Porphyry's rhetoric

This paper provides an introductory survey of the evidence for Porphyry’s writings on rhetoric and a discussion of their context and influence, together with a detailed commentary on the testimonia and fragments. In paying tribute to Porphyry as polymath, Eunapius expresses uncertainty whether his most significant contribution was to rhetoric, literary studies, arithmetic, geometry, music or the various branches of philosophy (Lives of the Sophists 4.2.2-3 = 9.11-19 Giangrande). The aporia is a rhetorical figure (it is no coincidence that philosophy holds the final, climactic place), but we should not discount the initial claim that Porphyry was a major contributor to rhetoric, although that is not a perspective on Porphyry that will occur readily to modern scholars. Smith’s survey of recent work registers no interest at all in Porphyry as a rhetorician, and his Teubner edition of the fragments omits the majority of the rhetorical fragments, and all of the most substantial ones. The present paper aims to provide an introduction to this aspect of Porphyry’s work (§1-§4), together with a catalogue of the available evidence and a commentary on it (§5). This will, I hope, assist towards a better understanding of the history of rhetoric in the third century, and its place in the intellectual culture of the time

Connectivism: Its place in theory-informed research and innovation in technology-enabled learning

The sociotechnical context for learning and education is dynamic and makes great demands on those trying to seize the opportunities presented by emerging technologies. The goal of this paper is to explore certain theories for our plans and actions in technology-enabled learning. Although presented as a successor to previous learning theories, connectivism alone is insufficient to inform learning and its support by technology in an internetworked world. However, because of its presence in massive open online courses (MOOCs), connectivism is influential in the practice of those who take these courses and who wish to apply it in teaching and learning. Thus connectivism is perceived as relevant by its practitioners but as lacking in rigour by its critics. Five scenarios of change are presented with frameworks of different theories to explore the variety of approaches educators can take in the contexts for change and their associated research/evaluation. I argue that the choice of which theories to use depends on the scope and purposes of the intervention, the funding available to resource the research/evaluation, and the experience and philosophical stances of the researchers/practitioners

The Ideal Education in Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah

AbstractIbn Khaldun has been described as the first Islamic scholar to write about the science of Imran ‘Urbanism,’ and as the founder of the science of human society. He offered a complete history of Arab sciences and literature from the rise of Islam through to the 8th Hijri century. This paper concentrates on Ibn Khaldun's educational background and how it affected his perspective on children's upbringing and education. In his famous book; the Muqaddimah (meaning the ‘Introduction’ in Arabic), Ibn Khaldun wrote significant opinions about education and the most ideal methods of bringing up and instructing children. His views were fully explained throughout several chapters of his Muqaddimah. However, chapter six thereof deals with this subject in particular, covering many of its important facets

Ranganathan’s elucidation of subject in the light of ‘Infinity (∞)’

This paper reviews Ranganathan’s description of subject from mathematical angle. Ranganathan was highly influenced by Nineteenth Century mathematician George Cantor and he used the concept of infinity in developing an axiomatic interpretation of subject. Majority of library scientists interpreted the concept of subject merely as a term or descriptor or heading to include the same in cataloguing and subject indexing. Some library scientists interpreted subject on the basis of document, i.e. from the angle of the concept of aboutness or epistemological potential of the document etc. Some people explained subject from the viewpoint of social, cultural or socio-cultural process. Attempts were made to describe subject from epistemological viewpoint. But S R Ranganathan was the first to develop an axiomatic concept of subject on its own. He built up an independent idea of subject that is ubiquitously pervasive with human cognition process. To develop the basic foundation of subject, he used the mathematical concepts of infinity and infinitesimal and construed the set of subjects or universe of subjects as continuous infinite universe. The subject may also exist in extremely micro-form, which was termed as spot subject and analogized with point, which is dimensionless having only an existence. The influence of Twentieth Century physicist George Gamow on Ranganathan’s thought has also been discussed

