Sustainable behaviour promotes pro-ecological behaviour and is a practice of consuming and utilizing resources responsibly. The ongoing COVID-19-induced pandemic has already put economic, social and psychological distress across the globe. Meanwhile, it has become vital to think of issues related to the sustainable management of resources. Behavioural norms play a prominent role while promoting sustainable living. This research examines how the sustainable dimension in one’s behaviour influences the decision-making in their daily life. Previous studies have shown the importance of sub-factors (...) like happiness, diversity constraint and frugal actions as factors affecting sustainable behaviour. These indicators mainly define the action one will choose to react to while buying and consuming different resources. The study identifies happiness as the mediating variable which influences the relationship between the predictor variables—mindfulness and diversity acceptance and the criterion variable—frugality-linked sustainable behaviour. With a sample of 324 participants, Baron and Kenny’s mediation model was outlined to test the mediation. Results showed a positive relationship between frugality, diversity, mindfulness and happiness. Happiness was found to be mediating between mindfulness, diversity acceptance and frugality-linked sustainable behaviour indicating that mindfulness and diversity acceptance alone have limited potential to impact the frugality-linked sustainable approach that individuals take. Happiness, as explained through a positive frame of mind, plays a very important role in enhancing sustainability behaviour. (shrink)

Sustainable behaviour promotes pro-ecological behaviour and is a practice of consuming and utilizing resources responsibly. The ongoing COVID-19-induced pandemic has already put economic, social and psychological distress across the globe. Meanwhile, it has become vital to think of issues related to the sustainable management of resources. Behavioural norms play a prominent role while promoting sustainable living. This research examines how the sustainable dimension in one’s behaviour influences the decision-making in their daily life. Previous studies have shown the importance of sub-factors (...) like happiness, diversity constraint and frugal actions as factors affecting sustainable behaviour. These indicators mainly define the action one will choose to react to while buying and consuming different resources. The study identifies happiness as the mediating variable which influences the relationship between the predictor variables—mindfulness and diversity acceptance and the criterion variable—frugality-linked sustainable behaviour. With a sample of 324 participants, Baron and Kenny’s mediation model was outlined to test the mediation. Results showed a positive relationship between frugality, diversity, mindfulness and happiness. Happiness was found to be mediating between mindfulness, diversity acceptance and frugality-linked sustainable behaviour indicating that mindfulness and diversity acceptance alone have limited potential to impact the frugality-linked sustainable approach that individuals take. Happiness, as explained through a positive frame of mind, plays a very important role in enhancing sustainability behaviour. (shrink)

It is indeed the best time to showcase the work of the Indian Machiavelli - Chanakya - for both the Indian and the Western world. Chanakya's Political Wisdom is particularly relevant because in the India of today, the circumstances are very similar to what they were when Chanakya was born - the country is under attack, not only externally, from extremism, aggressive neighbours and rivals in trade pursuing and pushing their agenda, but it is also under strain internally, because of (...) its hypocrisy, factionalism, poor governance, civic norms and creaking infrastructure. At such a time, what Chanakya has said 2500 years ago, becomes relevant again. His thoughts are as valid for a common man as for a king. Chanakya has been translated, but we found that despite the fact that Chanakya has been, by far, the best intellect the world over in Statecraft, with masterly skills in planning and diplomacy, there is no political commentary on Chanakya. Therefore, WVPD decided to showcase Wisdom Guru Pavan Choudary (referred as the "New Age Chanakya" by Indus Age, Australia), one the foremost political commentators in the world today presenting a true political commentary on Chanakya which will strike a cord in the mind of the politician as well as the statesman. (shrink)

