This volume explores on the material, social, and ideological aspects of Asoka's reign in light of advances made in archaeology, epigraphy, and numismatics. Thematically divided into three parts, the first to pillars and rocks, which bear his inscriptions. The second part examines the interconnectedness of the edicts, their monumentality, and the different concept of kingship they conveyed. The third part analyses the making of the cultural memory of Asoka and raises pertinent questions crucial for understanding the relationship between the past (...) and the present. The essays outline the importance of Asoka not only for the Indian nation-state but also for the entire Buddhist world of South and South-east Asia. Moving away from conventional periodization of Indian history, it raises important questions on the beginning of history and archaeology in the modern period. The book examines the extent to which nineteenth century initiatives have affected the study of Asoka and his reign. (shrink)

A variant of realizability for Heyting arithmetic which validates Church’s thesis with uniqueness condition, but not the general form of Church’s thesis, was introduced by Lifschitz (Proc Am Math Soc 73:101–106, 1979). A Lifschitz counterpart to Kleene’s realizability for functions (in Baire space) was developed by van Oosten (J Symb Log 55:805–821, 1990). In that paper he also extended Lifschitz’ realizability to second order arithmetic. The objective here is to extend it to full intuitionistic Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, IZF. The machinery (...) would also work for extensions of IZF with large set axioms. In addition to separating Church’s thesis with uniqueness condition from its general form in intuitionistic set theory, we also obtain several interesting corollaries. The interpretation repudiates a weak form of countable choice, ACω,ω, asserting that a countable family of inhabited sets of natural numbers has a choice function. ACω,ω is validated by ordinary Kleene realizability and is of course provable in ZF. On the other hand, a pivotal consequence of ACω,ω, namely that the sets of Cauchy reals and Dedekind reals are isomorphic, remains valid in this interpretation. Another interesting aspect of this realizability is that it validates the lesser limited principle of omniscience. (shrink)

While well-tested at solar system scales, Newtonian gravity exhibits anomalies at larger scales and accelerations below $$10^{-9} m/s^2$$. Although Yukawa-like modifications can reconcile these anomalies with general relativity up to solar system scales, they face challenges at galactic scales. Notably, gravitational anomalies at accelerations $$\le 10^{-9} m/s^2$$ for separations down to $$50\, \mu$$ m remain undetected experimentally. This paper presents a mathematical framework for Yukawa modification of Newtonian gravity in weak acceleration regimes $$(\le 10^{-9} m/s^2)$$ and small separations ( $$\le (...) 30 \, \mu$$ m) using an extended space model with an extra dimension. This model suggests a vacuum-sourced inertia effect from peculiar photons, with implications for the Mach principle. These photons’ entanglement scale ( $$\le 30\, \mu$$ m) hints at the possibility of longer-range photon entanglement via analytic continuation, opening new avenues for research in quantum gravity and cosmology. (shrink)

Popular representations of third-world sex workers as sex slaves and vectors of HIV have spawned abolitionist legal reforms that are harmful and ineffective, and public health initiatives that provide only marginal protection of sex workers' rights. In this book, Prabha Kotiswaran asks how we might understand sex workers' demands that they be treated as workers. She contemplates questions of redistribution through law within the sex industry by examining the political economies and legal ethnographies of two archetypical urban sex markets (...) in India.Kotiswaran conducted in-depth fieldwork among sex workers in Sonagachi, Kolkata's largest red-light area, and Tirupati, a temple town in southern India. Providing new insights into the lives of these women--many of whom are demanding the respect and legal protection that other workers get--Kotiswaran builds a persuasive theoretical case for recognizing these women's sexual labor. Moving beyond standard feminist discourse on prostitution, she draws on a critical genealogy of materialist feminism for its sophisticated vocabulary of female reproductive and sexual labor, and uses a legal realist approach to show why criminalization cannot succeed amid the informal social networks and economic structures of sex markets. Based on this, Kotiswaran assesses the law's redistributive potential by analyzing the possible economic consequences of partial decriminalization, complete decriminalization, and legalization. She concludes with a theory of sex work from a postcolonial materialist feminist perspective. (shrink)

