Cultural Studies

The Loss of Criteria: essay on the pathological reverie of non-being and not-willing to know. Pathological essay on Being and Not Being Universal Dualism about Contextualism.

the study of ants and insects com understand human behaviour and discourse, his politics and ways do keep alive some dreams that can come true.

Body and Soul, the infinite dualism of existenz.

O ameninţare uriaşă planează asupra uneia dintre cele mai dezvoltate ţări ale lumii. Miracol economic şi sociala al secolului XX Japonia se confruntă cu o problemă gravă, îmbătrânirea populaţiei şi scăderea natalităţii. Populaţia este un factor de putere extrem de important în istoria unui stat. Fără o populaţie numeroasă un stat nu poate fi bine dezvoltat. O populaţiei mare este mărirea capacităţii economice a unui stat, într-o primă instanţă. Ulterior dezvoltarea economică ţine de un cumul de diverşi factori cum ar (...) fi diversificarea producţiei, forţa agricolă dar şi altele. Acest „câlcâi a lui Ahile” afectează Japonia, îmbătrânirea provoacă diverse consecinţe precum încetinirea economică, dezechlibrul balanţei între sexe şi chiar extincţia totală a populaţiei într-un viitor îndepărtat. (shrink)

I open with a contrast between the Searle-Derrida debate and British social anthropology’s opposition to cultural studies. My paper features an attempt at synthesis between the rival camps in the latter debate, which will be its most important material for some readers. Then I turn to someone much studied by Cultural Studies, it seems. Madonna has done stand-up comedy on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. I have done some stand-up comedy myself. I think Madonna has used a rational strategy: (...) around 2 minutes in she says, “Please don’t pull me off, I have jokes.” In a gong show, a type of comedy show, audience members have the power to get rid of a comedian before their maximum allocated time is up, e.g. 5 minutes. Audiences at some gong shows are told to give comedians a minute or two to settle in, rather than making an instant assessment. So she takes risks earlier and around 2 minutes Madonna goes for heavy-hitting moves to keep the audience on side: in her case, discussion of the paintings she owns. I have never used this strategy myself, although I asked a fellow comedian and he told me “Just do your best stuff from the start.” That is good advice for me. (shrink)

One of the big issues which dominated British social anthropology in the 1990s was its relationship to cultural studies. Here are some standard stories of origins: cultural studies developed from applying predominantly French 1960s theoretical frameworks, developed for the study of prestigious arts, to less esteemed culture, on the grounds that they can be used there too or that there is no defensible distinction between the two. Social anthropology, older, had started out in the 19th century as the study of (...) human societies, with a special emphasis on primitive societies, and developed a special method of lengthy intensive fieldwork and later applied this method “at home” too. Its traditional reference points are different and unsurprisingly there is rivalry, sometimes bitter. I interpret Marilyn Strathern as trying to offer an anthropology to win over students for whom cultural studies has appeal, in her 1992 book After Nature: English kinship in the late 20th century. She engages in a kind of worldview analysis of a number of things of interest to students of English culture - she grasps the intellectual tastes of the student and aims at an anthropology which works for that taste, it seems to me. My own synthesis is at a philosophical level. Building on John Searle’’s responses to Jacques Derrida, I observe positivist premises shared by this influential figure in cultural studies and the functionalist tradition which dominated British anthropology from the 1920s to the 1960s at least. These allow us to conceive a more Derridean functionalist anthropology. Also I propose that it is possible to do a number of functionalist analyses for “1990s cultural studies tastes,” as Strathern does worldview analyses. (shrink)

This study develops a critical framework for evaluating ad hoc inflation in Qur’anic borrowing theories—explanations that multiply hypothetical intermediaries, lost sources, or selective adaptations in order to sustain the claim that the Qur’an derives its narratives from Jewish or Christian precedent. By systematically comparing the Qur’anic portrayals of Moses, Pharaoh, Joseph, Mary, Jesus, Lot, and Solomon with the spectrum of Late Antique traditions, archaeological evidence, linguistic data, and ancient Near Eastern cultural contexts, the analysis identifies domains where the Qur’anic material (...) diverges sharply from known Christian, Jewish, Gnostic, and folkloric accounts while exhibiting internal coherence and historically resonant detail. These divergences occur precisely in places where borrowing models would predict dependence or replication. The study argues that, methodologically, each additional layer of hypothetical transmission required to explain such divergences increases model complexity without increasing explanatory power. A more disciplined comparative approach reveals that the Qur’anic narratives often preserve structural, legal, linguistic, and geographical patterns unattested in the alleged source traditions, while avoiding their contradictions, anachronisms, and theological motivations. The proposed framework provides a clearer set of criteria for distinguishing genuine literary dependence from conjectural reconstruction, thereby offering a more rigorous basis for future work in Qur’anic historiography and Late Antique textual interactions. (shrink)

Language sophistication indicates the development of language that incorporates differentiation or diversity that is constrained by integration that facilitates organization or unity. This prelude provides the backdrop for discussing language sophistication. Of necessity, any language that was a part of the continuum of salvation history (Heilsgeschichte ) should: 1) possess the sophistication necessary to re-define OT terminology, 2) have the hegemony to launch the NT church, 3) enjoy the universality that allowed for translation into contemporary languages, and 4) retain the (...) portability that enables interpretation in post-modern languages. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper aims to analyze and find the implementation of the Law for the Protection of Prisoners on parole for inmates certain crimes. This research is a normative legal research, the research includes the study of the principles of law, the systematic study of law, research on synchronization of law, legal history research and comparative law research. The results; (1) Legal Protection for Convicts to obtain parole in the human rights perspective, is given in the form of (...) Preventive Legal Protection and Legal Protection repressive. Preventive Legal protection granted by the government with the aim of preventing prior to the violation. (2) Implementation of parole for inmates of certain criminal acts, in essence, embodies the formulation remissions to the perpetrators of certain criminal offenses have been formulated differently from other criminal by Government Regulation No. 28 of 2006 juntco Government Regulation No. 32 of 1999. (3) Government Regulation No. 99 Year 2012 which discriminates against the Right to organize tightening remissions for prisoners certain crimes such as corruption, drugs and terrorism is violating the hierarchy of legislation. (shrink)

