In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Ideas and Forms of Tragedy from Aristotle to the Middle AgesRichard J. UtzIdeas and Forms of Tragedy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages, by Henry Ansgar Kelly; xvii & 257 pp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, $59.95.If H. A. Kelly had wanted to sing the tune of Norman Cantor’s recent book on nineteenth- and twentieth-century medievalists, he could have called his study “Inventing Tragedy.” However, besides a certain (...) revisionistic attitude, there are no correspondences between the hasty, essayistic Inventing the Middle Ages (1991) and the scholarly, thoroughly philological Ideas and Forms of Tragedy. Where Cantor attempts to convince his readers that the various critical appropriations of the Middle Ages say more about the cultures of their modern reinventors than about the subject of their researches, Kelly is positive that sound source study and textual criticism can provide secure data for a more accurate application of perhaps the most famous of all genre terms to respective historical authors and individual plays. Thus, Kelly considers his book to be a necessary critical corrective of faulty and preconceived (modern) ideas about classical and medieval notions of tragedy. His methodological insistence on a purely philological investigation is responsible for some of the [End Page 253] outstanding virtues of this investigation such as authority, exactitude, and scholarliness; at the same time it is also the cause for the omission of questions essential to a study which purports to present an account not only of the forms but also the “ideas” of tragedy from classical antiquity through late medieval times.Chapters one and two examine various ideas and practices associated with tragedy in ancient Greece and Rome. This concise survey should become assigned reading for students of literary drama because it debunks the belief that the term tragedy conjures up a uniform idea, one that has been relatively constant throughout the ages and that can be attributed to Aristotle’s discussion of the best kind of tragedy in his Poetics. Kelly demonstrates how Aristotle’s broad definition of the term (any serious story, even with a happy ending) was transformed in late antiquity to mean a story ending in irremediable misfortune.Chapter three studies the semantic shifts the word tragedy underwent in the early Middle Ages. Kelly establishes convincingly that the various early medieval lexicographers and commentators (the most intriguing discussions include Isidore of Seville, Remigius of Auxerre, and Papias) knew much less about tragedy and had a much less unified idea of tragedy than is assumed by many modern-day scholars of drama. A vague knowledge of the genre also characterizes the twelfth century (chapter four), when—with the exception of John of Salisbury—creative mélanges of authentic classical traits and postclassical distortions dominated.The fifth chapter demonstrates that most commentators in the high Middle Ages, despite the reception of Aristotle directly from the Greek or through Arabic intermediaries, vary widely on the meanings they attach to the word “tragedy.” Most of them, such as John Garland, even consider it an empty, obsolete genre, one practiced only by very few poets of classical antiquity. Only Dante Aligheri believed that tragedy was a current genre and that he had made his contribution to it.The study concludes by surveying the developments in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England, France, Italy, and Spain. Kelly argues that in spite of the greatly increased currency of ideas of tragedy in the later Middle Ages, other genres (vitae of famous men or saints, exempla, complaints) negotiated stories of disaster and death. It seems problematic, however, that Kelly does not further investigate any of the cultural ramifications for and the “ideas” behind the existence and nature of these other genres and the coeval absence of (Aristotelian) tragedy. While he rightly states that medieval vitae, exempla, and planctus all do without discussions of the empathic sorrow for the misfortune of others which characterizes Aristotle’s (and Chaucer’s) ideas of tragedy, his exclusively philological approach—one concerned with sources and textual traditions but not with society or mentalities—makes him circumnavigate essential deliberations about the causes for these conspicuous medieval notions. [End Page 254] Thus, Kelly’s book does not even attempt to answer the... (shrink)

Dante's Convivio, composed in exile between 1304 and 1307, is a series of self-commentaries on three of Dante's long poems. These allegorical love poems and philosophical verse become the basis for philosophical, literary, moral, and political exposition. The prose is written in Italian so that those who were not educated in Latin could take part in what Dante called his 'banquet of knowledge'. In this edition, eminent Dante translator-scholar Andrew Frisardi offers the first fully annotated translation (...) of the work into English, with an extensive introduction, making Dante's often complex writings accessible to scholars and students. The parallel Italian text is also included for the first time in an English translation of the Convivio. Readers of this work can gain a strong understanding of the philosophical themes across Dante's work, including the Divine Comedy, as well as the logic, politics and science of his time. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