Much previous work has suggested that word order preferences across languages can be explained by the dependency distance minimization constraint (Ferrer‐i Cancho, 2008, 2015; Hawkins, 1994). Consistent with this claim, corpus studies have shown that the average distance between a head (e.g., verb) and its dependent (e.g., noun) tends to be short cross‐linguistically (Ferrer‐i Cancho, 2014; Futrell, Mahowald, & Gibson, 2015; Liu, Xu, & Liang, 2017). This implies that on average languages avoid inefficient or complex structures for simpler structures. But (...) a number of studies in psycholinguistics (Konieczny, 2000; Levy & Keller, 2013; Vasishth, Suckow, Lewis, & Kern, 2010) show that the comprehension system can adapt to the typological properties of a language, for example, verb‐final order, leading to more complex structures, for example, having longer linear distance between a head and its dependent. In this paper, we conduct a corpus study for a group of 38 languages, which were either Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) or Subject–Object–Verb (SOV), in order to investigate the role of word order typology in determining syntactic complexity. We present results aggregated across all dependency types, as well as for specific verbal (objects, indirect objects, and adjuncts) and nonverbal (nominal, adjectival, and adverbial) dependencies. The results suggest that dependency distance in a language is determined by the default word order of a language, and crucially, the direction of a dependency (whether the head precedes the dependent or follows it; e.g., whether the noun precedes the verb or follows it). Particularly we show that in SOV languages (e.g., Hindi, Korean) as well as SVO languages (e.g., English, Spanish), longer linear distance (measured as number of words) between head and dependent arises in structures when they mirror the default word order of the language. In addition to showing results on linear distance, we also investigate the influence of word order typology on hierarchical distance (HD; measured as number of heads between head and dependent). The results for HD are similar to that of linear distance. At the same time, in comparison to linear distance, the influence of adaptability on HD seems less strong. In particular, the results show that most languages tend to avoid greater structural depth. Together, these results show evidence for “limited adaptability” to the default word order preferences in a language. Our results support a large body of work in the processing literature that highlights the importance of linguistic exposure and its interaction with working memory constraints in determining sentence complexity. Our results also point to the possible role of other factors such as the morphological richness of a language and a multifactor account of sentence complexity remains a promising area for future investigation. (shrink)

The paper aims to respond to the ethical concern of biases generated by Artificial Intelligence systems. Even though biases enter an AI network via different channels, its presence in the algorithm can pose serious difficulties. AI systems have an algorithmic way of working where language is ‘formal’ and meaning is ‘fixed’. We employ deconstructive strategies of Jacques Derrida to understand the nature of this problem of AI bias through examination of algorithmic/programming language. Derridean philosophy looks at metaphysics as heavily depended (...) on notions such as logocentrism where logos refers to the privileged part in a dichotomy. Logos is the centre of formal language which works as a system of signs. The main point of deconstruction is to apprise us of this privilege given to ‘presence’ of a concept or meaning over its ‘absence’. Derrida’s notion of Undecidables and Aporia, not only destabilizes rigid dichotomies like speech/writing but also give way to an opening of a concept in its ‘impossible -possibility’. In AI systems, programming/algorithmic language conforming to its algorithm offers definitive answers to problems. This takes us a step ahead in ‘formalization’ of language. Derrida, however offers a response via his ethical deconstruction where the process of ‘completion’ of any concept is deferred and its meaning ‘undecided’. (shrink)

In my research, I will try to study the notion of epistemic injustice by focusing on Miranda Fricker’s work in the area of epistemic injustice. Miranda Fricker talks about two forms of epistemic injustice which, she believes, are distinctively epistemic in nature. These two forms of epistemic injustice are testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice which help us to understand the epistemic injustice faced by an individual or a social group. So we can say that these two categories provide us with (...) the theoretical tools to formulate and theorize about distinct kinds of epistemic injustice, which can’t be easily formulated in Goldman’s VSE model1 and other models of social epistemology. (shrink)

