scholarly journals Nuets responsivitet – når det fremmede og det uperfekte setter premissen! Et filosofisk essay om musikalsk improvisasjon

Author(s):  
Karette Stensæth ◽  
Bjørn Kruse

As we improvise in music and become increasingly engrossed in the activity, we are intuitively engaged in a playful negotiation of various aesthetic possibilities in the Now. We are in a state where random impulses and irrational, unintentional actions become key premise providers along with everything we have learned through knowledge and experience. This essay reflects on the responsiveness of the Now in musical improvisation. We ask: What does the experience of the Now offer? Does it come with any kind of ethics and accountability and, if so, what kind and to whom does it apply? In our elaborations we are influenced by our own experiences of, and reflections on, compositional and music therapeutic practice. We refer to the theory of musical improvisation and early interaction, and also philosophical texts, especially those by Mikhail Bakhtin. We suggest that the responsiveness of the Now in musical improvisation is a mindset that challenges us both ethically and aesthetically. It does so by seeking creative satisfaction, joy and insight, taking shape through sensory perception that is close to intuition, mimesis and imagination. Its meaning remains unfinalised and foreign to us. It is also risky and is situated on the boundary between music and performer, between performer and other performers, and between the past and future of our actions. The ideal is to strive for a Now that can be experienced as the right now but also as a Now that suits the responses we try to find room for when we improvise.

Author(s):  
Xiao-Ling Ren ◽  
Hong-Lei Li ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
Ya-Juan Chen ◽  
Man Wang ◽  
...  

Objective To evaluate the application of ultrasound for the localization of the tip position of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in newborn infants. Study Design This study was a retrospective analysis on ultrasonic localization for PICC placement conducted in our department over the past 2 years. Ultrasonic localization was performed immediately after PICC placement in all neonatal patients. Successful PICC placement was confirmed if the PICC tip position was located at the inferior/superior cavoatrial junction. Chest X-ray localization was performed on 32 infants immediately after ultrasound examination to compare the accuracy of ultrasound localization. Results Of the 186 patients, 174 (93.5%) had successful PICC placement on the first attempt. In 11 (5.9%) patients, the catheter tip was placed beyond the ideal location as follows: too deep (in the right atrium) in 4 patients, too shallow in 4 patients, and malpositioned in 3 patients. Both the sensitivity and the specificity of ultrasound for identifying PICC tip localization were 100%. Complications occurred in 2.7% of this group of patients. Conclusion Ultrasonic localization of the PICC tip position is a timely, accurate, and reliable method and can identify the catheter tip with high accuracy. This method could be widely applied in neonatal wards.


2001 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Mayer

Do employees possess a moral right to democratic voice at work? In A Preface To Economic Democracy and other writings over the past two decades, Robert Dahl has developed a neo-Kantian proof for the existence of such a right. Even if we accept the norm of distributive justice upon which Dahl founds his proof, voluntary subjection to authoritarian power in firms does not violate the legitimate entitlements of employees. While adult residents of territorial associations do possess a moral right to political equality, polities and firms are qualitatively different types of associations in which the entitlements of subjects are distinct. Subjection to power is acquired in different ways in the two kinds of associations, and this difference deprives employees—but not residents—of a right to democratic voice as a matter of moral desert.Throughout his career, Robert Dahl has been troubled by the different ways in which those who govern polities and firms are chosen in modern society. While democracy is the norm in the state, at least in the advanced industrial nations, authoritarianism prevails in the economy. Most employees are subject to managers they did not elect and to rules in which they had little or no say. They are subordinates, a role manifestly at odds with the ideal of the democratic citizen. Given the “contradictions between our commitment to the democratic ideal and the theory and practice of hierarchy in our daily lives,”


