Historical Transformation Research Articles

“Between continuity and discontinuity.” On the question of how to approach Patočka’s philosophy and its historical transformations

“Between continuity and discontinuity.” On the question of how to approach Patočka’s philosophy and its historical transformations

Making or faking capitalism? Socialist dreams and postsocialist experiences in East-Central Europe

ABSTRACT Our paper proposes to rethink the concepts of modernization and modernity in the context of state socialist and postsocialist transformations in Eastern and Central Europe. By focusing on historical transformations, we seek to challenge normative and static constructions of the state socialist legacy and show that such perceptions are rooted in the Cold War ideological division. One way to contest this division is to reconceptualize socialist modernity. Drawing on James Ferguson’s seminal study on the “expectations of modernity,” we argue that modernization was central to the Eastern European Communist parties’ claims to legitimacy. While the state socialist experiment proved to be a failed political and social project, the dreams of modernity bereft of socialism continued to shape people’s self-images and social visions beyond the borders of “Eastern” Europe. In order to better understand the state socialist legacy and the political and social thinking of “postsocialist” people, we propose to link the study of the small transformations of everyday life with the critique of binary constructions of the concepts of socialism and capitalism.

Writing Life, Writing Time, Writing the Mother

This article focuses on Ernaux’s later life memories of a twentieth century daughter-mother relationship, rendered in the light of this era’s historical transformations and its tensions between individual freedom and collective "fate," and between pre- and post 1968 conceptions of a fulfilled life. It refers to Ernaux’s most monumental work of self-writing, Les Années (2008) and this book’s links to what she has previously written in remembrance of her mother. The purpose is to investigate how these works seek to come to terms with, not only the loss of a mother, but also the narrator’s own aging. Ernaux exemplifies the adult daughter-senescent mother relationship in ways that are characteristic for her generation of women and suggestive of general historical changes in human relationships in Western societies since 1968. Can Ernaux’s writing provide, in the terms of Kathleen Woodward, “cultural models of older women as a way of generating alternative futures for ourselves”? Or does it fail to reconciliate the stereotypical binary of female aging as either graceful or awful, conveying tabooed aspects of old age that need to be brought to light, and even more urgently so in a socio-cultural context privileging youthfulness, individualism and uncertain human bonds? Keywords: Annie Ernaux, The Years; aging daughter-mother relationship; filiation narratives; auto-socio-biography; memory and time; autonomy and dependency; social exclusion; abjection and purification.

The historical transformation of individual concepts into populational ones: an explanatory shift in the gestation of the modern synthesis.

In this paper, I will conduct three interrelated analyses. First, I will develop an analysis of various concepts in the history of biology that used to refer to individual-level phenomena but were then reinterpreted by the Modern Synthesis in terms of populations. Second, a similar situation can be found in contemporary evolutionary theory. While different approaches reflect on the causal role of developing organisms in evolution, proponents of the Modern Synthesis refrain from any substantial change by reinterpreting and explaining individual-level phenomena from a population perspective. Finally, I will approach these historical and contemporary debates by arguing for the statistical reading of natural selection, which holds that explanations by natural selection are statistical. My main conclusion is that the historical conceptual reinterpretations belong to a new explanatory strategy developed by the Modern Synthesis based on population thinking. Adopting the statistical point of view has three advantages for the issues discussed in this paper. First, understanding historical conceptual change as part of an explanatory shift fits with the emergence of population biology as a discipline that employs statistical methods. Second, concerning current debates in evolutionary biology, the statisticalist reading can validate the goal of both sides of the dispute. It ascribes an invaluable role to the population statistical explanation of the MS and also commends the study of developmental and organismal causes of adaptive evolution. Finally, the division of explanatory roles in evolutionary biology, embarrassed by statisticalism, can be related to the different interpretations that important biological concepts have undergone throughout history and contemporary biology, i.e., that the division of explanatory roles allows for a division of conceptual interpretations.

