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Phronimon
Print version ISSN 1561-4018
Phronimon vol.17 n.2 Pretoria 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3086/2016/123
Globalisation versus Ibuanyidanda ontology: confronting the tension between the "self" and the "other"
Jonathan O. Chimakonam
Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Nigeria jchimakonam@umcaLedu.ng
I shall in this paper seek to unravel the challenges which global expansion as it is practised, poses to the understanding of and the relationship between the "self" and the "other" through the mechanism of Ibuanyidanda ontology. Although globalisation tends to collapse borders and promote social cohesion between cultures and individuals at the polar points of the globe, in practice, the relationship which emerges as a result of this global expansion is fraught with inter-racial, inter-tribal and inter-group tensions. My goal is to show that globalisation is not as inclusivist and tolerant in practice as is suggested in theory. I shall explore this by using the problem of ihe mkpuchi anya (the obstacle of passion which inspires a sectional mind-set as opposed to objectivity in human relations), that is identified in Ibuanyidanda ontology.
Keywords: Globalisation; Ibuanyidanda; ihe mpkuchianya; intercultural philosophy; global expansion
One of the concerns of philosophy is to solve problems by using the tools of critical reflection, value analysis and the instrument of logic. For this, some philosophers have attempted to describe philosophy as the logical clarification of thought (Ayer 1952: 51). Others, like Kwasi Wiredu, insist that without argumentation and clarification, there is strictly no philosophy.1 Still others, like Antony Flew, emphatically state that philosophy consists of arguments first, last and always (Flew in Omoregbe 1990: 7). These learned opinions only shed light to the ultimate focus of philosophy as a field of study. It should also be noted that every society has its daily worry prompted by circumstances of its existence, which may or may not be peculiar. This is why Russell (1996: 2) states that the circumstances of a people's existence determine their philosophy. For Innocent Asouzu (2004; 2007a,b,c; 2011; 2013), the proponent of Ibuanyidanda theory, one of the main problems facing humanity today is the crisis of relationship resulting from Aristotle's bifurcation of being. The focus of Ibuanyidanda ontology is to correct this great error of thought which has divided humanity into warring factions of an inferiority/superiority tussle between the "self' and the "other".
The question that leads the way is: Is there a strict approach to philosophical enquiry? Aristotle's bivalent metaphysics has been treated as orthodoxy in the history of thought, but Asouzu thinks this is incorrect. For Asouzu, philosophical inquiry could take many approaches, from bivalent to multi-valent logical systems. He, however, favours a multi-valent system where the idea of discrimination and lop-sidedness will be whittled down. Also, Asouzu thinks that some systems, such as the bivalent Aristotelian system, are bad in themselves as a mode of philosophical inquiry. This conclusion of Asouzu appears insightful when we consider the full import of Aristotle's position. By his (Aristotle's) presentation in his book Metaphysics, Aristotle - in employing his preferred bivalence principle - seems also to draw a line between what is of essence and what is not. Ontology for him consists of the substance (which is essential) and accident (which is not) (Aristotle 1926: Book A, 2, 6, 8). As a matter of fact, it is the substantial that characterises being. In his words "if these are not substance, there is no substance and no being at all; for the accidents of these it cannot be right to call beings".2 This sort of thesis has wider implication not only in metaphysics but also in all the sciences of human relations because the same line runs through race, faith, gender and ethnicity; and also between the "self" and the "other". These are some of the most dangerous problems of humanity today.
Asouzu therefore discountenances the philosophy of essence on the basis of this lop-sidedness and greater human relationship implications.3 By rejecting Aristotle's philosophy of essence, he inevitably rejects the logical principle of bivalence which presents reality as polarised into two extremes, excluding the intermediary positions. In its place, Asouzu seems to favour a multi-valent system of thought which recognises the possibility of different sub-positions in-between two extremes (Asouzu 2013: 90109). Thus, Ibuanyidanda ontology holds that reality is not dichotomised, bifurcated or polarised. Every reality serves a missing link in a complementary relationship of all there is (Asouzu 2004: 277-79).
In this work, I intend to provide a background to Asouzu's Ibuanyidanda philosophy. I will then discuss the idea of global expansion as a conflict between homogenising and differentiating forces. I will attempt in the process to bring out the full import of Aristotle's dichotomising metaphysics in the creation of tension between the "self and the "other" in our world today. I will offer Asouzu's Ibuanyidanda ontology in light of its complementarity as a viable alternative for reconstructing being from the perspective of its interconnectedness and interrelatedness. Finally, I will raise some possible objections, especially to the framework of Ibuanyidanda philosophy, and offer responses to its credibility.
THE MAIN THRUST OF IBUANYIDANDA PHILOSOPHY
Ibuanydanda is a theory of being from an African perspective, formulated by the Nigerian philosopher Innocent Asouzu. A teacher of philosophy for many years at the University of Calabar, Asouzu weaves the basic tenet of his ontology in the dense idea, that "being is that on account of which anything that exists serves a missing link of reality" (Asouzu 2011: 41).
The science of ontology investigates being, its structure and relationships (Lawson 2004: 2). The processes of this inquiry portend some challenges in that biases and idiosyncrasies associated with conceptual and theoretic frameworks, sometimes affect the outcome of the investigation. The Aristotelian essentialist framework, for example, which bifurcates being into substance and accident, ultimately affects the outcome. It could lead to a theory of being in which reality consists of mutually exclusive entities and of absolute identity and absolute difference (Sogolo 1993: 68-69). This type of structure entails great problems in the human society where humans are existentially in need of complementation of one another's efforts. It is to address the challenges that face ontology that Ibuanyidanda was born as a veritable alternative episteme.
The concept Ibuanyidanda comes from the Igbo language. As a matter of fact, it is a maxim "ibu anyi danda" which means, "no load or burden is beyond the capacity of a certain species of gregarious ants to bear". Asouzu gleans inspiration from the organisation and complementary attitude of this species of ant to construct a philosophy for all of humanity. He, however, distinguishes ibu anyi danda as a descriptive hypothetical injunction from his system Ibuanyidanda - written as one word - which he elevates to a categorical imperative. This thought centre, for him, creditably rivals Aristotle's conception of being, which is polarising. According to Asouzu:
Since our tension-laden ambivalent existential experience and ihe mkpuchi-anya (phenomenon of concealment) often mislead us into assuming that life is a struggle involving irreconcilable opposites, Ibuanyidanda ontology seeks ways of reconciling the apparent ontological tension between being and its attributes. This type of tension found its way into Metaphysics by certain specifics of Aristotle's doctrine of being. (Asouzu 2013: 60)
In his Metaphysics, as we earlier observed, Aristotle draws a prejudiced line between substance (essence) and accident of being (1926: Book B, 5). The former is the ultimate character of being. It is indispensable in the analysis of ontology, whereas the later accident is dispensable. As a matter of fact, substance can subsist without accident while the reverse is not the case. It is the substance of a thing that accounts for its existence. Obviously, Aristotle's ontological framework is lopsided; it vitiates one aspect and elevates the other akin to the disharmonious "self versus the "other".
Asouzu traces this as the bastion of all irreconcilable opposites in philosophy as well as the world. For him, most extremist and seemingly irreconcilable positions derive their momentum from this distinction, be it those between rationalism and empiricism, between essentialism and existentialism, between idealism and realism, etc. (Asouzu 2013: 60). Asouzu further states that if substance and accident are as distinct to each other, as Aristotle seems to suggest, then the world is constituted of irreconcilable ontological opposites and this spells doom for humanity and civilisation in general (Asouzu 2013: 60).
Asouzu therefore holds that reality is not consisted of irreconcilable extremes, as Aristotle's framework makes it appear. Ibuanyidanda as an alternative veritable framework bespeaks of a dynamic theory of ontology as against the static Aristotelian ontology, which has become the blue-print of Western metaphysics. In the Ibuanyidanda ontology, some of the challenges which vitiate ontological inquiries are: ihe-mkpuchi anya (phenomenon of concealment) which blindfolds us into seeing reality as twines of conflicting opposites; unintended ethnocentric commitments which commit us to elevate the "self over and above the "other"; misinterpretation of the act of existing as the capacity to be alone leading to such negative maxims as ka so mu di (that I may be alone); introduction of undue rivalry in the scientific community which often leads inquirers into drawing a line between the superior and the inferior, etc. (Asouzu 2011: 16-32).
