Historical Criticism Research Articles

On Continuity and Exceptionality in Our Present Crisis: A Conversation with Silvia Federici

ABSTRACT On 2 May of 2024, we spoke via Zoom call with sociologist and critical historian of violence against women, Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch, among many other critical works on our present global crises – from the genocidal war against Palestine to women in welfare in the United States. The conversation took us from the depths of her despair about the ongoing wars against the world’s most vulnerable peoples to the resilient hopes sowed by women in commons in Nigeria and Argentina. Silvia shared her reflections on the human experiences that have shaped her scholarship, the continuities of capitalist discipline observed in her early advocacy, and how she makes sense of today’s compounding global crises.

Этос и хронос Владимира Сергеевича Соловьева

The paper presents the theses of reflections of a member of the editorial board of the journal “Solovyov Studies”, which complement the discussion of the topic “Vladimir Solovyov and the Future of Russian Philosophy” held within the framework of the international “round table”. The special role and significance of the journal “Solovyov Studies” in the scientific study of the work of the outstanding Russian religious thinker is pointed out. Over the decades of its existence, the journal has published hundreds of scientific articles by highly qualified domestic and foreign authors, outstanding scientists and novice researchers who have made a significant contribution to the study of the work of Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov. These works are in demand today in a variety of areas of humanities – in cultural studies and philosophy, history of literature, literary criticism, religious studies and theology. This work also presents a thesis statement of the conceptual ideas of V.S. Solovyov, which have not lost their relevance in our days, but on the contrary, have acquired special acuteness and significance. In particular, it is shown that the “theocratic project” of the thinker, despite its seeming utopianism, attracts the attention of not only intellectuals, but also public and political figures in the West and in Russia. In modern Russian society, the topic of the ethos and chronos of the “Russian idea” is again being discussed with particular acuteness. One of its sources was precisely the philosophy of V.S. Solovyov. Russia, in the understanding of V.S. Solovyov, realizes God's plan for it, this is its providential ethos. Its historical mission is simultaneously moral (ethos) and providential (chronos) – it is the mission of uniting Christian civilization.

Converting philology to philosophy A Platonic model and its inversion in Homer and Classical Philology

This article intends to demonstrate that Plato is present in the young Nietzsche’s thinking, particularly in the definition of philology that is proposed in Homer and Classical Philology. Indeed, Plato’s Sophist makes it possible to comprehend a core aspect of Nietzsche’s thinking on philology, that which is the starting point for all his thinking as it gets developed in the inaugural lecture: the contradiction between the two fundamental trends of philology (aesthetic classicism and historical criticism) and the paralyzing consequences for the practising of it if this contradiction is taken seriously. Furthermore, the Sophist makes it possible to point out an aspect relating to how Nietzsche, in his lecture, tries to overcome the paralyzing effect of the contradiction found in philology, namely through an inversion of Socratic-Platonic logic, according to which a contradiction cannot arise in a concept and has to be purged so as to clear the pathway towards obtaining true knowledge. Instead of adhering to this purging approach, he accepts the contradiction that, at the time, characterized philology. The result of his position is a completely different way of understanding the nature of concepts and truth.

Islamic Moral Ideas In Fazlur Rahman's Perspective

One of the Muslim figures who cares about the morals of the Muslim generation is Fazlur Rahman. Therefore, Fazlur Rahman through his writing invites the public to see the moral ideals contained in the Al-Qur'an. He founded the moral message of the Qur'an through discussion, not only through the art of understanding the Qur'an, but also historical criticism and normative methods. This explains Islamic morality from the perspective of the Qur’an, which will become a path of knowledge for generations of Muslims. This article will discuss moral ideas in Islam according to Fazlur Rahman. Through a literature review using qualitative methods, it was found that Islamic morality according to Fazlur Rahman is a conception of Islamic morals that originates from the semantics of the Al-Qur'an and As-Sunnah. This is in accordance with the view that Islam is a moral religion.

