In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The 2008 Meeting of the Society for Buddhist-Christian StudiesPeter A. HuffThe Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies (SBCS) sponsored two sessions in conjunction with the 2008 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The first session addressed the topic "Cognitive Science, Religious Practices, and Human Development: Buddhist and Christian Perspectives." The second session focused on the life and legacy of Trappist monk, spiritual writer, and interfaith pioneer Thomas Merton (...) (1915–1968).The first session, moderated by Sandra Costen Kunz (Phillips Theological Seminary), featured five papers probing the relationship between research in the natural and social sciences and lessons from the experience of Buddhist and Christian practice: "The Body and the Mind: Buddhist Bowing and Neuroscience," presented by Paula K. Arai (Louisiana State University) and coauthored with Sascha du Lac (Salk Institute for Biological Sciences); "Who Hears? A Zen Buddhist Perspective" by Robert Aitken Roshi, founder and retired Zen master of the Diamond Sangha in Honolulu (read by Ruben Habito, Southern Methodist University); "'Your Cell Will Teach You Everything': Old Wisdom, Modern Science, and the Art of Attention" by Noreen Herzfeld (St. John's University); "Verbal Imagining: Scientific Reflection on Visual Cognition in Light of Traditional Tibetan and Christian Theologies of the Image" by Thomas Cattoi (Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley); and "Cognitive Error and Contemplative Practices: The Cultivation of Discernment in Mind and Heart" by Wesley J. Wildman (Boston University). Revised versions of three of these papers with an introductory essay by Prof. Costen Kunz are included in this issue of Buddhist-Christian Studies.The theme for the society's second session, chaired by Alice Keefe (University of Wisconsin), was "Thomas Merton Forty Years after His Death: Buddhist and Christian Perspectives." Four presenters examined and evaluated Merton's distinctive contributions to Buddhist-Christian relations, theological reflection, and interreligious dialogue. In her paper "Self-Surrender in Merton's Writings and Contemplative Psychology," Daijaku Judith Kinst (California Institute of Integral Studies) concentrated on the place of subjective transformation in Merton's thought, describing his [End Page 143] "great gift" to the literature on the contemplative life as the "fearless" rejection of self-centeredness in the practice of prayer and spiritual formation. "Thomas Merton Meets Tibetan Buddhism" by Judith Simmer-Brown (Naropa University) shed new light on the impact of the dzogchen ("great completion") tradition on Merton's evolving spirituality, particularly as expressed in the letters, speeches, and private documents included in the posthumously published Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1973). In "Non-Dual Wisdom as Feminine: Sophia and Prajnaparamita in Merton's Poem 'Hagia Sophia,'" Paula Hirschboeck (Edgewood College) explored suggestive parallels between Christian mystical experience and Buddhist madhyamika teaching in Merton's long, dreamlike Marian hymn from the early 1960s. Kristin Johnston Largen (Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg) concluded the session with an analysis of the role of Buddhism-inspired insights in Merton's approach to soteriological questions, especially as seen in his changing attitudes toward traditional Christian doctrines of hell, purgatory, eschatology, and the human person.Between sessions, members and friends of the society participated in the annual SBCS/AAR field trip to a local site significant for its relevance to interdisciplinary Buddhist-Christian studies. This year members visited the Chicago Cultural Center of Soka Gakkai International-USA (SGI-USA), the Buddhist association for peace, culture, and education based on the teachings of thirteenth-century Japanese monk and reformer Nichiren Daishonin. Located at 1455 South Wabash Avenue in downtown Chicago, the cultural center serves as the primary facility for SGI-USA activities in the Midwest. Mr. Guy McCloskey, senior vice president, publisher, and member of the board of directors for SGI-USA, organized the event. The evening's program included a tour of the center's award-winning architecture, an informal overview of the aims and initiatives of SGI-USA, and a delicious dinner served by members of the organization. [End Page 144]Peter A. HuffCentenary College of LouisianaCopyright © 2009 University of Hawai'i Press... (shrink)

