La preocupación por los modos de producción del discurso filosófico como inseparable de la práctica filosófica ha sido un rasgo distintivo del período helenístico, y desde nuestra perspectiva, adopta un rasgo novedoso en el escepticismo antiguo. El pirronismo incluye en su propuesta el tratamiento crítico sobre la tendencia aseverativa propia del lenguaje como fuente productora de dogmatismos. De esta manera, la terapéutica escéptica debe operar también sobre las propias expresiones y los tipos de escritura que adopta el pirrónico. Wittgenstein parece (...) cercano a algunas de estas preocupaciones en la medida en que las formas de expresar y escribir deben reflejar el enfoque no-teórico en el que se practica la filosofía - asociado a una reflexión filosófica sobre el lenguaje. Atendiendo a ciertos aspectos de la orientación pirrónica como clave de lectura, estudiaremos las reflexiones de Wittgenstein sobre sus propios escritos como quedan exhibidas en sus prólogos. Concern about modes of production of philosophical discourse as inseparable from philosophical practice has been a distinctive feature of the Hellenistic period and, from our perspective, it adopts a new feature in ancient skepticism. Pyrrhonism includes, in its proposal, the critical treatment on assertive trend inherent to language as a source of dogmatism. Thus, the skeptical therapeutic must also operate on the expressions and types of writing pyrrhonics use. Wittgenstein seems close to some of these concerns in the sense that the ways of expressing and writing should reflect the non-theoretical approach in which philosophy is practised -associated to a philosophical reflection on language. Regarding certain aspects of the Pyrrhonian orientation as a reading key, we will study Wittgenstein's reflections on his own writings as are exhibited in his prologues. (shrink)

It has often been asserted that burnout is primarily linked to occupational-context factors, and only secondarily to individual-level and non-work factors. We evaluated the validity of this view by examining the links between burnout and an array of 22 work-situated, work-unrelated, dispositional, and intersecting variables. The study involved schoolteachers from three different countries: France, Spain, and Switzerland. Burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Educators. Most of our predictors were assessed based on widely used measures. In order to (...) assess sentimental accomplishment and familial accomplishment, we created two self-reported measures, namely, the Sentimental Accomplishment Inventory and the Familial Accomplishment Inventory. The SAI and the FAI both showed strong reliability and high factorial validity. Exploratory structural equation modeling bifactor analysis and Mokken scaling suggested that both instruments could be considered essentially unidimensional. The study results showed that neuroticism, job strain, skill development, security in daily life, and work–non-work conflict were consistently associated with burnout across the three samples. Sample-specific predictors of burnout included sex, age, unreasonable work tasks, weekly working hours, job autonomy, support in work life, sentimental accomplishment, leisure activities, support in personal life, and non-work–work conflict. Relative weight analysis indicated that neuroticism was the best predictor of burnout in each sample. Our findings suggest that burnout’s nomological network may not be primarily job-related. We conclude that the tendency to de-emphasize individual-level and non-work factors in burnout research is unwise. This tendency may constitute a roadblock in the development of effective interventional strategies. The implications of our findings for burnout’s conceptual status are discussed. The neuroticism-burnout link should be further examined in longitudinal studies. (shrink)

The acquisition and evolution of speech production, discourse and communication can be negatively impacted by brain malformations. We describe, for the first time, a case of developmental dynamic dysphasia (DDD) in a right-handed adolescent boy (subject D) with cortical malformations involving language-eloquent regions (inferior frontal gyrus) in both the left and the right hemispheres. Language evaluation revealed a markedly reduced verbal output affecting phonemic and semantic fluency, phrase and sentence generation and verbal communication in everyday life. Auditory comprehension, repetition, naming, (...) reading and spelling were relatively preserved, but executive function was impaired. Multimodal neuroimaging showed a malformed cerebral cortex with atypical configuration and placement of white matter tracts bilaterally and abnormal callosal fibers. Dichotic listening showed right hemisphere dominance for language and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) additionally revealed dissociated hemispheric language representation with right frontal activation for phonology and bilateral dominance for semantic processing. Moreover, subject D also had congenital mirror movements (CMM), defined as involuntary movements of one side of the body that mirror intentional movements of the other side. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and fMRI during voluntary unimanual (left and right) hand movements showed bilateral motor cortex recruitment and tractography revealed a lack of decussation of bilateral corticospinal tracts. Genetic testing aimed to detect mutations that disrupt the development of commissural tracts correlating with CMM (e.g., Germline DCC mutations) was negative. Overall, our findings suggest that DDD in subject D resulted from the underdevelopment of the left inferior frontal gyrus with limited capacity for plastic reorganization by its homologous counterpart in the right hemisphere. Corpus callosum anomalies probably contributed to hinder interhemispheric connectivity necessary to compensate language and communication deficits after left frontal involvement. (shrink)

