Pope Gregory the Great’s Arguments Against the Ecumenical Title of the Patriarch of Constantinople: Analysis of the Letters from 595

Introduction. At the end of the sixth century a dispute broke out between the popes and the patriarchs of Constantinople – first of all, between pope Gregory I the Great (590–604) and patriarch John IV the Faster (582–595) – over the epithet “Ecumenical”, which appeared in the title of John of Constantinople. This dispute is quite widely represented in the scientific literature, but since researchers almost always pay attention to this topic in general, their papers often miss many nuances contained in the texts of the letters of pope Gregory. Methods. This article attempts a detailed analysis of the first series of letters of pope Gregory dedicated to the dispute and related to 595. These are letters to emperor Maurice (582–602), empress Constantina, the patriarch John IV of Constantinople, and the papal apocrisiary in Constantinople, deacon Sabinianus. The purpose of this study is to reconstruct pope Gregory’s argumentation system against the use of the Ecumenical title. Analysis. The author identifies several types of arguments that pope Gregory puts forward in his polemic against the title: canonical, biblical, dogmatic, ecclesiastical, political, pastoral and ascetic. Results. The article shows, on the one hand, what the letters have in common, and on the other, how the arguments of the pope vary depending on the recipient. Generally, pope Gregory expresses a sharply negative attitude to the title, and many researchers tend to see this fact as a contradiction to the concept of papal primacy, as it developed in a later period. Basing on the significant differences in argumentation between the letters to the emperor, the empress and the patriarch John – with the same purpose of all the messages – the article makes a conclusion about the care with which pope Gregory selects arguments. This can serve as one of the indirect indicators of the high importance of the dispute over the Ecumenical title for him, and also characterizes his perception of the idea of Church power in general.

ArguMente: An Online Argumentation System for Formal and Non-Formal Education

ArguMente is an online system that offers two types of learning spaces. On the one hand, a close group space that implements a student-centred teaching strategy, the purpose of which is to automate the Dialogue Design System model for written argumentation (DDS). On the other hand, it offers a space for the exercise of an argued debate under a non-formal environment of education that calls for the creation of learning communities. Experiences for teaching argumentative skills and for teaching teachers have taken place through the first space, the closed classroom, while the second space, the open classroom, is being used to promote the autonomous argumentative dialogue.

Is Lecture as a Dominant Form of Teaching Dying?

The article is devoted to the actively debated, difficult and for many teachers a painful problem addressing lecture as a dominant form of teaching. Nowadays, lecture is increasingly seen as an inefficient form of education, hopelessly outdated, with little interest and response among students, useless and, in principle, dying. The authors are firmly convinced that lecture was, continues to be and will be the main and indispensable form of instruction for the reproduction of an intellectual elite. To substantiate this position, the article presents an argumentation system that unfolds in three stages. In the first part of the article, the essence of lecture is revealed in the light of Randall Collins' theory of intellectual interactive rituals. The subject's intellectual creativity is conditioned by his personal contacts “face to face” with other intellectuals, as well as the position of this subject in the intellectual network. There is a demonstration that lecture has all the hallmarks of an interactive ritual, and it is its archetypal case, which ensures the transmission of cultural capital from the older generation of intellectuals to the young one. During this process, its successful participants feel surge of emotional energy necessary for intellectual creativity. In the second part of the article, the distinctive positive aspects of lecture are systematized and discussed, which together make it a unique form of training that gives indispensable experience to both lecturer and participants. The third part of the article, based on the real history of education and providing illustrative examples, is a kind of empirical confirmation of the first two parts. The article may be of interest to teachers, students, as well as anyone who is not indifferent to the current state of education in Russia.

Towards an Artificial Argumentation System

Computational Argumentation studies the definition of models able to either have a debate, persuade users in decision making or assist humans with argument analysis. In this work, some of our initial contributions and the foundations of this research field are presented.

The Synchronous Online Argumentation System User Interface with an Integrated Design Framework: Redesign and Evaluation

The Synchronous online argumentation system is highly needed to facilitate learning activity in this internet era. To gain deeper insights about this important issue, this study developed nine principles based on Cognitive Load, User Interface, and User Experience to redesign a system. With this framework, 48 (forty-eight) students of Chi-Ying High School had tested with two prototypes, and the second prototype used the nine principles. The systems were measured with Web-Based Learning Environment (WEBLEI) and System Usability Test (SUS). The result of WEBLEI measurement shows that the second prototype gives better result and shows higher user acceptance than the first prototype. The result of SUS measurement shows that the usability of the second prototype is better than on the first prototype with (4.43) SUS score difference. The result shows that the use of nine principles that applied to the second prototype does increase the usability and acceptance of the students.

A Study on the Characteristics of the Ionospheric Gradient under Geomagnetic Perturbations

The Earth’s ionosphere is greatly influenced by geomagnetic activities, especially geomagnetic storms. During a geomagnetic storm, the ionosphere suffers many perturbations, leading to a spatial gradient that are neglected during geomagnetically quiet periods. An ionospheric gradient generates potential hazards for a ground-based argumentation system (GBAS) by enlarging the errors in the delay corrections between ground monitor stations and users. To address this problem, this work investigates the characteristics of the ionospheric gradient under geomagnetic storms. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations from the continuously operating reference station (CORS) network were used to analyze the ionospheric gradients during the geomagnetic storm on 8 September 2017. The statistical behavior of the ionospheric gradient was further discussed. Experiments show that strong geomagnetic perturbations lead to large ionospheric gradients, and the gradients also vary with the geomagnetic location.

Legitimizing Force of Great Narratives in the XXI century

This article is devoted to the study of the concept of «great narratives» and their implications for legal philosophy and legal science in the 21st century. The author analyzes the concept of great narratives and the concomitant ideas of unity and totality, given by J.-F. Lyotard, and compares them with similar ideas put forward by other philosophers, in particular, Ch. Perelman. The author also makes an attempt to investigate the argumentation system proposed by J.-F. Lyotard in return for the use of great narratives and evaluate this system in connection with its application in legal science. Noting the problematic approach of Lyotard, within the framework of which, when we refuse the «terror» of great narratives, we find ourselves in a situation where there are no criteria and norms for making decisions, the author of this work acknowledges the contribution of this approach to the development of legal argumentation. This system rests on the important premise that homogeneity and integrity of society is a (dangerous) illusion, which should be eliminated, and in return it is necessary to recognize the right of different groups within society and even separate individuals to be different and to create their own narratives of justice. Of course, this approach is complex and full of contradictions, and the thoughtless introduction of proposals made by J.-F. Lyotard in the legal practice in its original form would be an unjustified step leading to arbitrariness and disorder. However, it seems that some of the provisions of his theory ( for example, the uniqueness of each dispute, the need for argumentation, etc.) could be used in making legal decisions, like the main premises of his theory.