The Nature of Human Activity

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-128
Author(s):  
Tuğba Sevinç ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
History Of

In this work I present some of Arendt’s criticisms of Marx and assess whether these criticisms are fair. I claim that Arendt reads Marx erroneously, which results in her failure to grasp certain similarities between Marx and herself, at least on some points. It is important to mention that Arendt’s interest in Marx is part of a wider project she pursues. She believes that Marx’s theory might allow us to establish a link between Bolshevism and the history of Western thought. Marx’s notion of history and progress enables Arendt to support her claim that Marx’s theory involves totalitarian elements. By way of correcting Arendt’s misreading of Marx, my purpose has been to get a better understanding of the theories of Marx and Arendt, as well as to see their incompatible views regarding the nature of human activity and of freedom. Arendt charges Marx of ignoring the most central human activity, that is ‘action’; and of denying human beings a genuine political existence and freedom. Furthermore, according to Arendt, Marx conceives labor as human being’s highest activity and ignores the significance of other two activities, namely work and action. In the last analysis, Marx and Arendt prioritizes distinct human activities as the most central (labor and action, respectively) to human beings; and as a result, they provide us two irreconcilable views of politics, history and freedom.

Emerson and the Virtues

1985 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 135-152
Author(s):  
Ellen Kappy Suckiel
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Universe ◽  
American Thought

Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose life spanned most of the nineteenth century, is widely regarded as one of the greatest sages in the history of American thought. Among educated American citizenry, Emerson is probably the most commonly read indigenous philosopher—and for good reason. Emerson presents a vision of human beings and their place in the universe which gives meaning and stature to the human condition. His profound, even religious, optimism, gives structure and import to even the smallest and apparently least significant of human activities. The inspirational quality of Emerson's, prose, his willingness to travel far and wide to lecture, his ability to help people transcend the difficulties of the times, all led to his very great national as well as international significance.

Emerson and the Virtues

1985 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 135-152
Author(s):  
Ellen Kappy Suckiel
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Universe ◽  
American Thought

Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose life spanned most of the nineteenth century, is widely regarded as one of the greatest sages in the history of American thought. Among educated American citizenry, Emerson is probably the most commonly read indigenous philosopher—and for good reason. Emerson presents a vision of human beings and their place in the universe which gives meaning and stature to the human condition. His profound, even religious, optimism, gives structure and import to even the smallest and apparently least significant of human activities. The inspirational quality of Emerson's, prose, his willingness to travel far and wide to lecture, his ability to help people transcend the difficulties of the times, all led to his very great national as well as international significance.

Landscape reconstruction and the relationship between human and environment in Yaowuyao area, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau since 15000 yr BP

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naimeng Zhang ◽  
Qinghai Xu ◽  
Dongju Zhang ◽  
Ulrike Herzschuh ◽  
Zhongwei Shen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Tibet Plateau ◽  
Qinghai Lake ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Landscape Reconstruction ◽  
Qinghai Lake Basin ◽  
Early Human

<p>Understanding the paleoenvironment (such as climate and landscape) in the area where the early ancient human appears on the Tibetan Plateau is an interesting topic. Based on the results of pollen data on the Yaowuyao loess section of the Qinghai Lake Basin, we used landscape reconstruction algorithms to reconstruct the changes in vegetation cover for 15,000 years. It is shown that the vegetation in the Yaowuyao area changed from temperate steppe (15-7.5 ka) to forest-steppe (7.5-4 ka). Compared with previous studies on the sediment in Qinghai Lake, our study can better reflect the local environment of the Qinghai Lake basin. Furthermore, based on the paleoclimate change data and archeological data from the surrounding areas, it is noticed that while precipitation increases and trees increase, human activities decrease. This may be caused by the substance and strategies of the ancient human beings that have adapted to the steppe. In addition, our results also show that the intensity of ancient human activity has a negative correlation with plant biodiversity, which may be related to human disturbance to the environment. Our paleoecological and environmental study not only shows the paleoenvironment of the early human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau but also revealed possible early human activity signals.</p>

HES PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: WHAT’S WRONG WITH ECONOMICS?

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
JERRY EVENSKY
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Moral Philosophy ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Model

The piece begins with the proposition that the economic perspective on human activity must reflect the fact that human beings transact in a world defined for the actors by social norms. An analysis of the crisis of 2008 is offered as a demonstration of the value of adopting such a broader perspective. Part II offers an historical model based on Adam Smith’s Moral Philosophy of such a broader analysis. The piece closes with the case that the history of ideas offers alternative perspectives on the questions we explore in economics today, and thus can serve as a valuable resource for constructive skepticism of the current discourse.

Philosophy and Gifted Students: “I don't want to do what the class wants to do.”

