Valmiki , The Sage of 5th century B.C wrote The Ramayana not to narrate the story of Rama in an absorbing style. Though the epic poem presents Rama’s Journey of life in enchanting poetry , the story and the enchanting poetry are sugar coating or honey to the organic medicine called Kundalini Yoga. Maharshi Valmiki wrote the Ramayana to spread / propagate Kundalini Yoga among the masses. Thus the soul of The Ramayana is Kundalini Yoga / Sri Vidya. Valmiki embedded (...) Kundalini Yoga in the Chapter titled “ Sundara Kanda” . Hanuman and Ravana are Kundalini Yogis of Samaya and Kaula Paths. And in Sundara Kanda , he inserted “ Trijata Swapna “ , dream sequence of a demon and in it embedded the Gayathri Mantra. The concepts of Vishnu and Avatar (reincarnation) were nonexistent during the Ramayana Period. Seshendra Sharma , Scholar - Poet in his Magnum Opus of Research “ Shodasi : Secrets of The Ramayana “ reveals these secrets lying hidden for thousands of years . (shrink)

Ramayan Through Kundalini Yoga Shodasi is an ideal read for Sanskrit-literate readers who are open to eclectic yogarthas and connotative meanings -------- So you thought Vyasa was before Valmiki, Mahabharat was before Ramayan, Rama a Vishnu avatar, and tantrism distinct from vedism? Think again. In Shodasi: Secrets of the Ramayana, Telugu poet Seshendra Sharma re-reads the Ramayan to come up with a number of new conclusions. Much of the book sets out to prove that Ramayan was written before (...) the Mahabharat. Sharma discusses how Indra is cited more often than Vishnu, thus placing the context of the Ramayan closer to Vedic than Puranic thought. He quotes from the Mahabharat to show how it follows descriptions of hills, rivers from the Ramayan. The Mahabharat has some prose, and therefore, it must have been composed after Ramayan, which is entirely in poetry. These are only some of the numerous reasons that Sharma offers to suggest a new sequence of our itihasas. Sharma’s book is also an experimental reading of the Ramayan through the interpretive lens of what he calls Kundalini yoga. Hanuman’s flight to Sri Lanka gets a new interpretation. “Charana Charite Pathi” is interpreted as the path of Kundalini, and the first verse of the Sundara Kanda “Tatho Ravana Nithayah” is interpreted by Sharma to refer to Hanuman traversing the sushumna nadi of the Kundalini. Trijata’s dream becomes the Gayatri mantra through an imaginative recasting of words as numbers. Gaja (elephant) means eight, danta (teeth) means thirty-two, and maha-gaja-chaturdantam somehow also adds up to 32 syllables, which is the number of syllables in the Gayatri mantra. That Trijata’s dream is halfway through the Ramayan also becomes significant for Sharma, he calls it the ‘central bead’ in the Ramayan garland of 24,000 beads. Identifying 32-syllables as the Gayatri follows a convention, for mantras are referenced by the number of syllables; however, it is the “secret” yogartha—or mystical, anagogical translations—derived by Sharma that becomes problematic, unless he is considered an authority in his own right. conclude that the name Sundarakand is unrelated to any descriptions of beauty of any of the main characters in the Ramayan. However, Soundarya and Tripura-Sundari are well-known conventions in the tantric tradition and hence, Sharma concludes that Sundarakand derives its name from Shakti’s beauty, and “Sundara-Hanuman” means “Hanuman who is a devotee of Devi” (117). A coda in this book is about the benedictory verse in Kalidasa’s Sakuntalam which has traditionally been understood to refer to Ishwara. Sharma re-interprets this verse highlighting the “eight forms” of the last line as the eight forms of Devi that please Ishwara. This book is suitable for a reader who is Sanskrit-literate and open to eclectic yogarthas and connotative meanings. Sharma cites substantially from the Ramayan in roman but without diacritics, this is difficult to follow; and he does not always include translation. Sharma often cites commentators without citing names and sources. It is not clear why the book is called Shodasi—readers may note, this book is not about the Srividya tradition. Even if the reader is unconvinced by Sharma’s reasoning or methodology, the free flow of references may prove absorbing for a reader interested in the subject. This could also be an eclectic reference for a scholar researching tantric elements in the Ramayan. - Mani Rao The Sunday Standard Magazine The New Indian Express 29th November 2015 . (shrink)

Husserl's Phenomenology: A Lacanian and Feminist Reappraisal -/- This study undertakes a comprehensive critique of Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, highlighting its limitations and omissions. Through Lacanian psychoanalysis, feminist perspectives, and intersubjective theories, this analysis challenges Husserl's notions of bracketing, reduction, and absolute givenness. Key concerns include the neglect of unconscious dynamics, symbolic structures, embodied experience, and cultural contexts. Critics such as Zizek, Sartre, Quine, and Rorty are engaged in addressing issues of solipsism, truth, and ideology. This evaluation underscores the need for (...) phenomenology to integrate diverse perspectives, ensuring a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of human experience. -/- Keywords: Husserl, Phenomenology, Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Feminist Theory, Intersubjectivity, Critical Evaluation. (shrink)