An Analysis on the Historical Transformation and Consequences of the Relationship Between Theoria and Techne

The subject of this study is the historical transformation of the relationship between the concepts of theory/theoria and techne/techne-logie. Methodologically, the meanings of theoria and techne in ancient Greece are taken as reference. Then, it is explained how this relationship, in which theoria is in a privileged position, has changed with the modern period and where the process has evolved. The aim of the study is to explain the risks of techne, whose relationship with theoria has been severed. Theoria is the activity of thinking about and questioning something. Since it was an end in itself, it was considered a divine activity in ancient times. Techne, on the other hand, was the knowledge of making and doing something. The knowledge of the craftsman was such a knowledge and it was instrumental. With the modern period, the transformative effect of technological developments on nature and society ensured that it was perceived in an impartial, irreversible and positive way. Despite the destructive effects it caused, technology became a commodity and a goal. Considering that today, technology has exceeded the dimension of digitalization and we have entered the era of intelligent robots, albeit artificial, it is a necessity to re-establish the connection between techne-logie and theoria.

From Sangbo to urban landscape: morphological and hydrological transformations of Xuanwu Lake through integrating historical interpretation and geographic analysis

IntroductionXuanwu Lake in Nanjing has undergone a rich history, evolving from native Sangbo to a naval training ground, from an imperial garden to farmland, and finally to a vibrant urban landscape. The lake's legacy can be attributed to its unique geographical and hydrological conditions. Exploring historical transformations of the lake and surrounding landscape patterns provides insights for optimizing urban water space in contemporary China.MethodsTraditional analyses of lake changes based solely on historical records may lack precision due to deviations and artistic interpretations found in ancient maps. However, considering the reciprocal compatibility between local geomorphology, undulating terrains, and water bodies allows for accurate reduction of the lake's morphology by inferring and validating its geographical features. This research combines historical interpretation and geographical analysis to reconstruct the historical shape of Xuanwu Lake, uncover the intrinsic mechanisms driving spatial changes over time, and analyze the morphological changes and connectivity patterns of its hydrological system.ResultsThe morphology and hydrological dynamics of Xuanwu Lake are deeply intertwined with the policies prevailing in different eras. In antiquity, Xuanwu Lake, as a natural body of water, sustained the surrounding ecosystem and the livelihoods of local inhabitants. During the imperial period, it was integrated into the royal gardens, with its utilization and configuration modified by political directives, including the establishment of a naval training facility and its conversion into a royal recreational venue. Subsequently, in response to economic imperatives, Xuanwu Lake was transformed into agricultural land, which led to challenges such as flooding and drought. Ultimately, due to ecological security and recreational needs under urbanization, it was restored to lake form.DiscussionBy interpreting the bidirectional adaptation between the lake's ecosystem functions and city development activities, this research provides insights for water space management and ecological restoration in contemporary Xuanwu Lake. The findings provide guidance for the sustainable development of city-lake relationships to enhance the resilience of urban ecological spaces.

Anger and Art Ambivalent emotion in art

The present study investigates the depiction of anger in Western visual art, highlighting the paradox of this emotion: its inherent unpleasantness and repulsiveness versus its artistic representation. The authors examine historical transformations in the expression of anger and the mechanisms that render its depiction effective in art. Despite being a fundamental human emotion encountered from birth, anger is surprisingly scarce in Western visual art. Historical artworks often depict actions resulting from anger rather than capturing its raw emotional expression. Kelly Grovier's essay "Art of Feeling: Why We Should Celebrate Anger" posits that the rarity of anger’s depiction may stem from its classification as a deadly sin by early Christian teachings, which stigmatized the emotion. However, significant works such as Delacroix's "Medea" and Gentileschi's "Judith" juxtapose violent acts with serene facial expressions, underscoring a disconnect between action and emotional display. The repulsiveness and transformative impact of anger on human appearance make it a challenging subject for art. Yet, works like Cabanel's "Fallen Angel" and Gérôme's "Truth Coming Out of Her Well" explore this transformation, employing beauty to attract and distortion to repulse, thereby creating a Medusa-like effect. This duality engages viewers and evokes mixed emotions, which enhances an artwork's impact. Furthermore, anger can drive creative innovation, as demonstrated in works by Munch, Picasso, and Kahlo, where personal and societal grievances fuel artistic expression. However, prolonged anger may lead to destructive creativity, emphasizing the complex role of anger in art and its potential for both innovation and hostility. This multifaceted exploration underscores anger’s unique, albeit limited, place in visual arts and its dual capacity to repel and inspire.

