tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63986994581597563212024-03-18T23:22:20.255+01:00Philosophy by the WaySeventeen years of blogs in philosophyHbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.comBlogger1016125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-43164677494571172292024-03-18T02:33:00.005+01:002024-03-18T02:36:47.869+01:00Descartes in Egmond<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PIrex4bcj0qrLYwPgPQkLjLambCzSFWtI7pNl1iJJFuGopkHJhRK-ElITNw25CgKyF4lx1luxd-Ewverv7Cm-Tb18LpRkHd9zpXHAwdWBxmcScvBYjsSnf2DJ4x7rM2nh5scs_tojZ1FCJ8UCIbVAWfXs86-H4KPgLiwL4-5HvVg3mg2f2c_-8D_F0k/s1200/Descartes-Buste-Egmond-ad-Hoef.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PIrex4bcj0qrLYwPgPQkLjLambCzSFWtI7pNl1iJJFuGopkHJhRK-ElITNw25CgKyF4lx1luxd-Ewverv7Cm-Tb18LpRkHd9zpXHAwdWBxmcScvBYjsSnf2DJ4x7rM2nh5scs_tojZ1FCJ8UCIbVAWfXs86-H4KPgLiwL4-5HvVg3mg2f2c_-8D_F0k/w400-h266/Descartes-Buste-Egmond-ad-Hoef.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><span lang="EN-GB"><i>Bust of Descartes in the
cemetery around the Castle Chapel in <br />Egmond aan den Hoef.</i></span></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">When I recently
visited the village of Egmond, I also wanted to see where Descartes had lived,
for during his long stay in the Netherlands Descartes lived also several years
in Egmond. Egmond is situated about 35 km north of Amsterdam in the province of
Noord-Holland (North Holland). Actually there is not one village called
“Egmond”, but there are three villages with that name, situated a few
kilometres from each other, although I’ll sometimes write “Egmond”, for short.
Egmond aan Zee is a seaside resort on the North Sea coast. Egmond-Binnen is
situated more inland, just like Egmond aan den Hoef. For centuries there was an
abbey in Egmond-Binnen, but it was destructed in 1573 during the Eighty Years’
War, the Dutch war of independence against Spain. Egmond aan den Hoef was known
by its castle, owned by one of the mightiest noble families of the Netherlands.
The castle was also destructed in 1573. During the years 1643-1649 Descartes
lived for some time both in Egmond-Binnen and in Egmond aan den Hoef. The ruins
of the abbey and the castle could still be seen in those days. The chapel of
the castle had been restored and was used as a Protestant church.<br />In the 19th century, one of the intriguing questions about Descartes was: Why
did he go to live in Egmond? Maybe in the 19th century the question was obvious,
but it was also an ahistorical question. For although in the 19th century the
three Egmonds had become dull and rather isolated villages, during the years
that Descartes lived there the situation was different. Before the execution of
the Count of Egmond by the Spaniards in 1568 and the destruction of the castle
by the Dutch rebels in 1573 Egmond was an important political centre. Before
the destruction of the abbey in 1573 Egmond was also an important cultural
centre. In the mid-17th century Egmond still had this reputation and therefore
many wealthy merchants and political leaders had built their country houses in
the region. Moreover, Egmond is only about 8 km from the city of Alkmaar. In
1637 Descartes had stayed in Egmond and Alkmaar for a short time, looking for a
place to live for his beloved Helen Jans van der Stroom and their daughter
Francine (who would die in 1641). This made that Descartes knew the region
already a little bit. Also the city of Haarlem was not far from Egmond (about
35 km). During his stay in Egmond, Descartes visited both cities regularly. All
this makes clear that in the mid-17th century Egmond was not the isolated place
that in the 19th century and for a long time thereafter till not so long ago it
was thought to be.Why then went Descartes to live in Egmond? Descartes himself doesn’t tell us,
but a recent analysis by <a href="https://www.egmondartikelen.nl/home/43-rene-descartes-in-egmond-1643-1649.html">Peter
J.H. van den Berg</a> makes clear that he had good reasons for his choice.<br />- Helen Jans lived in Egmond aan den
Hoef. <span lang="EN-GB">Although she had married
another man in 1644, Descartes kept always a good relation with her and he was
present as a witness when she married.<br /></span>- Descartes was looking for a quiet place to live. Though the three villages of
Egmond were not isolated, they were quiet places where visitors would not drop
in frequently. Moreover, Descartes liked gardening and walking. Egmond was a
good place for that.<br />- Descartes was a Roman Catholic. In the Netherlands, officially only the
Reformed Church was allowed to hold religious services, but other religious
services, including Roman Catholic services, were tolerated so long as this
wasn’t done too openly. Especially, in Egmond Roman Catholic services were
tolerated more or less openly.<br />- Descartes had contacts in the highest circles of society. Constantijn
Huygens, secretary of the Prince of Orange, was a close friend of him, for
instance. Friends and acquaintances lived in Alkmaar and Haarlem, or (like
Huygens) regularly visited these towns. So, though living in Egmond, Descartes
could well maintain his intellectual, cultural and political relations.<br />Descartes did not live continuously in Egmond during the years 1643-1649. From
May 1643 till June 1644 he lived in Egmond aan den Hoef. From November 1644
till June 1647; from October 1647 till May 1648; and then from September 1648
till September 1649 he lived in Egmond-Binnen. It is not known where exactly in
Egmond aan den Hoef Descartes then stayed. Probably he had rented the country estate
called “Tijdverdrijf” (“Pastime”), outside the village. It had a garden, and it
was big enough to live there with a secretary and some servants and to receive
visitors. In 1637 Descartes had lived for a short time in a house opposite the
castle chapel. In June 1644 Descartes left Egmond and stayed four months in
France. He returned to Egmond in November of the same year. Now he established
himself in Egmond-Binnen. Also during his other stays in Egmond he lived there.
Probably, he had rented the house called the “Hooge Huys” (High House), later
called “Zorgwijck” (Escape from the Worries), in the centre of the village on
the corner of what now are the Abdijlaan and De Krijt. It was a mansion with a
large garden and an orchard. Descartes liked it to live in Egmond-Binnen and
the inhabitants liked him, too, and he was called the Good Frenchman.<br />It is a pity that nothing remains of the houses Descartes inhabited. They do
not exist any longer. Also the three villages of Egmond have changed a lot.
However, when I was in Egmond I have taken photos of the places where Descartes’s
houses once were. You find them below.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">
<i>Sources</i>: Besides Van den Berg’s book (see link above), I have also used
Hans Dijkhuis, <i><a href="https://www.singeluitgeverijen.nl/athenaeum/boek/descartes/">Descartes. <span lang="NL" style="mso-ansi-language: NL;">Zijn Nederlandse Jaren</span></a></i></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: NL;">.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span style="mso-ansi-language: NL;"></span></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhK1equbyAOGZ3raJ98ENOIXLbQzTn-vXj2AemGpUvvWKewpu43UlzB1URAAXuBxauh0O1cL0-wcdNkP8kOE6V_DjmwTiiJAt0pbtH0xUgDx0hZufrr9B9uNW-Wv-Msj3XjpRq8wNaULlvdgFBIgJPhyphenhyphenw32cCAFSo6vT3C3BZOFAQpK0p1aHl0wejtwI/s1200/Egmond-ad-Hoef---Abdijkerk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhK1equbyAOGZ3raJ98ENOIXLbQzTn-vXj2AemGpUvvWKewpu43UlzB1URAAXuBxauh0O1cL0-wcdNkP8kOE6V_DjmwTiiJAt0pbtH0xUgDx0hZufrr9B9uNW-Wv-Msj3XjpRq8wNaULlvdgFBIgJPhyphenhyphenw32cCAFSo6vT3C3BZOFAQpK0p1aHl0wejtwI/w400-h266/Egmond-ad-Hoef---Abdijkerk.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The Castle Chapel in Egmond aan den Hoef. </i><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In the foreground parts <br />of the
restored foundations of the castle are visible. Descartes lived<br /> in the street </span></i><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">behind the chapel, about where the green shed (or <br />whatever it is) is.</span></i></div><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
<i></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1n4rQkgBqCdmmmNDQxpb_5HtdRAm9z63V20IEfp7k0emQ-Eh9x-hsiF_YR6de1nDS0TxEM9BTUQgdFCpgD5vd2MWajN3-sV7xeFc76RDYM4Jdvwd-fW8K-iteP4fC6yMZzUTk7My51Hs41pZBPD1SnGnfLP9odCD4M5RWPN15VYsas92a9vvuGYz0hM/s1200/Egmond-ad-Hoef---Tijdverdrijfslaan-klein.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1n4rQkgBqCdmmmNDQxpb_5HtdRAm9z63V20IEfp7k0emQ-Eh9x-hsiF_YR6de1nDS0TxEM9BTUQgdFCpgD5vd2MWajN3-sV7xeFc76RDYM4Jdvwd-fW8K-iteP4fC6yMZzUTk7My51Hs41pZBPD1SnGnfLP9odCD4M5RWPN15VYsas92a9vvuGYz0hM/w400-h266/Egmond-ad-Hoef---Tijdverdrijfslaan-klein.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>About here was the house called “Tijdverdrijf” where Descartes lived</i></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>from </i><i>May 1643 till June 1644. In those days there were dunes here,</i></div></i><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i> which were
excavated later and turned into farmland.</i></div></i></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
<i></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcxNY4fp8CoVmCDyKmwn9Nsbz3gwgXwF_4XgIK-mRMSULqxWWrTy9msCfFWvg1IQUxO76XKLgIWa0iemg1CPGbLksqURvv_5WcnxUvgHLqVHQNwfG5GYrio_C-GonL-zfNCz44Ey6lShS5mtr1vZ2gGr3zXD_emO63XfqdGQc-e6K8rT7dsGVPmFSuJJo/s1200/Egmond-Binnen---Woonplek-Descartes---klein.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcxNY4fp8CoVmCDyKmwn9Nsbz3gwgXwF_4XgIK-mRMSULqxWWrTy9msCfFWvg1IQUxO76XKLgIWa0iemg1CPGbLksqURvv_5WcnxUvgHLqVHQNwfG5GYrio_C-GonL-zfNCz44Ey6lShS5mtr1vZ2gGr3zXD_emO63XfqdGQc-e6K8rT7dsGVPmFSuJJo/w400-h266/Egmond-Binnen---Woonplek-Descartes---klein.jpg" width="400" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>On this corner of the Abdijlaan and De Krijt in Egmond-Binnen once</i></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>was the
“Hooge Huys” where Descartes lived after his return from</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i> France in November