This paper attempts to argue that it is categorization, not generalization, that is more valuable by examining essence, interest, ontology, rationalism, and truth. While generalization is invariably oversimplified, categorization gives an exact insight with a fine grain into the entities by referring to their intrinsic properties. Categorization supplies an ordered, transparent form for knowledge through a rationalist approach, thereby arriving at clearer and more accurate representations of reality. The importance of categorization lies in its philosophical contribution to differentiating things in (...) the world, increasing understanding of related complexities, and hence showing it to be superior to generalization. (shrink)

इस पर्चे में मैंने विज्ञान के विकास को आधुनिकता की पृष्टभूमि में मानव-मुक्ति के लक्ष्य की दशा व दिशा के सन्दर्भ में आलोचनात्मक विश्लेषण पद्धति से समझने का प्रयास किया है। इस कार्य के लिए मैंने पेपर में चार प्रमुख बिंदुओं को उढाया है। -/- पहला बिंदु विज्ञान की मूल्य निरपेक्षता (Value neutrality) को लेकर है जिसके तहत मैंने पूँजी के साथ विज्ञान के संबंध को समझने का प्रयास किया है। -/- दूसरे बिंदु में विज्ञान शिक्षा और सामाजिक सरोकार के (...) संबंध को वैज्ञानिक तार्किकता (Scientific rationality) और यांत्रिक तार्किकता (Instrumental rationality) के सन्दर्भ में समझने का प्रयास किया है। -/- तीसरे बिंदु में समाज में विज्ञान के अधिपत्य को लेकर उठाया गया है जिसके कारण विज्ञान का अन्य प्रकार की ज्ञान प्रणालियों से संबंध विच्छेद करने की प्रवित्ति को बढ़ावा मिलता है। -/- चौथे एवं अंतिम बिंदु में मैंने विज्ञान, तकनीक व विज्ञान का समाज के प्रति नैतिक उत्तरदायित्व के अंतरसंबंध को समझने का प्रयास किया है। . (shrink)

Human beings as self-conscious, aesthetic, sympathetic, and empathetic beings develop various ways to live in this world. They continue to aspire for a better version of themselves and their lives. In this process, they developed certain ethical norms, social practices, and ways to perceive and understand this world. These qualities become the basis for proactive steps of spirituality which in turn become the foundation of religion. In human history, religion has helped individuals to fulfill various human needs irrespective of their (...) culture. Despite differences in the content of various religious philosophies, mythological structures, and religious ceremonies, it gave a sense of meaning and purpose to human beings. Because of its omnipresence, many philosophers along with biological and cultural evolutionary researchers have suggested coming up with a universal explanation for religion. -/- Nevertheless, religion was also employed as a means of exploitation by the powerful elites in various societies. Thus, many times, it worked as an orthodox, deceptive, and enslaving force for humanity. Modern thought emphasized the later effects of religion and found it less emancipatory. -/- Hence, enlightenment philosophy focused on rationality as a significant aspect of human beings. Besides, the development of science has unfolded various hidden and hitherto mysterious natural phenomena to mankind. This change has brought rationality to the forefront of human existence every institution began to build around this notion of human being. Even the death of God was announced by Nietzsche with grief in 1885. -/- Was it really the death of God? Can human beings live without religion sanely? These questions become very relevant particularly in recent times when we see resurgence of religious identities in the political and social discourses. However, consumer mythology and consumer culture remain at the forefront while making decisions in our daily lives across cultures. Even sometimes, religious identities are absorbed by powerful market forces; how to understand this contradictory phenomenon? -/- Between both these understandings, this paper sets three objectives for itself – first, to analyze the human need for religion from a psychological and existential perspective. Second, it critically evaluates the secular thesis as put forward by European enlightenment thinkers in the light of contemporary consumerist mythology. The third objective involves a brief description of universal religion and its relevance at this time. (shrink)

In the contemporary era, we identify ourselves based on what we consume or what we possess. Besides, various advertisements, celebrities, and other influential personalities encourage and make us believe that we can make a new identity by consuming a specific brand, or relating to a particular institution or connecting with an extraordinary group, etc. Hence, we tend to identify ourselves with consumer goods. In such conditions, Srimad Bhagwat Gita becomes significantly relevant to look for alternative way of life. This paper (...) attempts to explore the concept of Self in Gita as a model for realizing environmental consciousness. Largely, it will analyse the concepts of Nishkama Karma (Detached Action) and the Self to see what it may contribute in developing an apt environmental consciousness. With the analysis of these concepts the paper tries to probe for an epistemological and metaphysical alternative to the Ecology understanding. (shrink)

Twenty first century is posing unprecedented challenges for the human existence and development. This era has witnessed awesome economic & technological growth, increased connectedness but great poverty, malnutrition, anxiety, mental stress and environmental degradation. Thus, this time depicts great contradiction, uncertainty, and risk. Accordingly, in this era a holistic education system has to deal with the challenges such as population growth, terrorism, environmental degradation, hegemony of machines, mental stress, cultivating creativity, bridging the skill and wisdom gap, and expanding human potential (...) etc. To find a sustainable solution to such challenges, we need to develop a holistic education system which acknowledges various dimension of human being. For this task, this paper will try to highlight some philosophical themes which are commonly suggested by various prominent thinkers such as M.K. Gandhi, R.N. Tagore, J. Krishnamurti, S. Radhakrishnan etc. in India, and J. Dewey, I. Illich, and B. Russell etc. in the west. They have put forward their philosophy to discuss the aims of education which are relevant to this century. In this paper, we will analyze their views from the perspective of the challenges that the twenty-first century world is going to face. Our investigation will analyze agreements and disagreements among the approaches taken by these educators. However, the focus will be on the commonalities, so that we can identify some philosophical themes which can work as the solid foundation for holistic model of education. (shrink)

The author o ers a brief report of introducing the study of religion in India since 194 While doing so he refers to the Constitution of India, so-called Nehruvian Consensus, the Kothari Commission which made an important distinction between ‘religious education’ and ‘educa- tion about religion’, as well as several other bodies responsible for national policy on education, which gave a unique shape of Indian secularism.