The Christian Church was intimately involved in the life of an individual within a family. Between state and church there was a mutual cooperation, the church having the right to exercise its moral jurisdiction, while the state controlled the civil and military aspects of family life, as well as children’s and wives’ inheritance and welfare. With the institution of an absolutist government in Transylvania in the 18th–19th centuries, the rela-tion between state and church changed, as the secular power began to (...) claim rights over the church and to subordinate it, limiting the coercive power of the church as a moral instrument. As the processes of secularisation and modernization gained ground, the church gradually lost its prerogatives to state institutions, a process reaching completion with the series of laws passed between 1894 and 1895 by the Hungarian state, whereby all registry documents concerning marital status, matrimony, and divorce came under state jurisdiction. (shrink)

In this conversation, Berkeley-based philosopher Judith Butler offers insights into her understanding of the public sphere and its current transformations as a core dimension of political subjectivity. Beginning with her own understanding of Habermas’ classic, the interview centers around its connection to other classical texts (e.g. of Hannah Arendt) and timely political debates.

ABSTRACT This work aims to reflect on possible meanings for the evangelical faith based on utterances produced by three evangelical ministers in their social networks when they enunciate on themes that are linked, directly or indirectly, to political agendas. Based on the theoretical scope of studies in Applied Linguistics and on Bakhtinian conceptions of language, our analyzes point to three predominant meanings, which mean the evangelical faith as: i) reaffirmation of identity; ii) exercise of otherness and respect to the other; (...) and iii) political practice. Such meanings demonstrate that there are contradictions within the religious discursivity, which allows the beating between hate speeches and respect and empathy ones within the realm of the evangelical faith. Thus, looking for cracks in religious discourse that oppose fundamentalist and authoritarian discourses is an ethical duty of a religious leader who recognizes his social and discursive role as influential in taking positions and, therefore, in the lives of the members of their congregation. (shrink)

From a doctoral research based on the theoretical and methodological construction of the Feminist Sociology of Religion, the referent text presents a discussion about power and domination of gender in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. The study adopts the religion as a sociological problem in order to raise some discussion points from the construction process and articulation of the relationship between power and gender resistance in religion. The doctoral thesis researched three major Pentecostal churches and found that (...) in all of them the official discourse reproduces the view that the physical skills of becoming pregnant makes women physically unable to take positions and power activities in the church than men. This judgment strengthens the association between male domination and religious power because it reinforces the community's own complicity and thus continue tolerating that men benefit from this argument to legitimize their positions of power in the church. From the notion of "innate fragility of women" the church keeps women on the margins of competition for religious status. The founding elements of the "feminine nature ideology" show that men do not want to lose the attention and personal services that are still accustomed to receive from their mothers, wives or sisters. So, weaken this ideology would open the possibility of losing this style of women, because this empowerment process would allow women conquer spaces and rights usually enjoyed only by men. Therefore, this text aims to present some daily practices of resistance and insubordination to social relationships that insist on keeping the Pentecostal women to domestic and family sphere, in other words, distant from the pulpit and church spheres of power. (shrink)

Este trabajo se propone analizar la relación entre teología y política en el pensamiento de Ernst Bloch y Walter Benjamin, particularmente en los inicios de la década del veinte, período en el que ambos encuentran en el mesianismo una respuesta política frente a la crisis que enfrentaba Alemania. El marco de discusión se plantea a partir de Thomas Münzer, teólogo de la revolución [1921] de Bloch, en vistas de cotejarlo con los escritos de Benjamin de la época. Se pondrá a (...) prueba la hipótesis de que sus reapropiaciones del mesianismo convergen en sus consideraciones sobre la historia, aunque no obturan sus diferencias en relación al sujeto histórico; éstas se traducen en distancias políticas que dan cuenta del escenario heterogéneo al interior de la izquierda alemana en el período 1920-1921. (shrink)

