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Background: Festivals play an important role in improving death and grief literacy, enabling members of the public to engage with these often-sensitive topics. Good Grief Weston festival was co-designed and delivered with the community in Weston-super-Mare, a coastal town in South-West England with high levels of socioeconomic disadvantage but rich community assets. It was held in person over 8 days in May 2023. Objectives: To evaluate the reach and impact of Good Grief Weston festival and gather data to inform future festivals. Design: Mixed methods evaluation (survey and focus groups). Methods: Online and paper surveys assessing participants' characteristics and experiences were administrated during and after the festival. Survey participants who indicated their willingness to participate were invited to attend a focus group. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Data were collected by trained community co-researchers. Results: Approximately 3000 people attended the festival. Of 204 completed surveys, 64.5% were from women, age range ⩽15 to ⩾75 years; 88.2% identified as White; 14.9% deaf, disabled/with a chronic condition; 18.9% neurodivergent; 9.0% gay, bisexual or queer. Festival participants were entertained (70.9%), inspired (68.5%), felt part of a like-minded community (54.3%), talked to someone new (49.2%), learnt about grief/bereavement (34.3%), shared or expressed experiences (30.3%) and found out about local support (19.7%). 71.3% reported that they felt more confident talking about grief after attending. Median experience rating was 5 (IQR 0; possible range 1 = poor to 5 = excellent). In free-text comments, participants expressed appreciation for the festival and described benefits in attending. Two focus groups were conducted (n = 8 participants, all women), lasting c.1.5 h. Focus groups added rich descriptions of the festival's value, and data to inform the next festival. Conclusion: Findings suggest festivals of this nature can play a central role in a public health approach. Plain language summary: What was the impact of Good Grief Weston festival? Why was the study done? Previous studies have shown that many people feel unsupported by their community after the death of a loved one. We designed a festival to improve knowledge and support for bereaved people. We did this study to assess how the festival affected the people who attended. What did the researchers do? The team included researchers and people and organisations from the local community. Together, we designed and ran a festival on the topic of death, grief and bereavement in Weston-super-Mare, a coastal town with areas of high deprivation. The festival took place over an eight-day period in May 2023 and included creative, interactive and educational events. The team collected feedback on attendees' experiences of the festival. We did this using online and paper feedback forms, postcards, and focus groups to collect as many opinions as possible. What did the researchers find? We found that a wide range of people attended the festival. Most people who took part in the research rated the festival as 'excellent'. They told us they learnt about grief and bereavement and found out about local support services. Attendees met new people, shared their experiences, and felt that the festival built community spirit. They also made suggestions to improve any future festivals. What do the findings mean? The findings show that in-person festivals can effectively engage the public on the topic of death, grief and bereavement. They can also help develop connections between people and organisations in communities. These connections and learning opportunities may help communities to support their members through bereavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the concept and significance of the fundamental phenomenon of eros in Eugen Fink’s thought. First, it makes eros explicit as a supra-individual phenomenon that makes freedom eccentric. Then it presents sexual love as a cosmic determination of existence that fuses the lovers with the impulse of renewal and perpetuation of life that runs through the whole world. Next, it exposes the religious significance of eros as an experience of the divine and the sacredness of life. Finally, it makes explicit the fundamental ethical questioning that the analysis of the cosmological meaning of eros poses to today’s society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is one of the most prominent candidates for a theory of consciousness, although it has received much criticism for trying to live up to expectations. Based on the relevance of three issues generalized from the developments of IITs, we have summarized the main ideas of IIT into two levels. At the second level, IIT claims to be strictly anchoring consciousness, but the first level on which it is based is more about autonomous systems or systems that have reached some other critical complexity. In this paper, we argue that the clear gap between the two levels of explanation of IIT has led to these criticisms and that its panpsychist tendency plays a crucial role in this. We suggest that the problems of IIT are far from being "pseudoscience", and by adding more necessary elements, when the first level is combined with the second level, IIT can genuinely move toward an appropriate theory of consciousness that can provide necessary and sufficient interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the indigenous oral life narratives. It states that a core in collaborative indigenous life writing is how spoken words are written. Equally important are the efforts to present Indigenous narratives in a visual form that will facilitate their re-speaking. According to the author, collaborative life writing, bringing spoken word to written page and setting Indigenous lives and narratives on the line, carries story forward, the same story transformed, yet working, and shaping lives in every new telling.

Svätopluk Štúr is a strong critic of strands of German thought that emphasize the will to power as an organizing principle of human society. Štúr is particularly critical of Nietzsche's vitalism, which Štúr believes culminated in national socialism and the destruction of the Second World War. This paper describes and examines Štúr's criticism of a number of German thinkers and focuses especially on Štúr's criticism of Nietzsche. Štúr criticizes Nietzsche's emphasis on life over knowledge. Štúr offers a different philosophy of life grounded in the dignity of human beings and the social consequences of ideas and actions. This paper concludes by examining what Štúr means by dignity in terms of a moral agent and as opposed to Nietzsche's emphasis on vitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents qualitative research findings from the evaluation of a Parkinson's Dance well-being venture in the UK. Methods: Qualitative data was gathered to see how bespoke dancing sessions helped people with Parkinson's (PwP) to manage their conditions and improve their lives and prospects. Principles of a participatory approach were incorporated and methods included semi-structured interviewing, researchers participant observation and an elicitation-based activity. Nineteen PwP, six carers, four dance artists and seven helpers participated in the study. Results: Participating in Parkinson's Dance sessions meant that PwP could experience the possibilities to dance, develop a "can do" attitude, experience fun, enjoyment, social connection, exercise, movement to music, improvement and/or maintenance of their balance, suppleness, coordination and confidence with movement, symptoms being pushed back and ability to learn new things. Conclusions: Our findings add to the evidence-base about the benefits of dance for people experiencing Parkinson's and through novel application of the Life-world based well-being framework of K. T. Galvin and Todres (2011) we propose a theoretical basis for Parkinson's Dance as a resource for well-being. There is scope to consider application of the well-being framework to other arts activities and as the basis of an arts and well-being evaluation tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the conceptualization of freedom in the memoir of the Iranian-American journalist and media activist, Masih Alinejad. It examines The Wind in My Hair: My fight for Freedum in Modem Iran (2018) with respect to Alinejad's activism in the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in Iran. The paper utilizes a critical framework drawn from feminist critiques of neoliberal feminism and Derridean hospitality to focus on Alinejad's repetition of the narratives of model minority and American exceptionalism. These neoliheral narratives have the potential to turn both Iran and the United States into inhospitable places for women. The paper concludes that an intersectional examination of Alinajad' s neoliberal approach to the experiences of women in both the United States and Iran will demonstrate that it does not coincide with the demands of "Woman, Life, freedom". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The objective of this paper was to describe the vision of death from the perspective of families of children who experienced palliative care, and team members working in one unit, and to explore the roles of healthcare clowns in working with life and death. The major research of which this paper is part was a requirement of one healthcare clown organization, that since 2008 works as members of the palliative care unit in a public hospital in Chile. Description: Using a qualitative methodology, and an emergent and descriptive design, 26 people, including mothers and team members of one palliative care unit, participated in in-depth interviews and discussion groups separately. Data analysis was performed using grounded theory and critical discourse analysis techniques. Results: The roles played by healthcare clowns in palliative care were accompanying, mediating between team members and families, facilitating to process death, provision of humane care using socioemotional competences, promotion of social relationships, and being complementary therapy. Conclusion: The six roles of healthcare clowns identified by this research have implications for public policies and actions in palliative care. There is also a need to expand this type of work to other public health services in Chile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two fundamental claims by Michel Henry on his philosophy's relationship with classical phenomenology (Husserl and Heidegger) and Christianity. It shows in what way Henry's phenomenology is the radicalization and absolutization of classical phenomenology: pure phenomenological truth is the identification of appearing and what appears rather than the separation of the two. According to Henry, his notions of life and truth is fully in accordance with Christianity's Revelation of God. In the last part, the paper challenges Henry's claim that his phenomenology is a Christian philosophy from a Kierkegaardian point of view and argues that Henry's phenomenology is, as a matter of fact, a philosophy without Christ. Contrary to a popular viewpoint that Michel Henry is a Christian thinker of our age, I would argue that Henry's concept of God and Christ is essentially a scholarly philosophical invention. If Henry's philosophy is an absolute and ultimate form of phenomenology, then it is reasonable to draw a conclusion that Christ as the Truth of Christianity is outside the boundary of phenomenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to reveal the turning points in the life and work of German composer Johannes Brahms. These main events were influenced by certain figures of the epoch, whose encounters marked the artistic activity of Brahms. In explaining the reasons that lay behind the composition of a work, emotion is one of the most specific criteria. Personal experience becomes the indispensable condition of artistic creation and lays at the core of the creative impulse. The paper is structured according to the following four aspects: the first friends (together with Albert Dietrich and their mentor, Robert Schumann, Brahms contributed to the composition of the FAE Sonata for piano and violin, Julius Otto Grimm is the witness of Brahms' love for Agathe von Siebold, while Julius Stockhausen emerges as the master of the Brahms lieder), the conductors who became the composer's close friends and promoted his symphonies (Hermann Levi, Hans Richter, Hans von Bülow, the latter a genuine emissary of Brahms's works, the author of the Three B syntagm - Bach, Beethoven, Brahms), the Viennese friends (the critic Eduard Hanslick, who characterized the works in Opp. 117-119 as genuine monologues and Joseph Hellmesberger, founder of the quartet name after him, with whom Brahms performed gems of the chamber music repertoire), and the confidants of Brahms, permanent figures in the life of the composer (the surgeon Theodor Billroth and Joseph Viktor Widmann, the author of the memoirs that revealed significant aspects of the composer's life and works). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forkhead box (FOX) proteins are a wing-like helix family of transcription factors in the DNA-binding region. By mediating the activation and inhibition of transcription and interactions with all kinds of transcriptional co-regulators (MuvB complexes, STAT3, β-catenin, etc.), they play significant roles in carbohydrate and fat metabolism, biological aging and immune regulation, development, and diseases in mammals. Recent studies have focused on translating these essential findings into clinical applications in order to improve quality of life, investigating areas such as diabetes, inflammation, and pulmonary fibrosis, and increase human lifespan. Early studies have shown that forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) functions as a key gene in pathological processes in multiple diseases by regulating genes related to proliferation, the cell cycle, migration, and apoptosis and genes related to diagnosis, therapy, and injury repair. Although FOXM1 has long been studied in relation to human diseases, its role needs to be elaborated on. FOXM1 expression is involved in the development or repair of multiple diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis, pneumonia, diabetes, liver injury repair, adrenal lesions, vascular diseases, brain diseases, arthritis, myasthenia gravis, and psoriasis. The complex mechanisms involve multiple signaling pathways, such as WNT/β-catenin, STAT3/FOXM1/GLUT1, c-Myc/FOXM1, FOXM1/SIRT4/NF-κB, and FOXM1/SEMA3C/NRP2/Hedgehog. This paper reviews the key roles and functions of FOXM1 in kidney, vascular, lung, brain, bone, heart, skin, and blood vessel diseases to elucidate the role of FOXM1 in the development and progression of human non-malignant diseases and makes suggestions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical notions of the concept of necropolitics can be applied under the focus of animals as subjects of rights to life, whose dignity has been threatened by repeated actions of the government that, under the pretext of serving human interests, have avocated an authority to sacrifice animals on the streets pointed as vectors of threat to local human health. From a dialogue with the theories of Mbembe's Necropolitics, Foucault's Biopower and Agamben's Homo Sacer, this paper aims to describe how animals have been subjected to the same severity of death policy, exercised by the sovereign of the state power, against citizens from socially vulnerable segments. The methodology of documentary research will be adopted, with content analysis technique, having as objects judicial decisions, administrative and legislative acts, which have as merit the regulation of state actions that promote the sacrifice of animals. It will be concluded that respect for the dignity of life must be equal to animals and humans, disapproving of any policy that seeks to entail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By and large, bioethics is concerned with life, i.e. understanding and explaining the living beings both as-they-are and as-they-could-be. The hard core here is global bioethics, which is a wider and richer domain than clinical bioethics. Global bioethics, it is claimed, stands very much along the way of the sciences of complexity - as an understanding of increasingly complex systems and behaviors. This paper explores the relationship between bioethics and complexity science. Thanks to such an appraisal a landscape appears additionally about the relationship with other sciences and disciplines. The hardcore for such interplay is the concern about life, i.e. the living beings. This paper argues that thanks to the interplay between bioethics and complexity theory, science and technology in general can harness from bioethics, and provides arguments about it. Firstly, it is shown that a right understanding of bioethics entails a distance with clinical bioethics. According to its very