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The document titled "Volume LXXVII: September 2023—June 2024" is an issue of the journal "Review of Metaphysics." It contains a collection of articles on various topics in metaphysics, including Descartes's provisional morality, relating substances, the limits of Husserlian phenomenology, desire and reason in Nicomachean Ethics, inertia and substantial forms in Leibniz's metaphysics, existence and privations in Thomas Aquinas, grounding and causation, McTaggart's series in ancient philosophy of time, libertarian free will, Heidegger's practical philosophy, Hegel's account of moral motivation, color primitivism, Descartes's argument for the existence of God, Fichte and Hegel's perspectives on advancement, Francisco Suarez's concept of being, an inconsistency in Spinoza's metaphysics, Kant's transcendental deduction, the myths of (re)enchantment, ancient monism in Heidegger and Plato's Sophist, and the axiomatic model in Kant's moral philosophy. The document also includes book reviews, summaries and comments, reviewer index, philosophical abstracts, information on doctoral dissertations, faculty updates, and announcements. [Extracted from the article]

In modern times, the understanding of holiness is often overshadowed by notions of achievement in various areas of human existence, and holiness could be understood as merely human commitment in the moral realm. Therefore, within the Christian tradition there are discussions of a call to holiness and not only to moral perfection, where holiness rests above all on the fact of God's chosenness, to which the Christians respond by changing concrete lives. This article shall highlight several main characteristics of holiness as a model of Christian existence important to the Church in the third millennium. Firstly, a biblical-theological account of holiness shall be presented as a landmark of understanding holiness in the Church and in theology. Then, the fundamental dimension of holiness shall be introduced which is the principle of giftedness, opposed in a certain contrast to the widely present principle of achievement and perfection. The third part shall highlight the exemplary character of holiness, which has the ability to attract others, thus realizing in the life of the Church its main character of holiness that comes from God Himself. In their response to God, Christians find a model among the saints who have accepted various means of consecration within the Church and given God an answer to His call to holiness. Finally, the importance of a personal response to the call to holiness shall be indicated. The goal of Christian holiness is to unite with God, and on the way to this union, the effort of every individual who manifests himself primarily in accepting God's gifts and His grace is also needed. Moral and sacred life is not primarily the adventure of spiritual giants of tried and tested moral behaviour and virtues, where these behaviours and virtues are only the result of their own endeavour and humanistic aspirations, but rather holiness is a response to God to his great love, which he expressed in the history of salvation and in the lives of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, science began to investigate the reproducibility of the human being, both biologically (via experiments on electricity, Galvani and Volta) and mechanically (automata, animated dolls). Literature reflects this idea. German literature from the nineteenth century offers many examples of artificial creatures, generally seen as inferior to humans: this inferiority is linked to the fact that they seem to lack an essential part, consisting in something immaterial, namely the soul. Our hypothesis, however, is that behind these imperfect simulacra lies the idea of a new, different perfection. Our specific focus will be on a text by Heinrich Heine, “Florentinische Nächte“. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the technological affordances of vocal production software in performance through a case study of Shibuya Keīchirō's The End (2012). In the performance of this 'humanless opera', desires for pliability and fantasies of control are realised through the affordances of a singing voice synthesis software known as Vocaloid. By reflecting on The End 's thematic focus on death and existentialism and on notions of vocal virtuosity, and by exploring the socio-technical processes by which the protagonist, virtual pop star Hatsune Miku, was constructed, the article provides an alternative narrative to vocal production and intermundane collaboration as it relates to the fluid and reversible configurations between voices, bodies and technologies in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results on polymorphism and perfection, as observed in the spontaneous crystallization of freely jointed polymers of hard spheres, obtained in an unprecedentedly long Monte Carlo (MC) simulation on a system of 54 chains of 1000 monomers. Starting from a purely amorphous configuration, after an initial dominance of the hexagonal closed packed (HCP) polymorph and a transitory random hexagonal close packed (rHCP) morphology, the system crystallizes in a final, stable, face centered cubic (FCC) crystal of very high perfection. An