scholarly journals Place, Non-Place, Multi-Place and the (Non)Possibilities of Identity: Philosophical, Social, and Communicational Aspects

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-84
Author(s):  
Basia Nikiforova

Michel Foucault in the text “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias” wrote that “the present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space”. Space, place, and territories are social productions. Territory is a polysemic concept. Place is “events” created by territories, fluid areas of control produced by territorial negotiation (horizontal dynamics) and negotiations between places (vertical dynamics). Space produces places and is produced by places. Moreover, space, place and territories can be seen as the waves of territorialization and deterritorialization in an endless process. It is a form of seizure in the world, an a priori for Immanuel Kant, an ontological need for Martin Heidegger. Territory is a space, governed by a set of rules, named “code”. Territorialization is then synonymous of a certain codification, or the symbolical organization of space. Places are created by territorializational dynamics. They are the sum of “events”. The place and its territory is not “natural”, but it is a cultural artifact, a social product linked to desire, power and identity. The changes of the functions of places (what Foucault called heterotopy) are an important subject of contemporary studies. There are also many new temporary uses of these spaces and different emerging functions, including new forms of control, access, surveillance, new forms of openness and closeness (passwords, access profiles, etc.). Informational territory creates new heterotopias, new functions for places and a redefinition of social and communicational practices. It is not the end of a concrete place and its territory, but rather, a new meaning, sense, and a function for these spaces. The contemporary meaning of place and space has a visible tendency in creating ambivalence of sacrum and profanum, which means the secularization of the sacred and the sacralization of the secular. One of the sides of this tendency is sacralizing market and marketing the sacral. At the same time space has become a powerful tool of the ideological mobilization of people. The case which is analyzed in some articles in this issue of non-places (factories, department stores, sport complexes, etc.) is an example of absence of cultural references, its denial of a place. Also, the cases of textile factory Drobė and supermarket Prisma which are found in the above-mentioned papers are good examples of a situation when one version of the non-place was changed by another. Place is an essential dimension of human activity and existence. The place and territory are requirements for such a kind of human activity as subsidiarity, struggle for human rights, relation to Others, public experiences, personal and collective identification (“subjective” aspects of the object of identification) including some new aspects of gender, arts, performance in various contexts, the images and dreams about planning environment, borders disappearance and strengthening, the realization of the biopolitical mechanism. At the same time, the borders of a place are particularly revealing a line and a space for a social research, especially in the present era of a growing globalization. Border is a place where “past” and “future” are permanently clashed. On the borders of different places there is no inherently determinated relationship between the past, the present, and the future. Foucault’s idea corresponds with our understanding of space over time and contests the traditional notion of linear time, asserting that concepts of time have been understood in various ways, under varying historical circumstances. A closer analysis of the concept of space and all form of human activity there, is a central focus for contemporary social and humanitarian studies.

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (9999) ◽  
pp. 137-150
Author(s):  
Aivaras Stepukonis ◽  

The article explores a special mode of the human mind outlined in the writings of Max Scheler under the notion of the functionalization of essential (a priori) knowledge. While the concept of a priori was given its profound elaboration in the writings of Immanuel Kant, Scheler applies it with a number of significant modifications. Along with the a priori of objective reality, which is the mind’s first step in grasping the autonomous world, Scheler comes to posit a species of a priori that is subjective. A person’s exposure to an objective essence exercises a special kind of influence on that person’s mind: what was once an objective a priori is appropriated as a subjective a priori, the thing thought becomes a “form” or pattern of thinking, the thing liked becomes a “form” or manner of liking. “Functionalization” characterizes precisely the mind’s ability to transmute the essential knowledge of autonomous reality into subjective a priori forms of knowing and anticipating that reality. This transmutation unfolds on three intuitive planes: that of meaning which is known, that of value which is perceived or apprehended, and that of existence which is encountered in the resistance of objects to the will of the percipient.


2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Emundts

AbstractThis paper suggests an understanding of the concept of “Gewissen” (conscience) according to which Gewissen is best understood as a receptivity to moral principles that corresponds to certain moral feelings. In the first part of the paper this suggestion is spelled out and alternatives to it are discussed. As is shown in the second part, this suggestion goes back to the thought of Immanuel Kant, but it can be developed even if one does not follow Kant in his understanding of the categorical imperative as an a priori principle. However, if one does not follow Kant with respect to the status of the categorical imperative, there are some interesting consequences for our understanding of conscience and especially for our understanding of its relation to knowledge and certainty. These consequences are discussed in the third part of this paper.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-87
Author(s):  
Muhammad R. Nirasma
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  

