Hadith Content

If you have always assumed that any hadith cited from one of the recognised Sahih or other collections must: (a) be attributable to the Prophet; (b) have both a solid (unbroken) and sound (reliable) chain of transmitters; and (c) relay a verified saying or event, then you would have been wrong.Moreover the scholars of the hadith compilations had a juristic bent, meaning that they were looking to derive laws in order to regulate society. They did not shy away from openly using weak hadith to justify establishing a certain law if in their own minds they were doing so for the greater good. This had its most negative and lasting impact in matters relating to women. There was also the challenge of myths, forgeries and mixed intentions to contend with in compiling hadiths. Overall, only a few dozen Prophetic hadiths are said to be reliable with absolute certainty, though many others can be said to be “most probably” reliable.Thus we must undertake a re-prioritisation of the Qur’an above all other sources so that hadith is assessed through the lens of the Qur’an rather than the other way round, as has astonishingly been the case.

Sequential metric dimension for random graphs

In the localization game on a graph, the goal is to find a fixed but unknown target node $v^\star$ with the least number of distance queries possible. In the jth step of the game, the player queries a single node $v_j$ and receives, as an answer to their query, the distance between the nodes $v_j$ and $v^\star$ . The sequential metric dimension (SMD) is the minimal number of queries that the player needs to guess the target with absolute certainty, no matter where the target is.The term SMD originates from the related notion of metric dimension (MD), which can be defined the same way as the SMD except that the player’s queries are non-adaptive. In this work we extend the results of Bollobás, Mitsche, and Prałat [4] on the MD of Erdős–Rényi graphs to the SMD. We find that, in connected Erdős–Rényi graphs, the MD and the SMD are a constant factor apart. For the lower bound we present a clean analysis by combining tools developed for the MD and a novel coupling argument. For the upper bound we show that a strategy that greedily minimizes the number of candidate targets in each step uses asymptotically optimal queries in Erdős–Rényi graphs. Connections with source localization, binary search on graphs, and the birthday problem are discussed.

Absolute Certainty and Political Ideology: A Systematic Test of Curvilinearity

The present investigation examined curvilinear relations between left-right political ideology, on the one hand, and absolute certainty and dogmatism, on the other, across six community samples (N = 2889). Ideological extremists were more likely than others to be absolutely certain: about 1 in 3 extremists reported being absolutely (i.e., 100%) certain of the correctness of their political beliefs, whereas about 1 in 15 non-extremists reported being absolutely certain. Although absolute political certainty was relatively symmetrical across the political left and right, conservatives tended to report greater domain-general dogmatism than liberals. Extremism effects for domain-general dogmatism were also present, however, such that Socialists and extreme conservatives demonstrated similar levels of dogmatism. Taken together, these findings underscore the complexity of relations between absolute certainty, dogmatism, and ideology, ultimately challenging the sufficiency of contemporary psychological accounts of ideological a/symmetries to describe our complex political reality.

Epistemic Fragments

This is an attempt to think through the idea that human knowledge has no fundamental ground. It seemed best to present this gesture in fragments rather than argument. In the questioning pursuit of absolute certainty, one ultimately finds the promise of such certainty itself to be what is most questionable and uncertain. With this newfound uncertainty, the ground falls away and an abyss opens up which makes one wonder if and how we know anything at all. What is miraculous is that, despite this epistemic abyss, we nonetheless can and do know—just not in a firmly grounded, absolutely certain way. We rather seem to make recourse to “commonsensical” articles of faith which make understanding possible for us as much as they limit us. Perhaps these brief fragments are ultimately concerned with human knowledge and human finitude, as they are an attempt to humble aspirations toward certain, grounded knowledge in one regard, yet they hopefully gesture toward what may actually be possible for human knowledge in another.

The Quest for Certainty

The aim of this paper is to vindicate the Cartesian quest for certainty by arguing that to aim at certainty is a constitutive feature of cognition. My argument hinges on three observations concerning the nature of doubt and judgment: first, it is always possible to have a doubt as to whether p in so far as one takes the truth of p to be uncertain; second, in so far as one takes the truth of p to be certain, one is no longer able to genuinely wonder whether p is true; third, to ask the question whether p is to desire to receive a true answer. On this ground I clarify in what sense certainty is the aim of cognition. I then argue that in judging that p we commit ourselves to p’s being certain and that certainty is the constitutive norm of judgment. The paper as a whole provides a picture of the interplay between doubt and judgment that aims at vindicating the traditional insight that our ability to doubt testifies our aspiration to know with absolute certainty.

