Mission Possible: Intercultural Communication and the Quest for Finding Shared Meaning

The source of objective meaning is a controversial topic. For most of human history, religion had a monopoly on meaning, truth, and values. But from the nineteenth century onwards and with relativism gaining more popularity, this began to change, leaving most people divided into two main camps: those who believe in the existence of objective meaning and truth and those who maintain that such concepts simply do not exist. The resulting impossibility of finding shared meaning is very problematic, especially when it comes to intercultural communication. In fact, to speak of communication is to speak of common meaning. In this paper, I attempt to provide a definition for intercultural communication, explore the issue of shared meaning, and propose a culture-free approach to the latter—one that is based on reverting to an axiomatic understanding of the notion of meaning. My aim is to conclude that the failure of both dogmatism and relativism to sustain intercultural communication should not be interpreted pessimistically. Quite the opposite, it should be viewed as an opportunity to investigate other promising alternatives, mainly Sam Harris’s science of morality.

Tradisi Jamaahan Empat Puluh Hari Kajian Living Hadis Di Desa Jatipurus Kecamatan Poncowarno Kabupaten Kebumen

The tradition of forty-five-day congregation was developed by the creativity of religious figures in Jatipurus Village as a persuasive approach in order to promote the sharia of congregational prayer within the society. To support the arguments of that tradition, they combined the hadith encouraging forty-day congregational prayer with the hadith commanding to increase worship during the sacred months (glorified months). The practice of this congregational prayer was established in one of the sacred months, it was arranged from the 20th of Dzulhijjah to the 30th of Muharram. There was a strong correlation and combination between the charismatic religious figures and the hadith. It was proven by the enthusiastic involvement of Jatipurus society during the forty-five-day congregation that was arranged annually; as a sequence, it was recognized as a tradition. The fundamental part of that tradition was tasyakuran in which it was engaged in the activities of tahlil, religious talks, prayers, and then it was ended by having meals together. That tradition was investigated and analyzed by implementing Karl Mannheim’s theory on the sociology of knowledge. The concentration of this research was related to three aspects of meaning. The first, the objective meaning: it showed that the people of Jatipurus believed that the tradition of forty-five-day congregation was a legacy of their predecessors. The second, the expression meaning: the society who joined the congregation believed that by consistently performing the forty-five-day congregation could save them from two things: the torment of the fire and hypocrisy. Finally, the third, the documentary meaning: they did not realize the implied meaning of the tradition, in which the implementation of the forty-five-day congregation was an expression of a religious culture.

SCIENTIFIC AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN-GEOGRAPHICAL TERMINOLOGY CREATION

The importance of human-geographical terminology-knowledge as area of theory of geographical science is emphasized in this artikle. Human-geographical terminology-knowledge highlights the terms, terminology, systems of terms, the approaches of their creation and functioning. As the main issues of human-geographical terminology research are determined: lexicography, unification of terms, standardization of terms, the creation of categories and databases, translation of terms, editing of terms, and organizational. The place of human-geographical terminology- knowledge in the system of scientific knowledge on the logical cross-section of general terminology, theory of geographical science and history of geographic science is revealed. It is established that the importance of human-geographical terminological research is determined by many factors. The most important among them is the dynamic development of theoretical and methodological thoughts in human geography, which leads to the emergence of new concepts and terms. In particularly there is a significant increase of sociologization, environmentalization of terminology; intensive development of political and geographical, geopolitical terminology; active involvement of the terminology of the post-industrial, informational society; an interdisciplinary terminology on global and regional development issues is occured; created terminology based on the usage of geoinformation method of research. To systematize human-geographical terminology, a scientific algorithm for the conceptual-terminological systems is proposed through disclosure of the essence of human-geographical objects, relations, processes, structures. Interpretation of the essence of human-geographical objects, and, appropriate, relations, processes, structures, is determined by specific philosophical systems of cognition of reality. Accordingly, the objective reality is highlighted, including real and virtual, as subjectivized reality, including the conceptual and complementary reality. The importance of the distinguishing of terminological features of human-geographical concepts such as geotouriality, systematic, integrity, concreteness, the ability to map, and using GIS models are established by this research. The next main methodological principles of the terminological analysis are defined: logical and linguistic consistency (noncontradiction) of general and specific scientific terminology, verification of terms, falsification of terms, multi-vector, distinguishing of the objective meaning of the term despite of its ideological and subjective layers; harmonization of national terminology and borrowing, especially the international terms. Socio-geographical terminology is an important scientific field of geography theory. The relevance of the study of its formation and development is due to the dynamism of theoretical and methodological thought of social geography. Systematization of socio-geographical terms should take place according to the algorithm: objects - relations - processes. Interpretation of the essence of socio-geographical objects - the main cores of socio-geographical termination - requires consideration of the peculiarities of individual philosophical systems of comprehension of reality. Normalization of socio-geographical vocabulary will be facilitated by the establishment of terms of the main scientific categories. In socio-geographical termination it is necessary to adhere to the following main methodological principles: logical and linguistic consistency (consistency) of general scientific and specifically scientific terminology; verification of terms; falsification of terms; validity of terms; multivectority; separation of the objective meaning of the term from its ideological and subjective layers; harmonization of specific Ukrainian terminology and borrowings. Keywords: human-geographical terminology, human-geographical terminology-knowledge, terminology human-geographical objects, human-geographical relations, human-geographical processes, objective reality, subjective reality.

