The Question of Interpretation: Qin History in Light of New Epigraphic Sources

Early China ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Pines
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Apparent Contradiction ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
New Evidence

Recently discovered epigraphic sources of Qin's history often seem to contradict the conventional wisdom regarding the history of this state. Thus, the recently published inscription on the jade tablets records a prayer to Mountain Hua by one of the last Qin kings, in which the latter surprisingly laments the demise of the Zhou house–an action for which traditionally Qin was blamed. On the other hand, some of the Shuihudi Qin statutes contain equally surprising statements according to which the Qin populace on the eve of the imperial unification was clearly differentiated from the members of the Xia ethno-cultural community. In both cases the apparent contradiction between the new evidence and the conventional interpretation of the received texts caused most of the scholars to neglect the confusing evidence altogether or to reinterpret it in accord with the traditional views.In my paper, I suggest that the new evidence can be reconciled with the received texts, if due attention is paid to the complexity of cultural and political dynamics in the state of Qin prior to the imperial unification of 221 B.C.E. During the last two centuries of the Warring States period Qin appears to be engulfed in two contradictory processes of estrangement from and re-integration with the “Central States.” On the one hand, radical reforms of the mid-fourth century B.C.E. brought about not only sociopolitical but also cultural changes, creating the cultural gap between Qin and the rest of the Zhou world. Concomitantly, endless military conflicts between Qin and its neighbors further strengthened the cohesiveness of Qin's populace, increasing furthermore the sense of antagonism between the people of Qin, particularly among the lower strata, and the dwellers of eastern states. On the other hand, however, Qin's eventual separation from the rest of the Zhou world was counterbalanced by the equally powerful integrative factors. The influx of eastern advisors perpetuated cultural ties between Qin and its neighbors, while the desire of Qin rulers to facilitate incorporation of the eastern territories into their expanding realm dictated a more flexible policy of building rather than destroying political and cultural bridges with the Zhou world. Understanding this ongoing tension between conflicting integrative and centrifugal tendencies allows us to build a new interpretative framework for the Qin history, fully incorporating the received and the unearthed texts.

Early History of Elis and Pisa: Invented or Evolving Traditions?

Klio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mait Kõiv
Keyword(s):  
Early Period ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Early History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sixth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

SummaryThe article discusses the development of ethnic and political identities, and the related traditions concerning the past, in Archaic and Classical Elis and Pisa. It shows that the earliest signs of Pisatan identity can be traced to the sixth century BC, and that the Eleans of the valley of Peneios on the one hand, and the people dwelling in the valley of Alpheios (i.e. the Pisatans) and the so-called Triphylia farther south on the other, nourished distinct traditions about their heroic past, which reflect distinct ethnic identities. Instead of assuming that the Pisatans as a group was intentionally constructed and its ‚history‘ invented during the political disturbances of the fourth century BC, we must accept that the Eleans and the Pisatans had since an early period developed and mutually re-negotiated the traditions confirming their identities and promoting their interests in the changing historical conditions.

scholarly journals The Story of the Torah from the Perspective of the Qur'an and History

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Seyyed Mohammad Razavi ◽  
Marziyeh Saemi
Keyword(s):  
Jewish People ◽  
The Other ◽  
Original Version ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
The One ◽  
Over Time

The history of the Bible implies that the Torah has been formed and distorted over time. The Qur'an also confirms this issue. The Holy Qur'an, in addition to introducing the Jews as the People of the Book, uses the word "Torah" eighteen times, "which is a collection of divine teachings bestowed on Prophet Moses." On the one hand, the Holy Qur'an acknowledges and affirms it, and on the other hand, it attributes distortion to this book and introduces the Torah as one of the books that has been distorted throughout history, however, the holy Qur’an considers the part of the Torah that has been preserved to contain the teachings of God and can be acknowledged in general, and considers it a means of guiding the Jewish people and advises them to refer to it. The collection of information in this writing is library-based and their processing is descriptive-analytical. This article seeks to prove the view that the current Torah, with its various versions, has been disappeared in the ups and downs of the times, and that what exists is a very blurred and inconsistent face of the original version, and the Holy Qur'an confirms this.

