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The Paradoxical Structure of Existence
by Frederick D. WilhelmsenFor metaphysicians who have imbibed the sober and inebriating teachings of Thomas Aquinas, existence is an act, the act which makes all things actually to be. As the act of existence makes things to be, essence makes them to be what they are. Essence and the act of existence, in other words, are really distinct yet together they compose each of the things that are.Such an understanding involves a number of paradoxes, and Frederick D. Wilhelmsen's articulation of them reveals his philosophical genius. These paradoxes include the fact that the act of existence does not exist, that it can be thought but not conceived by the mind, and that truths about God can be known while He himself remains absolutely unknown. Wilhelmsen argues the notion that the Christian faith and philosophical reason harmonize while remaining completely distinct from each other.Writing in a captivating style, Wilhelmsen begins with a discussion of the development, strengths, and limitations of the ancient Greek philosophical accounts of being. Following that, he develops such key topics as the problem of existence, St. Thomas Aquinas' understanding of being, critical analyses of Hegel's and Heidegger's doctrines of being, existence as "towards God," and a metaphysical approach to the human person. The final two chapters develop the sense in which metaphysical thinking is and is not shaped by historical and social factors.
Paradoxical Virtue: Reinhold Niebuhr and the Virtue Tradition (Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies)
by Kevin Carnahan David TrueAfter the re-emergence of the tradition of virtue ethics in the early 1980s Reinhold Niebuhr has often served as a foil for authors who locate themselves in that tradition. However, this exercise has often proved controversial. This collection of essays continues this work, across a wide range of subjects, with the aim of avoiding some of the polemics that have previously accompanied it. The central thesis of this book is that putting the work of Reinhold Niebuhr and Christian realism in dialogue with contemporary virtue theory is a profitable undertaking. An introductory essay argues against locating Niebuhr as a consequentialist and in favour of thinking of his work in terms of a dispositional ethics Contributors take different positions on whether Niebuhr’s dispositional ethics should be considered a form of virtue ethics or an alternative to virtue ethics. Several of the articles relate Niebuhr and Christian realism to particular virtues. Throughout there is an appreciation of the ways in which any Niebuhrian approach to dispositional ethics or virtue must be shaped by a sense of tragedy, paradox, or irony. The most moral disposition will be one which includes doubts about its own virtue. This volume allows for a repositioning of Niebuhr in the context of contemporary moral theory as well as a rereading of the tradition of virtue ethics in the light of a distinctly Protestant, Christian realist and paradoxical view of virtue. As a result, it will be of great interest to scholars of Niebuhr and Christian Ethics and scholars working in Moral Philosophy and the Philosophy of Religion more generally.
El paraíso es tu casa: Un manual para ser feliz de puertas adentro
by Diana QuanNo hay nada como el hogar. De nosotros depende que sea como queremos. Y si bien es cierto que inevitablemente acaba siendo una manifestación de nuestra personalidad, también lo es que con una preparación adecuada, una estrategia relativa a los objetivos claros, tenacidad, rigor y buena voluntad, podemos cambiar el estilo del lugar donde vivimos. Y, al mismo tiempo, nos cambiaremos también un poco a nosotros mismos. De hecho, no hay ninguna transformación que introduzcamos en nuestro entorno que no nos afecte de manera directa, así como a nuestras actividades cotidianas. Este libro habla precisamente de todo esto y de mucho más. Concebido como una guía, encontraremos en él información para saber qué dice de nosotros nuestro hogar; orientación sobre los cambios que podemos hacer para transformarlo a fin de obtener el mayor bienestar; las características de cada estancia para saber cuáles generan vitalidad, relax o concentración e inspiración; consejos para sanar o mejorar nuestro estado de ánimo a través del sitio en que vivimos, con elementos tan sencillos como la luz, las plantas y los colores; técnicas para conseguir llenar de positividad nuestra vivienda; detalles prácticos sobre los mejores materiales para crear un hogar saludable; ideas para conseguir que en él reinen siempre la armonía y la tranquilidad.
