This article explores the political implications of Muslim public self-presentation and forms of self-fashioning associated with the ongoing processes of re-Islamisation in both Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority societies. It sketches how projects of the Muslim public self contribute to a refiguring of the public sphere. The argument put forward is that public practices of self-reform grounded in religion and presented in pietistic terms are political by virtue of being tied to projects of societal reform and because they have a bearing on (...) the public sphere and public space. Proceeding from the premise that the public sphere is not neutral and that the subjectivities inhabiting it are shaped by power relations, the article examines the ways in which projects of Muslim public selves are imbricated in the material conditions of the settings in which they develop and as such are underpinned by dynamics of power and contestation. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to discuss the idea of dialogue with nature. Even though the idea of dialogue with animals, plants – even objects of inanimate nature – is well known, it has usually been treated as an expression of a naive or folk view. Yet, it has recently gained in importance as an idea that is used to describe an ecological approach to natural environment and tends to be treated as a foundation for an ecological culture. A (...) noteworthy contribution to the reconsideration of the concept of human-nature dialogue has also been given by a number of contemporary philosophers who have offered an environmental reinterpretation of phenomenology and hermeneutics based on, among other things, Martin Buber’s concept of the I-You relationship. The paper will focus on two aspects of the concept of dialogue, namely on its epistemological and ethical implications. Following Erazim Kohák’s theory, which will be presented as a key figure of a particular manner of speaking about nature, one that leads to ecological personalism. (shrink)

The paper aims at an analysis of the concept of landscape, offering an ontological approach. Our claim is that such a perspective is hardly ever assumed in philosophical aesthetics, even if theories of landscape appreciation are in fact based on tacit ontological assumptions. We argue that having an explicit ontology of landscapes is important, for aesthetic theories of their appreciation are often attacked in terms of the problems caused by their tacit ontologies. Therefore, we sketch an “Experience Ontology” that serves (...) as an alternative to the ontologies implied in the two best known aesthetic approaches to landscapes. We contend that a landscape should not be conceived of as an object or view but as a way of experiencing one’s surroundings, and we argue that our theory is not only free from the shortcomings of the two dominant theories but that it also corresponds better to everyday intuitions. (shrink)

Estetyka przyrody jest współcześnie ważnym działem estetyki filozoficznej. Jej przedstawiciele zgodnie twierdzą, że doświadczenie estetyczne jest istotne z punktu widzenia ekologii i w tym sensie, estetyka przyrody ma konsekwencje dla etyki środowiskowej. Celem artykułu jest analiza koncepcji doświadczenia estetycznego przyrody, która wyłania się z environmental aesthetics, oraz pokazanie, że tak rozumiane doświadczenie estetyczne, tzn. jako zmysłowe doświadczenie przyrody qua przyrody oraz jako doświadczenie przyrody on its own terms, jest tożsame z postawą etyczną, pojętą jako postawa, pozwalająca dostrzec w przyrodzie sferę (...) inną-niż-ludzką, której wartości nie sposób sprowadzić bez reszty do wartości instrumentalnej. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to suggest that one should think of gardens in terms of performances and not necessarily in terms of architecture, painting, or poetry, for it is possible to show that, strangely enough, gardens seem to share certain features with performance arts. Such an approach seems fruitful since it allows one both to grasp the fact that gardens combine culture and nature and to underline the role of the latter, which cannot be reduced to a sheer (...) medium as is traditionally done. The contention is that gardens should be treated more like a continuous, dynamic, partly planned process in which people can participate in different ways on a par with other non-human ‘actors’. Moreover, the category of performance seems to offer a useful framework helping to solve certain problems inherent in traditional ways of thinking about gardens. (shrink)

Preview: It is not a gross exaggeration to state that philosophy is an inherently urban phenomenon. Born and largely practiced in the Greek polis, it was developed throughout the ages in various places that more often than not were situated within city walls. Even if, udoubtedly, philosophy has never been limited solely to urban spaces, it has become more and more embedded in cities over the centuries. Consequently, from the 19th century on it has been part and parcel of the (...) intellectual life whose main centers have been towns since it has been almost exclusively researched on and taught within academic institutions. (shrink)