A study was carried out from October, 2020 to September, 2021to investigate the diversity of fishes and the conservation status of Chittaura Jheel (Bahraich), Uttar Pradesh. During the study period, 38 fish species belonging to 28 genera, 14 families and 7 orders have been identified. The order Cypriniformes was found the dominated order with 15 species(39.47%) followed by Siluriformes 10 species (26.31%), Perciformes 4 species (10.52%), Ophiocephaliformes 4 species (10.52%), Synbranchiformes2 species (5.26%), Osteoglossiformes 2 species (5.26%) and Clupiformes 1 species (...) (2.63 %), The present investigation showed that the wetland, Chittaura Jheel possesses rich fish biodiversity but proper conservation measures are required to maintain sustainability and richness of the fish species diversity of that wetland of U.P. According to IUCN, 30 were enlisted as Least Concern (LC), 2 species as near endangered (NE), 3 species as near threatened (NT), 2 listed as Endangered (EN) and 1 species was listed as Vulnerable (VU). There is a need of conservation of fish diversity of this natural wetland. The pressure is increasing day by day due to increasing population, leading to loss of fish diversity hence identifying the problem and making a better management plan is the way for conservation of the fish diversity of the Chittaura Jheel, a wetland of Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh. (shrink)

This document provides a brief report on initial research into how argument presentation affects susceptibility to confirmation bias as well as feelings toward political opponents.

Among all non conventional micro machining, electrochemical discharge machining ECDM is having high quality of material removal rate with zero residual stress. This machining has been accepted as a highly modern technology in micromachining. In this paper an effort has been done on micro drilling of glass using electrochemical discharge machining ECDM . A fixed tool and a step down transformer have been used to support the steady machining to increase the accuracy of work piece. The input parameters used in (...) this experiment are voltage, concentration of electrolyte, enter electrode gap and ratio of area of electrode. MRR has been investigated over the input parameters. Feed rate and electrolyte temperature has been made constant of 3µm sec and 30°c respectively. Taguchi method is used to optimize the effect of the process parameters on MRR. The signal to noise S N ratio and the ANOVA analysis are employed to find the contributions of input parameters. Vikrant Sharma | Sunil Kumar "Experimental research to Optimize Process Parameters in Machining of Non Conducting Material with hybrid non conconventional machining" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-1 | Issue-4 , June 2017. (shrink)

In the complex tapestry of existence, we journey down the corridors of thought, proclaiming Descarte's famed words: "Cogito ergo sum." Yet, the journey does not conclude with merely affirming our existence but falls down the endless pit of the dimensions and complex corridors of free will and autonomy. Let us establish the terms that shall guide our thoughts for this voyage. First, a multi-faceted free will that transcends mere ownership of thoughts, extending to the profound responsibility for our actions within (...) the temporal plane we inhabit," an existence yet to be fully revealed. Second, the insistence on the necessity, or at least the belief in the potential, of self-control. Here, we differ from conventional definitions of free will to assert the capacity to govern the mind and ego, even when one perceives a lack of control. The mind, which exists somewhere, owns the authority over its thoughts, which is you. And thirdly, the elusive question: What is "I"? Not into the human "you" or the one that speaks and sees but into the core thinker, the intangible essence that animates. The "I" resides within, shaping the tangible reality and, paradoxically, depending on nothing while being the core of reality. Yet, the pivotal question still stands: Do others exist? Autonomy becomes the litmus test. If I, as an autonomous being, fail to wield dominion over external circumstances. Weakness in reshaping the external world confirms the separation, a stark admission of being powerless in the face of objective reality. While using ocoms razer, our answer is found. Thus, the conclusion is a solitary existence in the ability to affirm one's own being while recognizing others through autonomy. (shrink)

The way that George Kelly treats moving from an act of love to an act of hate, via his formulation of the construct of hostility, may indicate how far apart Kelly’s model and embodied intersubjective approaches stand concerning the issue of the fundamental integrity of experiencing. All feeling and emotion for Kelly expresses an awareness of the relative ongoing success or failure in relating new events to one’s outlook. But his definition of hostility stands out from his account of guilt, (...) anxiety, fear and threat in that it consists of a two-stage process. -/- Kelly defines hostility as “the continued effort to extort validational evidence in favor of a type of social prediction which has already proved itself a failure.” -/- Notice that this definition combines awareness of a validational event(invalidation) with a response to that event(extortion of evidence). Furthermore, as we will see, the way in which the first step is understood determines the sense of the second step, and vice versa. The crucial importance of interpretation in fathoming what Kelly meant by hostility can be demonstrated in the following questions: -/- How far-reaching did he mean his definition to be? Is hostility the same thing as anger, and if so, is there such a thing as healthy, adaptive, anger, or do all forms of anger extort evidence? And what about subtle forms of affective perturbation like irritation and annoyance? Are these also forms of hostility? (shrink)

This is an introduction to the section on Music and Politics including a description of the context of these essays, their individual contributions and their thematic interrelations.

