The city of Samarra is one of the major cities of Iraq that Yaqout al-Hamwi described in the dictionary of countries by saying (it became the greatest country of God) and Al-Qazwini told about it in the monuments of the country (a great city located on the outskirts of the east of the Tigris between Baghdad and Tikrit) built by the Abbasid Caliph Al -Mu'tasim in God in 221 AH/ 835 M, and it is originally a monastery for the Christians, (...) who bought it for 5,000 dinars, and took it as a capital for its succession, and reached its prosperity and its glory is the days of the caliph Al -Mutawakkil, 247 AH / 861 AD / 892. However, after 58 years, it was left as the capital of the Abbasids when the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Mutamid Allah, abandoned it in the year 279 AH / 892 AD, and took Baghdad, the old capital, as his headquarters, which maintained its position as the capital of the Arab Islamic state until the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate at the hands of the Mongols in the year 656 AH / 1258 AD.Al-Mu'tasim and the caliphs and princes who came after him built palaces, houses, mosques, and other things in Samarra. Samarra was famous for its Great Mosque, distinguished by its high, twisted minaret. It also contained the shrine of the two imams, Ali al-Hadi 254 AH/868 AD and Hasan al-Askari 260 AH/873 AD. (shrink)

Geleitwort von Prof. P. Nicki -- Dr. Hermann Freund im Gespräch mit Prof. Dr. Dr. Hinderk M. Emrich -- Die Angst und der existentielle Sprung -- Die neue Zeit -- Der gedachte Gott -- Wie kommt das Ich zum Du? - Hysterie als Lebensform -- Was heisst, sich entscheiden? - Zur Theologie der Freiheit -- Re-formation der Reformation -- Das metaphysische und zugleich dämonische Wesen des Schlosses in Franz Kafkas Schloss-Roman -- Nachwort von Wolfgang Teichert: Epiphanie oder wo sprechende Philosophie (...) und Theologie aufhören müssen -- Literatur -- Verzeichnis der Mitwirkenden -- Abbildungsverzeichnis. (shrink)

Sex; religious aspects; Islam; Islamic ethics; sexual ethics.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:NEWMAN'S PSYCHOLOGICAL DISCOVERY: THE ILLATIVE SENSE (V. Continued) 15. The Universals. A long and vehement dispute once raged about the reality of universals. Are they only mental creations, forged by the human brain, without any reality outside them, or have they some independent existence apart from their mental reality? Anyhow, there was an apparent contradiction between die universal character of our ideas and the individual character of concrete things. (...) The Scholastics solved this problem by drawing clear distinctions. An idea is an abstraction; as soon as it becomes applicable to a number of objects or things in the same sense, it is a universal idea. The "direct universal" (universale directum seu metaphysicum) as such has no existence apart from our minds, because an existing thing is always bound up with concrete, determining, individualizing notes, and it is these very circumstances or accidents which are ignored by the mind as it strips the thing of its individual characteristics. When the mind reflects on this "direct universal," i.e., on the abstract essence of the thing, it sees that this is to be found in many more things and that it is identical in all those things, and in this way the "reflex or logical universal" is formed (universale reflexum seu logicum). This same essence or quiddity is not really different from the thing itself, but the mind makes abstraction of all accidents, and this foundation makes it possible to apply this idea in die same sense to all other beings of the same kind, whether they are actually existing or not. In other words the universal as a universal has only reality in the mind but it has a foundation or a ground in the thing itself. Newman was not so well acquainted with Scholasticism that he knew and mastered the solution of the problem. As a matter of fact he approached it from quite another angle. Hence when scholastically trained minds read some of his statements on universals, they may feel shocked. They sound very curious, they seem incon418 DR. ZENO, O.F.M. CAP.419 sistent with each other, they apparenüy imply a negation of the objective reality of universals. This makes it necessary to compare the texts and to explain his meaning. a. Newman Inconsistent. We should never lose sight of the fact that Newman had no intention at all to enter the province of philosophy in the restricted sense of the word. "I am only contemplating the mind as it moves in fact, by whatever hidden mechanism,"1 that is what could be put as a heading to every page of the Grammar of Assent. And when he virtually deals with metaphysics, he wants us to consider his statements as hypotheses, or as propositions stated only by the way, and in this department he always wishes "to speak under correction." This explains how he could refer to the universale metaphy sicum and the universale directum in a very correct way without realizing he was teaching Scholastic doctrine. As far as I know, it is Professor Walgrave who has first drawn attention to this fact,2 when he dealt with Newman's alleged conceptualism. Newman states that "even one act of cruelty, ingratitude, generosity or justice reveals to us at once intensive the immutable distinction between those qualities and their contraries; that is, in that particular instance and pro bac vice."3 The same holds for the opposites: right and wrong, true and false, just and unjust, beautiful and deformed.4 In one experience, therefore, he sees a thing as an immutable, absolute quiddity, which objectively and in the same sense belongs to all possible things of the same kind, although the mind does not yet explicidy confirm this universal applicability. The contemplated quality remains limited to the particular case; but in its absoluteness it is stripped of all individual, changeable and concrete characteristics. This is the metaphysical universal of the Scholastics. But Newman also mentions the logical universal when he says: "As we form our notion of whiteness from the actual sight of snow, a lily or a cloud, so, after experiencing the sentiment of approbation which arises in us on the sight of certain... (shrink)

