In this book, Barbora Moormann-Kimáková analyses the possibility of finding an optimal language regime in multinational and multiethnic countries - either by defining the contents of an optimal language regime, or with the help of a criterion enabling to evaluate whether a language regime is optimal or not. The process of the selection or change of a language regime often becomes a matter of a language-related conflict. These conflicts are mostly accompanied by other political or social conflicts, as (...) for example in Ukraine or former Yugoslavia, which render solutions - and their evaluation - difficult. The author claims that language regimes can be evaluated based on the increase or lack of their legitimacy in the eyes of the relevant actors. This is demonstrated in four language regime studies on the European Union, Soviet Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and South Africa. Content The search for the optimal language regime The conflict potential of multilingualism Actors in language-related conflicts The dimensions of language-related conflicts Monolingualism Multilingualism without and with a lingua franca Target Groups - Lecturers and students of the social sciences, humanities and sociolinguistics. - Readers interested in language-related political issues and diversity politics. About the Author Barbora Moormann-Kimáková received her doctorate in political science from the Institut für Sozialwissenschaften, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. (shrink)

We tend to hold people responsible for their choices, but not for what they can’t control: their nature, genes or biological makeup. This thought-provoking collection redefines the boundaries of moral responsibility. It shows how epigenetics reveals connections between our genetic make-up and our environment. The essays challenge established notions of human nature and the nature/nurture divide and suggest a shift in focus from individual to collective responsibility. Uncovering the links between our genetic makeup, environment and experiences, this is an important (...) contribution to ongoing debates on ethics, genetics and responsibility. (shrink)

The article deals with linguistic relativism in the decisions of the Austrian Verfassungsgerichtshof and the Czech Constitutional Court. It focuses on the Courts argumentation in which the state of language and its limiting perception of the word gender about non-binary and intersex people were used. The article conducts an in-depth analysis of two judgments. The first is the ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic Case No. Pl. ÚS 2/20, in which the Court argued the absence of gender-neutral (...) names in Czech as one of the reasons for rejecting the constitutional complaint. The second is the judgment of the Austrian Verfassungsgerichtshof Case No. G 77/2018-9, in which the Court concluded as part of the constitutional review that the language can be adapted to the societal situation. The paper analyses selected parts of both decisions, interpreted using fundamental theses of linguistic relativism (and determinism). I argue that the Czech Constitutional Court has adopted a conservative approach without considering the current societal situation. This opened space for the unequal status of people with an alternative gender identity in society based on ignoring inclusive language, which is the exact opposite of the position of the Austrian Verfassungsgerichtshof. (shrink)

Social work research often requires the exploration of sensitive topics that concern hard-to-reach populations. In order to gain access to these groups, researchers are often forced to rely on gatekeepers during the research process. Gatekeepers become intermediaries who help the researchers to establish this access. In this article, we focus on institutional gatekeepers and the circumstances under which they deny access to research participants. And how the researchers themselves react to this situation in the context of Czech social work research. (...) We used qualitative research, in particular semi-structured interviews with researchers. Based on the research, we identified three main practices of researchers when gatekeepers refuse access. These are conducting research despite denial, making changes to methodology and conducting covert research. The identified procedures bring with them a number of ethical questions that need to be addressed. (shrink)

The dominant theoretical approach to the prohibition of exclusionary conduct in competition law distinguishes exclusionary conduct from normal competitive conduct based on their economic outcomes....

The paper discusses some of the poorly explored links between the conceptual systems of logic in Kurt Gödel, the theory of automata in Alan Turing, and the theory of self-reproducing automata in John von Neumann. Traditional controversies are left aside (especially the opposition of Gödel and Turing in the view of mind) and attention is focused on the similarities between all three authors. In individual chapters, the text deals with: the form of differentiation of syntax and semantics in formal system (...) in Gödel, Turing and von Neumann; von Neumann’s variant of Gödel’s theorem and von Neumann’s and Gödel’s conception of Turing machine; and finally the same basis of the view of the relation between mind and automaton in all three authors. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to explore the antecedents of studying abroad. First, we explore motivations for and barriers against studying abroad in two groups of students (who had studied abroad, and who had not studied abroad). Second, differences in attachment dimensions and styles are examined in both groups. A deductive thematic analysis supported the thematic structure identified by Krzaklewska (2008) in regard to motivations. Furthermore, five barriers were identified using inductive thematic analysis. Although the same motivational and barrier (...) themes were found in both groups, there were some notable qualitative differences in meaning attached to them. A one-way MANOVA showed non-significant differences between the two groups of students and attachment dimensions. Finnaly, Fisher’s exact test was conducted, and the post hoc comparison showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of students who had studied abroad and had a secure attachment style compared to students who had not studied abroad. (shrink)

