2,086 research outputs found

    Alʔilbīrī’s Book of the rational conclusions. Introduction, Critical Edition of the Arabic Text and Materials for the History of the Ḫawāṣṣic Genre in Early Andalus

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    [eng] The Book of the rational conclusions, written perhaps somewhen in the 10th c. by a physician from Ilbīrah (Andalus), is a multi-section medical pandect. The author brings together, from a diversity of sources, materials dealing with matters related to drug-handling, natural philosophy, therapeutics, medical applications of the specific properties of things, a regimen, and a dispensatory. This dissertation includes three different parts. First the transmission of the text, its contents, and its possible context are discussed. Then a critical edition of the Arabic text is offered. Last, but certainly not least, the subject of the specific properties is approached from several points of view. The analysis of Section III of the original book leads to an exploration of the early Andalusī assimilation of this epistemic tradition and to the establishment of a well-defined textual family in which our text must be inscribed. On the other hand, the concept itself of ‘specific property’ is often misconstrued and it is usually made synonymous to magic and superstition. Upon closer inspection, however, the alleged irrationality of the knowledge of these properties appears to be largely the result of anachronistic interpretation. As a complement of this particular research and as an illustration of the genre, a sample from an ongoing integral commentary on this section of the book is presented.[cat] El Llibre de les conclusions racionals d’un desconegut metge d’Ilbīrah (l’Àndalus) va ser compilat probablement durant la segona meitat del s. X. Es tracta d’un rudimentari però notablement complet kunnaix (un gènere epistèmic que és definit sovint com a ‘enciclopèdia mèdica’) en què l’autor aplega materials manllevats (sovint de manera literal i no-explícita) de diversos gèneres. El llibre obre amb una secció sobre apoteconomia (una mena de manual d’apotecaris) però se centra després en les diferents branques de la medicina. A continuació d’uns prolegòmens filosòfics l’autor copia, amb mínima adaptació lingüística, un tractat sencer de terapèutica, després un altre sobre les aplicacions mèdiques de les propietats específiques de les coses, una sèrie de fragments relacionats amb la dietètica (un règim en termes tradicionals) i, finalment, una col·lecció de receptes mèdiques. Cadascuna d’aquestes seccions mostren evidents lligams d’intertextualitat que apunten cap a una intensa activitat sintetitzadora de diverses tradicions aliades a la medicina a l’Àndalus califal. El text és, de fet, un magnífic objecte sobre el qual aplicar la metodologia de la crítica textual i de fonts. L’edició crítica del text incorpora la dimensió cronològica dins l’aparat, que esdevé així un element contextualitzador. Quant l’estudi de les fonts, si tot al llarg de la primera part d’aquesta tesi és només secundari, aquesta disciplina pren un protagonisme gairebé absolut en la tercera part, especialment en el capítol dedicat a l’anàlisi individual de cada passatge recollit en la secció sobre les propietats específiques de les coses

    The self and conscious experience

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    The primary determinant of the self (S) is the conscious experience (CE) we have of it. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that empirical research on S mainly resorts to the CE (or lack of CE) that subjects have of their S. What comes as a surprise is that empirical research on S does not tackle the problem of how CE contributes to building S. Empirical research investigates how S either biases the cognitive processing of stimuli or is altered through a wide range of means (meditation, hypnosis, etc.). In either case, even for different reasons, considerations of how CE contributes to building S are left unspecified in empirical research. This article analyzes these reasons and proposes a theoretical model of how CE contributes to building S. According to the proposed model, the phenomenal aspect of consciousness is produced by the modulation—engendered by attentional activity—of the energy level of the neural substrate (that is, the organ of attention) that underpins attentional activity. The phenomenal aspect of consciousness supplies the agent with a sense of S and informs the agent on how its S is affected by the agent’s own operations. The phenomenal aspect of consciousness performs its functions through its five main dimensions: qualitative, quantitative, hedonic, temporal, and spatial. Each dimension of the phenomenal aspect of consciousness can be explained by a specific aspect of the modulation of the energy level of the organ of attention. Among other advantages, the model explains the various forms of S as outcomes resulting from the operations of a single mechanism and provides a unifying framework for empirical research on the neural underpinnings of S

