scholarly journals Masoud Muhammad and Theodor Adorno on Art: A Comparative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 664-680
Author(s):  
Nabaz Samad Ahmed

          A comparative analysis of two great thinkers who are placed in different geographical, social, cultural, and intellectual contexts is a difficult task. Masoud Muhammad a Kurdish Philosopher and Theodor Adorno, a German philosopher, are belonging to two different cultural and intellectual traditions but it can be argued that the core of their philosophical views and analysis on art are thematically connected and astoundingly close. Muhammad and Adorno are doing the same thing, but at a different level, context, and different methods regarding art. They both lived during the dark times of totalitarian regimes: Nazism and Ba’athism in Germany and Iraq respectively. In this paper, I will propose to show that it is possible to establish similarities between the philosophical views of these two thinkers based on three presuppositions. First, both Masoud Muhammad and Adorno’s point of departure is the criticizing Marxist art theory. Second, for Muhammad art is a social fact, and not an imitation of society’s reality, since art is the self-expression of the artist; Also for Adorno art is a social fact and in the meantime, it is independent from society. Third, in Muhammad’s view, art is autonomous and free; therefore it would not be affiliated with any ideologies. In the same manner, Adorno argues that art is autonomous and critical to society. The forgoing illustrated that these three presuppositions set the tone for the theme and hypothesis of this paper. The main goal of this paper is to examine the similarities between Adorno and Muhammad's philosophical views concerning art.

Anger is a basic human emotion that has a force for constructive or destructive ends. Its expression in any circumstance can be a trigger for a desire to change a prevailing situation. In all cases, anger is a fundamental component of art. This study examines the use of anger in Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and Osofisan’s The Chattering and the Song. Osborne and Osofisan are two writers who are very anxious to change their societies through their art. In spite of differences in their origin (Osborne was a Briton while Osofisan is a Nigerian), they wrote at a time of certain social and political upheavals in their countries. They also share similar concerns and attitudes towards art. My focus in this paper is on the early plays of Osborne and Osofisan where anger is strongest and where their artistic triumph is most poignant. Working within the formalist approach, the paper reveals that in Osborne and Osofisan, extreme anger is both material and style and is what marks their art out. The reification by the intellect provides a potent instrument for investigating society. Anger becomes the point of departure for their art, it is not mere hysterics but a cerebral one and it is the motivating force for their writings.


Author(s):  
Larisa Botnari

Although very famous, some key moments of the novel In Search of Lost Time, such as those of the madeleine or the uneven pavement, often remain enigmatic for the reader. Our article attempts to formulate a possible philosophical interpretation of the narrator's experiences during these scenes, through a confrontation of the Proustian text with the ideas found in the System of Transcendental Idealism (1800) of the German philosopher F. W. J. Schelling. We thus try to highlight the essential role of the self in Marcel Proust's aesthetic thinking, by showing that the mysterious happiness felt by the narrator, and from which the project of creating a work of art is ultimately born, is similar to the experiences of pure self-consciousness evoked and analyzed by Schellingian philosophy of art.


Author(s):  
Daphna Oyserman

Everyone can imagine their future self, even very young children, and this future self is usually positive and education-linked. To make progress toward an aspired future or away from a feared future requires people to plan and take action. Unfortunately, most people often start too late and commit minimal effort to ineffective strategies that lead their attention elsewhere. As a result, their high hopes and earnest resolutions often fall short. In Pathways to Success Through Identity-Based Motivation Daphna Oyserman focuses on situational constraints and affordances that trigger or impede taking action. Focusing on when the future-self matters and how to reduce the shortfall between the self that one aspires to become and the outcomes that one actually attains, Oyserman introduces the reader to the core theoretical framework of identity-based motivation (IBM) theory. IBM theory is the prediction that people prefer to act in identity-congruent ways but that the identity-to-behavior link is opaque for a number of reasons (the future feels far away, difficulty of working on goals is misinterpreted, and strategies for attaining goals do not feel identity-congruent). Oyserman's book goes on to also include the stakes and how the importance of education comes into play as it improves the lives of the individual, their family, and their society. The framework of IBM theory and how to achieve it is broken down into three parts: how to translate identity-based motivation into a practical intervention, an outline of the intervention, and empirical evidence that it works. In addition, the book also includes an implementation manual and fidelity measures for educators utilizing this book to intervene for the improvement of academic outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-105
Author(s):  
Annika Pissin

