Modern Assumptions Research Articles

MATER MATUTA, ‘FERTILITY CULTS’ AND THE INTEGRATION OF WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ITALY IN THE FOURTH TO FIRST CENTURIES BC

This study explores social and gendered aspects of female fertility in popular religious practices in Italy in the last four centuries BC, and it investigates the role of supplication and votive dedications in promoting maternal health and family continuity. It tackles modern assumptions which have strongly aligned the religious activities of women in Republican Italy with their generative interests and specific ‘fertility cults’ or ‘women's goddesses’. Divinities associated with fertility are explored here, with particular emphasis on Mater Matuta who is often defined in modern research as a ‘mother goddess’. The study shows that cults purely concerned with fertility are unlikely to have existed. Fertility was only one of several fundamental personal concerns brought by women and men to the generalist and polyvalent deities of Republican Italy. Items associated with fertility, such as terracotta wombs, male and female genitals, and swaddled infants, always occur together with other anatomical ex-votos across a wide range of sites and were dedicated to many deities. Considering the archaeological and textual evidence, Mater Matuta can be shown to have occupied a more flexible and encompassing space in the pantheon, and her involvement in marriage, motherhood and childbearing was part of a wider repertoire of responsibilities. The study also focuses attention on a distinctive, but largely overlooked, votive assemblage from Capua which includes numerous tufa statues of women and babies. The paper proposes that they should be understood as votive objects offered to an unknown deity by Capuan women as thanks for support in the generative enterprise, personally and more broadly in the context of the city's religious and civic identity.

Cheng (誠) as ecological self-understanding: Realistic or impossible?

Recent studies have recognised the Confucian holistic perspective as transformative in addressing the ecological concerns. This article complements and complicates this line of argument. The aforementioned literature has seldom examined whether or not the Confucian ideal is attainable. Centring on cheng, a Confucian metaphysical concept, this article highlights the struggle between the ideal and the real. The discussion is based on the premise that essential to the current ecological crisis is a need to reconfigure the meaning and purpose of humanity on the planet; utopianism, evoking images of a society radically different from the existing one, has the potential to instigate transformations. Utopias of all kinds encounter the tension between ideal and practice. Webb proposes an analytical framework of utopia-as-system and utopia-as-process. The former stresses an idealised blueprint and the latter attends to localised practice. For any radical change to occur, it is imperative to adopt both. Drawing on the research of ecotopia and edutopia, this article argues that Confucianism has a utopian impetus. As ecological self-understanding, cheng challenges modern assumptions regarding humanity and ecology. The concept represents a model of both utopia-as-system and utopia-as-process, and it has the potential to inspire change. It is, however, not without complication.

Building the Modernist rural landscape in the Salazar’s Regime: The agricultural colony of Boalhosa

The construction of the modernist rural landscape in Portugal bears the mark of the Junta de Colonização Interna, an institution created in 1936 during the Salazar regime within the Ministry of Agriculture. The colonies which were actually completed and whose original structures remain until today are regarded as singular experiences that, having assumed the assumptions of modernity, have sought to establish continuity with certain aspects of landscape and vernacular architecture. This research aims to test the methodology proposed for the analysis of the physical legacies of these colonies, applying it on the Agricultural Colony of Boalhosa. The methodology combines GIS and mapping analysis, covering several layers of information embarking natural and anthropogenic spatial data, which allow understanding the landscape transformation since the settlement of the colony. From the reading of the landscape structure of this colony, it was verified that these legacies were accomplished through the use of an autonomous design methodology, which considers the local culture and respects both the morphological and physiographic characteristics of the existing site, leading to the creation of modern landscapes strongly tied to the local identities.

Climate Change, Individual Obligations and the Virtue of Justice

Over the last decade, a number of climate ethicists have turned their attention to the question of individual moral obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Important problems face their efforts, especially what is called the problem of inconsequentialism. The problems, I argue, arise largely from the failure to treat individual obligations as a matter of justice, a failure that stems from the common modern assumption that justice primarily concerns social institutions. I develop an alternative approach by appealing to the account of justice as a virtue in Thomas Aquinas. This approach allows us to talk about individual obligations to reduce emissions as obligations of justice, even in the current context of institutional failure. At the same time, I argue that approaching climate change in Thomistic terms requires an important modification of Aquinas’s understanding of justice.

