Being a literal and relatively precise translation of the Hebrew text, the Septuagint of the book of Ruth attests divergences or variants in relation to the Masoretic text in the details of the text. These variants, if not inconsistent or linked to a different Hebrew Vorlage, could be explained as a translator’s choice to promote clarity, add a particular nuance or introduce innovation at the narrative level of the text. This is, for instance, the case in the legal process that (...) runs through the fourth chapter of the book. Amongst all of the legal aspects illustrated in Ruth 4, this contribution presents a case study, focusing on the interjection in Ruth 4:7 that explains the legal custom. After analysing the equivalence between the Hebrew text and its Greek rendering, this article offers several new insights aimed to produce a more nuanced characterisation of the translation technique of the Greek translator of the LXX-Ruth and a clearer understanding of the nuances, innovations and specificities of the LXX-Ruth.Contribution: This article contributes to the ‘Focus and Scope’ of HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies because it deals with both the textual history of the Bible – more precisely, with its process of translation from Hebrew into Greek – and the exegesis of the LXX. Indeed, it highlights new insights into the translation technique of the Greek translator of the LXX-Ruth and on the nuances, innovations and specificities of the LXX-Ruth. (shrink)

Le soutien à la réflexion, pour promouvoir la dynamique de vie bouleversée par les angoisses que suscite l’annonce d’une séropositivité au virus du sida, chez une femme apprenant qu’elle est enceinte, nécessite une approche bienveillante. Nous constatons qu’à l’annonce de ce diagnostic mortel, à plus ou moins long terme, son caractère transmissible par voie maternofœtale est pris en compte par la femme à qui on annonce le résultat satisfaisant du protocole médical de réduction des risques de transmission de la mère (...) à l’enfant. En revanche, les risques de contamination par voie sexuelle avec son conjoint imposent au moins une fois à cette femme de penser à comment lui en parler, ou se taire par peur d’être mal jugées et rejetées. Il s’agit donc au-delà du sentiment de dangerosité lié à ce virus d’ouvrir une réflexion pour cette femme, sur ce qui lui est important : pour elle, pour son avenir, pour celui de son couple et celui de son futur enfant. (shrink)

There are striking structural similarities between Freud's ego and Kant's transcendental unity of apperception, which for Kant grounds our use of ‘I’ in ‘I think’. There are also striking similarities between Freud's superego and Kant's account of the mental structure that grounds our use of ‘I’ in the moral ‘I ought to’. The paper explores these similarities on three main points: the conflict of motivations internal to the mind, the relation between discursive and pre‐discursive representation of moral motivation, and the (...) unconscious character of moral motivation. The suggestion is that Freud offers resources for a naturalized account of just those features of our moral motivation that, according to Kant, seem to make it least amenable to a naturalistic explanation. How much of a revision of Kant's analysis of moral justification is thereby entailed is beyond the purview of the paper. (shrink)

For the past 20 years or so the literature on noncooperative games has been centered on the search for an equilibrium concept that expresses the notion of rational behavior in interactive situations. A basic tenet in this literature is that if a “rational solution” exists, it must be a Nash equilibrium. The consensus view, however, is that not all Nash equilibria can be accepted as rational solutions. Consider, for example, the game of Figure 1.

_Critique of Violence_ is a highly original and lucid investigation of the heated controversy between poststructuralism and critical theory. Leading theorist Beatrice Hanssen uses Walter Benjamin's essay 'Critique of Violence' as a guide to analyse the contentious debate, shifting the emphasis from struggle to dialogue between the two parties. Regarding the questions of critique and violence as the major meeting points between both traditions, Hanssen positions herself _between_ the two in an effort to investigate what critical theory and poststructuralism (...) have to offer each other. In the course of doing so, she assembles imaginative new readings of Benjamin, Arendt, Fanon and Foucault, and incisively explores the politics of recognition, the violence of language, and the future of feminist theory. This groundbreaking book will be essential reading for all students of continental philosophy, political theory, social studies and comparative literature. Also available in this series: _Essays on Otherness_ Hb: 0-415-13107-3: £50.00 Pb: 0-415-13108-1: £15.99 _Hegel After Derrida_ Hb: 0-415-17104-4: £50.00 Pb: 0-415-17105-9: £15.99 _The Hypocritical Imagination_ Hb: 0-415-21361-4: £47.50 Pb: 0-415-21362-2: £15.99 _Philosophy and Tragedy_ Hb: 0-415-19141-6: £45.00 Pb: 0-415-19142-4: £14.99 _Textures of Light_ Hb: 0-415-14273-3: £42.50 Pb: 0-415-14274-1: £13.99 _Very Little... Almost Nothing_ Pb: 0-415-12821-8: £47.50 Pb: 0-415-12822-6: £15.99. (shrink)

