Edward Said's book Orientalism stands in a long lineage of critique of European scholarship responsible for shaping European understandings of foreign cultures. His book contributed significantly to the debate about the epistemological presuppositions informing European scholars of other cultures. However, while Said exposed in considerable detail the ways in which the Orient was distorted by the theories of the European academy, he left unexamined the possibility of genuine cross-cultural understanding. This article considers the significance of hermeneutics for cross-cultural rather than (...) historical understanding. It explores the implicit claim Gadamer makes for the universal validity of hermeneutics not only for understanding in history, but for a genuine intellectual rapprochement across geographical and cultural lines as well. S. Afr. J. Philos. Vol.21(4) 2002: 330-344. (shrink)

Three things occur in this introductory article to a volume of the South African Journal of Philosophy in tribute of Hans- Georg Gadamer who died on March 14, 2002, at the age of 102. First, some historical details of Gadamer's life are provided. Second, the nine articles in the volume are briefly introduced. The authors are Denis Schmidt (the only non- South African), Anton van Niekerk, Bert Olivier, Andrea Hurst, Leon Fouché, Danie Strauss, Pieter Duvenage, Nirmala Pillay and (...) Gerald Pillay. Finally, short remarks are made about the relevance of Gadamer's work, and particularly his contribution to “understanding the nature of understanding”, for the South African situation. S. Afr. J. Philos. Vol.21(4) 2002: 219-222. (shrink)

In this paper I examine two controversialissues that occurred in two different centuriesbut that are inextricably linked with eachother – the 1835 murder committed by a Frenchpeasant, Pierre Riviere and documented byMichel Foucault and the 1990's debate regardingthe controversial methods of FacilitatedCommunication used with students labeledautistic in the United States. In this paper Iargue that both controversies foreground thecrisis of the humanist subject. In other words,I argue that both controversies are generatedby a seemingly simple question: Are personsidentified as mentally disabledcapable/incapable (...) of representing themselves?In response to this question, I will use amaterialist analysis to explore theimplications that the poststructuralistdepiction of the humanist subject as a fictionholds for both the Riviere case and theFacilitated Communication debate. (shrink)

The Reformed tradition, emerging in the 16th-century Reformation, consists of a variety of sources that often lead to complex and differing views about beliefs, doctrines and ethics. However, this tradition and theology have always stressed the significance of social justice and diakonia as important aspects of faith and ministry, even though its great sense of diversity has often nuanced and stressed different levels of understanding and engagement of social justice. This article aims to show that social justice and diakonia are (...) integral to Reformed tradition and practice. Using mainly the methodologies of literature review and contextuality (the author’s context), this article establishes that social justice is grounded in the history, theology, spirituality, confessions and polity of the Reformed faith. The latter aspects are also contained in the notion that to be Reformed is to be ecumenical. In this sense, Reformed tradition is concerned about the whole world and all creation. Contribution: The diverse and complex nature of Reformed tradition and theology often creates a sense of confusion on how Reformed Christians understand social justice and diakonia. This article offers a significant contribution to establishing that social justice is an integral aspect of Reformed tradition. By firmly grounding social justice in the history, theology, spirituality, confessions and polity of the Reformed faith, the author makes a significant contribution to a debate that has pervaded Reformed churches over many centuries. (shrink)

Care of the critically ill newborn includes support for the birth mother/parents with regular updates around the clinical condition of the baby, and involvement in discussions around complex decision-making issues. Discussions around continuation or discontinuation of life-sustaining are challenging even in the most straightforward of cases, but what happens when the birth mother is critically unwell? Such cases can lead to uncertainty around who should assume the parental role for these difficult discussions. In this round table discussion, we explore the (...) ethical, moral and legal uncertainties raised by coincident severe maternal and neonatal illness in the context of surrogacy. (shrink)