La tensión entre fidelidad a la tradición e innovación presente en el pensamiento plotiniano se manifiesta de modo patente en su propuesta metafísica. La ontología expuesta en las Enéadas, en efecto, es un claro ejemplo de la labor exegética mediante la cual Plotino toma las concepciones metafísicas platónico-pitagóricas precedentes y las sintetiza infundiendo nueva vitalidad en ideas antiguas. Para llevar a cabo su exégesis utiliza, incluso, conceptos aristotélicos que integra de un modo peculiar a su pensamiento platonizante. En el presente (...) trabajo, pues, nos proponemos esclarecer el procedimiento interpretativo que Plotino lleva a cabo en la formulación de su doctrina de lo Uno y de la relación entre esta hipóstasis y la Inteligencia. En nuestro análisis examinamos las nociones metafísicas que nuestro filósofo toma como punto de partida y brindamos una interpretación de la transformación que opera sobre ellas para arribar al sistema que dio origen a una nueva corriente de pensamiento platónico. The tension between innovation and fidelity to tradition present in the thought of Plotinus manifests itself clearly in his metaphysical conception. The ontology put forward in the Enneads, in fact, is a fine example of the exegetical work by which our thinker takes the preceding platonic-pythagorean metaphysics and synthesizes it, bringing new vitality into ancient ideas. To accomplish his exegesis he even employs Aristotelian concepts incorporating them in a peculiar way to his Platonizing thought. In the present paper, hence, we intend to elucidate the interpretive procedure that Plotinus carries out to arrive at his conceptions of the One and of the relationship between this hypostasis and Intelligence. In our analysis, we examine the metaphysical notions that our philosopher takes as starting points and we offer an interpretation of the transformation he operates upon them to reach the system that gave birth to a new current of Platonic thought. (shrink)

In the past 2 years our world has experienced huge disruptions because of COVID-19. The performing arts has not been insulated from these tumultuous events with the entire music industry being thrown into a state of instability due to the paralyzing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we examined how classical professional musicians’ ability to cope with uncertainty, economic struggles, and work-life interplay during COVID-19 was influenced by various factors that affect a crucial part of the development and (...) sustainment of music careers: musicians’ practice. We analyzed responses to an online survey of 309 classical performing musicians from 41 countries in Europe and Latin America across three pandemic stages: immediately before the pandemic, during the pandemic, and when vaccines were being made available and lockdowns were being reduced or lifted. Structural equation modeling indicates relationships between perceptions of threat at the peak of the pandemic and the musicians Self- or External-Based Motivation for the three periods in which respondents were asked to reflect. Findings suggest that musicians who are more internally self-motivated seemed to be more resilient to the pandemic threats and more capable of managing their practicing routines, whereas more externally motivated musicians experienced a reduction in their dedicated time to practice during lockdown. We suggest pedagogical and policy implications, as well as future lines of research that are oriented toward supporting professional musicians in assessing and understanding their motivational drives so that they can cope with situations that disrupt their professional lives. (shrink)

In this research, a sliding mode regulator with sine mapping is suggested for the stabilization of electricity generators being affected by magnet interaction nonlinearities and generator nonlinearities. To reach this goal, our suggested regulator has the following contributions: it starts from the sliding mode regulator with the modifications that the saturation mapping is used to reach a smoother performance instead of the signum mapping, and the sine mapping is applied to reach an upper bound in the proportional gain error, it (...) is used to reach some chosen constant behaviors for the angle position, angle speed, and current in the electricity generators, and its stabilization is ensured based on the Lyapunov approach. We show the simulation of the suggested regulator in two electricity generators. (shrink)