Critique of Violence is a highly original and lucid investigation of the heated controversy between poststructuralism and critical theory. Leading theorist Beatrice Hanssen uses Walter Benjamin's essay 'Critique of Violence' as a guide to analyse the contentious debate, shifting the emphasis from struggle to dialogue between the two parties. Regarding the questions of critique and violence as the major meeting points between both traditions, Hanssen positions herself between the two in an effort to investigate what critical theory and poststructuralism (...) have to offer each other. In the course of doing so, she assembles imaginative new readings of Benjamin, Arendt, Fanon and Foucault, and incisively explores the politics of recognition, the violence of language, and the future of feminist theory. This groundbreaking book will be essential reading for all students of continental philosophy, political theory, social studies and comparative literature. Also available in this series: Essays on Otherness Hb: 0-415-13107-3: £50.00 Pb: 0-415-13108-1: £15.99 Hegel After Derrida Hb: 0-415-17104-4: £50.00 Pb: 0-415-17105-9: £15.99 The Hypocritical Imagination Hb: 0-415-21361-4: £47.50 Pb: 0-415-21362-2: £15.99 Philosophy and Tragedy Hb: 0-415-19141-6: £45.00 Pb: 0-415-19142-4: £14.99 Textures of Light Hb: 0-415-14273-3: £42.50 Pb: 0-415-14274-1: £13.99 Very Little ... Almost Nothing Pb: 0-415-12821-8: £47.50 Pb: 0-415-12822-6: £15.99. (shrink)

"Kant and the Capacity to Judge" will prove to be an important and influential event in Kant studies and in philosophy.

We propose a modal logic based on three operators, representing intial beliefs, information and revised beliefs. Three simple axioms are used to provide a sound and complete axiomatization of the qualitative part of Bayes’ rule. Some theorems of this logic are derived concerning the interaction between current beliefs and future beliefs. Information flows and iterated revision are also discussed.

Up to the present, there have not been any specific norms regarding medically assisted human reproduction in Romanian legislation. Due to this situation the general legislation regarding medical assistance, the Penal and Civil law and the provisions of the Code of Deontology of the Romanian College of Physicians are applied to the field of medically assisted human reproduction. By analysing the ethical and legal conflicts regarding medically assisted human reproduction in Romania, some characteristics cannot be set apart because they derive (...) from religious, cultural and socio-economic aspects. In this article the authors identify the development stages of medically assisted human reproduction in Romania, beginning from these characteristics and insisting upon the failure of the legal system in this specific field. The authors consider that the law regarding medically assisted human reproduction cannot be effective because it did not take into account the ethical and cultural aspects that might appear. Furthermore, in this framework of the legal process, no public debate involving the representatives of civil society was undertaken although the Council of Europe Oviedo Convention approved by our country according to law no. 17/2001 stipulated exactly this working method. Content Type Journal Article Pages 4-13 Authors Beatrice Ioan, PHD, MD, MA IN BIOETHICS, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania Vasile Astarastoae, PHD, MD, JD, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania Journal Human Reproduction & Genetic Ethics Online ISSN 2043-0469 Print ISSN 1028-7825 Journal Volume Volume 14 Journal Issue Volume 14, Number 2 / 2008. (shrink)

