Tamil, Vai??ava, Vaidika: Kiru??acuv��mi Aiya?k��r, Ir��m��nuja T��t��c��riy��r and Modern Tamil Literary History

The writing of literary histories of Tamil literature coincided with the practice of history itself as a discipline starting in the late nineteenth century. The historiographical practices conflated Tamil literary history, religious history, as well as notions of the Tamil nation, which led to such works becoming vitally important legitimising narratives that established the claim of self-defining groups within a new Tamil modernity. The absence of such a narrative also meant the erasure of a particular group, identifying itself as a caste or religious unit, or both, from Tamil history. It is in the light of these cultural and political stakes that we must view the textual and hermeneutical strategies of an old, Tamil, religious group, the ?r??vai??avas, to position themselves anew in the mid-twentieth century, in what they saw with anxiety as a Tamil, ?aiva Age.     

What are Intoxicated Offenders Responsible for? The ��Intoxication Defense�� Re-examined

I provide a brief history of the common law governing the criminal liability of intoxicated offenders, and the codification and application of the intoxication rules in Canada. I argue that the common law and its statutory application in Canada violate a number of principles of criminal justice. I then argue that the rules cannot be saved by attempts to subsume them under principles of prior fault. I end with a modest proposal for law reform.     

Predestination and Hierarchy: Vallabh��c��rya��s Discourse on the Distinctions Between Blessed, Rule-Bound, Worldly, and Wayward Souls (the Pu??iprav��hamary��d��bheda)

The Pu??iprav??hamary??d??bheda (PPM) by Vallabh??c??rya (1479?C1531?) is a brief work (25 verses) written in Sanskrit in about the year 1500, which is accompanied by four Sanskrit commentaries and one Hindi (Brajbh????) commentary. The most important and authoritative commentary is by Puru?ottama, written about two centuries after the original text. The article contains a translation of the PPM with long extracts from the commentaries, particularly the one composed by Puru?ottama. After an introduction placing the PPM??s doctrine of the hierarchy of embodied souls (j??vas) and their eligibility to obtain states of devotion (bhakti) in a wider context of Vai??ava sectarian and philosophical schools, the text is presented along with the translation and notes to the text (including extracts from the commentaries). The article concludes with reflections on the PPM??s doctrine of predestination, comparing it with those of other Indian religious sects and within the wider context of predestination in Western religions, where these discussions have been ongoing for more than 1500 years. An extensive bibliography is included at the end.     

Self-awareness (svasa?vedana) and Infinite Regresses: A Comparison of Arguments by Dign��ga and Dharmak��rti

This paper compares and contrasts two infinite regress arguments against higher-order theories of consciousness that were put forward by the Buddhist epistemologists Dign??ga (ca. 480?C540 CE) and Dharmak??rti (ca. 600?C660). The two arguments differ considerably from each other, and they also differ from the infinite regress argument that scholars usually attribute to Dign??ga or his followers. The analysis shows that the two philosophers, in these arguments, work with different assumptions for why an object-cognition must be cognised: for Dign??ga it must be cognised in order to enable subsequent memory of it, for Dharmak??rti it must be cognised if it is to cognise an object.     

Two Obscure Sanskrit Words Related to the C��rv��ka: pa?cagupta and ku??ak��?a

Two words, pañcagupta and ku??ak???a, are found in modern Sanskrit lexicons such as the ?abdakalpadruma, the V??caspatya, the Sanskrit-Wörterbuch, and A Sanskrit English Dictionary. They are said to signify the C??rv??ka philosophy and an expert in the C??rv??ka philosophy respectively. Both the words have been taken from some twelfth-century Sanskrit ko?as but no example of actual use is available. Nor do they occur in any earlier Sanskrit ko?a, such as the Amarako?a and the Hal??yudhako?a. The inference is that the words must have appeared in some late philosophical work that was critical of the materialist C??rv??ka system of philosophy and the ko?ak??ras found them in the same source.     

