Youth is a stage in which vital principles are both questioned and reaffirmed; it is, therefore, both a challenge and an opportunity for personal growth and maturity. In today’s Mexico, young people comprise 24% of the population, or approximately 31.3 million as of 2023 (INEGI 2024). They constitute a population group whose convictions, values, ways of relating, and actions influence the present and the future at the social, cultural, and religious levels. This study examines the beliefs, values, and religious practices of this population group in Mexico, within the framework of a cross-cultural research project conducted in eight countries across four continents. Additionally, it describes how spirituality and faith are integrated into their lives, decision-making, aspirations, and social commitments. To this end, anthropological and pedagogical variables linked to the ethical and social life of believers and nonbelievers are analyzed. One of the contributions of this study is to emphasize the ethical and social discrepancies and similarities between the two groups and to formulate some pedagogical guidelines for the specific formation of Catholics and the transmission of the faith.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects, Communication. Mass media
The Sabzevar Philosophical School, founded in the mid-13th century AH by Hajj Molla Hadi Sabzevari, was one of the most influential philosophical centers in Iran during the Qajar era. This school, which continued to exist for three generations, has always been of interest to researchers in the history of Islamic philosophy due to its unique characteristics and its tremendous impact on Iranian philosophical thought. This research examines the causes of the flourishing and decline of this school and attempts to answer the question of what factors led to its remarkable prosperity during the lifetime of its founder and why it declined after his death. The research findings show that the distinguished scientific and intellectual position of Hakim Sabzevari, his focus on transcendental wisdom, his educational method focused on practical conduct, and the widespread attraction of students from all over Iran and the Islamic world were among the most important factors in the flourishing of this school. On the contrary, its strong dependence on the founder's personality, the emergence of rival philosophical centers in Tehran and Mashhad, the political and geographical location of Sabzevar, the lack of innovation and the lack of attention to new philosophies are among the main factors of its decline. This research, with an analytical-historical approach, shows that the Sabzevar philosophical school, despite its gradual decline, has left a profound impact on the continuity and development of transcendental wisdom in Iran.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
Emma Franchino, Luciana Ciringione, Luisa Canal
et al.
Dealing with mathematics can induce significant anxiety, strongly affecting psychology students' academic performance and career prospects. This phenomenon is known as maths anxiety and several scales can measure it. Most scales were created in English and abbreviated versions were translated and validated among Italian populations (e.g. Abbreviated Maths Anxiety Scale). This study translated the 3-factor MAS-UK scale in Italian to produce a new tool, MAS-IT, validated specifically in a sample of Italian undergraduates enrolled in psychology or related BSc programmes. A sample of 324 Italian undergraduates completed the MAS-IT. The data were analysed using confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), testing the original MAS-UK 3-factor model. CFA results revealed that the original MAS-UK 3-factor model did not fit the Italian data. A subsequent Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) identified 4 distinct components/factors of maths anxiety detected by MAS-IT. The items relative to "Passive Observation maths anxiety" factor remained stable across the analyses, whereas "Evaluation maths anxiety" and "Everyday/Social maths anxiety" items showed a reduced or poor item stability. Quantitative findings indicated potential cultural or contextual differences in the expression of maths anxiety in today's psychology undergraduates, underlining the need for more appropriate tools to be used among psychology students.
Past research on sanctification has focused on the direct association between domain sanctification and domain satisfaction. This registered-report study focused on the predicted moderating function of sexual sanctification on the association between sexual and relationship satisfaction. An Internet panel sample of 740 women and 872 men, all married Jewish individuals residing in Israel, assessed the levels of their sexual and marital satisfaction, sexual sanctification, religiousness, and social desirability via an anonymous online questionnaire. As expected, sexual and marital satisfaction were highly correlated. As predicted, sexual sanctification was found to moderate the association between sexual and marital satisfaction for women even after controlling for age, religiousness, and social desirability. However, although the positive association between sexual and relationship satisfaction was predicted to be larger at higher levels of sanctification than at lower levels, the moderation analysis revealed a reverse pattern. In addition, the moderation effect was significant for men only after controlling for religiousness. Post hoc analyses for moderated moderation confirmed significant gender differences in the moderation function of sexual sanctification. The importance of examining gender differences in future sanctification studies and the theoretical implications for the independence of sanctification from religiousness is discussed.