origins, bioethics is to be viewed as a sincere concern with life in general. Therefore, the developments from bioethics as a bridge on to global bioethics, and even to deep bioethics are shown and highlighted. This understanding impedes any reductionism of bioethics - which can be named here as "normal bioethics". On this ground, complexity science is depicted in general terms, and a panorama of links and relations among bioethics and other sciences and disciplines is sketched. The main argument then goes that a solid even though basic understanding of life is needed in order to cope with the challenges and opportunities around us all. This, we claim, is both an ethical and an epistemological demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the claim that the social orders of Western civilization operate on the basis of the law's presumed sovereignty over life. I demonstrate how the respective works of Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben and French phenomenologist Michel Henry are joined in their concern over this issue, and in their shared belief that life can be made sovereign over the law through a communal life based upon habit. At the same time, I argue that their respective conceptions of this communal life are flawed, and that they would benefit from being brought into a productive dialogue with one another. More specifically, I show that Henry's account of a Christian communal life based upon the habitual practice of love moves at least some way toward addressing Agamben's account of a coming community that is decidedly abstract and lacking in a substantial ethic. However, I maintain that Henry's own account of this community is founded upon a problematic conception of potentiality that would benefit from Agamben's study of the matter. By bringing these two figures together and drawing out the lessons that can be learnt from each of them, this work provides a more concrete and substantial account of how a coming Christian community can play a role in making life sovereign over the force of the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Venous leg ulcer is a recognized condition, affecting people globally. Ulcers mainly affect the elderly and recurrences are not uncommon. There is knowledge about life with venous leg ulcers, but the situation after healing is unexplored. This paper explores and describes meanings of experiences of daily life after healing of a hard-to-heal venous leg ulcer. Lived experiences of 15 individuals with healed hard-to-heal venous leg ulcers generated data for this study. Interviews were recorded for analysis using a reflective lifeworld research approach. An essence emerged, further described by its constituents. Memories of a difficult time with leg ulcer were ever present, in a way becoming part of the self. A striving for control in daily life entailed a struggle to do what was best for the own body. After healing, a new normal emerged in daily life, a reality that encompassed the risk for a new ulcer. The body had changed physically, with marks alongside those from ageing, in a life that still went on. For those who had healed from a venous leg ulcer, life had changed. Even if they referred to life as normal, it was not the same normal as before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper talks about the life of prisoners which merely emphasized on suicidal tendencies and mental deterioration. Suicide is a growing problem around the world. It is seen not only in particular places but also among those who are behind the bar. Prison death has always been looked on by suspicion by the people at large. Prison death or death in custody maybe by natural or unnatural means. In this study we will see about suicide death rates in Indian prison with the help of National human rights commission. Individual-level characteristics associated with prison suicide suggest that psychiatric illness, substance misuse, and repetitive self-harm are known important risk factors for suicide. However, less is known about prison and health service-level factors, which might be subject to public health and policy change. The main aim of the study is to To evaluate the reasons for the psychological problems in prisons To Analyse the causes for suicide To know about the preventive measures for custodial deaths by suicide To find out the best practices to avoid suicides in prison. and this research is based on convenient sampling with 210 responses. they need correctional settings for the inmates in prisons in Related to sanitation, broad socio-cultural conditions and access to health or basic mental health services these factors could influence suicide rates in different ways, still we need possible measure to reduce suicides with some basic principles and procedures. This study main aim is to find out the various reasons for psychological problems in prisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional games have been among the basic elements of culture since the beginning of human history. Games have physical, biological, individual, social, and cultural aspects. At the origin of many games, there are rituals, ceremonies, and practices. Mythic elements can be seen through the verbal textures of the games. These features of the games have been remained in the background over time, and each game action has continued to exist as just a game, especially in the traditional world and socio-cultural structure of children. In addition, in some traditional games, the gameplay exhibits similar qualities with the mythical elements and revives the mythology. With all these features, the game is a cultural phenomenon that located outside of daily life but has functions for daily life. Traditional games embody the mythical accumulation and way of thinking of the community that accepts and plays that game as their own, in a way that is oriented towards real life. The mythical features of a play and functional interpretation of gameplay will show what the play means. These features of the games also stand out in the traditional games of the Turkic World. In this article, "Mor Menekşe, was chosen as the paradigm in terms of showing and exhibiting these features. The verbal texture and gameplay of the game were functionally examined within the context of myth and life. Firstly, the mythological origin and features, and life-related qualities of traditional games are stated. Then, the general features of "Mor Menekşe" were briefly mentioned and information about its verbal texture were given. Later, the features of the verbal texture of the game were specified in accordance with the Turkish mythical thought. In this paper, it is stated that the in-game rhyme of the "Mor Menekşe" game carries the views on nature and the universe of Turkish mythology, and it is stated that "Mor Menekşe" game has a symbolism related to plants and tree cult, and the verbal texture of the game has the symbolism of nature, life, unity, togetherness, abundance and fertility, chaos, and cosmos. Then, information about gameplay were given and examined, and through examination process, the game was handled in the relationship between the individual and the society, and based on the game, the individual's selfproofing, group belonging, cooperation with the group, relations between social groups were examined and a symbolic analysis of chaos and cosmos was conducted. The mythical background of the game's rhyme that function as battle of words in the verbal texture of the play is about life. And the gameplay is a rehearsal for the player's life. For this reason, the mythical meaning in the verbal texture and the interpretation of the real movements in the actions of the play were considered non-separate. The game has been analyzed in two parts, which are verbal texture and gameplay, based on word and action. While determining the features in the verbal texture and gameplay, it has been classified depending on the situations that we can call "micro-cosmos" and "microchaos", which can be defined as the establishment and disruption of order at every stage. These features in the parts of the play depending on the word and movement have been associated with the establishment and disruption of the order, and have also been evaluated in relation to the mythical meaning. As a result, the game, shows the knowledge about life and nature in Turkish mythology both in its verbal texture and in its gameplay, and that the game is a rehearsal that functionally prepares people for life in terms of individual and social integrity with an accumulation that