scholarly journals Nationalism as a Mental Construct: The Linguistic Basis of the Sinhala-Tamil Conflict

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhilesh Pathak

Nationalism as a concept could be the concern of political scientists, but is it purely political in nature? Are there neurological connections that revolve around one of the highly evolved capacities of human beings as compared to other species; that is the ability to use language for communication? It is only because we are endowed with a machinery of cognition that receives and analyzes information from the external world and initiates us into identifying and assigning a set of characteristics to the objects and ideas we encounter in our everyday encounters with the multitude of events of the world. Karl Popper hinted towards the dichotomous relationship between ‘nominalism’ and ‘essentialism’, with the aid of which we classify and label the entities around us. While the debate between ‘reason’ and ’emotion’ has stayed alive for thousands of years tracing its origin to the antiquity coinciding with the heydays of the Hellenic glory or the ancient times of the Nyaya-Mimansa school of Indian philosophy, scholars and thinkers have shown a strong tendency to separate out the ‘objective’ from the ‘subjective’, a necessary corollary of the distinction between ‘reason’ and ’emotion’. The difference could be very well transposed upon the difference between ‘objects’ and ‘ideas’. Hence, one needs to attempt at unravelling the emotional-psychological basis of nationalism.

Author(s):  
Muhittin Gümüş

ÖZET. Milletlerin çok eski zamanlardan bugüne kadar yaşayarak edinmiş oldukları tecrübeler, bilgiler, kazanımlar ve değerler o milletin kültürünü oluşturur. Edinilen değerlerin dil aracılığıyla hayat bulması kültürdilbilim alanı çerçevesinde kültür-dil-insan arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemeye değer bulmuştur. Herhangi bir varlığın şekline, işlevine, görevine, görüntüsüne her toplumda farklı anlam veya dilsel dünya görüşünü yansıtan adlar verilir. Kültür-dil-insan çerçevesinde dil ve kültür ilişkilerinin belli bir disiplin altında incelenmesi ancak kültürdilbilim yoluyla mümkündür. Dilbilim alanına ait kültürdilbilim çalışmalarında ele alınan dilsel dünya görüşü kavramı her bir dilin dolayısıyla toplumun ya da ortak değerlere sahip toplumlarının oluşturduğu milletlerin dünyayı nasıl algılayıp yansıttığını, çevresindeki varlıkların ve kavramların hangi niteliklerini ayırt ettiğini, insanın duygu ve düşüncelerini, değer yargılarını nasıl betimledikleri incelenmektedir. Bu makalede kültürdilbilim çerçevesinde Türkçede “gibi”, Kırgızcada -DAy eki ve “sıyaktuu”, “öndüü” bağlacıyla yapılan benzetmeler ve deyimler Türkçe ile karşılaştırmalı olarak incelenmekte, böylelikle iki toplum arasındaki dış dünya algısı arasındaki farklılıklar veya benzerlikler tespit edilecektir. Адам баласы алмустактан бери топтогон маалыматы, турмуштан топтогон тажрыйбасы жана баалуулуктары менен улуттук маданиятын түзгөн. Тилдик каражаттар аркылуу чагылдырылган турмуштук тажрыйбалар улуттук маданият чөлкөмүндө маданият-тил-адам баласы деген чөйрөдө изилдөөгө алынат. Сөз, форма, иш аракет, көрүнүштөр ар бир коомдо ар кандай маанини туюндурган лексикалар менен берилген. Маданият-тил-адам баласы аттуу чөйрөдө тилдик жана маданий байланыштар белгилүү бир тартипте изилдениши бир гана маданияттаануу жолу менен ишке ашат. Тил илимине тиешелүү маданияттаануу илиминде каралган тилдик дүйнө тааным түшүнүгү ар бир тилдин, ошол эле учурда орток баалуулуктарга ээ болгон коомдун дүйнөнү кабыл алышы жана аны чагылдырышы, анын чөйрөнү жана түшүнүктөрдү айырмалаган сапаттарын, адамдын ички уйгу-туйгусун жана түшүнүктөрүн кандай сүрөттөгөнүн изилденет. Бул макалада маданияттаанууда Түрк тилиндеги “gibi” Кыргыз тилиндеги –ДАй мүчөсү, сыяктуу жана өндүү жандоочтор менен бе-рилиши, фразеологиялык каражаттар Түрк тили менен салыштырылып, эки тилдин ортосундагы сырткы дүйнө тааным менен болгон айырмасы жана окшоштуктары аныкталат. The experiences, knowledge, achievements and values that have been gained by nations starting from ancient times and up today constitute the culture of that nation. It has become worthy of examining the relationship between culture-language-human within the frameworks of cultural linguistics. Names are attached to any entity in accordance with its shape, function, tasks, and appearance that reflect different meanings in each society or their linguistic worldview. Analyzing language and culture relations within the scope of a certain discipline in the frameworks of culture-language-human is only possible by means of Cultural Linguistics. The concept of linguistic worldview, which is discussed in cultural-linguistics studies in the field of linguistics, deals with studying how each language and therefore the societies or societies with common values perceive the world and reflect it through the language they use, what qualities of entities and concepts surrounding them they distinguish, how they describe feelings and thoughts of a human being and their value judgments. This paper studies analogies and idioms that are formed by means of preposition “gibi” in the Turkish language and “sıyaktuu” with the suffix –Day in the Kyrgyz language, which are examined in the context of comparative cultural linguistics. Thus, the differences and/or similarities between the perception of external world between the two societies are revealed.


