Praise Be to the Plague?

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-194

Among the various human attitudes toward a pandemic, along with fear, despair and anger, there is also an urge to praise the catastrophe or imbue it with some sort of hope. In 2020 such hopes were voiced in the stream of all the other COVID-19 reactions and interpretations in the form of predictions of imminent social, political or economic changes that may or must be brought on by the pandemic, or as calls to “rise above” the common human sentiment and see the pandemic as some sort of cruel-but-necessary bitter pill to cure human depravity or social disorganization. Is it really possible for a plague of any kind to be considered a relief? Or perhaps a just punishment? In order to assess the validity of such interpretations, this paper considers the artistic reactions to the pandemics of the past, specifically the images of the plague from Alexander Pushkin’s play Feast During the Plague, Antonin Artaud’s essay “The Theatre and the Plague” and Albert Camus’s novel The Plague. These works in different ways explore an attitude in which a plague can be praised in some respect. The plague can be a means of self-overcoming and purification for both an individual and for society. At the same time, Pushkin and Camus, each in his own way and by different means, show the illusory nature of that attitude. A mass catastrophe can reveal the resources already present in humankind, but it does not help either the individual or the society to progress.

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-217

Among the various human attitudes toward a pandemic, along with fear, despair and anger, there is also an urge to praise the catastrophe or imbue it with some sort of hope. In 2020 such hopes were voiced in the stream of all the other COVID-19 reactions and interpretations in the form of predictions of imminent social, political or economic changes that may or must be brought on by the pandemic, or as calls to “rise above” the common human sentiment and see the pandemic as some sort of cruel-but-necessary bitter pill to cure human depravity or social disorganization. Is it really possible for a plague of any kind to be considered a relief? Or perhaps a just punishment? In order to assess the validity of such interpretations, this paper considers the artistic reactions to the pandemics of the past, specifically the images of the plague from Alexander Pushkin’s play Feast During the Plague, Antonin Artaud’s essay “The Theatre and the Plague” and Albert Camus’s novel The Plague. These works in different ways explore an attitude in which a plague can be praised in some respect. The plague can be a means of self-overcoming and purification for both an individual and for society. At the same time, Pushkin and Camus, each in his own way and by different means, show the illusory nature of that attitude. A mass catastrophe can reveal the resources already present in humankind, but it does not help either the individual or the society to progress.


2005 ◽  
Vol 391 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga E. Skirgello ◽  
Peter V. Binevski ◽  
Vladimir F. Pozdnev ◽  
Olga A. Kost

s-ACE (the somatic form of angiotensin-converting enzyme) consists of two homologous domains (N- and C-domains), each bearing a catalytic site. Negative co-operativity between the two domains has been demonstrated for cow and pig ACEs. However, for the human enzyme there are conflicting reports in the literature: some suggest possible negative co-operativity between the domains, whereas others indicate independent functions of the domains within s-ACE. We demonstrate here that a 1:1 stoichiometry for the binding of the common ACE inhibitors, captopril and lisinopril, to human s-ACE is enough to abolish enzymatic activity towards FA {N-[3-(2-furyl)acryloyl]}-Phe-GlyGly, Cbz (benzyloxycarbonyl)-Phe-His-Leu or Hip (N-benzoylglycyl)-His-Leu. The kinetic parameters for the hydrolysis of seven tripeptide substrates by human s-ACE appeared to represent average values for parameters obtained for the individual N- and C-domains. Kinetic analysis of the simultaneous hydrolysis of two substrates, Hip-His-Leu (S1) and Cbz-Phe-His-Leu (S2), with a common product (His-Leu) by s-ACE at different values for the ratio of the initial concentrations of these substrates (i.e. σ=[S2]0/[S1]0) demonstrated competition of these substrates for binding to the s-ACE molecule, i.e. binding of a substrate at one active site makes the other site unavailable for either the same or a different substrate. Thus the two domains within human s-ACE exhibit strong negative co-operativity upon binding of common inhibitors and in the hydrolysis reactions of tripeptide substrates.


