Verse treatises on Advaita Jaina, and Nyaya philosophy.

Trata-se de uma caracterização do teatro político no Brasil, a partir da história do teatro político desde a Antigüidade, passando pelo século XIX, pelo teatro americano e chegando ao teatro brasileiro dos anos 60.

Unintended negative outcomes on child behavior due to lockdown and home confinement following the corona virus disease pandemic needs highlighting to effectively address these issues in the current and future health crises. In this sub-study of the ODIN-study, the objectives were to determine whether the Danish lockdown and home confinement following the COVID-19 pandemic affected changes in emotional-behavioral functioning of pre-school-aged children using the validated Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire answered by parents shortly before lockdown and 3 weeks into lockdown, and (...) moreover, to examine whether baseline family and social characteristics could predict change in child emotional-behavioral functioning during lockdown. Parents of 40 children with a mean age of 5.0 completed the baseline questionnaire and the lockdown follow-up questionnaire. The SDQ-Total difficulties score and Prosocial Behavioral score changed significantly from pre- to lockdown [SDQ-TD mean: 6.0 and 7.9; P = 0.02, respectively and PSB mean: 8.5 and 7.9; P = 0.03, respectively]. Attending leisure time activities before lockdown was a predicting factor of changes to the worse in the children’s SDQ-TD scores, with a mean difference in SDQ-TD between those with and without activities of 3.16 ; P = 0.03. In conclusion, the study showed a modest decrease in child-emotional behavioral functioning during the COVID-19 lockdown, potentially due to parental stress. Although these results might not be generalizable due to small sample size and selected population, the results point to a need of a greater awareness of child mental wellbeing during a lockdown situation. (shrink)

The human being as a constituted objectivity is a fragile ‘figure’ who lives in through their individual and shared experience. As a constituted objectivity, it influences our experiences, actions and the constitution of our community. Nevertheless, it appears to us, who actually constitute it, as a completely independent and immutable object, as a mere fact our experience has to comply with, and as a normative representation of the human being. This paper inquires - from a phenomenological point of view - (...) about the structure that underlies the norm at work in our experience, as well as in the high- and low-level dimensions of the intersubjective community. Indirectly, such a structure can be identified through the connection between Husserl’s understanding of normality and objectivity. My claim is that normativity can be understood as a necessary function and thus can be distinguished from objectivity and normality. Normativity appears, therefore, as a function of objectivity, which allows one to distinguish the latter from normality. As such, normativity should not be confused with an active agreement or regulation, but rather identified as a necessary constitutive structure arising from experiential intersubjective sense-borrowing performance. At the same time, due to its connection to objectivity, normativity also appears to strongly influence the social production of validity, therefore being endorsed by institutions. (shrink)

