Collection of Buddhist philosophical texts written by Mongolian monks and scholars.

The process of recognition or isolation of one or several entities from among many possible entities is termed intellego perception. It is shown that not only are many of our everyday percepts of this type, but perception of microscopic events using the methods of quantum mechanics are also intellego in nature. Information theory seems to be a natural language in which to express perceptual activity of this type. It is argued that the biological organism quantifies its sensations using an information (...) theoretical measure. This, in turn, sets the stage for a mathematical theory of sensory perception. (shrink)

The case is presented for a dilemmatic perspective to the educational provision for pupils and students with difficulties and disabilities. This perspective recognises the links and tensions between social and individual values and models. The paper focuses on the central significance of dilemmas of difference in understanding policy and practice issues in the field. One of the central arguments is that a commitment to inclusion implies a commitment to meeting the needs of a minority and therefore to arrangements which may (...) not be required by the majority. Inclusion is about mainstream schools accommodating a full diversity, and in doing so leads inevitably to adopting dedicated or specialised support systems for some. The paper provides an overview of recent changes in policy and practice as well as looking at possible future trends. An inter-disciplinary model which connects individual and social perspectives is proposed both for explanatory purposes and for designing provision in terms of the interaction between the inclusivity of the system and responding to additional individual needs. (shrink)

With reference to two specific modalities of sensation, the taste of saltiness of chloride salts, and the loudness of steady tones, it is shown that the laws of sensation (logarithmic and power laws) are expressions of the entropy per mole of the stimulus. That is, the laws of sensation are linear functions of molar entropy. In partial verification of this hypothesis, we are able to derive an approximate value for the gas constant, a fundamental physical constant, directly from psychophysical measurements. (...) The significance of our observation lies in the linking of the phenomenon of “sensation” directly to a physical measure. It suggests that if the laws of physics are universal, the laws of sensation and perception are similarly universal. It also connects the sensation of a simple, steady physical signal with the molecular structure of the signal: the greater the number of microstates or complexions of the stimulus signal, the greater the magnitude of the sensation (saltiness or loudness). The hypothesis is currently tested on two sensory modalities. (shrink)

Within the framework of the Kershaw approach and of a hypothesis on spatial stochasticity, the relativistic equations of Lehr and Park, Guerra and Ruggiero, and Vigier for stochastic Nelson mechanics are obtained. In our model there is another set of equations of the hydrodynamical type for the drift velocityv i(x j,t) and stochastic velocityu i(x j,t) of a particle. Taking into account quadratic terms in l, the universal length, we obtain from these equations the Sivashinsky equations forv i(x j,t) in (...) the caseu i →0. In the limit l →0, these equations acquire the Newtonian form. (shrink)

في كتابه من نقد العقل إلى هيرمينوطيقا الرموز: بحث في فلسفة الثقافة عند إرنست كاسيرر، الصادر عن المركز العربي للأبحاث ودراسة السياسات، يحاول فؤاد مخوخ التركيز على فلسفة كاسيرر، ساعيًا لإثبات أصالتها وجِدَّتِها في مجال نقد الثقافة. فـ "قراءة كاسيرر فلسفة كانط"، كما يقول مخوخ، "متميزة وأصيلة، ويتجلى ذلك في مشروع تطوير نقد العقل وتمديده إلى نقد الثقافة الذي تجسد في فلسفة الأشكال الرمزية باعتبارها فلسفةً للثقافة، وتقعيدًا نظريًا لإبيستمولوجيا علوم الثقافة، وهيرمينوطيقا لتأويل عالَم الإنسان وفهمه".

This paper reports on part of an evaluation of teacher support teams as a special education needs support strategy in primary schools. Using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, it focuses on areas derived from a theoretical framework for understanding schools’ approaches to SENs. TSTs were set up and run in six of the eight schools, with meetings of between 30 and 45 minutes, usually during lunchtime or after school. Most of the referrals were about behaviour problems, though (...) many were about learning difficulties. The support included providing emotional encouragement, specific approaches to managing behaviour, teaching strategies and consulting others. Referring teachers reported that their TST experience led to increased confidence and some improvements in the children, while TST members themselves believed that they had gained much from the TST experience. Overall the study showed the feasibility and benefits of setting up TSTs in primary schools. The findings are discussed in terms of the wider benefits of TSTs and their relevance to special needs policies and the implementation of the SENs code of practice. (shrink)

For a sufficiently large class of formal systems a duality theorem is proved. We consider such formal set theories $\widetilde{\scr{T}}$ [2] which, at least, satisfy the following conditions: 1. The theory $\widetilde{\scr{T}}$ contains its own (either bounded or introduced by a definition) substantive constant U, for which $\vdash \forall x[x\in U]$ or $\vdash \forall x[x\subset U]$ . 2. The operation of "complement", denoted by C, is defined with respect to U. 3. For any formula (resp. a term), A ⊦ A (...) ↔ ⅂⅂ A (resp. ⊦ CCA = A), and some basic conclusions follow. (shrink)

