scholarly journals The Feast: sense and fullness in the experience of finite

Author(s):  
Maurizio Pagano

The feast introduces an interruption in the flow of everyday life. Within the limits marked by such an interruption, a form of experience different from the ordinary takes place. The time of feast evokes and makes present the sacred time in which events that founded human society took place. In festivals, on one hand, one can grasp and represent the meaning that grounds human experience; on the other hand, a form of full life takes place. In the modern era, festivals lose their connection with the religious dimension, and such features fade away. Yet they do not disappear entirely. They are grasped in a fragmentary way, and this is enough to turn them into marks of resistance against the reduction of human experience to a purely utilitarian dimension.

REFLEXE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (60) ◽  
pp. 29-63
Author(s):  
Martin Rabas

The present article has two objectives. One is to elucidate the philosophical approach presented in the so-called Strahov Systematic Manuscripts of Jan Patočka in terms of consciousness and nature. The other is to compare this philosophical approach with Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theses on nature, as elaborated in 1956–1961, and to point out some advantages and limitations of both approaches. In our opinion, Patočka’s philosophical approach consists, on the one hand, in a descriptive analysis of human experience, which he understands as a pre-reflective self-relationship pointing towards the consciousness of the world. On the other hand, on the basis of this descriptive analysis Patočka consequently explicates all non-human life, inorganic matter, and finally the whole of nature as life in its own right, the essence of which is also a certain self-relation with a tendency towards consciousness. The article then briefly presents Merleau-Ponty’s theses on nature, and finally compares them with Patočka’s overall theses on nature. The advantage of Patočka’s notion of nature as against Merleau-Ponty’s is that, in Patočka’s view, nature encompasses both the principle of unity and individuality. On the other hand, the advantage of Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of nature as against Patočka’s lies in the consistent interconnectedness of the infinite life of nature and the finite life of individual beings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 264-279
Author(s):  
Lukas Ohly

AbstractA passage from one of Bonhoeffer’s prison letters hints at a diversification of Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms. Thus Bonhoeffer solves a dilemma: On the one hand, the doctrine of the two kingdoms does not support rogue regimes. On the other hand, Bonhoeffer escapes the danger of dissolving political justice by religious fanaticism. The solution, which is recon­structed in this essay, consists of a non-principal, but nevertheless evident situation of decision in favor of resistance. Any possible objections against this proposition are countered by the theological phenomenon of »Widerfahrnis« of human experience.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Massimo Leone

Abstract The Casa da Nostalgia, or “Nostalgic house,” in the Taipa area of the special administrative region of Macau, is a museum devoted to temporary exhibitions reconstructing everyday life in the city, especially in the epoch of Portuguese ruling. Just opposite the museum, on the other side of a large pond, a giant casino, the Venetian Macau, reproduces Venice both with its external architecture and its interior design. The article analyzes these two urban settings in order to develop a semiotic understanding of as many ways of symbolically reconstructing cities. On the one hand, cities can be reconstructed in a nostalgic form; the essay inquires on the origin and the consequences of urban nostalgia; on the other hand, cities can be reconstructed as ersatz. The article further investigates the dialectics between predominantly temporal or prevailingly spatial urban reconstructions, with reference to the socio-cultural dynamics that have changed Macau in the last decades. The article concludes with the methodological suggestion that the study of urban re-constructions requires the combined efforts of several disciplines, jointly investigating why, how, but also to what effect cities are re-built.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Ikechi Wonah

The aim of the paper is to examine the impact of identity politics on national integration in Nigeria. This paper relies on secondary sources of data, and contends that identity politics can create the necessary awareness and actions needed to redress the inequities promoted by the structural imbalance of the Nigerian State. The redress of the inequities can be a stabilizing force necessary for the actualization of national integration in Nigeria. On the other hand, it argues that identity politics can also be a divisive factor which can seriously threaten the corporate existence of Nigeria and make our quest for integration illusory. Also, the paper is  of the view that national integration can be achieved when identity politics is guided by certain objective conditions expressed in democracy. Therefore, it recommends that there should be an internalization and demonstration of the democratic culture in everyday life of Nigerians. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-67
Author(s):  
Ekaterina B. Kriukova ◽  
Oxana A. Koval

The article presents a survey of the 20th century intellectual quests related to the problem of the author and her status. The question of authorship becomes a key issue in the modern era for both philosophy and literature. On the one hand, both fields reflect upon the authorship as their own intrinsic principle, on the other hand, both literature and philosophy question the privileged position of the author as the sole meaning-maker. The undertaken comparison of the original interpretations of the prominent 20th century thinkers allows us: (1) to demonstrate how the ideological content of the concept itself has changed, the author being labeled as a co-participant, producer, collective subject, function within discourse, non-reader, and witness; (2) to introduce different strategies of understanding the author’s figure, depending on the chosen point of view; (3) to trace the logic of the transition from the modern to the postmodern through the explication of relations between the author and the character (M. Bakhtin), the author and his work (W. Benjamin), the author and popular culture (T. Adorno), the author and the discourse (M. Foucault), the author and the letter (M. Blanchot), and the author and the Other (G. Agamben).


Author(s):  
M. Atho Mudzhar

The interest in the role of family in social life in this modern era is growing stronger. On the one hand, this is the result of the declining degree of cohesiveness and disorientation of the family due to industrialization and individualization. On the other hand, it is the effect of the increasing expectation of society toward family institution as the result of the failure of the institutions outside family circles to implant and defend some values in life. This article is trying to see how a family can play a role in building national character, viewed especially from Islamicperspectives. In a specific way, this article shows how Islamic teachings give guidance concerning matters relating to the functions of the family.


