With the problems of climate warming and ecological destruction becoming more and more serious, natural risks have attracted more and more attention, and corporate natural resource disclosure has gradually become a focal topic in academia. Therefore, based on the institutional theory and the upper echelon theory, this study selects 348 Chinese natural resource-based listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2014 to 2021 as samples to investigate the influence of clan culture on corporate natural resource disclosure and the (...) moderating effect of natural resource endowment on the relationship between the two, and analyzes the heterogeneity from the two aspects of the workplace and growth experience of corporate executives. The results indicate that clan culture has a significant positive effect on corporate natural resource disclosure. Natural resource endowment can negatively moderate the effect of clan culture on corporate natural resource disclosure. The positive effect of clan culture on the quality of corporate natural resource disclosure is significant when executives work in their birthplace or are born before the Cultural Revolution, but it is not significant when executives do not work in their birthplace or are born after the Cultural Revolution. These findings help to extend the analysis of the influence of informal institutions on information disclosure, providing a reference for future research on natural resource disclosure and informal institutions in developing countries. (shrink)

Qin Dynasty Confucian ethics is an ethical elite, there is such a universal ethical issues. From the Song Dynasty of China post-social, ethical Chinese society began to truly grass-roots family or clan ethics that ethics form, thus has a universal significance, and, to some extent and it is Abraham, ethical and religious system its universality is considerable. Specifically, this ethics is to achieve or expand the clan as a platform, on this platform, to stand by the family rules of ethics, (...) was by the Code of ethics, by forcing the line of ethics, ethics through education to support. the Confucianism ethics in the Early Qin period was an elite ethics that had the problem of generalization. In the late Chinese society after the Song Dynasty, the ethics in China came out in the form of a real grass-root ethics or the clan ethics, therefore it had the significant of generalization. Moreover, this ethics was similar to the religious ethics and its generalization to some contents in the Abraham system. In a more concrete way the realization and unfolding of this ethics was in mi arena of clan on which the ethics was established through the code of clan. It was through observing the code to reflect the ethics, through enforcement to implement the ethics, and through education to cultivate ethics. (shrink)

As a component of Chinese traditional culture, clan culture still has both positive and negative influences upon Chinese society at present for several thousand years goes by. It is necessary for us to sort out the process of the evolution of clan culture, make clear its contemporary influences and explore an effective approach to continue to give play to its positive effects and avoid its negative effects, with the expectation of gradually realizing its disintegration and extinction in the process of (...) harmonious socialist social construction. (shrink)

Synaesthesia is a heterogeneous phenomenon, even when considering one particular sub-type. The purpose of this study was to design a reliable and valid questionnaire for grapheme-colour synaesthesia that captures this heterogeneity. By the means of a large sample of 628 synaesthetes and a factor analysis, we created the Coloured Letters and Numbers questionnaire with 16 items loading on 4 different factors . These factors were externally validated with tests which are widely used in the field of synaesthesia research. The questionnaire (...) showed good test–retest reliability and construct validity . Our findings are discussed in the light of current theories and new ideas in synaesthesia research. More generally, the questionnaire is a useful tool which can be widely used in synaesthesia research to reveal the influence of individual differences on various performance measures and will be useful in generating new hypotheses. (shrink)

Farmers’ entrepreneurship is a powerful breakthrough for solving the problems associated with “agriculture, rural areas and farmers.” Although studies have commonly used the same entrepreneurial activities to analyze farmers’ entrepreneurship, its deep economic roots have rarely been investigated. Investigating the internal development mechanism within the same industry is helpful for understanding farmers’ entrepreneurship motivation and decision making and is an important point at which to implement regional research and enrich the overall research on farmers’ entrepreneurship in the Chinese context. Based (...) on a single-case study in Q Village, Fujian Province, this work identifies the key role played by relational contracts in entrepreneurship groups: reducing transaction costs, promoting investment in asset specificity, and improving contract flexibility. Moreover, this approach is conducive for different action groups in terms of stimulating entrepreneurial motivation in the initial entrepreneurship period and improving entrepreneurship learning ability in the long term. Primary Action Group transforms exploratory intuitive learning into exploratory compilation learning, and Secondary Action Group triggers the learning effect and makes a proprietary investment by utilizing intuitive formulaic learning and compiled formulaic learning, thus reducing unforeseen, contracting and verification costs. During the pattern maturity period, Primary Action Group rationally integrates the supply chain and forms a stable entrepreneurial paradigm, while Secondary Action Group does so to maintain prior information reserves and lower information search, supervised execution, and bargaining decision costs. The value cocreation ability of the same type of commercial modularity is formed, and the whole process of farmers’ entrepreneurship is completed. Our results have important implications for policymakers in China and other countries with clans. (shrink)