analysis of chain conformational characteristics, of the spatial distribution of monomers and of the volume accessible to them shows that the phase transition is caused by an increase in translational entropy that is larger than the loss of conformational entropy of the chains in the crystal, compared to the amorphous state. In spite of the significant local re-arrangements, as reflected in the bending and torsion angle distributions, the average chain size remains unaltered during crystallization. Polymers in the crystal adopt ideal random walk statistics as their great length renders local conformational details, imposed by the geometry of the FCC crystal, irrelevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the descriptive attribute 'perfect' and its derivatives as a commonly used abstraction for creating persuasive emotional texts that encourage potential customers to make purchases and satisfy their needs. The study analyses the objects of reference, semantic field, and syntactic functions of the concept through the prism of its functioning in promotional brochures devoted to passenger automobiles belonging to 44 brands. The material included 115 brochures over the previous decade, 22,000 words of minimal contexts and 520 contextual occurrences of 'perfect' and its derivatives. The obtained results show that 'perfect' tends to reveal two meanings - excellence and compliance to a standard - which historically go back to its original meaning in Latin 'per factum' (made thoroughly). Over the period of the decade, there has been a shift from idealisation to practicality in the automotive industry under the influence of economic and environmental factors. The semantic mapping of contextual associative adjectives also indicates that 'perfect' is currently more oriented to highlighting practical utility of the cars rather than their excellence. In effect, such practical aspects as technological advancement, technicality, customisation, reliability, comfort, dynamics, style, noiselessness, sound, and price outnumber abstract qualities which express positive impressions, elevation, idealisation, and exaggeration of relevance, by 30%. Semantically, the concept 'perfection' follows the promotional principle of combining rational and emotional arguments. 'Perfect' is applicable to any car part - be it the exterior, interior or engine. The derivational paradigm has no limitations in syntactic distribution; however, in promotional discourse it typically occurs in nominative structures. The results contribute to the theoretical development of the linguistic worldview through the lens of valuable marketing concepts and can be practically useful in training professional writing skills to students specialising in PR and advertising and learning English for specific purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of perfection and perfect man is one of the significant topics that Islamic philosophy has paid much attention to, as it is one of the internal religious issues. In fact, Islamic philosophy has given it a new nature consistent with its goals. Among the Muslim philosophers, who have paid much attention to this subject, were al-Sheikh al-Ra'ees and Sadruddeen al-Shirazi. Here, we will try, through the rational analytical approach, to study their opinion about the matter. Al-Sheikh al-Ra'ees sees that perfect man is one who has perfect theoretical power by obtaining acquired intellect, and has perfect practical power by obtaining justice. In addition to this, one, who had the prophetic feature, he would be the most perfect man ever. As for Sadrul-Muta'allihin, perfect man is one who has reached actuality in all levels of the self, that are sense, imagination and reason. Only prophets and infallible peoples have all these three actualities altogether. He also sees that perfect man is the cause for the creation of the upper and lower world, and by knowing him, perfection is attained by human beings, and their existential rank is highly confirmed. Al-Sheikh al-Ra'ees and Sadrul-Muta'allihin both believe that the human community's attainment of perfection and getting to the ultimate purpose is only possible through the presence of a perfect man, whether a prophet or an infallible one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the scholastic approach to the intensity of complexions and presents some evidence as to how the meaning of complexio evolved in fourteenth-century Italian medicine: namely, how it was conceptualized, visualized, and finally quantified. In the first part, I summarize the philosophical development of complexio, pointing out how the concept differs from simple mixtures, thereby allowing for the mathematisation of compounds and their intensity. I then move on to consider the links between medicine and mathematics and present the schemes provided by Gentile Gentili da Foligno (1280/90 - 1348) as a case study, analysing their philosophical premises and implications for medical treatment more generally. In the final part, I argue that, quite aside from representing early forms of the mathematisation of qualities, schemata and diagrams also captured the medieval ideal of the cosmos, a hierarchical progression of forms ordered in ascending degrees of perfection and nobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian Soteriology is a process of self-realization and God realization, as it presupposes the fundamental innate divine nature of humans. Wich remains unrealized due to some metaphysical error (avidyā) but nevertheless be brought to realization through strenuous self-efforts. In no way the futility of divine grace is presupposed but it said to be made active by attaining adequate level of ethical and spiritual perfection. This anticipated state of perfection can be considered as a unique spiritual identity. The essay attempts to succinctly highlight the Vedic and Yogic contemplative tradition which is said to be a process ad intra in order to realize the inner essence, the atman which needs to be complemented by another process of ad extra, leading the seeker to brahman realization. The spiritual engineering embedded in Yoga tradition consisting of breathing exercises (prāna-yāma) and energy centre (chakra) meditations are dealt with as an example of initial praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IUG Journal of Islamic Studies is the property of Islamic University of Gaza and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of REMAH Journal is the property of Research & Development of Human Recourses Center (REMAH) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Itobiad: Journal of the Human & Social Science Researches / İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of Itobiad: Journal of the Human & Social Science Researches and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Taibah University Arts & Humanities is the property of Association of Arab Universities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research focus on studying the continuous aspect in comparison to the perfect aspect in the verb tense, and studies its application to the Qur’anic text. The continuous verb is not studied as a fourth form of the verb (past, present and imperative), but instead it is applied to all of these forms. Each of these forms can be perfect at times, and continuous at other times, depending on the context in which it is mentioned, as the context is what determines the significance of the verb whether it was perfect or continuous. In this research, the past tense was chosen only, in order to indicate the aspect of continuity in it and apply it to examples from the Holy Qur’an to indicate the state of transformation in this verb from the supposed perfection to continuity, as well as showing the possible indications that result from the continuous aspect acquired by the verb due to the context in which it came. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the Specht ideal of a two-rowed partition is perfect over an arbitrary field, provided that the characteristic is either zero or bounded below by the size of the second row of the partition, and we show this lower bound is tight. We also establish perfection and other properties of certain variants of Specht ideals, and find a surprising connection to the weak Lefschetz property. Our results, in particular, give a self-contained proof of Cohen–Macaulayness of certain h-equals sets, a result previously obtained by Etingof–Gorsky–Losev over the complex numbers using rational Cherednik algebras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we argue that certain behaviour connected to the attempt to attain contemporary female body ideals in Denmark can be understood as an act of achievement and, thus, as an embodiment of the culture of achievement, as it is characterised in Præstationssamfundet, written by the Danish sociologist Anders Petersen (2016) Hans Reitzels Forlag. Arguing from cultural psychological and sociological standpoints, this article examines how the human body functions as a mediational tool in different ways from which the individual communicates both moral and aesthetic sociocultural ideals and values. Complex processes of embodiment, we argue, can be described with different levels of internalisation, externalisation and materialisation, where the body functions as a central mediator. Analysing the findings from a qualitative experimental study on contemporary body ideals carried out by the Danish psychologists Josefine Dilling and Maja Trillingsgaard, this article seeks to anchor such theoretical claims in central empirical findings. The main conclusions from the study are used to structure the article and build arguments on how expectations and ideals expressed in an achievement society become embodied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Smirnov and Wait (2021) , an iterative method is devised to identify subgame-perfect equilibrium outcomes of timing games. This note shows by simple examples that the identification is in fact neither necessary nor sufficient. The main issue is that the method does not fully reflect the requirements of subgame perfection, so there is a conceptual and not just a technical problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the highest good plays a vital role in Kant's moral theism. However, as many scholars suggest, Kant's own texts about the very concept can be interpreted in different ways, some of which may imply that the practical postulate of God is not necessary for the realization of the highest good. In this paper, I argue, on