Notion Of Imitation Research Articles

Perception and Pluralism: Leibniz’s Theological Derivation of Perception in Connection with Platonism, Rationalism and Substance Monism

AbstractThis article discusses Leibniz’s claim that every substance is endowed with the property of perception in connection with Platonism, rationalism and the problem of substance monism. It is argued that Leibniz’s ascription of perception to every substance relies on his Platonic conception of finite things as imitations of God, in whom there is ‘infinite perception’. Leibniz’s Platonism, however, goes beyond the notion of imitation, including also the emanative causal relation and the logical (i.e. definitional) priority of the absolute over the limited. It is proposed that Leibniz’s endorsement of Platonism, in conjunction with some rationalist elements of his philosophy, implies a monistic conception of particulars as modifications of a single substance. Following some scholars and opposing others, the article offers evidence that Leibniz accepted this implication during the last years of his Paris period. However, it is further argued that it was precisely the idea of perception as a property of every substance that allowed Leibniz to find a way out of monism after that period. More specifically, the article defends the view that what made room for ontological pluralism within Leibniz’s rationalist and Platonic outlook was the idea that perception is the property which constitutes the very being of substances: substancesaretheir perceptions.

Weber's Critical Evaluation of Tarde: An Assessment

This article presents and discusses Weber's critical evaluation of Tarde's notion of imitation. While Weber does not object to the potential sociological relevance of this notion, he finds it ill-defined and difficult to investigate. He does not concur, moreover, with Tarde's fundamental thesis that all social action rests on imitation. A textual examination of Tarde's writings indicate that — aside from the notion of imitation, on which Tarde has laid exclusive focus - there are several points of agreement between Weber and Tarde. However, Tarde has preferred merely to mention these points, rather than investigating them, as Weber has done in his sociological writings. This may open the way to further investigation of common ground and differences between the two authors.

The Communicability of Non-Communicable Diseases: An Overview of Sociological Contributions to Ideas of Contagion

There has been a tremendous rise in media coverage and medical research on the rapid increase of so-called non-communicable diseases. Such diseases have apparently reached epidemic proportions worldwide. In this article, I argue for the fruitfulness of investigating the communicable aspect of non-communicable diseases from a distinct sociological view of non-communicable diseases as infectious. I conduct a historical anamnesis of sociological theories that inform contemporary sociological thinking about contagion and/or collective action and the social clustering of (health) behaviour, with a particular focus on the notions of imitation, suggestion, and habitus formation. I argue that the notion of contagion is not only about biology but also about being actualised by lifestyle diseases. Based on the seminal work of Philip Strong on epidemic psychology, I discuss how – in dealing with the present threat to public order – a societal reaction in terms of a profound sense of public alarm and the generation of an outbreak of control strategies has emerged as another powerful epidemic or moral panic challenged by how to isolate the source of ‘infection’. The article concludes by asserting that there still very much remains a divide between the paradigms of the individual and the social in the production of scientific knowledge about these diseases and causality. Considering health-related risk behaviour as a socially organised rather than an individual phenomenon provides more useful data for public health interventions aimed at changing health lifestyles.

Beyond Form and Fancy: The Merchant Palaces of Kazimierz Dolny in Poland

AbstractThis article builds upon Jan Białostocki's seminal bookThe Art of the Renaissance in Eastern Europeby examining two merchant palaces in the port city of Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula River in Poland but departs from his interpretation of them. Focusing on the stucco architecture and relief-sculpture of their façades, the article argues against Białostocki's traditional reading of imitation as being driven by artistic influence, and, through the study of the city's mercantile and pilgrimage context, it proposes instead that a notion of imitation that was deeply immersed in sophisticated practices of copying and reference making. It concludes that the merchant community in Kazimierz Dolny was aiming to forge a new civic identity in order to contend in a broader social, religious and economic realm that was traversed by merchants, travellers and pilgrims alike.

Student-Driven Imitation as a Means to Strengthening Rhetorical Agency—Or, Propelling Quintilian’s Chapter on Imitation into Today’s Teaching

ABSTRACT Quintilian’s notion of imitation is often acclaimed for its focus on invention and appropriateness and for highlighting attunement to individual talent. Yet these aspects tend to be somewhat neglected in the practice of imitation as shaped by the classical rhetorical tradition, which primarily focuses on imitation exercises for beginners. This essay accentuates Quintilian’s chapter on imitation, which, as stressed by Murphy, is aimed at the mature student, in order to propel these precepts into today’s teaching. Specifically, this article advances a pedagogy of student-driven imitation constituted of five dimensions and characterized by the student’s own choice of text, valuing reflexive process over mirroring, and strengthening rhetorical agency. The exposition of student-driven imitation is supplemented with questions that students might address and excerpts from a student’s work.

