ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS最新文献

{"title":"Wittgensteinʼs and Borgesʼ Labyrinth-Imagery","authors":"Richard Mcdonough","doi":"10.30958/AJHA.5-4-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/AJHA.5-4-3","url":null,"abstract":"The paper discusses Wittgensteinʼs labyrinth-imagery in the Philosophical Investigations and Zettel in the light of ancient Greek labyrinth-story of Theseusʼ escape from the labyrinth and Borgesʼlabyrinth-stories. The paper argues that considerable light is shed on several unappreciated dimensions of Wittgensteinʼs later philosophy by these religious and literary labyrinth-stories. The paper argues that Wittgensteinʼs labyrinth-imagery is connected with other important dimensions of his later philosophy, including his imagery of the emergence of linguistic order (meaning) from chaos in paragraph 608 of Zettel, his imagery of philosophy as a journey in Preface to the Philosophical Investigations, his insistence on the need for courage in philosophizing, his view that language arises out of animal instincts, and his Socratic comments that philosophy must be brought \"down to earth.\" It is also argued that whereas an escape from the labyrinth, via \"Ariadneʼs thread,\" is possible in the ancient labyrinth story, Wittgenstein, with Borges and Kafka, holds that no escape from the modern labyrinth is possible. The story of Wittgensteinʼs and Borgesʼ and Kafkaʼs modern labyrinths is more pessimistic than the ancient story. Modern human beings must simply learn to live in the labyrinth. Understanding the literary roots of Wittgensteinʼs labyrinthimagery illuminates his later philosophy and his conception of philosophizing. Although there is no intention to deny Wittgensteinʼs strong links to linguistic or analytical philosophy, the paper argues that Wittgensteinʼs thought is far more informed by the existential concerns of human life than is generally recognized. 1","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130451901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"Adaptation\" or \"Appropriation\": Re-narrating the Victorian Past as an Ethical Decision","authors":"Aleksandra Tryniecka","doi":"10.30958/ajha/v5i4.5-4-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/ajha/v5i4.5-4-5","url":null,"abstract":"In the postmodern era, Kevin OʼDonnell positions, \"[o]ur generation is more ironically self-aware than any previous one. We realize that we are children of our time, and we play with ideas and styles from other eras quite deliberately.\" Hence, the progressing Victorian revival accentuates the modern \"play with the past\" but also, first and foremost, manifests the validity of historical recollection in the present-day era. While postmodernism conflicts with the idea of the central, unified historical narrative, it celebrates \"non-linear, expressive and supra-rational discourses.\" Therefore, the resurrected interest in the Victorian era introduces into the post-Victorian landscape the so-far marginalized or obliterated nineteenth-century narratives. While concentrating on the literary dimension of the neo-Victorian phenomena, I present the multifaceted approaches to narrating the Victorian past. Thus, in my paper, I strive to account for the difference between the terms: \"adaptation\" and \"appropriation\" of the literary past. Simultaneously, I offer an alternative term: domestication of the past. Likewise, I investigate into the reasons for re-introducing the nineteenth-century into the modern consciousness. On the whole, my paper examines the neoVictorian literary phenomena as an ethical, deliberate and conscious choice to retell the past anew. What such a revival entails is not only the possibility of approximating the past to the current frame of socio-cultural reference, but also the hazard of reducing the Victorian era to a mere nostalgia. Moreover, as I strive to present, the so-called \"Victorian values\" are often turned into an umbrellaterm for an ideologised rhetoric, while \"Victorian nostalgia\" serves as a pretext for writing innumerable neo-Victorian \"bestsellers.\" Hence, I examine the process of \"commodification\" of the past in the postmodern era. My research is based on such critical works as: Heidi Hanssonʼs Romance Revived: Postmodern Romances and the Tradition, Louisa Hadleyʼs Neo-Victorian Fiction and Historical Narrative: The Victorians and Us or Ann Heilmann and Mark Lewellynʼs Neo-Victorianism: The Victorians in the Twenty-First Century, 1999-2009. Moreover, I discuss the techniques of reviving the Victorian past in the works of such modern writers as Syrie James and James Wilson.","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126568697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): A Retrospective","authors":"D. Kushner","doi":"10.30958/AJHA.5-4-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/AJHA.5-4-1","url":null,"abstract":"Of the three stalwart Soviet composers who had achieved international fame during the reign of Josef Stalin, namely Sergey Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian, it was the latter who most consistently exemplified the tenets of Soviet Realism. As 2018 marks the fortieth anniversary of his passing, it is a fortuitous time to reflect on his music and take note of how it may be assessed from the vantage point of hindsight. The stunning international success of a single number, the \"Sabre Dance,\" from his ballet, Gayane (1942), might have marked Khachaturian as a one-hit marvel after it was popularized in a uniquely \"low-brow\" American manner. It