title: Exploring the dynamic behaviour of commodity market tail risk connectedness during the negative WTI pricing event

authors: Hu, Yang

abstract: Using a TVP-VAR analytical framework, this study explores the change and persistence of the dynamic connectedness of international energy and carbon credit markets. The overall destabilising effects generated by recent political and epidemiological events, and the subsequent consequences of shocks such as the negative WTI pricing event, have the potential to be disruptive to the continued growth and development of several regional oil markets. Results are presented via a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of extreme risk spillovers for particular commodity pairs. In particular, WTI and Brent crude oil are found to have transmitted significant tail uncertainty shocks to other energy markets. However, Shanghai crude oil and carbon credit markets typically function as shock absorbers. The remaining energy-related commodities primarily function as tail uncertainty receivers. Further, by incorporating EGARCH-based robustness procedures, tests for significant market connectedness within international energy markets adds further validity to the results. Specifically, results relating to the substantial rebalancing of information to Shanghai crude oil futures and EUA carbon futures merit special consideration, as dynamic interactions strengthen evidence supporting their continued maturation into significant international markets. These findings are particularly interesting to policymakers and market participants who use such products to hedge against and diversify regional oil market fluctuations.

text: Exploring the dynamic behaviour of commodity market tail risk connectedness during the negative WTI pricing event Using a TVP-VAR analytical framework, this study explores the change and persistence of the dynamic connectedness of international energy and carbon credit markets. The overall destabilising effects generated by recent political and epidemiological events, and the subsequent consequences of shocks such as the negative WTI pricing event, have the potential to be disruptive to the continued growth and development of several regional oil markets. Results are presented via a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics of extreme risk spillovers for particular commodity pairs. In particular, WTI and Brent crude oil are found to have transmitted significant tail uncertainty shocks to other energy markets. However, Shanghai crude oil and carbon credit markets typically function as shock absorbers. The remaining energy-related commodities primarily function as tail uncertainty receivers. Further, by incorporating EGARCH-based robustness procedures, tests for significant market connectedness within international energy markets adds further validity to the results. Specifically, results relating to the substantial rebalancing of information to Shanghai crude oil futures and EUA carbon futures merit special consideration, as dynamic interactions strengthen evidence supporting their continued maturation into significant international markets. These findings are particularly interesting to policymakers and market participants who use such products to hedge against and diversify regional oil market fluctuations.

year: 2023

title: The occult in Rabelais: three supplementary aspects of the Rabelaisian allegory

authors: Horgan, James Barrie

abstract: The Occult in Rabelais concerns itself with all references, explicit or implied, to the systems of contemporary occultism in Rabelais’s work. Although a division may be made between those allusions which seem merely to reflect humanist preoccupation with the occult and those which are functional in terms of the proposed allegory, it is argued that all occult references, by supposing the existence of a cosmic dualist (Above and Below), and by supposing the possibility of mutual interaction, support the theme of human perfectibility called the Itinerarium Mentis in Deum. Early references to the occult may therefore be of importance in Pantagruel and Gargantua, not only those from Le Tiers Livre onward, where the theme of perfectibility of will (treated by Rabelais, it is proposed, under the guise of the marriage question) has had time to evolve in the imagination of the author.
The thesis covers all occultism which exists in Rabelais under the broad headings:
1 Alchemy, Tarot and the Mysteries
2 Divination
3 Numerology
Renaissance and classical sources are listed, the nature and limitations (if any) of the occult systems are treated, examples of their use by Rabelais are noted, and their allegorical implications are discussed.
The study suggests the following major conclusions:
1 Alchemy, other similar traditions, divination and numerology may be considered as supplementary aspects of Rabelaisian allegory.
2 An important allegory of the T.L., Q.L. and C.L. involves the Itinerarium mentis in Deum, of which Panurge is the central character.
3 Spiritual alchemy, tarot and the Mysteries provide an occult background to the idea of Itinerarium since they are concerned with human perfectibility.
4 Chapters 33 - 47 of Le Cinquiesme Livre, while full of occult allusions, are thematically necessary to the completion of Rabelais’s work in terms of the allegory proposed.
Other conclusions are reached:
1 The weight and role of each occult tradition may change from one book to another.
2 The stages of alchemy called separatio, qeneratio and coniunctio relate to the principles of death, rebirth and marriage respectively, and these principles of the Itinerarium may be found in Rabelais’s work.
3 The progress of Panurge may be related to the progress towards fulfilment of the materia prima of alchemy.
4 Pantagruel and Gargantua come to represent the Salt of alchemy.
5 The stock figures of the tarot coincided with the characters and actions of Rabelais’s work.
6 There are strong links between the Temple of Rabelais and the classical temples of Apollo, and between Rabelaisian and Apolline ritual and mysticism.
7 Divination in Rabelais supports the Itinerarium in that it similarly supposes recourse to a final truth existing in immutability. Panurge may reject contrary divinatory projections, as divination has never had power over the will. This does not mean Panurge is right to do so.
8 The double nature of number (mathematical and ideal) points upward from the material to the divine, and therefore supports the Itinerarium.
9 The true efficacy of the Dive Bouteille as oracle rests in the fact that it is also a Christian mystery.
10 The Temple represents an ideal human body, of which the main temple is the trunk and the circular chapel the head. Panurge is born again (like Pantagruel, from the ear). Panurge can only enter this body by passing via Lanternois.