Navigating weight, risk and lifestyle conversations in maternity care: a qualitative study among pregnant women with obesity

BackgroundPregnant women with obesity face heightened focus on weight during pregnancy due to greater risk of medical complications. Closer follow-up in maternety care may contribute to reduce risk and promote health in these women. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper insight in how pregnant women with obesity experience encounters with healthcare providers in maternity care. How is the received maternity care affected by their weight, and how do they describe the way healthcare providers express attitudes towards obesity in pregnancy?MethodsWe conducted in-depth interviews with 14 women in Trøndelag county in Norway with pre-pregnancy BMI of ≥ 30 kg/m2, between 3 and 12 months postpartum. The study sample was strategic regarding age, relationship status, education level, obesity class, and parity. Themes were developed using reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis was informed by contextual information from a prior study, describing the same participants’ weight history from childhood to motherhood along with their perceptions of childhood quality.ResultsThis study comprised of an overarching theme supported by three main themes. The overarching theme, Being pregnant with a high BMI: a vulnerable condition, reflected the challenge of entering maternity care with obesity, especially for women unprepared to be seen as “outside the norm”. Women who had grown up with body criticism and childhood bullying were more prepared to have their weight addressed in maternity care. The first theme, Loaded conversations: a balancing act, emphasizes how pregnant women with a history of body criticism or obesity-related otherness proactively protect their integrity against weight bias, stigma and shame. The women also described how some healthcare providers balance or avoid weight and risk conversations for the same reasons. Dehumanization: an unintended drawback of standardized care makes apparent the pitfalls of prioritizing standardization over person-centered care. Finally, the third theme, The ambivalence of discussing weight and lifestyle, represent women’s underlying ambivalence towards current weight practices in maternity care.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that standardized weight and risk monitoring, along with lifestyle guidance in maternity care, can place the pregnant women with obesity in a vulnerable position, contrasting with the emotionally supportive care that women with obesity report needing. Learning from these women’s experiences and their urge for an unloaded communication to protect their integrity highlights the importance of focusing on patient-centered practices instead of standardized care to create a safe space for health promotion.

Getting emotional: Emotions and ‘journalistification’ in Norwegian music reviews, 1981–2022

Whether emotional experience should be part of a critic’s evaluation has been a central but contentious issue in the history of music criticism. In this article, I trace how music critics in Norway treat emotions through three stages from the historical transition from an ‘aesthetic’ to a more ‘journalistic’ paradigm of arts journalism. I analyse an archival dataset from the dailies ‘Aftenposten’, ‘Dagbladet’, ‘Bergens Tidende’ and ‘Arbeiderbladet’/’Dagsavisen’ in 1981, 2001 and 2022. The qualitative analysis reveals that, paradoxically, emotions became more prevalent and explicit at the same time as the ‘journalistic’ paradigm, which is characterised by the strategic ritual of objectivity, became more present in the reviews. I argue that the way the journalistic paradigm increasingly intersects with emotion in these reviews has theoretical implications for the study of arts journalism and the subgenre of music criticism, challenging the dichotomy between emotions and objectivity that exists in both journalism studies and the history of music criticism.

A history of cyber literary criticism in China By YouquanOuyang, New York: Routledge. 2024. pp. 310. $180.00 (hbk)

A history of cyber literary criticism in China By YouquanOuyang, New York: Routledge. 2024. pp. 310. $180.00 (hbk)

On the question of the periodization of the history of Western art criticism

The subject of the study is the Western historiography of the history of art from the middle of the XIX century to the present, the patterns that determined the nature of its development, general cultural and general scientific factors that determined the paradigm shift in art criticism. The time frame of the study is determined, on the one hand, by the emergence of scientific art studies, on the other hand, by the assertion of a postmodern worldview that denies the possibility of scientific study of any texts, including artistic ones. The paper examines the characteristics of each of the highlighted stages, as well as their relationship with the general trends in the development of humanitarian knowledge at each stage. Thus, the history of art is placed in a broad context of general scientific and general cultural processes, which makes it possible to identify and study the driving forces that determine the course of its development. The main method of research is the method of periodization, the criterion for which is the predominance of a particular methodology at a particular historical stage of the development of art studies. The paper proposes the following periodization of the history of art studies: 1. Pre-scientific art criticism (before XIX century). 2. The cultural and historical stage (XIX century). 3. Formal and stylistic stage (XX century). 4. The iconological stage (XX century). 5. Post-scientific art criticism (beginning of the XXI century). This classification allows us to present the history of scientific art studies as a natural and consistent process of changing dominant methodologies, starting with the formation of a scientific approach to the study of art and up to the present time, when the very possibility of its application was questioned by the postmodern worldview. The main factor determining the change of stages in the development of art criticism is a change in the general cultural situation, as well as a change in the prevailing paradigms in art knowledge.

Борьба против идеализма в квантовой химии в СССР и дискуссии XXI в.