We introduce and study the notions of a PAC-substructure of a stable structure, and a bounded substructure of an arbitrary substructure, generalizing [10]. We give precise definitions and equivalences, saying what it means for properties such as PAC to be first order, study some examples (such as differentially closed fields) in detail, relate the material to generic automorphisms, and generalize a "descent theorem" for pseudo-algebraically closed fields to the stable context. We also point out that the elementary invariants of pseudo-algebraically (...) closed fields from [6] are also valid for pseudo-differentially closed fields. (shrink)

Les corps algébriquement clos, réels clos et pseudo-finis n'ont, pour chaque entier n, qu'un nombre fini d'extensions de degré n; nous montrons qu'ils partagent cette propriété avec tous les corps qui, comme eux, satisfont une propriété très rudimentaire de préservation de la dimension, de nature modèle-théorique. Ce résultat est atteint en montrant qu'une certaine action du groupe GLn d'un tel corps n'a qu'un nombre fini d'orbites. /// La korpoj algebre fermataj, reale fermataj kaj pseudofinataj ne havas, pri ciu integro n, (...) pli ol finitan nombron de sternejoj kun grado n; ni montras ke ili kunpartigas tiu ci propecon kun ciu tiel korpoj kiuj kontentigas kiel ili unu tre simplan modelteorian propecon de konserveco de la amplekso. Pri atingi la resultaton, ni montras ke kelka ago de la grupo GLn de tiel korpo havas sole finitan nombron de orbitoj. (shrink)

CM-triviality of a stable theory is a notion introduced by Hrushovski [1]. The importance of this property is first that it holds of Hrushovski's new non 1-based strongly minimal sets, and second that it is still quite a restrictive property, and forbids the existence of definable fields or simple groups (see [2]). In [5], Frank Wagner posed some questions aboutCM-triviality, asking in particular whether a structure of finite rank, which is “coordinatized” byCM-trivial types of rank 1, is itselfCM-trivial. (Actually Wagner (...) worked in a slightly more general context, adapting the definitions to a certain “local” framework, in which algebraic closure is replaced byP-closure, forPsome family of types. We will, however, remain in the standard context, and will just remark here that it is routine to translate our results into Wagner's framework, as well as to generalise to the superstable theory/regular type context.) In any case we answer Wagner's question positively. Also in an attempt to put forward some concrete conjectures about the possible geometries of strongly minimal sets (or stable theories) we tentatively suggest a hierarchy of geometric properties of forking, the first two levels of which correspond to 1-basedness andCM-triviality respectively. We do not know whether this is a strict hierarchy (or even whether these are the “right” notions), but we conjecture that it is, and moreover that a counterexample to Cherlin's conjecture can be found at level three in the hierarchy. (shrink)

We develop a basic theory of rosy groups and we study groups of small Uþ-rank satisfying NIP and having finitely satisfiable generics: Uþ-rank 1 implies that the group is abelian-by-finite, Uþ-rank 2 implies that the group is solvable-by-finite, Uþ-rank 2, and not being nilpotent-by-finite implies the existence of an interpretable algebraically closed field.

We continue the study of simple theories begun in [3] and [5]. We first find the right analogue of definability of types. We then develop the theory of generic types and stabilizers for groups definable in simple theories. The general ideology is that the role of formulas (or definability) in stable theories is replaced by partial types (or ∞-definability) in simple theories.

Given a lovely pair P ≺ M of models of a simple theory T, we study the structure whose universe is P and whose relations are the traces on P of definable (in ℒ with parameters from M) sets in M. We give a necessary and sufficient condition on T (which we call weak lowness) for this structure to have quantifier-elimination. We give an example of a non-weakly-low simple theory.