In this collection of essays Béatrice Longuenesse considers the three aspects of Kant's philosophy, his epistemology and metaphysics of nature, his moral philosophy and his aesthetic theory, under one unifying standpoint: Kant's conception of our capacity to form judgements. She argues that the elements which make up our cognitive access to the world - what Kant calls the 'human point of view' - have an equally important role to play in our moral evaluations and our aesthetic judgements. Her discussion ranges (...) over Kant's account of our representations of space and time, his conception of the logical forms of judgements, sufficient reason, causality, community, God, freedom, morality, and beauty in nature and art. Her book will appeal to all who are interested in Kant and his thought. (shrink)

Long considered to be an impenetrable, hermetic treatise, Walter Benjamin's The Origin of German Tragic Drama has rarely received the attention it deserves as a key text, central to a full understanding of his work. In this critically acclaimed study, distinguished Benjamin scholar Beatrice Hanssen unlocks the philosophical and ethical dimensions of his thought with great clarity and sophisitication.

This study investigated visual statistical learning (VSL) in 24 deaf signers and 24 hearing non‐signers. Previous research with hearing individuals suggests that SL mechanisms support literacy. Our first goal was to assess whether VSL was associated with reading ability in deaf individuals, and whether this relation was sustained by a link between VSL and sign language skill. Our second goal was to test the Auditory Scaffolding Hypothesis, which makes the prediction that deaf people should be impaired in sequential processing tasks. (...) For the VSL task, we adopted a modified version of the triplet learning paradigm, with stimuli presented sequentially across space and time. Results revealed that measures of sign language skill (sentence comprehension/repetition) did not correlate with VSL scores, possibly due to the sequential nature of our VSL task. Reading comprehension scores (PIAT‐R) were a significant predictor of VSL accuracy in hearing but not deaf people. This finding might be due to the sequential nature of the VSL task and to a less salient role of the sequential orthography‐to‐phonology mapping in deaf readers compared to hearing readers. The two groups did not differ in VSL scores. However, when reading ability was taken into account, VSL scores were higher for the deaf group than the hearing group. Overall, this evidence is inconsistent with the Auditory Scaffolding Hypothesis, suggesting that humans can develop efficient sequencing abilities even in the absence of sound. (shrink)

Medical science is advancing all the time. Researchers are constantly trying to find new ways to help people to have long and healthy lives. Thanks to their work, doctors today can cure diseases, lessen pain, replace unhealthy limbs or organs, and help infertile couples have children. Doctors can even keep seriously ill people alive against all odds. But not everyone is enamored with advances in medicine. They question whether it is appropriate to prolong life in all cases, or believe that (...) certain treatments have been developed unethically. This book looks at how the ways that doctors treat the sick are developed, and examines some of the questions that are raised by advances in medical science. (shrink)

Der Teppich der Kultur und Sprache, der Praxen und Normen, der Ideen, Geschichte und Wissenschaften, der den Hintergrund unserer Gegenwart bildet, ist an vielen Stellen zerschlissen und in einem Zustand der Auflösung begriffen. Unser ganzes Handeln ist darauf gerichtet, diesen Teppich zu restaurieren. Vor welchem Hintergrund ist Handeln uns möglich und wie ist dieser Handlungshintergrund offen für unsere handelnde Einflussnahme? Dieses Buch untersucht Als-ob-Strukturen nach Hans Vaihinger und fügt sie ein in die Rekonstruktion gesellschaftlicher Wirklichkeit nach John R. Searle, denn (...) ein heuristischer Fiktionsbegriff ist zur Erklärung des Handlungshintergrundes unerlässlich. (shrink)

