A “Spiritual Journey” Through the “Middle” Kingdom: Travel and Translation in François Cheng’s Translingual Novel

The Franco-Chinese migrant writer François Cheng (Grand Prix de la francophonie de l’Académie française 2001) is the first French Academician of Asian origin. His French- language novel Le Dit de Tianyi (Prix Femina 1998, rather differently translated into English as The River Below) recounts the protagonist’s life trajectory across the turbulent twentieth century, from wartime China to France and back to a radically changed Communist China. The protagonist’s cross-cultural and often painful migrant experience largely mirrors that of the author, yet with the final part of the novel being completely fictional. The novel’s generic and stylistic hybridity demonstrates the author’s strenuous effort to investigate the literary possibilities of comparatively incorporating both Western and Eastern cultural heritages in the creative process. Although Le Dit is not formally categorized as a travelogue, travel motifs permeate the novel. The tripartite structure – ‘epic of departure’, ‘detouring journey’, ‘myth of return’ – is redolent of established models of travel since Odyssey. The characterization of the protagonist as a ‘wandering soul’ (âme errante) going on artistic pilgrimages as well as arduous quests for knowledge both in China and to the West, further complemented by the constant longing and attempt to be reunited with loved ones, is among the key features of travel writing largely shared by both Western and Chinese traditions. These travel motifs interact dynamically with the fundamental conception of the novel as both a Bildungsroman and Künstlerroman that linguistically translates, epistemically transforms, and spiritually transcends the individual’s experience of migrance (migration and errance). Such an interaction, then, inspires informed imagination and provokes lateral thinking about cultural representations, and entails a transcultural aesthetic that simultaneously revisits two great cultural heritages, engendering something ‘new’, or indeed, ‘old’. Drawing on theories of cultural translation (initiated notably by Homi Bhabha) and transculturality (Graham Huggan; Wolfgang Welsch), this article examines how the wide range of travel motifs function as a consistent structural and thematic frame and bring frictional qualities and effects to Cheng’s translingual novel. And I argue that these travel motifs ultimately create a liminal space where both European and Chinese literary and artistic traditions are set in motion towards a planetarian possibility of cultural ‘transcendence’ (Cheng’s own word).

IMMORTALITY IN THE LIGHT OF SYNECHISM

The word «synechism» is the English form of the Greek «synechismos», from «synechés», continuous. <…> I have proposed to make synechism mean the tendency to regard everything as continuous. <…> I carry the doctrine so far as to maintain that continuity governs the whole domain of experience in every element of it. <…> Synechism, even in its less stalwart forms, can never abide dualism, properly so called. It does not wish to exterminate the conception of twoness, nor can any of these philosophic cranks who preach crusades against this or that fundamental conception find the slightest comfort in this doctrine. But dualism in its broadest legitimate meaning as the philosophy which performs its analyses with an axe, leaving, as the ultimate elements, unrelated chunks of being, this is most hostile to synechism. In particular, the synechist will not admit that physical and psychical phenomena are entirely distinct, - whether as belonging to different categories of substance, or as entirely separate sides of one shield, - but will insist that all phenomena are of one character, though some are more mental and spontaneous, others more material and regular. Still, all alike present that mixture of freedom and constraint, which <…> makes them to be teleological, or purposive.

Identifying the Strengths – an Important Factor in Employee Engagement

This article presents a new point of view – identifying the strengths of the employees is the main factor in their engagement. It is also affected by the behavior and attitude of their direct manager. The precise identifying of these strengths puts the employee in the right job position. This maximizes their innate individual potentialities which will reflect to company’s customers. Employee engagement is a fundamental conception which aims to describe the relationship between an organisation and its employees quantitatively and qualitatively. Successful organisations realize that every individual has his own way of thinking and perception. Managers who can be named successful in the engagement of their employees, belive the things that stay and have powerful energy are the talents of a person.“Talent” in this article is an often repetitive model of thinking, feeling, behaving and acting.

Voksende Samlinger. Om at skabe, arkivere og forske i folkloristiske optegnelser

Lene Vinther Andersen: Growing Collections: Recording, Archiving and Researching early Danish Folklore The article gives an introduction to the original main collection of the Danish Folklore Archives, entitled Voksende Samlinger (Growing Collections). Growing Collections is an abundant collection of records on folklore and immaterial culture with a focus on the 19th century. Yet the material can appear complicated to understand, fragmented and difficult to use for archive users who are not already familiar with the field and its history. The article examines the cataloguing principles and working methods of the Growing Collections, as well as the visions and ideas on which they are based. It is the ambition of the article to give readers insights into the possibilities and limitations of the Growing Collections, and to encourage readers to use the collection for their own research. A review of the cataloguing structure of the Growing Collections reveals that the records are systematically divided into a number of subject categories following a system devised by Svend Grundtvig in 1861. This systematization is associated with a fundamental conception of folklore as being a source to access a distant past. A close reading of the instructions and articles intended for potential folklore collectors gives an idea of how the researchers of the archives tried to control the form and content of the records created for the archives. Their goal was to collect, cleanse, split up and archive folklore records in the collections, which the researchers would later process and return to the general public as a large number of source publications that generally matched the subject categories of the archives. The publications turned out to be more demanding than first assumed, and the work was not achieved to the extent foreseen. Yet the Danish Folklore Archives continued to create archive material based on the aforementioned working methods and ideals up to around 1960, and the result was a well-ordered collection of folklore records with detailed metadata and an extensive catalogue. It is also a collection characterised by a radical splitting-up of material, and a focus on subjects that interested the researchers at the time. In view of the history of the Growing Collections and its underlying philosophy, it will, however, be possible to locate material that is of relevance to contemporary research interests, and the use of consistent metadata makes it possible to cross-reference both the material in the Growing Collections and in other archives. The article concludes with some specific proposals for the use of the material in cultural history research, as well as some reservations with regard to methodology that might be considered.

