Deeper Truth Research Articles

Could Deep Fakes Uncover the Deeper Truth of an Ontology of the Networked Images?

Could Deep Fakes Uncover the Deeper Truth of an Ontology of the Networked Images?

Who am I becoming?: Understanding the ministry training portfolio as a theological practice

This article outlines a theological basis for the process of compiling a portfolio as part of a programme of ministerial formation. Such a task can often seem to the candidate rather like jumping through hoops, or gathering evidence merely for the sake of it. But I argue that it is properly understood as a theological practice, inviting reflection on who they are becoming in Christ. In philosophical literature, ‘gestures’ are understood as incomplete actions that correspond to some deeper truth. By framing the task of portfolio composition in the language of ‘gesture’, it is seen to be a vital practice in formation for public ministry, rather than merely an exercise in proving one’s readiness for ordination or licensing.

Whitehead and the Pittsburgh School: Preempting the Problem of Intentionality

Whitehead and the Pittsburgh School: Preempting the Problem of Intentionality

To My Students

This poem laments the capitalist values we pass on to our students and argues for an education characterized by connection to and intimate relationship with the deeper truths of the wider ecological world.

Intellectually Virtuous Inquirer and the Practical Value of Truth

Veritism is the thesis that the truth is the fundamental epistemic good. According to Duncan Pritchard, the most pressing objections to veritism are the trivial truths objection and the trivial inquiry problem. The former states that veritism entails that trivial truths are as important as deep and important truths. The latter is a problem that a veritist must prefer trivial inquiry that generates many trivial truths to the serious inquiry with the hope but no guarantee to discover some deep and important truth. Both objections arise from the inability of veritism prima facie to properly rate the different types of truths. Pritchard's solution is to approach the truth from the perspective of the intellectually virtuous inquirer who would prefer weighty truth over trivial truth. In my commentary, I criticise the proposed solution as circular reasoning. The necessary virtue for an intellectually virtuous inquirer is that they would prefer the weighty truth over the trivial one and at the same time, the weighty truth is superior because it is the goal for intellectually virtuous inquirer. I suggest another path to substantiate veritism in the face of the two sibling objections. I argue that truth is the fundamental epistemic good as it makes the epistemic realm practically valuable more than any other epistemic good. The weighty truths are preferable to the trivial ones because the practical value of the deep and important truths is usually higher. The suggested path goes away from the attempts to prove the epistemic value of truth only within the epistemic realm, yet I argue it does not compel the intellectually virtuous inquirer to seek the truth only for the sake of practical reasons.

“…We are Nihilists, All of Us”

The speaker views nihilism as an overriding characteristic of Dostoevsky’s novels and suggests that, for Dostoevsky, nihilism is a deep personal ail holding a human being back from perceiving deep ontological truths, rather than a social ulcer or “a malady of the age”. From this angle, Dostoevsky might receive quite a new reading, challenging the European and global takes on social and political history.

Once Upon A Party - An Anecdotal Investigation

Mathematicians and Physicists attending let-your-hair-down parties behave exactly like their own theories. They live by their theorems, they jive by their theorems. Life imitates their craft, and we must simply observe the deep truths hiding in their party-going behavior...

The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill by Robyn Wrigley-Carr