Ibuanyidanda seeks then to transcend the static, dichotomous ontological framework propounded by Aristotle into a complementary consciousness where every reality exists in a network of mutual complementarity. There is nothing that is meaningless, useless or valueless. Everything exists for others and serves a missing link in the gamut of reality. In doing this, Ibuanyidanda finds a way of overcoming the challenges of ontology.
To overcome some of these challenges, Asouzu (2011: 46-56) recommends three Ibuanyidanda antidotes, namely (i) noetic propaedeutic, which is a pedagogical therapy for the obfuscated human mind. This entails the re-education of the mind to understand the proper and correct structure of existence; (ii) recourse to the transcendent categories of unity of consciousness (akara-obi/akara mmuo) which is the stream of consciousness that helps the human mind go beyond the pressured existential conditions and see the shared values of humanity; (iii) full personal autonomy through ima-onwe-onye (being in control) - a pure being is a being that is in control of itself and not the one that is arbitrarily determined by ethnocentric conditions and human ambivalent circumstances. It is in this way that the challenges of ontology would be overcome.
"To be" is to be in a mutual complementary relationship, whereas "being" is that on account of which everything that exists serves a missing link of reality. It is when these conditions are met in an effort to conceptualise Ibuanyidanda ontology, that we talk about ima onwe onye - or being-in-control as an important attribute of an authentic being. A being has to be in control of itself in order to be able to approach its quest for truth from an unbiased angle of the framework provided by all missing links of reality, otherwise it would not be an authentic being. Accordingly, Asouzu remarks that:
It is for this reason also that philosophy, when articulated as a discipline, is nothing other than the science of being through which the thinking subject seeks to address the ambivalence arising from his world, as a being-in-control. This is why for complementary reflection, to be is to be in control and this is the moment human reason seeks truth from its entirety. Here, any philosophy that is articulated outside of the framework provided by all missing links, in their complementary interrelatedness, merely seeks to distort the idea of truth itself. (Asouzu 2007b: 225)
What ima onwe onye portends is the restoration of full personal autonomy from the presentment of a common web of mutual existence of all realities. Yes, realities exist as mutually interrelated and inter-dependent and affirm their existences within the framework provided by all missing links of reality, but at the height of this consciousness is the full personal autonomy of individual beings. At this level, no being requires policing or monitoring to observe the imperative of Ibuanyidanda. This is why Asouzu declares that such is the highest form of self-consciousness through which "the thinking and acting subject comes to authentic personal insight into the fact that to be is the capacity to be in control of our tension-laden existential situations and the phenomenon of ihe mkpuchi anya" (Asouzu 2011: 54). Therefore, Ima onwe onye is a transcendent act where actors attain the consciousness that to be and to exist entail being in control of all tension-laden existential situations in the realisation that all existents serve missing links of reality.
Ima onwe onye is also by the above opposed to all anti-Ibuanyidanda mindsets such that magnify the differences and silence similarities among all realities.
Asouzu also explains that consistent self-interest is anti-self-interest. Recourse to the super-maxim or the danda rule (the nearer, the better, the safer) which is a strong manifestation of anti-Ibuanyidanda mind-set, is at this level of consciousness suppressed as actors act freely without predeterminations. Ima onwe onye encourages inclusiveness and discourages exclusiveness. In fact, a being that has attained full personal autonomy, Asouzu explains, cannot err culpably.4
Because of the need to transform the descriptive hypothetical injunction "ibu anyi danda" to a categorical imperative "Ibuanyidanda", a designating framework has to be erected. This is what Asouzu calls the transcendent complementary circle that will provide the context for determining the Ibuanyidandaness of any given judgment or action (Asouzu 2013: 72). Conceived more broadly, Asouzu states that this transcendent circle will enable the metaphysician focus on the Ibuanyidandaness of any given entity, phenomenon or event (Asouzu 2013: 72). So the question is, how can the transcendent complementary circle be achieved? Asouzu writes:
To achieve this, there is need for the human consciousness to be trained to approach reality in transcendent complementary comprehensive future related mode. This can hardly be realized where the very tools needed to attain this herculean task do not reflect the character of the undertaking itself; namely, steering reality in a transcendent complementary comprehensive future related mode; and affirming same as missing links of reality. Hence, ignoring the mutual complementary connection between these tools - the method, the truth and authenticity criterion, the principles and imperatives of Ibuanyidanda - would always lead to a distortion of our picture of the world. (Asouza 2013: 72)
What Asouzu explains in the above is that the transcendent complementary circle is a level of consciousness attainable through a form of mental therapy called the Noetic propaedeutic (Asouzu 2007a: 199). Noetic propaedeutic is a process of reeducation or re-orientation that teaches the subject how to define its interest within the framework of the totality. Actors are taught that in the natural ontological scheme of things, their being depends on mutual complementary relationship with all things that exist. Asouzu argues that this consciousness is not pre-given, which is why it has to be gained through the process of complementary noetic propaedeutic (Asouzu 2007a: 200). Therefore, it is in this process of re-education of the mind that a subject comes to realise the inherent connection between its being and those of others, where each serves a missing link to the gamut of reality. It is that necessary connection or imperative network that characterises relationship at that level, which accounts for the transcendent complementary circle in Ibuanyidanda ontology. At that level of consciousness, actors realise that what touches one, touches another; that to strive to protect one's interests against those of the other, amounts to the negation of one's self-interest; that proper legitimacy to actions and interactions is granted by all missing links of reality, thereby making static individualistic ontology moribund and untenable.
Evidently, it is at this level where a transcendent complementary circle is formed that the descriptive hypothetical injunction ibu anyi danda gets transformed into a categorical imperative Ibuanyidanda. According to Asouzu, as soon as this is realised, we notice that Ibuanyidanda comes with a boomerang effect such that is enshrined in the Igbo adage "egbe bere ugo bere nke si ibeya ebekwana nku kwaa ya" (Asouzu 2007c: 391-92) i.e. whichever unit in the network of realities makes life difficult for the other, creates the necessary condition for severance of its own existence. This is why Ibuanyidanda is a categorical imperative; a universal law beyond mere hypothetical injunctions.
"Being as a missing link of reality" is an important cliché in complementary reflection. It is a thesis statement of complementary ontology and the grand summary of Asouzu's thought. The focus of complementary ontology is to unravel being from an Ibuanyidanda/'African perspective. This is why in his definition of being, Asouzu states that being is that on account of which anything that exists serves a missing link of reality (Asouzu in Chimakonam 2015: 51). The assertion "anything that exists serves a missing link" as maintained naturally forms a central methodological thesis of complementary reflection as a philosophy of integration and transformation. Its root influence is the context of traditional African existential experience (Asouzu 2004: 277).
The idea of a missing link encapsulates the state of reality as a web or network of all existents in which everything that exists somehow factors in. In this way, every reality has a place in this web. Its absence automatically constitutes a missing link. By missing links Asouzu means the diverse units that make up an entity within the framework of the whole and as they are complementarily related (Asouzu in Chimakonam 2015: 41). What this shows is that every variable in existence is a missing link in the network of reality as whole.
Taken under this context, individual beings constitute missing links of reality. As units, they each factor in the common web of existence, each needing the other. The inter-dependence and inter-relatedness of reality is made manifest in this whole. That every being serves a missing link of reality, accounts for the necessary complementarity that must exist among them. Thus a missing link captures a central mode of expression of being (Asouzu 2007a: 267). Hence, to be is to be in a mutual complementary relationship. This suggests agreement with the thesis of globalisation, which seeks to breach the gap between cultures and by extension individuals in those cultures, but the extent to which globalisation succeeds in this is open to questions. In this essay, I uphold the position that in relaxing the borders and bringing individuals of various cultures together, a form of relational tension would be created based on the pre-existing cultural predeterminations that make one culture feel a certain measure of disdain for the other. The mode of occurrence, effects and management of this tension shall constitute the focus of a later section. Right now, I will address the question of globalisation.
