Articulating a post-human understanding of presence in virtual reality

This paper critiques existing methods and experimentation that use virtual reality (VR) and associated technologies to define and measure ‘presence’. Relevant contemporary philosophical resources are used to critique and reframe existing research, introducing a new post-human perspective on presence. Here, a new methodology is built as a foundation for research methods used for capturing subjective, experiential data and to contribute to current thinking around experiential design for VR

Man inside metaphors

The subject of the article is a role of metaphor in Józef Tischner’s philosophy. In late seventies he shaped an idea of „thinking within metaphor”, which was an essential modification of phenomenological method Tischner used before. Metaphorizing is not only an unliterally language expression, but also the metaphysical statement, that the world an human experience cannot be described in strict concepts. Metaphors and symbols have their own logic and hermeneutics, which shows their inner tensions. I proposed a new approach to Tischner philosophy, which allows unveil this „life of metaphor”.The subject of the article is a role of metaphor in Józef Tischner’s philosophy. In late seventies he shaped an idea of „thinking within metaphor”, which was an essential modification of phenomenological method Tischner used before. Metaphorizing is not only an unliterally language expression, but also the metaphysical statement, that the world an human experience cannot be described in strict concepts. Metaphors and symbols have their own logic and hermeneutics, which shows their inner tensions. I proposed a new approach to Tischner philosophy, which allows unveil this „life of metaphor”

Identity and Christ: The Ecclesiological and Soteriological Implications of Raimon Panikkar\u27s Cosmotheandric Theology

One of the most influential figures in recent theological reflection upon interreligious dialogue is Raimon Panikkar. Panikkar was an ordained Catholic priest who also practiced the Hindu and Buddhist faiths. Panikkar lived a life of mystical faith in which his identity was simultaneously Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist, a phenomenon often called `multiple belonging\u27. However, this mystical unity is not merely an element of Panikkar\u27s faith life, but it also essential to his theology. In fact, it is mystical unity that underlies the very concept of identity in Panikkar\u27s thought. Identity is found through union. It is in the realization of this unity that the concept of `Christ\u27 comes into play. Christ is the principle of this identifying unity, which is found throughout all of Reality. Panikkar\u27s overall theological vision can best be described by his own term: `cosmotheandric\u27, which describes this unity of all of reality in its three poles: the world (cosmos), God (Theos), and Human (Aner). In this way, the very nature of Reality itself is Trinitarian. With this in mind, this dissertation seeks to deduce the ecclesiological and soteriological implications of this theological vision. The key to understanding Panikkar\u27s ecclesiology and soteriology is the interrelation of the concepts of `Christ\u27 and `identity\u27

