Search Results (35)

This article examines Wittgenstein’s wartime private notebooks (MS 101–103), shifting attention from his philosophical reflections on religion and prayer to the abundance of written addresses to God found within the coded sections. Wittgenstein’s well-known assertion that “to pray means to think about the meaning of life” is juxtaposed with direct invocations of God and the Spirit, including the Pater Noster and prayers for courage and submission to the divine will. These invocations, accompanied by strokes or varied long em dashes framed by dots or exclamation marks which Martin Pilch has hypothesized to be symbolic representations of prayers—invite further reflection. Wittgenstein’s religious utterances are not merely outpourings of anguish, but manifestations of a sustained effort to align both life and work with the will of God, and to offer them for His glory. A compelling illustration of this spiritual orientation appears in M. O’C. Drury’s recollection of Wittgenstein’s declaration that his only wish was for his work to conform to the divine will. The interplay between philosophical inquiry and prayer evokes the Confessions of Saint Augustine, a spirit present throughout Wittgenstein’s work. Augustine’s integration of prayer and confession has similarly inspired 20th-century thinkers such as Jacques Derrida and Jean-François Lyotard. These Augustinian traces challenge conventional understandings of language and its limits, as well as the role of written language and punctuation, demanding a profound hermeneutics of the philosopher’s prayer. Full article

Background/Objectives: To avoid becoming mired in prolonged deep dementia, some people seek to hasten death by advance instructions rejecting life-sustaining medical intervention (LSMI) at a point of cognitive decline they define in advance as unacceptable. When the time comes to implement such advance instructions and to allow the person in advanced dementia to die, many clinicians experience moral and ethical qualms. The decision makers face a clash between people’s legally recognized self-determination prerogative to control their post-competence medical fate and the decision makers’ conviction that humane treatment dictates sustaining the well-being, i.e., the physical “best interests,” of the patient who no longer recalls prior instructions grounded in concerns about personal dignity. The authors’ objective here is to provide guidance in resolving this anguishing dilemma confronting medical decision makers. Methods: The authors construct and analyze a case scenario involving a patient in a state of advanced dementia with a clear advance instruction rejecting LSMI at the current point of debilitation, but who is not ostensibly suffering, is experiencing a modicum of life satisfaction, and is making life-affirming utterances. The two lead authors present contrasting views on whether legal and moral factors impel the implementation of the advance directive rejecting treatment or rather dictate life-sustaining medical intervention. Results: At this early stage of jurisprudence involving persons in advanced dementia, there can be no definitive resolution of the difficult legal/moral clash confronting decision makers. Some sources would conclude that persons are legally entitled to define precipitous mental decline and complete dependence on others as intolerably undignified and inconsistent with their self-defined life narrative. Other sources would be guided by humane respect for the contemporary well-being of a non-suffering patient, especially one making life-affirming utterances. Conclusion: Through the lens of this illuminating case and contrasting analyses, readers should better understand how clinicians should weigh advance directives against shifting care preferences subsequently articulated by persons with advanced dementia. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in countless losses around the world, profoundly affecting the lives of many people, especially those who faced the death of family members, bringing several negative repercussions to these families and constraining the experience of grief. This study aimed to understand the experience of loss and grief among bereaved individuals who lost family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study was guided by Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory as a methodological framework. The study adhered to the Criteria for REporting Qualitative research (COREQ) checklist. Data collection took place between May and November 2023 through telephone interviews that were audio-recorded and later transcribed in full. The purposive sample consisted of 21 bereaved family members who had lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were mainly female (n = 16) with a mean age of 55.5 (SD = 16.2). The loss of their family members occurred 12 to 24 months before data collection. The following central phenomenon was identified through the analytical process: “Family experience of loss and grief: between the unspoken goodbye and post-loss adjustment”. This was anchored in the following three categories: (1) Anguish and fear of the unknown; (2) Death by COVID-19—communication of death and lack of goodbyes; and (3) (Re)construction of meaning—support networks and the grieving process. Our findings recommend that policymakers allocate additional resources to grief support services to better prepare for future pandemic events. Furthermore, it is necessary to invest in the implementation of relevant training programs for healthcare professionals, with a family centered approach. Full article

