scholarly journals The Scepticism of Descartes’s Meditations

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-279
Author(s):  
James Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Euclidean Space ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Controlling Factor ◽  
New Science ◽  
The Will ◽  
Aristotelian Science ◽  
The Subject

What I’m suggesting is that the model for Descartes’s defence of Renaissance science would be Aquinas’s own defence of thirteenth-century Aristotelian science, except that the coherence of the will took on the role of the consistency of concepts, as the controlling factor in the analyses of all types of science. As a result, the new science would incorporate the awareness of Platonic ideas and the divisibility of Euclidean space as equally valid input into a dialectical knowledge of sensory experience. You can read the early arguments to doubt the reality of sensory experience and reason as a way of dividing out the experience of the will in affirming or denying an object’s nature, as the subject for subsequent inquiry.

scholarly journals The office of prophets as an emergency measure

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph J. De Bruyn
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
History Of ◽  
Emergency Measure ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Prophetic Office

Initially there was not supposed to be a prophetic office in Israel. ‘Prophetism’ was considered to be part of work that the priests performed. Thus, the priests were seen to be acting as prophets. Generally speaking, the prophets of the Old Testament are described as people who preached the Word of God. In the same way, priests are generally described as people who fulfilled functions at the temple and whose task it was to sacrifice on behalf of the Israelites. This article, however, argues that Yahweh intended much more through the establishment and ministry of the priests than merely administer sacrifices. It is the contention that Yahweh ordained the office of priests to preach the Word of God or to give advice in accordance with the will of Yahweh as it is documented in the Torah. The article’s contribution to the subject of prophetism in Israel will begin by studying the chronological history of Israel as it is described in the Hebrew Bible. The terms prophet, prophecy and prophetism will also be examined as they are used in the Hebrew Bible. By doing so, the article will show that it was only when the priests failed in their prophetic calling or when Yahweh wanted to change the cult or political establishment that He called people from outside of the established cult to fulfil the role of prophet. Yahweh used the prophetic office in times of need. One may call it an emergency measure – in times when the priests failed in their calling.Die bedoeling was aanvanklik nie dat daar ’n profetiese amp in Israel moes wees nie. ‘Profetisme’ was veronderstel om deel van die priesterlike amp te wees. Die priesters het dus as profete opgetree. Oor die algemeen word die Ou-Testamentiese profete as persone beskryf wat die Woord van God verkondig het. Op ’n soortgelyke algemene wyse word priesters as persone beskryf wat hulle werk by die tempel verrig het en wie se taak dit was om namens die Israeliete te offer. Hierdie artikel argumenteer egter dat Jahwe oorspronklik met die instelling van die priesteramp meer as net offerdiens in gedagte gehad het. Jahwe het oorspronklik die priesteramp ingestel om die Woord van God te preek en om advies te gee in oorstemming met die wil van Jahwe soos dit in die Tora vervat is. In hierdie artikel word die chronologiese geskiedenis van Israel soos dit in die Hebreeuse Bybel beskryf word, bestudeer. Die terme profeet, profesie en profetisme soos in die Hebreeuse Bybel gebruik, sal ook beskryf word. In die bestudering van hiervan sal aangedui word dat Jahwe persone van buite die kultus slegs as profete aangestel het wanneer die priesters in hulle profetiese taak gefaal het of wanneer Hy verandering in die bestaande kultus of politieke stelsel te weeg wou bring. Jahwe het dus die profete-amp as noodmaatreël gebruik wanneer die priesters in hulle profetiese roeping gefaal het.

scholarly journals On the Subject of Testamentary Burden against the Background of German Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 83-105
Author(s):  
Jacek Trzewik
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
German Law ◽  
German Legislation ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Last Will And Testament

The making of a last will and testament by a testator is an act in law. The testator is entitled to make specific dispositions to execute their last will, such as identifying an heir, making ordinary or vindication legacies, or appointing an executor of the will. At the same time, the number of potential aims intended to be achieved by the testator corresponds to the number of possible life situations that cannot be resolved through the testator’s dispositions regarding their estate. It is therefore necessary to equip the testator with such legal means that will allow them to achieve both material and non-material objectives. This is the role of the institution of testamentary burden. It has been regulated in the Polish legal system only superficially; therefore, the author refers to the legacy of German legislation to offer a better understanding of the solution.

