The complete Slavic cycle of miracles of St Menas, consisting of a prologue and 13 miracles, is based on the edition of the Great Reader Mineia of the Moscow Metropolitan Makary. The text largely corresponds to the Greek version from Ivan Pomyalovsky's 1900 edition, making it a valuable resource for understanding the Greek tradition as well. The Slavic text has been compared with other manuscripts containing the full cycle of miracles and following the same translation (B).
Early Christian literature. Fathers of the Church, etc., Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
This monograph discusses dualities in physics: what dualities are, their main examples--from quantum mechanics and electrodynamics to statistical mechanics, quantum field theory and string theory--and the philosophical questions they raise. Part I first conceptualises dualities and discusses their main roles and themes, including how they are related to familiar notions like symmetry and interpretation. It also discusses the main simple examples of dualities: position-momentum, wave-particle, electric-magnetic, and Kramers-Wannier dualities. Part II discusses advanced examples and their inter-relations: particle-soliton dualities, electric-magnetic dualities in quantum field theories, dualities in string theory, and gauge-gravity duality. This Part ends with discussions of the hole argument, and how string theory counts the microstates of a black hole. Part III is an in-depth discussion of general philosophical issues on which dualities bear: theoretical equivalence (two theories 'saying the same thing, in different words'), scientific realism and the under-determination of theories by data, theory succession and the M-theory programme, explanation, and scientific understanding. It proposes a view of scientific theories that it dubs 'the geometric view of theories'. The book's treatment of the examples is at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level, starting from elementary and progressing to more advanced examples. The discussions of philosophical topics, such as referential semantics, theoretical equivalence, scientific realism and scientific understanding, are both self-contained and in-depth. Thus the book is aimed at students and researchers with an interest in the physical examples and philosophical questions about dualities, and also in how physics and philosophy can fruitfully interact with each other.
No religion is more deserving of philosophical attention than all others, and philosophy of religion should reflect a broad understanding of the religious experience of humanity. The field should also include within its purview these topics: future directions religion might and should take; whether religion can make progress; what this progress might consist in and how it might be facilitated; whether we human beings may be at an early stage in our religious development; and whether there may be skills or capacities or dispositions or the like we do not possess now but could possess in the future, and that might help us to make religious progress. So part of the focus of this essay is on expanding the scope of the field. However, as we pursue religious progress we should narrow our focus somewhat and pay special attention to traditions that are above a certain normative threshold, some elements of which I introduce. Drawing on recent work by John Bishop, I propose that a religion merits special attention in this context when moral progress is reflected in its metaphysical posits. Avoiding excessive confidence in our assertions about religious matters and avoiding denigrating attitudes to religious outsiders are also elements that may reasonably be considered essential for being above this threshold. Being above the relevant threshold and therefore qualifying for special attention as we pursue religious progress will be a matter of scoring highly in terms of all relevant elements.
Maimonides (d. 1204) explained the thirteen faith principles of Judaism in his Commentary on Perek Helek. He presented these principles as mandatory criteria for attaining salvation and having a Jewish identity. Over time, the thirteen principles were accepted as the foundations of traditional Judaism. On the other hand, Maimonides reiterated the thirteen principles with the same content in another book called Sefer ha-Mada. However, Sefer ha-Mada was accused by Jewish scholars of having philosophical content contrary to traditional Judaism and was banned. Therefore, although Maimonides constructed the principles of faith with the same content in both works, one was accepted as the foundations of traditional Judaism, while the other was accused of being alien to traditional Judaism. This article attempts to show that the philosophical content that led to the prohibition of Sefer ha-Mada is also found in the thirteen principles in the Commentary on Perek Helek. It also explores why the thirteen principles have been embraced by the Jewish community despite their philosophical content.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
This study examined how cross-cultural methodological approach can improve research on environmental sustainability in Africa. What is considered as the traditional methodological approaches to environmental sustainability in the continent are based on siloed traditions and revelation/intuition, and therefore low in creativity. Worse still, whereas ideas from other cultures could infuse new perspectives, creativity, and innovation, many scholars in areas studies insist on methodological monism because of a deeper interest in preserving cultural identity of the regions they study. This approach negatively affects area studies in general and African studies in particular. Thus, two questions guided this study: (i) how can cross-cultural approach to the study of the environment improve its sustainability in Africa; and (ii) to what degree do traditional approaches to knowledge enhance creativity and innovation to environmental sustainability in Africa? To answer these questions, this study adopted, qualitative research methods. Data for the study were generated from secondary sources and analysed using phenomenological, hermeneutic, and critical philosophical approaches. This study argues that insistence on methodological monism is a disservice to environmental sustainability around the world. The study also demonstrates that exploring and incorporating ideas from non-African – particularly modern scientific frameworks – will be beneficial to the continent.
