Empire, nationalism and christianity

This paper studies in parallel the history of empire and the development of universals. It uses as its preliminary orientation the work of Eric Voegelin who argued that universals develop in history alongside and through universalising empires. We find this basic contention highly credible as it is empires that force us to develop cognitive approaches that encompass both colonised and coloniser in any subsequent social structure. So conceived, the paper then argues that empires are synonymous with human history as such and that even those entities (such a Greek city states) which are eulogised for escaping this logic are on examination no less imperial than the empires they oppose. The paper then argues that the development of universals is not a byproduct of empire but rather that it drives imperial expansion in the first place. It seeks to argue that ideation is the casual factor in human history, social structures and behaviour. It argues contra thinkers like Francis Fukuyama, there is no biological foundation for the qualitative distinctions of civilisation, rather the paper contends that the origin of civilisation lies in human conceptuality not human biology, locality or indeed any other material force impinging on life. So configured, the paper then concludes that the primary political question lies in bringing together the question of the good with empire – a process most advanced in human history by Christianity.

Features of prognostic function in patients with ischemic stroke of frontal localization in the early recovery period

The article presents the results of the research of the features of the anticipation and prognostic function in patients with ischemic stroke of frontal localization in the early recovery period.Material and methods. The total sample group was represented by 60 patients who had suffered an ischemic stroke of frontal or parietal localization. The average age of the research subjects was 53.00 ± 5.44 years. The study was conducted with the use of functional neuropsychological tests (by A.R. Luria, L.S. Tsvetkova), methods of predictive function research (time estimation test, spatial anticipation test, Maze test, London Tower test, “incomplete images” test), as well as statistical methods of quantitative and qualitative data processing.Results. In patients with prefrontal localization of ischemic stroke a specific impairment of prognostic function and a non-specific decrease in anticipation were revealed. It is due to disorders of mental activity purposefulness and preliminary orientation in the conditions of the task. When the lesion was localized in the premotor areas, a less significant decrease in the rate and accuracy of the prognostic function due to the inertia of the mental processes was revealed. In the localization of ischemic stroke in the associative parietal cortex, a specific decrease in the rate and accuracy of sensorimotor, perceptual, and temporal anticipation was revealed, as well as a non-specific decrease in the rate of planning, while maintaining its accuracy of implementation.Conclusion. In terms of practical significance, taking into account the features of prognostic function that have arisen in a particular form of brain damage can serve as a basis for restoring other gnostic or motor impaired functions, increasing the effectiveness of correctional and rehabilitation measures.

Negotiating the Socio-Material in and about Information Systems

Recent moves to more explicitly account for the relationship between the social and the material in the Information Systems discipline, under the banner of socio-materiality, also imply the need for a closer examination of practice. Using John Law’s (2004) exposition of “method assemblage” as foregrounding and backgrounding a re-reading of Jonathan Grudin’s (1990) account of the various delineations of the computer interface is attempted. It is offered as a preliminary orientation to some of the native “ethno-methods”, (discursive and embodied practices) which might be deployed to negotiate sociality and materiality in IS and other technical arenas.

Negotiating the Socio-Material in and about Information Systems

Recent moves to more explicitly account for the relationship between the social and the material in the Information Systems discipline, under the banner of socio-materiality, also imply the need for a closer examination of practice. Using John Law’s (2004) exposition of “method assemblage” as foregrounding and backgrounding a re-reading of Jonathan Grudin’s (1990) account of the various delineations of the computer interface is attempted. It is offered as a preliminary orientation to some of the native “ethno-methods”, (discursive and embodied practices) which might be deployed to negotiate sociality and materiality in IS and other technical arenas.

«Non lasciar vivere la malefica»

Yet another book on witches and witchcraft? Although numerous, studies on this phenomenon that had such a profound influence on the political, social and religious history of the late Middle Ages and the early modern age in Europe can never be enough. At this time the political regimes were actively involved in the witch hunts, not least the Catholic church which was intensely engaged in developing instruments of control aimed at governing and curbing dissent. The book is broken down into thematic sections – rules, treatises and trials, transmission /possession – which reflect the multiplicity of the scientific proposals that have emerged in recent years, and also represent a conscious preliminary orientation of possible readings. At centre stage of the witchcraft show are the witches and their judges, from the theologians and philosophers to the exorcists. As well as addressing actual events, the book also explores the nature of the beliefs and the way in which they were transmitted in the various social strata, and the phenomenon of diabolical possession which conveyed the message of the presence of the devil in the world.