Audience Psychology and Censorship in Plato’s Republic

In Republic X, the “problem of the irrational part” is this: Greek tragedy interacts with non-reasoning elements of the soul, affecting audiences in ways that undermine their reasoned views about virtue and value. I suggest that the common construal of Socrates’s critique of Greek tragedy is inadequate, in that it belies key elements of Plato’s audience psychology; specifically, the crucial role of the spirited part and the audience’s cognitive contribution to spectatorship. I argue that Socrates’s emphasis on the audience’s cognitive contribution to spectatorship allows him to anticipate a non-authoritarian solution to the problem of the irrational part

Plato’s Phaedo as a Pedagogical Drama

The Phaedo has long been recognized as dramatic in nature (see, e.g., Jowett 1892, 193). Indeed, the dialogue’s dramatic portrayal of a Herculean Socrates attacking the heads of a hydra naturally invites this assessment (89c). At the out- set of the dialogue Socrates and the fourteen named companions are juxtaposed with Theseus and the fourteen Athenian youth, on their way to defeat the Minotaur (58a-c).1 Also, Socrates’ death scene is particularly dramatic. Fifteen companions, the exact number of a tragic chorus, surround the dying Socrates and lament (117c-d).2 Reflection on this scene has prompted scholars to speculate that it is intended to ‘lend moving force’ to the tragic perspective and to ‘rouse’ readers’ emotions (see Halliwell 1984, 57-58 and Crotty 2009, 87, respectively). Despite these scholarly observations and compelling evidence that the dialogues were treated as dramatic performance literature in antiquity (see Charalabopoulos 2012), a number of key questions have yet to be satisfactorily and systematically answered: What is drama?; What is the Phaedo a drama about?; What is the function, if any, of the dramatic elements of the Phaedo? I undertake to answer these questions. I conclude with some thoughts about Plato’s purpose in writing dramatic dialogues and Plato’s attitude toward poetry. One of my aims throughout will be to demonstrate how a proper understanding of the literary dimension of the Phaedo sheds light on the philosophical content of the dialogue

Poetry and Skiagraphia in Republic X: A New Analysis of Tragic Mimesis

In Republic X Socrates accuses poetic “imitators” [μιμητικοί] of corrupting the soul (the psychological charge) and producing appearances that are far removed from truth (the metaphysical charge). The success of the psychological charge against mimetic poetry crucially depends on the success of the metaphysical charge; tragic poetry corrupts the soul by making images that are far removed from truth (that is, appearances of virtue and value). The dominant interpretive strategy cashes out the relationship between these two charges as follows: images corrupt the soul, because images are metaphysically inferior; all images are “far removed from truth” and hence potentially corruptive. Unfortunately, this strategy pits Book III against Book X; mimetic poetry forms the foundation of the guardians’ early education (in Book III), but mimetic poetry is corruptive (in Book X). In this paper I defend an alternative strategy. I contend that the metaphysical charge should be interpreted narrowly, to encompass false and illusory appearances of virtue and value produced via skiagraphic techniques. I argue that Socrates’ critique of tragedy and Homeric poetry does not rest on dubious metaphysical claims about images per se, but rather on the plausible and interesting claim that tragedians and their leader, Homer, employ skiagraphic techniques – that is, the manipulation of temporal distances and the contrasting of fortune with misfortune and virtue with vice - in order to produce powerful illusions of virtue and value. Even the denier of the Forms must take this claim seriously. I conclude with some thoughts about good mimesis and the importance of poetry to the larger project of the Republic

Complex Symmetry of Truncated Composition Operators

We define a truncated composition operator on the spaces P_n of n-degree polynomials with complex coefficients. After doing so, we concern ourselves with the complex symmetry of such operators, that is, whether there is an orthonormal basis that gives them a symmetric matrix representation

Interprofessional Education (IPE) dalam Meningkatkan Persepsi dan Kesiapan Kolaborasi Mahasiswa

Perubahan sistem pelayanan dengan kebutuhan akan kesehatan pasien yang semakin kompleks memerlukan kolaborasi interprofessional diantara profesional kesehatan. Pendidikan interprofessional (IPE) telah menunjukkan dampak positif pada kerja tim dalam praktek perawatan kesehatan sehari-hari. Penelitian ini dapat menjadi rujukan untuk pengembangan kurikulum, identifikasi bidang tugas saat mahasiswa lulus, spesifikasi isi pembelajaran dan implikasi pada kebijakan kesehatan. tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui efek Pendidikan interprofessional (IPE) dalam meningkatkan persepsi dan kesiapan mahasiswa dalam melaksanakan kolaborasi dengan disiplin ilmu Kesehatan lainnya.  Rancangan penelitian ini adalah quasi eksperimen dengan pendekatan one group pretest-posttest design pada 98 mahasiswa semester akhir jurusan kebidanan, gizi dan keperawatan di Poltekkes Kemenkes Sorong menggunakan purposive sampling. Alat ukur yang digunakan adalah Interdiciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) dengan hasil uji validitas adalah  0.392 - 0.756 dan uji reliabilitas adalah 0.887 dan instrumen Readiness Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) dengan hasil uji validitas  0.470 -0.905 dengan r tabel 0.444 dan hasil uji reliabilitas adalah 0.914. Seluruh responden diberikan materi tentang IPE dilaksanakan praktik proses pengkajian secara bersama-sama menurut disiplin ilmu. Uji statistic menggunakan paired t-test. Hasil uji menunjukan bahwa p-value persepsi dan kesiapan masing-masing 0.000<0.05. Terdapat  pengaruh pelatihan terhadap persepsi dan kesiapan pelaksanaan IPE pada mahasiswa