Reference to the commented article: CHENG, Wanli. Examining Tang and Song Yingtang image halls from a clan sacrificial perspective. Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp Journal of Philosophy, v. 46, n. 3, p. 229 - 248, 2023.

Resumen: En las dinastías Tang y Song, los clanes zongzu oficiales comunes dominaron gradualmente la comunidad de clanes, lo que interrumpió el riguroso sistema de sacrificios orientado a los estratos. Por lo tanto, como una forma emergente de sacrificio ancestral privado, la sala de imágenes yingtang apareció en las mansiones de los funcionarios comunes o en las casas de la gente común. Cuando la estatua anterior dio paso a una imagen, este nuevo signo cultural llevó a cada ejecutor del sacrificio (...) a lograr una identificación psicológica y emocional con la comunidad. A través de imágenes o retratos colgados en los salones, los albaceas pudieron comprobar si se podía crear visualmente un reino espiritual para comunicarse con sus antepasados o contarles sus oraciones. (shrink)

This chapter assesses realistic social implications of emulation (em). It takes the somewhat unusual approach of using basic social theory, in addition to common sense and trend projection, to forecast future societies. Em cities are likely toxic to ordinary humans, who, controlling most of the rest of the Earth, mostly live comfortably on their em‐economy investments. Em's extended lifespans induce greater wealth inequality among ems. Ems focus their identity less on individual personalities and abilities, and more on being part of (...) a particular team. While copy clans coordinate to show off common clan abilities, individual ems focus on showing their identities, abilities, and loyalties as team players. The analysis in this chapter suggests that lives in the next great era might be as different from what we are accustomed to as ours are from farmers' lives, or farmers' from foragers'. (shrink)

De récents scandales clans l'industrie du médicament ou l'agro-alimentaire ont montré les risques d'un détournement de la recherche scientifique. L'objet de ce livre est de mieux comprendre les ressorts de la crise qui s'installe ainsi entre science et société et de proposer des solutions respectant aussi bien l'indépendance de la recherche que le besoin de démocratie, très largement à inventer au demeurant, dans les choix de politique scientifique. Il s'adresse aux scientifiques comme aux citoyens. Il analyse la manière dont (...) le capitalisme néolibéral tente de mettre la science et les techniques au service de la compétitivité et des profils. Il s'appuie sur les résistances à cette politique pour montrer que la démocratie scientifique ne se résume pas à la question des choix technologiques ou de la gestion des risques et ne concerne pas la seule communauté scientifique. Il veut ouvrir des pistes pour mettre la connaissance scientifique et le développement technique au service des besoins humains (y compris le besoin de connaissances), ce qui appelle de nouvelles formes d'investissement citoyen et de pluralisme scientifique. (shrink)

Shinra Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean” by Sujung Kim. University of Hawai’i Press, 2020. 194pp. Hb. $80.00, ISBN-13: 9780824877996; Pb. $28.00, ISBN-13: 9780824888442.