THE QUESTION OF GLOBAL EXPANSION
In their work, Critical theories of globalization (2006: 13), Chamsy El-Ojeili and Patrick Hayden produce a short list of interesting definitions for globalisation: beginning with Calhoun who conceives globalisation as "A catch-all term for the expansion of diverse forms of economic, political, and cultural activity beyond national borders" and Bauman who states that globalisation has to do with "timespace compression". These two simply refer to the much horned ability of an elite culture to transcend boundaries and extinguish other human erected limitations. However, questions have been and can still be raised whether globalisation actually lives up to this billing. To this end, El-Ojeili and Hayden (2006) go on to cite Roland Robertson who sees globalisation as "the crystallization of the entire world as a single place" suggesting not only the possibility of globalisation to accomplish the so-called time-space compression but its very actuality. To cap it all, John Lechte for them, defines globalisation from the point of connectedness, which according to El-Ojeili and Hayden (2006) is suggested in Marshall McLuhan's 1962 phrase "the global village", which literally regards globalisation as an emerging global consciousness.5
On the whole, the idea which runs through these various definitions, and which is of interest to this paper is that of the anticipated harmonious interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all humanity made possible by globalisation. It is my argument in this essay that this anticipated global consciousness would nonetheless be characterised by an uneasy tension, where various peoples of diverse cultures carry certain ambivalent predetermination, whether consciously or unconsciously against the "otherness". It is at this point that I find a link between globalisation (which seeks among others to breach the gap between the one and the other) and Ibuanyidanda theory (which seeks to emphasise the interconnection that should characterise the relationship between the one and the other). This link further suggests the cause of the relational tension between the one and the other captured in Ibuanyidanda theory as ihe mkpuchi anya (phenomenon of concealment) (Asouzu 2011: 29-30). Asouzu explains this phenomenon thus:
Regrettably, again, steering a course of mutual complementation and harmony is not always an easy task, since all human existential situations in addition to being ambivalent have an inherent dimension of what we call in Igbo language ihe mkpuchi anya (the phenomenon of concealment). Literally this translates to: "the thing that covers the eyes" or "the thing that impairs vision". If the ambivalence points at the double capacity of our interests and the world in general, the phenomenon of concealment (ihe mkpuchi anya) points at our ability to mismanage this ambivalence. In all existential situations, actors are constantly exposed to the dangers of error of judgement in their relationship to the world, due to this ambivalence and ihe mkpuchi anya. We encounter an instance of such an error of judgement when, in our encounter with the world, we usually believe that 'the nearer the better and the safer' and adopt this as a general principle that guides our action. Generally and naturally, we perceive and adjudge those nearest to us better and safer, but this must not always be the case since those nearest to us are not always the safest and best. (Asouzu, The Challenges of Super-maxim to Judgment and Actions, xix.) It is due to our disposition to commit errors of judgment of this kind, that actors also have the innate tendency to resolve conflicts in a one dimensional absolute mode and by recourse to extreme and polarising measures. Even if ihe mkpuchi anya is an existential condition that impacts on the individual, it can evoke a depraved exclusivist, non-conciliatory collective consciousness, when concerned individuals unite in pursuing certain interests they cherish most. (Asouzu 2012: 29-30)
Thus with the presence of ihe mkpuchi anya, the impact of global expansion is bound to carry uneasy tensions. Globalisation as an ideology and a movement narrows down to all ramifications of interpersonal, inter-group and intercultural interactions, which make little sense of the limitations of boundaries and spaces. However, Ibuanyidanda philosophy through ihe mkpuchi anya (phenomenon of concealment) reveals that humans and cultures are always at war with one another against the realisation of global exchanges, though unwittingly. Even at the collapse of cultural borders through global expansion, actors carry with them what Asouzu calls unintended ethnocentric commitments (Asouzu 2007b: 25-63) in their relationships with the other, striving always to protect and place the ethnic or clan or racial or group interest above that of otherness. The effect of this tension which could be epistemological, ethical or ontological, impairs people's capacity to "know", to "judge" and to "will" with regards to the other and vice versa. The reduction from this is that globalisation actually fails in some of its promises, thus engendering and sustaining tensions between polar points of human relations.
A question must be asked: What constitutes this tension? Whether artificial or natural, it is readily observable that the world of humans is lopsided and rides on the crest of discrimination between the well-offs and the not-so-well offs; the superior and the inferior; the civilised and the non-civilised; or simply put, the "self" and the "other". This consciousness that one is better or superior to the other, undergirded by Aristotle's polarising metaphysics, is likely going to birth a strong tension in the relationship or interactions between the peoples and cultures of the world as soon as globalisation collapses the national boundaries. This tension very often orchestrates severe frictions that go on to demolish the structures of political, social and religious stability in different parts of the world. For example, it is the belief that the foreign policies of the Western countries, especially the USA, are aimed at drawing a line between the superior West and the inferior Arab, that the architects of Al Qaida claim spurred them to begin what they called a Jihad. The ripple effect of Osama Bin Laden's campaign has reached many parts of the world with unnerving consequences. In Africa, for example, there is Al Shabbab in Somalia and Boko Haram in West Africa; both of which have drawn inspiration from the terrorist networks in the Middle East.
Indeed, wherever these terror networks arise, they uniformly claim the need to resist Western domination as their common goal. The mass executions carried out by these organisations like ISIS, Boko Haram, and their loyalists in other countries, have been projected as a reprisal against the domineering West and their cronies. Whether the presupposition of these terror groups is correct or even right is of little importance here. What we seek to bring to the fore is the often neglected tension created between the "self" and the "other" in the event of global expansion by the consciousness that seeks to polarise and bifurcate humanity into the offending "self" and the defending "otherness". Whither globalisation?
If globalisation, as Agbo (2010) conceives it, is an advocacy for cultural integration of the peoples and the nations of the world, which is supposed to be the direct result of increase in communication, interaction and info-technology, and is aimed at further uniting humanity, then why is this process seriously threatening and in many ways and places jeopardising the peace of the globe? What sort of consciousness is the globalising process breeding? And why? The apparent disdain with which some elements in the global South treat globalising trends - regarding it more as a product than a process; in which the West feels entitled to impose its determined structures on the rest of humankind viewed as inferior, clearly accentuates the idea of globalisation as a cultural colonialism. It is in this connection that Agbo (2010: 35) raises the critical question: Is globalisation a process or a product? In response he argues that globalisation, as the name portends, ought to be a process which sees to the elimination of national borders and egos, but its actual practice has presented it more like a product which a superior/determined culture sells or imposes on the inferior other (Agbo 2010: 26-38). As a product, therefore, globalisation is wont to undermine the local and less developed cultures and civilisations. It seeks to project the culture of the "self" as not only superior but the very standard of civilisation, which the global South or the less developed "otherness" must ape.
Therefore, globalisation fails to harmonise the world's citizens, although it appears to be succeeding in eliminating national borders, the disgruntled consciousness of humanity halved into the one who looks disdainfully at the supposedly marked inferior "other"; and the other who looks angrily at the supposedly marked superior one, cannot but be tensed.
This tension is so pronounced in today's global exchanges that one wonders whether globalisation has any attribute of globalisation at all. Or is it all about eliminating borders? In the event of globalisation eliminating national borders but failing to eliminate national egos, which manifest in ugly ways in the attitude of the citizens, the relationship or interaction between people of diverse cultural background is likely to be characterised by tension. Where we trace the genesis of this tension to the strict and polarised Aristotelian ontology, which draws a line between substance and accident and elevates substance above accident (Aristotle 1926: Book A, 2, 6, 8); Asouzu's Ibuanyidanda construct through the problem of ihe-mkpuchi-anya (phenomenon of concealment) aptly identifies and demonstrates the existence of this tension which promotes various forms of unintended ethnocentric commitments in the global matrix - and also offers a medium through which this tension can be confronted.
CONFRONTING THE TENSION BETWEEN THE "SELF" AND THE "OTHER"
The thesis of globalisation is opposed to the imposition of the views of a determined individual or people on the rest of humankind. In other words, it is chiefly focused on bringing individuals, peoples and cultures together in such a way as to unify their values, giving everyone equal treatment and recognition in the globalised matrix. But all this can be faulted for ignoring the conditions for proper set-up of globalisation, if the literal meaning of the term itself is anything to go by. Thus, Ibuanyidanda emerges as the nemesis of globalisation as generally conceived in the above. What is meant here is that, as a theory with inclination towards intercultural philosophy (Solomon 2013: 167-168), Ibuanyidanda which harps on the inter-dependence, inter-connectedness and mutual complementarity that necessarily (ought to/must) exist between individuals, peoples and cultures of the world, exposes the challenge of the "self and the other". This challenge naturally emerges when globalisation is conceived and practised merely as a homogenising order that neutralises boundaries and expands views without specifying and insisting that this has to be a mutual exercise in which the ambivalent tension-laden character of our existential conditions are set aside.
