The article focuses on the cartographic enactment of the topos of Ukraine as a lost homeland in contemporary German literary discourse on migration, and in particular in the body of work that conveys the voices of the “second generation” — children of the German (post-)war migration. The article analyses by way of an illustrative example Hans-Ulrich Treichel’s poem “Flight into Kyiv,” in which we find reflected the autobiographical theme of the (re)construction of the lost homeland of his father, (...) a Volyn German who fled to Germany during the Second World War to escape reprisals of the Soviet army. The main object of research are the mental maps of Ukrainian space, which largely define the way Ukraine is represented both in contemporary German social discourse and in modern German literature. A textual analysis of the poem allows us to discern how the resource of the Western European construct of Eastern Europe is instrumentalized and aesthetically arranged by German (post)migration perception to institutionalize the image of Ukraine as a “lost homeland.”. (shrink)

The Jewish People and the Quest for a Homeland: A Historical Overview Abstract For centuries, the Jewish people experienced periods of sovereignty interspersed with long durations of exile and statelessness. This paper explores the historical trajectory that led to the loss of Jewish sovereignty, the prolonged diaspora, and the eventual re-establishment of a Jewish state in the 20th century. Key factors include ancient conquests, forced exiles, the development of the Zionist movement, and international political developments culminating in the founding (...) of the State of Israel in 1948. 1. Ancient Jewish Sovereignty and Its Loss The Jewish people's connection to the land of Israel dates back to antiquity. Around 1000 BCE, the united monarchy under Kings Saul, David, and Solomon established a sovereign Jewish kingdom. Following Solomon's reign, the kingdom split into Israel (north) and Judah (south). The northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE, leading to the Assyrian captivity, where many Israelites were deported. Later, the southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, resulting in the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile of the Jewish elite. Although the Persian conquest allowed some Jews to return and rebuild the Temple (Second Temple period), subsequent control by Hellenistic and Roman empires eroded Jewish autonomy. The Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE led to widespread dispersal and the prohibition of Jews from Jerusalem. 2. The Jewish Diaspora and Preservation of Identity The aftermath of Roman conquests initiated the Jewish Diaspora, dispersing Jewish communities across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. Despite the loss of a central homeland, Jews maintained their religious and cultural identity through communal life centered around synagogues, study of the Torah, and adherence to traditions. Throughout the diaspora, Jewish communities often faced persecution, including expulsions, forced conversions, and pogroms. Notably, the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century and the Russian pogroms in the 19th century exemplify the challenges faced by Jews in exile. 3. Emergence of Zionism and the Pursuit of a Homeland In the late 19th century, amidst rising European nationalism and antisemitism, Theodor Herzl advocated for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. His 1896 pamphlet, 'Der Judenstaat,' and the convening of the First Zionist Congress in 1897 laid the foundation for political Zionism. Zionist efforts focused on facilitating Jewish immigration to Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and establishing institutions to support a future state. The movement gained momentum with the Balfour Declaration of 1917, wherein Britain expressed support for a 'national home for the Jewish people' in Palestine. 4. The Holocaust and International Support for a Jewish State The atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II, which resulted in the murder of six million Jews, underscored the vulnerabilities of statelessness. The post-war refugee crisis and the plight of Holocaust survivors intensified international support for the establishment of a Jewish state. In 1947, the United Nations proposed a partition plan to create separate Jewish and Arab states in Palestine. While Jewish leaders accepted the plan, Arab leaders rejected it, leading to conflict. On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the independence of the State of Israel. 5. Conclusion The Jewish people's historical experience of sovereignty, exile, and the eventual re-establishment of a homeland is marked by resilience and a persistent connection to their ancestral land. Despite centuries of dispersion and adversity, the cultural and religious identity of the Jewish people endured, culminating in the modern State of Israel. References • Assyrian captivity. Wikipedia. • Babylonian captivity. Wikipedia. • Jewish Diaspora. Britannica. • Zionism - Meaning, Definition & Religious. HISTORY. • Balfour Declaration. Wikipedia. • Postwar Refugee Crisis and the Establishment of the State of Israel. Holocaust Encyclopedia. • State of Israel proclaimed. HISTORY. -/- . (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to examine whether it is morally wrong to ban only male citizens from leaving a country in wartime, and if it is, why it is the case. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law and ordered general mobilization, at the same time prohibiting male citizens aged 18 to 60 from crossing the border. The justifiability of the ban is in dispute, and opponents have made a case in both legal and (...) moral dimensions. In the moral dimension, there are arguments based on consequentialism, individual freedom, and fairness or non-discrimination. In this paper, I focus on the third argument and argue that the ban unfairly and morally wrongfully discriminates against male Ukraine citizens on the basis of their gender. First, I define discrimination and apply it to our case. Second, moving from the descriptive definition of discrimination to its moral wrongness, I argue that the male-only ban is unfair and morally unjustified. Third, I argue that the ban can also be deemed morally wrong from one of the prominent views in the field of the ethics of discrimination, namely the deliberative freedom view. (shrink)

This paper investigates the political dimension of Fritz Mauthner’s writings in respect to his language critique and his ambivalent relationship to Judaism. Its aim is to oppose the common understanding of Mauthner as a German-nationalist. For doing so, Mauthner’s relation to Judaism is contextualised within his philosophical views on patriotism, mother-tongue, and the formation of social communities. By suggesting an anti-nationalist interpretation of his philosophy, it is argued that participation in a certain linguistic practice can explain what it means to (...) belong to a certain community according to Mauthner. The paper discusses to what extent Mauthner’s writings can be interpreted as anti-nationalist and concludes that he is too contradictory to be understood distinctively as a nationalist or an anti-nationalist. (shrink)

There is a particular kind of longing that only those displaced by Partition can truly understand: the yearning to return to the soil where one first breathed, where one's roots run deep beneath houses now occupied by strangers, beneath streets that carry different names, beneath a sky that belongs to a different nation. Hardev Singh Virk's Meri Janambhumi (Pakistan) Diyan Yatravan is an intimate, deeply personal account of that longing being fulfilled, not once but four times over four decades. Written (...) in Punjabi, the book chronicles the author's journeys to Pakistan in 1981, 1983, 1988, and most recently in 2024, weaving together the threads of personal memory, scientific achievement, cultural observation, and the bittersweet experience of returning to a homeland forever altered by history. (shrink)

Spirituality connotes praxis informed by religious or faith convictions. This can transform the individual and society at large. Christian spirituality is centered on how a person’s relationship with the God of Jesus Christ informs and directs one’s approach to existence and engagement with the world. The ecosystem concerns humanity and relationship with it is invariably influenced by faith or religious informed praxis. The reality of climate change is convincing many people that humankind’s common homeland needs to be treated with (...) care and respect if created beings are to have a congenial habitat now and in the future. This article avers that Christian spirituality can contribute to eco-friendly behavior through re-formation of the behavior of people and emboldening their goodwill as regards the responsibility of all towards the care of the earth. Finally, this research proffers a three-fold model of eco-spirituality - scriptural, selfcontrol, and sacramental approaches to the earth – as a contribution towards stemming the tide of ecological assaults on creation. Textual analysis is the method used in this research. (shrink)

In this article I argue that while an attachment to one's country is both natural and even partially justifiable, cultivating loyal patriotism in schools is untenable insofar as it conflicts with the legitimate aims of education. These aims include the epistemological competence necessary for ascertaining important truths germane to the various disciplines; the cultivation of critical thinking skills ; and developing the capacity for economic self‐reliance. I argue that loyal patriotism may result in a myopic understanding of history, an unhealthy (...) attitude of superiority relative to other cultures, and a coerced sense of attachment to one's homeland. (shrink)