Essays from the political website CounterPunch. - Requiem: Dies Non, Not Dies Irae (September 18, 2001) - Mouth Wide Shut (April 8, 2002) - So Long Frank O. Gehry? (April 28, 2002) - Bête Noire (May 22, 2002) - “All politics is local?”: The Unbearable Lightness of NGOs (May 24, 2002) - Bush and Mies van der Rohe: Architecture and Ideology (June 1, 2002) - The Adventures of Mademoiselle M.: Or Getting Screwed in Paris (June 8-9, 2002) - Loose Lips: (...) Liberty, Democracy and Bush (July 6, 2002) - Go Tell Karl Rove!: The Anti-Republican Party (July 13, 2002) - Be Still My Beating Heart (July 15, 2002) - Grave New Urbanism: The World Trade Center Burlesque (July 20, 2002) - Roamin’ in the Gloamin’: Van Morrison: In September (July 25, 2002) - Sublime Žižek: Guarding Lenin’s Tomb (July 27, 2002) - Vox Populi: Everyone’s a Critic (August 3, 2002) - Auteur-Driven Vehicles: The New New Laocoon (August 19, 2002) - Beaux Rêves, Citoyens!!! (September 5, 2002) - Immortality: The Quest for Fire (August 31, 2002) Parting Shots: A Refracted History (Summary) Of The Twentieth Century (November 2, 2002) - New Books Christmas 2002: Livres Deluxe (December 23, 2002) - The Drunken Flower (July 26, 2003) - The Infernal Machine: “Architectures” in Service to Nothing (August 23, 2003). (shrink)

La salute psico-sociale nelle organizzazioni lavorative rappresenta una delle tematiche maggiormente prese in considerazione, in questi ultimi anni, da parte del legislatore, sebbene resti ancora molto da fare in questo settore. L'analisi di un'organizzazione scolastica della Lombardia é stata il punto di partenza per delineare il quadro attuale della situazione sul tema del benessere organizzativo.

Does globalization serve the same function as hellenization did in the 1st century? Is globalization a threat to religion? Is there a theological ground for understanding the leveling of barriers? How does Pentecost relate to Babel and the present phenomena of globalization? These are some questions explored in this paper.

nevrosity for the dense social relations in urban context.

how does society works? By the group? By will of a single individual? Interesting to notice the articulation between several social systems.

the event, on the evening of time, should be a place in our society for optimism?

Some ideas on Political Philosophy and Social Anthropology.

Normative systems—legal, institutional, and social—have traditionally been described and compared using exclusively qualitative concepts such as freedom, coercion, rigidity, or openness. Despite their centrality, these features have rarely been subjected to direct quantitative analysis, largely due to the absence of an agreed-upon unit of measurement. This paper proposes a minimal methodological framework for quantifying normative structure through the empirical analysis of foundational legal texts. Instead of interpreting norms in a doctrinal or theoretical manner, the proposal treats them as countable structural (...) elements, suitable for large-scale comparative analysis using contemporary computational tools. The paper does not advance a substantive theory of normativity. Its sole aim is to demonstrate that a transition from descriptive evaluation to measurement is now technically and conceptually possible. Constitutional texts are identified as a particularly suitable substrate due to their stability, accessibility, and relative independence from contingent regulatory detail. No empirical results are presented. The contribution of this paper consists in articulating a research program and inviting others to test, refine, or falsify it. If successful, this approach may open a previously unexplored quantitative dimension in the study of normative orders. In Version 2, a supplementary section has been added reporting the results of a limited methodological trial, included solely to illustrate the operational viability of the proposed metrics and the sources of model divergence. (shrink)

This paper’s aim is to establish an explanation for the separation of Northern minds, by examining the influence of a variety of factors on the shaping of people’s sense of identity at the time. Near the end of the 16th century the Groningers had proven to be a people with a mind of their own—impetuous, unruly and, in the end, unwilling to join the Republic in its efforts to liberate itself from its oppressive Spanish overlord. One by one the Dutch (...) cities had joined the revolution, but the city of Groningen refused. The ‘Ommelanden’—the city’s surrounding territory—however, did not—laying bare a critical disagreement between two ‘classes’: the Saxon city elite and the predominantly Frisian countryside nobles (Dutch plural: landjonkers/jonkheren). (shrink)

In this first of two essays written on the topic of ancient greek inscriptions, I will briefly explore and discuss the role of the written word and of visual language within the cult of Asclepius at Epidauros, by both looking at the creation and function of the Epidaurian sanctuary's healing inscriptions—also called 'iamata'. Throughout the essay I have made use of J.L. Austin's Speech Act Theory to better contextualize the meaning of the inscriptions dealt with.