“Heretic” is commonly understood as a perspectival term employed by insiders to describe a specific kind of outsider, namely, one who, not only holds to seriously objectionable positions, but having been one of us, should know better. Accordingly, “heretic religiosity” denotes for members of the mother religion a dissenting form of religiosity that deviates too sharply from their own to be contained within it. Michael Walzer’s well-known idea of connected criticism, to which this paper’s title alludes, is a person who firmly opposes his community’s way of life, but chooses to remain within the fold. The type of religious heresy I shall be looking at in the following pages not only chooses to remain within, but is contained within the fold. And not only that, but it is actually formative of the fold. But in that case, why should it be considered heretical? Full article

Physical functional impairment generates pain, fear and anguish, impacting the activities of daily living (ADLs) of older adults (OAs); The background was to design an instrument that can measure pain in OA living with pain. Methods: mixed analytical and cross-sectional study in two non-probabilistic samples: 15 experts in the care of OAs and 185 OAs from day homes in three municipalities of the State of Mexico. The instruments used included an integrated scale of 30 items, elaborated with the Delphi technique over three rounds, and the Scale for Measuring Pain in Older Adults (SMPOA), with 30 items divided into four factors. An analysis was conducted using content validity ratios and the Lawshe´s method adapted by Tristán for qualitative studies, with a minimum of 0.87 and a maximum of 1.0. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to structure the underlying factors into a data matrix, addressing the relationships between a set of variables, and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to validate the scale using the main axis method and rotation via Quartimax with Kaiser normalisation. Results: proposal of a scale to measure pain in MA (EMEDAM). Conclusion: the adapted scale assesses sensory and affective intensity and the influence on the ADLs and can be used in OAs living with acute or chronic pain. Full article

Purpose: The impact of ethical leadership on employee emotional exhaustion has been extensively analyzed. However, the impact of a leader’s moral intensity on an employee’s emotional state has gone largely unnoticed. This research demonstrates that ethical leadership influences employee emotional exhaustion as a function of the extent of the leader’s moral standards. Furthermore, this research finds that affective commitment acts as a mediating mechanism. Methods: A simple mediation model is used. The sample consists of 448 professionals in six organizations in the Colombian electrical sector who responded to an online questionnaire. The sampling is probabilistic by conglomerates. Findings: This research found a positive relationship between ethical leadership and emotional exhaustion, with affective commitment being a mechanism that helps explain this association. Ethical behavior is voluntary in nature and develops in an environment of trust. When an ethical leader surpasses specific moral turning points, a follower’s learning becomes an obligation, preventing affective fluidity. A search for acceptance implies constant consumption of resources that weakens the follower’s capacity for self-regulation until it is exhausted. Moreover, when the leader’s expectations are difficult to meet, affective commitment can lead to significant emotional ambiguity in followers. This context intensifies role stress and increases the likelihood of emotional exhaustion. Lastly, seniority in the workplace promotes emotional exhaustion. Originality: This research challenges conventional wisdom about the mitigating effect of ethical leadership on employees’ emotional states. It broadens the understanding of this management style and fills a crucial knowledge gap by introducing a new perspective. Practical Implications: A balanced and accessible leader can quickly convey a convincing ethical discourse. Emphasizing the vulnerability and importance of human beings can help prevent moral anguish and ethical distances. This, in turn, provides followers with resources to mitigate exhaustion and strengthen commitment. Full article

The aim of this article is to approach the epistemology of revelation through the approach of political anthropology. It departs from Max Weber’s distinction between ordinary and out-of-the-ordinary situations, which led to his idea of charismatic power. This article complements the Weberian perspective by introducing the anthropological term “liminality” for such situations, as well as the term “trickster” for figures who have a specific affinity for appearing in such situations, creating havoc instead of offering a solution. Ordinary knowledge does not apply to liminal void situations of incommensurability; incommensurable knowledge can be gained by magic and religion. Magic forces the transcendent and claims to produce effects, while religion is based on revealed knowledge, the validity of which is established by trust. Under particularly anguishing liminal conditions, the hardly tolerated practitioners of magic might gain positions of power. An important such example is offered by Persian Magi. Turning to the present, modern rationalism, with Bacon and Descartes, undermined both ordinary and revealed knowledge. The possible relevance of revealed knowledge in contemporary times is discussed through the related phenomena of apocalyptic expectations and Marian apparitions. Full article