Reviewed by: The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill by Robyn Wrigley-Carr Kathleen Henderson Staudt (bio) The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill. By Robyn Wrigley-Carr. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2020. 185 pp. $15.00 pbk. / $13.49 eb. "Goodness and Love are caught, not taught," reflects Evelyn Underhill in an early retreat. Robyn Wrigley-Carr, a scholar of Christian Spirituality and practicing spiritual director, demonstrates the deep truth of these words in her compact [End Page 161] and abundantly annotated study of Evelyn Underhill's spiritual formation under the guidance of Baron Friedrich von Hugel, demonstrating how this formation is manifest in Underhill's pioneering work as a spiritual guide and retreat leader in the 1920s and 30s. Though plentiful scholarship on both figures already exists, this book is unique in offering personal portraits of von Hugel and Underhill in relationship to one another. The chapter on von Hugel (known affectionately as "the Baron") begins with an accessible portrait of the Baron himself, from his role in the Catholic Modernist movement to his published writing on spirituality. It notes especially his monumental exploration of Catherine of Genoa as exemplifying the "mystical element" in Christianity and shows how he draws on Catherine's wisdom in his work with directees. Von Hugel's emphasis on balance between the intellectual, institutional, and mystical elements of religion is threaded through his work, and Wrigley-Carr gives a welcome reminder of the value of this balanced approach to spiritual formation. It becomes particularly significant in the Baron's work with Evelyn Underhill, whom he gently encouraged away from a broadly transcendental and theocentric spirituality toward a balanced and "ordinary" approach to the spiritual life, rooted in an incarnational, mystical, and Christocentric spirituality. These themes would become signatures for Underhill, especially in her later retreat work. Most compelling is Wrigley-Carr's account of the correspondence and visits that helped to form both von Hugel and his directee. Readers enter this friendship gradually, with a biographical chapter on von Hugel followed by one on Underhill. These chapters appreciate the ardent and original personalities of these two people. Wrigley-Carr then brings the two together in a third chapter that explores how this relationship formed Underhill herself . The Baron provided her with biannual letters of direction that she was instructed to reread monthly. Because they lived near one another, the two had occasional social visits in between his letters. However, the spiritual direction conversation took place by letter, not least because of the Baron's deafness and delicate health. Still, they came to know one another quite well. Underhill and others report the depth, generosity, and good humor of the Baron's personality, which they experienced as radiating from his life of prayer. People would say the same of Underhill later in her life, calling her a "mother of souls." After von Hugel's death, Underhill wrote of a sense of continuing "contact" with his spirit. The relationship between them, though it lasted less than two years, clearly played a formative role. Wrigley-Carr insists persuasively that Underhill was not simply a "popularizer" of von Hugel's ideas. She shows instead the depth of formation that comes out of this friendship. To this friendship Underhill owes a fresh centering on Christ—she credits the Baron's prayers with leading her to "experience Christ"—and an appreciation of what she often calls our "amphibious existence" as creatures of matter and spirit. A Roman Catholic himself, the Baron encouraged Underhill's return to the Anglican church rather than pushing her toward a conversion to Roman Catholicism. This decision led to Underhill's important and persisting contributions to the revival of retreats and the contemplative life in the Anglican tradition, for both clergy and laity. The organization of this book indirectly provides some guidance to scholars and practitioners who desire to go deeper with the themes of spiritual formation and the journey toward Christian spiritual maturity that are threaded through [End Page 162] Wrigley-Carr's discussion. The subheadings within these chapters, for example, become a remarkably concise and helpful road map to some of the themes that often arise in relationships of spiritual guidance. For example...

Скульптура Олега Денисенка як тривимірна археологія графічних творів

У статті розглянуто творчість відомого сучасного львівського художника Олега Денисенка, яка досі висвітлювалася лише в окремих дослідженнях, але без комплексного ґрунтовного аналізу мистецької мови автора, експериментальних, новаторських методів у різних видах образотворчого мистецтва. Звернено увагу на стилістику пластичної мови, яка є і відображенням графічних творів, і виражена у скульптурі. Аналізується, з якою метою у своїй творчості митець звертається до скульптури, що є тривимірним відображенням його графічних творів зі своєю особливою сформованою індивідуальною манерою, образною мовою, наповненою знаковою системою та символічним значенням. Розглядається можливість надання семіотичної обізнаності глядачеві з метою фіксації чітких орієнтирів у трактуванні зашифрованого змісту мистецького твору. Проаналізовано теми, до яких звертається митець, інтерпретуючи архетипні сюжети та традиції класичного культурного надбання. З’ясовуються етапи розвитку та формування образної мови сучасного митця-графіка О. Денисенка, які прослідковуються у різних видах його творчості й відображають особисте світосприйняття. Розглянуто творчий доробок митця, який має свою нішу в українському образотворчому мистецтві та потребує репрезентації на теренах не тільки України, а і в європейському просторі.

Awaking to Mutual, Reciprocal Need in Plague and Epidemic Disease: The Origins of Early Christian Health Care.

While the early Christian Church demonstrates a deep desire to relieve physical suffering, the Greco-Roman world in which it developed lacked the same impetus to respond to human need, especially in the context of epidemic or communicable disease. Christianity's dedication to health care, and its belief that assisting the sick constituted an absolute obligation, distinguished early Christianity from its contemporary cultural milieu which regularly ignored and excluded the sick. The novelty of the Christian approach to healing can be traced to the early church's unique recognition of human need. This vision of human need, which ultimately replaced the secular Greco-Roman emphasis on reciprocal philanthropy and providing assistance only to the worthy, is clearly exemplified in the life of Christ, in responses to plague and in the writings of John Chrysostom and the Cappadocian Fathers Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus. An analysis of these sources demonstrates that the early Christian Church viewed the sick not only as persons to be assisted insofar as they shared a common human nature but also individuals necessary for the salvation of the broader community as a whole. The early church's emphasis on reciprocal interdependence between healthy and sick eliminated the boundaries traditionally established between these two groups and transformed long-standing notions of contagious disease. Ultimately, the development of these attitudes toward the sick originates in a deeper truth which underlies the Christian healthcare tradition both in the ancient world and in the modern era: humanity's profound and mutual need of God, before whom all are spiritually ill.

