Paradox

This paper examines spontaneous construction of new housing in Obuasi, the largest gold mining town in Ghana after its closure in 2014. Obuasi has become spatially different as more new luxury houses have been developed by the former miners over a relatively short period without coordination. The paper explores the role of lump sum severance packages received from industrial collapse on housing. Using in-depth interviews with former miners who have built their houses after the mine closure, the reasons for the use of the severance packages to build and thoughts behind the choices of housing typologies have been discussed. This paper established that the former workers built their new houses with their take-home money to overcome the bottlenecks in the formal housing finance market and to fulfil continuity of "good-living" privileges previously enjoyed for working and living in the gold mines. The paper concludes that industrial workers should be provided livelihood options training before they are laid off from their respective employments.

Hanna Trubicka
Between loneliness and solidarity. Around the problems
of subjectivity in later literary critical texts
by Stanisław Barańczak
The issue of subjectivity is raised in the theoretical and critical works
on poetry authored by Barańczak, so to speak, marginally. Despite the
fact, the issue of identity seems to constitute their core subject and is
organically related to other relevant key threads such as, primarily, the
issue of the “ethics of distrust”. Interestingly enough, the ambivalence
of the situation of an individual, — placed somewhere between the individualistic and the community perspective — which is emphasized
by Stanisław Barańczak by making rhetoric figure of paradox particularly privileged — is also expressed in the language in which the critic
describes the problem. His observations come down ultimately to one
thing: a consistent search in different writers for a confirmation of the
assumption on the paradoxical nature and bi-dimensionality of human
existence.

The existentialists, anthropologists, neuropsychologists and cognitivists have explored several aspects of the phenomenological ontology of Being revealing the dialectical complex experience of existing and being conscious of existing. A question remains: what does it mean to feel existing? Our investigation reveals thedistinction between the feeling of existence and the experience of being-in-this-world complexityas both paradoxical and chaotic. We present how the ontic-being feels chaos and deals with this paradox of experienced existing within thesystemic contingency of a timelessness and spacelessness intertwined world. We discover how our modern culture comes to offer an orderly frame of reference adding to a semantic complexity while the actual experience of living creates a feeling of deeper sense of chaotic embeddedness in this world. We discuss the implications of this mode of experienced complexity between paradox and chaos in terms of inner disorder along with a mixed sense of spleen and courage.

“Perhaps not all the stories that follow are true. They could, however, be true, and the Reader is invited to ponder this.” So begins this collection of dialogues, epistles, and imaginary documents illustrating the many philosophical conundrums that hide in the wrinkles of everyday life. Why do mirrors seem to invert left and right but not up and down? How do we know whether strawberries taste the same for everyone? Where is it written that we must observe the law? What if we could swap brains—or the rest of our bodies? Is the train we took today the same we took yesterday? Is everything interesting?

Paradoxes and Their Resolutions. This 'thematic compilation' comprises expositions and resolutions of many (though not all) ancient and modern paradoxes, including: the Protagoras-Euathlus paradox, the Liar paradox and the Sorites paradox, Russell’s paradox and its derivatives the Barber paradox and the Master Catalogue paradox, Grelling’s paradox, Hempel's paradox of confirmation, and Goodman’s paradox of prediction. This volume also presents and comments on some of the antinomic discourse found in some Buddhist texts (namely, in Nagarjuna and in the Diamond Sutra).

This article first describes the central features of human evolution theory. Secondly, Parse's theory is presented through a narrative written as an aid to learning for health professionals. We subsequently review the analysis between teachers and professionals to deepen understanding of this theory as a nursing care methodology.The dialogue between the nurse and her interviewee and the reflections, paradoxes and questions of nursing practice raised by this dialogue are discussed.

There is a common misconception about government's and corporations' missions are in conflict. Although it is not so but more important is what government races with which corporation. The governments that are passive about this economic change demonstrates how it's unprofitable to stay not act upon dynamics of economics thus transitioning into puppet government phase. It is harder to see true intention hidden unless an existence of rebel towards system. In order to profit from new global world without borders, appropriate thing is to join ongoing race and have courage instead of forfeiting. In the scene of history, the governments had never lost their dominance even facing very hard times, but only their plans had been changed. Thinking about the future might be more important than joining ongoing race but it is more lucrative to do both. It requires strong foresight to understand whole picture, analysis along with their past, infiltrating inside instead of responding from outside, most importantly not to get lost and not belong there while in the process of integration. The Trojan Horse goes changing of its name while taking advantage of the struggle in between the governments and their opponents on field of qualified information processing; The transnational corporations.