Modern assumptions of the American ballistic missile defence system against the background of historical concepts and programmes

<i>The issue of missile defence has been present in American policy for over 70 years and is constantly subject to research and the search for new technologies. Nowadays, the proliferation of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, as well as the growing threat from the so-called “rogue states” have caused the inevitable development of the missile defence strategy. On the basis of historical programmes and the results of contemporary research, the concept of a Ballistic Missile Defence System was created. The system is based on the principles of indivisibility of the security of the Alliance and NATO solidarity, fair sharing of risk and burdens as well as taking on reasonable challenges. One of the components of the system is the European Phase Adaptive Approach, which was designed to protect American allies and resources in the European region from the growing rocket threat.</i><br><br> <i>This paper analyses the genesis of ballistic missile defence and what its development tendencies are. The article contains a presentation of the essence of the US Ballistic Missile Defence System, as well as its history and suspended programmes. The concept of multilayered defence has been outlined, as have the technical details of the system’s components and its location and operational status.</i>

DEVELOPMENT OF DOMESTIC TECHNOLOGIES OF PRODUSING HIGH QUALITY CLEAN DIESEL FUEL

The researches related to the development of the best composition and production of environmentally friendly diesel fuel, compliance with the EURO-5 and EURO-6 class, by introducing antiwear additives into the base hydrotreated fuel were conducted. The analysis of modern assumptions to the use in Russia of anti-wear additives of domestic and foreign manufacturers, such manufacturers as Clariant, BASF, Infinéum, JSC "AZKiOС" and others was carried out, and also the main results of efficiency of use of additives for diesel fuel are considered. The synthesis of antiwear additives and antioxidant additives from plant raw materials through the process of transesterification was carried out, as well as the technology of obtaining nitrogen and oxygen-containing compounds with surface active properties was developed. The optimal technological processes of the transesterification process (time, temperature, rate, ratio of raw materials) were revealed. The effect of the obtained bioadditives on the operational and low-temperature properties of hydrotreated diesel fuel was studied. Analysis of the positive effect of additives on lubricating properties of fuel showed that the diameter of the wear spot is reduced by a factor of 4, the amount of harmful emissions (carbon oxides, dispersed particles, volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbons) is reduced by more than 30 times. Also, a decrease in the pour point and change in the cetane number was observed, depending on the composition of the bioadditives (in some cases, the cetane number decreased and ceased to meet the requirements of the standard for diesel fuel GOST R 52368, while others, on the contrary, increased). A distinctive feature of this type of fuel is the maintenance of the minimum amount of gray in your composition, and at the same time compliance with all requirements of GOST.
 For citation:
 Kondrasheva N.K., Eremeeva A.М., Nelkenbaum K.S. Development of domestic technologies of produsing high quality clean diesel fuel. Izv. Vyssh. Uchebn. Zaved. Khim. Khim. Tekhnol. 2018. V. 61. N 9-10. P. 76-82

The anti-Blackness of global capital

This paper seeks to offer a new perspective on the interrelated questions of globalized capitalism and anti-Blackness. We engage with current geographical work on the question of Blackness, highlighting the ways in which prevailing forms of global capital accumulation—which take shape in numerous spatial and political practices around the world—coincide with acts of anti-Blackness. In recognizing the connections between capitalism and anti-Black violence, however, we choose not to frame anti-Blackness as an effect of capitalist relations. Rather, we insist that anti-Blackness remains a necessary precondition for the perpetuation of capitalism, as the perpetual expansion of capitalist practices requires “empty” spaces open for appropriation—a condition made possible through the modern assumption of Black a-spatiality. Drawing on theoretical discussions of both global capital and anti-Blackness, empirical examples of shifting global spatial-racial regimes, and the discursive and material practices of Black Lives Matter, the Movement for Black Lives, and the Afro-Brazilian community Ilha de Maré, this paper attempts to forge new geographical conversations regarding current capitalist practices and the matter of Black lives.

