Encountering Finitude: On the Hermeneutic Radicalization of Experience

The chapter approaches the hermeneutic concept of experience introduced by Hans-Georg Gadamer in Truth and Method (1960) from the perspective of the conceptual history of experience in the Western philosophical tradition. Through an overview of the concept and the epistemological function of experience (empeiria, experientia, Erfahrung) in Aristotle, Francis Bacon, and Hegel, it is shown that the tradition has considered experience first and foremost in methodological terms, that is, as a pathway towards a form of scientific knowledge that is itself increasingly immune to experience. Science strives “beyond” experience because of the limitations inherent in the fundamentally contingent, singular, and negative character of experience: experience comes to us through unpredictable chance encounters and in singular situations and negates, tests, or “imperils” previous knowledge, thereby transforming it. By contrast, philosophical hermeneutics rethinks experience precisely in terms of these limitations. In the hermeneutic approach articulated by Gadamer and Claude Romano, experience is an encounter with the irreducible finitude and historical situatedness of one’s understanding and conceptual framework, an encounter with an otherness that puts our preunderstanding to test and requires us to revise it. Hermeneutic experience is thus a singular event that irreparably transforms us

Radical Contextuality in Heidegger's Postmetaphysics: The Singularity of Being and the Fourfold

The chapter argues that radical contextuality, a hallmark theme of “postmodern” thought, is also a key element of Heidegger’s thinking. Aristotelian metaphysics, as the question of being qua being, looks for a universal principle common to every particular instance of “to be.” By contrast, the postmetaphysical approach gradually developed by Heidegger basically addresses being as the irreducible context-sensitivity and singularity of a meaningful situation, understood as a unique focal point of a dynamic and complex meaning-context. The fundamental ontology of Being and Time (1927) articulates the temporally contextual structure of the human being as Dasein, culminating in the concept of the multidimensional singular instant (Augenblick). After the failure of his attempt to articulate the temporally contextual singularity of being in terms of its correlation with Dasein, Heidegger attempts an inverted approach: Contributions to Philosophy (1936–38) considers Dasein as the spatiotemporally situated place of the singular event (Ereignis) of being. The chapter finally suggests an interpretation of the fourfold (Geviert) of sky, earth, gods, and mortals, allusively introduced in the 1949 Bremen lectures, as Heidegger’s most elaborate account of the multidimensional structure that makes possible the contextual singularization of meaningfulness

Internationalization of home economics education: global education practices and perceptions of teacher educators

The purpose of the study was to investigate current practices and beliefs of home economics teacher educators regarding the infusion of a global perspective into the curriculum, by providing benchmark, descriptive data. Specifically, the study sought to (1) describe the practices used to integrate global education in methods course(s); (2) identify factors considered as incentives or barriers to the implementation of a global perspective; and (3) construct a profile of home economics teacher educators who are likely to infuse principles of global education into the curriculum;The study surveyed 162 home economics teacher educators who were identified as teaching a methods course(s). They were identified by an earlier inquiry via the membership roster of the National Association of Vocational Home Economics Teacher Educators. Seventy-five percent (n = 121) returned usable instruments;An instrument with three parts was developed to collect information related to current practices in the classroom, beliefs regarding global education, and selected characteristics of the individual and work environment. Each of the 72 items in the instrument was directly linked to a literature review of global education, higher education, and home economics education;In spite of the range of concepts identified with global education in the literature, practices and beliefs of home economics teacher educators\u27 preferences in a factor analysis clustered into eleven factors, five related to beliefs and six related to practices. Alpha reliability coefficients ranged from 0.53 to 0.84. The five factors were used in further analysis to predict the infusion of global education practices of teacher educators;The factor focus included the aims of global education related to home economics education and references with a global focus. This factor was found to be a significant predictor of five out of six factor practices used by teacher educators. Exchanges of faculty, students, and staff can be a predictor variable in two of six practice factors;While 71% of the respondents were tenured, only 28% indicated that their institutional tenure/reward system recognized international or global activities. Respondents indicated that involvement with global education was largely attributed to personal commitment, although administrative support was important. The teacher educators identified lack of time as a significant barrier to the infusion of global education

