bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Lacuna of Hermeneutics: Notes on the Freedom of Thought
Authors: Schuback Marcia Sá Cavalcante
Published: October 2021

In this article I argue not only for the value of hermeneutics today but also, and especially, how the crucial gesture of hermeneutics is that of changing the subject for the sake of our today. Surveying briefly the main lines of hermeneutical positions along its history and critiques, and connecting these critiques to the discrepancy between theory and practice, between interpretation and the need to change the world, the article proposes that our reality today, reshaped through globalization and the virtual, is performed as a hermeneutics of history. The challenge for today’s hermeneutics is to work out categories for understanding the present as on-going in a world that tends to capture and distort more and more the meaning of freedom of thought. In the final section, I propose a hermeneutics of the on-going, of gerundive time, partially under the inspiration of Paul Celan, as a response that develops the meaning of the freedom of thought. A defense of nearness and how to think in narrow nearness to the on-going is discussed.
Toward the Reconstruction of a Sacred Landscape of the Judean Highlands
Authors: Burke Aaron A.
Published: October 2021

At least a dozen biblical toponyms for sites and landscape features in ancient Judah’s highlands bear divine name elements that were most common during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. In light of archaeological evidence from many of these sites, it is suggested that they were first settled as part of a settlement influx in the highlands during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1550 BCE), following a reemergence of urbanism and a return of economic development that occurred under Amorite aegis. The cultic orientation of these sites may be suggested by reference to ritual traditions at Mari during the Middle Bronze Age but especially Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age. Such evidence may also serve to elucidate the various enduring cultic associations that persisted in connection with these locations during the Iron Age, as preserved in various biblical traditions.
What Does Calvin’s Engagement with Acts Teach Us about God’s Providence?
Authors: Holmes Christopher R.J.
Published: October 2021

Calvin’s commentarial engagement with Acts makes an important contribution to understanding providence. This is, I argue, the case with respect to the important distinction between divine determination and divine permission. In this article, I unfold how the language of divine determination refers to what is true of God in a substantial sense. God’s determination reflects what God is in se. The language of permission, however, pertains only to evil. Such an inquiry advances systematic thinking on providence, encouraging recognition of how determination and permission have different referents. ‘Determination’ refers to what is of God, ‘permission’ to what is evil. The article also contributes to Calvin scholarship by showing how Calvin’s encounter with Acts generates a more expansive account of providential themes than one finds in the Institutes.
The Lord’s Supper and the Resurrection of the Body
Authors: van Eijk Ton
Published: October 2021

The starting point of this article is a text of Irenaeus in defense of the resurrection of the body against the Gnostics. In the very different context of the zweiter Abendmahlsstreit in the 16th century this text was part of a dossier of Patristic texts that was used by both parties, Lutheran and Reformed. One of the issues was whether the body of Christ was eaten by the mouth or by faith. It will be shown how Calvin and Heshusius understood this text. In the end it will appear that for various reasons the issue seems to have lost its relevance. With the Leuenberg Agreement the dispute was laid to rest.
Does gut microbiota regulate brooding in geese?
Authors: Liu Guojun , Guo Zhenhua , Liu Di , Meng He , Zheng Yuming , Zhao Xiuhua , Gu Lihong , Chen Zhifeng , Chen Xingyong , Li Manyu , Sun Jinyan , Ma Zhigang , He Haijuan , Yu Xiaolong , Hu Fanghong
Published: October 2021

Domestic geese can reduce the amount of food intake when brooding. Because of the reduction in food intake, the total number of microorganisms in the gut is also reduced. Will this affect the goose’s thinking and make the goose stop brooding and eat food? We hypothesize that gut microbiota affects the brain through a brain–gut peptide and further regulates the breeding behavior of geese. In this study, we evaluated the microbiome related to the goose and transcription groups of brooding and egg production periods. The changes and differences in gut microbiota and gene expression of female geese in different reproduction periods were analyzed, and the possible interaction between them was explored. The results showed that the relative abundance of Faecalibacterium with a growth-promoting effect in the cecum was higher in the egg production group than in the brooding group. Microbial metabolic pathways with significant differences between the two groups were also enriched in the secondary functional groups with different gut microbiota metabolism. The downregulated genes in the egg production group were mainly related to energy metabolism, such as ATP synthesis-related genes. These results suggest that the brooding group’s gut microbiota can make relevant changes according to the reproduction stage of the goose. Since the amount of food taken in is reduced, it can promote the decomposition of the host’s fat. Simultaneously, insulin is also used to deliver messages to the brain; it is necessary to end the brooding behavior at an appropriate time and for eating to start.
Disarmament Debates around the 1899 Hague Peace Conference and the 1921–1922 Washington Conference: Community-Oriented Aspirations and Individual Security Concerns
Authors: Hayashi Mika
Published: October 2021