Parallax of Growth: The Philosophy of Ecology and Economy
by Ole BjergParallax of Growth explores the ideas of economy and ecology and the factors that have put them on a collision course. Bjerg argues that our current mode of economic organization is characterized by an inherent ?debt drive?, whereby the creation of money through the issuance of commercial bank credit has locked our economy into a vicious circle of forced growth and increasing debt. Parallax of Growth is not a catalogue of solutions to the ecological or the economic crisis. The book aims to shift the inquiry from ?what shall we do?? to ?why have we not already done it?? In order to address the challenges of our contemporary times of crisis, we need to understand how the idea of growth is deeply ingrained in the ideology as well as the organization of our society. The book aims to open the space for philosophical thinking about this important issue.
The Parallax View (Short Circuits)
by Slavoj ZizekIn Žižek's long-awaited magnum opus, he theorizes the "parallax gap" in the ontological, the scientific, and the political—and rehabilitates dialectical materialism. The Parallax View is Slavoj Žižek's most substantial theoretical work to appear in many years; Žižek himself describes it as his magnum opus. Parallax can be defined as the apparent displacement of an object, caused by a change in observational position. Žižek is interested in the "parallax gap" separating two points between which no synthesis or mediation is possible, linked by an "impossible short circuit" of levels that can never meet. From this consideration of parallax, Žižek begins a rehabilitation of dialectical materialism. Modes of parallax can be seen in different domains of today's theory, from the wave-particle duality in quantum physics to the parallax of the unconscious in Freudian psychoanalysis between interpretations of the formation of the unconscious and theories of drives. In The Parallax View, Žižek, with his usual astonishing erudition, focuses on three main modes of parallax: the ontological difference, the ultimate parallax that conditions our very access to reality; the scientific parallax, the irreducible gap between the phenomenal experience of reality and its scientific explanation, which reaches its apogee in today's brain sciences (according to which "nobody is home" in the skull, just stacks of brain meat—a condition Žižek calls "the unbearable lightness of being no one"); and the political parallax, the social antagonism that allows for no common ground. Between his discussions of these three modes, Žižek offers interludes that deal with more specific topics—including an ethical act in a novel by Henry James and anti-anti-Semitism. The Parallax View not only expands Žižek's Lacanian-Hegelian approach to new domains (notably cognitive brain sciences) but also provides the systematic exposition of the conceptual framework that underlies his entire work. Philosophical and theological analysis, detailed readings of literature, cinema, and music coexist with lively anecdotes and obscene jokes.
Parallel Minds: Discovering the Intelligence of Materials
by Laura TripaldiInsights into the intelligence throughout the natural and technical environment, in the fabric of our devices and dwellings, in our clothes, and under our skin.Is there a way to understand the materials that surround us not as passive objects, but as other intelligences interacting with our own? In Parallel Minds, expert in materials science and nanotechnology Laura Tripaldi delivers not only detailed insights into the properties and emergent behaviors of matter as revealed by state-of-the-art chemistry, synthetic biology, and nanotech, but also a rich philosophical reflection that crosses the frontier between nature and culture, where the most cutting-edge scientific syntheses resonate with ancient myth. The result is a technomaterial bestiary full of unexpected encounters with &“strange minds&”—from cobwebs to kevlar and carbon fibre, from centaurs to amoebas to arachnids, from polycephalic slime to resonating plasmons, from viruses to golems. Parallel Minds reveals the intelligence at large throughout the natural and technical environment, in the fabric of our devices and dwellings, in our clothes, and even under our skin. Full of lateral ideas and unexpected images, Tripaldi&’s book imbues the study and synthesis of materials with a new urgency. For not only do the materials that surround us participate actively in the construction of the world in which we live, but harnessing their ability to interact intelligently with their environment could be the key to the future of our species.