Scholars of Indian religious traditions have described how Muslims belong to Indian society as a charismatic other, a sectarian minority, and a liminal community ( Ahmad and Reifeld 2004 ; Gold 2013 ; Sila-Khan 2004 ; Robinson 1979 ). While these are important analyses, they do not adequately address recent developments in Muslim self-statement and identification that are determinedly Indian and Muslim, grounded in a rejection of the limited terms of their acceptance and inclusion. This article identifies a new trend in understanding Indian Muslim affiliation, one that is continually shaped by the long-standing question of Muslim belonging. I turn to data from contexts of public and private performances of Muslim identities that emerged throughout India, and around the world, in response to the official exclusion of Muslims from the premises of citizenship in the 2019 CAA (Citizenship Amendment Bill) legislation. From late 2019 to early 2020, Muslims and their allies in the anti-CAA movement publicly recited poetry, staged theatrical performances in the street, and organized a weeks-long women-led sit-in in Delhi to collectively reject the exclusionary premises of the new citizenship legislation and argue that being Muslim and Indian is no contradiction. How the question of Muslim affiliation is articulated and contested in genres of performance not only newly theorizes Muslim belonging in India today, but also reveals the important role of performance in constructing notions of religion, community, and nation.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
This paper scrutinizes William Lane Craig’s perspective on the relationship between religion and ethics. According to Craig, knowledge of moral values and obligations is not inherently tied to theism, as he posits that God has embedded moral obligations within the human heart. However, in terms of ontology, Craig contends that theism provides the best explanation for moral realism. Atheistic realists, in avoiding the naturalistic fallacy, are urged to conceptualize moral properties as abstract Platonic entities akin to numbers and propositions, a stance unnecessary within the theistic framework where God, a concrete entity, serves as the supreme good and ultimate source of moral goodness. Critically assessing Craig’s viewpoint, the paper contends that 1) real property should not be conflated with an essential constituent. Drawing on Moore’s perspective, moral predicates are construed as second-order philosophical concepts inherently tied to the existence of subjects. 2) By centering on the existence of “moral evil,” Craig’s argument can be inverted, providing grounds for an argument supporting the existence of Satan. 3) The consequence of Craig’s argument is the negation of any moral obligation for atheists. 4) Positing obedience to God’s command solely for its own sake as irrational, Craig’s argument may potentially exhibit circular reasoning.
Introduction
The inquiry into the relationship between religion and ethics remains an active concern within the realm of philosophy of religion. William Lane Craig seeks to advocate for a novel iteration of the Divine Command Theory. According to Craig, knowledge of moral values and obligations is not inherently tied to theism, as he posits that God has embedded moral obligations within the human heart. However, in terms of ontology, Craig contends that theism provides the best explanation for the existence of moral values and obligations. This article aims to undertake a critical analysis and assessment of Craig’s framework. We will assert that Craig’s theory relies on a distinctive interpretation of moral realism, one that is subject to controversy. Additionally, his assertions exhibit certain inconsistencies and ambiguities, rendering his approach susceptible to scrutiny.
Ontological dependence of ethics on religion
As per Craig, moral realism involves acknowledging the existence of sui generis moral properties, such as goodness, love, justice, mercy, etc., serving as exemplars of moral concepts. Consequently, atheism is deemed insufficient in explaining moral realism, given its naturalistic stance that denies the presence of non-natural elements in the world. Thus, the only recourse for atheism to circumvent moral non-realism is to propose that moral properties be considered as abstract entities rather than concrete entities, placing them within a Platonic realm. However, this proposition is deemed unsound, as Craig highlights the principle of supervenience, indicating that moral properties supervene upon natural properties. Atheists must contend that moral properties, as abstract and non-natural entities, supervene upon concrete and natural entities. Craig argues that abstract and concrete entities differ significantly, rendering it irrational to assert that moral abstract entities supervene upon natural concrete entities.
In contrast, theism posits that every moral good mirrors the existence of a perfect good (God) and, akin to God, possesses a concrete existence. Consequently, theism does not encounter the challenge of abstract entities supervening over concrete ones.
