scholarly journals The social struggle against death: Human strategies for immortality

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (13-14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Galić
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Biological Part ◽  
Knowing That ◽  
Social Struggle ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Human Death

Death is an infallible part of the human life, and what makes humandifferent from all other beings is fact that he knows that he isgoing to die. Knowing this, human beings are spending their wholelife knowing that the day of their end is going to come. It is clear thatdeath has its biological part, also as a huge event in the existenceof all life forms, including human, death has its philosophical pointof view, and finally, unlike some may disagree, death itself is a hugesocial phenomena as well, and as such, the social influence of deathdeserves close attention and its own part in the social science studies.This paper analyzes the presence of the death in human culture, includinginstitutions, rituals and beliefs following the discourse of lateZygmunt Bauman who left huge influence on this field of study. Sincethe earliest forms of communities, humans are trying to overcomethe death, the state of “after-life” and some form of immortality ofthe being is something that is common to all religions and beliefs everknown to mankind, which stands as a evidence that the final void ofnon-existence know to us as death is something that always presentedhorror in the mind of the humans.

Can animals sing? On birdsong, music and meaning

2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hektor KT Yan
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
A Value ◽  
Music And Meaning ◽  
To Come ◽  
Factual Issue ◽  
The Way

This article deals with conceptual questions regarding claims to the effect that humans and animals share artistic abilities such as the possession of music. Recent works focusing on animals, from such as Hollis Taylor and Dominique Lestel, are discussed. The attribution of artistic traits in human and animal contexts is examined by highlighting the importance of issues relating to categorization and evaluation in cross-species studies. An analogy between the denial of major attributes to animals and a form of racism is drawn in order to show how questions pertaining to meaning can impact on our understanding of animal abilities. One of the major theses presented is that the question of whether animals possess music cannot be answered by a methodology that is uninformed by the way concepts such as music or art function in the context of human life: the ascription of music to humans or non-humans is a value-laden act rather than a factual issue regarding how to represent an entity. In order to see how humans and animals share a life in common, it is necessary to come to the reflective realization that how human beings understand themselves can impact on their perception and experience of human and non-human animals.

Education and cosmopolitanism: Liberating our non-cosmopolitan minds through mindfulness

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 610-627
Author(s):  
Oren Ergas
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Social Narratives ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Contemplative Studies ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Feeling At Home ◽  
Person Experience

This paper locates the main challenge for education in cosmopolitanism within the nature of education when interpreted as a “mind-making process.” Based on this interpretation, education is currently a process that shapes non-cosmopolitan minds, for the practices generally associated with it habituate the human mind to see “reality” through contingent social narratives. The aspiration of education in cosmopolitanism to cultivate “a sense of feeling at home and caring for the world,” requires practices that also liberate the mind from the contingencies of the social narratives into which it happens to be born. For such purpose, education requires an ethical meta-narrative, which applies to all human beings and appeals to a mutual human language. Following calls for embracing a pluralistic epistemology in policy making, this paper proposes the interdisciplinary field of contemplative studies that focuses on the understanding of the embodied mind, as a point of origin for considering education as such and education in cosmopolitanism in particular. Mindfulness is then interpreted as one possible practical pedagogy based on which we can practice detachment from the contingency of social narratives by cultivating grounded-ness in the non-contingency of pre-conceptual embodied first-person experience.

Genealogies of the Global

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 387-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Featherstone
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Linear Process ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Global Knowledge ◽  
Global Village ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Media

The term global suggests all-inclusiveness and brings to mind connectivity, a notion that gained a boost from Marshall McLuhan's reference to the mass-mediated ‘global village’. In the past decade it has rapidly become part of the everyday vocabulary not only of academics and business people, but also has circulated widely in the media in various parts of the world. There have also been the beginnings of political movements against globalization and proposals for ‘de-globalization’ and ‘alternative globalizations’, projects to re-define the global. In effect, the terminology has globalized and globalization is varyingly lauded, reviled and debated around the world. The rationale of much previous thinking on humanity in the social sciences has been to assume a linear process of social integration, as more and more people are drawn into a widening circle of interdependencies in the movement to larger units, but the new forms of binding together of social life necessitate the development of new forms of global knowledge which go beyond the old classifications. It is also in this sense that the tightening of the interdependency chains between human beings, and also between human beings and other life forms, suggests we need to think about the relevance of academic knowledge to the emergent global public sphere.