in Turkish culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rumi is a prodigious verse in the breadth of thought and the power of expression. Undoubtedly expressing narrow rules and heavenly meanings in the form of anecdotes and allegories, poetry is one of Rumi's unparalleled skills. In his mystical view, Rumi describes the dimensions of life (worldly and afterlife) in the form of poetry that only general and compassionate intellect can understand. In this paper, which has been done by content analysis and descriptive-analytical method, the meaningful components of life have been explored from Rumi's point of view. Rumi collects philosophical and mystical components of life and explores them from various aspects such as material, spiritual, worldly, eternal, animal and human. This article contributes to these components and explores them from the perspective of the Mathnawi spiritual pastor. In this paper, components such as sadness, happiness, self-knowledge, death awareness, etc. are discussed from Rumi's point of view, and their role in life and their meaning in life are discussed. Perhaps it can be said that one of the most important teachings of Rumi regarding the meaning of life is self-knowledge, the purpose of our life is to know ourselves and to examine ourselves. Rumi believes that in order for man to have a correct understanding of the meaning of life, he must know himself, then he will know that existence and the God of existence are all in him, the treasure and treasure that man seeks is his soul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advance directives are intended to extend patient autonomy by enabling patients to prospectively direct the care of their future incapacitated selves. There has been much discussion about issues such as whether the future incompetent self is identical to the agent who issues the advance directive or whether advance directives can legitimately secure patient autonomy. However, there is another important question to ask: to what extent and in what conditions is it ethically appropriate for one to limit the liberty or agency of one's future incompetent self by issuing an advance directive? In this paper, I use a virtue‐ethical approach to explore this question, focusing on the case of an advance directive for the future self with moderate dementia. First, I examine virtuous attitudes with regard to autonomy and argue that one can manifest vices or ethically undesirable character traits in trying to intervene in the future self's life. In particular, I argue that this case can manifest vices such as disdainfulness, intellectual arrogance, and self‐dictatorship, which is the vice of trying to control one's life to an excessive degree, and that a self‐dictator fails to give due moral consideration to the future self's liberty or agency. I then introduce the Daoist idea of wu‐wei, which recommends embracement of what happens in one's life, as one of the possible remedies for the overemphasis on the value of autonomy and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore how to help terminally ill patients and their families find meaning in their suffering from the logotherapeutic perspective, which is the essence of palliative care. For this purpose, this paper examines the main concepts and principles of logotherapy, and specific approaches based on the logotherapeutic perspective to help terminally ill patients and their families find meaning in life are presented. Emphasizing the will to meaning as the primary motive to explain human behaviors and based on its unique perspective of the human being, which is called the dimensional ontology, logotherapy considers the human being to consist of the body, the mind, and the spirit. The dimensional ontology implies that the human being "has" the body and the mind, but the human being "is" the spirit itself. Therefore, even though a human being can be sick physically or psychologically, Accordingly, it is essential to help these patients realize that they are not their illnesses, but just have them, and to rise above themselves to reach out toward something meaningful or someone to love; despite their suffering, they can still do something meaningful, even in a small way. Above all, the most important thing for these patients is to acknowledge that they have already lived a meaningful life and to believe that their meaningful work has been safely preserved in the past and nothing can take it from them, for as spiritual beings, their lives have been meaningful unconditionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper approximates Jakob von Uexküll's theory of meaning and the process-thought in Alfred Whitehead's philosophy. As the main idea, the paper points at the compatibility of meaning and process according to the perspectives of Uexküll and Whitehead. It suggests that Uexküll's common meaning rule can describe the processes of novelty in the world as does Whitehead's principle of creativity. It is also suggested that Uexküll and Whitehead abandon a substantialist view of the organism - the organism means much more process, activity and creation than anything thing-like. In approaching Uexküll's theory of meaning, a semiotic interpretation of Whitehead's principle of creativity is proposed in which the concept of the threshold is fundamental to defining the boundary between the semiotic and the non-semiotic areas corresponding to the living (animate) and the non-living (inanimate). In conclusion, the paper suggests that the activity of meaning distinguishes animate entities from inanimate ones in the sense that meaning and life overlap - meaning could not have existed prior to life (and to the contrary). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments in medicine triggered an improvement in people's life style and an increase in live expectancy. However, in technological terms, the agony of people with terminal diseases has been prolonged occurred. Consequently, there has also been a prolongment of the agony of relatives within the context of the objectification of people to the detriment to human dignity. Current paper reflects on whether life may be considered a duty or a right enacted according to autonomy of the will. Taking into consideration that artificial respirators and artificial feeding may reduce the human being to an object, one should ask whether living is a duty or a right within the context of previous manifestation of will with discernment? A bibliographical research shows that life has a broad meaning and should not be limited to an antonym of death [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) is a rare genetic disorder, associated with some physical symptoms including spots and tiny bumps on the skin, and internal organ involvement. People suffering from neurofibromatosis face various challenges in their daily lives. However, there is little understanding on how patients deal with neurofibromatosis. This study aimed to investigate the life challenges of patients with NF1. Methods: This qualitative study was performed by implementing a grounded theory with the cooperation of the Society for Neurofibromatosis Patients over the course of 15 months in 2019 across 4 provinces in Iran. Twenty‐four patients with NF1 were interviewed. An analysis was performed using the constant comparative method. Findings: The results of the analyses indicated that the major concern of the NF1 patients was feelings of failure and falling behind in life. In the face of failure in life in such a context, patients used the main strategy of "unsuccessful struggle to escape" the disease and its complications, which was represented itself in the forms of 'hopelessness and impatience', 'suicidal thoughts and unsuccessful suicide attempts', 'isolation and seclusion', 'expressing complaints and grievances to God', 'hiding the disease' and 'hopelessness and refusing to receive care'. The implementation of such strategies helped patients reduce tension and achieve a temporary, though vulnerable and fragile, sense of relief and peace. Conclusion: Given an unfavourable life condition, NF1 patients turned to a harmful passive strategy in the face of the challenges posed by the disease. Patient or Public Contribution: Public contributors were active partners throughout, and co‐authored the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the understanding that older women in Cafam Day Center (Centro Dia Cafam) of Bogotá have of their spirituality and its function in their lives. It is the result of a field investigation in which