1644 till his departure to Sweden in 1649.</i></div></i></span><o:p></o:p><p></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-47565861928848851842024-03-14T19:11:00.001+01:002024-03-14T19:11:42.272+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">It is a common failing of mortals to deem the more difficult the fairer;
and they often think that they have learned nothing when they see a very clear
and simple cause for a fact, while at the same time they are lost in admiration
of certain sublime and profound philosophical explanations, even though these
for the most part are based upon foundations which no one had adequately
surveyed—a mental disorder which prizes the darkness higher than the light.</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><br /><div style="text-align: right;">René Descartes (1596-1650)</div></span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-64445312354263315872024-03-11T03:05:00.002+01:002024-03-11T03:05:41.423+01:00Kettle Logic<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg07wUMbrvxvpRx6LCkxU_QjP8j9Kx3tKeRnWENP4zZdifAyVVgD6NHehyphenhyphen6sTlAOd4SqRs_mzttneJ-y_jAjZvD-LIK0qvnq_khjjFBxN24h3uqV3u9y9cSmzP7xPyQTP0TFVE3k6X1HdRwyRJuhkBl-u2BZZ38uan4juhlf5G6l6S6FMtctCXEBJg1REU/s1000/Beuningen%20-%20Ketel%20op%20paal%20-%20jpg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg07wUMbrvxvpRx6LCkxU_QjP8j9Kx3tKeRnWENP4zZdifAyVVgD6NHehyphenhyphen6sTlAOd4SqRs_mzttneJ-y_jAjZvD-LIK0qvnq_khjjFBxN24h3uqV3u9y9cSmzP7xPyQTP0TFVE3k6X1HdRwyRJuhkBl-u2BZZ38uan4juhlf5G6l6S6FMtctCXEBJg1REU/w400-h300/Beuningen%20-%20Ketel%20op%20paal%20-%20jpg.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Now and then in these
blogs, I pay attention to fallacies. I think that sound reasoning is important
for avoiding mistakes in what we do and for seeing through false argumentation
others use when trying to mislead us or by mistake. Especially politicians
often use false argumentation, intentionally or unintentionally. But in fact all
humans commit fallacies, often because they do not realize what is wrong with
what they are saying. For instance, someone tries to defend his case, but
instead of making his position stronger with strong arguments he makes
conflicting statements, like in this fictitious case described by Sigmund Freud
in his <i><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/66048/pg66048-images.html">Interpretation
of Dreams</a></i> about “a man who was accused by his neighbour of having
returned a kettle to him in a damaged condition. In the first place, he said,
he had returned the kettle undamaged; in the second, it already had holes in it
when he borrowed it; and thirdly, he had never borrowed the kettle from his
neighbour at all. But so much the better; if even one of these three methods of
defence is recognised as valid, the man must be acquitted.” <br />
In his attempt to defend that he had returned the kettle in the condition he
had received it (or even denying that he had borrowed the kettle), the man puts
forward three arguments. Each argument as such is correct, but by putting
forward three contradictory arguments to support his point the man he
undermines his case. Because of Freud’s example the fallacy got the name
“Kettle Logic”.<br />
The logical form of Kettle Logic is:<br />
- Argument 1 is put forward<br />
- Argument 2 is put forward, which contradicts argument 1<br />
- Argument 3 is put forward, which contradicts argument 1 and/or 2<br />
- Etc.<br />
Here is another example, a bit more realistic than Freud’s case: You are
driving too fast and are stopped by a police officer. Your defence is: 1) I was
not exceeding the speed limit; 2) I didn’t see the speed limit sign; 3) there
was no speed limit sign. But beware, not all reasoning that is contradictory on
the face of it need to be a matter of kettle logic. For instance, it can also
be a matter of alternative reasoning, such as when several alternative
contradictory arguments are given for the same conclusion, while it is not
claimed that all premises are true: A defence attorney might claim that his
defendant didn’t cause the murder, because he had alibis, and even if he had
been there, he is too short to have stabbed the victim in the head. (from
Wible) <br />
I said that politicians often commit the kettle fallacy. Wible quotes several committed
by US Vice President Dick Cheney, when defending the administration’s decision
to invade Iraq and the subsequent problems there. Here is one: When asked about
the damage done to Iraq, Cheney said that it was the Iraqis and not the allied
forces who did the damage and that any invasion causes unfortunate horrific
things to happen.<br />
This fallacy makes me think of a case described by Seneca in his treatise on
anger that I discussed last week (a case that is also described by Montaigne in
his <i>Essays</i>). It is about Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso </span><span lang="EN-US">(c. 44/43 BC – AD 20; a Roman statesman, consul, governor. etc.):</span><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-US">“A soldier that had leave to go abroad with his
comrade, came back to the camp at his time, but without his companion. Piso
condemned him to die, as if he had killed him, and appoints a centurion to see
the execution. Just as the headsman was ready to do his office, the other
soldier appeared, to the great joy of the whole field, and the centurion bade
the executioner hold his hand. Hereupon Piso, in a rage, mounts the <i>tribunal</i>,
and sentences all three to death: the one because he was <i>condemned</i>, the <i>other</i>
because it was for <i>his sake</i> that his fellow-soldier was <i>condemned</i>,
the <i>centurion</i> for not obeying the <i>order</i> of his <i>superior</i>.
An ingenious piece of inhumanity, to contrive how to make three criminals,
where effectively there were none.” (<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/56075/pg56075-images.html">source</a>)
<br />
This case looks a bit like Kettle Logic, but it isn’t. What kind of fallacy is
it then? I have no idea, how to call it in English, but in Dutch we call it
(translated) the “Barbertje should be hanged” fallacy: Lothario is accused of
having murdered Barbertje. He denies and says that he had always taken good
care of her. Therefore, the judge accuses him also of conceit, which makes his
case only worse. Then Barbertje enters the courtroom, but Lothario is sentenced
to death anyway, because he is still guilty of conceit, so the judge. (Note
that the fallacy actually should be called the “Lothario should be hanged”
fallacy). A decision once taken must be executed, anyhow, just because it has
been taken. Anyone who opposes is also guilty. How often doesn’t it happen?<br />
<br />
</span><i><span lang="EN-GB">Sources</span></i><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
- Andy Wible, “Kettle Logic”, in Arp, Robert; Steven Barbone; Michael Bruce
(eds.), <i>Bad arguments. 100 of the most
important fallacies in Western philosophy</i>. Oxford, etc.: Wiley Blackwell,
2019; pp. 174-176.<br />
- And also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_logic">Wikipedia</a>
(on Kettle Logic); <a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbertje">Wikipedia</a>
(on Barbertje); “<a href="https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Kettle-Logic">Kettle
Logic</a>”.</span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-65864616270919694052024-03-10T00:08:00.000+01:002024-03-10T00:08:25.149+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">What we commonly call friends and friendships, are nothing but
acquaintance and familiarities, either occasionally contracted, or upon some
design, by means of which there happens some little intercourse betwixt our
souls. But in the friendship I speak of, they mix and work themselves into one
piece, with so universal a mixture, that there is no more sign of the seam by
which they were first conjoined. If a man should importune me to give a reason
why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer:
because it was he, because it was I.</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)</div></span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-73856594612108459082024-03-04T01:33:00.000+01:002024-03-04T01:33:36.181+01:00Seneca on anger<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKhGZ4qhuEj7gz9ooRVOWSurmTQcNaHqn80aJ6wkQOql4nV7nQ9PM2bv-AQVttcZttP3qr0eaVLarSAzspK9vrEoOOM4VEodBB2IEpaz61ve9Hkrc_BBJddBlZMF8FzFQV0bq5NEycDYq2uiJlzmJx6kZgufA4pKAev-wLVQzXHbAhB_iAwhowv0fgy4/s1200/Seneca-2-klein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="973" data-original-width="1200" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKhGZ4qhuEj7gz9ooRVOWSurmTQcNaHqn80aJ6wkQOql4nV7nQ9PM2bv-AQVttcZttP3qr0eaVLarSAzspK9vrEoOOM4VEodBB2IEpaz61ve9Hkrc_BBJddBlZMF8FzFQV0bq5NEycDYq2uiJlzmJx6kZgufA4pKAev-wLVQzXHbAhB_iAwhowv0fgy4/w400-h324/Seneca-2-klein.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Statue of Seneca in Córdoba, Spain</div><br />“Their eyes blaze and
sparkle, their whole face is a deep red with the blood which boils up from the bottom
of their heart, their lips quiver, their teeth are set, their hair bristles and
stands on end, their breath is laboured and hissing, their joints crack as they
twist them about, they groan, bellow, and burst into scarcely intelligible
talk, they often clap their hands together and stamp on the ground with their
feet, and their whole body is highly-strung and plays those tricks which mark a
distraught mind, so as to furnish an ugly and shocking picture of
self-perversion and excitement.”<br />
This is how Lucius Annaeus Seneca describes anger people in the first section
of his treatise “<a href="http://www.sophia-project.org/uploads/1/3/9/5/13955288/seneca_anger.pdf">On
Anger</a>”, which actually is a letter to his brother Novatus. For Seneca,
anger is a passion that he rejects: “You cannot tell whether this vice is more
execrable or more disgusting.” His treatise is about the nasty effects of this
passion and about how to suppress it if not to prevent it. However, I think
that there is a weak point in Seneca’s treatment of anger: He sees it only as a
sudden outburst, not as a passion that can determine your behaviour during a
longer time or at least be for a longer time in the background in your mind.