Resumen La siguiente charla pretende ser una introducción al concepto de "paradoja", su problemática, y, su relevancia en lógica y distintas áreas afines. Nos centraremos en analizar en las paradojas autorreferenciales y su papel en lógica, especialmente se abordará si es condición suficiente o necesaria la presencia de autorreferencia para la paradojicidad.

Modern scholarship maintains the Gospel of John is dualistic. This view is uneasily held as there is a growing move to distance the gospel from the original history-of-religions concept of dualism that reached its peak in the mid-twentieth century with expectations of incipient Gnosticism in John. Instead of further nuancing the dualistic-sounding ideas in John, this essay challenges directly the claim that John is dualistic-and it proposes that what is often understood to be a dualistic metaphysic is actually paradoxical language as part of the Gospel's oral and literary language games. Starting with a survey of how dualism entered into the scholarly purview of John, the essay then turns to the meaning and function of paradox in the ancient world. Since scholars point to John's 'light' and 'darkness' imagery as the most prominent example of dualism, this essay uses the paradox language of 'light' and 'darkness' as a test case to demonstrate how paradox, and not dualism, is a more accurate and historical descriptor for John's communicative strategy.

This paper aims to develop a new a systematic understanding of embeddedness and organization networks. Paper offers an explanation of the links between social structure, micro-behavioral decision-making processes, and economic outcomes within the context of organizational networks. Gathering firsthand ethnographic data on exchange dynamics and comparing actors with direct observations, Uzzi (1997) observed women's better-dress sector of 23 organizations. He found that embeddedness is like a puzzle, can furnish tools for explicating not only organizational but also market processes such as allocative efficiency, economies of time, Pareto-improvements, investment, and complex adaptation.

At the heart of this article is a fairly straightforward assertion: that literature has a trans-verbal level at which it affects us as a work of art. Hence discussing a novel means bringing to the fore not only its overt narrative function but also its covert artistic function: a consideration of the work in light of its aesthetic intention. Following the phenomenological traditions of Roman Ingarden and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I argue that aesthetic intention does not determine the significance of the art object, which is presumed to be dynamic within a spectrum of meanings. Rather, aesthetic intention takes into account the circumstance of the novel having been actuated into form by an " artistic gesture. " This " gesture " is not physical: it is a metaphorical motion referring to the artist's actuation of an aesthetic intention using one or another medium to give an artwork its perceivable form. In painting, this " gesture " can sometimes be traced through a work's visible brushstrokes or formal composition, but in literature such " gestures " can appear beyond the literal text and remain invisible even while they are experienced in the literary work. The conception of such a " gesture " is meant to incorporate the insights of literary and aesthetic theory, along with poststructuralism, in a critique that allows for structural analysis to also pursue a reconstituted significance. What appears below is more a program of the problem than a full treatment of its implications – a stretching of the canvas, so to speak. But I believe that the articulation of this kernel has a value in itself even if the full unraveling of the subject is yet to come.

Overview Is civility dead? Americans ask this question every election season, but their concern is hardly limited to political campaigns. Doubts about civility regularly arise in just about every aspect of American public life. Rudeness runs rampant. Our news media is saturated with aggressive bluster and vitriol. Our digital platforms teem with expressions of disrespect and trolls. Reflecting these conditions, surveys show that a significant majority of Americans believe we are living in an age of unusual anger and discord. Everywhere we look, there seems to be conflict and hostility, with shared respect and consideration nowhere to be found. In a country that encourages thick skins and speaking one's mind, is civility even possible, let alone desirable? In How Civility Works, Keith J. Bybee explores the " crisis " in civility, looking closely at how civility intertwines with our long history of boorish behavior and the ongoing quest for pleasant company. Bybee argues that the very features that make civility ineffective and undesirable also point to civility's power and appeal. Can we all get along? If we live by the contradictions on which civility depends, then yes, we can, and yes, we should.