I argue that research in physics operates under an implicit community philosophy, and I offer a definition I think physicists would accept, by and large. I compare this definition to what philosophers, sociologists, and historians of science, with physicists, say we are doing.
Muhammad Zubair Khan, Oleg E. Peil, Apoorva Sharma
et al.
In the rapidly expanding field of two-dimensional materials, magnetic monolayers show great promise for the future applications in nanoelectronics, data storage, and sensing. The research in intrinsically magnetic two-dimensional materials mainly focuses on synthetic iodide and telluride based compounds, which inherently suffer from the lack of ambient stability. So far, naturally occurring layered magnetic materials have been vastly overlooked. These minerals offer a unique opportunity to explore air-stable complex layered systems with high concentration of local moment bearing ions. We demonstrate magnetic ordering in iron-rich two-dimensional phyllosilicates, focusing on mineral species of minnesotaite, annite, and biotite. These are naturally occurring van der Waals magnetic materials which integrate local moment baring ions of iron via magnesium/aluminium substitution in their octahedral sites. Due to self-inherent capping by silicate/aluminate tetrahedral groups, ultra-thin layers are air-stable. Chemical characterization, quantitative elemental analysis, and iron oxidation states were determined via Raman spectroscopy, wavelength disperse X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry measurements were performed to examine the magnetic ordering. These layered materials exhibit paramagnetic or superparamagnetic characteristics at room temperature. At low temperature ferrimagnetic or antiferromagnetic ordering occurs, with the critical ordering temperature of 38.7 K for minnesotaite, 36.1 K for annite, and 4.9 K for biotite. In-field magnetic force microscopy on iron bearing phyllosilicates confirmed the paramagnetic response at room temperature, present down to monolayers.
We propose the concepts of philomatics and psychomatics as hybrid combinations of philosophy and psychology with mathematics. We explain four motivations for this combination which are fulfilling the desire of analytical philosophy, proposing science of philosophy, justifying mathematical algorithms by philosophy, and abstraction in both philosophy and mathematics. We enumerate various examples for philomatics and psychomatics, some of which are explained in more depth. The first example is the analysis of relation between the context principle, semantic holism, and the usage theory of meaning with the attention mechanism in mathematics. The other example is on the relations of Plato's theory of forms in philosophy with the holographic principle in string theory, object-oriented programming, and machine learning. Finally, the relation between Wittgenstein's family resemblance and clustering in mathematics is explained. This paper opens the door of research for combining philosophy and psychology with mathematics.
With my article, I try to show how the Neoplatonist Hermias of Alexandria (c. 410-455 AD) elaborated on Plato’s arguments on the immortality of the human soul in order to forge a coherent psychological and ontological system which is in tune with a precise ethics of salvation. In the final Appendix, I propose that these doctrines of the soul were not just erudite theories but turned out to be an actual and effective tool for coping with the threatening moments of the everyday life (notably for coping with the loss of the beloved ones and for facing death).
Early Christian literature. Fathers of the Church, etc., Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
Spinoza regarded life as an active play of affects, and human freedom as the taming of passions by means of the concepts of reason. Following him, Lev Vygotsky treats affect as the alpha and omega of mental development. The key theme of Vygotsky’s last manuscripts is the same as in Spinoza’s Ethics: man’s path to freedom via the reasonable mastery of his affects. Vygotsky defines freedom as the affect in the concept; in the last years of his life, he investigates the processes of synthesis of emotional and intellectual forms in a child’s psychical development. Following Spinoza, Vygotsky defines affect as a dynamogenic state of the body, increasing or decreasing its capacity for action. Thus, affect acts as the intrinsic driving force behind the behaviour of all living beings. In the Spinozist view, psychology is the science about production of affects in the process of objectoriented activity and about exchange of affects in the process of communication of living beings. Vygotsky did not have time to carry out his project of the new psychology of man, and his successors refused or failed to continue this work. Aleksey Leontiev, Vygotsky’s closest disciple and associate, denounced his turn to Spinoza and returned to the phenomenological treatment of affect as a form of experiencing activity. As a consequence, Vygotsky’s problem of the relation between affect and intellect proved to be unsolvable. The philosopher Evald Ilyenkov, who adhered to the Vygotsky school, linked the beginning of psychical activity to the formation of images of the external world, losing sight of affect and, thus, of the problem of freedom as understood by Spinoza. Resuming of L. S. Vygotsky’s height psychology project and studying the evolution of the psyche, based on the concept of freedom as the active mastery of human affects and communication relationships, form two growth points of cultural-historical psychology.