Parallel Worlds: An Anthropologist and a Writer Encounter Africa
by Alma Gottlieb Philip GrahamThis suspenseful and moving memoir of Africa recounts the experiences of Alma Gottlieb, an anthropologist, and Philip Graham, a fiction writer, as they lived in two remote villages in the rain forest of Cote d'Ivoire. With an unusual coupling of first-person narratives, their alternate voices tell a story imbued with sweeping narrative power, humility, and gentle humor. Parallel Worlds is a unique look at Africa, anthropological fieldwork, and the artistic process. "A remarkable look at a remote society [and] an engaging memoir that testifies to a loving partnership . . . compelling. "—James Idema, Chicago Tribune
Parallels and Responses to Curricular Innovation: The Possibilities of Posthumanistic Education (Routledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education #36)
by Brad PetitfilsThis volume explores two radical shifts in history and subsequent responses in curricular spaces: the move from oral to print culture during the transition between the 15th and 16th centuries and the rise of the Jesuits, and the move from print to digital culture during the transition between the 20th and 21st centuries and the rise of what the philosopher Jean Baudrillard called "hyperreality." The curricular innovation that accompanied the first shift is considered through the rise of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). These men created the first "global network" of education, and developed a humanistic curriculum designed to help students navigate a complicated era of the known (human-centered) and unknown (God-centered) universe. The curricular innovation that is proposed for the current shift is guided by the question: What should be the role of undergraduate education become in the 21st century? Today, the tension between the known and unknown universe is concentrated on the interrelationships between our embodied spaces and our digitally mediated ones. As a result, today’s undergraduate students should be challenged to understand how—in the objectively focused, commodified, STEM-centric landscape of higher education—the human subject is decentered by the forces of hyperreality, and in turn, how the human subject might be recentered to balance our humanness with the new realities of digital living. Therein, one finds the possibility of posthumanistic education.
Parameterized Complexity in the Polynomial Hierarchy: Extending Parameterized Complexity Theory to Higher Levels of the Hierarchy (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #11880)
by Ronald de HaanParameterized Complexity in the Polynomial Hierarchy was co-recipient of the E.W. Beth Dissertation Prize 2017 for outstanding dissertations in the fields of logic, language, and information. This work extends the theory of parameterized complexity to higher levels of the Polynomial Hierarchy (PH). For problems at higher levels of the PH, a promising solving approach is to develop fixed-parameter tractable reductions to SAT, and to subsequently use a SAT solving algorithm to solve the problem. In this dissertation, a theoretical toolbox is developed that can be used to classify in which cases this is possible. The use of this toolbox is illustrated by applying it to analyze a wide range of problems from various areas of computer science and artificial intelligence.
The Paranoid Chronotope: Power, Truth, Identity
by Frida BeckmanWhy does it seem like our everyday life is shadowed by something menacing? This book identifies and illuminates paranoia as a significant feature of contemporary American society and culture. Centering on what it identifies as three key dimensions – power, truth, and identity – in three different contexts – society, literature, and critique – the book explores and explains the increasing influence of paranoid thinking in American society during the second half of the twentieth century and first decades of the twenty-first, a period that has seen the rise of control systems and neoliberal ascendency. Inquiring about the predominance of white, male, American subjects in paranoid culture, Frida Beckman recognizes the antagonistic maintenance and fortification of a conception of the autonomous individual that perceives itself to be under threat. Identifying such paranoia as emerging from an increasingly disjunctive relation between this conception of the subject and the changing nature of the public sphere, she develops the concept of the paranoid chronotope as a tool for the theoretical analysis of social, literary, and critical practices today. Investigating twenty-first century paranoid fictions, New Sincerity novels, conspiracist online culture, and postcritique, Beckman shows how the paranoid chronotope constitutes a recurring feature of modern consciousness.
Paranoid Pedagogies
by Jennifer A. Sandlin Jason J. WallinThis edited book explores the under-analyzed significance and function of paranoia as a psychological habitus of the contemporary educational and social moment. The editors and contributors argue that the desire for epistemological truth beyond uncertainty characteristic of paranoia continues to profoundly shape the aesthetic texture and imaginaries of educational thought and practice. Attending to the psychoanalytic, post-psychoanalytic, and critical significance of paranoia as a mode of engaging with the world, this book further inquires into the ways in which paranoia functions to shape the social order and the material desire of subjects operating within it. Furthermore, the book aims to understand how the paranoiac imaginary endemic to contemporary educational thought manifests itself throughout the social field and what issues it makes manifest for teachers, teacher educators, and academics working toward social transformation.