Předmětem studie je obecná problematika vztahu mezi obrazem a jeho referentem, resp. referentem obrazu, obrazem samým a jeho recipientem. Je-li malba principiálně intencionální v tom smyslu, že zobrazení referentu malby závisí na původci této malby a jeho přesvědčení, a je-li fotografie principiálně kauzální v tom smyslu, že se intence původce do vztahu mezi referentem a jeho snímkem promítá jen na (formální i obsahové) technologické rovině, jedná se o dva typy obrazu, předpokládající rozdílný způsob vnímání a interpretace. Je tomu tak skutečně (...) a je tomu tak nutně? Na příkladu ikony jako hraničního typu obrazu se ukazuje, že fotografie má přinejmenším potenciál dosahovat podobné úrovně psychologické iluzivnosti jako malba. Je-li tomu tak, lze snad oprávněně předpokládat, že je fotografie schopna fikčního účinku srovnatelného s fikčním účinkem malby. Cílem studie je tento předpoklad dále prozkoumat s ohledem na epistemologický rámec věci. (shrink)

Graphical AbstractIn article number 2000050, Barbora Straková et al. speculate that environmental sex determination in amniotes evolves via a heterochronic shift of sex change from the adult to the embryonic stage in a hermaphroditic ancestor. Subsequently, the loss of responsiveness to environmental stimuli (stress) led to genotypic sex determination, where the sex is decided at conception. Cover image by Tereza Unzeitigova.

Evolution has become the standard way of understanding the world process. Theology has to express traditional faith in the context of the contemporary world. Since the common world view has profoundly changed, from a static world of being into a dynamic world of becoming, theology needs to change its language and its understanding of the universe as God's creation. This understanding of an evolving world is to be used as a theological source. Such a change of perspective necessitates a fundamental (...) reconstructing of theology; for theology, such reconstructing means a renewed understanding of the Creator and of the Incarnation. (shrink)

The impossibility of predicting the future allows us only to indicate which theological developments seem to be needed. These developments concern our changing perception of the world, which requires a reversal in our understanding of God's Creation, from its most imperfect beginnings to its unforeseeable future. The passing of evolution from the biological to the human level has opened moral dimensions that must be explored. Rather than return to the beginnings of the church, theology needs to try to understand Christian (...) faith within evolution, to reinterpret the past in the light of the new. In evolution, no final doctrine is possible. The necessity for doctrine creates a constant tension with the necessity of its revision. New truth must be paid for by suffering. The need is for a coherent theological vision of Creation, Redemption, and God's action in the world. Teilhard's metaphysics of union may be the key to it. In this view love becomes the central force of creation, which in Teilhard's view opens into an eternal future in God: in its final stage, evolution becomes Christogenesis. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric Jahrgang: 45 Heft: 1 Seiten: 21-35.

Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.

Frequent independent origins of environmental sex determination (ESD) are assumed within amniotes. However, the phylogenetic distribution of sex‐determining modes suggests that ESD is likely very ancient and may be homologous across ESD groups. Sex chromosomes are demonstrated to be old and stable in endothermic (mammals and birds) and many ectothermic (non‐avian reptiles) lineages, but they are mostly non‐homologous between individual amniote lineages. The phylogenetic pattern may be explained by ancestral ESD with multiple transitions to later evolutionary stable genotypic sex determination. (...) It is pointed out here that amniote ESD shares several key aspects with sequential hermaphroditism of fishes such as a lack of sex differences in genomes, biased population sex ratios, and potentially also molecular mechanism related to general stress responses. Here, it is speculated that ESD evolves via a heterochronic shift of the sensitive period of sex change from the adult to the embryonic stage in a hermaphroditic amniote ancestor. Also see the video abstract here https://youtu.be/q2mjtlCefu4. (shrink)

Virtue ethics is an approach to normative ethics that emphasizes the great character traits of moral agents. As many authors have pointed out, this approach also has great potential in contemporary ethical education. The following text will focus on the possibility practically utilising virtue ethics in ethical education in Slovakia. One of the most influential figures in the development of this topic in Slovakia is Ladislav Lencz, who also created key texts for teachers of ethical education. His concept is based (...) primarily on a pedagogical and psychological basis, inspired by Spanish psychologist R.R. Olivar’s concept of prosociality. However, some of L. Lencz’s texts also display elements of virtue ethics. This article will point out the possibilities of implementing virtue ethics in ethical education. Etika vrlina pristup je normativne etike koji naglašava izvrsne karakterne osobine moralnih subjekata. Značajan broj autora ističe da ovaj pristup ima veliki potencijal u suvremenom etičkom obrazovanju. Rad se usmjerava na mogućnost uporabe etike vrlina u etičkom obrazovanju u Slovačkoj. Jedan od najznačajnijih autora u razvoju ove teme je Ladislav Lenz koji je napisao i ključne tekstove za nastavnike o etičkom obrazovanju. Njegov se koncept temelji na pedagoškim i psihologijskim osnovama, a inspiriran je konceptom prosocijalnosti španjolskog psihologa R. R. Olivara. Ipak, neki od Lenczovih radova iskazuju i elemente etike vrlina. U ovome radu istaknut ćemo mogućnosti uključivanja etike vrlina u etičko obrazovanje. (shrink)