Ihe mkpuchi anya, which is an inconspicuous accessory condition, conceals from us this ambivalent tension-laden character of our existential conditions that almost always compels us to elevate the "self over and above the "other" - unbeknownst to us. Thus, even in our most sincere attempts to reach out to the other, we often end up not exchanging but imposing the "self on the "other" as the practice of globalisation in our world today portends. We provide little room for the other to thrive whilst actively working to extinguish it and firmly enthrone the self. Our knowledge and understanding of the other become grounded on our often faulty assumptions; it is on the basis of such faulty assumptions that we make ethical judgments about the other and its ontological determinations. The turbulent issues associated with racial tensions, religious crises, ethnic and political tensions in our world today, are cases in point.
This work reacts against the practice of globalisation in our world today, which seems to hinge on the Aristotelian conception of being as consisting of substance and accident out of which the former is superior to the latter and can subsist without it. In Ibuanyidanda ontology, however, every reality is important and none is negligible - hence the idea of missing links of reality. What this essay therefore rejects in the Aristotelian ontology is the logical principle of bivalence which states that "every statement is either true or false" (Kachi 1996: 1-4). This is replaced by the principle of trivalence which states that "in addition to being true and false, every statement has an intermediate value". This intermediate value is not the Lukasiewiczian "neither true nor false" epistemic interpretation of the undetermined6 but the Chimakonian "both true and false" realist reading, called the complementary value.7
In the complementary intermediate value, the dialectical process that is capable of producing a harmonious synthesis is made clear. Here, the thesis (True) and antithesis (False) are sub-contraries rather than contradictories and since two sub-contrary positions could both hold, we say that the intermediate value is not undetermined but complementary (True/False).8 In it, the properties of seemingly opposed variables subsist and nothing is regarded as dispensable.
When translated into ontological analysis, we notice that all aspects of being are indispensable - hence the Ibuanyidanda thesis that every reality serves a missing link of reality. This is unlike the Aristotelian strict and polarised individualistic ontology where one aspect is superior to the other and can subsist without it. This entails that one aspect, namely accident, is dispensable. My claim has been that globalisation as an ideology enthrones apparent lop-sidedness in the interactions between different peoples, races, religions and cultures of the world by breaching the gap but failing to normalise the ensuing interpersonal relationships.
However, Ibuanyidanda has not gone without criticisms. The celebrated intercultural philosopher, Heinz Kimmerle,9 says that the complementary principle of Ibuanyidanda philosophy which leads to a possibility of overcoming the subject-object dichotomy, is problematic. For him it is inadequate to raise a thoroughgoing subjectivism or thoroughgoing objectivism to a universal methodological principle.
Asouzu is aware of this problem but does not look at it as a problem. As a matter of fact, it is the dichotomy itself that is the problem.10 His idea is that it is the division, polarisation or dichotomisation of interests that has created much of the problems troubling human existence in the world. Such problems as racism, ethnicism, religious fundamentalism and tribalism (manifesting in the form of constant tussle we witness between the "self" and the "other") have brought about irreconcilable problems in the world. Thus, eliminating this dichotomy through a new ontology that portrays the shared values of humankind, the interconnectedness and the mutual inter-dependence becomes for Asouzu a noble philosophical project.
Also, in this same light, Gottlob Frege's admonition "always to separate sharply the psychological from the logical, the subjective from the objective" (Frege 1960: xxii) can be used against the thesis of Ibuanyidanda ontology. For Frege, it is vital that these two are separated and remain separated in all discourses. This is because they have different and opposed structures which portray differences in meaning. Meaning, for Frege, is important - that is why every meaningful statement contains a thought which is its sense (1956: 289-311). To merge or treat the objective as if it could co-exist with the subjective in a common framework, is for Frege to commit an error that will infringe on the meaningfulness of a statement. Ibuanyidanda ontology therefore, in combining the objective and the subjective, would become an episteme full of contradictions.
Asouzu would rather respond that the elements in Ibuanyidanda ontology are not disposed to contradictories, but to harmonisable sub-contraries. There is mutual need of one another by every entity. Reality proves this. Nothing can thrive on its own alone. Everything needs another and in the final analysis, it comes to light that nothing is essentially useless or worthless. This idea of opposition is implicit in Aristotelian ontology where accident is regarded as dispensable. In Ibuanyidanda ontology, everything has its place in the world - bound together by mutual dependence and need. Hence, Frege and others in thinking from the perspective of logical bivalence may not see the sense in complementarity but thinking rather from the perspective of the logical principle of trivalence, it makes a whole lot of sense why Ibuanyidanda is a better interpretation of being than the Aristotelian ontology.
Further still, Chimakonam (2011: 46-48) accuses Ibuanyidanda ontology of over-indulgence and blind generalisation. For Chimakonam, Ibuanyidanda was adapted from the observation of the life-world of danda - a species of ants that live and work together instead of on individual basis. Having observed the amount of success the ants record following this pattern of behaviour, Asouzu went ahead to recommend it for humans and generalise it as a rule of ontology. According to Chimakonam (2011: 46-48), this is hasty because, humans are not danda; humans are dynamic beings with rationality, intelligence and propensity to individual choice.
In his 2013 book Some basic philosophical problems, Asouzu responds to this criticism. Mesembe Edet also responds to this in a later work (Edet and Chimakonam 2014: 113-14). At its descriptive hypothetical injunction level, Ibu anyi danda falls into this problem of assuming that what works for danda could work for humans (Asouzu 2013: 24-29). But the goal of Ibuanyidanda is more sublime; it aims at transforming that hypothetical injunction ibu anyi danda into a categorical imperative Ibuanyidanda where it ceases to be a descriptive statement of some ant behaviour and becomes a universal maxim applicable to all humans. The way to achieving this includes noetic propaedeutic, which implies the training of the mind; recourse to the transcendent categories of consciousness which enables humans to recognise their mutual inter-dependence and the full personal autonomy through ima onwe onye which enables humans to attain the understanding that whatever touches one, touches the rest. At this level, the descriptive rule of danda "the nearer the better the safer" gives way for a categorical imperative founded on the mutual knowledge, mutual understanding and consciences of humans.
Again, Chimakonam observes that Asouzu's transcendent categories of unity adopted from the Igbo thought, and which includes akara obi/akara mmuo, are not complete. He observes that Asouzu omitted one important category which is akara onwe and akara udi, and that translates to identity and difference (Chimakonam 2011: 46-49). For Chimakonam, therefore, Asouzu's claim that his philosophy has a base in the thoughts of the anonymous Igbo thinkers, runs into problem. This is because these anonymous Igbo thinkers did not totally reject the dichotomy in reality as the category of identity and difference has shown, which is aptly captured in the Igbo proverb "ihe niile gasia, ka osi so onye anaghi aga" meaning, "when everything else has been set aside, the individual will cannot be set aside". Asouzu's response was to explain that his theory was not wholly traditional. He had engaged in a critical individual exercise to create Ibuanyidanda as fresh episteme rather than a complete adaptation of the traditional Igbo thought. In this way it can be argued that not everything in the thoughts of anonymous Igbo thinkers was relevant to the construction of the Ibuanyidanda system.
Chimakonam also criticises Ibuanyidanda as a perfectionist theory11 where the dialectical interplay is expected to yield a harmonious complementary synthesis. He also accuses Asouzu of playing with what eventually might be a monstrous one-valued logical system, since the rejection of ontological dichotomy translates to the rejection of contradiction (Asouzu 2004: 280, 319-27). Asouzu responds that the logic of his work is dynamic and recognises the intermediate value. It is a logic of conjunctive reasoning rather than that of disjunctive reasoning as found in Aristotle (Asouzu 2013: 93). Asouzu's point is that although his logic is conjunctive, it is so on account of the intermediate value of say a three or many-valued system -and never a one-valued system. Edet also dismisses the perfectionist accusation on the ground that Ibuanyidanda already acknowledges the limitation of being (Edet and Chimakonam 2014: 86). We therefore see that Ibuanyidanda is not without its critics; like any other viable theory and like viable theories it is able to respond to reactions against it.
I have in this work investigated the basis of all forms of tensions that occur and manifest between the "self" and the "other" in our world today under the nose of globalisation and located it in the strict and polarised Aristotelian ontology made manifest by the inherent problem of ihe mkpuchi anya. To counter that, we employed Asouzu's Ibuanyidanda philosophy as a veritable alternative programme that could neutralise the tension and engender a balanced global relationship among diverse cultures and individuals.