Epistemological independence of ethics to religion
According to Craig, ethics maintains epistemological independence from religion. This assertion stems from the belief that God has inherently instilled moral principles and laws within the hearts of all individuals, irrespective of their theological stance—be they theist or atheist. Consequently, every human possesses an innate awareness of God’s moral directives and prohibitions, rendering the knowledge of moral values and obligations detached from theism or scriptures. As a result, atheists can lead a moral life comparable to that of theists.
Discussion
The primary critique levied against Craig is his assertion that atheists confront a binary choice: they must either reject the existence of any moral properties (embracing non-realism) or adopt a Platonic perspective regarding the existence of moral properties. This dichotomy appears flawed, as atheists can potentially adopt a third option, positing that moral predicates are second-order philosophical concepts and cannot exist independently of the existence of subjects. This aligns with Moore’s stance in the ontology of ethics, where he contends that moral predicates, such as “goodness,” lack a natural essence perceptible through senses or an abstract existence in a Platonic realm. Instead, Moore argues that moral predicates are intrinsically tied to their subjects, existing in dependence on the existence of these subjects.
Moreover, the potential to posit the existence of God through the appeal to moral goodness opens the door to arguing for the existence of Satan by invoking moral evils. All the premises that Craig assembles to establish the existence of God could equally serve to demonstrate the existence of Satan.
In conclusion, if Craig persists in asserting that moral realism holds no significance within an atheistic framework, then he must also acknowledge that sincere atheists bear no moral obligations and cannot be censured for immoral actions, even though, from an objective moral standpoint, their behavior might be deemed erroneous. Craig appears unwilling to accept the ramifications of his theory.
Conclusion
Craig’s interpretation of the Divine Command Theory lacks defensibility as it relies on a flawed dichotomy between nihilism and Platonism. However, there exist other rational interpretations of moral realism beyond these two extremes, as mentioned earlier. Additionally, Craig’s viewpoint contains inconsistencies that render the theory implausible. On one hand, he maintains that in a world devoid of God, moral values and obligations must be dismissed, yet on the other hand, he argues that atheists are still bound by moral obligations and should be held accountable for their actions.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
A partir de documentos del Archivo Secreto Vaticano, se presentan las propuestas de reformas al derecho canónico hechas en 1904 por el arzobispo de Burgos, fr. Gregorio María Aguirre y García OFM, en respuesta a la circular Pergratum mihi de la Secretaría de Estado del Vaticano, de 25 de marzo de 1904, al iniciarse la codificación del derecho canónico de 1917, y se hace una primera valoración de conjunto de ellas.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
Research into the external behaviors and internal mechanisms of large language models (LLMs) has shown promise in addressing complex tasks in the physical world. Studies suggest that powerful LLMs, like GPT-4, are beginning to exhibit human-like cognitive abilities, including planning, reasoning, and reflection. In this paper, we introduce a research line and methodology called LLM Psychology, leveraging human psychology experiments to investigate the cognitive behaviors and mechanisms of LLMs. We migrate the Typoglycemia phenomenon from psychology to explore the "mind" of LLMs. Unlike human brains, which rely on context and word patterns to comprehend scrambled text, LLMs use distinct encoding and decoding processes. Through Typoglycemia experiments at the character, word, and sentence levels, we observe: (I) LLMs demonstrate human-like behaviors on a macro scale, such as lower task accuracy and higher token/time consumption; (II) LLMs exhibit varying robustness to scrambled input, making Typoglycemia a benchmark for model evaluation without new datasets; (III) Different task types have varying impacts, with complex logical tasks (e.g., math) being more challenging in scrambled form; (IV) Each LLM has a unique and consistent "cognitive pattern" across tasks, revealing general mechanisms in its psychology process. We provide an in-depth analysis of hidden layers to explain these phenomena, paving the way for future research in LLM Psychology and deeper interpretability.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of today's most relevant emergent technologies. In view thereof, this paper proposes that more attention should be paid to the philosophical aspects of AI technology and its use. It is argued that this deficit is generally combined with philosophical misconceptions about the growth of knowledge. To identify these misconceptions, reference is made to the ideas of the philosopher of science Karl Popper and the physicist David Deutsch. The works of both thinkers aim against mistaken theories of knowledge, such as inductivism, empiricism, and instrumentalism. This paper shows that these theories bear similarities to how current AI technology operates. It also shows that these theories are very much alive in the (public) discourse on AI, often called Bayesianism. In line with Popper and Deutsch, it is proposed that all these theories are based on mistaken philosophies of knowledge. This includes an analysis of the implications of these mistaken philosophies for the use of AI in science and society, including some of the likely problem situations that will arise. This paper finally provides a realistic outlook on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and three propositions on A(G)I and philosophy (i.e., epistemology).