FIKROTUNA ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
ABD WARITS

In the history of women's life, the woman has never cracked from the wild cry of helplessness. Woman always become victim of men’s egoism, marginalized, hurt, unfettered, fooled and never appreciated the presence and role. This situation troubles many intellectual Muslims who have perspective that Islam teaches equality, equality for all human beings in the world. The difference in skin color, race, tribe and nation, as well as gender does not cause them to get the status of the different rights and obligations. The potential and the right to life of every human being and the obligation to serve the Lord Almighty is the same. Indeed, all human beings, as caliph in the world, have the same obligation, namely to prosperity of life in the world. No one is allowed to act arbitrarily, destroying, or hurt among others. They are required to live side by side, united, and harmonious, help each other and respect each other. However, that "demand" never becomes a reality. The differences among human identities become a barrier and the cause of divisions. For them, those who are outside environment, different identities are "others" who rightly do not need them "know". The difference of identity has become a reason to allow "hurt" each other. Several intellectual Muslims who recognize the wrong (discrimination against women), and then they attempt to formulate a movement for women's liberation. All the efforts have been done on the basis of awareness that arbitrary action by any person can never be justified. They also realize, that the backwardness of women are "stumbling block" that will lead to the resignation of a civilization. However, this struggle found a lot of challenges; including the consideration of "insubordination" to conquer the power of men, despite it had done by using many strategies. Starting from the writing of scientific book and countless fiction themed women has been published in order to give awareness of equality between men and women. This paper seeks to reexamine the process of the empowerment struggle to give a brand new concept, so that the struggle of women empowerment is not as insubordination and curiosity process in an attempt to conquer the male. Through approach of literature review and observations on the relationship between men and women, the writer finally concluded that the movement of Islamic feminism is not a movement to seize the power of men, but an attempt to liberate women from oppression so that they get the rights of their social role, giving freedom for women to pursue a career as wide as possible like a man, without forgetting a main duty as a mother: to conceive, give birth and breastfeed their children.


