In April 2021, longing to learn first-hand about ageing philosophically, Valery Vino reached out to the legendary Arnold Berleant (who was 89 at the time of writing), to see whether he might be interested in recording a dialogue to this theme, with a companion of his choice. Berleant selected his ideal collaborator Michael Alpert, book designer and collector, poet, senior, and treasured friend. Over the following six months, a rich tapestry of leisurely reading, contemplation and discussion unfolded, culminating in an (...) unrehearsed, free-flowing conversation about ageing, which has been recorded, lightly edited and offered here for readers to share. (shrink)

Regular musical activity as a complex multimodal lifestyle activity is proposed to be protective against age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. This cross-sectional study investigated the association and interplay between musical instrument playing during life, multi-domain cognitive abilities and brain morphology in older adults from the DZNE-Longitudinal Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Study study. Participants reporting having played a musical instrument across three life periods were compared to controls without a history of musical instrument playing, well-matched for reserve proxies of education, (...) intelligence, socioeconomic status and physical activity. Participants with musical activity outperformed controls in global cognition, working memory, executive functions, language, and visuospatial abilities, with no effects seen for learning and memory. The musically active group had greater gray matter volume in the somatosensory area, but did not differ from controls in higher-order frontal, temporal, or hippocampal volumes. However, the association between gray matter volume in distributed frontal-to-temporal regions and cognitive abilities was enhanced in participants with musical activity compared to controls. We show that playing a musical instrument during life relates to better late-life cognitive abilities and greater brain capacities in OA. Musical activity may serve as a multimodal enrichment strategy that could help preserve cognitive and brain health in late life. Longitudinal and interventional studies are needed to support this notion. (shrink)

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the French version of the Positivity scale, a self-report measure of positivity, which is the tendency to view and address life and experience with a positive outlook. Positivity is seen as a latent factor underlying multiple cognitive concepts such as self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism.MethodsWe recruited 666 volunteers. They completed the P scale online, as well as self-report measures of psychological well-being, self-esteem, satisfaction with life, general health, and (...) personality dimensions. The study sample was randomly split into two sub-groups, one used for exploratory factor analysis and the other for confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsWe found conflictual results related to the uni-dimensionality of the French version of the P scale. We found good internal consistency and high concurrent validity.ConclusionThe French version of the P scale demonstrated good psychometric qualities and is a reliable tool that can now be used by French researchers and clinicians to assess positivity. (shrink)

»In vino metaphora« pomeni delno slavljenje Nietzschejevega preseganja nihi-lizma. Za afirmacijo življenja v voljo do moči kot izvoru vse dejavnosti, ki ustvarja vrednote se izkaže, da presega nihilizem, ki ga Nietzscheju pogosto očitajo njegovi kritiki. Ena od pomembnejših oblik volje do moči v tem smislu je intoksikacija ali dionizicno. V Nietzschejevem zgodnjem opusu je bilo dionizicno metafizično in umetniško načelo. Njegov kasnejši opus kontrastira dionizicno intoksikacijo z drugimi oblikami in dionizicno postane tako psihološki kot fiziološki pojav. Članek tudi primerja Nietzschejeve (...) poglede o intoksikaciji s pogledi Walter j a Benjamina ter ju obravnava v zvezi s pojavi kakršna sta rock glasba in severnoameriško izkustvo šestdesetih let. (shrink)

This paper explores the relationship between farmland investment and environmental uncertainty. It examines how farmland investors seek to “render land investible” in spite of drought, groundwater depletion, and changing regulations. To do so, we analyze a single case study: the purchase of 8000 acres of dry rangeland in California’s Cuyama Valley by the Harvard University endowment for use in creating an irrigated vineyard. Drawing from interviews with Cuyama Valley farmers and community members, participant observation at community meetings, and public document (...) analysis, we make two primary contributions to understandings of uncertain resource materiality in farmland investment. First, this case reveals that investors can turn environmental uncertainty into an advantage, exploiting both the temporal uncertainties associated with resource management under climate change and the spatial uncertainties inherent to all subsurface resources. We argue that the material and legal uncertainties of groundwater access provide investors with a potentially lucrative opening to assert their preferred land imaginaries and improve their property values. In the Cuyama Valley they did so through both participation in groundwater governance and the establishment of water-related infrastructure on their property. Second, this case highlights that the asset-making processes involved in farmland investment may be as much vertical as they are horizontal. The need to map and measure the uncertain vertical dimension of land creates an outsized role for scientific expertise in farmland assetization. (shrink)

In vino veritas, car si l'on avait bien la permission de parler, il était interdit de le faire sans être in vino, et on ne devait prêter l'oreille à aucune vérité si elle n'était dite in vino, le vin étant la défense de la vérité et la vérité celle du vin. Le lieu choisi pour le banquet se trouvait dans une forêt à quelques miles de Copenhague. [...] On discourut ensuite longuement sur les rapports du vin et de la conscience, (...) et sur le fait que chez les personnes très réfléchies l'effet du vin ne se traduisait pas par un impetus étrange, mais au contraire par une réflexion étrangement calme. (shrink)