I am planning a history of the notion of philosophical nonsense and naturally difficult historical and exegetical questions have come up.  Charles Pigden has argued that the notion goes back at least as far as Hobbes and that Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant (on some interpretations) and pragmatists such as William James, as well as numerous Twentieth-Century philosophers make use of it.  In this ‘paper’ I put forward for general discussion such questions as whether Hobbes was the first 'nonsensicalist', whether Kant was a 'nonsensicalist' at all, which philosophers if any have considered contradictions to be meaningless and whether Wittgenstein thought that his concept of criterion could legitimately be used verificationistically.  I shall continue to add further questions as they occur to me.

This chapter focused on challenges and tensions that characterize leadership in the military context. It aims to identify and analyze key paradoxes that are reflected in this unique setting, while exploring the challenges, opportunities, and advantages posed by these core paradoxes for leadership. It addresses different types of paradoxes, among them: (a) shared leadership versus hierarchical leadership, (b) flexibility and creativity versus conformity and discipline, (c) complexity and chaos versus simplicity and linearity, (d) hegemonic and prototypical leadership versus leadership of multiple identities, and last (e) distant leadership and exchange relationship versus intimate leadership and communal relationship. For each focal paradox, we uncover the dynamics, processes, management tensions, and possible subsequent outcomes. We suggest that leadership that is able to effectively attend to competing expectations and paradoxical tensions is essential in the current hybrid and complex organizational structure and unique context of the military. The chapter draws on interviews and prior research of leadership in the Israeli military,

This paper explores the nature of the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and competitiveness. We start with the commonly held view that firm competitiveness is defined by the market. That is, the question of what are the critical competitiveness factors is answered by looking at how companies and financial analysts describe and evaluate a firm. To analyze this, we review the current state of the art on the relationship between CSR and competitiveness. Second, CSR criteria used by financial analysts is identified and compared with company valuation methods. Third, the results of a multi-stakeholder dialogue on CSR and competitiveness of the European financial sector are presented. As a conclusion, we argue that CSR and competitiveness relate through a learning and innovation cycle, where corporate values, policies and practices are permanently defined and re-defined. Thus, we propose that learning takes place as CSR is embedded in business processes, and that once it has been integrated, in turn, it generates innovative practices, and finally, competitiveness. At the end of the paper, we propose that CSR in practice consists of managing inherent paradoxes generated by the tension between CSR and business policies.

Argues that Calvin's use of paradox and divine accommodation, which on its own might lead to a fracture between God in Himself and our knowledge of Him, ought to be understood in light of his doctrines of union with Christ and illumination by the Spirit

Following research evidence that suggests that the gratification derived from the consumption of sad content can be better explained by the experience of meaningful affect/feelings of being moved than by the experience of sadness, this research reconciled solutions to the paradox of pleasurable sadness from the media psychology literature with models of altruism from positive psychology, ethology, and behavioral economics. It is proposed that compassion incentivizes narrative engagement and that the gratification derived from the consumption of sad content follows an overall positive valuation of the somatic changes felt while engaged with a story. This research tested an association between experiencing feelings of compassion as a consequence of consuming sad content and engagement, between engagement and being moved, and between gratification and changes in the levels of salivary Interleukin 18 (IL-18) as a proxy for the activity of the μ-opioid receptors in the brain. Results suggested a strong and positive correlation between compassion, engagement, being moved, and gratification. Results from the physiological measures suggested a negative correlation between IL-18 and gratification that agrees with models of social motivation predicting that hypoactivity of the μ-opioid receptors results in a craving for social contact. Nevertheless, the low number of valid cases and questions about the reliability of the biomarker used demand a cautious interpretation of the association.

This piece continues the tradition of arguments by John Lucas, Roger Penrose and others to the effect that the human mind is not a machine. Kurt Gödel thought that the intensional paradoxes stand in the way of proving that the mind is not a machine. According to Gödel, a successful proof that the mind is not a machine would require a solution to the intensional paradoxes. We provide a partial vindication of Gödel and show that if a particular solution to the intensional paradoxes is adopted, one can indeed give an argument to the effect that the mind is not a machine.