Neo-Gnosticism, ideology and the culture wars: the contemplative antidote – perennial tensions: a reply to Jersak

This reply speaks to Brad Jersak's analysis of the left–right culture wars spectrum and his critique of identity politics. He offers an alternative rooted in his studies of George P. Grant and Simone Weil's notion of the primacy of the Good vis-à-vis the triumph of the will that undergirds modernist assumptions. Jersak's thesis is confirmed and would be strengthened by careful attention Eric Voegelin's assessment of Gnosticism in The New Science of Politics. What needs further attention on the way of just peacemaking is the important turn from the vita activa to a sustained vita contemplativa as a way of knowing and being (cf. Merton). Finally, using Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game (1946) reminds us of the inevitable clash between idealists and realists, raising the question of how, in the end, the owl of contemplative wisdom might navigate conflict between doves and hawks.

Advancing Transformative Eco-social Change: Shifting from Modernist to Holistic Foundations

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a reconciliatory, integrative, and transformative way forward for addressing philosophical incongruities between the emerging foundations of eco-social work and inherent modernist assumptions underpinning conventional social work practice. Although modernity has enabled the profession to pursue certain freedoms, such as individual empowerment and self-determination, a modernist worldview is today critiqued for philosophical assumptions associated with the unsustainable use of Earth’s natural resources. By advancing transformative eco-social change, opportunities to broaden the profession’s conventional philosophical base to include holism and interdependence with the natural world will be explored. Implications centre on the need to incorporate perspective transformation and critical reflexivity, and to revise the framing of fundamental documents, such as codes of ethics, practice standards, and education requirements. By integrating transformative eco-social change, social work can improve the capacity to develop a coherent and ethical response to ecological and social problems.

Decolonizing Development: Perspectives from Indigenous Communities

In this symposium we will explore possibilities for Indigenous organizations to become a force for decolonization. Business enterprises owned and operated by Indigenous communities are one way for them to participate in the market economy. The challenge is to develop enterprise management and governance structures that allow Indigenous communities to participate in economic activity without sacrificing their social and cultural ties that are integral to their wellbeing. The long and violent history of colonialism has also shaped the experience of Indigenous communities’ relationship with the market economy. Indigenous resistance is thus central to the decolonial project, which rejects the universalistic and ‘objective’ assumptions of Eurocentric epistemologies and modernity while privileging multiple local histories, ways of knowing and ways of being in the world. In this symposium several Indigenous researchers will present their work that explores possibilities of how Indigenous organizations can engage with the decolonial project. In what ways do Indigenous epistemologies shape the ways in which Indigenous peoples and organizations participate in the market economy? What are the experiences of Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses in their engagement with the market economy? What are the risks for Indigenous communities and organizations in participating with states and corporations in developmental and resource extraction projects? What alternative forms of organizations and economies can emerge from Indigenous imaginaries? These are some of the questions we will explore in the symposium. Decolonizing Development: Perspectives from Indigenous Communities Presenter: Bobby Banerjee; City U. London Decolonizing Indigenous Entrepreneurship: Economic Reconciliation through Hybrid Venture Creation Presenter: Rick Colbourne; U. of Northern British Columbia Community Entrepreneurship: The Case of the Sami Peoples Presenter: Leo Paul Dana; MBS Membertou Becoming a Force for Decolonization? Hybridity, Institutional logics, and Compromise Presenter: Mary E. Doucette; Cape Breton U. Tribal Sovereignty Presenter: Joseph Scott Gladstone; U. of New Haven Maasai and Hadzabe Peoples of East Africa. Presenter: Aloysius Marcus Newenham-Kahindi; U. of Saskatchewan Indigenous Community-Based Enterprises: Spaces for Resurgence and Decolonization Presenter: Ana Maria Peredo; U. of Victoria

