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The academic discipline of the history of religions is intrinsically interdisciplinary, and perhaps in a position to contribute particularly useful insights to the dialogue across academic boundaries. This essay is intended to present a very thin slice of cultural responses to our contemporary condition, and to suggest a few possible resources for analysis of them.
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Why then should we be interested in the Jaina tradition and its relations with the West? First, the numbers do not give an accurate picture of the importance of Jainism. Jains like Anju Jain, former co-CEO of Deutsche Bank, are influential in the world of business and trade. In India, Jains both male and female are much more likely to be literate than their Hindu compatriots. The Jain tradition is rich and beautiful, both in the historical and contemporary perspective. Jains have made central contributions to Indian culture. In Indian philosophy they sought to position themselves in the middle ground between the “one-sided” views of other schools.
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We often wonder: What are the limits of religious tolerance? Why can we be very open to the idea of tolerance, as a principle, and still, when it comes about our own family/actions, to be, in many cases, intolerant?1 What is the difference between the idea of tolerance and its particular application? And why, so many times, we are tolerant in words, and intolerant in practice? Why does this difference occur? And why are we showing indifference when we should implicate ourselves and make a difference? Yes, we play with notions, but we actually do this in everyday life.
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In order to understand social reforms regarding women’s rights in nineteenth century India, one needs to begin by taking a look at the ideas of “rule of law” and at the “rule of colonial difference”, which animated legislation initiatives in the field of gender and discrimination in colonial India.
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The presented contribution analyses – in the context of Jan Zouhar’s research scope and also on the background of the professional interests of the immortalized František Kautman (1927–2016) – the ‘philosophy’ of T. G. Masaryk’s (1850–1937) work. At the beginning, there are new publications on his alleged origin from the family of the Austro-Hungarian monarch, further their fictionalization, the investigation of his late sexual life and, last but not least, the flow of his juvenile correspondence with Zdenka Šemberová (1841–1912). For her, this communication was full of erotic and intellectual hopes which were not fulfilled and led to her lifelong loneliness and resignation, especially after the death of her father Alois Vojtěch Šembera (1807–1882), professor of Vienna Slavonic studies, one of the first opponents of the medieval authenticity of the legendary Czech Manuscripts, all of this on the background of the life of the university and Czech Vienna, where they both lived, and the adjacent Moravia. Masaryk, with his weak knowledge of standard Czech, Šemberová, at that time already a mature lady, record in their correspondence the course of their lives, their opinions, readings, and document their intellectual maturing. Their correspondence represents evidence of the lives of both: Masaryk was gradually becoming a scholar and mainly a politician, and understood their correspondence, from which Zdenka expected also an amorous fulfilment, as a mere practical exercise in stylistics and a confrontation of opinions. Their correspondence throws a new, not always favourable light on the youth of the future Czechoslovak president. Already there, the elementary features of his personality were taking their shapes.
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The substance of the secularization theory, as formulated by most sociologists in the 1960s and 1970s, presupposed that modernity would implicitly lead to the decline of religion in society, ultimately to its elimination. Secularization, as a separation of the sacred-profane spheres, was the direct result of modernization. Today's reality contradicts this religious skepticism.
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After 1990, the Romanian political philosophy freed from the compulsory official Marxist dogma had to choose between a range of inadequate options from the viewpoint of current reality: reconnecting with the interwar tradition but in a different historical context; replaying the cold war ideological clash this time from the anti-Marxist perspective, that seemed redundant given the political and economic failure of Marxism or embracing the western post modern discourse, that didn’t reflect in any way the current Romanian political and social realities. Faced with these alternatives it was necessary to regain a philosophical experience of the transition from modernity to post-modernity that will enable the adequate approach to the realities of the transition from communism to post-modern capitalism. Given this context, from a certain philosophical perspective, the study of Rawls from A theory of Justice to Political Liberalism provided a unique opportunity to escape tradition without canceling it, to overcome the socialist-capitalist dichotomy and to connect to contemporary philosophical debates without losing the local perspective.
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In an attempt to capture the beginnings of modernity in Mircea Florian's philosophy (and, implicitly, in Romanian philosophy in the twentieth century) we start from the philosophy of recessiveness developed by the Romanian thinker and discuss, for a start, the relationship between philosophy and nation, on the one hand , and the relationship between Romanian philosophy and universal philosophy, on the other hand. In both cases, the recessive ratio indicates a duality. Philosophy means infinity, generality, totality, and the nation expresses the essence, the real, the individual. The dominant term is philosophy, and the nation is recessive. Mircea Florian accentuated the state of Romanian philosophy through a series of rules of philosophical conduct, thus affirming its autonomy from other fields of spirit and recognizing its existence in a national context.