Maybe this has to do with the fact that neither the Latin language, nor the
ancient Greek language had a special word for long-term or long-lasting anger;
for what we nowadays call resentment. For Seneca anger (<i>ira</i> in Latin) is
apparently a short-term, sudden passion. Nevertheless, the Romans and certainly
the Greek must have known what we call resentment today. Didn’t Homer start his
<i>Iliad</i> with the sentence: “Goddess, sing the anger [</span><span lang="EN-US">μῆνις; mènis]</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">of Achilles, the son of Peleus”? But “</span><span lang="EN-US">μῆνις”</span><span lang="EN-GB">, which
I have translated here with “anger”, can also mean resentment, and that’s what
it apparently means here, for the <i>Iliad</i> doesn’t just describe Achilles’s
sudden outburst of anger on the Greek army leader Agamemnon but his long-term
resentment against him and the effects of this resentment. Seneca must have
known that and he should have realized that anger (<i>ira</i>) can also be a
long-term passion with a different expression and different consequences.<br />
In his approach of anger, Seneca differs from Aristotle. Aristotle rejects the destructive
outburst of anger with all its nasty effects, but he sees a place for moderate
anger. A tempered anger can be a force for change and growth, and it can show
others where you stand and that they must reckon with you. According to
Aristotle “Anybody can become angry; that is easy. But to be angry with the <i>right
person</i> and to the <i>right degree</i> and at the <i>right time</i> and for
the right purpose, and in the <i>right way</i> – that is not within everybody’s
power and is not easy.” (<i>Nicomachean Ethics</i> </span><span lang="EN-US">bk. 2, 1108b</span><span lang="EN-GB">) Here, I have italicized
what anger can make a “good”, creative anger, leading it in the right direction
with positive results. I’ll not explain here how (see <i><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-wisdom-of-anger/202303/the-wisdom-of-aristotle-on-anger-management">Psychology
Today</a></i>), but the essence of Aristotle’s view is that once you temper
your anger, when you are furious, it can become a driving force within you.
Then it can become a motivating force to help you to fix a problem, </span><span lang="EN-US">or to right a wrong, or to make that things become
better. Anger shows others where you stand, and it helps to prevent that others
walk over you. When you restrain yourself too much, it can give others the
impression that they can do with you what they like. Of course, this doesn’t involve
that you need to use strong words for expressing your anger. Most important is
that your view is clear.<br />
Aristotle shows that anger is more than a sudden fit of rage and implicitly that
anger is not only a one-time passion but that it can also be long-term. Just as
a long-term passion it can be a positive force. Here Gandhi comes to my mind.
Once, during his stay in South Africa, Gandhi travelled first class by train. He
didn’t know that this was not allowed for “non-whites”, even if they had bought
a first-class ticket. Because Gandhi refused to travel third class with his first-class
ticket, he was thrown off the train by the conductor. This made Gandhi so
furious that the incident became the start of his lifelong struggle against
injustice and oppression. </span><span lang="EN-GB">What
this case shows is that it is too simple to reject anger, as Seneca does. I don’t
know how Gandi felt inside, when he was kicked off the train. Maybe – following
Seneca’s description of anger – his blood boiled up from the bottom of his
heart. I think that he’ll have behaved himself towards the conductor. However, Gandhi
kept his anger in his heart, but at the same time he turned it into a creative
force, a furious but positive force that led him for life, in a controlled way.
Isn’t that another, not “execrable” and not “disgusting” side of Seneca’s fury?</span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-83840805485866043802024-02-29T15:46:00.006+01:002024-02-29T15:46:58.607+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">All men by nature desire to know.</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC)</div></span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-11691195033927724822024-02-26T02:11:00.000+01:002024-02-26T02:11:23.767+01:00Johan Galtung (1930-2024)<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKDvXPtc5V4PjGBZR6yk1JlPIU8d4ZKmT7MAZYlLTZkn9ZNdcdUl7vKFy2Ldd4sJvSQVFFxPoccsMDZgNk_fZ_euxoKAvgB0ak9oz4UUk0lPgs-uZ99sy9_G8qD_clANXmWiT8cy_t6WT45b08fjTYTH1x1adiAt12PSDz7xXXexE4Ew_y-VYjxDMUkU/s1200/Utrecht---Vredespaal-Geertekerk-klein.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1129" data-original-width="1200" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKDvXPtc5V4PjGBZR6yk1JlPIU8d4ZKmT7MAZYlLTZkn9ZNdcdUl7vKFy2Ldd4sJvSQVFFxPoccsMDZgNk_fZ_euxoKAvgB0ak9oz4UUk0lPgs-uZ99sy9_G8qD_clANXmWiT8cy_t6WT45b08fjTYTH1x1adiAt12PSDz7xXXexE4Ew_y-VYjxDMUkU/w400-h376/Utrecht---Vredespaal-Geertekerk-klein.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />A few days ago I heard
that the Norwegian peace researcher Johan Vincent Galtung had died, 93 years
old. Galtung was certainly the most important peace researcher of his time, and
one can say that without his energy and activism the field of peace research
wouldn’t have been what it is now. This would already be sufficient reason to write
a blog about him, but the main reason I do is that he had a clear influence on
my thinking. Before I switched from sociology to philosophy, I have done some investigations
in the field of peace research. I have also been a peace activist. Then it was
impossible not to come across his name and not to be impressed by his ideas.
However, it was not because of this interest that I stumbled upon Galtung’s
name, but I first heard of Galtung when I studied sociology, for Galtung,
originally a mathematician and sociologist, had written a thick and thorough
book on methodology: <i><a href="https://www.prio.org/publications/11420">Theory
and methods of social research</a></i>. Though not prescribed by the study
program, I bought the book and used it often.<br />
However, it was because of my interest in peace and peace research that I came
most in touch with Galtung’s ideas and views. In 1959 Galtung was the co-founder
of the Norwegian <i><a href="https://www.prio.org/publications/11420">Peace Research
Institute Oslo</a></i> (PRIO), and for ten years he was its first director. In
1964 he established the <i><a href="https://www.prio.org/journals/jpr">Journal
of Peace Research</a></i>, the first peace research journal in the world and
still a leading journal in its field. Maybe the best article published by Galtung
there is his “<a href="https://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni/IPD%202015%20readings/IPD%202015_7/Galtung_Violence,%20Peace,%20and%20Peace%20Research.pdf">Violence,
Peace, and Peace Research</a>” (1969), which contains some of his best ideas. More
than 50 years later, it still is worth to be read. Having left the PRIO after
ten years, Johan Galtung got many functions inside and outside the academic
world. Here I’ll mention them, nor will I give a list of his most important
publications. They can easily be found on the internet (see for example the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Galtung#Cultural_Violence">Wikipedia</a>).
Instead, I want to pay attention to three important ideas developed by Galtung
that have had a big impact on my thinking and on the thinking of many others.<br />
<br />
<i>Structural violence<br />
</i>Violence is seen by many as a direct physical attack by one or more persons
on one or more other persons. I think this does not need much explanation. We
think here of intentionally hurting, beating, killing etc. of another person or
persons. Also for Galtung such deeds are violence. However, according to him
there is more than this, what he calls, “direct violence”. There is also a kind
of violence that cannot be ascribed to individual perpetrators but that is as
hurting and killing as direct violence: <i>structural violence</i>. Structural
violence is clearly caused by humans but cannot be ascribed to individuals. It
is a consequence of the social circumstances people live in, because victims of
this type of violence have no access to the necessary resources that would
improve their miserable circumstances; structural violence can even kill. The
reasons why people cannot use the resources they need for improving their living
conditions are not natural, but others prevent them from using them or don’t
give them the means they should reasonably give to the victims. Galtung calls structural
violence also “social injustice”. To quote Galtung (<a href="https://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~alexroni/IPD%202015%20readings/IPD%202015_7/Galtung_Violence,%20Peace,%20and%20Peace%20Research.pdf">Violence,
Peace, and Peace Research</a>, pp. 170-1): <br />
<br />
“Resources are unevenly distributed, as when income distributions are heavily skewed,
literacy/education unevenly distributed, medical services existent in some districts
and for some groups only, and so on. Above all the power to decide over the
distribution of resources is unevenly distributed. The situation is aggravated further
if the persons low on income are also low in education, low on health, and low
on power - as is frequently the case because these rank dimensions tend to be heavily
correlated due to the way they are tied together in the social structure… The
important point here is that if people are starving when this is objectively avoidable,
then violence is committed, regardless of whether there is a clear subject-action-object
relation, as during a siege yesterday or no such clear relation, as in the way
world economic relations are organized today… Violence with a clear
subject-object relation is manifest because it is visible as action… Violence
without this relation is structural, built into structure. Thus, when one
husband beats his wife there is a clear case of personal violence, but when one
million husbands keep one million wives in ignorance there is structural
violence. Correspondingly, in a society where life expectancy is twice as high
in the upper as in the lower classes, violence is exercised even if there are
no concrete actors one can point to directly attacking others, as when one person
kills another.”<br />
<br />
<i>Negative versus positive peace<br />
</i>In the article just quoted, Galtung makes a distinction between negative
peace and positive peace. Often we say that there is peace, if there is no
fighting; if there is no war. We call it also peace, if people ignore each
other, even when they live together in some way. We call it also peace when the
relations between people are tense, but if there is no open fighting. Sometimes
we call this “armed peace”. But is peace really merely the absence of fighting?
According to Galtung we can better call such a situation “negative peace”: the
absence of personal violence. Against this negative idea of peace, Galtung
developed the idea of positive peace: a situation in which people collaborate
with each other and support each other. We can, following Galtung (p. 183), say
it this way: Negative peace is the absence of direct (personal) violence, while
positive peace is the absence of structural violence. Positive peace is a
situation of social justice.<br />
<br />
<i>Peace building<br />
</i>Positive peace usually doesn’t develop automatically from a situation that
once was a situation of violence and then has become a situation of negative peace.
We must work on it. Unjust situations must be purposefully removed; people must
learn to work together and to develop positive relations of cooperation and
support towards those who once were their enemies. In other words, positive
peace must be built. In 1975 Galtung coined the word “peace building” for this
construction of positive peace in his “</span><span lang="EN-US">Three Approaches to Peace: Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, and Peacebuilding.”
</span><span lang="EN-GB">“</span><span lang="EN-US">In
this article, he posited that ‘peace has a structure different from, perhaps
over and above, peacekeeping and ad hoc peacemaking... The mechanisms that
peace is based on should be built into the structure and be present as a
reservoir for the system itself to draw up... More specifically, structures
must be found that remove causes of wars and offer alternatives to war in
situations where wars might occur.’ These observations constitute the
intellectual antecedents of today’s notion of peacebuilding: an endeavor aiming
to create sustainable peace by addressing the ‘root causes’ of violent conflict
and eliciting indigenous capacities for peaceful management and resolution of
conflict.” (from the <a href="http://www.peacebuildinginitiative.org/index34ac.html">peacebuilinginitiative.org</a>
website)</span><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
<br />
Galtung developed important concepts and ideas for a better world, but still
much must be done to get them realized. In view of what presently is happening
in the world, one wonders whether even the foundations of a peace building have
already been laid.</span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-71961312263567699182024-02-15T02:18:00.002+01:002024-02-15T02:18:25.949+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">That which is for me through the medium of money – that for which I can
pay (i.e., which money can buy) – that am I myself, the possessor of the money.
The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money’s properties
are my – the possessor’s – properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and
am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I
can buy for myself the most beautiful of women. Therefore I am not ugly, for
the effect of ugliness – its deterrent power – is nullified by money. I,
according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me
with twenty-four feet. Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest,
unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is
the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the
trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but
money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be
brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In
the manuscript: ‘is’. – Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the
clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart
longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore,
transform all my incapacities into their contrary?</span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Karl Marx (1818-1883) </span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/power.htm"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Source
and translation</span></a></span></span></div>
</span><span style="font-family: verdana; line-height: 17.12px; text-align: right;"></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-78550271330624451332024-02-12T01:27:00.000+01:002024-02-12T01:27:20.420+01:00On obstinacy<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Dn0AbVoaYRl6CTxQYeOXdNCM5R4REOppwiwOH_IGQPDieSvKC1Re1HQ1Jl7X3ZeGonzEBtqK76VsDTAmHliqpAqcQ2eXj7R8HwHR6XDDL1zIBklcX-9Esi8vhHrM8w98-cuiKJf0W1hADGQwTQWnDZmdAjld2r7stmf9T1jc0CS2cC06A7zbpfudi9M/s1200/Soest---Ezel-Vaarderhoogt---klein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="890" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Dn0AbVoaYRl6CTxQYeOXdNCM5R4REOppwiwOH_IGQPDieSvKC1Re1HQ1Jl7X3ZeGonzEBtqK76VsDTAmHliqpAqcQ2eXj7R8HwHR6XDDL1zIBklcX-9Esi8vhHrM8w98-cuiKJf0W1hADGQwTQWnDZmdAjld2r7stmf9T1jc0CS2cC06A7zbpfudi9M/w296-h400/Soest---Ezel-Vaarderhoogt---klein.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br />When I reread Montaigne’s
<a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/montaigne-essays-of-montaigne-vol-1#lf0963-01_head_019">15th
essay</a> “Men are punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort
without reason” in his <i>Essays</i>, immediately I had to think of Hervey
Allen’s <i><a href="https://books.google.nl/books?id=YcX2M_B4Kv0C&redir_esc=y">Toward
the Flame</a></i>, which I had recently read. <i>Toward the Flame </i>is Allen’s
account of his experiences as a soldier during the First World War. As for
Montaigne’s essay, he describes there the possible fatal consequences of obstinacy
in war. Already in the first sentence Montaigne summarizes what he wants to
tell us: “Valour has its bounds as well as other virtues, which, once
transgressed, the next step is into the territories of vice.” If one crosses the
boundaries of a virtue like bravery, it easily can lead to the opposite, in
this case “temerity, obstinacy, and folly.” Montaigne illustrates his view with
cases of fortresses that surrendered after a hard and obstinate resistance;
however, after the surrender the losers were as yet killed by the victors. In
his days this was not unusual. Rather it was a “custom”, so Montaigne, “in
times of war, to punish, even with death, those who are obstinate to defend a
place that by the rules of war is not tenable.” Montaigne thinks that the
killing is not unreasonable, since “otherwise men would be so confident upon
the hope of impunity, that not a henroost [chicken coop] but would resist and
seek to stop an army.” However, what is “tenable”? For “the strength or
weakness of a fortress is always measured by the estimate and counterpoise of
the forces that attack it … where also the greatness of the prince who is
master of the field, his reputation, and the respect that is due unto him, are
also put into the balance. There is danger that the balance be pressed too much
in that direction.” Even more, “it may happen that a man is possessed with so
great an opinion of himself and his power, that thinking it unreasonable any
place should dare to shut its gates against him, he puts all to the sword where
he meets with any opposition”, so kills the resisters.<br />
Happily, this cruel custom has changed since Montaigne wrote these words, and
nowadays it is at least forbidden by international law to kill a soldier who
has surrendered, let alone innocent civilians, although in practice this law often
is violated.<br />
Now to Harvey Allen, a lieutenant in the 28th division of the American Army in
France during the First World War. His division had been added to the Sixth French
army. At the end of <i>Toward the Flame</i>, Allen takes part in the battle of
Fismette, a little French village on the north bank of the Vesle River, opposite
the somewhat bigger village of Fismes on the south bank (west of Reims). Fismette
was a bridgehead, surrounded by the German army and impossible to defend,
according to his American division commander, who therefore ordered his
soldiers to withdraw to the south bank. However, this order was countermanded
by the French commander of the Sixth French Army. So, the fierce and cruel
battle continued and the Germans conquered Fismette and killed or captured
almost all American soldiers there. Later the French commander apologized to
the American division commander, while general Pershing, the commander of the
American army, said to him: “Why did you not disobey the [French] order?” In
other words, this battle of Fismette is a clear case of Montaigne’s view that “men
are punished for being obstinate in the defence of a fort without reason.” The
difference between Montaigne’s cases from the 16th century and before and my
case from the 20th century is that now the soldiers were not punished by being
killed after the battle by the victor, but they were punished “only” – if not
killed in action or being wounded – by being taken captive (and released after
the war).<br />
Although these cases are all military, the negative consequences of obstinate behaviour
are certainly not limited to military affairs. They are found everywhere in politics
and society. Obstinate behaviour sometimes leads to success, but most of the
time it leads to failure and nasty consequences. That is what we can learn from
Montaigne’s essay, if we want to give it a wider, non-military, meaning. Moreover,
I want to add, with obstinacy you don’t make friends but only foes in society
or in your personal relations. Being too often unreasonably obstinate makes
that people who should be your friends or at least should help you, turn
against you. However, the problem is: What is being obstinate? Montaigne
mentions the case of persons who see others as obstinate, while just they
themselves are arrogant. And is not-giving-in a matter of being obstinate or a
matter of seeing reasonable chances? It’s sometimes difficult to judge if we
have to assess single cases, like resistance to an enemy. Who didn’t see the
resistance of the Ukrainian army against the Russian invasion as obstinate and
unreasonable during the first days? Western powers even advised the Ukrainian
president Zelensky to flee and to form an exile government. However, the facts
proved him right not to do so and to resist. Theory often collides with practice.
