Philosophical Theories of Human Nature

SUNY BrockportPhilosophic Exchang

Socrates and Thrasymachus

What is striking in the Republic is less the doctrines that Plato propounds than the relationship that he develops between ideas. We show that a surprising number of these relationships are already set forth, or alluded to, in the encounter between Socrates and Thrasymachus

Aesthetics and the End of Civilization

Aesthetics has traditionally concentrated heavily on the narrow range of aesthetic practice identified as the fine arts, and on the supreme achievements in those arts. This paper argues that this is because the very idea of fine arts is bound up with the phenomenon of empire. An empire is any situation in which a number of socio-cultural units are bound together in an administrative unity. In such a situation, there emerges a system of educational and cultural centralization that articulates the actual social functioning of the empire. In this situation, high art is the art that is integral to this educational system.SUNY BrockportPhilosophic Exchang

Vision and Dream in the Cinema

There are many ways in which filmgoing is like dreaming. The space and time of the film experience are distorted and illusory. For instance, one has the sense of being spatially present on the filmed scene. However, if we really accepted a change in the camera viewpoint as a change in our own position, rapid intercutting between different viewpoints would be intolerable. This suggests that in film our sense of space is somehow bracketed or held in suspense. Likewise, we take what we see in the film to be happening in the present, yet we tolerate jumps backward and forward in time. On reflection, these peculiarities of the film experience are extremely odd. Our ability to enjoy them testifies to the mind’s tendency to smooth things over, interpreting whatever confronts it in terms of the simplest pattern

Aristotle on Women

Sex differentiation is a pervasive and striking feature of the animal world, of which humans form a part. Patriarchy and role differentiation between men and women are pervasive phenomena in human societies. Aristotle is not about to re-design the world. But these phenomena are explained and justified at the economic level, and that is not where human values lie. At the higher level of civilized life, the differentiation becomes anomalous. Aristotle never shows how the anomaly is to be overcome. This is partly because the account of the homestead and the treatment of the city as such are not made into a single whole. Like the problem of slavery, the problem of women\u27s place in the city is not treated as urgent

Vision and Dream in the Cinema

There are many ways in which filmgoing is like dreaming. The space and time of the film experience are distorted and illusory. For instance, one has the sense of being spatially present on the filmed scene. However, if we really accepted a change in the camera viewpoint as a change in our own position, rapid intercutting between different viewpoints would be intolerable. This suggests that in film our sense of space is somehow bracketed or held in suspense. Likewise, we take what we see in the film to be happening in the present, yet we tolerate jumps backward and forward in time. On reflection, these peculiarities of the film experience are extremely odd. Our ability to enjoy them testifies to the mind’s tendency to smooth things over, interpreting whatever confronts it in terms of the simplest pattern.SUNY BrockportPhilosophic Exchang

The occupational wellbeing of nurses

Background: Burnout can have a significant impact on staff working in highly physically and emotionally demanding roles, such as those working across Intensive, High Dependency and Special Care within neonatal services. Aims: To gain a deeper understanding of neonatal nurses’ experiences of occupational wellbeing and factors that support or impair it. Methods: Eight neonatal nurses took part in a semi-structured interview exploring their experiences of occupational wellbeing, analysed through Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results: Analysis generated four interrelated themes within the superordinate themes of The Inherent Emotional Toll of the Nursing Role and The Interconnectedness of Resilience: competing demands, professional identity, feeling valued and meaningful connections. Conclusions: This research highlights factors positively and negatively impacting wellbeing in this staff group. It underlines the importance of staff feeling valued, having emotional connections and learning and development opportunities to strengthen professional identity, ensuring their skills and wellbeing are prioritised within the workplace culture

Determinants of impact : towards a better understanding of encounters with the arts

The article argues that current methods for assessing the impact of the arts are largely based on a fragmented and incomplete understanding of the cognitive, psychological and socio-cultural dynamics that govern the aesthetic experience. It postulates that a better grasp of the interaction between the individual and the work of art is the necessary foundation for a genuine understanding of how the arts can affect people. Through a critique of philosophical and empirical attempts to capture the main features of the aesthetic encounter, the article draws attention to the gaps in our current understanding of the responses to art. It proposes a classification and exploration of the factors—social, cultural and psychological—that contribute to shaping the aesthetic experience, thus determining the possibility of impact. The ‘determinants of impact’ identified are distinguished into three groups: those that are inherent to the individual who interacts with the artwork; those that are inherent to the artwork; and ‘environmental factors’, which are extrinsic to both the individual and the artwork. The article concludes that any meaningful attempt to assess the impact of the arts would need to take these ‘determinants of impact’ into account, in order to capture the multidimensional and subjective nature of the aesthetic experience