There is no unique way to generalize the mass operator 0 2 −p · p to curved spacetimes. The possible generalizations using either an analytic or an algebraic (group-theoretic) approach are discussed. We investigate in detail three possibilities: (i) the generalized D'Alembertian $$- \tilde \square = - (1/\sqrt { - g} )(\partial /\partial x^v )(\sqrt { - g} g^{\mu v} {\text{ }}\partial /\partial x^\mu$$ (ii) the operator ( $- (\tilde \square + \tfrac{1}{6}{\text{R)}}$ , which is conformally invariant in the massless (...) case, and (iii) an operator suggested by Meggs for Robertson-Walker spacetimes. A criterion for choosing among the different possibilities is proposed. It is used to eliminate the Meggs operator, but is not stringent enough to decide between the other two. (shrink)

In the article the issue of singling out some systemic criteria of differentiation between the fundamental and applied terminologies is considered. The authors point at the fact that each terminology has its own individual peculiarities, which mark it out against a general background of the terminological fund of a certain language. It is asserted that one of the most important and effective criteria that can be the basis of the approach to the study of sublanguages for special purposes is a (...) fundamental or applied character of the sphere of professional or scientific knowledge verbalized by a certain terminology. Such terms, as ‘fundamental terminology‘, ‘applied terminology‘ and ‘terminology of transition type‘, are introduced for scientific use. The fundamental terminology is understood as a sublanguage for special purposes that verbalizes the notions, forming the totality of fundamental knowledge, serving for the description of phenomena and processes in reality and in science, in the framework of which the fundamental research is carried out. The applied terminology is the name for the sublanguage for special purposes representing the notions, in which the results of human being’s practical scientific-industrial activity for changing the reality, forming the artificial habitat, are conceptualized. The terminology of transition type is the terminology that verbalizes the fragments of the field of scientific knowledge in which the research can have both a fundamental and applied character. The authors come to the conclusion that pure applied or fundamental terminologies are quite rare, that it is rational to speak about the degree of manifestation of the applied or fundamental character within the limits of this or that terminological system. (shrink)

Cette étude remet en cause les dualismes et divisions actuels qui se reflètent dans le dialogue socio-politique et interculturel. Le projet vise à établir un lien entre le discours philosophique de la Maison de la Sagesse du IXesiècle et les conceptions modernes de l’islam en étendant la rhétorique dialogique dudit discours. Le projet en question a également pour but de réexaminer la Maison de la Sagesse. Ce processus consiste d’abord à invoquer une tradition islamique inclusive et interculturelle qui contrecarre la (...) vision limitée d’un islam radical. Puis, il consiste à réintroduire les arts libéraux comme outils pédagogiques au cœur de la tradition islamique de la sagesse, et finalement, à explorer les principes du Aql et de la Fitrah ainsi que la façon dont ils prescrivent la Hikmah. (shrink)

The topic of our discussion is extremely complex by virtue of the diversity of problems it covers, their contradictions, and their many layers. An objective analysis is complicated by the fact that we are "by origin from there," that we were all drawn into the process, and that it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to distance ourselves from this fact. Being involved in what happened is, on the one hand, a positive factor: it gives access to occurring events (...) through a knowledge of facts and details that is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain for an investigator of the events many years later. But such involvement not only discloses the truth, it also creates the illusion that one possesses the truth, because a participant in events often makes his personal beliefs about them the basis of theoretical generalizations. A participant and a witness are very different categories in terms of their objective relation to actual facts. (shrink)

Drawing on fiqh al-aqalliyyat, this article introduces a Muslim minorities curriculum and negotiates the notion of diasporicity as a process that signifies a community’s readiness to respond to its own cultural, religious and literacy practices. More specifically, first, I propose a Muslim minorities curriculum that is informed by diasporicity and fiqh al-aqalliyyat. Second, the article makes a distinction between diaspora and diasporicity. In what ways can diasporicity itself be conceptualized to advance Muslim education and what are the pedagogical implications? Third, (...) it identifies what I call dialectical constructs within fiqh al-aqalliyyat that are conducive to diasporicity, namely, qiyas, ijtihad, istihsan, and taysir. Additionally, this article explores contingency as an overlooked philosophical and pedagogical dimension, which advances intercultural and critical thinking skills. It conceptualizes a Muslim education that is attuned to the “curriculum-as-lived”; hence it develops an educational theory that validates diasporicity. (shrink)

This study examines the Foucauldian notion of “parrhesia” within the context of curricular practices through a renewal of scholarly interest in Islamic metaphysics as represented by the Avicennean modalities of reality: necessity, contingency, and possibility. It explores the role of contingency in advancing educational practices that generate inclusive dissemination of knowledge that captures the language of Tajdeed (legitimate renovation) in Islamic education. This article argues that contingency, as a causality-oriented modality, determines whether meaning is relative or absolute, while necessity, as (...) an acknowledgment of universal truth, slips into demagoguery that can be used to canonize strict textualism and absolutism. Contingency is defined here as a practice that stimulates synthesis and dialogical understanding of knowledge. Accordingly, the study asks the following questions: How does infusing the Avicennean concept of contingency into curriculum practices offer opportunities for inclusivity and free speech? How can revisiting Islamic cosmological modalities help Muslim educators and curriculum writers move into the broader path of inclusive pedagogies? From an educational position, the article introduces a curriculum of metaphysics that advocates the implementation of contingency, which is considered essential to parrhesia and democracy. It also draws attention to an anti-metaphysical attitude that is generally present in curriculum theorizing. Accordingly, Metaphysics is invoked to challenge a state of flux or hegemonized assumptions; hence, metaphysics validates parrhesia. (shrink)