Poetics of the Nameless Middle : Japan and the West in Philosophy and Music of the Twentieth Century

This study investigates the affinities between philosophy, aesthetics, and music of Japan and the West. The research is based on the structuralist notion (specifically, on that found in the narratology of Algirdas Julius Greimas), that the universal grammar functions as an abstract principle, underlying all kinds of discourse. The study thus aims to demonstrate how this grammar is manifested in philosophical, aesthetic, and musical texts and how the semiotic homogeneity of these texts can be explained on this basis. Totality and belongingness are the key philosophical concepts presented herein. As distinct from logocentrism manifested as substantializations of the world of ideas , god or mind, which was characteristic of previous Western paradigms, totality was defined as the coexistence of opposites. Thus Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Dōgen, and Nishida often illustrated it by identifying fundamental polarities, such as being and nothing, seer and seen, truth and illusion, etc. Accordingly, totality was schematically presented as an all-encompassing middle of the semiotic square. Similar values can be found in aesthetics and arts. Instead of dialectic syntagms, differentiated unity is considered as paradigmatic and the study demonstrates how this is manifested in traditional Japanese and Heideggerian aesthetics, as well as in the aspects of music of Claude Debussy and Tōru Takemitsu.

Jouko Turkan Teatterikorkeakoulun kauden yhteiskunnallinen kontekstuaalisuus vuosina 1982 - 1985

The subject of my doctoral thesis is the social contextuality of Finnish theater director, Jouko Turkka's (b. 1942) educational tenure in the Theater Academy of Finland 1982 1985. Jouko Turkka announced in the opening speech of his rectorship in 1982 that Finnish society had undergone a social shift into a new cultural age, and that actors needed new facilities like capacity, flexibility, and ability for renewal in their work. My sociological research reveals that Turkka adapted cultural practices and norms of new capitalism and new liberalism, and built a performance environment for actors' educational work, a real life simulation of a new capitalist workplace. Actors educational praxis became a cultural performance, a media spectacle. Turkka's tenure became the most commented upon and discussed era in Finnish postwar theater history. The sociological method of my thesis is to compare information of sociological research literature about new capitalist work, and Turkka's educational theater work. In regard to the conceptions of legitimation, time, dynamics, knowledge, and social narrative consubstantial changes occurred simultaneously in both contexts of workplace. I adapt systems and chaos theory's concepts and modules when researching how a theatrical performance self-organizes in a complex social space and the space of Information. Ilya Prigogine's chaos theoretic concept, fluctuation, is the central social and aesthetic concept of my thesis. The chaos theoretic conception of the world was reflected in actors' pedagogy and organizational renewals: the state of far from equilibrium was the prerequisite of creativity and progress. I interpret the social and theater's aesthetical fluctuations as the cultural metaphor of new capitalism. I define the wide cultural feedback created by Turkka's tenure of educational praxis, and ideas adapted from the social context into theater education, as an autopoietic communicative process between theater education and society: as a black box, theater converted the virtual conception of the world into a concrete form of an actor's psychophysical praxis. Theater educational praxis performed socially contextual meanings referring to a subject's position in the social change of 1980s Finland. My other theoretic framework lies close to the American performance theory, with its close ties to the social sciences, and to the tradition of rhetoric and communication: theater's rhetorical utility materializes quotidian cultural practices in a theatrical performance, and helps the audience to research social situations and cultural praxis by mirroring them and creating an explanatory frame.

The R-x, R2-x Planes; Some New Ideas for the Study of Nonlinear Systems

Use of some new planes such as the R-x, R2-x (where R represents in the n-dimensional phase space, the radius vector from the origin to any point on the trajectory described by the system) is suggested for analysis of nonlinear systems of any kind. The stability conditions in these planes are given. For easy understanding of the method, the transformation from the phase plane to the R-x, R2-x planes is brought out for second-order systems. In general, while these planes serve as useful as the phase plane, they have proved to be simpler in determining quickly the general behavior of certain classes of second-order nonlinear systems. A chart and a simple formula are suggested to evaluate time easily from the R-x and R2-x trajectories, respectively. A means of solving higher-order nonlinear systems is also illustrated. Finally, a comparative study of the trajectories near singular points on the phase plane and on the new planes is made.

