John Henry Newman

Author(s):  
Michael D. Hurley

Newman has been much vaunted as a ‘master’ of non-fiction prose style, and justly so. His felicity of phrasing is astonishing: so precise, so elegant, so vivid. This chapter admires Newman’s stylistic achievements too, but with a view to explaining why Newman himself baulked at such praise, by insisting instead on the importance of veracity over verbalism. While a number of different writings by Newman are surveyed in the course of the chapter, the argument comes to focus in particular on his seminal work of faith, Grammar of Assent, a book that took him some twenty years to write, which almost killed him, and which best exemplifies his suggestive but enigmatic definition of ‘style’ as ‘a thinking out into language’.

2000 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARGRET SELTING

The notion of Turn-Constructional Unit (TCU) in Conversation Analysis has become unclear for many researchers. The underlying problems inherent in the definition of this notion are here identified, and a possible solution is suggested. This amounts to separating more clearly the notions of TCU and Transition Relevance Place (TRP). In this view, the TCU is defined as the smallest interactionally relevant complete linguistic unit, in a given context, that is constructed with syntactic and prosodic resources within their semantic, pragmatic, activity-type-specific, and sequential conversational context. It ends in a TRP unless particular linguistic and interactional resources are used to project and postpone the TRP to the end of a larger multi-unit turn. This suggestion tries to spell out some of the assumptions that the seminal work in CA made in principle, but never formulated explicitly.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Benn Johnson ◽  

Arthur Tansley first defined the term ecosystem in his seminal work “Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts,” as an improved way of viewing the relationships between plants and their physical environments. However, his definition, while widely influential, privileges the living components over nonliving components of ecosystems, and has thus been unable to fully overcome the biocentrism of early plant ecologists. Moreover, the binary between life and nonlife is untenable, and serves only as a marker of the underlying biocentric values of a researcher. Drawing from Donna Haraway’s argument for situated knowledges, one can critically examine the biocentrism implicit in much of ecology (and conservation), and reconsider our definition of ecosystem in order to highlight our devaluation of the nonliving, and expand our normative universe.


The aim of the study is to reflect on the problem of the “documentariness” of documentary films based on the refinement of the semantic spectrum of the “documentary” concept. The definitions spectrum of the “documentary” concept in classical and post-non-classical film studies from B. Matushevsky, J. Grierson and D. Vertov to R. M. Barsam, J. Gaines, P. Lorentz, R. D. McKenn, B. Nichols, M. Renov, L. Ward (and others) is analyzed. As a generalization of these definitions, the author’s definition of “documentary” is proposed: the term “documentary” refers to a film not as an affirmative form of a completed film statement, but as an interrogative form of an open film gesture balancing on the verge of “truth” and “fiction”, as the continuity of an implicit mutual transition between non-fiction and fiction methods of cinema narration, a kind of hybrid between the video fixation of authentic facts with documentary value and their cinematic interpretation, which involves a reconfiguration of the reality caused by the “observer effect,” an interpretation of documented facts, and a creative implication of the ideas of the authors of the film. are a kind of hybrid between cinema recording of authentic facts of documentary value and cinematic interpretation of them, which involves reconfiguration of reality caused by the “observer effect”, author's interpretation of documented facts and creative implication of the ideas of movie makers. “Hybrid” genres combining the features of documentary and features of non-fiction film are described: “docudrama”, “mockumentary”, and the “art-dock”. The problem of the “documentariness” of documentary is considered with the help of a number of film cases from L. Riefenstahl, P. Watkins and R. Carmen to V. Mansky, S. Loznitsa and I. Khrzhanovsky. The main conclusion to the study is the assertion that there is sufficient reason to consider “documentary” a very abstracted “empty signifier” – a concept with a “blurred semantic field” and a “weak ontological status”. In general, the “documentariness” of documentary is as much desired as the shaky movie illusion: there are documentary shotings and documentary shots as the primary material of the film, but the “documentary” film as such does not exist, or it is a phantom.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Ramunas Motiekaitis

Abstract In this article, invoking some terms of phenomenology and general principles of structural semiotics, I critically examine and reveal some aporetic aspects of Nishitani’s interpretation of Buddhist concept of sūnyatā presented in his seminal work Religion and Nothingness. My critics are directed to deeply ingrained claims among scholars of a “rejection of any form of dualism” and “non-substantial philosophy” as unique characteristics of the Kyoto school or “logic of the East”. My arguments are based on examining how linguistic differentiating articulation and narrative rendering that perform a fundamental role in human cognition are at work in definition of “emptiness” (sūnyatā) too. Thus emptiness is not completely empty; being certain philosophical identity it can be articulated only by differentiation from other identities, and thus different is included in it. Nishitani needed logocentric modes of thought, as a dialectical (m)other for constructing his sūnyatā ontology. Accordingly, the realms that are considered to be secondary or derivative (i.e. sensual and rational, or linguistic representations) appear to be the condition for constituting the primary (suchness of things, sūnyatā). Considering universal mechanisms of the articulation of values I am also asking whether sūnyatā paradigm indeed is so fundamentally different from Western paradigms centered on idea, God, or a rational subject as Nishitani wants to think. Since we find a clear hierarchical differentiation into truth and illusion, authentic and inauthentic modes of thought and time, and initial and derivative ontological realms, features of “strong thought” (in sense of Vattimo) are evident in his work. I am also suggesting, that possibly by considering not sūnyatā or “idea” but human languages as a universal “house of being”, we would be able to “empty” discourses of radical difference and uniqueness, and in this way become post-nationalistically modern. Philosophy, in order not to turn into a onesided ideology, should reflect on its mythological and narratological conditions, i.e. dances on certain semiotic axes. From such a perspective, the gravitational trajectory of human thought, longing for conjunction with the absolute, defined either as God or as sūnyatā, will seem similar rather than different.