At the end of the last century and at the beginning of this century, a number of historical and methodological papers was published on the ideological and political campaigns that took place in the USSR in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This article continues this historical and scientific line. It examines an ideological attack on one of the early quantum chemical theories, the theory of resonance, which took place in Soviet science in the 1949–1951’s (more broadly, the expression “antiresonance campaign” can be rewritten as follows: “a campaign to fight against idealism in quantum chemistry” or “the struggle for ideological correctness of Soviet quantum chemistry”), provides an overview of the literature on the history of criticism of chemical and physical theories in the course of these ideological and political campaigns and highlights two ideological dominants of these campaigns: the struggle against physical idealism and the struggle against so-called cosmopolitanism. It is noted that the anti-resonance campaign followed other ideological, or better to say ideological-political, events conducted by the leadership of the Soviet Union. The campaign is also interesting as a cultural phenomenon of the late Stalinist era with its bizarre symbiosis of scientific, rational and mystical values. It allows us to better understand the situation in Soviet natural science, which used ideological rhetoric and nevertheless retained creative potencies, as well as why quantum chemistry, which included the theory of resonance, was not defeated like genetics, why it, having lost pace of development, was preserved as a scientific area.

The Possibility of Writing the History of the Qurʾān by Bypassing Islamic Narratives and Materials -Stephen Shoemaker Example

Research shows that Qurʾānic studies in the West have navigated away from the Nöldekean-Schwallian paradigm in recent years. By using this paradigm, Western thinkers attempt to write the history of the Qurʾān with the support of Islamic narrations. American orientalist Stephen Shoemaker claims that the revisionist school broke this paradigm and brought a new perspective to the field in 1977. Stating that the Nöldekean-Schwallian paradigm, which followed the standard Sunnī Qurʾānic history, blocked the field until the 1980s, Shoemaker criticizes Islamic narrations and does not take them as references. Shoemaker believes that the studies will not go beyond the Sunnī paradigm by using purely Islamic narrations. The author, who claims that the Qurʾān emerged and was written in a political environment, argues that historians should consider the works of the surrounding cultures. Shoemaker, who uses the historical criticism method used in holy book readings in the West, focuses on what happened to the Qurʾān rather than what the Qurʾān tells us. Is it possible to write the history of the Qurʾān by bypassing Islamic narrations? The main focus of this article is to reveal the answer to this question through Stephen Shoemaker's work Creating the Qur'an. The work, published in 2022, was seen by Fred Donner as a milestone for the field and stated that everyone working in this department should read it. Our study will ultimately discuss the impasses of Shoemaker's approach. In this context, the research will generally apply data collection, text, and discourse analysis methods.

ETSI As a case study of organizational resilience in standard setting: strategies that ensure thriving despite organizational challenges

This paper brings forth an empirical study of organizational resilience strategies in standard setting. The selection of ETSI (The European Telecommunications Standards Institute) as a case study for this purpose was motivated by ETSI's legal status as an ESO (European Standardization Organization), global impact, and the history of external criticism directed at the organization. Based on theoretical considerations and author's previous empirical research, it was expected that the organizational resilience strategies used by ETSI differ with regards to two dimensions: anticipation of the disturbance (proactive and reactive strategies); and the locus of the strategic effort (internal or external to the organization). A combination of deductive and inductive content analysis was applied to 12 semi-structured interviews with individuals who participate in standard setting activities within ETSI. The conducted analysis confirmed the expected 2 × 2 type of taxonomy determined by anticipation and locus of strategic effort. The identified 29 categories were thus categorized into four clusters of resilience strategies: proactive external (5), proactive internal (9), reactive external (5) and reactive internal (10) strategies. The discussion reflects on the historical organizational challenges, the resilience strategies reported in response to them, and how they might have contributed to continued thriving of ETSI despite organizational challenges.

(Un)likely Allies: Public Theology and Theological Interpretation in Conversation

Abstract Theological interpretation of Scripture and public theology have so far said very little to one another. To a certain extent, this is understandable, as the two are involved in separate projects with differing priorities and questions. However, a mutually beneficial dialogue is possible. Public theology has yet to devote significant attention to the role of Scripture in public engagement and theological interpretation provides a framework better suited than historical criticism for allowing the Bible to speak to current situations. In return, public theology can help theological interpretation to clarify the public nature of the ecclesial community through the development of a public ecclesiology in order to better hear the voice of God in Scripture through a more holistic theological reading, one with a thicker defense against ecclesial tendencies toward authoritarianism and privatism. In establishing the possibility of a mutually beneficial relationship, this article provides a rationale for the relationship between public theology and theological interpretation to begin outright.