The Reductionist Paradox

Reading is hard work, and writing even harder. We aspire toward deep truths but often end up making sweeping generalizations which bear little resemblance to the complex realities that we experience.

Biomedical research methodology based on GH-Method: math-physical medicine (No. 310)

This paper discusses the author’s biomedical research work based on the GH-Method: math-physical medicine (MPM) approach over the past decade. This is significantly different from the traditional medical research using biochemical approach and simple statistical methods. He uses his own type 2 diabetes (T2D) metabolic conditions as a case study including several application examples as illustrations and explanations of the MPM methodology. The MPM methodology will be described, then followed by 10 application examples to show how he applied his knowledge and disciplines in mathematics, physics, engineering modeling, computer science tools, and psychology during his 10-years of biomedical research, especially in the domain of lifestyle, metabolism, chronic diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and renal complications. The following list highlights the math-physical concepts, theories, principles, or equations used in the 10 application examples: 1. Topology, finite element method 2. Time-domain analysis, correlation and regression model, pattern recognition, segmentation analysis 3. Signal processing, trial and error method, regression analysis 4. Artificial intelligence (AI) auto-correction, quantum mechanics, safety margin of engineering design 5. Optical physics, AI, perturbation theory of quantum mechanics 6. Wave theory, Fourier transform, frequency-domain analysis 7. Structural engineering modeling, solid mechanics (both elastic and plastic), fluids dynamics, energy theory 8. Pattern recognition, behavior psychology 9. Spatial analysis, time-series analysis 10. Big data analytics, AI, software engineering Using MPM, a non-traditional medical research methodology, provides many quantitative proofs with a high degree of accuracy (higher precision) compared to other disease research results. Medicine is based on biology and chemistry, while biology, chemistry, and engineering are based on physics, and physics is based on mathematics. Logically, mathematics is the mother of all sciences. When we explore our application problems down to the foundation level, we can discover more facts and deeper truths. This is the logical essence of “math-physical medicine.” Using this MPM model, the accuracy of medical evaluations, along with the precision of predictive models can be greatly improved, with dramatic benefits to the patients.

Study of the Importance of Association between Form and Content in "Names of God" Typography

Communication and coordination between form and content is inevitable in the transfer and impact of the Creator's purpose. The use of most forms in visual works, relying on visual elements, is to express the meaning and true context of the work, so the type of element selection and how they will also have a direct impact on the content that the artist desire. Of these works, typography, especially the typography of Names of God, has a special place, because apart from its graphical structure, it also contains the semantic meaning of the word. Therefore, the main point of the study is how much the association between form and material is important in typography of Names of God?Therefore, the researcher has decided to consider the objectives of this research, including the establishment of a broad message communication with respect to visual elements and the form and content of expression in Names of God's typography works and to better express the truth and content of Names of God in typography, In general, the form and content of these posters are analyzed using descriptive - analytic research methodology to analyze the data qualitatively. This transfer of context and meaning in Names of God typography is of particular importance; because their content, apart from holiness, has a deep and profound truth. Also, the interpretation and paraphrasing of these names and attributions that are the same essence of the God is one of the categories that needs to receive and study their special sciences. The use of special Islamic forms that artists have used to convey religious truths and religious beliefs to a great extent can also contribute to the translation of the meaning of divine names.

The Reality of Free Will

The uniqueness of each viewpoint, each point of effect, can be overcome only by changing the viewpoint to other viewpoints and returning. Such an alternation, which can also appear as constant change, makes up the unity of the world. The wholeness of an alternation, however, is a consciousness structure because of the special relationship between the circumscribing periphery and the infinitesimal center. This process structure unites determinacy and indeterminacy at every point also totally. We are dealing, therefore, with forms of consciousness everywhere, with more or less freedom of choice and an increasingly unknown depth. We live in a world of choosing consciousness or better: awareness. In this respect, our environment expresses a deep truth about ourselves.

