scholarly journals Visual hallucinatory syndromes: past, present, and future

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-189 ◽  

In 1936, two clinical reviews, one by de Morsier, the other by L'Hermitte and de Ajuriaguerra, formulated an approach to visual hallucinations that continues to this day. Breaking with previous traditions, the papers championed visual hallucinations as worthy of study in their own right, de-emphasizing the clinical significance of their visual contents and distancing them from visual illusions. De Morsier described a set of visual hallucinatory syndromes based on the wider neurological and psychiatric context, many of which remain relevant today; however, one-the Charles Bonnet Syndrome-sparked 70 years of controversy over the role of the eye. Here, the history of visual hallucinatory syndromes and the eye dispute is reviewed, together with advances in perceptual neuroscience that question core assumptions of our current approach. From a neurobiological perspective, three syndromes emerge that relate to specific dysfunctions of afferent, cholinergic and serotonergic visual circuitry and promise future therapeutic advances.

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-269
Author(s):  
Camila Pérez ◽  
Giuseppina Marsico

Indigenous territorial claims are a long-standing concern in the history of Latin America. Land and nature have profound meaning in indigenous thinking, which is neither totally understood nor legitimized by the rest of society. This article is aimed at shedding light on this matter by examining the meanings at stake in the territorial claims of the Mapuche people. The Mapuche are an indigenous group in Chile, who are striving to recover their ancestral land. This analysis will be based on the concept of Umwelt, coined by von Uexküll to refer to the way in which species interpret their world in connection with the meaning-making process. Considering the applications of Umwelt to the human being, the significance assigned to land and nature by the Mapuche people emerges as a system of meaning that persists over time and promotes interdependence between people and the environment. On the other hand, the territorial claim of the Mapuche movement challenges the fragmentation between individuals and their space, echoing proposals from human geography that emphasize the role of people in the constitution of places.


Author(s):  
Mª Isabel Romero Ruiz

The presence of Empire in the Victorian period and its aftermath has become a new trope in neo-Victorian studies, introducing a postcolonial approach to the re-writing of the Victorian past. This, combined with the metaphor of the sea as a symbol of British colonial and postcolonial maritime power, makes of Joseph O’Connor’s novel Star of the Sea a story of love, vulnerability and identity. Set in the winter of 1847, it tells the story of the voyage of a group of Irish refugees travelling to New York trying to escape from the Famine. The colonial history of Ireland and its long tradition of English dominance becomes the setting of the characters’ fight for survival. Parallels with today’s refugees can be established after Ireland’s transformation into an immigration country. Following Judith Butler’s and Sarah Bracke’s notions of vulnerability and resistance together with ideas about ‘the other’ in postcolonial neo-Victorianism, this article aims to analyse the role of Empire in the construction of an Irish identity associated with poverty and disease, together with its re-emergence and reconstruction through healing in a contemporary globalised scenario. For this purpose, I resort to Edward Said’s and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s ideas about imperialism and new imperialism along with Elizabeth Ho’s concept of ‘the Neo-Victorian-at-sea’ and some critics’ approaches to postcolonial Gothic. My main contention throughout the text will be that vulnerability in resistance can foster healing.


Author(s):  
Delyash N. Muzraevа ◽  

Introduction. The written heritage of Kalmyk Buddhist priests, their daily practices, liturgical repertoire still remain a poorly studied page in the history of Buddhism among Mongolic peoples in the 20th century. The survived collections, clusters of religious texts prove instrumental in revealing most interesting aspects of their activities, efforts aimed at preservation of Buddhist teachings, their popularization and dissemination among believers. Goals. The paper examines two Oirat copies of the Precepts of the Omniscient [Manjushri] from N. D. Kichikov’s collection, transliterates and translates the original texts, provides a comparative analysis, and notes differences therein that had resulted from the scribe’s work, thereby introducing the narratives into scientific circulation. Materials. The article describes two Oirat manuscripts bound in the form of a notebook and contained in different bundles/collections of Buddhist religious texts stored at Ketchenery Museum of Local History and Lore. As is known, the collection is largely compiled from texts that belonged to the famous Kalmyk Buddhist monk Namka (N. D. Kichikov). Results. The analysis of the two Oirat texts with identical titles — Precepts of the Omniscient [Manjushri] — shows that their contents coincide generally but both the texts contain fragmented omissions (separate words, one or several sentences) that are present in the other. At the same time, when omitting fragments of the text addressed to the monastic community, the scribe was obviously guided by that those would be superfluous for the laity. Thus, our comparative analysis of the two manuscript copies demonstrates the sometimes dramatic role of the scribe in transmitting Buddhist teachings.