Heidegger Being and Time, Sein und Zeit (1927): An Index -/- By -/- Daniel Fidel Ferrer -/- and -/- Ritu Sharma -/- 1. Heidegger, Martin, -- 1889-1976. 2. Heidegger, Martin, -- 1889-1976 -- Concordances. 3. Heidegger, Martin, -- 1889-1976 -- Indexes. 4). Metaphysics. 5). Philosophy, German. 6). Heidegger, Martin; -- Wörterbuch. 7). Sein und Zeit. English. 8). Ontology. 9). Space and time. 10). Being and Time [Sein und Zeit]. I. Ferrer, Daniel Fidel, 1952-. II. Sharma, Ritu. -/- Pages (...) for this volume 1-655. Total words indexed: 24,638. For the two volumes that are indexed: pages 1 to 1106. Total pages in this volume is 654. The actual texts are not included because of copyright. This is an experiment in to indexing two different languages: German and English in the same index. -/- The following is a machine index of two volumes written by Martin Heidegger. The first volume is the German edition of Sein und Zeit, GA 2. The second is the same volume only translated into English by Joan Stambaugh as Being and Time (1996). -/- Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time (German edition Sein und Zeit) published in 1927 is one of the most famous philosophical book published in the 20th century; and remains his most renowned book. Being and Time is listed in the overall ranking of the 100 most cited books of the 20th century. Boston Public Library ranks it as number 1 out of 100. Argument from authority, Being and Time is an incredibly influential book. Example from the Main Index: -/- Abandon[5], 1051, 1089, 1090, 1092 abandon[2], 679, 749 abandoned[5], 677, 808, 841, 970, 992 abandoning[2], 780, 1099 Abandonment[1], 1040 abandonment[4], 875, 945, 1098, 1099 abandonrnent[1], 1092 abandons[1], 972 Abart[1], 216 Abbiendung[1], 271. (shrink)

India is the leading producer of fruits worldwide. The major problem after citrus fruits consumption is their peel that are hazardous to our environment and mainly regarded as a solid waste however, they are rich sources of fibres, large amount of Vitamin C, phenolics and flavonoids which are best agents of antioxidant. In this paper, we have discussed about the orange peel waste which has many beneficial roles in our daily life. Citrus peel has the highest number of Phytochemicals such (...) as flavonoids, terpenoids, quinolines and having highest antioxidant activity as compared to the pulp and seed as well as identified from the extraction. The different Phytochemicals test analysis have been discussed in this paper (steroids testing, saponins testing) and different antioxidant test used to check the antioxidant activity of the citrus fruit peel extract are Hydrogen peroxide scavenging test, Nitric oxide scavenging test, DPPH test etc. The main objective of this paper is that the higher antioxidant activity of different mixture of Citrus fruit peel can help to reduce the generation of free radicals and can act as an anti-proliferative agent. The search for novel drugs and alternative medicine especially against cancer has led to increased research in medicinal plants. This review also indicated that Citrus peels contains antioxidant compounds which could be exploited as value added products in the food and cosmetic industry. (shrink)

The viewpoint of the Indian way of thinking is a greater amount of inborn as opposed to outward. Which gives more worth to current realities. In any event, to know the idea of fundamental reality, human insight first needs to know the idea of the outside world. It specifies are additionally predominant in Upanishads, where it has been expressed that faculties are more extraneous while knowing the external world. This research paper particularly centers around the idealist viewpoint with uncommon reference (...) to Indian Philosophy. For a superior understanding, it will be partitioned it into three sections, in the first part, idealistic Upanishdic contemplations will be thought of, in the second part Buddhist optimistic idea will be clarified and in the third part Advaita Vedantic considered vision will be described. (shrink)

Laboratory activities play a crucial role in the conceptual understanding of the theoretical aspects of physics. Traditional guided lab activities emphasize a teacher-centric pedagogical approach in which learners are merely passive recipients of the content knowledge as delivered by the teacher. The authors in their professional journey at engineering institutions were also guided by the traditional laboratory approach in the teaching and learning process inside the physics laboratory. During our professional journey at engineering institutions, we felt that students had difficulty (...) demonstrating the science process skills and employing the theoretical aspects in real-world situations. The primary objective of this research was to explore the lab activities inside the physics laboratory at diploma engineering institutions in the Kathmandu district of Nepal. For this purpose, an ethnographic method was employed in which multiple laboratory sessions were observed, and open-ended and unstructured interviews were conducted with the research participants at different locations through in-person and online processes. In addition, social constructivist learning theory was utilized in this research process. The findings lead to the conclusion that traditional guided laboratory activities prevailed inside the physics lab of those institutions under study. -/- . (shrink)