郢都巷深，皇山路远 Deep Lanes of Yingdu, Distant Roads to Huangshan -/- —献给我最亲爱的妈妈 — In Memory of My Dearest Mother -/- 清明的雨，如期而至。 细密，无声，落在硅谷我的屋檐与青石之间。 -/- 天地一片湿润的静默。 -/- 这是母亲离开后的第一个清明。 -/- 从刘冲村的小杨子湖岸， 到钟祥市郢中镇的古巷； 从寒门求学，到远赴重洋； 再到今日立身太平洋彼岸—— 四十八年的路，越走越远。 -/- 而今，西六巷十九号的四合院里， 桂影依旧轻摇，暗香仿佛仍在旧时的风中流转， 却再没有母亲忙碌的身影。 只剩父亲一人，在院落深处，守着岁月沉沉。 -/- 记忆缓缓回溯。 -/- 我出生时，是一个早产的孩子。 体弱、多病，整整哭了一百天。 -/- 那一百天里，昼夜颠倒，啼声不止。 母亲几乎没有睡过一个完整的觉。 她一遍遍将我抱起，在昏黄的灯下轻轻摇着， 用最原始、也最坚韧的方式，与命运对抗。 -/- 她从未抱怨。 -/- 后来我才明白—— 我这一生最初的存在， 并不是来自我自己， 而是来自母亲以身体与时间， 一点一点托起的生命。 -/- 她用自己的消耗， 换来了我的开始。 -/- 此后几十年，这种付出，从未停止。 -/- 在小杨子湖岸边， 她带着我们上山砍柴、放牛割草， 在艰难岁月里，为一家人撑起天空； 在郢中镇，她守着家门， 看我远行求学，走向更远的世界， 却始终站在身后，沉默而坚定。 -/- 她常说： “只要肯努力，就没有过不去的坎。” -/- 这句话，陪我走过长安的求学岁月， 也陪我走过异国他乡的孤独与不确定。 -/- 离开母亲，开始自己的人生旅途， 至今已四十八年。 -/- 从楚国郢都出发， 到秦国长安求学， 再到美国加州硅谷—— 山河更迭，时代变迁， 我的脚步不断向远方延伸。 (...) -/- 而母亲，始终停留在原点。 -/- 她未曾远行， 却让我走向远方； 她未曾言说世界， 却给了我面对世界的力量。 -/- 这些年里，无论身在何处—— 当我面对困境， 当我需要做出选择， 当世界变得复杂而动荡—— -/- 内心深处，总有一种最朴素而坚定的力量。 -/- 那不是理论， 也不是知识， 而是母亲一生所呈现的那种存在方式： -/- 坚韧、沉默、不退让。 -/- 她没有读过书， 却以一生的实践，让我理解了什么是“智慧”。 -/- 那不是抽象的思辨， 而是在艰难之中依然向前； 是在困顿之中仍然稳定； 是在风雨之中，不失方向。 -/- 后来我走得越来越远， 接触科学、技术与更宏大的世界。 -/- 但我渐渐发现—— 那些被称为“规律”“系统”“秩序”的“道”， 在更深处， 与母亲身上那种朴素而坚定的生命力量， 竟是相通的。 -/- 她不言“道”，却活出了“道”。 -/- 2025年9月12日的那个夜晚， 我陪在母亲身边。 -/- 那一夜，很长。 长得仿佛时间被拉开，又缓慢流走。 -/- 灯光微弱，呼吸可闻。 我不记得说了多少话， 也不记得沉默了多久。 -/- 只是守着。 一刻也不愿离开。 -/- 那或许是我一生中， 最清醒、也最无能为力的一夜。 -/- 我看着生命一点点安静下来， 却无法为她分担分毫。 -/- 那一夜之后， 世界悄然改变。 -/- 母亲，在第二天，永远地离开了我们。 -/- 没有预兆，也没有告别。 -/- 如今，她长眠于皇山故园。 山色沉静，草木有情。 她终于与这片她一生未曾离开的土地， 长久相守。 -/- 母亲离开后的日子里， 我常常梦见她。 -/- 梦里的她，已经恢复了健康。 她走动、说话， 像从未离开过一样。 -/- 有时，我们在院中； 有时，又回到更早的岁月。 -/- 仿佛时间，从未断裂。 -/- 梦醒之时， 我几乎相信，一切不过是虚惊一场。 -/- 而现实，总在下一瞬， 将人带回沉默。 -/- 于是我渐渐明白—— 人之所以会梦见逝去的亲人， 并不是因为他们“回来”， 而是因为，他们从未真正离开。 -/- 清明又至，细雨如丝。 -/- 而我，远在太平洋的彼岸。 山海万重，归路漫长。 -/- 不能在墓前俯身一拜， 不能在风中点上一炷清香， 这一清明，更加怀念我最亲爱的妈妈。 -/- 唯有在异乡的雨声里， 静静伫立。 -/- 我将在太平洋的彼岸， 借一场清明的雨， 把哀思，送回母亲安眠的故园。 -/- 此刻，我才真正明白： 所谓母亲，从来不只是一个人。 -/- 她是一个生命的源头， 是一个人得以存在的起点。 -/- 她以身体承载生命， 以时间抚养成长， 以沉默支撑远行。 -/- 一个人可以跨越山海， 进入更广阔的世界； 可以用理性理解规律， 用科学解释宇宙， 甚至用思想去接近“道”。 -/- 但在此之前—— 母亲，已经完成了一次最真实的“生”。 -/- 从道生万物， 到万物有源， 这世间一切生成的逻辑， 并不抽象。 -/- 它最真实、最直接的呈现， 就是母亲。 -/- 于是我终于明白： -/- 我走过的路， 从楚地，到长安，到加州， 看似进入世界； -/- 但若追溯其起点—— 不过是母亲当年在灯下， 轻轻抱起那个啼哭百日的孩子。 -/- 那一刻， 生命已经被赋予方向。 -/- 清明的雨，还在下。 一滴一滴，落在故园，也落在异乡。 -/- 仿佛天地之间， 从未真正分离。 -/- 母亲，您未曾远去。 因为我本身， 就是您生命的延续。 -/- 而我的一切远行， 不过是在您给予的起点之上， 继续向前。 -/- Deep Lanes of Yingdu, Distant Roads to Huangshan -/- — In Memory of My Dearest Mother -/- Charles X. Yang -/- The Qingming rain arrives, as it always does. Fine, silent, falling upon my rooftops and stone paths—even here in Silicon Valley. -/- Between heaven and earth, a quiet, damp stillness. This is the first Qingming since my mother left us. -/- From the shores of Xiao Yangzi Lake in Liuchong Village, to the ancient alleys of Yingzhong Town in Zhongxiang; from a humble beginning in study, to journeys across oceans; and now, standing on the far side of the Pacific— forty-eight years have passed, carrying me ever farther away. -/- And yet, in the courtyard at No. 19, West Sixth Lane, the osmanthus trees still sway gently, their fragrance lingering as if in the winds of earlier days. But my mother’s busy figure is no longer there. Only my father remains, alone in the depths of the courtyard, keeping watch over the weight of passing time. -/- Memory slowly turns backward. -/- I was born premature— frail, sickly, crying for a hundred days. -/- During those hundred days, day and night lost their order, and my cries never ceased. My mother scarcely slept a full night. Again and again, she lifted me in her arms, rocking me gently beneath a dim lamp, facing fate in the most primal, most enduring way. -/- She never complained. -/- Only later did I come to understand— the beginning of my life did not come from myself, but from my mother, who, with her body and her time, held up my existence, piece by piece. -/- She gave of herself, so that I could begin. -/- In the decades that followed, this giving never ceased. -/- By the lake, she led us to gather firewood, tend cattle, cut grass— holding up the sky for our family in difficult times. In Yingzhong Town, she stayed by the home, watching me leave to study, to journey farther into the world, always standing behind me—silent, unwavering. -/- She often said: “If you are willing to work hard, there is no obstacle you cannot overcome.” -/- Those words accompanied me through my years of study in Chang’an, and through the loneliness and uncertainty of life abroad. -/- I left my mother to begin my own journey— forty-eight years ago. -/- From Yingdu of Chu, to Chang’an of Qin, and then to California Silicon Valley on the far shore of the Pacific—landscapes shifted, eras changed, and my steps carried me ever farther outward. -/- But my mother remained at the origin. -/- She never traveled far, yet she sent me into the distance. She never spoke of the world, yet she gave me the strength to face it. -/- All these years, wherever I have been— in moments of hardship, in times of decision, when the world grew complex and uncertain— -/- there has always been, deep within me, a quiet and steadfast force. -/- It is not theory. It is not knowledge. It is the way my mother lived: -/- resilient, silent, unyielding. -/- She had no formal education, yet through her life, she taught me what wisdom truly is. -/- Not abstract thought, but the ability to keep moving through hardship; to remain steady in difficulty; to hold one’s direction in the storm. -/- Later, as I went farther into the world, encountering science, technology, and grander systems, I gradually came to see— -/- what we call “laws,” “systems,” and “order,” what philosophy names the Dao, are, at a deeper level, not separate from the quiet strength my mother embodied. -/- She never spoke of the Dao, yet she lived it. -/- On the night of September 12, 2025, I sat by my mother’s side. -/- That night was long— as though time had been stretched, then slowly released. -/- The light was dim; her breathing was faint. I do not remember how much we spoke, nor how long we sat in silence. -/- I only remember staying— unwilling to leave, even for a moment. -/- It may have been the most lucid, and the most powerless, night of my life. -/- I watched life grow quiet, little by little, and could do nothing to bear even a fraction of it for her. -/- After that night, the world was quietly altered. -/- The next day, my mother closed her eyes forever. -/- No warning. No farewell. -/- Now she rests in the homeland of Huangshan. The mountains are still, the grass and trees full of feeling. At last, she remains with the land she never left, in enduring peace. -/- In the months since her passing, I often dream of her. -/- In my dreams, she is well again— walking, speaking, as though she had never gone. -/- Sometimes we are in the courtyard; sometimes in earlier years, as if time had never broken. -/- When I wake, for a fleeting moment, I almost believe it was all just a passing illusion. -/- But reality, in the next instant, returns me to silence. -/- And so I begin to understand: -/- we do not dream of those we have lost because they return— -/- but because they never truly leave. -/- Qingming comes again. The rain falls, fine as silk. -/- And I remain here, across the Pacific. Mountains and oceans stretch between us; the road home is long. -/- I cannot bow before her grave. I cannot light a single stick of incense in the wind. -/- And so, this Qingming, I miss my dearest mother all the more. -/- I stand quietly, listening to the rain in a foreign land. -/- Here, on the far side of the Pacific, I borrow this Qingming rain to carry my grief back to where my mother rests. -/- Only now do I truly understand: -/- a mother is never merely a person. -/- She is the source of a life, the beginning of existence itself. -/- She bears life with her body, nurtures it with her time, and sustains it with her silence. -/- A person may cross mountains and seas, enter vast worlds, use reason to understand laws, science to explain the universe, even thought to approach the Dao— -/- but before all of this, a mother has already completed the most real act of creation. -/- From Dao giving birth to all things, to all things having their source— the logic of existence is not abstract. -/- Its most immediate, most tangible form is the mother. -/- And so I finally understand: -/- the path I have walked— from Chu to Chang’an to California— seems to lead into the world. -/- Yet its true origin lies only in that moment when my mother, beneath a dim lamp, lifted a crying infant into her arms. -/- In that instant, life was given its direction. -/- The Qingming rain continues to fall. -/- Drop by drop, upon the homeland, and upon this distant shore. -/- As if heaven and earth had never truly been separated. -/- Mother, you have not gone far. -/- For I myself am the continuation of your life. -/- And all my journeys are but a continuation from the place you began. (shrink)

This chapter argues that the strategic and cognitive foundations of the United States’ 21st-century Global War on Terror (GWOT) were not a novel departure but were developed domestically during the state’s internal counterinsurgency against Black liberation movements in the 1960s and 1970s. It posits that the GWOT’s signature tactics—the preemptive targeting of “military-age males” and the use of computerized mass surveillance—represent the intense externalization of a long-standing American practice of racialized social control, rather than a foreign invention. The analysis begins (...) by identifying the core characteristics of post-9/11 U.S. counterterrorism: a deeply gendered ideology framing intervention as a civilizing mission to protect women, the concomitant categorization of the “military-age male” as a preemptive threat, and a massive investment in computational systems for mass surveillance and predictive modeling. It then traces the genealogy of these strategies back to the nation’s foundational structure as a counter-insurgent state, established through the extermination of Indigenous populations and the brutal governance of enslaved Africans. This internal war, characterized by gendercidal violence and social engineering, reached a climax during the Black Power era. The FBI’s COINTELPRO campaign against the Black Panther Party and allied groups served as the crucial laboratory for modern counterterrorism. Here, the state perfected a dual-track strategy of neutralizing prominent Black male leaders while subjecting the broader Black civilian population to pervasive community surveillance. Ultimately, the chapter aims to force a re-evaluation of the American state, contending that the distinction between foreign battlefield and domestic homeland is a legal fiction. The capabilities demonstrated in the GWOT are a historically embedded structural capacity, refined over centuries of managing Black populations and simply redirected to new theaters. The battlefields of the GWOT were, in essence, prefigured in the founding crucible of American slavery. (shrink)

Orthodox causal decision theory is unstable. Its advice changes as you make up your mind about what you will do. Several have objected to this kind of instability and explored stable alternatives. Here, I'll show that explorers in search of stability must part with a vestige of their homeland. There is no plausible stable decision theory which satisfies Savage's Sure Thing Principle. So those in search of stability must learn to live without it.

Every year, Easter arrives in West Papua with a burst of colour, prayer, and proclamation. Resurrection. New life. The victory of life over death. Churches fill to capacity. Social media buzzes with activity. The season's message of salvation is delivered with genuine sincerity by pastors and leaders alike. Yet, the Papuan people are dying — not just metaphorically or spiritually. The land is being taken. The language is slipping away. The forests that sustained life for tens of thousands of years (...) are being cleared for resources. The demographic makeup of the homeland is being deliberately manipulated to exterminate the original Papuans. The international community, carefully managed into apathy, turns a blind eye. Behind every Easter message, every biblical quote shared with heartfelt emotion, every proclamation of divine love from pulpit and platform, the conditions of Papuan extinction continue unabated. This contradiction is no accident, nor is it merely hypocrisy. It’s the surface of something much deeper — a process that impacts not only land and bodies but also a people's very ability to perceive what is being done to them. This process is called psycho-cosmocide. It involves the systematic destruction and replacement of an entire people's worldview, the framework through which they would normally recognise their own extinction, acknowledge it, and resist it. (shrink)

This essay offers an overview of the diversity of women’s prose writing that emerged on the Czech cultural scene in the post-communist era. To that end it briefly characterizes the work of eight Czech women authors who were born within the first two decades after World War II and began to create during the post-1968 era of ‘normalization’. In this broad sense they belong to a single generation. With rare exception their work was not officially published in their homeland (...) until the 1990s. The writers included are: Lenka Procházková, Tereza Boučková, Alexandra Berková, Zuzana Brabcová, Daniela Hodrová, Sylvie Richterová, Iva Pekárková, and Eva Hauserová. The overview is followed by a concise comparative analysis of texts by three very different writers (Procházková, Pekárková, and Hodrová), using a feminist critical approach. There is also an appendix of works by these writers available in English translation. (shrink)

Since the early Medieval Time people contested theological legitimation and rational discursive discours on authority as well as retreated to refuges to escape from any secular or ecclesiastical authority. Modern attempts formulated rational legitimation of authority in several ways: pragmatic authority by Monteigne, Bodin and Hobbes, or the contract authority of Locke and Rousseou. However, Enlightened Anarchism, first formulated in 1793 by the English philosopher William Godwin fulminated against all rational restrictions of human freedom and self-determination. However, we do not (...) analyze anarchism by the ‘what’ and the ‘why’, but by looking for the best actual approach of Anarchist’s ‘Promised Land’. Furthermore, we follow the footsteps of Thoreau’s Walden Pond experiment considered as a place of salvation and prototype of 19th century romantic’s extreme individualism towards Leopold’s ethics of the land. Indeed, Thoreau’s and later Muir’s concepts of refuges are tightly connected to territorial and temporal bio-regional constraints and imply an internally organized public area based on mutualism and Hannah Arendt’s agape. From these ideas of refuges, Aldo Leopold formulated his Land-ethics that claimed integrity and autonomy of the ‘Land’. His foundation is a prototype of the eco-centric free space version of eco-anarchism as formulated by Bookchin. In order to formulate a philosophical foundation of eco-anarchism we reject Newtonian homogeneous space-temporal conception, preceding the whole Modern discours about authority and state. On the contrary, we adopt the pluralistic Leibnizian space-time from which thinking-humans do not dissociate themselves, but participate as part of the rational infrastructure of eco-refuges. In eco-refuges, citizen belong to the civil society that stays in equilibrium with the landscape and all forms of biological life. Space is the boundary condition of human activity and determines how borders, environmental organization and institutes are sustained. Space has its proper essence of sustainability, unity and integrity. The individual feelings of security are embedded in a timelike tradition and evolution of the free space, while individual particular conceptions of space and time integrate into the social processes of identification with the refuge. Therefore, the creation of eco-refuges transforms the actual world of national authorities into a world of anarchistic democratic eco-regional homelands. (shrink)