Al-Ahkam ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 161
Author(s):  
Busyro Busyro
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  
The Law ◽  

<p><em>Ḥisāb</em> and <em>ru’yat</em> always be warm conversations when there is an early determination of Ramadhan and Shawwal. At that time, there are always two camps of scholars in reacting, the scholars who hold on to <em>ḥisāb</em> (calculating the calendar) on one side, and on the other hand hold to <em>ru’yat al-hilāl</em> (seeing the moon directly). This in turn often leads to time differences in setting the beginning of the month among Muslims. With the aim to unite the people in starting their worship, some scholars try to understand the texts of these traditions about <em>ru’yat al-hilāl</em> by trying to find the <em>'illat</em> (reason) of the laws of hadiths about <em>ru’yat al-hilāl</em>. Their study of the <em>'illat</em> law resulted in the conclusion that the <em>ru’yat al-hilāl </em>is only a suitable means for the people that time and may not suitable for Muslims in this modern era. Therefore Muslims must use other <em>wasīlah </em>(means) which further guarantee the realization of the purpose of law, namely modern astro­nomy. The conclusion of the law from the side of the discovery of ‘<em>illat</em> seems to be less suited to the purpose of <em>ta'līl al-aḥkām</em>, is to establish textual texts in addition to discovering the forms of development of the texts.</p>


Author(s):  
Frans-Willem Korsten

The distinction between the theatrical and the dramatic is pivotal for different modes of subjection in the early modern era. Institutionally speaking, society was organized ideologically, theatrically by the introjection of what was shown publicly to private, but equally collective, theatres of the mind. This could be described as a logic of torture. In contrast, and on the other hand, the dramatic application of punishment on ships, and the pain it involved, served what Robert Cover called a ‘balance of terror’, based on a logic of what Deleuze defined as ‘cruelty’. In order to clarify this distinction, and the implication it has for our ideas on gouvernmentalité, this chapter will propose a close reading of a painting by Lieve Verschuier that either depicts a peculiar case of keelhauling or, allegorically, the lynching of the brothers De Witt in 1672. Although the painting is clearly theatrical, formally speaking, it superimposes a dramatic logic on the traumatic political event of the lynching of the brothers De Witt. This will be considered in the chapter as one instance of a more general shift in the seventeenth century: a shift away from the theatrical logic of torture to the dramatic logic of cruelty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-284
Author(s):  
Massimo Raffa

Abstract This contribution is meant to shed light on how ancient Greek music theorists structure argumentations and address their readership in order to be understandable, effective and persuasive. On the one hand, some of the most important treatises, e.g. Ptolemy’s Harmonics (with Porphyry’s Commentary) and what remains of Archytas’ and Theophrastus’ works, are taken as case studies; on the other hand, the paper deals with some argumentative patterns recurring in harmonics demonstrations, especially with reference to the usage of everyday life experience as evidence supporting acoustic and harmonic theories.


2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-151
Author(s):  

AbstractA new examination of the events of 522 and 521 as they are recounted in the Bisotun inscription and by the classical authors leads to identifying the ins and outs of the accession of Darius: it is clear that the religious dimension of the military and economic organization reform was significant. The Bisotun inscription, already in itself, is that of a text we have to describe as religious: the place, the form, the language and the contents vouch for it. The religious power is confiscated from the Medes, and Darius, besides the fact he is the king of kings, becomes the supreme mazdayasnian authority, the successor to Zoroaster: the royal onomastics clearly shows its effects; according to the Darius' royal ideology as it is conserved in the Ša¯h-na¯ama, ``before Darius'', in practice, amounts to saying ``before the Achaemenids'', for the family of the Teispes, Cyrus and Cambyses has been absorbed in the Darius' one (blood alliance); on the other hand, for the mede dynasty was erased from the history, before Darius, there is only the mythical model: the Kavis, who are priests-kings and not mere kings. The absorption of the Teispes family turns the Darius' lie into a truth which his victory over the rebels ratified/legalized while those latter are liers whose lie is established by their defeat. To pay the tax amounts to settling fees which are owed to the officiant: to govern is a sacrificial ceremony. Therefore, we understand better why the satrap who makes sure that the taxes are paid is named ``protector of the hold (the king has over the deity)''. In passing, propositions are made to give etymological or semantical explanation for the following words and names: Achemenes fn. 125; OP a¯-gariya- fn. 101; OP ahura- fn. 6, fn. 115; OP ahuramazda¯- § 12; OP arika- fn. 102; Artaphernes fn. 118; Artaxerxes § 7; OP arya- § 11; Aryenis § 1; OP baga- fn. 37; Bagistanon/Bisitun § 9; Cyrus fn. 24, § 15; OP anhati fn. 51; Darius § 7; De¯rousiaîoi fn. 47; OP draujana- fn. 102; OP hamiçiya- fn. 102; Oropastes and Patizeithes § 24; OP rdu-mani¯ša- fn. 125; OP magu- § 13; satrape § 19 sq.; Av. spenta- fn. 114; Xerxes fn. 27; Av. zarauštra- fn. 47; Av. zarauštro¯o.tema-§ 12; OP zurah-kara- fn. 102.


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