Review of Sorina Paula Bolovan (ed.), Ciprian Firea, Nicoleta Marţian, Sorin Marţian, Diana Covaci, Călătorie prin patrimoniul ecleziastic transilvănean. Ghid istoric, artistic şi pastoral (Journey through the Transylvanian Ecclesiastic Heritage. Historical, Artistic and Pastoral Guide), (Cluj-Napoca: Mega, 2011).

800x600 Normal 0 21 false false false RO X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Review of Mihaela Frunză, Expertiza etică și bioetica. Studii de caz (Ethical Expertise and Bioethics. Case Studies). Cluj-Napoca, Limes Publishing House, 2010.

Review of Marta Dyczok, Oxana Gaman-Golutvina (eds.), Media, Democracy and Freedom. The Post-Communist Experience, (Bern: Peter Lang, 2009).

This article explores the development of the theme of the Life-giving Spring in Byzantine iconography. The path towards its establishment was initiated at the moment when a representation rule, an original convention was set. Thereafter, because of its diffusion in time and space, the theme became enriched by particular mentalities and sensibilities of the epochs and the communities that adopted it as a form of devotion for the Virgin Theotokos. As a result, the representations we have known so far are (...) extremely varied. CONTRIBUTION: The final purpose of this approach, as well as its contribution, is to highlight the diverse unity of the iconographic tradition and illustrate both the evolution of the theme in the painting of Romanian church artists and its gradual refinement through the incorporation of diverse nuances and new perspectives. (shrink)

This study will focus on the birth of studies related to the domain of religion at the University of Cluj, starting with the interwar period, then following with the communist period. The paper aims to offer an exhaustive depiction of what has been done in the academic milieu from 1919 to 1989, concerning the domain of religion, excluding Theological studies. We tried to make the connection, from a historical perspective, between the changes supervened in the Romanian official, political ideology and (...) its representation in the University curricula, on the basis of the Annual Reports issued by the Rectors’ Office of the University of Cluj in the analyzed period of time. (shrink)

Review of Király V. István, A betegség - az élő létlehetősége / Illness - A Possibility of the Living Being , (Pozsony: Kalligram), 2011.

Review of Ramona Hosu, Poetry, Identity and Ideology – Early Twentieth-Century America (Cluj: Accent, 2010).

My aim in this paper is to examine how Kent Bach's theory of singular thought about material objects meets the requirements of transmitting de re thought. I identify a certain possible paradox haunting Bach's move of extending acquaintance in order to widen the scope of singular thought and I attempt to answer this possible paradox. First, I briefly present the manner in which Bach motivates extended acquaintance and which constraints he puts on it. I then address the problem of the (...) sorites paradox which might lead not only to Bach's communication-based de re thoughts, but perception-based de re thoughts in general, thus defined. Finally, I offer my tentative solution to the problem of extended acquaintance which consists in introducing two constraints on singular thought, namely (i) the (external) acquaintance constraint and (ii) the (internal) cognitive significance constraint, and two types of representations, namely indexical-iconic representations and indexical-discursive representations which are together crucial for having a singular thought. (shrink)

This paper proposes a cognitive-semiotic approach to aesthetics to understand aesthetic emotion and its relation to the process of producing and valorizing art. The core argument presented is that the emotional aspects of aesthetic experience are integral to the processes of evaluation and meaning-making and that this interplay significantly influences individuals’ engagement with art, highlighting the importance of these dimensions in the overall experience. Therefore, the initial step in my approach is to illustrate that the process of meaning-making is significantly (...) influenced by our active participation, as well as our interpretation and understanding of our own emotions and those of others. I intend to demonstrate that throughout this process, empathy is a vital component of the reciprocal interaction between the viewer and the artwork. In this regard, I will explore various concepts related to empathy, focusing on aesthetic empathy. Additionally, I will emphasize the correlation between aesthetic experiences and everyday life, explaining how a work of art can effectively mirror the core of daily life through a semiotic narrative practice. I believe that by exploring these narratives more thoroughly, we can achieve a deeper, empathetic understanding of both the artist and the artwork and that this understanding can lead to explicit and implicit responses to the artwork, ultimately shaping our overall attitude toward it. Hence, I will conclude that our aesthetic experiences provide us with opportunities to actively explore aspects of our narrative selves, which might help us understand how these experiences significantly change our relationship with ourselves and the social context we are a part of. Keywords: cognitive semiotics, meaning-making, simulation theory, empathy, narratives. (shrink)

The temple is delimited itself from the house by privileging specifically a hierofanic place of the sacred. The delimitation of the temple from the house is not equivalent with the concrete aspect of it, so is indicated an existential – qualitative value of this delimitation. The temple as a stable structure of the sacred transcends by indicating a non-localizable determination: interface between the non-appropriated territory of nature and the settlement.