The aim of this paper is to promote quantum logic as one of the basic tools for analyzing human reasoning. We compare it with classical (Boolean) logic and highlight the role of violation of the distributive law for conjunction and disjunction. It is well known that nondistributivity is equivalent to incompatibility of logical variables -- the impossibility to assign jointly the two-valued truth values to these variables. A natural question arises as to whether quantum logical nondistributivity in human logic can be tested experimentally. We show that testing the response replicability effect (RRE) in cognitive psychology is equivalent to testing nondistributivity -- under the prevailing conjecture that the mental state update generated by observation is described as orthogonal projection of the mental state vector (the projective update conjecture of Wang and Busemeyer). A simple test of RRE is suggested. In contrast to the previous works in quantum-like modeling, we proceed in the state-dependent framework; in particular, distributivity, compatibility, and RRE are considered in a fixed mental state. In this framework, we improve the previous result on the impossibility to combine question order and response replicability effects by using (von Neumann-Lüders) projective measurements.
In this thought-provoking book, Richard Healey proposes a new interpretation of quantum theory inspired by pragmatist philosophy. Healey puts forward the interpretation as an alternative to realist quantum theories on the one hand such as Bohmian mechanics, spontaneous collapse theories, and many-worlds interpretations, which are different proposals for describing what the quantum world is like and what the basic laws of physics are, and non-realist interpretations on the other hand such as quantum Bayesianism, which proposes to understand quantum theory as describing agents' subjective epistemic states. The central idea of Healey's proposal is to understand quantum theory as providing not a description of the physical world but a set of authoritative and objectively correct prescriptions about how agents should act. The book provides a detailed development and defense of that idea, and it contains interesting discussions about a wide range of philosophical issues such as representation, probability, explanation, causation, objectivity, meaning, and fundamentality. Healey's project is at the intersection of physics and philosophy. The book is divided into two parts. Part I of the book discusses the foundational questions in quantum theory from the perspective of the prescriptive interpretation. In Part II, Healey discusses the philosophical implications of the view. Both parts are written in a way that is largely accessible to non-specialists. In this brief book review, I will focus on two questions: (1) How does Healey's idea work? (2) What reasons are there to believe in it?
Arnaud Mazier, Alexandre Bilger, Antonio E. Forte
et al.
In this paper, we develop a framework for solving inverse deformation problems using the FEniCS Project finite element software. We validate our approach with experimental imaging data acquired from a soft silicone beam under gravity. In contrast with inverse iterative algorithms that require multiple solutions of a standard elasticity problem, the proposed method can compute the undeformed configuration by solving only one modified elasticity problem. This modified problem has a complexity comparable to the standard one. The framework is implemented within an open-source pipeline enabling the direct and inverse deformation simulation directly from imaging data. We use the high-level Unified Form Language (UFL) of the FEniCS Project to express the finite element model in variational form and to automatically derive the consistent Jacobian. Consequently, the design of the pipeline is flexible: for example, it allows the modification of the constitutive models by changing a single line of code. We include a complete working example showing the inverse deformation of a beam deformed by gravity as supplementary material.
There are numerous opportunities for engaging in research at the intersection of psychology and visualization. While most opportunities taken up by the VIS community will likely focus on the psychology of users, there are also opportunities for studying the psychology of designers. In this position paper, I argue the importance of studying design cognition as a necessary component of a holistic program of research on visualization psychology. I provide a brief overview of research on design cognition in other disciplines, and discuss opportunities for VIS to build an analogous research program. Doing so can lead to a stronger integration of research and design practice, can provide a better understanding of how to educate and train future designers, and will likely surface both challenges and opportunities for future research.
Visualization is a useful technology in health science, and especially for community network analysis. Because visualization applications in healthcare are typically risk-averse, health psychologists can play a significant role in ensuring appropriate and effective uses of visualization techniques in healthcare. In this paper, we examine the role of health psychologists in the triangle of "health science", "visualization technology", and "visualization psychology". We conclude that health psychologists can use visualization to aid data intelligence workflows in healthcare and health psychology, while researching into visualization psychology to aid the improvement and optimization of data visualization processes.
