scholarly journals Giving Up Our Cultural Addiction

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 825
Author(s):  
Deborah Orr
Keyword(s):  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Buddhist Practice ◽  
Patriarchal Culture ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Dualistic Structure ◽  
Do So

This article will begin with an overview of the sources of our cultural addiction to patriarchal culture and its values in Western cultures. Of particular importance to this was the development of the daughter languages of Sanskrit with their dualistic structure. A further major source lies in the Biblical Genesis creation text and subsequent Western philosophy and theology. These things together supported the delusional consciousness which led to individual suffering and the exploitation of others and the earth. The article will then look briefly at some of this addiction’s manifestations and their effects and then explain how Buddhist practice can help with the withdrawal process and foster a ‘new’ way of life although it must be acknowledged that there are real questions as to whether Buddhist practice will be used extensively enough to do so in time to save us from ourselves.

Thinking technology for the Anthropocene: encountering 3D printing through the philosophy of Gilbert Simondon

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Roberts
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Anthropogenic Change ◽  
Technological Processes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Thinking ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Gilbert Simondon ◽  
Do So

The notion that the Earth has entered a new epoch characterized by the ubiquity of anthropogenic change presents the social sciences with something of a paradox, namely, that the point at which we recognize our species to be a geologic force is also the moment where our assumed metaphysical privilege becomes untenable. Cultural geography continues to navigate this paradox in conceptually innovative ways through its engagements with materialist philosophies, more-than-human thinking and experimental modes of ontological enquiry. Drawing upon the philosophy of Gilbert Simondon, this article contributes to these timely debates by articulating the paradox of the Anthropocene in relation to technological processes. Simondon’s philosophy precedes the identification of the Anthropocene epoch by a number of decades, yet his insistence upon situating technology within an immanent field of material processes resonates with contemporary geographical concerns in a number of important ways. More specifically, Simondon’s conceptual vocabulary provides a means of framing our entanglements with technological processes without assuming a metaphysical distinction between human beings and the forces of nature. In this article, I show how Simondon’s concepts of individuation and transduction intersect with this technological problematic through his far-reaching critique of the ‘hylomorphic’ distinction between matter and form. Inspired by Simondon’s original account of the genesis of a clay brick, the article unfolds these conceptual challenges through two contrasting empirical encounters with 3D printing technologies. In doing so, my intention is to lend an affective consistency to Simondon’s problematic, and to do so in a way that captures the kinds of material mutations expressive of a particular technological moment.

LEONARDO DA VINCI’S AND NICOLAUS STENO’S GEOLOGY

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-331
Author(s):  
GIAN BATTISTA VAI
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Evaluation ◽  
Geological History ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Angular Unconformity ◽  
Geologic Time ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Do So

Anniversaries for the two founding fathers of geology occurring in the same year prompted a comparative evaluation of how the two contributed to establishing the basic principles of the discipline. To do so, passages from their publications, codices and manuscripts have been quoted directly. The Stenonian principles (‘original horizontality’, ‘original continuity’, and ‘superposition of individual strata’) are present in Leonardo’s notebooks amazingly formulated, using similar wording when studying the same area more than 150 years earlier. Also, Stenonian priority in naming and explaining geological concepts and processes (e.g., faulting, folding, angular unconformity, relative chronology) are mirrored in Leonardo’s writings and pictorial works. While Steno enjoys priority in stepwise restoration of the geological history of a given region, Leonardo was the first to construct a 3D geological profile representation and geomorphologic maps. Lastly, the paper focuses on diverging stances of the two savants about the Noachian Deluge and the age of the Earth. Already 500 years ago, Leonardo had solved the question of marine fossil remains of organic origin found in the mountains implying the possibility of deep geologic time in a statement of ‘eternalism’. 350 years ago, Steno solved the same question in a different way in which he retained a basic role for the Deluge and assumed a short age for the Earth by focusing mainly on short-lived sedimentary and geomorphologic processes.