In this paper, I investigate the relation of Kant's theory of biology to epigenetic accounts of organic generation and development. In the literature, a dispute about similarities between Blumenbach's epigenetic account and Kant dominated the debate for many years (see Lenoir 1980, 1981, and 1982, 17–34, Richards 2000; 2002, 207–37; Look 2006, and van den Berg 2009). Some more recent interpreters claim that Wolff's, more than Blumenbach's account plays the pivotal role in the development of a vitalistic conception of epigenesis (...) in Kant (see Dupont 2007 and Huneman 2007). Although I myself hold the view that Kant's position contains preformistic and epigenetic characteristics, in the current paper I focus solely on an investigation of epigenetic elements in Kant's account and compare them to the corresponding epigenetic elements in Wolff's theory. Section I of the paper is devoted to an analysis of Wolff's most important epigenetic theorems: the notion of the essential power (vis essentialis) and the conception of the part-whole composition of organized matter. Although Wolff describes the essential power vitalisticly, as a principle of life, he understands it as the cause of mechanical motions explaining the generation, nourishment, and the growth of an organism. Wolff's model of the part-whole composition of organic matter is subtle, but committed to fundamental mechanistic assumptions, such as that the organism as a whole is composed of inorganic parts. In section II, I analyze the corresponding elements in Kant's theory: the notion of the formative power and the conception of the whole-part composition of organized materials. Kant describes the formative power as a principle that causes the purposive form of an organized being such that matter and mechanism are the means to the purpose of the being as their end. The purpose of the whole is a functional unit which is in principle superior to the form and matter of the subordinate parts. The parts are combined into such a whole in being mutually cause and effect of each other and in being related to the superior whole. In section III, I respond to the debate in the literature. Against Dupont (2007) and Huneman (2007) I argue that, according to Wolff, the vis essentialis accounts for mechanic effects in matter, whereas, according to Kant, the formative power explains the intentional order (form, end, purpose) of an individual organized being, its parts, and its species. Since this view is closer to Blumenbach than to Wolff, the ongoing comparison between Kant and Blumenbach in the literature is justified. However, the emphasis on the specific part-whole composition that Kant considers to be the determining feature of an organized being can be found only in Wolff and not in Blumenbach—though Wolff and Kant describe it in opposing ways. This increases the systematic importance of Wolff for Kant. Thus, a fresh look on the historical debate is required. (shrink)

Food security is becoming an increasingly relevant topic in the Global North, especially in urban areas. Because such areas do not always have good access to nutritionally adequate food, the question of how to supply them is an urgent priority in order to maintain a healthy population. Urban and peri-urban agriculture, as sources of local fresh food, could play an important role. Whereas some scholars do not differentiate between peri-urban and urban agriculture, seeing them as a single entity, our hypothesis (...) is that they are distinct, and that this has important consequences for food security and other issues. This has knock-on effects for food system planning and has not yet been appropriately analysed. The objectives of this study are to provide a systematic understanding of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North, showing their similarities and differences, and to analyse their impact on urban food security. To this end, an extensive literature review was conducted, resulting in the identification and comparison of their spatial, ecological and socio-economic characteristics. The findings are discussed in terms of their impact on food security in relation to the four levels of the food system: food production, processing, distribution and consumption. The results show that urban and peri-urban agriculture in the Global North indeed differ in most of their characteristics and consequently also in their ability to meet the food needs of urban inhabitants. While urban agriculture still meets food needs mainly at the household level, peri-urban agriculture can provide larger quantities and has broader distribution pathways, giving it a separate status in terms of food security. Nevertheless, both possess (unused) potential, making them valuable for urban food planning, and both face similar threats regarding urbanisation pressures, necessitating adequate planning measures. (shrink)

Advance directives are written documents that give patients the opportunity to communicate their preferences regarding treatments they do or do not want to receive in case they become unable to make decisions. Commonly used pre-printed forms have different formats. Some offer space for patients to appoint a surrogate decision maker, and/or to determine future medical treatments and/or give a statement of personal values. So far it is unknown which forms GPs preferably use and why they decide to do so. 23 (...) semi-structured interviews with GPs were analysed using content analysis. Interviewees mainly use short templates and medium length templates with checkboxes to indicate patients’ preferences in regards to life prolonging measures. Especially when patients faced the progression of a disease, participants use the latter version. Only then, the interviewees remarked, patients are capable to rate concrete situations reliably. GPs also realize the importance of the verbal assessment of patients’ preferences; however they rarely keep a written form of the conversation. Some GPs hand out one or more templates and ask their patients to read and think about them at home with the option to talk to them about it later on, while others prefer their patients to fill them out alone at home. Regardless of template usage, most GPs emphasize that ADs require regular updates. GPs tend to see standardized advance directives mainly as a tool to start a conversation with their patients and to identify their real preferences and values. When the patient is still not facing the progression of an already existing disease it could be sufficient to only appoint a surrogate decision maker instead of creating a full AD. However, in all other situations, appointing a surrogate decision maker should be backed up by a written statement of a patient’s general values. Patients and their relatives should always have the opportunity to ask their GP for medical advice when drafting an AD. It is crucial to regularly verify and update existing ADs within the course of a disease. (shrink)