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The concept of punishment represents one of the most difficult legal issues that are related to the concept of human freedom and responsibility. Since Antiquity, the brilliant minds of humanity contemplated about the sense of punishment and the function of this institution. Each epoch analyses this concept from different aspects and some of them are reflected in the actual legislation. The most important principles of contemporary criminal law were expounded by the Ancient, Modern and Contemporary philosophers. The field of research of this article is the philosophy of punishment of criminal law. In this study, we have applied the method of historical research of the proposed topic, which gives us the opportunity to analyze the development of criminal punishment and its goals from a historical perspective. In this paper, we aimed to determine the philosophical base of the legal punishment that legitimizes the application of sanctions to the person who committed the crime. We established the importance of the theories developed by brilliant thinkers for the contemporary concept of penal retribution and legal regulation of this institution. This theme generates several discussions that are formed in the process of comparison and debating of the ideas of influential philosophers regarding the purpose of criminal punishment. Therefore, we consider that the analysis of the theories of great thinkers gives us the possibility to understand the complexity of the phenomenon of criminal punishment, and leads to the more effective application of state constraint towards the offender.
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Two translation procedures from the 12th century are the subject of consideration in this critical essay: the way in which Anselm of Havelberg’s debates were translated in Constantinople in 1136 and the reading by Gerhoh of Reichersberg and his followers of the resolutions of the Synod of the Church in Constantinople in 1166. The aim of the analysis is to refute the widely held view that the nature of Latin translations in the 12th century was constantly the execution verbum pro verbo.
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The paper presents a comparative study that aims at the sometimes problematic cyclicality of axiological education (literary-artistic axiology) approached from various perspectives. The motivation for the investigation of the literary-artistic axiology of students in the context of studying texts from foreign literatures is determined by both theoretical and practical premises. Western specialists in the field of reading process define literary-artistic values according to several perspectives, each discovering a determining factor, deduced from the nature of the participants in the reading process: the author of the literary-artistic text, the literary text, the concrete reader / the virtual reader, to which is added the overlap of the social experience in a certain field, the ethical, political and ideological social approaches, as well as the philosophical, artistic, theoretical-literary dogmas and systems, etc.
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Professor Surendranath Dasgupta (1887-1952) is probably best remembered as a Philosopher and for his contributions to the historiography of Indian Philosophy. This spirit of philosophical enquiry can also be discovered in his famous works on Yoga and Tantra – knowledge systems which are based in praxis. However, as a thinker, Professor Dasgupta defied all disciplinary boundaries and wrote and lectured on the sciences, literature, art history, aesthetics and so on. Even a cursory look at his teaching career establishes the essentially interdisciplinary nature of his calling: among other things, Dasgupta served as a Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali in Rajshahi and Chittagong College; then taught Bengali at Oxford University; became Professor of Philosophy at Presidency College; then Principal of Sanskrit College; afterwards Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calcutta. He was deeply influenced by poetry, especially Rabindranath Tagore, and many of his essays on philosophy would include Tagore’s poetry as an instance to prove his point or as a moment of epiphany in an otherwise structured argument. Besides these scholarly pursuits, he has also authored poetry collections and novels in Bangla. Dasgupta liked to keep himself informed about the latest developments in World Literature and at times, he even participated in the literary debates that were taking place in the public sphere at that period. Perhaps, his initial training as a student of Sanskrit served as the foundation for this lifelong engagement with languages and literatures. My presentation seeks to locate this literary persona of Professor Dasgupta through a reading of some of his works including Sāhitya Paricay and The History of Sanskrit Literature – in which he worked as an editor and as one of the two contributors. Supplementing these with texts on art and aesthetics by Dasgupta, we seek to understand his way of approaching literature – characteristically comparative; looking for patterns of relationships and connections across time, space, cultures
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While God is the creator and giver of life, man can become co-creator in having offspring by following His command to “increase and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1: 28). Man's synergy in the creation of life is expressed by the free will of the future parents and is reflected in the resemblance between the parents and the child, due to the laws of heredity. Parenthood is therefore not determined solely by God, but it is also shaped by man based on his personal desires and goals. At the same time the notion of man as a cocreator indicates that his reproductive freedom should be in accordance with divine providence and wisdom. Therefore, procreation should not only be understood as a personal right, but also as a significant responsibility, both towards God and the child who comes into existence. The theological understanding of man as co-creator allow us to come to some conclusions regarding the ethics of termination of the unborn human life through abortion, and the human desire to overcome the obstacle of infertility through the methods of assisted reproduction.
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Today, when questioning the meaning of life, we identify certain attitudes. In the following lines, I propose to specify some of these attitudes, which I will later analyse from a theological point of view, highlighting the specifics of Christian thought regarding the aforementioned question. On the one hand, the inspiration for such an approach came after reading the first part of the last paper published by the Member of the Romanian Academy Ștefan Afloroaei, Despre simțul vieții [‘On the meaning of life’], entitled, „Din nou întrebarea cu privire la sensul vieții” [‘Again the question of the meaning of life’], in particular, the chapter, „Un reflex al acestui timp: chestionarea sceptică a întrebării” [‘A Reflection of This Time: The Sceptical Questioning of the Question’]. We have identified some arguments on which such an attitude of the authors is based, such as: David E. Cooper, John Wisdom, Kai Nielsen, Tim. J. Mawson, Constantin Noica, Jean Grondin. On the other hand, in the theological reflections we had as source of inspiration, first of all, an explanatory note of Father Dumitru Stăniloae to the apology of Saint Athanasius the Great regarding the fact that Christ asked questions humanly, highlighting at the same time that He humbled Himself by becoming a Man to such an extent that He assumed all that was proper to this nature, including the question of asking questions, but not the sin that entered into this nature through disobedience. The explanatory note (in which Father Stăniloae deepens what does the fact of asking ourselves questions represents from a theological point of view, together with another text from the Homilies and speeches of Saint Basil the Great) is in fact the foundation of the theological reflections I develop in these pages on the question of the meaning of life. At the end of this study, I will conclude that, from a theological point of view, the question of the meaning of life provides an opportunity to meet ourselves, God, and others.