Property in People and the Complexities of Capitalism (SHEAR)

My years of research on the emergence of slavery in the British Empire not only supports the argument that all markets are regulated, but shows that the character of that regulation can lead to an extraordinary form of capitalism, a form that strikes at the heart of the idea of free markets. This paper explores the dilemma of slavery in the seventeenth century British Empire focusing on questions of its legality and the implications of that legality for finance. Without the ability to maintain that a person could be property, attempted claims at ownership or sale were often legally dubious, difficult to maintain and impossible to finance. England’s Royal African Company—run by the king’s own brother, James, Duke of York, went bankrupt as a consequence in 1667. The paper shows how England’s high court stepped in to legitimate the legal process of treating people as property, and explains its impact on finance and trade in enslaved people across the empire. It then connects those court decisions to the military force necessary to uphold them, and argues that there is no such thing as a “free market” in forced labor, and that all markets have to be regulated and the rules of exchange enforced. While slavery is perhaps the most crucial example of how such regulation works, this case study from the era of its emergence illuminates how modern assumptions about free markets seriously underestimate the ways in which different regulation combined with the instruments of political power can create radically different kinds of society. Of course slavery was part of capitalism—and an important part—in nineteenth century America. But slavery did not define capitalism. Nor was slavery only capitalism; as an examination of its origins reveals, it was in many ways part of an older ideal of hierarchical society that contemporaries called feudalism and that had very particular legal expression. In this paper I explore the origins of slavery in England’s 17th century empire to argue that “property in people” was a concept that to flourish needed a very particular legal basis, one that built on feudal law but then took a dramatic turn towards fictionalizing people as property. Once such a basis was created, it created almost a new form of money and credit. Without such a legal definition, slavery was profoundly unstable.

Kas aeg on liigestest lahti? Uuemad arutelud aja üle ajaloos ja ajaloofilosoofias [Abstract: Is time out of joint? Recent discussions on time in history and the philosophy of history

The core aim of this article is to provide an overview of the recent contemporary interest in temporality in the humanities by scrutinizing the thesis that during the last few decades, the modern understanding of time, and in particular the idea of the distinctiveness of the categories of past, present, and future, is no longer feasible and thus requires reconsideration. Authors of the new paradigm claim that instead of a past that is separate from the present, we now are increasingly facing a past that has become a significant part of the present. With respect to the future, it is often claimed that instead of seeing our future as a bright horizon of improvement and progress, we are now confronting a future that appears as a threat and a menace. On closer examination, the discussion on temporality concerns transformations of Western cultural and political life more generally, as well as the foundations of academic disciplines working on matters of the past. Interestingly, recent trends in the philosophy of history also testify to growing interest in issues regarding time, particularly the relationship between past and present. 
 The paper consists of four parts. The first part sheds light on the diverse terminology that different authors such as Reinhart Koselleck, François Hartog, Aleida Assmann, and Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht employ in examining temporality. It also illustrates the broad scope of empirical material that such research can be based upon. The second part focuses on explaining the core premises of the modernist idea of time by drawing primarily on Reinhart Koselleck, who has famously argued that the modern developmental vision of history, which according to him sustains both the discourse of progress and modern historical thinking, took root during the period he has labelled Sattelzeit. The third part of the paper explicitly focuses on the widespread idea that the modernist, future-oriented concept of time no longer holds and is therefore in need of reinterpretation. Among others, the discussion includes Hartog’s hypothesis of the rise of the presentist regime of historicity manifested, for example, by the contemporary preoccupation with memory and heritage. Furthermore, it is shown that as attitudes towards the past diversify, the modernist assumption of the past as separate from the present is rendered questionable. This in turn has lead scholars to work out alternative conceptions of time that could do justice to the past that refuses to let go of the present. Berber Bevernage’s ideas are mentioned as an example of an author who has taken steps in this direction. Ultimately, the idea is articulated that insofar as the status of the past proves to be increasingly ambivalent, the foundations of academic history also become questionable. In relation to that, many have argued that the rise of memory studies is another sign of the current tendency to rearticulate the relationship between past and present within historical studies. In the fourth and final part of the paper, some recent attempts to rearticulate the relationship between past and present in the philosophy of history are scrutinized. Particularly, the outlines of two philosophical projects, those of Eelco Runia and David Carr, are sketched. Most importantly, it is shown that both authors aim to go beyond the framework of representation – a dominant trend in the field within the last couple of decades – by introducing ways the past can be experienced as something real and directly given. In wrapping up the results, it is observed that based on the recent literature, diverse and multifaceted interest in the subject of time and temporality can be identified that shapes some of the most important contemporary discussions in the humanities.