When disarmament started to interest the major states and international lawyers at around the time of the 1899 Hague Conference, two distinct positions concerning the law of disarmament became apparent: proponents and opponents. The proponents, with their community-oriented aspirations, found much merit in establishing the law of disarmament, while the opponents, with their individual security concerns, saw nothing but negative consequences for such a possibility. Given these two forces in the disarmament debate, one could wonder how the 1921–1922 Washington Conference was able to produce a treaty limiting the naval armament. This article tries to show that the Washington Naval Treaty was different from the law of disarmament that the proponents had envisioned, and that it was made possible by carefully crafted provisions to limit its own impact on the security of the naval powers.
From Paternalism to the Chambas Formula for Mediation: Conceptualizing Cooperation between the UN and Regional Organizations in Mediating Conflicts
Authors: Tieku Thomas Kwasi , Payler Megan
Published: October 2021

This article explores the working relationship between the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in mediating conflicts in West Africa and the Sahel regions. We argue that through the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), the UN, ECOWAS and the AU are working on mediation efforts to transcend traditional conceptualizations of the relationship between the world body and regional organizations. We show that the partnership is grounded on the logic of subsidiarity, informality, elite networks, technical competence, soft skills, and robust social trust. For heuristic purposes, we call the six principles the Chambas Formula, with reference to the centrality of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, and the emergence and consistent application of the principles in the mediation setting in West Africa and the Sahel regions.
Success in the Shadow of Failure: UN Mediation in Yemen (2011–2015)
Authors: Hudáková Zuzana
Published: October 2021

Over the past few years, Yemen has become synonymous with mediation failure. This contrasts sharply with the situation in the early 2010s, when the United Nations played a crucial role in persuading Yemen’s long-serving President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down from power and, at least initially, successfully steered the country during the ensuing political transition. By analyzing UN mediation efforts during the mandate of Special Adviser Jamal Benomar, the article draws attention to the multiple shifting benchmarks for success. It adopts a phase-differentiated approach to mediation evaluation, which not only allows for recognition of earlier successes, but also enables an analysis of relevant factors influencing mediation success or failure in different stages of the mediation process. In the final instance, the analysis suggests that the eventual failure of UN mediation in Yemen can be traced to conflict and contextual factors rather than the mediator or the mediation process.
Fragmented Societies and a Fragmenting International System: Implications for Peacemaking
Authors: Coleman Christopher C.
Published: October 2021

The cases of peacemaking in Kosovo and Sudan/South Sudan yield insights into the interplay of international politics, relations among political elites, and reconciliation among identity groups. A durable, positive peace requires an approach by peacemakers that encompasses all these dimensions. Complicating matters, the readiness of states to adhere to rules and norms built up over decades has declined in recent years. Absent a concerted effort to (re)build them, the work of peace mediation will become more challenging and the odds of success incalculably longer. This, in turn, will corrode the ability of external powers, competing via proxy, to work together even on unrelated matters in different parts of the globe.
Strategies to End Violence in Ethnic Conflicts: What is Sufficient? The Case of “Peace” in Chechnya
Authors: Nibali Samantha
Published: October 2021

After decades of violent separatist conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the region stabilized and peaceful in 2008. Despite this grand proclamation of peace, Chechnya today operates under an environment of violent repression and the conflict remains un-managed. This article argues that a threshold of sufficiency exists which settlement strategies must pass to achieve peace. While a perceived peace may occur when the armed conflict ends, without sufficient management strategies the identity-based roots of the conflict will manifest in other forms beneath the surface. By examining co-optation, power-sharing, autonomy and reconciliation, this research finds that while Russia’s incomplete conflict management strategy may have ended the violent insurgency within Chechnya, the failure to apply these principles sufficiently has allowed violence to continue. This research hopes to be applicable in informing strategies to resolve conflicts in multi-ethnic states within and beyond the North Caucasus.
COVID-19 “Green Pass”: a Lesson on the Proportionality Principle from Galicia
Authors: Roncati Luca , Roncati Monica
Published: October 2021

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the most dramatic pandemic of the new millennium, and extraordinary measures concerning with health, law and policy are required around the world. One of these is without doubts the “green pass”, officially known in the European Union (EU) as EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC). Initially conceived as a tool for overcoming the lockdown restrictions, it has unexpectedly turned into a means of discrimination between pass holders and non-holders, thus increasing social tension at the expense of solidarity and brotherhood. Here, we analyze in depth the dark sides of the “green pass” in the light of the European and international legislation and of the ongoing pandemic scenario.
The Concept of ‘Essence’ and Its Uses in the Identification and Application of Customary International Law by International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
Authors: Mejía-Lemos Diego
Published: October 2021