The Catholic Church and governance: an exploration of the relevance of the Ohacracy indigenous model of participatory governance in Igboland of South-Eastern Nigeria.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.More than half a century ago, the Vatican II ecumenical Council took place to redefine the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the modern world. Ecumenical as the Council is known; the Vatican II theology re-established the Church anew as to be relevant in the contemporary world, thereby opening doors for lay participation in the Catholic Church governance. Despite the Council and its leaning towards lay participation in the universal Catholic Church, the Catholic communities in the Igbo Ohacracy of the South-eastern Nigeria and the larger Nigerian communities continue to battle towards the determination and realization of the roles or duties of the laity. A Church identified to be communal, consultative; and collegial in its ecclesiological understanding applies the image of a Family of God’s People envisions a participatory Church which the Vatican II had proposed. This is yet to be fully achieved especially among the Igbo Ohacracy people. This study is located between two opposing ideologies of governance: It therefore investigates the centralized system of governance of the Roman Catholic Church and the decentralized Igbo Ohacracy order. The study also analyses the collective lay participation in the common governance of the Catholic Church as recommended by Vatican II council. It also examines authority, the laity, participation of women and inculturation to interrogate governance in both the Catholic Church and Igbo Ohacracy systems of governance. Indeed, this study reveals that in order for the Catholic Church tradition to continue to make sense and meaning, the values of dialogue, listening and consensus decision making should guide its style of governance in dealing with the Igbo Ohacracy people of South-eastern Nigeria. The Igbo Ohacracy form of indigenous governance is the inspiration behind the study. The study focuses on the Roman Catholic Church among the Owerri-Okigwe Igbo of Southeastern Nigerian communities. As a theological project, this study is located within the field of ecclesiology under the discipline of Practical Theology. Church as home for millions of Roman Catholic adherents around the world can no longer remain isolated and less concerned in matters related to governance which the Church in general has inspired all around the world; not just among the Igbo Ohacracy people of South-eastern Nigeria. Each day, human beings experience governance in various ways as it affects them; whether in the family, the community, place of work, in the Church or society at large. This study has applied both “Large Ears” and “Inculturation” theoretical frameworks. The former refers to the ‘Manja Metaphor’ used in the Central African Republic. It signifies the eldest brother as the one who has developed the greatest capacity for ‘listening’ to the will of the ancestors and to the conversations going on in the family community Uzukwu (1996:143). As a major theory for this study, it represents dialogue, consensus and communal participation in the common ownership of community activities and decision making. The latter, inculturation remains a term used to signify the movement which takes local cultures and their values as basic instruments and powerful means for presenting, reformulating and living; Christianity Waliggo, (1991:506). It describes the contextual or cultural application in understanding and practising the Christian values. This study investigates how both the centralized model of the Roman Catholic Church governance and the decentralized Igbo Ohacracy indigenous orders affect the Igbo people who are caught up in between these two influential systems. It is therefore meaningful to note that this study shows the Vatican II Council’s recommendation and opens doors for lay participation in the governance of the Catholic Church. The Igbo Catholic communities are yet to realize this vision fully for its Catholic adherents. Surprisingly though, through the Ohacracy institutions as analysed, this study has demonstrated a high level of individual and group participation among the Igbo governance order. From all indications of the analysis of both the centralized Catholic Church and the decentralized Igbo Ohacracy orders, it reveals that though these two systems are directly opposed to each other, the receptive nature of the Igbo culture has rather encouraged coexistence of the two. Moreover, the aggressive, dynamic and vibrant developmental pursuit nature of the Catholic Church (for example, Western education and medicine) has also propelled the Igbo Ohacracy communities’ receptivity of the ways and activities of the Roman Catholic Church among them. Finally, the study concludes that true and meaningful co-existence is highly probable between two traditions. With the aid and application of listening, dialogue and consensus in decision making (“Large Ear Theory”) between these two systems, peaceful co-existence and progress/development will continue to be achieved. The respect of both traditions among the Igbo communities through the utilization of the values of inculturation in the Catholic Church as fully described in this study will go further to propagate the realization of value and cultural insights that have emerged in this study

Endogenous development: a model for the process of man-environment transaction

Iran is currently subject to a number of adverse factors affecting good development in the built environment: population explosion, oil- dependent economy, finite resources, war and natural disasters, etc. The object of the study is to research a development model appropriate to the Country's needs for a proactive system of building environment. This model is not specific to Iran and, as the case studies and the discourse of the thesis indicate, is universal. However, the author suggests that the validity of development approaches will not be determined as a result of theoretical and ideological debate but in the realm of practice. Therefore, he has explored diverse ways in which professionals in the built environment can provide an analytical survey of the problems that beset them. An attempt has been made to bring these various elements into perspective and offer a model of 'endogenous development'.The process for achieving a viable, exciting and humane built environment is very complex and calls for contributions from many individuals and small multi -disciplinary groups. Beside professionals contributions (which is accomplished by deduction inference), there is a need for people's participation in design process (which is accomplished either by deduction or by abduction inferences). This participatory approach can also help shifting the process of design towards a wider domain that of the 'production process' (which is accomplished by abduction and induction inferences). Production process is the first paradigm of the model of endogenous development and is a manifestation of a feedback mechanism and acts as an open - ended living system. The second is 'supply- demand' paradigm which shows the relationships between the components of a system or between different systems in surface- structuresThis model is directed at society's development, not just its economic growth, but it does not preclude the possibility of such growth. The reduction of the problems' effect in an endogenous development is viewed more as a way of improving the quality of life than of increasing the standard of living. Nowadays, people are passive recipients in the consumer society and are totally dependent on others for their survival. This style of living is assumed to project an image of economic development and higher productivity, but there is a confrontation of preadjusted commodities which are the products of others. That is because the process of production is not natural (i.e. a closed loop cyclic process via feedback control). It is artificial (i.e. an open -loop linear process via a feed -forward control) which may not help satisfying the user's needs and wants entirely. In the built environment, the great majority have no say in the planning and design of their homes or places of work.Accordingly, endogenous development offers a framework within which the necessity of employing the people's creative power in building their environment is explained. It is based on the assumption that each individual and society's knowledge and experiences play a central and mediating role between professionals' perceptions of the environment and a series of preferences judgements or choices they might make towards and within that environment. Indigenous knowledge and cultural attributes of traditional societies and the organizational capabilities of traditional polities are essential in qualification of the development plans, which are also evaluated and assessed by this proposed framework