We obtain an elementary characterization of expected utility based on a representation of choice in terms of psychological gambles, which requires no assumption other than coherence between ex-ante and ex-post preferences. Weaker version of coherence are associated with various attitudes towards complexity and lead to a characterization of minimax or Choquet expected utility.
In this paper, we situate the educational movement of "Ethics in Mathematics," as outlined by the Cambridge University Ethics in Mathematics Project, in the wider area of mathematics ethics education. By focusing on the core message coming out of Ethics in Mathematics, its target group, and educational philosophy, we set it into relation with "Mathematics for Social Justice" and Paul Ernest's recent work on ethics of mathematics. We conclude that, although both Ethics in Mathematics and Mathematics for Social Justice appear antagonistic at first glance, they can be understood as complementary rather than competing educational strategies.
I intend to show that the fine-tuning argument is not a theistic one, and is therefore not desirable for the theist. I will argue that (1) if the fine-tuning of the cosmos exceeds that which is required for the existence of human beings, it would not be helpful to the believer to prove the existence of God. (2) From the theist’s point of view, there are two objections to the fine-tuning argument: first, the extravagance objection, which states that this argument also includes other improbable events as evidence for the existence of God, though the theist does not mean that. Second, the backfire objection, which states that the advocate of fine-tuning reasoning defeats her/his purpose. Third, the fine-tuning argument assumes that the occurrence of an unlikely event requires a different explanation than the occurrence of probable events, and this is a false presupposition, which leads to the “God of the gaps” objection. The theist independently does not accept this distinction; she/he believes that the explanation of both probable and improbable events equally requires assuming the existence of God. So, since the fine-tuning argument is based on assumptions that are inconsistent with theism, the theist should not find it worrisome that the fine-tuning argument is not a successful one.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
Surah Yasin is a surah often recited in various religious activities in Indonesian society. Yasin a considered a surah that has many benefits. The tradition of reciting Yasin is a routine practice done by Muslims, especially in Indonesia. However, the recitation of Yasin in Indonesia is encountered in various forms in religious rituals. Therefore, the writing was based on people gathering to recite Yasin. It can be seen that the reciting Yasin is not only in the culture but the Islamic values that are instilled. This study aims to conduct a literature review study on the living Qur’an use of Yasin in Indonesia. The ATLAS.ti application version 9.0.20.0 was used to assist in analysing existing data. This research method used was reviewing the living Qur’an literature, including 1) the first stage: planning review, 2) the second stage: the implementation of the review, and 3) the last stage: presentation of results. The researcher found 78 articles from the google scholar index source, and 28 papers were read and analysed in this study. The findings showed Yasin’s function for public belief and forms of traditions cultivated in Indonesia’s living Qur’an. These findings resulted in the reciting of Yasin as a practice cultured by the community. Also, the culture of reciting Yasin becomes a sacred ritual and full of meaning in every activity. It is suggested that future research provides a specific knowledge contribution to reciting Yasin in Indonesia.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the important determinants responsible for the variation in women's attitude towards intimate partner violence (IPV). Methods: A nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2014 data of 17,863 women is used to address the research questions. In the study, two response variables are constructed from the five attitude questions, and a series of individual and community-level predictors are tested. The preliminary statistical methods employed in the study include univariate and bivariate distributions, while the adopted statistical models include binary logistic, ordinal logistic, mixed-effects multilevel logistic models for each response variable, and finally, the generalized ordinal logistic regression. Results: Statistical analyses reveal that among the individual-level independent variables age at first marriage, respondent's education, decision score, religion, NGO membership, access to information, husband's education, normalized wealth score, and division indicator have significant effects on the women's attitude towards IPV. Among the three community-level variables, only the mean decision score is found significant in lowering the likelihood. Conclusions: It is evident that other than religion, NGO membership, and division indicator, the higher the value of the variable, the lower the likelihood of justifying IPV. However, being a Muslim, NGO member, and resident of other divisions, women are found more tolerant of IPV from their respective counterparts. These findings suggest the government, policymakers, practitioners, academicians, and all other stakeholders to work on the significant determinants to divert women's wrong attitude towards IPV, and thus help to take away this deep-rooted problem from society.