Sistem filsafat Immanuel Kant, terutama epistemologinya, berusaha untuk menjembatani pertentangan antara rasionalisme dan empirisisme. Strategi yang diambil oleh Kant, adalah membuktikan bahwa pengetahuan manusia sudah senantiasa menyintesiskan unsur a priori dan a posteriori dari pengetahuan. Salah satu implikasi ontologis dari sistem berpikir ini adalah perceraian antara fenomena dan noumena. Yang pertama menjadi objek pengetahuan, sementara yang kedua menjadi objek etika. Noumena, sebagai entitas yang tak terjamah pengetahuan, kerap dipandang sebagai suaka bagi metafisika di dalam filsafat Kant. Tulisan ini berusaha untuk membuktikan tafsiran yang sebaliknya; bahwa noumena sama sekali bukan entitas metafisis, melainkan dunia yang sepenuhnya empiris—pengalaman inderawi murni yang mendahului pengetahuan.


2012 ◽  
Vol 236-237 ◽  
pp. 1216-1221
Author(s):  
Dong Lin Peng ◽  
Ji Sen Yang ◽  
Xi Hou Chen ◽  
Zi Ran Chen

The existing grating type sensors such as optical grating sensor, have long been designed to rely on the precise mechanical space division technology, which is hard to develop without heavy investment. A theoretical concept, time-space coordinate transformation, was presented to realize measuring spatial displacement with time difference. Similar to the principle of circular time grating based on rotating electrical machine, linear time grating is designed based on the principle of linear motor, with which the physical and mathematical models of linear time grating are established. Based on these models linear time grating mechanical structure is designed, which has commercialization value. The resolution of linear time grating can achieve 0.1μm tested by National Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology.


Web Mining ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 322-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixiang Chen ◽  
Richard H. Fowler ◽  
Ada Wai-Chee Fu ◽  
Chunyue Wang

A maximal forward reference of a Web user is a longest consecutive sequence of Web pages visited by the user in a session without revisiting some previously visited page in the sequence. Efficient mining of frequent traversal path patterns, that is, large reference sequences of maximal forward references, from very large Web logs is a fundamental problem in Web mining. This chapter aims at designing algorithms for this problem with the best possible efficiency. First, two optimal linear time algorithms are designed for finding maximal forward references from Web logs. Second, two algorithms for mining frequent traversal path patterns are devised with the help of a fast construction of shallow generalized suffix trees over a very large alphabet. These two algorithms have respectively provable linear and sublinear time complexity, and their performances are analyzed in comparison with the a priori-like algorithms and the Ukkonen algorithm. It is shown that these two new algorithms are substantially more efficient than the a priori-like algorithms and the Ukkonen algorithm.


Author(s):  
Harold Kincaid

Positivism originated from separate movements in nineteenth-century social science and early twentieth-century philosophy. Key positivist ideas were that philosophy should be scientific, that metaphysical speculations are meaningless, that there is a universal and a priori scientific method, that a main function of philosophy is to analyse that method, that this basic scientific method is the same in both the natural and social sciences, that the various sciences should be reducible to physics, and that the theoretical parts of good science must be translatable into statements about observations. In the social sciences and the philosophy of the social sciences, positivism has supported the emphasis on quantitative data and precisely formulated theories, the doctrines of behaviourism, operationalism and methodological individualism, the doubts among philosophers that meaning and interpretation can be scientifically adequate, and an approach to the philosophy of social science that focuses on conceptual analysis rather than on the actual practice of social research. Influential criticisms have denied that scientific method is a priori or universal, that theories can or must be translatable into observational terms, and that reduction to physics is the way to unify the sciences. These criticisms have undercut the motivations for behaviourism and methodological individualism in the social sciences. They have also led many to conclude, somewhat implausibly, that any standards of good social science are merely matters of rhetorical persuasion and social convention.


Author(s):  
Eufemia Tarantino ◽  
Antonio Novelli ◽  
Mariella Aquilino ◽  
Benedetto Figorito ◽  
Umberto Fratino

This paper analyzes two pixel-based classification approaches to support the analysis of land cover transformations based on multitemporal LANDSAT sensor data covering a time space of about 24 years. The research activity presented in this paper was carried out using Lama San Giorgio (Bari, Italy) catchment area as a study case, being this area prone to flooding as proved by its geological and hydrological characteristics and by the significant number of floods occurred in the past. Land cover classes were defined in accordance with on the CN method with the aim of characterizing land use based on attitude to generate runoff. Two different classifiers, i.e. Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) and Java Neural Network Simulator (JavaNNS) models, were compared. The Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) approach was found to be the most reliable and efficient when lacking ground reference data and a priori knowledge on input data distribution.


