scholarly journals Järjen harhapolut. Kapitalistinen rationalisaatio ja sen kritiikki Juha Seppälän romaaneissa Yhtiökumppanit, Paholaisen haarukka ja Mr. Smith

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erkki Sevänen
Keyword(s):  
Basic Problem ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Economic Profit ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Cultural Base ◽  
Market Capitalism ◽  
Ways Of Life

Aberrations of Reason. Capitalist Rationality and its Critique in Juha Seppälä’s Novels Yhtiökumppanit (The Partners, 2002), Paholaisen haarukka (Devil’s Fork, 2008) and Mr. Smith (2012). Juha Seppälä’s early literary works, published in the 1980s and in the early 1990s, usually described spiritually lonely men who suffered from an existential loss of meaning and serious alienation problems in the modern world. After this, Seppälä turned to deal with the transformation of the Finnish way of life and its cultural base, until after the turn of the new millennium he began to critically judge society’s ongoing marketization process. This study analyses his capitalism-critical works, particularly his novels Yhtiökumppanit (The Partners, 2002), Paholaisen haarukka (Devil’s Fork, 2008) and Mr. Smith (2012). These works do not, primarily, consider contemporary market capitalism from a class perspective, although this sort of perspective is also included in them. They are, above all, critical of market capitalist rationality. According to Seppälä, the basic problem of modern economic profit-seeking lies in the fact that in its unchecked form it is largely indifferent with respect to existential, moral, social and ecological values and principles. Free market economy or market capitalism has, therefore, a destructive influence on individuals, communities and ecological systems. The novels at issue emphasize that due to this it is also, in a deeper sense, incapable of producing existentially meaningful ways of life.

scholarly journals Monasticism—Then and Now

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 510
Author(s):  
John Binns
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Contemporary Life ◽  
Monastic Life ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Monastic Communities ◽  
Eastern Traditions ◽  
The Church ◽  
Ways Of Life

The monastic tradition has its roots in the New Testament practices of withdrawing into the desert, following a celibate lifestyle and disciplines of fasting. After the empire became Christian in the 4th century these ascetic disciplines evolved into monastic communities. While these took various forms, they developed a shared literature, gained a recognised place in the church, while taking different ways of life in the various settings in the life of the church. Western and Eastern traditions of monastic life developed their own styles of life. However, these should be recognised as being formed by and belonging to the same tradition, and showing how it can adapt to specific social and ecclesiastical conditions. In the modern world, this monastic way of life continues to bring renewal to the church in the ‘new monasticism’ which adapts traditional monastic practices to contemporary life. New monastic communities engage in evangelism, serve and identify with the marginalised, offer hospitality, and commit themselves to follow rules of life and prayer. Their radical forms of discipleship and obedience to the gospel place them clearly within the continuing monastic tradition.

The Legacy of Iraq

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
The World ◽  
Free Market Capitalism ◽  
Market Capitalism

This book critically reflects on the failure of the 2003 intervention to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism, its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. The book argues that mistakes made by the coalition and the Iraqi political elite set a sequence of events in motion that have had devastating consequences for Iraq, the Middle East and for the rest of the world. Today, as the nation faces perhaps its greatest challenge in the wake of the devastating advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and another US-led coalition undertakes renewed military action in Iraq, understanding the complex and difficult legacies of the 2003 war could not be more urgent. Ignoring the legacies of the Iraq War and denying their connection to contemporary events could mean that vital lessons are ignored and the same mistakes made again.

Varieties of Worldly Wisdom

1957 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. W. Manning
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
Natural Way

The English and American ways of life have more than a little in common. Except however when “Rhodes Scholars in reverse,” Englishmen do not “major.” Instead, they “specialize”—a very, very few in International Relations. Some of these do it in London. This article is on what that means.In cricket—a staple, incidentally, of the English way of life—there are broadly two techniques for bringing a ball to “turn from the off.” One, the less usual, is the “googly.” Fifty years ago it was a rarity indeed. Yet the writer knew in those days a fellow-schoolboy who, bowling googlies, was unaware that not everybody did. To him, they seemed the natural way to have a ball “turn from the off.”

scholarly journals Does Philosophy Form or Inform? (Review of the Monograph Pierre Ado “Philosophy as a Way of Life”. Transl. by O. Yosypenko. Kyiv: New Acropolis, 2020).

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-64
Author(s):  
Olha Honcharenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Main Idea ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Medieval Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
Philosophical Life

The review includes a book by Pierre Ado, a French philosopher, philologist and researcher for ancient and medieval philosophy. The main idea of the book is to find an answer on the question: does philosophy form or inform? In this way, the author tries to actualize the fact that philosophical discourse and philosophical life are inseparable. He believes that the recognition of philosophical life as one of the poles of philosophy will help to find a place in our modern world for philosophers who will not only renew philosophical discourse, but also direct it into their lives. This book is addressed to everyone. Ado is convinced that anyone who dares to live in a philosophical way can become a philosopher.

scholarly journals Estonia’s Digital Transformation

2019 ◽  
pp. 143-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Kattel ◽  
Ines Mergel
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Inequality ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Invisible Hand ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Free Market Capitalism ◽  
Distinct Features ◽  
Market Capitalism