This study is part of a doctoral dissertation (Al, 2019) at the Faculty of Communication, Istanbul University, Turkey, and it intends to introduce the Scale of Audience Perceptions of Media and Religion
(SAPMR) and to measure its goodness-of-fit with a separate independent sample by deploying a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Data were collected from 150 participants, who ranged in age from 18
to 27 years, to measure whether the scale shows a good model fit. In the CFA, CMIN/DF, RMSEA, CFI,
TLI, SRMR, PNFI, and PCFI fit indices were used. The fit indices obtained in the present study showed
that CMIN/DF value was below 3, RMSEA value was below .06, SRMR values were below .08, CFI and
TLI values were above .95, and finally PNFI and PCFI values are above .5. These results revealed that
the SAPMR with six constructs –‘Media Ministers and Representation’, ‘Politics and Religion’, ‘Secularisation / Alienation from Religion’, ‘Perception of Religious Productions’, ‘Decoding in Opposition’,
and ‘Religious Media Literacy’– had a good model fit; namely, its measurement model is well specified.
Communication. Mass media, Religions. Mythology. Rationalism
There are two famous function decomposition methods in math: Taylor Series and Fourier Series. Fourier series developed into Fourier spectrum, which was applied to signal decomposition\analysis. However, because the Taylor series whose function without a definite functional expression cannot be solved, Taylor Series has rarely been used in engineering. Here, we developed Taylor series by our Dendrite Net, constructed a relation spectrum, and applied it to model or system decomposition\analysis. Specific engineering: the knowledge of the intuitive link between muscle activity and the finger movement is vital for the design of commercial prosthetic hands that do not need user pre-training. However, this link has yet to be understood due to the complexity of human hand. In this study, the relation spectrum was applied to analyze the muscle-finger system. One single muscle actuates multiple fingers, or multiple muscles actuate one single finger simultaneously. Thus, the research was in muscle synergy and muscle coupling for hand. This paper has two main contributions. (1) The findings of hand contribute to designing prosthetic hands. (2) The relation spectrum makes the online model human-readable, which unifies online performance and offline results. Code (novel tool for most fields) is available at https://github.com/liugang1234567/Gang-neuron.
Batı uygarlığı etrafında şekillenen ve hemen hemen bütün toplulukların yaşamında deneyimlemek zorunda kaldığı modernite olgusu, pek çok değişim ve dönüşümü beraberinde getirmiştir. Toplulukların kendilerini yeniden yorumlamasına neden olan bu süreç, bir arada olma durumunu yansıtan rol ve işlevlerde de geleneksel topluluk yapılarına nazaran bazı farklılıkların ortaya çıkmasına sebep olmuştur. Modernitenin bireyselleştirici tavrı, toplulukların bir arada var olma deneyimini de derinden etkilemiştir. Yaşanılan hayatın toplumsal hafızadaki topluluk koduyla uyum göstermemesi, kimi topluluklarda aidiyet krizini doğurmuştur. Birtakım sosyologlarca bu kriz toplulukların yok olması olarak anlaşılmıştır. Modern ve geleneksel olanın bir arada bulunmasının mümkün olamayacağı şeklindeki topluluk inancı anlayışı, geleneksel toplulukların modernleşmesinin kaçınılmaz bir sonuç olduğu yaklaşımını üretmiştir. Tam da toplulukların yok oluşunun dillendirildiği dönemde, geleneksel yapı ve değerler modern bağlamda yorumlanmış ve yeni topluluk türleri ortaya çıkmıştır. Modern perspektifte yorumlanarak ortaya çıkan topluluk türlerinden bir tanesi de online topluluklardır.
Communication. Mass media, Religions. Mythology. Rationalism