The ageing population has become one of the major issues, with manifold consequences upon the economic welfare and elderly living standards satisfaction. This paper grasps an in-depth assessment framework of the ageing phenomenon in connection with the labor market, with significant implications upon economic welfare, across the European Union. We configure our research on four distinctive groups of the EU–27 countries based on the Active Ageing Index mapping, during 1995–2018, by acknowledging the different intensities of ageing implications on economic well-being (...) from one group of countries to another. The methodological endeavor is based on Structural Equation Modelling. Empirical results highlight that the ageing dimensions and labor market productivity notably shape the socioeconomic development of EU countries, visibly distinguished across the four panels. The economic development induced remarkable positive spillover effects on the welfare of older people, under the influence of the ageing credentials and dynamic shaping factors. Our research advances the literature underpinnings on this multifaceted topic by investigation made on specific groups of the EU countries and distinctive strategies proposed for each group of countries, as effective results for improving the well-being of older people. Constant policy rethinking and adequate strategies should be a top priority for each specific group of EU countries, to further sustain the ageing phenomenon, with positive implications mostly on elderly welfare. (shrink)

Traducere din limba franceza de Svetlana Cârsteanu [Bucuresti], Editura Trei, 2001, 214 p.

This paper represents a reading of communism from the perspective of corporality. The essay aims at discussing the excessive communization of the human body during communism. This communization brought about a vulgarization of corporality, its uniformization, and hyper-egalitarianism between genders. It also resulted in a mechanical treatment of the human body in order to place it at the disposal of the body politic. This work aims to demonstrate that one of the major mistakes of communist ideology, at least in its (...) Romanian form, was the fact that it tried to control and to interfere with human needs such as nourishment and sexuality. (shrink)

George Voicu, The Evil Gods. The Culture of Conspiracy in post-communist Romania Polirom Publishing House, 2000, 245p.

The aim of this paper is to offer a descriptive and, to some extent, an analitic view of the religious and histori- cal reality in the arabi-israeli area, without the natural utopic tendency of any interreligious dialogue to solve such a conflict. The interreligious dialogue between Ju- daism and Islam, which threatens to remain a conflictual one, can not be separated from Christianity, as they all flow from the Abrahamic origin. Situated at the incicence of the religious and historical fields, (...) the arabi-israeli con- flict is here analized in the perspective of its two major causes: the argue regarding the biblical problem of the Chosen People, and the one regarding the fight over the sacred areas. (shrink)

When talking about the identity of a certain community, we are inclined to appeal to essentialist, almost metaphysical notions. This often results in a unitary, deeply rooted and stable perception of the analyzed community. But this view is not always accurate enough, for it does not offer an account of a specific history. By offering a short history and a structural presentation of the Jewish community from Transylvania, before and shortly after the Second World War, our article’s purpose is to (...) overpass, by questioning, the shortcomings of an essentialist interpretation of the discussed community. Taking into account the long history of pogroms, applied anti-Semitism and persecutions on religious or ethnic grounds that took place along the 20th century, our work aims at depicting whether religion was and remained a major characteristic, i.e. an unique communal specificity in the re(creation) of Jewish identity in Transylvania, before and after the Second World War. (shrink)

Lucian Boia, The Scientific Mythology of Communism Bucharest, Humanitas Publishing House, 2005.

Nicolae Kallós, A dialogue on Jewish identity, Holocaust, and Communism as personal Experiences Registered and edited by Sandu Frunzã, The Publishing House of the Axis Foundation, Iaoi, 2003.

