During the set-up phase of an international study of genetic influences on outcomes from sepsis, we aimed to characterise potential differences in ethics approval processes and outcomes in participating European countries. Between 2005 and 2007 of the FP6-funded international Genetics Of Sepsis and Septic Shock project, we asked national coordinators to complete a structured survey of research ethic committee approval structures and processes in their countries, and linked these data to outcomes. Survey findings were reconfirmed or modified in 2017. Eighteen (...) countries participated in the study, recruiting 2257 patients from 160 ICUs. National practices differed widely in terms of composition of RECs, procedures and duration of the ethics approval process. Eight countries used a single centralised process for approval, seven required approval by an ethics committee in each participating hospital, and three required both. Outcomes of the application process differed widely between countries because of differences in national legislation, and differed within countries because of interpretation of the ethics of conducting research in patients lacking capacity. The RECs in four countries had no lay representation. The median time from submission to final decision was 1.5 months; in nine approval was received within 1 month; six took over 6 months, and in one 24 months; had all countries been able to match the most efficient approvals processes, an additional 74 months of country or institution-level recruitment would have been available. In three countries, rejection of the application by some local RECs resulted in loss of centres; and one country rejected the application outright. The potential benefits of the single application portal offered by the European Clinical Trials Regulation will not be realised without harmonisation of research ethics committee practices as well as national legislation. (shrink)

This article puts Shani Mootoo’s novel, Polar Vortex (2020), in conversation with the vitalist philosophy of Rosi Braidotti, as illustrated in the study Posthuman Feminism (2022) and Libe García Zarranz “Sustainable Affects” (2017a, 2020b). I look at the centrality of affective relations in the transformation of queer subjectivity under processes of the growing (un)happiness in the diasporic homeSpace. Shani Mootoo’s (non)diasporic cross-border narrative proposes contrastive figurations of the subject through temporal and spatial frameworks. Mootoo’s “transposable moves” resist a naïve return (...) to sentimentality or nostalgic love to advocate instead a turn to sustainable affects. (shrink)

In a series of studies the assumption of a lack of colour concepts in indigenous societies, as proposed by Berlin & Kay (1969) and others, was examined. The research took place in the form of minimally invasive field encounters with indigenous subjects in South East Asia and in India, as well as in West, Central, and South Africa. Subjects were screened for colour blindness with Ishihara- and Pflüger-Trident-Test. Standardised colour tablets had to be designated in the indigenous languages; these terms (...) were later translated by native speakers of the indigenous languages into a European language. The indigenous subjects were able to name the colours presented. Indigenous vs. globalised cultural factors were reflected in the use of reference objects for naming colours. Both metonymical and non-metonymical indigenous colour names did not follow a stage pattern as Berlin & Kay (1969) and others have proposed. The high precision of indigenous colour names corresponds both to the precision of experts’ colour names in the industrial culture, and to the highly precise grammar that characterises indigenous languages. It is concluded that cognitive categorisation of visual perception takes place regardless of the cultural context, and that former misunderstandings resulted from inappropriate methodological designs. (shrink)

The Telchines, magical craftsmen and wizards, are best known for their criticism of Callimachus’ poetry in the prologue to the Aetia. The other two appearances of the Telchines are also in programmatic passages in Callimachus’ extant works. In the Hymn to Delos (30–3), the narrator asks an aporetic question about the theme of his song. There, the Telchines are the makers of the trident used to form every island but Delos, highlighting her singular status as uniquely created without force (30–3). (...) In Aet. fr. 75, the Telchines appear in Xenomedes’ history of Ceos. There, Callimachus explicitly names one source for his material, but omits direct citation of equally important sources, namely Pindar and Bacchylides, while still alluding to their songs. This article examines verbal and thematic parallels among these three passages and argues that Callimachus uses the Telchines not only to link the passages but also to comment on his authorial process, his use of sources and his poetic programme. (shrink)

