scholarly journals Alister Hardy: A Naturalist of the Spiritual Realm

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 713
Author(s):  
Alexander Moreira-Almeida ◽  
Marta Helena de Freitas ◽  
Bettina E. Schmidt

Alister Hardy was one of the pioneers of the scientific study of spiritual experiences (SE); however, his work and insights have not received the attention they deserve. This paper, based on an in-depth analysis of Hardy’s own writings, presents his main methodological and epistemological contributions for advancing the investigation of SE. Hardy’s main epistemological propositions were as follows: the transcendent as the core of spirituality and SE as a major source of R/S beliefs; a nondogmatic approach, acknowledging that Darwinian evolution does not imply materialism and that mind is not reducible to matter; and a call for studies of psychic experiences and considering an expanded naturalism, including the “para-physical”, that could lead to a perennial philosophy and a natural theology. His methods focused on phenomenological classification and the development of a natural history of SE based on studies with proper ecological validity on the experimental and the experiential, mixing large surveys of the general population with in-depth qualitative studies of the most prominent cases. In addition, it would be worth investigating developments of SE throughout a person’s life. Bringing back Hardy’s contributions will foster a better understanding of the history of the scientific study of SE and provide key insights for moving it forward.

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-647
Author(s):  
Rebecca Lemov

This article traces the rise of “predictive” attitudes to crime prevention. After a brief summary of the current spread of predictive policing based on person-centered and place-centered mathematical models, an episode in the scientific study of future crime is examined. At UCLA between 1969 and 1973, a well-funded “violence center” occasioned great hopes that the quotient of human “dangerousness”—potential violence against other humans—could be quantified and thereby controlled. At the core of the center, under the direction of interrogation expert and psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West, was a project to gather unprecedented amounts of behavioral data and centrally store it to identify emergent crime. Protesters correctly seized on the violence center as a potential site of racially targeted experimentation in psychosurgery and an example of iatrogenic science. Yet the eventual spectacular failure of the center belies an ultimate success: its data-driven vision itself predicted the Philip K. Dick–style PreCrime policing now emerging. The UCLA violence center thus offers an alternative genealogy to predictive policing. This essay is part of a special issue entitled Histories of Data and the Database edited by Soraya de Chadarevian and Theodore M. Porter.


Author(s):  
K. Valentyrova

The history of scientific study of medieval edged weapons dates back over 200 years. During this time a lot of information has been accumulated and this knowledge is a necessary basis for further research. However, the methods and approaches by which that data was obtained deserve special attention. Traditions to collect ancient artifacts significantly influenced the formation of scientific interest in bladed weapons. The first attempts to analyze the material were related the need to catalog it. For the 19th century, we can talk about different scientific works in which the main or significant attention was paid to edged weapons. Shaping of approaches to the study of ancient weapons which are central today developed gradually. Standards of description of items, typology, and technology and material analysis, studying of artifacts in a broad cultural context became the main vectors of work with medieval edged weapon. At the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries development of chemical and physical sciences, the complication of the methodological apparatus and the accumulation of archaeological material narrowly focused works built on in-depth analysis of small groups of artifacts and use of specific research methods. The interdisciplinary approach, which involves the research of one problem by specialists in different fields of science, has taken a significant place in the edged weapon studying. Thus, the further development of the classical approaches, combined with the new ones emerging at the boundaries of the disciplines, opens up new opportunities for gaining the most accurate knowledge about past through the study of blade weapons. Like any part of the past, blade weapons as a source can be perceived by the researcher entirely subjectively, so it is important to understand the limits of this perception and the accents it provides. The analysis of the process of formation of research strategies and methods which widely used today makes it possible to determine further optimal ways of their development. As well as it allows assuming which previously obtained ideas and assertion require verification.


2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Stefania Palmisano

This article treats the Reconstructors, a Catholic Community founded in Italy by the Jesuit Vittorio Cappelletto. After a period in India at the school of Anandamurti, the leader of the Ananda Marga movement, Cappelletto’s spiritual experiences induced him to import the teachings received from the Indian guru into Christianity. After presenting the salient stages in the history of the Reconstructors, this article analyses the doctrinal structure and the ritual practices of the movement. Next, it explores the movement’s esoteric bases and the relationships between Cappelletto and his disciples. Finally, the “story behind the story” is engaged, along with reflections upon the contingencies and dilemmas of fieldwork.


Author(s):  
Ardhin Primadewi ◽  
Mukhtar Hanafi

Higher education in Indonesia is regulated by the government with the Higher Education Accreditation (APT). In APT 3.0, Higher Education is required to be able to present performance data in the form of a Higher Education Performance Report (LKPT) as a reference in making a Self-Evaluation Report (LED). However, it is necessary to have an in-depth analysis to determine the gaps in the data required by Higher Education according to the APT 3.0 standard. The process of integrating the samples refer to the Zachman Framework (ZF). The results of this simplification that the data is available in support of APT 3.0 approximately 79% of the total data both inside and outside the core business of Higher Education and is well managed in an integrated database. The remaining 21% of the data that are not available is spread across several information systems, especially SIMMawa, SIMHumas and Cooperation, and SIMAKU. This shows that the change in accreditation standards that have been in effect since April 2019 has created a significant data gap for Higher Education. This research also produced an alternative model of integrated data management that can be used as input for Information System developers in the Higher Education scope.