This article aims at analyzing the relation between what „ghetto“ signifies beginning in the Christian Middle Age (the Jewish Quarter) up to the modern time (the Cen- tral-European Jewish Ghetto, the West-European labor district, the Afro-American neighborhood of North-Ameri- can cities ) and what the “closed area” (any kind of district situated in a contemporary metropolis) signifies. I have tried to analyze this relation in its evolution, ap- proaching both the continuity, the similarity of original types of ghettoes to contemporary (...) ones, and the dis- continuity, the differences existing between the two types of ghetto. The segregation and self-isolation poli- cies define and differentiate the ghetto in its essence. Starting from a contemporary point of view, I try to analyze the ghetto from a theoretical perspective, and from an architectural point of view. (shrink)

Review of Márta Bodó (ed.), Women and Religion, (Cluj: Verbum, 2009).

In this paper I comment on Inan’s notions of propositional and objectual curiosity. Even though Inan offers an interesting and intuitive distinction between propositional and objectual curiosity, I want to question two aspects of his theory of curiosity. One aspect concerns his thesis that propositional curiosity is interdependent on epistemic attitudes such as belief, certainty and interest. Another aspect of his theory that I discuss is his thesis that objectual curiosity is not reducible to propositional curiosity. In more detail, in (...) the fi rst part, I start off by explaining what propositional curiosity is according to Inan and I bring up two worries that I call: (i) over-complexity as a result of subjectivity and (ii) overcomplexity as a result of dynamics for the above mentioned epistemic attitudes. Both worries stress the problem of over-complexity of Inan’s theory of propositional curiosity. In the second part, I argue that objectual curiosity is, contrary to Inan’s hypothesis, reducible to propositional curiosity. I further argue that the object of wh- questions that, according to Inan, express objectual curiosity can either be about the truth value of general or singular proposition. In addition, I suggest that only the reading where wh- questions express curiosity in a form of de re reading and have a singular proposition as their content is the one that is compatible with Inan’s notion of objectual curiosity. (shrink)

Applying phenomenological philosophy to psychology means to focus on people’s perception of the world. Ultimately, this revolves around people’s lived experiences. My aim is to identify how philosophical phenomenology can contribute to the development of empirical and hermeneutical methods regarding psychological phenomena. I submit that it does so by analysing the existential dimension and the meaning of human experiences, as they spontaneously occur in the flow of daily life. The first step is to think the body in a subjective way, (...) as a phenomenal, lived body, and to see in what way individual experiences can be linked. Subsequently, I investigate how experiencers occur in space, and show that, unlike things, they must obtain access to space and to self-localization in space in order to be experientially in it. (shrink)

Magna Carat is a highly significant document that found the way into the rights and the constitutions. Magna Carat is a symbol of human and constitutional rights. Social insurance is part of the social security and the recognition of social security as a basic human right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris and furthermore the European Conventions on Human Rights, specially (...) the article 6. Magna Carat demonstrated the limitations from the arbitrarily. Magna Carat is a foundation of the powers of Parliament and the legal principles, as the rule of law, the rule that everybody has equality before the law. It promised the access to justice. In that respect Magna Carta is still a challenge for many states and officials. The myth of Magna Carta is the protection of the personal rights and is held in great respect by the legal communities against the arbitrary of the authority In respect of the aim of this international conference to see the way how these principles have found their implementation in contemporary legislations as well as to identify the problems that occur regarding these rights, an overview of the Albanian right to appeal for the social insurance rights. The right to appeal to higher authorities against any decisions and the judicial review against the unfavorably resolved appeals. (shrink)

Întîlniri la Ierusalim organizate si consemnate de Costel Safirman si Leon Volovici, Editura Fundatiei Culturale Romane, Bucuresti, 2001, 415 p.

Among Singularists, it has been widely accepted that one can have singular thought by acquaintance, and that acquaintance encompasses the perceptual acquiring, memorizing and communicating of singular thoughts. I defend the possibility of having a singular thought via extending acquaintance to intermediaries other than just through written and spoken words. On my account, singular thought includes two types of representations, namely indexical-iconic representation and indexical-discursive representation. Also, it is determined by two constraints: (i) the acquaintance constraint: singular thought includes a (...) causal-historical relation to the object; and (ii) the cognitive significance constraint: we have a cognitive capacity to deliberately encode an indexical-iconic representation into an indexical-discursive representation, which enables us to have a singular thought. (shrink)