This paper seeks to provide an analysis of the uses of the concept of ‘essence’ by international criminal courts and tribunals. In particular, it is based on a survey of decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (icty), whose Trial and Appeals chambers have used the concept on multiple occasions and with consequences which have been overlooked in the literature. By providing an analysis of the concept’s uses in connection with the icty’s identification and application of customary international law, the paper addresses some of the general international law and philosophical issues raised by the concept’s uses. The paper places the concept’s uses within their respective contexts, and discusses related international decisions and academic commentary. The paper concludes by suggesting potential avenues for elucidating the concept of ‘essence’ and its proper use, with a particular focus on the notions of ‘intension’, ‘extension’ and an intensional ‘extensional property’.
The Mennonitization of the Mass Media in Paraguay
Authors: Gooren Henri
Published: October 2021

This article investigates how the churches in Paraguay have used multiple mass media as evangelization instruments and which churches dominate the mass media in 2010–2012, following the growth explosions of Pentecostalism in the 1980s–1990s and especially after 2002. Church uses of the printed media (books, magazines and newspapers), radio, television, and internet in Paraguay are all analyzed. Pentecostal and Protestant church leaders used radio, television, and internet to successfully brand their church, and to a limited extent attract and socialize new followers. Hardly any believers intensively follow religion in the mass media to replace going to church. The article concludes that rather than a Pentecostalization, a Mennonitization of the mass media is occurring in Paraguay, driven by the Mennonite groups’ economic power and their ethnic-religious solidarity.
Dates, Places, Verses
Authors: von Hinüber Oskar
Published: October 2021

Reviewing the catalogue of the Paṇḍit Collection in the Royal Library at Copenhagen, which was (as far as the colophons allow this conclusion) mainly collected from Western India and from Benares during the 16th through 19th centuries, offers also an opportunity for a preliminary study of some aspects of colophons, particularly the problems incurred in fully understanding the dates and their vocabulary. Moreover, concluding verses attached by copyists at the end of their manuscripts were assembled from the catalogue.
Identity and Nation-Building: Intercultural Reading of Isaiah 56–66 in the Ghanaian Context
Authors: Gatti Nicoletta
Published: October 2021

The worrisome growth of nationalism and ethnicism worldwide emphasizes the distance between state and nation, geographical borders, and the sense of a shared common project, which is at the heart of nation-building. The problem is not new, as the ancient writings of Israel testify. The question of what constitutes Israelite identity is central to post-exilic books, where exclusive-isolationistic and inclusive attitudes are clearly contraposed.

Against this background, the paper explores the relationship between identity construction and nation-building, through an intercultural reading of Isaiah 56–66. Furthermore, it examines the relevance of the literary unit for contemporary Ghanaian society where ethnic divisions seem to compromise nation-building and development. The text challenges Ghanaian Christians to employ a language of inclusion; to recognize the ‘other’ as a specific message of God; to go beyond accidental attributes such as ethnicity, gender, or race, to discover the image and likeness of God reflected in her/his countenance.
Still a Chinese Family Business?
Authors: Lee (李健友) Kean Yew
Published: October 2021

Success in Chinese family business (CFB) does not automatically transfer from founder to the next generation. CFB in the first generation is situational and dependent on the previous history of the tacit knowledge required to sustain the business. CFB is known for its association with family alliances, habitual ownership practices and embedded networks. Consequently, a firm that has enjoyed success under its founder may not survive into the next generation. In this study, I identified exceptional CFB cases wherein firms successfully codified the tacit knowledge during the “generational change” phase. The findings shed some light on how CFB s in the Malaysian food industry evolved by innovating their products to fit a larger market. My contributions are as follow. First, this study qualitatively demonstrates an “edge” case not seen in the family business literature by leveraging on a uniquely diverse institutional environment (i.e. Malaysia). Specifically, this study suggests that CFB s evolved and emerged as globally competitive firms by codifying tacit knowledge. Second, I demonstrate that this process of transformative learning is central to innovation and competition within the context of succession planning for family business in general, not just CFB s.
The Devil of Delft in England
Authors: Waite Gary K.
Published: October 2021

The Dutch glasspainter and Anabaptist prophet David Joris (1501–1556) was the Netherland’s most infamous heretic who became a spiritualist who depreciated the scriptures, condemned confessional conflict, and argued that the devil did not exist external to a person’s mind. Unlike the Dutch founder of the Family of Love, Hendrik Niclaes, Joris had no following in England, yet English writers condemned him with increasing frequency over seventeenth century. This paper examines that response, showing that for most writers Joris was the exemplar of the dangers of visionary mysticism, while Catholics used him to condemn Protestantism in general. English writers remained largely unaware of Joris’s denial of demons until ca. 1647, when they began to attack the idea, unintentionally publicizing it. Such polemical dissemination had decades earlier helped to calm fears of demonic witchcraft in the Dutch Republic; in England it may have also influenced the demonologies of some English nonconformists.
“An Unbendable Strength in Our Rosary”
Authors: Lyon Eileen Groth
Published: October 2021