Towards a New International Technological Order

1979 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Galtung
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Alternative Technologies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Linear Movement ◽  
To Come ◽  
Capital Intensive ◽  
Mode Of Production

The main thesis of the paper is that technology is not merely a mode of production and therefore neutral; it carries within it a code of structures - economic, social, cultural, and also cognitive. The economic code that inheres in Western Technology demands that industries be capital-intensive, research-intensive, organization-intensive and labour-extensive. On the social plane, the code creates a ‘centre’ and a ‘periphery’, thus perpetuating a structure of inequality. In the cultural arena, it sees the West as entrusted by destiny with the mission of casting the rest of the world in its own mould. In the cognitive field, it sees man as the master of nature, the vertical and individualistic relations between human beings as the normal and natural, and history as a linear movement of progress. The transfer of Western technology is thus a structural-cultural invasion, which is not clearly seen as such parly because it is not accompanied by the West's physical presence (as in the days of colonialism), and partly because the fragmentation inherent in Western technology fragments the perception of the total picture. For techniques that create different structures to come into their own, a very clear perception of the interlocking of technology and structures is needed. Also needed is the political will to use alternative technologies as an instrument to bring about a structural change.

Sociocultural constructs of children and childhood

2019 ◽  
Vol 578 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Joanna Maria Garbula ◽  
Małgorzata Kowalik-Olubińska
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Childhood Studies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sociocultural Perspective ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociocultural Approach ◽  
Universal Feature ◽  
Children And Childhood ◽  
Cultural Component

Interpretations of the concepts of children and childhood have significantly changed over the past centuries. In the eighteenth century childhood was ascribed a status of a separate phase of human life in which human beings learn, grow and develop. Research conducted within the developmental psychology paradigm based on the notion of childhood’s ‘naturalness’ and on the necessity and normality of development has contributed to the emergence of a universal vision of the child and childhood. This vision has been challenged by the research conducted within the sociocultural paradigm in which childhood, understood as a social construction, is neither a natural nor a universal feature of human groups but appears as a specific structural and cultural component of many societies. We focused our attention on the sociocultural interpretations of the concepts of children and childhood. Our aim is, therefore, to show the ways in which children and childhood are understood in a sociocultural perspective. In the introductory part of the paper we briefly describe a universal vision of child development as well as the criticism it met from the supporters of the social childhood studies. In the main part of the article we focus our attention on the issue of social constructing of children and childhood. Sociocultural approach to childhood reveals a multitude and diversity of images of children and childhood constructed by adults in a variety of places, contexts and social spaces.

“Life Begins When They Steal Your Bicycle”: Cross-Cultural Practices of Personhood at the Beginnings and Ends of Life

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn M. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Policy ◽  
To Come

A friend once told me I was wasting my time writing about cross-cultural perspectives on the beginnings of life. “Your work is interesting for its curiosity value,” he said, “but fundamentally worthless. What happens in other cultures is totally irrelevant to what is happening here.” Those were discouraging words, but as I followed the American debates about the beginnings and ends of life, it seemed he was right. Anthropologists have written a great deal about birth and death rites in other societies and about non-western notions of personhood, but to date our findings have had little impact on American policy, ethics, or law. The recognized experts on contentious topics such as abortion and euthanasia tend to come from the fields of philosophy, bioethics, theology, law, and biology, but rarely from the social sciences. I was a bit surprised, therefore, to be invited to address the Thomas A. Pitts Memorial Lectureship on “Defining the Beginning and the End of Human Life.”

scholarly journals UNDERSTANDING YOGASUTRA: A FRAMEWORK FOR ECOLOGICAL VIRTUE ETHICS

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 270-279
Author(s):  
P.S. Sreevidya
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Relationship