Estonia’s transition to free-market capitalism and liberal democracy is marked by three distinct features: economic success, digital transformation of its public sector, and a rapid increase and persistence of social inequality in Estonia. Indeed, Estonia has become one of the most unequal societies in Europe. Economic success and increasing social inequality can be explained as different sides of the same coin: a neoliberal policy mix opened markets and allowed globalization to play out its drama on a domestic stage, creating winners and losers. Yet Estonia has been highly successful in its digital agenda. Particularly interesting is how the country’s public sector led the digital transformation within this highly neoliberal policy landscape. While within economic policy, Estonia did indeed follow the famed invisible hand in rapidly liberalizing markets, in ICT, Estonia seems to have followed an entirely different principle of policymaking. In this domain, policy has followed the principle of the hiding hand, coined by Albert Hirschman: policy-makers sometimes take on tasks they think they can solve without realizing all the challenges and risks involved— and this may result in unexpected learning and creativity. The success of Estonia’s e-government has much to do with the principle of the hiding hand: naïvety and optimism propelled initial ‘crazy ideas’ in the early 1990s to become ingrained in ICT policy, enabling the creation of multiple highly cooperative and overlapping networks that span public–private boundaries.

scholarly journals Pentecostalism in the Modern World

Axis Mundi ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Adam Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Working Poor ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Ways Of Life

Some scholars claim that in the new century Pentecostalism will adapt to modernity thereby continuing its growth across many cultures and societies. By comparing the appeal of Pentecostalism in its original manifestation during the early nineteenth century in America with the appeal of its most vibrant contemporary expression in Latin America, one can ask whether Pentecostalism has widened its appeal to include a Postindustrial audience. It is concluded that Pentecostalism will not adapt to modernity, because it remains a movement against modernity. Pentecostalism’s appeal lies in its ability to provide a theodicy utilized by those who oppose the infringement of modern ideology upon their own ways of life, namely the working poor and conservative traditionalists.  

Islam and Art: An Overview

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Modern World ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Human Creativity ◽  
Image Function ◽  
Cultural World ◽  
Direct Recognition ◽  
Modes Of Engagement ◽  
Religion And Art ◽  
The Way

Modern terms like “religion” and “art” offer limited access to the ways in which nonverbal human creativity in the Islamic world engages the “way of life” indicated by the Arabic word din, often translated as religion. Islam emerged within existing paradigms of creativity and perception in the late antique world. Part of this inheritance was a Platonic and Judaic concern with the potentially misleading power to make images, often misinterpreted in the modern world as an “image prohibition.” Rather, the image function extended beyond replication of visual reality, including direct recognition of the Divine as manifest in the material and cultural world. Music, geometry, writing, poetry, painting, devotional space, gardens and intermedial practices engage people with the “way of life” imbued with awareness of the Divine. Rather than externally representing religious ideas, creativity fosters the subjective capacity to recognize the Divine. Flexible enough to transcend the conventions of time and place over the millennium and a half since the inception of Islam, these modes of engagement persist in forms that also communicate through the expressive practices of contemporary art. To consider religion and art in Islam means to think about how each of these categories perpetually embodies, resists, and recreates the others.

Encounter Three: Art and the Socialist State

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-68
Author(s):  
Jan Bryant
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Socialist Realism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Socialist State ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Free Market Capitalism ◽  
Market Capitalism

This chapter traces the tactics used by the art Slovenian collective, Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), specifically the art section, Irwin and the music group, Laibach, to criticise the socialist state of Yugoslavia. The chapter offers a brief overview of the political climate at the time leading up to and during the Yugoslavian wars (1980s and ‘90s). Closely analysed is NSK’s use of ambiguity and parody to hold a mirror up to authoritarianism and Irwin’s appropriation of early Russian avant-garde motifs to criticise socialist-realism and the State’s ‘misuse’ of art. As protection against retaliation by the state, NSK never prescribed their intentions, so audiences and viewers needed to bring their own context and perspective to events. Once Slovenia left the Yugoslavian Federation to enter into free-market capitalism, NSKs tactics seemed far less potent, flowing neatly into a 1980s western art context (a moment in history) that embraced ambivalence and indeterminacy. As an approach that hides a work’s political intent, allowing its viewers to have their own political views affirmed, it is argued that such a tactic fails to shake the political aesthetic. [181]

Planetary Ambitions

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Joshua Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Hegemonic Discourse ◽  
The World ◽  
Free Market Capitalism ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Fredric Jameson ◽  
Market Capitalism

This chapter reads Lydie Salvayre's Portrait de l’écrivain en animal domestique (2007). In this novel, Salvayre’s anxieties about allowing oneself—and even herself as author—to be domesticated by the logic of global capitalism are condensed into the pathological relationship between her narrator avatar (who incarnates politically-engaged literature) and the satirical Jim Tobold, the richest man on the planet and ‘uncontested champion of globalization’—a character who, incidentally, bears more than a passing resemblance to Donald Trump. Tobold sees the world at the level of the master, corporate map, from which he can make boardroom decisions in perfect disregard for their harmful, ground-level side effects. This chapter revisits and further explores Bruno Latour on cartographic megalomania, and draws on Fredric Jameson on cognitive mapping, and David Harvey on the self-defeating contradictions of the infinite expansion paradigm of capitalism in a world of increasingly finite resources. Moreover, it develops the Salvaryean notion of the paralipomenon, offering a new perspective on Salvayre’s underlying (engaged) literary strategy, one that, by focusing on the seemingly insignificant details of a hegemonic discourse—such as that of free-market capitalism—reveals its inherent contradictions and flaws.

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