In the context of recent social changes in Central Europe, the article outlines the need for a change in the traditional syllabi for legal English classes. It deals with needs analysis as one of the most important sources of inspiration in syllabus design. First, needs analysis is situated within the methodology of English for Specific Purposes. Then, the rationale for a needs analysis survey among pre-service students in current legal English courses is presented and, finally, the findings are interpreted with (...) respect to the actual target situations that students are likely to encounter after graduation. The article concludes by pointing out that although pre-service students may have vague ideas about the use of English in their future jobs, course instructors should consider their needs and wants because they are crucial for increasing the students’ motivation. Instructors and course designers should, however, obtain information from professionals and former graduates as well because that will enable them to address the actual target situations most effectively. (shrink)

This article deals with mediation in language teaching, focusing on how the practice of mediation – as a specific language skill – can be incorporated in the syllabus. The chapter defines the skill of mediation as an emerging concept in language education, and discusses its potential for effective teaching of English for Specific Purposes in general and English for Legal Purposes in particular. The first part of the text seeks to answer several questions, aiming to determine whether mediation is relevant (...) in the context of legal practice and whether it has a place in an English for Law syllabus. The second part addresses a more practical concern of how the skill of mediation can be practiced by students. The article makes a case for assigning mediation a much more central place in the classroom, giving a number of specific examples of how this soft skill can be developed in the teaching of ESP and ELP. (shrink)

Previous research has established that goal tracking emerges early in the first year of life and rapidly becomes increasingly sophisticated. However, it has not yet been shown whether young children continue to update their representations of others’ goals over time. The current study investigates this by probing young children’s ability to differentiate between goal directed actions that have been halted because the goal was interrupted, and because the goal was abandoned. To test whether children are sensitive to this distinction, we (...) manipulated the experimenter’s reason for not completing a goal-directed action - his initial goal is either interrupted by an obstacle, or it is abandoned in favour of an alternative. We measure whether children’s helping behaviour is sensitive to the experimenter’s reason for not completing his goal-directed action by recording whether they complete the experimenter’s initial goal or the alternative goal. The results showed that children helped complete the experimenter’s initial goal significantly more often after this goal had been interrupted than after it had been abandoned. These results support the hypothesis that children continue to update their representations of others’ goals over time by the age of two, and specifically that they differentiate between abandoned and interrupted goals. (shrink)

The age–old dilemma of free will and determinism is attacked by proving that both sides are flawed with contingencies, that the notion of eternal law is a theologically tainted projection rather than a reality of the real world that is understood to be evolutionary. Determinism is dissolved into conditionalism. This excludes materialistic scientific explanation of the deterministic style. As it brings forth freedom, evolutionary reality transcends essentially the explanatory possibilities of statistically structured natural laws. The dilemma of determinism and free (...) will based on a logic of contradiction is replaced by an ontology of polarity. (shrink)

Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.

Teilhard's texts were published in two complementary publications, the more philosophical‐theological ones in the L'Oeuvres (OV), the scientific ones in the L'Oeuvre Scientifique (OS)1. His letters were published in a nonsystematic way. The publication of the Oeuvres presented thematic compilations. The papers had their own production history, creating different versions. Scientific texts were published by Teilhard in widely dispersed journals and have been collected into L'Oeuvre Scientifique. The scientific status of Teilhard is related to his positions in the scientific world (...) and the continued use of his publications. The influences causing different versions of theological and philosophical papers are analyzed. The present accessibility of the diaries and their importance for a full understanding of Teilhard is elaborated. (shrink)

De Vries (2024) argues that states should address inequalities ex­perienced by neurodivergent people by becoming “significantly more neuro-neutral than they are today.” We fully agree with this cla...