Women, Marriage and Betrayal of Trust in Selected Nigerian Dramas

The paper explores ‘Women, Marriage, and Betrayal of Trust in Selected texts’ namely Wole Soyinka’s The Beatification of Area Boy, Femi Osofisan’s The Midnight Blackout and Toni Duruaku’s Cash Price’. It also explores the contemporary problems besieging women and their spouses. This provides a discursive analysis of dangers of betrayal of trust by both partners which also destroy the marital bliss of democratic marriage institution in Nigeria. The research methodology leans on internet, books, journals on relevant scholars and literary authors relating to similar issues raised by the playwrights to support the paper. It is the works of the same authorities on various topics related to the concerns of these four playwrights that shall be used to strengthen my observations and findings in this paper. Psychological and historical criticisms are deployed to unravel the issues raised in these creative works as reflected in the society. The findings lean on social greed, impatience, lust for mundane things also the relevance of informing the society on the plethora of stigma of divorces looming visibly on infidelity or abnormality. These necessitate prospects and challenges of marriage institution in 21st century and the need of reforming these anomalous cultural trends problematical in Nigerian society.

Literary Criticism of China about F. M. Dostoevsky’s Novel “The Idiot”

This paper examines the literary criticism of China about F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” (1868), which has been the focus of attention of various readership, as well as the issues of perception and study of the novel in modern Chinese theory of literary criticism. Hence, the purpose of this article is to trace the history of literary criticism of the “The Idiot” in China over the past almost ninety years since its first publication in Chinese in 1935. It is noted that during this period the novel was translated into Chinese at least seventeen times with millions of copies released, withstanding more than 50 editions. It also provides an overview of the studies of Chinese scientists in recent years devoted to the study of the novel, and attempts are made to identify trends in the study and commentary of the novel in China. Chinese readers were first introduced to Dostoevsky’s work by the famous novelist, literary critic and translator Zhou Zuozhen. The conducted research allows us to conclude that Chinese readers accept and interpret F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” with great interest. The questions that the researchers raise in their writings confirm the hypothesis that the Chinese reader associates the main character Prince Myshkin with the Confucian category of Ren.

Narrative, Practice and Reality: Historical Criticism of Ümit Kurt’s Book Antep 1915 as a Diaspora-oriented Narrative

This article consists of three sections. First of all, the narrative that Armenians, who live in Western countries as a community who suffered from deprivations while migrating, have built out in the diaspora about the causes and processes of the migration has been described. Second, the criticism on the description of this narrative by Mr. Ümit Kurt, in his work Antep 1915 which radically verifies the narrative without interrogating its validity, that attempts to reveal the factual practice likewise has been made. In the end, the fact that the life practices of Armenians in Antep mostly invalidates the arguments built out by the narrative by the memoirs of the Armenians concerning their life experiences in Antep whom Mr. Enç, as a personal witness of the migration process, encountered in the United States in his lifetime has been emphasized. Thereby, Mr. Ümit Kurt has radically adopted the narrative, that a diaspora community has produced to persevere in the diaspora, which sometimes distorts historical factuality disregarding historical documents and oral history narratives and also some more evidence. Therefore, Mr. Ümit Kurt has tried the harmonize the factuality with the narrative. In this article, a critical analysis of Kurt’s book has been made in the light of historical documents. In addition, the information expressed in the book has been compared with the lived experiences of Armenians in both Antep and the United States, which Mitat Enç conveys in two works (Unending Night; Manly Talks).

Eighteenth-Century Review Culture and the “Enormous Crimes” of Antislavery Verse

This essay charts the reception of five widely read antislavery poems—Hannah More's Slavery (1788); Edward Rushton's West-Indian Eclogues (1787); William Roscoe's The Wrongs of Africa (1787 – 88); John Jamieson's The Sorrows of Slavery (1789); and James Field Stanfield's The Guinea Voyage (1789)—in contemporary review journals. It argues that these poets’ commitment to depicting the “enormous crimes” of British slavery in poetic form clashed with reviewers’ expectations of poetic diction, imagination, and representation, a conflict that arose from what I term “literary review culture” in the period. Understanding these responses can help us reassess the history of literary criticism as it was shaped by these poems’ efforts to delineate the inhumanities of the slave trade.

