The paper is challenged with the seeming contradiction resulting from the prevalent conception of the group mind and common good in African and Westerncultures or societies. Many African scholars have theorized about the communalistic nature of African communities which leads to the flourishing of group consciousness as opposed to individualistic attitudes. This is often discussed against the background of the liberalism of Western societies which tend to elevate individual consciousness and self-realization over that of the group. With this picture in (...) mind, one would expect the common good to flourish in the former more than the latter. Present African socio-political conditions examined against similar scenarios in the West makes it glaringly obvious that the exact opposite is the case. Being that the group mind principle needed for the attainment of the common good seems absent in contemporary African states, the paper therefore recommends that a critical self-examination is needed by the African states in order to develop a genuinely African group consciousness for the attainment of the common good. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2015 Heft: 204 Seiten: 341-360.

Jakobson’s well-known model of communication includes implicit time and space message-to-code and contact-to-context relations. The symbolic displacement of humans from nature and the possible discovery of human nature occur in the embodied reversibility of these relations. Bateson’s view of the meta function in communication supports this postmodern turn, as does Peirce’s phenomenological conception of semiosis. In this abductive context, Bateson’s ideas are used to augment Peirce specifically onembodiment in semiosis. Communicology is nominated the “new science” and semiotic phenomenology the “new (...) paradigm” envisioned by Bateson. (shrink)

Against the many critics who have argued that Pierre Bourdieu favored a deterministic view of human experience and conduct, I argue that his social praxeology is, indeed, a theory of agency. I describe his work as a semiotic phenomenology of habitual discourse. My analysis extends this thinking, converging Bourdieu, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and C. S. Peirce on field, habitus and body. A theory of agency emerges that is a unique interpretation of the process of semiosis and embodied event of communication. My (...) central theme is a critique of the concept of clarity in discourse. (shrink)

Against the many critics who have argued that Pierre Bourdieu favored a deterministic view of human experience and conduct, I argue that his social praxeology is, indeed, a theory of agency. I describe his work as a semiotic phenomenology of habitual discourse. My analysis extends this thinking, converging Bourdieu, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and C. S. Peirce on field, habitus and body. A theory of agency emerges that is a unique interpretation of the process of semiosis and embodied event of communication. My (...) central theme is a critique of the concept of clarity in discourse. (shrink)

Against the many critics who have argued that Pierre Bourdieu favored a deterministic view of human experience and conduct, I argue that his social praxeology is, indeed, a theory of agency. I describe his work as a semiotic phenomenology of habitual discourse. My analysis extends this thinking, converging Bourdieu, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and C. S. Peirce on field, habitus and body. A theory of agency emerges that is a unique interpretation of the process of semiosis and embodied event of communication. My (...) central theme is a critique of the concept of clarity in discourse. (shrink)

This book investigates how knowledge is conceived and explored within the African context. Epistemology, or the philosophical theory of knowledge, has historically been dominated by western philosophers, but this book shines a much-needed spotlight on knowledge systems originating within the African continent. Bringing together key voices from across the field of African philosophy, this book explores the nature of knowledge systems across the continent and how they are rooted in Africans' ontological sense of being and self. At a time when (...) moves to decolonize curricula are gaining momentum, this book shows how understanding the specific ways of knowing that form part of the every day life of the African, will play an important part in rebalancing studies of Philosophy globally. Employing critical, conceptual and rigorous analyses of the nature and essence of knowledge as understood by indigenous African societies, the book ultimately asks what could pass as an African theory of knowledge. This important guide to the connections between knowledge and being, in African philosophical thought, will be an important resource for researchers and students of philosophy and African Studies. (shrink)

Philosophy of Communication Ethics is a unique and timely volume that creatively examines communication ethics, philosophy of communication, and "the other.".

Jakobson’s well-known model of communication includes implicit time and space message-to-code and contact-to-context relations. The symbolic displacement of humans from nature and the possible discovery of human nature occur in the embodied reversibility of these relations. Bateson’s view of the meta function in communication supports this postmodern turn, as does Peirce’s phenomenological conception of semiosis. In this abductive context, Bateson’s ideas are used to augment Peirce specifically onembodiment in semiosis. Communicology is nominated the “new science” and semiotic phenomenology the “new (...) paradigm” envisioned by Bateson. (shrink)

