The Concept of Death. From Socrates to Ellis

Author(s):  
Aurel Bumbaș ◽  
Sebastian Vaida

"Death is a concept studied from ancient times by all major areas, from literature and art, to philosophy and psychology. In this research, we analyze the way Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher, negotiates the idea of death, through his own death. We approached this, because the ancient philosopher was put in this situation when he was sentenced to death, unjustly, following a democratic decision. His way of seeing death reveals a formula that does not match the expectation of his contemporaries, nor the classical typology of the imminence of his own death, belonging to psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross. And the explanation of this non-coincidence is based on the philosophical idea of man and world and the specifics of his philosophical practice. It is precisely this philosophical conception and practice that will make Socrates’ attitude become repeatable and not unrepeatable, as one might expect, since this attitude appears so conditioned by specific elements. In fact, the rational research on the grounds of beliefs and personal knowledge that stands at the basis of his philosophical practice, is deeply rooted in the foundations of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Therefore, what lays at the basis of Socrates’ view on death goes far beyond the ancient cultural framework. To fill in the phenomenal dimension with the one of organic layer, the analysis will also include an interpretation of Socrates’ behavior, from the dopamine mechanism approach. Keywords: death, Socrates, method, concept, analysis, beliefs. "

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Huong Hoang Le

The study uses a qualitative case study framed within a socio-cultural framework to investigate Vietnamese English language university teachers’ difficulties in their research engagement. The study was conducted among 21 English language university teachers in Hong Duc University in Vietnam. Skype semi-structured interview was employed to collect necessary data to explore teacher participants’ perceived obstacles to research. The findings of the study show that there was a gap between Vietnamese authorities’ expectations of research outputs and the realities of English language university teachers’ research capabilities. Such gap has caused serious challenges to those teachers and prevented them from effectively engaging in research. On the one hand, Vietnamese authorities hope to increase universities’ research output to keep up with the international academic ranking. On the other hand, the working realities of university teachers hinder their engagement in research. However, no official investigation has been done to reduce such gap and the enforcement of research activity in universities has been taken for granted. In this sense, the significance of this study is an opportunity for English language university teachers to voice their opinions about the enforced nature of research activity in universities in Vietnam.


Babel ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Calzada Perez

Since ancient times the suasive value of rhetorical figures has been vastly studied. In fact, Aristotle himself argued that the aim of rhetoric was not just to persuade but to find the best methods of persuasion (Aristotle, Retorica, ed. 1990). These methods have been frequently used in advertising, where they are employed to capture the consumer’s attention and, consequently, to sell the advertised product. However (despite the frequent appearance of rhetorical figures in advertising), there is a scarcity of studies on the role of these persuasive mechanisms in the translation of publicity. Bearing upon the “new rhetoric”, the present paper has a twofold purpose. On the one hand, it aims to import a clear taxonomy of rhetorical figures from advertising into translation studies and subsequently to illustrate the transfer of these figures. On the other hand, it analyses the behaviour of rhetorical figures in the translation process by means of an empirical investigation whose goal it is to further categorise them in a systematic and rational way. Drawing upon the seminal work of McQuarrie and his collaborators, the paper performs a quantitative analysis of a corpus of 120 matching pairs consisting of English advertisements and their existing Spanish counterparts. Results evidence that a great majority of rhetorical figures are “translated”, thus confirming the globalising tendencies of advertising.


