scholarly journals Reflections on Meaning and Immortality

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin

This article revisits Bernard Williams’s influential argument that an immortal human life would be meaningless and argues for a shift in focus. There’s good reason to keep Williams’s framework for evaluating the prospects of meaning in continued life. But there’s also good reason to abandon the conception of human psychology that he, and most of the vast literature in response, uses to fill in that framework. Focusing on values, as opposed to desires, reveals that the most pressing threats to a meaningful immortal human life are not repetition or satisfaction, but rather changes in what the world has to offer.

Author(s):  
Michael Allen Fox

Thoughts and feelings about home traditionally provided people of all cultures with a firm sense of where they belonged, and why. But the world is rapidly changing: populations are constantly on the move, seeking better opportunities and living conditions, or an escape from violence and war. Despite this, the concept of home remains a central organizing influence in human life. Home: A Very Short Introduction considers the complex meaning of home and the essential importance of place to human psychology. It considers what a dwelling is, the variety of dwellings, and also looks at the politics of the concept of ‘home’, homelessness, refugeeism and migration, and the future of home.


CCIT Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-115
Author(s):  
Untung Rahardja ◽  
Khanna Tiara ◽  
Ray Indra Taufik Wijaya

Education is an important factor in human life. According to Ki Hajar Dewantara, education is a civilizing process that a business gives high values ??to the new generation in a society that is not only maintenance but also with a view to promote and develop the culture of the nobility toward human life. Education is a human investment that can be used now and in the future. One other important factor in supporting human life in addition to education, which is technology. In this globalization era, technology has touched every joint of human life. The combination of these two factors will be a new innovation in the world of education. The innovation has been implemented by Raharja College, namely the use of the method iLearning (Integrated Learning) in the learning process. Where such learning has been online based. ILearning method consists of TPI (Ten Pillars of IT iLearning). Rinfo is one of the ten pillars, where it became an official email used by the whole community’s in Raharja College to communicate with each other. Rinfo is Gmail, which is adapted from the Google platform with typical raharja.info as its domain. This Rinfo is a medium of communication, as well as a tool to support the learning process in Raharja College. Because in addition to integrated with TPi, this Rinfo was connected also support with other learning tools, such as Docs, Drive, Sites, and other supporting tools.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-106
Author(s):  
ASTEMIR ZHURTOV ◽  

Cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as humiliate the dignity, are prohibited in most countries of the world, and Russia is no exception in this issue. The article presents an analysis of the institution of responsibility for torture in the Russian Federation. The author comes to the conclusion that the current criminal law of Russia superficially and fragmentally regulates liability for torture, in connection with which the author formulated the proposals to define such act as an independent crime. In the frame of modern globalization, the world community pays special attention to the protection of human rights, in connection with which large-scale international standards have been created a long time ago. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international acts enshrine prohibitions of cruel and inhumane acts that harm human life and health, as well as degrade the dignity.Considering the historical experience of the past, these standards focus on the prohibition of any kind of torture, regardless of the purpose of their implementation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-248
Author(s):  
Asep Saepul Malik

Kegiatan dakwah ialah suatu aktivitas yang mendorong umat manusia untuk memperkuat keyakinannya kepada Allah SWT dan agar umat yang belum memeluk ajaran Islam juga dapat memeluk ajaran agama Islam dengan menggunakan cara yang bijaksana melalui materi ajaran syariat Islam, supaya mereka mendapatkan kebahagiaan di dunia dan di akhirat. Pengajian pasaran kitab al-Hikam ialah suatu kegiatan dakwah yang di pimpin langsung oleh sesepuh pondok pesantren azzayniyyah ialah KH. Aang Abdullah Zein. Pengajian kitab al-Hikam ini di dalamnya membahas tentang permasalahan kehidupan manusia seperti masalah hati (qolbu), akhlak, iman, dan Islam. Tujuan dari penelitian ini ialah untuk mengetahui penyampayan dakwah melalui pengajian pasaran kitab al-Hikam di pondok pesantren azzayniyyah dan untuk mengetahui pesan-pesan dakwah yang ada di dalam kitab al-Hikam. Landasan teori yang digunakan ialah teori M. Munir tentang dakwah bil-Lisan al-Hal. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan deskriptif, ialah dengan menggambarkan keadaan sebenarnya melalui pengumpulan data yang dilakukan dengan menggunakan teknik wawancara, dokumentasi, dan kepustakaan. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa dakwah melalui pengajian pasaran kitab al-Hikam yang di lakukan oleh KH. Aang Abdullah Zein di anggap cukup berhasil, karena jamaah memberikan respon yang baik atau positif dan jamaah yang hadir setiap bulan slalu meningkat atau lebih banyak.Da'wah activity is an activity that encourages mankind to strengthen his belief in Allah SWT and so that people who have not embraced the teachings of Islam can also embrace the teachings of Islam by using a wise way through Islamic teaching material, so that they get happiness in the world and the hereafter. Study of the market of the book al-Hikam is a missionary activity led directly by the azzayniyyah boarding school elders is KH. Aang Abdullah Zein. This study of al-Hikam in it discusses the problems of human life such as the problem of the heart (qolbu), morals, faith, and Islam.  Thep of this study is to determine the delivery of da'wah through the study of the market of the book al-Hikam in azzayniyyah boarding school and to find out the messages of da'wah in the book of al-Hikam. The cornerstone of the theory used is M. Munir's theory about the da'wah bil-Lisan al-Hal. This research method uses descriptive, is to describe the actual situation through data collection conducted using interview techniques, documentation, and literature. The results of this study indicate that preaching through the study of the book market al-Hikam conducted by KH. Aang Abdullah Zein was considered quite successful, because worshipers gave good or positive responses and worshipers who were present every month always increased or more.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Alexander N. Danilov