Imaginal action: towards a Jungian conception of enactment, and an extraverted counterpart to active imagination.

This theoretical paper considers the fashion in which Jung's psychology radically challenges modern assumptions concerning the nature of subjectivity. With an eye for the clinical implications of Jung's late work, the author introduces the idea of imaginal action. In order to explain what is meant by this, the paper begins by exploring how Jung's thinking demonstrates an underlying bias towards introversion. It is argued that while Jung's interest in synchronicity ultimately resulted in his developing a worldview that might address the introverted biases of his psychology, the clinical implications of this shift have not been sufficiently clarified. With reference to some short examples from experience, the author outlines a conception of relational synchronicity wherein the intrapsychic emerges non-projectively within the interpersonal field itself. Comparing and contrasting these occurrences to the more introverted practice of active imagination, it is claimed that such a notion is implicit in Jung's work and is needed as a corrective to his emphasis on interiority. The author suggests that imaginal action might be conceived as a distinctly Jungian approach to the psychoanalytic notion of enactment. It is also shown how the idea outlined might find further support from recent developments in the field of transpersonal psychology.

Shame and a Theory of war and violence

Abstract It is possible that war in modern societies is largely driven by emotions, but in a manner that is almost completely hidden. Modernity rationalizes the self and tends to ignore emotions, which can result in the total hiding of humiliation leads to vengeance. This essay outlines a theory of the social-emotional world implied in the work of C. H. Cooley, whose concept of the “looking-glass self” can be used as antidote to the assumptions of modernity: the self is based on “living in the mind” of others, resulting in feeling either pride or shame. This essay proposes that the complete hiding of shame can lead to feedback loops with no natural limit. These ideas may help explain the role of France in causing WWI, and Hitler's rise to power in Germany.

Literalizing Value: Poetry, Evaluation, and the Market in Marvell’s ‘The Last Instructions’

Andrew Marvell’s poetic choices, especially his tendency to literalize metaphors, reveal a dissatisfaction with the growing prevalence of market exchanges in seventeenth-century England. Although his verse satire ‘The Last Instructions to a Painter’ defends trade against the encroachments of the excise tax, as would be characteristic of a member of Parliament, it also demonstrates a striking aversion to comparative evaluation. ‘The Last Instructions’ also provides an important supplement to readings of Marvell’s literalizing propensities in other poems, like ‘The Garden’. Marvell’s portrait of trade and value in Restoration England, during the growth of a liberal market regime and the development of finance capital, also has important implications for modern assumptions about productivity and value. This early modern poet anticipates and presciently critiques the ubiquity of consumerist evaluation in our modern world. However, Marvell’s verse does not outline an alternative system of social relations: in that respect, even his verse satire does not have much faith in the political power of irony. Instead, these poems turn to literalization so as to advocate withdrawal from a world that asks little more of us than acquiescence to a totalizing web of assessment and evaluation.