But if everybody disagrees with you or if the facts seem to turn against you,
there is reason to wonder whether your stubbornness isn’t a matter of
stupidity.<br />
And what once you have lost because of your obstinacy? Was your stubbornness
really unreasonable obstinacy? Others will judge. But also here Montaigne has a
warning for us, in the last sentence of his essay: “Above all a man should take
heed, if he can, of falling into the hands of a judge who is an enemy and
victorious.” For the winner is always right, even if he isn’t.</span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-55431932911674585602024-02-08T00:50:00.004+01:002024-02-08T00:50:36.826+01:00<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Above all a man should take heed, if he can, of falling into the hands
of a judge who is an enemy and victorious.</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><br />
</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Michel de Montaigne
(1533-1592)</span></span></span></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-34975782549618318532024-02-05T01:50:00.000+01:002024-02-05T01:50:23.814+01:00Changing views<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNWjBcfKFGTCqoEo1AK8iME0llA1ZaYutNo6A7lbdwHKkGU-oIicmw4FNVmdb3og_WMy0iVdzPMfGPqrtmLLv4BoF7e5EUYnvV5RCuKQMwRJPGE8BYEH1vp2zod1DPlbkIoC0mGCxskcGMP4SHN3vRJxYXysdoIdnPGEx7PxoD2NIgoD7JOtI4AKISsQ/s1200/Haarlem-Teylers-Museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1200" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjNWjBcfKFGTCqoEo1AK8iME0llA1ZaYutNo6A7lbdwHKkGU-oIicmw4FNVmdb3og_WMy0iVdzPMfGPqrtmLLv4BoF7e5EUYnvV5RCuKQMwRJPGE8BYEH1vp2zod1DPlbkIoC0mGCxskcGMP4SHN3vRJxYXysdoIdnPGEx7PxoD2NIgoD7JOtI4AKISsQ/w400-h271/Haarlem-Teylers-Museum.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Recently I visited the <a href="https://www.teylersmuseum.nl/en/teylers-museum?set_language=en">Teylers
Museum</a> in Haarlem, Netherlands. If you are not from the Netherlands, probably
you have never heard of it, but in the Netherlands the museum is widely known. Founded
in 1784, the Teylers Museum is the oldest museum of the Netherlands that still exists
and one of the oldest museums in Europe. The museum is certainly worth to write
about, but here I don’t want to write about the museum as such but about what this
museum and museums in general say about us, about humans. For why do we make
museums?<br />
As said, the Teylers Museum is one of the oldest European museums that still
exist. <a href="https://museums.eu/highlight/details/105317/the-worlds-oldest-museums">A
few older</a> ones are The British Museum in London (1753 / open to the public
in 1759), the Amerbach Cabinet in Basel, Switzerland (1661/1671) and several
museums in Vatican City. The Capitoline Museums there began in 1471 and it is
the oldest still existing museum in the world. This doesn’t mean that there
were no museums before 1471. The <a href="https://museums.eu/highlight/details/105317/the-worlds-oldest-museums">oldest
museum known</a> dates from c. 530 BC and was founded by the Babylonian
princess Ennigaldi. It contained a collection of archaeological artefacts from different
times and places, neatly organized and labelled, just as in modern museums. Some
of the artefacts were already a thousand years old, when the museum was founded.
Also ancient people studied history! However, apparently the idea that one
could collect artefacts and objects and order them and show them to the public
– and that’s what a museum does – was lost in some way, since the present
museums date from the end of the 15th century.<br />
I think that this has everything to do with our view on the world. Museums of
the type as founded by princess Ennigaldi were unknown at the time of the ancient
Greek and Romans. Collections existed, indeed, but they were either libraries
or collections of art and objects brought together for religious reasons or for
decorating houses, gardens and public buildings. Maybe one of the institutes
that was most like a modern museum was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum">Mouseion</a> (Μουσεῖον) in
Alexandria in Egypt, which gave the modern museum its name. It was a building
dedicated to the muses (the Greek divinities of art) used for the study of the
arts, but it was also a centre for learning in general. Such <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouseion">Mouseia</a> (Museums) could be
found in many Greek cities. The Mouseion of Alexandria had a library that is
still famous. However, a mouseion was not a museum in the modern sense, for the
function of modern museums is much wider. To quote the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum">Wikipedia</a>: “</span><span lang="EN-US">The purpose of modern museums is to collect,
preserve, interpret, and display objects of artistic, cultural, or scientific
significance for the study and education of the public.” Just the “education of
the public” is one of the most important functions of modern museums, although
the other purposes certainly must not be underestimated. However, with the fall
of the Roman Empire in the 4th century ancient style museums disappeared.<br />
Also the </span><span lang="EN-GB">oldest modern museum, the <a href="https://www.museicapitolini.org/en/mostre_ed_eventi/mostre">Capitoline
Museums</a>, was originally dedicated to the arts, like a mouseion, for it </span><span lang="EN-US">began when Pope Sixtus IV gave a group of important
ancient sculptures to the people of Rome. However, two important social
developments made that people (not only rich nobles like kings, dukes and counts
or the church, but also wealthy citizens) began to collect all kinds of objects
– curiosities – and not only pieces of art or books. These two developments were
the rise of modern science since the end of the Middle Ages and the discovery
of the world (“discovery” from a European perspective, but it is in Europe that
the first modern museums were founded). These two developments brought people
into contact with new worlds and with it with new objects; and they began to
study them. So, people who could afford it began to collect “curiosities” and to
present them in cabinets, and to order them and to show them to family and
friends and also gradually to the public; to everybody who wanted to see their
curiosities. These developments led to the rise of the modern museum. In this
way <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/">The British Museum</a> in London
began with a private collection, and also </span><span lang="EN-GB">the <a href="https://kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/collection/history'">Amerbach
Cabinet</a> in Basel, and many other museums as well. Also the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teylers_Museum">Teylers Museum is a case in
point</a>. Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702-1778), a wealthy cloth merchant
and banker in Haarlem, had stipulated in his will that his collection of curiosities
and part of his fortune should be used to establish a foundation for the
promotion of art and science. Therefore, the executors of his will established
a centre for study and education and a museum with scientific instruments,
fossils, minerals, drawings and the like. The idea was revolutionary and based
on the ideas of the Enlightenment. People could discover the world in the new
institute without coercion by church or state. The idea was viable. For
although there were already a few museums in the Netherlands, only the Teylers
Museum withstood the ages. Also in other countries museums were established
according to the same concept, and many still exist. This concept could only be
developed, and for a part redeveloped, when and because people had got a new and
broader view on the world: </span><span lang="EN-US">New worlds,
new views, new institutions!</span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-10935433831951081822024-02-01T03:16:00.001+01:002024-02-01T03:16:22.952+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">We become philosophers rather than aggressive ideologues by always being
</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">underway towards<i> discovering what everything is</i><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Graham Harman (1968-)</div></span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-21128399775362392742024-01-29T01:45:00.000+01:002024-01-29T01:45:19.173+01:00The procrastinator<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrAlL4L37irJcgR8Tfe_ws9fx-ieP8DolRNH5AxMdhQvzVcsjkBDVDrzFKCIZ9mXJqfPfLzMcLLB2Ws1BEVFIg0AqX3HxP-Nj4562nS8V-A_2H7a2pVn9HxhWffQA5sHtZePk4irXZ8GI78OxObUICfGBuXRl-RxfrXSY0BzWKigSPL_vlDe5z9rtCkc/s1207/Procratinator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1207" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrAlL4L37irJcgR8Tfe_ws9fx-ieP8DolRNH5AxMdhQvzVcsjkBDVDrzFKCIZ9mXJqfPfLzMcLLB2Ws1BEVFIg0AqX3HxP-Nj4562nS8V-A_2H7a2pVn9HxhWffQA5sHtZePk4irXZ8GI78OxObUICfGBuXRl-RxfrXSY0BzWKigSPL_vlDe5z9rtCkc/w331-h400/Procratinator.jpg" width="331" /></a></div><br />At the end of my last
blog, I told you that there are several types of procrastinators, without
saying much about these types. Moreover, I didn’t tell you how to stop
procrastination, but I referred you to the internet. Maybe, you doesn’t find this
very satisfactory, and with right. So let me write here a little bit more about
these themes.<br />
Piers Steel mentions in his <i><a href="https://ia802706.us.archive.org/2/items/iqraapdf-the-procrastination-equation-arabic/IQRAAPDF-The-Procrastination-Equation.pdf">The
procrastination equation</a></i> three main factors that have a big impact on
your motivation to perform a task or to pursue a goal: Expectancy, Value and
Impulsiveness. Accordingly, he discerns three main types of procrastinators. However,
how do you know which type of procrastinator you are, if you are? To this end, Steel
developed two procrastination tests. The first one tells you to what extent you
are a procrastinator compared to others. With the help of the second test, you
can find your type. The tests are too long for this blog, but you find them resp.
in <a href="https://ia802706.us.archive.org/2/items/iqraapdf-the-procrastination-equation-arabic/IQRAAPDF-The-Procrastination-Equation.pdf#%5B%7B%22num%22%3A118%2C%22gen%22%3A0%7D%2C%7B%22name%22%3A%22XYZ%22%7D%2C108.019966%2C759.41418%2C0%5D">chapter
one</a> and <a href="https://ia802706.us.archive.org/2/items/iqraapdf-the-procrastination-equation-arabic/IQRAAPDF-The-Procrastination-Equation.pdf#%5B%7B%22num%22%3A206%2C%22gen%22%3A0%7D%2C%7B%22name%22%3A%22XYZ%22%7D%2C108.019966%2C759.41418%2C0%5D">chapter
two</a> of the book. In case the first test shows that you are not a
procrastinator, it is still useful to do the second test, too, for nobody is completely
free from procrastination.<br />
Steel gives his types the names of persons, but let me call them Type E (from
Expectancy), Type V (from Value) and type I (from Impulsiveness). If you are a <i>type
E procrastinator</i>, you tend to postpone tasks that actually needed to be
done now, because you think that you cannot do them or that they’ll not give
you the result to be expected. Maybe you find them too difficult for you, or
you have done them in the past without much result. Steel mentions the case of
a sales person in a call centre who has so often received a “no” when trying to
sell his products that he is going to spend more time on Facebook and internet
games than to give it another try. “Procrastinators of this type are typically
less confident, especially about the tasks they are putting off”, so Steel.<br />
However, maybe you are not the type that quickly gives up as such what you have
planned to do, but you tend to postpone tasks that have not much value for you,
even if they are important. If so, you are a <i>type V procrastinator</i>. Steel
mentions here things like starting on your taxes or cleaning out your attic.