While recent studies have increasingly suggested leadership as a major precursor to corporate social responsibility, empirical studies that examine the impact of various leader aspects such as style and ethics on CSR and unravel the mechanism through which leadership exerts its influence on CSR are scant. Ironically, paucity of research on this theme is more prevalent in the sphere of social enterprises where it is of utmost importance. With the aim of addressing these gaps, this research empirically examines the interaction (...) between ethical leadership and CSR and, in addition, investigates organic organizational cultures as mediators in the above interaction. To this end, a model was developed and tested on the sample of 350 middle- and top-level managers associated with 28 Indian healthcare social enterprises, using Structural Equation Modeling Analysis, Bootstrapping and PROCESS. Results reveal that ethical leadership both directly and indirectly influences CSR practices. The indirect influence of ethical leadership involves nurturing clan and adhocracy cultures, which in turn influence CSR. These findings are significant for social enterprise leaders seeking to encourage their organizations’ socially responsible behavior. (shrink)

In the colonial period since 1492, the colonial masters of Europe sent perpetrators within the colonised territories to other colonies where they became slaves – forced migration and diaspora. These slaves started a new life and became, like Cain’s children, the ancestors of a few notable families – a typical postcolonial situation of creating hybrid identities where East met West in Africa to procreate. The question this article asks is the following: how can one link migration and diaspora to Cain’s (...) situation? Cain’s punishment was twofold: the earth would no longer yield to him any fruit, and he would become a fugitive and a wanderer. It is as if the first logically led to the second in the Hebrew text. Cain’s vulnerability had a positive effect, so that later on in the story he seemed to have settled and procreated to the extent that his children became founders of arts, science and technology. The LXX partly solves this contradiction by making Cain physically handicapped with trembling and groaning. Significantly, in both traditions he is said to leave the presence of the deity to live elsewhere where he would not be confronted with either the deity or his parents. In both instances, a migration is clearly taking place with the implication that once being branded a perpetrator one can no longer reside within the community or society in whose midst the transgression took place. The perpetrator is removed from the victims and the latter need no longer confront him or her. This article will subsequently consider the following: the value of migration in the biblical text, the significance of Cain moving away from his clan and deity, and the effect of settling elsewhere. (shrink)

Our world is enormously sophisticated and nature's complexity is literally inexhaustible. As a result, projects to describe and explain natural science can never be completed. This volume explores the nature of complexity and considers its bearing on our world and how we manage our affairs within it.Rescher's overall lesson is that the management of our affairs within a socially, technologically, and cognitively complex environment is plagued with vast management problems and risks of mishap. In primitive societies, failure to understand how (...) things work can endanger a family or, at worst, a clan or tribe. In the modern world, man-made catastrophes on the model of Chernobyl can endanger millions, possibly even risking the totality of human life on our planet. Rescher explains "technological escalation" as a sort of arms race against nature in which scientific progress requires more powerful technology for observation and experimentation, and, conversely, scientific progress requires the continual enhancement of technology. The increasing complexity of science and technology (and, in consequence, of social systems) along with problems growing faster than solutions confront us with major management and decision problems.This study is the first of its kind. There have been many specialized studies of complexity in physics and computation theory, but no overall analysis of the phenomenon. Although Rescher offers a sobering outlook, he also believes that complexity entails mixed blessings: our imperfect knowledge provides a rationale for putting forth our best efforts. Rescher urges us to gear the conduct of life's practical affairs to the demands of a complex world. This highly readable and accessible volume will be of interest to those interested in philosophy, the philosophy of science, science policy studies, and future studies. (shrink)

English abstract: On last day of the year 1999, Russia has entered another era of despotism, that of Vladimir Putin. During his reign, the Putin‘s clan has undermined and infiltrated the mass media, the parliament and the judicial system. Deliberate violation of basic citizen‘s rights, compulsory acquisition of property, government-funded racket, misuse of mass media to scarify and to disinform the peoples belong to the diabolic methods of self-constituted disposers. All this lawlessness has led to exorbitant corruption, mass poverty, economic (...) stagnation, and escalation of crimes. The actual manuscript investigates the roots of Putinism putting the person of Vladimir Putin in the focus of investigation. -/- Russian abstract: В 1999 году, в последний день столетия и тысячелетия, Россия вступила в новую эру деспотизма, эру Владимира Путина. В продолжение его правления, клан Путина коррумпировал и инфильтрировал средства массовой информации, парламент, правовую систему. Умышленное нарушение основных гражданских прав, конфискация собственности, государственный рэкет, злоупотребление средств массовой информации с целью запугивания и дезинформации населения стали дьявольскими методами самоназванных правителей. Всё это привело к безмерной продажности, массовой бедности, экономической стагнации и взрыву преступности. Данный манускрипт исследует корни Путинизма, помещая личность Владимира Путина в центр исследования. (shrink)