Property in People & the Complexities of Capitalism (BHC)

My years of research on the emergence of slavery in the British Empire not only supports the argument that all markets are regulated, but shows that the character of that regulation can lead to an extraordinary form of capitalism, a form that strikes at the heart of the idea of free markets. This paper explores the dilemma of slavery in the seventeenth century British Empire focusing on questions of its legality and the implications of that legality for finance. Without the ability to maintain that a person could be property, attempted claims at ownership or sale were often legally dubious, difficult to maintain and impossible to finance. England’s Royal African Company—run by the king’s own brother, James, Duke of York, went bankrupt as a consequence in 1667. The paper shows how England’s high court stepped in to legitimate the legal process of treating people as property, and explains its impact on finance and trade in enslaved people across the empire. It then connects those court decisions to the military force necessary to uphold them, and argues that there is no such thing as a “free market” in forced labor, and that all markets have to be regulated and the rules of exchange enforced. While slavery is perhaps the most crucial example of how such regulation works, this case study from the era of its emergence illuminates how modern assumptions about free markets seriously underestimate the ways in which different regulation combined with the instruments of political power can create radically different kinds of society. The infusion of legal stability—recognizing people as simple property—enabled financial empires to be built on such “property.” By paying attention to the importance of such rules, however, we also need to acknowledge the centrality of basic regulation to all markets. Someone needs to enforce contracts, to prevent theft and limit fraud, a role usually performed by the state. Without such regulation, markets collapse; we have Hobbes’ state of nature. It was for that reason that so much thinking about the nature of contracts – both political and economic – helped to define modernity.

Financing of municipal investment within sustainable development framework

The current policies of the territorial self-government ought to take into consideration challenges resulting from constantly changing global development processes. Adoption of modern assumptions and their consequent implementation is a pre-condition for development of the territorial self-government at the local level. It also gives ground for assumptions that implementation of the objectives set at the national or the EU levels will be successful. There is also a chance that the realization of sustainable development objectives will be getting more acceptance from the society. The concept of the sustainable development, comprising the natural environment and its resources, economic cooperation, and reinforcing social ties, is the best way to make use of the development potential. The aim of the paper is to stress the importance of development planning at the local level and to assess possibilities for communal investment in the context of sustainable development implementation. The objective of the paper is also to assess opportunities of capital raising for investment in local communities, which has a large impact on the living standard of the population. The analysis includes the scope and main directions of the self-governmental investment. The time frame covers the 2010–2016 period. The empiric material has been supplied by The Bank for Local Data of the Central Statistical Office (the “GUS”) and from analyses made by the Ministry of Finance.

The Politics of Family Cohesion in the Gulf: Islamic authority, new media, and the logic of the modern rentier state

This article explores the politics of family cohesion in a Muslim polity simultaneously committed to the application of Islamic law, the preservation of cultural identity, and socio‑economic modernization. The article focuses on the work of Qatar’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, a government body that seeks to make Wahhābī Islam relevant to a society in the midst of rapid social change. Drawing on an analysis of the Ministry’s fatwas on family life, the article shows how Qatar’s media muftis have incorporated modern assumptions into their discourse and adjusted to new power configurations. The dissonance between the discourses articulated within official religious institutions and those found in other state bodies reflects the growing polarization of Qatari society, the normative pluralism undergirding modernization in the Gulf, and the regulatory ambitions of proliferating state institutions in a rentier economy.

Imagining the soul: Thomas Willis (1621-1675) on the anatomy of the brain and nerves.

During the 1660s and 1670s, Thomas Willis (1621-1675) pursued an ambitious program of brain science. Instead of the speculative approach favored by René Descartes (1596-1659), Willis used comparative anatomy to figure out the workings of the brain and nerves. As a result, Willis is still cited by science writers as the "founder" of the modern neurosciences. This chapter, by contrast, builds on a wealth of scholarship showing that Willis in fact had aims that few scientists would recognize. One of his key objectives, for instance, was to work out how much influence the immaterial, immortal soul had over the mechanisms of the human body. Despite his empiricism, moreover, Willis relied to a large extent on the imagination in his efforts to hypothesize mechanisms for complex cognitive and neurological processes. For the most part, scholars have argued that Willis used such strategies because of an unfortunate tendency to frame hypotheses even when the evidence was lacking. In this chapter, however, I show that the imagination played a surprisingly important role in the neurosciences of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, thereby challenging modern assumptions about the shape and causes of progress in brain research.

Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World

Envisioning Islam: Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World