Johann Wier

This book deals with a fascinating and original claim in 16th-century Europe. Witches should be cured, not executed. It was the physician and scholar Johann Wier (1515-1588) who challenged the dominant idea. For his defense of witches, more than three centuries later, Sigmund Freud chose to put Wier’s work among the ten books to be read. According to Wier, Satan seduced witches, thus they did not deserve to be executed, but they must be cured for their melancholy. When the witch hunt was rising, Wier was the first to use some of the arguments adopted in the emerging debate on religious tolerance in defence of witches. This is the first overall study of Wier which offers an innovative view of his thought by highlighting Wier’s sources and his attempts to involve theologians, physicians, and philosophers in his fight against cruel witch hunts. Johann Wier: Debating the Devil and Witches situates and explains his claim as a result of a moral and religious path as well as the outcome of his medical experience. The book aims to provide an insightful examination of Wier’s works to read his pleas emphasizing the duty of every good Christian to not abandon anyone who strays from the flock of Christ. For these reasons, Wier was overwhelmed by bitter confutations, such as those of Jean Bodin, but he was also celebrated for his outstanding and prolific heritage for debating religious tolerance.

The Pearson Correlation Model – Work of the Devil?

While by far the most applied correlation model in finance, the Pearson correlation model is – due to its simplicity and linearity – also the most heavily criticised: “Anything that relies on correlation is charlatanism” (Nassim Taleb) and “Instruments whose pricing requires the input of correlation … are accidents waiting to happen” (Paul Wilmott). In this chapter we address this contradiction and evaluate whether the Pearson correlation approach is rigorous and suitable for modelling associations in finance.

Evil: the experience of philosophical research

The monograph is devoted to a holistic consideration of the phenomenon of evil. It examines and analyzes philosophical ideas about the nature of evil, which can be found among outstanding thinkers. The figure of the Devil as the main antagonist of God, the "fallen angel" and the progenitor of evil is studied. The main and, in the author's opinion, the most important types and modes of evil, such as hatred, meanness, betrayal, crime, etc., are analyzed. Designed for everyone interested in the problems of modern philosophy, cultural studies and ethics.

Comparing student motivations for and emotional responses to national standardised tests and internal school tests: The devil in the detail

National testing of students has become an increasingly prevalent policy tool, often implemented to drive improvement through increased accountability and heightened competition between schools. Such testing has been found to generate negative emotional responses among students, including increased stress and anxiety . However, there is little examining whether such responses are associated specifically with national testing regimes or are more general responses to testing situations. This study surveyed 206 students in Australian secondary schools to compare responses to NAPLAN and internal school tests. Students reported higher expectations for their performance in internal school tests than for NAPLAN, higher levels of boredom for NAPLAN and greater levels of confidence for their internal school tests. While most students reported low levels of negative emotional responses to NAPLAN, a small group of students reported strong negative emotional responses to both NAPLAN and internal school tests, suggesting that negative responses to national testing programs may be more dependent on the individual student.