En terre d’Athènes, on ne trouve pas un fondateur, mais des autochtones, qui multiplient la figure inaugurale du fondateur sans pour autant l’incarner complètement. C’est Érechthée qui, par sa mort inédite, va clôturer la longue chaîne des opérations de fondation. Caché dans la terre civique sous les coups du trident vengeur de Poséidon, sa mort n’est ni un crime, ni une « belle mort », mais bien une mort fondatrice. La mort d’Érechthée donne en effet lieu à un partenariat de (...) choix pour ces Athéniens en mal d’ancrage : Érechthée, le roi autochtone et Poséidon, le dieu à l’assise solide et aux fondations inébranlables, qui seront désormais associés dans le culte sous le nom de Poséidon-Érechthée ou Érechthée-Poséidon. Grâce à ce partenariat fondateur, la cité autochtone a réussi le pari de son auto-fondation. Car, à travers Érechthée, c’est tous les Athéniens que Poséidon enracine sur leur propre terre.Return to earth: the end of the story of Erechtheus. There is not one founder of Athens but many autochtones repeating the inaugural figure of the founder without nonetheless incarnating it fully. It is the particular death of Erechtheus that ends the long founding operations. Hidden in the civic earth, his death under Poseidon’s revengeful trident is neither a crime nor a “beautiful death” but a founding death. Indeed, the death of Erechtheus gives birth to a founding partnership of choice for those Athenians in search of their roots: Erechtheus, the autochtonous king, and Poseidon, the god with a solid basis and unmovable foundations, would become associated in the cult as Poseidon-Erechtheus or Erechtheus-Poseidon. Because of this founding partnership, the autochtonous city succeeded in the challenge of self-foundation. Through Erechtheus, it was all Athenians that Poseidon could root in their own land. (shrink)

La présente étude constitue une publication préliminaire des monnaies trouvées dans les fouilles de Pallantion. Dans le cadre du projet de « Construction du réservoir du lac Taka d’Arcadie » ont été localisés et exhumés, en 2008‑2009, dans la ville basse de Pallantion, à l’Est de la colline de Saint‑Jean, sur un plateau de 500 m de long, les restes du tissu urbain de la ville, du mur d’enceinte antique et d’une route dallée. Les monnaies provenant des sondages d’urgence de (...) la ville fortifiée d’époques classique et hellénistique enrichissent les données recueillies jadis par les recherches de l’École italienne, avec des monnaies provenant de villes puissantes à l’époque classique, comme Corinthe, Sicyone, Phlionte, Sparte ou Élis. Pour l’époque romaine, des frappes au nom de Licinius, de Constantin le Grand, de Valens et de Valentinien II, confirment la poursuite de l’occupation de cette importante ville d’Arcadie à l’époque romaine. Un ensemble de petits bronzes de l’époque de Justinien I et Justin II peut être mis en rapport avec l’invasion et l’occupation du pays par les tribus slaves à la fin du vie s. apr. J.‑C. Pour finir, on propose de considérer le trident qui apparaît sur les monnaies émises par cette ville d’Arcadie à l’époque classique comme un symbole parlant qui relie le nom de Pallantion au verbe πάλλω qui signifie « brandir » ou « agiter vigoureusement ». L’hypothèse s’appuie également sur le fait que le trident apparaît aussi sur des timbres de tuile provenant d’édifices sacrés ou profanes avec l’inscription ΔΑΜΟ[ΣΙΟΣ]. (shrink)

In this paper I will discuss the extent to which Umberto Eco’s Semiotics maintains the unstable and oscillatory equilibrium between conflicting matrices that is proper to humorous thinking and ambiguous figures such as the famous duck-rabbit illusion and Penrose’s impossible trident. To do so I shall summon the concept of bisociation (Koestler 1964): though never an item of Eco’s own philosophical toolbox, bisociation plays an important role in the creation of some of Eco’s most innovative theoretical contributions, insofar as they (...) result from a possible/impossible graft between Structuralism and Pragmatism. For each, the question will be whether the implant produces self-consistent theoretical amalgams, or whether some degree of contradiction inevitably remains to generate the abovementioned duck-rabbit effect. I shall then analyse the role that such residual incongruities play in a theory that thrives on the self-voiding logic of humorous short-circuits. (shrink)