It is difficult if not expressly impossible for entities to exist without tension if they were not in this sort of relationship of mutual dependence and interconnection. This implies that globalisation without equity and recognition of otherness is nothing but an imposition of the values of one on the rest of humankind. Nothing is by its nature meant to stand alone (ka so mu di). The ultimate structure of being is that of interconnectedness and inter-relatedness. This relationship is dialectical and it is through the dialectical process that being evolves from one stage to another. It is possible that when applied as a process of mutual exchanges between globalising cultures, globalisation will stand to offer more in terms of world peace, unity, cross-cultural and intercultural understandings.
The knowledge of the tension which ihe mkpuchi anya causes among humans is essential in restoring order and peace in the world. Disorder is as a result of commitments to divisive orientation where humans project self-interests over and above common interests. If it is the natural order that humans live interdependently, then any anti-Ibuanyidanda act that recognises or promotes the division between the "self" and the "other" can only lead to disorder. Some of such disorderly indoctrinations based on anti-Ibuanyidanda acts include: racism, ethnicism, tribalism and religious bigotry. These problems and other forms of orientation that recognise the line between the "self" and the "other" are central to the disorder in the world today.
In this work, I have established with Asouzu that the ultimate cause lies with such theories and orientations that give in to the lure of opposed demarcation of reality into two camps, which go on to accentuate the emergence of ihe mkpuchi anya. In metaphysics we find this in Aristotle's ontology where he analyses being as containing two aspects namely: substance and accident. Whereas substance is the ultimate, representing the very substratum of being even in the absence of accident, accident is but a mere manifestation on the senses which is dispensable in the analysis of the basic structure of being. This is the very beginning of the divisive orientation of the "self" and the "other" which we project in this work as lending credence to the structure of globalisation in our world today. Asouzu therefore describes Aristotle's ontology as the philosophy of essence which is divisive, polarising and dichotomising (Asouzu in Chimakonam 2015: 42-45).
To remedy the situation and promote a global exchange that does not uphold the "self" and vitiate the "other" in any form it is practised, Asouzu offers a veritable conception of being, based on the ontology of Ibuanyidanda which is uniting and harmonising.
When we recognise that Aristotle's divisive metaphysics accounts for much of the disorder in the world - whether in terms racial problems, religious fundamentalism, political grand-standings, wars, conflicts, pogroms and mayhems, social injustices, different forms of discriminations and subjugations arising from ethnicism, tribalism, nepotism, feminism and favouritism - then we shall be open to an alternative episteme. Asouzu's theory of Ibuanyidanda ontology in unveiling the challenge posed by ihe mkpuchi anya (phenomenon of concealment), creditably fills that gap by delicately wiping the line between the "self" and the "other" in infusing the idea of missing links and complementarity into our understanding, interpretation and practice of globalisation.
Agbo, J.N. 2010. Is globalization a process or a product? In The Humanities and Globalisation in the Third Millennium. Edited by A.B.C. Chiegboka, T.C. Utoh-Ezeajugh and G.I. Udechukwu. Nimo: Rex Charles & Patrick, p. 26-39. [ Links ]
Aristotle. 1926. Metaphysics. Translated into English under the editorship of W.D. Ross. Oxford. Vol. VIII, Second Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [ Links ]
Asouzu, I. 2004. The method and principles of complementary reflection in and beyond African philosophy. Calabar: University of Calabar Press. [ Links ]
Asouzu, I. 2007a. Ikwa Ogwe essential readings in complementary reflection. Calabar: Saesprint Publishers. [ Links ]
Asouzu, I. 2007b. Ibuaru, the heavy burden of philosophy beyond African philosophy. London: Transaction Publishers. [ Links ]
Asouzu, I. 2007c. Ibuanyidanda, new complementary ontology beyond world-Immanentism, ethnocentric reduction and impositions. London: Transaction Publishers. [ Links ]
Asouzu, I. 2011. Ibuanyidanda and the philosophy of essence. Philosophy, the science of missing links of reality. 50th Inaugural Lecture, University of Calabar. Calabar: University of Calabar Press. [ Links ]
Asouzu, I. 2013. Ibuanyidanda and some basic philosophical problems in Africa today. Zurich: Lit Verlag. [ Links ]
Asouzu, I. 2015. The question of being in African philosophy: A case for Ibuanyidanda ontology". In Atuolu Omalu: Some unanswered questions in contemporary African philosophy. Edited by J.O. Chimakonam. Lanham: University Press of America, p. 35-52. [ Links ]
Ayer, A.J. 1952. Language truth and logic. New York: Dover Publications. [ Links ]
Chimakonam, J.O. 2011. Dissecting the character of Danda the Ant and neutralizing the philosophy of missing links: An Egbe N'ugo Conundrum. Journal of Complementary Reflection: Studies in Asouzu, October, 1(1): 41-51, ISSN 2026-6545. [ Links ]
Chimakonam, J.O. 2012. Building African logic as an algorithm for Africa's development. Paper presented at the University of Georgia, USA, African Studies Institute Conference, Nov. 8-10. [ Links ]
Chimakonam, J.O. 2013. Principles of indigenous Igbo-African logic: Toward Africa's development and restoration of African identity. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Conference of International Society for African Philosophy and Studies [ISAPS], 50 Years of OAU/AU: Revisiting the questions of African unity, identity and development. Department of Philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State. 27-29 May. [ Links ]Edet. M. and Chimakonam, J.O. 2014. Ibuanyidanda as "Ezi Okwu" and the resolution of Chimakonam's Egbe N'ugo conundrum: A response to J.O. Chimakonam's dissecting the character of Danda the Ant and neutralizing the philosophy of missing links. In Arguments and clarifications: A philosophical encounter between J.O. Chimakonam and M.I. Edet on the Ibuanyidandaness of complementary ontology, M. Edet and J.O. Chimakonam. Calabar: 3rd Logic Option. [ Links ]
El-Ojeili, C. and Hayden, P. 2006. Critical theories of globalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [ Links ]
Flew, A. 1990. An introduction to Western philosophy. In Knowing Philosophy, J. Omoregbe. Lagos: Joja Publications. [ Links ]
Frege, G. 1956. The thought: A logical inquiry. Mind: A Quarterly Review of Psychology and Philosophy (New series, July) 65(259): 289-311. [ Links ]
Frege, G. 1960. The foundations of arithmetic: A logico-mathematical enquiry into the concept of number (2nd Revised edition). Translated by J.L. Austin. New York: Harper and Bothers. [ Links ]
Kimmerle, H. 2007. Reaction to Innocent Asouzu's approach to African philosophy and the context of other interpretations, 13-23. In Ibuaru, The heavy burden of philosophy beyond African philosophy. I. Asouzu. London: Transaction Publishers. [ Links ]
Kachi, D. 1996. Was Lukasiewicz wrong? Three-valued logic and determinism. Paper presented at Lukasiewicz in Dublin - An International Conference on the Works of Jan Lukasiewicz, 7 July. [ Links ]
Lawson, T. 2004. A conception of ontology. Cambridge papers: Version 2004. [ Links ]
Lukasiewicz, J. 1970. On three-valued logic. In Selected works by Jan Lukasiewicz. Edited by L. Borkowski. Amsterdam: North-Holland, p. 87-88. [ Links ]
Russell, B. 1996. History of Western philosophy. London: Routledge. [ Links ]
Sogolo, G. 1993. Foundations of African philosophy: A definitive analysis of conceptual issues in African thought. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press. [ Links ]
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1 Wiredu, Kwasi. Philosophy and an African culture. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980, p.47. Apparently, Wiredu was influenced to this line of thought by the logical positivists.
2 Aristotle 1926: Book B, 5. Even though Aristotle admits that accident is an attribute of being, he clearly establishes it as dispensable. Thus, in intercultural relationships brought about by global expansion, mere admission that the other exists does not usually translate to equal treatment.
3 Asouzu 2011: 16-17. The reason behind Asouzu's vehement opposition to theories that espouse dichotomies is that they provide room for each dichotomy to carry attitudes of ethnocentric commitments in their relationships with the other.
4 Asouzu. 2011: 56. Asouzu definitely implies the famous Socratic dictum that it is ignorance that causes evil doing.
5 Chamsy El-Ojeili and Patrick Hayden. 2006. Critical theories of globalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 13. I have decided to refer to these conceptions shortlisted by El-Ojeili and Hayden because they capture the idea of globalisation I intend to work with in this essay.