This study analyzes the symbols present in the sacred image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, contextualizing their meanings in the context of catholic christian symbology and nahuatl symbology, and seeks to relate this symbolic identification of the Virgin with the process of christianization of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, mediated by the theoretical and critical assumptions of interreligious dialogue. The methodology adopted consisted of a bibliographical revision of primary and secondary sources, in order to understand how the socio-cultural construction (...) of devotion was carried out during the first two centuries of its existence and its relation with the conversion of indigenous peoples to catholic faith. The main reference consulted was Nican Mopohua, the first document to bring the account of the apparitions of Our Lady to the indian Juan Diego in 1531, published in 1649 as part of the Huei tlamahuiçoltica, in nahuatl language. The motivation of the work was to understand how Guadalupe devotion, represented symbolically with elements of the nahuatl culture, contributed to the christianization of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, using theoretical presuppositions of interreligious dialogue, such as inculturation and syncretism. From the double interpretation of symbols, it was possible to understand the dimension of the process of inculturation of the Christian faith in Mexico and the use of Marian devotion to influence the Christianization of the Aztec nation, as well as to identify whether or not there was a dialogue among religions in this sense. Along the way, we can see the importance of the Virgin of Guadalupe cult not only for the colonization process, but also for the legitimacy of the culture and nationalism of the Mexican people. (shrink)

Marian devotion within the Catholic Church has always been seen as a remnant of ultramontanism and a key factor in maintaining the Church's misogyny and repression of women and female sexuality. The reforms of the Second Vatican Council attempted to drag Catholicism kicking and screaming into the modern era, away from superstition and ritual with a new interpretation of a Christocentric Mary. However, there exists within traditional Catholic Marian devotion a unique religious space for women which is absent from all (...) other mainstream faiths. Furthermore, Marian devotions play a dynamic and vital role in the popular Catholicism of Latin America, including the radical church. Although the 'reforms' of Vatican II have allowed women a more prominent role amongst the laity, they have also diminished the importance of Mary and attempted to remove both superstition and sensuality from the Catholic faith. In many respects, they have merely served to reinforce the Church's patriarchy and androcentrism. This article will warn against the temptation to reject outright all that is pertinent to traditional Marian devotion as being detrimental to women and women's sexuality. On the contrary, instead of disposing with tradition -the accumulation of experiences that include resistance and rebellion— we must invest in it our sexual energy in all its manifestations; so that it becomes possible to move towards a new ethic of sexual liberation. Indeed, by employing a little daring and adventure and making our Marian theology a little dangerous and subversive we can reclaim the sensual, the intimate and the erotic. We must allow her, and ourselves, to'walk on the wild side'. (shrink)

O mais divulgado modelo iconográfico mariano da época contemporânea, presente em quase todos os templos católicos do mundo, nasceu em Portugal na sequência das Aparições de Fátima de 1917. Não teria o conhecido desenvolvimento sem que no processo cultual interviesse a disciplina escultórica que logo em 1920 faria cristalizar, através do escopro de um santeiro, a imagem de Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima. O estudo do tipo, do arquétipo e dos subtipos da Virgem de Fátima, primeiramente produzidos em oficinais (...) trabalhos de santeiros e, em fase posterior, interpretados por artistas, permite entender os contornos do nascimento de uma realidade imagética, isto é, de uma iconografia ex nihilo e o seu, necessariamente, tardio desenvolvimento estético. (shrink)

Descrito por Frei Agostinho de Santa Maria no Santuário Mariano, o culto de Nossa Senhora das Brotas, padroeira dos animais doentes, tem como origem um suposto milagre ocorrido na localidade de Brotas no Alto Alentejo, no início do século XV. Culto rural, com base numa história simples entre um pastor e a sua vaca, a lenda de Nossa Senhora de Brotas é um curioso exemplo de regionalismo na iconografia mariana.