Multiepoch Mulitwavelength Spectra and Models for Blazar 3C 279

Peer reviewe

Relativism and Radical Conservatism

The chapter tackles the complex, tension-ridden, and often paradoxical relationship between relativism and conservatism. We focus particularly on radical conservatism, an early twentieth-century German movement that arguably constitutes the climax of conservatism’s problematic relationship with relativism. We trace the shared genealogy of conservatism and historicism in nineteenth-century Counter-Enlightenment thought and interpret radical conservatism’s ambivalent relation to relativism as reflecting this heritage. Emphasizing national particularity, historical uniqueness, and global political plurality, Carl Schmitt and Hans Freyer moved in the tradition of historicism, stopping short of full relativism. Yet they utilized relativistic elements – such as seeing irrational decisions or the demands of “life” as the basis of politics – to discredit notions of universal political morality and law, thereby underpinning their authoritarian agendas. Oswald Spengler, by contrast, took the relativistic impulses to the extreme, interweaving his conservative authoritarianism and nationalism with full-fledged epistemic, moral, and political relativism. Martin Heidegger has recently been perceived as the key philosopher of radical conservatism, and his thought arguably channeled antimodern aspects of historicism into contemporary political thought. We conclude by analyzing how some radical conservative arguments involving cultural relativism and plurality still reverberate in contemporary theorists such as Samuel Huntington, Aleksandr Dugin, and Alain de Benoist

Tracking the Equator Into the Paleogene (abstract of paper presented at AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 8-12 Dec 2003)

Stratigraphy has been compiled for 63 tropical Pacific drill sites that sample lower Neogene and Paleogene sediments. These Sites derive from drilling on DSDP Leg 5 through ODP Leg 199. All Sites have been put on the biostratigraphic and paleomagnetic timescale refined by Leg 199 scientists. Sediment accumulation rates have been calculated for ten intervals ranging in age from 10 Ma to 56 Ma. A simple fixed hotspot model was used for Pacific lithospheric plate rotation in reconstructing the position of the selected sites for each of these ten intervals. The reconstruction of all intervals show the development of a tongue of relatively high accumulation rates associated with the oceanographic divergence at the geographic equator. The estimated position of the geographic equator based on these reconstructions lies consistently south of the position of the equator based on the rotation model used. However, the southward displacement is generally 2 degrees of latitude or less. We believe that this relatively small disagreement between the two estimates of equatorial position back to 56 Ma indicates: 1) Whatever hotspot movement that may have occurred in the interval between 40 and 56 Ma did not affect the motion of the Pacific plate; its motion after 40 Ma appears to have been approximately the same as before 40 Ma. 2) The estimated rate of true polar wander during the interval of 40 - 56 Ma must be very small (~0.125$\deg$/m.y.) and is probably not significant (i.e., well within the error of these reconstructions)

Silk-fibronectin protein alloy fibres support cell adhesion and viability as a high strength, matrix fibre analogue

Silk is a natural polymer with broad utility in biomedical applications because it exhibits general biocompatibility and high tensile material properties. While mechanical integrity is important for most biomaterial applications, proper function and integration also requires biomaterial incorporation into complex surrounding tissues for many physiologically relevant processes such as wound healing. In this study, we spin silk fibroin into a protein alloy fibre with whole fibronectin using wet spinning approaches in order to synergize their respective strength and cell interaction capabilities. Results demonstrate that silk fibroin alone is a poor adhesive surface for fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells in the absence of serum. However, significantly improved cell attachment is observed to silk-fibronectin alloy fibres without serum present while not compromising the fibres' mechanical integrity. Additionally, cell viability is improved up to six fold on alloy fibres when serum is present while migration and spreading generally increase as well. These findings demonstrate the utility of composite protein alloys as inexpensive and effective means to create durable, biologically active biomaterials.T32 EB006359 - NIBIB NIH HH

VISITOR\u27S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR OWN IMPACTS AT A SPECIAL EVENT

Within the special events literature limited research exists exploring the impacts that result from special event visitation. No studies exist that examine special event attendees’ perception of their contribution to impacts. This needed perspective is valuable because management may want to develop communication material to minimize the negative outcomes of the festival and maximize the benefits. Attribution theory was used as the theoretical framework to better understand festival visitors’ perceptions of their own contribution to impacts (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Tetlock, 1981). During a two-week period in July 2005, self-administered surveys were distributed to Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival visitors in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Two questions were designed to better understand visitors’ perceptions of their own impacts. In total 307 visitors returned a completed survey resulting in a 53% response rate. Simple regression was used to examine the relationship between the direction of the impact (positive or negative) and visitors’ perceptions of their contribution to the impact item. The results indicated a positive significant relationship between direction of the impact and perception of contribution to impact item for each of the 8 impact items included in this study. Specifically, the more positively visitors rated an item the more they felt they contributed to an impact item. The results of this study provide support for the existence of self-serving biases in visitors’ attributions

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SERIOUS FLUOROQUINOLONE-RELATED ADVERSE EVENTS

Peer reviewe