This article investigates the impact of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the comparability, quality, and efficiency of financial reporting, both in public administration and in emerging markets. Through a quantitative approach, data from various public institutions and emerging market companies that have adopted IFRS in recent years were analyzed. The results indicate a significant improvement in the comparability and quality of financial reports, although accounting efficiency varies depending on the degree of implementation and administrative modernization in (...) the countries. It is concluded that the adoption of IFRS has an overall positive effect, but its total impact depends on the institutional capacity of countries. (shrink)

La poesía es un espacio en el que la palabra se materializa en instante. En ella se encuentran mundos inesperados, olvidadosque se vuelven a hacer presentes para recordar así que en la palabra de un poeta están contenidos todos los hombres, todoslos sueños, todos los tiempos. La palabra es proyección de la existencia, es una necesidad de no caer en el olvido, por lomenos en uno que no sea profundo, inolvidable, irrecuperable.

In this paper I explain the impact of phenomenological philosophy in the conceptions of Luís Cabral de Mancada about law and juridical experience. Stressing that Moncada was the first scholar in Portugal who made an extensive use of phenomenological doctrines within his own field of research, I show that Husserl, Hartmann, and Scheler were the most influential thinkers for him. As a matter of fact, they had a positive impact on Moncada’s conceptions about Law, the axiological realm, the State, and (...) jusnaturalism. (shrink)

Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar, de forma crítico-reflexiva, os processos que se mostram implicados na formação do professor, tendo em vista a materialização de práticas educativas inclusiva-anticapacitistas no contexto da EPT. Para essa finalidade, a metodologia empregada subsidiou-se em uma abordagem qualitativa; recorrendo, para tanto, a pesquisa bibliográfica, por meio de estudos e produções de autores que tratam sobre a educação especial inclusiva e a formação de professores na EPT, sempre de modo a articular a discussão destas temáticas com (...) o capacitismo. Como resultado da análise realizada, compreende-se a necessidade de instituir políticas públicas voltadas à formação docente, numa perspectiva anticapacitista na EPT, a fim de ressignificar a condição da deficiência, a partir de um enfoque despatologizante do indivíduo afetado pela lesão. (shrink)

Este trabajo explora una línea posible del diálogo entre Walter Benjamin y Hannah Arendt mediante la presentación de algunas intermitencias entre dos figuras relevantes de su pensamiento sobre la historia, la figura que Benjamin determina en su abordaje del Angelus Novus pintado por Paul Klee, y la figura de Er en los términos en que Arendt la elabora a partir de una parábola kafkiana. Retomamos ambas figuras con el objetivo de mostrar en ellas el intento filosófico de organizar un pensamiento (...) crítico que resista la esclerosis del concepto moderno y progresivo de historia: en un contexto en que el pasado pareciera diluirse en la impotencia de su presencia y el futuro se presenta como reproducción apocalíptica del desastre, sostenemos que Benjamin y Arendt convocan al Angelus Novus y al Er kafkiano como imágenes capaces de dislocar el anquilosamiento de la crítica y el flujo epistemológico implicado en la crisis moderna de la experiencia. (shrink)

The idea that teachers love children is often taken for granted in education. Rarely is the idea of love itself examined. Bringing together the work of educators, curriculum theorists and clinical psychoanalysts, and drawing upon autobiographical and narrative case studies, this groundbreaking collection examines the collision of love and learning, including the ways in which such intersections are provoked, repressed and denied. Contributors turn to psychoanalysis to explore questions of love in all of its varying permutations - ambivalence, sexuality, hatred, (...) desire, projection, and loss - in order to demonstrate how the social ramifications of such work is critical to the ways teachers are currently being prepared for life in the classroom. (shrink)