Author(s):  
Elena N. NARKHOVA ◽  
Dmitry Yu. NARKHOV

This article analyzes the degree of demand for works of art (films and television films and series, literary and musical works, works of monumental art) associated with the history of the Great Patriotic War among contemporary students. This research is based on the combination of two theories, which study the dynamics and statics of culture in the society — the theory of the nucleus and periphery by Yu. M. Lotman and the theory of actual culture by L. N. Kogan. The four waves of research (2005, 2010, 2015, 2020) by the Russian Society of Socio¬logists (ROS) have revealed a series of works in various genres on this topic in the core structure and on the periphery of the current student culture; this has also allowed tracing the dynamics of demand and the “movement” of these works in the sociocultural space. The authors introduce the concept of the archetype of the echo of war. The high student recognition of works of all historical periods (from wartime to the present day) is shown. A significant complex of works has been identified, forming two contours of the periphery. Attention is drawn to the artistic work of contemporary students as a way to preserve the historical memory of the Great Patriotic War. This article explains the necessity of preserving the layer of national culture in order to reproduce the national identity in the conditions of informational and ideological pluralism of the post-Soviet period. The authors note the differentiation of youth due to the conditions and specifics of socialization in the polysemantic sociocultural space.


Author(s):  
Hideko Abe

This article discusses how the intersection of grammatical gender and social gender, entwined in the core structure of language, can be analyzed to understand the dynamic status of selfhood. After reviewing a history of scholarship that demonstrates this claim, the discussion analyzes the language practices of transgender individuals in Japan, where transgender identity is currently understood in terms of sei-dōitsusei-shōgai (gender identity disorder). Based on fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2017, the analysis reveals how individuals identifying with sei-dōitsusei-shōgai negotiate subject positions by manipulating the specific indexical meanings attached to grammatical structures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Bergqvist ◽  
François Hemery ◽  
Arnaud Jannic ◽  
Salah Ferkal ◽  
Pierre Wolkenstein

AbstractNeurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) is an inherited, autosomal-dominant, tumor predisposition syndrome with a birth incidence as high as 1:2000. A patient with NF1 is four to five times more likely to develop a malignancy as compared to the general population. The number of epidemiologic studies on lymphoproliferative malignancies in patients with NF1 is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence rate of lymphoproliferative malignancies (lymphoma and leukemia) in NF1 patients followed in our referral center for neurofibromatoses. We used the Informatics for Integrated Biology and the Bedside (i2b2) platform to extract information from the hospital’s electronic health records. We performed a keyword search on clinical notes generated between Jan/01/2014 and May/11/2020 for patients aged 18 years or older. A total of 1507 patients with confirmed NF1 patients aged 18 years and above were identified (mean age 39.2 years; 57% women). The total number of person-years in follow-up was 57,736 (men, 24,327 years; women, 33,409 years). Mean length of follow-up was 38.3 years (median, 36 years). A total of 13 patients had a medical history of either lymphoma or leukemia, yielding an overall incidence rate of 22.5 per 100,000 (0.000225, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.000223–0.000227). This incidence is similar to that of the general population in France (standardized incidence ratio 1.07, 95% CI 0.60–1.79). Four patients had a medical history leukemia and 9 patients had a medical history of lymphoma of which 7 had non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and 2 had Hodgkin lymphoma. Our results show that adults with NF1 do not have an increased tendency to develop lymphoproliferative malignancies, in contrast to the general increased risk of malignancy. While our results are consistent with the recent population-based study in Finland, they are in contrast with the larger population-based study in England whereby NF1 individuals were found to be 3 times more likely to develop both non-Hodgkin lymphoma and lymphocytic leukemia. Large-scale epidemiological studies based on nationwide data sets are thus needed to confirm our findings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. S105-S105
Author(s):  
Blanca Soto ◽  
Miriam Canet ◽  
Diego Erdmenger

Abstract Background Sexual violence is a global health problem, in terms of age and sex, showing a significant negative impact on health. Incidence in Guatemala is among the highest of the region reaching an average of 23 cases reported daily nationally per statistics from the Ministry of Health in 2015. Methods Retrospective analysis of the database of all sexual violence cases reported from a secondary -level national hospital in Guatemala from January 2005 to September 2015 (period A) and in-depth analysis on demographic and epidemiological data along with information of the follow-up of cases between January 2012 and September 2015 (period B) was performed. Results Period A: 500 cases; female (96%; 481/500). Assault occurred between 16–20 years (34%; 163/481) 11–15 years (22.25%; 107/481), and 21–30 years (22.04%; 106/481). From all reported male cases, 73.68% (14/19) occurred under 15 years. Period B: 154/217 (70.96%) cases included; female (95.45%; 147/154), mean age: 17.87 years. Assault occurred in public spaces (57.14%; 88/154) and victim’s home (29.87%; 46/154). Almost 13% of victims reported history of previous assault, 5.84% by the same aggressor. More than one aggressor participated in 36.37% of assaults. Physical violence was associated in 57.79% of cases. Most victims (92.76%; 141/152) consulted within 72 hours of the assault. HIV, VDRL, and Hepatitis B testing performed in 100, 52, and 33.77%, respectively, were negative. Follow-up visits at 3, 6, and 12 months after the aggression were attended by 20.78% (30/154), 1.95% (3/154), and 1.95% (3/154) of victims, respectively. Psychology support was completed only in 18.18% (28/154). Emergency contraception was provided when indicated; pregnancy as result of the aggression was reported in nine cases (5.84%). Conclusion The study shows that young women were the most vulnerable group for sexual violence. There is a lack of multidisciplinary approach and follow-up. Interventions on infectious diseases screening have to be optimized to reduce the risk of ETS transmission. This evidence supports the need for a specialized clinic to ensure access to comprehensive health services for victims. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


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