    The self and conscious experience

    Get PDF
    The primary determinant of the self (S) is the conscious experience (CE) we have of it. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that empirical research on S mainly resorts to the CE (or lack of CE) that subjects have of their S. What comes as a surprise is that empirical research on S does not tackle the problem of how CE contributes to building S. Empirical research investigates how S either biases the cognitive processing of stimuli or is altered through a wide range of means (meditation, hypnosis, etc.). In either case, even for different reasons, considerations of how CE contributes to building S are left unspecified in empirical research. This article analyzes these reasons and proposes a theoretical model of how CE contributes to building S. According to the proposed model, the phenomenal aspect of consciousness is produced by the modulation—engendered by attentional activity—of the energy level of the neural substrate (that is, the organ of attention) that underpins attentional activity. The phenomenal aspect of consciousness supplies the agent with a sense of S and informs the agent on how its S is affected by the agent’s own operations. The phenomenal aspect of consciousness performs its functions through its five main dimensions: qualitative, quantitative, hedonic, temporal, and spatial. Each dimension of the phenomenal aspect of consciousness can be explained by a specific aspect of the modulation of the energy level of the organ of attention. Among other advantages, the model explains the various forms of S as outcomes resulting from the operations of a single mechanism and provides a unifying framework for empirical research on the neural underpinnings of S

    Possessing Amazonia: Global Disputes over the Amazon Basins and the Guiana Highlands (c.1840-c.1900)

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    Grounded on an integrated and global history of Amazonia, this research concerns the intersection between boundary making, the rise of nation-states and modern globalization. Taking South America Amazonia and the Guianas as field of study, our central enquiry is approached from a diachronic historical perspective, which serves our aim of writing a history of mutual recognition, relationships, and influences in remote frontier territories. The central problem to be interrogated, lies in the relation between process of connectedness, the emergence of new codes, symbols, and also ideas related to national states. Then, our aim is to identify the dimension and nature of the late territorial expansion of European empires in South America, the way official and alternative projects in border negotiations emerged in the late nineteenth century. Furthermore, we aim to see how economic and political schemes of colonization failed to establish new colonization schemes, this is, breaking the remoteness. This process connects with the struggle of imperial/national states to deal with distance, remote areas and, more importantly, with the people who lived and produced territory in these ‘isolated’ borderlands. Border arbitrations mapped these areas in search of historical sovereignty, yet found them replete with indigenous territorialities and alternative projects. This ‘clash of territorialities’ is the subject of this research. In this perspective, we reject conservative approaches towards territoriality, and constructivists’ interpretations that take the nation-state and nationalism as result of elites making goal. We conclude that Amazonia as an ‘opened frontier’ was the center of several clashes of territoriality, not only between European powers and new national states, but also between indigenous/black communities living via moving towards the remoteness as a region of refuge.The nation-state was only an option regarding the state building contingency; and boundary making was the creative element that gave ground for national narratives and cartographic anxieties of the fin de siècle. The history of the remote as an approach proposes, then, to overcome the difficulties of studying processes of connection, encounters, and globalization in an integrated perspective.Baseada numa história integrada e global da Amazónia, esta investigação incide sobre a intersecção entre a definição de fronteiras, a ascensão dos Estados-nação e a globalização moderna. Tomando como laboratório a Amazónia e as Guianas da América do Sul, o nosso inquérito central é abordado a partir de uma perspetiva histórica diacrónica, que serve o nosso objetivo de escrever uma história de reconhecimentos e influências mútuas, assim como relações e conexões em territórios fronteiriços remotos. O problema central a ser interrogado reside na relação entre o processo de estabelecer interdependência/conexões, a emergência de novos códigos, símbolos, e ideias relacionadas com os estados nacionais. O nosso objetivo central é identificar a dimensão e a natureza da expansão territorial tardia dos impérios europeus na América do Sul, a forma como os projetos oficiais e alternativos nas regiões fronteiriças emergiram em finais do século XIX, e como os novos esquemas económicos e políticos de colonização não conseguiram se estabelecer, isto é, romper o remoto. Esse processo está ligado à luta dos Estados imperiais/nacionais para lidar com a distância, áreas remotas e, mais importante ainda, com os povos que viveram e produziram território nestas terras fronteiriças ‘isoladas’. As arbitragens fronteiriças mapearam estas áreas em busca da soberania histórica, mas encontraram-nas repletas de territorialidades indígenas e projetos alternativos. Este ‘choque de territorialidades’ é o tema desta investigação. Nesta perspetiva, rejeitamos abordagens conservadoras sobre territorialidades e interpretações construtivistas que tomam o Estado-nação e o nacionalismo como resultado de projetos elitistas horizontais. Concluímos que a Amazónia como ‘fronteira aberta’ foi o centro de vários choques de territorialidade, não só entre potências europeias e novos Estados nacionais, mas também entre comunidades pretas/indígenas que se moveram/viveram no remoto como uma região de refúgio; o Estado-nação era apenas uma opção na contingência da construção do Estado; as fronteiras foram os elementos criativos que deram terreno às narrativas nacionais e às ansiedades cartográficas do fin de siècle. A história do remoto como abordagem propõe, então, ultrapassar as dificuldades de estudar processos de conexão, encontros, e globalização numa perspectiva integrada