Today every organization is acting in a dynamic environment and in a world characterised by turbulent change and fierce competition due to technological advancement and the knowledge based economy, an organization must always ready to adapt and transform themselves so as to be able to confront the shifting needs of the new environment, more demanding customers, smarter workers, anticipating ability to changes, accelerating the development of new products, processes and services, changing technologies and customer expectations, businesses have realised the importance (...) of Customer Relationship Management in acquiring new customers, retain existing ones and maximize their lifetime value. The wide spread availability of the internet across the world has led airlines to use their corporate web-sites to bypass travel intermediaries and focus on online communication, information and transaction. The paper considers five dimensions of Web site quality-usability, web site design, service quality, information quality and enjoyment on a sample of 150 respondents from four airlines namely, Air India, Spicejet, Indigo and Jet Airways. Respondents consisted of 40 employed, 80 business men and 30 students. Overall, the majority of respondents are frequent, experienced Internet users and likely to be relatively good judges of Web quality. Analysis of results shows that customers’ priority about airlines website are changing. As the self-service, no-frills and low-cost trend for air travel has grown in recent years, so consumers have been driven less by service quality and more by easy access to good information packaged in an entertaining and fun "wrapper'. More over the airlines have pursued different strategies for their Web sites over the period of study .Air India rated badly for service quality and Jet Airways and Spice jet scored high on service and information quality. The paper suggests that careful management and selection of subjects to be placed on web site can retain the customers and reduce switching intentions. (shrink)

Factor Affecting Customer Service in Supply Chain Management of Small and Medium Enterprises: An Empirical Study of Jammu Region -/- Author / Authors : Sanjeev Lalhotra and Prof. B.C Sharma Page no.149-165 Discipline : Applied Economics/ Management/ Commerce Script/language : Roman/English Category : Research paper Keywords: Customer services, Supply Chain Management, Small and Medium Enterprises.

You can search on internet for free SEO tips. But there language is very difficult. There technical word is not easily understandable for new website developer. If you will follow the tips we will give you guarantee that your site can get good rank.http://www.aboutevery.com/step-by-step-free-seo-process.html -/- .

Each annual Ontology Summit initiative makes a statement appropriate to each Summit’s theme as part of our general advocacy designed to bring ontology science and engineering into the mainstream. The theme this year is "Towards an Open Ontology Repository". This communiqué represents the joint position of those who were engaged in the year's summit discourse on an Open Ontology Repository (OOR) and of those who endorse below. In this discussion, we have agreed that an "ontology repository is a facility where (...) ontologies and related information artifacts can be stored, retrieved and managed." -/- We believe in the promise of semantic technologies based on logic, databases and the Semantic Web, a Web of exposed data and of interpretations of that data (i.e., of semantics), using common standards. Such technologies enable distinguishable, computable, reusable, and sharable meaning of Web and other artifacts, including data, documents, and services. We also believe that making that vision a reality requires additional supporting resources and these resources should be open, extensible, and provide common services over the ontologies. (shrink)

Internet, a revolutionary invention, is always transforming into some new kind of hardware and software making it unpreventable for anyone. The type of communication that we see today is either human-to-human or human-to-device, but the Internet of Things (IoT) promises a great future for the internet where the type of communication is machine-to-machine (M2M). The Internet of Things (IoT) is defined as a paradigm in which objects provide with sensors, actuators, and processors communicate with each other to serve a meaningful (...) purpose. In this paper we discussed IoT and its architecture. Further we explained different applications of IoT for users, IoT advantages and disadvantages. (shrink)

Abstract: Obstructive Sleep Apnea(OSA) is breathing disorder syndrome in which the airway tract pauses during sleep due to collapse of pharyngeal airway. It is occurred at the sleep time, with fourth dimensional high resolution in airway tract Obstruction in children and adults with OSA. Here, we the operator places the seeds that includes the Oesopharyngeal air tract and found out a threshold for the first frame in order to determine the affected tissues which blocks the patients pharyngeal tract. In this (...) automated segmentation method it shows the process of MRI studies of the pharyngeal air pathway and enable diagnose of obstructive tissues with the collapse tissues. Region growing method results well in Dice Coefficients compared with manual segmentation. It automatically detects 90% of collapse tissues. This approach leads to segment the pharyngeal pathway correctly. It uses long MRI scans in order to diagnosis the collapsed tissues with graph, accurate details and coefficients in a short span of duration. (shrink)

Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox is about Mr. Fox's attempt to flourish as both a wild animal and a consumer. As such, this film raises some interesting and difficult questions about what it means to be a member of a certain kind, what is required to flourish as a member of that kind, and how consumerism either promotes or inhibits such flourishing. In this paper I use Fantastic Mr. Fox as an entry point into an examination of the relationship between (...) consumerism and human flourishing. More specifically, I use this film as a way to engage with a worry that many philosophers have expressed: namely, the worry that consumerism threatens the identity of individual consumers. I begin by bringing certain of Mr. Fox's worries into contact with an Aristotelian account of flourishing. I then press Aristotle's account further by arguing that consumerism threatens one's ability to flourish as a human being because it tends to discourage one from engaging in distinctly human activities. I then conclude by looking to Aristotle and Mr. Fox for some ways to respond to this threat. My ultimate goals are, first, to shed light on certain dangers that are associated with consumerism, and second, to indicate how people living in consumerist societies might nonetheless overcome those dangers. (shrink)

Keith Lehrer described the case of Mr Truetemp, who has reliably formed true beliefs about the temperature. The beliefs are produced by the action of a device (a "tempucomp" ) which has been surgically implanted in Truetemp's skull without his knowledge. The case is designed as a counterexample to process reliabilism. This short paper explores the question whether virtue epistemology is able to deal with the Truetemp case. It is argued that virtue-theoretic considerations lead to the rejection of the Truetemp (...) case as a case of warranted belief or knowledge, which suggests that virtue epistemology has the resources to handle the case. -/- . (shrink)

