scholarly journals Conspiracy Theories as Superstition: Today’s Mirror Image in Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

Philosophies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Jamie van der Klaauw
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Intervention ◽  
Epistemological Dimension ◽  
Political Disputes

The contention in this paper is that the theological-political disputes Spinoza was concerned with 350 years ago are similar to the conspiratorial disputes we experience today. The world in Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus, a political intervention in his time, serves as a “mirror image”, that is to say, it deals with the same problem we face today albeit in a different mode. Understanding our contemporary condition under the auspices of a Spinozist perspective, problems in countermeasures to the conspiratorial disputes come to light. Scholarly work and practice focus on the epistemological dimension of conspiracy theories, tying in the extent to which they are problematic to the degree in which they deal in untruth. However, the lesson from Spinoza’s analysis of the theological-political disputes is that such theories do not deal in truth, but, in affect, they do not spring from a lack of education but a lack of certainty. The work of Spinoza opens up a different approach, and if our aim is like that of the TTP, to defend political life against the threat of civil war, such a different approach is in order.

Panji Hitam Dari Arah Timur

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Dadi Herdiansah
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Conflict Area ◽  
Middle East Conflict ◽  
The World ◽  
Information Spread

One of the information spread about the arrival of the Mahdi priest was that he led the war troops by carrying a black banner from the east. This information comes from several histories in several hadith books. Pro contra has occurred in response to this history. The Muslim groups who believe in the truth of this black banner tradition have flocked from all corners of the world to the Middle East conflict area which is believed and believed there is a group of mujahids carrying black banner as mentioned by the hadith. Even in the conflict area there was mutual claim between the factions that their faction was mentioned by the hadith carrying its black banner, so that even from one another, civil war was not inevitable in some places. But what is the origin of the hadith? This note is the adoptive writer to criticize the hadith by issuing all of his paths with the takhrīj al-hadīth method, Jarh wa ta'dīl and ‘Ilalu al-hadīth.

9/11 and Armageddon: the Christian Right and George W. Bush

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Göran Gunner
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Christian Right ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Religious Leader ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The World ◽  
Mega Church ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Jerry Falwell ◽  
High Degree

Authors from the Christian Right in the USA situate the September 11 attack on New York and Washington within God's intentions to bring America into the divine schedule for the end of the world. This is true of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, and other leading figures in the ‘Christian Coalition’. This article analyses how Christian fundamentalists assess the roles of the USA, the State of Israel, Islam, Iraq, the European Union and Russia within what they perceive to be the divine plan for the future of the world, especially against the background of ‘9/11’. It argues that the ideas of the Christian Right and of President George W. Bush coalesce to a high degree. Whereas before 9/11 many American mega-church preachers had aspirations to direct political life, after the events of that day the President assumes some of the roles of a mega-religious leader.

Princes and Parliaments in the Arab World

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Herb
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World

Several Arab monarchies have held reasonably free elections to parliaments, though all remain authoritarian. This article compares the Arab monarchies with parliaments in other parts of the world, including both those that became democracies, and those that did not. From this I derive a set of prerequisites, potential pitfalls, and expected stages in the monarchical path toward democracy. This helps us to understand not only the democratic potential of the parliamentary experiments in the Arab monarchies, but also the role these parliaments play in the political life of these authoritarian regimes.

Church and State

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

Chapter 3’s discussion of kingdoms and orders in the context of political life leads naturally into the topic of this chapter: the church, the state, and their relationship. The present chapter locates the state (or, better, political authority in general) in relationship to Chapter 3’s categories by presenting it as one of the orders by which God’s structures the world. It is an important actor in the temporal kingdom, where God has ordained it to preserve the world through law. The church in its essence is an agent of the spiritual kingdom, bearing God’s redemptive word to the world. The themes of preservation and redemption, the kingdoms, and the orders find many of their concrete expressions in themes of the church, the state, and their relationship.

scholarly journals Just world beliefs, personal success and beliefs in conspiracy theories

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Composite Measure ◽  
Just World Beliefs ◽  
Just World ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Ideology ◽  
Personal Success