scholarly journals Un análisis del impacto del derecho en las personas con un diagnóstico psiquiátrico: la capacidad jurídica y el sujeto de derechos reinterpretados a la luz de la Convención sobre los derechos de las personas con discapacidad // An analysis of the legal impact on persons with a psychiatric diagnostic: legal capacity and the subject of rights reinterpreted in the light of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (103) ◽  
pp. 355
Author(s):  
María Àngels Porxas Roig
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Legal Capacity ◽  
Best Interest ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Collective Imagination ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Way

Resumen:La construcción de la capacidad jurídica sobre el concepto de persona racional y capaz excluye a las personas con una enfermedad mental. A pesar de que la noción de enfermedad mental es en sí misma altamente subjetiva y dependiente de contextos históricos y socioculturales, la representación en el imaginario social de las personas con una enfermedad mental tiende a identificarlas por las características negativas que se asocian a sus diagnósticos. El artículo repasa cómo estas nociones jurídicas tradicionales, junto con la representación del enfermo mental en el imaginario colectivo, tienen un impacto en la manera como el derecho ha tratado a las personas con un diagnóstico psiquiátrico, regulando las cuestiones que les conciernen de forma normativamente diferenciada, y justificando limitaciones de derechos en este sentido. El trabajo focaliza el análisis de este tratamiento diferenciado en la institución de la incapacitación civil y en el criterio de interpretación del mejor interés, que son rechazados por la Convención sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad (2006) y reemplazados por modelos de apoyo a las decisiones y por el criterio de la voluntad y las preferencias. Estos nuevos parámetros de interpretación de la capacidad jurídica y, por lo tanto, de la constitución del sujeto de derechos, son incompatibles con la perspectiva tradicional y dominante en los sistemas jurídicos actuales, aunque conviven hasta el momento en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico. El artículo repasa también la jurisprudencia más destacada hasta el momento sobre esta cuestión y destaca el valor de los tribunales para adecuar las instituciones actuales a los nuevos parámetros de interpretación. Finalmente, hace una reflexión sobre cómo la implementación de este cambio de paradigma en el entendimiento de la capacidad jurídica y del sujeto de derechos puede tener un impacto en el modo en que la sociedad percibe a la persona con una enfermedad mental, y en su propia identidad, hacia una transformación de la representación de la enfermedad mental en unos términos menos negativos.Summary:I. The subjectivity of the mentally ill and of mental illness. II. The role of law in categorisation. III. The subject of rights in relation to capacity. IV. Legal incompetence and the crash of two legal criterions of interpretation: best interest vs the will and preferences. V. The role of the legal precedents. VI. Conclusion.Abstract:Legal capacity is build-up on the concepts of rationality and capability, which exclude persons with mental illness. Although the notion of mental illness is highly subjective and dependent on historical and sociocultural contexts, the representation on the collective imagination of persons with mental illness tends to identify them by the negative characteristics associated to their diagnosis. The paper reviews how these traditional legal notions, together with the collective imagination representation of the mentally ill, have an impact on the way law has treated persons with a psychiatric diagnostic. It has approached issues that concern them mainly through normative differences and justifying its rights limitations. This work focuses the analysis on the differenced treatment imposed by the civil institution of guardianship and the best interest criterion of interpretation used tojustify it, which are both rejected by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and replaced by decision support models and by the criterion of the will and preferences. These new values of interpretation of the legal capacity, and thus of the constitution of the subject of rights, are incompatible with the traditional and dominant approach in the current legal systems, despite they coexist now. The paper also analyses the most significant case law on this issue and highlights the value of the courts to adjust the current institutions to the new parameters of interpretation. Finally, it considers how the impact of the change of paradigm on the notions of legal capacity and subject of rights might transform the way society recognizes the person with a mental illness and its own identification, towards a less negative representation of mental illness.