Theories of embodied cognition hypothesize interdependencies between psychological well-being and physical posture. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of objectively measuring posture, and to explore the relationship between posture and affect and other patient centered outcomes in breast cancer survivors with persistent postsurgical pain over a 12-week course of therapeutic Qigong mind-body training. Twenty-one BCS with PPSP attended group Qigong training. Clinical outcomes were pain, fatigue, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, stress and exercise self-efficacy. Posture outcomes were vertical (...) spine and vertical head angles in the sagittal plane, measured with a 3D motion capture system in three conditions: eyes open, eyes open relaxed and eyes closed. Assessments were made before and after the Qigong training. The association between categorical variables was measured by Cramer’s V. In the EO condition, most participants who improved in fatigue and anxiety scales also had better vertical head values. For the EOR condition, a moderate correlation was observed between changes in vertical head angle and changes in fatigue scale. In the EC condition, most of the participants who improved in measures of fatigue also improved vertical head angle. Additionally, pain severity decreased while vertical spine angle improved. These preliminary findings support that emotion and other patient centered outcomes should be considered within an embodied framework, and that Qigong may be a promising intervention for addressing biopsychosocially complex interventions such as PPSP in BCSs. (shrink)

Gene therapy and gene editing are revolutionising the treatment of genetic diseases, most notably haematological disorders. This paper evaluates the use of both techniques in hereditary blood disorders. Many studies have been conducted in this field, especially with gene therapy, with very promising results in diseases such as haemophilia, certain haemoglobinopathies and Fanconi anaemia. The application of these techniques in clinical practice and the foreseeable development of these approaches in the coming years suggest that it might be useful to evaluate (...) the results achieved thus far. It is also essential to reflect on the possible bioethical concerns raised by the use of both techniques, especially in terms of safety issues for patients, potential side effects, treatment duration, accessibility and cost of treatment, and the heritability of genetic changes produced if germline cells are used. (shrink)

According to popular belief, big data and machine learning provide a wholly novel approach to science that has the potential to revolutionise scientific progress and will ultimately lead to the ‘end of theory’. Proponents of this view argue that advanced algorithms are able to mine vast amounts of data relating to a given problem without any prior knowledge and that we do not need to concern ourselves with causality, as correlation is sufficient for handling complex issues. Consequently, the human contribution (...) to scientific progress is deemed to be non-essential and replaceable. We, however, following the position most commonly represented in the philosophy of science, argue that the need for human expertise remains. Based on an analysis of big data and machine learning methods in two case studies—skin cancer detection and protein folding—we show that expert knowledge is essential and inherent in the application of these methods. Drawing on this analysis, we establish a classification of the different kinds of expert knowledge that are involved in the application of big data and machine learning in scientific contexts. We address the ramifications of a human-driven expert knowledge approach to big data and machine learning for scientific practice and the discussion about the role of theory. Finally, we show that the ways in which big data and machine learning both influence and are influenced by scientific methodology involve continuous conceptual shifts rather than a rigid paradigm change. (shrink)

Reconstructing some points of the deduction made by Spinoza in Part III of Ethics, this article proposes to reflect on the affective logic and on two important notions in the context of inter-individual relations: on the one hand, the concept of similarity, more precisely, the notion of “something similar to us” and, on the other hand, the affective imitation. Our proposal is to consider how, if and to what extent the conjunction of these two elements – recognition of the similarity (...) with the other and affective mimesis – acts or interferes in the inter-human affective arrangement and, thus, in the possibility of realizing and sustaining a common life. (shrink)

O presente artigo consiste no registro de memórias de um diretor e de uma diretora que atuaram em escolas públicas de M inas Gerais, e na análise de suas narrativas. O objetivo foi captar suas representações sobre as práticas administrativas e pedagógicas rememoradas dos anos de exercício profissional. Com a metodologia da história oral, nossa investigação buscou construir uma interpretação a respeito de atitudes, posturas e práticas enraizadas nos rituais da escola contemporânea. Pudemos observar que no período estudado havia uma (...) política extremamente centralizada, cujas diretrizes eram difundidas pelos órgãos centrais da administração burocrática. O trabalho de gestão das unidades escolares era pautado, principalmente, pelo controle do cumprimento das normas estabelecidas pela política pública de educação. (shrink)

