A Sartrean Approach to Ayé Ṣίṣe in Yorùbá Existentialism

The place of the world in the life of individual human being cannot be underestimated. This fact has culminated in the high esteem in which the concept of the world is held in the existentialist thinking. Using the Sartrean existentialist methodological approach, the paper critically examines the notion of the world (ayé) in the existentialist thinking of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The paper argues that although humans find themselves thrown into the world (ayé) amidst situations that are not of their own making, sometimes amidst untoward circumstances, the right mark of an authentic existence is ṣíṣe ayé which literally means “doing the world”, rather than mere gbígbé ayé, that is, living in the world. The paper concludes that the hallmark of authentic existence is to be found in the act of “doing the world” rather than just living in it.

Análisis ético de los deportes electrónicos: ¿un paso atrás respecto al deporte tradicional? (Ethical analysis of esports: a step backwards compared to traditional sports?)

Los deportes electrónicos, también conocidos como esports, son un rompedor fenómeno basado en competiciones deportivas en las que el ser humano desarrolla y entrena capacidades mentales y físicas bajo el uso de videojuegos competitivos. Su especial acercamiento a las nuevas generaciones ha creado cierta preocupación social sobre la educación, concretamente ética, que ofrece esta manifestación a los más jóvenes. Apoyados en la corriente hermenéutica, nuestro objetivo es analizar, desde un prisma ético, el fenómeno de los esports y como pueden contribuir, están contribuyendo o podrían contribuir a que sus practicantes tengan una vida plena. Entre los elementos analizados encontramos el proceso de virtualización, la corporalidad, la libertad, la virtud, el autoconocimiento o la violencia. Tras el análisis, se puede concluir que esta preocupación y crítica socialmente asentada no está fundamentada pues los deportes electrónicos pueden contribuir a un desarrollo ético del individuo y, con éste, a su educación. De esta forma, el desarrollo ético del sujeto contribuye al desarrollo ético de la sociedad. Algunos aspectos desarrollados pueden las concepciones de corporalidad, género y feminismo, la democratización de la competición humana, la disonancia entre la realidad y la virtualidad, la concepción de la agresividad, la violencia y la catarsis, la idea de libertad como existencia auténtica o las implicaciones del juego y del deporte en la humanidad. Abstract: Electronic sports, also known as esports, are a groundbreaking phenomenon based on sports competitions in which the human beings develops and trains mental and physical abilities using competitive videogames. Its special approach to the new generations has created certain social concern about education, specifically ethics, which this manifestation offers to the youngest. Supported by the hermeneutical current, our objective is to analyse, from an ethical prism, the phenomenon of esports and how they can contribute, are contributing or could contribute to their practitioners having a fulfilling life. Among the analysed elements we find the process of virtualization, corporeality, freedom, virtue, self-knowledge or violence. After the analysis, it can be concluded that this socially based concern and criticism is not founded, since electronic sports can contribute to an ethical development of the individual and, with this, to his education. In this way, the ethical development of the subject contributes to the ethical development of society. Some aspects developed can be the conceptions of corporeality, gender and feminism, the democratization of human competition, the dissonance between reality and virtuality, the conception of aggressiveness, violence and catharsis, the idea of freedom as authentic existence or the implications of the game and sport in humanity.

Existentialist Perspective: A Study of Bharati Mukherjee’s Fiction The Holder of the World

The present study explores and analyses the existential perspective in Bharati Mukherjee’s novel The Holder of the World; she tries to represent the fluid nature of immigrants due to frequent dislocations and relocations, which facilitate the characters to transform and assimilate into a new environment. The protagonist, Hannah Easton, discards nostalgic feelings and celebrates the latest opportunities in a liberal environment. Being a fearless, brave, and bold, spirited woman, she chooses her ways of life freely and accepts the consequences frankly. Bharati Mukherjee, one of the path breaking Indian American novelists and short story writers, has constantly made efforts to voice the immigrant experience of women. Hannah initially suffers from cultural shock, but being resourceful establishes her authentic existence by understanding the new environment utilising her full potential via free choices.

Understanding the Human Condition through the Depiction of Protagonists in Crime and Mystery Novels

Extant criticism of crime and mystery fiction has indicated how protagonists have freedom of choice in dealing with difficult situations in different forms of risky or challenging settings. In this article, previous criticism is evaluated in terms of its reflection of an essential element of the human condition: the Self’s free will to construct the existential and spatial meanings of its phenomenological existence in relation to the Other. The article further indicates that protagonists tend to disregard their freedom and responsibility for their actions, especially when they make existential choices in traumatic or critical situations. Additionally, the dominance of others and variously suppressive spatial contexts can inhibit the protagonists from acknowledging their free will to act responsibly in order to reach their authentic existence. This article integrates Jean Paul Sartre’s concept of the human condition and the corresponding interpretative framework of spatial concepts from different thinkers, such as Edward Relph, Arnold van Gennep, Victor W. Turner and Mikhail M. Bakhtin, who emphasize the significance of places in the meaning-construction of the Self’s identity and its existence in relation to the Other. Through the integration of these theoretical frameworks, the portrayal of protagonists in contemporary crime and mystery novels is examined in order to illustrate individuals’ senses of freedom and responsibility for their own actions in existential and spatial contexts.