text: The occult in Rabelais: three supplementary aspects of the Rabelaisian allegory The Occult in Rabelais concerns itself with all references, explicit or implied, to the systems of contemporary occultism in Rabelais’s work. Although a division may be made between those allusions which seem merely to reflect humanist preoccupation with the occult and those which are functional in terms of the proposed allegory, it is argued that all occult references, by supposing the existence of a cosmic dualist (Above and Below), and by supposing the possibility of mutual interaction, support the theme of human perfectibility called the Itinerarium Mentis in Deum. Early references to the occult may therefore be of importance in Pantagruel and Gargantua, not only those from Le Tiers Livre onward, where the theme of perfectibility of will (treated by Rabelais, it is proposed, under the guise of the marriage question) has had time to evolve in the imagination of the author.
The thesis covers all occultism which exists in Rabelais under the broad headings:
1 Alchemy, Tarot and the Mysteries
2 Divination
3 Numerology
Renaissance and classical sources are listed, the nature and limitations (if any) of the occult systems are treated, examples of their use by Rabelais are noted, and their allegorical implications are discussed.
The study suggests the following major conclusions:
1 Alchemy, other similar traditions, divination and numerology may be considered as supplementary aspects of Rabelaisian allegory.
2 An important allegory of the T.L., Q.L. and C.L. involves the Itinerarium mentis in Deum, of which Panurge is the central character.
3 Spiritual alchemy, tarot and the Mysteries provide an occult background to the idea of Itinerarium since they are concerned with human perfectibility.
4 Chapters 33 - 47 of Le Cinquiesme Livre, while full of occult allusions, are thematically necessary to the completion of Rabelais’s work in terms of the allegory proposed.
Other conclusions are reached:
1 The weight and role of each occult tradition may change from one book to another.
2 The stages of alchemy called separatio, qeneratio and coniunctio relate to the principles of death, rebirth and marriage respectively, and these principles of the Itinerarium may be found in Rabelais’s work.
3 The progress of Panurge may be related to the progress towards fulfilment of the materia prima of alchemy.
4 Pantagruel and Gargantua come to represent the Salt of alchemy.
5 The stock figures of the tarot coincided with the characters and actions of Rabelais’s work.
6 There are strong links between the Temple of Rabelais and the classical temples of Apollo, and between Rabelaisian and Apolline ritual and mysticism.
7 Divination in Rabelais supports the Itinerarium in that it similarly supposes recourse to a final truth existing in immutability. Panurge may reject contrary divinatory projections, as divination has never had power over the will. This does not mean Panurge is right to do so.
8 The double nature of number (mathematical and ideal) points upward from the material to the divine, and therefore supports the Itinerarium.
9 The true efficacy of the Dive Bouteille as oracle rests in the fact that it is also a Christian mystery.
10 The Temple represents an ideal human body, of which the main temple is the trunk and the circular chapel the head. Panurge is born again (like Pantagruel, from the ear). Panurge can only enter this body by passing via Lanternois.