Psychology of Design

Talking about design, most discussions circulate around physical objects or products, around their invention, development, production and marketing. While most modern design approaches do also cover questions pertaining to human interaction, e.g. within user- or human-centred design philosophies, a systematic and fundamental conception of the role and implications that human perception and emo-cognitive processing take with regard to designing physical goods is lacking. Under the umbrella term ‘Psychology of Design’, I will develop and elaborate on psychological dimensions that are highly relevant to the optimization and evaluation of design. I propagate a general psychological turn in design theory and practice in order to purposefully include not only the top-down processes triggered by context, framing, expectation, knowledge or habituation but also the psychological effects of Gestalt and Zeitgeist. Such psychological effects have the potential to determine whether the very same physical design will be aesthetically appreciated, desired, loved or rejected in the end. Psychology of design has a tremendous influence on the success and sustainability of design by triggering associations and displaying demand characteristics in a multimodal way. The paper is based on fundamental psychological theories and empirical evidences which are linked to applied examples from the world of art and design.

Too attentive to our duty: the fundamental conflict underlying human rights protection in the UK

Are we defined by the choices we make or the duties we owe? This paper argues that there is a conflict between the fundamental conception of the individual as possessing the capacity to choose how to live, which has been held to be the foundation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the understanding of the individual as a bearer of duties which has long underpinned the UK Constitution. Through case law analysis, it is shown that the tension between these two understandings of the individual underlies the troubled acceptance of the Human Rights Act 1998, and influences the UK judiciary's substantive interpretations of the Convention rights. It is ultimately argued that for the Convention rights to be fully accepted in the UK, the evolution from a duty to a choice-based understanding of the individual, which was artificially accelerated by the Human Rights Act, must be more widely accepted by society and the courts.

Thomas Aquinas on Bodily Identity

This is a study of the union of matter and the soul in human beings in the thought of the Dominican Thomas Aquinas. At first glance, this issue might appear arcane, but it was at the centre of Catholic polemic with heresy in the thirteenth century and of the development of medieval thought. The book argues that theological issues, especially the need for an identical body to be resurrected at the end of time, were vital to Aquinas’s account of how human beings are constituted. The book explores how theological questions shaped Aquinas’s thought on individuality and bodily identity over time, his embryology and understanding of heredity, his work on nutrition and bodily growth, and his fundamental conception of matter. It demonstrates how Aquinas used his peripatetic sources, Aristotle and Averroes, to further his own thinking. The book indicates how Aquinas’s thought on bodily identity became pivotal to university debates and relations between rival mendicant orders in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, and that quarrels surrounding these issues persisted into the fifteenth century. Not only is this a study of the interface between theology, biology, and physics in Aquinas’s thought; it also fundamentally revises the generally accepted view of Aquinas. Aquinas is famous for holding that the only substantial form in a human being is the soul; most scholars have therefore thought he located the identity of the individual in their soul. This book restores the body through a thorough examination of the range of Aquinas’s works.

V.S. Solovyov’s characters of Christian ideal in the humanization process of Russian artistic education

The article explores the development of Russian culture and education symbolism at the end of ХІХ in a question about Filioque. The prominent Russian thinker V. Solovyov considered that the unity of spirituality of Christian ideal faith was carried out in the unity of catholic and orthodox Christian churches. He doubted the question of division of Character of Vera perception. V. Solovyov notified the ideal of iconographic art, which was fundamental conception of development of Russian artistic culture and education. Semantic Christian character-kernel is an interpretation of our Hail Mary for us. The ideal of this character is incarnated in the divine beginning through the free exploit of man, adding the faith in Godman and God-flesh (Hail Mary) to the faith in God. This ideal was announced by F. Dostoevsky. The trinity of Christian ideal must have become the background for conscious spiritual development of Russia and all humanity. Essence of beauty symbolism is perceived in the actual available phenomena - nature and art. The conception of Sofia - Wisdoms of God character influenced the development of the Russian artistic culture and modern education. The character overflows in concepts: reasonable essence, Divine Bosom, Eternal femininity, Basis, law of life, reason, connection of God and created World. The character of Sofia is oriented to the Russian culture and education development, as a future and final phenomenon of Deity. As a founder of Russian Christian philosophy V. Solovyov defined subsequent motion of symbolism of Christian ideal in the synthesis of Orthodox, revivalist and comparative trends. We notice positive motion in Russian modern artistic education.

Ethik der Mensch-Tier-Beziehung

Even though there is now a broad consensus that animal welfare must be taken into account, in practice animals continue to be used on a large scale for human interests, exposing millions of them to severe suffering. This book elaborates the inconsistency between moral claim and practice as well as the controversy between different moral standpoints and shows how moral theories relate to concrete beliefs. It undertakes a critical survey of the most important philosophical moral theories and develops the proposal of a fundamental conception of respect for the well-being of all sentient beings.

The Fundamental Conception and Theory of Natural Philosophy: A Mega-Theory of Green Building and Eco-Homeland

The subject of this paper is fundamental conception and theory of nature. This paper tries to throw new light on the themes of natural experience in itself, its logical structure and law, its principle and prerequisite, as well as the contradiction of natural experience in itself. In general the conception of nature in science which is regarded irrelevant to subjective meaning has not origin of logic and can not stand firm. In the terms of unity of subject and object, this paper tries to interpret the meaning of fundamental natural conceptions logically, set up the corner stone of scientific buildings. The theory of natural philosophy is a mega-theory of green building and eco-homeland.