Technological evaluations have significantly enhanced college students’ fine arts competence development by providing advanced tools and platforms that foster creativity, improve technical skills, and enable innovative artistic expression. In this study 500 college students were mentioned as participators. The variables Technological Tools, Technical Proficiency, Advanced Technologies, Creativity and Innovation, Online Platforms, Skill Development, and Collaborative Competencies are built to evaluate various aspects of technological and creative capabilities in educational and professional settings. Fine arts competitions like the (Artificial Intelligence) AI art (...) contest, digital choreography competition, and speech AI innovation challenge are held for the students to improve their skill development. The questionnaires are taken to measure the student's technological skills development based on before and after competitions. The SPSS software version 28 is used to statistically analyze the data with multiple regression analysis and pearson correlation analysis. The results showed that the integration of technological tools and platforms significantly improved college student's technical proficiency, creativity, and collaborative skills in fine arts. Students exhibited notable enhancements in skill development and engagement with advanced technologies post-competition. Technology significantly enhances fine arts education by improving students' artistic skills and collaboration. Embracing digital tools offers valuable opportunities to enrich curricula and foster innovation. (shrink)

In an increasingly digital world, the role of digital media in shaping the linguistic and metacognitive abilities of management students has become a focal point for academic inquiry. This study aims to explore the influence of digital media on the development of domain-specific English skills among management students, with a particular focus on metacognitive and linguistic competencies. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the research examines how exposure to and engagement with digital content tailored to the management domain impacts students' ability to (...) comprehend, analyze, and apply complex linguistic constructs in professional contexts. Quantitative data were collected through standardized language proficiency tests and metacognitive awareness inventories, while qualitative insights were gathered through interviews and focus group discussions. The findings suggest that digital media, when strategically integrated into the learning process, significantly enhances both metacognitive and linguistic competencies, thereby better preparing students for the demands of the management field. The study concludes with recommendations for incorporating digital media more effectively into management education curricula to foster advanced English language skills and critical thinking abilities. (shrink)

Basham and Dentith argue that the danger of condemning both conspiracy theorists and their conspiracy theories in a democracy has grave consequences. They argue that we should encourage research into public concerns about influential institutions, especially in cases where a conspiracy has been alleged. Rather than dismiss conspiracy theorising, we should, encourage the politically crucial, historically proven gift of watchfulness in the citizen, and its sometimes necessary, proper and correct expression, conspiracy theory.

A few weeks ago I received a copy of the PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES, containing a review of my book John Henry Newman, Our Way to Certitude, written by Fr. Boekraad. It was very unfavourable so that anybody reading it is sure to make up his mind never to buy the book.

The ability to reason independently from one's own goals or beliefs has long been recognised as a key characteristic of the development of formal operational thought. In this article we present the results of a study that examined the correlates of this ability in a group of 10-year-old children ( N = 61). Participants were presented with conditional and relational reasoning items, where the content was manipulated such that the conclusion to the arguments were either congruent, neutral, or incongruent with (...) beliefs, and either logically valid or logically invalid. Participants also received a measure of working memory capacity (the counting span task) and a measure of inhibitory control (the stop signal task). Indices of belief bias and logical reasoning on belief-based problems were predicted independently by both measures. In contrast logical reasoning on belief neutral problems was predicted by working memory alone. The findings suggest that executive functions play a key role in the development of children's ability to decontextualise their thinking. (shrink)

Die demografische Entwicklung und der medizinische Fortschritt werden die Problematik der Ressourcenknappheit im Gesundheitswesen in Zukunft weiter verschärfen. Auch Deutschland steht eine Prioritätensetzung im Gesundheitswesen bevor. Diese sollte in möglichst transparenter Weise nach klaren Kriterien erfolgen. Ein nur selten in diesem Kontext besprochenes Kriterium der Verteilung von Mitteln in der Gesundheitsversorgung ist die marginale Wirksamkeit medizinischer Leistungen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird dieses Kriterium vorgestellt und auf seine Fairness hin untersucht. Nach der kritischen Diskussion einiger Argumente gegen den offenen Einsatz von (...) Rationierungskriterien und einer Definition von marginaler Wirksamkeit in zwei unterschiedlichen Dimensionen werden verschiedene Vorzüge und eventuelle Nachteile des Kriteriums beleuchtet. (shrink)

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess the role of the Faith Based Organizations in alleviating poverty in Western Kenya.Methodology: This study is a cross-sectional research that sought to give an examining and descriptive scrutiny of the death beliefs surrounding FBO’s activities in Emuhaya District. This study targeted Emuhaya District which has a population of 180,000 people who are members of the FBO’s. To obtain data for analysis, qualitative methods of data collection, which include in-depth oral interviews, focus (...) group discussion, observation and documentary analysis, were employed. Questionnaires were prepared and administered according to the information required from the specific groups of respondents. This study utilized secondary sources, which were derived from published books, minutes of developmental meetings in the FBO, reports of the development projects of the church, articles and records from Kenya National Archives. Data collected through the questionnaires and personal interviews, was synthesized systematically and logically compiled to determine the role of FBO in alleviating poverty in Emuhaya District. Data was coded manually and organized under different themes. The researcher then investigated the concepts of liberation and reconstruction in improving the well-being of the poor through an analysis and interpretation of the theological methods of induction (TMI).Results: Based on the findings the study concluded that the CoG-K’s teachings are largely pertinent in the development of FBO members and their participation in activities that are designed along people’s development needs. Also, the CoG-K has a role to play through her programs like Sisi kwa Sisi and Child Development Centres.Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: This research recommends that if Emuhaya District is to develop, it has to place the FBO teachings and theology of option for the poor at the top of the agenda and to consider it as is so often the case, as adjunct to the real core of the work that is, development. The study proposes that for the FBO to improve her input in social concerns of the people, it should reshape its theology of development so that it can fully address the plight of the poor. (shrink)