theology and nursing teachers took part. The study's purpose was to offer academic elements to improve the spiritual accompaniment of older women in the medical environment and in geriatric pastoral work. Studies of this nature underline the description of the spiritual experience of the older individual, but ignore the analysis of the spiritual quality that rules the lives of these persons. Our study analyzes the types of divine representation that support the spiritual universe of older women who attend the Cafam Day Center, the types of spirituality derived from such representations and the spiritual risks inherent to a situation in which gods and spirituality merge into a retributive dynamic of fear and obedience. The study bases itself on the theoretical dynamics of the transcendental anthropological method whose premise states that the human being is able to have a deep inner experience of God's reality, a transcendental experience that takes place with no other mediation than ourselves, while God's reality takes place in an act of self-communication. The study bases itself on the theoretical dynamics of the transcendental anthropological method whose premise states that the human being is able to have a deep inner experience of God's reality, a transcendental experience that takes place with no other mediation than ourselves, while God's reality takes place in an act of self-communication. This paper is divided in three parts: first, it presents the research method, which is followed by the explanaition of its procedure (participants and procedure implemented in the construction of data); and it concludes with the presentation of the results and some conclusions drawn from the investigative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Self-reliance and social participation are strongly promoted by social policy. Both concepts are linked to the concept of vulnerability, for people who do not meet these standards are labelled "vulnerable people". In this paper, the insider's perspective takes central stage by seeking to explore what it means to be labelled a "vulnerable person", and through this to further our insight into the meaning of the concept of vulnerability. Method: Thirty-three in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 allegedly vulnerable people. The data were subjected to thematic content analysis. Results: Our analysis revealed three main dimensions and eight sub-dimensions of perceived vulnerability, outlining an insider's concept of vulnerability. This concept includes manifestations of vulnerability, feelings coexisting with vulnerability, and the image of vulnerable people. Conclusion: The perception of vulnerability changes when interacting with others in society, especially with social policy implementers. In this interaction, the perceived vulnerability increases and becomes societal vulnerability. It concerns a dependency situation in which one's strength and self-determination are not recognized, and the help needed is not provided. By acknowledging the insider's perspective, social policy can fulfil a more empowering role towards "vulnerable people" and contribute to people's well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gospel of John contains various memorable metaphors, drawing on the lived realities of its audience to encapsulate the depths of its Christology and central message. Seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of the gospel is the metaphor of (life-giving) water, offered by Jesus and ultimately provided by him. A related metaphor is that of new birth, signifying the changed allegiance and ethos of those who come to believe. Finally, the new creation imagery with its Edenic setting and Jesus breathing Spirit-life into his disciples illustrates something of the effect of an encounter with the life-giving God. Drawing on Cognitive Metaphor Theory, this paper demonstrates that imagery of birth, water, and new life can work together to create a metanarrative. The analysis follows the ramifications of this imagery in its literary context, its rhetorical function in the narrative, and the way in which the metaphors of birth, water, and life potentially work together to produce a larger picture that ministers to those who carry the realities of giving, nurturing, and sustaining life in their bodies. From the prologue and its birth-giving God, through the birth from above promised to Nicodemus, the living water promised to a Samaritan woman, and the Holy Spirit as living water flowing from the innermost being, the narrative flows seamlessly to the cross where the lifegiving blood and water flow from the side of Jesus and into the resurrection dimension of a new creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equipment parallel simulation is an emerging simulation technology in recent years, and equipment remaining useful life (RUL) prediction oriented parallel simulation is an important branch of parallel simulation. An important concept in equipment parallel simulation is the model evolution driven by real-time data, including model selection and model parameter evolution. The current research on equipment RUL prediction oriented parallel simulation mainly focuses on a single continuous degradation mode, such as linear degradation and nonlinear degradation. Under this degradation condition, the model parameter evolution methods in parallel simulation can effectively predict equipment RUL. However, in practice, most of the equipment degradation processes exhibit a mixture of continuous degradation and discrete shock. So this requires adaptive selection of simulation models based on real-time degradation data. In this paper, the hybrid degradation equipment RUL prediction oriented parallel simulation considering model soft switch is studied. Firstly, under the modeling framework of the state space model (SSM), two kinds of degradation simulation models are established using the Wiener process and Poisson effect. Driven by the real-time degradation data, the model probability is calculated by using the forward interactive multiple model filtering algorithm to realize the model soft switch and data assimilation. On the basis of model soft switch, the expectation maximization algorithm is utilized to achieve model parameter evolution. Through the iteration between model soft switch and model parameter evolution, the simulation fidelity can be effectively improved and the actual equipment degradation state is continuously approached. According to the full probability theorem and the concept of first hitting time, the simulated degradation state distribution is integrated into the inverse Gaussian distribution. Then the analytical expression of the RUL probability density function is obtained to achieve RUL real-time prediction. Finally, a case study was conducted by using a bearing degradation data. The results show that the parallel simulation can effectively model the hybrid degradation process of the bearing. Compared with the single-model method that only considers the model parameter evolution, the RUL obtained by the method proposed in this paper has higher prediction accuracy and smaller uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of prognostics and health management is ever more prevalent with advanced techniques of estimation methods. However, data processing and remaining useful life prediction algorithms are often very different. Some difficulties in accurate prediction can be tackled by redefining raw data parameters into more meaningful and comprehensive health level indicators that will then provide performance information. Proper data processing has a significant importance on remaining useful life predictions, for example, to deal with data limitations or/and multi-regime operating conditions. The framework proposed in this paper considers a similarity-based prognostic algorithm that is fed by the use of data normalisation and filtering methods for operational trajectories of complex systems. This is combined with a data-driven prognostic technique based on feed-forward neural networks with multi-regime normalisation. In particular, the paper takes a close look at how pre-processing methods affect algorithm performance. The work presented herein shows a conceptual prognostic framework that overcomes challenges presented by short-term test datasets and that increases the prediction performance with regards to prognostic metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The dominant view in the literature is that informal payments in healthcare