What do we mean when we talk about epigenetic harm? This paper presents a multidimensional view of epigenetic harm. It is a plea to take a step back from discussions of epigenetic responsibility distributions prevalent in ELSA literature on epigenetics. Instead, it urges researchers to take a closer look at the normative role played by the concept of epigenetic harm. It starts out by showing that the ways in which the object of epigenetic responsibility has already been conceptualized are all (...) related to ‘epigenetic harm’: something negative that happens in which epigenetic mechanisms play a role, or rather something that needs to be avoided. Epigenetic harm is then characterized as a bridging concept between relatively neutral findings on epigenetics on the one side, and potential ethical and societal implications of those findings, primarily in terms of responsibility ascriptions and distributions, on the other. The paper proposes that a sufficiently nuanced account of epigenetic harm should include at least three dimensions. The dimension of causation alone leads to an overly narrow understanding of harm, and a wrong understanding of this dimension might prompt researchers to support an excessively simplistic epigenetic determinism. It is argued that a multidimensional analysis of epigenetic harm is less vulnerable to this threat and more reflective of the various kinds of harm that may be experienced by the subjects of epigenetic alterations. The paper applies insights from disability studies and feminist philosophy to draw attention to two other dimensions of epigenetic harm, namely lived experiences and relationality. The paper concludes by exploring what a shift towards a multidimensional approach to epigenetic harm might mean for epigenetic research and responsibility ascriptions by formulating some concrete implications. (shrink)

Winged Stallions and Wicked Mares: Horses in Indian Myth and History. By Wendy Doniger. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2021. Pp. 300. $35.

In this paper, we report the results from an experimental reproductive ethics study exploring questions about reproduction and parenthood. The main finding in our study is that, while we may assume that everyone understands these concepts and their relationship in the same way, this assumption may be unwarranted. For example, we may assume that if ‘x is y’s father’, it follows that ‘y is x’s child’. However, the participants in our study did not necessarily agree that it does follow. This (...) means, at the very least, that we need to make sure all parties in a debate have the same relationships in mind when talking about reproduction and parenthood. Moreover, it gives us reason to explore more carefully the conditions which support or undermine the connections between these concepts. This cannot come from purely theoretical reasoning, nor from empirical research alone, but from the alliance between the two. (shrink)

In 1917 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote an essay that proposes union as a way to observe how the process of evolution takes place. He spent the remainder of his life broadening and sharpening the vision, which was based on union in nature. We propose that this vision and the historical development of thermodynamics and classical statistical mechanics offer insight into union and even into the divine life that many Christians believe to be triadic. We briefly situate union in the (...) triune divine life in early Christian tradition as it was believed and practiced. We then interpret three stages of development in the sciences of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics that support the theme of union in nature. Next we describe the development of Teilhard's thought during his scientific career and his tests of the theme of union, principally in his private journals, now being edited. We offer examples of Teilhard's application of union to his own spiritual life and compare his understanding of union with those of Paul the Apostle and John of the Cross. Finally, although the Christian God's triadic life was not a particular concern of Teilhard, we propose union in nature as a vestige of the divine life. (shrink)

Yoga Studies in Five Minutes provides an accessible guide to the diverse and growing field of research into yoga as a social, historical and cultural phenomenon. Leading scholars and innovative researchers offer brief responses to questions that offer insights into the study of yoga. The collection covers ancient history, modern developments, and contemporary issues, considers the diverse practices and philosophies of yoga in a range of contexts, and uses a range of approaches, from philology to anthropology to art history. This (...) book is useful for established scholars looking to broaden their understanding of this rapidly developing field, as well as for those new to the subject. It is an ideal starting point for both independent study and the classroom. (shrink)

Understanding when it is acceptable to interrupt a joint activity is an important part of understanding what cooperation entails. Philosophical analyses have suggested that we should release our partner from a joint activity anytime the activity conflicts with fulfilling a moral obligation. To probe young children’s understanding of this aspect, we investigated whether 3-year-old children (N = 60) are sensitive to the legitimacy of motives (selfish condition vs. moral condition) leading agents to intentionally interrupt their joint activity. We measured whether (...) children protested or released their partner by scoring their reactions. Our results indicate that children did not manifest different reactions when the motive behind their partner leaving was moral than when the motive was selfish. However, our data showed a stable pattern: regardless of the partner’s motives, some 3-year-olds take initiatives to release their partners from joint activity, suggesting that measuring release is a valuable tool for investigating joint action. -/- . (shrink)

Resolution of the entropy‐evolution problem was a significant issue for Pierre Teilhard de Chardin throughout his scientific career. Although never truly satisfied with his solution, he proposed that all energy must be psychic and contain two components. Tangential energy is related to physical energy. Radial energy in some way accounts for increasing complexity and consciousness in evolution. Analysis of developments in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory show that Gibbs free energy contains both calorimetric and noetic components, thus validating Teilhard's (...) intuition. (shrink)