This article highlights the distinction between the ‘art of nursing’ and ‘fine art’. While something in the nature of nursing can be described as ‘the art of nursing’, it is not to be misunderstood as ‘fine art’ or craft. Therefore, the term ‘aesthetic’ in relation to nursing should not be linked to the aesthetic of modern art, but instead to a broader and more general meaning of the word. The paper's main focus is the aesthetic experience, which is treated in (...) a hermeneutic way and elucidated from classical sources and the philosophy of nursing and from Art. The paper argues that the pioneers used the term ‘art of nursing’ in a metaphorical way to say something more specific on the nature of nursing. The term illustrates the nurse's ability to practise at the highest possible level of excellence. (shrink)

This article highlights the distinction between the ‘art of nursing’ and ‘fine art’. While something in the nature of nursing can be described as ‘the art of nursing’, it is not to be misunderstood as ‘fine art’ or craft. Therefore, the term ‘aesthetic’ in relation to nursing should not be linked to the aesthetic of modern art, but instead to a broader and more general meaning of the word. The paper's main focus is the aesthetic experience, which is treated in (...) a hermeneutic way and elucidated from classical sources and the philosophy of nursing and from Art. The paper argues that the pioneers used the term ‘art of nursing’ in a metaphorical way to say something more specific on the nature of nursing. The term illustrates the nurse's ability to practise at the highest possible level of excellence. (shrink)

The fact that the names of biological species refer independently of identifying descriptions does not support the view of Ghiselin and Hull that species are individuals. Species may be regarded as natural kinds whose members share an essence which distinguishes them from the members of other species and accounts for the fact that they are reproductively isolated from the members of other species. Because evolutionary theory requires that species be spatiotemporally localized their names cannot occur in scientific laws. If natural (...) kind status is denied to species on this ground, it must also be denied to most classes of concrete entities which are now accorded such status. (shrink)

Some biologists and philosophers of biology have seen in Plato an especially objectionable version of essentialism or topology. Although kinds of animals are mentioned in almost all of Plato's dialogues, in none of them is there an explicity stated doctrine of animal kinds. An examination of the dialogues has, moreover, failed to reveal some implicit but consistent and unambiguous view of kinds that Plato might have held.

Using Rappaport’s notion of liturgical orders, the essay argues that the fixity of features in some ritual scenes in the Iliad may denote a high communicational register and level of sanctity. The features of commensal and oath-sacrificing scenes are compared and contrasted – death is highlighted in oath-sacrifice, muffled in commensal sacrifice. There is a relative paucity of figurative language in ritual scenes, except in the case of the “pitiless bronze” which takes the life of the lambs and boar in (...) the oath-sacrifices of Books III and XIX. This figurative paucity is to be contrasted to the plenum of such language in scenes which depict battlefield killings. Finally the features of the cremation sacrifices of Iliad XXIII are examined against those of commensal and oath-sacrifices. The focalization on the “bulls cut down bellowing” in the precremation feast is startling because it jars with typical commensal sacrifices, but may be explained by the broken nature of the narrative and its punctuation by an oath-making ritual leitmotif. In contrast, the actual cremation sacrifices are situated within a strongly formalized liturgical order which does not permit focalization on dying victims, despite the references to poinē which introduce and conclude the funeral sacrifices.« Des bœufs mugissants égorgés ». Leitmotive rituels et pressions poétiques au chant XXIII de l’Iliade. En utilisant la notion d’ordres liturgiques de Rappaport, l’étude affirme que la fixité des traits de certaines scènes rituelles de l’Iliade pourrait refléter un registre communicationnel élevé, ainsi qu’un niveau de sacralité. Les traits des scènes de sacrifice alimentaire et de sacrifice juratoire sont comparés et mis en contraste – la mort est soulignée dans le sacrifice juratoire, dissimulée dans le sacrifice alimentaire. La rareté relative de langage figuré caractérise les scènes rituelles, à l’exception du « bronze sans pitié » qui prend la vie des agneaux et de l’ours dans les sacrifices juratoires des chants III et XIX. Une telle rareté s’oppose au foisonnement de ce type de langage dans les scènes qui décrivent les tueries sur le champ de bataille. Enfin, les traits des sacrifices de crémation du chant XXIII sont examinés en regard de ceux des sacrifices alimentaires et juratoires. La mise en perspective des « bœufs mugissants égorgés » dans la célébration qui précède la crémation est frappante, dans la mesure où elle détonne par rapport aux sacrifices alimentaires typiques, mais peut s’expliquer par la nature décousue de la narration et l’insertion ponctuelle du leitmotiv d’un rituel juratoire. Par contraste, les véritables sacrifices de crémation s’insèrent dans un ordre liturgique fortement formalisé qui ne permet pas la mise en perspective des victimes mourantes, en dépit des références à la poinē qui introduit et referme les sacrifices funèbres. (shrink)