Traditional Chinese culture, Confucianism, in particular, has a non-individualist conception of what it is to be human. It conceives of people fundamentally as members of social groups—specifically, the family, the clan, the political community and the state—not as atomic individuals as perceived in modern society. The communist ideology since the middle of the last century also emphasizes the significance of ‘the common good’ of the state which describes a specific ‘good’ that is shared and beneficial for all (or most) members (...) of a given community. Nevertheless, marketization and decentralization in China today have significantly challenged the notion of a state-oriented community that directly impacts China's healthcare system, beginning with the dismantling of the rural collectives and state-owned enterprises as part of the reform and opening process. This article will address healthcare challenges in China today, examining the conceptual/ethical issues raised by public healthcare, and contending that public health concerns should go beyond the dichotomy between individualism and collectivism. The article will argue that the family-oriented model of Confucianism offers an alternative way to look at what constitute a community and common goods. The Confucian approach to ethics is relevant to healthcare today. For example, it will be much easier to find a shared idea of common good in terms of complicated issues like healthcare; it would make sense to give a larger role to families via family savings accounts, and not have everything determined by the government. (shrink)

Employee behavior, decision-making, and cooperation across the supply chain network are all greatly influenced by organizational culture (OC). In supply chain outcomes (SCO), an understanding of the effect promotes efficiency overall, improves coordination, and maximizes performance. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was initially applied to experimentally analyze data from a survey of 85 enterprises using a quantitative approach. The relationships between cultures such as OC, market culture (MC), clan culture (CC), Hierarchy culture (HC), Professional culture (PC), Adhocracy culture (AC), (...) and supply chain outcomes are analyzed in this research. The findings are evaluated using the combination of a reliability and validity test, multiple regression analysis. The SEM approach is employed to investigate the intricate correlation that exists between these cultural aspects and SCO. A more detailed comprehension of these linkages is provided by the simulation technique, which enables a thorough investigation of the ways in which each cultural feature affects SCO. Positive correlations between the independent variables (OC, AC, MC, HC, PC, and CC) and the dependent variable (SCO) are predicted. The majority of these relationships exhibit statistically significant positive impacts(p < 0.05), signifying noteworthy and substantial benefits for SCO. Furthermore, although OC, AC, MC, PC, and CC have substantial positive impacts, HC has a relevant but invisible effect. OC has a major influence on SCO, according to the study, with some cultural characteristics having a considerable impact on performance measures. Improved efficacy and efficiency in supply chain operations are fostered by a well-aligned culture. (shrink)

Philosophers of earlier ages have usually spent time in considering thenature of marital, and in general familial, duty. Paley devotes an entire book to those ‘relative duties which result from the constitution of the sexes’,1 a book notable on the one hand for its humanity and on the other for Paley‘s strange refusal to acknowledge that the evils for which he condemns any breach of pure monogamy are in large part the result of the fact that such breaches are generally (...) condemned. In a society where an unmarried mother is ruined no decent male should put a woman in such danger: but why precisely should social feeling be so severe? Marriage, the monogamist would say, must be defended at all costs, for it is a centrally important institution of our society. Political community was, in the past, understood as emerging from or imposed upon families, or similar associations. The struggle to establish the state was a struggle against families, clans and clubs; the state, once established, rested upon the social institutions to which it gave legal backing. (shrink)