ZusammenfassungDer Artikel skizziert die Grundlagen einer neuen Subdisziplin innerhalb der Religionswissenschaft, der Religionsethologie. Religionsethologie lässt sich letztlich auf Charles Darwin selbst zurückführen, der bereits in seinem Buch The expression of the emotions in man and animals belegen konnte, dass jede Form von Verhalten für das Überleben der Art genau so wichtig ist wie die Adaptation des Phänotypus. In den Geisteswissenschaften wurde der Darwinsche Ansatz sofort aufgegriffen und von bedeutenden Forschern wie Karl Meuli, Aby Warburg und in jüngerer Zeit von Roy (...) Rappaport, Marvin Harris und anderen aufgegriffen und fruchtbar gemacht, indem sie einerseits religiöse Universalien herausarbeiten, andererseits aber auch die Grundzüge einer religiösen Evolution darstellen konnten. Religion ist demnach tief in der Biologie des Menschen verwurzelt und kann demzufolge auch unter biologischen Gesichtspunkten erforscht werden. (shrink)

Die Abhandlung „Immanuel Kant über das moralische Gefühl der Achtung“ legt nach einer Einführung in den historischen und werkgeschichtlichen Hintergrund wesentliche systematische Züge des moralischen Gefühls der Achtung dar. Es wird gezeigt, dass das apriorische Gefühl der Achtung einerseits von allen anderen empirischen Gefühlen unterschieden, dennoch aber ein Gefühl ist und in seiner spezifischen Sonderstellung drei bedeutende moralphilosophische Funktionen übernehmen kann: eine evaluative, eine kausale und eine bildende Funktion. Kants These, dass es im strengen Sinn nur ein rein moralisches Gefühl (...) gibt, wird gegen ein graduierendes Modell der moralischen Relevanz von Gefühlen diskutiert und gegen alternative klassische Deutungen des moralischen Gefühls wie die Liebe, die Sympathie und das Mitleid abgewogen. (shrink)

GPs usually care for their patients for an extended period of time, therefore, requests to not only discontinue a patient’s treatment but to assist a patient in a suicide are likely to create intensely stressful situations for physicians. However, in order to ensure the best patient care possible, the competent communication about the option of physician assisted suicide as well as the assessment of the origin and sincerity of the request are very important. This is especially true, since patients’ requests (...) for PAS can also be an indicator for unmet needs or concerns. Twenty-three qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to in-depth explore this multifaceted, complex topic while enabling GPs to express possible difficulties when being asked for assistance. The analysis of the gathered data shows three main themes why GPs may find it difficult to professionally communicate about PAS: concerns for their own psychological well-being, conflicting personal values or their understanding of their professional role. In the discussion part of this paper we re-assess these different themes in order to ethically discuss and analyse how potential barriers to professional communication concerning PAS could be overcome. (shrink)

In this paper, I treat the question of whether and in what regard Kant's theory of biology contains a version of the argument from design, which is the question of whether Kant considers the purposive order of organized nature as a physicotheological proof for the existence of God, and in turn, the existence of God as the supersensible ground for the teleological order of organized nature. As an introduction to the topic, I name traditional examples of the argument from design (...) (section 1). I then outline Kant's changing attitude towards the argument in his Theory of Heavens, his Argument essay and the three Critiques, highlighting Kant's return to the argument from design in the CPJ after examining and rejecting it in his earlier writings. I elaborate in detail Kant's different uses of the argument in the "Critique of the Teleological Power of Judgment" (section 2). In section 3, I develop a consistent reading of Kant's references to the physicotheological proof in the "Critique of the Teleological Power of Judgment": in the "Analytic" he develops a teleological account of nature that makes no use of the argument from design but is consistent with it. In the "Dialectic" and the "Methodology", however, Kant discusses more ambitious systematic questions: the unity of the theoretical laws of nature and the unity of the natural and the supernatural moral laws. These are questions that require an explicit reference to the argument from design (section 3). (shrink)