Quan-Hoang Vuong, Manh-Tung Ho, Hong-Kong Nguyen
et al.
This research employs the Bayesian network modeling approach, and the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique, to learn about the role of lies and violence in teachings of major religions, using a unique dataset extracted from long-standing Vietnamese folktales. The results indicate that, although lying and violent acts augur negative consequences for those who commit them, their associations with core religious values diverge in the final outcome for the folktale characters. Lying that serves a religious mission of either Confucianism or Taoism (but not Buddhism) brings a positive outcome to a character (\b{eta}T_and_Lie_O= 2.23; \b{eta}C_and_Lie_O= 1.47; \b{eta}T_and_Lie_O= 2.23). A violent act committed to serving Buddhist missions results in a happy ending for the committer (\b{eta}B_and_Viol_O= 2.55). What is highlighted here is a glaring double standard in the interpretation and practice of the three teachings: the very virtuous outcomes being preached, whether that be compassion and meditation in Buddhism, societal order in Confucianism, or natural harmony in Taoism, appear to accommodate two universal vices-violence in Buddhism and lying in the latter two. These findings contribute to a host of studies aimed at making sense of contradictory human behaviors, adding the role of religious teachings in addition to cognition in belief maintenance and motivated reasoning in discounting counterargument.
شش تن از پیشوایان معصوم (ع) در چهارده حدیث مُسند و مرفوع، درباره خلقت الهی از تعبیر «لا من شیء» بهره بردهاند. بر پایه مجموعه قرائن متعدد، صدور این تعبیر از حضرت فاطمه زهرا (س) در خطبه فدکیه و نیز امیرمؤمنان علی (ع) محرَز است. بر این اساس، معنای لفظی و مفهوم منطقی این تعبیر مورد توجه محدّثان، متکلّمان و فیلسوفان مسلمان قرار گرفته است و از آن در بیان کیفیت خلقت الهی بهره بردهاند. بنا بر تحلیل سخنان عالمان مسلمان، تعبیر «لا من شیء»، خلقت ابداعی و بدون ماده و صورت پیشین را بر پایه قدرت، مشیّت و حکمت خداوند تصویر میکند و نشان دهندة والایی آفریدگار و ناهمانندی او با آفریدگان است. گزاره حاصل از تعبیر "لا من شیء"، موجبه محصلهای است که متعلق محمول آن در قوه قضیه سالبه است. «آفرینش نه از چیزی» به معنای هستی دادن به نیستی است که تنها خداوند بر اینگونه آفرینش تواناست. این آموزه، انحصار پندارین در دو فرض «قدیم بودن ماده» و «خلقت از عدم» را میشکند و پاسخگوی شبهات وارد بر اندیشه خلقت الهی خواهد بود. وجه نوآوری این مقاله، بررسی مفهومی و منطقی این تعبیر و نقض بسیاری از شبهات مطرح در خصوص کیفیت خلقت الهی است.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects
مسأله شناخت اعراف و رجال آن از جمله مسائل چالشبرانگیز میان مفسران در تفسیر سوره اعراف است که درباره آن آراء فراوانی از سوی مفسران اظهار شده؛ اما بیشتر آنها فاقد مستند قرآنی و روایی کافی هستند. نوشتار حاضر، ضمن بررسی آراء مفسران، آنها را به دو دسته اصلی تقسیم کرده و در ارزیابی و انطباق آنها با سیاق آیات سوره اعراف و روایات منقول از معصومان(ع)، چنین نتیجه میگیرد که اولاً: کلمه اعراف به معنای کنگرههای حجاب میان بهشتیان و جهنمیان است. ثانیاً: ممکن است بتوان اعراف را با صراط تطبیق کرد که نیازمند بررسی بیشتر است. ثالثاً: از میان دو نظر اصلی درباره مصادیق رجال اعراف، یعنی «پیامبران و اوصیای ایشان» و «کسانی که حسنات و سیئاتشان برابر است»، قول اول با سیاق آیات و روایات، انطباق کامل دارد؛ اما نظر دوم، به دلیل ناسازگاری با سیاق آیات سوره اعراف و اضطراب برخی مستندات روایی آن، چندان قابل قبول به نظر نمیرسد.
Philosophy of religion. Psychology of religion. Religion in relation to other subjects