An analogue of Arrow’s theorem has been thought to limit the possibilities for multi-criterial theory choice. Here, an example drawn from Toy Science, a model of theories and choice criteria, suggests that it does not. Arrow’s assumption that domains are unrestricted is inappropriate in connection with theory choice in Toy Science. There are, however, variants of Arrow’s theorem that do not require an unrestricted domain. They require instead that domains are, in a technical sense, ‘rich’. Since there are rich domains (...) in Toy Science, such theorems do constrain theory choice to some extent—certainly in the model and perhaps also in real science. (shrink)

How does fiction work? How can mere words create realities that exist only in the mind of the writer and the reader, yet seem so tangible in their realness? How can the first sentence of a novel transport one into a very real, yet purely objective, world — literally word-by-word? How do the subjective worlds of the writer and reader interact with the words on the page to create similar, yet always highly individualized, objective worlds? How can semiotics function as (...) a means to analyzing a written text in order to answer these questions about how the processes of writing and reading work? These, amongst others, are the questions explored in this paper, “Mrs. Dalloway and the Semiotics of a First Sentence”. In it I analyze Virginia Woolf ’s classic novel from a semiotic stance. Through exploring the semiotics of the novel’s first sentence, I attempt to show how we can read even the first nine words of a book and find ourselves transported to a whole, new, highly detailed world — the world of fiction. (shrink)

Even though Frege is a major figure in the history of analytic philosophy, it is not surprising that there are still issues surrounding his views, interpreting them, and labeling them. Frege’s view on numbers is typically termed as ‘Platonistic’ or at least a type of Platonism (Reck 2005). Still, the term ‘Platonism’ has views and assumptions ascribed to it that may be misleading and leads to mischaracterizations of Frege’s outlook on numbers and ideas. So, clarification of the term ‘Platonism’ is (...) required to portray Frege’s views more accurately (Reck 2005). This clarification gives us a better picture of what Frege is interested in and what he does not emphasize. Moreover, in such a clarifying process, we find that Frege draws significant influence from Rudolf Hermann Lotze, who is frequently called a Neo-Kantian (Vagnetti 2018). In Lotze’s major work, Logik, Lotze has a central focus on validity, in its most general form as he used it, that investigates various related topics, i.e., concepts, language, etc. (Vagnetti 2018; Lotze 1888). Furthermore, we observe that Frege’s work is so similar to Lotze, that it seems questionable to call his outlook ‘Platonism’. Therefore, attributing ‘Platonism’ to Frege may be a slight misnomer. This paper’s entirety is mostly a synthesis of a variety of articles related to Frege, Lotze, and their respective outlooks and the original works of Frege and Lotze that I use to support the view that the term ‘Platonism’ is a slight issue when predicated to Frege. As such, I include an overview of Frege’s treatment in other work that highlights the usage of the term ‘Platonism’ and how broad its uses tend to be utilized (Balaguer 2006; Burge 1992). In sum, it is observed that the general label ‘Platonism’ becomes less appropriate when we consider Lotze in the picture and contrast Lotze alongside Mr. Frege. Overall, this paper is just an explanatory one of Mr. Frege, the Platonist, and the issues of applying the term ‘Platonism’ onto him as his views are seemingly more of a segue from Lotze. Keywords: Frege, Lotze, number, objectification, Platonism, validity. (shrink)

A dialogical essay prioritizing understanding to knowledge, and justification to truth.

Timothy Williamson has famously argued that the principle should be rejected. We analyze Williamson's argument and show that its key premise is ambiguous, and that when it is properly stated this premise no longer supports the argument against. After canvassing possible objections to our argument, we reflect upon some conclusions that suggest significant epistemological ramifications pertaining to the acquisition of knowledge from prior knowledge by deduction.

In a recent article in Respublica, Jesper Ryberg argues that CCTV can be compared to a little old lady gazing out onto the street below. This article takes issue with the claim that government surveillance can be justified in this manner. Governments have powers and responsibilities that little old ladies lack. Even if CCTV is effective at preventing crime, there may be less intrusive ways of doing so. People have a variety of legitimate interests in privacy, and protection for these (...) is important to their status as free and equal citizens. Consequently, though necessary, effectiveness is insufficient to justify CCTV in a democracy. (shrink)

The fable book The Kingfisher Story Collection shows that Mr. Kingfisher is an avid traveler. However, due to unfavorable conditions, his dream of a long-distance journey became a challenging ordeal. Since 2016, Mr. Kingfisher had been yearning for this trip, but it wasn’t until recently that he was able to board the CSIRO/AOS ship to Australia for a long-haul trip. The purpose of the trip was to contribute words of encouragement to the conservation efforts of the Tasmanian Azure Kingfishers in (...) Australia. (shrink)

Two recently published oral histories highlight the long-term trend concerning the mainstreaming of Objectivism, the political and economic ideas of the libertarian conservative writer and ideologue, Ayn Rand. Scott McConnell’s sympathetic interview collection focuses on supporters and acquaintances from Rand’s active period in the 1960s and 1970s. These supporters and acquaintances include former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, who provides McConnell with his considered views concerning Rand. Gary Weiss’s critical interview collection focusses on her more recent supporters, with one displeased (...) and insightful interviewee to be found in both collections. Weiss’s collection reveals the role played by Objectivists in galvanizing the focus of the populist Tea Party movement. Both oral histories reveal the role played by the media and popular culture in mainstreaming Rand’s views. The review ends by comparing Randolph Stow’s socially responsive individualism as described in his novel 'Tourmaline' with Rand’s transactional individualism as described in 'Atlas Shrugged.'. (shrink)

The French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan describes the right-wing intellectual as “no more than your Mr. Everyman, but your Mr. Everyman with greater strength of character.” It is tempting to apply the description to sensible English essayists, though they take up positions across the political spectrum. I shall raise two worries about this application, one of which is a puzzle for Lacan.