universally are a negative phenomenon. By contrast, we theorize that the motivation healthcare users for making informal payments (IP) can be classified into three categories: (1) a cultural norm, (2) "grease the wheels" payments if users offered to pay to get better services, and (3) "sand the wheels" payments if users were asked to pay by healthcare personnel or felt that payments were expected. We further hypothesize that these three categories of payments are differently associated with a user's outcomes, namely, satisfaction with healthcare, local and national government, satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with life of children in the future. Methods. We used microdata from the 2016 Life-in-Transition survey. Multivariate regression analysis is used to quantify relationships between these categories of payments and users' outcomes. Results. Payments that are the result of cultural norms are associated with better outcomes. On the contrary, "sand the wheel" payments are associated with worse outcomes. We find no association between making "grease the wheels" payments and outcomes. Conclusions. This is the first paper which evaluates association between three different categories of informal payments with a wide range of users' outcomes on a diverse sample of countries. Focusing on informal payments in general, rather than explicitly examining specific motivations, obscures the true outcomes of making IP. It is important to distinguish between three different motivations for informal payment, namely, cultural norms, "grease the wheels," and "sand the wheels" since they have varying associations with user outcomes. From a policy making standpoint, variation in the links between different motivations for making IP and measures of satisfaction suggest that decision-makers should put their primary focus on situations where IP are explicitly asked for or are implied by the situation and that they should differentiate this from cases of gratitude payments. If such measures are not implemented, then policy makers may unintentionally ban the behaviour that is linked with increased satisfaction with healthcare, government, and life (i.e., paying gratitude). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies a relational and familial ethic to address concerns relating to nursing home deaths and advance care planning during Covid‐19 and beyond. The deaths of our elderly in nursing homes during this pandemic have been made more complicated by the restriction of visitors even at the end of life, a time when families would normally be present. While we must be vigilant about preventing unnecessary deaths caused by coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes, some deaths of our elders are inevitable. Thus, it is essential that advanced care planning occurs in a way that upholds the familial and relational aspects of elders' lives that often matter to them the most. We invoke concepts from feminist ethicists like Hilde Lindemann and Eva Kittay and introduce Avery Weisman and Thomas Hackett's concept of "appropriate death" to suggest better ways of planning for those deaths of our elderly that cannot be avoided. Our hope is to allow for deaths that are as meaningful as possible for both the elderly and the family members who survive them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationship between poetry and economics in Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, a long narrative work in prosimetrum form composed in Iceland during the first half of the 13th Century. The study assesses the role of versifying as an economic activity as well as it provides information about production, consumption and exchange in the poems of the saga. Furthermore, it considers the relationship between the material aspects of life as displayed both in the saga prose and in its poetry. The analysis suggests that both are generally congruent, and thus the saga provides the audience with a sense of narrative and ideological unity in regard to these economic matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No Dane of flesh and bone has been written so devoutly about as Hamlet, which is why he has lived the fate of only a few literary heroes who exist independently of texts and theatre. The tragic hero has become a metaphor in himself, which is why I will attempt to read and interpret Hamlet through the prism of conceptual metaphor theory. My prime interest will be invested in metaphorical representations of life and death perceived as target domains in the process of mapping. It is preoccupation with these abstract notions that gives somber color to the play, defines its mood of nihilism and disillusionment. Hamlet is the play with a high number of references to life, death, the afterlife, and human purpose so that metaphorical linguistic expressions that deal with these themes become corpus for the analysis in this paper. Conceptual metaphor analysis will reveal profound meanings of the selected lines, which are to be found beneath the level of language and syntax, in the sphere where conceptualization of the abstract occurs. Conceptual metaphor analysis may also help us get closer to Shakespeare the man since his unlimited consciousness is, at least to some extent, translated into Hamlet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no such thing as a science of death, although there is a science of life, as it happens. Death is not so much the subject matter of science but an experience, and death experiences we find abundantly in the literature. Now, experience is told not so much in a scientific tenure but as a narrative. Within the framework of bioethics, death comes closer, particularly what is usually known as end-of-life dilemmas, i.e., palliative care, a most sensitive arena, if there is any at all. This paper argues about the interplay or dialogue between death and complexity science. It claims that the knowledge of death is truly the knowledge of life and provides three arguments that lead to the central claim. The first argument is very much close to a kind of heuristic for knowing about death, while the second shows the challenge of knowing death. The third one consists of a reappraisal of death within an extensive cultural or civilizing framework. Lastly, some open-ended conclusions are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the anthropology of death from a theological viewpoint. Historically, death has been defined as the separation between body and soul. However, this definition is anthropologically and existentially insufficient. Death is a theme belonging primarily to anthropology and secondarily to eschatology. Anthropologically, death is the human possibility par excellence. It is constantly present and means the end of human beings in their bodily, worldly, and social dimensions. Death is the end of the human pilgrimage, in its spatial, temporal, and historical dimension, an unrepeatable event that we both suffer and accept. It is the last act of the history of human freedom and can be seen as an event that reaffirms our existence that, with death, achieves definiteness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the film Son of Saul (László Nemes, 2015), focusing on how the leading character relates to death and thinking in the exception situation he is (an extermination camp; member of Sonderkommando). For that, we will highlight, in particular, the camera movements and explore the notions of death/non-death, thought and revolt, from Agamben, Arendt and Camus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sharing a light-hearted account of important events in an academic career and life. • Introducing bifurcations in life and their local and global consequences. • Demonstrating beauty of undertaking quality research with friends from around the world. This paper dedicated to my late mum and dad (Ludwika and Karol Wiercigroch), presents a light-hearted account of important events in my academic career, which have influenced my development and contributed to my achievements. It meant to be published on the occasion of my round birthday, which celebration was delayed by COVID-19 pandemic and some other factors. Predominantly, it is based on a booklet I wrote in 2013 on the occasion of bestowing on me a title a doctor honoris causa by the Technical University of Lodz (LUT) of my native Poland. The main focus of this piece is the friendship and interactions with my academic colleagues around the world and in particular with Professor Tomasz Kapitaniak of the LUT. In mathematics, a bifurcation is a qualitative change in a solution, wherein a march is not only a synonym of a periodic excitation but also the passing time. In this context, a bifurcation being a qualitative change has a major influence on the global solution. This definition resonates well a much wider context and this paper attempts to provide some examples. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finite nature of human existence leads many to search for meaning, which comes into sharper relief for those who are imminently facing death. Therefore, universal existential concerns such as the inevitability of death, existential isolation, loss of meaning, freedom, and dignity are inherent psychological issues in palliative care. Consequently, one of the critical challenges facing palliative care is how to address these issues effectively. This paper provides an overview of common themes of existential concerns and psychotherapeutic interventions to address existential distress among patients in palliative care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fascinating recent work, some philosophers have argued that it would be morally permissible and prudentially rational to sign up for cryonics—if you can afford the price tag of the procedure. In this paper I ask: why not share the elixir of extended life with everyone? Should governments financially support, positively encourage, or even require people to undergo cryonics? From a general principle of beneficence, I construct a formal argument for cryonics promotion policies. I consider the objection that a subset of these policies would violate autonomy, but I argue that—to the contrary—considerations of autonomy weigh in their favour. I then consider objections based on cost and population, but argue that neither is fatal. Finally, I raise the objection that I believe poses the most serious challenge: that those who revive the cryonically preserved might inflict suffering upon them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to systematize Butler's reading of the introductory part and section A of chapter IV of the Phenomenology of Spirit through the joint approach of Subjects of Desire, The Psychic Life of Power and You Be My Body for My. Secondly, to take a critical position regarding the Butlerian hermeneutics. The existing research lacks a critical approach. We seek to problematize her reading so as to be able to contribute critically to the corpus of complementary bibliography on this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific and medical developments, added to our reality in Colombia, demand the training of professionals consistent with ethical principles and clear theoretical concepts on current regulations that are aimed at respect for human life. The country's current constitutional situation poses a challenge to any professional, beyond the legal or health fields, since fundamental rights such as life and freedom of conscience are being questioned. This paper demonstrates the need and importance of promoting and accessing conscientious objection as a response to the legal landscape of the protection of life in Colombia, which may be an example for other countries in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, written near the end of his life, Seneca frequently allies meditation on death -- a theme that, as a Stoic, had always deserved his special attention -- with reflections on the passage of time, the meaning of human existence, and the meaning of life in its different phases: childhood and youth, adulthood and old age. In this paper, I will study Seneca's most significant portraits of aging and old age, and articulate them via the literary anthropology that characterizes the Epistulae and his other works in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to estimate individuals' expected longevity based on self-assessed survival probabilities and determine the predictors of such subjective life expectancy in a sample of elderly people (50 years and older) in Côte d'Ivoire.Methods: Paper-based questionnaires were administered to a sample (n = 267) of older adults residing in the city of Dabou, Côte d'Ivoire in May 2017. Information on subjective expectations regarding health, comorbidities, and self-assessed survival probabilities was collected. We estimated self-assessed life expectancy and its determinants using a two-pronged approach by: (i) estimating individuals' life expectancy using the self-assessed survival probabilities (SSPs), and (ii) applying a finite mixture of regression models to form homogenous groups of individuals (clusters/components) and investigate the determinants. A spline-based approach was used to estimate the overall distribution of life expectancy for each individual using two to four points of self-assessed survival probabilities. A finite mixture of regression models was used to identify homogeneous groups of individuals (i.e. clusters/components) of the overall subjective life expectancy distribution of the study participants.Results: The mean subjective life expectancy in older people varied according to four components/clusters. The average subjective life expectancy among the elderly was 79.51, 78.89, 80.02, and 77.79 years in the first, second, third, and fourth component of the subjects' overall subjective life expectancy, respectively. The effect of sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, and lifestyle on subjective life expectancy varied across components. For instance, a U-shape relationship between household per capita income and subjective life expectancy was found for individuals classified into the third component, and an inverse U-shape relationship was found for individuals classified into the fourth component.Conclusions: We extended the estimation of subjective life expectancy by accounting for heterogeneity in the distribution of the estimated subjective life expectancy. This approach improved the usual methods for estimating individual subjective life expectancies and may provide insight into the elderly's perception of aging, which could be used to forecast the demand for health services and long-term care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Lifestyle-integrated Functional Exercise (LiFE) programme is a fall prevention programme originally taught in a resource-intensive one-to-one format with limited feasibility for large-scale implementation. The aim of this paper is to present the conceptual framework and initial feasibility evaluation of a group-based LiFE (gLiFE) format developed for large-scale implementation. Methods: The conceptual gLiFE framework (part I) is based on three pillars, LiFE Activities and Principles, Theory of Behaviour Change and Behaviour Change Techniques, and Instruction. The feasibility of gLiFE was tested (part II) within a multimodal approach including quantitative questionnaires measuring safety, acceptability (1 = best to 7 = insufficient), and adherence to the LiFE activities (range = 0–14) as well as a focus group interview. Exploratory self-reported measures on behaviour change including self-determined motivation (range = 1–5), intention, planning, action control, and habit strength (range = 1–6) were assessed pre and post intervention. Data analyses were performed using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. Results: The development process resulted in a manualised gLiFE concept containing standardised information on gLiFE's content and structure. Feasibility testing: Six older adults (median = 72.8 years, 5 female) completed the feasibility study and rated safety (median = 7.0, IQR = 0.3) and acceptability as high (median = 1, IQR = 1). Participants implemented 9.5 LiFE activities (IQR = 4.0) into their daily routines. No adverse events occurred during the study. In the focus group, the group format and LiFE activities were perceived as positive and important for maintaining strength and balance capacity. Self-determined motivation intention, planning, and habit strength were rated higher post intervention. Conclusion: The developed conceptual gLiFE framework represents the basis for a gLiFE format with potential for standardised large-scale implementation. Proof-of-concept could be demonstrated in a group of community-dwelling older adults at risk of falling. The public health potential of gLiFE in terms of (cost-)effectiveness is currently being evaluated in a large trial. