Religious gestures and secular strengths: Emerson, Nagel, and Kateb on the religious temperament

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
REZA HOSSEINI

AbstractWhat would happen to the reception of Emerson if one does not share his religious sentiments? I argue that appreciating Emerson does not depend upon sharing a similar attitude towards religion not only because we can discern a secular sense of wonder in his writings, as George Kateb claims, but also because his literary excellence shows us ways of wonder in the first place. Further, I show that though there is a brief exchange of similar ideas between Emerson and Thomas Nagel in the latter's engagement of ‘the religious temperament’, their responses to what they call the tremendousness of existence is fundamentally different.

Author(s):  
Jens Schlieter

This chapter, an excursus, embarks on a more philosophical interpretation of consciousness and experience. Building on Thomas Nagel and Niklas Luhmann, it is argued that human consciousness, defined as a process of self-reproduction of never-ending new possibilities, is perplexed by the task of imagining its own nonexistence. Given that consciousness is not equipped for this task, that is to imagine death (its own nonexistence), it will react with a search for meaning, a context for the existential threat. The excursus argues that this leads to the highly accelerated activity of consciousness. It may result in a phenomenon reported by a certain number of near-death experiencers, namely, the life review. In short, then, the life review is a highly accelerated search for meaning. These deliberations are further substantiated by a comparison with “wake-up dreams,” in which a similar structure becomes visible.


Author(s):  
Sally Peters ◽  
Keryn Davis ◽  
Ruta McKenzie

This chapter explores how children make sense of their world through the development and refinement of ‘working theories’. Working theories are a key item for young learners, and are emphasized in the New Zealand early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki. Children’s working theories develop in environments where they have opportunities to engage in complex thinking with others, observe, listen, participate, and discuss, within the context of topics and activities. It is through interactions and activities that children begin to own the ideas and beliefs of their culture and begin to make sense of their worlds. However, fostering this learning in early childhood settings is not always easy, and requires skilled adults who can respond appropriately. We explore and discuss the nature of children’s working theories and ways in which adult–child interactions can enhance or inhibit a sense of wonder and curiosity.


Ethics ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Darwall
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
pp. 096973302199079
Author(s):  
Finn Th Hansen ◽  
Lene Bastrup Jørgensen

Three forms of leadership are frequently identified as prerequisites to the re-humanization of the healthcare system: ‘authentic leadership’, ‘mindful leadership’ and ‘ethical leadership’. In different ways and to varying extents, these approaches all focus on person- or human-centred caring. In a phenomenological action research project at a Danish hospital, the nurses experienced and then described how developing a conscious sense of wonder enhanced their ability to hear, to get in resonance with the existential in their meetings with patients and relatives, and to respond ethically. This ability was fostered through so-called Wonder Labs in which the notion of ‘phenomenon-led care’ evolved, which called for ‘slow thinking’ and ‘slow wondrous listening’. For the 10 nurses involved, it proved challenging to find the necessary serenity and space for this slow and wonder-based practice. This article critiques and examines, from a theoretical perspective, the kind of leadership that is needed to encourage this wonder-based approach to nursing, and it suggests a new type of leadership that is itself inspired by wonder and is guided by 10 tangible elements.


1972 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 6-14

Horace was writing hisEpodes1at the same time as he was writingSatires. The nameEpodesis derived from the metrical term ό ἐπῳδός (і.е. στίχος) which signifies the second and shorter line of a couplet, but Horace himself referred to them asiambi(soEpod. 14. 7,Epist. i. 19. 23). The collection is titledLiber Epodonin the MSS. and the title was used by grammarians of the fourth and fifth centuries. Butiambigives a better idea of their basic inspiration. Horace says of them(Epist. i. 19. 21-5):So he claims(a)originality,(b)Archilochus as a model,(c)that he was the first Roman to use Archilochus as a model, and(d)that he discarded the vicious personal invective of Archilochus. The judgement disregards Catullus, who had writteniambibefore Horace, but whose similarity to Archilochus did not extend far beyond metre and invective. There is a consistency in Horace’s poetic career: he began by recreating the poetry of Archilochus in hisEpodes, and his later—and greatest— work was the recreation in hisOdesof the lyric poetry of poets like Sappho, Alcaeus, and Pindar. There is a similarly close relationship between theSatiresand theEpistles;and, furthermore, all of his writing uses an autobiographical technique. There is another sort of consistency too, for basicallyEpodesandSatiresexpress a similar attitude of mind: anger, contempt, and amusement are the fundamental emotions (though he often transcends these emotions in both works), and a plausible case can be made out for regarding this as a sign of a young man of low social status, unsure of himself and his talent, and already finding ways of expressing a personality that were not too self-revealing. TheOdesandEpistles, on the other hand, express a more meditative, more philosophical, more humane attitude, yet ultimately no more self-revealing.


2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 603-607
Author(s):  
John B. Mulliken
Keyword(s):  

1987 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-193
Author(s):  
Robert E. Lauder
Keyword(s):  

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