For many years, the human need for the group, social life, and the impact of this form of life on mental health and body have been discussed. This is said to be less about loneliness and the role played by human beings. Loneliness is a global issue experienced by all humans more or less and with their lives. In other words, many people with races, cultures, social classes, and at different ages and times each experience some kind of loneliness. It (...) is true that human being is an absolute social being and we always hear from the benefits of communication and satisfaction from it, But this should not be overlooked by the constructive and positive aspects of being alone, especially in education systems; Hence, this article was conducted with the aim of examining the opinions and views of Eric Forum on loneliness and analyzing its consequences in education. This research is part of qualitative research, which is done by analytical-deductive method. Findings indicate that Any social person with extensive communication does not necessarily have mental health; On the other hand, loneliness is not always a sign for malicious and anti-social characters, In other words, what is important is the difference between antisocial people and a group consciously choosing loneliness. Therefore, loneliness is an emotional feeling that in the case of balance, it can be constructive and lead to self-knowledge, the development of reflection thinking, self-consciousness and if it is to be extreme, there will be plenty of harm in the community, especially education systems. (shrink)

Recent studies have demonstrated neural overlap between resting state activity and self-referential processing. This “rest-self” overlap occurs especially in anterior cortical midline structures like the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC). However, the exact neurotemporal and biochemical mechanisms remain to be identified. Therefore, we conducted a combined electroencephalography (EEG)-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) study. EEG focused on pre-stimulus (e.g., prior to stimulus presentation or perception) power changes to assess the degree to which those changes can predict subjects’ perception (and judgment) of subsequent (...) stimuli as high or low self-related. MRS measured resting state concentration of glutamate, focusing on PACC. High pre-stimulus (e.g., prior to stimulus presentation or perception) alpha power significantly correlated with both perception of stimuli judged to be highly self-related and with resting state glutamate concentrations in the PACC. In sum, our results show (i) pre-stimulus (e.g., prior to stimulus presentation or perception) alpha power and resting state glutamate concentration to mediate rest-self overlap that (ii) dispose or incline subjects to assign high degrees of self-relatedness to perceptual stimuli. (shrink)

Mr. Russell’s Problems of Philosophy is generally considered a classic text within the history of philosophy. This is, however, not the case: every ‘original’ idea therein had been presented by Mr. Russell previously; the book is replete with unoriginal ideas; and a great deal of everything that is considered ‘philosophy’ is ignored in the book. The problematics under discussion are, ultimately, only those of Mr. Russell’s own understanding of philosophy which, as Analytic Philosophy, is quite narrow. Furthermore, what Mr. Russell (...) says in the book is not without its opponents. (shrink)

The fight against corruption has become increasingly sophisticated and such demands a well-integrated, multidisciplinary strategy. This has necessitated the establishment of anti-corruption institutions, agencies or commissions which invariably have one or more of three functions: investigation and enforcement; corruption prevention; and awareness and education. However in Ghana, despite the existence of anti-corruption institutions, the perception of corruption has steadily increased to overwhelming levels. Why the increase in corruption in the face of these anti-corruption institutions is the subject matter of this (...) study. This study brings to fore the systemic barriers, their frequency of occurrence and magnitude. This study aimed at identifying the challenges that affect the effectiveness of these anti-corruption institutions in Ghana. The study was purposely carried out within anti-corruption institutions in Ghana. A simple random probability sampling was employed in sampling nine (9) anti-corruption institutions in the Ashanti Region of Ghana and questionnaires administered to their administrative heads. Relative importance, frequency and severity equations were used to analyze and rank the challenges affecting the work of these institutions. Lack of political will and inadequate leadership and management with Relative importance Index RII of 0.9778 respectively were the two (2) most critical challenges affecting the effectiveness of anti-corruption institutions in Ghana. Lack of donor initiatives with RII of 0.6667 was considered as the least challenge. The most frequent challenge identified by the anti-corruption agencies was the lack of budget and fiscal autonomy, with an index of 0.8148. In the face of these challenges, the government of Ghana should improve upon its efforts at fighting corruption as it strengthens the various anti-corruption institutions financially and logistically. (shrink)

The neurotransmitters GABA and glutamate have been suggested to play a role in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) through an imbalance between cortical inhibition and excitation. This effect has been highlighted in higher brain areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, but has also been posited in basic sensory cortices. Based on this, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used to investigate potential changes to GABA+ and glutamate+glutamine (Glx) concentrations within the occipital cortex in MDD patients (n = 25) and healthy controls (n (...) = 25). No difference in occipital GABA+ or Glx concentrations, nor in the GABA+/Glx ratio, was found between groups. An analysis of an extended MDD patient and unmatched control dataset (n = 90) found no correlation between metabolite concentrations and depressive symptoms. These results were integrated with prior studies through metabolite-specific meta-analyses, revealing no difference in occipital GABA and Glx concentrations between patients and controls. An effect of publication year on GABA group differences was found, suggesting that previously reported results may have been artifacts of measurement accuracy. Taken together, our results suggest that, contrary to some prior reports, MRS measurements of occipital GABA and Glx do not differ between MDD patients and controls. (shrink)