Literature, Japanese philosophy in modern

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Anderer
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Literature ◽  
The Self ◽  
Confucian Ethics ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Literary Aesthetics ◽  
Modern Japanese Literature ◽  
Buddhist Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
Academic Philosophy ◽  
And Function

Since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, virtually all major lines of Western thought and the works of both major and minor Western philosophers have been explored and used by Japanese writers in an effort to forge a modern Japanese literature. The history of translation alone reveals a concern to bring over synoptic summaries of Western philosophy, as well as the primary works of specific thinkers. Academic philosophy as a discipline of advanced study was established in the 1880s, the decade which corresponds to the beginnings of widespread literary reform and the often-cited creation of the first modern Japanese novel, Futabatei’s Ukigumo (Floating Cloud) in 1889. However, Japanese novelists, dramatists, poets and critics did not assimilate philosophical influences naïvely or passively, nor was Japanese literature made over in the shape of specific Western ideas regarding the nature and function of the self, society or literary aesthetics. Indeed, the avid translation and discussion of Western ideas frequently provoked a nativist reaction or modification. The revival of traditional tropes, the language of Confucian ethics, Buddhist practice and Shintō legends), itself often reflects the pervasive presence of Western ideas on the modern literary scene.

scholarly journals Sustainability in the Anthropocene: Between Extinction and Populism

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2538
Author(s):  
Manuel Arias-Maldonado
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Policy Goal ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Climate Policies ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

The pursuit of environmental sustainability has been affected by two significant developments in the last years. On the one hand, the Anthropocene hypothesis suggests that the human impact on the environment has increased to such a degree, that natural systems are now disrupted at a planetary level. The most dangerous manifestation of the Anthropocene is climate change, where there is need for greater urgency in the face of insufficient climate action. There are a number of scientists who currently warn of the possibility that failing to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may render the Earth uninhabitable in the first place. A first goal of this paper is thus to ponder how the sustainability paradigm may be affected in the face of this threat and whether, in fact, sustainability may be displaced by “habitability”. On the other hand, some climate policies are eliciting the reaction of a populist movement—from Trumpism to the gilets jaunes in France—that opposes the rise of environmentally-related taxes and denies climate change or questions the severity of its effects. Both as a concept and as a policy goal, sustainability thus finds itself under double pressure: as it must focus on keeping the planet inhabitable, while the political opposition to measures directed towards decarbonization also increases. In what follows, the paper suggests that sustainability should be understood as a technocratic project to keep the planet safe for humanity rather than imposing a new way of life for all its inhabitants. This is not to imply that moral or ideological debate is to be curtailed, but rather to differentiate between achieving environmental sustainability and seeking the reshaping of socionatural relations.

Twilight of Work: The Labor Question in Nietzsche and Marx

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael James Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Work Ethic ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Political Views ◽  
Radical Reduction ◽  
Theoretical Project ◽  
Do So

This essay is an intervention into the debate regarding the possibility and/or desirability of articulating Nietzsche with Marx as a means to expand upon the foundations of critical social theory. Critics who oppose such an articulation do so because they see Nietzsche’s political views as elitist, if not reactionary, and therefore incompatible with any Marxist-influenced theoretical project. On the other hand, theorists who do attempt such an articulation focus upon the critique of epistemology at the relative exclusion of politics. By focusing upon the labor question, the following pages present a new way to articulate Nietzsche’s cultural analyses with Marx’s structural ones. Both thinkers argued for the separation of work from leisure through a critique of the capitalist work ethic. This way of approaching the labor question is largely neglected in much of Marxist theory that seeks the liberation of work rather than the liberation from work. Reading the two thinkers together on the labor question provides an alternative way to understand Nietzsche’s perceived aristocratic pretensions while jettisoning the labor metaphysic that plagues much of Marxist theory. A rigorous critique of the work ethic points toward a new way of life beyond the workplace, made possible by the radical reduction of working hours.

scholarly journals Visually Induced Motion Sickness on the Horizon

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanja Hemmerich ◽  
Behrang Keshavarz ◽  
Heiko Hecht
Keyword(s):  
Motion Sickness ◽  
Common Side Effect ◽  
Visually Induced Motion Sickness ◽  
Fixation Cross ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Horizon Line ◽  
Induced Motion ◽  
Fixed Reference ◽  
Visual Reference ◽  
Do So

Visually induced motion sickness is an unpleasant but common side-effect of many simulations and VR-applications. We investigated whether an earth-fixed reference frame provided in the simulation is able to reduce motion sickness. To do so, we created a moving starfield that did not contain any indicators of the spatial orientation of the observer. As the observer was simulated to move through the randomly oscillating starfield, a time-to-contact task had to be carried out. Two colored stars on collision course with each other had to be spotted, then they disappeared and the time of their collision had to be judged. Eye-movements, task performance, and motion sickness were recorded. This condition without visual reference to the observer's upright was supplemented with three conditions containing either an earth-fixed fixation cross, an earth-fixed horizon line, or a line that was yoked to the head. Results show that only the earth-fixed horizon was able to significantly reduce visually induced motion sickness. Thus, a mere earth-stationary anchor does not suffice, a clear indication of earth horizontal seems necessary to reap a modest benefit.

scholarly journals VI.—The Geological Chronometer

1903 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-127
Author(s):  
G. W. Bulman
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Equal Thickness ◽  
Do So ◽  
Geological Magazine

The pleasant relations normally existing among geologists, biologists, and physicists have of late become a trifle strained on the question of the age of the earth. Biologists, having failed to induce either geologists or physicists to draw sufficiently large cheques on the bank of time, have taken to signing the same them-selves, adding the ciphers ad lib. Professor Poulton has ably championed the rights of the biologists to do so, and in the course of his argument he contends that there is evidence in the sedimentary strata to show that their rate of formation was not greater than that at which deposits are now being accumulated.So far as I am aware, Professor Poulton's contention has not been either controverted or supported by any geologist. Hence it seems to be a suitable subject for discussion in the Geological Magazine.In the first place, then, what would be the nature of the evidence we might a priori expect to find to show that one set of beds was accumulated in a shorter time than another of equal thickness ? Would there, in fact, be any difference such as would enable us positively to decide the question ?Secondly, we may examine and compare rocks which we know, or have reason to suppose, have been formed at different rates. Now, according to Sir A. Geikie, if the rocks of the stratified systems were laid down at the greatest rate suggested by the facts of denudation. 73,000,000 years would be required; if at the least, 680,000,000.

The Christian View of Man: An Examination of Karl Barth's Doctrine

1949 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. Whitehouse ◽  
J. B. Souček
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Theological Method ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Christian View ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
The Church ◽  
Do So

Volume III of the Dogmatik is concerned with creation, and the first part dealt with the act of creation, elucidating from a specifically Christian point of view the relation of creation and covenant. In this second part, it is the creature which is studied. For a theology bound to the Word of God, the questions at issue concern the nature of man, and the enquiry is controlled by the fact of God having become man. The material which is handled in this vast volume is a selection from man's varied attempts to speak about himself. The aim is to illuminate and to correct the speech of the contemporary Christian Church on this subject, and to do so by proper theological method and criteria. The resultant doctrine may not be very different from what is said in section I (A) of the Lambeth Report Part II, but one cannot help asking whether the statements made there have been reached by the searching discipline of dogmatic theology, practised with the seriousness found in Barth's work. His declared purpose is to seek “comprehensive clarifications in theology, and about theology itself”, which will give the Church strength to offer “clarifications in the broad field of politics”, a strength which is not strikingly obvious in the Lambeth conclusions about “The Church and the Modern World” and “The Christian Way of Life”.

The Use of Satnav Systems for Precise Time Transfer

1984 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 348-353
Author(s):  
J. D. H. Pilkington
Keyword(s):  
Time Transfer ◽  
Daylight Saving Time ◽  
Daylight Saving ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rotation Of The Earth ◽  
Economic Necessity ◽  
Precise Time ◽  
Do So

Everyone needs a knowledge of ‘the time’, even if the accuracy required is only sufficient to keep an appointment, catch a train or watch a particular TV programme. An isolated clock, started at random and ticking at an unknown rate, can only be used to compare intervals of time. Although this is often useful – for example, in cookery or athletics – the full value of a clock can be realized only if its reading provides a model of the status of a continuing process (such as the rotation of the Earth) or if the clock is a member of a group of clocks, all of which show the same time and may be expected to continue to do so. Particular applications may demand that some members of the group must be kept in closer agreement than others, or must all reliably remain within a stated tolerance for a longer period, but specifications of this kind arise only from economic necessity; in principle all clocks should agree at all times – subject, of course to the unavoidable restrictions imposed by the laws of physics and perhaps the complexities of daylight-saving time.

scholarly journals Disentangling planetary orbits from stellar activity in radial-velocity surveys

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Haywood ◽  
A. Collier Cameron ◽  
D. Queloz ◽  
S.C.C. Barros ◽  
M. Deleuil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radial Velocity ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Stellar Surface ◽  
Stellar Activity ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Planetary Orbits ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Do So

AbstractThe majority of extra-solar planets have been discovered (or confirmed after follow-up) through radial-velocity (RV) surveys. Using ground-based spectrographs such as High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planetary Search (HARPS) and HARPS-North, it is now possible to detect planets that are only a few times the mass of the Earth. However, the presence of dark spots on the stellar surface produces RV signals that are very similar in amplitude to those caused by orbiting low-mass planets. Disentangling these signals has thus become the biggest challenge in the detection of Earth-mass planets using RV surveys. To do so, we use the star's lightcurve to model the RV variations produced by spots. Here we present this method and show the results of its application to CoRoT-7.

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