scholarly journals Conscience, Truth & Action

Daedalus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 149 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-147
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Zucca
Keyword(s):  
Political Authority ◽  
Public Deliberation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Constructive Function ◽  
Reflection Model ◽  
Emotional Model

Liberal democracies attempt to accommodate conscientious objections without having a clear understanding of the claims of conscience. This might lead to an Antigone claim, when conscience is irreconcilable with state authority. In this essay, I sketch three different models of conscience: a knowledge-based model where conscience gives priority access to moral norms; an emotional model that treats conscience as a natural capability that alerts us to wrongdoing; and a reflection model that argues that conscience works as our inner tribunal. Each model presents a different challenge to political authority. The conflict becomes tragic in Antigone's sense only when conscience is portrayed as providing knowledge of moral norms. The other two models can be squared with political authority in various ways, but they do not offer a final case for the authority of conscientious claims; at best, they show that political authorities should hear conscientious claims and engage with them in public deliberation. Conscience thus reconstructed can provide a constructive function in any society a) by holding political authorities to account; b) by forcing them to provide reasons for their actions; and, ultimately, c) by refining our deliberative and adjudicative practices to make sure that action is always anchored to truth.

The Values and Norms of Islam

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Ahmed Akgunduz
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
Value System ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Islamic Legal Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Over Time

AbstractIslamic Law is one of the broadest and most comprehensive systems of legislation in the world. It was applied, through various schools of thought, from one end of the Muslim world to the other. It also had a great impact on other nations and cultures. We will focus in this article on values and norms in Islamic law. The value system of Islam is immutable and does not tolerate change over time for the simple fact that human nature does not change. The basic values and needs (which can be called maṣlaḥa) are classified hierarchically into three levels: (1) necessities (Ḍarūriyyāt), (2) convenience (Ḥājiyyāt), and (3) refinements (Kamāliyyāt=Taḥsīniyyāt). In Islamic legal theory (Uṣūl al‐fiqh) the general aim of legislation is to realize values through protecting and guaranteeing their necessities (al-Ḍarūriyyāt) as well as stressing their importance (al‐ Ḥājiyyāt) and their refinements (taḥsīniyyāt).In the second part of this article we will draw attention to Islamic norms. Islam has paid great attention to norms that protect basic values. We cannot explain all the Islamic norms that relate to basic values, but we will classify them categorically. We will focus on four kinds of norms: 1) norms (rules) concerned with belief (I’tiqādiyyāt), 2) norms (rules) concerned with law (ʿAmaliyyāt); 3) general legal norms (Qawā‘id al‐ Kulliyya al‐Fiqhiyya); 4) norms (rules) concerned with ethics (Wijdāniyyāt = Aḵlāqiyyāt = Ādāb = social and moral norms).

Investigation and Impact of Knowledge-Based Information on Programming Languages Based on Probabilistic Models

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 436-440
Author(s):  
Zhi Ming Qu
Keyword(s):  
Expert Systems ◽  
Programming Languages ◽  
Probabilistic Models ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Position Paper ◽  
The Other ◽  
Erasure Coding ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Other Hand

In recent years, much research has been devoted to the refinement of IPv6; on the other hand, few have investigated the confusing unification of interrupts and Internet QoS. In this position paper, it demonstrates the emulation of interrupts. In order to overcome this quagmire, a novel system is presented for the intuitive unification of expert systems and massive multiplayer online role-playing games. It is concluded that erasure coding can be verified to make heterogeneous, interposable, and event-driven, which is proved to be applicable.

