Heptapod B and the Paradox of Foreknowledge: Confronting Literature and its Filmic Adaptation

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-100
Author(s):  
Israel A. C. Noletto ◽  
Sebastião A. T. Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Adaptation Process ◽  
Terrestrial Origin ◽  
Philosophical Criticism ◽  
Narrative Framework ◽  
The Way

Abstract Ted Chiang’s Story of Your Life (1998) and its filmic adaptation Arrival (2016) both use Heptapod B, an artificial language from extra-terrestrial origin, capable of conferring on its speakers the ability of precognition, as a primordial narrative framework. Innovative as it is, it not only determines the way the stories are recounted, but also raises some very interesting philosophical issues. Focusing on that fantastical language, we promote a comparative analysis of the differing perspectives of the novella writer and the filmmakers regarding the free will and determinism dichotomy in connection with foreknowledge, and how these distinct views may have been influenced by the adaptation process. With the aim of providing a solid basis for such discussion, we collect and review the contributions of Linda Hutcheon, Brian McFarlane, George Bluestone, Linda Gualda as well as of others in relation to the plot developments in the literary text and its filmic adaptation. As a result, we point out what is prioritized or transformed in the adaptation process, thus offering a theoretical and philosophical criticism on the two stories and a comprehensive exegesis of the texts.

Market Reforms in Russia: Can the Vicious Circle Be Teared Open?

2004 ◽  
pp. 114-128
Author(s):  
V. Nimushin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Vicious Circle ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Forward Movement ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
The Way

In the framework of broad philosophic and historical context the author conducts comparative analysis of the conditions for assimilating liberal values in leading countries of the modern world and in Russia. He defends the idea of inevitable forward movement of Russia on the way of rationalization and cultivation of all aspects of life, but, to his opinion, it will occur not so fast as the "first wave" reformers thought and in other ideological and sociocultural forms than in Europe and America. The author sees the main task of the reformist forces in Russia in consolidation of the society and inplementation of socially responsible economic policy.

First Names and Political Change in Modern Turkey

1978 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Bulliet
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Modern Turkey ◽  
The Way

One of the few predictable opportunities for the exercise of free will that comes the way of most human beings is the bestowal of names upon their children. To be sure, local or national custom may legally restrict or otherwise limit the scope of that freedom in some cases; but by and large, there is normally some choice to be made, and the beneficiary of the choice, the child, is inevitably powerless to influence it.

‘Decoding’ a literary text. The commentary of Derveni

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-366
Author(s):  
Alberto Bernabé
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
True Meaning ◽  
The Way

Abstract The author of Derveni Papyrus consider that the poem he commentates is like a riddle used by Orpheus to make it understandable to only a few. In our terms, he considers the poem an encoded text that he needs to decode in order to recover its true meaning. So he had to imagine a code in the text that once ‘decoded’ would yield the ‘true’ meaning that he wants to attribute to it. In the paper the way in which the commentator constructs the hypothetical process undertaken by Orpheus to express philosophical (presocratic) contents through a poetic mask is analyzed.

scholarly journals The reality of fiction in a literary world: on an excerpt from Stanisław Lem’s Solaris

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
Y. Domanskii
Keyword(s):  
Physical Reality ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Fictional World ◽  
Actual Reality ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Using an excerpt from Stanisław Lem’s Solaris, this article explores the idea that, in a literary text, a fictional world and the world of physical reality may interact to form such a reality that can paradoxically turn out to be more real than what we believe to be the actual reality. It is also shown that the fictional world realized in a literary text may bring the reader to certain conclusions about the world in which he or she lives. Thus, even if literature is in­capable of affecting reality, it can change the way the latter is perceived. A fictional world is not just a reality — it is a reality of a higher order.

scholarly journals "Sufficient to Have Stood, Though Free to Fall": Free Will in John Milton's Paradise Lost

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Martineau
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
John Milton ◽  
Paradise Lost ◽  
Problem Of Evil ◽  
Garden Of Eden ◽  
Adam And Eve ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
Book Of Genesis ◽  
The Way

In Book I of Paradise Lost, John Milton (1608-1674) asserts his intent to “justifie the wayes of God to men” (Paradise Lost1 I 26), paving the way for a revolutionary discussion of human nature, divinity, and the problem of evil, all couched in an epic retelling of Satan’s fall from grace, his temptation of Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, as recounted in the Book of Genesis. In his treatment of the biblical account, Milton necessarily broaches a variety of subjects which were both relevant during his time and remain relevant in ours. Among these topics, and certainly one of the most compelling, is the matter of human free will.

