157 research outputs found
A comparative study of form and theology in the works of Flannery O'Connor and Simone Weil
No full textIn this comparative study of the form and theology of Flannery O'Connor and Simone Weil I interrogate how Weil's philosophical writings and her theology illuminate O'Connor's use of both narrative and non-fictional forms, and her Catholicism. The Introduction analyses how Weil's concept of superposed reading provides a new method of approaching both O'Connor, her writings, and O'Connor
studies, and focuses on how such apparently different women interconnect. Chapter One explores how both Weil and O'Connor attempt to write their theologies on the
souls of their readers yet are each subject to constraints imposed by form. Weil's concept of locating equilibrium between incommensurates is discussed, and her
distinctively philosophical approach to fictions and fictionality is used to investigate O'Connor's notion of prophetic fictions and the writer's role. Chapter Two assesses how both writers revivify Christian paradoxes. Weil's monstrous concept of affiiction, and O'Connor's use of the grotesque genre to jolt secular man into an
awareness of the sacred are scrutinised. Chapter Three studies how both writers consider an encounter between God and man is possible through the action of grace. My Conclusion interrogates how Weil's work can deepen our understanding of O'Connor's writings, and examines how successful O'Connor is at realising a truly
Christian literature. I conclude that despite being a writer of powerful fictions, O'Connor can not be totally successful in her mission as writer-prophet because
ultimately fiction escapes orthodoxy
Ethics, ambiguity, and the existential novel; A study of Simone de Beauvoir's works of fiction
No full textThis thesis analyzes five novels of the existentialist French author Simone de Beauvoir. It seeks to challenge the arguments presented by many scholars, which regard Simone de Beauvoir's work as subordinate to and dependent on Jean Paul Sartre's work. Secondly, too many see her only as a feminist philosopher and little more. Through the study of Simone de Beauvoir's works of fiction, this thesis demonstrates that Beauvoir goes beyond both Sartre's work and feminism. Through settings, characters, and plots, inspired by Beauvoir's reading of G.W.F. Hegel as interpreted by Alexandre Kojève, these works of fiction illuminate key concepts in her philosophic essays, particularly her Ethics of Ambiguity
Simone Weil\u27s Search For Unity Through The Union Of Contradictories.
No full textThere is a good deal of modern literature particularly that of the post World War II period, which might be best described as “distorted” author deliberately focuses on some negative aspect of life, usually the sordid, and exaggerates it to an unbelievable nightmare. The author makes his point all too well. In fact, some of these works are masterpieces of human understanding. However, when one book after another presents the same negative theme, treated in the same way for a kind of shock effect, we begin to feel as though literature has as its sole aim a kind of psychological dissection. We feel a strange sensation of unbalance as though the surgeon had forgotten to put back one of our vital organs, or had removed one of our limbs.
