The Targums to Esther

This introductory article acquaints the reader with a fascinating, ancient translation of the scroll of Esther, the so-called ‘Targum to Esther’. This translation exists in several versions, and therefore it is better to use the plural and speak of the ‘Targums to Esther’. The language and setting in life of these Targums will be discussed, their history will be traced, and some representative examples will be given to show the distinctive character of these translation

On the dialectical foundations of mathematics

This paper tracks the systematic dialectical determination of mathematical concepts in Hegel's Encyclopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften (1830, 1817) and investigates the insights that can be gained from such a perspective on the mathematical. To begin with, the determination of Numbers and arithmetical operations from Being shows that the One and the successor function have a qualitative base and need not be presupposed. It is also shown that even for infinite Intensive Magnitudes (cardinals) there exists an Extensive Magnitude through which they gain meaning. This makes the 'bad' in Hegel's 'bad infinity' a trifle problematic. Finally, if 'Dasein' is interpreted as the whole of perception in the present, Place can be viewed as the spatial Now, Motion as the passage from Place to Now and Matter as the actual (as opposed to observed) Presence of the natural realm

Adaptive Timing

Four minutes at the bus stop can feel like an eternity, while time flies when we are watching an enjoyable movie. Our sense of time is very elastic. In this thesis, we investigate how people use previous experiences to predict how long something will last and when something will happen.We show that experiences in memory have a direct influence on the way we experience time. When participants estimated a duration, we observed a faster build-up of brain activity if they had just estimated shorter durations. The brain does not seem to work like a static stopwatch, but instead creates active expectations based on previous experiences.Does this mechanism of expectations still work when we are doing something else, for example, when we are listening to music while working? Our results show that people perceive drum rhythms in a musical way, even when they are performing another task. We observed that the size of the pupil increased when a beat was omitted from the rhythm. And the more important the beat, the larger the pupil. Thus, our eyes reveal how musical we subconsciously are.All in all, this thesis shows that time can be seen as an inherent part of brain processes that adapt to a dynamically changing world

From Son of Man to Son of Adam—the Prophet Ezekiel in Targum Jonathan

The ubiquitous vocative expression ‮בן־אדם‬‎ (literally ‘son of man’) in the Book of Ezekiel seems to underscore the prophet’s status as a mere mortal. In contrast to the other ancient versions, Targum Jonathan to the Prophets interprets the word ‮אדם‬‎ as a proper noun, and renders the phrase accordingly as ‮בר אדם‬‎ ‘son of Adam’. This translation runs counter to the Targum’s conventional practice of rendering ‮בן־אדם‬‎ with ‮בר אנש(א)‬‎. In the absence of a satisfactory grammatical explanation for the divergent rendering, this article examines the possibility that the Targumist’s eschewal of ‮בר אנשא‬‎ was motivated by doctrinal concerns. On the strength of the findings it is argued that ‮בר אדם‬‎ was a clever and subtle alternative for ‮בר אנשא‬‎ because, depending on the context, the latter phrase could evoke associations with the Danielic Son of Man figure and the Son of Man Christology