Holism, Chinese Medicine and Systems Ideologies: Rewriting the Past to Imagine the Future

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Scheid
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Us ◽  
Shared Objective ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter explores the articulations that have emerged over the last half century between various types of holism, Chinese medicine and systems biology. Given the discipline’s historical attachments to a definition of ‘medicine’ that rather narrowly refers to biomedicine as developed in Europe and the US from the eighteenth century onwards, the medical humanities are not the most obvious starting point for such an inquiry. At the same time, they do offer one advantage over neighbouring disciplines like medical history, anthropology or science and technology studies for someone like myself, a clinician as well as a historian and anthropologist: their strong commitment to the objective of facilitating better medical practice. This promise furthermore links to the wider project of critique, which, in Max Horkheimer’s definition of the term, aims at change and emancipation in order ‘to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them’. If we take the critical medical humanities as explicitly affirming this shared objective and responsibility, extending the discipline’s traditional gaze is not a burden but becomes, in fact, an obligation.

LIBERAL ECONOMICS AND THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SIN: CHRISTIAN AND STOIC VESTIGES IN ECONOMIC RATIONALITY

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leland Glenna
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Economic Rationality ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ecclesiastical Law ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractThe recognition that ecological problems often extend beyond nation-state boundaries has prompted environmentalists, politicians, and academics to call for and generate problem-solving discourses meant to be global in perspective. Free-market rhetoric has emerged as one of the more prominent of the global discourses, even though the free market's commodification of human beings and nature causes many environmental problems. To discredit this economic rationality, many scholars have compared it to religion. These comparisons are intriguing, but they have lacked the critical analysis necessary to appear as anything more than name-calling. This paper clarifies the definition of religion and uses it to examine the origins of economic rationality's fundamental presupposition—that greedy self-interested competition generates more social benefits than altruistic cooperation—within eighteenth-century Natural Law vs. Ecclesiastical Law debates. Despite economic rationality's adoption of sophisticated empirical methods and mathematical rigor over the past two centuries, it is a religion because it retains vestiges of the Protestant Christian and Stoic beliefs of how social life is governed by supernatural intervention when it uncritically promotes policies based on that presupposition. Recognizing economic rationality is a religion may benefit those who are striving to develop systems of governance based on democratic principles by leading to a greater understanding of economic rationality's normative attraction.

To Make the Past Public

2020 ◽  
pp. 189-206
Author(s):  
Colin Foss
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Book Publishing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Second Empire ◽  
Book Publishing Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Revolutionary Politics ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Shed Light

This chapter deals with the kind of revolution France was undergoing during the Siege, and particularly how the book publishing industry—which created more lasting, less ephemeral literature than other sites of production—conceptualized this revolutionary moment. Publishers tended to look towards the past, rather than the future, to find their way out of the political instability of the Siege. Incarnated in the revival of the eighteenth-century libelle, the fixation on the perceived crimes of previous governments created an artificial revolution in print, one in which future change seemed unnecessary. This was a decidedly anti-revolutionary politics that attempted to build complacency rather than incite action. To make a break with the past, to turn public opinion against the politics of the Second Empire that had just fallen, Parisian publishers turned to the etymological definition of publication: to make matters public. The Siege saw the publication of hundreds of books that claimed to expose secrets and shed light on lies. The accusatory publications of the Siege exposed the crimes, both real and imagined, of the Second Empire.

The Status of Animals in Scottish Enlightenment Philosophy

2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Wolloch
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Common ◽  
Social Improvement ◽  
John Gregory ◽  
Enlightenment Philosophy

This article examines the consideration of animals by various eighteenth-century Scottish philosophers, with special attention given to the physician and philosopher John Gregory, who utilized the comparison of human beings with animals as a starting point for a discussion about human moral and social improvement. In so doing Gregory, like most of his contemporary fellow Scottish philosophers, exemplified the basic anthropocentrism of the common early modern consideration of animals.