The struggle to resist dehumanization and maintain a sense of identity and dignity in the German concentration camps has been a key theme in survivor testimonies. Some prisoners assert the paramount importance of religious faith in mustering the inner strength needed to survive. However, the clandestine nature of religious practice in the camps has meant that memoirs provide only fragmentary glimpses of these practices and their significance in the camps. This article seeks to reconstruct a fuller picture of the religious life of Catholic Poles at the Gusen Concentration Camp in Upper Austria from 1940 to 1945. In particular, the article focuses on the activities of a living rosary group organized by Wacław Milke and Władysław Gębik. This group was unusual in the breadth of its activities and its extensive network of contacts. Not only did it organize religious devotions, but it also provided life-saving practical assistance to other prisoners.
Spiritualité, Spirituality, and Espiritualidad
Authors: Roldán-Figueroa Rady
Published: October 2021

This article offers a corrective to the widely held idea that the modern concept of spirituality is traceable to the seventeenth century French notion of spiritualité. Instead, the argument is made that the sixteenth and seventeenth century Spanish terms spiritual and spiritualidad are earlier expressions of the modern concept of spirituality. The article opens with an examination of the place of spirituality in the academic study of religion and proceeds to a discussion of the premises of conceptual history and modern lexicography. In the closing section, the author analyses a plethora of lexicographical and other primary source material from the medieval to the early modern periods that demonstrate the usage of the terms spirital and espiritualidad in Spain as well as in colonial Latin America. Among the sources examined are Sebastián de Covarrubias Orozco, Tesoro de la lengua castellana (Madrid: Luis Sánchez, 1611); Fernando de Valverde, Vida de Jesu Christo nuestro señor (Lima: Luis de Lyra, 1657); and Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Madrid: En la imprenta de Francisco del Hierro, 1726–1739).
The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Tomuschat Christian
Published: October 2021

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to change the world’s system of governance by introducing more justice in the distribution of material goods and services and protecting at the same time humankind’s natural foundations of existence from degradation. Although not binding in legal terms, the Agenda traces the lines for political action aiming to make social and economic rights a reality for everyone. International law descends from its high horse of intergovernmental relations to address the vital needs and interests of the common man or woman like poverty and hunger. In this sense, one can speak of a project aiming to establish a true international community whose guiding principle is equality within and among nations. Through its mechanism of monitoring and review the Agenda attempts to involve all societal forces for the objective of development. The great challenge is to translate the Agenda into concrete action, leaving the province of diplomatic statements.
Historicism Now: Historiographic Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology Out of Bounds
Authors: Tucker Aviezer
Published: October 2021

This article examines historicism as the expansion of historiography beyond its bounds, analogous to Physicalism, Naturalism, Psychologism, and Scientism. Five senses of historicism are distinguished: Ontological Historicism claims ultimate reality is, and only is, historical. Idiographic historicism considers historiography an empirical science that results in observational descriptions of unique singular events. Introspective historicism considers the epistemology of historiography to be founded on self-knowledge. Scientistic historicism considers historiography an applied psychology or social science that can expand to overtake the social sciences. Methodological historicism extends the use of historiographic methodologies to unreliable or dependent evidence. The first four historicisms are inconsistent with historiography within bounds and implode. Methodological historicism describes proper historiographic methodologies that are applied out of their proper bounds, but are used in historiography based on the epistemology of testimony and the tracing of the transmission of information from historical event to historiographic evidence.
Introduction
Authors: Yunis Alia , Hudson Dale
Published: October 2021

This special issue engages the historical and contemporary heterogeneity of the Gulf, which was a transcultural space long before the discovery of oil. Over the past two decades, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have actively begun to harness the media’s power, while at the same time grassroots productions—online, through social media and in regional festivals—reframe assumptions about film and visual media. With resident expatriate population comprising up to 90 percent of the population in Gulf states, film and visual media complicate conventional frameworks derived from area studies, such as ‘Arab media’, ‘Middle Eastern and North African cinema’, or ‘South Asian film’. These articles also unsettle the modernist divisions of media into distinct categories, such as broadcast television and theatrical exhibition, and consider forms that move between professional and nonprofessional media, and between private and semi-public spaces, including the transmedia spaces of theme parks and shooting locations. Articles examine the subjects of early photography in Kuwait, the role of Oman TV as a broadcaster of Indian films into Pakistan, representations of disability and gender in Kuwaiti musalsalat, tribal uses of social media, and videos produced by South Asian and Southeast Asian expatriates, including second-generation expatriates.
Cyber Tribes
Authors: Hussain Hassan
Published: October 2021

Tribal identity is an intrinsic part of the histories and cultures of the Gulf. Nonetheless, tribal communities rarely had access or the ability to control what was being said about them in media. The emergence of social media as a platform for sharing information and affirming social identities has transformed the way tribes interact, disseminate information and identify with others. This paper argues that Arab tribes, despite constantly being threatened by modernizing impulses that undercut nomadic ways of life, have enthusiastically embraced social media as an effective tool to revitalize tribal identities in the internet age. Historically, while maintaining nomadic lifestyles and oral literature, they were outside the circles of material literary production, which were usually based in urban areas and among settled populations. However, the internet and social media now allow tribes to overcome societal marginalization and material limitations to self-representation. In this manner, tribal communities no longer need the affirmation of the literate world; they can speak for themselves in a direct manner previously unavailable.
From Weddings as Resistance to Resistance to Weddings
Authors: Sheetrit Ariel M.
Published: October 2021