Digital 1800

Digital 1800 Matthew Handelman and Leif Weatherby Writing at the dawn of the computer age, the famous logician Kurt Gödel looked back to the period around 1800 in order to describe the developments in mathematics around 1900. Gödel's fame rested on his incompleteness theorems of the early 1930s, which showed that any formalized system of mathematics will contain statements that cannot be proven true or false by the axioms that define that system. And, yet, the constraints implied by his work regarding the solvability of every mathematical problem disappear, Gödel wrote in 1961, if one continues to add new axioms to the system—an idea that "agrees in principle with the Kantian conception of mathematics." Indeed, Kant's claims regarding mathematics, made most notably at the outset of The Critique of Pure Reason, are "incorrect if taken literally, since Kant asserts that in the derivation of geometrical theorems we always need new geometrical intuitions," Gödel continues, and "therefore a purely logical derivation from a finite number of axioms is impossible. That is demonstrably false. However, if in this proposition we replace the term 'geometrical'—by 'mathematical' or 'set-theoretical,' then it becomes a demonstrably true proposition." For Gödel, it was "a general feature of many of Kant's assertions that literally understood they are false but in a broader sense contain deep truths."1 Although Gödel himself was not involved in the birth of the digital computer, these passages suggest that the mathematical-logical developments of the early twentieth century that led to the first computers are essentially an extension of the Kantian project. In fact, there exists an oblique yet significant relationship of um 1800 to a group of thinkers who created the digital universe and, hence, to our conception of the digital itself. The relationship between digital computing and um 1800 is reciprocal, perhaps uniquely so, and this reciprocity flips the questions of this forum on its head. It is widely recognized, for instance, that mass digitization has changed not only the methods of researching and analyzing literature, but also cultural histories of both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (as their materials often evade copyright).2 At the same time, narratives of the digital revolution, from Walter Isaacson's popular The Innovators to Warren Sack's The Software Arts, acknowledge the crucial role that philosophy and poetry played in the advent of the digital, especially in the work of Ada Lovelace, daughter of Romantic poet Lord Byron, who first grasped and laid out the principles of programming for one of the first computers. Perhaps [End Page 243] what we see here is a recognition, as the computer and computational analyses enter history, that the period around 1800 asked the right question: What forms—aesthetic, social, and otherwise—will the synthesis of quality and quantity, the merger of pure reason and embodied cognition give rise to? Our contribution to this forum seeks to point to a few representative texts from um 1800 (a new, digital canon) that attempt to come to terms in theory with what the digital revolution has, in the intervening two centuries, made everyday practice. Seen from the angle of the digital revolution, um 1800 begins with Leibniz and ends with Lovelace. Its thick middle is constituted by an intellectual confrontation between quality and quantity, synthetic and analytic judgment, thought and machine that remained in force at least through the middle of the twentieth century. The urgency of exploring this canon is not just a call for the renewed relevance of studying the Age of Goethe. To recover a predigital canon um 1800 in this fashion is to seek ways to negotiate between the blind application of digital tools to texts and the naive objections raised by literary traditionalism. To read the great unread means fashioning a method of reading that uses literary-theoretical tools to understand and implement digital methods. And to teach the Age of Goethe in our digital moment means challenging our students to think about the digital as we introduce them to its techniques. Norbert Wiener, the founder of cybernetics, turned to Leibniz as a "patron saint" and the mantra of the early digital...

Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom by Joan Wallach Scott

Reviewed by: Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom by Joan Wallach Scott Dr. Shauntey James Joan Wallach Scott. Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. 184pp. Hardcover: $21.54. ISBN: 978-0232-19046-6 Knowledge, Power, and Academic Freedom by Joan Wallach Scott grapples in essay format with the topic of academic freedom. Unapologetic, Scott clearly articulates the various nuances surrounding the discussion of free inquiry. This is a timely, engrossing book that peels back the layers of the topic. The essays point out the "tensions, paradoxes and contradictions" in relation to academic freedom while challenging the reader to question feasibility of past, present, and future educational environment's inclusivity of free inquiry (p. 1). Scott explores academic freedom in the historical context of the definition of the term and in relationship to power, civility, and free speech within various social structures. The essays are also imbued with critical thinking directives that challenge the intellectual discourse concerning academic freedom. Scott opens the book and articulates how the debate of the definition of academic freedom returns "again and again to the founding documents of the principle, written in the heyday of the Progressive Era, the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries" (p. 1). This conceptual framework seems simplistic in theory. The historical backdrop of the book however makes the reader question whether a clear definition of the term academic freedom exists within the educational and societal environment, especially when multiple twists on the definition exist within the societal structure indicating different aspects to include and not include within a discussion. For example, Butler (2017) articulated academic freedom within her research study as giving "faculty rights of participation in the making of curricula and the governance of the university" (p. 857). This shifts slightly from the Progressive Era which may include the following: unreasonable interference, restrictions from law, public pressure and institutional regulations. Butler's (2017) definition serves a purpose for the research project, but also illustrates an arena which may be contrasted by various dynamics of the definition that should or should not be included within the overall discussion. These debatable aspects are the distinctive nature and keys that this book offers to the reader. The reader is initially charged with probing into which aspects should be included within the definition and the contradictions that exist surrounding the term. Deep truths about the debate of the definition of the term underlie the essays, which then leads readers to question the overall structure of the educational and societal environment. The readership's journey of inquiring about the ambiguity and lack of consistent conformity concerning the term academic freedom illustrates and highlights the subjectivity which can be used at various junctures by various constituents ranging from parents to administrators to advance their own personal agenda and marginalize certain academic non-conforming voices. The reader is challenged to ask why certain voices may be marginalized within the educational structure which could concern issues of marketability and maintaining an unblemished educational university environment (Phipps, 2017). The behavior could also be a result of leeway given to certain entities within the educational structure to determine parameters of inquiry (Graves, 2018). The book categorically challenges the reader to explore whether the current educational path is indicative of academic freedom or being constrained by certain interest groups. As articulated with the text, the interest group can range from the university board to lobbyist whose agenda is to influence public policy whether at the university or beyond in their favor. The author, however, does not indicate a malicious intent but does seek clarification for all parties associated within the academic arena to ensure that no voice is silenced within an environment positioned in theory to encourage educational growth. Educational growth is juxtaposed against the differential power structures ranging from power achieved by hierarchical positional status to financial power that exists within the educational and societal framework. Scott illustrates this point with the discussion of the power struggle and inconsistencies between the university and the state. Thus, not aligning with the established power agenda of that historical time period set by constituents ranging from the university to the state creates problems for...

Dyskinesia matters.

Levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) represents a significant source of discomfort for people with Parkinson's disease (PD). It negatively affects quality of life, it is associated with both motor and nonmotor fluctuations, and it brings an increased risk of disability, balance problems, and falls. Although the prevalence of severe LID appears to be lower than in previous eras (likely owing to a more conservative use of oral levodopa), we have not yet found a way to prevent the development of this complication. Advanced surgical therapies, such as deep brain stimulation, ameliorate LID, but only a minority of PD patients qualify for these interventions. Although some have argued that PD patients would rather be ON with dyskinesia than OFF, the deeper truth is that patients would very much prefer to be ON without dyskinesia. As researchers and clinicians, we should aspire to make that goal a reality. To this end, translational research on LID is to be encouraged and persistently pursued. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Memory of Violence and Drama in Peru: The Experience of the Truth Commission and Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani – Violence and Dehumanization

ABSTRACT∞ The theater collective Yuyachkani, a Quechua word meaning ‘I am remembering,’ were not strangers to the history the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission was rediscovering when they offered to contribute to the transitional justice process. They had been following the violence in Peru through their various performances and felt highly committed to the process of truth seeking and the search for reconciliation. The performances of Yuyachkani do not seek to reproduce the facts. They do not commit the naive error of certain realist art efforts, to portray social violence per se in a supposedly concrete way. Their tools are rather the symbols through which culture is expressed. It is not a matter so much of reproducing the facts as of producing effects, to reveal and convey the tragedies of Peruvian society. Performance heightens the senses and opens our imaginations to the deep truths that have been lost among the facts.

A critical look at Chinese ‘debt-trap diplomacy’: the rise of a meme

ABSTRACTIn 2017, a meme was born in a think tank in northern India: Chinese ‘debt-trap diplomacy’. This meme quickly spread through the media, intelligence circles and Western governments. Within 12 months it generated nearly 2 million search results on Google in 0.52 seconds and was beginning to solidify into a deep historical truth. Stories can contain truths and falsehoods. Human emotions, including negativity bias, prime us to think in certain ways. This paper retells a series of stories about China’s international involvement, including in Angola, Djibouti, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, that challenge the media’s spin. It concludes with some suggestions about the relationship between academia and the media and policy worlds, and the need for scholars to speak ‘truth’ to ‘power’.

Do we see reality?

The idea that our perception matches reality is intuitive – but it may be blinding us to deeper truths, says cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman