate strategies when the stimuli are pictures or video suggests a common cognitive basis for differentiating objects from actions. Furthermore, the presence of a systematic handling/instrument iconic pattern in a sign language demonstrates that a conventionalized sign language exploits the distinction for grammatical purpose, to distinguish nouns and verbs related to tool use. (shrink)