This study focuses on two films in which weddings are conspicuously absent, Villa Touma (Suha Arraf, 2014) and In Between (Bar Bahr, Maysaloun Hamoud, 2016). Both films have a distinct focus on weddings: they are mentioned repeatedly—whether with longing or loathing, occasionally rendered in the films’ hazy perimeters, in ways that mark them as unsubstantial, inane and infecund, but most often they are occasions that end up not happening, non-doings that I call ‘un-weddings’. I examine the significances of this absence, especially as it contrasts with prevailing representations of weddings in Palestinian films that tend to portray weddings in powerful opposition to death and as the fulfillment of a profound personal longing and communal expectations that may also symbolize national aspirations.
Sacred (re)Collections
Authors: Janson Torsten , Kınıkoğlu Neşe
Published: October 2021

This article discusses how state-organized, memory-cultural production drawing on religious signifiers contributes to a sacralization of Turkish public memory institutions and public space. This reinforces an Islamic-nationalist imagination of contemporary Turkey. The article explores state-led, disciplinary interventions in museal space (the Sacred Trusts exhibition of relics at Topkapı Palace Museum) and commemorative ritual in public space, display and education (the rise, fall and recalibration of Holy Birth Week (Kutlu Doğum Haftası). Drawing on theories of symbolic politics, nationalism, memory and space, the article elucidates the sacralization of Turkish memory production as a contesting yet malleable negotiation of nationalism. Innovative Islamic memory practice and ritualization requires careful discursive and disciplinary boundary drawing, catering to theological sensitivities and Sunni-orthodox mores. Then again, the spatial boundaries between various memory-cultural domains are becoming less distinct. Today, Islamic-nationalist imaginaries surface in the interstices of public memory institutions, public education and everyday public space.
Theologians and Their Bellies
Authors: Ptaszyński Maciej
Published: October 2021

An analysis of the role and meaning of the epithet “theologaster,” coined by Erasmus of Rotterdam in his letter from Paris in 1497, can reward us with insights into the interplay of Reformation, scholastic, and humanist forces in the sixteenth century. Although Erasmus rarely used the term in his later correspondence or in his works, the epithet gained some popularity among the humanists and the reformers. During the confessional debates, both sides, the Catholics and the Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire and in France, reached for this same epithet as an argument and a weapon with which to demonstrate the incompetence of their opponents. The term, however, can rarely be found in the confessional polemics in Poland, despite the enormous popularity of Erasmus in the region. The history of the epithet sheds light on the importance of the humanist legacy for the confessional era.
A Quantitative Study of the Paratexts in Erasmus-Froben Imprints
Authors: Blair Ann , Patton Maryam
Published: October 2021

We study the paratexts in Erasmus’ imprints with Johann then Hieronymus Froben of Basel between 1514 and 1536. From Valentina Sebastiani’s bibliography of Johann Froben we observe that Erasmus was a more abundant paratexter than other authors who published with Johann Froben. We supplement that work with a bibliography of Erasmus’ imprints with Hieronymus Froben. We note trends across the Erasmus-Froben corpus, including: a remarkable number of imprints, equally balanced between new editions and re-editions, abundant dedications without correlation to format, indexes in folio volumes especially, a growing attention to errata lists over time. These patterns shed light on one author-printer partnership but also on more general trends in learned publishing in the early 16th century.
What Is a Safe Area? Definition, Typology and Empirical Cases
Authors: Hering Robin
Published: October 2021

In today’s conflicts, the number of people needing physical protection is at an all-time high. Often, protection is provided by the creation of safe areas. Although the notion largely disappeared after the Srebrenica genocide, safe areas have continued to exist empirically. Recently, safe areas had a minor revival in academic analysis and in the political rhetoric vis-à-vis Syria. Yet, fundamental gaps remain as it is still unclear what a safe area actually is and whether all safe areas function in the same way. This article develops a precise definition and comprehensive typology of safe areas. The definition is based on considerations regarding geographical limitation and location, target group, kind of provided protection, involved actors, and effective existence. Furthermore, four ideal types of safe areas are identified based on a division between belligerents’ consent/international presence and different geographical sizes. This is complemented by an extensive collection of empirical cases since 1900.
How does Spinoza’s “Democracy” differ from that of Hobbes?
Authors: Israel Jonathan
Published: October 2021