2015 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Bergur Djurhuus Hansen

The writings of the Faroese author, pastor and Bible translator K.O. Viderø (1906­1991) trespass the border between fiction and non­ fiction and are difficult to define in relation to genre. A definition of genre is on the other hand crucial for the way we read them. K.O. Viderø wrote about himself and about travels, events and people, he experienced, but he did so in his own imaginative way. The article discusses relevant theories of genre and the problems connected to at final definition of K.O. Viderø“s writings. The publication <em>Á Suðurlandið </em>(1990) is analyzed and used as an example of how Viderø found it hard to adjust himself to the limitations of traditional genres and indirectly wrote about it. The article finally argues that most of the writings, where Viderø writes about himself, are to be read as literary travel writings.


10.23856/4620 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 154-159
Author(s):  
Serhii Illiuschenko

This article is a theoretical study of the “reflexive competence” concept and other related notions in the context of psychological science. Reflexive competence is viewed as an important component of professional competence and a separate formation of mind that determines the resultant aspect of reflexive activity. The study is based on the analysis of non-fiction works on the subject matter written by Ukrainian and foreign authors. It shows the diversity of approaches to definition of the “reflexive competence” concept and to detailing of the aspects of its structure. The article describes the types of reflection and examines every single component of reflexive competence, including cooperative, communicative, personal and intellectual reflection. It also looks at the models of reflexive competence and its individual structural components, such as informational, instrumental, judgmental and motivational, and behavioral. The article explains why we need to study reflexive competence as a complex formation – a meta-concept, a personal meta-competence that integrates knowledge, abilities and skills acquired in the course of personal growth and associated with the realization of why people do what they do, with identification and resolution of problems that arise in the course of our primary activity, and with the setting of goals and prioritization of personal growth areas. The work also proves the importance of reflexive competence as a professional growth driver for the officers of Ukraine armed forces and an aspect that facilitates development of other kinds of personality competence.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (66) ◽  
pp. 15461-15466
Author(s):  
Ankita Chaudhary

“Write what you know” - this is the age-old advice said by someone to all the novelists. Surajprasad Naipaul, generally known as V. S. Naipaul, took it more seriously than others. Naipaul’s grandparents migrated from Uttar Pradesh India to Trinidad. His grandfather started working as an indentured laborer in the sugarcane estates there. They faced many problems regarding settlement and adjustment in this new cultural environment. That’s why Naipaul’s works are replete with the themes of diaspora. He applied his uniquely careful prose style to the point where the observer has called him the greatest living writer of English prose. Often known as the world’s writer, Naipaul is both one of the most highly regarded and one of the most controversial of contemporary writers. Much of his work deals with individuals who feel estranged from the societies. The present paper is an effort to analyze his select works based on diaspora and identity. Different characters in his fiction and non-fiction works seem to be in search of their identity in this world. Cultural-clash and hybridity, these twin themes, are also dominant in his works and I have tried to highlight all these diaspora-related issues in this paper.


Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Dominika Oramus

This essay aims at adding to the critical debate on Angela Carter and myths from a more technical perspective and discusses her keen interest in the “lo and behold” moment of recognition. I claim that for Carter myths “work” in literary texts by producing a sudden illumination. At that moment, an image reveals itself to be interposed from an older story that has, or used to have, some cultural importance. In order to describe this phenomenon, I am going to refer to Aristotle’s definition of recognition in his Poetics and essays of C.G. Jung, for whom myths are instances of revelation. To prove that Carter was very much interested in the technicalities of recognition, I analyse her non-fiction devoted to Edgar Allan Poe and Charlotte Brontë. Carter’s sample mythic reading of Jane Eyre (1847) and her plans to re-write the last chapter of this novel provide me with enough material to risk a hypothesis regarding how, in her opinion, myths might intertextually enrich the reading experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-87
Author(s):  
Daniel Pratt Morris-Chapman

On becoming a cardinal John Henry Newman made the declaration that he had spent his life opposing 'liberalism in religion'. Historians, including the late Frank Turner, dispute Newman's rendition. Indeed, Turner suggests that Newman used this phantom term as a smokescreen and that his supposed opposition to liberalism was in fact a calculated attempt to curry favour with the Vatican. Whether or not Turner's analysis explains the variety of conflicting interpretations given within Newman scholarship it is clear that a comprehensive definition of this term has so far proved elusive. Here Turner's revisionist account is discussed in relation to Newman's Anglican and Catholic use of this term. This is followed by a survey of the relevant Newman literature in which three distinct patterns of interpretation are identified. The article then explores whether an understanding of Newman's classical formation may offer a clue for unlocking the complexity of this term. Newman's references to the ancient world are examined in relation to his use of the term liberalism and it is proposed that this offers the possibility of a more complete understanding of Newman's conception of the antecedents and developments of liberalism.


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