Arts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Yael Munk

This article relates to the complex approach of Dina Zvi-Riklis’ film Three Mothers (2006) to immigration, an issue that is central to both the Jewish religion and Israeli identity. While for both, reaching the land of Israel means arriving in the promised land, they are quite dissimilar, in that one is a religious command, while the other is an ideological imperative. Both instruct the individual to opt for the obliteration of his past. However, this system does not apply to the protagonists of Three Mothers, a film which follows the extraordinary trajectory of triplet sisters, born to a rich Jewish family in Alexandria, who are forced to leave Egypt after King Farouk’s abdication and immigrate to Israel. This article will demonstrate that Three Mothers represents an outstanding achievement, because it dares to deal with its protagonists’ longing for the world left behind and the complexity of integrating the past into the present. Following Nicholas Bourriaud’s radicant theory, designating an organism that grows roots and adds new ones as it advances, this article will argue that, although the protagonists of Three Mothers never avow their longing for Egypt, the film’s narrative succeeds in revealing a subversive démarche, through which the sisters succeed in integrating Egypt into their present.


1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-246
Author(s):  
Otto Karrer

Newman's is perhaps the most illustrious religious mind in the modern Anglo-Saxon world. Exactly half of his long life (1801–1890) was devoted to the Anglican Church, the other half to the Catholic. However clear and unequivocal his conversion, his intellectual position is nevertheless the same in both periods. The sources of his inner life stem from the revelation of the Eternal, which came to him when he was fifteen years old and never left him his whole life long. His philosophical thinking is influenced by English empiricism that involves an attitude of restraint concerning intellectual speculation. It is in conformity with the English love of the concrete, of the individual-personal element and, with due respect to the spirit of tradition, of Christian freedom. And even though Newman's theology is rooted in ancient Christian tradition, his missionary conscience is directed towards the future, towards the spiritual conflicts of the twentieth century. Their unfolding he sensed with astonishing prevision. Just as his sermons and writings are divided almost equally between the two periods of his life (with the exception of perhaps one decade at the height of his career, in which he saw himself doomed almost to inactivity because of tragic misunderstandings), so his life's work has become the common possession of all Christendom, first, in his native land and, then, increasingly in other countries. For what Newman has to say actually concerns the whole Christian world.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gábor Csüllög ◽  
Gergely Horváth ◽  
László Tamás ◽  
Mária Szabó ◽  
Béla Munkácsy

Abstract In Hungary, not only the aftermath of the extraction in the past nearly 150 years, but also the economic changes taking place in the past two decades have had significant environmental consequences manifested, above all, in the landscape. It is, however, not sufficient to investigate the landscape components separately; it is necessary to explore connections within the landscape. Accordingly, the chief aim of this presentation has been, on the one hand, to work out the method of landscape load index, based on a quantitative database of mining claims and deposits of mining waste, which has revealed their impacts on the landscape as well. On the other hand, we have also aimed at developing the method of the mining load index of certain geographical landscape units. By calculating and analysing the indices, we have intended to build a quantitative database suitable for investigating the impacts of mining activities on the landscape. On the basis of the indices, the impacts and consequences could be ranked, and it was also possible to compare the impacts of different mining claims and waste deposits in three different landscape categories. With the main result of our examination, this will make it possible to investigate concrete problems and landscape conflicts caused by the landscape use of mining or its aftermath in different landscape units with a high load index.


1984 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 111-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Benton

The topic of my talk is a very ancient one indeed. It bears upon the place of humankind in nature, and upon the place of nature in ourselves. I shall, however, be discussing this range of questions in terms which have not always been available to the philosophers of the past when they have asked them. When we ask these questions today we do so with hindsight of some two centuries of endeavour in the ‘human sciences’, and some one and a half centuries of attempts to situate the human species within a theory of biological evolution. And these ways of thinking about ourselves and our relation to nature have not been confined to professional intellectuals, nor have they been without practical consequences. Social movements and political organizations have fought for and sometimes achieved the power to give practical shape to their theoretical visions. On the one hand, are diverse projects aimed at changing society through a planned modification of the social environment of the individual. On the other hand, are equally diverse projects for pulling society back into conformity with the requirements of race and heredity. At first sight, the two types of project appear to be, and often are, deeply opposed, both intellectually and politically.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-79
Author(s):  
Basim Hasan Almajedi ◽  
Aymen Abdul hussein Jawad