Impartiality, Close Friendships and the Confucian Tradition

This article explores the relationship between friendship and morality. Two ideas have been influential in the history of moral philosophy: the impartial standpoint and close friendship. These two perspectives on thought and action can conflict, however, and such a case is presented here. In an attempt to resolve these tensions, and understand the assumption that gives rise to it, I explore an alternative conception of moral conduct and friendship suggested by early Confucian thought. Within this account, moral conduct is that which aims at harmony, understood as the appropriate blending of different elements. This suggests a conception of friendship that realizes harmony through a focus on shared activities, and the quality of interaction achieved between people as they participate in shared social events. This account offers a novel way of conceptualizing friendship, which also avoids the tension between the impartial standpoint and close friendship

Translation and cultural interference

El acto de la traducción evidencias dos esferas de problemas relacionados con la cultura: intralingüales e extralingüales. Con Coseriu se puede mantener que los problemas extralingüísticos no pueden ser resueltos por el traductor y que los aspectos intralingüísticos, han de ser considerados y tratados, aunque las soluciones podrían no surgir.The act of translation evidences two spheres of culture-related problems: extralingual and intralingual ones. With Coseriu I would maintain that the extralingual problems cannot be solved by the translator and that the intralingual ones, on the other hand, have to be considered and dealt with, although no solutions might emerge

ST 650 Narrative Theology

Brown, Robert M. My Story and \u27The Story\u27 in Theology Today, v. 23, #2, 1975 (available in digital format) Erickson, Millard, Christian Theology, Baker Book House, 1998. pp. 17-84;158- 175; Fackre, Gabriel. Narrative Theology: An Overview. Interpretation 37 (October 1983): pp. 340-52. Grenz J. Stanley & Roger E. Olson, 20th Century Theology, Carlisle, Patternoster Press, 1991. pp. 271-285; Grenz, J. Stanley & John R. Franke, Beyond Foundationalism. Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Context, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. esp. pp. 28-54. Hauerwas Stanely & Gregory Jones, editors Readings in Narrative Theology, , Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1997. pp. 21-44; 65-112; 158-215; 263-347; Heschel, J. Abraham, The Prophets, Perennial Press, 2001. Introduction; pp. 202-237; Ille, George, Hermeneutical Explorations of Agency as Prolegomena for a Theological Epistemology, PhD Thesis, King’s College, University of London, 2000) (selections in digital format). Jenson, Robert, Systematic Theology, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. pp. 3-23. Jungel, Eberhadt, Metaphorical Truth. Reflections on theological metaphor as a contribution to a hermeneutics of narrative theology in Jungel, Theological Essays. Translated and edited by J. B. Webster, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1989. Loughlin, Gerard, Telling God’s Story, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. pp. 3-26; 223-245; Lyotard, Jean-Francois,The Postmodern Condition, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984. The First 5 Chapters; (digital copy available at http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/lyotard.htm) McClendon, James W. Jr. ‘More On Narrative’ (available in digital format) McClendon. James W. Jr. Biography as Theology: How Life Stories Can Remake Today\u27s Theology. New Edition. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990. pp. 1-23. Murphy, Nancey, Beyond Fundamentalism and Liberalism. How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda, Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1996. pp. 1-35; 36-61; Niebuhr, H. Richard. The Meaning of Revelation, New York: McMillan Publishing Inc., 1941. Powell, Mark Allan, What Is Narrative Criticism (Guides to Biblical Scholarship. New Testament Series), Fortress Press, 1991. pp. 35-50; Rad, von Gerhard, The Message of the Prophets, New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1967. pp. 89-101; Ricoeur, Paul, Christianity and the Sense of History in History and Truth : essays translated, with an introd., by Charles A. Kelbley. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1965. Ricoeur, Paul, Essays on Biblical Interpretation by Paul Ricoeur with an introduction by Lewis S. Mudge, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980. pp. 73-180. Ricoeur, Paul, Figuring the Sacred, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995. - selections (pp. 35-47; 144-166; 203-278.) Ricoeur, Paul, Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences edited, translated and introduced by John. B. Thompson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. pp. 43-62; 165-181; Schwobel, Christoph, editor. Trinitarian Theology Today, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1995. pp. 1-30;147-170; Stroup, W. George, The Promise of Narrative Theology. Recovering the Gospel in the Church. Eugene: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 1997. Thiselton, C. Anthony. Interpreting God and the Postmodern Self, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1995. pp. 3-43. Thiselton, C. Anthony. The Two Horizons. New Testament Hermeneutics and Philosophical Description. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993. pp. 293-356; Wisse, Maarten, Narrative Theology and the Dogmatic Use of the Bible. (available in digital form - Utrecht University [email protected]). Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Divine Discourse, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. pp. 240-296; Wright, N.T. The New Testament and the People of God, London: SPCK, 1992. pp. 47-80; 371-417https://place.asburyseminary.edu/syllabi/3166/thumbnail.jp

