Sam Leake's letters on right thinking and self-healing.

Mode of access: Internet.

Divine Immolation

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Enantiodromia

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Mahler's Third Symphony and the Languages of Transcendence

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

The state of history and the empire of metaphysics [Review]

One of the curious things about this challenging book is that its ostensible subject— the Saxon medical and political scientist Hermann Conring (1606–1681)— is not mentioned in the title. Constantin Fasolt argues that we cannot know what Conring really thought or meant in his writings, which means that his topic cannot be Conring as such and must instead be that which occludes our knowledge of him, the titular limits of history. Given that we do in fact learn a good deal about Conring from Fasolt’s book, we can only hope that the decapitation of its subject will be rectified in a subsequent edition, or perhaps by the restorative work of librarians putting together subject headings. And yet Fasolt’s decision is understandable, for Conring is indeed a stalking-horse for a much bigger quarry: historiography and the historical consciousness. By “history” Fasolt understands a way of imposing intelligibility on the world, which is founded on the twin assumptions that the past is gone and unchangeable, and that the meaning of texts can be determined by placing them in their historical contexts (ix). In challenging this mode of intelligibility, Fasolt is not attempting to improve professiona history—it’s already as good as it can be—but to displace it. He regards his work as a declaration of “independence from historical consciousness” (32). At the same time, Fasolt insists that he is not simply jumping from historiography to philosophy, or attempting to preempt history with ontology (37-39). That has been tried by Nietzsche and Heidegger, who have been tainted by Nazism (Fasolt thinks unfairly). It has also been attempted by modern philosophers from Gadamer to Foucault and Charles Taylor who, in failing to address the “violence” that its mode of intelligibility does to the world, have not succeeded in outflanking history. Perhaps, Fasolt wonders, it is only the personal experience of those who have been subject to this violence—the experience of those who have been subject to historical examination—that can break the spell of history. Fasolt’s disclaimer notwithstanding, in the course of these remarks I shall argue that he is indeed jumping from history to philosophy, or attempting to outflank history by subjecting it to a particular metaphysical understanding. I shall do so in part by sketching the recent intellectual history of this move—a historical examination that I hope inflicts as little violence as possible on Fasolt’s argument.

A vocação niilista da hermenêutica Gianni Vattimo e Religião

O tema desta tese é a relação entre hermenêutica, niilismo e religião no pensamento do filósofo italiano Gianni Vattimo. Partindo da articulação das idéias de Nietzsche e Heidegger, Vattimo afirma que a superação da metafísica tem como finalidade o niilismo. Este termo assume três significados: (1) Tudo é interpretação. (2) Fazer esta afirmação também é interpretação, pois o ser não é estrutura, mas evento, impossibilitando a afirmação da existência de algo originário. (3) O niilismo é o destino da história do ser, promovendo o enfraquecimento das estruturas fortes da metafísica. Estes três aspectos engendram a hermenêutica e são igualmente engendrados por ela. A vocação da hermenêutica e da história do ser para o enfraquecimento da metafísica é devedora da concepção cristã de esvaziamento de Deus. Por causa disto, segundo Vattimo, o cristianismo é o elemento niilista operante no interior da metafísica.(AU)

Leadership and the negotiation of order in small groups

This thesis is focussed on the role differentiationhypothesis as it relates to small groups (Bales, 1958). The hypothesis is systematically examined, both conceptually and empirically, in the light of the Equilibrium Hypothesis (Bales, 1953) and the Negotiated Order Theory of leadership (e.g. Hosking, 1988). Chapter 1 sketches in a context for the research,which was stimulated by attempts during the 60s and 70s to organise small groups without leaders (the leaderless group, based on isocratic principles). Chapter 2 gives a conceptual and developmental overview of Bales' work, concentrating on the Equilibrium Hypothesis. It is argued that Bales' conceptual approach, if developed, can potentially integrate the disparate small groups and leadership literatures. Chapters 3 and 4 examine the concepts `group', `leader' and `leadership' in terms of the Negotiated Order perspective. In chapter 3 it is argued that two aspects of the concept group need to be taken separately into account; physical attributes and social psychological aspects (the metaphysical glue). It is further argued that a collection of people becomes a group only when they begin to establish a shared sense of social order. In chapter 4 it is argued that leadership is best viewed as a process of negotiation between those who influence and those who are influenced, in the context of shared values about means and ends. It is further argued that leadership is the process by which a shared sense of social order is established and maintained, thus linking the concepts `leadership' and `group' in a single formulation. The correspondences with Bales' approach are discussed at the end of the chapter. Chapters 5 to 8 present a detailed critical description and evaluation of the empirical work which claims to show role differentiation or test the hypothesis, both Bales original work and subsequent studies. It is argued here, that the measurement and analytical procedures adopted by Bales and others, in particular the use of simple means as summaries of group structures, are fundamentally flawed, and that role differentiation in relation to particular identifiable groups has not been demonstrated clearly anywhere in the literature. Chapters 9 to 13 present the empirical work conducted for the thesis. 18 small groups are examined systematically for evidence of role differentiation using an approach based on early sociometry (Moreno, 1934). The results suggest that role differentiation, as described by Bales, does not occur as often as is implied in the literature, and not equivocally in any case. In particular structures derived from Liking are typically distributed or weak. This suggests that one of Bales' principal findings, that Liking varies independently of his other main dimensions, is the product of statistical artifact. Chapter 14 presents a general summary of results and presents some considerations about future research.