A Global Symbol for the Small b-Calculus on Manifolds with Boundary

Starting with the normal symbold of M. Pflaum, we generalize the machinery of global symbol calculi from the familiar setting of a compact Riemannian manifold to the b-calculus on a compact manifold-with-boundary, endowed with an exact b-metric. We define a notion of b-linearization, crucial to the symbol calculus. and show that an exact b-metric can be used to construct a b-linearization. Using the b-linearization, we define the global symbol of a b-pseudodifferential operator as a fiberwise Fourier transform over the b-tangent bundle. We prove that the global symbol is truly a symbol, of the same order of its operator, and define a quantization map with which one can recover the operator (modulo b-smoothing operators.) We compute the global symbol for a b-Laplacian, and give a formula for the b-trace in terms of the global symbol

Anthropocosmic-theism: towards a theistic re-orientation of Raimon Panikkar's pluralistic theology of religions

Although Raimon Panikkar represents a different genre within the pluralistic theology of religions, his response to the pluralistic question does not fit in with the faith traditions because the religious meaning is blanketed through a constant disengagement with theism. It means to say that theism should be the benchmark for the pluralistic theology of religions. In this sense, the direction of Panikkar’s dialogical engagement highlights disengagement with theism. While every approach has positive and negative dimensions, the limitation of non-theistic frame is that it cannot reach the theistic possibilities. Therefore, the present study differs from the previous researches on Panikkar since the other interpreters of Panikkar take things in a more pluralistic direction by tapping on his non-theistic method but I prefer to retrieve a more theistic approach in his pluralistic method. Accordingly, the basic problem this thesis both seeks to address and discuss is the non-theistic orientation of Panikkar’s pluralistic approach. The first chapter argues that his non-theistic method emerged from his cross-cultural context and engagement. The second chapter argues that Panikkar’s non-theistic categories blanket the theistic meaning of his pluralistic approach. The chapter on Pneumatology contends that his concept of the Spirit does not possess theistic meaning but holds non-theistic implications. The fourth chapter on Panikkar’s non-theistic Christology argues that his approach reduces Christ to a non-theistic concept. The fifth chapter maintains that his manner of multiple belonging overlooks the unique faith experiences because Panikkar’s non-theistic approach does not subscribe to a particular faith tradition. Thus, in the six chapter, I propose a theistic correction called anthropocosmic-theism to re-orient Panikkar’s non-theistic pluralistic theology of religions. I argue that the anthropocosmic-theism upholds theism as the prerequisite and foundation for the pluralistic theology of religions. The final chapter provides a broad-brush view of the theistic dialogue of deeds within the present Indian pluralistic context

A symbol is not a symbol

ndaQida.liu.se One of the weak points of the present critics of AI is their lack of an alternative cognitive theory. In the paper the outline of such a theory is sketched, based on (one reading) of Piaget's genetic epistemology. This is used to clarify the ambiguity of the terms 'symbol ' and 'representation', thereby making it possible to suggest a reconciliation of the positions of the critics and defenders of the representational theory of the mind. 1