On reading for the first time a book like Simone Weil’s La Pesantuer et la grace, we have the feeling of meeting an old friend whom we believed had died. This is not to imply that the negative is missing from her works, but rather that the negative has meaning by virtue of its participation in a more total perspective of life. Simone Weil realized as fully as Beckett, Camus and other writers and philosophers the absurdity of man\u27s existence the impossibility of achieving what he wants or wanting what he achieves. She looks at the absurd squarely, examines it thoroughly, and sees no reason for its giving rise to disequilibrium, but to the contrary finds in the confronting of the impossible a path to truth and a source of spiritual significance
Book review:: Diary of a philosophy student
No full textBook review: Diary of a Philosophy Student Volume 1, 1926–27 and Volume 2, 1929–29. Simone de Beauvoir (author); Barbara Klaw, Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir, and Margaret A. Simons with Marybeth Timmermann (editors). Urbana: University of Illinois Pres
CREDIT, VENTURE CAPITAL AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC GROWTH
No full textIn this paper we investigate the relationship between finance and regional economic growth. The dataset consists of a panel of 53 regions belonging to three countries, Germany, Italy and Spain, for the period 1995-2008. To avoid a problem of endogeneity, we estimate a dynamic panel using the generalised method of moments (GMM). The results underline the important role played by bank lending in regional economic growth. The distinction between mutual and commercial credit suggests that both types of bank are important for regional growth but the role of mutual banks is greater in economically deprived areas [EDAs]. Similar results are obtained for the venture capital variableregional economic growth, relationship lending, venture capital, economically deprived areas, dynamic panel techniques
Correction to: Why nature matters:A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values
No full textThis is a correction to: Austin Himes, Barbara Muraca, Christopher B Anderson, Simone Athayde, Thomas Beery, Mariana Cantú-Fernández, David González-Jiménez, Rachelle K Gould, A P Hejnowicz, Jasper Kenter, Dominic Lenzi, Ranjini Murali, Unai Pascual, Christopher Raymond, Annalie Ring, Kurt Russo, Aibek Samakov, Sanna Stålhammar, Henrik Thorén, EgleéZent, Why nature matters: A systematic review of intrinsic, instrumental and relational values, BioScience, Volume 74, Issue 1, January 2024, Pages 25-43, https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biad109 In the original publication of the manuscript, there was a typo- graphical error in the name of the 19th author. This should read: "Henrik Thorén." The emendation has been made in the article.</p
The Italian Labour Market and the Crisis
No full textThe aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the crisis on the Italian labour market. The Italian labour market is characterized by deep gender differences and regional variability. The data show that the crisis lead to an increase in the gap of female employment rates and women?s inactivity rates with respect to Europe. The North of Italy experienced a higher increase in unemployment than the South, where many people withdrew from the labour market because of poor employment prospects. Moreover, in Italy, the increase in unemployment has been mitigated by the increase in the number of workers having access to the wage supplementation fund who are not computed within the unemployed. However, the heterogeneity in the system of unemployment benefits increased inequalities amongst the unemployed. Using a micro simulation techniques, we estimate the effect of the crisis on income distribution and poverty and find that at the national level, the population showed a reduction in equivalised household income by about 1 percent. The limited impact on household?s equivalent income can be connected to the relatively high share of unemployed who are young with relatively low income and sustained by other members of the householdlabour market, poverty, economic crisis
China’s New Demographic Challenge: From Unlimited Supply of Labour to Structural Lack of Labour Supply. Labour market and demographic scenarios: 2008-2048
No full textThe paper focuses on the demographic and labour market consequences of the dramatic decline in fertility that has characterized China starting at the beginning of the ‘50s. It is shared opinion that a sustained decline in fertility below replacement level will provoke a decline in Total population, an even more pronounced decline in Working age population and very relevant ageing phenomena. I have recently shown that, on the contrary and coherently with empirical evidence, a decline in fertility provokes a structural lack of labour supply that determines positive migration balances and, finally, positive demographic trends. The paper applies the same approach to China with similar results. The decline in fertility, determined by the process of economic development and its impact on education and urbanization, but promoted also trough the one-child policy, will provoke a relevant and growing structural lack of labour supply, even in the hypothesis that Chinese employment growth should sharply decline. The implication is that in order to continue its road to economic growth and social development, China will have to rely on large and growing migration flows that will determine a demographic expansion. In conclusion, the decline in fertility, actively pursued to set a ceiling to population growth, will end up provoking the opposite result. The uncertainty about the age structure of the Chinese population makes it impossible to determine in which year China will start to be affected by serious labour shortages. Our scenarios do however clearly show that China will reach the Lewis turning point in the next few years and before the middle of the century will become the world largest importer of labour. Our analysis does therefore clearly suggest that any legal restriction to fertility and territorial mobility is totally unwarranted, and that China should start to consider educational and labour policies aimed to mitigate labour shortages. It also indicates the necessity to start an in depth discussion of which immigration and social integration policies could better serve the interests of China, on the light both of the experiences of other countries, and of the role that China wants to play in the international arena.Demography; Labour market; Demographic and labour market scenarios; Migrations; Lewis turning point; China
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