Field focuses on the role in political theory of the concept of potentia of the people—power understood as the informal, natural power of the people—as distinct from potestas understood as the formal arrangement of power under the constitution of a given state. In a close analysis of the arguments of Hobbes and Spinoza on popular power and sovereignty, the book critiques democratic interpretations of both theories. While correct about that, the book neglects fundamental dissimilarities in their views of popular power. Of profound importance is the meaning of the concept “multitude”: unlike Hobbes, Spinoza distinguishes between the great mass of individuals and “the wise,” seeing the “multitude” as encompassing most kings. Also, there is a great gulf between their understandings of the “common good.” For Spinoza, obedience to the sovereign, Hobbes’s desideratum, is only compatible with freedom in the context of a state directed to the common good.
The Elements of Law and Hobbes’s Purpose
Authors: Evrigenis Ioannis
Published: October 2021

The unauthorized 1650 publication of The Elements of Law broke Hobbes’s treatise into two parts that were inconsistent with his own division of the work. This obscured what is arguably the most important insight into Hobbes’s method: his account of how human beings use language to instigate and appease others. I review the evidence of how the publication history of the Elements resulted in a break between I.13 and I.14 that Hobbes did not intend. I then argue that as the description of the very method that Hobbes was using to counteract dangerous dogmatists and appease his fellow citizens, the discussion in question made sense in a work intended for private circulation but not in treatises to be read by those on whom the method was to be applied. I show how reading I.13 and I.14 together, as Hobbes had intended, shows that Hobbes never changed his mind about rhetoric.
“Je cherche la vérité”
Authors: Frot Catherine , Gouvard Jean-Michel
Published: October 2021

Après une brève introduction qui replace dans son contexte la reprise du rôle de Winnie par Catherine Frot en 2012, un entretien avec l’ actrice relate pourquoi elle a souhaité s’ attaquer à ce rôle, comment le projet s’ est monté, comment elle a abordé et s’ est approprié le texte de Beckett, comment elle a travaillé avec Marc Paquien, le metteur en scène, de quelle manière la pièce a été reçue par le public en France et au Canada, et enfin ce que la pièce en elle-même lui a apporté à titre personnel.
“Bob Wilson a obéi à Beckett… à sa façon… mais il lui a obéi”
Authors: Chemin Charles , Protin Matthieu
Published: October 2021

Dans cet entretien, Charles Chemin décrit le processus de création qui a donné naissance à la mise en scène de Krapp’s Last Tape par Bob Wilson. Il explique comment ils ont travaillé ensemble selon des modalités qui font étrangement écho à l’ intrigue même de la pièce : un jeune Charles Chemin a joué dans un premier temps le rôle de Krapp, défrichant la représentation, et offrant à Bob Wilson une vision de lui-même en jeune homme. Puis Bob Wilson monte à son tour sur scène pour s’ emparer, à sa façon, du rôle. Charles Chemin, en évoquant la création de la pièce, aborde aussi la question de la relation entre Bob Wilson et Beckett, et les affinités qui existent entre ces deux artistes.
The Case of the Missing Disciple: Abū l-Ḥasan al-Rustughfanī and the First Reception of al-Māturīdī’s Theology in Samarqand
Authors: Harvey Ramon
Published: October 2021

Despite recognition of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Rustughfanī (d. ca. 345/956) as the most important student of Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944), a sustained treatment of his theological views has not hitherto appeared. One of the challenges that has been identified in prior studies is a lack of primary sources. To overcome this obstacle, I analyse manuscripts of “Bāb al-mutafarriqāt min fawāʾid” and “al-Asʾila wa-l-ajwiba,” two texts recording al-Rustughfanī’s theological responsa, locating them within available bibliographic information and discussing the question of literary structure. I then contextualise the material within the polemical milieu of mid-fourth/tenth century Samarqand, arguing that al-Rustughfanī is the earliest figure in the Samarqandī Ḥanafī kalām tradition to self-consciously adopt the full name ahl al-sunna wa-l-jamāʿa to express his theological identity. Finally, I provide an annotated theological overview of the main doctrines found in the texts with a detailed case study on divine speech and the Qurʾān, showing how al-Rustughfanī bridges the gap between al-Māturīdī’s rationalistic kalām and the Ḥanafī traditionalism of al-Ḥakīm al-Samarqandī (d. 342/953).
Avicenna on Equivocity and Modulation: A Reconsideration of the asmāʾ mushakkika (and tashkīk al-wujūd)
Authors: Janos Damien
Published: October 2021