Paranoide Fiktionen: Kapitalismus- und Erkenntniskritik in Ricardo Piglias Kriminalromanen (Kriminalität in Literatur und Medien #7)
by Lina WilhelmsRicardo Piglias Kriminalromane haben das Genre kritisch beleuchtet und erneuert. Die Untersuchung kapitalismus- und erkenntniskritischer Perspektiven in Plata quemada, Blanco nocturno und El camino de Ida verbindet literaturtheoretische mit -historischen Reflexionen. Ausgehend von der These, dass die bürgerlich-kapitalistische Gesellschaft sowie Diskurse um Aufklärung und Positivismus zentrale Entstehungsbedingungen des Kriminalromans sind, wird nach den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen ihrer Kritik sowie einer dem Genre inhärenten Dialektik gefragt. Mithilfe marxistischer und poststrukturalistischer Ansätze werden Piglias Romane vor dem Hintergrund des argentinischen Kontexts als postmoderne littérature engagée analysiert.Die Arbeit wurde 2023 mit dem Elise Richter-Preis des Deutschen Romanistenverbands ausgezeichnet.
The Parasite (Posthumanities #1)
by Michel SerresInfluential philosopher Michel Serres&’s foundational work uses fable to explore how human relations are identical to that of the parasite to the host body. Among Serres&’s arguments is that by being pests, minor groups can become major players in public dialogue—creating diversity and complexity vital to human life and thought.
Parental Obligations and Bioethics: The Duties of a Creator (Routledge Annals of Bioethics #14)
by Bernard G. PrusakThis book examines the question of what parental obligations procreators incur by bringing children into being. Prusak argues that parents, as procreators, have obligations regarding future children that constrain the liberty of would-be parents to do as they wish. Moreover, these obligations go beyond simply respecting a child’s rights. He addresses in turn the ethics of adoption, child support, gamete donation, surrogacy, prenatal genetic enhancement, and public responsibility for children.
Parenting in the Present Moment
by Carla NaumburgThis generation of parents is overwhelmed with parenting advice. Carla Naumburg sets out to remind them that they have everything they need to raise healthy, happy children. Mindful parenting is about paying attention to what is going on with your children and yourself, without judging, freaking out, or thinking everyone should be doing something differently. In Parenting in the Present Moment, Naumburg shares what truly matters in parenting - connecting with children in ways that are meaningful to them and you, staying grounded amid the craziness of parenting, and staying present for whatever life throws your way.With reassuring, compassionate storytelling, she weaves the most current theories - about healthy relationships, compassionate self-care, and mindfulness - throughout vignettes of her own chaotic childhood and parental struggles. She shows how mindfulness creates a solid foundation for any style of parenting, regardless of your cultural background, socioeconomic status, or family structure. She also introduces the STAY model for tough times: Stop whatever it is you're doing; Take a breath; Attune to your thoughts and those of your child; and Yield.Parenting is an ongoing journey that constantly challenges every parent. Parenting in the Present Moment will helps each family find its own way.
Parenting on Earth: A Philosopher's Guide to Doing Right by Your Kids and Everyone Else
by Elizabeth CrippsBeing parents and being human: building hope for our children in a fragile world.Environmental catastrophes, pandemics, antibiotic resistance, institutionalized injustice, and war: in a world so out of balance, what does it take—or even mean—to be a good parent? This book is one woman&’s search for an answer, as a moral philosopher, activist, and mother.Drawing on the insights of philosophy and the experience of parent activists, Elizabeth Cripps calls for parents to think radically about exactly what we owe our children—and everyone else. She shows how our children&’s needs are inseparable from the fate of the earth and the fortunes of others and how much is at stake in parenting today. And she asks the hardest question: should we have kids at all?Timely and thoughtful, Parenting on Earth extends a challenge to anyone raising children in a troubled world—and with it, a vision of hope for our children&’s future. Cripps envisions a world where kids can prosper and grow—a just world, with thriving social systems and ecosystems, where future generations can flourish and all children can lead a decent life. She explains, with bracing clarity, why those raising kids today should be a force for change and bring up their children to do the same. Hard as this can be, in the face of political gridlock, ecoanxiety, and general daily grind, the tools of philosophy and psychology can help us find a way.
The Parent's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents
by William Martin Foreword by Dan Millman Illustrations by Hank TusinskiWilliam C. Martin has freshly reinterpreted the Tao Te Ching to speak directly and clearly to the most difficult of modern tasks -- parenting. With its combination of free verse and judicious advice, The Parent's Tao Te Ching addresses the great themes that permeate the Tao and that support loving parent- child relationships: responding without judgment, emulating natural processes, and balancing between doing and being.