Kavkaz-forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Р.Н. АБИСАЛОВА

В статье рассмотрен один из мотивов осетинского Даредзановского эпоса – мотив прикованного героя, еще в древности вошедший в мифологию, фольклор, литературу многих народов и получивший название «мотив Прометея». Образ Прометея относится к «вечным образам» мировой художественной культуры. История прикования и освобождения Прометея и в древнегреческой мифологии, и в трагедии Эсхила позиционируется как топонимически привязанная к Кавказу. Именно здесь сюжет о наказанном Богом и прикованном богатыре получил распространение в национальных мифах и эпических преданиях – грузинских, осетинских, кабардинских, абхазских, вайнахских, армянских и др. Эти лаконичные предания об Амиране-Амране, по мнению Вс.Ф. Миллера, – кульминационные во всех источниках, рассказывающих об этом герое. Рассмотрены как древнегреческий Прометей, так и кавказские, в первую очередь осетинские, прикованные герои, представленные в работах Вс.Ф. Миллера, Г.Н. Потанина, Дз. Гатуева, Д.А. Калоевой, З.Г. Тменовой, Ю.А. Дзиццоты, Х.Ф. Цгоева и др. Образ Амирана сравнивается с соответствующими ему героями кавказских эпосов. При всей схожести мотивов богоборчества и наказания героя прикованием к скале или столбу нельзя не отметить отличия осетинского Амирана от остальных. В Даредзановских сказаниях он героическая личность, истинный богатырь, совершающий множество подвигов, побеждающий великанов, помогающий всем нуждающимся. Сын племянницы Бога, герой близок к народу, он побеждает врагов не только ради демонстрации силы, ловкости, хитрости, но и для спасения родных и друзей. В отличие от большинства кавказских прикованных героев, освобождение Амирана не предвещает гибель мира, напротив, осетинский Амиран, в случае освобождения, даст людям свободу и счастье. Многие мотивы в преданиях об Амране соотносятся с мотивами Нартовского эпоса. Амиран-Амран приравнивается к любимым героям осетинской Нартиады – Сослану, Батразу, Урузмагу, Шатане. В работе его образ рассмотрен для подтверждения объективной закономерности подобной репрезентации осетинского героя. The article deals with one of the motives of the Ossetian Daredzanian epic − the motive of the chained hero, which in ancient times entered the mythology, folklore, literature of many peoples and was called the "Prometheus motive". The image of Prometheus belongs to the "eternal images" of world art culture. The history of the chaining and liberation of Prometheus, both in ancient Greek mythology and in the tragedy of Aeschylus, is positioned as toponymically tied to the Caucasus. It was here that the plot about the God-punished and chained hero became widespread in national myths and epic legends − Georgian, Ossetian, Kabardian, Abkhaz, Vainakh, Armenian, etc. These laconic legends about Amiran-Amran, according to Vs.F. Miller, are culminating in all the sources telling about this hero. Both the ancient Greek Prometheus and the Caucasian, primarily Ossetian, chained heroes presented in the works of Vs.F. Miller, G.N. Potanin, Dz. Gatuev, D.A. Kaloeva, Z.G. Tmenova, Yu.A. Dzizzoity, Kh.F. Tsgoev and others. The image of Amiran is compared with the corresponding heroes of the Caucasian epics. With all the similarity of the motives of fighting against God and the punishment of the hero by being chained to a rock or a pillar, one cannot fail to note the difference between the Ossetian Amiran and the others. In Daredzan's legends, he is a heroic person, a true hero who performs many feats, conquers giants, and helps all those in need. The son of the niece of God, the hero is close to the people, he defeats enemies not only for the sake of demonstrating strength, dexterity, cunning, but also to save family and friends. Unlike most of the Caucasian chained heroes, the release of Amiran does not portend the death of the world, on the contrary, the Ossetian Amiran, if liberated, will give people freedom and happiness. Many motives in the legends about Amran correlate with the motives of the Nartov epic. Amiran-Amran is equated with the favorite heroes of the Ossetian Nartiada - Soslan, Batraz, Uruzmag, Shatana. In the work, his image is considered to confirm the objective regularity of such a representation of the Ossetian hero.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-461
Author(s):  
Mohammed Osman Abdul Wahab ◽  
Nisar Ahmad Koka ◽  
Mohammed Nurul Islam

Since ancient times, man has attempted to express his inner feelings, covetousness and inclination to the world through various mediums e.g. poetry, drama, story, etc. Literature is one of the outcomes of the man’s efforts to reveal his aspirations to the world. Literature has avalanche of the widespread genre which is always subject to precisely apprehend and assimilate. Biography and autobiography are the two different genres of literature. The life of an individual is full of sweet and bitter experiences. There are incidences in an individual’s life which he or she never wants to share with anybody. Politicians, Rulers, Socialites, Movie Stars and other public personalities are also normal human beings. They too have their personal share of problems in their lives and in an attempt to resolve those issues they sometimes commit mistakes and even crimes which they never want anyone to know. Sometimes they commit these mistakes, misdemeanours, felonies or crimes because of their lustful desires or inclinations.  The present paper is a result of interest and curiosity to know if individuals share such information in their autobiographies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 2453
Author(s):  
Sırrı Tiryaki