The article discusses the meanings of life and value priorities of the post- Soviet society. The author argues that, at present, there are symptoms of a global ideological crisis in the world, that the West does not have its own vision of where and how to move on and has no understanding of the future. Unfortunately, most of the post-Soviet countries do not have such vision as well. In these conditions, there are mistrust, confusion, paradoxical manifestation of human consciousness. The main meanings that determine our life-world are: the desire of citizens for social justice and social security, the desire to figure out and understand the basic values of modern society, how honestly and equally the authorities act toward their fellow citizens, and to what extent they reflect their interests. The meanings of life, which are the answers to the challenges of the time, are embodied in the cultural code of each nation, state. The growth points of new values, which will become the basis for the future sustainable development of a new civilization, have yet to be discovered in the systemic transformative changes of the culture. In this process, the emergence of a new system of values that governs human life is inevitable. However, modern technology brings new troubles to humans. It has provided wide opportunities for informational violence and public consciousness manipulation. Nowadays, the scenario that is implemented in Western consumer societies claims to be the dominant scenario. Meanwhile, today there is no country in the world that is a role model, there is no ideal that others would like to borrow. Most post-Soviet states failed to advance their societies to more decent levels of economic development, to meet the challenges of the modern information age, and to provide the population with new high living standards. Therefore, in conditions of growing confrontation, we should realistically understand the world and be ready to implement changes that will ensure sustainable development of the state and society without losing our national identity.


Author(s):  
Оlena Fedorіvna Caracasidi

The article deals with the fundamental, inherent in most of the countries of the world transformation of state power, its formation, functioning and division between the main branches as a result of the decentralization of such power, its subsidiarity. Attention is drawn to the specifics of state power, its func- tional features in the conditions of sovereignty of the states, their interconnec- tion. It is emphasized that the nature of the state power is connected with the nature of the political system of the state, with the form of government and many other aspects of a fundamental nature.It is analyzed that in the middle of national states the questions of legitima- cy, sovereignty of transparency of state power, its formation are acutely raised. Concerning the practical functioning of state power, a deeper study now needs a problem of separation of powers and the distribution of power. The use of this principle, which ensures the real subsidiarity of the authorities, the formation of more effective, responsible democratic relations between state power and civil society, is the first priority of the transformation of state power in the conditions of modern transformations of countries and societies. It is substantiated that the research of these problems will open up much wider opportunities for the provi- sion of state power not as a center authority, but also as a leading political structure but as a power of the people and the community. In the context of global democratization processes, such processes are crucial for a more humanistic and civilized arrangement of human life. It is noted that local self-government, as a specific form of public power, is also characterized by an expressive feature of a special subject of power (territorial community) as a set of large numbers of people; joint communal property; tax system, etc.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095394682110313
Author(s):  
Nancy J. Duff

This article argues that an apocalyptic interpretation of divine revelation provides the theological foundation for discerning the appropriate space for human life to thrive. This apocalyptic theological ethic is contrasted with that of end-time Christians who have supported Donald Trump as God’s chosen one and who joined the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. It contrasts five features of apocalyptic thinking for both groups: (1) expectation of the end of the world, (2) ethics, (3) Christ, nation, and the first commandment (4) Christians and Jews, and (5) the cross. While the article seeks to give a fair description of the beliefs of end-time Christians, it argues that their beliefs have taken a heretical and dangerous turn.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema

While 2020 –dubbed the “Super Year for Nature –has seen the world battling an unforeseen global pandemic, this article comes back on the Convention of Biological Diversity and its regime, studies the aim of the negotiations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the relevance of this framework for the planet, considering that the protection of biological diversity impacts all aspects of human life, including the full enjoying of human rights and protection against future pandemics.


2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-756
Author(s):  
Jon Adams ◽  
Edmund Ramsden

Nestled among E. M. Forster's careful studies of Edwardian social mores is a short story called “The Machine Stops.” Set many years in the future, it is a work of science fiction that imagines all humanity housed in giant high-density cities buried deep below a lifeless surface. With each citizen cocooned in an identical private chamber, all interaction is mediated through the workings of “the Machine,” a totalizing social system that controls every aspect of human life. Cultural variety has ceded to rigorous organization: everywhere is the same, everyone lives the same life. So hopelessly reliant is humanity upon the efficient operation of the Machine, that when the system begins to fail there is little the people can do, and so tightly ordered is the system that the failure spreads. At the story's conclusion, the collapse is total, and Forster's closing image offers a condemnation of the world they had built, and a hopeful glimpse of the world that might, in their absence, return: “The whole city was broken like a honeycomb. […] For a moment they saw the nations of the dead, and, before they joined them, scraps of the untainted sky” (2001: 123). In physically breaking apart the city, there is an extent to which Forster is literalizing the device of the broken society, but it is also the case that the infrastructure of the Machine is so inseparable from its social structure that the failure of one causes the failure of the other. The city has—in the vocabulary of present-day engineers—“failed badly.”


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