Current controversies about the ordination of women have shown the need for a re‐examination of what the Christian Church means by priesthood. This article looks at the Epistle to the Hebrews’ contribution to our understanding. To that end it focuses on the institution of priesthood in its first‐century Jewish context and shows the use made of it by the author of Hebrews in his presentation of Christian faith.Section 1 emphasizes some all‐important differences between the NT’s use of the language of (...) priesthood and ours. Not least, it nowhere uses “priest” to designate Christian ministers. All the more striking, therefore, is Hebrews’ depiction of Jesus as “high priest”.Section 2 discusses Judaism’ Day of Atonement ceremonies – Hebrews’ dominant cultic model. In the comparison drawn between Christ’s death and exaltation with these rites, he becomes not only the high priest but also the expiatory victim.As far as Judaism’ cultic institutions are concerned, however, Jesus was not and never could be a priest, since he was of the tribe of Judah rather than Levi. Hence Hebrews appeals to Melchizedek. How this non‐Israelite model is used by Hebrews to subvert the whole notion of priesthood as caste is discussed in section 3.Finally, in section 4 Isaacs concludes that for Hebrews there is no longer a role for an ongoing priesthood, since Jesus has definitively achieved access to God, which was its raison d’être. Melchizedekian high priesthood is unique to Christ; neither inherited nor transmitted. Hence, unlike other NT authors, for Hebrews even the church as a corporate body is not a priesthood. As its closing chapters show, in this Epistle the cultic model gives way to the more inclusive one of pilgrimage. (shrink)

Few, if any, present‐day undergraduate degree courses in Theology include in their syllabus a study of the Epistle to the Hebrews or other New Testament writings other than the Gospels and the Pauline epistles. The result is in effect that we create a canon within a canon.This paper, originally read at a postgraduate seminar, gives reasons why Hebrews in particular should not be neglected.Hebrews provides evidence of the diversity of early Christian tradition, for example, with its teaching that it is (...) impossible to be re‐admitted to the community of faith, having once abandoned it, and with its unique use of Israel’s day of Atonement rites in its presentation of Christ. Moreover, the very genre of Hebrews merits particular interest.Hebrews also evidences a Christian community which has yet to break with Judaism. Its thoroughly Jewish background illustrates for students of the New Testament the necessity of knowing the Jewish Scriptures as well as the writings of the New Testament. Moreover, a study of the Epistle could make a constructive contribution to present‐day Jewish–Christian dialogue, even if in the past it has been enlisted on the side of a thinly‐disguised anti‐Semitism.Finally, Hebrews brings the student face to face with the metaphorical character of much of the language of the New Testament – a form of language which is not to be taken less seriously than other kinds of language; and in this case, Hebrews’ Day of Atonement metaphors issue in new insights – in an innovative theology of access to God.For this and other reasons, the study of Hebrews has an important contribution to make to theology degree syllabuses. (shrink)

The landscape of social theory has changed significantly over the three decades since the publication of Anthony Giddens and Jonathan Turner’s seminal Social Theory Today. Sociologists in the twenty-first century desperately need a new agenda centered around central questions of social theory. In Social Theory Now, Claudio E. Benzecry, Monika Krause, and Isaac Ariail Reed set a new course for sociologists, bringing together contributions from the most distinctive sociological traditions in an ambitious survey of where social theory is today (...) and where it might be going. The book provides a strategic window onto social theory based on current research, examining trends in classical traditions and the cutting edge of more recent approaches. From distinctive theoretical positions, contributors address questions about how social order is accomplished; the role of materiality, practice, and meaning; as well as the conditions for the knowledge of the social world. The theoretical traditions presented include cultural sociology, microsociologies, world-system theory and post-colonial theory, gender and feminism, actor network and network theory, systems theory, field theory, rational choice, poststructuralism, pragmatism, and the sociology of conventions. Each chapter introduces a tradition and presents an agenda for further theoretical development. Social Theory Now is an essential tool for sociologists. It will be central to the discussion and teaching of contemporary social theory for years to come. (shrink)

There have been several recent attempts to think about psychological kinds as homologies. Nevertheless, there are serious epistemic challenges for individuating homologous psychological kinds, or cognitive homologies. Some of these challenges are revealed when we look at competing claims of cognitive homology. This paper considers two competing homology claims that compare human anger with putative aggression systems of nonhuman animals. The competition between these hypotheses has been difficult to resolve in part because of what I call the boundary problem: boundaries (...) between instances of psychological kinds (e.g., anger and fear) cannot be directly observed. Thus, there are distinctive difficulties for individuating psychological kinds across lineages. I draw four conclusions from this case study: First, recent evidence from the neuroscience of fear suggests that one of the proposed homologies involves a straightforward conflation of anger and fear. Second, this conflation arises because of the boundary problem. Third, there is an implicit constraint on the operational criteria that is easy to overlook in the psychological case. In this case, ignoring the constraint is part of the problem. Fourth, this is a clear case in which knowledge of homology cannot be accumulated piecemeal. Identifying homologs of human anger requires identifying homologs of fear. (shrink)