Modern rationalism transformed the modern homeland to a discursive space and time by means of institutes governing the modern society in all its walks. Based on the Newtonian and Kantian conception of space and time the discursive field is just a scene wherein any human individual adopts stewardship to create progress by reducing landscape and non-human life to auxiliary items for human’s benefit. In contrast, Aldo Leopold considered humans, non human life and the landscape as mutually influencing participants and (...) enlarged ethical care to all living participants and the landscape, called ´the land´. Integrity and autonomy of the homeland are the central topics of Leopold’s land ethics. Baird Callicott suggested to complete it with new metaphysical conceptions of space and time. -/- We formulated a metaphysical background for Leopold’s land ethics by phenomenology of space and time based on the Leibnizian conception of space-time. The latter is constructed by particular places and events called ´ecotopois´ embracing all human participants, locals and foreigners in a varying symbolic temporal and spatial field of dynamic process of identification and self consciousness. Adopting Warwick Fox´ transpersonal identification idea non-human life and landscape enriches these processes. Finally, it is not a matter of conquering the land, it is matter of making a community. -/- Though landscape and participants are particular, integrity and autonomy of the homeland claim the universal status of the land. Adopting Gadamer hermeneutical way of understanding, we reject mutual and equally understanding. Only acceptance of mutual prejudice makes room for asymmetric praxis between locals and foreigners as well as between humans and non-humans. What is more, Gadamer´s hermeneutics makes an ontological status of the foreigner possible and recognizes the interest of homeland’s particularity. This universal status is guaranteed as a priori space-time that links subject’s tradition and that of the land to actual contact with the foreigner. Transpersonal identification is a consequence of converging hermeneutical understanding of foreigner’s particularity and that of the landscape. Ethics of the land evolves from the ethical status of any foreigner in the own homeland. -/- . (shrink)

This postscript reflects on two special issues that interrogate religious and legal justifications of domination and argues that questions of sovereignty remain constitutive for the field of Indigenous studies today. In contrast to proliferating carve‑outs such as food, energy, gaming, or cannabis sovereignty, the authors contend that such adjectival sovereignties concede excessive ground to settler colonial frameworks premised on tribal recognition, regulation, and permission. They assert that Indigenous nations are sovereign nations rather than administratively defined “tribes,” and that sovereignty must (...) be conceptualized as a lived, ongoing practice rather than a delegated or derivative status. Accordingly, the postscript calls for an understanding of Indigenous sovereignty as grounded in land, language, traditional governance, and the territorial integrity of Mother Earth. Moving beyond a sole focus on dismantling the Doctrine of Christian Discovery, it advances a vision of healing grounded in a return to precolonial lifeways, the revitalization of intergenerational knowledge, and the fulfillment of Indigenous responsibilities to all living beings. Reconnection to community and homelands is framed not as a source of shame for those separated by boarding schools and regimes of domination, but as a generative process of individual and collective healing. (shrink)

This paper undertakes a comparative study of two philosophical projects that, despite arising from entirely different traditions, converge on a shared diagnosis: that modern inquiry — scientific, academic, and civilizational — has become adept at accumulating knowledge while leaving its underlying aims largely unexamined. Nicholas Maxwell (1937–2025), working within the analytic tradition of philosophy of science at University College London, argued across five decades that science and academia must be reoriented "from knowledge to wisdom" through what he called aim-oriented empiricism. (...) The Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology (LYGC), developed independently within a Daoist-cosmological framework rooted in the Han River basin homeland of Laozi, proposes a formal architecture — comprising Sage Entropy, the Cosmic Constraint Function, and the Artificial Wisdom (AW) construct — for interpreting and measuring civilizational drift. We argue that Maxwell and LYGC share a diagnosis but diverge sharply on a deeper question that neither states outright: does wisdom require cosmology? Maxwell's program suggests no; LYGC's suggests yes. We treat this disagreement as the paper's central philosophical fault line rather than resolving it, and we present LYGC's cosmological and mathematical claims throughout as proposed interpretations and empirically testable hypotheses, not as established findings. The paper closes by situating both projects within a longer trajectory in the philosophy of science — from truth, to knowledge, to wisdom — and asks whether a further movement, toward cosmological orientation, is a defensible next step or an overreach. 本文对两种源于完全不同传统、却在核心诊断上殊途同归的哲学方案进行比较研究。二者共同的判断是：现代探究——无论是科学、学术还是文明本身——已经十分擅长积累知识，却极少认真审视其根本目标。奈特·麦克斯韦（ Nicholas Maxwell，1937—2025）在伦敦大学学院从事科学哲学研究逾五十年，主张科学与学术必须通过他所称的"目标导向经验主义"（aim-oriented empiricism），实现"从知识到智慧"的根本转向。老杨宇宙生成论（LYGC）独立发展于扎根汉江流域——老子故里——的道家宇宙论传统之中，提出了一套形式化架构——包括圣人熵（S age Entropy）、宇宙约束函数（Cosmic Constraint Function）与人工智慧（Artificial Wisdom, AW）构念——用以诠释并度量文明的偏移。本文认为，麦克斯韦与LYGC共享同一诊断，却在一个二者都未曾明言的更深问题上分道扬镳：智慧是否必须以宇宙论为前提？麦克斯韦的方案倾向于否定回答，LYGC则倾向于 肯定回答。本文将这一分歧作为全文的核心哲学断层线加以呈现，而非试图消解它；并且，本文自始至终将LYGC的宇宙论与数学主张表述为有待论证的诠释性提议与可检验的经验假说，而非已获公认的定论。文末将两种方案 置于科学哲学更长的历史轨迹——从真理，到知识，再到智慧——之中，并追问：进一步迈向"宇宙论取向"，究竟是可辩护的下一步，抑或是一种僭越。 . (shrink)

2024 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of Theodor Smising’s giant volume De Deo Uno (printed in Antwerp in 1624), which was soon followed by a second volume, De Deo Trino (printed in Antwerp in 1626). Smising’s work was the first printed output of what developed into a specific tradition within early modern thought, the Louvain tradition of Scotism, itself but one part of the broad Scotist tradition that build upon the thought of John Duns Scotus (ca. 1266–1308). This (...) Louvain tradition was primarily based in the Franciscan Convent of the Holy Trinity in the famous university town. The convent itself was much older, dating back to around 1230, when the Franciscan Order was in its very beginnings and long before the University of Louvain was founded (in 1425). In 1607 a second Franciscan Convent was founded in Louvain, St. Anthony’s College, one of a series of convents established by the Irish Franciscans as a result of their persecution in their homeland by the English Protestant rulers. The Irish Franciscans in Louvain, and in their other convents on the European continent, also cultivated the intellectual heritage of Duns Scotus, editing and commenting on his works and writing new works “ad mentem Scoti.” Both of the Franciscan convents in Louvain were closed in the turmoil after the French Revolution. The buildings of St. Anthony’s College still exist, whereas the older “Minderbroedersklooster” (on our exhibition poster) completely vanished from the cityscape. In recent decades, the Maurits Sabbe Library has acquired a large fund of Franciscan books, mostly from various houses of the Franciscan Order in Belgium that have closed their doors. Our exhibition “Scotism Made in Louvain – The Scholastic Culture of the Franciscans in Belgium” explores this material, complemented by material from the KU Leuven Central Library’s Special Collections and two manuscripts from the archives of KADOC (Documentatie- en Onderzoekscentrum voor Religie, Cultuur en Samenleving). The exhibition tells the story of a significant local scholarly tradition which is placed in the context of the broader Scotist tradition of the Early Modern Period. Whereas Scholasticism as such is often seen as an exclusively medieval phenomenon, our exhibition highlights one important aspect of early modern scholastic culture. The three brief articles included in this catalogue provide an introduction to John Duns Scotus’s thought, investigate the institutional background of Louvain Scotism, and explore some of the most important aspects of the scholastic output of the Franciscans in Louvain. The numbers attached to the images refer to the annotated list of all exhibits. A virtual exhibition with additional photo material will accompany, and last beyond, the library exhibition. (shrink)

Consumed by thoughts of a blue flower, Heinrich leaves his cold homeland and travels south until he meets Mathilde, who opens his eyes to the world’s mysteries. Then a tragic event reveals the secret power of poetry… -/- 'Heinrich von Ofterdingen', left unfinished at the time of the author’s death, is a masterpiece of philosophical fiction and a classic of German literature. This highly detailed and original interpretation is the most comprehensive and systematic study of the novel ever written. (...) Developing fresh insights into the philosophical ideas of the novel while also attending to its symbolic, literary, and creative qualities, Owen Ware explores how Novalis probes the core problem of modern life—fragmentation and our sense of alienation from the world. Ultimately, he shows us, this novel is a timeless expression of the Romantics’ idea that only the imagination, guided by love, can bring us back to our spiritual home. (shrink)

This meditation is dedicated to those souls who, at the very limit of reason, still thirst. I have conceived something exquisite—an answer to why the world is as it is. The answer itself is remarkably simple; its exposition, however, is so intricate that it cannot fit within the narrow confines of an abstract. This structure of thought is precisely the Innate Science found in the I Ching—its core teaching being that the innate self is the Supreme Polarity (心即太极), in which (...) Principle, Image, and Number (理、象、数) are one and undivided. It encompasses the binary, decimal, duodecimal, and base-sixty systems, along with the 360 degrees, the Pythagorean theorem, square and circle, π, *i*, force, light, and many other essential principles of mathematics, physics, and time-space. To dwell in it is to be set adrift in rapture, bordering on ecstasy. Whoever grasps its content may witness mountains and rivers shattering, the great earth sinking level—and enter that inconceivable state where an instant is eternity, and all things are harmoniously one, without obstruction. The work may appear arrogant and absurd, mystical and irrational. Yet I am utterly sincere, driven by a sense of necessity that I cannot resist. I believe that the starry sky I gazed upon as a child from the fields of my homeland is the very same sky that arches over Oxford. And I hold firmly that all human beings, across ages and civilizations, share the same capacity for questioning heaven (天问), and the same ground for calling back the soul (招魂). (shrink)

Introduction The question of the "right of return" to the land known historically as Israel or Palestine is one of the most complex and emotionally charged issues in international politics. It touches on ancient history, religious belief, international law, human rights, and the lived experiences of both Jews and Palestinians. This paper examines the basis for the Jewish claim to return to their ancestral homeland, the counterclaim by Palestinians displaced in the 20th century, and the broader international debate over (...) balancing these competing rights. -/- . (shrink)

Not a Divisible Good tests whether Erman and Furendal's authorization-delegation-revocability chain, granted their own stated domain, transfers to a case — longevity allocation — their published work never examined. This paper asks a prior and more exposed question: whether "the global governance of artificial intelligence," as Erman and Furendal themselves define and defend it, is a stable object at all, or whether the same reasoning that justifies the term's global scope already dissolves any principled boundary the term might otherwise hold (...) at the edge of the AI sector itself. The paper's evidence is Erman and Furendal's own text, checked directly against the primary sources rather than against a prior draft's paraphrase of them. Their argument for why AI governance must be global rather than national rests explicitly on an externality claim, stated in their 2025 Current History essay: AI's disruptive effects "are not confined by geographical boundaries," a condition they compare directly to "air pollution and the release of greenhouse gases," where AI models "create substantial value for some, but serious and tangible problems for many others." This is an argument from the technology's own general-purpose character. The paper's central claim is that this argument, applied consistently rather than selectively, does not stop at the jurisdictional boundary; a technology whose disruptive effects are not confined by geography, because it is general-purpose, is for the same reason not confined by sector. Erman and Furendal's own definition of their object of study — stated in their 2022 Moral Philosophy and Politics paper and repeated nearly verbatim in their own 2024 Nature Machine Intelligence essay — is, read on its own terms, already sectorally unbounded: "the rules, processes and decision procedures... established by governments, international and intergovernmental organizations, non-state and private actors to regulate the development and deployment of those systems," aimed at solving problems or providing "goods associated with AI technologies." Nothing in this wording excludes a cellular reprogramming protocol an AI system was built to accelerate. This paper's second and more concrete contribution builds directly on No New Actor To Name's finding that OpenAI, Anthropic, and Alphabet — actors Erman and Furendal do not merely gesture at but name specifically, and analyze using a precise, three-part authority typology of their own construction — are now also longevity-research actors, holding market and, in at least two cases, epistemic authority in that domain by the identical operational criteria their own published typology already applies to these same organizations' AI-governance conduct. Erman and Furendal's own epistemic-authority criterion for OpenAI and DeepMind is that they "partly function as research institutes, probing the limits of AI technology's capabilities in research papers that inform regulatory efforts" — a criterion that transfers by its own wording, not by analogy, the moment the research papers in question probe the limits of cellular reprogramming rather than language modeling. The paper's evidentiary base is strengthened further by two facts Erman and Furendal themselves report rather than this paper importing from outside: that fourteen of twenty-two members of the US Department of Homeland Security's 2024 AI safety board were sitting tech-company CEOs, and that Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google are named founding participants, alongside Amazon, IBM, Meta, and Nvidia, in the US State Department's Partnership for Global Inclusivity on AI. The actors this paper needs are not supplied by extension. They are supplied by Erman and Furendal's own reporting. The paper concludes that this is a scope challenge, not a refutation: Erman and Furendal's apparatus, wherever it is finally judged to apply, remains the correct account of what legitimate non-state authority requires. What this paper contests is the claim, nowhere argued and everywhere assumed by omission, that "the global governance of AI" is a self-limiting object rather than a name for whatever object AI's own success as a general-purpose technology continues to produce. Section IX runs the identical test against this corpus's own recurring object and states, for the first time as a single conjunctive and falsifiable condition, why that object does not fail the same way. (shrink)