Pareto and Political Theory (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought #Vol. 48)
by Joseph V. FemiaPareto and Political Theory is the first book-length study of the philosopher’s importance in terms of the most fundamental issues of political discourse: individualism vs. holism, science vs. hermeneutics, laissez-faire vs. social engineering, and value relativism vs. moral absolutism. Joseph V. Femia shows that although Pareto is considered a ‘founding father’ of both sociology and mathematical economics, his contribution to political theory is neither fully recognised nor properly explored. This is also the only book to examine Pareto’s critique of Kantianism and natural law and also includes the first comparison of Pareto’s thought with postmodernism and a detailed refutation of the familiar charge that Pareto was a defender of fascism. This critical, but sympathetic analysis refutes the familiar charge that Pareto was some sort of proto-fascist and instead locates him in the Machiavellian tradition of ‘sceptical liberalism’, which scorns metaphysical abstraction and assigns ontological primacy to the individual. Though suspicious of rational schemes for human improvement, sceptical liberals are equally suspicious of the myths and rhetoric that sustain the status quo. This new volume concludes with a fascinating comparison between Pareto’s scepticism and that of recent postmodernist thought, which also debunks the ‘grand narratives’ of historical progress. This book will be of great interest to all students of politics, philosophy and sociology.
Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality
by David EdmondsFrom the bestselling coauthor of Wittgenstein&’s Poker, an entertaining and illuminating biography of a brilliant philosopher who tried to rescue morality from nihilismDerek Parfit (1942–2017) is the most famous philosopher most people have never heard of. Widely regarded as one of the greatest moral thinkers of the past hundred years, Parfit was anything but a public intellectual. Yet his ideas have shaped the way philosophers think about things that affect us all: equality, altruism, what we owe to future generations, and even what it means to be a person. In Parfit, David Edmonds presents the first biography of an intriguing, obsessive, and eccentric genius.Believing that we should be less concerned with ourselves and more with the common good, Parfit dedicated himself to the pursuit of philosophical progress to an extraordinary degree. He always wore gray trousers and a white shirt so as not to lose precious time picking out clothes, he varied his diet as little as possible, and he had only one serious non-philosophical interest: taking photos of Oxford, Venice, and St. Petersburg. In the latter half of his life, he single-mindedly devoted himself to a desperate attempt to rescue secular morality—morality without God—by arguing that it has an objective, rational basis. For Parfit, the stakes could scarcely have been higher. If he couldn&’t demonstrate that there are objective facts about right and wrong, he believed, his life was futile and all our lives were meaningless.Connecting Parfit&’s work and life and offering a clear introduction to his profound and challenging ideas, Parfit is a powerful portrait of an extraordinary thinker who continues to have a remarkable influence on the world of ideas.
Parfit's Ethics (Elements in Ethics)
by Richard Yetter ChappellDerek Parfit (1942–2017) was one of the most important and influential moral philosophers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This Element offers a critical introduction to his wide-ranging ethical thought, focusing especially on his two most significant works, Reasons and Persons (1984) and On What Matters (2011), and their contribution to the consequentialist moral tradition. Topics covered include: rationality and objectivity, distributive justice, self-defeating moral theories, Parfit's Triple Theory (according to which consequentialism, contractualism, and Kantian ethics ultimately converge), personal identity, and population ethics.
Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea: The Roots of Militarism, 1866–1945
by Carter J. EckertThis first volume in a two-part study examines the origins of South Korean authoritarianism as personified by the militant political leader. For South Koreans, the twenty years from the early 1960s to late 1970s were the best and worst of times—a period of unprecedented economic growth and of political oppression that deepened as prosperity spread. In this masterly account, Carter J. Eckert finds the roots of South Korea&’s dramatic socioeconomic transformation in the country&’s long history of militarization—a history personified in South Korea&’s paramount leader, Park Chung Hee. In Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea, Eckert reveals how the foundations of Park&’s leadership were established during the period of Japanese occupation. As a cadet in the Manchurian Military Academy, Park and his fellow officers absorbed the Imperial Japanese Army&’s ethos of victory at all costs and absolute obedience to authority. When Park seized power in 1961, he applied this ethos to the project of Korean modernization. Korean society under Park exuded a distinctively martial character, Eckert shows. Its hallmarks included the belief that the army should intervene in politics in times of crisis; that a central authority should manage the country&’s economic system; and that the state should maintain a strong disciplinary presence in society, reserving the right to use violence to maintain order.&“A milestone in the literature of modern East Asia.&” ―Bruce Cumings, author of Korea&’s Place in the Sun
Parks and Carrying Capacity: Commons Without Tragedy
by Robert E. ManningHow much can we use the environment without spoiling what we find so valuable about it? Determining the carrying capacity of parks and related areas is a perennial question whose urgency grows each year as the number of visits continues to increase. Parks and Carrying Capacity represents a comprehensive assessment of the issue, as it:* offers a historical and conceptual treatment ofcarrying capacity* describes and illustrates research approaches forassessing carrying capacity, including qualitative and quantitativesurveys, normative theory and methods, visual research approaches,trade-off analysis, and simulation modeling* examines management alternatives for limiting the environmentaland social impacts of visitor use* considers the broader question of environmental management andhow the issue of carrying capacity can be applied more generally* discusses how the theory and methods associated with managingthe carrying capacity of parks and protected areas might be extendedto other areas of environmental managementThe book includes a series of case studies that describe research programsdesigned to support analysis and management of carrying capacity at eight diverse units of the U.S. National Park System, and an additional case study that explores how the foundational components of carrying capacity (formulating indicators and standards, monitoring, and adaptive management) are being applied in an increasing number of environmental and natural resources fields to address the growing urgency of sustainability. Parks and Carrying Capacity is an important new work for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and researchers in outdoor recreation, park planning and management, and natural resource conservation and management, as well as for professional planners and managers involved with park and outdoor recreation related agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
Parliament and Conscience (Routledge Library Editions: Government)
by Peter G. RichardsOriginally published in 1970, this book has a dual purpose. Firstly, it is a study of how Parliament works when the party whips are withdrawn. The author shows how backbenchers can create legislation of great importance; he demonstrates the obstacles, political and procedural to social reform; he relates the votes of MPs to their personal characteristics e.g. age, religion and occupation, and he argues that Parliament achieves a fresh vigour and authority when MPs think and act independently of party policy. Secondly, Parliament and Conscience analyses 6 major controversies in British society in the late 20th Century: the death penalty, homosexuality, abortion, theatre censorship, divorce and Sunday entertainment.
Parliament and Convention in the Personal Rule of James V of Scotland, 1528–1542
by Amy BlakewayThis book, based on a fresh understanding of Scottish governmental records rooted in extensive archival research, offers the first study of these important institutions in a period of revived royal authority. The regime which emerges from these records is one which understood the power of consultation, adroitly using a range of groups from full parliaments to conventions of specialists and experts selected to deal with the matter in hand. Policies were crafted through not one single meeting but several types of gathering, ranging from small groups when secrecy was of the essence or complex details required to be hammered out, to elaborate large gatherings when the regime employed a performative strategy to disseminate information or legitimise its policies. Still more impressively, much of this was managed in the King’s absence – James remained at a distance from many of these gatherings, relying on key officials such as the Chancellor or Clerk Register to relay counsel and the royal will. This emphasis on specialised, frequent consultation reflects concurrent developments in the council, whilst relocating debate surrounding the development of state and administrative structures in Scotland traditionally located in the late sixteenth-century into the 1530s. In tackling the development of parliament in Scotland and placing it in its proper context amongst many different forms of consultative meeting this book also speaks to subjects of European-wide concern: how far early modern Parliaments were used to impose or resist religious change, the pace of state formation, monarchical power and relations between monarchs and their subjects.
Parliament and Diaspora in Europe
by Michel S. LaguerreThe merging of homeland and diaspora, which results in the formation of an expanded and cross-border nation, has helped to transform the national legislature into a cosmonational parliament governed by representatives from these two segments of the population. The book analyzes the deployment of diaspora representation in homeland parliaments in its various forms, and compares this deployment in three European national settings in an effort to explain the multiple dimensions of this new cosmonational parliament model.