The permanent preservation of objects in global custodianship is a captivating ideal that informs countless museums’ corporate identities and governs collection guidelines as well as politics. Recent research has challenged the alleged perpetuity of collections and collected items, revealing their coherence as fragile and dependent on historically, politically and culturally specific conditions. Duplicates offer an instructive point of entry to explore the idea of collection permanence, museum politics, and the mobility of museum objects. The history of duplicates, moreover, comprises a (...) constellation of practises, concepts and debates that can be found in various forms throughout the intertwined histories of natural-scientific, ethnographic and artistic collections. This history, however, has rarely been questioned or explored. By introducing the issue of duplicates, this paper opens up a discussion that not only connects different forms of collections, but also situates the history of collecting institutions across the disciplinary spectrum within broader political, economic and epistemic frameworks. (shrink)

Animal, protist and viral messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are most prominently modified at the beginning by methylation of cap‐adjacent nucleotides at the 2′‐O‐position of the ribose (cOMe) by dedicated cap methyltransferases (CMTrs). If the first nucleotide of an mRNA is an adenosine, PCIF1 can methylate at the N6‐position (m6A), while internally the Mettl3/14 writer complex can methylate. These modifications are introduced co‐transcriptionally to affect many aspects of gene expression including localisation to synapses and local translation. Of particular interest, transcription start sites (...) of many genes are heterogeneous leading to sequence diversity at the beginning of mRNAs, which together with cOMe and m6Am could constitute an extensive novel layer of gene expression control. Given the role of cOMe and m6A in local gene expression at synapses and higher brain functions including learning and memory, such code could be implemented at the transcriptional level for lasting memories through local gene expression at synapses. (shrink)

Empirical electoral research in Germany has reached a high level of quality both with regard to theoretical approaches and methodological issues. Moreover, it is strongly linked to other disciplines in political science such as comparative political studies or political communication and also highly integrated in international electoral research. However, a changing context of voting and internal deficits are imposing challenges on electoral research in Germany which should be met in the next years and decades. Still, these challenges can also be (...) regarded as perspectives for future electoral research. This paper thus describes the current standing of empirical electoral research in Germany and gives a detailed account of the challenges resulting from this. Further, using the example of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) we show how these challenges can be and are actually met. (shrink)

Quando Brecht escreveu que o teatro épico pressupõe a posse dos meios de produção teatral pelo movimento operário, além de indicar as raízes históricas de suas opções estéticas, estava expondo um critério de añálise para o conjunto da produção teatral moderna. Já a tardia importação do teatro moderno pelos brasileiro foi patrocinada por uma burguesia desenvolvimentista geralmente ciosa da necessidade de cortar ou obscurecer os vínculos das obras passíveis de consumo local. Mas no final dos anos cinquenta vamos observar o (...) encontro entre forma importada e adaptada e demandas culturais que ultrapassavam os estreitos limites impostos ao nosso mercado teatral modernzado. (shrink)

Depois de participar da revista Clima como ficcionista, dona Gilda de Mello e Souza dedicou-se ao ensaísmo, tratando, entre outros objetos, do teatro moderno no Brasil. Por sua independência intelectual, seus ensaios apresentam lições ainda hoje válidas para nós.