The first inventions made by the first humans on earth to survive started the beginning of first scientific activities. The first instruments made of bone and stone are a product of this philosophy. The fact that human beings begin to lead a life based on settled life means the world science develops rapidly. Because the settled life enabled the establishment of villages and cities for world civilization and the commencement of trade. Along with all these things, concepts such as writing, books, literature, library, astronomy, mathematics, chemistry and physics began to enter into human life. The discovery of mining revealed the facts like armed soldiers, armies and states. Along with the concept of the state, scientific activities have become more systematic and more widespread. Because it is known that states supported scientific activities within their borders. For example, the creation of the writing by the Sumerian civilization, the preparation of textbooks, the development of the calendar, the development of medical science in Egypt, the invention of the compass by the Chinese civilization, the opening of the museum in Alexandria in the Hellenistic Age and the starting of the studies about anatomy in this museum, the opening of a three different educational institutions in Rome, were all happening as a result of the encouragement and support of the respective states. In this study, we tried to put forth that all the scientific activities in the Old Era the basis of the modern science as well.Extended English abstract is in the end of PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetYeryüzündeki ilk insanların hayata kalabilmek için yaptıkları ilk icatlar aynı zamanda ilk bilimsel faaliyetleri başlamaktadır. Kemik ve taştan yapılan ilk aletler bu felsefenin bir ürünüdür. İnsanoğlunun yerleşik yaşama dayalı bir hayat sürdürmeye başlaması ise dünya biliminin hızla gelişmesi anlamına gelmektedir. Çünkü yerleşik yaşam dünya uygarlığı için köylerin ve kentlerin kurulması ve ticaretin başlaması demekti. Bütün bunların yanı sıra yerleşik yaşamla birlikte yazı, kitap, edebiyat, kütüphane, astronomi, matematik, kimya ve fizik gibi kavramlar insan hayatına girmeye başladı. Madenciliğin keşfi ise silahlı askerler, ordular ve devletler gibi olguları ortaya çıkardı. Devlet kavramıyla birlikte bilimsel faaliyetler daha sistematik hâle geldi ve daha da yaygınlaştı. Çünkü devletlerin kendi sınırları içerisinde bilimsel aktiviteleri teşvikleri söz konusuydu. Örneğin yazının Sümer uygarlığı tarafından icat edilmesi, ders kitaplarının hazırlanması, takvimin geliştirilmesi, Mısır’da tıp biliminin oldukça gelişmesi, pusulanın Çin uygarlığı tarafından icat edilmesi, Helenistik Çağ’da İskenderiye kentinde müzenin açılması ve bu müzede anatomi alanında çalışmaların başlatılması ile Roma’da üç farklı eğitim kurumunun açılması gibi konuların tamamı dönemin söz konusu devletlerinin teşvik ve destekleri sonucunda gerçekleşen olgulardı. Çalışmamızda Eski Çağdaki bütün bu bilimsel faaliyetlerin aynı zamanda modern bilimin temelini oluşturduğunu ortaya koymaya çalıştık.


Author(s):  
Barry Stroud

This chapter considers the problem of trying to explain how knowledge of the world is possible in general, not simply how human beings come to know certain things about it on the basis of certain other things they already know about it. The goal was to understand how anyone ever comes to know anything at all about a public objective world on the basis of perceiving the sorts of things human beings are capable of perceiving. On the prevailing conception, what was ‘directly’ available to unaided perception alone was not part of that ‘external’ world at all. Not only necessary truths, but no truths about the world at all seemed knowable on that conception of perception and knowledge. This chapter argues that we must move beyond ‘externalism’ about knowledge to a broader ‘externalist’ or ‘anti-individualist’ understanding of all thoughts and beliefs and experiences concerning the world in which people live.