Commentators of the judicial decisions of Justice Holmes have often situated the decisions inside the doctrines of freedom of expression and the rules and tests approach to legal analysis. This Paper situates his judgments in the context of a political theory. Drawing from his articles, lectures and correspondence, the Paper highlights Holmes’ reaction to the idealism and rationalism of the intellectual current before him. His view of human nature, conditioned by his war experience, is elaborated. The Paper especially examines his (...) theory of political struggle with the process-oriented view that the dominant social groups invariably become the political elite. The Paper then connects his theory of human nature to his legal doctrines, the role of the judiciary, the nature of the state, and a legal right. (shrink)

By portraying meaning as a phenomenon that eludes complete expression and arises spontaneously in our everyday embodied interactions with others and objects in the world, as well as in our own unconscious registering of those interactions, Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway is uniquely insightful concerning both the presence of meaning in modern life and the modern conception of the self--phenomena marked by a certain ineradicable tension between that which is constituted by us and that which is given from outside us. This paper (...) examines this tension through the lens of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, with special attention to the leitmotif of the «spontaneity of sense». Woolf and Merleau-Ponty both help to illustrate an important modern insight: that among the most meaningful experiences are those that are not only unexpected and unexplained, but in some sense foreign and unexplainable--mysterious events and yet everyday occurrences that explode the supposed privacy of our thought, and exceed our capacity for expression. (shrink)

Besides being the title of an EP by The (International) Noise Conspiracy, “Bigger cages, longer chains!” is an anarchist rallying cry. It’s meant to ridicule those political activists who compromise their ideals, make demands and then settle for partial concessions or, to put it bluntly, bargain with the Man. In the T.V. series Mr. Robot, Christian Slater plays the anarchist leader of a hacktivist group known as fsociety. Mr. Robot won’t negotiate with the FBI and E(vil) Corp for bigger cages (...) and longer chains. He tells Elliot Anderson, the young cybersecurity expert and hacker, “We live in a kingdom of bullshit!” Victory over the tyranny of corporations and states requires radical means to achieve radical ends. Mr. Robot wants freedom without limits, total liberation from corporate and statist control, and the opportunity to live in a world without bullshit. Mr. Robot’s objective is to free citizens of first-world nations from the cages of consumer debt and citizens of third-world nations from the shackles of extreme poverty. Meeting half-way will not do. So what are the inspirations for Mr. Robot’s hacktivist philosophy? The most proximate sources are David Graeber’s anarchism, which also influenced the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the hacktivist group Anonymous’s moralfaggery, that is, the policy of some of its members to use collective computer hacking to serve the greater good. Candidates for more remote sources are Marxism and pragmatism; the former, a blueprint for freeing the working class from their bourgeois oppressors; the latter, a philosophy of action, intelligent inquiry and democratic reform. Some might object that pragmatism is too conventional to be compatible with the radical ideas that motivate Mr. Robot’s worldview. Hacktivism demands action, not mere thinking! But any organized social-political movement requires a well-thought-out plan as well as a vision of what its participants hope to achieve. Since pragmatism is a philosophy of action and reform, it’s possible that Mr. Robot is a closet pragmatist! (shrink)

This paper deals with what I take to be one woman’s literary response to a philosophical problem. The woman is Jane Austen, the problem is the rationality of Hume’s ‘sensible knave’, and Austen’s response is to deepen the problem. Despite his enthusiasm for virtue, Hume reluctantly concedes in the EPM that injustice can be a rational strategy for ‘sensible knaves’, intelligent but selfish agents who feel no aversion towards thoughts of villainy or baseness. Austen agrees, but adds that ABSENT CONSIDERATIONS (...) OF A FUTURE STATE, other vices besides injustice can be rationally indulged with tolerable prospects of worldly happiness. Austen’s creation Mr Elliot in Persuasion is just such an agent – sensible and knavish but not technically ‘unjust’. Despite and partly because of his vices – ingratitude, avarice and duplicity – he manages to be both successful and reasonably happy. There are plenty of other reasonably happy knaves in Jane Austen, some of whom are not particularly sensible. This is not to say that either Austen or Hume is in favor of knavery It is just that they both think that only those with the right sensibility can be argued out of it. (shrink)

In the following paper we explore the utopian theme of revolution in two filmic works of art: the movie Fight Club (1999), directed by David Fincher, and the very recent TV series Mr. Robot (2015), created by Sam Esmail. We will argue that Fight Club is an existential meditation on simulation, dehumanization and the capitalistic tyranny of the objects combined with a nihilistic pursuit of authenticity through violence. Closely following Fight Club’s rumination on madness as “revolution of the self,” Mr. (...) Robot allows us to take a peek into the mystery of revolutionary freedom: will it change everything or will we come to regret our former tyrants? (shrink)

David Hume, a leading Scottish Enlightenment philosopher using empirical investigation, examines and explains his view on human nature, society, and morality in A Treatise of Human Nature (Treatise) and in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (Enquiry). In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Jekyll and Hyde), Robert Louis Stevenson draws from the Enlightenment’s empirical explorations in the study of the individual and society, to tell a story examining human nature.