Sensing Multispecies Entanglements

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 78-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiho Satsuka

This article explores how matsutake, with its elusive characteristics that evade human senses, guides humans to cultivate a sensitivity to multispecies entanglements. It analyzes the concept of koto, developed by psychiatrist Bin Kimura, to describe how people learn to notice the events and happenings that a variety of beings are engaging in at every moment, even though these practices often elude human consciousness. Drawing examples from a manga series and two ethnographic cases in Japan—a grassroots satoyama forest revitalization movement and a forest biomass study—the article discusses koto as an ‘ontology’ of entangled life. At the same time, koto raises questions about ‘ontology’, as it indicates the traces of struggle in translating the term itself.

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-333
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Aanstoos
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-293
Author(s):  
Codrin-Leonard Herţanu

AbstractOur contemporary world is on the verge of crucial changes of an unparalleled pace. The ‘technological changeover’ is the new paradigm caused by the unprecedented evolution of the disruptive technologies. The present world has the tendency to evolve at least exponential, therefore future educational environment is fairly different than its present layout. An entire array of nowadays studies widely recognizes that the progress of the disruptive technologies will pose a meaningful impact over the educational system evolution. Among the most spectacular technologies with disruptive features we should encounter Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain Technology, Cloud Computing, and the like. In an era of technological disruption the education is seen as the new currency. With the help of Artificial Intelligence, for instance, the education system could track how people learn from kindergarten to retirement. Besides, the technology domain will move the centre of gravity from the institutional area to that of the education’s beneficiaries, as we might expect that they will recruit and employ the needed teacher staff, not the institutions. Moreover, the education’s recipients will be the main creators of tomorrow’s professions and within their community the overarching events will happen and the main decisions will be taken in the educational domain.


2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Koczanowicz

The Dialogical concept of consciousness in L.S. Vygotsky and G.H. Mead and its relevance for contemporary discussions on consciousness In my paper I show the relevance of cultural-activity theory for solving the puzzles of the concept of consciousness which encounter contemporary philosophy. I reconstruct the main categories of cultural-activity theory as developed by M.M. Bakhtin, L.S. Vygotsky, G.H. Mead, and J. Dewey. For the concept of consciousness the most important thing is that the phenomenon of human consciousness is consider to be an effect of intersection of language, social relations, and activity. Therefore consciousness cannot be reduced to merely sensual experience but it has to be treated as a complex process in which experience is converted into language expressions which in turn are used for establishing interpersonal relationships. Consciousness thus can be accounted for by its reference to objectivity of social relationships rather than to the world of physical or biological phenomena.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 272-275
Author(s):  
Lan Zhang ◽  
Dan Yu ◽  
Caihong Zhang ◽  
Weidong Zhang

Currently, the forest biomass energy development is at an initial stage and the estimation method for the forest biomass energy resource reserve is to be unified and refined although there is a great value and potential in the development and utilization of forest biomass energy in China. Based on the existing studies, the present paper analyzes the origins and types of forest biomass energy resources in the perspective of sustainable forestry management, constructs the estimation model using a bottom-up approach, and estimates the total existing forest biomass energy resource reserve in China based on the data of the 7th Forest Resource Survey. The estimation method and the calculation results provide the important theoretical ground for promoting the rational development of forest biomass energy in China.


Author(s):  
Jens Schlieter

This chapter, an excursus, embarks on a more philosophical interpretation of consciousness and experience. Building on Thomas Nagel and Niklas Luhmann, it is argued that human consciousness, defined as a process of self-reproduction of never-ending new possibilities, is perplexed by the task of imagining its own nonexistence. Given that consciousness is not equipped for this task, that is to imagine death (its own nonexistence), it will react with a search for meaning, a context for the existential threat. The excursus argues that this leads to the highly accelerated activity of consciousness. It may result in a phenomenon reported by a certain number of near-death experiencers, namely, the life review. In short, then, the life review is a highly accelerated search for meaning. These deliberations are further substantiated by a comparison with “wake-up dreams,” in which a similar structure becomes visible.


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