Epistemic limitations concerning prediction and explanation of the behaviour of robots that learn from experience are selectively examined by reference to machine learning methods and computational theories of supervised inductive learning. Moral responsibility and liability ascription problems concerning damages caused by learning robot actions are discussed in the light of these epistemic limitations. In shaping responsibility ascription policies one has to take into account the fact that robots and softbots - by combining learning with autonomy, pro-activity, reasoning, and planning - (...) can enter cognitive interactions that human beings have not experienced with any other non-human system. (shrink)

Im ersten Buch des Convivio erläutert und verteidigt Dante sein Vorhaben. Es bietet den Zugang zu den nachfolgenden drei Büchern, in denen er zur inhaltlichen Vorstellung seiner Philosophie fortschreitet.

Vita Nuova is the first of Dante's major writings. It is a supreme work of love; thirty-one poems are linked by a lyrical prose narrative poem celebrating and debating the subject of love. In the opening chapter Dante sets himself the task of giving meaning to the poetry which he composed and the events which took place after his meeting with Beatrice and the `Lord of Love'. The `new life' which this meeting inspired is the subject of (...) class='Hi'>Dante's most profound creation, which has been read variously as biography, religious allegory, and a meditation on poetry itself. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. (shrink)

This essay investigates Matteo Liberatore from an historical point of view. As a representative of conventional and intransigent Catholicism, Liberatore tends to be overlooked in the history books. He was a Jesuit, editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, and in forty years he wrote almost 400 articles. He is an interesting figure above all because he recognized that the end of the Papal States presented an opportunity and not a disaster for the papacy. As editor of the review, Liberatore proposed the (...) idea of a papacy that was free from the polemics associated with temporal power and consequently able to speak to the contemporary world. It is no accident that it was to him that Leo XIII turned to draw up the last draft of the encyclical Rerum novarum. This encyclical built on the insight that the church had to recommence speaking to the modern world and concentrated its reflection on the place where man was mainly found to live between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the factory and the world of employment. (shrink)

En la siguiente exposición se propone un comentario de la obra del filósofo cubano Pablo Guadarrama González, denominada Pensamiento filosófico latinoamericano. Humanismo, método e historia. La perspectiva humanista que es postulada contiene una serie de precisiones que son analizadas en sus implicaciones teóricas y prácticas. Asimismo, se extiende su estudio de las ideas filosóficas a distintos momentos del desarrollo particular seguido en América Latina, al igual que está acompañada esta tarea historiográfica de consideraciones metodológicas que resultan significativas. Desde el conjunto (...) de temas planteados por el autor se retoman sus aportes en relación a debates que se inscriben en el cruce disciplinario de la filosofía y la historia de las ideas, que se ubican inicialmente en el contexto latinoamericano pero aspiran a una proyección con alcances universales. We comment the Cuban philosopher Pablo Guadarrama González’s Latin American philosophical thinking. Humanism, method and history. The humanistic perspective posited therein contains some assumptions that we analyze in their theoretical and practical implications. Furthermore, we extend his study of philosophical ideas to different moments of Latin America’s particular development, being this historiographic task accompanied by significant methodological considerations. Of all the themes posed by this author, we take his contributions to the debates raised in the interdisciplinary intersection of philosophy and the history of ideas, initially located in a Latin American context but with universal projection. (shrink)

Critical theory has left an indelible mark on postwar social thought. But what are the relations between critical theory and 'the cultural turn' ? How did critical theory inform later French critical theorists, such as Lefebvre, Barthes and Baudrillard? This accomplished and accessible book: - Demonstrates the origins of critical theory in the Marxian analysis of the capitalist mode of production and Freudian psychoanalysis - Clearly explains the main achievements of critical theory - Elucidates how critical theory defines culture as (...) a system that constrains and alienates the individual - Explores the potential for social change and personal emancipation in the critical heritage. The author locates the importance of myth and reason, the significance of sexuality, the place of work, the difference between art and entertainment, the nature of everyday life and the relationship between knowledge and action. The result is a lucid and informative text which will appeal to all students interested in the critical traditions of social thought. (shrink)