All living human beings have the moral right not to be denied reasonable help in life threatening situations. Disasters take on many forms, but their consequences for individuals may be prolonged and stretch into the next generation. We have a moral obligation to create a better life for people by speaking out and trying to prevent man-made disasters and their consequences. To do this the commitment to life and its value must be reinforced. A number of suggestions are made, particularly (...) in relation to the role of nurses. Toutes les personnes ont le droit moral de recevoir l'aide raisonable dans des situations menaceant à la vie. Des désastres se présentent sous multiples formes, mais leur conséquences peuvent être prolongées pour des individus jusqu'à la prochaine génération. Nous avons une obligation morale de créér une meilleure vie pour tous les peuples en parlant en faveur de la prévention de désastres et leur conséquences. Un engagement à la vie et ses valeurs doit donc être renforcé. Quelques suggestions concernant le rôle des infirmiers/eres sont faites ici. Alle lebenden Menschen haben das morlaische Recht, in lebensdrohenden Situationen angemessene Hilfe zu erhalten. Katastrophen sind vielseitig, aber ihre Konsequenzen können sich für einzelne Menschen verlängern bis in die nächste Generation. Wir haben eine moralische Verpflichtung, ein besseres Leben zu erarbeiten für alle Menschen, in dem wir eintreten um künstliche Katastrophen und deren Konsequenzen zu verhüten. Eine Verpflichtung zum Leben und seinen Werten muss deshalb verstärkt werden. Eine Anzahl von Vorschlagen, besonders was die Rolle des Krankenpflegepersonals anbetricht, sind hier gemacht. (shrink)

Hegel's Science of Logic has received less attention than his Phenomenology of Spirit, but Hegel himself took it to be his highest philosophical achievement and the backbone of his system. The present book focuses on this most difficult of Hegel’s published works. Béatrice Longuenesse offers a close analysis of core issues, including discussions of what Hegel means by ‘dialectical logic’, the role and meaning of ‘contradiction’ in Hegel’s philosophy, and Hegel’s justification for the provocative statement that ‘what is actual is (...) rational, what is rational is actual’. She examines both Hegel's debt and his polemical reaction to Kant, and shows in great detail how his project of a ‘dialectical’ logic can be understood only in light of its relation to Kant’s ‘transcendental’ logic. This book will appeal to anyone interested in Hegel's philosophy and its influence on contemporary philosophical discussion. (shrink)

The temporal updating of an agent’s beliefs in response to a flow of information is modeled in a simple modal logic that, for every date t, contains a normal belief operator B t and a non-normal information operator I t which is analogous to the ‘only knowing’ operator discussed in the computer science literature. Soundness and completeness of the logic are proved and the relationship between the proposed logic, the AGM theory of belief revision and the notion of plausibility is (...) discussed. (shrink)

Five experiments are reported that concern selective perception and representation following dichotic presentations of competing word pairs differing only in their initial consonants . Only one word from each pair tended to be subjectively perceived, even when participants were encouraged to guess two words. Robust selective perception effects were evidenced as a function of stimulus affective valence. Control tasks showed that these effects could not be attributed to report biases or to the acoustic properties of the stimuli. The unreported words (...) were not recognized on a two-alternative forced-choice task but were recognized with a more sensitive ranking task. Additional cognitive activity during the intertrial interval weakened memory only for the words reported as perceived. Moreover, negative affective valence decreased the recognition of words reported as consciously perceived but increased recognition of unreported words. The implications of these findings for theories of unconscious processing are discussed. (shrink)

In his note Arnis Vilks raises two criticisms concerning my paper "The Logic of Rational Play in Extensive Games". The author gives two examples: one to show that my logic "is inconsistent.

The association of resilience-related factors with frailty is a recent research topic. Dispositional optimism and context sensitivity are two psychological factors that differently contribute to individual resilience. This study aimed at investigating whether dispositional optimism and context sensitivity might contribute to a multifactorial model of frailty, together with established relevant factors such as cognitive and physical factors. This cross-sectional study involved 141 elderly outpatients aged ≥65 years, who were referred to the Geriatrics and Multidimensional Evaluation Clinic of the University Hospital (...) of Messina. We used the following measures: the Mini-Mental State Examination to screen for global cognitive functioning; 4-m gait speed and handgrip strength to measure physical performance; a 35-item Frailty Index to evaluate patients’ frailty status; the revised Life Orientation Test to gauge dispositional optimism; and the Context Sensitivity Index to measure context sensitivity. We found that LOT-R, CSI, and MMSE were all significantly associated with FI. Gait speed was only marginally associated with FI. The present study showed a novel association of dispositional optimism and context sensitivity with frailty among elderly outpatients. These preliminary findings support a multidimensional approach to frailty in which even peculiar psychological features might provide a significant contribution. (shrink)

