Study on Mānameyodaya of Nārāyaṇabhaṭṭapāda, treatise on Mimamsa philosophy.

Throughout Christianity, its activities are in one way or another connected to the historical reality of its time. Usually, for different epochs, the strength of these bonds was different, but during the Middle Ages, they were significantly stronger than before and after. It is here that perhaps the most important moment was the rise of Christianity, which spread over a relatively short period of time almost throughout Europe. It was then - and never again in all its history - that (...) the Church was able to participate in the formation of all aspects of its contemporary life, in accordance with its spirit. When solving this task, it inevitably came in close contact with the "world" and the various forms in which it was represented. (shrink)

Millions of people in various parts of the world and within each country are presently surviving in categories described as “mere”, “miserable”, “idealistic”, “irresponsible”, and “acceptable”. The term “acceptable survival” is proposed as a bioethical goal of global survival, looking beyond the 21st century to the year 3000 and beyond. The frequently used alternative term is “sustainable development”, but in most contexts this is an economic concept and does not imply any moral or ethical constraints, except where these are spelled (...) out. Acceptable survival, broadly defined, means acceptable to a universal sense of what is morally right and good and what will continue in the long term. The expanding dominant, but irresponsible, world culture is not an acceptable type of development because it cannot survive in the long term. [M&GS 1995:185–191]. (shrink)

There Could Not Be A More Fundamental Approach To The Various Problems Of Education Than The One That The Learned Author, Who Is A Doyen In The Field Of ...

In this paper, we describe the use of legal ontologies as a basis to improve IT support for professional judges. As opposed to most legal ontologies designed so far, which are mostly based on dogmatic and normative knowledge, we emphasize the importance of professional knowledge and experience as an important pillar for constructing the ontology. We describe an intelligent FAQ system for junior judges that intensively use the ontology.

This volume contains twenty-one selected articles and lectures written by the author over a period of some two decades. The remarkable range of McCulloch's abilities and interests is attested to by the diverse character of the contents, which range from neurophysiology to poetry and a scathing attack on Freud and psychoanalysis. Despite the dazzling diversity of topics treated, there is a readily discernible theme underlying all of McCulloch's work. It is represented explicitly in such papers as the classic "A Logical (...) Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity," a progenitor of more recent automata studies, and "Why the Mind is in the Head," McCulloch's contribution to the Hixon Symposium. This theme is, in the author's words, "the attempt to found a physiological theory of knowledge" or "experimental epistemology." Philosophers who take identity solutions to the mind-body problem seriously will applaud McCulloch's ingenious and sustained efforts to bridge the gap between conceptual analysis of mental concepts and painstaking scientific investigation of the physical "embodiments" of mental processes. Nevertheless, many philosophers will also be irritated by the way in which McCulloch tends to use mentalistic concepts. When nerve impulses are treated as atomic propositions and thinking is unhesitatingly attributed to a reverberating neural circuit, one cannot help but feel that genuine philosophical issues are in serious danger of being obscured rather than illumined.—V. R. M. (shrink)

This is a collection of the invited papers presented at the fifth annual Oberlin Colloquium. The main papers are: "On Deductivism as a Philosophy of Science" by Stephan Körner; "Nonsense" by J. J. C. Smart; "Causing Voluntary Actions" by Joel Feinberg; "Evaluative Metaphysics" by Nicholas Rescher; and "Things and Qualities" by Herbert Hochberg. The contributions by Körner and Smart are short papers which, though well written, will offer few surprises to those familiar with their work. Körner attacks deductivist accounts of (...) scientific explanation for failing to recognize certain crucial presuppositions in their use of logical formalisms. Smart argues that conceiving of philosophy as an attempt to eliminate nonsense from language does not, as has often been held, enable one to draw a sharp distinction between science as concerned with truth and philosophy as concerned with conceptual analysis. In the symposia which follow, Feinberg and his commentators achieve some important clarifications of the relations between causal language and the concept of voluntary action; Rescher argues, in a disappointingly laconic fashion, for the legitimacy of an evaluative metaphysics resting on the existence of distinctly metaphysical values; and Hochberg seeks to discredit traditional arguments in support of bare particulars in favor of an analysis in terms of combinations of qualities. While workmanlike throughout, this collection is of value more for the testimony it bears to a growing interest in classical philosophical themes among analytic philosophers than for any exciting theoretical advances.—V. R. M. (shrink)

This monograph affords Morris the occasion to revise and integrate the theory of signs and theory of value which have played such important roles in his earlier work. It opens by presenting in summary form the framework of a language for discussing signs, values and their interrelations. What follows is an attempt to indicate the potential fruitfulness of this theory in investigations pertinent to philosophy, the behavioral sciences, art and psychiatry. It is to be regretted that Morris has not chosen (...) to develop his always stimulating views in a more systematic and substantive way.—V. R. M. (shrink)

The issues related to the multilingual situation in modern Bashkiria are discussed in the article, configuration of multilingualism is given on the basis of extensive and representative data of the latest census. Multilingual issues are discussed in the context of the social functions of philology, as well as a set of measures of a regulatory nature undertaken by the government and society to ensure social, ethno-cultural and inter-ethnic stability. The author believes that the language situation with multilingualism depends on a (...) number of sociolinguistic variables, but the invariant feature of all modifications of multilingualism in Bashkiria should be considered as a factor of the maximum level of language loyalty towards the Russian language. This factor provides a comprehensive and decisive impact on the conditions and status of multilingualism in the republic. (shrink)

The state of globalization that modern humanity has entered, translates the problem of morality from the plan of choosing an individual into a social and even planetary context. This brings us back to the original moral concept of P. Teillard de Chardin, which is the subject of analysis in this article.

Teyyar eschatology, as a doctrine of the ultimate destiny of mankind, is deeply rooted in the concept of the ultimate goal, which is regarded as a true result, though it emerges as a tool designed to fill some of the emptiness created by humanity in the course of natural science practice. Teillard felt that the deplorable state of modern mankind was the result of his neglect of eschatology, his inability to adapt to the needs of his activities, and his lack (...) of courage in further design. "A lighter skyscraper of hope is being constructed," G. Grespi notes. The belief that the Earth is exhausting its limited resources necessarily leads to the thought of the destruction of the Earth. (shrink)