A partir da experiência de coordenação de um programa de oficinas de escrita acadêmica, este texto explora uma maneira de conceituar as reverberações da impureza na escrita acadêmica a partir da transformação da paisagem política no ensino superior na última década do Brasil. Ao entrelaçar entrevistas de Michel Foucault com o documentário Jogo de Cena de Eduardo Coutinho, procura-se investigar os contornos da experiência da escrita acadêmica a partir do encantamento das palavras introduzido pelo gênero ensaio, que introduz os efeitos (...) de ficção, reverbera uma imagética da incerteza, e coloca em questão a noção de verdade, realidade e sujeito. Como matéria em suspenso, sempre mutável, é impossível inscrever o movimento de transformação na forma da ordem dos discursos, a não ser que se crie um modo de viver a escrita impuramente, apta a captar a incorporação de vozes e versões sempre outras, e em processo constante de variação e mudança. (shrink)

Este trabajo se propone analizar el concepto de das Ausdruckslose (lo carente de expresión) como categoría central del arte y del lenguaje en el pensamiento de Walter Benjamin. Dicha noción es estudiada principalmente en los escritos del período 1916-1923 y como parte de la metodología benjaminiana de interpretación que involucra la crítica, la traducción y la cita. A partir de una recuperación y discusión con los estudios críticos sobre el tema, se interpreta el concepto de das Ausdruckslose como inciso dialéctico (...) entre el orden profano y el orden mesiánico que opera en el ámbito de la obra de arte, la historia y el lenguaje. (shrink)

The justification of Natural Law is a very controversial issue, not only after the Positivist’s rebuttals, but since its very anthropological foundations in the early modern age. In this paper, I try do give an account of Natural Law and natural rights in terms of a phenomenological description of the background of normative intentionality. Taking a genetic stance, I go from the positive norm and the intentionality that constitutes it to the underling pregiveness that supplies the condition of its possibility. (...) I exhibit it as the experience of the live-world, and I analyze it as an intersubjective world, where persons are given as equals and worth-counting. This is the very root of the concept of human dignity. Starting from it, I develop an account of the sense and content of the concept of Human Rights as a set of eidetic laws creating the framework for authentic human relationships. (shrink)

This article develops further a proposal for conversation at the ASC 2020 Global Conversation event, motivated by exchange of e-mails with Ranulph Glanville in 2007. Drawing from the questions raised by Glanville and myself, this article addresses the concept of autopoiesis and the possibility of revisiting the concepts of structure and organization, which are discussed with an example of a transfunctional interface (structure) designed to invite people to configure unpredictable organizations. It examines the correspondence between structure and organization and opens (...) new questions to rethink cybernetics in the realm of relations. (shrink)

The practices of Galenic pharmacy that dominated the Western pharmaceutical tradition throughout the medieval and early modern periods generally eschewed methods of alchemical processing and the use of high heat. A unique 10th-century Arabic pharmaceutical treatise, the Kitab al Tasrif by al-Zahrāwī/Abulcasis, however, discussed thermo-chemical techniques of distillation, calcination, and sublimation at length and would go on to have a major impact on Galenic pharmacy. It included recipes, for example, for two highly important distilled substances – rosewater and Philosophers' Oil (...) – that were copied and revised in Latin texts from the later Middle Ages and early modern Spanish formularies. By the end of the 16th century, these recipes had formed the basis for two new categories of distilled medicines – distilled waters and distilled oils – in Galenic pharmacy. Their inclusion in the Galenic formulary indicates that apothecaries in the Latin West were familiar with and indeed practicing thermo-chemical operations during the medieval and early modern periods. (shrink)

El trabajo ofrece un análisis crítico a la noción de cuerpo propio (Leib) en M. Merleau-Ponty, como superación del dualismo cuerpo-mente. Se amplía dicha noción para integrar las experiencias del cuerpo físico (Körper) y posibilitar el diálogo entre fe-nomenología y medicina, al proponer una fenomenología del organismo doliente.