How to Write an Avant-Garde Manifesto was an art manifesto originally written in 2006 and taped to the front door of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. It was subsequently presented at the British Library's 2008 exhibition Breaking the Rules: The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900–1937 with Auto Destructive and Fluxus artist Gustav Metzger and British Library curator Stephen Bury.

מחקר זה עוסק במשנתו החדשנית של ר' צדוק הכהן מלובלין. לפי רוב החוקרים, ר' צדוק ממשיך את משנת רבו, ר' מרדכי יוסף ליינער מאיזביצה, ומציג פטליזם אקזיסטנציאליסטי: לאדם יש חופש כנגד החוק המקובל, לפי רצון האל הנגלה בליבו, אפילו בתשוקותיו, החורג מההלכה; ואולם, האדם אינו קובע את הרצון המתגלה בשורש נשמתו, אלא חושפו בלבד. בכתבי ר' צדוק ניתן למצוא ביטויים רבים, בתוכן ובצורה, לפטליזם זה; עם זאת, הוא מציג גם התבטאויות רבות בדבר הבחירה האנושית החופשית וכוחה היצירתי לכונן ולקבוע את שורשו של האדם, ולחדש ולהשפיע על העולמות האלוקיים ועל העולם-הזה. מחקר זה מתמקד בקטעים אלו שמרכזיותם הוזנחה במחקר עד כה, ומכאן הבנתו המחודשת במשנתו.
את עמדת ר' צדוק ניתן להסביר באמצעות התפיסה הפרדוקסלית, הטוענת לכוחם המלא של שני הקטבים הסותרים ואף להשפעה הדדית ביניהם, היוצרת מתח קשה אך פורה: בניגוד לתהליך הפורמלי, האניטלקטואלי והאפריורי של הפטליזם, שבו 'הידיעה' האלוהית מבטלת את 'הבחירה' האנושית החופשית, ר' צדוק מציג פטאליות, המזהה המציאות עצמה את הידיעה והרצון האלוהיים המצויים בכל. בפטליות זו הידיעה אינה מבטלת את הבחירה; להיפך: ללא הידיעה האלוקית אין לאף דבר קיום, ולכן רק מציאות הידיעה בבחירה היא המאפשרת את קיומה הממשי.
תפיסתו האונטולוגית של ר' צדוק מתקיימת לא רק בתוכן הישיר של דבריו, אלא גם בעקיפין, באופן דרשנותו ובמובן שהוא מעניק למושגים שבהם הוא דן; לכן, הפטליות מתגלה גם בתחומים נוספים, שבהם מצוי פער בין הממד המוחלט וההכרחי ('ידיעה') לממד הקונטינגנטי, הארעי והיחסי ('בחירה'): השקר, הדמיון, הרוע, החטא, הייסורים ועוד, אמנם קונטינגנטיים ויחסיים לעומת מוחלטות האמת, הטוב וכו'; אך לפי ר' צדוק, האל רוצה בהם ככאלה – כלומר יש להם ממשות שאינה מוחלטת, אלא ממשות ככאלה, כקונטינגנטיים. אך ממשות זו אינה מאשרת אותם כפי שהם, אלא יוצרת בהם-עצמם טרנספורמציה. למשל, הרוע אינו הופך לטוב מוחלט או נותר כרוע, אלא הופך ל'טוב מאד' שלפי ר' צדוק גדול מהטוב הרגיל.
מכאן עולה גם ההשפעה ההפוכה, זו של הבחירה על הידיעה. לפי ר' צדוק, משקבלה הקונטינגנטיות והיחסיות של 'הבחירה' – שהיא למעשה מהות הבריאה ומהות האדם ומעשיו – את ממשותה, בכוחה אף להוסיף כביכול על המוחלטות האלוקית הקבועה של 'הידיעה': 'נגע' החטא או הייסורים הופך בעצמו, בחילוף אותם אותיות, ל'ענג' הגדול מההנאה הרגילה; בכוח האדם להשפיע על העולמות העליונים בגזירת גזירות ובביטול גזירות אלוקיות; בכוחו אף להשפיע על העולם-הזה, בחידושו היומיומי על-ידי חידושי התושב"ע, ובקידוש החודש המסוגל לשנות את תנועת המזלות השמימיים. מצד אחד, היצירתיות האנושית של חידושי התושב"ע כלולה באמת האלוקית הגנוזה בתושב"כ האלוקית והיא רק חושפת אותה; אך לפי ר"צ, מצד אחר מתברר שמקור חידושי התושב"ע דווקא גבוה ממקור התושב"כ והם אלו היוצרים וקובעים אותה.
ר' צדוק מציג שני מושגים מרכזיים לפרדוקס שלו: בממד האונטולוגי – 'הייחוד הגמור' של האל, שבו הדואליות הקונטינגנטית (בין האל לנבראיו, והבחירה שהיא מאפשרת) של 'הייחוד התחתון' מתקיימת פרדוקסלית עם האחדות המוחלטת ו'הידיעה' האלוהית של 'הייחוד העליון'.
בממד של מצבו האקזיסטנציאלי של האדם – 'השורש הנעלם': בניגוד לר' מרדכי יוסף רבו, ר' צדוק טוען שהאדם קובע את גורלו על-ידי מעשיו הבחיריים והקונטינגנטיים; ואולם, במקביל, בדומה לרבו, הוא טוען גם שהשורש הקבוע של האדם נקבע על-ידי 'הידיעה' האלוהית והיא זו הקובעת את מעשיו לטוב או למוטב. אך מעל אלו מציג ר' צדוק שורש נוסף, 'נעלם' הגבוה מהשורש הקבוע: הוא אכן שורש מוחלט ('ידיעה'), אך הוא נקבע ומכוּנן על-ידי מעשיו הבחיריים של האדם, בדומה לבריאה האלוהית 'יש מאין'.
This research deals with R. Zadok's innovative writings. According to most scholars R. Zadok continues the doctrine of his rabbi R. Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izbica and introduces existential fatalism: man has the freedom to act against the customary law, according to God's will which is revealed in his heart, even in his passions, which exceed the Halacha; however, man does not determine the will that is revealed in the root of his soul, but only uncovers it. Many expressions, in content and form, of this fatalism can be found in R. Zadok's writings; yet, he also introduces many remarks about human free choice and its creative power to establish and determine man's root and re-establish and influence the Divine worlds and this world. This research focuses on these passages whose centrality has been so far neglected by research. Hence, its renewed understanding of his doctrine.