Psychopathy is typically seen as a trait that is undesirable in any context, including the workplace. But several authors have suggested that people high in psychopathy might possess resources that preserve their ability to perform well in stressful contexts. We consider the possibility that primary psychopathy is adaptive—for the employee, if not for the organization—under conditions of abusive supervision. In particular, we draw from the multimotive model of interpersonal threat and the theory of purposeful work behavior to argue that high (...) primary psychopathy individuals possess characteristics that enable them to experience higher levels of well-being and lower levels of anger than their peers under abusive supervisors. Based on a scenario study and a time-lagged field study, we found support for a model in which abusive supervision moderates the relationships between primary psychopathy and positive work-related outcomes, such that these relationships are positive under conditions of abusive supervision and either diminished or negative under conditions of low abusive supervision. Abusive supervision also affected the relationship between primary psychopathy and anger in the field study such that high primary psychopathy individuals were less angry under more abusive supervisors. Thus, there appears to be some credence to the notion of a “psychopathic advantage” in that primary psychopaths do have access to greater psychological resources than their peers under abusive supervision. However, these findings also suggest that abusive supervisors may empower employees with characteristics that hold strong potential to damage the organization and its stakeholders. (shrink)

In dieser Schrift begründet Dante die Priorität der Volks- und Muttersprache vor der lateinischen Gelehrtensprache und fordert eine italienische Hochsprache. Er untermauert seine Ausführungen durch eine anthropologische Erörterung der menschlichen Sprachfähigkeit. Dank einer originellen Interpretation des biblischen Mythos vom Turmbau von Babel legt er eine vernünftig begründete Neubewertung der Vielfalt und der historischen Entwicklung der Sprachen vor. Das Problem der Sprache stellt sich im Denken Dantes in zweifacher Weise: als Problem der Sprache der Philosophie und unter dem Gesichtspunkt der (...) Philosophie der Sprache. In "De vulgari eloquentia" bietet Dante ein ganzes Arsenal metaphysischer Paradigmen auf, um der sprachlichen Verständigung der Menschen eine unvordenkliche Dignität zu geben. Er stellt die gesamte Philosophie in den Dienst des Menschen als sprechendes Wesen. Auch wenn Dante die Doppelbestimmung der Sprache als sinnliches Zeichen, das den Gedanken des einen Menschen einem andern zu vermitteln fähig ist, von der Tradition übernimmt, setzt er andere Akzente. Die Sprache der Menschen ist nicht nur eine im Vergleich zur Transparenz der reinen Geister unvollkommenere Form der Kommunikation, sondern sie wird positiv als die dem Menschen gänzlich angemessene und entsprechende Form der Kommunikation interpretiert: Das Sprechen ist der "herausragende Akt des menschlichen Geschlechts". Mit dem Erscheinen von "De vulgari eloquentia" liegt die vierbändige Ausgabe der Philosophischen Werke Dante Alighieris vollständig vor. Bislang erschienen Bd. 1: Das Schreiben an Cangrande (PhB 463) Bd. 2: Disputation über das Wasser und die Erde (PhB 464) Bd. 4: Das Gastmahl I-IV (PhB 466a-d). (shrink)

Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction - the Small Screen and Morality - Morality on Television - Sociology and the Moral OrderTelevisuality: Style and the Small ScreenThe Phenomenology of Television - Society and the Small Screen - Mediating Morality- Television and the Imaginary - Conclusion.

The car has become ubiquitous in late modern society and has become the leading object in the ordinary social relations of mobility. Despite its centrality to the culture and material form of modern societies, the relationship between the car and human beings has remained largely unexplored by sociology. This article argues that cars are combined with their drivers into an assemblage, the ‘driver-car’, which has become a form of social being that brings about distinctive social actions in modern society – (...) driving, transporting, parking, consuming, polluting, killing, communicating and so on. To understand the nature of this assemblage a number of theoretical perspectives that describe the interaction and collaboration between human beings and complex objects are explored; the process of driving, ‘affordance’, actor-network theory, and the embodied relationship between driver and car. This theoretical account of the driver-car is intended as a preliminary to the empirical investigation of the place of the driver-car in modern societies. (shrink)

In der Beantwortung der für das geozentrische Weltbild aristotelisch-ptolemäischer Prägung zentralen Frage, welches der Elemente höher liege, legt Dante in gut scholastischer Argumentationsweise seine kosmologischen Auffassungen dar. In der ausführlichen Einleitung wird die Naturphilosophie Dantes in ihren historischen Kontext eingebunden und bewertet.