We compute the model-theoretic Grothendieck ring, \\), of a dense linear order with or without end points, \\), as a structure of the signature \, and show that it is a quotient of the polynomial ring over \ generated by \\) by an ideal that encodes multiplicative relations of pairs of generators. This ring can be embedded in the polynomial ring over \ generated by \. As a corollary we obtain that a DLO satisfies the pigeon hole principle for definable (...) subsets and definable bijections between them—a property that is too strong for many structures. (shrink)

20 years since the negotiation of the Palermo Protocol on Trafficking in 2000, the anti-trafficking field has gone from an early, almost exclusive preoccupation with sex work to addressing extreme exploitation in a range of labour sectors. While this might suggest a reduced focus on the nature of the work performed and a greater focus on the conditions under which it is performed, in reality, anti-trafficking discourse remains in the grip of polarised positions on sex work even as the carceral (...) effects of anti-trafficking law become evident and the Swedish model of criminalising the purchase of sexual services spreads. In this article, I demonstrate how despite the recent discursive shifts to ‘modern slavery’ and ‘forced labour’, the anti-trafficking transnational legal order itself reinforces, rather than diffuses cultures of sex work exceptionalism. The growing international sex workers’ movement has offered resistance, yet a closer look at the movement and the widespread support that it has garnered for decriminalisation from international organisations, while valuable, helps reveal the greatest cost yet of anti-trafficking discourse, namely, the inability of the sex workers’ movement to produce a sophisticated theory of regulation to reduce levels of exploitation within sex work, one which is commensurate with the informality and heterogeneity of sex markets the world over. Finally, to the extent that neoabolitionist projects derive legitimacy from interventions abroad, especially in the global South, I chronicle the edifice on which it rests in one such context, namely India, to demonstrate how countries in the global South are not merely conduits for the global North’s preoccupation with moral gentrification through neo-abolitionism, but rather, that the circuits of global governmentality while influential, are highly contingent, thus producing opportunities for creative forms of mobilisation by sex workers. (shrink)

This paper investigated the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors on the financial performance of 37 Indian companies from 2013 to 2022, focusing on stock returns, Tobin's Q, and return on capital employed (ROCE). Using a dynamic panel data model and the Arellano and Bond approach, the study explored the moderating effect of stock return volatility on the ESG–financial performance relationship. The findings revealed that ESG scores negatively affect Tobin's Q and stock returns, suggesting investor caution or perceived (...) short-term costs associated with ESG practices. Conversely, ESG scores positively impact ROCE, indicating that sustainable practices enhance operational efficiency and long-term profitability. Volatility diminished the negative effect of ESG on Tobin's Q and stock returns and the positive impact on ROCE. These findings suggest that policymakers may incentivize ESG adoption through regulations and enhance corporate communication to highlight its long-run benefits. This study also recommends that corporate managers align ESG strategies with market conditions, focusing on risk mitigation during volatile periods and long-term value in stable conditions. This study also advises investors to adapt their evaluation approach, prioritizing ESG's stability benefits in volatile markets and its profitability contributions in stable markets to make better investment choices. (shrink)

Classical Sanskrit work, with English and Sanskrit commentaries, on non-dualistic (Advaita) Vedanta philosophy.

The message of the holy dialogue between Lord Krishna and Arjuna in the Bhishma Parvan episode of Mahabharata has been held in deep reverence by the sages, philosophers and the learned scholars all over the world. The teachings of Geeta are universal and meant for the welfare of entire creation. There are hundreds of commentaries on Bhagawad Geeta both in Indian and in many foreign languages. In the words of Dr. Radhakrishnan, 'for centuries people have found comfort in this great (...) book which sets forth in precise and penetrating words the essential principles of a spiritual religion which are not contingent on ill-founded facts, unscientific dogmas or arbitrary fancies.' The present translation is only a humble addition to the work which has been accomplished earlier by the Geeta scholars. This translation with Romanized Sanskrit verses has been brought forward in order to encourage the modern generation into the study of this ancient scripture. This work is also meant to help the Indians living in foreign countries and to arouse the interest of foreigners into the recitation of Sanskrit verses and to understand the meaning of Geeta in a simple flexible and comprehensible language. (shrink)

