scholarly journals In Praise of Empathy: The Glue that holds Caring Communities Together in a Fractured World

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 234-291
Author(s):  
Irene G. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Extreme Right ◽  
Moral Virtues ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Caring Communities

In a tumultuous world where populism is on the rise as the result of an enraged, disenchanted, misguided and susceptible populace, empathy, one of the most vital of our moral virtues, is in serious jeopardy.  Fear, prejudice and the rise of the extreme right has provoked a number of nay-sayers to draw our attention to what they believe to be the darker side of empathy, its biases and its vulnerability to subversion.  This paper examines empathy, what it is, how it feels, the neural and environmental basis for its development, our moral obligation to nurture it in our children and how it may be induced in the case of empathy deficiencies.  It considers the influences of gender and hormones on the expression of empathy and its relationship with sympathy and compassion.  Also discussed are the properties of empathy as a motivational, socioemotional mechanism, that evokes kindness, caring, compassion and understanding in each of us, and its potential to neutralize the negativism, cruelty, violence and aggression, so prevalent in the world today. 

Do We Have to Do Meaningful Work?

2019 ◽  
pp. 115-132
Author(s):  
Christopher Michaelson
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Meaningful Work ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
World Today ◽  
Considerable Portion ◽  
The World ◽  
Primary Means

Not enough people have decent work in the world today. Fewer still have work that they consider to be meaningful. Even among those people who have the power to choose their work, the absence of work that they consider to be meaningful adversely impacts their physical and emotional well-being—and a considerable portion of most adults’ waking hours are spent at work. Accordingly, work is a primary means by which most of us can experience meaningfulness in life. This chapter offers two arguments for why we have a moral obligation to pursue and practice meaningful work, if we have the autonomy to choose it.

Universal Values and Muslim Democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Anwar Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
World Today ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Dignified Life

This study deals with Universal Values and Muslim Democracy. This essay draws upon speeches that he gave at the New York Democ- racy Forum in December 2005 and the Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in Istanbul in April 2006. The emergence of Muslim democracies is something significant and worthy of our attention. Yet with the clear exceptions of Indonesia and Turkey, the Muslim world today is a place where autocracies and dictatorships of various shades and degrees continue their parasitic hold on the people, gnawing away at their newfound freedoms. It concludes that the human desire to be free and to lead a dignified life is universal. So is the abhorrence of despotism and oppression. These are passions that motivate not only Muslims but people from all civilizations.

St Thomas More : Utopia and the World Today

Moreana ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (Number 98-9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Laura Bonner
Keyword(s):  
Thomas More ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World

The Irresistible Rise of Asian Cinema 1

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Pratley
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Motion Pictures ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
New Wave ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Production Activity ◽  
Exciting Development ◽  
Asian Cinema

PRODUCTION ACTIVITY It was not so many years ago it seems when speaking of motion pictures from Asia meant Japanese films as represented by Akira Kurosawa and films from India made by Satyajit Ray. But suddenly time passes and now we are impressed and immersed in the flow of films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, the Philippines, with Japan a less significant player, and India and Pakistan more prolific than ever in making entertainment for the mass audience. No one has given it a name or described it as "New Wave," it is simply Asian Cinema -- the most exciting development in filmmaking taking place in the world today. In China everything is falling apart yet it manages to hold together, nothing works yet it keeps on going, nothing is ever finished or properly maintained, and yes, here time does wait for every man. But as far...

Engineering knowledge: philosophy and ponstructive meanig

2018 ◽  
pp. 10-16
Author(s):  
V. I. Onoprienko
Keyword(s):  
Information Technologies ◽  
Knowledge Engineering ◽  
Practical Rationality ◽  
Engineering Knowledge ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Technological Area

An expansion of information technologies in the world today is caused by progress of instrumental knowledge. It has been arisen a special technological area of knowledge engineering, which is related to practical rationality and experts’ knowledge for solving urgent problems of science and practice.

The dilemmas of the Israeli reality and the choice of war

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 151
Author(s):  
Bashir Hadi Abdul Razak
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Arab World ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Arab Israeli Conflict ◽  
Internal And External Factors

The Arab-Israeli conflict is among the longest and most complex conflicts in the world today, a conflict that transcends borders or a difference of influence. It is a struggle for existence in every sense. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, one of the regional forces whose political movement is determined by the Arab world has become the result of the internal and external factors and changes that affect it. This entity is hostile to the Arabs, Which would have a negative impact on the regional strategic situation.

Interfaith Families

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-104
Author(s):  
Halima Krausen
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Meaningful Learning ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
New Normal ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Interfaith Marriages ◽  
Plural Society

In our plural society, interfaith marriages and multicultural families have become a new normal and are either considered problematic for the religious communities or welcomed as a contribution to a secular and more peaceful world. In the course of my work with European Muslims, I could accompany such families through a few generations. In this article, I am going to outline some typical challenges and crises in such relationships and their effects on young people growing up in mixed families, adding my observations of how they can be dealt with. Ultimately, there is a chance that, through dialogue, it provides a meaningful learning environment that prepares young people for the diverse reality of the world today.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detlef Pollack ◽  
Gergely Rosta
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
West Germany ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Degree Of Stability ◽  
Important Exception ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Religious Landscape

In recantation of his earlier approach, Peter L. Berger now claims: ‘The world today, with some exceptions […], is as furiously religious as it ever was, and in some places more so than ever.’ The most important exception that Berger refers to is Western Europe. The introduction to Part II provides an overview of the religious landscape in Western Europe. The data show that the current religious situation in the countries of Western Europe is in fact subject to considerable variation. It would therefore be erroneous to describe Western Europe as secularized. At the same time, the data reveal that there have been clear secularization tendencies over the last few decades. To grasp the diversity of religious tendencies, Part II deals with three cases: West Germany with moderate downward tendencies, Italy with a considerably high degree of stability, and the Netherlands displaying disproportionately strong secularizing tendencies.

The Power of Everyday Aesthetics in World-Making

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuriko Saito
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Moral Virtues ◽  
Everyday Aesthetics ◽  
The World ◽  
The Aesthetic

This chapter argues for the importance of cultivating aesthetic literacy and vigilance, as well as practicing aesthetic expressions of moral virtues. In light of the considerable power of the aesthetic to affect, sometimes determine, people’s choices, decisions, and actions in daily life, everyday aesthetics discourse has a social responsibility to guide its power toward enriching personal life, facilitating respectful and satisfying interpersonal relationships, creating a civil and humane society, and ensuring the sustainable future. As an aesthetics discourse, its distinct domain unencumbered by these life concerns needs to be protected. At the same time, denying or ignoring the connection with them decontextualizes and marginalizes aesthetics. Aesthetics is an indispensable instrument for assessing and improving the quality of life and the state of the world, and it behooves everyday aesthetics discourse to reclaim its rightful place and to actively engage with the world-making project.

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