Alberto Girri, or poetry as hermeneutic reason

One of the main factors that makes the poetry of the Argentine Alberto Girri (1919–1991) a whole world of its own is my argument that in a fragmentary world like the present, poets search for a formal integrity which in the act of reading creates not only their own inner world but also the readers'. It is important to insist on this turning point in which most of the Symbolist work is circumscribed. Later, this would be of capital importance for the avant-garde as well as for the post-avant-garde: Mallarmé's Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard would make poetry something absolutely modern. An original distribution of the white and black opened a new space for the text, shifting the then dominant phonocentrism. My close reading of this author as well as the given theoretical frame avoids the failure into an instrumental use either of the page or of the writing but ignoring physical reciprocity. What follows is, that this “shift” privileged heightened vision over audition of the “musical score”. Thus, an intense materialization of the language is achieved that increases the anonymity of the text. ^ Following this new arrangement of words, so to speak, Girri's poetic work now drives deeply inside words in order to lend them dignity from meaning. I conclude that the best way to “render” this poetry with religious aim (L. “re-ligare” to bind the fragmented) is by way of the philosophy of language. I also propose that Girri's task as a translator, mainly from English poetry, represented—with Jorge Luis Borges—a paradigmatic shift in the Spanish American horizon which had been under “logocentric” French rule since the time of Independence. This seismic change of perspective in late Modernism and post-Modernism is represented by a radical screening of Romance rhetoric, it was a shift not only over the inherited mother tongue but over his own work which was increasingly moving towards transcendent and/or metaphysical poetry. ^ Therefore, I did find that Girri's poem was constructed as a mirror closely related to that which was represented in the angelological tradition. ^

Implicit metaphysis of the Visuddhimagga : assāsa-passāsa as a vital animating force

This research examines how assasa-passisa and its surrounding concepts are discussed in Buddhaghossa's 5th century Theravada work, the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification) to determine if there is metaphysical use of the term in the text and to determine if the concept of assasa-passasa is similar to the better-known Indian concept of prana (metaphysical vital animating force), indicating whether Theravada Buddhism more closely resembles other Indian religions in terms of metaphysical content. Text analysis reveals how assasa-passasa is described in the Visuddhimagga as an animating vital force, suggesting that Theravada Buddhism has an implicit ontology similar to other Indian schools of philosophy. Secondarily, this paper argues that because assisa-passasa plays a similar role to prana in the Visuddhimagga, it is also operationally similar and could be functioning as the implicit intermediary between links in the chain of dependent co-arising-as the vehicle of paticcasamuppada.

A cidadania no contexto do estado constitucional democrático de direito brasileiro