The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) is a promising approach for research on self-disorders, as it may enable studying how momentary changes in anomalous world experiences (AWEs) impact delusion development and maintenance. Using ESM to study AWEs requires clarification on two key issues: 1) discerning to what extent self-reports for AWEs align with clinician-based assessments; and 2) demonstrating the dynamic variability of AWEs in order to justify the use of ESM. This paper reports an exploratory ESM study (n = 7; 286 (...) total ESM observations) on these two issues. False-positive indices and agreement rates between self-reports and clinician-based assessments were calculated, and ESM data was used to observe dynamic variability in AWEs. Exploratory mixed-effects models were conducted, using the AWE Unknown/Unstatable Significance as a predictor, and paranoia as an outcome. Two models were compared on indices of fit: Model 1, using all obtained data for the predictor variable (n = 6), and Model 2 (n = 5), eliminating data suspected of containing false-positives of the predictor. Average ESM completion rate was 68%. False-positive indices and agreement rates ranged from 20–88% and 14–86%, respectively. Visual inspection of temporal profiles of AWEs showed dynamic variability. Although mixed-effects models should be interpreted with caution, we observed a threshold effect for the relationship between Unknown/Unstatable Significance and paranoia (Model 1; B = –3.90, p = 0.015; Model 2: B = –2.87, p = 0.50). Indices of fit improved in Model 2 (Model 1; AIC = 1525.76, BIC = 1559.15; Model 2; AIC = 1172.64, BIC = 1203.77). Larger-scale validation studies on AWE self-report items are warranted, as are further ESM studies that examine the role of AWEs in delusions. (shrink)

The self-disorder model provides a phenomenological framework for understanding how the core symptoms of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSDs) are rooted in an instability of minimal selfhood. This instability involves a range of “anomalous experiences”: transformations in an individual’s perceptual field and sense of being an agent of action. The explanatory value of this theoretical model can be summarized in two claims about the role of anomalous experiences in self-disorders: (1) anomalous experiences express a common trait-like disturbance that is characteristic of (...) SSDs, and (2) anomalous experiences contribute to explanations regarding how self-disorders progress into SSDs. While hypotheses consistent with the first claim have been substantiated in several studies, hypotheses consistent with the second claim remain underexamined. We argue that attending to this gap in the literature requires considering which methodological strategies are best suited for investigating if and how anomalous experiences contribute to the development of self-disorders into SSDs and psychotic states. Network modeling is discussed as one such strategy suitable for examining the role of anomalies of lived-world in the maintenance of paranoid delusions in SSDs. (shrink)

Paul Grice has given an account of conversational implicatures that hinges on the hypothesis that communication is a cooperative activity performed by rational agents which pursue a common goal. The attempt to derive Grice’s principles from game theory is a natural step, since its aim is to predict the behaviour of rational agents in situations where the outcome of one agent’s choice depends also on the choices of others. Generalised conversational implicatures, and in particular scalar ones, offer an ideal test (...) bed for this working hypothesis, since with this kind of implicatures the alternative choices available to the agents are less dependent on context, and they can be derived from the meanings of the sentences employed. Some rival game-theoretic accounts of the same phenomena will be criticised. The present paper shows that scalar implicatures can be explained using iterated admissibility, but that some of these need an additional assumption in order to be accounted for. (shrink)

What is Brahman? What is its relationship to Atman? What is an individual's place in the cosmos? Is a personalised god and ritualistic worship the only path to attain moksha? Does caste matter when a human is engaging with the metaphysical world? The answers to these perennial questions sparkle with clarity in this seminal account of a man, and a saint, who revived Hinduism and gave to Upanishadic insights a rigorously structured and sublimely appealing philosophy. Jagad Guru Adi Shankaracharya (788-820 (...) CE) was born in Kerala and died in Kedarnath, traversing the length of India in his search for the ultimate truth. In a short life of thirty-two years, Shankaracharya not only revived Hinduism, but also created the organisational structure for its perpetuation through the mathas he established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri, and Joshimatha. Adi Shankaracharaya: Hinduism's Greatest Thinker is a meticulously researched and comprehensive account of his life and philosophy. Highly readable, and including a select anthology of Shankaracharya's seminal writing, the book also examines the startling endorsement that contemporary science is giving to his ideas today. A must-read for people across the ideological spectrum, this book reminds readers about the remarkable philosophical underpinning of Hinduism, making it one of the most vibrant religions in the world. (shrink)