served, e.g., as the accompaniment to plate-spinning entertainers on the Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV. The complete ballet, however, and the three suites extracted from it, achieved, along with other works by the Armenian musician, acclaim from the political gurus on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The works of the student years were considerable (more than fifty) and already suggest the individual styles with which he later became associated. Khachaturianʼs compositions encompass such genres as the symphony, the concerto, film scores, incidental music to plays, band music, vocal and choral compositions (including such patriotic efforts as Poem on Stalin and Ballad about the Motherland), and, what might be regarded as a sequel to the three earlier concertos for piano, violin, and cello, viz, the Concerto-Rhapsody for violin and orchestra (1961), the Concerto-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra (1963), and the Concerto-Rhapsody for piano and orchestra (1968). His final works moved in a somewhat austere direction, certainly unlike the full-blown soloorchestral music with which he is associated; they feature the Sonata-fantaziya for solo cello (1974), the Sonatamonolog for solo violin (1975), and the Sonata-pesnya for solo viola (1976). Although he was widely honored by the Soviet regime, one aspect of which was the incorporation of a state policy known as Socialist Realism in 1932 under the Georgian dictator, Josef Stalin, Khachaturian ran afoul of the so-called Zhdanov Doctrine, a cultural decree which, supportive of Soviet Realism, promoted the idea that the common man was at the center of Soviet life and, consequently, his humanity should be the central focus of all artistic works. This study treats the stylistic propensities of Aram Khachaturian from his student works to his final creations, examines the political influences of his country on his life and esthetic sensibilities (he was a true believer in Communist ideology), and provides evidence that, as the post-Zhdanov years rolled along, and as his works, with their fascinating mix of Eastern and Western tendencies, came to be seen as worthy of renewed interest, the composer of the once-infamous \"Sabre Dance\" is experiencing a musical reawakening. As a result, a series of posthumous honors and distinctions have been bestowed upon him embraci","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131179897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing the Legal English Skills of Italian Lawyers in a Perspective of Lifelong Learning - The EFLIT End-of-course Exam and University Testing: An Attempt to Cater for Real World Needs","authors":"Anila R. Scott-Monkhouse","doi":"10.30958/AJHA.5-3-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/AJHA.5-3-5","url":null,"abstract":"In 2006 the Law Faculty of Parma University (Italy) launched EFLIT (English for Law and International Transactions), a postgraduate training project for professionals in the fields of Law and Economics aimed to improve both their language and legal skills by combining a linguistic (i.e. English for Law) and a content focus (i.e. Law in English). Since then EFLIT has developed into a national project and obtained recognition by professional associations for accreditation purposes in continuous education. This has called for a valid, reliable, standardised end-of-course test which assesses the level reached by participants and is \"authentic,\" i.e. reflects their real needs for English and translates their competence into actual performance. The EFLIT teaching staff carried out a survey in order to identify the participantsʼ specific requirements, and design an exam suitable for both lawyers and accountants and tailored to the needs of professionals working in Italy. The present study outlines the new format of the exam based on the results of the survey, in an attempt to bring together language assessment principles and the participantsʼ professional needs, and compares it to the universityʼs internal test to verify to what extent the latter matches the requirements of the studentsʼ future profession.","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"82 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128277262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Threepenny Opera: A Directorʼs Take on an Unconventional Musical","authors":"Sidney R. Homan","doi":"10.30958/AJHA.5-3-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/AJHA.5-3-3","url":null,"abstract":"After placing \"The Threepenny Opera\" within the context of the evolution of the musical comedy from light entertainment to serving as a mirror for the issues of society, the director recounts his own experience staging the Brecht/Weill musical in terms of its metadramatic statement, the paradox of its self-effacing nature coupled with serious political issues, the role of its audience at once engaged and disengaged, the function of its unconventional score, and the work as reflecting the larger world offstage. His production draws and comments on stagings of this unconventional musical over the past eighty years.","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124847779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gaze of the Medusa: The Defeat of Hillary Clinton","authors":"Victoria Clebanov, B. Kravitz","doi":"10.30958/AJHA.5-3-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/AJHA.5-3-2","url":null,"abstract":"This essay ventures a post-election reflection on the significance of Clintonʼs defeat by addressing its emblematic