6 Łukasiewicz, Jan. 1970. On three-valued logic. In L. Borkowski (ed.), Selected works by Jan Łukasiewicz, Amsterdam: North-Holland.
7 Chimakonam, J.O. 2013. Principles of indigenous Igbo-African logic: Toward Africa's development and restoration of African identity. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Conference of International Society for African Philosophy and Studies [ISAPS], 50 Years of OAU/AU: Revisiting the Questions of African Unity, Identity and Development. Department of Philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State. 27-29 May 2013.
8 Chimakonam, J.O. 2012. Building African logic as an algorithm for Africa's development. Paper presented at The University of Georgia, USA, African Studies Institute Conference, 8-10 November.
9 Heinz Kimmerle in Asouzu, 2007b: 13-16. This is an outline of Kimmerle's criticism of Asouzu's thought.
10 See Asouzu 2011: 16-17. This is a point Asouzu has maintained consistently in his propagation of Ibuanyidanda complementary ontology as a better alternative to Aristotle's static discriminative ontology of essence.
11 Chimakonam 2011: 46-49. By perfectionist theory is meant any theory that tends to say that the world would be a perfect place if human beings were to do all it states at all time.
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text:
Hurricane Harvey shows why good governance is vital
Jared Bernstein
Sep 13, 2017, 5:00 am SGT
http://str.sg/4Vzk
The human costs of the flooding in Texas are heart-wrenching, as they are in Bangladesh and India, where many more have perished.
The disaster poses a stark reminder of the importance of a functional, amply funded government sector. One hopes (against hope... and the current reality) that Harvey will move Washington's discourse from shutdown, debt defaults and wasteful, regressive tax cuts to good governance, the absence of which is at the heart of the Houston disaster.
The disaster is in no small part a function of four intersecting problems: climate change, bad price signals, hyperbolic discounting and stagnant priors. True, those last three sound annoyingly technical, and to some extent they're just obscure ways of saying humans are programmed not to give a damn about the future. But let me briefly explain each in turn; taken together, they clarify the policy solution.
The role of climate change in exacerbating Harvey's impact has been thoroughly discussed, and the consensus was well summarised by two scientists writing the following in the Times: "Climate change doesn't cause extreme events. It amplifies them. And in any weather-related calamity, our susceptibility to harm is, at its root, constructed by ourselves." What they mean by that last bit is where these other problems come in.
PRICE SIGNALS Price signals are among the most important organising principles of capitalist economies. Scarcity, supply and demand, the extent of risk - we count on prices to convey critical information about these factors, and when they fail to do so, distortions and imbalances occur that, in the case of Harvey, were lethal.
Insurance against flood risks was systemically underpriced for years, encouraging developers to build homes in areas susceptible to hurricane-induced floods (underpriced risk was also at the heart of the housing bubble and Great Recession).
HYPERBOLIC DISCOUNTING
Hyperbolic discounting is a concept from behavioural economics which maintains that our innate impatience is such that we'd rather get less today than more tomorrow. We're generally weak when it comes to delaying gratification, even when to do so would make us better off down the road. And sometimes, we so thoroughly "discount" the future that a nice house in a vulnerable flood plain becomes simply a nice house, full stop.
STAGNANT PRIORS
Stagnant priors imply an unwillingness to update important probabilities based on new information.
Probability theory teaches that additional information can refine our probabilities, causing us to "update our priors". If I drew a 10 from a deck of cards, you'd correctly note that the likelihood of that draw was 4/52, as there are four 10s in the deck. If I then told you that my 10 was red, you'd update your prior probability to 2/52.
In this context, flexible priors mean that if you start having 500-year floods every few years, you update your probability about the likelihood of those floods' occurrence.
The extent to which these tendencies collide is thoroughly covered in a Politico article by Mr Michael Grunwald, "How Washington Made Harvey Worse". The Aug 29 piece cites a report on how the government's flood insurance programme was perversely "encouraging Americans to build and rebuild in flood-prone areas... The most egregious example was a home that had flooded 16 times in 18 years, netting its owners more than US$800,000 even though it was valued at less than $115,000".
It's a clear example of distortionary price signals: the premiums for this federally subsidised insurance systematically underpriced flood risk.
And where was that home? You got it: Houston.
But here's the real clincher: That report was written 19 years ago.
"Houston's problem," Mr Grunwald writes, "was runaway development in flood-prone areas, accelerated by heavily subsidised federal flood insurance."
The development piece is equally implicated as the city recklessly paved over its natural water-absorptive capacity ("anything goes" zoning is also implicated). The urgency of this near-term profit motive just raised the factor by which city government and residents discounted their future.
The question is how could the politics fail so repetitively, blatantly, and fatefully?
In fact, in 2012, a bipartisan coalition in Congress passed a Bill intended to fix the broken price signals, so that premiums to the government's flood insurance programme would more accurately reflect the risks. Then, in 2014, "after an uproar from coastal and riverfront communities, Congress reversed itself in equally bipartisan fashion". (Note: Because of the potential for pervasive, catastrophic damage, private insurers generally won't touch flood risk, which also tells you something about the problem.)
I asked Mr Grunwald why America's politics are incapable of addressing these known problems. Is it really as simple as there are no grown-ups willing to say: "Sorry, but we can't keep getting this wrong?"
"Part of the problem," he told me, "is federal subsidies that incentivise building and rebuilding in flood- prone areas. Another part is the toxic special-interest politics that has made it impossible to reverse those incentives.
"Bureaucratic inertia makes everything worse, and helps explain why the flood maps that are supposed to identify dangerous areas are so absurdly obsolete. All of these problems are intensified because flood-plain development is a land-use problem, and Americans go nuts over federal intervention in land-use problems.
"Then there's the unbelievably powerful real estate industry - Realtors, home builders, mortgage bankers. They're not like Wall Street or Big Oil - they're big in every state and every congressional district."
This leaves us with a huge but transparent problem, one that can be solved only by functional, forward-looking, fact-based governance. In fact, one of the main reasons we form governments is to enact and enforce regulations that prevent us from doing what we're wired to do: ignore and underprice future risks. The increasingly existential threat of climate change only underscores the importance of getting these regulations right.
It is in this regard that "our susceptibility to harm is... constructed by ourselves".
The necessary reconstruction will require new zoning, up-to-date flood mapping, accurate price signals (reduced subsidies), and aggressive, global efforts to both adapt to and mitigate climate change. I realise that's miles away from today's reality, but that just tells you what you already knew: our current reality is unsustainable.
• The writer, a former chief economist to US Vice-President Joe Biden, is a senior fellow at the Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of the new book The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth And Prosperity.
READ MORE STORIES ON CLIMATE CHANGE
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 13, 2017, with the headline 'Hurricane Harvey shows why good governance is vital'. Print Edition | Subscribe

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The Sandpiper is published in a corner of the band practice room of the former United Methodist Church Of Attawaugan, Dayville, Connecticut, within earshot of the Five Mile River. The bulk of the planning work and layout is done in Lavallette, New Jersey, about one-hundred fifty feet from the crest of the beach.
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than of me, this is it. Claire, Me and Ruth eating icecream cake. October 1998, at the beach.
The cake was just asking for it.