Astrocytic and Oligodendrocytic P2X7 Receptors Determine Neuronal Functions in the CNS

P2X7 receptors are members of the ATP-gated cationic channel family with a preferential localization at the microglial cells, the resident macrophages of the brain. However, these receptors are also present at neuroglia (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes) although at a considerably lower density. They mediate necrosis/apoptosis by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines, reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as the excitotoxic (glio)transmitters glutamate and ATP. Besides mediating cell damage i.e., superimposed upon chronic neurodegenerative processes in Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, they may also participate in neuroglial signaling to neurons under conditions of high ATP concentrations during any other form of neuroinflammation/neurodegeneration. It is a pertinent open question whether P2X7Rs are localized on neurons, or whether only neuroglia/microglia possess this receptor-type causing indirect effects by releasing the above-mentioned signaling molecules. We suggest as based on molecular biology and functional evidence that neurons are devoid of P2X7Rs although the existence of neuronal P2X7Rs cannot be excluded with absolute certainty.

La falacia de la Verdad. Esbozos de un camino hermenéutico centrado en la vacuidad

This article offers a strategy of human liberation centering itself on an open attitude before nothingness, its recognition, and valuation for personal life. The text presents an argument against the attitude of searching for the Truth, understanding it as the absolute certainty. It starts off from the idea that man must relativize all processes of interpretation, this is to say, all hermeneutic exercises; with this, it is warned, it will be possible to liberate oneself from the exclusively linguistic search and from the linear or univocal learning. From this will be derived the contemplation of the option of being concerned for oneself, and of finding audible traces in silence which invite towards the comprehension of a nihilistic logic that is liberating from enslaving structures

Weaving quantum chaos

No matter how hard we strive to be certain, absolute certainty cannot be achieved. The article focuses on chaos to identify, conceptualize and visualize a liminal space between the classical and quantum world, where everything is in some state of chaos. The article asks questions of visualizing the invisible, indiscernible and unfathomable quantum world of subatomic particles. This quantum artistic research examines a role of atomic and subatomic particles in the search for consciousness, materially, ethically, scientifically and culturally. The burden of molecular ethics and aesthetics of care are discussed to enable a critique of the information given to us by science.

The Role of the Russian Constitutional Court in Achieving Certainty of the Criminal Law Prohibition

The article explores the activities of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation as a means of achieving certainty of the criminal law prohibition. Three approaches to «reduce» uncertainty are considered (wherein, the impossibility to reach absolute certainty is proclaimed). The author proposes to distinguish three such approaches enforced by the Constitutional Court: 1) recognize the contested provision as compliant with the Constitution of the Russian Federation (through a «refusal» ruling); 2) to indicate the constitutionality of the norm, while revealing its obligatory legal meaning (thus, correcting not the rule itself, but the practice of its application); 3) to decide the unconstitutionality of the normative act examined in the process of constitutional production in whole or in part. It is argued that the way to «reduce» uncertainty, by adjusting judicial practice, cannot be considered efficient with the preservation of an uncertain norm defective in its core (the criminalization of the act was made unreasonably).

Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome: advice in the times of COVID-19

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory disease in China at the end of 2019. It then spread with enormous rapidity and by mid-March 2020 was declared a world pandemic. Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS) is a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder with a worldwide prevalence of about 1% of the population. The clinical symptoms include multiple motor and one or more phonic (vocal) tics. Germane to this communication is that 85% of patients with GTS have associated psychiatric co-morbidities, many of which are being exacerbated in the current global health crisis. In addition, several symptoms of GTS may mimic COVID-19, such as a dry cough and sniffing (phonic tics), while other symptoms such as spitting, inappropriate touching of others and “non-obscene socially inappropriate symptoms” can potentially get patients with GTS into trouble with the law. We suggest that a clear explanation of the COVID-19 illness and GTS is important to enable colleagues of various specialities who tend to patients with GTS. It is important to acknowledge at the outset that the information available on the COVID-19 pandemic changes daily, including cases infected, deaths reported, and how various national health systems are planning and or coping or not. It is fair to say that having read the current medical and lay press we conclude that it is not easy to reassure our patients with absolute certainty. However, notwithstanding that, we hope our documentation is of some assistance.