In France, the Kouchner law of 2002 has allowed for a rethinking of patients’ rights; as well, it introduced the notion of health democracy. For example, in oncology, advocacy groups for patients and ex-patients now provide support and information to patients, representation of patients in health care institutions and state agencies, education to caregivers, and opportunities for participation in research. In fact, such advocacy groups have been so impactful that some patients have gone on to work in the health care (...) system itself; it is this rise in professionalism that is of interest in this article, where we will discuss the first results of two ongoing research projects on the subject. (shrink)

The portrayal of sexuality in folktale course-books that are prescribed for secondary school learners in Zimbabwe is indeed a cause for concern. Not much attention, if any, has been given to exploring the portrayal of ‘sexuality’ especially in ChiShona prescribed course-books. This article qualitatively explored through content and discourse analysis the portrayal of ‘sexuality’ in folktales prescribed course-books based on an Afrocentric perspective of Unhu and Ubuntu. The study sought to determine whether course-books are an asset or a liability for (...) the socialisation of learners of both genders especially at the critical adolescence stage of development. This undertaking assessed gender attributes, norms, values, and behaviour patterns proffered in school course-books. The examination of the ‘sexuality’ portrayed in these course-books was based on the assumption that education is value-laden. The gender value inherent in these course-books being a vaccine for the social ills like gender inequalities bedevilling Shona communities. The major finding was that the portrayal of ‘sexuality’ in the course-books analysed in this study shows that they are more of a liability. The article recommended a gender discourse that evaluates and critically analyses the gender portrayals in the course-books to avoid losing the gender equality milestones achieved so far in Zimbabwe.Contribution: The study examined sexuality sensibilities secondary school learners are exposed to through the authority of folktale prescribed course-books: Hodza’s (1983) Ngano Dzamatambidzanwa and Fortune’s (ed. 1983) Ngano Volume 4. It adopted the Afrocentric perspective of Unhu and Ubuntu to assess the impact of these instructional materials on the learners’ socialisation processes. (shrink)

In this book, Justin N. Bonanno builds off of the recent philosophical work on Walker Percy’s writings. While it is valuable to appreciate Percy as a novelist, Bonanno approaches Percy from the perspective of Continental philosophy and the rhetorical tradition. Unpacking the works of several key authors that influenced Percy (e.g. Sartre and Heidegger), Bonanno offers a fresh philosophical account of Percy's ideas concerning the relationship between symbols and existence. In particular, he focuses on how Percy’s ideas (...) emerge from the thought of Ernst Cassirer, Susanne Langer, Jacques Maritain, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gabriel Marcel, Martin Heidegger, Viktor Shklovsky, Søren Kierkegaard, and St. Thomas Aquinas. (shrink)

Der Forschung gelaufig ist die Rede von einer ersten (5./4. Jh. v. Chr.) und der sog. Zweiten Sophistik (2. Jh. n. Chr). Aber auch die Literatur des Hellenismus und der fruhen Kaiserzeit kennt zahlreiche Sophisten. Der Sophist, verstanden als (schlechter) Lehrer und Redner, Gegenspieler des Philosophen oder Vertreter der griechischen Bildung, bildet deshalb den Dreh-und Angelpunkt der Beitrage, die Schlaglichter auf Orte, Methoden und Personen der Bildungsvermittlung werfen. Die Beitrage zeigen, wie pagane und judische Denker, Platoniker und Stoiker Bildung als (...) Weg zum richtigen Welt- und Gottesverstandnis verstehen. Mit Beitragen von: Christian Fron, Marco Galli, Johann Goeken, Stefanie Holder, Alexandra Michalewski, Peter Scholz, Paul Schubert, Gregory E. Sterling, Werner Urbanz, Beatrice Wys. (shrink)