Ideas generated in conceptual design and their effects on creativity

Search of design spaces to generate solutions affects the design outcomes during conceptual design. This research aims to understand the different types of search that occurs during conceptual design and their effect on the design outcomes. Additionally, we study the effect of other factors, such as creativity, problem-solving style, and experience of designers, on the design outcomes. Two sets of design experiments, with experienced and novice designers, are used in this study. We find that designers employ twelve different types of searches during conceptual design for problem understanding, solution generation, and solution evaluation activities. Results also suggest that creativity is influenced positively by the type and amount of searches, duration of designing, and experience of designers.

Derechos humanos y religión : una reflexión a partir de las ideas del diálogo Habermas-Ratzinger

En enero de 2004 Jürgen Habermas y Joseph Ratzinger fueron invitados por la Academia Católica de Baviera para mantener un diálogo sobre los fundamentos morales –prelegales o prepolíticos– del Estado contemporáneo. Dos intelectuales de su talla, no obstante sus evidentes diferencias teóricas, pudieron entonces no solo dialogar cordialmente sino encontrar valiosos puntos en común desde sus diferentes tradiciones de pensamiento. Este hecho, no poco relevante en un mundo intelectual quizá demasiado dominado por la crispación de las posturas antagónicas, fue una inspiración para los que suscribimos hoy este breve artículo1. En este ensayo pretendemos evidenciar –a partir del recuerdo de los frutos de dicho diálogo– que no solo puede constatarse sin dificultad que existe una estrecha relación entre derecho y religión, sino que tal relación puede ser sumamente fructífera para ambos. Evidenciaremos esto, en particular, a través de un breve análisis del tópico fundamental de la dignidad y de los derechos humanos que en ella se sustentan.

Sobre ciencia práctica y prudentia : aproximaciones desde las ideas de John Finnis

Resumen: En el presente trabajo, el autor ensaya una presentación de las contribuciones de John Finnis a los temas de la ciencia práctica y la prudentia. Respecto del primero, destaca el carácter analógico del concepto de ciencia y las particularidades de su aplicación al campo del saber práctico. Con referencia a la segunda, apunta su relevancia en el esquema clásico del pensamiento práctico, en especial en referencia a la determinación de los objetos de las virtudes y al papel de los absolutos morales en el razonamiento práctico-moral.

La vigencia de las ideas de Ludwig von Mises, para la interpretación de los problemas de Latinoamérica, en la actualidad

Resumen: En los últimos 20 años, los problemas de las economías emergentes de Latinoamérica se han ido, en muchos casos acentuando, y en todos los casos, polarizando. Una serie de países han adoptado enfoques de políticas públicas que muchos identifican con lo que se conoce como “El Foro de Sao Paulo”. El estatismo, el desequilibrio del sector externo, el incremento del gasto fiscal y la pérdida de libertades se han visto asociados a toda esta problemática. Importa particularmente a los cultores de la “Escuela Austriaca de Economía” rescatar lo que podían decir al respecto, algunos de sus pensadores fundamentales.

Objetividad y racionalidad en la interpretación jurídica : consideraciones a partir de las ideas de Owen Fiss

Resumen: El presente artículo estudia uno de los temas centrales del debate iusfilosófico contemporáneo, a saber, el lugar que ocupa la razón en la interpretación jurídica. En este sentido, enfoca el tema de la objetividad y la racionalidad en la interpretación jurídica a partir del pensamiento del profesor de Yale, Owen Fiss, con una presentación de sus ideas en torno a la adjudicación y a las notas de la interpretación. Se consideran luego cuatro grandes cuestiones que constituyen el núcleo de la propuesta de Fiss: la racionalidad de la interpretación, su carácter objetivo, sus criterios de corrección y el papel de las valoraciones morales en la interpretación. Se finaliza con balance conclusivo de los aspectos fuertes y débiles de las ideas de Fiss.

Las ideas lingüísticas de Juan Mateo Zabala: El verbo regular vascongado del dialecto vizcaíno (1848)

Presentado en las II. Jornadas de Lingüística Vasco-Románica / Euskal-Erromantze Linguistika II. Jardunaldietan aurkeztua (Bilbo, 2007)

Environmental and aesthetic impacts of small docks and piers, workshop report: Developing a science-based decision support tool for small dock management, phase 1: Status of the science

Few issues confronting coastal resource managers are as divisive or difficult to manage as regulating the construction of private recreational docks and piers associated with residential development. State resource managers face a growing population intent on living on or near the coast, coupled with an increasing desire to have immediate access to the water by private docks or piers. (PDF contains 69 pages)