This study aims to examine the status of land ownership in Simalungun district in terms of historical, social, cultural and tenure perspectives. It is important to study this issue because until now the issue of land ownership has not been thoroughly resolved because there are migrants who claim that their customary land was found in Simalungun, whereas in reality their customary land was not found in Simalungun, but what was found was the king's land ( partuanon) according to the surname (...) of the lord of the rest of the kitchen based on the custom of the tolu sahundulan lima saodoran. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative with purposive sampling technique. Data analysis begins with the process of collecting primary data through in-depth interviews with 13 informants. By using interview guideline research instruments combined with the results of library research. The results of the interview transcripts were collected, tabulated, analyzed, verified, and displayed until the conclusions of the research results were formulated. The results of this study showed that in Simalungun district there were no customary lands, customary forests and customary lands from migrant residents and ethnic Simalungun. The land in Simalungun district is the king's land (Partuanon), the people and migrants are only given the right to cultivate, not to own in accordance with the ruling king's clan, namely Sisidapur and Simalungun customary law based on the Tolu sahundulan lima saodoran custom. The transfer of rights and land tenure in Simalungun district occurred after the proclamation of 17 August 1945 and the social revolution in 1946. All land in the former autonomous region in Simalungun became state property, including all of PT. TPL Tbk's concession land in Simalungun district. (shrink)

Le geste semble procéder de lui-même, ne provenir de rien, clans une sorte de miracle qu'il faut interroger. Le présent livre questionne la danse, sous sa forme contemporaine, dans une perspective non dogmatique.

In the regeneration of shamanism in Buryatia, kinship and locale play a significant and, indeed, determining role. Shamans, as representatives of their clans and kinship lines, are the intermediaries between people and the sacred, between people and the spirits in nature, in particular spirits of a specific locale which is linked historically to a clan and to the ancestors who have been buried there. It is to these ancestral spirits as well as to the spirits of place that the (...) clan shaman makes entreaties and asks for blessings and protection from ill fortune.The historical relationship of the Buryat tribes to the present land of Buryatia and Ust‐Orda region and the kinship structure of these tribes as existent prior to the Soviet period is shown to have parallels with traditional spiritual territorial cults of Buryats. There is a clear‐cut link between Buryat social organization into hierarchical units of kinship structures along patrilineal descent lines and their conceptions of deities according to locality, that is, they traditionally conceived of protective deities as associated with wider or narrower territorial groupings which corresponded to the social groups of tribes, clans, villages, and families.Several cases of renewal of home and hearth through appeal to ancestral and local spirits by the clan shaman are presented. (shrink)

The most pronounced and fundamental characteristic of Chinese ethical thought was the integration of ethical principles and the lineage relationships under the rule of the clan law , which brought about the formation of a clan-law system whose core components were the concepts of loyalty and filial obedience . All other characteristics of Chinese ethics in other areas stemmed from, or can be extrapolated from, this particular characteristic. The difference between China's traditional society and those of classical Greece or Rome (...) lies in the fact that it came to the stage of being a civilized society through its own peculiar route. Comrade Hou Wailu once summed up these different routes of entrance into civilized society in the following way: [The path followed by the] ancient world of the classical era [in the West] is a path represented by the transition from the tribes or clans to private property ownership, and then to the state . It is a model of transition in which the state took the place of the clan. On the other hand, [the path followed by] ancient and traditional Asia was a [more direct] transition from the clan to the state, in which the state came to be mingled with the clan—this is what is meant in Chinese by the term society . The fundamental difference between these two patterns is that in the former model, the state demolished the relationships that had existed in the lineage-bound clans, and therefore, in that model, innate and necessary connections did not exist between the clan and the state. The latter model was quite the opposite. Not only were the lineage clans never demolished; on the contrary, they became the foundation on which the state relied for its existence. The state was mingled in with the clan, and there was no separation between clan and state. It is precisely this odd mixture, or integration, of clan and state that produced the feudal clan-law system that not only existed in China for several thousands of years, but also persisted stubbornly throughout Chinese history. It is also this mixture that produced the corresponding political-ethical feudalistic clanlaw ideology. (shrink)

