Søren Kierkegaard’s Repetition. Existence in Motion

This article tries to make sense of the concept of repetition in Søren Kierkegaard’s works. According to Kierkegaard repetition is a temporal movement of existence. What is repetition and what is its meaning for human existence? In answering this question the Danish philosopher depicts repetition by comparing three different approaches to life. Throughout the article I try to develop a coherent argument on ‘the new philosophical category’by analysing the three types of repetition and their corresponding human prototypes. I consider repetition a key concept in summarizing Kierkegaard’s theory of existence, where existence pictures the becoming of the human-self that follows several stages. Constantin Constantius’s repetition is an unsuccessful attempt, an aesthetic expression of human-life. The young lover’s repetition is spiritual, albeit not yet authentic, religious, but more poetic, even if he regains his self. Only Job’s repetition is an authentic movement of existence, an expression of a spiritual trial and of genuine faith

Linked Lives across Borders: Economic Remittances to Ageing Parents in Romania

Economic support is widespread among multigenerational Romanian family units separated by national borders and plays an important role for non-migrating family members. From a political economy perspective, remittances are characteristic of such long-term kin networks, which in turn are shaped by socio-structural contexts. This study aims to analyse transfers of remittances in cash and in kind from emigrant Romanian adult children to elderly parents back home. Both forms of upward support are investigated under the lens of family practices across distance. Data from a survey (Intergenerational solidarity in the context of work migration abroad. The situation of elderly left at home) are used to examine the influence on remittances of family commitments over time and of needs and opportunities. The sample includes 2109 parent-child dyads with data provided by elderly parents from all regions of Romania. Results of the logistic regression models show that stronger familial commitments increase the likelihood of remittances in cash and remittances in kind. Findings indicate the importance of filial support before migration and of various forms of intergenerational reciprocity. Our results stress that remittances in cash are more likely to be variable compared with remittances in kind. Both forms of support are part of a much broader set of family practices and intergenerational relationships but express different understandings of filial responsibility

Unicameralism versus bicameralism revisited: the case of Romania

In the midst of a public debate over the governing majority's project of a Constitution revision, the present paper revisits the unicameralism versus bicameralism debate, a classic one within the disciplinary fields of Constitutional Law and Political Science, and explores its relevance and applicability to Romania's current bicameral legislature. The research starts with an empirical approach, focused on the European area, of some theses more or less shared by field scholars regarding certain correlations between Parliament structure and other state-related variables, while also exploring worldwide trends, in an attempt to later on contextualize the Romanian case in both descriptive and explicative terms. Necessarily preconditioned by the employment of a conceptual framework meant to capture the considerable variety of contemporary bicameral legislatures, the subsequent debate is structured along nine major comparative analysis criteria ideally usable as legislative performance indicators. The final part addresses Romania's Parliament accordingly, from the historical background of its bicameral structure, to a detailed evaluation of its strength and weaknesses

Is there a utility for QRS dispersion in clinical practice?

Prognostic markers derived from standard ECG have always been seductive. Increased dispersion of durations of the P wave, of the QRS complex, or of the QT interval has been associated with the risk of atrial fibrillation, ventricular arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, as well as with a general negative prognosis in various settings. However, these markers have intrinsic and methodological issues that question their utility. This paper presents data supporting the utility of QRS dispersion in clinical practice. Our investigation shows that QRS dispersion is a simple electrocardiographic marker with potential value in the assessment of patients in a variety of clinical settings: ischemic heart disease, heart failure, and cardiomyopathies. More studies are needed to validate QRS clinical utility for predicting the risk for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, and for the evaluation of the response to cardiac resynchronization therapy

Linked Lives across Borders: Economic Remittances to Ageing Parents in Romania

Economic support is widespread among multigenerational Romanian family units separated by national borders and plays an important role for non-migrating family members. From a political economy perspective, remittances are characteristic of such long-term kin networks, which in turn are shaped by socio-structural contexts. This study aims to analyse transfers of remittances in cash and in kind from emigrant Romanian adult children to elderly parents back home. Both forms of upward support are investigated under the lens of family practices across distance. Data from a survey (Intergenerational solidarity in the context of work migration abroad. The situation of elderly left at home) are used to examine the influence on remittances of family commitments over time and of needs and opportunities. The sample includes 2109 parent-child dyads with data provided by elderly parents from all regions of Romania. Results of the logistic regression models show that stronger familial commitments increase the likelihood of remittances in cash and remittances in kind. Findings indicate the importance of filial support before migration and of various forms of intergenerational reciprocity. Our results stress that remittances in cash are more likely to be variable compared with remittances in kind. Both forms of support are part of a much broader set of family practices and intergenerational relationships but express different understandings of filial responsibility