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (05) ◽  
pp. 1950068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera B. Smirnova ◽  
Anton V. Proskurnikov

In this paper, systems of nonlinear integro-differential Volterra equations are examined that can be represented as feedback interconnections of linear time-invariant block and periodic nonlinearities. The interest in such systems is motivated by their numerous applications in mechanical, electrical and communication engineering; examples include, but are not limited to, models of phase-locked loops, pendulum-like mechanical systems, coupled vibrational units and electric machines. Systems with periodic nonlinearities are usually featured by multistability and have infinite sequences of (locally) stable and unstable equilibria; their trajectories may exhibit nontrivial (e.g. chaotic) behavior. We offer frequency-domain criteria, ensuring convergence of any solution to one of the equilibria points, and this property is referred to as the gradient-like behavior and corresponds to phase locking in synchronization systems. Although it is hard to find explicitly the equilibrium, attracting a given trajectory, we give a constructive estimate for the distance between this limit equilibrium and the initial condition. The relevant estimates are closely related to the analysis of cycle slipping in synchronization systems. In the case where the criterion of gradient-type behavior fails, a natural question arises — which nonconverging solutions may exist in the system and, in particular, how many periodic solutions it has. We show that a relaxation of the frequency-domain convergence criterion ensures the absence of high-frequency periodic orbits. The results obtained in the paper are based on the method of integral quadratic constraints that has arisen in absolute stability theory and stems from Popov’s techniques of “a priori integral indices”. We illustrate the analytic results by numerical simulations.


1971 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-82
Author(s):  
Walter F. Weiker

In a previous article I sought to appraise the field of Turkish studies, for the most part among western (predominantly American) scholars (MESA Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 3, October 15, 1969). To fill out the picture, it is appropriate to also view the state of social research among the rapidly growing body of Turkish teachers and researchers. This article is not, however, a direct parallel to others in the MESA “State of the Art” series, in that it is not basically bibliographical. Such a review would require far more time, space, and knowledge in depth of several other social science disciplines than is currently available to me, because despite the remarks made below about problems of definition, the quantity and technical sophistication of work by Turkish researchers is quite large and is growing rapidly. Furthermore, since most of the research referred to below is in Turkish, the number of persons to whom a bibliographic review might be useful is quite limited. Instead, I think it would be more interesting to MESA members and other American social scientists to examine the characteristics and problems of what is probably one of the most vigorous social science communities in the “developing” countries, with a view (among other things) to helping facilitate increased cooperation between Turkish and American scholars in our common endeavors of advancing the state of knowledge.


1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (4) ◽  
pp. E539-E550 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cobelli ◽  
M. P. Saccomani ◽  
P. Tessari ◽  
G. Biolo ◽  
L. Luzi ◽  
...  

The complexity of amino acid and protein metabolism has limited the development of comprehensive, accurate whole body kinetic models. For leucine, simplified approaches are in use to measure in vivo leucine fluxes, but their domain of validity is uncertain. We propose here a comprehensive compartmental model of the kinetics of leucine and alpha-ketoisocaproate (KIC) in humans. Data from a multiple-tracer administration were generated with a two-stage (I and II) experiment. Six normal subjects were studied. In experiment I, labeled leucine and KIC were simultaneously injected into plasma. Four plasma leucine and KIC tracer concentration curves and label in the expired CO2 were measured. In experiment II, labeled bicarbonate was injected into plasma, and labeled CO2 in the expired air was measured. Radioactive (L-[1-14C]leucine, [4,5-3H]KIC, [14C]bicarbonate) and stable isotope (L-[1-13C]leucine, [5,5,5-2H3]KIC, [13C]bicarbonate) tracers were employed. The input format was a bolus (impulse) dose in the radioactive case and a constant infusion in the stable isotope case. A number of physiologically based, linear time-invariant compartmental models were proposed and tested against the data. The model finally chosen for leucine-KIC kinetics has 10 compartments: 4 for leucine, 3 for KIC, and 3 for bicarbonate. The model is a priori uniquely identifiable, and its parameters were estimated with precision from the five curves of experiment I. The separate assessment of bicarbonate kinetics (experiment II) was shown to be unnecessary. The model defines masses and fluxes of leucine in the organism, in particular its intracellular appearance from protein breakdown, its oxidation, and its incorporation into proteins. An important feature of the model is its ability to estimate leucine oxidation by resolving the bicarbonate model in each individual subject. Finally, the model allows the assessment of the domain of validity of the simpler commonly used models.


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