FORESHADOWING AND FLASHBACK: CHILDHOOD ANECDOTES IN SUETONIUS’ CAESARS

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 378-383
Author(s):  
Phoebe Garrett

Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars contain at least twenty discrete anecdotes about childhood (pueritia) and youth (iuuenta or adulescentia) spread across the Lives. Some characterize the Caesars by looking forwards (foreshadowing) and others do so by looking backwards (flashbacks). In both foreshadowing and flashback, the childhood anecdote shows continuity with the adult and creates the impression of lifelong consistency of character. The foreshadowing technique is also something other ancient biographers do; the flashback is something that appears to be unique to Suetonius. In this note I briefly consider the stories from childhood and youth that foreshadow character traits and themes of the rest of the Life, and then the flashbacks from the adulthood section of the Life that refer to childhood and youth in order to demonstrate vices of the grown adult. I show that the use of foreshadowing and flashbacks contributes to the appearance of a fully formed character in the child that will be consistent into adulthood, as well as facilitating the rubric system of arranging material by type rather than by time.

Author(s):  
Jennifer McKitrick

Dispositional Pluralism is the view that dispositional properties are abundant and diverse. When something has a disposition, it is such that, if it were in a certain kind of circumstance, a certain kind of effect would occur. Dispositions include such varied properties as character traits like a hero’s courage, characteristics of physical objects like a wine glass’s fragility, and characteristics of microphysical entities like an electron’s charge. Some dispositions are natural while others are non-natural. Some dispositions called “powers” are ungrounded while non-fundamental dispositions are grounded in other properties. Some dispositions manifest constantly, some of them manifest spontaneously, while others manifest only when they are triggered to do so. Some dispositions manifest by causing another dispositional property to be instantiated, while others have manifestations that involve non-dispositional properties and relations. Some dispositions are intrinsic to their bearers while others are extrinsic. Some of them are causally relevant to their manifestations while others are not. Some dispositions manifest in some particular way in particular circumstances, while other dispositions manifest in various ways in various circumstances. What makes all of these diverse properties dispositions is their connection to a certain kind of counterfactual fact. Nevertheless, disposition ascriptions are not semantically reducible to counterfactual claims.


Grandstanding ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 139-166
Author(s):  
Justin Tosi ◽  
Brandon Warmke

This chapter argues that grandstanding contributes to significant problems for politics in democracies. Politicians are notorious for grandstanding, likely because they have strong incentives to do so. Many voters choose candidates for their perceived character traits, so politicians grandstand to give the people what they want. Because people associate morality with taking unyielding stands, politicians who grandstand have strong incentives not to compromise with the opposing party. If they do, voters will treat them as flip-floppers. The same is true for activists, who risk being seen as having a weak commitment to the cause by other activists. Political grandstanders also tend to support expressive or symbolic policies, which seem to straightforwardly address a problem, but are actually ineffective. Finally, grandstanders sometimes have reason not to solve social problems at all, as doing so may eliminate opportunities to advance their interests.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra R. Comer ◽  
Michael Schwartz

Management educators have been advised to cultivate their students’ character. Yet they lack the instructional resources they need to do so. We were inspired by the principles and techniques of the Jewish spiritual practice of Mussar to put students on a personalized path of continuous character improvement. According to Mussar, everyone has some measure of a given character trait and needs to calibrate it to fill in a deficiency or tone down an excess. Although correcting character deficiencies and excesses requires a commitment of effort, we can, and should, become better versions of ourselves by applying that effort—that is, engaging in reflection, setting goals, monitoring our progress, and making adjustments—to move each of our character traits ever closer to its respective virtuous mean. We have designed materials to increase students’ awareness of character and its importance in organizations, give them a vocabulary of character traits, help them identify the character traits they would like to address, and provide them with a sustainable process for self-enhancement. In this article, we introduce these materials and provide evidence of their effectiveness.


Author(s):  
Mihail Sleahtitchi ◽  

Didactogenies, as they appear daily – as states that exert unwanted effects on students (psychologically, medically and / or pedagogically) – are directly related to those fundamental moral qualities of the teacher that form its inadequacy. It has been found that teachers who have conservative beliefs, anti-democratic ideas and feelings, are rigid and resistant to change or have a tendency to avoid dialogue, are less concerned with understanding how students perceive the learning situation and solve in an appropriate manner various school problems. Such a teacher can only be disliked and rejected in his attempt to collaborate with students. We can say, therefore, that the educational process can be productive only if the teacher applies in practice character traits compatible with the basic requirements of this process. School success cannot be registered where the teacher shows egocentrism, cowardice, hypocrisy, indifference, unjustified pride, emotional instability, insufficient self-control, injustice in appreciation and / or hatred towards work. Such a teacher has chosen the wrong job and must leave it voluntarily or be determined to do so.