In seinem Schreiben an den Fürsten Cangrande behandelt Dante literaturhistorisch relevante Fragen, wie z. B. jene nach den Bedeutungsebenen seiner "Commedia". In den Ausführungen zur Frage nach der gegenseitigen Abhängigkeit von Sein und Wesen oder bei der Erklärung des zehnten Himmels, dem sog. Empyreum, legt Dante zudem auch in philosophischen und theologischen Fragekomplexen eigenständige Antworten vor.

This text suggests that imagination is a powerful tool that can be used creatively or destructively, and argues that by becoming more conscious of how we use fantasy and are affected by it, we can learn to apply imagination more constructively.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze some of the thesis developed in the context of the Latin American critical thought in order to address the question of the crisis of modernity. We particularly consider the theories of two contemporary authors: Bolívar Echeverría and Enrique Dussel. Their theoretical positons are clearly different from the critique that had occurred in the postmodern discourse and they intend to account for the meaning of modernity in relation with certain phenomena that characterize it (...) structurally, which are represented by the development of capitalism and the consequent globalization. In this sense, albeit taking into consideration where these critical theories have been enunciated, that is, the particular experience of modernity in Latin America, their reflections have a global scope and try to explain the complex and contradictory characteristics of this civilization process. We analyze Bolívar Echeverría’s original proposal regarding the baroque ethos by which he identifies a particular way of modernity that tends to offer an alternative to the capitalist modernity. As regards Enrique Dussel, we underscore his trans-modernity concept that gives a new response to the Eurocentrism and colonization that marked the historical changes since modernity to the present. (shrink)

The present paper studies the relationship between criminal law and exception. In the first part are presented the categories of legality and legitimacy, in relation to the crisis of the liberal state. The second part presents the theory of Agamben on the state of exception, seeing a connection with the legal theory of Jakobs.

En el presente artículo se piensa la relación entre el golpe, los problemas de la re-presentación y la militarización neoliberal a través de varias imágenes, entre las que la del tanque de guerra será primordial para reflexionar acerca del origen violento del nuevo régimen económico y vital que se desplegó con el golpe. Lo anterior se enmarca desde el imaginario político de México en los años setenta, particularmente a través del régimen del presidente Luis Echeverría y su singular relación con (...) el elemento militar. La multiplicidad de miradas mexicanas sobre el golpe chileno está mediada por las imágenes. En esa miríada de elementos, existe un resto incontable, anónimo y excesivo: lo plebeyo. (shrink)

Carroll Izard’s theoretical and empirical work has played a preeminent role in energizing the renascence in the study of the emotions and emotional development in normality and pathology. A brief historical overview of his career is presented. Izard’s differential emotions theory (DET) has exerted influence in a number of domains and disciplines. Illustrations are provided from research and prevention in developmental psychology and developmental psychopathology. Personal recollections of Cal Izard are provided showing that Izard is not only an influential theoretician (...) and researcher, but also a wonderful emotional being. (shrink)

This paper explores the presence of late medieval ius commune in Grotius’s thought on the use of force in internal strife and war, based on De iure belli ac pacis. To this end, it examines Grotius’s use of ius commune sources, and considers some similar sources, which he does not actually cite, but which relate to his discussion. By clarifying Grotius’s selection and use of ius commune sources, the paper intends to contribute to the achievement of a double aim: firstly, (...) to determine the place of rebellion and civil war in De iure belli ac pacis, especially in relation to war; and, secondly, to assess Grotius’s approach to the two former issues, particularly with regard to the criteria by which a distinction between rebellion and civil war can be drawn, and to the effects of this distinction. (shrink)