The physical basis of the Kundalini (Hatha) Yoga.

For several decades, most discussion on financial fraud has centered on the fraud triangle, which has evolved over time through various extensions and re-interpretations. While this has served the profession well, the articulation of the human side of the act is indirect and diffused. To address this limitation, this research develops a model to explain the role of human desires, intentions, and actions in indulgence of, or resistance to, the act of financial fraud. Evidence from religion, philosophy, sociology, neurology, behavioral (...) economics, and social psychology is integrated to develop and support an alternative fraud model, called the disposition-based fraud model. To articulate the model, its two primary components, disposition and temptation, are further developed and extended. Although the DFM is generally applicable to any act of fraud, this paper focuses on executive fraud. The similarities and differences between the DFM and extant fraud models are discussed. Importantly, in light of the DFM, a re-interpretation of the fraud triangle is made to improve our understanding of the human element in it. Additionally, potential implications of the model for corporate governance are discussed, suggestions for further research are offered, and the DFM’s strengths and limitations are noted. (shrink)

This is a welcome reprint of a book that continues to grow in importance.

Local geographical terms play an important role in the formation of a toponymic system of a geographical region. Archaic vocabulary roots in the mists of time and and serves as the evidence of ancient contacts of the local population. Identification, systemic description and comprehensive analysis of toponyms contributes to linguistic and historic reseach. In this article, the substrate local geographical terminology of the Indo-Iranian origin involved in the formation of the Bashkir place names and ethnonyms is discussed. By allocating place (...) name formants, place name bases, toponymic types, the autor attempts to identify the Indo-Iranian substratum in Bashkir geographical terminology and to define its role in formation of place names. As the study shows, substrate geographic appellatives of the Indo-Iranian origin are abundantly represented in the Bashkir toponymy. Some of them are preserved only as the part of Bashkir geographical names, for example, the Bashkir hydronyms Abdon, Avzyan, Avryuz and many others originated from a geographical appellative av/aw ‘water‘. Some geographical terms of Indo-Iranian origin have survived in the dialects of the Bashkir language and are currently spoken by dialect speakers, e. g., beshә, and bÒ¯zhәk. The basis of the Bashkir toponymic system is comprised mainly by substrate geographical terms of Indo-Iranian origin, which became toponyms during their functioning in the language. (shrink)

The empirical investigations over the past fifteen years of evolutionary biologists and cognitive scientists have demonstrated the accessibility and power of the human brain. Whatever moral concepts used to acknowledge the normative appraisals of human conduct are now explained through neurological hardwiring. This essay outlines some of the main views of proponents, but especially Marc Hauser, and I argue that it does not render the end of morals. It does provide an opportunity to view the facts of how the brain (...) functions but this essay finds a large domain of valuing unable to be justified by these new scientific challenges. (shrink)

The article dwells on the origin of the dystopian genre in the Russian classical literature of the 19th century in M. Saltykov-Shchedrin and F. Dostoevsky’s creative work. It is shown that a new genre created in the authors’ polemics of "The History of a Town" and "Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" with the utopian novel "What is to be done" by N. Chernyshevsky was finally completed in E. Zamyatin’s "We".

The article deals with the notion of générosité, an important concept of the 17th century moral philosophy, as well as with the metamorphosis of the meaning of this passion and/or virtue. The starting point of this metamorphosis is générosité as a virtue of the late medieval and early modern French noble man, whereas the end point is générosité as the passion/virtue of Descartes’ rational beings. The paper analyses this phenomenon in Molière’s play Don Juan, and in Descartes’ and Spinoza’s texts.