Modes of codification in animation

Colaboração enquanto Professora ConvidadaThe illusion of movement that we perceive in animated films has its origin in the way the animator manipulates the graphic relation between two contiguous frames in each sequence.  However, this apparently simple action entails multiple modes of codification.   The meaning of an animated document comes from the articulation of a number of formal elements that constitute its discourse and that also belong to different languages and disciplines: perception of apparent motion; graphic communication; composition of motion; dramatic expression; narrative structuring; film language; synchrony between sound and actions; and continuity/discontinuity in filmic duration. Most of the basic concepts, constituents and techniques of animation discourse, as well as specific devices, have been already addressed in an ad hoc,   bit-­by-­bit way.  However, though they are supposed to identify all the various elements, conventions and discourse techniques in animation, they have not been yet put together and completed in a systematic manner.Dipartimento di Architettura, Design e Urbanística, Università di Sassari, Itáli

An Inquiry into the Metaphysical Foundations of Mathematics in Economics

Economics is supposed to fall somewhere between a hard science and a social science. During the last half century, economics has become highly mathematical trying to mimic physics. The purpose of this study is to look at the metaphysical statements linked to mathematical models, specifically, Game Theory. In doing so, it will be demonstrated that Game Theory, as part of neoclassical economics, engages in analysis which can be categorized as metaphysical, with real metaphysical implications. In categorizing the metaphysical assumptions of neoclassical economists/game theorists we will see how much of their analysis is consists in a reductive, implausible metaphysical view. Problems that arise from this view are hardly taken into consideration most economists. This lack of consideration has nontrivial consequences for economics as a discipline and for its methodology

