Volume 9, Issue 1, 2012

Danial YusofPages 7-28DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129118 ABSTRACT This paper examines parallels between contemporary Western and Islamic thought. It will propose that there is congruence between Western and Muslim political thought processes on issues of soft-foundationalism, negative theology, provisional truth claims and religious democracy, in order to offset hegemonic tendencies. This will be illustrated by a concise juxtaposition […]

Andrei CorneaPages 29-42DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129119 ABSTRACT My paper is a reply to Mr. Seungbae Park’s article, “Defence of Cultural Relativism” (Park, 2011), which holds that no culture is better than another. In response, my paper challenges the author’s method, fairly popular amongst some postmodern thinkers, that tends to equate cultural relativism and Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Andityas Soares De Moura Costa MatosPages 43-55DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129120 ABSTRACT Considering the basic assumption that the modern Law and State theory does not only bear similarities, but also draws true epistemological parallels to the constructions of Theology, Hans Kelsen intends to lay bare the ideological meaning that lies at the very core of the traditional dualism

Steven Cresap, Louis TietjePages 57-72DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129121 ABSTRACT Moral educators are faced with a number of polarizing trends, both in the political divide between liberals and conservatives and in the ideological divide between moral reasoners and character educators. Recent empirical research in psychology and anthropology, as exemplified in the work of Jonathan Haidt, has indicated that

Liudmila BaevaPages 73-83DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129122 ABSTRACT This article is dedicated to basing a new current of philosophy – existential axiology. The nature of this theory involves the understanding of values as responses of a person to key existential challenges: death, solitude, dependence of the nature and the society, etc. Value is the striving of a human

Paola PartenzaPages 85-100DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129123 ABSTRACT The concept of truth is one of the pivotal elements in Mary Wollstonecraft’s works. In line with her philosophical treatise, Maria: or the Wrongs of Woman (published posthumously in 1798) it becomes a paradigmatic expression of her thought. The author textualizes the obfuscation of the truth and the repression of

Dan-Eugen RaţiuPages 101-122DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129124 ABSTRACT This article explores recent developments in the sociology of the arts, namely the new theoretical framework set up by the French sociologist Pierre-Michel Menger in order to approach the artistic activity. It aims to show how he has shaped new tools of understanding and modelling for exploring the arts, as

Frederic WillPages 123-134DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129125 ABSTRACT Being part of a culture seems, on the face of it, empirically describable, and verifiable. But in fact that kind of participation is not so easy to characterize. Our existence as members of a culture is given to us fleetingly, and in awarenesses tightly locked to the awareness of the

Dennis IoffePages 135-154DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129126 ABSTRACT This article discusses the role of ideology in the Avant-Garde of both Russia and Western Europe. For this purpose, it is necessary to clearly delineate “ideology” and “politics,” which takes up the first part of this study. A number of different views of these aspects, as expressed by several critical

Abdul Rashid MotenPages 155-178DOI: 10.5840/cultura20129127 ABSTRACT Though centuries old, Islamophobia has increased in intensity as it is extensively documented by surveys and reports published by various governmental and non-governmental organizations. This dislike towards Islam and Muslims is, due, amongst other factors, to an increasing number of Muslim citizens and asylum seekers in the West bent