Lytton Strachey's Conception of Biography

PMLA ◽  
1951 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-315
Author(s):  
Charles Richard Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Past ◽  
A Value ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Point Of Reference ◽  
Individual Human

Human beings are too important to be treated as mere symptoms of the past. They have a value which is independent of any temporal processes—which is eternal, and must be felt for its own sake.“ These two sentences, embedded in the well-known Preface to Eminent Victorians, must always be the starting point and a constant point of reference in any discussion of Strachey's conception of biography. The basis of all good biography must be, he firmly held, the humanistic respect for men—men in their separateness as distinct from lower creatures and in their separateness apart from economical, political, ethical, and religious theories; men in their separateness as distinct from one another, men as individuals, various, living, free. It has been well said that Strachey wrote with ”a glowing conviction that character is the one thing that counts in life“ and with a realization that individual human beings, however simple they may appear, are enigmatical, complex, and compact of contending elements. Each person carries his secret within him, and the biographer is one who has the gift for discerning what it is. Hence individual human beings are not only highly important; they are also highly interesting. The puzzle which the biographer has to solve in dealing with ordinary people is fascinating enough; but when the subject is a great man, the biographer works with his problem in an atmosphere of intense excitement, for about all great men there is something wondrous and incredible.

scholarly journals HEALTHCARE QUALITY AND NARRATIVE MEDICINE

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (15) ◽  
pp. 1404-1413
Author(s):  
Leyla Savsar ◽  
Mehmet Savsar
Keyword(s):  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Healthcare Quality ◽  
Narrative Medicine ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Quality Healthcare ◽  
The Past

Healthcare has been one of the most vital endeavors in human life during the entire history of humanity. In the past two millennia, all efforts and expertise are put into healthcare in order to maintain human beings in healthy condition. While the science and technology in medical field has advanced incredibly, some serious issues remain as problems in healthcare activities that need attention. Two issues that have been researched and discussed in the literature during the past century are quality and ethical problems in healthcare. Parallel to these issues is a new branch of research, called medical humanities, which attempts to emphasize the subjective experience of patients within the objective and scientific world of medicine, where literature plays a major role to influence and enrich medical practice. In this paper, we try to summarize basic types of human errors, medical malpractices, causes of quality problems, and ethical issues in healthcare systems. We also try to present our views on healthcare quality and ethics and their relations to narrative medicine with an attempt to discourse the prospects of improving healthcare quality through narrative medicine. Keywords: Healthcare quality, healthcare errors, medical ethics, medical humanities, narrative medicine

Part 3 Vulnerable Groups, 3.5 Minorities

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bielefeldt Heiner, Prof ◽  
Ghanea Nazila, Dr ◽  
Wiener Michael, Dr
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter addresses issues concerning the rights of persons belonging to minorities in the area of religion or belief. Unlike in many traditional concepts of ‘minority protection’, which typically singled out specific groups for specific protection, modern human rights law is not based on any essentialist notions of pre-defined minorities, but always takes as its starting point the self-definition of human beings, who should be free to express their identities as individuals and in community with others. The entry point for justifying particular attention and additional measures of empowerment is the experience of increased vulnerability, often amounting to forced assimilation. Persons belonging to religious minorities need an adequate infrastructure which allows them to develop their community life in a sustainable manner, if they so wish. Safeguarding the rights of persons belonging to minorities also requires measures against discrimination, not least by tackling prejudices and stereotypes. This chapter also explores issues concerning religious practices of indigenous peoples.

scholarly journals Unexpected Discoveries Should Be Reconsidered in Science—A Look to the Past?

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (16) ◽  
pp. 3973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Foletti ◽  
Stefano Fais
Keyword(s):  
Psychotropic Drugs ◽  
Lysergic Acid ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Otto Warburg ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Past ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Level

From the past, we know how much “serendipity” has played a pivotal role in scientific discoveries. The definition of serendipity implies the finding of one thing while looking for something else. The most known example of this is the discovery of penicillin. Fleming was studying “Staphylococcus influenzae” when one of his culture plates became contaminated and developed a mold that created a bacteria-free circle. Then he found within the mold, a substance that proved to be very active against the vast majority of bacteria infecting human beings. Serendipity had a key role in the discovery of a wide panel of psychotropic drugs as well, including aniline purple, lysergic acid diethylamide, meprobamate, chlorpromazine, and imipramine. Actually, many recent studies support a step back in current strategies that could lead to new discoveries in science. This change should seriously consider the idea that to further focus research project milestones that are already too focused could be a mistake. How can you observe something that others did not realize before you? Probably, one pivotal requirement is that you pay a high level of attention on what is occurring all around you. But this is not entirely enough, since, specifically talking about scientific discoveries, you should have your mind sufficiently unbiased from mainstream infrastructures, which normally make you extremely focused on a particular endpoint without paying attention to potential “unexpected discoveries”. Research in medicine should probably come back to the age of innocence and avoid the age of mainstream reports that do not contribute to real advances in the curing of human diseases. Max Planck said “Science progresses not because scientists change their minds, but rather because scientists attached to erroneous views die, and are replaced”, and Otto Warburg used the same words when he realized the lack of acceptance of his ideas. This editorial proposes a series of examples showing, in a practical way, how unfocused research may contribute to very important discoveries in science.