year: 1979

title: Reclaiming mystery: A Māori philosophy of Being, in light of Novalis' ontology

authors: Mika, Carl Te Hira

subjects: Germanistik

abstract: In both the German Romantic and the Māori traditions, Sein/Being may be described as both finite and endless, and is not a separate phenomenon from things in the world but instead one that gives rise to them, providing them with Geheimnis/mystery. Forgetting about Being is an issue for the Māori self now as much as for the West, however, and it is moreover implicit in various modes of colonisation that things in the world should be approached as if they are geheimnislos/lacking mystery. To acknowledge Being in all its mystery is to bring to the fore, once again, the notion that the activity of Being is not separate from the consciousness of the self, or from other things in the world.
The frühromantische/early German Romantic poet and philosopher, Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), had written in the late 18th century on the threat that Geheimnislosigkeit/the lack of mystery posed for the integrity of things in the world. His works are central to this thesis: I approach them with an ontological focus and use them as Stoßsätze/sentences that challenge and push, to examine how Māori, individually and collectively, are encouraged to forget Being and mystery in their everyday interactions with the philosophies of Western institutions. I then engage with the dominant usages of the terms ‘whakapapa’, ‘ako’, ‘whenua’, and ‘mātauranga’, to show that they are characterised by an overriding lack of mystery. Finally I use some of Novalis’ fragments to romanticise/revitalise those terms and the things to which they refer, in conjunction with some other Māori terms, thereby reclaiming aspects of their mystery in modern philosophical discourses. I also offer some romanticised early German Romantic terms from their positioning alongside Māori ones.
This thesis is innovative methodically and substantively, highlighting two main themes: the collaborative approach of referring to a seemingly disparate philosophical source to explain colonising influences on Māori metaphysics, ontology and epistemology, and the possibility for some substantive critique and resolution to those influences. The form of Symphilosophie/[unified philosophy] that is referred to here is both collaborative and productive. Novalis’ theories and fragments assist method and substance. My thesis brings to the fore the value of his sources when they are brought into dialogue with Māori philosophy to illuminate the issue of Geheimnis to things in the world.

text: Reclaiming mystery: A Māori philosophy of Being, in light of Novalis' ontology In both the German Romantic and the Māori traditions, Sein/Being may be described as both finite and endless, and is not a separate phenomenon from things in the world but instead one that gives rise to them, providing them with Geheimnis/mystery. Forgetting about Being is an issue for the Māori self now as much as for the West, however, and it is moreover implicit in various modes of colonisation that things in the world should be approached as if they are geheimnislos/lacking mystery. To acknowledge Being in all its mystery is to bring to the fore, once again, the notion that the activity of Being is not separate from the consciousness of the self, or from other things in the world.
The frühromantische/early German Romantic poet and philosopher, Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), had written in the late 18th century on the threat that Geheimnislosigkeit/the lack of mystery posed for the integrity of things in the world. His works are central to this thesis: I approach them with an ontological focus and use them as Stoßsätze/sentences that challenge and push, to examine how Māori, individually and collectively, are encouraged to forget Being and mystery in their everyday interactions with the philosophies of Western institutions. I then engage with the dominant usages of the terms ‘whakapapa’, ‘ako’, ‘whenua’, and ‘mātauranga’, to show that they are characterised by an overriding lack of mystery. Finally I use some of Novalis’ fragments to romanticise/revitalise those terms and the things to which they refer, in conjunction with some other Māori terms, thereby reclaiming aspects of their mystery in modern philosophical discourses. I also offer some romanticised early German Romantic terms from their positioning alongside Māori ones.
This thesis is innovative methodically and substantively, highlighting two main themes: the collaborative approach of referring to a seemingly disparate philosophical source to explain colonising influences on Māori metaphysics, ontology and epistemology, and the possibility for some substantive critique and resolution to those influences. The form of Symphilosophie/[unified philosophy] that is referred to here is both collaborative and productive. Novalis’ theories and fragments assist method and substance. My thesis brings to the fore the value of his sources when they are brought into dialogue with Māori philosophy to illuminate the issue of Geheimnis to things in the world.

year: 2013