Empiricism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William P. Alston
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Mental Activity ◽  
Empirical Theory ◽  
Sense Experience ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Trace Back ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Five Senses

In all its forms, empiricism stresses the fundamental role of experience. As a doctrine in epistemology it holds that all knowledge is ultimately based on experience. Likewise an empirical theory of meaning or of thought holds that the meaning of words or our concepts are derivative from experience. This entry is restricted to epistemological empiricism. It is difficult to give an illuminating analysis of ‘experience’. Let us say that it includes any mode of consciousness in which something seems to be presented to the subject, as contrasted with the mental activity of thinking about things. Experience, so understood, has a variety of modes – sensory, aesthetic, moral, religious and so on – but empiricists usually concentrate on sense experience, the modes of consciousness that result from the stimulation of the five senses. It is obvious that not all knowledge stems directly from experience. Hence empiricism always assumes a stratified form, in which the lowest level issues directly from experience, and higher levels are based on lower levels. It has most commonly been thought by empiricists that beliefs at the lowest level simply ‘read off’ what is presented in experience. If a tree is visually presented to me as green I simply ‘register’ this appearance in forming the belief that the tree is green. Most of our beliefs – general beliefs for example – do not have this status but, according to empiricism, are supported by other beliefs in ways that eventually trace back to experience. Thus the belief that maple trees are bare in winter is supported by particular perceptual beliefs to the effect that this maple tree is bare and it is winter. Empiricism comes in many versions. A major difference concerns the base on which each rests. A public version takes beliefs about what we perceive in the physical environment to be directly supported by experience. A phenomenalist version supposes that only beliefs about one’s own sensory experience are directly supported, taking perceptual beliefs about the environment to get their support from the former sort of beliefs. The main difficulties for a global empiricism (all knowledge is based on experience) come from types of knowledge it is difficult to construe in this way, such as mathematical knowledge.

Establishing Nature of Law in Judicial Decisions

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Author(s):  
Валерий Лазарев ◽  
Valyeriy Lazaryev ◽  
Дмитрий Фурсов ◽  
Dmitriy Fursov
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Law

The problem of establishing the nature of law has deep theoretical roots, because no one can reveal the phenomenon of law. In spite of various scientific aspects of this concept, in practice it is necessary to recognize its role as a single tool. The authors conclude that the court is not only the subject of the interpretation of the jus, not only the enforcer or entity conflict resolution relationship, it introduces its own innovations to the search for justice, it is the creator of the law. The article substantiates the role of the court not only as a guarantor of the existing legal system, but also as an institution imperatively harmonizing the system. The relevance of the study is explained by the fact that the establishment of the nature of law, even in the acts of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is a very complex problem, which has not been adequately investigated, especially with regard to court’s decisions. But all courts create the “living law”. Without the will of the state, no law is possible, but the jus does not embrace the whole law and the latter always takes priority over the jus. Transformation of a legal activity in the aspect of searching for the law is necessary for all judicial authorities. If the first instance courts shut themselves within the framework of the law, their mission will be extremely limited. They won´t even be able to outline the legal boundaries, where the authorized review judicial authorities and persons involved in the case could in-depth study, evaluate the circumstances associated with the search for and finding of the most justified solution. The authors believe that the law revealed in court decisions, forms the foundation of the rule of law and therefore requires additional account as an important information resource, necessary for the formation of unified law enforcement, for its use by a legislator for the purpose of implementing the models of legal relations, as reflected in the decisions, into legislative acts.

The Politics of Peace: The Role of the Political Covenant in Hobbes's Leviathan

1985 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian T. Trainor
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject

The political covenant in Hobbes's Leviathan involves “more than consent, or concord; it is a real unity … made by covenant of every man with every man.” But is it possible for essentially separate individuals to merge their identity with the sovereign power and, if so, how? It is possible, initially, because each man shares a common desire for peace. However, this desire is “contrary to our natural passions” and is largely ineffectual until, through the device of a political covenant, it acquires the institutional support of the sovereign power. The will to peace is the essence of sovereignty; the establishment of a secure peace is its end. Ideally, the sovereign will operate within the parameters of legitimacy thus established. As a result of the political covenant, man's passions are contained, but the subject also acquires an enhanced ability to order his own actions in accordance with the will to peace.

scholarly journals Pharmacogenetics: Knowledge assessment amongst Syrian pharmacists and physicians