Mentoring Away the Glass Ceiling in Academia: A Cultured Critique describes how women of diverse backgrounds perceive their mentoring experiences or the lack of mentoring experiences in the academy. This book provides a space for envisioning strategies and practices to improve mentoring practices and the collegiate environment.

A detailed analysis is made of Grunbaum's claim that the Abraham-Lorentz (AL) and Dirac-Lorentz (DL) equations have no bearing on causality. It is pointed out that (a) both equations are derived from F = ma, and thus should obey the same causality conditions as Newton's law, (b) independently of what boundary conditions are imposed, non-causal behavior is always along the same straight line as the force, (c) the distinction in status between laws and boundary conditions which Grunbaum imposes is one (...) which is not always useful, especially since what is a law in one formulation of the theory can become a boundary condition in another, and thus it is argued that a complete theory must be such that laws and boundary conditions form a coherent whole, (d) the asymptotic boundary conditions that are applied are in agreement with experiment, (e) the AL equation is such that if the "effect," the acceleration as function of time, is known, then the "cause," the force, can be determined. In addition, it is noted that in the DL equation the acceleration at times later than t influences the acceleration at t. Finally, it is pointed out that electrodynamics is indeed a causal field theory, and that retrocausality is due to the transition from a field description to a particle description. (shrink)

Does every partial order of singular cofinality λ have an antichain of size ? This is the Singular Cofinality Conjecture. M. Pouzet proved [M. Pouzet, Parties cofinales des ordres partiels ne contenant pas d’antichaines infinies, 1980, preprint] that there must be an infinite antichain. When is uncountable, the positive answer is only consistently true, but unknown in ZFC. In this note we investigate this question from the purely set-theoretic point of view. On the way, we answer a question of Milner (...) and Pouzet from [E.C. Milner, M. Pouzet, Posets with singular cofinality, 1997, preprint]. (shrink)

This study examined the factors driving the public value of e-government from the viewpoint of the Chinese people. The usage of ICT through e-government systems must generate the adequate corresponding public value that can motivate the acceptance of e-government services. The sample 517 data generated from Chinese citizens were analyzed using AMOS 23 software by undertaking the structural equation model system of analysis. The results show that constructs such as information quality, service parameters, user orientation, efficiency, openness, and responsiveness were (...) significantly related to the public value of e-government. Additionally, the research validated that the public value of e-government has a direct influence on the behavioral intention to adopt e-government services. The managerial and practical implications of these research findings on the public value of e-government and the acceptance of e-government services are dissected meticulously. (shrink)

Several authors have recently contended that modern statistical theory provides a powerful argument in favor of the view that if scientists accept or reject hypotheses at all they do so only in a behavioral sense--i.e., in a sense which reduces "accepting P" to "acting on the basis of P relative to an objective O". In this paper, the argument from statistics in favor of a behavioral view is outlined; an interpretation of two statistical procedures (Bayes method and signifigance testing) is (...) offered which does not entail a behavioral analysis of "accepting a hypothesis"; and the conclusion that non-behavioral analyses of belief are compatible with the application of current statistical theory in the sciences is tentatively advanced. (shrink)

Isaac Joshua. Envisaging Socialism as Being of the Possible. The second volume of the work by Tony Andréani, Socialism is (of) the Future, has considerable merit, i. e. daring to make proposals. The author passes in review various socialist models and focuses on that of associative socialism : In such a society companies are self-managed. The banks (self-managed) play an essential part, as the financial markets have been abolished. Numerous « social goods » are supplied free of charge. Democratic (...) and incentive planning guides the important choices. This model has the considerable advantage of learning from « really existing socialism ». The reserves it gives rise to concern the maintenance of a capitalist sector, the continued opening on the capitalist world, and the capacity of the companies easily to obtain production means and labour forces. The question of socialism as a political power is treated but remains open to debate. On the tight-rope between maintaining the ideal and accepting reality, Socialism is (of) the Future is an essential tool. (shrink)