'People travelled for numerous reasons,' so J.W. Drijvers submits at the beginning of his piece on travel and pilgrimage literature. Be it ‘commerce, government affairs, religion, education, military business or migration,’ people ‘made use of the elaborate system of roads and modes of transport such as wagons, horses and boats’ to traverse the far-reaching stretches of the Roman Empire. And for 4th century Christians in particular, participating in religious festivals as well as interaction with holy sites, sacred artifacts and clergymen (...) had become greater a reason to travel still. Motivation to travel, in other words, was aplenty. But what exactly allowed for Christian religious travel in the 4th century AD to develop as quickly as it did? (shrink)

Lo que sabemos y lo que no sabemos sobre las desigualdades, como en muchos otros temas de las ciencias sociales, depende de lo que hayamos leído, de lo que aprendimos de profesores y colegas y de las experiencias de investigación de las que participamos. Mucho se ha investigado y escrito sobre las desigualdades sociales en nuestra región. De hecho, el concepto de desigualdad es uno de los más amplios y mencionados de las ciencias sociales. Por esta razón -y por algunas (...) otras que veremos- proponemos partir de una premisa: cada uno de nosotros sabe algunas cosas y desconoce muchas otras sobre las desigualdades. El objetivo de esta exposición es relacionar en un mismo texto un conjunto de desafíos metodológicos relativos a la investigación sobre desigualdades de clase y étnicas. Se trata de consideraciones metodológicas básicas que, si se dan por conocidas y saldadas, se pierde una ocasión de reflexividad metodológica y de explorar buenos caminos que otros transitaron pero que no conocemos personalmente. En particular, el escrito propone detenerse en las implicancias de cinco desafíos en la investigación de desigualdades de clase social y étnicas: 1. Las definiciones de conceptos 2. Las escalas temporales y espaciales 3. Las maneras de teorizar las articulaciones entre formas de desigualdad 4. Los recursos para medir y 5. Lo político y lo ético. (shrink)

This study explores experiences of ex-incels—men who have withdrawn from incel communities—through eleven qualitative interviews analysed using R.W. Connell’s hegemonic masculinity (HM) framework. Findings reveal some ex-incels adopt flexible masculinities, while others struggle with prescriptive norms perpetuated by the anti-feminist ‘manosphere’. Findings spotlight identity reconstructions, where men both reject and remain influenced by rigid archetypes, performing hybrid masculinities. This study deepens understanding of incel ideology, its impact on identity, and interplay between inceldom and masculinities via contributing to hybrid masculinities theorising. (...) Insights presents applications for gender theory and inform further research on HM’s influence within unique cultural contexts. (shrink)

While US-Hip Hop has been attested considerable influence of the controversial Black supremacy movement Five Percent Nation, a similar pattern can be observed with the rigid Rastafarian doctrine of the Bobo Shanti Order and Jamaican Dancehall-Reggae. Considering the commercial relevance and global popularity of both musical styles, this study attempted to shed light on the question if either artists are using controversy for promotional agendas or it is them being used for missionary purposes in turn. A multi-layerd cross-case study based (...) on Critical Discourse Analysis as well as ethnographic research has been conducted to determine the degree and direction of Bobo Shanti-representations in Jamaican Dancehall-Reggae as compared to Five Percenter Rap in the US, focusing on visual representations, declared affiliations as well as claims of moral superiority and gender roles in reference to doctrinal sources. -/- . (shrink)

Responding to recent calls made within UK Parliament for a government-backed definition of Islamophobia, this article considers the unanticipated consequences of such proposals. I argue that, considered in the context of related efforts to regulate hate speech, the formulation and implementation of a government-sponsored definition will generate unforeseen harms for the Muslim community. To the extent that such a definition will fail to address the government’s role in propagating Islamophobia through ill-considered legislation that conflates Islamist discourse with hate speech, the (...) concept of a government-backed definition of Islamophobia appears hypocritical and untenable. Alongside opposing government attempts to define Islamophobia (and Islam), I argue that advocacy efforts should instead focus on disambiguating government counter-terrorism initiatives from the government management of controversies within Islam. Instead of repeating the mistakes of the governmental adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism by promoting a new definition of Islamophobia, we ought to learn from the errors that were made. We should resist the gratuitous securitization of Muslim communities, rather than use such definitions to normalize compliance with the surveillance state. (shrink)

This chapter is particularly concerned with the status of history, dance history especially, within Dance Studies. It asks what has befallen the more recent status of history, once an epistemological support at a critical stage in Dance Studies’s early development, now that Dance Studies is better established, relatively speaking, within the academy. Is history so much scaffolding which, having fulfilled its purpose in enabling the disciplinary plant to take root, is to be dismantled and, if not actually discarded, at least (...) demoted? Three factors will be identified and proposed as having particular significance in this connection, imbuing this chapter with a tri-partite structure. The first concerns the already noted strong imprint of Cultural Studies on Dance Studies and the possible bearing of this imprint on dance history’s status within Dance Studies. For the particular manner in which Dance Studies has construed Cultural Studies may, this chapter will suggest, have impacted upon dance history’s standing within communities of dance scholarship. The second factor has to do with the implications, for dance history, of a particular critique based in a branch of dance scholarship, that perceives phenomenology, which it deems a good fit for dance inquiry, as inherently antithetical to history. In particular, this critique takes the work of Michel Foucault - which it identifies closely with, and as, historical practice - as incompatible with dance enquiry. Incompatibility is staked on the twin grounds of Foucault’s break with, and supposed resulting and enduring antipathy towards, phenomenology; and his perceived embrace of history which is, itself, also understood to result from such a break. In effect, then, this critique questions the very suitability, for dance research, of approaches based in history-focussed inquiry. The ability to call this critique into question, in the ways that the present discussion, in seeking to rehabilitate Foucault, and so history, needs to demonstrate, constitutes the third factor. This final factor makes two particular, further demands of this chapter. Namely that the interrelated questions of Foucault, phenomenology, and dance; and of the position which phenomenology has itself adopted in relation to history, be re-visited and re-evaluated to the extent that space reasonably allows. Fortunately, these interrelated questions are ones which have - relatively recently - preoccupied scholarship on Foucault, and on phenomenology, respectively. This preoccupation may in and of itself be one possible indicator that there is indeed more at stake, and so to consider, regarding both questions, than the lines drawn by the aforementioned critique might suggest. (shrink)