How to Refer to a Thing by a Word: Another Difference Between Dign��ga��s and Kum��rila��s Theories of Denotation

In studies of Indian theories of meaning it has been standard procedure to examine their relevance to the ontological issues between Brahmin realism about universals and Buddhist nominalism (or conceptualism). It is true that Kum??rila makes efforts to secure the real existence of a generic property (j??ti) denoted by a word by criticizing Dign??ga, who declares that the real world consists of absolutely unique individuals (svalak?a?a). The present paper, however, concentrates on the linguistic approaches Dign??ga and Kum??rila adopt to deny or to prove the existence of universals. It turns out that in spite of adopting contrasting approaches they equally distinguish between the semantic denotation of a word and its pragmatic reference to a thing in the physical world. From a purely semantic viewpoint, Dign??ga considers the exclusion (apoha) of others by a word as the result of a conceptual accumulation of the sense-components accepted in the totality of worldly discourse. Among the three characteristics Dign??ga held must be met by universals, Kum??rila attaches special importance to their entire inherence in each individual (pratyekaparisam??pti / pratyekasamav??ya). This is because he pragmatically pays attention to the use of a word in the discourse given in a particular context (prakara?a) by analyzing a sentence into a topic and a comment.     

Analysis of the Second and Fourth Definitions of Mithy��tva in the Advaitasiddhi of Madhus��dana Sarasvat��

This paper is a preliminary analysis of two among the five definitions of falsity (mithy??tva) presented by Madhus??dana Sarasvat?? (MS) in his magnum opus, the Advaitasiddhi. It is mainly focused on the second and fourth definitions, which at first sight appear to be mere repetitions of one another. The first definition of falsity examined is Prak?????tman??s: ??falsity is the property of being the counter-positive of the absolute absence of an entity in the [same] locus in which it is perceived.?? The other definition investigated was first given by Citsukha: ??falsity is the property of being the counter-positive of the absolute absence residing in its own locus.?? The mutual differences among these two definitions will be underlined following MS himself, as well as some other authors of the later Advaita Ved??nta textual tradition.     

Wohnungsgemeinn��tzigkeit im Binnenmarkt

Das ?sterreichische Wohnungsgemeinn??tzigkeitswesen ist ein eigener Weg sozialer Wohnungspolitik, der von Bund und L?ndern durch Steuervorteile und Wohnbauhilfen gef?rdert wird. Im Beitrag wird untersucht, inwiefern diese F?rderung als Beihilfe iSd Art 107 AEUV zu qualifizieren ist und ob sie - unter Ber??cksichtigung aktueller Rechtsentwicklungen - mit den Regeln des Binnenmarkts vereinbar ist.     

The possible ��backfire�� effects of hot spots policing: an experimental assessment of impacts on legitimacy, fear and collective efficacy

Objectives  

To examine the impacts of broken windows policing at crime hot spots on fear of crime, ratings of police legitimacy and reports of collective efficacy among residents of targeted hot spots.     

An Inside View of Police Officers�� Experience with Domestic Violence

Since the recognition of domestic violence (DV) in the late 1970s, police officers have been frontline providers. Despite their changing role as a result of the criminalization of DV, little is known about their experiences and responses to this public health issue from their unique perspective. Via focus groups, 22 police officers discussed their scope of practice and emotional reactions to DV calls. Participants reported frustration with the recurring nature of DV and with the larger systems?? lack of accountability (e.g., courts, prosecution and community) that follow their initial interventions. Participants discussed the limitations of their role as protectors of public safety, attitudes that evolve over time and their beliefs as to contributing factors that perpetuate DV. Additionally, the officers recommend: more professional training, counseling, incident debriefing for officers including feedback on case disposition, better collaboration across professional groups, and evidence-based prosecution. Harsher penalties were also recommended.     