Author(s):  
Lucas Siorvanes

The late ancient philosopher Porphyry was one of the founders of Neoplatonism. He edited the teachings of Plotinus into the form in which they are now known, clarified them with insights of his own and established them in the thought of his time. But, in reaction to Plotinus, he also advanced the cause of Aristotle’s philosophical logic. Indeed, Porphyry is responsible for the resurgence of interest in Aristotle, which continued to the Middle Ages and beyond. Because of Porphyry, later Greek philosophy recovered both its Platonic and its Aristotelian roots, and Neoplatonism aimed to combine inspired thought with academic precision. He was a scholar of great learning, with interests ranging from literary criticism and history to religion. An example is his defence of vegetarianism, which anticipated the modern debate on ecological preservation. Humans and animals belong to the same family. Seeking to preserve life is a matter of extending philanthropy and respect to all living species, which are our natural siblings. Ideally we ought to display ‘harmlessness’ even towards plants, except that our bodies, being composite and mortal, need to consume something else for food. Thus we should be ever conscious of the destructive effect that our eating habits and consumerism have on the creation of which we are part, and should try to keep to a simple lifestyle. Porphyry’s attention to logic, metaphysics and all other topics was driven by his firm belief that reason exercised by pure mind leads to the true essence of things, the One God. Intellectual activity detaches the soul from passions and confusions, and concentrates its activity on the real things. Porphyry attacked Christianity and Gnosticism because he thought they appealed to the irrational. Mysteries and rituals are fitted for those who are unable to practise inward contemplation. Salvation comes to those leading the life of the philosopher-priest.


Author(s):  
David Sedley

Melissus was a Greek philosopher from the island of Samos. A second-generation representative of Eleatic metaphysics, he published one work, entitled On Nature or On That-Which-Is, which has been partially reconstructed by editors. It defends a version of Parmenides’ monism, but recast with terminology and arguments directly accessible to a readership schooled in the eastern Greek (Ionian) style of physical speculation, as distinct from Parmenides’ western Greek background. Although it is uncertain how important Melissus was to his own contemporaries, his prosaic but clear presentation of Eleatic concepts was more widely adopted by later writers than the enigmatic pronouncements of Parmenides. Melissus argues that that-which-is is: (1) omnitemporal; (2) infinite in extent; (3) one; (4) homogeneous; (5) changeless, that is, without (a) reordering, (b) pain, (c) grief or (d) motion; (6) indivisible; and (7) bodiless. Here (1) – ‘it always was what it was, and always will be’ – is a departure from Parmenides, who had outlawed past and future in favour of a static present. Likewise (2) contrasts with Parmenides’ defence of spatially finite being. The remaining predicates are consonant with Parmenides, although (5) b–c suggest that the being Melissus has in mind is a living one, presumably a deity – an aspect not brought out by Parmenides. Melissus wrote ‘If there were many things, they ought to be such as I say the One is’ – a remark sometimes thought to have inspired his contemporaries the atomists.


1965 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
D. P. Erdbrink ◽  
H. R. Van Heekeren

Abstract. The first indications of the existence of fluviatile terraces in E. Anatolia were reported recently by Izbirak (1962) and Ketin (1962). The present authors have made a rapid and superficial exploration of a terrace system containing a maximum of five to seven different levels along the upper reaches of the great Kizil Irmak or Red River between Sivas and Kayseri in E. Anatolia. This region partly overlaps, but lies mostly to the North of the region described by Izbirak. It appears that the terrace levels are fairly constant along the mentioned stretch of the river. They disappear suddenly farther downstream. With Izbirak the present authors are of opinion that the formation of these terraces is probably due to tectonic activities in the first place and only secondarily to climatic influences. One terrace level, the third (counting from the lowest level) consistently contained a very limited number of what the authors suppose to be primitive artefacts, among which there are some pebble-tools. These are described in the paper; they may indicate the presence of hominids in Turkey during the earliest part of the Pleistocene. In one case a fossil molar of a Hipparion was found in this third level in situ, partly covered by the same petrified red loam which also enveloped some of the supposed artefacts. No exact dating of the terraces is as yet possible, but it may be inferred that the oldest and highest ones are Tertiary, the one containing the artefacts perhaps lowermost Pleistocene, and the lowest ones young Pleistocene or even Holocene. Some time ago Izbirak (1962) published a geomorphological study of part of the region along the upper reaches of the Kizil Irmak in Turkey. Without being aware of the results of this study, the present authors made some observations in almost the same area. Although of a different nature these coincide very well with Izbirak's conclusions. Thanks to a grant-in-aid assigned to one of us by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research at New York, the voyage, and the collecting of material in Turkey, was made possible. We would like to thank the authorities of this Foundation for the rendering of this financial aid; the authorities of the Netherlands Embassy at Ankara, and Professor A. A. Cense at Istanbul, should receive our thanks and gratitude for the aid and advice given us during our stay The region visited by us was part of the upper valley of the Kizil Irmak, the Halys river of ancient times, lying between the cities of Sivas and Kayseri. Our observations began immediately downstream from Sivas at both sides of the river over a continuous stretch of approximately 20 kilometres. Lower downstream a number of traverses at right angles to the river valley's axis was made.