Machiavelli for Moral People Machiavelli is the Father of Realpolitik. A politician and a writer, he wrote his masterpieces The Prince and Discourses on Livy in 16th Century AD. These writings, banned till early 18th century for their controversial and devious content, are now considered the Bible of Realpolitik. Clearly in the world today more politicians are considered Machiavellian than Gandhian, and although we may admire Gandhi more than Machiavelli, the world does often seem to comport to Machiavelli's expectations. (...) class='Hi'>Pavan Choudary explores how, Machiavelli - reviled down the years for promoting deviousness - has actually made an invaluable contribution in enhancing our understanding of evil. This understanding can help the principled person win. Pavan Choudary Pavan Choudary is the author of path breaking books like When you are Sinking Become a Submarine, A Trilogy of Wisdom (A modern day commentary on three Grandmasters of the East - Chanakya, Confucius and Kabir) and Broom & Groom (co-author Kiran Bedi). Pavan is also the Managing Director of Vygon, a leading French Multinational, hosts the TV program Hum Aise Kyun Hain on Doordarshan, and writes the column Mera Gaon Mera Desh for Times of India. Today, Pavan is being viewed as one of the most original Indian political thinkers and management speakers shaping opinions on practically all aspects of governance, social reform and leadership. To know more log on to www.pavanchoudary.in. (shrink)

This paper explores the relationship between inference, creation, and institution in the formation of habit. In the first part, drawing on Hume’s philosophy, we examine the skeptical view that inference arises more from habit than from reason. Building on this, and following Bergson’s critique of associationist theories, we argue that the habit of inferring does not result from mere mechanical attraction, but rather involves the continuous creation of general ideas and the active engagement of the spirit. In the final section, (...) we introduce the concept of institution as a generative act that, by establishing an association—and thus a general idea—simultaneously delivers what it creates to future repetitions. (shrink)

This paper examines the materialism of Lucretius and Spinoza as a perspective oriented toward the problem of the event. The first part focuses on the physical and ethical dimensions of the Lucretian concept of clinamen, understood as the expression of an event that interrupts the uniform and rectilinear motion of matter. In the second part, the analysis turns to Lucretius’s theory of simulacra, seeking to trace a path toward the emancipation of our imaginative capacity, modeled on Spinoza’s theory of knowledge (...) in the Ethics. The paper ultimately aims to articulate a conception of vision as an event in which the viewer emerges in tandem with what is seen. (shrink)

This paper examines the various functions of the imaginary starting from the case of Jeanne d’Arc. Assuming Castoriadis’ conception that the imaginary, in its ultimate and radical dimension, is the place of creation, I will explore in the lived experience of young Jeanette the alternation of what Margaret Boden distinguishes as three peculiar forms of creativity (combinational, explorative and transformative). In the first part, we will identify in Jeanne’s attachment to the religious and political tradition of her people the enactment (...) of reproductive-combinatorial functions of the imaginary, while in the second part, we will seek to demonstrate how her voices and visions imply the creation of a new imaginary reality. (shrink)

The main goal of this essay is to demonstrate the creativity of computational systems (both living and non-living) through a philosophical interpretation of Alan Turing's halting theorem. The first part consists of a brief genealogy of studies focused on the analogy between humans and machines, with a specific focus on the issue of creativity. It aims to show how, since the publication of Turing's 1950 paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence, a subjectivist approach has become dominant in these studies—namely, the tendency (...) to shift the locus of inquiry into machine intelligence and creativity from the machines themselves to their observers, inferring the potential of the former from the latter’s reactions of surprise. We will demonstrate how this approach has, over time, downplayed the question of whether machines are genuinely creative (as explored by Boden) and has instead anchored research on the premise that creativity lies in the eyes of the beholder (as proposed by Ritchie. As an alternative to this approach, the second part will attempt to revive an objectivist perspective, showing how it is possible—once again drawing on Turing—to argue for the real creativity of machines. However, this will be done by leveraging the important philosophical implications of the logical-mathematical results Turing achieved in his 1936 paper on computable numbers. In the conclusion, the essay will propose identifying the equivalent of real machine creativity in the human ability to take one thing for another—a concept described by Cornelius Castoriadis as a quid pro quo intrinsic to language understood as a code. This ability enables individuals to consistently align experiential data with their own rules. (shrink)

In this text, Giordano Bruno's philosophy is compared with Aristotelian tradition and Thomas Hobbes' thought in a metapolitical perspective. The final part investigates the possibility of defining Bruno's political conception on the basis of the Deleuzian paradigm of institution.

