The Koran being the “Great Code” of Islamic culture and civilization, the Koranic disciplines (‘ulūm al-Qur'ān) and Koranic hermeneutics are considered in the Islamic representation among the most important fields of knowledge. We shall deal here with the spectrum of “classical” Koranic exegesis from the II./viii. to the XII./xix. century according to a chronological point of view. After an introduction on exegesis and Koranic disciplines (A), we shall examine the principal stages and elements of the Koranic exegesis from the II./viii. (...) to the beginning of the IV./x. century (B); then the question of continuity and change of this exegesis from the second half of the IV./x. to the XII./xix. century CE (C). At the end we shall deal with some peculiarities of this discipline (D). The question of the formative period per se and that of mystical exegesis have been dealt with by us more lengthy elsewhere. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The New Simonides: Contexts of Praise and DesireBonnie MaclachlanDeborah Boedeker and David Sider, eds. The New Simonides: Contexts of Praise and Desire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. xii + 312 pp. Cloth, $65.In JHS 1997, commenting on the Derveni Papyrus, Glenn Most says the following: "Reading it and supplementing it require a rare combination of ingenuity, erudition and foolhardiness." The same can certainly be said of the "New (...) Simonides," elegiac poetry assembled from the combination of two fragmentary papyri from Oxyrhynchus (POxy 2327 and POxy 3965). When it was discovered that the two papyri overlapped in two places and that some verses of POxy 3965 were attributed to Simonides in Plutarch and Stobaeus, the authorship of the text was secured. The newly combined text has launched a scholarly feeding frenzy since the editio princeps of POxy 3965 appeared in 1992, edited by P. J. Parsons. Martin West in the same year produced IEG2, in which he published the new text (as fragments 1-22), offering substantial supplements. Two years later a lively panel at the meeting of the American Philological Association in Atlanta considered the "New Simonides," and the papers appeared four years later in a special issue of Arethusa (1996, 29:2). Deborah Boedeker and David Sider, two of the participants in the 1994 panel, have now produced a volume of essays that updates and expands the earlier publication, carrying forward questions about the text that have engaged some of the best minds working on Greek poetry in the last two decades. [End Page 516]Although much of the text of the "New Simonides" is still fragmentary, it appears that the poetry falls into two types within the elegiac genre, convivial and narrative. Much of the excitement has been aroused by the latter type (historical elegy), known heretofore in the tradition only indirectly, its features described by Bowie in JHS 1986 based on allusions alone. Now we have some one hundred forty lines of text, drawn from Simonides' account of battles in the final phase of the war against the Persians. Forty-three (extremely fragmentary) verses appear to belong to the poet's description of a naval battle, likely the one at Artemisium. The rest (with considerable restoration, principally by Lobel, Parsons, and West) contain a description of events belonging to the Battle of Plataea in 479 B.C.E., assembled in West's IEG2 as fragment 11. The poem was clearly well known in antiquity, and we find echoes in other authors from the Classical to the Roman period. The narrative is preceded by a hymnic prooimion in which several elements suggest that Achilles is the focus. There is a reference to Patroclus (if Luppe/West's completion of with is correct, 6) and to Thetis (assuming it is she, mother of the hero, who is to be inferred from the genitives and of 19-20). This prompted Lobel's supplements in 19 of and, accepted by West, making it an apostrophe to Achilles, an invocation following the narrative of the hero's death, preceding a second invocation to the Muse to assist in his report of the 479 battle.This text continues with a muster of the troops. One of the most striking features of the historical part of the poem as we now have it is the fact that it focuses on the Spartan participation, with the name of their leader, Pausanias, secure in the papyrus (34). The Corinthians' presence is indicated in the verses that follow, along with the presence of troops from the Isthmus and Megara. The Athenian role has survived more precariously, with Parson's supplements in 41 and 42 ( and ), indicating, if correctly restored, no more than that the Persians were driven out of Attica. This account (as it stands) is consistent with Aeschylus' in Persians 817, which describes Plataea as. It differs dramatically, however, from the record of the battle by Herodotus, composed a half-century later in Athens. Herodotus is quick to highlight the Athenian role in the Greek victory, and his report reflects the fact that Pausanias had fallen from favor two years after the victory (Thucydides 1.95). The Pan-Hellenic coalition... (shrink)

Alcohol use has long been assumed to alter cognition via attentional processes. To better understand the cognitive consequences of intoxication, the present study tested the effects of moderate intoxication on attentional processing using complex working memory capacity span tasks and a change blindness task. Intoxicated and sober participants were matched on baseline WMC performance, and intoxication significantly decreased performance on the complex span tasks. Surprisingly, intoxication improved performance on the change blindness task. The results are interpreted as evidence that intoxication (...) decreases attentional control, causing either a shift towards more passive processing and/or a more diffuse attentional state. This may result in decreased performance on tasks where attentional control or focus are required, but may actually facilitate performance in some contexts. (shrink)

Projects to restore nature inevitably disrupt the plants and animals that inhabit the land to be restored. This essay addresses the significance of feral animals. Can feral animals remain in a restored nature? I argue that an answer depends on what we mean by nature and restoration. I present several different conceptions of nature and discuss what their differences mean for the goals of restoration. While the presence of feral animals is not compatible with the dualist conception of nature as (...) that which is untouched by humans, other conceptions are more accommodating. Restoration to a benchmark of nature prior to human impact is both practically and conceptually implausible, thus more analysis is needed of alternative conceptions and their impacts on domesticated and feral plants and animals. (shrink)

That alcohol provides a benefit to creative processes has long been assumed by popular culture, but to date has not been tested. The current experiment tested the effects of moderate alcohol intoxication on a common creative problem solving task, the Remote Associates Test . Individuals were brought to a blood alcohol content of approximately .075, and, after reaching peak intoxication, completed a battery of RAT items. Intoxicated individuals solved more RAT items, in less time, and were more likely to perceive (...) their solutions as the result of a sudden insight. Results are interpreted from an attentional control perspective. (shrink)

The Netherlands is one of the few countries where euthanasia is legal under strict conditions. This study investigates whether Dutch newspaper articles use the term ‘euthanasia’ according to the legal definition and determines what arguments for and against euthanasia they contain. We did an electronic search of seven Dutch national newspapers between January 2009 and May 2010 and conducted a content analysis. Of the 284 articles containing the term ‘euthanasia’, 24% referred to practices outside the scope of the law, mostly (...) relating to the forgoing of life-prolonging treatments and assistance in suicide by others than physicians. Of the articles with euthanasia as the main topic, 36% described euthanasia in the context of a terminally ill patient, 24% for older persons, 16% for persons with dementia, and 9% for persons with a psychiatric disorder. The most frequent arguments for euthanasia included the importance of self-determination and the fact that euthanasia contributes to a good death. The most frequent arguments opposing euthanasia were that suffering should instead be alleviated by better care, that providing euthanasia can be disturbing, and that society should protect the vulnerable. Of the newspaper articles, 24% uses the term ‘euthanasia’ for practices that are outside the scope of the euthanasia law. Typically, the more unusual cases are discussed. This might lead to misunderstandings between citizens and physicians. Despite the Dutch legalisation of euthanasia, the debate about its acceptability and boundaries is ongoing and both sides of the debate are clearly represented. (shrink)