The paper explores Aristotle’s notion of proairesis and its theoretical background, with the aim of presenting a novel interpretation of the concept, under five headings. These are: praxis and poiēsis are different aspects of human activity (energeia) rather than different kinds of it. End and means are correlative rather than complementary components of activity. Activity as praxis is continuous: there are no distinct, elementary, indivisible actions. Desire (orexis) and deliberation (bouleusis) are not distinct and complementary components of the mental process (...) that results in activity, but are the principles of proairesis. Since activity is identical with the individual’s entire and continuous lifespan, proairesis denotes a constant and perpetually present attitude of the human soul. (shrink)

Diese musikwissenschaftliche Studie untersucht jene Intentionen, die chinesische Komponistinnen und Komponisten nach 1976 dazu führten, Stille ins Zentrum ihrer Stücke zu stellen. Aus der chinesischen Kulturgeschichte heraus zeigen sich divergierende musikästhetische Konzepte der Stille weniger als Gegenpol zum Lärm als vielmehr im ambivalenten Austarieren einer harmonischen Mitte. Diskutiert werden heterogene Kompositionen von Qu Xiaosong, Chen Qigang und Chen Xiaoyong ebenso wie von Guo Wenjing und Jia Daqun. Einerseits wird dabei die Ästhetik der Stille bei Tan Dun als merkantiler Kunstanspruch hinterfragt, (...) andererseits etablierte Komponistinnen wie Chen Yi, Xu Yi und Wang Ying als musikalische Avantgarde besprochen. Die Werkanalysen und Gespräche exemplifizieren die künstlerischen Begegnungen als Einblick in zeitgenössische Klangsprachen: Die Semantik der Stille, deren Ästhetik zwischen Philosophie & Spiritualität und historisch zwischen Tradition und transkultureller Inszenierung."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

Thinkers in related fields such as philosophy, psychology, and education define metacognition in a variety of different ways. Based on an emerging standard definition in psychology, we present evidence for metacognition in animals, and argue that mindreading and metacognition are largely orthogonal.

Our ability to rapidly distinguish new from already stored information is important for behavior and decision making, but the underlying processes remain unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that contextual cues lead to a preselection of information and, therefore, faster recognition. Specifically, on the basis of previous modeling work, we hypothesized that recognition time depends on the amount of relevant content stored in long-term memory, i.e., set size, and we explored possible age-related changes of this relationship in older humans. In (...) our paradigm, subjects learned by heart four different word lists written in different colors. On the day of testing, a color cue indicated with a probability of 50% that a subsequent word might be from the corresponding list or from a list of new words. The old/new status of the word had to be distinguished via button press. As a main finding, we can show in a sample of n = 49 subjects, including 26 younger and 23 older humans, that response times increased linearly and logarithmically as a function of set size in both age groups. Conversely, corrected hit rates decreased as a function of set size with no statistically significant differences between both age groups. As such, our findings provide empirical evidence that contextual information can lead to a preselection of relevant information stored in long-term memory to promote efficient recognition, possibly by cyclical top-down and bottom-up processing. (shrink)

Polanyi is widely known for his development of personal knowledge, but he was also keenly inter­ested in what can be called, personal existence. The historical backdrop of reviving, the once dead language of, Egyptian Hieroglyphics provides valuable insights into Polanyi’s critique of objectiv­ism and deciphering a human ontology. From applying physiognostic to telegnostic information to understanding static and dynamic meaning, Polanyi’s philosophy of language and machines provides a wealth of vantage points from which to study who and what we are.

The Huguenot refugee artist Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues is traditionally known for his observations of North America and as the author of numerous albums of floral drawings. This article reassesses the attribution of several of these albums to Le Moyne based on documentary and stylistic evidence. It identifies the sixteenth-century Huguenot nobleman and diplomat Jacques de Morogues as the owner of one of the albums, and it discusses the production and early use of these albums as luxury gifts in (...) French diplomatic and courtly circles. We document connections between the albums associated with Le Moyne and other sixteenth-century and later works of floral imagery. We argue that the albums associated with Le Moyne show that developments in floral imagery in this period were driven by a distinct network of artists and collectors, and we offer a hypothesis of how members of this network may have interpreted them as an occasion to take pleasure in nature’s charming variety, to praise it as God’s work and to use flowers as symbols of feminine beauty and fertility. (shrink)

Sleep spindles are frequently studied for their relationship with state and trait cognitive variables, and they are thought to play an important role in sleep-related memory consolidation. Due to their frequent occurrence in NREM sleep, the detection of sleep spindles is only feasible using automatic algorithms, of which a large number is available. We compared subject averages of the spindle parameters computed by a fixed frequency (11-13 Hz for slow spindles, 13-15 Hz for fast spindles) automatic detection algorithm and the (...) individual adjustment method (IAM), which uses individual frequency bands for sleep spindle detection. Fast spindle duration and amplitude are strongly correlated in the two algorithms, but there is little overlap in fast spindle density and slow spindle parameters in general. The agreement between fixed and manually determined sleep spindle frequencies is limited, especially in case of slow spindles. This is the most likely reason for the poor agreement between the two detection methods in case of slow spindle parameters. Our results suggest that while various algorithms may reliably detect fast spindles, a more sophisticated algorithm primed to individual spindle frequencies is necessary for the detection of slow spindles as well as individual variations in the number of spindles in general. (shrink)

Suicidal Thoughts is a compilation of some of the most moving and insightful writing accomplished on the topic of suicide. It presents the thoughts and experiences of fifteen writers who have contemplated suicide-some on a professional level, others on a personal level, and a few, both personally and professionally. Through this collection, the reader is able to bear witness to the struggle between life and death and to the devastating aftermath of suicide. Suicidal Thoughts provides readers with a better understanding (...) of the reasons why some individuals give serious consideration to killing themselves. (shrink)

This is a case study of a program to address professionalism at the Universidad de la República in Uruguay. We describe a five-year ongoing international collaboration. Relevant characteristics of the context, the program components, activities, and results were analyzed. The expected outcomes were to introduce standards of professional practices in the curricula of medical students and residents and the implementation of a program that might lead to a significant change in the culture of medicine in the University. Traditional didactics, interactive (...) theater, and professional development workshops, issues such as teamwork and communication, professional behavior, and the culture of medicine, and physician wellness were addressed. A total of 359 faculty members, general practitioners, stakeholders, and other healthcare professionals participated in the intervention. The process led to specific achievements including new content in the curricula, the use of educational innovations to address issues of professionalism, a growing institutional culture of accountability, and the establishment of new rules and regulations. The strategies and interventions followed in the case of Uruguay can serve as a model to other developing countries to promote physician professionalism, wellness, and joy. (shrink)