Death, Sin, Law, and Redemption

Nahmanides ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 103-136
Author(s):  
Moshe Halbertal
Keyword(s):  
Human Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Religious Praxis ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Human Condition

This chapter explores the existential foundations of Nahmanides's worldview. It analyzes the primary elements of the human condition: death, sin, and redemption. It talks also about Nahmanides's view that humanity's fate and existential condition reflect the divine drama itself. The chapter clarifies Nahmanides's conception of the Godhead, the chain of being, and the universe. It talks about Nahmanides's Talmudic novellae that provide two references to his kabbalistic traditions. One reference concerns the difference between a vow and an oath, while the other discusses the theory of prophecy in an aggadic context. It also explains how Nahmanides's kabbalistic ideas do not shape his particular halakhic determinations, even if kabbalah more broadly supplies the internal meaning of religious praxis.

Marginalia as narratives of ordinary lives: Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall’s Down to This

2021 ◽  
pp. 002198942098111
Author(s):  
Silvia Julia Caporale-Bizzini
Keyword(s):  
Public Perception ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Personal Journey ◽  
The Public ◽  
Big City ◽  
The Human Condition

This article examines Canadian author Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall’s 2004 memoir Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown through the notions of marginalia and the ordinary in order to question dichotomic representations of homelessness. It explores how the author moves beyond binaries, interrogating the dichotomy ordinary/out of the ordinary lives by narrating his ethical encounter with the other (Butler, 2004). The text is written as a journal where Bishop-Stall describes his personal journey through homelessness; and more importantly, it gives a voice to the other down-and-out people in notorious Toronto’s Tent City. The characters’ unreliable and fragmented storytelling uncovers the lives of the faceless others. I contend that in Down to This individuals’ life stories are connected to realities which question binaries through the re/mapping of ordinary experiences and affects; they disintegrate the opposition materiality vs abstraction, or as I argue, exclusion vs inclusion (out of the ordinary/ordinary). Down to These bridges the private details of the residents’ life stories, and the public perception of the problem of homelessness, illustrating how everyday moments of precarity intersect with wider political issues. In the process, the narrative also questions the binary attitudes of exclusion (disfranchisement) and inclusion (privilege). This literary strategy gives the constellation of stories a profound illuminating vision of the human condition. I show my point by drawing on the of marginalia (Kistner 2014), and by analysing the characters’ narratives of precariousness through the notions of editing and affective assemblage (Gerlach, 2015; Hamilakis, 2017).

scholarly journals Investigating the properties of a galaxy group at z = 0.6

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (S359) ◽  
pp. 188-189
Author(s):  
Daniela Hiromi Okido ◽  
Cristina Furlanetto ◽  
Marina Trevisan ◽  
Mônica Tergolina
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Numerical Density ◽  
Spectroscopy Data ◽  
Stellar Kinematics ◽  
Galaxy Groups ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Universe

AbstractGalaxy groups offer an important perspective on how the large-scale structure of the Universe has formed and evolved, being great laboratories to study the impact of the environment on the evolution of galaxies. We aim to investigate the properties of a galaxy group that is gravitationally lensing HELMS18, a submillimeter galaxy at z = 2.39. We obtained multi-object spectroscopy data using Gemini-GMOS to investigate the stellar kinematics of the central galaxies, determine its members and obtain the mass, radius and the numerical density profile of this group. Our final goal is to build a complete description of this galaxy group. In this work we present an analysis of its two central galaxies: one is an active galaxy with z = 0.59852 ± 0.00007, while the other is a passive galaxy with z = 0.6027 ± 0.0002. Furthermore, the difference between the redshifts obtained using emission and absorption lines indicates an outflow of gas with velocity v = 278.0 ± 34.3 km/s relative to the galaxy.

BEYOND THE HUMAN CONDITION: DURATION AND VIRTUALITY IN HERACLITUS

Ramus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 41-69
Author(s):  
Richard Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Human Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Felix Guattari ◽  
Henri Bergson ◽  
Philosophical Method ◽  
The Human Condition

Gilles Deleuze's engagement with Heraclitus is long-standing, going back to his early work on Nietzsche, and persisting through the collaborative volumes produced with Félix Guattari in which Heraclitus becomes a key exemplar of their own philosophical method, whereby thought and nature are said to fold into one another in creative configurations. For Deleuze, as before him for Nietzsche, Heraclitus’ conception of universal becoming and of the constitutive flows across codes—be they ontological, epistemological, political, or ethical—demands a radical re-evaluation of the place of the human in time, and of the boundaries of subjectivity. Elsewhere, Deleuze states that the very meaning of philosophy is ‘to go beyond the human condition’ by opening us up to the other durations—inhuman and superhuman—with which, and by which, we are disclosed. A further key interlocutor here is Henri Bergson, whose work on time as duration, with psychological and ontological import, is central to the development of many of Deleuze's philosophical positions, including those subsequently nuanced by his work with Félix Guattari. Before attempting to map the plane of affiliations upon which these thinkers move, it is necessary to begin from Heraclitus’ own words on philosophical method and the opposition he draws between the correct, though elusive, practice of νόος (‘thought’, ‘understanding’) and the inadequate model of πολυμαθίη (‘much learning’) adopted by his intellectual predecessors.