Resumen Este trabajo reconstruye la caracterización de “positivismo” en tres obras centrales de Horkheimer. Se afirma que, en el uso del término, Horkheimer incurre en una doble equivocidad, pues lo utiliza indistintamente para referirse al positivismo decimonónico y al del siglo XX; además, no reconoce las diferencias internas entre las posiciones de los positivistas contemporáneos. Asimismo, se muestra que muchos rasgos que se consignan como propios del positivismo del siglo XX no tienen justificación en los textos de esa tradición, de (...) manera que la categoría horkheimeriana de “positivismo” se convierte en una entidad interpretativa respecto de la cual la Escuela de Fráncfort se considera antagónica. A partir de lo anterior se realiza una crítica a las interpretaciones del autor.This paper reconstructs the characterization of “positivism” in Horkheimer’s works. We argue that in the use of this term, Horkheimer makes a misinterpretation, then he uses it in order to refer to both nineteenth century positivism and the positivism of the twentieth century; at the same time, he does not recognize the significant contrasts between the positions of the twentieth century positivists. We also show that many of the features Horkheimer sets out for twentieth century positivists find no correlation in texts belonging to this tradition, which makes Horkheimer’s concept of “positivism” an interpretative entity in opposition to Frankfurt School. From the foregoing, we carry out a critique of the interpretations made by the author. (shrink)

Los posicionamientos de Hobbes y Rousseau poseen una idiosincrasia aparentemente antagónica, siendo complicado por ende introducirlos dentro de una única forma de pensamiento. Se quiere de igual forma en esta disertación romper con esta predisposición, queriendo aplicar las mismas a un planteamiento tanto teórico como práctico, analizando simultáneamente la situación actual producida por el COVID-19.

What challenges does the political participation of children pose to the Philosophy of Childhood? What challenges does the Philosophy of Childhood pose to children's political participation? This text is inspired by the idea that “research is not about enumerating situations, but making researchers lose their sleep”. It is divided into two distinct parts. In the first, we introduce the theoretical framework that orients our research group and our work with children in the philosophical research community. We posit a link between (...) listening to children's voices, the conditions of listening, and the location of their political participation in public space. The second part is comprised of a creative illustrated narrative in the form of a dialogue. From the coast of what could be called the territory of political participation, two characters - Sentinel and Walker - discuss the waves of children that crash onto the territory. To what extent does creating space and time for listening to children open polyphonic movements and enable the construction of new forms of polis: poly(s)phonies? In what ways does the Philosophy of Childhood challenge itself in the creation of poly(s)phonies where the participation of children sets the tone? In what ways does the Philosophy of Childhood in turn challenge us to create poly(s)phonies? (shrink)

Este artigo apresenta um panorama da jurisprudência do Supremo Tribunal Federal sobre o controle judicial do orçamento público e a proteção dos direitos humanos enquanto fim do Estado e do direito, especialmente considerando a recente tese fixada sobre o assunto. A questão de saber se é possível conciliar a atividade judicial com o controle de constitucionalidade dos orçamentos públicos é complexa e polêmica. Diante disso, para além de analisar as implicações orçamentárias decorrentes da judicialização dos direitos sociais positivos, o objetivo (...) do presente estudo é analisar a postura do Poder Judiciário (STF) com relação ao próprio orçamento.AbstractThis article presents the evolution on the Brazilian Supreme Court jurisprudence involving public budget review, in the light of the human and fundamental rights promotion as a state’s goal – specially regarding the most recent court’s ruling on this issue. The question regarding the possibility to reconcile judicial review with public budget control is a complex one. In analyzing its complexity, this study aims at the effects that litigation over economic and social rights produces on public budget and what kind of attitude should we expect from the Judiciary regarding public budget planning. (shrink)