Loyalty is considered central to people’s moral life, yet little is known about how people think about what it means to be loyal. We used a prototype approach to understand how loyalty is represented in Colombia and the United States and how these representations mediate attributions of loyalty and moral judgments of loyalty violations. Across 7 studies (N = 1,984), we found cross-cultural similarities in the associative meaning of loyalty (Study 1) but found differences in the centrality of features associated (...) with loyalty (Study 2) and the latent structure of loyalty representations (Study 3). Colombians represent loyalty in terms of more general moral characteristics, while US participants represent loyalty in terms of interpersonal commitment, both in contrast with current approaches to loyalty. By comparing representations of loyalty and honesty, we establish that difference in loyalty conceptualizations reflect a different way of thinking about loyalty rather than morality more generally (Study 4). Further, Colombians attributed greater loyalty to individuals with general moral characteristics compared to participants from the United States sample (Study 5) and were more likely to classify non-loyal values as loyalty-related (Study 6). While the centrality of prototypical features predicts categorizing norm violations as loyalty-related, differences in prototypical structure account for differences in the severity of moral judgment for such violations (Study 7), which suggests that loyalty representations have similar functions even though these representations differ in structural characteristics. (shrink)

For centuries, research publications, encyclopedias, and lexicons have helped advance knowledge by drawing freely on expressive works, without seeking licenses for most of what they reference or “use.” Today, that longstanding practice is under new and intense scrutiny. One pressing question is whether chatbots powered artificial intelligence (AI) should be treated differently. Major copyright holders, including The New York Times, leading authors, and powerful music rights organizations, have filed lawsuits against companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. They argue that (...) the training and output of AI systems infringe the exclusive rights of copyright holders, principally the rights of reproduction, distribution, and preparation of derivative works. The Supreme Court’s decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts v. Goldsmith has raised the stakes in this copyright controversy by narrowing the meaning of transformative fair use and casting fresh doubt on whether copyright law still permits the creation of generative AI (gen-AI) models as modern lexicons of knowledge. -/- This article examines prior copyright claims against lexicons, scholarly works, and directories, among other technologies and creations, and explains why the right to release a universal lexicon of culture and thought must be defended. At stake is not simply a technical question of doctrine, but the future of tools that help society organize and expand human knowledge. First, the purpose of a lexicon or grand encyclopedia differs fundamentally from that of novels, songs, or other creative works, or even individual news articles, press releases, or webpages. Courts have long recognized that reference works, like news reporting and scholarship, serve purposes that fair use protects, precisely because they promote the progress of knowledge rather than mere entertainment. Second, the amount and substantiality of what is used in AI outputs can often be negligible. Any fragment that may appear in output is generally tiny, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of the original work, and rarely, if ever, recreates the expressive heart of that work. Third, efforts to prohibit research-based creativity by invoking hypothetical licensing markets threaten to dismantle fair use itself. They invite a circular reasoning process in which any unpaid use is treated as illegal harm simply because it could have been licensed. Some courts have rightly rejected this logic and have insisted that fair use requires rightsholders to demonstrate a real and direct connection between a specific use and actual loss, whether in sales, profits, or other market value. Mere claims that a license might have been sold are not enough. What follows is an analysis of why generative AI models fit within the longstanding protections of fair use, and how courts should apply similarity-related principles of fact, genre, and research to defend the creation of these modern lexicons. (shrink)

现有人工智能相关研究多聚焦技术应用、就业替代、教育工具革新等功利性与技术性 维度，鲜有从人类思想本质、生物基因差异、社会治理逻辑及文明演进规律出发，构 建技术变革与人类精神世界联动的完整闭环。本文以人工智能对人类体力劳动与低阶 脑力功能的替代为核心触发点，系统论证了智能时代人类思想分流的必然趋势 —— 因基因禀赋先天差异与主观能动性后天分化，人工智能不会催生全民觉醒，反而会推 动人类群体走向 “觉醒进阶” 与 “懈怠退化” 的双向分流；明确人文回归的核心内核是 思想回归，既包含人文思辨、心灵觉醒等精神层面，亦涵盖物理、数学等科技理性探 索，二者相辅相成共同构成人类思想演进的双轮；阐释了思想分流背景下教育改革的 核心方向与行业重塑的底层逻辑，提出国家与社会层面的主动筹谋是对冲思想退化、 扩大觉醒群体的核心抓手，最终指向人类文明向宇宙探索与美好生活追求的高阶进 阶。同时，本文直面资本催生阶级分化、人工智能导致人类低阶脑功能退化等现实约 束，拒绝乌托邦式理想主义推演，构建了 “技术触发 — 个体分流 — 社会干预 — 文明进阶” 的完整逻辑链。本研究填补了人工智能与人类思想演进交叉领域的研究空 白，为智能时代的教育改革、行业转型与社会治理提供了兼具理论深度与现实意义的 思想坐标，也为人类在智能时代的自我定位与发展方向提供了全新参考。.