Exegetical Practices of John Chrysostom and the Formation of the Subject of Faith

This article attempts to consider John Chrysostom’s practice of exegesis (interpretation of biblical texts) from the point of view of the formation of the subject of faith. The main research method applied here is multilevel hermeneutic and exegetical text analysis. The author of this study shows how John Chrysostom’s exegesis evolves from a simple set of tools into a condition for a person’s self-change. According to John Chrysostom, a subject engaging in exegesis transforms and brings his mind into a holistic state. The purified mind becomes able to notice its own non-authentic existence, while authentic existence must be revealed to the subject in the process of biblical interpretation. This happens when the interpreter questions himself and doubts the existence. Text interpretation for an exegete is not an act of studying an object. Exegesis is fundamentally dialogical in nature and is based on the subject–subject relationship, thus presenting an opportunity to meet with the Other being, which needs to ask a question about itself. Questioning the Other is an attempt to get out of the closed world and start moving towards the truth. The truth lies before the subject and opens up new ways of existence for him. Becoming a subject is always incomplete: it is impossible to reach the moment of final formation since the truth cannot be exhausted, one can endlessly approach it. A unique and inimitable relationship is established between the truth and the subject, opening up new ways of being. It is safe to say that exegesis for the subject becomes an act of creating his own life.

Strategies of Time Appropriation: Authentic and Inauthentic Historicity of Man

The article focuses on those paragraphs of the famous text Spiritual Situation of our Time by Karl Jaspers in which he approaches the problem of time from the perspective of philosophical anthropology. This text was published in 1931 and saw multiple editions, including the reprint in 1947, which followed the lecture The Question of Guilt. We surmise from this juxtaposition of texts in the new publication that Jaspers believed in the necessity to revisit the problem of the spiritual situation, but he also regarded his conceptualization of temporality viable in the new context and applicable to analyzing this new situation. We corroborate this hypothesis by close reading of the version of the 1947 text. As there exists a wealth of studies of Jasperss philosophy, we aim to explicate his interpretation of personal historicity and to find a reply to the question why it seems necessary to emphasize the appropriation of time. We demonstrate that the existentialist approach Jaspers offers is a universal model for living in the spiritual situation and for appropriating time. The need to appropriate time is inherent in human nature but the capacity to make sense of it and unravel the potential for authentic existence is not. Human beings are often unaware of their choice of certain time appropriation; moreover, human beings lack consistency in constructing the context of their own historicity. We elaborate in greater detail on the meaning of such concepts as spiritual situation, knowledge of the totality, philosophical life.

To die and let die: A just theology of ceding space

Over the past few years, there has been a significant intel­lectual and artistic emphasis on the manner in which one considers or approaches the end of life. This is in con­junction with a renewed ethical discussion about choosing the manner and time of one’s death in light of a diminished quality of life. Large populations across the world are ageing, presenting unique challenges to healthcare and civic infrastructure. The planet is suffering because of a climate crisis, due to the overburdening of resources. In light of all this, it is argued in this contribution that a renewed theological consideration of death is necessary. In his theology about the Trinity, Jürgen Moltmann makes a remark about his understanding of the perichoretic unity of the persons of the Trinity, in which the persons of the Trinity “cede” space for one another. Ceding space creates space (room) for authentic existence. This con­­tribution considers and utilises Trinitarian “spatial” theology as foundation for rethinking the complexity and balance of life and death. It is ultimately argued that “creating space for death” could serve as a foundation for an ethical framework for decision-making, as well as foster a compassionate community that provides space for each other’s diversity – in life and in death.

A Critical Presentation of the Three Kierkegaardian Spheres of Human Existence

It is an apparent danger in the existence of the modern man that abstraction is substituted for reality. The truth of the uniqueness of each man and the various situations of life where one cannot but make a personal choice and decision, compel man the need to authenticate his being. It is then pertinent at this time, when there is not only a loss of personal identity but more still a total flaw of existence in our modern society, to pinpoint what authentic life should be. Hence, a Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard has done a masterly work of authenticating one's existence, becoming an individual instead of being swallowed up in the appraisal of untrue crowd. Precisely, the researcher will apply in this work the philosophical method of critical reflection of Kierkegaardian three spheres of human existence to arrive at the best manner of approach to examine one's life as to live an authentic existence.

From Limbo to Continuity Existential Analysis of Joseph Situma’s The Mysterious Killer

The paper is an explication of the stoicism and the resilience of the diseased characters in Joseph Situma’s The Mysterious Killer which is framed within Sartrean existential epistemology with a focus on his concept of authenticity. For Sartre, authentic existence is related to pursuance of transcendent goals, honesty and courage. Human beings, Sartre opines, impose values in their lives in moments of forlornness. This concept is germane to analyzing the existential necessity of the diseased characters in the selected text to transcend the limbo of their existence as HIV/AIDS patients.

Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's Analysis of Existence and its Relation to Proclamation

In its first five chapters, this book offers a comparative assessment of Søren Kierkegaard and Martin Heidegger, drawing out both similarities and differences. In the remaining three chapters, their views are subject to critique. The interpretation focuses on certain key ideas that are central to both thinkers, such as ‘life in the crowd’ or ‘das Man’; how this uniformity can be avoided; and what an authentic life requires instead. The critique argues that Kierkegaard holds that the only way to escape life in the crowd is through a relation to an infinite demand which is left empty, and Heidegger avoids offering any kind of ethics. In contrast to both, it is argued that it is instead possible to have an ethic which is not just a set of social rules on the one hand, but is more contentful than Kierkegaard’s infinite demand on the other: namely, the requirement or ethical demand to take on responsibility for the other person whose life is placed in your hands. This responsibility for the other, which sets the responsible individual apart, frees them from the crowd and thus offers an ethical route to an authentic existence, which both Kierkegaard and Heidegger overlook.