Philippine folk dances can be dated back as early as the pre-colonial period which inherited by our forefathers and passed through several generations of Filipinos. These traditional dances are considered treasures of our homeland for they depict the humble beginnings of our native countrymen and serve as a symbol of national identity. The study utilized focused ethnography and was limited on the documentation of the ethnic dance of Ayta Ambala’s tribe, their cultural values along with its cultural heritage situated (...) at Barangay Tubo-Tubo, Dinalupihan, Bataan which were considered unpublished, especially their respective dance patterns or movements. There were ten (10) informants involved in the study. Five (5) were key informants (KIs) who represent the emic perspective while five (5) were general informants (GIs) who represent the etic perspective of the paper. Findings revealed that Dances of Ayta Ambala include: Courtship (Sayaw Magligaw), Ceremonial (Sayaw Talipe), and Occupational (Sayaw Pangangaho). The said dances reflect different activities that are commong among the tribe. It also includes the historical background, costume, time signature, props, structural formation, dance steps, and figures. Although the values are not directly presented, these are still manifesting through the themes of their dances. Included in the cultural values are bravery, respect, and gratitude which are also part of the embodiment of different dances of Ayta Ambala. As observed, the other two emerging themes are also connected to the cultural heritage of Ayta Ambala. This means, their dances mirror their surroundings, their daily activities, and their identity as tribes. The emerging themes on cultural heritage are religious beliefs, courtships, and livelihood. (shrink)

Forgiveness is mostly seen as a virtuous human response to wrongful conduct. But what happens when there is no acknowledgement of wrongdoing on the part of the wrongdoer? Does the forgiveness of the unrepentant still count as forgiveness? The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, for instance, is a figure who highly promotes the value of forgiveness. His homeland has been occupied by China since 1950, yet he maintains that he forgives and feels no enmity towards the Chinese government. The Chinese authorities, (...) for their part, have never admitted to wrongful invasion of the ‘roof of the world’, hence there has been no acceptance of the Dalai Lama’s forgiveness. Can the Dalai Lama’s forgiving under these circumstances, however, still be seen as forgiveness? In the present contribution, I shed light on the Buddhist view on forgiveness in the hope of inspiring ideas that might contribute to the pursuit of peace. Firstly, I explore certain matters surrounding the general idea of forgiveness and subsequently introduce Buddhist perspectives. Secondly, I respond to the key question of this paper by highlighting the Dalai Lama’s views as a means to elaborate on the Buddhist stance. I conclude by comparing Buddhist points of view with some contemporary philosophical perspectives and illustrating some distinguishing features of the Buddhist notion of forgiveness. From the above, I endeavour to establish that the Buddhist take on forgiveness is ultimately unconditional. (shrink)

In 1931, Evgeny Pashukanis, the distinguished Soviet jurist, author of “The General Theory of Law and Marxism”, following an invitation to celebrate the centenary of Hegel’s death, published an assay entitled “Hegel, the State and Law” (Гегель. Государство и право) aimed to demistify, through a brief retrospective of Hegelian’s philosophy, its specific use, something achieved through the bourgeois ideology which, at some point in history, abandoned Kantism and its followers to embrace Neo-Hegelianism as a philosophy of domination and social control. (...) In this unpublished text, Pashukanis reflects, from a Marxist and Leninist point of view, on the ability to use Hegel as a bourgeois defense tool, when a particular society, specifically the one from the 1920s to the 1930s, began to be affected by the fear of communism and by the crises that endanger its very survival. From this angle, the capitalist interest - following Pashukanisian interpretation of Hegel - will only develop in the terms of a scientific elimination of all those subversive potentials that the economic crisis is destined to produce, thus reformulating the notions of State and Law which, in between obedience, discipline and defense of the homeland, come to assert the official recognition of the inexorably crushed proletariat in a condition in which all relations of production and social reproduction are transferred to the realm of exploitation, as its definitive subsumption to capital. (shrink)

In April 1658, a Lancastrian currier named John Moon claimed to receive a revelation from Jesus Christ that affirmed many tenets taught by the English Dissenter George Fox. Moon, along with his parents, brother and uncle, joined the Religious Society of Friends in 1653, a year after Fox’s vision on Pendle Hill, not far from the Moon’s homeland on the plains of the Fylde. This portion of the Moon family received instant reprisal for converting to the new movement. However, (...) imprisonments, fines and the seizure of his possessions did not stop John from publishing several works affirming his newfound beliefs. Still, scholars remain in dispute over parts of the history of the Moon family’s conversion. This article investigates the early history of Quakerism in Lancashire with special attention given to John Moon’s literary works which may warrant his recognition as a Quaker leader key to the propagation of the movement. (shrink)

This study explores the experiences and challenges of Filipino deportees from Sabah, Malaysia. It aims to understand the reasons behind the migration of Tausug individuals to Sabah, as well as the significance of their lived experiences. Through interviews, the deportees interpreted and recounted their journeys, which were carefully analyzed. The findings reveal that poverty and the lack of employment opportunities prompted them to migrate. While in detention, they experienced abuse and hardships, including insufficient food and harsh punishments. Upon returning to (...) their homeland, they continue to face significant challenges, such as unemployment and the absence of family support, leading to anxiety and uncertainty. Despite the difficulties they encountered in Sabah, many expressed a willingness to return due to the availability of better job opportunities and higher wages. (shrink)

The Mamanuas of Basey, Samar have been in an itinerant state since the 1950s. Their indigenous experience can be capped in the term ‘diaspora,’ which pictures their plight as dispersive habituation, moving from town to town away from their homeland. In a recent study which this paper hinges upon, the concept of diaspora can no longer work and is argued to imperatively function as a vanishing mediator so that indigeneity must come to mean as a constant identity of becoming. (...) Following from such a theoretical lens, this paper delves again into the concept of ‘diaspora’ in the Mamanuan indigenous experience to argue further that its act of mediating functions as performative indigeneity. To do this, the paper runs in three parts: first, it plots the Mamanuan diaspora experience; second, it briefly reiterates the core argument of diaspora as vanishing mediator; and finally, it theorizes on a concept of what Judith Butler calls ‘performative indigeneity’ that takes its form from the mediation of an indigenous diaspora experience. (shrink)

Karl Popper and Leo Strauss were two German speaking philosophers of Jewish descent, both having lived under Hitler’s rule, deeply disturbed by the events of the Holocaust; both leaving their homelands to settle in English speaking countries and adopting the teaching profession. In spite of so many similarities, no two persons could have such opposing personalities as these two men. It is strange how similar experiences could lead to the development of completely opposite philosophies. On the one hand we have (...) the peaceful and quiet politics of Popper, simple and straight forward, understandable and like a scientific theory open to criticism and verification. On the other hand however, are the political views of Strauss, a mystery wrapped in an enigma, leaving one to wonder where Strauss talks esoterically and where he is what he is, leaving behind a string of questions never to be answered with surety. This article is a comparison of the political views of Popper and Strauss. (shrink)

The paper deals with visions of Kyiv in the writings of Russian and Ukrainian émigré writers during the interwar period. The city became a focal point of intensive intellectual debate whose participants regarded Kyiv not only as a place of a recent battleground but also as a sacral place and a highly symbolic image. Within the methodological framework of ethnic symbolism, this study attempts to explain how this physical/symbolic dichotomy was used to reinforce continuing claims for historical origin and cultural (...) heritage, thus serving the contemporary purpose of national identity and political legitimacy. It also deploys the concept of displacement as a complex process of negotiation between homeland and hostland within an émigré community — whose sense of loss and identity crisis creates additional impetus, though in different forms, for exploiting historical narratives. (shrink)

This article examines the Wet'suwet’en people's struggle for territorial control over their traditional homeland from the normative perspective of collective self-determination. I focus on two interlocking philosophical questions that arise in examination of the case: the justification for a group's right to control territory and the justification for the right of political institutions and officials within those institutions to make and enforce law for the occupants of the territory. I argue that, pursuant to the collective self-determination theory of territorial (...) rights, the legitimate representatives of the Wet'suwet’en people must reflect the people's shared will. After describing the traditional governance system of the Wet'suwet’en people, I argue that there is nothing in principle preventing the hereditary chiefs from reflecting the shared will of the Wet'suwet’en people (as I argue electoral democracy is not always necessary for collective self-determination). I illustrate several reasons why hereditary leaders could reflect the shared will of Wet'suwet’en people better than alternative political authorities, while demonstrating that the political authority of any Wet'suwet’en governance system depends upon the actual endorsement of Wet'suwet’en people themselves. (shrink)

Historically, the great powers used small nations without a homeland, land and stable moral values as atool for their politics, and the Armenians were one of the few such nations. The Armenians who settled in the Caucasus under the patronageof christian Europe and tsar Russia have repeatedly committed genocide of Azerbaijanis over the past two centuries and facilitated the deportation of the local population. The Armenian atrocities that began in the 19th century and had no analogues in the 20th (...) century were finally brought to an end in the 44-day war and the Azerbaijani army successfully completed the Great Return. Initially, the Armenian occupants were expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, and now the second stage has begun- a successful return to the ancestral lands of ancient Western Azerbaijan. (shrink)

The second of Gregory’s Dialogues, tells the life and miracles of Benedict of Nursia. In this paper, I will first introduce the Gregorian concepts of spiritual “stability” (stabilitas) and of the spiritual “ruler” (rector), along with the spiritual journey by which “stability” is recovered. Second, focusing on episodes that call attention to Benedict’s physical self-disposition (seated, standing, walking), I will read his life doubly. Under one reading, these episodes proffer moral exempla wherein Benedict’s physical self-possession outwardly manifests a spiritual ruler’s (...) proper response to attacks on him and on his community. Under another reading, the organization and emphases of these same episodes add up to an over-arching narration of Gregory’s theology of spiritual progress, all the way to fullness of love and the vision of God. Third, I will argue that the motif of steadfast love rather than of physical claustration is the deepest foundation of this journey and that the dialogue universalizes the “way of Benedict” to guide even non-monastic readers to the heavenly homeland. (shrink)

An estimated 65 million people have been forced to flee their homelands in the last few years. Average length of displacement for a refugee is now estimated at 17 years. A whole generation of young people are forced to spend their whole youth in refugee camps and can only be educated there. On the other side the international community is strongly underfinancing any education efforts by aid agencies and international organizations. So, it is common that classes have as many as (...) 100 children and teachers must deal with inevitable language barriers. We also have to remember that most children are traumatized by their experiences of fleeing their homes. Whereas the focus of most efforts is aimed at primary education it should not be forgotten that it is also necessary to support older children even up to higher education. A lot of the refugee adolescents have to support their families through activities that make education impossible. According to the UNHCR, more than 3.5 million refugee children do not have the chance to attend an appropriate school education. The inclusion of refugees in the national education systems of their host countries is a promising way of softening the challenges but the financial burden is too heavy to be carried without substantial support from the international community. Unfortunately, this is still dramatically lacking. Seeing these challenges in the world’s toughest classrooms we need to be aware that missing this opportunity to help and educate these traumatized children will fuel the feelings of being disadvantaged and forgotten by the rest of the world. Such feelings are smoothening the way for disaffection and they may become lured to be part of religious extremist organizations if not sufficiently addressed by providing sufficient infrastructure and finances for proper primary and secondary education. (shrink)