We all think we know who Batman and Superman are. They are polar opposites who both happen to wear their underwear over spandex pants, or at least they once did. So, for comic purists and fans of the cinematic DC Universe it may seem bold to claim that Batman is a true superhero and that Superman is not a true superhero. As a matter of a fact, we want to claim something even stronger: something we will prove independently, without only (...) comparing them and without having to worry if one comic character happens to depend on the other. We plan to demonstrate that it is not a matter of comparison between Batman and Superman when it comes to the concept: a true superhero. There is something else that is crucial for each comic character that makes one a true superhero, whereas the other is not—and we are going to reveal what this is exactly. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to present and discuss Miscevic's position on pejorative terms. Pejorative terms, for Miscevic, are negative hybrid social kind terms that refer directly and pick out social kinds as their referents. Despite sharing some of Miscevic's intuitions on pejorative terms, I raise three main objections to his account. First, I argue that introducing pluralistic commitments about propositions is not helpful in any way for his account. On the contrary, I show that it brings about the (...) falsity of meaning and the failure of reference. Furthermore, I point out that Miscevic is mistaken in trying to avoid the problem of co-reference between terms such as "Boche" and "German". I argue that there is no co-reference present because the referents of these two terms belong to two different social kinds. Finally, I raise a more general objection connected to the reference of social kind terms and, consequently, to pejorative terms as well. I bring up a worry that certain referential theories about pejorative terms, Miscevic's account included, might lack an explanation of what ties a social kind token to a particular social kind type. (shrink)

The terms “contemplation” and “standpoint,” as used by Lukács, have almost disappeared from the vocabulary of scholars studying the contemporary world of work. This paper aims to rehabilitate these terms by arguing that, despite its shortcomings, a Lukácsian approach offers a valuable perspective for examining labor experiences. I first outline the foundations of Lukács's reification theory by focusing on objective reification. Then, I reconstruct the concepts of contemplation and having a standpoint of experience by surveying Lukác's analysis of how different (...) actors in capitalism experience reality. I conclude by exploring the implications of reification theory for analyzing market-centered regimes of control. The article can be read as an invitation for researchers investigating the world of labor to reengage with reification theory. (shrink)

The recovery after the unprecedented pandemic crisis that Europe has currently been facing is strengthening the strong dependence between social, economic, and environmental fields, maintaining green investments and innovation at the core of the European strategies. Shifting to clean industries is a challenging mission that a complex network of stakeholders and their different interests must take into account. Within this network, the interplay between environmental and financial performance of a company represents a common point with a growing emphasis on the (...) transparency and the materiality capacity of the disclosed information. This paper uses the Structural Equation Modeling and the Gaussian Graphical Models as graphical analysis approaches and offers a first insight about the interaction between environmental materiality measures and financial performance. A preliminary step of the scientific research consisted of a hand-mapping investigation about materiality conditions. Starting from the Materiality Map developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, this paper extends the main concept about materiality and investigates it on three different content ranges, which focus on the general environmental policy of the company, the targets set, and its concrete footprint. The methodology approaches were grounded on a newly compiled dataset provided by the Thomson Reuters database for 194 Economic European Area oil and gas companies. The results provide significant evidences for the manifestation of materiality and emphasize the informational content of the individual environmental measures as an important condition for its financial impact. Adding to the environmental-financial performance relationship, our findings have both practical and academic relevance for the economic field and sustainable growth goals. (shrink)

Hermeneutics approaches the meaning of life quite uniquely: it grasps the intrinsic intelligibility of life by employing a universal concept of meaning, applicable to all phenomena. While other conceptions identify the meaning of life with values or scopes, hermeneutics starts from a grass-roots work on the meanings that are embedded at every level of reality. In this paper, I analyze this approach, especially focusing on Husserl, Heidegger, and Gadamer. First, I outline Husserl’s philosophy of meaning as developed in response to (...) the crisis of meaning. Second, I discuss Heidegger’s concept of meaning and his understanding of life as self-movement. Third, I analyze Gadamer’s concept of common sense and his idea of hermeneutic mediation that conveys the meaning of life itself. (shrink)

Attentional bias to threat has been almost exclusively examined after participants experienced repeated pairings between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). This study aimed to determine whether threat-related attentional capture can result from observational learning, when participants acquire knowledge of the aversive qualities of a stimulus without themselves experiencing aversive outcomes. Non-clinical young-adult participants (N = 38) first watched a video of an individual (the demonstrator) performing a Pavlovian conditioning task in which one colour was paired (...) with shock (CS+) and another colour was neutral (CS−). They then carried out visual search for a shape-defined target. Oculomotor measures evidenced an attentional bias toward the CS+ colour, suggesting that threat-related attentional capture can ensue from observational learning. Exploratory analyses also revealed that this effect was positively correlated with empathy for the demonstrator. Our findings extend empirical and theoretical knowledge about threat-driven attention and provide valuable insights to better understand the formation of anxiety disorders. (shrink)