These papers were presented at a panel, organized by us and chaired by Liz Wilson, on ‘Women’s Leadership and Monastic Organizations in Therav?da Buddhist Traditions’, at the 2008 American Academy of Religion meeting, Chicago. Here, we bring together articles that examine the roots of the teachings on nuns in P?li literature with others which investigate issues relating to contemporary Therav?da nuns, as well as an analysis of relevant debates in ancient China. The objective of these papers is to contribute to (...) discussion of the multiple ways in which professionally celibate women are represented, organized and empowered in the textual and contemporary traditions of P?li and Therav?da Buddhism, to study how representations of female monasticism are related to organizational structures of leadership and agency, and explore how debates over the need for ‘dual ordination’ have occurred in traditions other than the Therav?da. (shrink)

We give a reduction of the function field Mordell–Lang conjecture to the function field Manin–Mumford conjecture, for abelian varieties, in all characteristics, via model theory, but avoiding recourse to the dichotomy theorems for (generalized) Zariski geometries. Additional ingredients include the “Theorem of the Kernel”, and a result of Wagner on commutative groups of finite Morley rank without proper infinite definable subgroups. In positive characteristic, where the main interest lies, there is one more crucial ingredient: “quantifier-elimination” for the corresponding [Formula: see (...) text] where [Formula: see text] is a saturated separably closed field. (shrink)

Can an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God create humans with free will without the capacity to commit evil? Scholars have taken opposite positions on the contentious problem. Using scripture and the rules of logic, we argue that God cannot create impeccable creatures because of his ‘simplicity’. God cannot create gods, because God is uncreated. Peccable humans freely choose to disobey their creator and thus cannot blame him for the horrendous evils in this world. Concerning the belief of sinless humans with free (...) will in heaven, we suggest that such an impartation of God’s impeccability can be accomplished, not through creation, but by the marriage of Christ and the Church, for the two shall become one. Believers will become children of God and partakers of the divine nature.Contribution: Theologians and philosophers have argued whether God could create humans with free will who never commit evil, and if he could, why did he not do so? The primary contribution of this article is the argument that God could not create impeccable humans with free will for God could not create gods. (shrink)

We characterize the non-modular models of a unidimensional first-order theory of modules as the elementary submodels of its prime pure-injective model. We show that in case the maximal non-modular submodel of a given model splits off this is true for every such submodel, and we thus obtain a cancellation result for this situation. Although the theories in question always have models whose maximal non-modular submodel do split off, they may as well have others where they don't. We present a corresponding (...) example. (shrink)

We initiate an account of Shelah’s notion of “strong dependence” in terms of generically stable measures, proving a measure analogue of the fact that a stable theory $T$ is “strongly dependent” if and only if all types have almost finite weight.

The future of a black theology of liberation has been in question since the demise of apartheid in South Africa. The constitution of democracy in the country has raised questions about the relevance and purpose of such a theology in the wake of a new dispensation. Can we continue to promote the idea of ‘blackness’ in a democratic South Africa? Extracting from the contributions of the late Professor Vuyani Vellem, and as a tribute to his work, this article aims to (...) show that BTL definitely has a valid role for relevance and continuity. The author conducts a literature review of the material produced by Vuyani Vellem and identifies the emerging trends in which BTL continues to be alive and relevant.Contribution: The scholarly contribution of this article is its focus on the systematic and practical reflection, within a paradigm in which the intersection of religious studies, social sciences and humanities generate an interdisciplinary contested discourse. (shrink)

In spite of the presence of women in previously male-dominated ecclesial spaces, patriarchal normativity continues to be re-inscribed through the reproduction of knowledge, which sustains skewed gender power relations amongst the clergy. This was a case in point when a newly ordained woman priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa was recently addressed as, and given the official title, ‘mother’ during the vestment ritual at a church service where she was to celebrate the Eucharist for the first time. This (...) while the male priests present had retained the title ‘father’ without any critical reflection on the male-headship theology it perpetuates. If one considers that the ordination of women has opened the possibility for them to celebrate the Eucharist, which gives authority to preside at the ‘Table’, then one has to be mindful of the subtle ways in which language is used to regulate the production and reproduction of gender bias in a patriarchal system. Being the guest preacher at the celebratory service of this former Ethics and Theology student, I could do no other but interrupt the sermon I had prepared. In this article, I argue that interruption is a helpful theoretical concept – both as a transformative rhetorical strategy in the interpretation of biblical texts and also as an act of resisting discourses and practices that uphold and re-inscribe patriarchal norms. I will approach the hermeneutical concept of interruption from what I call a feminist theo-ethical perspective. (shrink)