In this lecture dedicated to the memory of the Right Reverend John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, and one of the founding Fellows of the Royal Society, it is, I think, not entirely inappropriate to speak of the work of William Harvey, for in many ways the two men seem to have been alike. It is unlikely that they knew each other for they belonged to different generations (Harvey was 36 when Wilkins was born), and they were on opposite sides in the Civil War. But Wilkins was known for his tolerance and Harvey was ‘far from bigotry’, and neither of them was unmannerly or censorious. Wilkins was greatly esteemed as a person endowed with rare gifts, a lover of mankind and one who had delight in doing good. Harvey ‘excelled in civility towards his fellows, in constancy towards his friends, in justice towards all’ (1). They were both great observers of natural things. Both honoured Aristotle, but both were prepared to disagree with him when observation proved his statements incorrect. Both believed that experientia , personal experience, is the only way to acquire knowledge and both deplored the laziness of those who were content to accept the opinions of the past rather than seek out the truth by the interrogation of Nature herself, as if all knowledge had been revealed to the Ancients and no secrets were left undisclosed. Both were possessed of a restless desire to investigate these secrets and both brought imagination and a capacity for logical argument to the understanding and interpretation of their observations. Because this attitude of mind, so clearly demonstrated in Harvey’s own works, was the ideal of the Royal Society, it is, I think, permissible to suggest that Harvey’s example was in no small measure the source of its inspiration. Of those six ‘worthy Persons, inquisitive into Natural Philosophy and other parts of Humane Learning’, who first met in 1645 to pursue all manner of ‘Philosophical Inquiries’ (2), only John Wilkins cannot be directly linked with Harvey.


2020 ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
S. V. Orlova ◽  
E. A. Nikitina ◽  
L. I. Karushina ◽  
Yu. A. Pigaryova ◽  
O. E. Pronina

Vitamin A (retinol) is one of the key elements for regulating the immune response and controls the division and differentiation of epithelial cells of the mucous membranes of the bronchopulmonary system, gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, eyes, etc. Its significance in the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic is difficult to overestimate. However, a number of studies conducted in the past have associated the additional intake of vitamin A with an increased risk of developing cancer, as a result of which vitamin A was practically excluded from therapeutic practice in developed countries. Our review highlights the role of vitamin A in maintaining human health and the latest data on its effect on the development mechanisms of somatic pathology.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raja R. Gopaldas ◽  
Faisal G. Bakaeen ◽  
Danny Chu ◽  
Joseph S. Coselli ◽  
Denton A. Cooley

The future of cardiothoracic surgery faces a lofty challenge with the advancement of percutaneous technology and minimally invasive approaches. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, once a lucrative operation and the driving force of our specialty, faces challenges with competitive stenting and poor reimbursements, contributing to a drop in applicants to our specialty that is further fueled by the negative information that members of other specialties impart to trainees. In the current era of explosive technological progress, the great diversity of our field should be viewed as a source of excitement, rather than confusion, for the upcoming generation. The ideal future cardiac surgeon must be a "surgeon-innovator," a reincarnation of the pioneering cardiac surgeons of the "golden age" of medicine. Equipped with the right skills, new graduates will land high-quality jobs that will help them to mature and excel. Mentorship is a key component at all stages of cardiothoracic training and career development. We review the main challenges facing our specialty�length of training, long hours, financial hardship, and uncertainty about the future, mentorship, and jobs�and we present individual perspectives from both residents and faculty members.


Commonwealth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Arway

The challenges of including factual information in public policy and political discussions are many. The difficulties of including scientific facts in these debates can often be frustrating for scientists, politicians and policymakers alike. At times it seems that discussions involve different languages or dialects such that it becomes a challenge to even understand one another’s position. Oftentimes difference of opinion leads to laws and regulations that are tilted to the left or the right. The collaborative balancing to insure public and natural resource interests are protected ends up being accomplished through extensive litigation in the courts. In this article, the author discusses the history of environmental balancing during the past three decades from the perspective of a field biologist who has used the strength of our policies, laws and regulations to fight for the protection of our Commonwealth’s aquatic resources. For the past 7 years, the author has taken over the reins of “the most powerful environmental agency in Pennsylvania” and charted a course using science to properly represent natural resource interests in public policy and political deliberations.