There are many treatises concerning the soul. Plato was not the first to write on the subject. From Greek philosophy and religion the soul wandered over to Christianity. According to this religion, the soul accompanies the body, which it inhabits for a short while in order to then return to its primary homeland embodied in areas of primary existence and truth. There are many treatises concerning the soul. Plato was not the first to write on the subject. Wisława Szymborska, (...) in her collection of poems published in 2002 and titled A Moment, poses the most essential questions: Why does man exist? Why isn’t there nothingness? She also asks: What is the soul? Does man really possess a soul? What is the relationship between man and soul – to whom does the soul really belong? This is a treatise in the form of a poem which appears to be plain and modest, yet the questions it asks are fundamental. This interpretation aims to develop and translate from the language of poetry the religious and philosophical questions embraced by Szymborska’s poem. (shrink)

The painful and tragic experience of the African- Americans in the United States of America led them to struggle for and establish an identity of their own. The survey of the history of the African- American people in different geographical spaces such as the African homeland, the middle passage, the American South and then the industrialized North, presents a picture where identity has been the foremost casualty in a history of displacement and migration, embittered by a conflict with the (...) majority voice, engaged in a struggle for survival against unexpected suffering. The tragedy was that the African- American’s quest for identity began over the things for which he himself was not responsible- his black colour, his race, his ancestors, and his physic. All this led the black men to turn himself into an object. It is under such circumstances that an unending and always expanding quest for identity began. Both the African- American men and women were the victims but there is a marked difference in their approach. While the men had to fight only in terms of race and class, the women were additionally burdened with the issues of gender as they saw that it is not only the white man but also the black man who often ill-treated them or misrepresented them in the literature. (shrink)

Introduction to Understanding Law -/- It's been 30 years since I began my career as a scholar at one local university in South Korea. As I approach an age of retirement, I've been spending more time reflecting on my life. Over the reflections, it was impressive that a professor of commercial law ogled the audience of big classroom about German legal philosopher, who proposed that the ultimate objective of law is presumed to pursue a predictability and legal stability. An experience (...) on my undergraduate days had been stupendous within the legal thought of Hans Kelsen and Hart, who adduced that the inherent nature of law is about hierarchy and authority. The years of graduate studies had exposed me to the prodigious world of Jellinek's law and social sciences. As a professor, I studied the politics and constitutional law, grappling with a churning of Karl Schmitt's determinism and the ideals of integrationist view propounded by Rudolf Smend. Later in the professional career, it had been hyped with a realistic meaning squinnied with such utopian thought of Kant and Duguit's, who asserted that law should be supreme about people and philosophy. These days, I am unfeigned to find a self filled with a sense of remoteness and self-loathing. My career life as a law professor had been devoted to seek a veracity of law in the two-dimensional world of analytical and normative jurisprudence concerning the constitutional and international laws. While I regret if I had been dilatory and less talented over thirty years of law professorship, a desire to construct a bit of meaning suddenly struck me. It is solely due to a grace of god on health and family consort that I recollected past writings into a book despite a sense of shallow knowledge and modest abilities. As common with the scholars, this amazing reward of publishing a piece of work had also been indebted to the precious comment and criticism as well as, in no small part, ascribed to the support of fellow scholars on the faculty of law and juridical science -/- Not only the great teachers of law at Seoul National University Law School, especially Kwon Young-seong and Kim Cheol-soo, but also Professor Seong Seung-hyeon on the Roman and Civil Laws at Chonnam National University Law School; Professor Kim Yeon-mi, president of the Korean Society of Legal Philosophy, who generously provided me with a hard-to-find copy of Herbert Hart; and Professor Lee Yeong-rok, who always had been kind and adamant as a paragon of scholarship and a model for researchers. It is difficult to mention in this book, a countless number of thankful scholars, notwithstanding distinguished international pundits, who had assisted, inspired and influenced squarely over the years of professional career. -/- In publishing this book, one teacher who cannot be left out is the late Professor Choi Hong-yeop, who passed away recently. When I first took office, we laughed together, saying, "International trade law is private law, but international trade law is public law, right?" My juniors, who shared my lifelong journey as environmental activists, reminded me of the red leaves of a mountain full of crimson leaves, reminding me of the love of my fellow countrymen and the sentiments of old age, saying, "Our homeland is both South and North Korea." Even amidst the material abundance of the ever-growing South Korea, our humble moments spent with the North Korean people, the window between the two Koreas. Looking back, a deep sorrow pierces my heart. Professor Choi, a native of Gwangju, studied abroad in Seoul for many years, and despite numerous choices, returned to Chosun University with a noble spirit of "Let's nurture future generations in our hometown!" He became a lifelong scholar, a figure of respect for his students, and a role model for his fellow professors. -/- This book is sparse but comprehensive. While there are many influential scholars on the subject, it is limited in that I approached the topic through the lens of a limited number of scholars I encountered over a short period of two or three years. Furthermore, like Chapter 1, "Roman Law," this book has limitations in that it selectively and concisely covers the vast topic of Roman law and its influence. Nevertheless, this book is written from a comprehensive and holistic perspective to facilitate an easy understanding of law. For example, public law scholars focus on democratic politics and the rule of law, but rarely pay attention to Roman law. Nevertheless, Roman law serves as the origin of modern legal knowledge and legal systems. Public law scholars, preoccupied with Anglo-American democracy, political philosophy, or legal philosophy, rarely have the opportunity to reflect on Roman law. However, the legacy of Roman law, developed by British and French jurists, and particularly in Germany, the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, is undeniably the sole legacy of jurists. -/- As with all disciplines, legal philosophy is essential to understanding law. The two most prominent legal philosophical approaches are legal positivism and natural law theory. While these two philosophical schools of thought can trace their origins back to Socrates's Hemiptera, scholars generally view them as philosophical schools of law that emerged alongside the development of modern democracy. Legal positivism contributed to the scientificization of law, while natural law theory contributed to the development of justice and democratic values within the framework of politics and law. This book goes beyond simply introducing these two philosophical schools of law. Its inclusion of the American written constitution and the British unwritten constitution, in relation to the establishment of a democratic legal system, is intended to be comprehensive and promote a holistic understanding of legal systems. -/- Particularly noteworthy is Montesquieu's The Spirit of Law and the greatness of the New World jurists who were influenced by his work. While the design of institutions is a matter of the aesthetics of legal scholars, as the title suggests, this book is a remarkable work that vividly illustrates the relationship between politics and law, and what law is, more than any other legal philosopher. While he is often categorized as a conservative thinker due to his sharp focus on the design of legal systems, his influence on emerging democracies, legal scholars, and jurists has been profound. Montesquieu can be contrasted with the British constitutional philosopher Albert Dicey, who believed that law is about personality rather than institutions. While it falls short of specialized expertise, Chapter 5's brief discussion of the legal philosophies of neighboring social scientists serves as a comprehensive and comprehensive overview of the book. Therefore, this book could be classified as a specialized textbook on law rather than a specialized legal text. -/- I owe a great debt to Professor Sung Seung-hyun for Chapter 1, "Roman Law." Through the dinner debate at the famous chicken stew restaurant Gwangil Restaurant and the discussion of Roman law, I, a public law professor immersed in the theory of natural rights and rights-centered democratic legal philosophy, have found the joy of encountering another facet of law: the world of technical and neutral dimensions. Perhaps I felt like I was moving from Descartes to Vico. Pacta sund servanda, the Pandect system, and countless other Roman law maxims seemed to awaken the souls of legal scholars. -/- Chapter 2, Legal Positivism, was influenced by the simplicity and practicality of the neighborhood lawyers I encountered in my daily life. Bentham's criteria of utility, based on the inner nature of human beings and pleasure and pain, free from the constraints of religion and philosophy that dominated the Middle Ages, serve as a philosophy of life for neighbors and lawyers in the world of common law. As mentioned in the text, Hart contrasts Jeremy Bentham with Karl Marx. Marx's harsh criticism of Bentham, saying he resembled an ordinary, unassuming English shopkeeper, evokes the image of ordinary neighborhood lawyers. Nevertheless, Jeremy Bentham, a lawyer with a small, store-like office, offers a crucial philosophical yardstick through the everyday life of the rule of law. Jeremy Bentham's simple truths about law predicted the collapse of the established system of the time, like the Ancien Regime, and, as he himself said, will continue to serve as a benchmark for social criticism and institutional reform for generations to come. This, of course, stems from his human-centered philosophy, and he had a significant influence on British criminal law reform. However, the fact that he was so staunchly critical of American independence demonstrates that, despite being a great philosopher and criminal law scholar, he was ultimately a British citizen. In short, as someone who lived through the new democratic eras of American independence and the French Revolution, his insight into human nature through his criminal law philosophy deeply imprinted utilitarianism, revolutionary thinking, and reformist spirit, and will continue into the AI era. His greatness is evident not only through his extensive writings, but also in the efforts of Mill and Hart, two leading scholars of democracy and the rule of law, to evaluate and overcome him. Within this context, Chapter 2 is designed to provide a glimpse into the true nature of democracy and the rule of law through biographies of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Hart. -/- Chapter 3 of this book addresses the issues of natural law theory and the democratic system. As mentioned earlier, the modern democratic system was built on the foundations of the Glorious Revolution in England, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolution. British traditionalism and the unwritten constitution can be examined through the lens of Albert Dicey. The legal philosophy of the French Revolution is significant in many ways, but examples include the Napoleonic Five Codes, the establishment of the Supreme Administrative Court, and the tradition of administrative centrality. -/- These aspects of the modern French legal system are particularly significant from the perspective of democratic legal systems and system building. They naturally contrast with Albert Dicey, a constitutional scholar who championed the unwritten constitutional tradition and championed the political value of the constitution. This chapter will examine his praise for British liberalism and the parliamentary tradition, as well as his critique of the French administrative state. This can be translated into the practicality of administrative law, embodying the ideals of the Constitution and its implementation, or the Anglo-American constitutional state, embodying liberal ideals, and the practicality of administrative law, embodying and pursuing socialist values. This will provide public law scholars with a philosophical opportunity. -/- Meanwhile, the American independence and the enactment of the Federal Constitution left another significant mark on the history of global democracy. Particularly for countries with presidential constitutions, the United States is the motherland of democracy. The US Constitution embodies the spirit of the Montesquieu-style separation of powers, characterized by political power integration and exclusion, and separation and checks. This ideological background is well-articulated in the Federalist Papers. Although only a small portion of this ideological background is explored, we will delve into the legal philosophy of the founders of this new continent. -/- Chapter 4 of this book, titled "Rediscovering Legal Philosophy," includes reflections on the legal philosophy of Sean Coyle of the University of Glasgow and Scott Shapiro of Yale Law School, two leading British and American legal philosophers. As Sean Coyle's book "Modern Jurisprudence" and Scott Shapiro's book "Legality" suggest, modern legal philosophy is becoming specialized, centered around legal positivism, natural law theory, analytical law, and normative law. With law schools recently being reduced to bar exam preparation institutions, and with the marginalization of non-mainstream subjects like legal philosophy, I worry that, as with all academic disciplines, unless philosophy is predicated, future lawyers will inevitably become legal technicians or legal idiots. Faced with a reality where lawmakers are blind to political principles and entrenched in legal texts, and where impeachment clauses are used to impose dozens of impeachments in a short period of time, we need to reflect on whether law has become a tool of political power. -/- The final chapter, Chapter 5, examines the philosophy of law and legal issues in the postmodern era, focusing on social scientists. Although selective and superficial, I hope this book provides a valuable opportunity to appreciate the developments in legal philosophy since World War II. Rawls, Nozick, and others demonstrate that "rights-based democracy" remains the dominant political philosophy in Western democracies. Furthermore, Walzer and Sandel have significantly influenced legal thought, facilitating an understanding of the liberal and communitarian philosophies of the United States, a leading democracy. In Germany, Jellinek achieved remarkable success by integrating the rigidity of legal scholarship with the scientific nature of social science. Furthermore, Radburg, under the banner of value jurisprudence, shifted from the absoluteness of law to the relativity of law and presented the inherent social function of law as legal certainty and predictability. This approach has had a profound impact on jurisprudence in Southern Europe and South America, and under the banner of the WTO's rule of law, it serves as a guide for lawyers worldwide. My humble hope is that this book will serve as a useful beacon for understanding law and legal philosophy. (shrink)

