Free will is difficult to classify with respect to determinism or indeterminism, and its phenomenology in consciousness often shows both aspects. Initially, it is felt as unlimited and indeterminate will power, with t...Free will is difficult to classify with respect to determinism or indeterminism, and its phenomenology in consciousness often shows both aspects. Initially, it is felt as unlimited and indeterminate will power, with the potentiality of multiple choices. Thereafter, reductive deliberation is led by determinism to the final decision, which realises only one of the potential choices. The reductive deliberation phase tries to find out the best alternative and simultaneously satisfying vague motivations, contextual conditions and personal preferences. The essential sense of free will is the introduction of personal preferences, which allows a higher diversity of reactions to vague motivations. With an oversimplified model of determinism as a chain of events, incompatibilists define ＂free＂ as ＂undetermined＂ so that determinism becomes incompatible with any free choice between alternatives. In consciousness, free will requires a more complex model of network determinism as well as the consideration of unconsciousness as a causal factor. When ＂free＂ defined as ＂undetermined＂ is applied to the context of consciousness, it should be reinterpreted as ＂unconscious of being determined＂ or not aware of underlying determinism. Lacking information on determinism generates a feeling of ＂free＂ in consciousness and, therefore, gives the impression of indeterminism. Lacking information may be induced by an uncertain future without determined events--an unconscious past with biological reactions suddenly emerging from the unconsciousness or an unknown present unable to distinguish determinism of complex events. Therefore, at the level of human consciousness, the experience of free will is associated with apparent indeterminism although it is based on unconscious determinism. The concepts of compatibilism and incompatibilism are only two different aspects of the same phenomenon and correspond to consciousness and unconsciousness. Nevertheless, they can be considered together with a free will concept based on relativity depending on two different reference frames--the first person＇s experience frame or the Laplace＇s demon frame with knowledge on every molecule of the universe. Only relativity of the free will concept avoids the contradiction between ＂free＂ and ＂unfree＂ for the same phenomenon and could be a compromise for considering compatibilism and incompatibilism equally.展开更多
Dickensian prose is known for its picturesque and haunting style in setting depiction unveiling the oneiric and uncanny quality of the city of London. One of the most underrated Christmas Books, The Chimes （1844）, p...Dickensian prose is known for its picturesque and haunting style in setting depiction unveiling the oneiric and uncanny quality of the city of London. One of the most underrated Christmas Books, The Chimes （1844）, proves to be an excellent example of a new fairy tale portraying the pervasion of two spheres： the realm of fantasy and the truth. The narrator exposes the correlation between the disturbing vision of the animated metropolis and the protagonist＇s hallucinatory fancy caused by his inner unrest and agitation, questioning the boundary between the dream and reality and the limits of perception. Despite the technical restraints of the seasonal miniature＇s construction, Dickens succeeded in capturing the hero＇s psychology and the spirit of the city through the medium of anthropomorphising the inanimate, employing the supernatural, and implementing powerful, semantically loaded images of London corresponding well with the protagonist＇s inner dilemmas. The narrative strategy balancing on the edge of dream and reality employed in the carol does not only expose the creative skills of the novelist, but also the potential of The Chimes as an embryonic novel展开更多
The urban consciousness under foreign domination is a complex issue, especially when the reporting period is the 19th century, the century of great social, ethnic, and economic changes in Europe. The issue is further ...The urban consciousness under foreign domination is a complex issue, especially when the reporting period is the 19th century, the century of great social, ethnic, and economic changes in Europe. The issue is further complicated in the case of the Balkans, during the latter period of Ottoman rule. But how did certain cities manage to emerge from rural or suburban enslaved routine and develop a European urbanity？ An urbanity expressed itself as lifestyle （habits, costumes, entertainment）, as art and as formation of the urban environment and architecture. The State pushed for modernization by the Great Powers, ethnic communities with parent countries seeking to differentiate themselves from their “backward” conquerors, economic opportunities through trade and new visual observations by penetration of European countries and companies： all this would create suitable conditions for an unprecedented urbanization. This shift in the quality of life was clearly expressed in the new architecture, which always continued, as ever, to reflect the cultural activity. The transition from vernacular architecture to historicism and eclectism would capture the most characteristic moment of the beginning of urbanization in northern Greece.展开更多