The months preceding and following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States have incited furious debate about the authenticity of media discourse in the shaping of reality, including in particular the reporting of refugees from predominantly Muslim regions and their resettlement in Western nations. Much of this debate is rooted in how opposing discourse clans, such as liberal and conservative ideologies, construct a narrative of nationhood around contested views of refugees. Examining mainstream and (...) alternative media from a critical discourse analytic perspective, the article uncovers how two key narratives about the Syrian refugee crisis emerge when the media attempt to orient their respective audiences to government policy through the discursive formation of the American Dream. Drawing on aspects of historicity, linguistic and semiotic action, and social impact, the analysis of the data reveals a discursive fracas between a humanistic perspective on the crisis that exploits a banal understanding of the American Dream and a more dichotomous narrative that homogenises refugees as a threat to the American way of life. These observations add to the growing body of literature that questions the ways in which the media discursively shapes, and is shaped by, political ideologies. (shrink)

In the eighth century, Wu Jing selected exchanges between Emperor Taizong and his ministers that he deemed key to good governance. This collection of dialogues has been used for the education of emperors, political elites and general readers ever since, and is a standard reference work in East Asian political thought. Consisting of ten volumes, subdivided into forty topics, The Essentials of Governance addresses core themes of Chinese thinking about the politics of power, from the body politic, presenting and receiving (...) criticism, recruitment, the education of the imperial clan, political virtues and vices, to cultural policy, agriculture, law, taxation, border policy, and how to avoid disaster and dynastic fall. Presented with introductory commentary that offers insights into its historical context and global reception, this accessible and reliable translation brings together ten scholars of Chinese intellectual history to offer a nuanced edition that preserves the organisation, tone and flow of the original. (shrink)

Twaalf inheemse en religieuze leiders uit verschillende werelddelen spreken zich in dit boek uit over de heiligheid van de natuur. Hun eeuwenoude wijsheden inspireren ons om anders te gaan denken over onze omgang met alles wat leeft. Aan het woord komen de Groenlandse sjamaan Angakkorsuaq, de Amerikaanse indianenleider Chief Lane Jr., masaileider Mwarabu, de boeddhistische geestelijke Shih, de dichtende islamgeleerde Ur Rehman Chishti, orthodox rabbijn Slifkin, Maya-priester Sac Coyoy, hindoe-prins Jhala, Aztekenleider Sanchez, leider van de Canadese Bear Clan Wawatie, bisschop (...) Smeets van Roermond en theoloog Valerio van Rochester Cathedral. 0Oeroude natuurwijsheden uit alle streken! (shrink)