The Quidnunc Mentality of Edificatory Perfectionism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew H. Kramer
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
The One

Most critiques of edificatory perfectionism concentrate on the detrimental effects that will be undergone by the people whose lives the edificatory perfectionists are seeking to improve. Chapter 6 shifts the focus to the officials who formulate and implement the policies that produce such effects. On the one hand, Rawlsians and other contractualists quite rightly demur at the disrespect that is shown by edificatory perfectionists toward the putative beneficiaries of the measures which the perfectionists advocate. On the other hand, the contractualists largely neglect to take account of the ways in which the edificatory-perfectionist measures degrade the whole system of governance wherein they occur. Chapter 6 highlights that degradingness as it draws attention to the quidnunc mentality that is evinced by the officials who adopt and administer the laws for which the edificatory perfectionists have called.

scholarly journals “The Bearers of Unholy Potential”: Confessing Church Sermons on the Jews and Judaism

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Skiles
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
The Other ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Confessing Church ◽  
Nazi Ideology ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mixed Messages ◽  
German People ◽  
The One

This article examines the nature and frequency of comments about Jews and Judaism in sermons delivered by Confessing Church pastors in the Nazi dictatorship.  The approach of most historians has focused on the history of antisemitism in the German Protestant tradition—in the works, pronouncements, and policies of the German churches and its leading figures.  Yet historians have left unexamined the most elemental task of the pastor—that is, preaching from the pulpit to the German people.  What would the average German congregant have heard from his pastor about the Jews and Judaism on any given Sunday?  I searched German archives, libraries, and used book stores, and analyzed 910 sermon manuscripts that were produced and disseminated in the Nazi regime.  I argue that these sermons provide mixed messages about Jews and Judaism.  While on the one hand, the sermons express admiration for Judaism as a foundation for Christianity, an insistence on the usage of the Hebrew Bible in the German churches, and the conviction that the Jews are spiritual cousins of Christians.  On the other hand, the sermons express religious prejudice in the form of anti-Judaic tropes that corroborated the Nazi ideology that portrayed Jews and Judaism as inferior: for instance, that Judaism is an antiquated religion of works rather than grace; that the Jews killed Christ and have been punished throughout history as a consequence.  Furthermore, I demonstrate that Confessing Church pastors commonly expressed anti-Judaic statements in the process of criticizing the Nazi regime, its leadership, and its policies.

scholarly journals Kant, Nietzsche and the idealization of friendship into nihilism

2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (128) ◽  
pp. 401-417
Author(s):  
Paul van Tongeren
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Literary Imagination ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The 19Th Century

Is friendship still possible under nihilistic conditions? Kant and Nietzsche are important stages in the history of the idealization of friendship, which leads inevitably to the problem of nihilism. Nietzsche himself claims on the one hand that only something like friendship can save us in our nihilistic condition, but on the other hand that precisely friendship has been unmasked and become impossible by these very conditions. It seems we are struck in the nihilistic paradox of not being allowed to believe in the possibility of what we cannot do without. Literary imagination since the 19th century seems to make us even more skeptical. Maybe Beckett provides an illustration of a way out that fits well to Nietzsche's claim that only "the most moderate, those who do not require any extreme articles of faith" will be able to cope with nihilism.

scholarly journals PEMIKIRAN JAMALUDDIN AL-AFGHANI (JAMAL AD-DIN AL-AFGHANI) (1838 – 1897 M)

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-24
Author(s):  
Akmal Hawi
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Unique Position ◽  
Islamic Reform ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century

The 19th century to the 20th century is a moment in which Muslims enter a new gate, the gate of renewal. This phase is often referred to as the century of modernism, a century where people are confronted with the fact that the West is far ahead of them. This situation made various responses emerging, various Islamic groups responded in different ways based on their Islamic nature. Some respond with accommodative stance and recognize that the people are indeed doomed and must follow the West in order to rise from the downturn. Others respond by rejecting anything coming from the West because they think it is outside of Islam. These circles believe Islam is the best and the people must return to the foundations of revelation, this circle is often called the revivalists. One of the figures who is an important figure in Islamic reform, Jamaluddin Al-Afghani, a reformer who has its own uniqueness, uniqueness, and mystery. Departing from the division of Islamic features above, Afghani occupies a unique position in responding to Western domination of Islam. On the one hand, Afghani is very moderate by accommodating ideas coming from the West, this is done to improve the decline of the ummah. On the other hand, however, Afghani appeared so loudly when it came to the question of nationality or on matters relating to Islam. As a result, Afghani traces his legs on two different sides, he is a modernist but also a fundamentalist. 