Christians, and those of the Roman Catholic Church, have made significant adjustments to their participation in Sunday liturgy in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This is especially the case for Catholic Christians at the ‘Our Lady of Loreto’ (OLL) Church in Kempton Park in South Africa. Sunday Church services that used to be compulsory for most Catholic families and community members, are now attended by few and in some cases none from staunch Catholic families and (...) communities. However, this is not a new phenomenon in the Catholic Church. It signals the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has altered and continues to affect Christian families and their commitment to the Sunday liturgy. Drawing from qualitative interviews conducted with eight staunch Catholic community leaders of OLL Church in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, this paper explores the motivations for their continuous participation and/or non-participation in the Sunday liturgy in the wake of the pandemic. The findings reveal that certain behavioural patterns or activities associated with the COVID-19 pandemic motivate Catholic Christians and families to continue to participate and/or not participate in the Sunday liturgy. Contribution: The article explored and examined the way in which COVID-19 has affected Catholic Christians’ ability to attend Sunday liturgy. It discovered that while some Christians returned to church after the pandemic, others have continued to worship from home because of the influence of changes adopted during the pandemic. (shrink)

This chapter examines a little-known movement to make the Our Lady of Perpetual Help icon the patroness of the proceedings of the Second Vatican Council. Begun by American Redemptorists, it sought to integrate a Marian piety into the conciliar ethos, but one that was decidedly cross-cultural and ecumenical. Explicit in its mission for unity between Roman Catholics and the separated churches of the East, the movement promoted the icon as the key to repairing centuries-old wounds. Insofar as 2015 begins (...) the sesquicentennial year of the icon’s association with Redemptorists, as well as its value as an ecumenical tool, the author explores whether OLPH can lend new impetus for unity between Orthodox and Catholics ahead of the proposed joint synod in 2025. (shrink)

Lamb, Judith Australian Catholic women religious have played a significant role in the spread of the Gospel and in the provision of services, especially in education and health care, from the middle of the nineteenth century. One such group is the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. From their base in Sydney in 1885, missionaries were sent to remote communities in Australia, Papua New Guinea and beyond. In 2011, as part of the celebration of (...) the centenary of the promulgation of the Australian Province, the Provincial Council invited sisters to tell their stories in a series of interviews. These interviews have been used to provide personal perspectives on the challenges and rewards of missionary life. (shrink)

The Lourdes Hospital Inquiry: An inquiry into peripartum hysterectomy at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Ireland, of 2006 recounts in detail the circumstances within which 188 peripartum hysterectomies were carried out at the hospital between 1974 and 1998. The findings of the inquiry have serious ramifications for Irish healthcare delivery and have implications for many professional groups, including midwives. The findings prompt clear questions about the relative position or power of midwives within maternity care. These questions are examined (...) in this article, through the analysis and application of various theoretical perspectives on power. Critical views of power focus on the socio‐political nature of oppressive structures within society and seek mechanisms to address these. Stemming from structure versus agency debates, Giddens's structuration theory examines the agency‐structure interaction and stresses the centrality of agents’ roles in the social reproduction of structures. Postmodernism, particularly drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, focuses on a fluid conception of power while also describing the nature of disciplinary power. It offers midwives a way of viewing power as productive and dispersed. Drawing on different aspects of these perspectives on power, helps us to understand midwives’ relative positions and power relations and how to enhance these to prevent future tragic outcomes such as those reported in the inquiry report. (shrink)

