scholarly journals Colloidal Social Theory: Thinking about Material Animacy and Sociality beyond Solids and Fluids

2021 ◽  
pp. 026327642110309
Author(s):  
Bronislaw Szerszynski

This paper argues that an exploration of colloids can help us situate human social life within a wider understanding of the sociality and animacy of matter. Colloids are substances such as sols, foams, powders, gels, doughs and pastes that exhibit complex and shifting macroscale physical properties that do not conform to standard conceptions of solids, liquids or gases. Colloids can behave in complex and creative ways because of their topological enfolding of dispersed and continuous matter, in different phases, at a ‘mesoscale’ intermediate between the scale of molecules and that of the macroscale substance. I relate colloids, with their twin phenomena of ‘repetition’ and ‘mediation’, to an understanding of social life as reducible neither to the interaction between separate individuals nor to a transindividual whole. I suggest that human social life participates in a colloidal ‘metapattern’ of repetition and mediation that is manifest across diverse material substrates and spatial scales.

Author(s):  
Kim Sterelny

This chapter has three aims. First: it presents a positive account of the origins of multi-level society in human social life, for even the simplest forager bands are nested units in larger communities, and those bands are open, with quite free movement in and out, and with individuals having social allies in other bands. This makes possible cooperation in various guises at larger social and spatial scales. Great ape bands, and hence very likely early hominin bands, were closed, with an individual’s residential group being his/her whole social world. Second, it introduces the reader to group selection models of the evolution of human cooperation. Third, it argues against the view that human social life in the Pleistocene was structured by regular intergroup conflict and by its permanent threat.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 567
Author(s):  
Feng Qu

The case study in this paper is on the Daur (as well as the Evenki, Buriat, and Bargu Mongols) in Hulun Buir, Northeast China. The aim of this research is to examine how shamanic rituals function as a conduit to actualize communications between the clan members and their shaman ancestors. Through examinations and observations of Daur and other Indigenous shamanic rituals in Northeast China, this paper argues that the human construction of the shamanic landscape brings humans, other-than-humans, and things together into social relations in shamanic ontologies. Inter-human metamorphosis is crucial to Indigenous self-conceptualization and identity. Through rituals, ancestor spirits are active actors involved in almost every aspect of modern human social life among these Indigenous peoples.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Smith

Worrell and Krier’s ‘Atopia Awaits! A Critical Sociological Analysis of Marx’s Political Imaginary’ raises serious issues regarding Marx’s legacy. They hold that a fatal flaw in Marx’s framework can be detected in his account of a post-capitalist society, which reveals a theoretically impoverished and politically dangerous neglect of essential features of social life. I argue that there are good reasons to reject Worrell and Krier’s thesis that Marx got immensely important things horribly wrong. Marx’s limited remarks on post-capitalist society are certainly inadequate in numerous respects. However, they point in the right general direction, and Worrell and Krier fail to offer a satisfactory alternative. The prospects for a critical social theory adequate to the immense challenges of the 21st century would be harmed if their readers agreed with the paper’s main thesis.


2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 866-866
Author(s):  
Rolf Verleger ◽  
Rebekka Lencer

We discuss how Burns' conception may be further extended to integrate research on eye movement abnormalities, but then point to a contradiction between Burns' conception of schizophrenia as the genetic price for human social life and the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data, which constitute his central piece of evidence.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jostein Holmgren

Thesis type: Bachelor of Arts, PsychologyAuthor: Jostein HolmgrenSupervisor: Thomas Wolfgang SchubertGrade: A (Highest obtainable)Institution: Department of Psychology, University of OsloSocial status is a core feature of human social life. Recently, researchers have begun exploring a possible link between the processing of social status and physical dimensions. Drawing on several theoretical frameworks, including Relational Models Theory, embodied cognition, and the Analog Magnitude System (AMS), the author argues for social status being a dimension processed similarly to physical magnitudes. The present study replicates previous findings of a distance effect typical of magnitudes in the domain of social status, and offers novel evidence for a size effect. Although with limitations, the evidence suggests that social status is processed as any other dimension in the AMS.


Lire Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Lilis Sholihah

This research is intended to analyze the meanings of semantic and moral values found in songs lyrics in the album by Coldplay. The result of this research is expected to be valuable research in enlarging the knowledge of semantics field especially in analysis of song. In this case the meanings and moral values found in the Coldplay’s Album songs lyrics. In this case, the researcher collects the data in following steps. Firstly, collecting the script of song lyrics taken from the internet. Secondly, assembling data from the sources. Thirdly, reading all the data sources. Lastly, classifying the lyric based on the lexical meaning and moral values and classified them according to the research focus. After analyzing the data, the lexical terms found in this song contains 6 denotations, 5 connotations, 1 ambiguity, 10 antonyms and 11 synonyms. Furthermore, there are many kinds of figurative languages found in some lyrics of the song such as simile, hyperbole, personification, symbol, metaphor, apostrophe, synecdoche, paradox and antithesis, etc. Specifically, the figurative language which found in lyrics a head full of dreams album , there are 1 metaphor, 2 similes, 2 symbol, 2 hyperboles and 1 irony. Then, the five song lyrics in a head full of dreams album by Coldplay tell us about human social life which contained about love, sadness, happiness, spirit and adventure of life.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben M Tappin ◽  
Valerio Capraro