The citizenship is a fundamental category to the democratic progress and the development and concretization of human rights, in addition to being one of the essential foundations of democratic contextualized in the rule of law of the Federative Republic of Brazil. That’s exactly why the discussion about its concept and content is a paramount requirement to the understanding and interpretation-application-concretization of the Federal Constitution of 1988, as well as its democracy, since there is no democracy without citizenship. That is why the general objective of the research is to determine the characteristics of the citizenship, relating it to the Law, as well as to discuss (critically) its inclusion in the list of fundamental rights and delimitate the scope of protection and the limits of this right, in the context of Brazilian law post-1988 Constitution. The specific objectives are: a) to analyze the concept of citizenship, its extent and scope, contextualizing it historically; b) to examine the evolution of the legal and regulatory treatment of the citizenship in Brazilian constitutions, focusing on the 1988 Constitution; c) assess whether citizenship can be considered a fundamental right; d) to investigate which implications, theoretical and practical, of assignment fundamentality character to the right to citizenship. This research identifies and deconstructs current conceptual confusions, such as the lack of distinction between citizenship and nationality; citizenship and electoral capacity; citizenship and person. It also helps to identify and oppose the generalizations, as well as the excessively abstract associations which tend to purely metaphysical understandings, fluid and empty of any content. The main virtue, however, is the proposed of understanding of the citizenship as a fundamental right and the examination of the relationship between citizenship and human dignity. In this context, citizenship appears as a corollary of human dignity and it goes beyond. This (human dignity) requires equality, non-arbitraries, non-excessive, disproportionate or unreasonable impositions affecting their freedom rights, and, yet, doesn’t affect a minimum core of possibilities of have to a decent life, in conditions of freedom and self-conformation involved in the necessary consideration of the individual as a subject. All of this requires a decision-making process, molded by the citizenship, which reaches the entire development process of possible state interventions, to ensure the person as a subject, the right holder and the objective point of reference of the juridical relations. Thus, the citizenship represents a substantial and beneficial addition to the human dignity, since the emancipated citizen is a person, formally and materially, qualified, to be able to build their own and collectively organized history, to participate effectively in the making processes decision juridical and social

Heidegger e a técnica moderna

The general objective of this research is to clarify and discuss the original contribution of Martin Heidegger's philosophical reflection on the essence of modern technique. For this purpose, it was structured the interpretative course of this dissertation in two essential moments. At first, we present Heidegger's interpretation of the essence of the modern age which, in turn, will be recognized from the metaphysical foundation that establishes the essence of modern science: the subjectivity that represents, calculates, manages and produces the real. We will see which, in this context, modern science was still thought close to the modern technology, what will change considerably from the writings of the post-war, in which Heidegger thinks modern science from a much broader and essential process in that the essence of the technique has already been unfolding. Thus, in a second moment, we will analyze how, for Heidegger, the modern metaphysics of subjectivity reached its completion at the time of modern art from the principle of control and planning of entities in general (Gestell), revealing the nontechnical sense of the technique (beyond the anthropological, humanistic and instrumental view) as well as the threatening character of modern technique in its conversion project of the entity from the reserve fund (Bestand).

Cenários de contra-hegemonia no protestantismo brasileiro no contexto da pós-modernidade

Since long ago that the religious manifestations are considered important items in various social media. In this sense, we are interested in understanding the strong denominational plurality, and the emergence of new movements / events and forms of Christianity in Brazil, which therefore is a reflection of what happens in the rest of the globalized world. Such interest is covered by the assumption that religiosity and social media are built on mutual and interconnected way, which allows us to understand that social cosmology presents itself as a fertile space privileged and to verify the interactions pertaining to the binomial: religion and society. The Protestantism is divided into three main streams: Historical, Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal. Each current of Protestantism emerged to adapt to social cosmology of historical ages, from the Reformation to the present day, forming institutions with certain ethical and moral stances. In this sense, it is necessary to research and understand how the historical Protestant, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal were implanted in Brazil. From this we believe to be interesting problematize accurately the following: How have the processes of formation of strands / evangelical movements in Brazil? These movements are still holding their "classic robes" or hybreeding their borders? What are the modulations in the religious transit demonstrate that this probable hybridization? If there is, indeed, a hybridization between the Evangelical means, we can put it is provoked only by a logic of "market of symbolic goods of religion" in the world today? Nowadays, we are experiencing a period of change cosmological, from Modern to Postmodern (caosmológic). This last is therefore characterized by secularization, the fracture, the mutilation, the diversity of subjectivities. And thinking about is this "spirit of the times" we take as the main its theoretical references of this study, the Italian philosopher and thinker of postmodernity Gianni Vattimo featuring postmodernity with the cosmology of fragile / pensiero debole Thought and post-metaphysical, that is which enhances the appearance of more plural institutions and non-absolute. To do so, he makes use of the philosophies of German, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Finally, it must be said that this grounded theoretical framework, raise the hypothesis that the Protestantism tends to "injure anymore" by the influence of postmodern social episteme, providing thereby the emergence of a new hybrid framework has not yet nominated and can move between the three major currents of world Protestantism, with features in converged aspects of the same.