In [E. Hrushovski, D. Palacín and A. Pillay, On the canonical base property, Selecta Math. 19 865–877], Hrushovski and the authors proved, in a certain finite rank environment, that rigidity of definable Galois groups implies that [Formula: see text] has the canonical base property in a strong form; “internality to” being replaced by “algebraicity in”. In the current paper, we give a reasonably robust definition of the “strong canonical base property” in a rather more general finite rank context than (...) [E. Hrushovski, D. Palacín and A. Pillay, On the canonical base property, Selecta Math. 19 865–877], and prove its equivalence with rigidity of the relevant definable Galois groups. The new direction is an elaboration on the old result that [Formula: see text]-based groups are rigid. (shrink)

Adequate measurement is an essential component of the assessment of mental health disorders and symptoms such as depression and anxiety. The present study investigated sex-specific differences in the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7. This comprehensive cross-sectional design study pursued four objectives: measurement invariance of PHQ-9 and GAD-7 between male and female; depression and anxiety prevalence differences; cross-sex differences in the relationship between depression and anxiety; and a comparison of symptom heterogeneity. A sample of 1966 students from South Africa (...) completed the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7. Data analyses for measurement invariance, latent class analysis, inter-variable correlations and group comparisons were conducted in Mplus. The two-dimensional PHQ-9 achieved scalar invariance, while the GAD-7 yielded metric invariance. The somatic and non-somatic latent dimensions of depression were compared and showed no significant difference between male and female groups. The positive relationship between depression and anxiety was also not significantly different between the two groups. While the PHQ-9 symptoms formed three classes in the male group, and four classes in the female group, the GAD-7 had the same number of classes and a similar pattern between the two groups. These findings hold implications for the measurement, assessment and understanding of symptom manifestation and distribution, as well as the treatment of depression and anxiety in South Africa. (shrink)

We introduce the notion of a lovely pair of models of a simple theory T, generalizing Poizat's “belles paires” of models of a stable theory and the third author's “generic pairs” of models of an SU-rank 1 theory. We characterize when a saturated model of the theory TP of lovely pairs is a lovely pair , finding an analog of the nonfinite cover property for simple theories. We show that, under these hypotheses, TP is also simple, and we study forking (...) and canonical bases in TP. We also prove that assuming only that T is low, the existentially universal models of the universal part of a natural expansion TP+ of TP, are lovely pairs, and “simple Robinson universal domains”. (shrink)

We study structures equipped with generic predicates and/or automorphisms, and show that in many cases we obtain simple theories. We also show that a bounded PAC field is simple. 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

The "space" of Lascar strong types, on some sort and relative to a given complete theory T, is in general not a compact Hausdorff topological space. We have at least three aims in this paper. The first is to show that spaces of Lascar strong types, as well as other related spaces and objects such as the Lascar group Gal L of T, have well-defined Borel cardinalities. The second is to compute the Borel cardinalities of the known examples as well (...) as of some new examples that we give. The third is to explore notions of definable map, embedding, and isomorphism, between these and related quotient objects. We also make some conjectures, the main one being roughly "smooth if and only if trivial". The possibility of a descriptive set-theoretic account of the complexity of spaces of Lascar strong types was touched on in the paper [E. Casanovas, D. Lascar, A. Pillay and M. Ziegler, Galois groups of first order theories, J. Math. Logic1 305–319], where the first example of a "non-G-compact theory" was given. The motivation for writing this paper is partly the discovery of new examples via definable groups, in [A. Conversano and A. Pillay, Connected components of definable groups and o-minimality I, Adv. Math.231 605–623; Connected components of definable groups and o-minimality II, to appear in Ann. Pure Appl. Logic] and the generalizations in [J. Gismatullin and K. Krupiński, On model-theoretic connected components in some group extensions, preprint, arXiv:1201.5221v1]. (shrink)