Advaita, a non-dualist system of Vednta philosophy, and Yoga, a dualist system of classical Indian philosophy, make different ontological assumptions. Yet surprisingly they subscribe to similar views on many psychological issues. Together they provide the base for what is now known as Indian psychology. As an alternate system of psychology, it provides fruitful models that go well beyond the currently dominant reductionist postulates in cognitive science and suggest attractive programmes of research for those working in areas of cognitive excellence and (...) extraordinary human abilities. This paper provides an outline of a model derived from Indian psychology called the Body-Mind-Consciousness Trident model which favours a process view of reality, in place of entity metaphysics. (shrink)

The Council of Trent of 1545-1563, which, incidentally, was not only long lasting but also difficult to convene, reflected a completely unstable general Christian situation during a period of rapid reformation. It is known that its foundations amounted to 95 Luther abstracts, and the subsequent course of events necessitated the immediate convening of the Ecumenical Council. Pope Clement VII made real attempts to do so, but did not reach the goal as a result of the war. Bulla of June 12, (...) 1536, his successor Pope Paul III also ordered the convening of the Ecumenical Forum of Christians in May 1537, but, as in the first case, there was a war again in the event of its holding. For the same reason, the cathedral did not gather in November 1542. Only in March 1545 the cathedral was convened, and in December of the same year - officially opened in Trident. (shrink)

The idea that the Leviathan frontispiece offers a visual summary of the contents of the work is widespread. However, the analysis of the frontispiece often under-explores Leviathan's text or leaves certain iconographic elements aside. In discussions of the Scholastics ‘Dilemma’ emblem, for instance, the image is commonly reduced to a representation of ‘logic’ or ‘scholasticism’, leaving aside the intricate interrelationship between the objects present in the image and their connection with the content of the book. This paper argues that this (...) image helps understanding Hobbes’ critique of Scholastic doctrines and their political effects in Leviathan. For Hobbes, these supposedly pure philosophical concepts either in logic (trident of the ‘Syllogism’) or metaphysics (‘Real/Intentional’ bident) hide a central part of Scholastic thought: a ‘seditious’ political conception claiming that the Pope has an indirect right to temporal power in affairs concerning spiritual matters theory (‘Spiritual/Temporal’ and ‘Direct/Indirect’ bidents). The Scholastic model made the common people believe that the Pope would have at least as much authority as the Sovereign. When faced with the choice between obeying either the Pope or their Civil Sovereign the subjects would find themselves in a dangerous ‘Dilemma’. (shrink)