Absolute and relative outcome measures measure a treatment’s effect size, purporting to inform treatment choices. I argue that absolute measures are at least as good as, if not better than, relative ones for informing rational decisions across choice scenarios. Specifically, this dominance of absolute measures holds for choices between a treatment and a control group treatment from a trial and for ones between treatments tested in different trials. This distinction has hitherto been neglected, just like the role of absolute and (...) baseline risks in rational decision-making that my analysis reveals. Recognizing both aspects advances the discussion on reporting outcome measures. (shrink)

Ein textnaher, fortlaufender Kommentar zu Kants Lehre von organisierten Wesen in der „Kritik der Urteilskraft“ ist ein Desiderat sowohl der Kantforschung als auch der Philosophie und Geschichte der Lebenswissenschaften. Auch gibt es bisher nur wenige Lesarten, die Kants Philosophie der Biologie im Ganzen erschließen und versuchen, sie in die vielschichtigen historischen Kontexte der frühneuzeitlichen Naturforschung einzuordnen. Das vorliegende Buch schließt diese Lücken. Es verteidigt die Thesen, dass Kant organisierte Wesen durch drei Arten von Kräften und Gesetzen charakterisiert – durch mechanische, (...) physisch teleologische und moralteleologische Krätfe und Gesetze – deren Vereinbarkeit im Bewusstsein des Menschen, und in der Erfahrungswelt, so, wie sie dem Menschen erscheint, auf der regulativen Idee ihrer Einheit im schöpferischen, theoretisch praktischen Bewusstsein Gottes beruht. Kants Lehre von organisierten Wesen kann als Verbindung einer gemäßigten, weder animalkulistisch noch ovistisch vereinseitigten, Präformationslehre mit einer vitalistischen Spielart der Epigenesislehre verstanden werden. – Weiterführende und provokative Einsichten für eine der bewegtesten Debatten der gegenwärtigen Kantforschung. (shrink)

Purpose of the article One of the approaches how to create a concept of a brand is a form of identifying association network in the mind of the consumer and creating semantic maps composed of all associations that are largely shaped by cultural values of consumers. Methodology/methods In the first phase, the author of the study was detecting the associations connected with the Mexican brand alcoholic beer Corona Extra using focus group with a sample of 15 respondents. In the second (...) phase, she analysed the data found in the context of Slovak cultural values and compared them with the results of the secondary research. Scientific objective The article highlights the importance of understanding cultural values of the target market for the management and brand communication across cultures. The main objective of the survey was to determine how the Slovak respondents perceive selected sample of global brand, to compare the findings of a secondary survey conducted at German and Spanish students, and in the final phase of the research to analyse the data found in the context of the cultural dimensions of respondents. Findings On one hand, the associations formed by consumers about Corona Extra mutually differ depending on the countries surveyed. On the other hand, they correspond to the cultural values of the nation, and thus confirm the strong influence of the cultural aspects of the brand perception. Conclusions The presented article confirms, that there will always be an open space for the extensive research in global marketing and cross-cultural differences in consumer behaviour. Exploring cultural aspects of communication of global brands will benefit not only in terms of increasing the efficiency of advertising campaigns, but also for the mutual knowledge and understanding between cultures. (shrink)

In "The Metamorphosis of Plants" (1790) and the related didactic poem (1798) Goethe describes the generation and development of plants as six metamorphoses of the primal plant and its organ, the leaf. In a first step, I will try to analyze the nature of the primal plant and its organ, the leaf. Is the primal plant and its organ, the leaf, an idea or does it consist in matter? If it is an idea, is it the idea of all plants (...) (the plant), the idea of a particular species of plants, or the idea of the individual plant? If it is matter – which kind of matter? In a second step, I will analyze the generic nature of the primal plant and its organ, the leaf. How does the metamorphosis of plants proceed? Suppose the leaf is A and the parts of the plants are B, C and D. Does A transform into B, C, D by a process from A to B to A, from A to C to A, and from A to D to A; or does A transform into B, proceed from B as B to C, and proceed from C as C to D; or does A transform into B, while remaining at the same time A, and proceed from B as A to C, while remaining at the same time A, and proceed from C as A to D, while remaining at the same time A? Which of these models explains our experience of plant generation and growth and allows a meaningful interpretation of Goethe's mysterious claim that 'All is leaf'? (shrink)