If in Doubt, Leave it Out? EU Precaution in WTO Regulatory Space

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Flett
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Level ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Balanced Approach ◽  
Available Information

This article reviews the way in which the concept of precaution, as commonly referenced in EU law, is received in the WTO. It argues that precaution is not a principle, but one facet of a principle of making rational judgments based on available information, the other facet of which is “that risk is worth taking”. Systematically pursuing high cost measures in response to low risks is not a balanced approach, and has probably contributed to the scepticism with which the concept is viewed in the WTO. However, this article goes on to argue that, without needing to be a principle, precaution is the determining legal feature in the SPS Agreement, because, unlike in the European Union, there is no legislative harmonisation of SPS measures at international level, WTO Members being free to set their own appropriate level of protection. In fact, the concept of precaution is relevant in the context of many other WTO provisions and is in some respects quite close to the concept of subsidiarity. Notwithstanding this, the first WTO SPS cases, driven by regulatory exporters and an interventionist WTO, have excessively emphasised scientific issues, masking policy judgments that the WTO has neither the legal nor the political authority to sustain. The article concludes that the proper way forward necessitates closer political, legal and administrative links between the WTO and other relevant international organisations, and a move away from consensus in the latter.

Misconceptions of Metrology and Calibration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Herrmann ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Metrological Traceability ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The World ◽  
Definition Of

In today’s world of manufacturing, R&D, and testing across diverse industries, the definition of Metrology and calibration has taken on new meanings, whether it is right or wrong. With the evolving requirements for defining traceability, which is impacted through ISO/IEC 17025: 2017 as well as the NIST’s definition of Metrological Traceability, we must step back and truly understand what the differences are between these 2 terms. In this paper, we will evaluate the definitions of Metrology and calibration. We will also look at the importance of each and how one affects the other. While both terms are important, as liaisons within the Science of Measurement, we need to be able to articulate the differences between both terms to assist in bringing the representatives working in various industries to a clear understanding of how calibration is an action within the world of Metrology.

Arts and Crafts of the Medieval Kingdoms of Nubia

2021 ◽  
pp. 846-873
Author(s):  
Dobrochna Zielińska
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Wall Painting ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The Other ◽  
Arts And Crafts ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Artistic Production ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Different Sources

After the collapse of the Meroitic Empire, three independent kingdoms arose within its former territory. Because of a lack of centralized political authority and artistic production, their early development, although based on the Meroitic inheritance, was determined by different sources of influence. From the 8th century two united northern kingdoms became a powerful state, which is also reflected in its art. Rising creativity from the 9th century onwards reflected local needs and ambitions. In the course of time, surrounded by Islamic neighbors, Nubian art on one hand remained independent in its forms of art, but on the other hand absorbed a new style and iconographic details, which is most visible in 12th-century wall painting. Most probably it reflected a changing lifestyle, inspired by the wider Middle Eastern world at that time. The late period, although characterized by much less activity and financial possibilities of individuals or communities, still shows flourishing activities of Nubian artists. Christian Nubian culture ended almost simultaneously with the Byzantine empire, leaving almost one thousand years of its unique heritage.

scholarly journals “I am rather strong on Voyages and Cannibalism”: The other Dickens and other Victorians in Richard Flanagan’s Wanting

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-177
Author(s):  
Bożena Kucała
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Charles Dickens ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Image ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Critical Attitude ◽  
Victorian Fiction ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
Public Persona

Abstract This paper analyses Richard Flanagan’s novel Wanting (2008) as a narrative informed by a revisionary and critical attitude to nineteenth-century ideologies, which is common to, and, indeed, stereotypical in much neo-Victorian fiction. Drawing on the biographies of two eminent Victorians: Charles Dickens and Sir John Franklin, Flanagan constructs their fictional counterparts as split between a respectable, public persona and a dark, inner self. While all the Victorian characters are represented as “other” than their public image, the focus in the novel, and in this paper, is on Dickens’s struggle to reconcile social propriety with his personal discontent. Flanagan represents this conflict through Dickens’s response to the allegations that starving survivors of Franklin’s ill-fated Arctic expedition resorted to cannibalism. The zeal with which the Victorian writer refuted such reports reveals his own difficulty in living up to social and moral norms. The paper argues that the main link between the different narrative strands in the novel is the challenge they collectively pose to the distinction between the notions of civilization and savagery.

scholarly journals Accepting the truth: A step toward reconciliation

Temida ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-18
Author(s):  
Zoran Ilic
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Psychological Explanation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Extreme Form ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms

The truth is not only about accepting the facts. The truth includes emotional components - longing for acknowledgment of mistakes and validation of painful losses and experiences. While one side in the conflict considers itself as the only victim and experiences determination and acknowledgment of the truth as a possibility for healing its own trauma through satisfaction of justice and compensation, the other side is not accepting the truth. For this other side, confrontation with the facts is a painful trauma, which endangers individual moral norms, threatens the national identity and requires, on individual level, plugging in the defense mechanism, in order to prevent penetration of painful emotions into the consciousness. Primitive psychological mechanisms of defense, focused around splitting (projection, denial), are the main obstacles in accepting the truth both on individual and group level. There is also another extreme form of reaction manifested through "hypertrophy" of the truth and one-sided self-accusation. In this paper the author presents psychological explanation of the process of accepting the truth as the prerequisite for reconciliation and transformation of the conflict.

A Knowledge-Based Approach for Microwire Casting Plant Control

2011 ◽  
pp. 419-437
Author(s):  
S. Zaporojan ◽  
C. Plotnic ◽  
I. Calmicov ◽  
V. Larin
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Casting ◽  
Casting Process ◽  
Video Camera ◽  
The Other ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Casting Plant ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Sensor Applications ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Main Ideas

This chapter presents the main ideas and preliminary results of an applied research project concerning the development of an intelligent plant for microwire casting. The properties of glass-coated microwires are useful for a variety of sensor applications. On the other hand, the process of casting can be one of the methods of nanotechnology and advanced materials. In microwire continuous casting, the main control problem is to maintain the optimum thermal and flow conditions of the process, in order to fabricate the microwire of a given stable diameter. Unlike a conventional casting plant, we propose to use a video camera to take the picture of the molten drop and to control the casting process by means of a knowledge based system. For this reason, a model, that is capable of taking into account the current features of the process and of describing the shape of the drop at each time, is developed. The model presented here should allow us to estimate the geometry of the metal-filled capillary and predict the diameter of microwire at each time during the casting process.

Sovereignty, Justice, and Political Power

2020 ◽  
pp. 110-143
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Frazer
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
King Lear ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Family Stories ◽  
Sovereign Authority ◽  
Forms Of Violence

King Lear intertwines two family stories: one of disinheritance and the consequent crisis of sovereignty that follows on the division of territory and political authority; the other of legitimacy, illegitimacy, resentment, and revenge against a father. The political plot of King Lear puts sovereign authority, patriarchal authority, political strategy, and violence into juxtaposition with the claims of social justice. The play puts into question the idea of a ‘sovereign body’, in particular in its treatment of economic and social transformations in attitudes to value and exchange, and in its meditation on the way sovereign power destroys human and social bodies. These themes can be reflected in interpretations of the drama that emphasize loneliness and meaninglessness. The drama also focuses on forms of violence which track social status, and instantiate forms of authority, including sovereignty.

Shikar in the Princely Reserves

2018 ◽  
pp. 220-261
Author(s):  
Vijaya Ramadas Mandala
Keyword(s):  
Political Authority ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
Game Hunting ◽  
Big Game Hunting

Chapter 4 examines the complex relations between the British and Indian princes in relation to shikar and the political subtext of power politics at play. The reconstitution of Indian ruling values and identities between the British and Indian princes under the umbrella of big-game hunting is an important arena of colonial fabric. The Britons successfully mobilized these in establishing elitism and hierarchy in the realm of hunting, and enlisting the support of the Indian princes for the continuation of the colonial enterprise. The other important aspect of hunting in India was shikar in the princely reserves, maintained exclusively by Indian rulers for the highest ranks of the colonial elite. Hunting on such occasions was an extravagant affair involving state elephants and other elaborate entourage, in a powerful display of ancient and more recent ruling privileges, and underlining critical political alliances between the princes and the Raj. For the British, the royal shikars lent ritual credence to their political authority in a staged show of solidarity with the traditional rulers of the land. While confirming the solidarity of the ruling classes, the shikar expeditions also tested the strength of bonds between the British and Indian rulers. The colonial government’s endeavour to devise a series of British royal tours in the princely states involving big-game shoots and associated courtly trappings implies a shared aristocratic lineage and desire to promote the idea of Indian empire.

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