R. Zadok's position can be explained by means of the paradoxical perception, which claims the full strength of the two opposites and even a mutual influence between them, which creates a difficult yet fertile tension: as opposed to the a priori intellectual and formal process of fatalism where Divine Foreknowledge eliminates free choice, R. Zadok introduces fatality which identifies in reality itself the Divine foreknowledge and will that exist in all things. In R. Zadok's fatality, Divine foreknowledge does not eliminate free choice; on the contrary, without Divine foreknowledge, nothing has existence. Therefore, only the existence of Divine foreknowledge within free choice enables its true and indeed free fulfillment. R. Zadok's ontological perception is realized not only in the direct content of his words but also indirectly, in the method of his exegesis and the sense he gives to the concepts he discusses. Therefore the fatality is revealed in other areas in which there is a gap between the absolute dimension ('Yedi'ah') and the contingent dimension ('Bechirah'): the lie, imagination, evil, sin, suffering etc., indeed contingent compared with the absoluteness of truth, good, etc.; however, according to R. Zadok, God wants them as such – that is to say, they have an essential existence and actuality that are not absolute, but rather as such: as contingent, temporary and relative. However, these essential existence and actuality do not confirm them as they are but create a transformation within them. For example, evil does not become absolute good or remains evil but rather turns into 'Very Good' (Tov Me'od) which includes evil and according to Rabbi Zadok is greater than regular good.
From this, rises also the opposite influence: that of free choice, or contingent Bechira in general, on Divine Foreknowledge, or absolute Yediah in general. According to R. Zadok, when the contingency and relativity of "Bechirah" received its essential existence and actuality, it has the power so to speak, to add dynamism to the permanent Divine absoluteness of the 'Yedi'ah': the affliction (Nega; נגע) of sin or suffering turns by itself, by interchanging its letters, into pleasure (Oneg; ענג) which is greater than regular delight. Man has the power to influence the upper worlds by decreeing decrees or by canceling Divine decrees; he also has the power to influence the daily novelties of this world, by the novellaes of the Oral Law and the sanctification of the new month which is capable of changing the movement of the zodiac. The human creativity of the novellae of the Oral Law is included in the Divine truth which is hidden in the Written Law and it only reveals and interprets the latter; but on the other hand, according to R. Zadok, the source of the dynamic vital novellaes of the Oral Law is higher than the source of the permanent absoluteness of Written Law and they are those which create and determine the latter.
R. Zadok introduces two main concepts for his paradox: On the ontological perception – Yichud Gamur, the Ultimate Unification of God, in which the contingent duality (between God and His creation, and the choice it enables) of the Lower Unification paradoxically exists with the absolute unification and Divine Foreknowledge of the Upper Unification.
On the perception of man's existential situation – HaShoresh HaNe'elam, The Hidden Root: unlike Rabbi Mordechai Yosef, his rabbi, rabbi Zadok claims that man determines his destiny by his willful contingent actions – yet, simultaneously, like his rabbi, he also claims that the man's permanent root is determined by God and His Foreknowledge and it is what determines his actions for better or worse. But above these R. Zadok points to an additional Hidden Root which is higher than the permanent one: it is indeed an absolute root (Yediah) yet is determined and established by man's willful actions (Bechira), similar to the Divine creation of 'ex nihilo'.