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03412123. Registered on January 26, 2018 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions about what is life, when it begins, and when it must be protected are central to the debates about abortion, contraceptive methods, assisted reproduction techniques, and other related issues. The objective of this paper is to examine the technoscientific developments that have led to these questions, and to consider the cultural impacts of these debates. To address this, secondary sources were used to create a compilation of specialized literature. The development of intrauterine visualization technologies and genetic narratives, which have become part of popular culture, were analyzed as visualization and enunciation regimes that are part of a complex"dispositive of life". By recovering this Foucaultian concept, this article characterizes the ways in which images and narratives about zygotes, embryos and fetuses, represented as synonyms of "life", circulate freely forming a network of knowledge/power that modulates bodies and subjectivities. It is concluded that the concept of "life", as we understand it today, isa construction developed throughout the twentieth century, nourished by elements of technoscience, but reproduced in circuits that transcend those fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various phenomena of life are typically explained by the physical sciences. Although the biological structures of a living being are subject to physical laws, we suggest that life, information, and consciousness are biological phenomena that are not. In this paper, we present new concepts and viewpoints about the very nature of biology. Life, information, and consciousness are identified as a unique set of biological phenomena that are common to only and all living beings. These three distinct phenomena always occur together in a whole pattern, and matter is viewed as the carrier of these phenomena. We explore the unique characteristics of life, information, and consciousness, and their relationships to one another. The experiences and behaviors of human beings, our presentday knowledge of biology, and some organisms' simple behaviors that we can observe are used to understand these biological phenomena. A distinction between genetic information and nongenetic information is also made, and their importance to life is emphasized. The interactions of biological activities between living beings and their environments are explained in the context of improving their chance of survival. Additionally, consciousness is simplified and exemplified via five categories from a hierarchical perspective, and various types of death are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on my previous work, "God in Public: A Prolegomena to Public Theology in the Romanian Context," where I made an argument for the need of public theology in the Romanian context and offered a brief introduction to the nature of this new field. Now I present several issues that would need attention in a public theology in our context. One such issue, to begin with, is the atrophy of the capacity for dreaming, for envisioning a better world, of the capacity for imagination and hope. Most of people living through the difficult period of a long transition period, with such a high rate of corruption, poverty and uncertainty, have lost any hope for a positive social change. There are no solid institutions and structures in these young democracies and people are really struggling to live a normal life. Similarly, other crucial dimensions of life have been downplayed and so in need to be recovered, such as work, family, civil society, justice, to name just a few. It is argued that a public theology for Romania and for the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe would need to address exactly these kinds of issues: a vision for a better world, Christianity and nation-building, faith and work, faith and society. The paper concludes by pointing to several example of platforms that are very promising for public theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of the paper was to investigate the relationship between the level of the sense of meaning life and mental wellbeing as well as the fear of missing out in relation to gender, social class and family affluence. Method: The study used data from a pilot study conducted in Poland in 2017 before the main HBSC 2018 survey (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children). An anonymous survey was conducted in lower-secondary schools, in accordance with the international HBSC research protocol. The analyses were performed in a group of 539 students (46% of girls) attending grades 1-3 of lowersecondary schools (mean age 14.75 ± 0.99 years). The following tools were used in this research: Fear of Missing Out Scale (FOMO), Purpose in Life Test (PiL), Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and Family Affluence Scale (FAS). The results of univariate non-parametric analyses concerning the mean level of the above indices were presented. A generalised linear model for FOMO as a dependent variable was used with stepwise introduction of variables as a part of multivariate analysis. Results: Students with a high level of PiL showed a much higher life satisfaction and a lower level of FOMO than those with a low level of PiL. PiL increased in more affluent families. A significant correlation between PiL and FOMO was found in both genders, while a significant correlation between PiL and WHO-5 was shown only in girls. In the final model, only PiL was found to be a significant predictor of FOMO, while gender, grade, WHO-5 and FAS were rejected. Conclusions: Our study has some practical implications, such as how to avoid problematic social media use. Classes devoted to the meaning of life and the place in life should be organised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to examine "the question of human nature", one of the oldest and most discussed problems of the history of thought and of the Islamic Theology, in the example of Imam Māturīdī (d. 333/944), one of the founders of Ahl al-Sunnah and one of the most important names of the Islamic Theology. In this context, the following questions are asked in the article: What is human? What are the basic references of the definitions of human? Is man just a soul? Is it only the nafs that makes human beings as human? Is the human body its only reality? Is it a simple substance, or does it have a complex entity consisting of soul, nafs and body? There are different answers to those questions. In this paper, the philosophical foundations of these answers and the projections in Islamic philosophy and theology were examined by following the method of Māturīdī. In this context two different Mu'tazilah schools and the period of Māturīdī, his followers' ideas, and the similar to ideas of Māturīdī as well as opposed views were taken into consideration. There are holistic, fragmentary and reductionist approaches to the problem of human nature. Regarding the issue, this article presented the thoughts of Maturidi and disclosed the extent to which his ideas influenced his successors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to try to obtain a definition of the essay as a philosophical genre. In this paper we defend a dialectical idea of literary/artistic genre in which the text participates in the genre but does not belong to it. The essay as genre is open and free. Although it is an identity without limits and given the configuring power of literature, the essay has a minimal essence that we can define as critical-literary reflection with a will of truth installed in the world of life. The essay is also defined by its character of mediation between art and science, the particular and the universal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to a question as notoriously unclear as “What is the meaning of life?”, clarifying the question and its conceptual setting is a necessary step before attempting to answer the question. The analysis of the concept of “the meaning of life” is a twofold task; “the meaning” and “life” both need to be examined. In this paper, I primarily focus on “the meaning.” I argue that, although there is much disagreement and confusion in the literature about the meaning of “the meaning” as it is applied to life, there is one most plausible interpretation of this notion. In the end, even though I do not answer the question of the meaning of life, I propose an account of what a correct answer to the question is supposed to look like, based on my original function analysis of “the meaning”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]