the contrary, that within the framework of Kant's philosophy, no matter how we interpretate the concept of the highest good, the practical postulate of God is necessary for the realization of it. The combination of virtue and happiness, let alone their perfect and exact proportionality, both for individuals and for the world as a whole, is not possible without such a postulate of God, since for Kant, virtue and happiness, as radically different elements of the highest good, are governed by different laws and true virtue can only be discerned by God. Nevertheless, this by no means entails that atheists, those who do not believe in God, cannot or should not strive for virtue and moral perfection anymore. As long as one is committed to the moral law and acts as the law commands, he can substantially contribute to realizing the highest good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a later period, this was more complex as Christians formed in and out groups around different kinds of resurrection beliefs, along the lines of orthodoxy and heresy. In the second phase, scholars traces the debates about the resurrection that Christians were having in the second to fourth centuries CE, between the two major types, the spiritual resurrection and the resurrection of the flesh. Does the Pharisaic, Qumran, or perhaps early tannaitic material on the resurrection offer similar perspectives about identity, integrity, functionality, and aesthetics as the New Testament texts?. [Extracted from the article]

Some believe that Mulavi's influence on Attar is so great that they consider Masnavi to be completely influenced by Attar's works in terms of form, format, and anecdotes. For this reason, this study seeks to introduce the attraction and rapture and show the common features of these two mystics in this regard. In the mystics' thought, attraction is a special gift given to man by God. Although in mystical thought, mystics invite people to a continuous effort to reach spiritual perfection, in their views, effort without grace (providence) is fruitless. Many eminent and influential Sufis have given originality and importance to the effort and struggle of the seeker and considered rapture and grace as secondary. Some other great mystics such as Molana and Attar consider attraction as the principle and believe that if there is no attraction, the seeker's effort will not lead anywhere. The obtained results indicate that Mulavi and Attar have a greater desire for rapture in order to complete the mystic's religion and sharia and to reach God. They have many features in common in this respect. And in their view, the seeker's efforts are necessary only to the extent that they let the light of rapture shine on the seeker and the seeker reaches the goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology / Shehui is the property of Society: Chinese Journal of Sociology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article philosophically explicates the relationship between personhood and moral recognition in African ethics. Specifically, it reveals the two distinct forms of moral recognition associated with personhood. It conceptualises moral recognition in terms of recognition and appraisal respect. To clarify the relationship between personhood and moral recognition, it makes three interventions. Firstly, it draws a distinction between the normative concept of personhood and the ethics of personhood. The normative concept of personhood specifies the final good of character perfection (virtue) and the ethics of personhood refers to a moral theory comprising (1) the fact of being human, (2) a theory of human dignity (or, moral status) and (3) the final good of virtue, the former is one component of the latter. Secondly, it indicates two aspects of value constitutive of the ethics of personhood - human dignity (or, moral status) and virtue (normative notion of personhood). Finally, it associates the aspect of human dignity with the primary form of moral recognition — recognition respect and it associates virtue with the secondary form of moral recognition — appraisal respect. The major insight of this article is to alert us of the primacy of human dignity in the ethics of personhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a new interpretation of Aristotle's ambiguous and much-discussed claim that pleasure perfects activity (NE x.4). This interpretation provides an alternative to the two main competing readings of this claim in the scholarship: the addition-view, which envisages the perfection conferred by pleasure as an extra perfection beyond the perfection of activity itself; and the identity-view, according to which pleasure just is the perfect activity itself. The proposed interpretation departs from both these views in rejecting their assumption that pleasure cannot perfect the activity itself, and argues that pleasure makes activity perfect by optimising the exercise of one's capacities for that activity. Those who build or play music with pleasure do so better than those who do not delight in these activities. The basis of this interpretation is Aristotle's little-read remarks from the following chapter, i. e. NE x.5, about how pleasure "increases" the activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]