Difficulties of Defining Slavery and the Borders between Free and Unfree

In this chapter I pay special attention to the terminological and semantic problem for any researcher dealing with slaves and slavery in (pre-)history, namely to establish whether terms such as servus, mancipium, villicus, rusticus, etc. actually defined a free or an unfree person. As a case of illustration, to problematize the sometimes “blurred” situation, I discuss the situation of the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire. In a sunbchapter I am presenting how Classical authors and jurists approached slavery and freedom, and how they could accept and motivate servile status and the abuse of humans, being used as tools, and in subsequent subchapter I give a very short introduction to the research of slavery, with a focus on the Scandinavian research.

PROBLEM SEMANTIS DAN SOLUSI PEMAHAMAN MULTIKULTURALISME, INTERKULTURALISME, DAN CROSS-CULTURAL

A semantic problem arises around the terms Multiculturalism, Interculturalism, and Cross-Cultural. The first two terms are involved in intensive discussion, while the last term tends to be in the realm of praxis. Semantic problems begin with Multiculturalism as a term that has many meanings. This problem received a response in the form of multiculturalism as an approach to the clarity of its features. In the development of perspectives, a multiculturalism problem occurs when dealing with the term Interculturalism as a comparative approach. There are two perspective arguments; arguments that support Multiculturalism and responsive arguments. Discussion of the problem increases when “interculturalism” is used to show a specific model of “managing cultural diversity” in Quebec which is articulated in explicit opposition to Canadian multiculturalism, but differs from important respect from the European interculturalism model. The two approaches contain indications of strategic advantages in the shift to the term “interculturalism” because the term “multiculturalism” is seen as being politically tarnished over the past decade. At the height of the discussion there was criticism of the flow of Multiculturalism studies which almost completely ignored the contributions of primary disciplines, especially anthropology and social psychology, especially contact theory. Finally, three points of understanding solutions can be proposed; (1) Multiculturalism is a holistic concept and an ideological basis of recognition of cultural differences, (2) Interculturalism is a model of managing cultural differences according to different regional cultural bases, (3) Cross-cultural interaction patterns, action programs, skills, and conflict management instruments.

Strategi Komuikasi Dakwah Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem

ABSTRACTIn dakwah communication, as a communicator a preacher should have methods or ways so that the message could be delivered to the Jamaah. Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem delivers his speech through radios and medias, he has more than other speakers who deliver their preach daily at Ar Rahmah Perak Surabaya, his strategy draws attention to researcher to conduct the research about what kind of strategy or ways implemented by Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem to deliver his preach and how he overcomes the problems he faces.The purpose of this reseach is to find out what communication strategy implemented by Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem at Ar Rahmah mosque, how Ustadz faced his problems. This reseach is a qualitive descriptive kind of reseach which uses three techniques of data collection, through observation, interview, and documentation. The conclusion of the reseach are that Ustadz’s strategy target determination, the determinstion of ways in communication, identification of the jamaahs, source credibility, the Jamaah’s history and feelings, also the media election are quite well. Yet there are problems still, psychology problem, anthropological problem, semantic problem, mechanical problem, and ecological problem.ABSTRAKDalam komunikasi dakwah, seorang da’i adalah sebagai komunikator dakwah diharuskan mempunyai metode atau cara supaya pesan dakwahnya dapat diterima dengan baik oleh jama’ah atau mad’unya. Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem berdakwah dengan menyampaikan pesan dakwahnya melalui kajian di dalam dan diluar masjid, beliau juga menyampaikan pesan dakwahnya melalui radio, dan media lainnya. Ustadz memiliki jama’ah yang lebih banyak dibandingkan dengan pengisi kajian rutin lainnya di Masjid Ar Rahmah Perak Surabaya. Hal inilah yang menarik perhatian peneliti untuk menelusuri tentang bagaimana strategi komunikasi dakwah Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem dan apa hambatan hambatannya.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apa saja strategi komunikasi yang di lakukan oleh Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem di masjid Ar Rahmah dan bagaimana Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem dalam menghadapi hambatan hambatan dakwahnya. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian diskriptif kualitatif dengan menggunkan tiga teknik pengumpulan data, melalui observasi, wawancara dan dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian memperoleh kesimpulan bahwa strategi Ustadz Muhammad Sholeh Drehem penentuan sasaran, penentuan cara berkomunikasi, kredebilitas sumber, mengidentifikasi jama’ah, latar belakang jama’ah, perasaan jama’ah, pemilihan media. Adapun hambatannya yaitu hambatan psikologis, hambatan antropologis, hambatan simantik, hambatan mikanis, hambatan ekologis

Loke on the Abstractist/Concretist Christological Distincton: A Semantic Problem or a Metaphysical Problem?