This article addresses issues surrounding the social construction of internet addiction, focusing on conceptualisations of reality, escape, hope, and time. Drawing on a critical realist account of semiosis, the framing of internet addiction in China is analysed using the documentary film Web Junkie as an empirical pivot and point of departure. A contextual overview of relations, interests, and tensions surrounding youth and the internet in China is provided, and the film Web Junkie is briefly presented. The main body of the article consists of a critical analysis of conceptualisations of “reality” and “escape.” The core tension focused on in the analysis is the struggle over time, necessitating engagement with critical thought on hope and utopia. The analysis concludes that struggles over temporal autonomy underlie conflicting claims about “reality” and “escape” that are central to “internet addiction” and its treatment in China today.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1152
Author(s):  
Tatyana Kirila ◽  
Anna Smirnova ◽  
Alla Razina ◽  
Andrey Tenkovtsev ◽  
Alexander Filippov

The water–salt solutions of star-shaped six-arm poly-2-alkyl-2-oxazines and poly-2-alkyl-2-oxazolines were studied by light scattering and turbidimetry. The core was hexaaza[26]orthoparacyclophane and the arms were poly-2-ethyl-2-oxazine, poly-2-isopropyl-2-oxazine, poly-2-ethyl-2-oxazoline, and poly-2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline. NaCl and N-methylpyridinium p-toluenesulfonate were used as salts. Their concentration varied from 0–0.154 M. On heating, a phase transition was observed in all studied solutions. It was found that the effect of salt on the thermosensitivity of the investigated stars depends on the structure of the salt and polymer and on the salt content in the solution. The phase separation temperature decreased with an increase in the hydrophobicity of the polymers, which is caused by both a growth of the side radical size and an elongation of the monomer unit. For NaCl solutions, the phase separation temperature monotonically decreased with growth of salt concentration. In solutions with methylpyridinium p-toluenesulfonate, the dependence of the phase separation temperature on the salt concentration was non-monotonic with minimum at salt concentration corresponding to one salt molecule per one arm of a polymer star. Poly-2-alkyl-2-oxazine and poly-2-alkyl-2-oxazoline stars with a hexaaza[26]orthoparacyclophane core are more sensitive to the presence of salt in solution than the similar stars with a calix[n]arene branching center.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
George Pattison

AbstractNoting Heidegger’s critique of Kierkegaard’s way of relating time and eternity, the paper offers an alternative reading of Kierkegaard that suggests Heidegger has overlooked crucial elements in the Kierkegaardian account. Gabriel Marcel and Sharon Krishek are used to counter Heidegger’s minimizing of the deaths of others and to show how the deaths of others may become integral to our sense of self. This prepares the way for revisiting Kierkegaard’s discourse on the work of love in remembering the dead. Against the criticism that this reveals the absence of the other in Kierkegaardian love, the paper argues that, on the contrary, it shows how Kierkegaard conceives the self as inseparable from the core relationships of love that, despite of death, constitute it as the self that it is.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (01) ◽  
pp. 71-113
Author(s):  
Silvana Vetö