This study investigates Avicenna’s conception of philosophical terminology through an analysis of the relation between equivocity (ishtirāk) and modulation (tashkīk) and by drawing evidence from a broad array of logical, physical, and metaphysical texts. In so doing, it also re-examines the notion of the modulation of existence (tashkīk al-wujūd). Although the intrinsic definitional ambiguity of tashkīk makes it possible to approach it alternatively through the lens of univocity and equivocity, there are strong textual and philosophical reasons to believe that Avicenna preferred to regard tashkīk as a kind of moderate equivocity, as opposed to both univocity and a kind of pure or absolute equivocity. As a corollary, it is preferable to construe tashkīk al-wujūd as a “modulated equivocity of being” rather than as a “modulated univocity of being.” On the one hand, this underscores the continuity with Aristotle’s theory of pros hen predication and its late-antique Greek and early Arabic reception, which Avicenna, as heir to a long commentatorial tradition, reinterprets in his own way. On the other hand, the reading of the asmāʾ mushakkika and tashkīk al-wujūd proposed here may explain some of the origins of the ontological debates on the construal of existence that developed from the post-classical reception of Avicenna’s works.
Zeit im Lied
Authors: Dröse Astrid
Published: October 2021

This article focuses on Opitz’s well-known song “Ach Liebste/ laß vns eilen” and its intercultural contexts. While so far mainly ancient texts (Horace/ carpe-diem motif) as well as sonnets and odes of Ronsard have been analyzed as models and intertextual references, the author here examines the Air de Cour “Ma belle je vous prie” by the French composer Gabriel Bataille as a model. The analysis shows that Opitz, although clearly oriented on the French Air, makes decisive translational changes: Opitz translates the courtly semantics of time of the Air into a typically Protestant-bourgeois vocabulary reflecting temporal acceleration and economization.
Lebenszeit und Weltzeit in epischen Versdichtungen der frühen Neuzeit
Authors: Werle Dirk
Published: October 2021

This article starts from Achim Landwehr’s thesis that the present is an invention of the 17th century, and that this is reflected not least in developments in contemporary narrative literature. It analyzes the narrative representation of the relationship between life-time and world-time (Lebenszeit und Weltzeit) in the epic poem Achilles Germanorvm, published anonymously in 1632, in which the contemporary events of the Thirty Years War are interpreted allegorically in the light of the Trojan War. It is shown that the present in the epic is not emphatically asserted as present, but presented as part of a model of time operating with the factors of repetition, recurrence, and mythical meaningfulness. World-time (Weltzeit) appears in the epic as structured by repetition and recurrence, and the role of the single individual is also embedded in this model. Landwehr’s account, however, needs to be corrected to the effect that, contrary to what he insinuates, such interpretations of the present did exist at all in the genre of epic verse in the 17th century and that the epic genre had not at all become outmoded at that period. They are highly relevant for understanding a history of the telling of time in the 17th century.
On a possible convergence area in Northern China
Authors: ARCODIA Giorgio Francesco
Published: October 2021

The received view that the differences among Sinitic languages are mostly limited to their phonology and, to a lesser extent, to the lexicon (Chao 1968), has been challenged in recent years, with plenty of studies showing that Chinese ‘dialects’ are, indeed, diverse at all levels, including morphology and (morpho-)syntax (see Chappell 2015a for an overview). Some major differences within the Sinitic branch follow areal patterns, in which contact is often claimed to play a crucial role. In our contribution, we would like to propose that there is an area within Northern China, spread over the Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, and Shandong provinces, in which we find Sinitic languages possessing some features not seen (or, at least, uncommon) elsewhere. These include: 1. reduced/nonconcatenative morphology (see Arcodia 2013, 2015; Lamarre 2015); 2. object markers based on speech act verbs (see Chappell 2013); and 3. structural particles with an l-initial (see Chen A. 2013, a.o.). Based on our own survey of a sample of 96 dialects, we shall discuss the distribution of these features, as well as their possible origins.
The Dilemma of Democratic Consolidation in the Philippines: The Contested Role of Civic Organizations in Electoral Governance
Authors: Igarashi Seiichi
Published: October 2021

Electoral governance that secures the implementation of free and fair elections has been largely sustained by nonpartisan civic organizations. However, in recent years, the electoral integrity that they have eagerly protected has been increasingly questioned. Given such circumstances, their activities need to be examined in detail in terms of democratic consolidation. By analyzing the major activities of organizations such as NAMFREL, PPCRV, and NASSA, this article argues that such organizations have contributed to improving electoral governance while opening themselves at the same time to charges of partisanship and advancing their own political agenda. Nonetheless, their activities will continue to be indispensable because the COMELEC alone cannot ensure free and fair elections. This is one problem of democratic consolidation faced by the Philippines.
Experiencing ‘nikah Captivity’ in the West
Authors: Liversage Anika
Published: October 2021

Based on interviews with Muslim minority women and Islamic authorities, this article proposes a step-based model for understanding Muslim divorce processes in diaspora. Such processes are highly dependent on individual women’s embedding in gendered geographies of power: The analysis shows that second-generation immigrant women generally are quite easily able to put a full end to unwanted marriages. In contrast, first-generation immigrant women may end up living in yearlong ‘nikah captivity’, unable to have their nikahs (their ‘Muslim marriages’) dissolved, even though they have obtained a divorce under Danish law. When (ex)husbands keep (ex)wives in such nikah captivity, it can be regarded as a type of post-separation violence, facilitated by the migration-induced separation of Muslims from Islamic institutions.
A new genus of Microveliinae from New Guinea, with a discussion of multiple independent occurrences of “dwarf males” in Veliidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)
Authors: Zettel Herbert , Laciny Alice
Published: October 2021