AbstractDo those who believe in conspiracy theories feel less happy and healthy than others? Do they believe the world is simply unjust? This study was concerned with how demographic factors, personal ratings of success, personal ideology (political and religious beliefs) and Just World Beliefs are related to Conspiracy Theories. In total, 406 participants completed two questionnaires: Just World scale (Rubin & Peplau, 1975) and Conspiracy Theories Inventory (Swami et al., 2010) and provided various personal details. The Just World Scale yielded two scores: Just and Unjust beliefs. Participants also reported on their health, happiness and success and a reliable composite measure of well-being was computed. A regression showed younger males, with Unjust World beliefs and politically right-wing views, were more likely to endorse Conspiracy Theories. The discussion revolved around explaining individual differences in accepting these theories. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Polish Elections 1919-1928

Slavic Review ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 653-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Groth
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Life ◽  
National Elections ◽  
The World ◽  
Cast Doubt

Much valuable information on the dynamics of Poland's political life between the world wars is still to be uncovered in the records of national elections. Of particular interest are the contests of 1919, 1922, and 1928, since in all of these elections political parties were still allowed to participate directly (as they were not in 1935 and 1938), and governmental restraint and manipulation were not yet so massive as to cast doubt on the entire result (as in 1930).

Lucan’s Follies: Memory and Ruin in a Civil-War Landscape

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Spencer
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The World ◽  
Old Roman

‘uilia sunt nobis quaecumque prioribus annis uidimus, et sordet quidquid spectauimus olim.’‘all the things which we saw in former years are worthless to us, and squalid - everything that in times past we gazed upon (esteemed/respected).’Calpurnius Siculus, Eclogue 7.45–6When Calpurnius’ old Roman tells Corydon, the country-boy fresh in town, that nothing that one has seen before can prepare one adequately for Nero's Roman spectacle (probably the games of 57 CE), it is almost impossible not to recall the magnificent loathing that Suetonius (Nero 12.1-2) and Tacitus (Annals 13.31) express for the new emperor's extravaganzas. Eleanor Leach comments that: ‘The builder of the amphitheatre [Nero] has combed the world for his marvels, creating a new cosmos within his gilded wooden oval.’ This spectacular new cosmos maps out a world in which pastoral can no longer exist because Nero has distorted the notion of rus in urbe to such an extent that Calpurnius’ only recourse is obituary. Here, Calpurnius’ eclogue functions not just as an elegy for pastoral, but as a poem which opens up a dialogue with Lucan's civil war landscape; in this world, metaphorical and real species of ruin take on an ever greater cultural urgency as means of interpreting the dramatic artifice of Rome's present.

De journalistiek voorbij

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Deuze
Keyword(s):  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Journalism Studies ◽  
The World

Journalism studies beyond institutional journalism Journalism studies beyond institutional journalism Journalism studies and education is growing rapidly around the world, at a time when the audience for news seems to be disappearing. Yet most of the scholarly work on journalism keeps a rather narrowly defined institutional focus on the news as an industry. In this essay an argument is made for a journalism studies that goes beyond this kind of journalism.

Between the utopian imaginaries of literature and international law: The question of the insurgent child in international legal discourse and Kris Montañez’s Youth

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
José Duke S. Bagulaya
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Utopian Vision ◽  
The World ◽  
Realistic Representation ◽  
The One

Abstract This article argues that international law and the literature of civil war, specifically the narratives from the Philippine communist insurgency, present two visions of the child. On the one hand, international law constructs a child that is individual and vulnerable, a victim of violence trapped between the contending parties. Hence, the child is a person who needs to be insulated from the brutality of the civil war. On the other hand, the article reads Filipino writer Kris Montañez’s stories as revolutionary tales that present a rational child, a literary resolution of the dilemmas of a minor’s participation in the world’s longest-running communist insurgency. Indeed, the short narratives collected in Kabanbanuagan (Youth) reveal a tension between a minor’s right to resist in the context of the people’s war and the juridical right to be insulated from the violence. As their youthful bodies are thrown into the world of the state of exception, violence forces children to make the choice of active participation in the hostilities by symbolically and literally assuming the roles played by their elders in the narrative. The article concludes that while this narrative resolution appears to offer a realistic representation and closure, what it proffers is actually a utopian vision that is in tension with international law’s own utopian vision of children. Thus, international law and the stories of youth in Kabanbanuagan provide a powerful critique of each other’s utopian visions.

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