En este trabajo se examinarán algunos de los problemas éticos que el Holocausto ha planteado a los medios de representación de la historia, para luego ligar las distintas narrativas que resultan de dichas representaciones, con las posibilidades de duelo y elaboración. Se abordarán primero los planteamientos de Theodor Adorno respecto de las posibilidades del arte frente al sufrimiento. Luego se expondrán algunos aspectos del debate surgido al final de la década del 70 a propósito de la representación del Holocausto en medios de comunicación de masa y en la “alta” cultura. Se mostrará como persiste en ese debate una perspectiva dicotómica respecto del trauma, de la cual surgen dos tipos de narrativas post-traumáticas supuestamente irreconciliables, que no permiten una adecuada elaboración y un duelo satisfactorio respecto de las pérdidas implicadas en el acontecimiento traumático. Finalmente, analizaremos en detalle la novela gráfica Maus. Relato de un superviviente, cuya narrativa experimental permite cuestionar y deconstruir la dicotomía redención/aporía de manera novedosa, planteando nuevos problemas vinculados a la memoria del Holocausto y a la posibilidades de duelo. In this work, we will focus on some of the ethical problems that the Holocaust has posed to the representation of historical limit-events. We will then link the different narratives emerging from these representations to the possibilities of mourning and elaboration. First, we will examine the German philosopher Theodor Adorno’s propositions concerning the possibilities of art in the face of suffering. Then, we will present some aspects of the debate that arose in the late 70s regarding the representation of the Holocaust in mass media and in ‘high’ culture. It will be shown how in this debate there persists a dichotomist perspective of trauma, which creates two supposedly irreconcilable types of post-traumatic narratives that do not permit an appropriate elaboration and mourning of losses caused by the traumatic event. Finally, we will analyze the graphic novel Maus. A Survivor’s Tale, whose experimental and open narrative allows an original questioning and deconstruction of the redemption/aporia dichotomy, putting forward new problems related to the memory of the Holocaust and the possibilities of mourning.


2018 ◽  

What does it mean to be a good citizen today? What are practices of citizenship? And what can we learn from the past about these practices to better engage in city life in the twenty-first century? Ancient and Modern Practices of Citizenship in Asia and the West: Care of the Self is a collection of papers that examine these questions. The contributors come from a variety of different disciplines, including architecture, urbanism, philosophy, and history, and their essays make comparative examinations of the practices of citizenship from the ancient world to the present day in both the East and the West. The papers’ comparative approaches, between East and West, and ancient and modern, leads to a greater understanding of the challenges facing citizens in the urbanized twenty-first century, and by looking at past examples, suggests ways of addressing them. While the book’s point of departure is philosophical, its key aim is to examine how philosophy can be applied to everyday life for the betterment of citizens in cities not just in Asia and the West but everywhere.


2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Everett L. Worthington

I examine religious humility, which is one content area of intellectual humility. Intellectual humility is the subtype of humility that involves taking a humble stance in sharing ideas, especially when one is challenged or when an idea is threatening. I position religious humility within the context of general humility, spiritual humility, and relational humility, and thus arrive at several propositions. People who are intensely spiritually humble can hold dogmatic beliefs and believe themselves to be religiously humble, yet be perceived by others of different persuasions as religiously dogmatic and even arrogant. For such people to be truly religiously humble, they must feel that the religious belief is core to their meaning system. This requires discernment of which of the person’s beliefs are truly at the core. But also the religiously humble person must fulfill the definition of general humility, accurately perceiving the strengths and limitations of the self, being teachable to correct weaknesses, presenting oneself modestly, and being positively other-oriented. Humility thus involves (1) beliefs, values, and attitudes and (2) an interpersonal presentational style. Therefore, intellectually humble people must track the positive epistemic status of their beliefs and also must present with convicted civility.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 1772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria de los Angeles Cortes ◽  
Raquel de la Campa ◽  
Maria Luisa Valenzuela ◽  
Carlos Díaz ◽  
Gabino A. Carriedo ◽  
...  

During the last number of years a variety of crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA) processes based on semicrystalline block copolymers have been developed to prepare a number of different nanomorphologies in solution (micelles). We herein present a convenient synthetic methodology combining: (i) The anionic polymerization of 2-vinylpyridine initiated by organolithium functionalized phosphane initiators; (ii) the cationic polymerization of iminophosphoranes initiated by –PR2Cl2; and (iii) a macromolecular nucleophilic substitution step, to prepare the novel block copolymers poly(bistrifluoroethoxy phosphazene)-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PTFEP-b-P2VP), having semicrystalline PTFEP core forming blocks. The self-assembly of these materials in mixtures of THF (tetrahydrofuran) and 2-propanol (selective solvent to P2VP), lead to a variety of cylindrical micelles of different lengths depending on the amount of 2-propanol added. We demonstrated that the crystallization of the PTFEP at the core of the micelles is the main factor controlling the self-assembly processes. The presence of pyridinyl moieties at the corona of the micelles was exploited to stabilize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs).


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