En el presente artículo nos hemos propuesto analizar las variantes textuales griegas relativas a los términos “vino” y “vinagre” dentro del contexto neotestamentario de la Pasión de Cristo, así como sus correlatos en la traducción de los Evangelios en antiguo eslavo. Como resultado de dicho análisis, hemos detectado una tendencia a introducir el término “vinagre” por parte de la tradición textológica del Nuevo Testamento griego, que es secundada además por otras tradiciones, como la siríaca o la eslava.

Saturation, intoxication to the medias of realization and porsuit of happyness.

For sensible men I prepare only three kraters: one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more—it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for (...) madness and unconsciousness. The collection Questions of Taste: The Philosophy of Wine, edited by Barry Smith, originated at a conference at London University in 2004.1 Smith writes that “it was the first ever conference on the philosophy of wine” (i). As Smith claims.. (shrink)

Este artículo fue bom como lección inaugural del curso académico 1996-1997 en el Instituto de Estudios Teológicos de Sevilla (C.E.T). Se parte de una serie de notas biográficas del Padre Haring necesarias, según el autor, para comprender el desarrollo intelectual del personaje y la evolución de su enseñanza moral. En la segunda parte. La contribución del Padre Haring a la TeologíaMoral renovada se revela: una moral fundada sobre el Custodio de Dios; un nuevo destinatario, es decir, el paso del confesionario (...) al "cristiano adulto": paso de la ley y del mandamiento a la "ley del Espíritu que da la vida en Cristo": diálogo con el hombre de hoy: diálogo ecuménico: cultura continua, que implica renovación continua: moral de tendencia comunitaria (ni individualista, ni perfeccionista), de la solidaridad salvífica; moral que libera al hombre, que no lo aprisiona ni lo encorseta. En conclusion. se muestra claramente la gran aportación del Padre Haring a la Teología Moral: el paso de una moral centrada en el objeto a una moral centrada en el hombre libre, responsable y fiel a Cristo. (shrink)

The image of wine has a “spiritual sense”, which helps the faithful to understand the principles of their belief. Its mystery is connected with the theme of “sober inebriation”, developed by Philo of Alexandria and Origen, and culminating in Ambrose. The good wines that the bride enjoys before the groom’s arrival are a symbol of the good doctrines of the OT, whose teachings are however inferior to the revelation of the incarnate Christ. Good, sweet wine, meanwhile, refers to the doctrines (...) of the NT interpreted spiritually, the logos that helps us begin to know Christ, to bind ourselves to him in ecclesial unity and to love our neighbour. It also leads us to the “winepress”, i.e. renouncing superfluous land, becoming “full of must” and inebriated, so that we can dedicate ourselves to contemplation. The vine has a Christological value and catechetical function, dating back to John 15.1, which is often quoted with Saint Paul. The place where the vine is born and develops is the soul; the Logos supports its flowering in those who, by their free will, choose to flourish. The cluster of grapes refers to Christ, or to the victory of the righteous; the many grapes that he contains are believers. The vineyard is a symbol of the church formed by the pagans, of the commandments of God, or of the good things that God gave to man, who did not preserve them, having been stripped of them by the devil. The guardians of the vineyard are angels or priests. (shrink)

Este artículo, partiendo de un proceso metalingüístico estandarizado, pretende mostrar algunas alternativas psicolingüísticas al aprendizaje conversacional. El desarrollo del estudio corresponde al siguiente esquema: (1) Importancia de la comprensión metalingüística en el perfeccionamiento de una le..

The article, titled «Mircea Eliade and Eugenio d’Ors (and the archetype)», is an analysis of the relationship between the Romanian intellectual Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) and the Spanish thinker Eugenio d’Ors (1881-1954). Divided in five parts, the first one, titled «The intellectual encounter: Eliade discovers d’Ors», is a revision of the process of the discovery of the works of d’Ors by Eliade in their French translations. In the second part titled «The personal encounter and the project of the Romanian translation of (...) a selection of works of d’Ors» is revised the Eliade-d’Ors relationship during the Portuguese years of Eliade using the Portuguese Journal and the correspondence of Eliade as primary source. The third part titled «D’Ors discovers Eliade» is a study of the reception by d’Ors of the two 1949 books of Eliade (and specially The Myth of the Eternal Return). The fourth part, devoted to revise the resemblances between Eliade and d’Ors, is titled «Eliade and d’Ors: affinities and convergences». The fifth part titled «The archetype’s question: an imaginary debt?» analyses the inclusion in the American preface of the 1959 edition of Cosmos and History (i.e. The Myth of the Eternal Return) of the following words: «I use the term “archetype,” just as Eugenio d’Ors does, as a synonym for “exemplary model” or “paradigm”». Due to the differences between the use by d’Ors of the notion of archetype and the Eliadian archetype (one of the core concepts in his hermeneutic) that words are analysed as an imaginary debt, a tactical parti pris liberating Eliade of the Jungian implications of the term archetype. (shrink)