A Uniform Hermeneutic Thesis

At a broad level of generality, the orthodox approach to interpreting contracts, trusts, wills, security documents, company constitutions (etc.) is the same: a search for the objective meaning to be attributed to the author(s) of the instrument. This uniform hermeneutic thesis was most clearly set out in the High Court of Australia’s decision in Byrnes v Kendle [2011] HCA 26; (2011) 243 CLR 253. In light of this thesis, there are two main reasons for this article. The first is to respond to a criticism of this uniform objective approach that I have heard several times. The criticism is that as each species of legal obligation is different, it follows that different rules of interpretation should apply when the given legal context changes (e.g. why not ask the settlor of an inter vivos trust what she meant to say when an interpretational dispute arises). The second reason is to demonstrate that the explanations most commonly given in defence of an objective approach to interpretation, namely to promote legal certainty and economic efficiency, fail to capture the essential reason why the objective approach permeates the general law. The thesis put forward in this article is that an objective theory of interpretation is a justifiable aspect of private law because language (being a form of communication) does not operate unilaterally but requires stable and dependable shared conventions. This argument is supported by the further claim that where the author of a legal instrument utilises these publicly recognised conventions in order to affect her legal relations with others then she ought to be bound by those conventions. One cannot have the benefit of ‘conventions for me but not for thee.’

Reception and criticism of I. Kant’s theory of space and time in the philosophy of V. D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov

The subject of this research is the reception of I. Kant's theory of space and time in the theory of cognition of V. D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov (hereinafter Kudryavtsev). In his theory of cognition, Kudryavtsev not only engages into an indirect dispute with the German philosopher and criticized his point of views, but also used a number of his ideas, namely from the theory of space and time. The relevance of this article is substantiated by the fact that the problem of reception of Kantian ideas in Kudryavtsev's philosophy has not been fully developed. The goal of this research is to determine the specificity of perception of Kantian theory of space and time in the analogous theory of Kudryavtsev. For achieving this goal, the author employed conceptual-analytical, system-structural and comparative methods, as well as the method of historical reconstruction. The scientific novelty lies in elucidation of the nature of reception of gnoseological ideas of I. Kant in the philosophy of V. D. Kudryavtsev. The author outlines the positions of Kantian theory of space and time that were borrowed by Kudryavtsev: 1) space and time have an a priori nature, i.e. they are universal and necessary non-empirical forms of sensory cognition; 2) at the same time, they are conditions of sensory experience. Kudryavtsev also follows Kant in division of reality into phenomena and things-in-themselves, but does not agree with uncognizability of the things-in-themselves. Such divergence is associated with the objective meaning of space and time, which Kudryavtsev insists on, while Kant underlines their subjective meaning alone. In conclusion, it is emphasized that Kudryavtsev formulates his theory of space and time leaning on Kantian apriorism. Kudryavtsev simultaneously agrees with Kant's definitions of space and time and denies Kant's conclusions on their subjective nature.