Comprehensive review on paracetamol: Efficacy, safety, and usage in modern medicine

In over-the-counter headache medications, N-acylated aromatic amines—those with an acyl group, RCO-substituted on nitrogen—play a significant role. Drugs that you can get over the counter don't require a prescription. Acetanilide, phenacetin, and paracetamol (acetaminophen) are the so-called "aniline derivatives" or "aniline analgesics," of which paracetamol is essentially the only survivor. Acetanilide is the precursor to both phenacetin and paracetamol. An industrial chemist may refer to paracetamol as 4-hydroxyacetanilide or para-hydroxy acetanilide. It is a crucial end product and precursor for synthesising several other organic chemicals. It has become well-known as an analgesic because of its accessibility, but when overeating or in combination with other foods or medications, it can have severe side effects. This article discusses the historical transformations this significant molecule has undergone up to this point, how chemists prepare it, the processes it goes through when other precursors are present, how much it doses, its adverse effects, and how it is used. This is a beneficial medication that should be handled carefully because it can become poisonous when used with other medicines, including warfarin.

Mobilizing alternative urbanisms in the semiperipheral smart city agenda

ABSTRACT Within critical urban studies, this inquiry examines how mobile policies arriving in a global semiperiphery contribute to developing socially just smart city paradigms. By provincializing smart city research and expanding the North–South dichotomy by analyzing a “South of the West,” the inquiry focuses on Lisbon as a semiperipheral city. It adopts a policy mobility approach and an analytical framework of smart city paradigms, combining thematic document analysis and in-depth interviews to examine the case study. The inquiry engages with local historical transformations and temporally analyzes Lisbon’s smart city agenda representing its development phases and exploring the mobility of ideas and paradigm shifts. Due to historical challenges reflected by the peripheralization of Southern Europe, local arrangements have led to political-economic and social transformations that, as the study argues, are potentialized by policy mobilities and entail smart city paradigm shifts towards social justice. Therefore, hybridizing new and old, emerging and established urban agendas provides alternatives to replicating neoliberal policies.

Uncertainty and existential thinking

ABSTRACT The main question of the study is whether our existential problems are changing historically and, if so, what is specific to our era. The paper first distinguishes three main types of existential problems (external, internal and structural), secondly presents the historical dimension of existential experiences. In the third step, it argues that not only do existential experiences change with age, but most probably the form of the subject is exposed to historical transformation. The final part of the paper analyses the uncertainty of our present existential condition from the perspective of the concept of the contemporary subject. I try to argue throughout the paper that a clearly articulated set of concepts of existential thinking can be useful for qualitative psychological research.

On the Religious and the Secular in Nineteenth-Century Buganda

Abstract The case of nineteenth-century Buganda opens up a number of assumptions within scholarship about religion, secularity, and politics in African history. Although much scholarship focuses on European colonizers introduced alien categories such as religion and imposed distinctions between religion and politics, this paper foregrounds a different set of historical transformations in what is now Uganda – transformations that ultimately increased rather than diminished connections between the exercise of political power and markedly religious convictions. Along the way, it locates some of the most important pieces of this story in ‘the precolonial’. This allows the paper to trace the emergence of the category of religion, as well as analyze the sense in which it is meaningful to think of precolonial Buganda as secular at a particular moment. In so doing, the paper puts an African story in dialogue with wider conversations on the secular.