Author(s):  
Azamat Abdoullaev

Along with substances of all kinds, states of all manner, and changes of all types and exemplifications, relationships of all sorts and instances appear to be among the prime constituents of the universe as a whole and its realms, regions, and domains as the world of nature, the universe of society, and the domain of minds. Hence, knowledge of relations, as the causeeffect relationship, constitutes the basic core of real knowledge and, consequently, the logical fundament for all basic kinds of reasoning about the world. Since all reasoning upon reality, its particular classes, parts and features, is eventually to be founded on the underlying relations of substances, states, changes, and analogies, as well as on the meta-relations of whole-part, comparison, contrast, identity, resemblance, and difference. To adequately represent and consistently reason about reality is vitally important not only for human beings but also for prospective intelligent machines driven by the ontological models of the world comprehending the logical models of possible worlds. A widely practiced logical tradition to represent the world in terms of abstract classes, properties, and relations or purely mathematical objects, functions, and relations looks to be a main conceptual obstacle to creating effective reasoning systems. Since the likewise artificial conceptualizations of the world are missing out the core of things, their nature and reality, providing the ontological ground and making true the truth. These would-be reasoning systems will not work effectively because of their built-in incapacity to work out any complex real problems or situations or challenges. Above all other things, such intelligent systems will be unable to see the difference of physical, mental, or social objects so that to recognize their attributes, qualities, properties, states, changes, and relations.


Author(s):  
Michael Harrigan

Early modern French commentators saw slavery as a practice that was ubiquitous throughout the world, even threatening in its Islamic forms, and that was intimately associated with captivity. A further strand in creating the condition of the slave was made up of discourses of human difference. The site of the difference was very mobile; while there are hints of early proto-racial thinking at the turn of the eighteenth century, religion was one of various strands through which belonging and difference was conceptualised. Contrary to recent criticism, this chapter shows that representations of African slavery were based on ambiguous legal, commercial and societal foundations. Slavery was also justified by early capitalist rationale testifying to European confidence in production. Amerindian slavery was thought non-commercial and honour-based, and fascinated in depictions of the consumption of human beings. French accounts of the Caribbean slave economy illustrate the key strands of what the proprietorship of African slaves meant. The enslavement of baptised Africans was viewed with some diversity by ecclesiastics, with some questioning the principle of slavery, and some actively condoning it. Baptism was a powerful sacrament which implied levels of temporal belonging, but the coexistence of secular and spiritual planes could be complex or uneasy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Ndianefo

The question of sure foundation of cognitive beliefs is a problem in epistemology and has defied solution. Both rationalism and empiricism lead to a common philosophical dead end: all we know is idea so that the existence of the external world remains an unjustifiable posit. This realization unleashed epistemology from its foundationalist moorings and occasioned theoretical renunciations. Karl Popper is one of the formidable contemporary thinkers to break ranks with foundationalism. He abandoned the search for proof which is a fundamental assumption of foundationalism and asserted that such rejection is necessitated by virtue of the fallibility of human knowledge. He therefore held that our problem is to find better and bolder theories; and that critical preference counts, but not belief. The upshot is that the search for a sure foundation or certainty of our cognitive belief is a philosophical will o’ the wisp. All we need is a pragmatic choice of methods and theories to get on in the world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1538-1546

The worldwide epidemic of SARS-CoV-2 has created a panic situation in human beings. Covid-19 viruses spread infections into the specific human cells through cell-surface receptor ACE2 and start viral replication speedily inside the human body. The action of antibodies can reduce the entry of the virus into the cell by binding with the spike head and prevent to connect with ACE2 receptor. Many types of research are going to find the exact vaccine to control the spread of this virus. But still, now there is no vaccine and specific medicine invented still now, which is a big headache across the world. At this pandemic period, boosting of the immune system is the best way to fight against this virus. From ancient times, Ayurved is known as the best immune booster for animals and mammals. The herbal plants, such as Nyctanthes arbor-tristis L. And Withania somnifera has excellent immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, inhibition of oxidants, carcinopreventive properties with important chemicals like Withaferins, different alkaloids, steroids, amino acids. This review is based on a brief discussion of the pharmacological behaviors, active ingredients, and potential therapeutic applications of these medicinal plants.


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