Due to the rapid development in the modern linguistics of anthropocentric and interdisciplinary studies, the idea is gaining ground that languages of the world are examples of various division of the world. The article is devoted to the semantic reconstruction of the cult of the androgynous deity of the Bashkirs on the basis of toponymy and mythology. The study is based on the hypothesis that the collective linguistic consciousness or ‘collective unconsciousness‘ of different cultures and peoples is based on common (...) values, which gives an indication of the universality of mythopoetical thinking of the peoples. The versatility of mythological thinking leads to the creation of typologically similar images related to the general idea. This suggests that the mechanism of cognitive knowledge and explanation of the world in different languages has some common ground. The object of this study are Bashkir hydronyms, the subject of analysis are linguocultural mechanisms of conceptualizing the world. This article is aimed at reconstruction of the archetypal meaning of the mythonym ‘Irgiz‘, which became a hydronym, and to understanding of its origin based on theoretical principles of the relationship between language and thinking, language and myth, the universality of mythopoetic thinking of peoples, on mythological legends of the Bashkirs, and on the data of Bashkortostan’s toponymy. In accordance with the intended purpose, the author attempts to understand the peculiarities of the mythopoetic thinking of the Bashkirs related to the archetype of the ‘river‘, ‘water‘. For this purpose, linguistic facts, ethnographic and folklore materials of the Bashkir and other Turkic peoples, as well as facts of comparative mythology of the peoples of the world were considered, and on this basis an attempt to show the universality of mythopoetic thinking of peoples and to explain the origin of the Bashkir hydronym ‘Irgiz‘ was made. The research was conducted using the methods of linguocultural interpretation, semantic reconstruction, and etymological analysis. Folklore and mythological motives outlined in the paper helped the author to trace the thoughts of primitive human and to conclude that in the mythology of many peoples the belief in the divine essence of water is reflected: water is the source of life, of creation. This idea is incorporated in the name of the mythonym ‘Irgiz‘ rising to the reconstructed abstract deity, symbolizing the idea of combining two elements in one individual, the idea of creation and fertility. (shrink)

Two attitudes are possible: one, that the world is an absolute jungle and that the exercise of coercive power by rulers is only a manifestation of this; and the other, that it is both necessary and right that there should be this exercise of power, that through it the world is much less of a jungle than it could possibly be without it, so that one should in principle be glad of the existence of such power, and only take exception (...) to its unjust exercise. (shrink)

In a series of recent papers, Jonathan Schaffer presents a novel framework for understanding grounding. Metaphysical laws play a central role. In addition, Schaffer argues that, contrary to what many have thought, there is no special 'explanatory gap' between consciousness and the physical world. Instead, explanatory gaps are everywhere. I draw out and criticize the methodology for metaphysics implicit in Schaffer's presentation. In addition, I argue that even if we accept Schaffer's picture, there remains a residual explanatory gap between consciousness (...) and the physical. The residual gap does most of the same philosophical work as the original. Schaffer has introduced a troublesome metaphysical methodology that fails to follow through on its biggest promise: to deflate the explanatory gap. (shrink)

This is a collection of the key articles written by renowned Wittgenstein scholar, G.P. Baker, on Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, published posthumously. Following Baker’s death in 2002, the volume has been edited by collaborator and partner, Katherine Morris. Contains articles previously only available in other languages, and one previously unpublished paper. Completely distinct from the widely-known work Baker did with P.M.S. Hacker in the Analytical Commentary on the Philosophical Investigations.

Some ways of defending inequality against the charge that it is unjust require premises that egalitarians find easy to dismiss—statements, for example, about the contrasting deserts and/or entitlements of unequally placed people. But a defense of inequality suggested by John Rawls and elaborated by Brian Barry has often proved irresistible even to people of egalitarian outlook. The persuasive power of this defense of inequality has helped to drive authentic egalitarianism, of an old-fashioned, uncompromising kind, out of contemporary political philosophy. The (...) present essay is part of an attempt to bring it back in. (shrink)

1. The present paper is a continuation of my “Self-Ownership, World Ownership, and Equality,” which began with a description of the political philosophy of Robert Nozick. I contended in that essay that the foundational claim of Nozick's philosophy is the thesis of self-ownership, which says that each person is the morally rightful owner of his own person and powers, and, consequently, that each is free to use those powers as he wishes, provided that he does not deploy them aggressively against (...) others. To be sure, he may not harm others, and he may, if necessary, be forced not to harm them, but he should never be forced to help them, as people are in fact forced to help others, according to Nozick, by redistributive taxation. (shrink)