Within immediate modernity, increases in the multitude of psychological, social, emotional and behavioural disruptions affecting human actors, categorised under the (reductive) label of ‘anxiety’ are reaching an apex. This peak can be conceptualised both by frequency of disruptions, which may be defined as ever-present, and by the volume of negative effects over humans’ ability to exist in present reality. Some scholars have argued the permanence of contemporary anxiety represents rebound, a ‘hangover’ from prolonged technological social change and innovation, which alongside (...) positive advances has heralded unintended, unavoidable and unpredictable uncertainties. Others have focussed on impacts arising from impermeable associations between evolving modern life and accelerated capitalist agenda, associated sensemaking, and the intensified embedding of capitalist principles within macro and micro social interactions. Associations occur within and between actors and the technological connective mediums utilised by humans in routine modern life. Despite some existing scholarship in the above domains, few efforts attempt to deconstruct and apply theories holistically as a mechanism of interrogating and contextualising a contemporary anxiety pandemic. To react to a gap in social sensemaking, this transdisciplinary scholarship approaches this task: firstly, by conceptualising contemporary reality using the term immediate modernity, giving language and definition to the unique pro-anxiety social landscape within which human actors are presently situated; secondly, by evaluating and distilling selected theoretical fragments salient for comprehending rapid technological societal advances and their human effects; thirdly, Mark Fisher’s notions of capitalist realism are reconfigured using the synthesised perspectives and applied to interrogate the theme of technological-mediated anxiety in immediate modernity. Drawing theoretical synthesis together, some novel perspectives are presented on immediate modernity’s anxiety pandemic as the beau idéal disconnect theory, describing the hegemonic culture within immediate modernity where anxiety is ever-present and inexorably interlinked with technology-capitalism, yet enduringly and reductively defined as ‘progress’. Applications for theory to further interrogate, visualise and give language to linkages between anxiety and technology-capitalism within contemporary and rapidly accelerating society are put forward. (shrink)

Scotland's North Sea offshore oil-drilling-fields have long been stereotyped as sites reinforcing and reproducing unique forms of masculinities aligning with hegemonic masculinity (HM) descriptors: stoicism, competition, and conflict. Oilfields encompass near-all-male workplaces, requiring labour in difficult conditions, distancing from friends, family, and home life. Emerging research in oilfields has begun to resist the HM-stereotype in favour of complex understandings of masculinities, labour-and-identity performances. This work details findings from a lengthy ‘embedded’ ethnography of the UK Offshore Oilfield. Specifically, highlighting and discussing (...) men's metaphorical ‘mask wearing’ practices: the process by which oilmen engaged in complex performances of masculinities that resist HM yet retained overt components of stoicism; a key HM-descriptor. This ‘masked’ stoicism was presented and performed in unique ways that bridged genuine and non-genuine performances of oilfield masculine identities and interconnected with resistances against risk-taking and supports for safety. Goffman's dramaturgical perspective is applied to deepen and interrogate findings. Salient implications for oilmen's wellbeing, masculinities theory and future study are put forward. (shrink)

A salient tradition in contemporary affect theory heavily relies on distinguishing between emotions and affects. The former refers to structured categories of socially coded affective states, while the latter denotes the pre-social libidinal flow underlying emotions. This distinction is commonly attributed to Spinoza and is thought to have been further developed by Deleuze. In this article, I argue that this overall historical picture is misleading and inaccurate. Deleuze radically transforms Spinoza’s theory of affect for the ends of his own ethical-political (...) philosophy. Moreover, I argue that Deleuzian and similar conceptualizations of affect fail to fulfill their political and ethical promises due to two critical problems. In the last section, I show that a unified notion of emotion inspired by Spinoza, which does not create a sharp rift between emotions and affect, can perform the same explanatory function intended by the emotion-affect distinction while allowing us to circumvent these problems. (shrink)

A fundamental question in the psychological sciences is the degree to which culture shapes core cognitive processes — perhaps none more foundational than how we perceive the world around us. A dramatic and oft-cited “case study” of culture’s power in this regard is the Müller-Lyer illusion, which depicts two lines of equal length but with arrowheads pointing either inward or outward, creating the illusion that one line is longer than the other. According to a line of research stretching back over (...) a century, depending on the society you were raised in (and how much carpentry you were exposed to), you may not see the illusion at all — an ambitious and influential research program motivating claims that seemingly basic aspects of visual processing may actually be “culturally evolved byproducts”. This Cultural Byproduct Hypothesis bears on foundational issues in the science, philosophy, and sociology of psychology, and remains popular today. Yet, here we argue that it is almost certainly false. We synthesize evidence from diverse fields which demonstrate that: (1) the illusion is not limited to humans, appearing in non-human animals from diverse ecologies; (2) the statistics of natural scenes are sufficient to capture the illusion; (3) the illusion does not require straight lines typical of carpentry (nor even any lines at all); (4) the illusion arises in sense modalities other than vision; and (5) the illusion arises even in congenitally blind subjects. Moreover, by reexamining historical data and ethnographic descriptions from the original case studies, we show that the evidence for cultural variation and its correlation with key cultural variables is in fact highly inconsistent, beset by questionable research practices, and misreported by later discussions. Together, these considerations undermine the most popular and dramatic example of cultural influence on perception. We further extend our case beyond this phenomenon, showing that many of these considerations apply to other visual illusions as well, including similarly implicated visual phenomena such as the Ebbinghaus, Ponzo, Poggendorf, and Horizontal-Vertical illusions. We conclude by outlining future approaches to cross-cultural research on perception, and we also point to other potential sources of cultural variation in visual processing. (shrink)