Cenários de contra-hegemonia no protestantismo brasileiro no contexto da pós-modernidade

Since long ago that the religious manifestations are considered important items in various social media. In this sense, we are interested in understanding the strong denominational plurality, and the emergence of new movements / events and forms of Christianity in Brazil, which therefore is a reflection of what happens in the rest of the globalized world. Such interest is covered by the assumption that religiosity and social media are built on mutual and interconnected way, which allows us to understand that social cosmology presents itself as a fertile space privileged and to verify the interactions pertaining to the binomial: religion and society. The Protestantism is divided into three main streams: Historical, Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal. Each current of Protestantism emerged to adapt to social cosmology of historical ages, from the Reformation to the present day, forming institutions with certain ethical and moral stances. In this sense, it is necessary to research and understand how the historical Protestant, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal were implanted in Brazil. From this we believe to be interesting problematize accurately the following: How have the processes of formation of strands / evangelical movements in Brazil? These movements are still holding their "classic robes" or hybreeding their borders? What are the modulations in the religious transit demonstrate that this probable hybridization? If there is, indeed, a hybridization between the Evangelical means, we can put it is provoked only by a logic of "market of symbolic goods of religion" in the world today? Nowadays, we are experiencing a period of change cosmological, from Modern to Postmodern (caosmológic). This last is therefore characterized by secularization, the fracture, the mutilation, the diversity of subjectivities. And thinking about is this "spirit of the times" we take as the main its theoretical references of this study, the Italian philosopher and thinker of postmodernity Gianni Vattimo featuring postmodernity with the cosmology of fragile / pensiero debole Thought and post-metaphysical, that is which enhances the appearance of more plural institutions and non-absolute. To do so, he makes use of the philosophies of German, Nietzsche and Heidegger. Finally, it must be said that this grounded theoretical framework, raise the hypothesis that the Protestantism tends to "injure anymore" by the influence of postmodern social episteme, providing thereby the emergence of a new hybrid framework has not yet nominated and can move between the three major currents of world Protestantism, with features in converged aspects of the same.

Identidade pessoal em Hume e em Kant

The issue of this dissertation is the problem of personal identity. More specifically, the objective of this work is to investigate and compare how Hume and Kant construct, within their own philosophical systems, their theories of personal identity (of the self), so that these theories can set the grounds for the construction of theoretical knowledge. Hume’s theory of personal identity is closely connected to his empirical model of investigation, according to which no metaphysical conclusion can be accepted. This implies a very specific limitation to the humean description of personal identity. Because he can’t find a safe empirical reference for the self, Hume is obliged to describe it as a mere fiction, which the imagination creates to try to give unity to the set of perceptions that composes the mind. Kant, on the other hand, constructs his theory of the self with the aim of explaining the possibility of the a priori knowledge in Mathematics and in Physics. Kant tries to find which attributes must necessarily belong to the self so that this self can be, at the same time, the a priori transcendental condition of a subjectivity in general and the equally a priori transcendental condition for the construction of objective knowledge. Moreover, Kant shows the impossibility of objectively knowing, as intuition, the self, and limits himself to the description of the self as a mere subjective consciousness of the synthetic capacities of the understanding. Several disparities, thus, can be perceived between the theories of personal identity of these two authors. Based on these differences, the present work also examines the possibility of making an interpretation of the humean theory of the self by using elements of the kantian philosophy. The purpose of this kind of interpretation is to propose a solution to the difficulties faced by Hume in the description of his theory of personal identity.

A PARTICIPATIO DE TOMÁS DE AQUINO NA PROPOSTA DOUTRINAL DO NOVO CATECISMO DA IGREJA CATÓLICA

A proposta do novo Catecismo da Igreja Católica é, do ponto de vista abstrato, transformadora e mesmo revolucionária, se pensarmos, por exemplo, na extraordinária importância que, pela primeira vez, se dá ao papel do fiel leigo, como membro pleno da Igreja, e à vida quotidiana, decorrentes de uma nova concepção do alcance do Batismo, cujas dimensões física e metafísica (natural e sobrenatural) impulsionam seus sujeitos a agir não mais como simples “membros de carteirinha”, mas como filhos de Deus efetivamente impregnados de divindade, o que é claramente perceptível sob a perspectiva do conceito de participação – a participatio – desenvolvido por Tomás de Aquino, que permeia todo o novo Catecismo da Igreja Católica em suas quatro grandes partes (a doutrina da fé #26 - #1065, a Liturgia #1066 - #1690, a Moral #1691 - #2557 e a vida de Oração #2558 - #2865), como é demonstrado neste trabalho, onde, 234 ocorrências de participação e suas correlatas (participar, participante etc.) foram registradas, das quais, 171 (73%) são no sentido mais profundo proposto por Tomás. No entanto, neste quarto de século, desde que foi promulgado o CIC, não se nota na pastoral e na educação católicas as correspondentes significativas mudanças que seria de esperar