scholarly journals Consuming Desire in Under the Skin

Humanities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Yael Maurer
Keyword(s):  
Human Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Fictional Narrative ◽  
Porous Boundaries ◽  
Destructive Potential ◽  
The Human Condition

Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 film Under the Skin is a Gothicized science fictional narrative about sexuality, alterity and the limits of humanity. The film’s protagonist, an alien female, passing for an attractive human, seduces unwary Scottish males, leading them to a slimy, underwater/womblike confinement where their bodies dissolve and nothing but floating skins remain. In this paper, I look at the film’s engagement with the notions of consumption, the alien as devourer trope, and the nature of the ‘other’, comparing this filmic depiction with Michael Faber’s novel on which the film is based. I examine the film’s reinvention of Faber’s novel as a more open-ended allegory of the human condition as always already ‘other’. In Faber’s novel, the alien female seduces and captures the men who are consumed and devoured by an alien race, thus providing a reversal of the human species’ treatment of animals as mere food. Glazer’s film, however, chooses to remain ambiguous about the alien female’s ‘nature’ to the very end. Thus, the film remains a more open-ended meditation about alterity, the destructive potential of sexuality, and the fear of consumption which lies at the heart of the Gothic’s interrogation of porous boundaries.

Karl Barth's ecclesiology reconsidered

2004 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas M. Healy
Keyword(s):  
Karl Barth ◽  
The Other ◽  
Divine Action ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Universe

The essay begins by noting some of the things Karl Barth might have said to defend himself against Stanley Hauerwas's criticisms, in the otherwise largely appreciative discussion in With the Grain of the Universe, of Barth's anthropology and pneumatology and the consequent problems in his ecclesiology. I then discuss some issues that Barth himself might have wanted to raise with regard to Hauerwas's own ecclesiology, especially in reference to its comparative lack of emphasis upon divine action and the difference that makes to an account of the church's witness. I argue that Barth and Hauerwas differ to some degree in their understanding of the gospel and of Christianity, with Hauerwas emphasizing rather more than Barth the necessity and centrality of the church's work in the economy of salvation. Barth, on the other hand, sees the need rather more than Hauerwas of situating the church's activity within a well-rounded account of the work of the Word and the Spirit. I offer some concluding remarks to suggest that this particular aspect of Barth's ecclesiology is worth preserving as an effective way of responding to modernity.

Reformist Ideology in the Arab World: The Cases of Tunisia and Lebanon

1975 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-546
Author(s):  
John P. Entelis
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Community ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Human Condition

Ideology refers to a set of basic assumptions, both normative and empirical, about the nature and purposes of man and society which serve to explain the human condition. At the political level, it is a belief system through which man perceives, understands, and explains the universe as well as nature and the human community. Ideology also guides individual and collective action, sets forth the political goals one may seek and regulates the ways in which they may be obtained, and defines man's rights, privileges, andobligations. Finally, ideology sets the “parameters of expectations.”

The calculus of individuals and its uses

1940 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry S. Leonard ◽  
Nelson Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Physical Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Applied Logic ◽  
Class Inclusion ◽  
Definite Relation ◽  
Logical Type ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
The Universe

An individual or whole we understand to be whatever is represented in any given discourse by signs belonging to the lowest logical type of which that discourse makes use. What is conceived as an individual and what as a class is thus relative to the discourse within which the conception occurs. One task of applied logic is to determine which entities are to be construed as individuals and which as classes when the purpose is the development of a comprehensive systematic discourse.The concept of an individual and that of a class may be regarded as different devices for distinguishing one segment of the total universe from all that remains. In both cases, the differentiated segment is potentially divisible, and may even be physically discontinuous. The difference in the concepts lies in this: that to conceive a segment as a whole or individual offers no suggestion as to what these subdivisions, if any, must be, whereas to conceive a segment as a class imposes a definite scheme of subdivision—into subclasses and members.The relations of segments of the universe are treated in traditional logistic at two places, first in its theorems concerning the identity and diversity of individuals, and second in its calculus of membership and class-inclusion. But further relations of segments and of classes frequently demand consideration. For example, what is the relation of the class of windows to the class of buildings? No member of either class is a member of the other, nor are any of the segments isolated by the one concept identical with segments isolated by the other. Yet the classes themselves have a very definite relation in that each window is a part of some building. We cannot express this fact in the language of a logistic which lacks a part-whole relation between individuals unless, by making use of some special physical theory, we raise the logical type of each window and each building to the level of a class—say a class of atoms—such that any class of atoms that is a window will be included (class-inclusion) in some class that is a building. Such an unfortunate dependence of logical formulation upon the discovery and adoption of a special physical theory, or even upon the presumption that such a suitable theory could in every case be discovered in the course of time, indicates serious deficiencies in the ordinary logistic. Furthermore, a raising of type like that illustrated above is often precluded in a constructional system by other considerations governing the choice of primitive ideas.

scholarly journals No controverso desafio da educação inclusiva: Um convite para pensar a complexidade humana