Author(s):  
Sergii Penkov

The article deals with research of development of means of operational-search activities (OSA) from ancient times to the present. The stages of the development of OSA tools, including service animals and special equipment, their dependence on scientific and technological progress and the role in combating crime have been considered. The author has concluded that the genesis of the use of service animals suggests that: 1) for many years (from the second century BC) in the law enforcement system used different species of animals, including geese, horses, rats, dogs, etc .; 2) the process of formation of the use of dogs in law enforcement went from the use of the latter in hunting and military affairs to the gradual occupation of a separate link in the structure of law enforcement, in particular dogs began to be used on a professional basis to search for odors, data transmission , protection of objects and people, detention of offenders, etc .; 3) analysis of the practice of using animals allows us to state that the largest and oldest role in law enforcement was played by dogs. From its immergence to the present day, the means of operational and investigative activities are in a state of constant development and improvement. Scientific and technological progress has turned covert means of obtaining information into one of the most effective tools for combating crime. For example, the capabilities of the operational and technical department of the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Dnipropetrovsk region will allow to simultaneously control a significant number of telephone lines, which allows you to effectively confront a permanent organized criminal group, especially at the stage of prepa-ration for crime. The use of such powerful tools on the one hand allows to obtain a huge array of information about the phenomena and processes occurring in the criminal environment, and therefore requires a significant number of experienced professionals to process it and extract information relevant to combating crime. On the other hand, along with information on training and enforcement, law enforcement agencies inevitably receive information on the honor and dignity of citizens that is irrelevant to pre-trial investigations, posing a real threat of abuse. Thus, the requirements for the impartiality of law enforcement officers increase, and the legislator is faced with the task of significantly improving the existing legal framework regulating opera-tional and investigative activities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 8-28
Author(s):  
Gheorghe Avornic ◽  
◽  
Violeta Cojocaru ◽  
Iulian Moraru ◽  
◽  
...  

The division of the entire system of law into public law and private law comes from ancient times, which we have referred to in several previous personal publications. In this article we will analyze the evolution of private law in the Republic of Moldova. Private law constitutes one of the fundamental subdivisions of the science of law as a whole. At the level of the Republic of Moldova, the subdivision in question represents a distinct specific in the context that: (i) it is stratified into numerous branches of law and (ii) it constitutes a symbiosis of several national, supranational and international private legislations that correspond to modern trends of evolution of related social relations. One of the main branches of domestic private law is civil law, namely the rules tangent to the branch of law in question regulate a considerable number of social relations varied in terms of structure and content. This article will briefly address evolutionary-historical aspects of the private law legislation of the Republic of Moldova. In particular, we will analyze the influence of the Model Civil Code of the CIS States, on the one hand, and European legislation, on the other. Historical aspects will be divided into three periods.


Mäetagused ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 131-154
Author(s):  
Ave Goršič ◽  