As a growing number of embryos collect in fertility clinics, it is imperative to evaluate the permissibility of available options for genetic parents and fertility institutions. Much of the discussion on appropriate treatment of embryos has focused on the circumstances under which it is permissible to destroy embryos for instrumental purposes, and thus has little application to the fertility context. I aim to develop a new account of the value of embryos whereby embryos have final value in virtue of their (...) relationship to persons that could exist. I call this symbolic value. To establish this value, I first show that corpses have this same symbolic value in virtue of their relationship to prior persons, and then show that the cases of corpses and embryos are relevantly similar. Because of this value, we ought to treat embryos in particular respectful ways. It is currently common practice in the United States to simply discard extra embryos that exist as a result of in vitro fertilization. I argue it is generally impermissible to simply discard embryos because it is an act of disrespect and does not treat them in accordance with their value. (shrink)

Our view of the first half of the 20th century has been influenced by what we suppose to have occurred in the middle of that century. It is by now part of the conventional wisdom of the geological community that during the 1950’s and 1960’s a revolution occurred. It is further supposed by many, that before the revolution there was among geologists an uneasiness resulting from the lack of an organizing principle in terms of which accumulating facts could be understood. (...) It is difficult to see our own times in the kind of perspective that historians consider so important an ingredient of ‘good’ history. Geologists now only in their middle years began their careers before the ‘new tectonics’ came to pervade their discipline. They do not look back upon prerevolutionary days as a time waiting to be saved from crisis nor do they see themselves as having collected facts in anticipation of being able to weave them into some pattern on the basis of some as yet undiscovered truth. (shrink)

This paper analyses the impact of representation and search operators on Computational Complexity. A model of computation is introduced based on a directed graph, and representation and search are defined to be the vertices and edges of this graph respectively. Changing either the representation or the search algorithm leads to different possible complexity classes. The final section explores the role of representation in reducing time complexity in Artificial Intelligence.

It has been suggested that biological theories differ from physical theories because the subject matter of biology differs from the subject matter of physics especially in the fact that living bodies are more complex than nonliving bodies. It is shown that the interactional complexity of living bodies can only be expressed by invoking biological theories. The claim that living bodies are complex is, therefore, ultimately a claim about the nature of scientific theories rather than a claim about the nature of (...) the subject matter of biology resting upon a presystematic judgement. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Das Mittelalter Jahrgang: 20 Heft: 1 Seiten: 96-114.

Rooted in the Turco-Iranian Islamicate context of Transoxania, the Mughal dynasty met different experiences of contingency when establishing a new dominion on the subcontinent. This contribution focusses on the strategies to legitimize domination developed by the Mughals in a context of contingency, examining both the bureaucratic and the ideological sphere. Particular emphasis will be placed on a narratological examination of the ‚Maǧālis-i Ǧahāngīrī‘ by ʿAbd al-Sattār b. Qāsim Lāhōrī and the text‘s narrative strategies to represent the emperor as a kind (...) of ‚insurance against contingencies‘. (shrink)

Although generally informed by an intimate knowledge of evolutionary biology and taxonomy, the controversy over the nature of species is clearly philosophical; it consists almost entirely of the clarification of old, and the invention of new arguments for or against calling the species category a class, The debate seems firmly divided between those, like Kitts and Bernier, who see homo sapiens as a class, and those, like Hull and Ghiselin, who see it as an individual. In the first case, particular (...) human beings are members; in the second case, parts. To the champions of class, the essentialists, each species can be defined by means of a unique set of necessary and sufficient conditions, and every organism can be placed without equivocation into a particular species. To the individualists, nothing could be further from the truth. As a contingent, product of evolution, each species shares that crucial characteristic of an individual, spacio-temporal identity; each is a chunk of genealogical nexus. (shrink)