Il termine moderno pietà ha acquisito, soprattutto a partire dalle controversie confessionali del XVI sec., un’accezione spesso negativa, legata alla contraddizione tra scrupolosità nella sfera cultuale e negligenza in quella etica e sociale. Il presente contributo cerca di ripercorrere alcuni momenti chiave della lunga storia – classica e cristiana – di questo termine, in modo tale da riscoprirne alcune dimensioni positive e feconde anche nell’ambito contemporaneo. La pietà indica quella ricerca di armonia o sintonia tra le diverse sfere dell’esistenza umana (...) che, in Cristo, ha trovato una pacificazione e una sistemazione nuova e sorprendente. (shrink)

Contre la dégradation de l’usage ordinaire du terme tolérance, qui finit par indiquer la cohabitation dans l’indifférence, la pensée de Levinas offre des ressources originales permettant de penser la tolérance au niveau de la relation éthique avec autrui et de lui redonner ainsi une nouvelle vigueur. Un concept peu souligné par Levinas, et néanmoins présent dans son œuvre, celui du supporter, rend en effet possible cette lecture : être un moi implique de supporter la souffrance intolérable à laquelle nous sommes (...) exposés par la proximité d’autrui, et cela n’est possible qu’en se faisant le support d’autrui, c’est-à-dire en donnant un sens éthique à l’absurdité de la souffrance. Cette lecture, qui met l’accent sur la séparation du moi dans la relation à autrui, permet de tirer deux conséquences. La première est qu’elle met en relief une continuité entre la pensée de l’altérité de Levinas et celle de Husserl, telle qu’elle est abordée par la contribution de Pierre-Jean Renaudie dans ce même numéro. La deuxième est qu’elle permet de repenser la tolérance comme concernant d’abord le moi : ce n’est pas autrui que l’on doit tolérer, mais la souffrance intolérable en nous, pour la souffrance d’autrui. (shrink)

ExcerptThe debate about persecutory Fascist legislation, in its anti-Jewish and racial-colonial1 articulation, has represented one of the most innovative branches of historical research in Italy in the last twenty years.2 In 1988, the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of anti-Jewish legislation marked the symbolic beginning of fruitful studies on the racial character of Fascism. It allowed the integration, development, and refinement of the research carried out for a long time only by Renzo De Felice and Meir Michaelis.3The (...) actual enforcement of persecutory legislation, especially against the Italian Jewish minority, has been an object of detailed study…. (shrink)

Provides insights into success principles for modern times. Discusses strategies for personal and professional growth. Draws from wisdom, leadership, and self-improvement concepts. A motivational guide for the contemporary world.

Confucius was a sage and social philosopher of China whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan for two thousand five hundred years. The relationship between Confucianism and Confucius himself, however, is tenuous. Confucius' ideas were not accepted during his lifetime as the Chinese society was a decadent society that was seeped in Taoism that talked of idleness. Confucius came and he talked of duty, he talked of action and not just idle action, but wise action...that (...) leads to a happy populace and restores social order. Confucius Social Wisdom is a phenomenal amalgamation of Confucian understanding and Vivekacharyan interpretation of human nature:How should a person behave as the unit of a family, a society member and as a ruler? How social relationships can be brought in harmony? Why some societies succeeded while the others failed? What can India learn from successful and prosperous societies? The reading is aimed at opening your window to harmonious relationships. n. (shrink)

The year 2017 has dawned in a new era. This is an era where cyber terrorism and cyber extremism are increasingly going to be significant factors in our day-to-day lives. Whether we like it or not, today social media platforms are infiltrated with cyber terrorists and cyber extremists. In addition, Cyber radicalization as a phenomenon is constantly on the rise.