Psychology today pathologizes all aspects of the human condition without ever examining its own ills, which have caused it to become fragmented. People from non-Western backgrounds are often adversely affected by the limitations of the discipline, and often avoid treatment altogether. By contrast, a true “science of the soul” has existed for millennia in all the world’s diverse spiritual cultures. Although a plethora of modern therapies are now available, they are hindered in their efficacy by having become entirely divorced from (...) sacred reality. This work argues that it is necessary to restore this “science of the soul” by drawing on the perspective of non-Western wisdom traditions as understood since time immemorial. Examples are given of the fundamental differences that are found between modern psychology and the traditional psychologies of various religions, which also existed in the West prior to the Enlightenment era. Furthermore, this book will show how non-Western philosophy can help rehabilitate an authentically healing psychology in support of promoting sound mental health in our afflicted modern culture. Sacred psychologies, therefore, afford us the best opportunity to tackle the innumerable challenges that confront human beings today, such as trauma, mental illness, addiction, death, and the meaning of our lives. (shrink)

Purpose: The main purpose of the study was determining the basic requirements for implementing telework in Algerian companies after the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to establish it, and accordingly it become a prevailing management culture. -/- Design/Method/Approach: We opted for an essentially qualitative approach field by conducting semi-structured interviews individually with 11 company managers from different sectors of activity in order for the interviewee to feel sufficiently free and to have as much transparency and credibility as possible, and to obtain (...) in-depth information that is difficult to express quantitatively or statistically, with diversity of the sample in terms of (age, professional experience, sector of activity, legal form etc.). Based on previous telework studies, an interview guide was designed with a series of specific and open-ended questions. In order to analyze the results completely and accurately, we relied on thematic analysis. -/- Findings: The results concluded that accelerating the telework implementation in Algerian company requires, firstly, the legislative framework by reviewing the labor law that regulates and documents the existing relationship between the teleworker and the employer, and also consistent with the developments of the current situation, and secondly to, the presence of digital infrastructure that goes beyond the need for designated places to include the presence of a wide-coverage, protected, and high-flow communication network, meaning preparing the primary environment with basic equipment and software, thirdly, the existence of training program in order to help to make the best use of information technology (ICT) and reduces the need for supervision and follow-up. -/- Theoretical Implications: The study provides practical insights for the central role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in business continuity during crises, such as the COVID-19, after opening the way for the emergence of new management models such as telework, which gives the user the ability to perform his tasks fully or partially, from locations different from the usual the workplace. -/- Practical Implications: The current study seeks to provide practical guidelines on the most important requirements for implementing telework in Algerian companies after the Covid-19 pandemic. -/- Originality/Value: This research gives practical recommendations for managers, policymakers, and academics to establishing a telework culture in management at the level of various Algerian companies. -/- Research Limitations/Future Research: The Covid-19 crisis was the starting point for talking about telework, because it was a direct reason behind the exploration of this method of managing labor relations by many Algerian companies, which continued to be used even after the end of the crisis. However, this lived experience for more than Four years in this manner opened the door to discussion of many problems related to capabilities, protection, control, etc. This is what the current study tried to answer. -/- Paper Type: Empirical -/- JEL Classification: M54, O33. (shrink)

Purpose: This research investigates how Chinese public sector employees perceive and approach administrative ethics in the digital age. The study aims to understand how attitudes, organizational culture, and perceived organizational support influence satisfaction with ethical practices, emphasizing the mediating role of behavioral intention. -/- Design/Method/Approach: This study employed a quantitative research design, collecting data through convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods. The study measured attitudes toward administrative ethics, organizational culture, perceived support, behavioral intention, and satisfaction. Data from 420 participants were (...) analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. -/- Findings: The results reveal that positive attitudes, a supportive organizational culture, and high perceived support significantly enhance behavioral intentions, which mediate their impact on satisfaction with ethical practices. -/- Theoretical Implications: This study integrates behavioral intention into the framework of administrative ethics, highlighting its mediating role in linking organizational support to satisfaction. -/- Practical Implications: Organizations should promote positive attitudes, cultivate supportive cultures, and enhance perceived support to strengthen ethical behavior and improve satisfaction with ethics. -/- Originality/Value: By focusing on behavioral intention in the digital age, this research offers a fresh perspective on fostering satisfaction with ethical practices in public administration. -/- Research Limitations/Future Research: Future studies could explore additional factors, such as technological influences or leadership styles, and examine variations across different sectors and regions. -/- Paper Type: Empirical -/- JEL Classification: H83, M14, O33. (shrink)

This paper considers the significance of informal publication and circulation in the work of the philosopher Saul Kripke (1940-2022). It argues that everyday copying technologies (e.g. tape recording, photocopying) enabled academics in the 1970s and 1980s to create living documents whose private preservation and circulation maintained a community of interest and makes a case for understanding these technologies and techniques of reproduction as essential to the composition of Kripke’s ground-breaking published work. Kripke lectured a great deal, usually without notes, and (...) was known to be reluctant to commit his ideas to print; this so-called ‘samizdat’ preserved a space for the oral as the preferred mode of communication for philosophical discourse, connecting the modern tradition with the ancients, while the recordings, transcripts and photocopies archived Kripke’s ideas and secured access outside of institutional publishing channels. (shrink)