Idea filozofii a eko-filozofia

This article on environmental philosophy was inspired by a discussion on the latter’s compatibility with the standards in place in academic philosophy. It seeks to consider how environmental philosophy relates to the idea of philosophy as such, electing to do so by reference to one of the best-known systems of environmental philosophy: the concept Henryk Skolimowski dubbed ecophilosophy (eko-filozofia). It is the author’s contention that the latter is a contemporary philosophy in which the core idea of philosophy is being renewed. This main thesis is developed in the article’s three parts, of which the first deals with the ongoing relationship between the idea and subject of philosophy. Here it is noted that the critical attitude is the one constant element underpinning the idea of philosophy. This attitude entails reservations as to – or simply a lack of full confidence in – the certainties and truths deemed to make up each and every one of history’s concrete forms of rationality. The lack of confidence manifests itself in a refusal to engage in a priori acceptance of any cultural tradition as exhausting the layers of human rationality (in terms of values, cognitive stereotypes or standards determining actions). The second part of the article addresses with the crisis in contemporary philosophy taken to reflect the marginalization of philosophical thought in today’s Euro-Atlantic culture. A theory as to why this is now being noted is presented and developed, the assertion – in brief – being that such a state of affairs has arisen because the main currents in contemporary philosophy have separated from the idea of philosophy, the currents in question tending to seek philosophy’s conversion into yet another scientific discipline. The third part of the article then focuses on ecophilosophy as a system aiming to re-supply philosophy with the idea of philosophy it has otherwise contrived to lose. Two issues  raised here are thus the characterisation of the remaining currents to contemporary philosophy – as a voice of protest against the main direction philosophy adopted in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the characterisation of ecophilosophy as heir to that other style of philosophical reflection wherein the aforementioned criticism remains a powerful feature, at least in relation to today’s most troublesome civilisational and social problems. The methodological background to the article comprises a popular typology of contemporary philosophy identifying the scientistic, the anti-scientistic and the ideological as the three fundamental groups of theories present; as well as a detailing of the sources of philosophical issues that points to those spheres of public life in which universally-accepted solutions are ceasing to be self-evident.Artykuł  jest poświęcony filozofii środowiskowej. Został zainspirowany przez dyskusje na temat jej zgodności ze standardami obowiązującymi w filozofii akademickiej. Podjęto w nim próbę odpowiedzi na pytanie o relację miedzy filozofią środowiskową i ideą filozofii. Uwagi na ten temat zostały sformułowane na kanwie jednego z najbardziej znanych systemów filozofii środowiskowej – koncepcji opracowanej przez Henryka Skolimowskiego. Twórca nadał jej nazwę „eko-filozofia”. W artykule postawiono następującą tezę: ekofilozofia jest odnowieniem idei filozofii w filozofii współczesnej. Wywód mający na celu uzasadnienie głównej tezy artykułu podzielono na trzy części. Część pierwsza dotyczy zależności zachodzących między ideą filozofii a przedmiotem filozofii. Stwierdzono, że trwałym i nieprzemijającym elementem idei filozofii jest postawa krytyczna; że ta postawa polega na nieufności wobec tych wszystkich pewników i prawd, które składają się na każdą konkretno-historyczną postać racjonalności; że owa nieufność przejawia się w postaci nie przyjmowania z góry żadnej tradycji kulturowej jako tradycji wyczerpującej – w formie wartości, stereotypów poznawczych i standardów działania – pokłady ludzkiej racjonalności. Część druga dotyczy kryzysu filozofii współczesnej. Za kryzys filozofii współczesnej uznano marginalizację myśli filozoficznej we współczesnej kulturze euroatlantyckiej. W tej części postawiono i rozwinięto tezę na temat przyczyny tego zjawiska. Stwierdzono, że za taki stan rzeczy odpowiada separacja głównych nurtów filozofii współczesnej od idei filozofii, obecna w tych nurtach tendencja do przeobrażenia filozofii w jeszcze jedną więcej dyscyplinę naukową. Część trzecia dotyczy eko-filozofii jako systemu przywracającemu filozofii współczesnej zatraconą przez nią ideę filozofii. W związku z tym podniesiono w niej dwie kwestie. Pierwsza dotyczy charakterystyki pozostałych nurtów filozofii współczesnej jako głosu sprzeciwu wobec głównego kierunku rozwoju filozofii w XIX i XX w. Kolejna – charakterystyki eko-filozofii jako kontynuatorki tego drugiego stylu refleksji filozoficznej i jako systemu podejmującego tę krytykę z punktu widzenia najbardziej newralgicznych problemów cywilizacyjnych i społecznych dzisiejszej doby. Na metodologiczne zaplecze artykułu składają się dwa elementy. Jednym z nich jest  popularna typologia filozofii współczesnej. Zgodnie z nią w filozofii współczesnej należy wyróżnić trzy zasadnicze grupy teorii filozoficznych: scjentystyczną, antyscjentystyczną i światopoglądową. Drugim elementem metodologicznej podstawy artykułu jest twierdzenie na temat źródeł problemów filozoficznych. Mówi ono o tym, że zagadnienia filozoficzne rodzą się w tych sferach życia społecznego, gdzie zaczynają tracić swoją oczywistość powszechnie przyjęte rozwiązania