In recent years, rather than addressing the needs of sex workers themselves or of trafficked persons, international anti-trafficking law has been mobilised towards an ideological end, namely the abolition of sex work. The vulnerability of ‘third world’ female sex workers in particular has provided a potent image for justifying state intervention backed by the full force of the criminal law. Moral legitimacy has been afforded to this by a radical feminist discourse which views sex workers as nothing but hapless victims. (...) Drawing on the work of Martha Fineman and legal realists like Robert Hale, this article redeploys vulnerability in trafficking debates to depart from its narrative of victimhood and to offer a renewed critique of liberal legalism, which has in the trafficking context been characterised by legal strategies of criminalisation and the attendant rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked persons. Specifically, it examines how three Indian social legislations regulating bonded labour, contract labour and inter-state migrant labour, and targeted at the domestic trafficking of men, conceptualise vulnerability in substantially different ways when compared to the 2000 Palermo Protocol on Trafficking (at least as it has been enforced to date). To the extent that these Indian laws construe the vulnerability of labour as systemic, trafficking is understood as a problem of labour migration to be addressed primarily by labour law. As such, this view of vulnerability, I argue, not only helps to de-exceptionalise trafficking as always equivalent to the trafficking of women for sex work, and therefore sex work, but also to substantively address the vulnerability of both male and female workers in other labour markets. (shrink)

A silent revolution is under way in India today. Starting in 2020, 12 states have rolled out unconditional cash transfers to nearly 118 million women. Wages for Housework: India’s Experiment with Unconditional Cash Transfers to Women offers the first book-length study of these transfers, using social reproduction feminism, particularly the wages for housework campaign, to theorize unconditional cash transfers as providing economic recognition of women’s unpaid domestic and care work. Against the backdrop of a low female labour force participation rate, (...) a residual welfare regime, and an entrenched culture of gendered familialism wherein women are presumed responsible for care, the book addresses arguments for and against unconditional cash transfers in feminist economics and welfare theory. In doing so, it recollects the vision of the founding mothers of the Indian Constitution who advocated for the recognition of women’s unpaid work. Through an in-depth study of unconditional cash transfers in Goa, Assam, and West Bengal (implemented in 2013, 2020, and 2021, respectively), Kotiswaran elaborates on state-specific welfare regimes and analyses the implementation of cash transfers through interviews with bureaucrats, academics, feminist activists, and women beneficiaries to understand if and how they have resulted in women’s empowerment, whether in terms of education, paid employment, or the gendered division of labour. The work posits that unconditional cash transfers represent an unprecedented and welcome expansion of the Indian welfare regime and to be truly gender-transformative, they need to be embedded in a broader feminist agenda for care. (shrink)

The present study was an attempt to investigate frequent updating of personal information on social media in the context of personality and emotionality, by comparing the personality (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) and emotional states (depression, agoraphobia-panic, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia) of updaters and non-updaters using the NEO-FFI 3 and EST-Q. Online survey methods were used to screen participants. A total of 900 participants completed the questionnaires, coming from 11 different universities in India. The results indicated that updaters scored higher than (...) non-updaters on measures of neuroticism, extraversion, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia. On the other hand, non-updaters were found to have higher scores on conscientiousness and agoraphobia-panic than updaters. No significant group differences were found for openness to experience and agreeableness. (shrink)

Introduction: Electroconvulsive therapy is a commonly used brain stimulation treatment for treatment-resistant or severe depression. This study was planned to find the effects of ECT on brain connectivity by conducting a systematic review and coordinate-based meta-analysis of the studies performing resting state fMRI in patients with depression receiving ECT.Methods: We systematically searched the databases published up to July 31, 2020, for studies in patients having depression that compared resting-state functional connectivity before and after a course of pulse wave ECT. Meta-analysis (...) was performed using the activation likelihood estimation method after extracting details about coordinates, voxel size, and method for correction of multiple comparisons corresponding to the significant clusters and the respective rsFC analysis measure with its method of extraction.Results: Among 41 articles selected for full-text review, 31 articles were included in the systematic review. Among them, 13 articles were included in the meta-analysis, and a total of 73 foci of 21 experiments were examined using activation likelihood estimation in 10 sets. Using the cluster-level interference method, one voxel-wise analysis with the measure of amplitude of low frequency fluctuations and one seed-voxel analysis with the right hippocampus showed a significant reduction in the left cingulate gyrus and a significant increase in the right hippocampus with the right parahippocampal gyrus, respectively. Another analysis with the studies implementing network-wise resting state functional connectivity showed a significant increase in bilateral posterior cingulate cortex. There was considerable variability as well as a few key deficits in the preprocessing and analysis of the neuroimages and the reporting of results in the included studies. Due to lesser studies, we could not do further analysis to address the neuroimaging variability and subject-related differences.Conclusion: The brain regions noted in this meta-analysis are reasonably specific and distinguished, and they had significant changes in resting state functional connectivity after a course of ECT for depression. More studies with better neuroimaging standards should be conducted in the future to confirm these results in different subgroups of depression and with varied aspects of ECT. (shrink)