This looks obvious, but not doing such tasks may have nasty consequences. You
can be fined, if you don’t send in your tax form in time.<br />
Maybe the most common type is the <i>type I procrastinator</i>. This type of procrastinator
“value[s] rewards that can be realised soon far more highly than rewards that
require … to wait”. Such a procrastinator is impulsive. “People who act without
thinking, who are unable to keep their feelings under control, who act on
impulse, are also people who procrastinate”, so Steel. Playing games or
continuously checking your Facebook; searching for all kinds of odd things or
videos on the internet; going out when a friend asks you, while you need to
study; these are only a few examples of this type of procrastination. A type I
procrastinator tends to think: The deadline of what I must do is still far
away. With this in mind, this type gives in too fast to immediate impulses. The
result is that s/he starts too late on the tasks to be done, with the possible
effect, for instance, that they are not well done, or that deadlines are exceeded.<br />
The types just described need not be pure. Most procrastinators are a bit of
this and a bit of that. But often one type prevails, especially type I.<br />
Once you know this, the next question is how to stop your procrastination. A
little bit procrastinating need not be a problem and can be relaxing and can be
fun. But many people procrastinate too much with all negative effects it can
have. Steel gives many useful tips what you can do about it, but it is difficult
to summarize them in a few lines or main rules. So I surfed a bit on the
internet and found <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-2795944">here</a>
on verywellmind.com a list of measures and tips that are a good summary of Steel’s
tips and suggestions. As such it is a good website for you, if you want to know
more about procrastination. Here is the list of “procrastination exercises”
found there (copied from the website; the layout has been adapted):<br />
<br />
<b>Make a to-do list</b>:<b> </b>To help keep you on track, consider placing a
due date next to each item.<br />
<b>Take baby steps</b>:<b> </b>Break down the items on your list into small,
manageable steps so that your tasks don’t seem so overwhelming.<br />
<b>Recognize the warning signs</b>:<b> </b>Pay attention to any thoughts of
procrastination and do your best to resist the urge. If you begin to think
about procrastinating, force yourself to spend a few minutes working on your
task.<br />
<b>Eliminate distraction</b>:<b> </b>Ask yourself what pulls your attention
away the most—whether it’s Instagram, Facebook updates, or the local news—and
turn off those sources of distraction.<br />
<b>Pat yourself on the back</b>:<b> </b>When you finish an item on your to-do
list on time, congratulate yourself and reward yourself by indulging in
something you find fun.<br />
</span><span lang="EN-US"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-GB">If you want to know more about procrastination and
how to stop it, and you find Steel’s book too long to read, search then with
the keyword “procrastination” on the internet and you’ll find many useful
webpages. <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=procrastination#ip=1">Here
is my search</a>. And maybe reading my blog was a first step to make an end to
your procrastination, if it is a problem for you.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span></span><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-87520998071733055612024-01-25T02:52:00.000+01:002024-01-25T02:52:06.414+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">When people are compared to vermin, you know how things stand.</span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Ian Buruma (1951-)</div>
</span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-91222748401942240182024-01-22T01:31:00.002+01:002024-01-22T01:31:45.461+01:00Procrastination<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgIXhCCRdFQWGQfxrQPVymxBRAD86X4f939VlQs9Gvq4pd7ALkPXGPvdJrk5PeaawLuwOw-BUQUb_WQjQYS3XLddjd1BBIUPMq6BQGYF61LQi1NS_XwBOlXWKYQId8jFqMPjVa0P2Uzy5t3pvPrZhKCnnRaKZmweseW8Qp9jLdluTo0n42Gh8Q-U0F-Fc/s1200/Procrastination-klein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1200" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgIXhCCRdFQWGQfxrQPVymxBRAD86X4f939VlQs9Gvq4pd7ALkPXGPvdJrk5PeaawLuwOw-BUQUb_WQjQYS3XLddjd1BBIUPMq6BQGYF61LQi1NS_XwBOlXWKYQId8jFqMPjVa0P2Uzy5t3pvPrZhKCnnRaKZmweseW8Qp9jLdluTo0n42Gh8Q-U0F-Fc/w400-h291/Procrastination-klein.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Thirteen
years ago Piers Steel published <i><a href="https://ia802706.us.archive.org/2/items/iqraapdf-the-procrastination-equation-arabic/IQRAAPDF-The-Procrastination-Equation.pdf">The
procrastination equation</a></i>, but it was only three months ago that I
bought it. A clear case of procrastination? No, for only recently I heard about
the book and then I bought it soon, for I thought that procrastination would be
a good subject for a blog. However, it took me two months before I started to
read it. Is this then a clear case of procrastination? Again the answer is no:
I have always a couple of books, often more than ten, waiting to be read, and
my rule is to read them more or less in the order I bought them. You know, once
a book stood there fourteen years in the waiting row, and that must not happen
again. Therefore I made this rule. But there are exceptions and sometimes a book
gets priority, like Steel’s book. So this case is rather one of jumping the queue
than a case of procrastination.<br />What then
is procrastination? Procrastination is postponing tasks that should be done or
that you like to be done by doing instead things that are less important or
less urgent, or by letting distract yourself, from what you should do. You are
not procrastinating when you have good reasons for postponing what you had to
do or wanted to do. If you postpone writing an article, because you received an
e-mail that a book you need for it will arrive later this week, this makes
sense. It may save you the need to make corrections, in case the book contains
important stuff. When you skip your daily run, because the rain is pouring
down, it’s also okay, if you seldom cancel a workout. But when you stay at
home, because you first want to check your Facebook and then it has become too
dark to go out, you are procrastinating, for you could also have done it after
your run.<br />Why do we procrastinate?
In chapter two Steel mentions three main factors, based on an analysis of
hundreds of cases of procrastination. They are expectancy, value and time. These
factors constitute your motivation to do something (or not). <i>Expectancy</i>
is your view whether or not you can bring your planned task to a good end or
whether or not you can achieve your goal. <i>Value</i> means whether or not you
find your task important or valuable. High scores on both – you think you can
do your task and reach your goal and it is important for you – make that you’ll
almost certainly do what you must or want to do. Low scores make that you tend
to postpone it. So, according to Steel, using the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_motivation_theory">Expected
Utility Theory </a></i>, we can say that</span><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;">a) Motivation = Expectancy x Value<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB">High scores
on expectancy and value give high motivation and low scores give low motivation,
as this formula shows.<br /></span>However,
that’s not all. Maybe you are very motivated, but why acting now? The deadline
is yet far away, you think. And the later the task needs to be done and your
goal needs to be reached, the more you are inclined to postpone working on them.
Therefore formula a) must be divided by the “<i>delay</i>”: the <i>time</i> you
have till the deadline. So we get:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">b) Motivation = <u>Expectancy x Value</u></span></div><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;">Delay </span></span></div></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Formula b says
that your motivation will decrease the farther away in future your task or goal
is. However, so Steel, there is yet a fourth factor that has a clear impact on motivation:
We need also to take account of someone’s character (although Steel doesn’t use
this word). Some persons want to get things now instead of later, if they can choose,
even if it would be profitable to get them later. For other persons it’s not a
problem to wait if it is worth it. People who tend to take what they get now
instead of what they get later, tend to postpone working on goals yet far away.
“Why not going out with my friends this evening; that exam will be only next
month”, a student may think. But if she thinks too often so, in the end she may
lack enough time for a good preparation. So the more you tend to be distracted
by less important tasks or by (futile) pleasures now, the more you tend to postpone
working on the more important task with a deadline still far away. Steel calls
this character trait “impulsiveness”. Because it diminishes your motivation, it
must be put in the denominator of the formula. Then we get:</span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">b) Motivation = <u>Expectancy x Value</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"> Impulsiveness x </span><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;">Delay </span></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now we are done
and we have got, what Steel calls, the <i>Procrastination Equation</i> (see note
below). In his book Steel describes also types of procrastinators. Some
procrastinate because their expectancy in the task to do is usually low; others
often give a low value to their tasks; again others are impulsive. And, of
course, some people are a mixture of these types. Whatever type of
procrastinator you are, if you are, the procrastination equation shows what the
factors are you can work on in order to “deprocrastinate” yourself, and what
the effects of these factors are. How to do that? Steels gives many tips or you
can find them on the internet. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span lang="EN-GB">Note<br /></span></i>For technical reasons, also a constant +1 must be
added in the denominator of the formula. See the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/202162/the-procrastination-equation-by-piers-steel/9780307357175">Penguin
edition</a> of Steel’s book, p. 37, and see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_motivation_theory">here</a>. </span></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-5475410681272009462024-01-18T18:48:00.003+01:002024-01-18T18:48:43.367+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><i>Writing is the concrete activity that consists in constructing, on its
own, blank space – the page – a text that has power over the exteriority from
which it first has been isolated.</i><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Michel de Certeau (1925-1986)</div></span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-22539796674138301512024-01-15T02:07:00.000+01:002024-01-15T02:07:37.676+01:00The death of Cicero<span lang="EN-GB"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7T5SIlHsW1n4l9ZBerMU_68A8MWaE5mgCuKvk8wsZrZPfgKWFxJSor-W2XhneEMD-PsR2cGLtsarI9CMbAnHm2CTqO6TSVJAll_rzpaZP0_bcFgXHMBNai-V-DXqqlVp7yKLtYoxt90wR1JKck5CGhiZPDJhcyU3vIbEJv7JM39W3BtqZq0MAc8Wm8A/s2500/Europeana.eu-90402-RP_P_1929_261-74cd962e93b751a7014b509731076eca.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1904" data-original-width="2500" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio7T5SIlHsW1n4l9ZBerMU_68A8MWaE5mgCuKvk8wsZrZPfgKWFxJSor-W2XhneEMD-PsR2cGLtsarI9CMbAnHm2CTqO6TSVJAll_rzpaZP0_bcFgXHMBNai-V-DXqqlVp7yKLtYoxt90wR1JKck5CGhiZPDJhcyU3vIbEJv7JM39W3BtqZq0MAc8Wm8A/w400-h305/Europeana.eu-90402-RP_P_1929_261-74cd962e93b751a7014b509731076eca.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The assasination of Cicero<br />(</i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: NL;">1819 - Rijksmuseum,
Netherlands - <a href="https://www.europeana.eu/item/90402/RP_P_1929_261">Public
Domain</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;">)</span></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">In May last year, I
published a blog about the question “</span><a href="https://philosophybytheway.blogspot.com/search?q=philosophy+dangerous" style="font-family: verdana;">Is
philosophy dangerous?</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">” I wrote there that it often happened that
philosophers were banned or went voluntarily into exile, because they were prosecuted
for their ideas. Some were even killed for their ideas. Later I realized that I
forgot to mention Cicero, whose death was violent and cruel. I decided to leave
it as it was and to ignore this omission. However, recently I was reminded again
of Cicero’s death, when I read about it on my history day calendar. Although
actually Cicero was not murdered for his philosophical ideas but for his
political affiliations, I want to make up for my negligence now, for in the end
Cicero was one of the most important Roman philosophers and he is still widely
read.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">
Today Cicero is best known for his letters and for his treatise on rhetoric.
