scholarly journals What the Fall of Angels Tells Us about the Essence of Morality

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 920
Author(s):  
Martyna Koszkało ◽  
Robert Koszkało

The article describes two concepts of the sources of morality present in the evolutionist traditions (Evolution of Ethics and the Veneer Theory). Then, a modal argument against the evolutionist theory of morality is presented, based on the history of the fall of angels present in classical theism. This story is taken in the article as a possible example of the actions of individuals who operate outside of any evolutionary and social context, and of those whose ontic constitution excludes the possession of emotions. In this way, an attempt is made to present the essential features of anyone that is subject to moral evaluation, thus concluding that morality in its essence cannot be defined in biological and evolutionary terms.

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-149
Author(s):  
E. Chelpanova

In her analysis of books by Maya Kucherskaya, Olesya Nikolaeva, and Yulia Voznesenskaya, the author investigates the history of female Christian prose from the 1990s until the present day. According to the author, it was in the 1990s, the period of crisis and transformation of the social system, that female Christian writers were more vocal, than today, on the issues of the new post-Soviet female subjectivity, drawing on folklore imagery and contrasting the folk, pagan philosophy with the Christian one, defined by an established set of rules and limitations for the principal female roles. Thus, the folklore elements in Kucherskaya’s early works are considered as an attempt to represent female subjectivity. However, the author argues that, in their current work, Kucherskaya and other representatives of the so-called female Christian prose tend to choose different, objectivizing methods to represent female characters. This new and conservative approach may have come from a wider social context, including the state-imposed ‘family values’ program.


Author(s):  
L. I. Ivonina

The article analyzes the main features of the Caroline era in the history of Britain, which were reflected in the cultural representation of the power of King Charles I Stuart and the court’s daily life in the 1630s. The author shows that, on the one hand, the cult of peace and the greatness of the monarch were the cultural product of the Caroline court against the background of the Thirty Years' War in continental Europe. On the other hand, there was a spread of various forms of escapism, the departure into the world of illusions. On the whole, the representation of the power of Charles Stuart and the court’s daily life were in line with the general trend of the time. At the same time, the court of Charles I reflected his personality. Thinly sensing and even determining the artistic tastes of his era, the English king abstracted from its political and social context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Chinedu Victor Obasi

Mathematics is a human creation, which has been developing for more than four thousand years. It emerged as a response to different social and economic needs of civilizations. Historical development of mathematics stresses that mathematics as a science has always been connected to economic and social context and development of society. There is little or no research that promotes using historical content in mathematics lessons in the Nigeria context. In this paper, we model the use of history of mathematical thought (HMT) in mathematics instruction and solved the formulated model equation using integrating factor. The rate at which HMT is used by teachers in mathematics instruction is assumed to be proportional to the number of teachers that do not use HMT. The analysis suggests that with time, only a fraction of teachers can use HMT in teaching mathematics due to the fact that they will not remember to use it, and additional recruitment of teachers will result in only marginal improvement in the usage of HMT.


1997 ◽  
Vol 171 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Moncrieff

This review examines the evidence for the main current recommendations for lithium use in psychiatry and briefly summarises the literature on its adverse consequences, in an attempt to develop an overall evaluation of its potential role based on available evidence. An introduction to the history of lithium is given because it is suggested that in both the 19th and 20th centuries the social context in which lithium emerged, rather than the quality of the scientific evidence, was decisive in determining its adoption as a treatment.


Africa ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chapurukha M. Kusimba

Ironsmiths occupy an important yet ambiguous position in many African societies. They are both revered and feared, because they wield social power which arises from their access to occult knowledge, not only of metallurgy but of healing, divination, circumcision and peacemaking. In some societies smiths enjoy high status and are the wealthiest people. In others they are feared, covertly maligned, and blamed for societal misfortunes. In still others the smiths' position is often marginal except when they are needed to intercede on their society's behalf to solve natural or cultural predicaments. The forge or smithy plays a central role in the community as tool-making centre, a place of refuge from violence, of purification, and for healing. This article examines the social context of iron forging among the ironsmiths of the Kenya coast, focusing on the role of iron forging in the coastal economy, the forge, the smiths' life cycle, the institution of apprenticeship, the ritual and technical power of smiths, the role of women in the smiths' community, and the future of iron forging on the coast. It is argued that, while coastal smiths are marginal and despised, they hold important ritual and spiritual powers in coastal society. The article concludes that a detailed understanding of the traditional crafts historically practised on the coast can do much to illuminate the complex history of coastal society.


2019 ◽  
pp. 161-194
Author(s):  
Andrea Chiovenda

The chapter revolves around Rahmat, a young man, father of two, who lives in a rural village on the border with Pakistan. His case is different from the previous ones in that he embodies apparently all the characteristics that would be expected from an appropriate Pashtun masculinity. He is in fact a well-known and respected figure in his district. Under the surface, however, lies the conflicted personal history of a man who straddled the geographical border of the two countries to engage in drug trafficking and production, and who secretly longs to escape elsewhere to regain the sense of an ideal masculinity, of which he feels he was metaphorically robbed by the distortions of a war-ravaged social context. The sense of responsibility to embody the features of the “perfect” Pashtun man clashes with the inability to do so in the “right” way, due to the perceived degeneration of modern life in Afghanistan.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Backhouse

AbstractThis paper argues that Milonakis and Fine, in their bookFrom Political Economy to Economics, offer an account of history that systematically omits discussion of how economics has been shaped by the political and social context in which it developed. This contrasts with work by intellectual historians who have argued that such factors were crucial to understanding the history of economic ideas. It is ironic given that Milonakis and Fine are criticising economists for excluding the political and the social from economics.


SATS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-116
Author(s):  
Paolo Parrini

AbstractToday’s critical state of philosophy is examined by considering two of its aspects: the way in which philosophy presently is ever more typically practised (increasing professionalism and specialisation) and the new challenges it has to face to keep up with the changed scientific, and more generally cultural and social context. The essay outlines some prospects of progress in the light of those which still now can be considered the proper tasks of philosophical inquiry. Such tasks are singled out through an historical survey of the original characters of philosophy and an appraisal of its theoretical motivations. The importance of the history of philosophy and the necessity of achieving a virtuous relation among the various philosophical disciplines are stressed to contrast the dangers of excess specialisation and professionalism.


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