scholarly journals The Perspective of Overcoming Nihilism in Heidegger’s Dialogue with Jünger

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tautvydas Vėželis
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dialectical Thinking ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
Metaphysical Tradition ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
European Civilization

This article examines the problem of overcoming nihilism in Heidegger’s dialogue with Jünger. It is suggested that nihilism is manifested in various forms and is the deep logic of the whole history of European civilization. One of the main aims of this paper is to outline the relationship of nihilism and Nothing in Heidegger’s dispute with Jünger, viewing how Heidegger distinguishes his approach from Jünger’s point of view. Heidegger, on the one hand, treats nihilism as consummation of the Western metaphysical tradition, on the other hand, identifies Nothing itself as the shadow of Being, which cannot be overcome in the traditional dialectical thinking manner.

scholarly journals A Justiça Parcial e a Ganância enquanto virtude e vício do caráter na Ética a Nicômaco: ação interpessoal, emoção e prazer

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-145
Author(s):  
André Luiz Cruz Sousa
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Nicomachean Ethics ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

The aim of this paper is to study a set of three issues related to the understanding of partial justice and partial injustice as character dispositions, namely the distinctive circumstance of action, the emotion involved therein and the pleasure or pain following it. Those points are treated in a relatively obscure way by Aristotle, especially in comparison with their treatment in the expositions of other character virtues in the Nicomachean Ethics. Building on the expression ‘capacity towards the other’ (δύναμις ἐν τῷ πρὸς ἕτερον), the paper highlights the interpersonal nature of the circumstances of just and unjust actions, and points how such nature is directly related to notions such as ‘profit’ (κέρδος) or ‘getting more’(πλεονεκτεῖν) as well as to the unusual conception of excess, defect and intermediacy in Nicomachean Ethics Book V. The interpersonal nature of just and unjust actions works also as the starting-point for the interpretation both of the pleasure briefly mentioned in 1130b4 as characterizing the greedy person and of the emotion involved in acting justly or greedy, which is mentioned in an extremely elliptical way in 1130b1-2: the paper argues, on the one hand, that the pleasure felt in acting justly or unjustly concerns not only the goods that are the object of just or unjust interactions, but also the way such interactions affect the people involved; on the other hand, it argues that the emotion actuated in just or unjust interactions relates to the agent’s concern or lack of concern with the good of those people.

Spiders, Ants, and Bees

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
Doina-Cristina Rusu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
The Other ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Middle Way ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Natural Histories

This paper argues that the methodology Francis Bacon used in his natural histories abides by the theoretical commitments presented in his methodological writings. On the one hand, Bacon advocated a middle way between idle speculation and mere gathering of facts. On the other hand, he took a strong stance against the theorisation based on very few facts. Using two of his sources whom Bacon takes to be the reflection of these two extremes—Giambattista della Porta as an instance of idle speculations, and Hugh Platt as an instance of gathering facts without extracting knowledge—I show how Bacon chose the middle way, which consists of gathering facts and gradually extracting theory out of them. In addition, it will become clear how Bacon used the expertise of contemporary practitioners to criticise fantastical theories and purge natural history of misconceived notions and false speculations.

Chaplain and Steward: Francis Blakiston SJ (1617–93) at Linton-on-Ouse

2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-433
Author(s):  
John Trappes-Lomax
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Catholic Priests ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Spare Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

Chaplains in penal times were on occasion employed as stewards, though perhaps not as frequently as is sometimes supposed; from the point of view of their employers this is not entirely surprising; on the one hand chaplains might reasonably be expected to be literate, numerate and honest; on the other hand the restrictions under which Catholic priests worked might well leave them a sufficiency of spare time for secular affairs. The interest of the letter which follows lies not in the mere fact of such a stewardship, but in the extraordinarily vivid picture it gives of what it was like for a professed Religious to be involved in running an estate—particularly when his employer was of questionable sanity. Some light is incidentally thrown on the history of Catholicism in Linton-on-Ouse.

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