text:
Planetary gaps in disks with different dust sizes (L. Fouchet, et al., p. 1043)
Calibration of the galaxy cluster M500–Y relation with XMM-Newton p. L37
M. Arnaud, E. Pointecouteau and G. W. Pratt
Bluer colour of UX Arietis at fainter visual magnitudes p. L41
M. J. Rosario, A. V. Raveendran and M. V. Mekkaden
AMBER and MIDI interferometric observations of the post-AGB binary IRAS 08544-4431: the circumbinary disc resolved p. L45
P. Deroo, B. Acke, T. Verhoelst, C. Dominik, E. Tatulli and H. Van Winckel
The environment of the fast rotating star Achernar - High-resolution thermal infrared imaging with VISIR in BURST mode p. L49
P. Kervella and A. Domiciano de Souza
Spectral evolution of non-thermal electron distributions in intense radiation fields p. 689
K. Manolakou, D. Horns and J. G. Kirk
The structure of line-driven winds p. 701
L. B. Lucy
Complex X-ray morphology of Abell 3128: a distant cluster behind a disturbed cluster p. 707
N. Werner, E. Churazov, A. Finoguenov, M. Markevitch, R. Burenin, J. S. Kaastra and H. Böhringer
(An)isotropy of the Hubble diagram: comparing hemispheres p. 717
D. J. Schwarz and B. Weinhorst
Power spectrum analysis of far-IR background fluctuations in 160 maps from the multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer p. 731
B. Grossan and G. F. Smoot
Probing the dynamical state of galaxy clusters p. 745
E. Puchwein and M. Bartelmann
Low accretion rates at the AGN cosmic downsizing epoch p. 755
A. Babić, L. Miller, M. J. Jarvis, T. J. Turner, D. M. Alexander and S. M. Croom
Stellar population gradients in bulges along the Hubble sequence - II. Relations with galaxy properties p. 763
P. Jablonka, J. Gorgas and P. Goudfrooij
Q0045-3337: models including strong lensing by a spiral galaxy p. 777
M. Chieregato, M. Miranda and P. Jetzer
The main galaxy groups from the SDSS data release 5 p. 783
Xin-Fa Deng, Ji-Zhou He, Peng Jiang, Cheng-Hong Luo and Ping Wu
GRB 070311: a direct link between the prompt emission and the afterglow p. 793
C. Guidorzi, S. D. Vergani, S. Sazonov, S. Covino, D. Malesani, S. Molkov, E. Palazzi, P. Romano, S. Campana, G. Chincarini et al. (23 more)
Checking the reliability of equivalent width R23 for estimating the metallicities of galaxies p. 807
Y. C. Liang, F. Hammer and S. Y. Yin
The host galaxy of GRB 031203: a new spectroscopic study p. 815
R. Margutti, G. Chincarini, S. Covino, G. Tagliaferri, S. Campana, M. Della Valle, A. V. Filippenko, F. Fiore, R. Foley, D. Fugazza et al. (4 more)
A study of the prompt and afterglow emission of the short GRB 061201 p. 827
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Resolving the complex structure of the dust torus in the active nucleus of the Circinus galaxy p. 837
K. R. W. Tristram, K. Meisenheimer, W. Jaffe, M. Schartmann, H.-W. Rix, Ch. Leinert, S. Morel, M. Wittkowski, H. Röttgering, G. Perrin et al. (6 more)
The HI content of early-type galaxies from the ALFALFA survey - I. Catalogued HI sources in the Virgo cluster p. 851
S. di Serego Alighieri, G. Gavazzi, C. Giovanardi, R. Giovanelli, M. Grossi, M. P. Haynes, B. R. Kent, R. A. Koopmann, S. Pellegrini, M. Scodeggio and G. Trinchieri
Signatures of star streams in the phase space distribution of nearby halo stars p. 857
C. Dettbarn, B. Fuchs, C. Flynn and M. Williams
Near- and far-infrared counterparts of millimeter dust cores in the Vela molecular ridge cloud D p. 863
M. De Luca, T. Giannini, D. Lorenzetti, F. Massi, D. Elia and B. Nisini
A multiwavelength study of the S106 region - III. The S106 molecular cloud as part of the Cygnus X cloud complex p. 873
N. Schneider, R. Simon, S. Bontemps, F. Comerón and F. Motte
A massive protostellar core with an infalling envelope p. 883
S. M. Birkmann, O. Krause, M. Hennemann, Th. Henning, J. Steinacker and D. Lemke
The RMS survey - 13CO observations of candidate massive YSOs in the southern Galactic plane p. 891
J. S. Urquhart, A. L. Busfield, M. G. Hoare, S. L. Lumsden, R. D. Oudmaijer, T. J. T. Moore, A. G. Gibb, C. R. Purcell, M. G. Burton and L. J. L. Marechal
Fluctuations and symmetry in the speed and direction of the jets of SS 433 on different timescales p. 903
K. M. Blundell, M. G. Bowler and L. Schmidtobreick
Unveiling the nature and interaction of the intermediate/high-mass YSOs in IRAS 20343+4129 p. 911
Aina Palau, R. Estalella, P. T. P. Ho, H. Beuther and M. T. Beltrán
The fractional ionization in dark molecular clouds p. 923
D. R. Flower, G. Pineau des Forêts and C. M. Walmsley
Upper limit for circumstellar gas around the type Ia SN 2000cx p. 931
F. Patat, S. Benetti, S. Justham, P. A. Mazzali, L. Pasquini, E. Cappellaro, M. Della Valle, Ph. Podsiadlowski, M. Turatto, A. Gal-Yam and J. D. Simon
Observation of VHE γ-rays from Cassiopeia A with the MAGIC telescope p. 937
J. Albert, E. Aliu, H. Anderhub, P. Antoranz, A. Armada, C. Baixeras, J. A. Barrio, H. Bartko, D. Bastieri, J. K. Becker et al. (131 more)
Quantitative optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of H2 towards HH91A p. 941
R. Gredel
Discovery of a bright eclipsing cataclysmic variable p. 951
D. K. Sing, E. M. Green, S. B. Howell, J. B. Holberg, M. Lopez-Morales, J. S. Shaw and G. D. Schmidt
The role of rotation on Petersen diagrams - II. The influence of near-degeneracy p. 961
J. C. Suárez, R. Garrido and A. Moya
The rotational broadening of V395 Carinae. Implications on the compact object's mass p. 969
T. Shahbaz and C. A. Watson
The projection factor, period–radius relation, and surface–brightness colour relation in classical cepheids p. 975
M. A. T. Groenewegen
On the X-ray and optical properties of the Be star HD 110432: a very hard-thermal X-ray emitter p. 983
R. Lopes de Oliveira, C. Motch, M. A. Smith, I. Negueruela and J. M. Torrejón
Solar wind originating in funnels: fast or slow? p. 997
Å. M. Janse, Ø. Lie-Svendsen and E. Leer
Asteroid occultations today and tomorrow: toward the GAIA era p. 1015
P. Tanga and M. Delbo
Survey of the stability region of hypothetical habitable Trojan planets p. 1023
R. Schwarz, R. Dvorak, Á. Süli and B. Érdi
Effects of magnetohydrodynamic waves in Jovian decametric emission p. 1031
O. V. Arkhypov and H. O. Rucker
The effect of a planet on the dust distribution in a 3D protoplanetary disk p. 1037
L. Fouchet, S. T. Maddison, J.-F. Gonzalez and J. R. Murray
Equations for the analysis of the light curves of extra-solar planetary transits p. 1049
A. Giménez
Dielectronic recombination data for dynamic finite-density plasmas - XIII. The magnesium isoelectronic sequence p. 1051
Z. Altun, A. Yumak, I. Yavuz, N. R. Badnell, S. D. Loch and M. S. Pindzola
H-atom bombardment of CO2, HCOOH, and CH3CHO containing ices p. 1061
S. E. Bisschop, G. W. Fuchs, E. F. van Dishoeck and H. Linnartz
SYMPA, a dedicated instrument for Jovian seismology - I. Principle and performance p. 1073
F. X. Schmider, J. Gay, P. Gaulme, C. Jacob, L. Abe, M. Alvarez, J. A. Belmonte, E. Fossat, B. Gelly, T. Guillot et al. (3 more)
Stellar population gradients in bulges along the Hubble sequence - I. The data p. 1081
J. Gorgas, P. Jablonka and P. Goudfrooij
30 GHz flux density measurements of the Caltech-Jodrell flat-spectrum sources with OCRA-p p. 1093
S. R. Lowe, M. P. Gawroński, P. N. Wilkinson, A. J. Kus, I. W. A. Browne, E. Pazderski, R. Feiler and D. Kettle


Watch & Download The Soul Of The Tiger (2017) : Full Movie Free On Putlocker HD Alex Chen and his girlfriend, Eloane, head to the mountains in order to go rock climbing. Their light-hearted holiday is put to an abrupt end, however, when Alex receives a shocking telephone call: his brother Jun is dead. Back in Paris's Chinatown, Alex is determined to find out what happened. While his French mother retreats into mourning, his Chinese father refuses to tell him anything in detail. The traditional wake begins and Alex is left dealing with his relatives and the imminent cultural differences. Reluctant to believe that his brother died of a sudden brain haemorrhage, Alex begins to dig deeper into his father's family history. His beautiful yet mysterious cousin Lili, who soon begins to exert an unexplainable force of attraction upon him, assists Alex in his quest.