In this study, the words that Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Lughawī did not consider as aḍdādwhile his predecessors accepted the same words as aḍdād(contronym), are examined. These words are examined with the purpose of determining his approach towards contronmy words (aḍdād). There is disagreement about the definition and the number of aḍdāds, which can shortly be defined as the word which has two opposite meanings. In this study, brief information about the definition and limitation of aḍdādand the reasons that produce aḍdādare given, (...) and then the words that Abū al-Ṭayyib does not accept as aḍdād are analysed under the four titles – based on the classification made by himself. The author does not accept the words which have the same ism al-fāʿil(active participle) and ism al-mafʿūl(passive participle) format because of the verb’s being ecwefor the middle letter’s being combined with the final letter of the verb as aḍdād. Besides, he does not accept the words that have two opposite meanings due to their figurative meaning as aḍdād. He also states that he does not take the words included inaḍdādcategory just because their meanings are reversed by Arabs as aḍdād. With this attitude, the author has rendered the concept more comprehensible by showing what is not aḍdād. In this study, Abū al-Tayyib’s work named Kitāb al-aḍdādis taken as the primary text, and the pieces of poetry and prose shown as examples by the author are stated with their primary sources.SummaryThere are many scholars who worked on aḍdād, which is a terminological expression for the words that have two opposite meanings. Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Lughawī is one of the scholars to write a work about this subject. The author had the opportunity to examine most of the studies about aḍdādand making a comparison between these studies, he wrote Kitāb al-Aḍdād fı̄ kalām al-ʿArab. The work was composed by arranging the words, which had been accepted as aḍdādby the former scholars, in an alphabetical order according to their initial letters alone. The author completed his work by using expressions showing his objection or confirmation about the words’ being aḍdādor not while mentioning the words. Abū al-Ṭayyib added an addendum to the end of the work and in this section, he noted some words which the former scholars had accepted as aḍdādbut he did not. Although he explained the reason of adding this addendum as not to be thought of unaware of these words, he aimed to correct a mistake made by the previous linguists by identifying it thanks to the mentioned addendum.The words الجَوْن(used both with the meaning of black and white), النوء(to arise and to set), الصَّرِيم(night and day), جَلَل(big and small) and السُّدْفَة(dark and light) can be given as examples for the concept of aḍdād, which is terminologically used for the words having two opposite meanings. The words such as البَيْع(to sell and to buy), بَصِير(sighted and blind), ثَلَّ(to repair and to bring down), الأخْضَر(green and black), الخَلّ(well- fed calf/camel and undernourished calf/camel, which have two opposite meanings at the same time, are among the words that Abū al-Ṭayyib presents as aḍdādin his work. Although there are various definitions of aḍdād, the clearest and most comprehensive one belongs to Abū al-Ṭayyib. He makes the following definition which distinguishes aḍdādfrom common wording: “Aḍdādis the plural form of didd(antonym). Antonym means the opposite of something, such as black and white, generosity and meanness, courage and cowardice. Everything that is opposite of something is not necessarily the antonym of it. For example, although strength and ignorance are two opposite words, they cannot be taken as antonyms. Because, the antonym of strength is weakness and the antonym of ignorance is knowledge. This difference arises from the fact that the term opposite is more comprehensive than the term antonym. Although all aḍdādwords are opposites, not all the opposite words are antonyms (aḍdād).” The biggest controversy about aḍdādis about the number of the words that are accepted as aḍdād. While some scholars represent the numbers of aḍdādwords in Arabic language as four hundred, they are not more than twenty for some other scholars. In spite of the controversy about the numbers of aḍdādwords in the language, the existence of aḍdādin Arabic language is an accepted situation.There are some reasons leading to aḍdādin Arabic language, one of which is dialect difference. The word السُدْفَةwhich is used for the meaning of “dark” by Temı̄m clan means “light” in Ḳays tribe. Some changes in language are also stated among the reasons causing aḍdād. It is stated that the original meaning of the word الصَّرِيمwas “interrupted,” but then it was used with the meaning of both night and day for the reason that night is interrupted by day and day is interrupted by night. Another reason is purported as being psychological and social factors. Using the term الكَرِيم“generous” to make fun of a mean person is an example for this situation. One of the reasons causing aḍdādis the morphological structures of the words. As it is the case with the word خائِفٌ“frightened/frightening,” the use of ism al-fāʿiland ism al-mafʿūlmodes in the same form has caused to using the same word with two opposite meanings. There are also some scholars who accept the words that gain two opposite meaning to each other because of rhetorical factors like metaphor. Using the word إِرَةٌboth with the meaning of fireand metaphorically the pit where fire is lightedis an example for this sort. The scholars’ acceptance or rejection of the reasons leading to aḍdādhas resulted in their expanding or narrowing the numbers ofaḍdādwords in the language. In this context, the numbers of aḍdādwords are more for a scholar who accepts most of the reasons mentioned. Abū al-Ṭayyib is among the scholars to cast a wide scope for aḍdādwords. Since the author accepts the aḍdādwords arising from dialect and metre difference, the words that he takes as aḍdādare quite many. In Kitāb al-aḍdād, he states that there are total of 320 aḍdādwords and at the same time he collects the words that he does not accept as aḍdād but which were accepted so by the former scholars under four headings. In the first group, there are the words thought as aḍdādbecause of being an ecwefverb. For the author, the reason these words are supposed to be aḍdādis that ism al-fāʿil(active participle) and ism al-mafʿūl(passive participle) modes of these words turn into the same structure as a result of ʿilālrules. The fact thatالمُجْتَابmeans both “the one who wears” and “the thing that is worn”; المُبْتَاعis used as ism al-fāʿilwith the meaning of “the one who buys stuff” and as ism al-mafʿūl with the meaning of “the stuff sold” is an example for this situation. In the second group, there are the words which are taken as aḍdādbecause of merging (idghām) middle letter of the word to its final letter. It is seen that ism al-fāʿiland ism al-mafʿūl forms of these words are the same due to various reasons. The fact that مُكْتَنٌّis used both for disguisedand the place to disguise; مُحْتَشٌّis used for “the one who gathers grass” and “the grass gathered” is of this sort. In the third group, there are words which are assumed to be aḍdādas they are named after their reasons. There is mostly metaphorical meaning in the words that are placed in this group. One of the words that Abū al-Ṭayyib presents as an example to this group is العَقِيقَة. ʿAqı̄qameans the hair on the head of the baby when it is born. An animal is sacrificed when this hair is shaved. In time, the animal sacrificed has begun to be called as ʿaqı̄qa, as well; and so, ʿaqı̄qais used both for the hair and the sacrifice. Abū al-Ṭayyib argues that such words are absolutely not aḍdād. In the fourth group, there are expressions that result from fāʿil’s replacing mafʿūland mafʿūl’s replacing fāʿilor the words that appear in similar ways. For instance, using the expression “the lizard climbed up the tree” not with the common usage اِنْتَصَبَالْحِرْبَاءُفِيالْعُودِbut by changing the places of fāʿiland mafʿūlاِنْتَصَبَالْعُودُفِيالْحِرْبَاءِis an example for this group. Abū al-Ṭayyib objects to the acceptance of the words used in this way as aḍdād, and argues that aforesaid usages do not comply with the definition of aḍdād. (shrink)

