Analogical cognition and understanding a word

Gentner describes a notion of ‘analogical cognition’ that could play a significant role in elucidating what is involved in understanding a word. Gentner’s work has not, though, had much or any impact in linguistics or the philosophy of language. I explain key features of Gentner’s notion, and I argue that it explains how word understanding can be stable, specific, and shared, and how words can contribute to cognition as opposed to just being a means of conveying thoughts

Masha and Bear(s): A Russian Palimpsest

When stories are scraped clean and re-written, how much of the original shines through later tales? This paper offers a palimpsest analysis (palímpsestos, “scratched/scraped again”) of the story Masha and the Bear based on a Russian folktale, Tolstoy’s tale The Three Bears, and the transformed folk world in the contemporary cartoon series Masha and the Bear. A palimpsest analysis of a text reveals different layers of readers’, listeners’, and viewers’ expectations, allowing them to challenge the story. Bringing together different versions of a tale with seemingly very similar characters and plot lines, where each subsequent story is regarded as a palimpsest, adds new features to each story’s interpretation. Considering the tale of Masha and the Bear, told differently in Russian folklore, literary tradition and modern media, demonstrates juxtaposition of textual layers that produces a variety of effects, from tragic to comic

Selected Functions of Narrative Structures in the Process of Social and Cultural Communication

The art of narrative stems from the art of rhetoric and modes of persuasion and in this meaning is understood not just as a form of entertainment but also as a tool of communication. Any narrative communicates and conveys a message. Narrative is an important aspect of culture and as a ubiquitous component of human communication is conveyed by different works of art (literature, music, painting, sculpture), and illustrates events, emotions, phenomena and occurrences. Narrative as a form of communication involves its participants, a teller and a receiver of the message. The relation and the distance between the participants of the narrative communication process may have a different configuration and presents different effect of closeness and distance in narrative. In this meaning narrative is not just the art of telling stories, but it serves various functions, it communicates information, expresses emotions and personal events, transmits morals and cultural knowledge, provides entertainment and also helps in many ways to depict thoughts and feelings, along with disclosing the beauty of language. Narrative knowledge and narrative perception of social and cultural processes, is one of the most natural ways for a human being to acquire and organize their knowledge about the world. The ability to create narratives leads to a better understanding of the surrounding reality, and significantly influences the interpretation of social and cultural relationships

Sloth: America\u27s Ironic Structural Vice

Individualism is a popular cultural trope in the United States, often touted for its promotion of industriousness and rejection of laziness. This essay argues that, ironically, America\u27s brand of individualism actually promotes a more fundamental form of the very vice it purports to oppose. To make this case, the essay defines the unique form of individualism in the United States and then retrieves the classical definition of sloth as a vice against charity (not diligence), contrasting Aquinas and Barth with Weber to demonstrate that this peculiarly American individualist impulse undermines civic charity by reaping the benefits of civic relationships while denying any concomitant responsibilities. Identifying this narrative of individualism as a structural vice, the essay proposes structural remedies for reinvigorating civic charity, solidarity, and the common good in the United States

Educational potential, underachievement, and cultural pluralism

The term 'underachievement' is widespread in modern educational discourse, invoked most frequently in relation to a perceived failure to reach 'potential'. In this paper, it is suggested that such terms, though widely used, are highly problematic, masking ideological assumptions which concern socially constructed, culturally sensitive, subjective, and relative matters. In fact, underachievement is most often used to mean low academic attainment and the paper argues that this is already better understood in terms of well-known factors such as prior attainment, socioeconomic disadvantage, and systemic biases. This paper also suggests that there is a danger of pathologising the low attainer when in fact it may be the system which is failing the learner. Further, the paper argues that the monologic focus on individual academic attainment as the sole measure of 'achievement' fails to take account of alternative cultural values and risks the charge of cultural imperialism

Venture Philanthropy- the Evolution of High Engagement Philanthropy in Europe.

This article looks at venture philanthropy and the Evolution of High Engagement Philanthropy in Europe