The point of departure of this article is the relation be- tween religion and power. In general this relation is based upon the complex process of individualization and socialization. The scope of this study is to translate the problem of the relation between religion and power in a phenomenological study of „lock-up space” (prison space). The study is organized around the concept of delimitation. This concept involves the spatial dimension of constitutionality on the general forms of a person’s being -in-the-world. (...) Regarding “lock-up space,” two complementary actions are brought into discussion: “ob- fuscating” the architectural types in the “lock-up space” and the “instrumentalization”(fr.) excessive in this type of space by the increase of the delimitation “mecha- nism.” Finally, the central problem of this analysis can be formulated in the following way: How can we find the bi- nomial religion-power in the “obfuscating” manner of habitat (at the level of the „lock-up space”)? Does the excessive delimitation in “lock-up space” destroy the bal- ance between individualization and socialization? (shrink)

Versamos sobre um projeto de extensão que busca qualificar processos pedagógicos no fazer docente, oportunizando espaços de crescimento, criação, prazer, auto e heteropercepção de contextos físicos, sociais, sensíveis e artísticos, além de redefinir concepções pedagógicas, cognitivas e existenciais. Ao fruir e interagir com processos de arte, essa, na dimensão constitutiva do humano, passa de área de conhecimento a evento configurador de sentidos e, nessa perspectiva, proporciona transformações, reavaliação de escolhas, abertura a novas possibilidades e olhares. O real não se deixa (...) apreender, é inseparável da existência e, ao se aproximar da ordem, dionisíaca, na forma da criação, desnaturaliza o olhar, bagunça referências, predispondo à abertura ao mundo. A ordem, criadora, integra e confere um lugar às coisas, e sua ética garante um princípio vital dinâmico que anima o social, assegurando o retorno de uma ordem nova, atravessada pela metamorfose. O processo, dialógico, tenta garantir a diversidade, a pluralidade, um ressignificar do ensinar/aprender. É desenvolvido por docentes e alunos de uma universidade federal com 75 educandas de 6 a 12 anos em situação de vulnerabilidade social e se estrutura em três momentos interligados: um processo formativo, uma oficina e uma avaliação com expressões variadas dos participantes e memórias dos acontecidos. Como resultado, temos observado uma compreensão alargada da teoria, da prática, da criação, da Arte e uma formação mais qualificada, atravessada pela sensibilidade. A imersão na Arte em seus processos, materiais, ações, eventos, etc. tem permitido transfigurar atos, fatos, realidades, posturas, a partir de dados do sensível e do inteligível, constituindo uma Metamorfose Pedagógica. Essa, autorreferente, proporciona a emergência de um espírito criador, crítico, irreverente, incerto, inconstante, ruidoso e mutante, mantendo aberta a possibilidade de transmutação, de metamorfose, decorrente do contato com a criação. Esse processo, em sua complexidade, tem, na experiência estética, a tarefa de instaurar uma cognição específica, que resgata o prazer da estesia e de um olhar mais humanizador. (shrink)

Does the fine-tuning of the universe for life continue in the afterlife? Aquinas would answer yes. In his view, the cosmic conditions post-apocalypse are set to support the resurrected body and the sensible knowledge of God’s majesty as reflected in the renewed material creature. The renewed universe is, thus, fine-tuned for immortal human life. In the first part, I present Aquinas’ version of fine-tuning, referring to earthly life and the afterlife. I distinguish between two modes of fine-tuning: organic and cognitive. (...) In the second part, I analyze the characteristics of the universe post-apocalypse in connection with the resurrected body in general and the qualities of the blessed body in particular. (shrink)

This paper argues that Heidegger’s description of death as a phenomenon of life opens a path to immortality different from the classical arguments. In the first part, I will explain why, for Heidegger, the account of immortality must start from a phenomenology of death, and I will analyze the characteristics of Being-towards-death. Then, I will discuss the relationship between immortality and death’s revelation of Being. Finally, I will examine the Christian background of Heidegger’s conception of death and immortality, and I (...) will address some objections. (shrink)