Activity as a dominant of conceptual legal realism

The subject of this research is the concept of activity – one of the semantic characteristics of conceptual legal realism. The latter is viewed as a certain paradigm or gnoseological strategy, which serves as the basis for the development of cognitive attitudes. Legal realism is often erroneously reduced to the regional and local schools and trends of the legal thought. However, the study of legal realism as a conceptual technique, which has different interpretation of one of the central and meaning-making themes in the history of legal thought, allows introducing significant clarifications into the understanding of realism in jurisprudence from the perspective of the history of its formation, as well as heuristic capabilities in modern legal science. Activity is viewed as one of the key characteristics of the realistic approach towards law, taking into account various interpretations of realism. The novelty of this research consists in examination of the problem of realism in jurisprudence and its fundamental semantic characteristics through the prism of conceptual approach. The problem of psychology of activity, which was actively developed by the Soviet philosophical-psychological school, is closely related to the development of realistic interpretations of law in the contemporary history of legal thought. The author substantiates the position that application of the construct on the differentiation of the objective meaning from subjective-personal sense in the area of cognition of law allows to critically reconsider such trends on the modern legal thought that position themselves as the varieties of legal realism, clarify possible directions in the development of realism in jurisprudence.

Methodological Framework to Develop Meaning Formation Categories in Methodology of Biology Education

Science could be thought as mature in cases it obtains clear terminology and methodology i.e. recognizable scientific language and object to be researched. The integrative sciences, such as the methodology of biology education, face the challenge to look for themselves “overshadow” of other sciences related to object or methodology. In search for defined territory among sciences, critically important is elucidating the categories and deducing fundamental concepts of a given science. Transfer of experience takes place in four-dimensional system – on first place, are ideas, on the second, are symbols, signs, and terms related with ideas; the third dimension is objective meaning, other words representation in reality (in culture as values – technological, ethical, aesthetical and so on) and the last dimension is methodological that marks interaction subject-object in research field. These four dimensions encompass the territory of scientific and educational sense and can be used as a methodological framework in developing fundamental categories of a specific science.

2. Objectivity in contract law

This chapter provides an overview of the concept of objectivity. In contract law, the intentions of parties are generally judged by their words and conduct and their ‘objective’ meaning. This is known as the ‘objective test’. The contents of a contract are determined objectively. The best evidence that a term has been incorporated into a contract and that a contract is binding is through the parties’ signatures, although entirely oral contracts are equally possible. Contractual communications, whether oral or written, are generally to be understood in the way that a reasonable person in the position of the recipient would have understood them.

From order to approval

The article discusses the development of the Hebrew polysemous construction bɛsɛdɛr (the prefixed preposition bɛ ‘in’ + the noun sɛdɛr ‘order’). An analysis within the framework of Construction Grammar (Traugott & Trousdale, 2013) as well as tendencies of (inter)subjectification (Traugott, 2010, 2012) suggest that the construction developed through fusion and host-class expansion from an objective meaning of concrete and abstract order into an adverb, and later into a fully substantive lexical construction conveying subjective positive evaluation and to an intersubjectified discourse function expressing agreement and approval. The article further supports the proposal that both processes of grammatical and lexical constructionalization are evident in the constructionalization of beseder. Moreover, the analysis suggests that the different meanings which developed are interrelated, as they all derive from the original concept of order and organization, which at some point began to be desirable and appreciated, leading eventually to the development of discourse functions of approval and consent.

Jazz composition in the modern educational process

The teaching system is periodically updated and improved. The article outlines the perspective of using jazz composition in the system of musical education. Its expediency is emphasized, and its conditionality is shown by several interacting factors that contribute to the formation of professional skills of a musician-performer and teacher. In addition, the characteristic features that distinguish it from other musical disciplines are identified. At the same time, jazz composition as a technique for creating works is the basis for the formation and development of a musical style that involves the search for an individual performing style. Jazz composition is considered as a sphere of modern musical culture that meets the needs of musicians and listeners. The article shows the importance of jazz composition in the realities of the development of musical styles, emphasizes its importance in the system of values of musical culture, the objective meaning of which is determined by its inherent nature in several components of the modern creative process.