Analysis of the public transport provision in Suceava-Botoşani urban area (Romania)

Having a major economic and social role, public transport is an important component in the process of sustainable development of a city. The paper aimed to study the public transport at metropolitan and regional scale evidencing how two major urban centers of Romania, Suceava and Botoșani, connect via public transport with the rural settlements in their metropolitan areas. The metropolitan supply of public transport was analysed starting with publicly available data on the routes in 2014 for both Botoșani County and Suceava County, located in the North-Eastern side of Romania. The routes' spatial disposition and daily frequency is analysed for road and rail public transport. The resulted mappings showed that road public transport is well distributed in the metropolitan territory for both urban centres, but there is still almost 4% of the rural population that does not have direct access to this public utility service. The rail public transport covers only a small amount of the studied area and it has a secondary role in supplying public transport services for the population because of the lack of investments that the entire rail sector suffered in Romania. The share of private cars has increased significantly, but the population's need for mobility is not completely covered and this paper offers some recommendations for the improvement of the public transportation supply in Suceava-Botoșani Urban Area

Tradition and innovation in Romanian Orthodox Chant – "Our Father"

It is well known that Romania has found herself over time at the confluence of several cultures (Latin, Greek, Slavic, Western). The Romanian people are Latin, speaking a Romance or new Latin language, but are also promoters of the Orthodox faith, with Byzantine roots and heritage. This situation explains why Romanian culture in general and church music in particular have combined, at certain points, Eastern (Byzantine) elements with those of Western or of another origin (e.g., Slavic). If psaltic music, of the Byzantine tradition, has always been sung in Romania, harmonic-polyphonic music was introduced systematically during the second half of the 19th century (although it had been sung earlier in Transylvania, Banat and Bucovina), giving birth to much controversy, some of which has been maintained until today (in some circles, there is a belief that “only Byzantine music is Orthodox, redeeming”, and “harmonic-polyphonic music is heretical, hellish”). This is why the presentation of the relationship between tradition and innovation in Romanian Orthodox chant is complicated, because, with these controversies, some aspects even assume an ambivalent character – the same reality for some has a traditional character, and for others, it is innovation. But one might ask, does the term “traditional” has always a positive connotation, while “innovation” has a negative connotation, or vice versa – “innovation” a positive connotations, and “tradition” a negative? Must the ratio of tradition and innovation in Orthodox music be antagonistic, an expression of the struggle between good and evil, the promotion of one and the rejection of the other? Or we can militate for a different perspective, peaceful coexistence and even of joint elements of the old and the new, as an attempt to update the tradition through the integration of new elements (through their “christianization” or “spiritualisation”) or to anchor the “new” in traditional items lost or forgotten in the “scrolls” of the old times

Philosophie de Kant et Aufklärung : vers une critique de la critique dans la Lettre à Marcus Herz du 21 février (1772), la Critique de la raison pure (1781) et les Prolégomènes à toute métaphysique future qui pourra se présenter comme science (1783)

Congrès de la Faculté de philosophie de l'Université Laval, 2019

Prevederi canonice, liturgice și juridice cu privire la folosirea vinului în cult

The following study is focused on the topic of liturgical wine according to the Holy Canons of the Orthodox Church. As we know, in the various liturgical acts of our Church wine is used, along with other elements as bread or oil. The most important use of the wine is in the Holy Eucharist, where wine becomes the Blood of Christ. This is the reason why the liturgical wine must correspond to the canonical prescriptions that inquire the use of a wine with a certain quality. We will emphasize the fact that the Canonical Tradition of the Orthodox Church prohibits the use of crafted wine, or of wine produced with other additives and preservatives. The wine must be fermented, clear and with alcohol, without being mixed with milk or grape juice. So, the purpose of this article is to clarify, based on the Holy Canons, which are the criteria that define a wine as being canonical or non-canonical for use in the Holy Eucharist

Libertatea de exprimare religioasă, între schismă și amendă contravenţională. Cazul de defăimare de la biserica Sf. Dumitru din Buzău (2011)

The present study aims to investigate the legal and reasonable boundaries for expressing religious ideas in public, with focus on the defamation case at the orthodox Liturgy of St. Demeter’s church from Buzău in the year 2010. During the celebration, a number of eight schismatic-orthodox protesters entered the church and shouted defamatory slogans against the Patriarch and the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. At least four of the protesters were given a contraventional penalty by the police agent on the basis of Law 61/1991 regarding the breaking of public peace, and following the legal contestation, the case was sent to the Justice Court of Buzău. The stake of this case is to understand in which circumstances can one exercise the right of expressing critical religious ideas, in a manner that should not violate the law, the Constitution, but also, in the canonical perspective, the procedure of canon law