Background Human Papilloma Virus vaccine was introduced in Bangladesh through the arrangement of a demonstration project in Gazipur district in 2016, targeting grade five female students and non-school going girls. HPV vaccination is expected to be eventually included in the nationwide immunization program if the demonstration project is successful. However, introduction and implementation of such a vaccination program raises various ethical concerns. This review paper illustrates a step by step assessment of the ethical concerns surrounding the HPV vaccination implementation in (...) Bangladesh considering specific elements in administering and conducting the program as well as the intended results. Policy-makers, vaccine implementers, vaccine recipients, and an ethics specialist in Bangladesh were interviewed. Electronic database and websites have also been reviewed for relevant published literature and government statements. Main body of the abstract This program imparted inadequate knowledge about HPV and cervical cancer to the recipients and participants. There was lack of autonomous and informed choice of the girls and their parents about taking the vaccine. The program did not have any follow-up plan for the adverse effects in the long run. The impact of a female-only strategy in the larger societal context was overlooked. There was lack of awareness among the implementers about safeguarding the ethical issues pertaining to HPV vaccination. Conclusion Adolescent health education imparted in the scope of the vaccination program should contain adequate information about HPV, its mode of transmission, risk factors along with the importance of secondary prevention despite primary prevention. Adolescent boys should be given HPV related health education as well. The right of making informed choice should be appreciated and respected. More ethical discussion and debate should be done among the public health professionals of Bangladesh in order to increase awareness about ethical issues related to human health. (shrink)

This book aims to present trompe-l'oeil painting as an ambigous aesthetic ideal offered by early modern theory of art. It embodies the idea of an image identical to what it represents. It is interpreted in terms of perceptual and aesthetic illusion, mimesis, diegesis, play, irony and scientific illustration.

Poster ma na celu zaprezentowanie na konkretnym przykładzie wizualizacji w nauce jako dzieła sztuki. Składa się z dwóch części. Pierwsza to skrócona wersja artykułu oraz graficzna prezentacji owego skrótu, wygenerowana za pomocą algorytmu uwzględniającego rozkład liter w tekście (kod został dołączony). Druga część to hasła zapisane krojem pisma tak dobranym, aby wywoływał napięcie między wizualną stroną hasła (emocjami, myślami, skojarzeniami związanymi z formą) a jego znaczeniem (treścią). Poster zasadza się na założeniach przedstawionych w artykule. Proponujemy mianowicie, aby spojrzeć na wizualizacje (...) danych jako na obiekty, których twórcy stają przed podobnymi wyzwaniami, z jakimi muszą się zmierzyć autorzy dzieł sztuk wizualnych, oraz jako obiekty, których odbiorcy muszą wykonać pracę interpretacyjną podobną do tej, której wymagają od nich dzieła sztuki. (shrink)

BackgroundThe principles of informed consent, confidentiality and privacy are often neglected during patient care in developing countries. We assessed the degree to which doctors in Lahore adhere to these principles during outpatient consultations.Material & MethodThe study was conducted at medical out-patient departments (OPDs) of two tertiary care hospitals (one public and one private hospital) of Lahore, selected using multi-stage sampling. 93 patients were selected from each hospital. Doctors' adherence to the principles of informed consent, privacy and confidentiality was observed through (...) client flow analysis performed by trained personnel. Overall patient perception was also assessed regarding these practices and was compared with the assessment made by our data collectors.ResultsSome degree of informed consent was obtained from only 9.7% patients in the public hospital and 47.8% in the private hospital. 81.4% of patients in the public hospital and 88.4% in the private hospital were accorded at least some degree of privacy. Complete informational confidentiality was maintained only in 10.8% and 35.5% of cases in public & private hospitals respectively. Informed consent and confidentiality were better practiced in the private compared to the public hospital (two-sample t-test > 2, p value < 0.05). There was marked disparity between the patients' perspective of these ethical practices and the assessment of our trained data collectors.ConclusionObservance of medical ethics is inadequate in hospitals of Lahore. Doctors should be imparted formal training in medical ethics and national legislation on medical ethics is needed. Patients should be made aware of their rights to medical ethics. (shrink)

It is often said that television series are nowadays as good as films, or even better than them, but the philosophical inquiry into the former remains much less developed than the philosophy of film. A handful of recent books (e.g., Nannicelli 2016, Shuster 2017, Andrzejewski and Salwa 2018, Bandirali and Terrone 2021) have tried to fill the gap, but there is much work still to be done. Significant contributions to the aesthetics of television series are coming from television studies (...) and fil... (shrink)

This article focuses on the representation of female physical illness and disability in the works of two Arab women writers: Iraqi Alia Mamdouh’s Habbat al Naftalin [Mothballs] (1986) and Egyptian Salwa Bakr’s al ‘Arabah al Dhahabiyah la Tas‘ad ila al Sama’ [The Golden Chariot] (1991). It argues that the representation of female illness in these works centres upon the figure of the sick mother. Despite the limitations of this trope of illness, both novels offer a more complex illness narrative (...) than those of their Arab predecessors. By problematizing the representation of the sick woman/mother, both novels challenge the traditional role of the silent, sick female figure whose story remains outside the limits of representation. Finally, the article argues that this textual recuperation of the female suffering body is achieved through the employment of a mother— daughter plot which continues to represent the sick mother as socially and emotionally absent but which nevertheless renders her a central figure in the daughter’s narrative. (shrink)