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Roque Strieder ◽  
Arnaldo Nogaro
Keyword(s):  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Philosophy Of Education ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Education Philosophy ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Human Condition

O estudo reconhece que fazer educação inclusiva exige olhar o ser humano de modo singular em contextos multidimensionais. Nessa perspectiva chama para a discussão a fragilidade do reconhecimento das diferenças e a importância da participação da filosofia da educação como catalizadora dos debates sobre a educação inclusiva. O objetivo é investigar possíveis contribuições da filosofia da educação como desafio para uma melhor compreensão de como ações inclusivas podem ser potencializadas no universo da complexidade e das atitudes transdisciplinares. O estudo tem caráter qualitativo e busca em referenciais teóricos. Traz suportes teóricos sobre a atitude transdisciplinar e as possibilidades, no universo dessas atitudes, de uma contribuição para qualificar reflexões e ações inclusivas. Reconhece que a educação inclusiva existe em potencial e lhe falta atualização. Destaca que a transdisciplinaridade e a filosofia da educação podem conduzir as reflexões para reconhecer a complexidade da condição humana para depois olhar para o interior de si buscando compreender-se a partir do outro.PALAVRAS-CHAVEEducação inclusiva; Filosofia da educação; Transdisciplinaridade ABSTRACTThe text recognizes that to make inclusive education requires viewing thehuman  being  in  a  unique  way  in  multidimensional  contexts.  From  this perspective,  it  calls  for  the  discussion  the  fragility  of  the  recognition  of differences  and  the  importance  of  the  participation  of  the  philosophy  of education as a catalyst for discussions on inclusive education. The goal is investigate  possible  contributions  of  the  philosophy  of  education  as  a challenge  for  a  better  understanding  of  how  inclusive  actions  can  be potentialized in the universe of complexity and transdisciplinary actions. The text brings theoretical contributions on the transdisciplinary attitude and the possibilities,  in  the  universe  of  these  attitudes,  to  qualify  reflections  and inclusive actions. It recognizes that inclusive education exists in potential but it  lacks  updating.  It  highlights  that  transdisciplinarity  and  philosophy  of education can lead the reflections to recognize the complexity of the human condition  so  that  one  can  look  within  him/herself  seeking  a  better understanding from the other.KEYWORDSInclusive education; Philosophy of education; Transdisciplinarity

scholarly journals The Joy of Being as Anthropological Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
Agapov Oleg D. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Subjectivity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
The Human Condition

The joy of being is connected with one’s activities aimed at responding to the challenges of the elemental forces and the boundlessness of being, which are independent of human subjectivity. In the context of rising to the challenges of being, one settles to acquire a certain power of being in themselves and in the world. Thus, the joy of being is tied to achieving the level of the “miraculous fecundity” (E. Levinas), “an internal necessity of one’s life” (F. Vasilyuk), magnanimity (M. Mamardashvili). The ontological duty of any human being is to succeed at being human. The joy of being is closely connected to experiencing one’s involvement in the endless/eternity and realizing one’s subjective temporality/finitude, which attunes him to the absolute seriousness in relation to one’s complete realization in life. Joy is a foundational anthropological phenomenon in the structure of ways of experiencing the human condition. The joy of being as an anthropological practice can appear as a constantly expanding sphere of human subjectivity where the transfiguration of the powers of being occurs under the sign of the Height (Levinas) / the Good. Without the possibility of transfiguration human beings get tired of living, immerse themselves in the dejected state of laziness and the hopelessness of vanity. The joy of being is connected to unity, gathering the multiplicity of human life under the aegis of meaning that allows us to see the other and the alien in heteronomous being, and understand the nature of co-participation and responsibility before the forces of being, and also act in synergy with them.The joy of being stands before a human being as the joy of fatherhood/ motherhood, the joy of being a witness to the world in creative acts (the subject as a means to retreat before the world and let the world shine), the joy of every day that was saved from absurdity, darkness and the impersonal existence of the total. Keywords: joy, higher reality, anthropological practices, “the height”, subject, transcendence, practice of coping

scholarly journals Intensifying and De-intensifying Distinctions

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 493-515
Author(s):  
Marin Terpstra
Keyword(s):  
Human Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Cognitive Operation ◽  
The World ◽  
Material Space ◽  
The One ◽  
The Human Condition

Abstract In this article I explore different ways of imagining distinctions in the form of borders and on the attitudes that people assume towards them. A distinction is primarily a cognitive operation, but appears as such in human communication (people talking about differences and identities), and in constructions that shape the material space people live in (borders, buildings, and the like). I explore two extreme positions, the one de-intensifying distinctions by focusing on their logical and contingent forms, the other intensifying distinctions by making them a potential cause of conflict. The first one is exemplified by Spencer Brown’s and Niklas Luhmann’s reflection on the logical and sociological aspects of distinctions; the second one by Carl Schmitt’s theory of ‘the political’ and its key notion of the distinction between friend and enemy. Both positions are relevant to understand a major debate and struggle in the world of today between liberal cosmopolitans and authoritarian nationalists. I show in what way both positions are aspects of the human condition, and what makes that alternately the one or the other is stressed.

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