This article reports from the International Conference on Cyberlaw, Cybercrime & Cybersecurity. The Conference was addressed by more than 150 speakers backed by more than 80 supporters. It was a wonderful opportunity to network with international thought leaders under one roof.

In this essay, I argue that the Indian state’s response to the Maoist insurgency has been ideologically shaped by the “new terrorism” discourse cultivated by Western powers, particularly by the United States. Following the post-9/11 othering of Islamic terrorism as a trope of a “civilizational clash” between East and West, the Indian state has strategically demarcated the regions affected by the Maoist armed insurgency as the “Red Corridor,” conceiving the insurgency as “the single biggest threat to the internal security of (...) the nation.” The domestic othering of the Red Corridor as an “unpatriotic,” “undemocratic,” “contaminated,” or even a “diseased zone” is further exacerbated by the systemic demonization, criminalization, and depoliticization of the Maoist insurgency through state-sponsored propaganda. In the attempt to uncover the implied collusion and complicity between the U.S.-led “war on terror” and India’s “war with the Maoists,” I draw on Hamid Dabashi’s view of “post-Orientalism,” Giorgio Agamben’s notion of “bare life,” and Achille Mbembe’s coinage of “necropolitics.”. (shrink)

ABSTRACTWhen Manchester United Football Club publicly announced the signing of Alexis Sanchez in 2018, it was done through a short video that purported to demonstrate the rich traditions and...

Ce travail se propose de mettre en lumière les réflexions de Levinas sur la signification, à partir des notes et des conférences rédigées entre les années 1950 et le début des années 1960. Leur intérêt découle de ce qu’elles se situent à l’arrière-fond de l’élaboration de Totalité et Infini : alors que cet ouvrage est voué à déceler dans la relation éthique la source ultime du sens, ces textes mettent au jour une interrogation profonde et parfois encore hésitante sur la (...) signification, que Levinas explore tantôt dans le cadre de l’intentionnalité, tantôt à travers des figures du langage, notamment le symbole et la métaphore. C’est la possibilité d’y découvrir un surplus de signification, dépassant la simple corrélation intentionnelle, qui mène Levinas à interroger les horizons de la visée intentionnelle et les tropes du langage, en poursuivant ainsi son dialogue avec Husserl, Heidegger et Merleau-Ponty. L’enjeu n’est pas mineur pour Levinas, car il s’agit de comprendre si le surplus de signification ainsi discerné peut ouvrir la voie à une transcendance réelle, à un sens qui affecte et oriente la conscience, ou si ce surplus finit par se rabattre sur l’immanence. (shrink)

In the first exposition of the doctrine of indeterminacy of translation, Quine asserted that the individuation and translation of truth-functional sentential connectives like 'and', 'or', 'not' are not indeterminate. He changed his mind later on, conjecturing that some sentential connectives might be interpreted in different non-equivalent ways. This issue has not been debated much by Quine, or in the subsequent literature, it is, as it were, an unsolved problem, not well understood. For the sake of the argument, I will adopt (...) Quine's background assumption that all the semantic features of a language can be reduced to the speakers' dispositions toward assent and dissent, as far as only the truth-conditional core of the meaning of sentences is concerned. I will put forward an argument to the effect that the speech dispositions of most, if not all, English (French, Italian, etc.) speakers constrain a unique translation of their connectives. This argument crucially relies on an empirical conjecture concerning the behaviour of these operators. (shrink)

Uso, significato e riferimento - This article is an exposition of W.V. Quine's doctrine of the indeterminacy of translation of terms. The aim is to provide a clear formulation of this doctrine, to distinguish it from the much stronger claim that the translation of sentences is indeterminate, and to outline the arguments put forward by Quine. The most systematic of these is reconstructed in detail, namely the argument from proxy functions. Finally, it is argued that the ultimate ground of the (...) doctrine is the acceptance of the semantic primacy of sentences. The claim that meaning has to be identified with language use is also discussed. (shrink)