Introduction to Understanding Law -/- It's been 30 years since I began my career as a scholar at one local university in South Korea. As I approach an age of retirement, I've been spending more time reflecting on my life. Over the reflections, it was impressive that a professor of commercial law ogled the audience of big classroom about German legal philosopher, who proposed that the ultimate objective of law is presumed to pursue a predictability and legal stability. An experience (...) on my undergraduate days had been stupendous within the legal thought of Hans Kelsen and Hart, who adduced that the inherent nature of law is about hierarchy and authority. The years of graduate studies had exposed me to the prodigious world of Jellinek's law and social sciences. As a professor, I studied the politics and constitutional law, grappling with a churning of Karl Schmitt's determinism and the ideals of integrationist view propounded by Rudolf Smend. Later in the professional career, it had been hyped with a realistic meaning squinnied with such utopian thought of Kant and Duguit's, who asserted that law should be supreme about people and philosophy. These days, I am unfeigned to find a self filled with a sense of remoteness and self-loathing. My career life as a law professor had been devoted to seek a veracity of law in the two-dimensional world of analytical and normative jurisprudence concerning the constitutional and international laws. While I regret if I had been dilatory and less talented over thirty years of law professorship, a desire to construct a bit of meaning suddenly struck me. It is solely due to a grace of god on health and family consort that I recollected past writings into a book despite a sense of shallow knowledge and modest abilities. As common with the scholars, this amazing reward of publishing a piece of work had also been indebted to the precious comment and criticism as well as, in no small part, ascribed to the support of fellow scholars on the faculty of law and juridical science -/- Not only the great teachers of law at Seoul National University Law School, especially Kwon Young-seong and Kim Cheol-soo, but also Professor Seong Seung-hyeon on the Roman and Civil Laws at Chonnam National University Law School; Professor Kim Yeon-mi, president of the Korean Society of Legal Philosophy, who generously provided me with a hard-to-find copy of Herbert Hart; and Professor Lee Yeong-rok, who always had been kind and adamant as a paragon of scholarship and a model for researchers. It is difficult to mention in this book, a countless number of thankful scholars, notwithstanding distinguished international pundits, who had assisted, inspired and influenced squarely over the years of professional career. -/- In publishing this book, one teacher who cannot be left out is the late Professor Choi Hong-yeop, who passed away recently. When I first took office, we laughed together, saying, "International trade law is private law, but international trade law is public law, right?" My juniors, who shared my lifelong journey as environmental activists, reminded me of the red leaves of a mountain full of crimson leaves, reminding me of the love of my fellow countrymen and the sentiments of old age, saying, "Our homeland is both South and North Korea." Even amidst the material abundance of the ever-growing South Korea, our humble moments spent with the North Korean people, the window between the two Koreas. Looking back, a deep sorrow pierces my heart. Professor Choi, a native of Gwangju, studied abroad in Seoul for many years, and despite numerous choices, returned to Chosun University with a noble spirit of "Let's nurture future generations in our hometown!" He became a lifelong scholar, a figure of respect for his students, and a role model for his fellow professors. -/- This book is sparse but comprehensive. While there are many influential scholars on the subject, it is limited in that I approached the topic through the lens of a limited number of scholars I encountered over a short period of two or three years. Furthermore, like Chapter 1, "Roman Law," this book has limitations in that it selectively and concisely covers the vast topic of Roman law and its influence. Nevertheless, this book is written from a comprehensive and holistic perspective to facilitate an easy understanding of law. For example, public law scholars focus on democratic politics and the rule of law, but rarely pay attention to Roman law. Nevertheless, Roman law serves as the origin of modern legal knowledge and legal systems. Public law scholars, preoccupied with Anglo-American democracy, political philosophy, or legal philosophy, rarely have the opportunity to reflect on Roman law. However, the legacy of Roman law, developed by British and French jurists, and particularly in Germany, the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, is undeniably the sole legacy of jurists. -/- As with all disciplines, legal philosophy is essential to understanding law. The two most prominent legal philosophical approaches are legal positivism and natural law theory. While these two philosophical schools of thought can trace their origins back to Socrates's Hemiptera, scholars generally view them as philosophical schools of law that emerged alongside the development of modern democracy. Legal positivism contributed to the scientificization of law, while natural law theory contributed to the development of justice and democratic values within the framework of politics and law. This book goes beyond simply introducing these two philosophical schools of law. Its inclusion of the American written constitution and the British unwritten constitution, in relation to the establishment of a democratic legal system, is intended to be comprehensive and promote a holistic understanding of legal systems. -/- Particularly noteworthy is Montesquieu's The Spirit of Law and the greatness of the New World jurists who were influenced by his work. While the design of institutions is a matter of the aesthetics of legal scholars, as the title suggests, this book is a remarkable work that vividly illustrates the relationship between politics and law, and what law is, more than any other legal philosopher. While he is often categorized as a conservative thinker due to his sharp focus on the design of legal systems, his influence on emerging democracies, legal scholars, and jurists has been profound. Montesquieu can be contrasted with the British constitutional philosopher Albert Dicey, who believed that law is about personality rather than institutions. While it falls short of specialized expertise, Chapter 5's brief discussion of the legal philosophies of neighboring social scientists serves as a comprehensive and comprehensive overview of the book. Therefore, this book could be classified as a specialized textbook on law rather than a specialized legal text. -/- I owe a great debt to Professor Sung Seung-hyun for Chapter 1, "Roman Law." Through the dinner debate at the famous chicken stew restaurant Gwangil Restaurant and the discussion of Roman law, I, a public law professor immersed in the theory of natural rights and rights-centered democratic legal philosophy, have found the joy of encountering another facet of law: the world of technical and neutral dimensions. Perhaps I felt like I was moving from Descartes to Vico. Pacta sund servanda, the Pandect system, and countless other Roman law maxims seemed to awaken the souls of legal scholars. -/- Chapter 2, Legal Positivism, was influenced by the simplicity and practicality of the neighborhood lawyers I encountered in my daily life. Bentham's criteria of utility, based on the inner nature of human beings and pleasure and pain, free from the constraints of religion and philosophy that dominated the Middle Ages, serve as a philosophy of life for neighbors and lawyers in the world of common law. As mentioned in the text, Hart contrasts Jeremy Bentham with Karl Marx. Marx's harsh criticism of Bentham, saying he resembled an ordinary, unassuming English shopkeeper, evokes the image of ordinary neighborhood lawyers. Nevertheless, Jeremy Bentham, a lawyer with a small, store-like office, offers a crucial philosophical yardstick through the everyday life of the rule of law. Jeremy Bentham's simple truths about law predicted the collapse of the established system of the time, like the Ancien Regime, and, as he himself said, will continue to serve as a benchmark for social criticism and institutional reform for generations to come. This, of course, stems from his human-centered philosophy, and he had a significant influence on British criminal law reform. However, the fact that he was so staunchly critical of American independence demonstrates that, despite being a great philosopher and criminal law scholar, he was ultimately a British citizen. In short, as someone who lived through the new democratic eras of American independence and the French Revolution, his insight into human nature through his criminal law philosophy deeply imprinted utilitarianism, revolutionary thinking, and reformist spirit, and will continue into the AI era. His greatness is evident not only through his extensive writings, but also in the efforts of Mill and Hart, two leading scholars of democracy and the rule of law, to evaluate and overcome him. Within this context, Chapter 2 is designed to provide a glimpse into the true nature of democracy and the rule of law through biographies of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Hart. -/- Chapter 3 of this book addresses the issues of natural law theory and the democratic system. As mentioned earlier, the modern democratic system was built on the foundations of the Glorious Revolution in England, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolution. British traditionalism and the unwritten constitution can be examined through the lens of Albert Dicey. The legal philosophy of the French Revolution is significant in many ways, but examples include the Napoleonic Five Codes, the establishment of the Supreme Administrative Court, and the tradition of administrative centrality. -/- These aspects of the modern French legal system are particularly significant from the perspective of democratic legal systems and system building. They naturally contrast with Albert Dicey, a constitutional scholar who championed the unwritten constitutional tradition and championed the political value of the constitution. This chapter will examine his praise for British liberalism and the parliamentary tradition, as well as his critique of the French administrative state. This can be translated into the practicality of administrative law, embodying the ideals of the Constitution and its implementation, or the Anglo-American constitutional state, embodying liberal ideals, and the practicality of administrative law, embodying and pursuing socialist values. This will provide public law scholars with a philosophical opportunity. -/- Meanwhile, the American independence and the enactment of the Federal Constitution left another significant mark on the history of global democracy. Particularly for countries with presidential constitutions, the United States is the motherland of democracy. The US Constitution embodies the spirit of the Montesquieu-style separation of powers, characterized by political power integration and exclusion, and separation and checks. This ideological background is well-articulated in the Federalist Papers. Although only a small portion of this ideological background is explored, we will delve into the legal philosophy of the founders of this new continent. -/- Chapter 4 of this book, titled "Rediscovering Legal Philosophy," includes reflections on the legal philosophy of Sean Coyle of the University of Glasgow and Scott Shapiro of Yale Law School, two leading British and American legal philosophers. As Sean Coyle's book "Modern Jurisprudence" and Scott Shapiro's book "Legality" suggest, modern legal philosophy is becoming specialized, centered around legal positivism, natural law theory, analytical law, and normative law. With law schools recently being reduced to bar exam preparation institutions, and with the marginalization of non-mainstream subjects like legal philosophy, I worry that, as with all academic disciplines, unless philosophy is predicated, future lawyers will inevitably become legal technicians or legal idiots. Faced with a reality where lawmakers are blind to political principles and entrenched in legal texts, and where impeachment clauses are used to impose dozens of impeachments in a short period of time, we need to reflect on whether law has become a tool of political power. -/- The final chapter, Chapter 5, examines the philosophy of law and legal issues in the postmodern era, focusing on social scientists. Although selective and superficial, I hope this book provides a valuable opportunity to appreciate the developments in legal philosophy since World War II. Rawls, Nozick, and others demonstrate that "rights-based democracy" remains the dominant political philosophy in Western democracies. Furthermore, Walzer and Sandel have significantly influenced legal thought, facilitating an understanding of the liberal and communitarian philosophies of the United States, a leading democracy. In Germany, Jellinek achieved remarkable success by integrating the rigidity of legal scholarship with the scientific nature of social science. Furthermore, Radburg, under the banner of value jurisprudence, shifted from the absoluteness of law to the relativity of law and presented the inherent social function of law as legal certainty and predictability. This approach has had a profound impact on jurisprudence in Southern Europe and South America, and under the banner of the WTO's rule of law, it serves as a guide for lawyers worldwide. My humble hope is that this book will serve as a useful beacon for understanding law and legal philosophy. (shrink)