Formalizing China��s armed police: the 2009 PAP Law

While the People??s Armed Police (PAP) has existed in China for over 26 years, the force??s operations, powers and duties have never been formally stipulated. On August 27, 2009, the People??s Armed Police Law was passed by the National People??s Congress. The PAP Law, which contains seven chapters and 38 articles, covers the main areas of the tasks and responsibility, duties and power, safeguard measures, discipline and supervision, and legal responsibilities of the force. The implementation of the PAP Law represents a benchmark development in the history of the Chinese policing. It not only signals official recognition of the need to enhance the legitimacy of China??s social control apparatus, but also maps onto a larger developing trend of progressive legalization of Chinese order today. Although the law provides a legal basis for the existence and functions of a force that plays a critical role in China??s security and stability today, some issues about the boundaries of power and procedures of operation for the PAP remain unaddressed. To what extent that this law will improve the legitimacy and subsequently strengthen the performance of the PAP force is an open question.     

Moore��s Moral Facts and the Gap in the Retributive Theory

The purely retributive moral justification of punishment has a gap at its centre. It fails to explain why the offender should not be protected from punishment by the intuitively powerful moral idea that afflicting another person (other than to avoid a greater harm) is always wrong. Attempts to close the gap have taken several different forms, and only one is discussed in this paper. This is the attempt to push aside the ‘protecting’ intuition, using some more powerful intuition specially invoked by the situations to which criminal justice is addressed. In one aspect of his complex defence of pure retributivism, Michael S. Moore attempts to show that the emotions of well-adjusted persons provide evidence of moral facts which justify the affliction of culpable wrongdoers in retribution for their wrongdoing. In particular, he appeals to the evidential significance of emotions aroused by especially heinous crimes, including the punishment-seeking guilt of the offender who truly confronts the reality of his immoral act. The paper argues that Moore fails to vindicate this appeal to moral realism, and thus to show that intrinsic personal moral desert (as distinct from ‘desert’ in a more restricted sense, relative to morally justified institutions) is a necessary and sufficient basis for punishment. Other theories of the role of emotions in morality are as defensible as Moore’s, while the compelling emotions to which he appeals to clinch his argument can be convincingly situated within a non-retributivist framework, especially when the distinction between the intuitions of the lawless world, and those of the world of law, is recognised.     

The ASEAN-China Investment Agreement: A regionalization of China��s BITs

This paper analyzes the provisions of the Agreement on Investment of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (the “ASEAN”), especially those on the scope of application, national treatment, Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment, expropriation, and investor-state dispute resolution. The paper then compares the new agreement with other international investment agreements concluded by China or ASEAN. In comparison with existing Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) between China and individual ASEAN member states, there are significant changes in the Investment Agreement which provides a higher standard of investment protection. Such an investment protection is common in the new generation of Chinese BITs, which were signed by China since 2000. However, unlike some other investment agreements in free trade arrangements, the Investment Agreement rarely touches upon the investment liberalization, although the Framework Agreement of ASEAN-China FTA provides for creating a liberal investment regime. This paper concludes that negotiating an investment agreement in China’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) is regarded as an opportunity to update its old BITs, but China is not yet prepared to undertake investment liberalization in its FTAs. The ASEAN-China Investment Agreement is, rather, an extension of China’s BITs at the regional level, which is a demonstration of China’s growing influence at this level.     

盗窃罪?诈骗罪?销赃罪?

案情某甲盗得一个存款1000元的活期存折,他怕取款时被发觉,便与好友某乙共谋后,同去县五金公司门市部,谎称由于急需一台收录机,来不及去储蓄所取款,只好将有1000元钱的存折作抵购买收录机。营业员信以为真,当即将一台双卡收录机(价格850元)和现金150元给了甲、乙二人,留下存折作抵押。当营业员次日持此存折去储蓄所取款     

何用?何苦?何必?

正熄灯后,一只蚊子在耳边飞来飞去,在抓狂了很久后,终于觉醒,把自己当诱饵耐心等待它再次降临。当肌肤轻微感觉到它的"亲吻"时,"啪"一声脆响,打痛了自己,天地间一片清静。由此,我想到了贪官何曾不是一只蚊子,贪婪让其无所畏惧,敛财之时往往也是灭亡之日。其实,当官应算清几笔账,认清几件事,即所谓的人生观、金钱观。