Ogni vino bevuto ha il suo racconto. Mio proposito: renderne facile l’ascolto e la comprensione a te, lettore, che ami il vino – mi leggi –, o sei disposto a riconoscerlo amico.L. Veronelli 1. Introduction: A little something about the wineworld 1.1. The first time In 1971, Mario Soldati, Italian writer, journalist and expert of wine, published the second series of Vino al Vino, a book about wine production in Italy. In the Introduction titled “Wine as a Work of Art” (...) Soldati stated: Between t... (shrink)

Ogni vino bevuto ha il suo racconto. Mio proposito: renderne facile l’ascolto e la comprensione a te, lettore, che ami il vino – mi leggi –, o sei disposto a riconoscerlo amico.L. Veronelli 1. Introduction: A little something about the wineworld 1.1. The first time In 1971, Mario Soldati, Italian writer, journalist and expert of wine, published the second series of Vino al Vino, a book about wine production in Italy. In the Introduction titled “Wine as a Work of Art” (...) Soldati stated: Between t... (shrink)

En Política VI 2, 1317b 1-17, Aristóteles define así la democracia: «el rasgo esencial de la democracia es el vivir como se quiere sin ninguna interferencia y de aquí vino el de no ser gobernado, si es posible por nadie, y si no, por turnos. Esta característica contribuye a un sistema general de la libertad fundada en la igualdad». Este modelo normativo dio lugar, históricamente, a dos posibles regímenes políticos, la democracia popular o extrema, basada en la participación directa de (...) todos los ciudadanos, como en Atenas, y una «constitución mixta» que tenía rasgos tanto democráticos como oligárquicos, llamada república en la tradición romana desde Cicerón. La democracia moderna es la heredera de ambos regímenes, moderada por la nueva concepción de los derechos individuales que son propios del pensamiento moderno desde Hugo Grotius hasta la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos. La constitución representativa fue, así, la solución moderna al conflicto entre gobierno de la mayoría y gobierno de las leyes. Desde su Independencia en el siglo XIX, las democracias de América Latina sufren por la tensión no resuelta entre populismo y constitución liberal democrática. El neo-populismo que surgió en los últimos años del siglo XX se presentó como un desafío y una respuesta a las promesas incumplidas de la democracia. Contra los defensores del populismo autoritario, como por ejemplo Ch. Mouffe y E. Laclau, yo sostengo que la democracia deliberativa es una respuesta superior a esas promesas. (shrink)

Si quisiéramos agrupar en torno a preguntas algunos de los principales núcleos de la filosofía de Plotino, esas preguntas podrían ser las siguientes: “¿quiénes somos?”, “¿de dónde venimos?” y “¿hacia dónde vamos?”. A lo largo de las _Enéadas_ el Licopolitano se vale de metáforas locativas y temporales para dar cuenta de la unidad subyacente a todas las almas y de la búsqueda que el alma humana debe emprender para regresar a esa unidad. Nuestro filósofo puntualiza que la unidad no se (...) encuentra ni “fragmentada” ni “recortada” (como la de una cera que se puede dividir en varios trozos o la de un vino que se puede verter en distintas copas) sino que es indivisible (_améristos_) y también diversificada, parangonable a la de los distintos teoremas de una ciencia, los cuales dan cuenta cada uno a su manera de la totalidad de la disciplina. A su vez también realiza una diferenciación entre capacidades (_dýnamis_) del alma que remiten al cuerpo y otra que se halla separada de lo corpóreo y ejerce la contemplación (_nóesis_) de la Inteligencia. En el caso particular del ser humano ocurriría que no posee registro de la contemplación que su propia “alma superior” lleva a cabo, por lo cual necesita reponerla. Allí radica la finalidad de la filosofía, que se reviste de una dimensión teórica (la dialéctica) y de una práctica (el cultivo de las virtudes inferiores y de las superiores en la medida que vaya perfeccionándose en la dialéctica). El sabio sería entonces quien ha conseguido adecuar sus pensamientos y sus acciones a su actividad noética, ha alcanzado la felicidad y está en condiciones de experimentar la unión mística con lo Uno. Podemos entonces señalar la contemplación, la virtud y la felicidad como tres importantes motivaciones detrás del pensamiento de Plotino. (shrink)

Sometimes when a person acts while drunk we see her actions as not reflective of her character ("oh, she was just drunk"). At other times we see her actions as reflective of her "deep self" ("in vino veritas"). What is the difference between the two types of cases? This paper sketches a possible answer.