Student-Driven Imitation as a Means to Strengthening Rhetorical Agency—Or, Propelling Quintilian’s Chapter on Imitation into Today’s Teaching

ABSTRACTQuintilian’s notion of imitation is often acclaimed for its focus on invention and appropriateness and for highlighting attunement to individual talent. Yet these aspects tend to be somewhat neglected in the practice of imitation as shaped by the classical rhetorical tradition, which primarily focuses on imitation exercises for beginners. This essay accentuates Quintilian’s chapter on imitation, which, as stressed by Murphy, is aimed at the mature student, in order to propel these precepts into today’s teaching. Specifically, this article advances a pedagogy of student-driven imitation constituted of five dimensions and characterized by the student’s own choice of text, valuing reflexive process over mirroring, and strengthening rhetorical agency. The exposition of student-driven imitation is supplemented with questions that students might address and excerpts from a student’s work.

Imitation as Transformation of the Male Self

St Joachim, who according to the apocryphal Protoevangelium Jacobi is the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the patron saint of a Catholic Men’s Organization in Zambia which promotes him as model of Catholic manhood. Through a case study of this organization, this article explores the intersections of religion, men and masculinity in a contemporary African Catholic context, in relation to broader discussions on African masculinities. The focus is on the practice of imitation of St Joachim and its effects on masculinity as the symbolic, discursive and performative construction of embodied male gender identity. Two theoretical concepts inform the analysis, being the notion of imitation as a hermeneutical process and Michel Foucault’s conceptualization of the technologies or hermeneutics of the self. The article shows how a sacred text is mobilized and inspires a communal imitative practice through which men are shaped, and shape themselves, after a religious ideal of masculinity.

Imitation, Style, Fiction: Ethics of Writing, Ethics of Reading in Chatterton, by Peter Ackroyd

The paper discusses the way Peter Ackroyd reflects about style, fiction and reality through the notion of imitation. He purposely entitled his novel Chatterton after the eponymous writer who was famous for pastiching medieval style.

The poet's version; or, An ethics of translation

The poet's version, a second-order creation that mixes translation and adaptation, emerged in the twentieth century distinct from early modern notions of imitation. It can be illuminated by a hermeneutic model that construes second-order works as an interpretive inscription through the application of formal and thematic interpretants which vary the form, meaning and effect of the source material, constrained by the receiving medium and culture. If second-order creation is by definition variation, an interpretive act that submits the source material to degrees of loss and gain, then the poet's version cannot be evaluated simply on the basis of a comparison to its source text. Attention must rather be given to the impact of the version on the receiving culture, a relation that can be construed as properly ethical. The ethics of a version hinges on whether it points to a lack or plenitude in the translating language and culture, challenging or confirming institutionalized knowledge.

Sull'ambiguità della democrazia nel politico di Platone

In this paper I shall analyse in what sense in Plato’s Statesman the democracy is “rehabilitated”, with respect to Gorgias’ and Republic’s harsh critiques, insofar as the most preferable alternative in unlawful imperfect constitutions. The value of this “rehabilitation” is, though, undermined by Plato’s unwavering claim that democracy is the rule of the uneducated and ignorant people. This ambiguity can be solved only by understanding in what sense Plato may hold that imperfect constitutions imitate the perfect one ruled by the true political science. Imperfect but law abiding constitutions imitate the perfect one in virtue of their capacity to pursue the unity of the polis. Unlawful regimes, instead, can be ranked only in terms of their capacity to follow the methodological criteria of unity, stability and swiftness of ruling. Democracy’s scattered authority, alternating representatives and slow decision making system limit the possibility of pursuing bad policies. Lacking a paradeigma such as that of the Republic, I shall argue that the notion of imitation is to be understood in non specifically Platonic terms, that is not as the pursuit of an ideal norm, but rather as a methodological approximation.

Pastoraat en jeugtrauma, die ‘sondebokmodel’, en Jesus as rolmodel

Pastoral care with traumatised youth, the ‘scapegoat’ model, and Jesus as role modelExisting research shows that adolescents are victimised and traumatised more often than adults. Many a time it is left to pastoral counsellors to assist such traumatised youth to overcome such experiences. This article therefore aims to empower pastors in this task with reference to the insights of René Girard. As violence is inherent to traumatic experiences, two aspects of Girard’s insights are pertinent. Girard’s notions of imitation with regard to violence, as well as the scapegoat ritual can be useful to pastors who want to guide adolescents through their trauma. Girard’s contribution has been widely acknowledged and used by theologians in their hermeneutical and theological endeavours. This article now applies these insights to the field of Practical Theology. In theology, Jesus has become both the ‘role model’ and the ‘scapegoat’. This article applies both these aspects of Jesus’ life to pastoral care with traumatised youth.