The conceptual changes of Jian儉 in the pre-Qin period were the results of changes in the social and political structure. It originally referred to Jian virtue, which was a kind of political norm of clan states. This required the aristocrats to be moderate in accordance with the patriarchal hierarchy and generously share their wealth with their own clansmen. The opposite of Jian virtue is Tan and Chi. In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, many states formed their politics (...) based on ministerial families. The aristocrats glorified greed and extravagance as Fu, and stigmatized Jian virtue as Pin. After the collapse of the clan-based state order, the states in the Warring States Period gradually developed into territorial states, and the institutional political norm became a new, abstract concept, indicated by the compound Jian Yue and was used to describe the consumption attitudes of individuals and families. Meanwhile, with the increase of social mobility, the pursuit of riches was highly popular in the ideological world. The new expression of “means-ends” advocated by Legalists, which stipulated that individuals and families acquire wealth through Jian Yue, took shape and endures to this day. (shrink)

Speaking about oneself in order to change the world. Juri Vella is a Forest Nenets reindeer herder, writer and fighter for his people’s rights. In his private life, he enjoys silence, as it is a rule in his culture. But the public man, who is graduated from the Literature Institute in Moscow, is aware of the power of speech, and knows how to use it for his goals, to support his vision. He had to realise that the native peoples in (...) Western Siberia have lost much of their skills and acquired none during the Soviet period, in which they were compelled to integrate in the society and to attend Soviet institutions as school or the army. This process has been intensified in the latest fifty years, with the invasion of their traditional territories by oil industry. But Juri Vella expects the oil reserves to finish one day, and then the aborigines will lack the goods bestowed upon them by “Western” society and will have to survive with the help of the traditional skills. He tries to promote his vision of the natives able to live in both worlds and able to recover their dignity. This article analyses his public speech in this behalf and the way Juri Vella speaks about himself, enlarging his “ego” both to his clan and the native peoples in general and connecting it very directly with the space around him. The mainsources are Eva Toulouze’s fieldwork at Juri Vella’s taiga camp, living with the family five months, and the film Liivo Niglas has shot about him in 2003. (shrink)