Deep learning models are powerful tools for representing the complex learning processes and decision-making strategies used by humans. Such neural network models make fewer assumptions about the underlying mechanisms thus providing experimental flexibility in terms of applicability. However, this comes at the cost of involving a larger number of parameters requiring significantly more data for effective learning. This presents practical challenges given that most cognitive experiments involve relatively small numbers of subjects. Laboratory collaborations are a natural way to increase overall (...) dataset size. However, data sharing barriers between laboratories as necessitated by data protection regulations encourage the search for alternative methods to enable collaborative data science. Distributed learning, especially federated learning, which supports the preservation of data privacy, is a promising method for addressing this issue. To verify the reliability and feasibility of applying FL to train neural networks models used in the characterization of decision making, we conducted experiments on a real-world, many-labs data pool including experiment data-sets from ten independent studies. The performance of single models trained on single laboratory data-sets was poor. This unsurprising finding supports the need for laboratory collaboration to train more reliable models. To that end we evaluated four collaborative approaches. The first approach represents conventional centralized learning and is the optimal approach but requires complete sharing of data which we wish to avoid. The results however establish a benchmark for the other three approaches, federated learning, incremental learning, and cyclic incremental learning. We evaluate these approaches in terms of prediction accuracy and capacity to characterize human decision-making strategies. The FL-based model achieves performance most comparable to that of the CL-based model. This indicates that FL has value in scaling data science methods to data collected in computational modeling contexts when data sharing is not convenient, practical or permissible. (shrink)

Spanning forty years of Ray's career, these essays, for the first time collected in one volume, present the filmmaker's reflections on the art and craft of the cinematic medium and include his thoughts on sentimentalism, mass culture, ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how humans conduct transactions, make decisions, and engage in social settings, with applications in important sectors, such as healthcare, banking, and criminal justice. While AI systems offer full efficiency, they additionally pose significant threats and ethical issues, such as accountability gaps and algorithmic biases. The challenge for AI-driven governments is to establish governance structures that effectively manage the evolving threats posed by increasingly complex and autonomous AI systems. This paper seeks to establish a theoretical framework (...) for analyzing AI governance by examining mainly four critical issues: bias, transparency, economic influence, and the need for adaptive regulatory approaches. These issues are selected based on their relevance to the societal and ethical implications of AI, their impact on public trust, and their influence on fairness and equitable outcomes. Through this lens, the paper evaluates current regulatory models and self-regulation initiatives, analyzing their capacity to balance effective oversight with the need for innovation. Drawing on governance theories and socio-technical systems, the paper explores how these frameworks can address AI’s risks while enhancing its positive contributions. In addition, the paper identifies key gaps in existing governance approaches and calls for further research and policy development. Ultimately, this work aims to advance the understanding of AI governance by offering actionable insights that inform the creation of models capable of protecting public interests while enabling technological progress. (shrink)

This article takes the linguistic space of North India during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and tries to see how a nationalistic linguistic ideology that was shaping up at that time, creating Hindi and Urdu linguistic communities, used gender as a tool to portray and assert a masculinist vision of language and nation. It involved not just censoring certain representations of women and their cultural spaces, but also using the issue of ‘vulgar’ representations as a premise to marginalize certain languages (...) and their literature. The article looks at the colonial ideology that worked as an enforcer for the nationalists to work towards achieving what they felt as a sanitized and moral form of literature and culture. The linguistic ideology that accompanied these revisions was of projecting Hindi (Khari Boli) as a national language while limiting spaces of other languages, such as Braj, Urdu and Bhojpuri, in the region, by criticizing either their use of sexual imagery or by stereotyping them in a gendered way. This article investigates the arguments of nationalist writers and highlights their masculinist and patriarchal ideas in their bid for the new national language. (shrink)