Les médias de communication numérique à distance et les créations logicielles de communication entre les individus qui ont émergé ces trente dernières années ont entrainé un développement sans précédent de nouvelles technologies de l’écrit et de l’écriture ainsi qu’une retextualisation des échanges concomitante à une dématérialisation du contexte. Or, la dématérialisation du contexte propre à ces environnements complexifie de manière exponentielle sa compréhension, multipliant les risques de malentendus, de décalages, d’incompréhension. Les personnes qui communiquent n’étant pas physiquement présentes l’une à (...) l’autre, leur rencontre s’effectue et se matérialise via un texte. La textualité devient dès lors un nouveau mode de rencontre, dont le texte est le lieu. Le fait que nous imaginions la communication comme si elle était instantanée développe une compréhension textuelle du message, dans l’instant où nous le lisons, qui est propre à la réception. Tous ces échanges reposent sur une faille identique : ils privent l’interaction des nombreuses possibilités de régulation que permet la présence et dont nous privent les écrans, alors que la communication ne repose que sur un pourcentage très faible de verbal. Je définis ainsi le décalage contextuel, qui s’insinue dans ce manque, comme étant d’abord un décalage énonciatif augmenté d’une constante et nécessaire recontextualisation. Après en avoir expliqué le processus, j’en illustre les manifestations à travers l’analyse d’un extrait de corpus, constitué par des réactions au texte la liberté d’importuner paru dans le Monde du 10 janvier 2018. (shrink)

Les médias de communication numérique à distance et les créations logicielles de communication entre les individus qui ont émergé ces trente dernières années ont entrainé un développement sans précédent de nouvelles technologies de l’écrit et de l’écriture ainsi qu’une retextualisation des échanges concomitante à une dématérialisation du contexte. Or, la dématérialisation du contexte propre à ces environnements complexifie de manière exponentielle sa compréhension, multipliant les risques de malentendus, de décalages, d’incompréhension. Les personnes qui communiquent n’étant pas physiquement présentes l’une à (...) l’autre, leur rencontre s’effectue et se matérialise _via_ un texte. La textualité devient dès lors un nouveau mode de rencontre, dont le texte est le lieu. Le fait que nous imaginions la communication comme si elle était instantanée développe une compréhension textuelle du message, dans l’instant où nous le lisons, qui est propre à la réception. Tous ces échanges reposent sur un... (shrink)

Abstract:Making works in isolation often in very remote or isolated environments, Jarvis's intimate series of landscape embodiment rituals raise the dichotomy of site-specific practice as potential platform for increased environmental awareness. Reviewing her recent environmental works in a framework of deconstructive ecopsychology, Beatrice will address through theoretical and practice based models how far the artist and landscape form a dynamic synthesis within the collaborative experience of landscape. Jarvis will debate how far site specific performance and the practice of long (...) distance walking offers an embodied landscape narrative. This paper raises the seminal question how can the body can become mirror to its surroundings, asking through embodied practice, photography, film and writing; how does the body become a living archive? (shrink)

Aristotle explicitly speaks of intelligible matter in three passages only, all from the Metaphysics, in the context of the analysis of definition as the formula that expresses the essence: Metaph. Z10, 1036 a8-11; Metaph.Z11, 1037 a5; Metaph.H6, 1045 a34-36 and 45 b1. In the case of the occurrences of Z10 and Z11, there is almost unanimous consensus that Aristotle uses the expression in a technical way, to indicate the matter of that particular type of objects that are intelligible compounds, of (...) which mathematical objects are paradigmatic instances. By contrast, there is no agreement on how to understand the expression in the case of H6. Here, ‘intelligible matter’ would denote, as stated by some interpreters, the generic element of the definition. The aim of this paper is to show that ὕλη νοητή has the same technical meaning in all the three explicit occurrences in the Metaphisics. Contrary to the interpretation that there is a shift in meaning from Z10-11 to H6, my goal is to illustrate that in both contexts, Aristotle uses the expression ‘intelligible matter’ to designate the matter of mathematical objects insofar as they are paradigmatic intelligible compounds. (shrink)