文摘Free will is difficult to classify with respect to determinism or indeterminism, and its phenomenology in consciousness often shows both aspects. Initially, it is felt as unlimited and indeterminate will power, with the potentiality of multiple choices. Thereafter, reductive deliberation is led by determinism to the final decision, which realises only one of the potential choices. The reductive deliberation phase tries to find out the best alternative and simultaneously satisfying vague motivations, contextual conditions and personal preferences. The essential sense of free will is the introduction of personal preferences, which allows a higher diversity of reactions to vague motivations. With an oversimplified model of determinism as a chain of events, incompatibilists define ＂free＂ as ＂undetermined＂ so that determinism becomes incompatible with any free choice between alternatives. In consciousness, free will requires a more complex model of network determinism as well as the consideration of unconsciousness as a causal factor. When ＂free＂ defined as ＂undetermined＂ is applied to the context of consciousness, it should be reinterpreted as ＂unconscious of being determined＂ or not aware of underlying determinism. Lacking information on determinism generates a feeling of ＂free＂ in consciousness and, therefore, gives the impression of indeterminism. Lacking information may be induced by an uncertain future without determined events--an unconscious past with biological reactions suddenly emerging from the unconsciousness or an unknown present unable to distinguish determinism of complex events. Therefore, at the level of human consciousness, the experience of free will is associated with apparent indeterminism although it is based on unconscious determinism. The concepts of compatibilism and incompatibilism are only two different aspects of the same phenomenon and correspond to consciousness and unconsciousness. Nevertheless, they can be considered together with a free will concept based on relativity depending on two different reference frames--the first person＇s experience frame or the Laplace＇s demon frame with knowledge on every molecule of the universe. Only relativity of the free will concept avoids the contradiction between ＂free＂ and ＂unfree＂ for the same phenomenon and could be a compromise for considering compatibilism and incompatibilism equally.
文摘Dickensian prose is known for its picturesque and haunting style in setting depiction unveiling the oneiric and uncanny quality of the city of London. One of the most underrated Christmas Books, The Chimes （1844）, proves to be an excellent example of a new fairy tale portraying the pervasion of two spheres： the realm of fantasy and the truth. The narrator exposes the correlation between the disturbing vision of the animated metropolis and the protagonist＇s hallucinatory fancy caused by his inner unrest and agitation, questioning the boundary between the dream and reality and the limits of perception. Despite the technical restraints of the seasonal miniature＇s construction, Dickens succeeded in capturing the hero＇s psychology and the spirit of the city through the medium of anthropomorphising the inanimate, employing the supernatural, and implementing powerful, semantically loaded images of London corresponding well with the protagonist＇s inner dilemmas. The narrative strategy balancing on the edge of dream and reality employed in the carol does not only expose the creative skills of the novelist, but also the potential of The Chimes as an embryonic novel
文摘The urban consciousness under foreign domination is a complex issue, especially when the reporting period is the 19th century, the century of great social, ethnic, and economic changes in Europe. The issue is further complicated in the case of the Balkans, during the latter period of Ottoman rule. But how did certain cities manage to emerge from rural or suburban enslaved routine and develop a European urbanity？ An urbanity expressed itself as lifestyle （habits, costumes, entertainment）, as art and as formation of the urban environment and architecture. The State pushed for modernization by the Great Powers, ethnic communities with parent countries seeking to differentiate themselves from their “backward” conquerors, economic opportunities through trade and new visual observations by penetration of European countries and companies： all this would create suitable conditions for an unprecedented urbanization. This shift in the quality of life was clearly expressed in the new architecture, which always continued, as ever, to reflect the cultural activity. The transition from vernacular architecture to historicism and eclectism would capture the most characteristic moment of the beginning of urbanization in northern Greece.