The broader source material for this article is the Soviet-era correspondence of the Folklore Department (FD) of the Fr. R. Kreutzwald State Literary Museum, today the Estonian Folklore Archive of the Estonian Literary Museum. This collection consists of letters and postcards of nearly 400 people, as well as transcripts of the FD staff letters to their contributors. The total volume amounts to roughly 4,000 pages and mainly covers the period from the 1950s to the first half of the 1990s. The article also discusses the contributions of Virumaa correspondents Mary Kaasik and Gustav Kallasto to the department, more specifically the folk medicine material collected by them, and focuses on Kaasik and Kallasto’s correspondence with the department, with the main emphasis on the personal health issues in their letters. Mary Kaasik and Gustav Kallasto were among those who collected folk medicine material according to the 1959 survey plan, assembled in co-operation with the folklorists and medical doctors. Assessing the total amount of material collected by Kaasik and Kallasto (over 3300 pages), the folk medicine material is not very large (over 200 pages), but it is one of the topics in which Mary Kaasik and Gustav Kallasto wrote down personal knowledge or experiences. The correspondence shows that their health problems were constantly reflected both in their letters and as short comments among traditional folk medicine material. Mary Kaasik was more inclined towards sharing her problems and personal knowledge and was the one who wrote to the department on behalf of both collectors. In general, it is concluded that personal health has been an important topic in the letters of the contributors to the folklore department. Health problems were a major obstacle to commuting and attending seminars; so messages about the health of oneself, one’s relatives or other collectors or informants are part of the content of the letters. On the other hand, health also comes to the fore in the letters of folklorists, who in turn informed their contributors about their own or their colleagues’ health, if deemed necessary. At the same time, writing about health issues creates an interesting dialogue thread between the correspondents and the folklorists, with mutual encouragement and pleas to take care of one’s health. Thus, a rather personal life goes hand in hand with the practical requirements stated in letters on collecting and archiving. Thus, much data on health can be found in the department’s correspondence. Health-related messages are personal and trusting, the majority of correspondents did not have internal obstacles to share their health worries and to enquire for folklorists’ health. It meant sharing problems and probably provided some well-deserved mental relief. On the other hand, these kinds of letters also show the correspondents’ sense of mission – even when they were off sick, they were eager to get back to the field again.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174-186
Author(s):  
Senka Belić

Since ancient times, the concept of ethos has been a distinguished part of cultural heritage, living in various spheres of social, cultural, intellectual and religious life. During the Renaissance, the encounter of rhetorical categories and Christian doctrine opened the space for the manifestation of ethos in sacred music. Ethos is important as a rhetorical category, therefore, as a way to achieve persuasiveness, in which the theory of ethos of the Greek rhetorician Hermogenes of Tarsus will be consulted. Following this theory, which was also known in the Renaissance, a series of counterpoint methods will take form, which may indicate the manifestation of certain subcategories of ethos in music. Having in mind Hermogenes' concept of ethos on the one hand, and the significance of ethos in the Christian figure of Mary on the other, this paper examines a chain of manifestations and, given Hermogenes' subcategories, offers an in-depth reading of the text and music in the motet from the end of the 16th century. It is an early work of Claudio Monteverdi on the words of the Ave Maria prayer, which, according to its religious function and meaning, represents not only a concise appeal to the ethos of believers, but also the ethical foundation of Marian devotions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-10
Author(s):  
Raffaele Pisano

What about science, society and education in the history? In the 19th century Europe the figure of the scientific engineer is emerging. In Paris the Grandes Écoles were founded, where the most distinguished mathematicians of the time taught to students and drew up treaties. and Joseph–Louis Lagrange (1736–1813) and Gaspard Monge (1746–1818) were among the first professors of mathematics at École Polytechnique (1794), a military school for the training of engineers. In 1794 the École Normal of Paris was also born, in 1808, the École normale supérieure Paris was founded, a school that had as its goal the training of teachers of both science and humanities. On this model, with a Napoleonic decree of 1813, it was established the first foundation of the Scuola Normale in Pisa. The attention of the French mathematicians toward applications was therefore, at least in part, due to the need of educational institutions to train technicians for the new state. Such an attitude is not found in Germany, the country that in the nineteenth century was with France at the forefront of European mathematics. On the one hand, great importance was attributed to purely theoretical disciplines, such as number theory and abstract algebra, on the other hand the natural philosophy aim to frame in the same theory at all the physical disciplines. In Germany a great engineering school eventually developed which become dominant in Europe. But interaction between scientists and engineers has existed since ancient times: e.g., for the study of prototypes and machines for the society. Questions might be: when, why and how the tension between mathematics, physics, astronomy, gave rise to a new scientific discipline, the modern engineering? What is the conceptual bridge between sciences researches and the organization of technological researches in the development of the industry?


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