And for his speeches, of course, and then we come to the heart of why he was
murdered. But let me begin from the start.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">
Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 BC - 7 December 43 BC) was born in the
town of Arpinum (now Arpino), halfway Naples and Rome, in a rich family. He
always wanted to become a politician and was supported in this by his family
and his family-in-law. However, he started his career as a lawyer and became
very successful and well-known, also because of his rhetorical talents. He won
a case against the corrupt governor Verres of Sicily, which brought him in the
centre of politics. Moreover, Cicero was very ambitious. All this stimulated
his career a lot. He became a member of the Senate and in 63 BC Cicero was the
first Roman consul since 30 years who had not a consul among his ancestors (every
year two consuls were elected). After his consulate, Cicero got involved in all
kinds of political affairs and because he was also a big spender, he got into
debt. The debt was paid by the Triumvirate – one of them was Julius Caesar – that
tried to overthrow the existing political structure. Caesar asked Cicero to
join the Triumvirate, but he refused, since it would undermine the Senate and the
existing Republic. In 60 BC Cicero fled Rome, but he returned three years later,
when the political situation had changed. Cicero became again a successful lawyer
and returned to the Senate, but he became again involved in political and
private affairs. After Caesar’s </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: verdana;">assassination<i>
</i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: verdana;">in 44 BC – Cicero was present when it happened but
wasn’t involved in it – a new Triumvirate – called the Second Triumvirate –
tried to seize control of the state. This Triumvirate existed of Octavianus (the
adopted son of Caesar and the later Emperor Augustus), Marcus Antonius and Marcus
Aemilius Lepidus. Again Cicero took the side of the Senate against the
Triumvirate but also advised the Senate to support the still young Octavianus, thinking
that the Senate could easily bend Octavianus to their will. He was wrong. One of
the agreements between the members of the Triumvirate was that each of them
could freely execute their enemies and the others would not interfere. Cicero
became on Marcus Antonius’s kill list. He tried to flee but was caught by Antonius’s
soldiers. For what happened now, I can best quote <a href="https://www.rabbitsforlatin.com/plutarchs-account-of-the-death-of-cicero">Plutarchus</a>,
who described Cicero’s death: <br />
<br />
Cicero had fled to his villa in Astura, when he had heard that he would be
executed, and from there he left again in a litter, accompanied by some
servants, not knowing where to go. Not long after he had left home “his
assassins came to his villa, Herennius a centurion, and Popillius a tribune, who
had once been prosecuted for parricide and defended by Cicero; and they had
helpers. After they had broken in the door, which they found closed, Cicero was
not to be seen, and the inmates said they knew not where he was. Then, we are
told, a youth who had been liberally educated by Cicero …, Philologus by name,
told the tribune that the litter was being carried through the wooded and shady
walks towards the sea. The tribune, accordingly, taking a few helpers with him,
ran round towards the exit, but Herennius hastened on the run through the
walks, and Cicero, perceiving him, ordered the servants to set the litter down
where they were. Then he himself, clasping his chin with his left hand, as was
his wont, looked steadfastly at his slayers, his head all squalid and unkempt,
and his face wasted with anxiety, so that most of those that stood by covered
their faces while Herennius was slaying him. For he stretched his neck forth
from the litter and was slain, being then in his sixty-fourth year. Herennius
cut off his head, by Antony's command, and his hands — the hands with which he
wrote the Philippics. For Cicero himself entitled his speeches against Antony ‘Philippics,’
and to this day the documents are called Philippics.”<br />
Cicero’s remains were brought to Rome. and there Antonius ordered his head and hands
to be placed on the rostrum on the Forum in order to scare the Roman
population.<br />
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: verdana;">That’s how one of the most outstanding philosophers
in history came to his end, though not for what he said as a philosopher but for
what did as a politician. But does it make any difference, if a death is so
cruel? A human is a human, and cruel is cruel.<br />
<br />
<i>Source</i>: Information about Cicero’s death can be found in the Wikipedia
and on many other websites.</span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-5400957816173022022024-01-11T03:08:00.002+01:002024-01-11T03:08:23.923+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><i>Photography provides a quick way of apprehending something and a compact
form for memorizing it. [It] is like a quotation, or a maxim or proverb.</i><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Susan Sontag (1933-2004) </div></span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-72099992223596106302024-01-08T02:40:00.000+01:002024-01-08T02:40:23.744+01:00Born today<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP63Pw9cidv9ndzw1fBWSBBjcnpBRNc4LfplQJWwt417GFN-mdBPp8kxNpJxygu8uRzPHrSp8jbIRXF2ASgtwUeSpxsUterudySVUBp6gGuI5GxURmaMJiboO3Te1msGm4RKaWurM5Q7b5Dz6i3X7jIzLiSLxSUFFJoWAXNrb30B8IGfrVlSF92U-xL0M/s1521/8%20januari.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="979" data-original-width="1521" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP63Pw9cidv9ndzw1fBWSBBjcnpBRNc4LfplQJWwt417GFN-mdBPp8kxNpJxygu8uRzPHrSp8jbIRXF2ASgtwUeSpxsUterudySVUBp6gGuI5GxURmaMJiboO3Te1msGm4RKaWurM5Q7b5Dz6i3X7jIzLiSLxSUFFJoWAXNrb30B8IGfrVlSF92U-xL0M/w400-h258/8%20januari.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Maybe it would be
interesting to devote my blogs this year to philosophers who have been born on
the day that I publish my blogs. It would be an interesting theme, but I think
that soon it would become boring, not only for you but also for me. Soon, you
would think: Again a biography of a philosopher? And you would stop reading
them. For me, soon writing a blog would no longer be challenging. If I wouldn’t
know the philosopher I wanted to write about, writing a blog would be not more
than copying some biographical stuff from the <i>Wikipedia</i> and other
relevant websites. Nevertheless, I think it is a good idea to do so now and
then and to draw your attention to known and less known thinkers. So, for this
blog, I googled “philosopher 8 January” and this is what I found:<br />
- Samuel von Pufendorf (1632-1694)<br />
- Taixu (1890-1947)<br />
- Sterling Power Lamprecht (1890-1973)<br />
- Carl Gustav Hempel (1905-1997)<br />
- Jean Hyppolite (1907-1968)<br />
</span><span lang="ES"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Taixu"><span lang="EN-GB">Taixu</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB">, a Chinese Buddhist philosopher, and <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/search?q=lamprecht&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true">Sterling
Power Lamprecht</a>, an American philosopher, were completely unknown to me,
and I’ll ignore them here. As for, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Freiherr-von-Pufendorf">Pufendorf</a>
and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Hyppolite">Hyppolite</a>, at
least I knew their names. Pufendorf was an influential German political thinker
and a precursor of the Enlightenment in Germany. The French philosopher Hyppolite
was a follower of Hegel and he has also written about Marx. His works have been
quite influential in his time. When teaching at the Sorbonne University, Louis
Althusser, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault were among his
students. However, most interesting for me is Hempel, who had a big influence
on my philosophical thinking, but then just because I didn’t agree with him.