The article is devoted to study of the modes of inheritance of cultural symbols. In particular, it is a research of perception in Christianity of preceding cultures’ archetypes. The study provides the analysis of semantic links between the symbols of the World Tree, the Vivifying Cross and the meaning of the Blessed Virgin image. The article shows how the pre-Christian symbols of the World Tree and the cross itself were merged and transformed in Christian theology, liturgy and iconography in the (...) image of Golgotha Cross. The cross acquires the features of a Cosmic Tree, which combines the lower and the upper worlds – the heaven and the earth, life and death. The symbol of the tree is often substituted by the image of a woman appearing in this case as a symbol of life and fertility and evokes the associations with the genealogical tree. Therefore, the connection between the World Tree and the Blessed Virgin is proved to be natural. On the basis of the historical sources the author analyzes the legends and evidences of the revelations and discoveries of the Blessed Mary’s icons on the trees of a certain kinds. The study explicates the symbolic meaning of those trees spread in a global world, in Slavic and Ukrainian cultural traditions. In particular, the research encloses the semantics of the following kinds of trees: fir tree, linden, pear tree, oak, willow, blackthorn. Every kind of those trees has a special symbolic meaning. The novelty of the research is that it for the first time proves the semantic connection of sacred meaning of miracle icons and of the certain kinds of trees. The study defines the limited range of those trees and, on the other hand, the kinds of other trees believed to be vile and thus never appeared in the legends about the discoveries of miracle icons. As a conclusion, the research proves the existence of the autochtonal tradition of correlation of the semantics of miracle icons of Our Lady with the certain kinds of trees in the result of synthesis of the ancient symbolism and Christianity. In every case, the symbolic meanings of trees had archaic origin and connection with the ancient cosmogonical concepts. Depending on the particular semantic nuance emphasized in the World Tree, the priority of a certain kind of tree determined. On the whole, the study demonstrates the importance of the symbols in forming of cultural identity and for understanding of interrelations of cultures at the deep semantic level. (shrink)

Levada, William Cardinal; Ladaria, Luis F The supreme law of the Church is the salvation of souls. As such, throughout its history, the Church has always found the pastoral and juridical means to care for the good of the faithful. With the Apostolic Construction Anglicanorum coetibus, promulgated on 4 November 2009, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, provided for the establishment of Personal Ordinariates through which Anglican faithful may enter, even in a corporate manner, into full communion with the Catholic (...) Church. On that same date, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published Complementary Norms relating to such Ordinariates. In conformity with what is established in Art, I and 1 and 2 of the Apostolic Coinstitution Anglicanorum coetibus, having received requests from a considerable number of Anglican faithful, and having consulted with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (shrink)

In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis writes that Mary “wants to give birth to a new world... where there is room for all those whom our societies discard, where justice and peace are resplendent.” This essay explores the significance of Mary for a Christian vision of peace and justice through ethnographic research on the role of Mary in the lives of Palestinian Christian women and in popular religion in Palestine more broadly. Utilizing the methodology of theological ethnography, this essay centers the (...) personal experiences of Palestinian Christians and considers the implication their understanding of Mary has for Fratelli Tutti and Christian ethics. (shrink)

This article argues for the use of the queer kenotic theology of Marcella Althaus-Reid as a theological framework for analysing two stories of ambivalence and risk emerging from an ecclesial practice committed to hospitality. Following Natalie Wigg-Stevenson in envisioning theology not as proclamation but as conversation, the article is an example of what theology can look like when ethnographic material is juxtaposed with systematic theology. The empirical material is created using ethnography as a research strategy in the ecclesial practice of (...) the Lutheran church of Our Lady, Trondheim, Norway. In 2007, this church reopened as an ‘open church’ for people who live with different kinds of marginalization. As the sacred medieval space encounters the messy and chaotic lives of people, a powerful displacement of space, practices and bodies occur. The article concludes by discussing how the empirical material feeds back to kenotic theology and queer theology. (shrink)

This is a review enriched with personal thoughts. The topics covered are: the various interpretations of a fragment from Heraclitus ‘nature loves to conceal herself’, deposited 2500 years ago in the temple of Artemis at Ephesus; the idea of nature’s secret; ecumenism in practice: the convertibility of ancient deities; the case of the cult of Isis-Artemis and other personifications of Our Lady Nature; different approaches to the notion of modesty; the misunderstandings around the opposition between ‘paganisms’ and ‘monotheisms’; a (...) little-known example of iconoclasm against a statue of Diana-Artemis and the decline of the old nature religions; Neo-Platonism and an apology for the ‘genius of paganism’; an appeal for religious tolerance; Orphic or Promethean approaches to unveiling the secrets of nature, with a reference to Roger Caillois, founder of Diogenes; and bioethics and the genesis of the modern technosciences. (shrink)