Statius' last, unfinished poem, the Achilleid, is a more varied and charming work than readers of the The baid could ever have imagined, and is perhaps the most attractive approach to this highly imitative and professional poet. It is generally agreed that both Statius' diction and his narrative form are greatly influenced by Virgil and Ovid: but if he considered the Theban poem as his own Aeneid, we might fairly see the Achilleid as more akin to the Metamorphoses; diction and (...) epic devices may remain recognizably Virgilian, but the relaxed tone, the gentle irony and open humour take us into Ovid's world. As an illustration, the brief episode in which Thetis conveys her sleeping son from Thessaly over the sea to Scyros probably draws its original inspiration from Venus' substitution of Cupid for Ascanius in Aeneid 1: Venus' son procures his own arrival, but she spirits away the sleeping Ascanius; ‘at Venus Ascanio placidam per membra quietem/ irrigat et fotum gremio dea tollit in altos/Idaliae lucos’. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Cervantes in Italy:Christian Humanism and the Visual Impact of Renaissance RomeFernando CervantesToward the end of 1569, shortly after his twenty-second birthday, Miguel de Cervantes arrived in Rome to serve as chamberlain to the young monsignor Giulio de Acquaviva, soon to be made a cardinal by Pope Pius V.1 The event marked the beginning of a six-year sojourn about which surprisingly little is known with certainty. From scattered semiautobiographical references (...) we can infer that Cervantes traveled widely and that he developed a particular fondness for Italy. We know for sure that he fought bravely against the Turks at the battle of Lepanto in 1571, where he received wounds that rendered his left arm useless for the rest of his life, and that he remained in service as a soldier, based in Italy, until his ill-fated attempt to return to Spain in 1575. Ten years later, in the dedication of his pastoral romance La Galatea to Ascanio Colonna, he reminded his dedicatee that the reverence he had for him did not only stem from having served under his illustrious father, the famous general Marco Antonio Colonna, but also from the many things that he had heard Cardinal Acquaviva say, "like prophesies," about him in Rome. There follows a brief encomium about the "noble virtues," "magnificence," "goodness," and "Christianity" that sustain the "clear and generous line" of the Colonnas, known to all for the "virtuous and heroic deeds" that have been their mark since time immemorial.2 Some of Cervantes's best lyric poetry dates from these years. In it, as in the rest of his work, the unmistakable mark of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Sannazaro, Ariosto, and Bembo, to name but the most explicit ones, leaves us in little doubt about his genuine love of Italian literature.For good reasons, modern biographers have been loath to take these scattered [End Page 325] references too candidly. Can we, for example, assume that Cervantes had more than a very superficial acquaintance with the Colonnas and the Acquavivas? Could a writer still widely regarded as a self-taught, untutored mind realistically have attracted the favors of some of the most illustrious Roman and Neapolitan noble families? More pointedly, is it safe to take the varied and abundant observations about Italy scattered throughout his works as reliable reflections of his own personal experiences? After all, between the latter and the written page there is a time lag often approaching forty years. Add to this the weight of subsequent intellectual influences and of literary conventions, of novelistic invention and of the viewpoints of the characters themselves, and we are left on rather shaky ground. As Jean Canavaggio has remarked, it is not Cervantes the keen visual observer, but rather Cervantes the devoted reader of Boccaccio and the novellieri who brings Italy and Italian themes into his fiction. Even the memorable descriptions of Italian cities to be found in some of his novelas are rather formulaic passages, perfectly in tune with the rhetorical canons of the time.3Our topic, however, is not biography but intellectual history; and here we can afford to be more candid. There can be no doubt that many of Cervantes's descriptions have the unmistakable ring of genuine experience. Take Tomás Rodaja's arrival, "soaked, sleep-deprived and with bags under the eyes," in Genoa's "sheltered Mandraccio,"4 where he becomes acquainted withthe smoothness of the Trebbiano, the fullness of the Montefiascone, the strength of the Asperino, the generosity of the Greeks Candia and Soma, the grandeur of the one from the Five Vineyards, the sweetness and mellowness of the lady Vernaccia, the rustic touch of the Centola, while the lowly one from Rome dared not appear in the presence of such illustrious gentlemen.5Charmed by the gallantry of the Genoese, Rodaja leaves by land for Rome, "the queen of cities and mistress of the world." "Just as the size and ferocity of a lion can be gauged by its claws," Cervantes observed,so Rome's greatness became manifest by its broken marbles, its statues..., its fallen arches and ruined baths, its magnificent porticoes and large amphitheatres, its famous and sacred river whose waters... (shrink)

The author analyzes the methodology of working with contingent events and how the concept of contingent and other related concepts is conceptualized in post-Tridentine scholastic philosophy. In particular, the article examines the theory of moral modalities that emerged in the XVI–XVII centuries, describing knowledge about contingent and patterns of human behavior; the separation of physical and moral in the context of contingent reality produced by human will; as well as the concepts of probabilistic knowledge and the methodology of the sciences (...) about contingent facts. Based on the analysis of the data of scholastic ideas and concepts, the author identifies the key characteristics of knowledge about the contingent and identifies the common core of approaches to the theorization of contingent events in post-Trident scholasticism. (shrink)