    Place Trace: Embodying site and architectural experience through movement praxis

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    This research offers the field of architecture an original praxis that employs movement to enhance dynamic, relational, and corporeal awareness of place during the communicative and representational processes of architectural design. Much of architectural design practice is spent at a distance from the animate site, and the representational techniques with which architects communicate with themselves can be equally distancing. During design, images of the building are tiny, static, largely visual, and often viewed from above rather than within the design. This study proposes that measures that physically engage architects in dynamic embodied understandings of both the site and of future inhabitant experience can reduce this felt distance during design practice. Dynamic and embodied perception can strengthen attention and identification with the life and ecology on site, also helping architects to perceive the dynamic experiential qualities as-if-in the future building. This transdisciplinary practice-research addresses the following over-arching research question: - How might movement be employed as an aid to architectural design to enhance the experience of designing with-in the animate site and as-if-in the future design. This PhD research has developed a way of embodying site and architectural experience through a movement praxis which is called Place Trace. During the processes of architectural design, Place Trace provides a way of using movement to communicate with oneself during design both with-in the site and as-if-in the future building; affectively tracing the steps of future inhabitants and the qualities of real and imagined place with the moving body-self. Three key qualities of body-place encounter identified in Phase 1 of the study underpinned the movement praxis trialled during design in Phase 2. These qualities are identified as body relational space, rhythm, and density of body-place encounter. When attending to these three qualities, the aspects of site and design traced around my body in movement were experienced as close, immediate, clear, real, and memorable, as if traced upon my physical body-self, connecting me to the site and design. The original praxis initiated during this research offers the field of architecture accessible ways of using and attending to the whole body’s movement to trace, embody, and thus feel and remember, the surrounding qualities of real and imagined place, also bringing the practitioner’s body-self into a closer dynamic body-place relationship with-in the site and as-if-in the design

    Doing Diversity in Museums and Heritage

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    The museum and heritage sector has been shaken by debates over how to address colonialism, migration, Islamophobia, LGBTI+ and multiple other forms of difference. This major multi-researcher ethnography of museums and heritage in Berlin provides new insight into how ›diversity‹ is understood and put into action in museums and heritage. Exploring new initiatives and approaches, the book shows how these work - or do not - in practice. By doing so, it highlights ways forward - for research and action - for the future. The fieldwork locations on which this book is based include the Humboldt Forum, the Museum of Islamic Art, the Museum für Naturkunde, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, as well as Berlin streets and protests

    (b2023 to 2014) The UNBELIEVABLE similarities between the ideas of some people (2006-2016) and my ideas (2002-2008) in physics (quantum mechanics, cosmology), cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and philosophy (this manuscript would require a REVOLUTION in international academy environment!)

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    (b2023 to 2014) The UNBELIEVABLE similarities between the ideas of some people (2006-2016) and my ideas (2002-2008) in physics (quantum mechanics, cosmology), cognitive neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and philosophy (this manuscript would require a REVOLUTION in international academy environment!
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