Think ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (48) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry Dunne

Most theorists agree that the ability to think critically is distinct from the disposition to do so. Many of us may have the ability to be critical thinkers, but unless we are consistently and internally motivated to think and reason this way, these abilities are effectively redundant. Such dispositions are both intellectual character traits, and dispositions to behave in certain ways. As such, the first step to understanding critical thinking requires us to develop an operationalized taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions. To avoid explicating these dispositions in abstracto, this article draws upon a murder trial in order to demonstrate the central role dispositions play in critical thinking.


Author(s):  
Quassim Cassam

This book defends the view that epistemic vices are blameworthy or otherwise reprehensible character traits, attitudes, or ways of thinking that systematically obstruct the gaining, keeping, or sharing of knowledge. An account is given of specific epistemic vices and of the particular ways in which they get in the way of knowledge. Closed-mindedness is an example of a character vice, an epistemic vice that is a character trait. Epistemic insouciance and epistemic malevolence are examples of attitude vices. An example of an epistemic vice that is a way of thinking is wishful thinking. Only epistemic vices that we have the ability to control or modify are strictly blameworthy but all epistemic vices are intellectual failings that reflect badly on the person whose vices they are. Epistemic vices merit criticism if not blame. Many epistemic vices are stealthy, in the sense that they block their own detection by active critical reflection or other means. In these cases, traumatic experiences can sometimes open one’s eyes to one’s own failings but are not guaranteed to do so. Although significant obstacles stand in the way of self-improvement in respect of our epistemic vices, and some epistemic vices are resistant to self-improvement strategies, self-improvement is nevertheless possible in some cases.


Author(s):  
Mihai Șleahtițchi

Didactogenies, as they appear daily - as states that exert unwanted effects on students (psychologically, medically and / or pedagogically) - are directly related to those fundamental moral qualities of the teacher that form its inadequacy. It has been found that teachers who have conservative beliefs, anti-democratic ideas and feelings, are rigid and resistant to change or have a tendency to avoid dialogue, are less concerned with understanding how students perceive the learning situation and solve in an appropriate manner various school problems. Such a teacher can only be disliked and rejected in his attempt to collaborate with students. We can say, therefore, that the educational process can be productive only if the teacher applies in practice character traits compatible with the basic requirements of this process. School success cannot be registered where the teacher shows egocentrism, cowardice, hypocrisy, indifference, unjustified pride, emotional instability, insufficient self-control, injustice in appreciation and / or hatred towards work. Such a teacher has chosen the wrong job and must leave it voluntarily or be determined to do so.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane T. Wegener ◽  
Leandre R. Fabrigar

AbstractReplications can make theoretical contributions, but are unlikely to do so if their findings are open to multiple interpretations (especially violations of psychometric invariance). Thus, just as studies demonstrating novel effects are often expected to empirically evaluate competing explanations, replications should be held to similar standards. Unfortunately, this is rarely done, thereby undermining the value of replication research.


Author(s):  
Keyvan Nazerian

A herpes-like virus has been isolated from duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) cultures inoculated with blood from Marek's disease (MD) infected birds. Cultures which contained this virus produced MD in susceptible chickens while virus negative cultures and control cultures failed to do so. This and other circumstantial evidence including similarities in properties of the virus and the MD agent implicate this virus in the etiology of MD.Histochemical studies demonstrated the presence of DNA-staining intranuclear inclusion bodies in polykarocytes in infected cultures. Distinct nucleo-plasmic aggregates were also seen in sections of similar multinucleated cells examined with the electron microscope. These aggregates are probably the same as the inclusion bodies seen with the light microscope. Naked viral particles were observed in the nucleus of infected cells within or on the edges of the nucleoplasmic aggregates. These particles measured 95-100mμ, in diameter and rarely escaped into the cytoplasm or nuclear vesicles by budding through the nuclear membrane (Fig. 1). The enveloped particles (Fig. 2) formed in this manner measured 150-170mμ in diameter and always had a densely stained nucleoid. The virus in supernatant fluids consisted of naked capsids with 162 hollow, cylindrical capsomeres (Fig. 3). Enveloped particles were not seen in such preparations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 121-123
Author(s):  
Jeri A. Logemann

Evidence-based practice requires astute clinicians to blend our best clinical judgment with the best available external evidence and the patient's own values and expectations. Sometimes, we value one more than another during clinical decision-making, though it is never wise to do so, and sometimes other factors that we are unaware of produce unanticipated clinical outcomes. Sometimes, we feel very strongly about one clinical method or another, and hopefully that belief is founded in evidence. Some beliefs, however, are not founded in evidence. The sound use of evidence is the best way to navigate the debates within our field of practice.


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