Author(s):  
Corey Brettschneider

How should a liberal democracy respond to hate groups and others that oppose the ideal of free and equal citizenship? The democratic state faces the hard choice of either protecting the rights of hate groups and allowing their views to spread, or banning their views and violating citizens' rights to freedoms of expression, association, and religion. Avoiding the familiar yet problematic responses to these issues, this book proposes a new approach called value democracy. The theory of value democracy argues that the state should protect the right to express illiberal beliefs, but the state should also engage in democratic persuasion when it speaks through its various expressive capacities: publicly criticizing, and giving reasons to reject, hate-based or other discriminatory viewpoints. Distinguishing between two kinds of state action—expressive and coercive—the book contends that public criticism of viewpoints advocating discrimination based on race, gender, or sexual orientation should be pursued through the state's expressive capacities as speaker, educator, and spender. When the state uses its expressive capacities to promote the values of free and equal citizenship, it engages in democratic persuasion. By using democratic persuasion, the state can both respect rights and counter hateful or discriminatory viewpoints. The book extends this analysis from freedom of expression to the freedoms of religion and association, and shows that value democracy can uphold the protection of these freedoms while promoting equality for all citizens.


Author(s):  
Gerald Gaus

This book lays out a vision for how we should theorize about justice in a diverse society. It shows how free and equal people, faced with intractable struggles and irreconcilable conflicts, might share a common moral life shaped by a just framework. The book argues that if we are to take diversity seriously and if moral inquiry is sincere about shaping the world, then the pursuit of idealized and perfect theories of justice—essentially, the entire production of theories of justice that has dominated political philosophy for the past forty years—needs to change. Drawing on recent work in social science and philosophy, the book points to an important paradox: only those in a heterogeneous society—with its various religious, moral, and political perspectives—have a reasonable hope of understanding what an ideally just society would be like. However, due to its very nature, this world could never be collectively devoted to any single ideal. The book defends the moral constitution of this pluralistic, open society, where the very clash and disagreement of ideals spurs all to better understand what their personal ideals of justice happen to be. Presenting an original framework for how we should think about morality, this book rigorously analyzes a theory of ideal justice more suitable for contemporary times.


1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (4I) ◽  
pp. 399-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Mellor

The right to the flow of income from water is vigorously pursued, protected, and fought over in any arid part of the world. Pakistan is of course no exception. Reform of irrigation institutions necessarily changes the rights to water, whether it be those of farmers, government, or government functionaries. Those perceived rights may be explicit and broadly accepted, or simply takings that are not even considered legitimate. Nevertheless they will be fought over. Pakistan has a long history of proposals for irrigation reform, little or none being implemented, except as isolated pilot projects. Thus, to propose major changes in irrigation institutions must be clearly shown to have major benefits to justify the hard battles that must be fought and the goodwill of those who might win those battles for reform. Proponents of irrigation institution reform have always argued the necessity of the reforms and the large gains to be achieved. Perhaps, however, those arguments have not been convincing. This paper will briefly outline the failed attempts at irrigation reform to provide an element of reality to the discussion. It will then proceed to make the case of the urgency of reform in a somewhat different manner to the past. Finally, current major reform proposals will be presented. This paper approaches justification of irrigation reform by focusing on the agricultural growth rate. It does so because that is the critical variable influencing poverty rates and is a significant determinant of over-all economic growth rates. The paper decomposes growth rates and suggests a residual effect of deterioration of the irrigation system that is large and calls for policy and institutional reform. The data are notional, suggesting the usefulness of the approach and paves the way for more detailed empirical analysis and enquiry for the future.


Author(s):  
Edward Bellamy

‘No person can be blamed for refusing to read another word of what promises to be a mere imposition upon his credulity.’ Julian West, a feckless aristocrat living in fin-de-siècle Boston, plunges into a deep hypnotic sleep in 1887 and wakes up in the year 2000. America has been turned into a rigorously centralized democratic society in which everything is controlled by a humane and efficient state. In little more than a hundred years the horrors of nineteenth-century capitalism have been all but forgotten. The squalid slums of Boston have been replaced by broad streets, and technological inventions have transformed people’s everyday lives. Exiled from the past, West excitedly settles into the ideal society of the future, while still fearing that he has dreamt up his experiences as a time traveller. Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888) is a thunderous indictment of industrial capitalism and a resplendent vision of life in a socialist utopia. Matthew Beaumont’s lively edition explores the political and psychological peculiarities of this celebrated utopian fiction.


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