This book explores the evolution of space and time from the apeiron — the spaceless, timeless chaos of primordial nature. Here Western culture’s efforts to deny apeiron are examined, and we see the critical need now to lift the repression of the apeiron for the sake of human individuation.

Table of contents:

List of Figures
Jon MILLS: Foreword
Preface
Part One - Solve : The Flight from Apeiron
ONE The Rise and Fall of Classical Space
TWO The Crisis of Discontinuity in the Broader Culture
Part Two - Coagula: The Return to Apeiron
THREE Philosophical Precursors
FOUR Apeiron and Being
FIVE Topology
Epilogue
Works Cited
About the Author
Index

It is often thought that Christianity keeps its adherents in a state of perpetual immaturity. As a sociological fact, this may be hard to argue against. Much that goes by the name Christianity looks quite near to what Ernest Becker described as a fearful “death denying ideology.” In theological terminology, such ways of being amount to self-salvation programs. The terror of death drives us to avoid all forms of death. Yet, at the heart of Christianity stands one who chose his own death and encouraged his followers to take up their own crosses and follow him. Such an act, apparently, has an important role to play in an understanding of Christian salvation. In this thesis, I make use of developmental stages theory to illuminate what that role is. I argue that Christian salvation is founded on a paradoxical death that is best made sense of in light of contemporary developmental stages theory, in particular, at the thresholds of developmental stage transition. To illuminate this claim I trace out the logic across the rational, desirous, and active dimensions of human being. These dimensions are explored, in order, by way of Paul Tillich’s philosophy of religion, Sebastian Moore’s spiritual Christology, and the practice of Centering prayer. Taken together, it is concluded that Christianity has tremendous resources for helping its adherents come to grips with their death denying strategies and therefore enlarge their capacity for psychological and spiritual maturity.

Michael Huemer, Approaching Infinity, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016 (ISBN 978-1-137-56085-8; xiii + 275 pp. Reviewed by M. Weber, Zentralblatt MATH, European Mathematical Society, Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe & Springer-Verlag, Zbl 06858810

This paper focuses on metafictional narrative strategies characteristic of contemporary English-language fiction. The research reveals the variety and stylistic peculiarities of these strategies, as well as specifies the definition of metafiction with regard to its liminal status and self-reflexivity. Narrative metalepsis, specific framing and plot arrangements, metafictional commentary, and other techniques have been analyzed resorting to numerous examples.