Purpose: This study investigates the transformative role of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies in e-commerce and digital marketing. It aims to understand how these immersive technologies enhance consumer experiences by addressing challenges such as product visualization, consumer trust, and engagement while fostering higher purchase intent and customer satisfaction. Design/Method/Approach: A systematic literature review synthesizes findings from empirical and theoretical studies published between 2011 and 2024. The methodologies analyzed include experimental designs, market analyses, and conceptual frameworks assessing the (...) integration of AR and VR technologies in online retail. Findings: The findings indicate that AR enhances online shopping through features such as virtual try-ons and spatial placement visualization, reducing return rates and increasing purchase confidence. VR, on the other hand, provides immersive environments that simulate physical shopping experiences, strengthening consumer-brand connections. While AR demonstrates broader applicability in fostering interactive and personalized experiences, VR remains limited by accessibility and cost constraints. Both technologies exhibit immediate costs but offer long-term benefits, positively influencing conversion rates and customer loyalty. Theoretical Implications: This study contributes to consumer behavior research by applying value perception models, immersive technology frameworks, and engagement metrics to the e-commerce landscape. It refines existing theoretical perspectives on technological adoption by highlighting the interplay between sensory engagement, emotional connection, and consumer decision-making. Practical Implications: The research underscores the strategic importance of integrating AR and VR into digital marketing and e-commerce platforms. It suggests leveraging AR for product categories requiring spatial interaction and using VR for high-detail product exploration. The study provides actionable insights for businesses looking to enhance online shopping experiences through immersive technologies. Originality/Value: This study offers a comprehensive synthesis of AR and VR applications in e-commerce, highlighting their potential to reshape online shopping. By bridging the gap between physical and digital retail experiences, it provides a fresh perspective on how immersive technologies can drive engagement, accessibility, and personalized consumer interactions. Research Limitations/Future Research: While this study synthesizes existing literature, empirical validation through longitudinal studies and cross-industry applications is necessary. Future research should explore the long-term effects of AR and VR adoption on consumer trust, loyalty, and behavioral changes. Additionally, further exploration is encouraged into gamification, artificial intelligence (AI) integration, and demographic-specific implementations to drive sustainable engagement. (shrink)

Esta entrevista que se hizo al actor peruano Daniel Neuman busca que el lector conozca cuáles fueron los recursos que se emplearon para el desarrollo de la serie televisiva Mil oficios. Con las experiencias que relata, se logra comprender el desempeño actoral, así como los ensayos internos que involucraba a todo el elenco. De igual manera, a través de las anécdotas, se llega a saber cómo fue la recepción del público en el periodo en el que se transmitió esta serie (...) en el país. (shrink)

La entrevista a Fernando Lolas Stepke, miembro de número de la Academia Chilena de la Lengua, se realizó el 14 de julio de 2021 de forma virtual y audiovisual. El propósito de este trabajo fue conocer la perspectiva del académico para comprender la naturaleza de los actos humanos, plasmados en obras literarias, producciones cinematográficas y situaciones de la vida cotidiana. Uno de los temas en debate en torno a estas áreas es la inimputabilidad de quienes padecen trastornos mentales, así como (...) las influencias que tienen algunos factores sobre las decisiones de las personas. Estos tópicos serán atendidos y resueltos por Lolas Stepke, y su contribución estará ceñida a su propia experiencia laboral. (shrink)

A cien años de su publicación, _La vorágine_ de José Eustasio Rivera se lee no solo como una novela fundacional, sino como un archivo complejo. Este escrito resume las presentaciones de Amanda M. Smith y Nicolás Duque-Buitrago en la 15 Feria del Libro de Manizales (Colombia), examinando la obra como un contra-archivo que desafía las narrativas oficiales, a la vez que revela sus propias ausencias—voces indígenas, mujeres y perspectivas marginadas. Se analizan tanto los archivos físicos de Rivera—conservados en la Universidad (...) de Caldas—compuestos por objetos como fotografías, telegramas y su silla de caoba, como los documentos oficiales de la Comisión de Límites colombo-venezolana, que evidencian la negligencia estatal y la fabricación de ficciones cartográficas. A través de un diálogo entre los enfoques archivísticos y ecocríticos, se propone que La vorágine invita a leer la selva misma como un archivo vivo, portador de saberes ancestrales ignorados. El artículo concluye destacando la vigencia de la denuncia riveriana en un contexto contemporáneo de deforestación, violencia neocolonial y crisis climática, enfatizando la necesidad de una lectura humilde y atenta que reconozca las interdependencias entre humanos y naturaleza. (shrink)

You are not a slave, so why do you think like one? This essay is an examination of Wes Cecil's philosophy of the slave mentality, its implications, limits, and ultimately, what it means to be free and the arbiter of one's values.

Escapism is often viewed in only one sense: a negative act used to run away from problems or stressors. This essay transforms escapism into an activity, neither positive nor negative, and attempts a more detailed interpretation that does not focus on the intentions or motivations behind escapism; it instead seeks to show the consequences of escapism and how it arises from creativity. There are two main currents of escapism: one active, the other passive. What makes them active is based on (...) the quality of creativity, along with the magnitude of their actions. A new interpretation of escapism is needed to suit the ever-changing world, and this interpretation seeks to ‘open up’ the subject instead of narrowing it. (shrink)

Entrevista concedida pelo Padre Leôncio Asfuri, vigário geral da Diocese de Rio Branco. O entrevistado é um dos pioneiros da música religiosa na Amazônia. Suas letras envolvem questões importantes para a reflexão social, bem como a denúncia das mazelas estruturais.