Inference process is an important part in the architectural design process as well as to realize the different aspects of the product architecture, and plays an important role in bringing new products of an innovator and contrary to traditional productions, through the investment of available data and linking them with the individual and previous expertise and experience for getting creative output in architecture. The research  Inference in the architecture field in addition to the other importance of cognitive fields, And the in architecture Special through students from them problems in the weak evidentiary have a base, from here the research problem of (Ambiguity of available knowledge about the role of inference Resources in the development of creative ability with the architecture students), to achieve the goal of research in architectural directed toward investment sources inference in generating solutions to creative problems of design to get into creative output in architecture, to highlight the research hypotheses, was where the hypothesis key b (Whenever inventories increased in the architecture students memory, increased his capabilities and creative skills in design), to be then test these hypotheses through questionnaire to a group of students, where it was found that (The multiplicity of views and reasoning process by the architecture students help him to produce and give many and varied images of processors design solutions, which may contain the common factors that contribute to the formation of a new product of an architect and has a unique and iconic properties).


Author(s):  
Robin Danzak ◽  
Christina Gunther ◽  
Michelle Cole

Through a framework of reconciling the other, this collaborative autoethnographic performance co-constructs the adoption experience from three perspectives in three different families: a mother struggling with the ethical and emotional implications of the transnational adoption of her daughter; an adult reflecting on her childhood as an adoptee feeling loved, but different; and a woman who met her biological sister at age 28 after her parents revealed a lifelong secret. To develop individual adoption narratives, we applied autoethnographic tools of interactive interviews with family members, reflective writing, and document review (Ellis, 2004) of photos, letters, emails, and calendars. During one school year, we met monthly to discuss relevant literature, share and critique each other’s methods and writing, and identify the common themes in our three, diverse experiences. The result of the iteration of the individual and group processes is a script that weaves together our adoption stories, the discoveries of ourselves, and how, after negotiating feelings and identities, we reconciled the other through positive, loving relationships.


1978 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Raday

On two notable occasions in the past two years, it was found necessary to use legislation in order to buttress the potency of general collective agreements. The first of these occasions was when legislation was used to give overriding legal force to a general collective agreement between the Histadrut and the Government incorporating the tax reform recommendations of the Ben Shachar Committee. The second was a similar use of legislation with regard to the general collective agreement between the Histadrut and the Government incorporating the special increments recommendations of the Barkai Committee. The two collective agreements concerned shared one important quality: They both purported to derogate from rights previously enjoyed by employees under existing collective agreements. One of the reasons for legislative intervention to support these agreements was the existence of doubt as to the legal effectiveness of their attempt to derogate from the individual employees' rights.The source of the doubt as to the legal effectiveness of such agreements lies in the existence of two distinct levels at which a collective agreement functions: the collective and the individual levels. At the collective level, conditions are determined by the collective bargaining parties, the employer or employers' organisation on one hand and the employees' organisation on the other; at this level, the collective agreement is a consensual arrangement between the parties to it, the parties fix the terms and have a contractual right to demand their enforcement. The terms fixed at the collective level take effect, however, also at the individual level; the individual employees of an employer bound by the agreement are both bound by the agreement and entitled to enjoy the rights bestowed by the agreement. The Collective Agreements Law gives forceful expression to the effect of the collective agreement's personal provisions at the individual level, giving them immediate and mandatory effect as part of each individual employee's employment contract.


2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (S2) ◽  
pp. 608-609
Author(s):  
J.Paul Robinson

Introduction This presentation will follow the pathways to convergence of two very complementary technologies - flow cytometry and imaging. Interestingly, each technology has evolved and matured almost exclusively isolated from the other. in the past several years it has become increasingly clear that these technologies are able to deliver complementary solutions and that when combined the end value of each exceeds the sum of the individual components.History of development Flow cytometry has a rich history over the past 40 years. Ironically, as a technology, flow cytometry was almost a consolation prize to its imaging cousins. in fact, it seems that it might only have been because imaging solutions proved to be technologically difficult that flow cytometry not only thrived, but left the imaging field well behind for nearly 20 years. Initial interest in evaluating differences between normal and cancer cells was almost exclusively attempted by imaging techniques.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document