The present book intends to highlight universal Vedic vision and provide an overview of ennobling ideas enshrined in the four Vedas. It contains select Vedic mantras in Sanskrit, with Hindi and English translation, which solicit peace and welfare for all beings in the world. Vedic prayers compiled in this book have been divided under following eight headings: One Earth-One Family, Peace, Well-being, Nature/Environment, Friendship/Amity, Education, Feminine Power and Culture. Besides, a basic introduction to Vedic literature is appended in the beginning (...) so that the readers may grasp a glimpse of the vastness and variety of Vedic texts and also understand the enormous influence of Vedas on the subsequent development of Indian thought. It is hoped that the simple but significant message of Vedas like seeing inherent interconnectedness among all beings inhabiting the planet earth and seeking cosmic harmony can provide fresh insights for the future of humanity. (shrink)

Verse treatise, with Prakasika commentary, on fundamentals of the Mīmāṃsā school in Hindu philosophy.

Ludwig Wittgenstein is perhaps the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the most original in the entire Western tradition. Given the inaccessibility of his work, it is remarkable that he has inspired poems, paintings, films, musical compositions, titles of books -- and even novels. In his splendid biography, Ray Monk has made this very compelling human being come alive in a way that perfectly explains the fascination he has evoked. Wittgenstein's life was one of great moral (...) and spiritual depth. Although his work addresses problems of logic, language, mind, and knowledge, he often described it as having an ethical point, and once said that he "could not help seeing every problem from a religious point of view." In successfully bridging the gap assumed by many to exist between Wittgenstein's life and his work, Monk's biography helps to explain the interest in Wittgenstein's later philosophy on the part of Buddhist scholars. (shrink)

Presenting a landmark in linguistics and cognitive science, Ray Jackendoff proposes a new holistic theory of the relation between the sounds, structure, and meaning of language and their relation to mind and brain. Foundations of Language exhibits the most fundamental new thinking in linguistics since Noam Chomsky's Aspects of the Theory of Syntax in 1965—yet is readable, stylish, and accessible to a wide readership. Along the way it provides new insights on the evolution of language, thought, and communication.

Examining one of the fundamental issues in cognitive psychology: How does our conscious experience come to be the way it is?

"Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn: And Lip to Lip it murmur'd-"While you live Drink!-for once dead you never shall return." " [http://philpapers.org/profile/112741] .

This book emphasizes the role of semantics as a bridge between the theory of language and the theories of other cognitive capacities such as visual perception...

( http://philpapers.org/profile/112741 )"Let generation know to procure the love, the concept, knowledge and ideas with thoughts they are acquiring on versatile English Language, instead of making themselves to be felt dealing with only burden." -/- I too realize, -/- "Literature is not merely going through a book, It is the moment of definition of per feeling that : I am acquiring through an imagery.".

A study of the contribution semantics makes to the syntactic patterns of English: an intepretive theory of grammar.

Semantic Structures is a large-scale study of conceptual structure and its lexical and syntactic expression in English that builds on the theory of Conceptual...

(http://philpapers.org/profile/112741 ) [https://plus.google.com/108060242686103906748/posts/cwvdB6mK3J6 ] "Let generation know to procure the love, the concept, knowledge and ideas with thoughts they are acquiring on versatile English Language, instead of making themselves to be felt dealing with only burden." -/- I too realize, -/- "Literature is not merely going through a book, It is the moment of definition of per feeling that : I am acquiring through an imagery.".

A collection of scholarly essays on Indian culture, history, and philosophy. Explores ancient texts, traditions, and their relevance today. Ideal for researchers and students of Indology.