Ingmar Bergman: el arquitecto de las sombras humanas, el poeta del silencio y la luz, y uno de los más grandes visionarios del séptimo arte de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Su cine hace de lo narrativo un todo viviente, un espacio de introspección existencial, donde cada encuadre y cada diálogo son una meditación sobre los abismos del alma, la fragilidad de las relaciones humanas y la búsqueda incesante de sentido en un universo indiferente. Con una paleta visual de (...) sombríos contrastes y una gramática que oscila entre lo íntimo y lo metafísico, Bergman transforma la pantalla en un espejo cruel y bello que reflecta la contradicción de la condición humana. A los trece años, caminaba por las aulas de una escuela privada en Estocolmo, pero su verdadero aprendizaje era otro: una sombra, un silencio, un eco perdido entre las palabras. La investigación realizada propone un análisis ontológico de la matriz ética de la producción cinematográfica del guionista y director de teatro y cine sueco. El cine de Bergman representa uno de los mejores ejemplos de lo que se denomina “cine de autor”. Poseedor de un estilo único y desgarrador, Bergman se aferró a los oficios de la representación con toda la vehemencia de un investigador radical de los asuntos de la vida y de la Muerte. Se inserta en una corriente de cine intimista que utiliza los elementos de la nueva imagen-cine y resalta en primer plano, por un lado, la constitución de la subjetividad de los diferentes sí mismos que conforman los personajes, como, por otro, un intento por expresar el tránsito del devenir subjetivo hacia la otra orilla (la Muerte), la relación con el Gran Otro (los otros y Dios), y en hacer visible lo invisible mediante la escenificación de los diferentes mecanismos que rigen las conductas humanas, tanto con la intimidad del sí mismo, como con la exterioridad. (shrink)

The article explores visual culture as a conceptual and practical foundation for managerial thinking in the modern restaurant industry. It argues that visual culture, beyond its aesthetic function, serves as a cognitive and organizational framework that shapes strategic, operational, and communicative processes within hospitality enterprises. Drawing on an interdisciplinary methodology that combines visual studies, management theory, and case analysis, the authors examine how visual identity, design, and media integration affect managerial decisions, internal coordination, and customer interaction. The study highlights the (...) phenomenon of the “visual turn,” which redefines managerial cognition through imagery, visual metaphors, and spatial structures. Empirical cases of restaurant brands, such as Taco Love, The Oak Stave, and Chipotle, demonstrate that a consistent visual identity, coherent social media representation, and well-structured spatial aesthetics increase brand recognizability, emotional engagement, and organizational coherence. The research identifies the motivational dimensions of visual thinking, emphasizing how visualization enhances decision clarity, stimulates creativity, and strengthens responsible leadership within service teams. The findings confirm that visual culture serves as both a communicative and motivational mechanism for developing managerial literacy, fostering ethical awareness, and shaping leadership identity in the hospitality sector. The study concludes that visual management tools - dashboards, graphic standards, infographics, and storytelling media—constitute not merely instruments of representation but cognitive architectures that structure thought and behavior in the contemporary restaurant environment. (shrink)

Between 1980 and 2026, both science and civilization have undergone a profound transformation that may justly be called paradigmatic in Thomas Kuhn’s sense. The mechanistic worldview inherited from early modern physics, atomistic, reductionist, and dualistic, has been increasingly displaced by a processual and relational understanding of nature. Quantum indeterminacy, complexity theory, systems ecology, and planetary science have revealed a universe not of isolated parts but of dynamic wholes. This essay interprets that transformation through two complementary frameworks: Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific (...) Revolutions and Alfred North Whitehead’s Process and Reality. -/- Kuhn describes scientific change as episodic: long periods of “normal science” punctuated by crises and revolutionary restructurings of thought. Whitehead, by contrast, views change as continuous and ontological: the creative advance of the universe through the concrescence of events. Taken together, these models illuminate the evolution of science itself as a process of concrescence; each paradigm a synthesis of inherited order and emergent novelty. -/- The essay situates this epistemic shift within the symbolic rhythm marked by the Saturn–Neptune conjunctions of 1989 and 2026. While not asserting astrological causation, it recognizes in such cosmic alignments a poetic correspondence between celestial and intellectual cycles: the dissolution and reformation of order. The years 1980–2026 thus delineate the interval of a planetary paradigm shift, in which humanity’s scientific consciousness moves from detached observation to participatory understanding. In Whitehead’s terms, the universe, through science, is learning to think itself as process. (shrink)

Introduction/Main Objectives: This paper explores how calm, concentration, and coldness shape a vulnerable leadership style, fostering trust, psychological safety, and flexibility. Drawing from Nordic leadership traditions, the paper examines how these traits enhance emotional resilience and openness. Background Problems: Contemporary leadership often misunderstands vulnerability, despite its potential to enhance trust and psychological safety. The gap lies in understanding how specific qualities like calm, concentration, and coldness contribute to psychological flexibility. Novelty: Shows how traits often seen as passive or negative—coldness, calmness, (...) and concentration can foster psychological flexibility and trust. It offers a new perspective on how Nordic leadership balances vulnerability and resilience. Research Methods: Using a phenomenological approach, a personal anecdote is interpreted through leadership theories and psychological framework. Finding/Results: The paper proposes that calmness, concentration, and coldness enhance leaders' psychological flexibility, fostering trust and improving team dynamics. Conclusion: These traits are essential for trust-based, adaptive leadership that balances vulnerability and resilience, benefiting organizational psychological safety and flexibility. (shrink)

In this paper we examine the structural validity of the Spanish Translation of the Moral Foundations Vignettes, an instrument developed to measure moral judgement in the context of Moral Foundations Theory. With data from 3 countries (N = 1,650, through a polling agency) we identify a restricted set of items that fit the seven-factor solution implied by the theory. We conducted additional analyses (invariance testing and Differential Item Functioning) to examine the stability the results of the across countries. We found (...) non-invariance and uniform differential functioning in a large number of items. Taken together these results suggest that although the current version of the MFV can be adequately used to measure moral judgement within societies, cross-cultural comparisons with this tool are restricted. Our validation raises questions about the cross-cultural validity of the instrument but also of some of the categories that underlie the intended measurements. (shrink)