A new genus of Microveliinae from New Guinea, Shaverdinia gen. n., with two new species, S. shaverdella sp. n. (type species) and S. balkei sp. n., is described. Important characters are a long pronotum of the apterous morph, short tarsi bearing simple claws, a forewing without spots, with four closed cells and in males a long protibial grasping comb and a proctiger that bears an asymmetrical process on the right side. In addition, Shaverdinia gen. n. is characterized by a strong size dimorphism, males being much smaller than females. In New Guinea and Australia this character is shared by Phoreticovelia Polhemus & Polhemus, 2000, but this genus does not exhibit any of the aforementioned characteristics. Microvelia gestroi Kirkaldy, 1901 is discussed. A worldwide overview on size dimorphism in Veliidae is added.
Emotions, Simulation, and Abstract Art
Authors: Johnson-Laird P. N. , Oatley Keith
Published: October 2021

Some people feel emotions when they look at abstract art. This article presents a ‘simulation’ theory that predicts which emotions they will experience, including those based on their aesthetic reactions. It also explains the mental processes underlying these emotions. This new theory embodies two precursors: an account of how mental models represent perceptions, descriptions, and self-reflections, and an account of the communicative nature of emotions, which distinguishes between basic emotions that can be experienced without knowledge of their objects or causes, and complex emotions that are founded on basic ones, but that include propositional contents. The resulting simulation theory predicts that abstract paintings can evoke the basic emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and anxiety, and that they do so in several ways. In mimesis, models simulate the actions and gestures of people in emotional states, elicited from cues in the surface of paintings, and that in turn evoke basic emotions. Other basic emotions depend on synaesthesia, and both association and projection can yield complex emotions. Underlying viewers’ awareness of looking at a painting is a mental model of themselves in that relation with the painting. This self-reflective model has access to knowledge, enabling people to evaluate the work, and to experience an aesthetic emotion, such as awe or revulsion. The comments of artists and critics, and experimental results support the theory.
Observations on the Jām-e Čehel Kelid in Iran
Authors: Karami Leila
Published: October 2021

The paper is based on two types of sources: folkloristic-anthropological texts, and a number of jām-e čehel kelid (magic bowls) located in Iranian museums and in the collections of antiquarians and dealers. In this context, the stories of evil forces and miracles narrated by the antiquarians that I interviewed appear just as plausible as the fears and miraculous beliefs of the men and women who resorted to these bowls, attributing hermetical functions to them. Moreover, I gathered from narrations offered by antiquarians and found in folkloristic-anthropological texts that in the past, every individual family nucleus had its own bespoke bowl in home. This article presents the terminology used in the texts, the rituals connected to the bowls, and some of the more peculiar characteristics of the bowls I observed.
A Statement Released by Israeli šarīʿah Courts on the Appointment of the First Female in the Position of šarīʿah Judge in Israel
Authors: Edres Nijmi
Published: October 2021

The article proposes an introduction and a full translation of a Statement released by the Association of šarīʿah Courts in Israel regarding the appointment of female šarīʿah Judge Manṣūr Ḫaṭīb. The document, originally published in Arabic on the online newspaper išrāqah, proves to be relevant for several reasons. First, it provides an example of a highly strategic reference to Muslim tradition in contemporary times. Secondly, it bears witness to the image of “last fortified stronghold” that Šarīʿah courts are crafting for themselves in the framework of the relationship between the Jewish majority and the Palestinian minority in Israel. Finally, it offers a cross-sectional portrayal of the challenges faced by the Šarīʿah courts in that specific historical moment and context.
A revised list of seaweeds from the Red Sea (1756–2020)
Authors: Einav Rachel , Guiry Michael D. , Israel Álvaro
Published: October 2021

A taxonomic list of macro marine algae (seaweeds) described in the literature for the Red Sea during the years 1756–2020 is presented. The list was prepared using existing published studies, local monitoring reports, as well as “grey” or unpublished lists of seaweeds for the area. Altogether, we examined more than 300 publications and compiled more than 900 taxonomic names, of which 576 correspond to valid species, whilst 355 names were considered synonyms for these species. The phylum Chlorophyta (green seaweeds) was represented by 37 currently accepted genera and 133 species (including 74 species synonyms). The phylum Ochrophyta (Phaeophyceae only; brown seaweeds) was represented by 52 genera, 157 species and 99 synonyms; and the phylum Rhodophyta (red seaweeds) by 130 genera, 286 species and 182 synonyms. The brown seaweed Sargassum appears to be a particularly biodiverse genus in the area represented by 58 species and 26 synonyms. Our study shows the inconsistency and lack of long-term taxonomic studies and recent molecular investigations of seaweeds from nearly the whole Red Sea.