Western indicators in the thought of Dr. Ali Shariati

Dr. Ali Shariati is rightfully considered one of the most prominent pioneers of the Islamic movement and its thinkers. His tremendous efforts had a significant impact on various social groups of the Iranian people, including the youth. His intellectual and political mobilization paved the way for the Islamic Revolution in 1979, earning him the title “Teacher of the Revolution” among the Iranian popular circles of that time. Shariati focused his efforts on awakening consciousness and returning to the self, opposing forms of alienation, imitation, and submission to foreign domination. He fought for human welfare, freedom, democracy, criticism of history and self, revolution against traditional institutions and structures, debunking of old and contemporary superstitions, and combating backwardness and tyranny… All these terms and expressions are what filled Shariati’s writings, which became his concern, the focus of his short life, and the goal of his vast intellectual effort. Shariati presented bold and profound treatments for certain phenomena, such as sectarian fanaticism, which he considered a product of periods of fragmentation and decline in Islamic history. He believed that Muslims must overcome it if they wanted renaissance and unity. He also fought against backwardness and superstition, which he criticized sarcastically, holding the clergy responsible for spreading and entrenching them. He also attempted to revive nationalism as an antithesis to Islamic belonging, the traditional and rigid religious institution, and many other issues he criticized and addressed with Western remedies based on his social studies in Western Europe, which lasted for more than five years. Alongside his intellectual struggle against Western intellectual currents and ideologies, Shariati worked on purifying and sifting cultural sources, reviving Islam as a vibrant and pulsating ideology in contrast to other ideologies, cleansing the religion from impurities, and separating the clear truths from the habits and illusions that were prevalent among the simple people. Thus, he worked on clarifying and polishing the face of Islam, showing its true image.

Buta Mata dan Buta Hati: Strategi Pastoral Yesus Kristus Dalam Markus 8:22-26

Love is the foundation for theology but also for doing our duties and responsibilities as Christians. Love is also what moved Jesus to pass on the responsibility of shepherding to the apostles, then later became a mandate for the Church today. Thus, love will always be the main weapon in the Church's efforts to enact Pastoral Counseling. But the next question is, how will love be the answer to today's pastoral challenges? This question needs an answer because pastoral challenges have transformed into more complicated ones. The researcher determined a qualitative research method with a descriptive approach as the method to be used to explore the research problem. To analyze the text of Mark 8:22-26, the hermeneutic method of historical criticism is deemed suitable to exegete the text and then present new meanings in the context of the Church today. This research is expected to provide constructive results for the ministry of Pastoral Counseling in Churches, but also in terms of scientific development of Pastoral Counseling in Christian Theological Universities. In addition, the results of this research will also provide renewal strategies in Pastoral Counseling services for the Church so that these services run well and effectively.

The Intellectual History of Milton Friedman's Criticism of Corporate Social Responsibility

This article is the first to reconstruct the intellectual history of Milton Friedman's criticism of business and its social responsibilities. Using original archival research and printed evidence, this article makes three major arguments. First, Friedman's criticisms of business and its social responsibilities evolved over time and emerged from persistent anxieties among economic liberals about monopoly, business interests, and political authority that were explicitly read from Adam Smith. Second, the article contributes to the emerging intellectual history of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by reconstructing the development of Friedman's criticisms, their transformations, and their reception within the context of American managerial thought from the 1950s to the 1980s. Finally, contextualizing Friedman's criticisms demonstrates his concern about decision-making logics within organizations, which in turn explains his belief that CSR would contribute to collectivization and enhances the understanding of neoliberal political thought.

Penyelidikan Motif Penulis dan Pesan Teologis Melalui Analisis Komposisi Narasi Kitab Hakim-Hakim 6-8

This research presents a combination of two approaches, historical criticism and narrative criticism, in analyzing the motifs of the author of the book of Judges through the narrative of Israel's deliverance by Gideon. The debate among Old Testament scholars regarding historicity and theological historiography has divided opinions into two camps that are difficult to reconcile. Although each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses, the combination of both can enrich an approach to the analysis of a narrative text. Judges 6-8 are rarely interpreted using both of these approaches. For historical critical interpreters, emphasis on historicity and the documentary sources forming the narrative is crucial. However, they often overlook the literary devices that bind these historical fragments. On the other hand, narrative criticism, which focuses on literary devices, tends to trap interpreters in the subjectivity of interpretation. Some interpretations with ethical, moral, and practical theological nuances have also made leaps too far without considering the author's motifs. Through the combination of historical criticism and narrative criticism, this research has identified the author's motifs as fundamental theological values that can serve as a foundation for developing theology. This research has found that the author of the book encourages the generations of Israel to maintain their identity through theological messages about God's interaction in Israel's history during the era of Gideon.