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Albitar ◽  
Ghalia Abou Alchamat
Keyword(s):  
Drug Response ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Knowledge Assessment ◽  
Depth Of Knowledge ◽  
New Science ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Syrian Population ◽  
Strong Positive Association ◽  
The Subject

Abstract Background Pharmacogenetics targets genetic variations that influence drug response. It is relatively a new science that has not been vastly employed in most developing countries including Syria. Therefore we aimed at evaluating the depth of knowledge in pharmacogenetics and the attitude towards it amongst Syrian pharmacists and physicians. Methods We carried out an internet-based questionnaire consisted of 26 questions, sent through specialized websites and private groups with a large number of pharmacists and physicians members. The survey was available online for a period of 1 month. Results The total number of respondents was 154, mostly female pharmacists. Our statistical analysis showed a strong positive association between profession (in favour of pharmacists) and pharmacogenetics knowledge p = 0.049; however, no correlation with experience p = 0.811 was found. A significant difference was reported between the knowledge of pharmacists and physicians p = 0.001 concerning drugs that need pharmacogenetics testing before being prescribed. The majority of respondents had no information about applying genetic tests in Syria before prescribing medications nor did they possess the knowledge regarding drugs that show differential responses in patients according to their unique genotypes. In our study, the percentage knowledge assessment score was low in general (mean ± Standard deviation, SD) (46% ± 13.9%). The majority of the respondents agreed that pharmacists should provide counselling to patients on the subject of pharmacogenetics. Respondents’ opinions varied concerning making pharmacogenetics learning a priority. Conclusion Lack of pharmacogenetics knowledge was found amongst respondents in general. Our findings raise concerns about the lack of awareness amongst physicians, which may hinder the implementation of this crucial field in Syria. We suggest an emphasis on the role of education, training, and conducting genotyping research on the Syrian population.

scholarly journals Greimas’s Semiotics: Between Structuralism and Phenomenology

Problemos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Dalius Jonkus
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Daily Experience ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Inner Tension

Greimas’s semiotics is characterized by an inner duality. This is the inner tension between structuralism and phenomenology. The aim of the paper is to reveal the relationship between structuralism and phenomenology in semiotics. Structuralism and phenomenology have a different understanding of the role of the subject in creating and understanding meanings. Early Greimas understood value systems through the linguistic prism and eliminated the discursive system’s subject itself. Late Greimas’s approach to the subject changed and coincided with the subject of daily experience, who was involved in the selection and creation of meanings. Greimas’s semiotics came closer to phenomenology, but only partially. The concept of bodily and sensory experience in Greimas’s semiotics is constructed from objectivistic positions of science. The body and sensual perception are understood as intermediaries between the inner and outer worlds.

Top-Down Processing and Visual Reorientation Illusions in a Virtual Reality Environment

2004 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred W. Mast ◽  
Charles M. Oman
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Line Length ◽  
Perceptual Cues ◽  
Virtual Reality Environment ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Test Conditions ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Processing Mechanisms

The role of top-down processing on the horizontal-vertical line length illusion was examined by means of an ambiguous room with dual visual verticals. In one of the test conditions, the subjects were cued to one of the two verticals and were instructed to cognitively reassign the apparent vertical to the cued orientation. When they have mentally adjusted their perception, two lines in a plus sign configuration appeared and the subjects had to evaluate which line was longer. The results showed that the line length appeared longer when it was aligned with the direction of the vertical currently perceived by the subject. This study provides a demonstration that top-down processing influences lower level visual processing mechanisms. In another test condition, the subjects had all perceptual cues available and the influence was even stronger.

The future role of the psychiatrist in Europe – a UEMS perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
M. Hermans
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Future Role ◽  
Personal Opinion ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Many

SummaryThe author presents his personal opinion inviting to discussion on the possible future role of psychiatrists. His view is based upon the many contacts with psychiatrists all over Europe, academicians and everyday professionals, as well as the familiarity with the literature. The list of papers referred to is based upon (1) the general interest concerning the subject when representing ideas also worded elsewhere, (2) the accessibility to psychiatrists and mental health professionals in Germany, (3) being costless downloadable for non-subscribers and (4) for some geographic aspects (e.g. Belgium, Spain, Sweden) and the latest scientific issues, addressing some authors directly.

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