The psychoanalytic explanation of religious sentiment is genetic, meaning that it probes the psychological processes behind the formation of such sentiment. Freud ascribed the genesis of religious sentiment to human infantile helplessness and ambivalence towards the father. This explanation encounters a dilemma when confronted with the sense of completeness and infinity in religious sentiment and fails to address components related to death, such as the transcendent and surmounting nature of the believer’s fear of death. Experience has shown that numerous religious sentiments occur through a process of emotional transformation, from a melancholic state of extreme mental anguish to a state of blissful, complete joy. This process, from a psychogenetic perspective, is essentially a defense of the self-preservation impulse. In this transformation, the ego removes chronic suffering by identifying itself with the superego. Therefore, the ego undergoes a symbolic death, through which it regains the energy of life. Full article

β-(1,3/1,4)-glucan is a major component of cereal grains, such as oats and barley. In this study, we investigated the effects of cooked waxy barley, which contains β-(1,3/1,4)-glucan, on upper respiratory tract physical symptoms and mood status by performing a randomized, parallel-group, comparative trial. The primary outcome was assessed using the Wisconsin Upper Respiratory Symptom Survey-21 and Profile of Mood States second edition. Twenty-seven healthy Japanese adult participants were supplemented with 100 g of cooked waxy barley (containing 1.8 g of β-glucan) or 100 g of cooked white rice daily for 8 weeks. Participants receiving cooked waxy barley reported a reduction in cumulative days of sneezing (p < 0.05) and feeling tired (p < 0.0001) compared with the control group. After the intervention period, there were significantly less severe nasal symptoms, such as runny nose, plugged nose, and sneezing (p < 0.05), and a significantly greater reduction of the Tension-Anguish score (p < 0.05) in the barley group than in the control group. This study suggests that supplementation of cooked waxy barley containing β-(1,3/1,4)-glucan prevents or alleviates nasal upper respiratory tract symptoms and improves mood status. The findings of this study should be confirmed by double-blind trials with a larger number of participants. Full article

Recent scholarship on Yorùbá theology that has tried to model it after the Abrahamic monotheisms as the distinction between Ọ̀run rere (Heaven) and Ọ̀run àpáàdì (Hell) is now replete but has not, before now, commanded critical scrutiny. Specifically, the works of Ogunnade, Odebolu, Shittu and Odeyemi have argued for a Yorùbá notion of Hell even when there is no evidence for such in the theology and traditional practices of the peoples. The aim of this research, then, is to correct this unreliable and uncharitable misrepresentation of Yorùbá theology. To achieve this aim, this research employs the Kawaida methodology, which thrives on reason and tradition. In reinforcing its stance, this study relies on the sacred ritual archive of the Yorùbá, which is the Ifá corpus, to establish the absence of any form of Ọ̀run àpáàdì, as a place of eternal anguish and suffering for evil doers among the Yorùbá. Full article

Fish-process wastewater industries are a significant source of environmental pollutions and biohazard to humans and other living organisms due to suspended organics, phosphorus, and nitrate that causes environmental damage. In this study, the treatment of two types of fish wastewater was examined by applying chemical and physical methods. The chemical treatments using positive polyelectrolyte with a concentration of 25 ppm reduced the turbidity of fish wastewater by 50%; conductivity was reduced by 50% and pH was reduced from 8 to 7.2. Meanwhile, using negative polyelectrolyte and mixed polymers reduced the turbidity of fish wastewater by 30%. For applying natural material as a physical adsorbent, several natural materials were examined: ocimum leaves, Boswellia sacra leaves, Al-Shakher leaves, tephrosia leaves, neem leaves, mentha leaves, jand peel, neem wood, ocimum fruit, olive fruit peel, and palm anguish for the treatment of the fish wastewater. The initial tests indicated that the best material was palm anguish. FTIR, SEM, and EDS were used for the characterization of palm anguish. The selected material was treated with 1 M of NaOH solution. Different bed heights (10, 20, and 30 cm) of Palm anguish were applied. The results showed 80% and 85% reduction in the turbidity in both types of fish wastewater, especially with a bed height of 30 cm of the fish wastewater treated with NaOH, respectively. Notably, this study distinguishes itself by utilizing polyacrylamide flocculants of varying densities and by employing palm anguish as a natural adsorbent, which can sufficiently improve the treatment of fish-processing wastewater. Full article