Author(s):  
Anders Lundgren

The reception of Mendeleev’s periodic system in Sweden was not a dramatic episode. The system was accepted almost without discussion, but at the same time with no exclamation marks or any other outbursts of enthusiasm. There are but a few weak short-lived critical remarks. That was all. I will argue that the acceptance of the system had no overwhelming effect on chemical practice in Sweden. At most, it strengthened its characteristics. It is actually possible to argue that chemistry in Sweden was more essential for the periodic system than the other way around. My results might therefore suggest that we perhaps have to reevaluate the role of Mendeleev’s system in the history of chemistry. Chemistry in Sweden at the end of the nineteenth century can be characterized as a classifying science, with chemists very skilled in analysis, and as mainly an atheoretical science, which treated theories at most only as hypothesis—the slogan of many chemists being “facts persist, theories vanish.” Thanks to these characteristics, by the end of the nineteenth century, chemistry in Sweden had developed into, it must be said, a rather boring chemistry. This is obviously not to say that it is boring to study such a chemistry. Rather, it gives us an example of how everyday science, a part of science too often neglected but a part that constitutes the bulk of all science done, is carried out. One purpose of this study is to see how a theory, considered to be important in the history of chemistry, influenced everyday science. One might ask what happened when a daring chemistry met a boring chemistry. What happened when a theory, which had been created by a chemist who has been described as “not a laboratory chemist,” met an atheoretical experimental science of hard laboratory work and, as was said, the establishment of facts? Furthermore, could we learn something about the role of the periodic system per se from the study of such a meeting? Mendeleev’s system has often been considered important for teaching, and his attempts to write a textbook are often taken as the initial step in the chain of thoughts that led to the periodic system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahim Velayati ◽  
Hamid Khanali

Archaeological surveys always present deep information about history of any given geographical area to archaeologists. Archaeologists have surveyed many Iranian regional areas, however, Bostan Abad, Eastern Azerbaijan, is among regions rarely archaeologically investigated. Present paper involves in analyzing settlement patterns and typology of Bronze Age of Bostan Abad according archaeological surveys at 1391 and 1392. Accordingly, some 36 Bronze Age sites identified, with two sites of Early Bronze Age, while the other remains date to Middle and Late Bronze Ages. It should be noted that archaeological survey based on surficial collected data, which make distinguishing Middle and Late Bronze Age a hard task. Conclusions signify from two aspects: from one hand, one should point to a geographical key role in locating settlements, on the other hand, typology of Potteries indicate inter regional communications, and strategic location of Bostan Abad. This zone is one of the most important hallways between Central Plateau of Iran and Northwest of Iran; however, regional investigations and connective role of the region and expansion of various cultures could reveal significant implications.


2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmood Vaezi

The application of the word ‘dialogue’ has a life as long as history and the old texts of religions are full of dialogues prevailing among different religious people. Reviewing and analysing the background and history of religious dialogue in the world, more than anything else, we understand the principle of necessity and position of dialogue as a common and public principle among religions, which in a broader view has been acceptable to most, if not all, religious people. This issue indicates that a spiritual and inherent sense is within the substantial core of all humans towards dialogue, which as a natural and inherent feature has been prevailing from the beginning of creation up to the present, and it will continue so. Firstly, employing the dialogue or saying and listening either to the inner self or the other people, when it is being formed with a commitment to human principles, will make human overpass a self-oriented attitude and recognition other persons. Secondly, it makes him/her listen and tolerate others’ views. Thirdly, it makes him/her be committed towards the principle of tolerance and recognise of the other(s) as well. On this basis, the continuity of the principle of dialogue and emphasis on this innate tradition will cause the spread of the culture of tolerance, peace and tranquillity. Furthermore, distancing from dialogue will lay down grounds for a self-oriented attitude, prejudice, pride, omission of others and violence in human society. On this case, while giving originality to dialogue, Islam clearly and firmly puts dialogue forth as a basic principle in human relations and a base to achieve the common ideals of human communities, which are discussed in detail in this article.


Author(s):  
Charles Lowney

In this paper I address some of John Dewey’s more generally applicable criticisms of the philosophic "tradition," and show how his criticisms stem from his naturalistic approach to philosophy. This topic is important because Dewey gives great insight into discussions that are relevant today regarding the role of philosophy. In 1935 he anticipated many of the criticisms of the "later" Wittgenstein regarding the establishment of post facto standards as a cause, the separation of language from behavior and the privatization of mind—yet Dewey still finds use for metaphysics or "thinking at large." I believe the essence of Dewey’s criticisms are found in a few key distinctions. Therefore, I cover the history of philosophy with blanket criticisms of the blanket categories of "classical" and of "modern" thought. For Dewey, the fundamental error characteristic of both Greek and Modern thinking is the artificial bifurcation of our thoughts, feelings and actions from the natural world. As I see it, the heart of this metaphysical mistake is captured by the distinctions he draws between the "instrumental" and "consummatory," and between the "precarious" and "stable."