Plato on Laughing at People

In this paper I explore the ethics of laughing at people. I argue that for Plato laughter plays an important role in discourse. Through a new analysis of both the dialectic and drama of the dialogues (especially the Philebus), I argue that Plato distinguishes between specific forms of bad and good laughing at people; the former harms the soul and stifles human inquiry, whereas the latter benefits the soul and furthers human inquiry

An integrated entrepreneurial performance model focusing on the importance and proficiency of competencies for start-up and established SMEs

Functional and enterprising competencies were identified in the integrated entrepreneurial performance model and the paper highlights which key skills and which supportive skills should be included in entrepreneurial training models and programmes. Functional competencies depend on business management/general business and technical skills. Enterprising competencies depend on entrepreneurial and personal skills. A clear distinction is made between general management and entrepreneurial skills. A multi-sample of 570 start-up and established small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was used to determine whether there are statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of the importance and proficiency in these competencies. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to confirm the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument and several statistical tests, including t-tests and ANOVAs, were performed to test the hypotheses. Established SMEs considered functional competencies as being much more important than start-ups. This finding implies that start-up SMEs need to focus on the importance of functional competencies if they want to increase their chances of becoming established businesses. It was found that start-up, as well as established SMEs, consider enterprising competencies as important. The established group considered themselves very proficient in both the functional and enterprising competencies while the divergent was true for the start-up group.http://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication/busmanam201

The NADPH oxidase Nox4 restricts the replicative lifespan of human endothelial cells

The free radical theory of aging proposes that ROS (reactive oxygen species) are major driving forces of aging, and are also critically involved in cellular senescence. Besides the mitochondrial respiratory chain, alternative sources of ROS have been described that might contribute to cellular senescence. Noxs (NADPH oxidases) are well-known sources of superoxide, which contribute to the antimicrobial capabilities of macrophages, a process involving the prototypical member of the family referred to as Nox2. However, in recent years non-phagocytic homologues of Nox2 have been identified that are involved in processes other than the host defence. Superoxide anions produced by these enzymes are believed to play a major role in signalling by MAPKs (mitogen-activated protein kinases) and stress-activated kinases, but could also contribute to cellular senescence, which is known to involve oxygen radicals. In HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells), Nox4 is predominantly expressed, but its role in replicative senescence of HUVECs remains to be elucidated. Using shRNA (small-hairpin RNA)-mediated knockdown of Nox4, implicating lentiviral vectors, we addressed the question of whether lifelong depletion of Nox4 in HUVECs would influence the senescent phenotype. We found a significant extension of the replicative lifespan of HUVECs upon knockdown of Nox4. Surprisingly, mean telomere length was significantly reduced in Nox4-depleted cells. Nox4 depletion had no discernable influence on the activity of MAPKs and stress-activated kinases, but reduced the degree of oxidative DNA damage. These results suggest that Nox4 activity increases oxidative damage in HUVECs, leading to loss of replicative potential, which is at least partly independent of telomere attrition

What is the Role of Acid-Acid Interactions in Asymmetric Phosphoric Acid Organocatalysis? A Detailed Mechanistic Study using Interlocked and Non-Interlocked Catalysts

Organocatalysis has revolutionized asymmetric synthesis. However, the supramolecular interactions of organocatalysts in solution are often neglected, although the formation of catalyst aggregates can have a strong impact on the catalytic reaction. For phosphoric acid based organocatalysts, we have now established that catalyst-catalyst interactions can be suppressed by using macrocyclic catalysts, which react predominantly in a monomeric fashion, while they can be favored by integration into a bifunctional catenane, which react mainly as phosphoric acid dimers. For acyclic phosphoric acids, we found a strongly concentration dependent behavior, involving both monomeric and dimeric catalytic pathways. Based on a detailed experimental analysis, DFT-calculations and a direct NMR-based observation of the catalyst aggregates, we could demonstrate that intermolecular acid-acid interactions have a drastic influence on the reaction rate and stereoselectivity of the asymmetric transfer-hydrogenation catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acids