When I studied sociology at the Utrecht University, Hempel had many followers. Discussing
about philosophical, especially methodological, themes most of the time involved
for me defending why I did not agree with him. One of the most important views
of Hempel was that the basis of explanation of facts in all sciences was the
so-called “covering law model”, while I thought (with others) and still think
that often this model doesn’t work in the social sciences and the other human
sciences. An alternative approach of social facts is the method of
understanding (with a German word also called <i>Verstehen</i>). Influenced by
the ideas of Jürgen Habermas, Karl-Otto Apel and especially Georg Henrik von
Wright, later, in <a href="http://www.bijdeweg.nl/Summarydissertatie.htm">my
PhD thesis</a>, I developed a methodological foundation of this method of
understanding, which to my mind had insufficiently been done till then.<br />
But I don’t want to write about myself but about Hempel. Although on many
points I don’t agree with his ideas, they are interesting, anyway. Hempel (a
German born philosopher who in 1939 moved to the USA and stayed there for the
rest of his life) belonged in the early 1930s to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Circle">Berlin Circle</a> of logical
positivists, a group associated with the famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Circle">Vienna Circle</a>, which held
that empirical verification and mathematics were the basis of all sciences and
that there was there no place for subjectivity (a view that could not be maintained,
in the end). Statements that could not be verified in some way were considered
meaningless. The most important contribution of Hempel to the debate how to
verify facts was the covering law model, also called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive-nomological_model">deductive-nomological
model</a> or Hempel-Oppenheim model (since Hempel developed the model in cooperation
with Paul Oppenheim). </span><span class="hgkelc"><span lang="EN">Basically
this model says that a given phenomenon is explained by deducing its
description from a law or general statement </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">like “All <i>A</i> are <i>B</i>” or “If <i>A</i> is the case then <i>B</i>
happens” </span><span class="hgkelc"><span lang="EN">plus a
description of the particular circumstances in which the phenomenon in question
occurs. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB">Although actually the covering
law model was not new, just Hempel’s clear formulation and his idea that it
applied to all sciences, including the social sciences and history, plus his
fierce defence of the model made him famous.<br /></span>Although formulating the covering law model is one of Hempel’s most important
contributions to philosophy, it is certainly not his only contribution. Alone
and with Oppenheim he wrote books and articles on mathematics and logic. In one
of my blogs I paid already attention to his <a href="https://philosophybytheway.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-raven-paradox.html">Raven
Paradox</a>. All this made that Hempel left a clear mark on the development of
philosophy. Although today, many ideas developed by him and by other logical
positivists are considered outdated, including the covering law model,
nevertheless, the 8th of January is a date to remember in the history of philosophy. </span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-25332324614603799012024-01-04T02:02:00.001+01:002024-01-04T02:02:28.162+01:00<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;">Random quote<br />
</span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 107%;"><i>There is not an instant of time when some living creature is not
devoured by another. Above all these numerous animal species is placed man,
whose destructive hands spare no living thing; he kills to eat; he kills for
clothing, he kills for adornment, he kills to attack, he kills to defend
himself, he kills for instruction, he kills for amusement, he kills for the
killing’s sake: a proud and terrible king, he needs everything, and nothing can
withstand him.</i><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Carlo Ginzburg (1939-)</div></span></span>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-78861891826202019202024-01-01T13:53:00.000+01:002024-01-01T13:53:33.041+01:00Reconciliation<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib24lCT-H24V3_rHQsk4Tp0IzEodi3iOiBXzu-8OkjFHcAD_Sz-Ul4kVuF2ebTRq_fAg0ZZQDXd7vXIENnFje2wOibic8s4nateQKXftwXb-LyW5bK5R_MJrxSB3uHQqA1RliLiZRS0zK88aCQCr2-gGqLfWMO4HRZ-3uXELS7RHw5lwN7bfiOKePgiCY/s1252/Cimetiere-Musson-Barrancy-zw-klein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib24lCT-H24V3_rHQsk4Tp0IzEodi3iOiBXzu-8OkjFHcAD_Sz-Ul4kVuF2ebTRq_fAg0ZZQDXd7vXIENnFje2wOibic8s4nateQKXftwXb-LyW5bK5R_MJrxSB3uHQqA1RliLiZRS0zK88aCQCr2-gGqLfWMO4HRZ-3uXELS7RHw5lwN7bfiOKePgiCY/w384-h400/Cimetiere-Musson-Barrancy-zw-klein.jpg" width="384" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Siegfried
Sassoon (1886-1967) was an English war poet, writer and soldier. During the
First World War (1914-1918), he fought in the British army on the Western Front
in Northern France against the Germans, who had invaded France. Sassoon wrote
this poem in November 1918, around the time that the Armistice of 11 November
ended this war. (click on the photo to single it out)</span><o:p></o:p><p></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-42638188683350302632023-12-31T17:27:00.003+01:002023-12-31T17:27:52.255+01:00----------- HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! -----------<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5BfMEp2w65hzZKse4XWwwhxt3nXMYqYF-UODPLSG-UO9P-kaSn2F633Aa09xj0l2mgDYbTkU6eMjOS9et_wXu-JUTFM4-iX0wjAfUmia7mHAIb-4QmMwVs28t45g8-4ntffdGIvvzgpI3RpoFGOQdsVs8R_LPOEx-8LbjL_0ZedqCvKOuQnogb0LD6gg/s473/Gelukkig%20Nieuwjaar%202024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="441" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5BfMEp2w65hzZKse4XWwwhxt3nXMYqYF-UODPLSG-UO9P-kaSn2F633Aa09xj0l2mgDYbTkU6eMjOS9et_wXu-JUTFM4-iX0wjAfUmia7mHAIb-4QmMwVs28t45g8-4ntffdGIvvzgpI3RpoFGOQdsVs8R_LPOEx-8LbjL_0ZedqCvKOuQnogb0LD6gg/w373-h400/Gelukkig%20Nieuwjaar%202024.JPG" width="373" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-1243300306689336032023-12-28T00:13:00.000+01:002023-12-28T00:13:50.125+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Something to think about<br />
</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"><i>“Based on data on armed conflicts between 2004 and
2007, the Geneva Declaration Secretariat suggests that, ‘a reasonable average
estimate would be a ratio of four indirect deaths to one direct death in
contemporary conflicts.”</i><br /></span><br />From Saba Bazargan, “Noncombatant immunity and
war-profiteering”, in Seth Lazar and Helen Frowe (eds.), <i>The Oxford Handbook
of Ethics of War</i>. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018; pp. 358-362. The
quotation is from p. 376.<br /><br />Why should it be
different for the present conflicts in the world?</span></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-61014298136556624242023-12-25T00:48:00.002+01:002023-12-25T00:48:45.171+01:00------------ MERRY CHRISTMAS ------------<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPljo1VRcEGPR3JifWdd6enzZo1716QnzCt0_9V0lmg32_e0znoh5Di4mg4o-V5U17cNRv9SruD5E8SeVzbES0Oydld0neCZHq9fuucLmvibCV2B3iLC32xKtiuRfyoAD67XwffE5R6urqYEeqK0w6tBG27B8_l9tGYzXZP0v84kDot2P08dyFPdBh7A/s1200/Kerstkaart--2023-klein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="897" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxPljo1VRcEGPR3JifWdd6enzZo1716QnzCt0_9V0lmg32_e0znoh5Di4mg4o-V5U17cNRv9SruD5E8SeVzbES0Oydld0neCZHq9fuucLmvibCV2B3iLC32xKtiuRfyoAD67XwffE5R6urqYEeqK0w6tBG27B8_l9tGYzXZP0v84kDot2P08dyFPdBh7A/w299-h400/Kerstkaart--2023-klein.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6398699458159756321.post-46712744431826531932023-12-23T13:40:00.000+01:002023-12-23T13:40:03.126+01:00Tommy's Christmas<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span lang="EN-GB"></span></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQy9zAZNNPvsIP2fjQwaVhXV1zHKtQT_HwPg6sWG4L8OV6YpgjCxM6kAXZSRhn8ti7Gg6mx-AGi_lIeOf-1OtYbka07pRvAA1G2bqbjTXgb0msoTITYItd39cxeFR7_BU1E7joTGgHVNp-Yeg7Vn_eb2g67lnGn7BiNlwLiebqQAfarPma97p3NJ_C6s/s1024/Christmas%205.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizQy9zAZNNPvsIP2fjQwaVhXV1zHKtQT_HwPg6sWG4L8OV6YpgjCxM6kAXZSRhn8ti7Gg6mx-AGi_lIeOf-1OtYbka07pRvAA1G2bqbjTXgb0msoTITYItd39cxeFR7_BU1E7joTGgHVNp-Yeg7Vn_eb2g67lnGn7BiNlwLiebqQAfarPma97p3NJ_C6s/w400-h400/Christmas%205.png" width="400" /></a></i></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br />For
this Christmas blog I wanted to do something different and I asked ChatGPT to
write a Christmas story about a poor boy. I asked DALL.E 2 to make an image for
the story. This is what I got.<br />
</i><span lang="EN-GB"><br />
Once upon a time in the small town of Evergreen, there lived a young boy named
Tommy. Christmas was just around the corner, and the town was adorned with colourful
lights, festive decorations, and the joyful laughter of families preparing for
the holidays. However, for Tommy and his family, Christmas only brought a sense
of longing and sadness.<br />
Tommy's family struggled to make ends meet, and their modest home barely
provided enough warmth to shield them from the winter chill. Despite the
hardships, Tommy remained optimistic, finding joy in the simple things life
offered. He had a heart full of kindness and a spirit that refused to be
dampened by the circumstances surrounding him.<br />
One cold and snowy evening, as Tommy walked through the town square, he
couldn't help but marvel at the twinkling lights and the giant Christmas tree
standing tall in the centre. His eyes sparkled with wonder, and his imagination
ran wild with dreams of a Christmas filled with warmth and abundance.<br />
One day, as Tommy strolled through the snow-covered streets, he came across a
group of carolers singing festive tunes. Their voices echoed through the air,
creating a magical atmosphere that touched Tommy's soul. He couldn't resist
joining in, and his pure, heartfelt singing caught the attention of the
townspeople.<br />
As the news of Tommy's sweet voice spread, the townspeople decided to organize
a special Christmas concert to showcase his talent. The concert would not only
bring joy to the community but also help Tommy's family during the difficult
times.<br />
The townspeople rallied together, contributing whatever they could to make the
concert a reality. They donated food, warm clothing, and even small gifts for
Tommy's family. The sense of community and kindness that enveloped Evergreen
was a true testament to the spirit of Christmas.<br />
On the night of the concert, the town square was transformed into a winter
wonderland. The air was filled with the sweet melodies of carols, and the
warmth of compassion melted away the cold. Tommy stood on the makeshift stage,
surrounded by twinkling lights and smiling faces.<br />
As he sang with all his heart, a gentle snowfall began, adding a touch of magic
to the scene. The townspeople, wrapped in blankets and scarves, watched in awe
as Tommy's voice filled the air, bringing tears of joy to many eyes.<br />
After the concert, as the townspeople presented Tommy's family with the
donations, a sense of gratitude and relief washed over them. The generosity of
the community had not only provided warmth and comfort for the winter but had
also filled their hearts with hope and love.<br />
From that day forward, Evergreen became a symbol of the true spirit of
Christmas, where kindness, compassion, and the magic of the season transformed
the lives of a humble family. And as the years passed, Tommy continued to share
his gift of music, reminding everyone that the greatest joy of Christmas is
found in the love we share with one another.</span></span><p></p>HbdWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05358668804898517772noreply@blogger.com0