Criticism of Gehlen’s Theory of Instinct-Reduction and Phenomenological Clarification of the Concept of Instinct as the Genetic Origin of Embodied Consciousness

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Nam-In
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Genetic Origin ◽  
The Past ◽  
Embodied Consciousness ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Logical Sense ◽  
Living Being

AbstractIn the past 20 years, the concept of instinct has been discussed in respect to various disciplines such as evolutionary biology, evolutionary psychology, linguistics, ethics, aesthetics, and phenomenology, etc. However, the meaning of instinct still remains unclarified in many respects. In order to overcome this situation, it is necessary to elucidate the genuine meaning of instinct so that the discussion of instinct in these disciplines can be carried out systematically. The objective of this paper is to establish the genuine concept of instinct on the basis of a phenomenological criticism of A. Gehlen’s theory of instinct-reduction. Moreover, it seeks to show that this concept is the genetic origin of the embodied consciousness. According to Gehlen, instinct is defined as Instinkthandlung. However, this definition of instinct is problematic in the formal logical sense, since the definiendum (the instinct) is already included in the definiens (Instinkthandlung). Moreover, it faces different kinds of serious material problems. Criticizing Gehlen’s theory of instinct systematically, I will show that instinct should be redefined as “the innate living force that urges a species of living being to pursue a certain kind of object,” and I will attempt to clarify this definition of instinct in a more detailed manner by offering 11 points. Thereafter, I will argue that Gehlen’s theory of instinct-reduction has to be replaced by the theory of instinct-enlargement in human beings. Finally, I will point out that the genuine concept of instinct is nothing other than the genetic origin of the embodied consciousness.

scholarly journals Metaphysics in a Review of "Karl Popper's Philosophy of Science" (Rationality Without Foundations) by Stefano Gattei

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-318
Author(s):  
Binar Kurnia Prahani ◽  
Sayidah Mahtari ◽  
Suyidno ◽  
Joko Siswanto ◽  
Wahyu Hari Kristiyanto
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Motion Picture Film ◽  
Projected Image ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Metaphysical Realist

This article is the result of a book review of a work by Stefano Gattei. The starting point of Popper's view is that "almost every phase of our scientific development is under metaphysical rule, that is, ideas that are tested, ideas which determine not only what problems we need to explain, but also what kinds of answers we will consider to be one that is important or satisfactory or accepted, and as a remedy, or guarantee, of a previous answer". Popper's indeterminism is important because Popper's custom begins by considering an intuitive Laplacian view of determinism: "the world is like a motion picture film: or a projected image. Parts of the film have proved to be the past. And unproven people are the past. front". Popper has always been claimed to be a metaphysical realist: to him, to be a realist means to think, in covenant with common sense, that the world of his existence is independent of human beings. It means, "my existence will end without the world coming to an end too". As well as other metaphysical positions, realism is a non-testable conjecture: "realism is neither proven nor disproved".

scholarly journals The time of money in finance and US society

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Esposito
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Quantitative Easing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
Opposite Trend ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Definition Of

Traditional societies were defined by a prevalence of the past in the definition of the present. United States (US) society seems to show the opposite trend: the present is defined as the preparation of the future. Financial temporality can be seen as an example of the present use of the future, transforming future possibilities into available wealth. As the financial crisis has shown, however, the temporality of the future is more complex and circular. This article deals with quantitative easing (QE) as a financial instrument with an essentially temporal nature (in the sense that it uses time and acts on the future and on expectations). The success of QE in the US economy reveals essential aspects of US temporality, but also raises questions as to how it may differ from European temporality. The analysis of QE measures and their impact also offers ways to assess whether and by which means politics can intervene into finance, as well as what consequences and uncertainties are created in the process.

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