الإنسان وبيئة الوسيط الرقمي: تأثير مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي على طرق تفكير وتعبير الإنسان

This paper seeks, using the interpretive philosophical approach, to look into the issue of the impact of digital media on human life and ways of thinking and expression. This paper aims to analyze this issue interpretatively and link it to historical transformations in the field of media ecology in order to adopt a forward-looking view instead of a numerical analysis of the available information. The issue, as this paper sees it, lacks the philosophical dimension to discuss the characteristics of social media and link changes that these social media have brought on humans with changes that humans have brought on various concepts such as culture, thought, and society. This paper concluded that social media are a different revolution in communication media. It changed the procedures of the communication process, bringing the margin groups into the position of the elites and returning the elites to a position that is close to the position of the margin groups. The margins have become the agent that determines the ways of building new social relationships and carries out the process of transforming from traditional relationships to digital relationships. Thus, concepts change and are shaped by a different perception (the margin group). By carefully reading the characteristics of three social media (Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp), three common characteristics and features emerged that shaped and influenced their users: openness, permanence and continuity, and changing concepts.

Should a Yogi Be Healthy? Health Concepts in Early Haṭhayoga Texts

Haṭhayoga texts, influential in the development of modern posture-based yoga, offer a conceptual framework intertwining physical cultivation, health, and soteriological aims. This article explores two interconnected inquiries regarding early Haṭhayoga texts: How do they conceptualize health, and how do they perceive the relationship between health and soteriology? These investigations illuminate the place of health in early yoga texts within Hindu traditions prior to its global recognition.This article reveals that early haṭha texts present a holistic approach to health, highlighting the interconnectedness of curing the mind and healing the body. This process entails not only eradicating physical diseases but also the transcendence of all forms of suffering. The transformative process of eliminating the misleading self-identity (ahaṁkāra) is pivotal, leading directly to health. This relationship extends beyond metaphorical comparisons of healing ignorance and suffering. This ontological framework proposes a harmonious integration between the material and soteriological realms, viewing the healthy body as a physical manifestation of the divine essence. Thus, the emergence of the biomedical discourse surrounding yoga in modern times did not occur autonomously. Haṭhayoga, with its roots dating back to the beginning of the second millennium CE, played a crucial role in shaping this historical transformation.

Canadian Senate Reform: Lessons from Its First Decade, 1867–78

During the 19th century and through the 20th century, the role of the parliamentary upper house (especially, but not exclusively, within the Westminster system of government) changed in subtle, yet dramatic, ways. Among those changes was increasing deference to elected lower houses of parliament, a reduction in partisanship in its actions and legislative goals, the development and pursuit of greater specialization of interest and function, appeals to the public interest beyond the electoral mandate, and greater practical attention to technical overview and improvement of legislation and policy, especially through the engagement of the committee process. This article argues that the role of the current Senate of Canada is a result of that historical transformation and was evident as early as the first decade of its existence (consistent with an institutional evolution that continues through the 21st century) and should be strongly considered in relation to current and future proposals for its reform.

The phenomenon of Jihad: Historical Transformation and Modern Interpretation

The article seeks to differentiate the religious concept of jihad from its modern politicized interpretation to reduce Islamophobia. A historical review of modern Islamic values and principles is carried out. To confirm the hypothesis put forward, the author uses reliable information from the Holy Quran and hadith. The classical views of the Muslim scholars Ibn Qasir and Abu Jafar al-Tabari, who defended the religion of Islam from various misconceptions, are also presented as sources. The author conducted an etymological and hermeneutic analysis of the theory of “armed jihad” and religious concepts distorted for various political reasons. The features of the impact of the microenvironment and individual factors affecting the radicalization of a person are determined. At the same time, the author widely informs about the comprehensive work and measures taken to prevent religious extremism and terrorism in Kazakhstan. The reasons for the spread of radical religious ideology in Kazakhstan are presented in three stages, taking into account Kazakhstan’s experience in combating them.

[Review] Kurochkin O. V. Christmas Vertep: Ways of Historical Transformation: A Monograph. Kyiv: Lira-K Publishing House, 2022, 188 pp.

[Review] Kurochkin O. V. Christmas Vertep: Ways of Historical Transformation: A Monograph. Kyiv: Lira-K Publishing House, 2022, 188 pp.