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 42-54
Author(s):  
David A. White
Keyword(s):  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Gifted Students ◽  
Not Given ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
History Of

The philosopher Aristotle was not given to witty one-liners, but in the Politics he says that a person who lives alone is “either a beast or a god.” Much later in the history of western thought, Thomas Hobbes (in Leviathan) describes the life of human beings when it is driven solely by desire and occurs outside of society as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”

The Nature of Physical Science and the Objectives of the Scientist

Philosophy ◽  
1952 ◽  
Vol 27 (101) ◽  
pp. 125-137
Author(s):  
John J. Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
Intrinsic Structure ◽  
Scientific Domain ◽  
History Of

The history of Western Thought since the seventeenth Century leaves little doubt as to the practical validity of the method of natural investigation discovered by Galileo, interpreted by Descartes, and variously generalized by Newton and Einstein. The repercussions of its success on every level of human activity, religious, political, commercial, and educational (to mention only the more obvious ones) have awakened the most diverse ánd even contradictory speculations as to the nature of this science and the objectives of the scientist. Often enough one gets the impression that these speculations are founded on an arbitrary and unjustifiable conception of the nature of modern science; a conception formulated in terms of what one thinks or wishes to think science is from its effects upon the extra-scientific domain (which, in this context, includes philosophy) rather than in terms of a patient and critical penetration of its intrinsic structure.

On Purpose

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Design ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Thought ◽  
The Way

Can we live without the idea of purpose? Should we even try to? Kant thought we were stuck with it, and even Darwin, who profoundly shook the idea, was unable to kill it. Indeed, purpose seems to be making a comeback today, as both religious advocates of intelligent design and some prominent secular philosophers argue that any explanation of life without the idea of purpose is missing something essential. This book explores the history of purpose in philosophical, religious, scientific, and historical thought, from ancient Greece to the present. The book traces how Platonic, Aristotelian, and Kantian ideas of purpose continue to shape Western thought. Along the way, it also takes up tough questions about the purpose of life—and whether it's possible to have meaning without purpose.

From the history of the development of electronic dictionaries: foreign and domestic experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
O. Y. Balalaieva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Advanced Search ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Promising Area ◽  
History Of ◽  
Machine Readable ◽  
Everyday Communication ◽  
Educational Professional

The purpose of the article is to study the dynamics of electronic dictionaries development abroad and in Ukraine using methods of analysis of scientific sources, comparison, generalization and systematization. Electronic dictionaries have been found to be a relatively new phenomenon in the lexicographic market, evolving from machine-readable dictionaries, exact copies of paper editions to complex digital lexicographic systems with a powerful arsenal of functions over the decades. The stages of development of autonomous and online dictionaries are described. Electronic dictionaries due to the advanced search capabilities, speed, simplicity, ease of use, accessibility and compactness have gained popularity among a wide range of users. Today they are used in many spheres of human activity – scientific, educational, professional, everyday communication. However, the analysis of the current level of development of Ukrainian electronic resources indicates a shortage of electronic dictionaries both common and terminological vocabulary. The lack of electronic dictionaries is due to a number of objective problems, both practical and theoretical, that is why research in the field of domestic computer lexicography is a promising area of further research.

New Wars and Their Visual Representation: Dead Bodies without Graves/Mourne

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Tuncay Şur ◽  
Betül Yarar
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Visual Representation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Public ◽  
Photographic Images ◽  
War Photography ◽  
New Wars ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact

This paper seeks to understand why there has been an increase in photographic images exposing military violence or displaying bodies killed by military forces and how they can freely circulate in the public without being censored or kept hidden. In other words, it aims to analyze this particular issue as a symptom of the emergence of new wars and a new regime of their visual representation. Within this framework, it attempts to relate two kinds of literature that are namely the history of war and war photography with the bridge of theoretical discussions on the real, its photographic representation, power, and violence.  Rather than systematic empirical analysis, the paper is based on a theoretical attempt which is reflected on some socio-political observations in the Middle East where there has been ongoing wars or new wars. The core discussion of the paper is supported by a brief analysis of some illustrative photographic images that are served through the social media under the circumstances of war for instance in Turkey between Turkish military troops and the Kurdish militants. The paper concludes that in line with the process of dissolution/transformation of the old nation-state formations and globalization, the mechanism and mode of power have also transformed to the extent that it resulted in the emergence of new wars. This is one dynamic that we need to recognize in relation to the above-mentioned question, the other is the impact of social media in not only delivering but also receiving war photographies. Today these changes have led the emergence of new machinery of power in which the old modern visual/photographic techniques of representing wars without human beings, torture, and violence through censorship began to be employed alongside medieval power techniques of a visual exhibition of tortures and violence.

Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Genus Bombax

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-196
Author(s):  
Deepshikha Rathore ◽  
Geetanjali ◽  
Ram Singh
Keyword(s):  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
Health Care Needs ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Pharmacological Activities ◽  
Therapeutic Applications ◽  
Chemical Structures ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of

Background: The history of traditional systems of medicine goes parallel with the history of human beings. Even today people have faith in traditional systems of medicine based on medicinal plants to meet primary health care needs. Hence, the scientific evaluation and documentation of extracts and active ingredients of medicinal plants always play a supportive role in their medicinal applications. Objective: This review aims to present the phytochemicals isolated from the genus Bombax and their pharmacological applications. Methods: The literature from research and review papers was analyzed and the information was compiled to present the pharmacological applications of various secondary metabolites from genus Bombax. Results: The genus Bombax belongs to the family Malvaceae and known for its therapeutic applications. The crude, semi-purified and purified extracts of different parts of this plant have shown potential therapeutic applications. A total of 96 articles including research and review papers were referred for the compilation of isolated phytochemicals and their chemical structures. Conclusion: We systematically summarized 176 isolated compounds from the genus Bombax. The findings show that this plant shows potential towards pharmacological activities. The activities were found more from extracts than the single isolated compounds.

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