« Nothing can retain the spirit, and why should we preserve the shadow of the form ? » : imitation et recréation dans A Laodicean, la pe

As soon as 1881, Hardy in A Laodicean broaches the question of originality through the use of genres: is it possible for a novelist to write an original novel belonging to traditional literary genres (the « Gothic », « Romance », the « Sensation Novel »), haunted by other famous works and authors as it may be ? In that perspective, the book offers a series of wrong tracks and plays with well-known « generic stimuli, » such as the topos of the castle characteristic of Gothic literature for instance, in order to refresh our vision of the genres Hardy uses and to preclude their « automatization ». In that process of « defamiliarization », Hardy also creates new conventions bearing « the spirit of the genre », in order to deconstruct the reader’s horizon of expectations. Thus, A Laodicean focuses on the notions of imitation and creation in the art of fiction and in the perpetuation of a generic tradition.

Urban Imitations

Although long forgotten, the sociology of Gabriel Tarde has suddenly re-emerged. This article backs up the renewed interest in Tarde in four ways. First, drawing upon the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann, it demonstrates that the usual critique of Tarde is false: Tarde’s theory of imitation is not trapped in any kind of psychologism but is, indeed, a pure sociology. Against this background, the second part of the article argues that the notion of imitation is closely tied to urbanity, which brings Tarde close to the spatial turn of social thought. While Tarde’s work thus seems compatible with contemporary sociological currents, it also transcends what is presently discussed. The third part of the article therefore examines Tarde’s analysis of urban crowds, as the crowd demonstrates the paradoxical nature of the social. Finally, drawing upon Henri Lefebvre, the article outlines the contours of a particular, contemporary Tardean analysis of imitations. More specifically, the suggestion is to add a more explicitly structural dimension to Tarde’s work, which, it is argued, may be accomplished by pursuing a rhythmanalysis. The rhythmanalysis enables one to bring together Tarde’s focus on imitation, urbanity and crowds.

Imitação e Obra de Arte na Metafísica do Belo

No pensamento de Schopenhauer a noção de imitação só pode ser compreendida quando se leva em conta que o artista não procura imitar a natureza a partir dos seus produtos, mas a partir dos seus procedimentos. Além disso, o modelo não é um objeto preexistente e sim uma Idéia, que para ser apreendida depende de uma modificação do modo de conhecer do sujeito.

Imitation of pretend play acts by children with autism and Down syndrome.

Although there has recently been considerable research interest in the difficulties that children with autism have engaging in pretend play, little attention has been paid to the ability of these children to imitate pretend play acts. Furthermore, suggestions that children with Down syndrome have relatively advanced abilities in pretend play have not been accompanied by an examination of their capacity to imitate pretend play. Three groups of children: autistic, Down syndrome, and normally developing were studied for their capacity to imitate single pretend acts and a series of pretend acts that formed scripts. While the children with autism were surprisingly better than the other two groups on the single-scheme task, they demonstrated specific difficulties on the multischeme task. Results are discussed in relation to current theories of autism and the notion of imitation.

J. N. L. デュランの模倣概念について : 都市建築における沈殿された意味の蘇生とその脱構築(1)

In J.N.L. Durand, the positive imitation is considered as impossible and the analogical imitation is refused, but that of the Ancients is present in their base, not as the purpose of the architecture but as an auxiliary element subordinate to the notions of economy (economic) and suitability (convenance), which is also expanded and applied homogeneously even to the elements, their combination, distribution and composition of city. For him, even if the notion of imitation is transformed into that of subordinate imitation of the Ancients, it is regarded as a moment of the inter-textual mouvement of meanings in the urban architecture, both within the relation of diachronic correspondance and in the synchronic context, that is not concerned with the distance, and therefore is supported by a kind of typological consciousness.

Hobbes's Belief in God

This article explores Hobbes's response to the writings of the Old Testament and to the Book of Job in particular, demonstrating his belief that the art of politics consists in the imitation of the commands of an omnipotent God. This idea of imitation is analysed in Hobbes's treatment of covenant, particularly the covenant with Abraham, which Hobbes identified as the paradigm of all covenants. The same notion of imitation is also illustrated in Hobbes's profound conviction that sovereignty constitutes the soul of the state and Hobbes's belief in an omnipotent God is shown to be consistent with his nominalism, with his undeniable materialism and with his scientific method. Just as the Book of Job revealed the irresistible power of an omnipotent God, Leviathan demonstrated the irresistible power of God's personator, the mortal sovereign. And God's own creation, Man, imitates the permanence of nature in his own artefact, ‘Leviathan’.