THE IMAGE OF A WOMAN IN FOLKLORE AS A FOLK TRADITION

This study explores the multifaceted portrayal of women in folklore, focusing on their roles as creators, transmitters, and subjects of oral traditions. Employing a feminist folklore approach, the research aims to elucidate the complex dynamics of gender, power, and representation within folkloric narratives. The methodology combines extensive literature review, comparative analysis of folkloric texts across various Turkic cultures, and critical interpretation informed by feminist theory. The findings reveal that while women's folklore often reflects the dominant patriarchal values, it also serves as a medium for expressing female solidarity, subverting gender norms, and asserting women's agency. The study highlights the significance of women's oral traditions as a vital source for understanding their lived experiences, cultural contributions, and strategies of resistance in maledominated societies. The research contributes to the growing body of feminist folklore scholarship and underscores the importance of integrating women's perspectives into the mainstream folklore discourse. Further research is needed to explore the regional variations, historical transformations, and contemporary adaptations of women's folkloric practices.

On some current aspects and new approaches to scientific understanding of the national characteristics of Russian statehood formation and evolution

The object of the study is the process of Russian statehood formation and historical transformation. The subject of the study is the analysis of existing in the Russian scientific and public thought (pre-revolutionary and modern) different approaches to the interpretation of national features of Russian statehood foundations origin and evolution. The authors emphasize a number of fundamental problems of Russian statehood development, which today require creative comprehension by scientific community. The article substantiates the position on the enduring significance of domestic researchers’ and thinkers’ conclusions about the uniqueness of the process of Russian statehood foundations origin in the Old Russian state, which was fundamentally different from similar processes in Western states, the Tsardom of Muscovy political system specificity, which consisted in the cathedral structure of the state and received ideological justification in the “autocratic sobornost” doctrine. Special attention has been paid to the conclusions related to assessing significance of the long coexistence in the Russian state of two parallel beginnings such as the monarchical vertical of power and the rich veche tradition, which compensated for the relative weakness of the monarchy in technical and political sense. For the first time the issue of what place in Russian statehood transformation was occupied by the Time of Troubles of the early 17th century has been investigated in detail. Attention has been drawn to the conclusions of pre-revolutionary scientists and thinkers about the determining role of the Time of Troubles, which it played in the new attitudes’ formation to the state and state power in Russian society, including in the context of modern interpretations. The determining role of zemstvo bodies in the years of the Time of Troubles in the collapsing state preservation and revival has been pointed out. The conclusion has been made about the similarity of the Russian system of power with the Byzantine model, traditionally characterized by a combination of a rigid monarchical vertical and horizontal of developed self-government. The role of the state idea uniting society in preserving stability and sustainability of any state has been emphasized.

Medium Rare. Photography and Media Theory

Photography’s definition as a distinctive medium has often been contested, but seems increasingly challenged in foundational terms in the 21st century. This article will explore photography’s rather unsettled relation to media and media theory by drawing on the writings of Vilém Flusser, Friedrich Kittler, and Bernard Stiegler, who have all — albeit in different ways — positioned the emergence of photography in the 19th century as a signal event in the history of media. Photography marks the point at which cultures long organized around ‘writing’ began to cede ground to cultures in which ‘technological images’ play a growing role. In the 21st century it has become increasingly common to ask whether photography remains faithful to its past or has become something else. My approach here is slightly different: what does the historical transformation of photography tell us about how we understand ‘media’ in the present?

Changes in women’s labor force participation in urban China between 1990 and 2019: an age-period-cohort analysis

This article examines the trends and the factors that led to the historical transformation of women’s labor force participation (WLFP) in urban China over the past three decades between 1990 and 2019. Employing the age-period-cohort-interaction model (APC-I model), we find strong age effects, period effects, and cohort effects upon WLFP over the period under study. The age effects are largely due to life course factors such as schooling, marital status, and parenthood. The period effects may be due to market transition, changes in economic structure, and the expansion of education. As for the cohort effects, we posit a cultural explanation, suggesting that the cohort differences in WLFP can be attributed primarily to intergenerational differences in the values placed on work, due to changes in the social context in which early socialization processes are rooted.