Critique of Exaggeration : Thinking Beyond

This study examines the function of exaggeration for thinking beyond the current concepts of God and the human. An example of thinking beyond in philosophy is the exaggeration “beyond being” in Plato’s Republic. In the philosophy of religion, generally, we deal with the questions of God. The present study discerns as an instance of thinking beyond the thinking about God and the human. The study aims to develop and demonstrate the critique of exaggeration as an approach to the thinking beyond. The critique of exaggeration locates and examines the point at which thinking goes beyond the subject at hand, which is also the subject of clear and distinct understanding. The study takes the starting point in Jacques Derrida’s Writing and Difference, and Alexander Garcia Düttmann’s philosophical concept of exaggeration for the analysis of exaggeration in René Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, George Bataille’s Madame Edwarda, and Antonin Artaud’s To Have Done with the Judgement of God. The study demonstrates the decisive role of exaggeration in the creation of concepts. Finally, the study proposes the critique of exaggeration as the approach to the eccentric, transgressive, and extravagant discourses in philosophy and philosophising in literature, art, and theatre

Simone Kotva, Effort and Grace: On the Spiritual Exercise of Philosophy

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Somatostatin Secreted by Islet δ-Cells Fulfills Multiple Roles as a Paracrine Regulator of Islet Function

OBJECTIVE— Somatostatin (SST) is secreted by islet δ-cells and by extraislet neuroendocrine cells. SST receptors have been identified on α- and β-cells, and exogenous SST inhibits insulin and glucagon secretion, consistent with a role for SST in regulating α- and β-cell function. However, the specific intraislet function of δ-cell SST remains uncertain. We have used Sst−/− mice to investigate the role of δ-cell SST in the regulation of insulin and glucagon secretion in vitro and in vivo

A Laboratory of Stories: Teaching and Learning through Community Lore in the Contemporary Esoteric Society Sodalitas Rosae Crucis

This article develops the concept of community lore, initially devised by the social learning theorists Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1991). In extending this promising but hitherto neglected aspect of their work, this article sheds light on how and why community lore sustains and propels teaching and learning in the contemporary esoteric society Sodalitas Rosae Crucis (SRC). Ethnographic findings illuminate how the situated, informal community lore becomes a pervasive learning device that underwrites individual and collective learning, as it emerges in small talk, gossip, and cautionary tales, told and shared among members. Furthermore, a dynamic of tradition and innovation is at play within the community lore, as it sustains tradition while also providing a breeding ground for new ideas and practices that lead to innovation. Within the constructive tension between tradition and innovation, I delineate how community lore works as an educational resource, with explanatory value for situated learning, especially within esoteric communities of practice