This is an endeavor to seek the possibilities of the application of ethical principles of yoga in present day of ecological issues. The relevance of this research paper is evident from the fact that ecological issues are not only scientific but also an ethical and this research paper is reliable and informative in the extent that it seeks to challenge the existing relationship between human beings and nature with the description of the present crisis of ecology as a crisis of human-nature relationship. To talk of ecological issues signifies that most of the issues may occur because of the attitude and behavior patterns of man towards environment. The confluence of ethical principles of yoga and ecology offer profoundly relevant response to the ecological issues and brings forth an ecological virtue ethics, which care for all natural entities with main focus of the relationship between man and environment. It offer systematic framework for understanding the traits of character and types of action that cause problems for environment. Yoga approach on ecology is intrinsic in nature, which includes moral expansionism that tries to expand outward from human centered ethics towards animals and sentient life in general. All life forms of plants and animals are interrelated and have an intrinsic value. Ethical principles of yoga give greater importance to the attitude of the mind rather than on postulation of the elaborate theories of what is right and wrong.  So the virtues of yoga ethics would be used as a remedy towards changing an attitude of the common man towards his environment.

scholarly journals PSYCHOLOGICAL USE OF COLORS IN THE FIELD OF MEDICINE

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3SE) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Ashish Kumar Tomar
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Human Life ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Human Happiness ◽  
Deep Relationship ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Definite Role

Color is an integral part of our life. Colors have such a deep relationship with human life that one cannot realize human happiness in a colorless world. It is only through colors that we can see from the greenery of the nature to the golden light of the sun, the blue of the sky, the black of the clouds and the light of the moon. The seven-color rainbow line drawn in the clouds tells a beautiful story of each color. Seeing which the mind becomes a part of the colorful world. Colors also have a definite role in the multi-colored life of human beings. Colors have a profound effect on the human brain. Modern psychologists believe that the likes of color and influence affect the entire equation of a man's life. This strength of colors has also made it useful for healing. There are many diseases, colors are used for the treatment of them. Due to these characteristics, it has been named color therapy. रंग हमारे जीवन का एक अभिन्न हिस्सा है। रंगों का मानव जीवन के साथ इतना गहरा रिश्ता है कि बेरंग दुनिया में मानव खुशियों का एहसास ही नहीं कर सकता। रंगों के माध्यम से ही प्रकृति की हरियाली से लेकर सूरज की सुनहरी रोशनी, आसमान का नीलापन, बादलों की काली घटाएं और चन्द्रमा का उजलापन देख पाते है। बादलों में खिंचती सात रंगों की इन्द्रधनुषी रेखा प्रत्येक रंग की सुन्दर कहानी बयां करती है। जिसे देखकर मन रंगीन दुनिया का हिस्सा बन जाता है। मनुष्य के बहुरंगों जीवन में रंगों की भी एक निश्चित भूमिका होंती है। रंग मनुष्य के मस्तिष्क पर गहरा असर डालते है। आधुनिक मनोवैज्ञानिकों की मान्यता है कि रंगों की पसन्द व प्रभाव से आदमी की जिन्दगी का पूरा समीकरण प्रभावित होता है। रंगों की इस ताकत ने उसे उपचार के लिए भी उपयोगी बना दिया है। कईं सारी बीमारियाँ है, जिनके उपचार के लिए रंगों का इस्तेमाल किया जाता है। इन खूबियों के कारण इसे कलर थेरेपी यानी रंग चिकित्सा का नाम दिया गया है।

scholarly journals Research and its social significance

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-4
Author(s):  
Kumar P. Mainali
Keyword(s):  
Full Text ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Investment Priority

It is we human beings who are to be blamed for the near or total extinction of many life forms with whom we coexist in this planet. Loss of biodiversity alters the ecosystem and makes human life increasingly difficult in many defined ways. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Current rates of loss of biodiversity are high and accelerating. However, preventing extinction is practical, but requires enough investment. It is always a nice idea to fund new ideas. However it is imperative that the first and foremost investment priority should be concerned with the current and imminent threats in our well being. Himalayan Journal of Sciences 1(1): 3-4, 2003 The full text is of this article is available at the Himalayan Journal of Sciences website

Integral Engagement: Christian Constructivism and the Social Sciences

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-457
Author(s):  
Donald Guthrie
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Human Condition

This article explores how Christian constructivism can guide educators who are Christians toward an integral engagement with the social sciences that is both critically reflective and humbly teachable. Such an engagement requires a recognition that all image-bearing human beings may contribute insights about the human condition, responsible stewardship of knowledge with the mind of Christ, and approaching the social sciences with gospel-directed critical realism that is neither fearful nor uncritically accepting of social science perspectives.

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