Introduction to Understanding Law -/- It's been 30 years since I began my career as a scholar at one local university in South Korea. As I approach an age of retirement, I've been spending more time reflecting on my life. Over the reflections, it was impressive that a professor of commercial law ogled the audience of big classroom about German legal philosopher, who proposed that the ultimate objective of law is presumed to pursue a predictability and legal stability. An experience (...) on my undergraduate days had been stupendous within the legal thought of Hans Kelsen and Hart, who adduced that the inherent nature of law is about hierarchy and authority. The years of graduate studies had exposed me to the prodigious world of Jellinek's law and social sciences. As a professor, I studied the politics and constitutional law, grappling with a churning of Karl Schmitt's determinism and the ideals of integrationist view propounded by Rudolf Smend. Later in the professional career, it had been hyped with a realistic meaning squinnied with such utopian thought of Kant and Duguit's, who asserted that law should be supreme about people and philosophy. These days, I am unfeigned to find a self filled with a sense of remoteness and self-loathing. My career life as a law professor had been devoted to seek a veracity of law in the two-dimensional world of analytical and normative jurisprudence concerning the constitutional and international laws. While I regret if I had been dilatory and less talented over thirty years of law professorship, a desire to construct a bit of meaning suddenly struck me. It is solely due to a grace of god on health and family consort that I recollected past writings into a book despite a sense of shallow knowledge and modest abilities. As common with the scholars, this amazing reward of publishing a piece of work had also been indebted to the precious comment and criticism as well as, in no small part, ascribed to the support of fellow scholars on the faculty of law and juridical science -/- Not only the great teachers of law at Seoul National University Law School, especially Kwon Young-seong and Kim Cheol-soo, but also Professor Seong Seung-hyeon on the Roman and Civil Laws at Chonnam National University Law School; Professor Kim Yeon-mi, president of the Korean Society of Legal Philosophy, who generously provided me with a hard-to-find copy of Herbert Hart; and Professor Lee Yeong-rok, who always had been kind and adamant as a paragon of scholarship and a model for researchers. It is difficult to mention in this book, a countless number of thankful scholars, notwithstanding distinguished international pundits, who had assisted, inspired and influenced squarely over the years of professional career. -/- In publishing this book, one teacher who cannot be left out is the late Professor Choi Hong-yeop, who passed away recently. When I first took office, we laughed together, saying, "International trade law is private law, but international trade law is public law, right?" My juniors, who shared my lifelong journey as environmental activists, reminded me of the red leaves of a mountain full of crimson leaves, reminding me of the love of my fellow countrymen and the sentiments of old age, saying, "Our homeland is both South and North Korea." Even amidst the material abundance of the ever-growing South Korea, our humble moments spent with the North Korean people, the window between the two Koreas. Looking back, a deep sorrow pierces my heart. Professor Choi, a native of Gwangju, studied abroad in Seoul for many years, and despite numerous choices, returned to Chosun University with a noble spirit of "Let's nurture future generations in our hometown!" He became a lifelong scholar, a figure of respect for his students, and a role model for his fellow professors. -/- This book is sparse but comprehensive. While there are many influential scholars on the subject, it is limited in that I approached the topic through the lens of a limited number of scholars I encountered over a short period of two or three years. Furthermore, like Chapter 1, "Roman Law," this book has limitations in that it selectively and concisely covers the vast topic of Roman law and its influence. Nevertheless, this book is written from a comprehensive and holistic perspective to facilitate an easy understanding of law. For example, public law scholars focus on democratic politics and the rule of law, but rarely pay attention to Roman law. Nevertheless, Roman law serves as the origin of modern legal knowledge and legal systems. Public law scholars, preoccupied with Anglo-American democracy, political philosophy, or legal philosophy, rarely have the opportunity to reflect on Roman law. However, the legacy of Roman law, developed by British and French jurists, and particularly in Germany, the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, is undeniably the sole legacy of jurists. -/- As with all disciplines, legal philosophy is essential to understanding law. The two most prominent legal philosophical approaches are legal positivism and natural law theory. While these two philosophical schools of thought can trace their origins back to Socrates's Hemiptera, scholars generally view them as philosophical schools of law that emerged alongside the development of modern democracy. Legal positivism contributed to the scientificization of law, while natural law theory contributed to the development of justice and democratic values within the framework of politics and law. This book goes beyond simply introducing these two philosophical schools of law. Its inclusion of the American written constitution and the British unwritten constitution, in relation to the establishment of a democratic legal system, is intended to be comprehensive and promote a holistic understanding of legal systems. -/- Particularly noteworthy is Montesquieu's The Spirit of Law and the greatness of the New World jurists who were influenced by his work. While the design of institutions is a matter of the aesthetics of legal scholars, as the title suggests, this book is a remarkable work that vividly illustrates the relationship between politics and law, and what law is, more than any other legal philosopher. While he is often categorized as a conservative thinker due to his sharp focus on the design of legal systems, his influence on emerging democracies, legal scholars, and jurists has been profound. Montesquieu can be contrasted with the British constitutional philosopher Albert Dicey, who believed that law is about personality rather than institutions. While it falls short of specialized expertise, Chapter 5's brief discussion of the legal philosophies of neighboring social scientists serves as a comprehensive and comprehensive overview of the book. Therefore, this book could be classified as a specialized textbook on law rather than a specialized legal text. -/- I owe a great debt to Professor Sung Seung-hyun for Chapter 1, "Roman Law." Through the dinner debate at the famous chicken stew restaurant Gwangil Restaurant and the discussion of Roman law, I, a public law professor immersed in the theory of natural rights and rights-centered democratic legal philosophy, have found the joy of encountering another facet of law: the world of technical and neutral dimensions. Perhaps I felt like I was moving from Descartes to Vico. Pacta sund servanda, the Pandect system, and countless other Roman law maxims seemed to awaken the souls of legal scholars. -/- Chapter 2, Legal Positivism, was influenced by the simplicity and practicality of the neighborhood lawyers I encountered in my daily life. Bentham's criteria of utility, based on the inner nature of human beings and pleasure and pain, free from the constraints of religion and philosophy that dominated the Middle Ages, serve as a philosophy of life for neighbors and lawyers in the world of common law. As mentioned in the text, Hart contrasts Jeremy Bentham with Karl Marx. Marx's harsh criticism of Bentham, saying he resembled an ordinary, unassuming English shopkeeper, evokes the image of ordinary neighborhood lawyers. Nevertheless, Jeremy Bentham, a lawyer with a small, store-like office, offers a crucial philosophical yardstick through the everyday life of the rule of law. Jeremy Bentham's simple truths about law predicted the collapse of the established system of the time, like the Ancien Regime, and, as he himself said, will continue to serve as a benchmark for social criticism and institutional reform for generations to come. This, of course, stems from his human-centered philosophy, and he had a significant influence on British criminal law reform. However, the fact that he was so staunchly critical of American independence demonstrates that, despite being a great philosopher and criminal law scholar, he was ultimately a British citizen. In short, as someone who lived through the new democratic eras of American independence and the French Revolution, his insight into human nature through his criminal law philosophy deeply imprinted utilitarianism, revolutionary thinking, and reformist spirit, and will continue into the AI era. His greatness is evident not only through his extensive writings, but also in the efforts of Mill and Hart, two leading scholars of democracy and the rule of law, to evaluate and overcome him. Within this context, Chapter 2 is designed to provide a glimpse into the true nature of democracy and the rule of law through biographies of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Hart. -/- Chapter 3 of this book addresses the issues of natural law theory and the democratic system. As mentioned earlier, the modern democratic system was built on the foundations of the Glorious Revolution in England, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolution. British traditionalism and the unwritten constitution can be examined through the lens of Albert Dicey. The legal philosophy of the French Revolution is significant in many ways, but examples include the Napoleonic Five Codes, the establishment of the Supreme Administrative Court, and the tradition of administrative centrality. -/- These aspects of the modern French legal system are particularly significant from the perspective of democratic legal systems and system building. They naturally contrast with Albert Dicey, a constitutional scholar who championed the unwritten constitutional tradition and championed the political value of the constitution. This chapter will examine his praise for British liberalism and the parliamentary tradition, as well as his critique of the French administrative state. This can be translated into the practicality of administrative law, embodying the ideals of the Constitution and its implementation, or the Anglo-American constitutional state, embodying liberal ideals, and the practicality of administrative law, embodying and pursuing socialist values. This will provide public law scholars with a philosophical opportunity. -/- Meanwhile, the American independence and the enactment of the Federal Constitution left another significant mark on the history of global democracy. Particularly for countries with presidential constitutions, the United States is the motherland of democracy. The US Constitution embodies the spirit of the Montesquieu-style separation of powers, characterized by political power integration and exclusion, and separation and checks. This ideological background is well-articulated in the Federalist Papers. Although only a small portion of this ideological background is explored, we will delve into the legal philosophy of the founders of this new continent. -/- Chapter 4 of this book, titled "Rediscovering Legal Philosophy," includes reflections on the legal philosophy of Sean Coyle of the University of Glasgow and Scott Shapiro of Yale Law School, two leading British and American legal philosophers. As Sean Coyle's book "Modern Jurisprudence" and Scott Shapiro's book "Legality" suggest, modern legal philosophy is becoming specialized, centered around legal positivism, natural law theory, analytical law, and normative law. With law schools recently being reduced to bar exam preparation institutions, and with the marginalization of non-mainstream subjects like legal philosophy, I worry that, as with all academic disciplines, unless philosophy is predicated, future lawyers will inevitably become legal technicians or legal idiots. Faced with a reality where lawmakers are blind to political principles and entrenched in legal texts, and where impeachment clauses are used to impose dozens of impeachments in a short period of time, we need to reflect on whether law has become a tool of political power. -/- The final chapter, Chapter 5, examines the philosophy of law and legal issues in the postmodern era, focusing on social scientists. Although selective and superficial, I hope this book provides a valuable opportunity to appreciate the developments in legal philosophy since World War II. Rawls, Nozick, and others demonstrate that "rights-based democracy" remains the dominant political philosophy in Western democracies. Furthermore, Walzer and Sandel have significantly influenced legal thought, facilitating an understanding of the liberal and communitarian philosophies of the United States, a leading democracy. In Germany, Jellinek achieved remarkable success by integrating the rigidity of legal scholarship with the scientific nature of social science. Furthermore, Radburg, under the banner of value jurisprudence, shifted from the absoluteness of law to the relativity of law and presented the inherent social function of law as legal certainty and predictability. This approach has had a profound impact on jurisprudence in Southern Europe and South America, and under the banner of the WTO's rule of law, it serves as a guide for lawyers worldwide. My humble hope is that this book will serve as a useful beacon for understanding law and legal philosophy. (shrink)