This study investigates the impact of mobile social networking applications in the organisation of protest movements by examining how protesters documented their participation during the 2020 #EndSARS protests as well as evaluating the themes that emerged from online activists’ tweets during the 2022 #EndSARSMemorial2 protests in Nigeria. Data for this study was obtained from a survey conducted in 2020 during the protests in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria (N = 391), and a qualitative content analysis of tweets and replies (N = 67,691) from the 2022 #EndSARSMemorial2 protest in Nigeria. Results show that there is a substantial relationship between how protesters document their participation and their day of joining the protest. Findings also demonstrate that protesters used social media platforms accessed via mobile phones to display their anger and anguish, imprecate the authorities, and rouse solidarity contagion, which ignited a memorial march for fallen activists in Nigeria. Finally, data illustrate that activists in Nigeria use these successive memorial protests to sustain the #EndSARS protest movements and their demands. Full article

This article aims to overcome the prevailing philosophical views that understand evil from an ontological or metaphysical perspective through the reconciliation of being or God with the presence of evil in the world. In this sense, the phenomenological approach offers an adequate and renewed process to rethink the phenomenon of evil. To this end, I will show how the ontological treatment of evil as a deprivation of good corresponds neither to the way evil appears in experience nor to the recognition of the evidence of evil as a positive and effective reality that empirically rules and distorts relations within the world. This ontological consideration also fails to account for the transcendence of evil in its excessive condition, since this excess constitutes it as a phenomenon of radical exteriority to consciousness. Moreover, the overbearing and surprising presence of evil in the world demands from conscience a special spiritual penetration that does not justify evil, but rather exposes and condemns it. This can only be carried out in the disposition of the living to resist evil and to remain in the sphere of ethical difference, which consists of living in the good and for the good through the eradication of evil. Full article

In recent years, the rise of social networks has changed relationships and lifestyles around the world. This has led to the emergence of the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), which consists of the need to constantly check social media and the anguish that comes from feeling a lack of rewarding experiences. The impact derived from the use of technologies in a digital environment has been widely studied in young people but not so much in older adults. The main aim of this study was to analyze FoMO levels in older adults and their relationships with sociodemographic and formative factors. Another aim of this study was to analyze whether the dimensions of emotional intelligence, the different forms of attachment and psychological symptomatology affect the FoMO levels of older adults. A total of 690 older adults from Argentina aged between 60 and 90 years (M = 69.01; SD = 5.48) participated, 54.5% of whom were women, responding using a geolocated online questionnaire. The main results confirmed that older people show FoMO levels similar to other general samples. In addition, results show several predictor variables with respect to FoMO: emotional attention, insecure attachment, depression and difficulties in interpersonal relationships. The implications of the results observed in older adults are discussed. Full article

Dislocation, expatriation, and the attendant loss of homeland are concerns at the heart of Jewish literature. The dialectical relationship between identity and the sense of homeland informing the Jewish diasporic consciousness, in particular, has often culminated in nostalgic depictions of Israel in post-war American Jewish literature. In focusing on such a literary representation, this essay unravels the multidimensionality of diasporic Jewish identity. Critically analyzing Nicole Krauss’s Forest Dark (2017), it evaluates the trauma of exile and the psychic dilemma of third-generation American Jewish writers. The novelist brings about a confluence of nostos and nostalgia in Forest Dark. In evoking the visceral sense of loss, dislocation, and a painful yearning for the lost homeland, the author succeeds in tracing the lives of two protagonists, Jules Epstein, a retired New York lawyer, and Nicole, a Jewish American novelist struggling with a deep marital crisis. The text foregrounds the theme of self-discovery exemplified in the homecoming of its two central characters. Following his parents’ death and haunted by the anguish and horror of the Shoah, Jules unmoors himself from his current life and flies to Tel Aviv on a whim. Nicole, who suffers from creative blockage on account of her failing marriage, undertakes the trip to Tel Aviv hoping to recover from her soul-sickness, as it were. If Jules and Nicole do not cross paths, it still remains that their Jewish identities stem from the originary tragedy of the Holocaust. Although removed from the horrific sights and scenes of the tragic event, intergenerational trauma resonates with certain aspects of the diasporic Jewish existence. Using theoretical interventions of memory studies and the Freudian concept of Unheimlich or the uncanny, this essay explores the ethical implications that undergird Nicole Krauss’s diasporic depiction of Israel. Full article