Thomas Nagel in ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ suggests that we don’t yet have much idea of how mental entities could be identical with physical ones (though he wisely stops short of accusing physicalists of not meaning ANYTHING WHATSOEVER by their identity-claims).  Colin McGinn goes further by suggesting that we may forever remain in this state of ignorance and incomprehension because of the inherent limitations of the human intellect.  I argue that the mere possibility that McGinn is right shows that it is over-hasty to conclude from philosophy’s failure to solve its problems that there must be something wrong with the problems themselves.  I also try to relate Nagel’s and McGinn’s view to David Stove’s response to philosophy’s apparent failure to make much progress.  He seems pessimistic about whether we will ever fully understand what is wrong with some philosophical claims.

This article suggests that two major modern theories on incest and its prohibition, successively proposed by Freud and by Lévi-Strauss, are essentially transformations on a folklore leitmotiv tottering with age. The discussion examines Freud's weaving of traditional themes into psychoanalytic theory, and then addresses Lévi-Strauss' meta-Freud-ian elaboration. This inquiry leads to asking whether penetration into the products of the mind by the mind necessarily involves reenacting fundamental patterns of thought.

Peter Voulkos is an American West Coast Ceramist who is best remembered today as an Abstract Expressionist hero. Instead of perpetuating this ongoing narrative however, my paper compares his work to lesser-known creative influences, such as American avant-garde composer John Cage, dancer Merce Cunningham, Japanese potter Shoji Hamada and not least, Zen ceramics. In doing so, I argue that that it is more productive to see Voulkos as a revolutionary figure who strategically employed failure, performance and deconstructive techniques in a way that is medium specific to ceramics. Also, I will examine how Voulkos’ clay pieces employ the notion of paradox in order to complicate and challenge accepted preconceptions of ceramics and its perceived relationship to function. In doing so, he reframed the clay vessel as an aesthetic object in its own right and ultimately, established ceramics as an autonomous medium.

Die Leistungssteuerung in Arbeitsorganisationen folgt gegenwärtig der Logik einer wachsenden Marktförmigkeit. Das bedeutet, dass die Arbeitsleistung bzw. das leistungsbezogene Verhalten von Organisationsmitgliedern zunehmend als direkter Beitrag zum ökonomisch bewerteten Gesamtergebnis der Organisation definiert, gesteuert und belohnt wird. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese marktförmige Leistungssteuerungslogik zu einer Reihe von Paradoxien führt, welche Brüche, Spannungen sowie Konflikte im Verhältnis von Organisationsmitglied und arbeitgebender Organisation indizieren. Diese Paradoxien ergeben sich aus der Kontrastierung der aktuellen Tendenzen der Leistungssteuerung mit der normativen Logik des Leistungsprinzips und deuten letztendlich auf eine Aushöhlung des Prinzips hin. Da das Leistungsprinzip traditionell die grundlegende Reziprozitätsnorm für den Leistungsaustausch zwischen Arbeitsorganisation und Beschäftigten repräsentiert, ist anzunehmen, dass die paradoxalen Entwicklungen hinsichtlich dieses normativen Kontextes unmittelbare Auswirkungen auf das leistungsbezogene Verhalten in Organisationen haben. Abstract The performance management systems in organizations are increasingly shaped in a market-like manner. This means that the definition, management and acknowledgement of the individuals´performance increasingly depend on the economic output of the whole organization. The paper shows, that this kind of performance management leads to various paradoxes, which indicate breaches, tensions and conflicts in the relation between the organization and the organizational member. These paradoxes arouse because of the contrast between the market like logic of the modern performance management and the logic beard by the achievement principle. Generally, the paradoxes point to the erosion of the achievement principle. As this principle traditionally functions as fundamental norm of reciprocity between individual and organization, it is to assume that the paradoxes influence the behaviour and performance in organizations in a crucial way.

Commentators have occasionally observed the presence of paradoxes in the letter to the Hebrews. But the use of paradox has not been recognized as an integral part of the rhetorical techniques used to encourage and challenge the reader. In this essay I argue that paradox is an important rhetorical feature of Hebrews 1:1-14 that elicits an intellectually engaging act of faith on the part of the reader. This act of faith is implicit rather than explicit but is required to accept the author’s statements about Christ, God, and the Scriptures.