The Organic Roots of Conatus in Early Greek Thought

The focus of this paper will be on the earliest Greek treatments of impulse, motivation, and self-animation – a cluster of concepts tied to the hormē-conatus concept. I hope to offer a plausible account of how the earliest recorded views on this subject in mythological, pre-Socratic, and Classical writings might have inspired later philosophical developments by establishing the foundations for an organic, wholly naturalized approach to human inquiry. Three pillars of that approach which I wish to emphasize are: practical intelligence (i.e., a continuity between knowing and doing), natural normativity (i.e., a continuity between human norms and the environment), and an ontology of philosophical dialectic (i.e., a continuity between the growth of human understanding and the growth of physis).

Can spirituality be a scientific topic and how?: A rigorous but open-minded scientific approach of studies on religion, spirituality, and mental health

Science and spirituality are at odds, due to the history of enlightenment. This led to freeing human inquiry from dogmatic and clerical bondage by religion. And because religion has been left behind by the new scientific narrative of a self-evolving world, driven by random accidents and mutations and natural laws, there seems to be no place for spirituality either. This contribution disentangles those conceptual problems. It first points out the history of this separation and its consequences. It is important to realize that spirituality and religion are two different things. While religion is a conceptual, ethical, ritual, and at times also a political framework, spirituality is the experiential core of all religions. As a human experience, it is universal and independent of religious belief systems. Spirituality, as a form of inner experiential access to reality, is also at the bottom of the scientific process—for instance, in important theoretical insights. 150 words

From serpents and doves to the war on teleocracy

In one of his earliest papers, ‘Serpents and Doves in Classical International Theory’ (1988), Nick Rengger set out themes that would be important to him for the next thirty years, including a Rortyan/Oakeshottian commitment to conversation as the appropriate mode of human inquiry, with the premise that there is no truth to be discovered, and a healthy scepticism directed towards reformist projects in international relations. These themes are present in his final works on just war and the anti-Pelagian imagination, but in a new, and less attractive, more dogmatic form. His critique of ‘teleocracy’ had hardened into something that no longer resembled a conversation, and his critique of progressivism involved the burning of a multitude of straw men. In 1988 Rengger aspired to be one of Rorty’s ‘edifying’ philosophers, by 2018 he seemed to have become committed to a system.

Foundations

Chapter 2 reviews the historical foundations of DNA research and introduces the Human Genome Project, now a quarter century old. Why it was (and continues to be) so important to the genetic understanding of the origins, nature, and future of human beings is explored in this chapter. In addition to helping to address scientific and philosophical questions, the project and its diverse spinoff technologies have revolutionized many practical components of modern life. They have affected the development of personalized medicine, influenced criminal forensics, and brought the near-total elimination of paternity disputes. Also covered is the historical background of human inquiry into genetics, which provides the knowledge base underpinning the HGP.

Intercultural parallax: Comparative modeling, ethnic taxonomy, and the dynamic object

Comparative modeling is necessary for semiotic inquiry. To better theorize such pursuits, a reflexive turn is in order: comparative modeling needs comparative modeling. In search of experientially grounded analogies better suited for understanding, validating, scrutinizing, and accounting for the situation of the semiotic inquirer, this paper applies insights from Peircean process semiotics and Göran Sonesson’s extended theory of cultural semiotics toward two ends: one theoretical, the other applied. First, I undertake a critical review of recent scholarly and creative works that attempt to adapt concepts of “parallax” as a source domain for comparative modeling activities. I do this in order to continue laying groundwork for a more complex, systematic theory of reflexive semiotic modeling in human inquiry, building on my earlier work. Second, I explore a specific case study of comparative intercultural modeling: namely, nationalist ethnic classification strategies in China and Vietnam. While many researchers have considered the onomastic and geopolitical dimensions of state-sanctioned ethnic categorization programs in these two countries, little has been done to unpack the powerful visual and narratological strategies employed by both; and little has been done to compare the intercultural categories these strategies serve to legitimize. The Vietnamese classification program is clearly modeled on its Chinese counterpart historically, but important categorical mismatches emerge between the two that indicate the presence of hidden diversity. Comparing the two systems also leads to a number of discoveries with implications for further developing the theory of cultural semiotics. Ultimately, the function or purpose of parallax modeling is shown to both comprehend and point beyond nascent intercultural and intracultural models toward more complex blends, by holding all such relations in a comparative frame, not as irreconcilable positions but as a more developed composite sign indicating the presence of yet more deeply buried dynamic objects to be searched out through further collateral experience.

The Murky Distinction Between Curiosity and Interest: State of the Art and Future Prospects

Curiosity and interest are at the core of human inquiry. However, controversies remain about how best to conceptualize these constructs. I propose to derive definitions by attending to the common core of typical usages of the two terms. Using this approach, curiosity can be defined as a psychological state that includes three components: recognition of an information gap, anticipation that it may be possible to close it, and an intrinsically motivated desire to do so. Interest can be more broadly defined as intrinsically motivated engagement with any specific object, content, or activity. The two definitions imply that curiosity is a special case of interest. Furthermore, I propose to use the state-trait distinction to distinguish between momentary and enduring forms of both curiosity and interest, which makes it possible to treat state versus trait curiosity and interest in conceptually parallel ways. To make further progress in understanding the two constructs, research is needed that investigates their affective dynamics and their generalizability across age-related and socio-cultural contexts.

Translation Shift in Indonesian-English Versions of Holy Quran Sura An Nas

Translation shift has turned into an appealing and intriguing topic to depart from. Shift cannot be avoided when it comes to transferring one language into another language. It is caused by the rules that each language has. Translation shifts are divided into 2 kinds which are category shifts and level shift. Category shifts fall into 4 categories which are structure shit, unit shift, class shift, and intra system shift. The objectives of this current study are to 1) discover types of translation shift which appear in the Indonesian and English translation versions of Holy Quran Sura An Nas and 2) find out the most dominant shift occurring in the Indonesian and English translation versions of Holy Quran Sura An Nas. Qualitative design was employed to arrive at the answers to the quest. This current study has revealed that three kinds of category shift, which are unit shift, class shift, and intra system shift, are found except structure shift. Holy Quran is divine Scripture. We seek refuge min syarril-waswāsil-khannās from setan yang bersembunyi (the evil of the retreating whisper) – detecting unit shift from adjective clause into prepositional phrase. This sort of investigation is mainly human inquiry to interpret the Source Language (SL) into Target Language (TL) in various versions within the limitation of human imperfection.