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Mythology is the basic feature of every ethnicity.The Creation of the world is an important starting point and is differently represented by every nation. In addition, myths are spread into pieces. Here is a brief comparison of the Chinese, Greek, Japanese Egyptian, Indian and Hittite Anatolia mythology. Each of them has its unique features, but they also have some overlapping points. Generally speaking there are one and the same elements, people or things appearing in the myths mentioned above. For example we can find the conception of the Chaos not only within the Chinese myths but also in the Greek and Indian ones.
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Creationism is the biblical teaching that God created the heavens and the earth, bringing everything into concrete existence through His creative Word and will. Through this creative act, God shows that Creation has its principle and purpose in God, making Him transparent. All varieties of birds were created from water. The expression "after their kind" is used only when life is being built, in the last three days of Creation, to understand that God, during this interval, built all living creatures on earth. This expression means that the type of animal is preserved by reproduction, which entitles us to say that the species did not evolve but remained the same. The noun "kind", "type", "classification", "species" shows there are fixed types or classifications. It is true that, within genetic limits, animals can evolve, but one species cannot transform into another. The main causes of the theory of biological evolution: natural selection and mutations eliminate from its assumptions the existence of a Creator. In arguing with evolutionists, creationists point out that for a flightless animal to become "flying", almost every anatomical structure would require changes, a theory that is not supported by any (fossil) evidence. Although we cannot fully understand the divine reason, Christians today can extract useful meaning from this creative action. Thus, we do not read them as myths, but try to value the sacred text and discover its divine message. Saint Ambrose shows that birds can provide "a parable for our living", because in them, "social and military leadership is natural", but in humans it is "forced and enslaved". The entire creation testifies to the Unity, Omnipotence and Wisdom of its Creator, which also manifests itself in the existence of a purpose for living beings, that of living, to offer oneself, which for man constitutes a path to salvation.
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Бесспорно, проблема человека является центральной для сознания нашей эпохи (на этом особенно настаивал Макс Шелер). Она обострена той страшной опасностью, которой подвергается человек со всех сторон. Переживая агонию, человек хочет знать, кто он, откуда он пришел, куда идет и к чему предназначен. Во второй половине ХIХ в. были замечательные мыслители, которые, переживая агонию, внесли трагическое начало в европейскую культуру и более других сделали для постановки проблемы человека, – это, прежде всего, Достоевский, Ницше, Кирхегардт. Есть два способа рассмотрения человека – сверху и снизу, от Бога и духовного мира и от бессознательных космических и теллурических сил, заложенных в человеке. Из тех, которые смотрели на человека снизу, быть может, наибольшее значение имеют Маркс и Фрейд, из писателей последней эпохи – Пруст. Но целостной антропологии не было создано: видели те или иные стороны человека, а не человека целостного, в его сложности и единстве. Я предполагаю рассматривать проблему человека как философ, а не как теолог. Современная мысль стоит перед задачей создания философской антропологии как основной философской дисциплины. В этом направлении действовал М. Шелер, и этому помогает так называемая экзистенциальная философия.
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Новая западноевропейская философия, начиная с Декарта, усматривает в «я», в неопределимом далее носителе личного индивидуального сознания, некое абсолютно первичное, ни с чем иным не сравнимое и все иное объемлющее начало. Этот носитель и центр личного сознания совпадает, с этой точки зрения, с тем, что называется «гносеологическим субъектом», т. е. с «познающим» или «сознающим». Все остальное, что так или иначе доступно человеческому сознанию и познанию, противостоит в качестве предмета или содержания познания, в качестве «не-я» этому «я» и вместе с тем объемлется им, так как существует только в нем или в отношении к нему, для него. По сравнению с этой абсолютной первичностью и с этим верховенством «я», с этой идеальной точкой, в которой бытие есть для себя, в которой оно впервые раскрывается, озаряется сознанием, то собирательное целое, которое мы разумеем, «мы», есть нечто совершенно производное и внешнее. Под «мы» здесь может разуметься (в согласии с обычным учением грамматики, для которой «мы» есть «множественное число» от «я») только субъективно-сознаваемая множественность отдельных субъектов, собрание или сумма многих «я», которая, в отличие от самого «я», есть уже не «субъект», не что-то первичное и для себя самого сущее, а лишь содержание сознания каждого отдельного «я».
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Очищение христианства от исторической скорлупы ведет к его уничтожению, как в протестантизме. Не в целом, а все-таки есть определенный рисунок христианского миропонимания. Зло – в отсутствии церковного миропонимания.
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