Author(s):  
Paolo Desideri

This chapter discusses first the general cosmological principles which lie behind Plutarch’s historiographical work, such as can be recovered through significant passages of his Delphic Dialogues. Second, it investigates the reasons why Plutarch wrote biographies, and more specifically parallel biographies, instead of outright histories: in this way, Plutarch aimed to emphasize, on the one hand, the dominant role of individual personalities in the political world of his own time, and, on the other hand, the mutual and exclusive relevance of Greece and Rome in the history of human culture. Third, the chapter seeks to connect the rise-and-fall pattern, typical of biography, with the general rise-and-fall pattern which Plutarch recognizes both in the Greek and in the Roman civilizations; through that connection one can rule out the idea that Plutarch had any providential view of history. Finally, some reflections are offered on Nietzsche’s special interest in Plutarch’s biographies.


1966 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O. Aydelotte

It has never been established how far, in the early Victorian House of Commons, voting on issues followed party lines. It might in general seem plausible to assume — what political oratory generally contrives to suggest — that there are ideological disagreements between parties and that it makes a difference which of two major opposing parties is in control of the Government. This is, indeed, the line taken by some students of politics. A number of historians and political observers have, however, inclined to the contrary opinion and have, for various reasons, tended to play down the role of issues in party disputes. Much of what has been written on political history and, in particular, on the history of Parliament has had a distinct anti-ideological flavor.One line of argument is that issues on which disagreement exists are not always party questions. Robert Trelford McKenzie begins his study of British parties by pointing out that Parliament just before 1830 was “divided on a great issue of principle, namely Catholic emancipation,” and just after 1830, on another, parliamentary reform. He continues: “But on neither issue was there a clear division along strict party lines.” The distinguished administration of Sir Robert Peel in the 1840s was based, according to Norman Gash, on a party “deeply divided both on policy and personalities.” The other side of the House at that time is usually thought to have been even more disunited. It has even been suggested that, in the confused politics of the mid-nineteenth century, the wordsconservativeandradicaleach meant so many different things that they cannot be defined in terms of programs and objectives and that these polarities may more usefully be considered in terms of tempers and approaches.


Bionomina ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taizo KIJIMA ◽  
Thierry HOQUET

This paper focuses on terminological issues related to the translation of Darwin’s concept of “natural selection” in Japanese. We analyze the historical fate of the different phrases used as translations, from the first attempts in the late 1870s until recent times. Our first finding is that the first part of the Japanese translations never changed during the period considered: “natural” was constantly rendered by “shizen”. By contrast, the Japanese terms for “selection” have dramatically changed over time. We identify some major breaks in the history of Japanese translations for “natural selection”. From the end of the 1870s to the early 1880s, several translations were suggested in books and periodicals: “shizen kanbatsu”, “shizen tōta”, “tensen”. Katō Hiroyuki adopted “shizen tōta” in 1882 and he undeniably played an important role in spreading this phrase as the standard translation for “natural selection”. The most common Japanese translation of the Origin during the first half of the 20th century (by Oka Asajirō in 1905) also used “shizen tōta”. Adramatic shift occurred after WWII, from “tōta” to “sentaku”. While a linear interpretation could suggest a move from a “bad” translation to a better one, a closer analysis leads to more challenging insights. Especially we stress the role of the kanji restriction policy, which specified which kanji should be taught in schools and thus should be used in textbooks: “tōta” was not included in the list, which may have led to the good fortune of “sentaku” in the 1950–1960s. We think the hypothesis of the influence of Chinese translations is not a plausible one. As to conceptual differences between “shizen tōta” and “sentaku”, they remain unconvincing as both terms could be interpreted as a positive or negative process: there is no clear reason to prefer one term over the other from the strict point of view of their meanings or etymology. Then, turning to the way terms are used, we compare translations of natural selection with translations of artificial or sexual selection. First we turn to the field of thremmatology (breeders): there, “tōta” (sometimes spelled in hiragana instead of kanji) often bore the meaning of culling; since 1917, breeders often used “sentaku” as a translation for “selection”. However, quite surprisingly, breeders used two different terms for selection as a practice (“senbatsu”), and “selection” as in “natural selection” (“shizen sentaku”). Finally, we compare possible translations for “sexual selection” and “matechoice”: here again, there are some good reasons to favour “tōta” over “sentaku” to avoid lexical confusion.


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