In this long-awaited work, Ray L. Hart offers a speculative theology that profoundly challenges traditional understandings of God. Drawing on a lifetime of reading in philosophy and religious thought, Hart unfolds a vision of God perpetually in process: an unfinished God. Breaking out of the classical doctrine of divine persons, Hart reimagines Trinity as composed of theogony, cosmogony, and anthropogony an emerging Godhead in relation to origins, temporal creation, and human existence. The book s ultimate import is that all of (...) Being and Nonbeing emerges together in interrelation and interdependence. This divine reality, Hart explains, is unfinished, imperfect, still in the course of a living-dying process that implicates all things, existent and inexistent, temporal and eternal. Doctrinal closuresomething that every orthodox theology requiresthus becomes impossible, and rightly so. Hart confronts those orthodoxies by asking: How can thinking of God reach closure when the divine is itself unfinished and its appearance to us always amounts to new creation? Hart s insights open the potencies of the nothing to the actualization of freedomthe freedom to create. That is, the nothing is not for nothingit is procreative. In the domain of radical speculative theology, then, Hart offers a fully deconstructive revisioning of the Christian God as ever an emerging and self-transfiguring actuality. It is a work with which all serious students of theology will wish to contend.". (shrink)

Where much contemporary philosophy seeks to stave off the "threat" of nihilism by safeguarding the experience of meaning--characterized as the defining feature of human existence--from the Enlightenment logic of disenchantment, this book attempts to push nihilism to its ultimate conclusion by forging a link between revisionary naturalism in Anglo-American philosophy and anti-phenomenological realism in recent French philosophy. Contrary to an emerging "post-analytic" consensus which would bridge the analytic-continental divide by uniting Heidegger and Wittgenstein against the twin perils of scientism and (...) skepticism, this book short-circuits both traditions by plugging eliminative materialism directly into speculative realism. (shrink)

Healthcare professionals such as nurses faced a tough time during the pandemic. Despite the personal and professional challenges, they contributed immensely during the pandemic. However, there were variations in nurses’ work engagement during the pandemic. One reason could be their personality, especially neuroticism. Neuroticism represents individuals’ proneness to distress in stressful situations, such as COVID-19. Hence, understanding how and in which conditions neuroticism influences work engagement is crucial. We used the Job Demand-Resource model to test the association between neuroticism and (...) work engagement. As neuroticism represents the stress-proneness of an individual, we further investigated if stress mediates the neuroticism-work engagement link. For the nurses, patient interaction is an integral part of their job. Based on the data collected from the nurses, we tested if contact with patients alleviates the adverse effect of neuroticism on work engagement. During COVID-19, there was an intense need for nursing support. Hence, avoiding duty when society is looking for support might induce a fear of stigmatization among the nurses. We examined if the perceived stigma of duty avoidance would affect the neuroticism-engagement relationship. Our results indicated that higher patient contact alleviated the adverse effect of neuroticism on work engagement. On the other hand, higher fear of stigma exacerbated the adverse effect of neuroticism on work engagement. We further checked the combined effect of beneficiary contact and fear of stigma on neuroticism-work engagement relationships. The findings highlighted the importance of societal factors and policymakers in enhancing nurses’ work engagement. (shrink)

We examine the question of which aspects of language are uniquely human and uniquely linguistic in light of recent suggestions by Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch that the only such aspect is syntactic recursion, the rest of language being either specific to humans but not to language (e.g. words and concepts) or not specific to humans (e.g. speech perception). We find the hypothesis problematic. It ignores the many aspects of grammar that are not recursive, such as phonology, morphology, case, agreement, and (...) many properties of words. It is inconsistent with the anatomy and neural control of the human vocal tract. And it is weakened by experiments suggesting that speech perception cannot be reduced to primate audition, that word learning cannot be reduced to fact learning, and that at least one gene involved in speech and language was evolutionarily selected in the human lineage but is not specific to recursion. The recursion-only claim, we suggest, is motivated by Chomsky’s recent approach to syntax, the Minimalist Program, which de-emphasizes the same aspects of language. The approach, however, is sufficiently problematic that it cannot be used to support claims about evolution. We contest related arguments that language is not an adaptation, namely that it is “perfect,” non-redundant, unusable in any partial form, and badly designed for.. (shrink)