SummaryOriginating from the Evangelical Philosophical Society’s Panel Discussion at the American Academy of Religion 2017 on themes in Andrew Loke’s Christological work, Kryptic Christology, the present article isolates one important issue that began as discussion in Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie between James Arcadi and Andrew Loke on the nature of Christ’s human nature according to abstractism and concretism. Upon summarizing the debate, I make two claims. After I take a fresh look at the state of the analytic Christological literature, I, first, suggest that Loke is not consistent with the common descriptions of abstractism/concretism as stated in the analytic literature. And, second, I argue, based on Loke’s own words, that he confuses a metaphysical distinction with a semantic distinction.

The Problem of Vagueness

This chapter introduces the philosophical concept of vagueness and explains its significance for contemporary philosophy. The concept is seen to give rise to two main problems: the ‘soritic problem’ of finding a solution to the paradoxes of vagueness; and the ‘semantic problem’ of finding a satisfactory semantics and logic for vague language. It discusses three of the main attempts to deal with these problems – Supervaluationism, Degree theory, and Epistemicism. It indicates why none of these theories has been regarded as satisfactory and it concludes with a general impossibility result which seems to rule out any satisfactory account of the concept.

AN ATTEMPT TOWARDS THE APPROPRIATE METHODS FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

An analysis of research process indicates that it comprises in combination, the following elements: creative mentalities, properly defined problems, semantic problem –solving procedures, and certain types of possible solutions. All these elements are necessary and sufficient. Therefore, the most efficient relative utilization of each will make for the most desirable research procedure in any given application. The purpose of this paper is to discuss possible principles to be used in arranging these elements in an efficient manner, which will be useful in comprehending the present practice and the future of research. It should be noted at the start that these principles, intuitively and deductively inferred from an investigation of the characteristics of the research elements are to be considered tentative; the implication is not that they are necessarily invariant in research, but that the elements from which they stem are the same within any reference frame.

Vulnérabilité des femmes enceintes en éthique de la recherche : un problème sémantique

This commentary explores the notion of vulnerability applied to pregnant women in clinical research. The use of this notion, related to a semantic problem, raises an ethical issue and participates in the quasi-systematic exclusion of this sub-population from the research process.

2. Identity in logic and the classical law of thought

‘Identity in logic and the classical law of thought’ explains that Leibniz’s law of the identity of indiscernibles conforms to the laws of logic. It defines identity as strict self-sameness, but raises the difficult problem of what counts as the same. By framing identity as a semantic problem and introducing a distinction between the meaning of an expression (sense) and what it stands for (reference), Frege provided a partial solution to it, but vagueness continues to pose a major difficulty for the logic of identity. Non-Western logics that differ from the Aristotelian tradition offer an alternative by viewing every concept as including its own negation as a property, rather than the absence of properties.

Cities, from Information to Interaction

From physics to the social sciences, information is now seen as a fundamental component of reality. However, a form of information seems still underestimated, perhaps precisely because it is so pervasive that we take it for granted: the information encoded in the very environment we live in. We still do not fully understand how information takes the form of cities, and how our minds deal with it in order to learn about the world, make daily decisions, and take part in the complex system of interactions we create as we live together. This paper addresses three related problems that need to be solved if we are to understand the role of environmental information: (1) the physical problem: how can we preserve information in the built environment? (2) The semantic problem: how do we make environmental information meaningful? and (3) the pragmatic problem: how do we use environmental information in our daily lives? Attempting to devise a solution to these problems, we introduce a three-layered model of information in cities, namely environmental information in physical space, environmental information in semantic space, and the information enacted by interacting agents. We propose forms of estimating entropy in these different layers, and apply these measures to emblematic urban cases and simulated scenarios. Our results suggest that ordered spatial structures and diverse land use patterns encode information, and that aspects of physical and semantic information affect coordination in interaction systems.