Introduction to Understanding Law -/- It's been 30 years since I began my career as a scholar at one local university in South Korea. As I approach an age of retirement, I've been spending more time reflecting on my life. Over the reflections, it was impressive that a professor of commercial law ogled the audience of big classroom about German legal philosopher, who proposed that the ultimate objective of law is presumed to pursue a predictability and legal stability. An experience (...) on my undergraduate days had been stupendous within the legal thought of Hans Kelsen and Hart, who adduced that the inherent nature of law is about hierarchy and authority. The years of graduate studies had exposed me to the prodigious world of Jellinek's law and social sciences. As a professor, I studied the politics and constitutional law, grappling with a churning of Karl Schmitt's determinism and the ideals of integrationist view propounded by Rudolf Smend. Later in the professional career, it had been hyped with a realistic meaning squinnied with such utopian thought of Kant and Duguit's, who asserted that law should be supreme about people and philosophy. These days, I am unfeigned to find a self filled with a sense of remoteness and self-loathing. My career life as a law professor had been devoted to seek a veracity of law in the two-dimensional world of analytical and normative jurisprudence concerning the constitutional and international laws. While I regret if I had been dilatory and less talented over thirty years of law professorship, a desire to construct a bit of meaning suddenly struck me. It is solely due to a grace of god on health and family consort that I recollected past writings into a book despite a sense of shallow knowledge and modest abilities. As common with the scholars, this amazing reward of publishing a piece of work had also been indebted to the precious comment and criticism as well as, in no small part, ascribed to the support of fellow scholars on the faculty of law and juridical science -/- Not only the great teachers of law at Seoul National University Law School, especially Kwon Young-seong and Kim Cheol-soo, but also Professor Seong Seung-hyeon on the Roman and Civil Laws at Chonnam National University Law School; Professor Kim Yeon-mi, president of the Korean Society of Legal Philosophy, who generously provided me with a hard-to-find copy of Herbert Hart; and Professor Lee Yeong-rok, who always had been kind and adamant as a paragon of scholarship and a model for researchers. It is difficult to mention in this book, a countless number of thankful scholars, notwithstanding distinguished international pundits, who had assisted, inspired and influenced squarely over the years of professional career. -/- In publishing this book, one teacher who cannot be left out is the late Professor Choi Hong-yeop, who passed away recently. When I first took office, we laughed together, saying, "International trade law is private law, but international trade law is public law, right?" My juniors, who shared my lifelong journey as environmental activists, reminded me of the red leaves of a mountain full of crimson leaves, reminding me of the love of my fellow countrymen and the sentiments of old age, saying, "Our homeland is both South and North Korea." Even amidst the material abundance of the ever-growing South Korea, our humble moments spent with the North Korean people, the window between the two Koreas. Looking back, a deep sorrow pierces my heart. Professor Choi, a native of Gwangju, studied abroad in Seoul for many years, and despite numerous choices, returned to Chosun University with a noble spirit of "Let's nurture future generations in our hometown!" He became a lifelong scholar, a figure of respect for his students, and a role model for his fellow professors. -/- This book is sparse but comprehensive. While there are many influential scholars on the subject, it is limited in that I approached the topic through the lens of a limited number of scholars I encountered over a short period of two or three years. Furthermore, like Chapter 1, "Roman Law," this book has limitations in that it selectively and concisely covers the vast topic of Roman law and its influence. Nevertheless, this book is written from a comprehensive and holistic perspective to facilitate an easy understanding of law. For example, public law scholars focus on democratic politics and the rule of law, but rarely pay attention to Roman law. Nevertheless, Roman law serves as the origin of modern legal knowledge and legal systems. Public law scholars, preoccupied with Anglo-American democracy, political philosophy, or legal philosophy, rarely have the opportunity to reflect on Roman law. However, the legacy of Roman law, developed by British and French jurists, and particularly in Germany, the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, is undeniably the sole legacy of jurists. -/- As with all disciplines, legal philosophy is essential to understanding law. The two most prominent legal philosophical approaches are legal positivism and natural law theory. While these two philosophical schools of thought can trace their origins back to Socrates's Hemiptera, scholars generally view them as philosophical schools of law that emerged alongside the development of modern democracy. Legal positivism contributed to the scientificization of law, while natural law theory contributed to the development of justice and democratic values within the framework of politics and law. This book goes beyond simply introducing these two philosophical schools of law. Its inclusion of the American written constitution and the British unwritten constitution, in relation to the establishment of a democratic legal system, is intended to be comprehensive and promote a holistic understanding of legal systems. -/- Particularly noteworthy is Montesquieu's The Spirit of Law and the greatness of the New World jurists who were influenced by his work. While the design of institutions is a matter of the aesthetics of legal scholars, as the title suggests, this book is a remarkable work that vividly illustrates the relationship between politics and law, and what law is, more than any other legal philosopher. While he is often categorized as a conservative thinker due to his sharp focus on the design of legal systems, his influence on emerging democracies, legal scholars, and jurists has been profound. Montesquieu can be contrasted with the British constitutional philosopher Albert Dicey, who believed that law is about personality rather than institutions. While it falls short of specialized expertise, Chapter 5's brief discussion of the legal philosophies of neighboring social scientists serves as a comprehensive and comprehensive overview of the book. Therefore, this book could be classified as a specialized textbook on law rather than a specialized legal text. -/- I owe a great debt to Professor Sung Seung-hyun for Chapter 1, "Roman Law." Through the dinner debate at the famous chicken stew restaurant Gwangil Restaurant and the discussion of Roman law, I, a public law professor immersed in the theory of natural rights and rights-centered democratic legal philosophy, have found the joy of encountering another facet of law: the world of technical and neutral dimensions. Perhaps I felt like I was moving from Descartes to Vico. Pacta sund servanda, the Pandect system, and countless other Roman law maxims seemed to awaken the souls of legal scholars. -/- Chapter 2, Legal Positivism, was influenced by the simplicity and practicality of the neighborhood lawyers I encountered in my daily life. Bentham's criteria of utility, based on the inner nature of human beings and pleasure and pain, free from the constraints of religion and philosophy that dominated the Middle Ages, serve as a philosophy of life for neighbors and lawyers in the world of common law. As mentioned in the text, Hart contrasts Jeremy Bentham with Karl Marx. Marx's harsh criticism of Bentham, saying he resembled an ordinary, unassuming English shopkeeper, evokes the image of ordinary neighborhood lawyers. Nevertheless, Jeremy Bentham, a lawyer with a small, store-like office, offers a crucial philosophical yardstick through the everyday life of the rule of law. Jeremy Bentham's simple truths about law predicted the collapse of the established system of the time, like the Ancien Regime, and, as he himself said, will continue to serve as a benchmark for social criticism and institutional reform for generations to come. This, of course, stems from his human-centered philosophy, and he had a significant influence on British criminal law reform. However, the fact that he was so staunchly critical of American independence demonstrates that, despite being a great philosopher and criminal law scholar, he was ultimately a British citizen. In short, as someone who lived through the new democratic eras of American independence and the French Revolution, his insight into human nature through his criminal law philosophy deeply imprinted utilitarianism, revolutionary thinking, and reformist spirit, and will continue into the AI era. His greatness is evident not only through his extensive writings, but also in the efforts of Mill and Hart, two leading scholars of democracy and the rule of law, to evaluate and overcome him. Within this context, Chapter 2 is designed to provide a glimpse into the true nature of democracy and the rule of law through biographies of John Stuart Mill and Herbert Hart. -/- Chapter 3 of this book addresses the issues of natural law theory and the democratic system. As mentioned earlier, the modern democratic system was built on the foundations of the Glorious Revolution in England, the American War of Independence, and the French Revolution. British traditionalism and the unwritten constitution can be examined through the lens of Albert Dicey. The legal philosophy of the French Revolution is significant in many ways, but examples include the Napoleonic Five Codes, the establishment of the Supreme Administrative Court, and the tradition of administrative centrality. -/- These aspects of the modern French legal system are particularly significant from the perspective of democratic legal systems and system building. They naturally contrast with Albert Dicey, a constitutional scholar who championed the unwritten constitutional tradition and championed the political value of the constitution. This chapter will examine his praise for British liberalism and the parliamentary tradition, as well as his critique of the French administrative state. This can be translated into the practicality of administrative law, embodying the ideals of the Constitution and its implementation, or the Anglo-American constitutional state, embodying liberal ideals, and the practicality of administrative law, embodying and pursuing socialist values. This will provide public law scholars with a philosophical opportunity. -/- Meanwhile, the American independence and the enactment of the Federal Constitution left another significant mark on the history of global democracy. Particularly for countries with presidential constitutions, the United States is the motherland of democracy. The US Constitution embodies the spirit of the Montesquieu-style separation of powers, characterized by political power integration and exclusion, and separation and checks. This ideological background is well-articulated in the Federalist Papers. Although only a small portion of this ideological background is explored, we will delve into the legal philosophy of the founders of this new continent. -/- Chapter 4 of this book, titled "Rediscovering Legal Philosophy," includes reflections on the legal philosophy of Sean Coyle of the University of Glasgow and Scott Shapiro of Yale Law School, two leading British and American legal philosophers. As Sean Coyle's book "Modern Jurisprudence" and Scott Shapiro's book "Legality" suggest, modern legal philosophy is becoming specialized, centered around legal positivism, natural law theory, analytical law, and normative law. With law schools recently being reduced to bar exam preparation institutions, and with the marginalization of non-mainstream subjects like legal philosophy, I worry that, as with all academic disciplines, unless philosophy is predicated, future lawyers will inevitably become legal technicians or legal idiots. Faced with a reality where lawmakers are blind to political principles and entrenched in legal texts, and where impeachment clauses are used to impose dozens of impeachments in a short period of time, we need to reflect on whether law has become a tool of political power. -/- The final chapter, Chapter 5, examines the philosophy of law and legal issues in the postmodern era, focusing on social scientists. Although selective and superficial, I hope this book provides a valuable opportunity to appreciate the developments in legal philosophy since World War II. Rawls, Nozick, and others demonstrate that "rights-based democracy" remains the dominant political philosophy in Western democracies. Furthermore, Walzer and Sandel have significantly influenced legal thought, facilitating an understanding of the liberal and communitarian philosophies of the United States, a leading democracy. In Germany, Jellinek achieved remarkable success by integrating the rigidity of legal scholarship with the scientific nature of social science. Furthermore, Radburg, under the banner of value jurisprudence, shifted from the absoluteness of law to the relativity of law and presented the inherent social function of law as legal certainty and predictability. This approach has had a profound impact on jurisprudence in Southern Europe and South America, and under the banner of the WTO's rule of law, it serves as a guide for lawyers worldwide. My humble hope is that this book will serve as a useful beacon for understanding law and legal philosophy. (shrink)

Epistemological reconstruction of the two oldest epigraphic corpora in the Nusantara archipelago—the Yupa Inscriptions at Muara Kaman, East Kalimantan (second half of the 4th century ce, palaeographic estimate) and the Tarumanagara Inscriptions in West Java (mid-5th century ce)—is built through convergent evidence: comparative linguistics, genealogical parallelism, title semantics, chronological reconstruction, maritime logistics, and external validation from the rise-and-fall pattern of the Chenla Kingdom. The argument is explicitly abductive (the best current explanation), not a claim of demonstrative certainty from a single (...) decisive source. The central argument is presented in two explicitly separated claim levels. The first level—supported by strong convergent evidence—proposes that the Muara Kaman community is more parsimoniously interpreted as a diaspora formation with Kalinga/Dravidian affiliations and structural links to Gupta-era networks, rather than as an autochthonous polity undergoing linear Indianisation. In the same framework, Taruma is interpreted as a transplanted homeland toponym (consistent with the Gomat ̄ı/Candrabhaga ̄ sacred-geography replication) rather than as a securely demonstrated derivation from local indigo. The second level—presented as a working hypothesis—proposes that some names in the Yupa corpus may function as patronage epithets linked to Gupta figures: “Kundungga” as a possible preservation of a pre-Sanskritic vernacular name associated with Sri Gupta, “Mu ̄lavarman” as a possible epithet connected to ChandraguptaI, and “Pu ̄rn.awarman” as a possible epithet connected to Kumaragupta I. This second level remains provisional and requires additional primary corroboration. Ten independent categories of evidence are evaluated, with six primary categories contributing most strongly to the First Level: (1) systematic linguistic elimination indicates that “Kundungga” is unlikely to be Sanskrit or Austronesian; since Vogel (1918) and Chhabra (1945), scholarship has repeatedly noted that the name is non-Sanskritic; (2) the three-generation genealogical parallelism between the Yupa and early Gupta lineages indicates structural and chronological convergence; (3) the suffix -varman in this context is interpreted as functionally comparable to elite titulature in Gupta-connected networks, including Kamarupa; (4) the approximately 280-year inscriptional gap in Java (from Purnawarman, c. 5th century ce, to Canggal, 732 ce) is consistent with, though not by itself decisive for, a broader post-Gupta sys- temic contraction; (5) the naming from below dynamic (whereby a client community assigns patronage epithets to imperial figures rather than adopting those figures’ self-designations) offers one mechanism for preferring -varman over -gupta; (6) the inverse rise-and-fall pattern of Chenla provides an independent regional comparison consistent with a shared macro-network dynamic. Because direct primary evidence is fragmentary for both models, mainstream and alternative explanations are evaluated under the same evidentiary constraints. The label “Kingdom of Kutai Martadipura” currently has no direct epigraphic attestation in the seven Yupa Inscriptions. (shrink)

There is a particular kind of longing that only those displaced by Partition can truly understand: the yearning to return to the soil where one first breathed, where one's roots run deep beneath houses now occupied by strangers, beneath streets that carry different names, beneath a sky that belongs to a different nation. Hardev Singh Virk's Meri Janambhumi (Pakistan) Diyan Yatravan is an intimate, deeply personal account of that longing being fulfilled, not once but four times over four decades. Written (...) in Punjabi, the book chronicles the author's journeys to Pakistan in 1981, 1983, 1988, and most recently in 2024, weaving together the threads of personal memory, scientific achievement, cultural observation, and the bittersweet experience of returning to a homeland forever altered by history. (shrink)

Our planet contains 194 independent states and much more nations. They share membership of the United Nations and in consequence they subscribed the Universal Declaration of Rights. These are rooted in the modern universal conception of states and human rights formulated by philosophers of the Enlighten Age like Locke, Kant., Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau. Concepts like democracy are mirrored to the organization of the political life as it was developed in North America and Europe at the end of the 18th (...) and the 19th century. Universality was deeply rooted in the Western intellectual, moral and religious tradition of that part of the world. Even globalization of the economic and social life is governed by the same Western standards and worldwide consumed basic goods like prime matter,. food and energy is expressed in terms of Western currency like dollar, pound sterling or euro. Despite this economic globalization there were two contradictory political evolution to discern: At the one hand more than 70 new states where created and on the other hand 28 European states started to integrate to a political European Union. The latter trend was based on a deep economic integration and since the creation of the euro also a financial integration. Basic idea was the creation of a free economic market as bases for a political unified Europe. Euro criticism is not only identified with conservatism, nationalism, narrow mind and even racism, euro criticism is deprived from any intellectual significance. However other trends put some shadow on the European project. First the Soviet experience around Marxism, Leninism and Stalinism unified more different nations than the European Union but ended in a complete political and economic chaos. Secondly the financial euro crisis involves only the tacit undermining of the national political independence of the member states, but does not make room for a deep analysis what the fundamentals are of this crisis such as lack of confidence of the citizen in the created unified political and financial market and its main instruments like banks that we consider as the fundamental boundary conditions of the worldwide globalization of goods, power and all aspects of human life. Furthermore we claim that this market in al its aspects is the worst answer to the inconvenient yet unavoidable truth that Western way of life of consumption includes a ecological footprint that exceeds since many years the sustainability of our planet. -/- . (shrink)