A rare academic study on what John Rawls, Peter Singer, and Derek Parfit acknowledge as the finest book in ethics -- The Methods of Ethics. With a rather shocking conclusion that "none of us can match Sidgwick," Mariko Nakano-Okuno lucidly analyzes Henry Sidgwick's impacts on contemporary ethics.

EEGs were analyzed to investigate the effect of experiences in listening to preferred music in dancers and non-dancers. Participants passively listened to instrumental music of their preferred genre for 2 min, alternate genres, and silence. Both groups showed increased activity for their preferred music compared to non-preferred music in the gamma, beta, and alpha frequency bands. The results suggest all participants' conscious recognition of and affective responses to their familiar music, appreciation of the tempo embedded in their preferred music and (...) emotional arousal, and enhanced attention mechanism for cognitive operations such as memory retrieval. The observed alpha activity is considered in the framework of the alpha functional inhibition hypothesis, in that years of experience listening to their favorite type of music may have honed the cerebral responses to achieve efficient cortical processes. Analyses of the electroencephalogram activity over 100s-long music pieces revealed a difference between dancers and non-dancers in the magnitude of an initial alpha event-related desynchronization and the later development of an alpha event-related synchronization for their preferred music. Dancers exhibited augmented alpha ERD, as well as augmented and uninterrupted alpha ERS over the remaining 80s. This augmentation in dancers is hypothesized to be derived from creative cognition or motor imagery operations developed through their dance experiences. (shrink)

本居宣長、橘守部、鈴木重胤ら近世国学者に神道神学を発見する。たとえ当時「神道神学」という学問の名称が存在しなかったにせよ、「古道」を論じた近世の国学者の業績は「神道神学」であったといえる。国学の巨人達 を新たな視点からとらえる野心的考察。.

死後十余年を経ても、いまだに熱烈な支持層を誇る政治思想史の巨人・丸山眞男。半世紀にわたって師事した著者ならではの視点で、一代の碩学の真の姿や意外な側面を浮き彫りに。また折に触れ示された言葉の数々を初め て明らかにする。.

幕末の危機に際して、優れた国家戦略を構想した会沢正志斎。尊王攘夷を唱えつつ、抜本的な内政改革を訴えた彼の『新論』はけっして無謀な排外主義ではなかった。むしろそのプラグマティックで健全なナショナリズムに 学ぶべきところは大きい。正志斎の思想の秘められたルーツを伊藤仁斎、荻生徂徠の古学に探り、やがてその実学の精神が福沢諭吉の戦略思想に引き継がれていることを解明。隠された思想の系譜を掘り起こし、現代日本人 が求めてやまない国家戦略の封印を解き放つ。.

The Transcendental Deduction in the second edition of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is divided in two parts. Nevertheless, the role of the second half is not immediately clear. This article intends to examine the argument presented in the second half after clarifying its purpose. Based on this approach, we sustain an interpretation according to which Kant tries to establish the validity of categories for all intuition given through sensibility. This interpretation seeks to confirm a conceptual articulation among sensible intuitions (...) that is not regarded as a result of objective judgment. (shrink)

In the Foundations of Mathematics, Ramsey attempted to amend Principia Mathematica’s logicism to meet serious objections raised against it. While Ramsey’s paper is well known, some questions concerning Ramsey’s motivations to write it and its reception still remain. This paper considers these questions afresh. First, an account is provided for why Ramsey decided to work on his paper instead of simply accepting Wittgenstein’s account of mathematics as presented in the Tractatus. Secondly, evidence is given supporting that Wittgenstein was not moved (...) by Ramsey’s objection against the Tractarian account of arithmetic, and a suggestion is made to explain why Wittgenstein reconsidered Ramsey’s account in the early thirties on several occasions. Finally, a reading is formulated to understand the basis on which Wittgenstein argues against Ramsey’s definition of identity in his 1927 letter to Ramsey. (shrink)

This study aimed to: (1) develop and evaluate the Moral Distress Scale for Psychiatric nurses (MDS-P); (2) use the MDS-P to examine the moral distress experienced by Japanese psychiatric nurses; and (3) explore the correlation between moral distress and burnout. A questionnaire on the intensity and frequency of moral distress items (the MDS-P: 15 items grouped into three factors), a burnout scale (Maslach Burnout Inventory — General Survey) and demographic questions were administered to 391 Japanese psychiatric nurses in 2007—2008. These (...) nurses experienced relatively low levels of moral distress despite the fact that they were commonly confronted by morally distressing situations. All the circumstances in which the participants experienced moral distress were included in the ‘low staffing’ factor, which reflects the characteristics of Japanese psychiatric care. The frequency score of the low staffing factor was a significant predictor of burnout. (shrink)

Desde "Los límites del sentido" de Strawson, la Deducción trascendental, en la Crítica de la razón pura de Kant, se considera generalmente como demostración de la objetividad del conocimiento como una condición de la unidad de la autoconciencia. Sin embargo, también se reconoce que se encuentran pas..

日本の国家、国民精神、法学は、いかにあるべきか―。共和主義と立憲主義を理論的柱とし、国家共同体を支え、形成する国民の蒸神の在り方を探る「市民法学」の輪郭を提示。.

Incidents are peripheral, rather than central, phenomena. This Collision considers sound and installation artist Inouk Demers, whose recent work explores the incidental in both its geographical and conceptual relationships to the megalopolis of Los Angeles. In Zine-o-file, Conveyance, Wireless Landscape, and Custom Audio Products, Demers offers the incidental as an alternative to straightforward themes and fleshed-out narratives.

Pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate, the vitamin B6 derivative, acts as the coenzyme of many enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism. Exceptionally, this compound was found covalently bound to glycogen phosphorylase, the key enzyme in the regulation of glycogen metabolism. Although it is essential for the function of phosphorylase, its direct role has remained an enigma. We have recently found that the glucose moiety of pyridoxal (5′)diphospho (1)‐α‐D‐glucose, a conjugate of pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate and glucose 1‐phosphate through a pyrophosphate linkage, is transferred to the (...) nonreducing end of glycogen, forming a new α‐1,4‐glucosidic linkage. This finding emphasizes the importance of the direct phosphate‐phosphate interaction between the coenzyme and the substrate in the phosphorylase catalytic reaction. We have proposed a catalytic mechanism for phosphorylase in which the phosphate group of pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate acts as an electrophile to the phosphate group of glucose 1‐phosphate. This appears to represent the first instance of the direct involvement of a phosphate group in catalysis by enzymes. (shrink)

With the breakdown of traditional racial boundaries in many areas of the world, the widespread and growing consumption of skin-lightening products testifies to the increasing significance of colorism—social hierarchy based on gradations of skin tone within and between racial/ethnic groups. Light skin operates as a form of symbolic capital, one that is especially critical for women because of the connection between skin tone and attractiveness and desirability. Far from being an outmoded practice or legacy of past colonialism, the use of (...) skin lighteners is growing fastest among young, urban, educated women in the global South. Although global in scope, the skin-lightening market is highly segmented by nation, culture, race, and class. This article examines the “yearning for lightness” and skin-lightening practices in various societies and communities and the role of transnational pharmaceutical and cosmetic corporations in fueling the desire for lighter skin through print, Internet, and television ads that link light skin with modernity, social mobility, and youth. (shrink)