representation as Medusaʼs decapitation by the triumphant Perseus. It is not a coincidence, we argue, that Clinton triggered in public imagination the odious image of Medusa, the epitome of female monstrosity of all [patriarchal] times, while Trumpʼs imagery of his rival articulated the ancient angst of man: the fear of woman as a mirror of manʼs own monstrosity, the inability to tolerate ambiguity embedded in woman, the envy of incapacity to create life (\"uterus envy\"). Thus, Trumpʼs experience of Clinton as Medusa echoes manʼs experience of powerful/ creative woman as a monstrously threatening reminder of his own narcissistic discontents. It also unravels manʼs need to demonize Medusa by victimization and then re-victimize her by demonization. Just as Medusa herself, an innocent beautiful maiden from Ovidʼs story, converts into a petrifying mirror of manʼs own monstrosity, so does the representation of Clinton and Clintonʼs defeat becomes a mirror through which an invisible lens of misogyny manifests itself.","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132384631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Dramatic Difference Between Epictetus and other Stoics in the Frequency of Use of the Terms \"Hegemonic\" and \"Proairesis\"","authors":"F. Scalenghe","doi":"10.30958/AJHA.5-3-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/AJHA.5-3-4","url":null,"abstract":"The comparative analysis of the frequency of use of the term \"proairesis\" with respect to the term \"hegemonic\" in the \"Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta,\" the \"Meditations\" of Marcus Aurelius and the \"Discourses and Manual\" of Epictetus, shows a striking discrepancy between the choice of Epictetus and that of the other Stoics. The results of the present research favor the conclusion that such dramatic difference has an exquisitely philosophical root. This root can be traced back to the highly original and convincing arguments provided by Epictetus and that allow us to define the human being as a creature equipped by nature not only with a \"hegemonic,\" as all other living creatures are; but equipped by nature with the \"proairesis,\" that is with the special faculty of the hegemonic that characterizes human nature thanks to its ability to recognize the nature of things.","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131882837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"Not Three Gods, but One\" – Why Reductionism Does Not Serve Our Theological Discourse","authors":"Finley Issac Lawson","doi":"10.30958/AJHA.6-1-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30958/AJHA.6-1-5","url":null,"abstract":"The triune nature of God is one of the most complex doctrines of Christianity, and its complexity is further compounded when one considers the incarnation. However, many of the difficulties and paradoxes associated with our idea of the divine arise from our adherence to reductionist ontology. I will argue that in order to move our theological discourse forward, in respect to divine and human nature, a holistic interpretation of our profession of faith is necessary. The challenge of a holistic interpretation is that it questions our ability to make any statement about the genuine, ontological individuation of persons (both divine and human), and in doing so raises the issue of whether we are, ontologically, bound to descend in to a form of pan(en)theism. In order to address the “inevitable” slide in to pan(en)theism I will examine the impact of two forms of holistic interpretation, Boolean and Non-Boolean, on our concept of personhood. Whilst a Boolean interpretation allows for a greater understanding of the relational nature of the Trinity, it is the Non-Boolean interpretation which has greater ontological significance. A Non-Boolean ontology, grounded in our scientific understanding of the nature of the world, shows our quest for individuation rests not in ontological fact but in epistemic need, and that it is our limited epistemology that drives our need to divide that which is ontologically indivisible. Whilst this ontological shift may be necessary, it raises questions about how divine-human relations are to be understood, and I conclude by examining some possible solutions.","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125484744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Weaving Words and Music: Fostering a Meaningful Intercultural Exchange through Music Composition","authors":"M. Haupert","doi":"10.21125/EDULEARN.2016.0364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21125/EDULEARN.2016.0364","url":null,"abstract":"\"Weaving Words and Music,\" is the product of a year-long study funded by Viterbo Universityʼs D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership. The study included faculty research and a course-embedded music composition, which broadened studentsʼ understanding of global conflict by incorporating personal experiences of Palestinians living in Bethlehem. Music theory students read human stories of Palestinians caught in conflict from the Arab Educational Instituteʼs publication, \"The Wall Museum,\". The studentsʼ compositions were part of a Humanities Symposium that significantly impacted and deepened student learning. The benefits and outcomes of this meaningful endeavor are the focus of this paper. 1","PeriodicalId":325459,"journal":{"name":"ATHENS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & ARTS","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130017140","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}