Prosociality is fundamental to human social life, and, accordingly, much research has attempted to explain human prosocial behavior. Capraro and Rand (Judgment and Decision Making, 13, 99-111, 2018) recently provided experimental evidence that prosociality in anonymous, one-shot interactions (such as Prisoner’s Dilemma and Dictator Game experiments) is not driven by outcome-based social preferences – as classically assumed – but by a generalized morality preference for “doing the right thing”. Here we argue that the key experiments reported in Capraro and Rand (2018) comprise prominent methodological confounds and open questions that bear on influential psychological theory. Specifically, their design confounds: (i) preferences for efficiency with self-interest; and (ii) preferences for action with preferences for morality. Furthermore, their design fails to dissociate the preference to do “good” from the preference to avoid doing “bad”. We thus designed and conducted a preregistered, refined and extended test of the morality preference hypothesis (N=801). Consistent with this hypothesis, our findings indicate that prosociality in the anonymous, one-shot Dictator Game is driven by preferences for doing the morally right thing. Inconsistent with influential psychological theory, however, our results suggest the preference to do “good” was as potent as the preference to avoid doing “bad” in this case.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Kosma Manurung

Human social identity requires him to continue to be connected with other humans in a harmonious social relationship. The Bible also places justice as a vital part of human social life. The biblical description reveals that God is a just person and there is never fraud in God. The aim of this research is to interpret the Bible's teachings about God's justice from the perspective of Pentecostal theology. This article contains an explanation of the importance of justice for humans, the Bible's narrative about God's justice, and the way Pentecostals interpret God's justice. The method used in this research is descriptive and literature review. Based on the results of the discussion, it was concluded that in the view of the Pentecostals, God's justice speaks of God's character. The justice of Allah is also interpreted by the Pentecostals as God's Rule that God wants to be obeyed. In addition, God's justice also means the defense of Allah and the demands that God wants every believer to do in social life so that they can be maximized as witnesses of God and become salt and light for the community where God has placed.  Identitas sosial manusia menuntutnya untuk terus terkoneksi dengan manusia lainnya dalam sebuah hubungan sosial yang harmonis. Alkitab pun meletakkan keadilan sebagai bagian vital dalam kehidupan sosial manusia.  Deskripsi Alkitab mengungkapkan bahwa Allah adalah pribadi yang adil dan tidak ada kecurangan dalam diri Allah. Tujuan penelitin ini bermaksud memaknai ajaran Alkitab tentang keadilan Allah dari sudut pandang teologi Pentakosta. Artikel ini berisi tentang penjelasan pentingnya keadilan bagi manusia, narasi Alkiab tentang keadilan Allah, dan cara kaum Pentakosta memaknai keadilan Allah. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini deskriptif dan kajian literatur. Berdasarkan hasil pembahasan ditarik kesimpulan bahwa dalam pandangan kaum Pentkosta keadilan Allah berbicara karakter Allah. Keadilan Allah juga dimaknai kaum Pentaksota sebagai Aturan Allah yang Allah ingin untuk dipatuhi. Selain itu, keadilan Allah juga dimaknai pembelaan Allah dan tuntutan yang Allah ingin setiap orang percaya lakukan dalam kehidupan bermasyarakat agar bisa maksimal sebagai saksi Tuhan dan menjadi garam serta terang bagi komunitas dimana Tuhan tempatkan.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Muhammad Syafi'i

Ethics is a philosophical part of axiology and becomes an important basis in the formation of morality. Today, ethics even becomes a serious individual matter that has an impact on human social life. There are many Islamic philosophers who highlight the theme of ethics within the philosophical framework, one of them is Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi. His view of human action and especially of happiness shows his different mind from the previous philosopher. His view of happiness reflects the orientation of human life in the present that overriden by the crisis of existence. In addition, some of his essays even focus exclusively on ethical discussions. Unfortunately, only a few scholars studied his ethical mind in a brief sub-section. Therefore, this paper will try to fill the void, as well as to contribute about the importance of ethics for the sustainability of individual morality and social morality.


In trying to show you the character of social anthropology as an academic discipline, I might try to sketch some substantive and perhaps intriguing findings in the field, or the history of its development, or some of its major intellectual problems today. I have chosen the last of these alternatives, because by showing the general problems we are grappling with I hope to reveal to you, in part no doubt inadvertently, the ways that anthropologists think, and also how our difficulties in part arise from the character of the social reality itself, which we confront and try to understand. The fundamental questions which social anthropology asks are about the forms, the nature, and the extent of order in human social life, as it can be observed in the different parts of the world. There is no need to prejudge the extent of this order; as members of one society we know how unpredictable social life can be. But concretely, human life varies greatly around the world, and it seems possible to characterize its forms to some extent. We seek means systematically to discover, record and understand these forms.


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