scholarly journals The use of traditional versus e-marketing in SMEs in a developing country: A comparative analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 202-212
Author(s):  
Leanne Manley
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Target Market ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Marketing Tool ◽  
Marketing Costs ◽  
Small Medium Enterprises ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
The Way

The revolution of the internet has changed the way many organisations conduct business in today’s market environment, and has specifically changed in the way companies market products to consumers. E-marketing allows a marketer to not only reach a broader target market than traditional methods, but substantially reduces marketing costs as well, which can mean the difference between success or failure in small medium enterprises (SMEs). Multiple studies have investigated traditional and e-marketing practices, however, few studies have focused on SME marketing practices and their use of e-marketing in developing economies. This article provides an insight into current marketing tools employed by SMEs in South Africa and provides a comparative analysis between traditional and e-marketing tool usage. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to SME owners, whereby data was analysed by means of frequency occurrence. The main results stemming from the research indicate that SME owners have no preference in using either traditional or e-marketing tools, with majority preferring to use both. However, the majority of marketing tools being used and receiving the most effective rating according to SME owners is directed towards e-marketing tools. From the results obtained recommendations are made to policy-makers, SME managers, development agencies and business owners so as to establish an appropriate strategy to improve SME marketability within South Africa. The findings can be universally applied as studies have shown that there is a lot of similarity in the challenges faced by SMEs irrespective of where they come from.

scholarly journals On the contracts related to matrimonial property

2002 ◽  
Vol 74 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 339-350
Author(s):  
Jožef Salma
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Equitable Distribution ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Separate Property ◽  
Marital Agreement

Positive law in Serbia does not provide for the possibility of a marital agreement. After the comparative analysis, the author suggests that the introduction of this type of contract into our legal system would certainly prevent a number of equitable distribution disputes. If this type of contract was introduced, it would certainly promote the free will of spouses as well as the advantages of having the separate property.

Bridling Dictators

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graeme Gill
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Regime Types ◽  
The Way

Authoritarian regimes are usually seen as being run by arbitrary and often violent dictators. However, this is a misreading of most dictatorial regimes. Based on a wide comparative analysis of communist single-party, military, electoral authoritarian, personal dictatorial and dynastic monarchical regimes, this book argues that such leaderships actually function on the basis of a set of accepted rules. These rules are outlined, their operation in different regime types described, and their differential application across those regimes explained. This provides a new understanding of how these different types of regime function and recasts our understanding of the way leadership in authoritarian regimes works.

The Literary Artwork between Word and Concept

2019 ◽  
pp. 115-130
Author(s):  
Gerhard Richter
Keyword(s):  
Literary Text ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
Figurative Speech ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Speculative Thought ◽  
Recent Interpretation ◽  
The Way

This chapter investigates another set of problems with which the uncoercive gaze must contend when it fastens upon a work: the relationship of speculative thought to the work of art and the ways in which the chasm between literal and figurative speech bears upon that relationship. One of the themes that a reading of Kafka’s The Trial should emphasize is the way in which a literary text both calls for philosophical interpretation and resists such interpretation at the same time. One problem that arises out of this constellation concerns the question of the relationship between the literal and the figurative nature of a text’s rhetorical operations. If Kafka’s novel, by causing the relation between the literal and the figural to enter a space of indeterminacy, enacts a situation in which, as Adorno characterizes it, “a sickness means everything [eine Krankheit alles Bedeuten],” no reading of Kafka—at least no reading informed by the sensibilities of the uncoercive gaze—can afford to ignore the precise conceptual terms of this sickness. Finally, to cast Adorno’s reflections on Kafka into sharper relief, the chapter also considers them in relation to Giorgio Agamben’s recent interpretation of The Trial as Kafka’s commentary on the imbrication of law and slander.

English as a Medium of Instruction on the Way to Sustainability and Internationalization in Non-English-Speaking Countries

2020 ◽  
pp. 239-256
Author(s):  
Aizhan Daukenova ◽  
Ainur Askhatova ◽  
Zhibek Kaisar
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Way

The present chapter describes the comparative analysis of the implementation of English as a medium of instruction in Kazakhstan and other non-English speaking countries by presenting a small-scale study of revealing the attitudes of graduate students and lecturers towards EMI in Kazakhstan. Compared to other countries, Kazakhstan has a number of similar issues in the implementation of English as a medium of instruction, which creates the possibility of performing a practice based on the experience of others. The research on English as a medium of instruction has revealed that EMI in Kazakhstan is in need of further guidance and investigation.

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