Who's The Cast on Film The Soul Of The Tiger 2017??
When The Soul Of The Tiger to release? ?


The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs offer that and more. Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.
There are six Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs in the metropolitan Tulsa area. Each club offers special fellowship, character development, and educational and recreational opportunities. Day Camps and residential camping experiences are also available at all locations.
Every location is a fun place for people of all ages. Each club provides a positive place that kids can look upon as their home away from home.


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Public Policy and Government Affairs
Biweekly Washington, D.C., Update for the Week Ending January 15, 2021
Written by: Hanh Le
Welcome to the New Year, Space Foundation friends! We are looking forward to working with our partners and friends (new and established) this year, and we're also excited to bring even more new and informative programming to the space community.
Sign-up for Space Symposium 365
Register here to follow key events and discussion from industry professionals, 365 days a year.
Upcoming panels and speakers:
Jan. 26 — New Generation Space Leaders Panel: Unmute Yourself
Feb. 1 — Construction on the Moon
Feb. 3 — Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw, U.S. Space Force
Feb. 10 — Women in Space Series
Space Industry Updates
NASA has finalized a lunar Gateway agreement with the Japanese government. (SpaceNews, Jan. 13)
Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard launch vehicle intended for crewed flights. (SpaceNews, Jan. 14)
OneWeb has raised $400 million from SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems. (SpaceNews, Jan. 15)
How the Arecibo telescope fell, and how it might rise again. (Science, Jan. 14)
SpaceX won contracts for both a commercial lunar lander mission and a privately funded satellite to track methane emissions. (SpaceNews, Jan. 13)
OneWeb is reducing the deployment size of a proposed next-generation satellite constellation (from nearly 48,000 to 6,372 satellites). (SpaceNews, Jan. 14)
Astronomers are left with questions about the Arecibo Observatory's collapse. (Space.com, Jan. 14)
Lockheed Martin has acquired Aerojet Rocketdyne, "to better compete with SpaceX and Blue Origin." (CNBC, Dec. 21)
Graham Turnock, CEO of the UK Space Agency, is leaving his role. (Parabolic Arc, Jan. 14)
ESA Director General Jan Worner will step down at the end of February. (SpaceNews, Jan. 8)
Space Policy Updates
Huntsville, Alabama, has been announced as future home of U.S. Space Command. (SpaceNews, Jan.14)
The final report from the National Space Council under Vice President Mike Pence's leadership is released. (White House, Jan. 15)
A new White House executive order seeks to "Promote Small Modular Reactors for National Defense and Space Exploration." (White House, Jan. 12)
The new IC Commercial Space Council is fleshing out working groups to assess how aspects of unclassified satellite data can be integrated with classified intelligence. (Breaking Defense, Jan. 12)
The Space Force is looking to build ties with nations in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean region. (Breaking Defense, Jan. 13)
Additional Space Foundation Resources
The latest Space4U Podcast episode features Lori Garver and Courtney Stadd, veterans of Presidential transition teams (from both Democratic and Republican administrations), to discuss the process and how it relates to the U.S. space program.
The Space Report Quarter 3 is available here.
Online learning, lesson plans, and video lessons for students grades K–12 are available at the Discovery Center website.
The Space Review | Can space bridge a widening partisan divide?
By Jeff Foust
The op-ed covers legislative efforts in the 116th Congress, with regard to the increasing partisan divide in passing legislation. The article examines how GOP members' challenge to the election results could potentially impact cooperation from House Democratic members on space policy issues.
Breaking Defense | The Most Overlooked Defense Stories of 2020
By Colin Clark
The article discusses stories that didn't get much coverage last year, such as the end of the Budget Control Act, and the Trump administration's efforts to bring NASA into closer relations with the military through a memorandum of understanding.
Space Trivia
Sixteen years ago, on Jan. 14, 2005, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe landed on Saturn's moon, Titan. (Space.com)
Posted in Public Policy and Government Affairs
« Space4U Podcast: Lori Garver & Courtney Stadd — Former Presidential Transition Staff Members
Volunteer Spotlight: Gordon Beacon »


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New Century Global Centre: World's Largest Building with Personal Sun and Seaside Opens in China [VIDEO]
China has once again proved its prowess in creating the extraordinary. The New Century Global Centre, touted as the "world's largest standalone structure", was opened to the public in Chengdu city on 28 June. Jul 11, 2013
Delhi-Gang Rape Case: Juvenile Board Defers Verdict to 25 July
The Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday reserved its order against the youngest accused in the Delhi gang-rape case and deferred its verdict till 25 July. Jul 11, 2013
iBall Andi 3.5KKe Android Smartphone Launched for ₹3,399
Mumbai-based technology company iBall expanded its Andi series smartphone range in India with a new device called Andi 3.5KKe. Jul 11, 2013
5-Year-Old Raped, Stabbed over 50 Times in Lucknow
A minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's capital city Lucknow was allegedly raped and brutally killed in the early hours of Monday. Jul 11, 2013
Manchester United Transfer News: Moyes on the Hunt for World's Best Players
Manchester United manager David Moyes has assured fans that the club are on the prowl for the world's best talent. Jul 11, 2013
Pawan Kalyan's 'Atharintiki Daaredi' Title Confirmed; Film to Release on 7 August
The title of Pawan Kalyan's upcoming film has been confirmed to be "Atharintiki Daaredi". The makers have also revealed the release date as 7 August. Jul 11, 2013
Micromax Canvas 4 vs. Xolo Play T1000: Battle of Quad-Core Smartphones Intensifies
The Indian handset market in the past couple of months has seen an influx of quad-core smartphones, the latest being Micromax Canvas 4 and iBerry Auxus Nuclea N1. Now, tech geeks are bracing for the arrival of another high-speed demon, Xolo Play T1000, sometime in July. Jul 11, 2013
Fire Breaks out at Srinagar Civil Secretariat, Office Records Feared Destroyed
A major fire broke out in the building of the Civil Secretariat premises of Jammu and Kashmir this morning. The two-storeyed building was engulfed in flames, destroying many crucial department records. Jul 11, 2013
85% of Indians Think Political Parties are Corrupt, Says Survey
A new survey showed that India is among the top nations where corruption has increased in the past two years. It also revealed that 85 percent of Indians believe political parties in the country to be corrupt. Jul 11, 2013
'Singam 2' Box Office Collection: Suriya Starrer Performs Exceptionally Well in Overseas Markets
Suriya's "Singam 2" is continuing its dream run at the overseas box office, raking in more than ₹2.3 crore. Jul 11, 2013
NSA's Spying on Latin America Emerges as Snowden 'Likely' to Pick Venezuela for Asylum
In another revelation of National Security Agency's controversial activities, the American intelligence community targeted many Latin American countries as well. The news comes at a time when whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked the NSA's controversial surveillance programs, appeared "likely" to pick a Latin American country for asylum. Jul 11, 2013
Supreme Court Strikes Down Protection Law of Convicted Politicians
The Supreme Court in an unprecedented judgment issued an order for convicted MPs/MLAs to be disqualified and further restrained from contesting elections. Jul 11, 2013
Ashes 2013 Score: Peter Siddles Scythes Through England, Before Hosts Strangle Australia
As everyone around England was predicting a potential Ashes whitewash of Australia, there were also potent warnings going around about the Aussies' capabilities with the ball. On a dramatic first day of the first Test of the five-match Ashes series at Trent Bridge, a massive 14 wickets fell, with England fighting back against their opponents after Australia, led by Peter Siddle (five for 50), bowled the hosts out for a paltry 215. Jul 11, 2013
India-China Border Issue: China Defends Second Incursion, Says Status Quo be Maintained Along LAC
Defending the latest incursion in the Chumar sector in Ladakh by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), China said on Wednesday that its troops were patrolling on its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and maintained that both the countries should not change the status quo along the LAC till the final settlement on the disputed region is made. Jul 11, 2013
Tri-Series 2013 Final Preview: India vs Sri Lanka Live Streaming Information
India will take on Sri Lanka in the final of the Celkon Mobile Cup Tri-series 2013. The game will begin at 07:00 PM IST (Tuesday, 9 July) and it will be broadcast live in India on Ten Sports, Ten Cricket and Ten HD. It will also be live streamed online. Jul 11, 2013


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Kline Talks ESEA, Common Curriculum, and Pawlenty
Your Education Road Map
Politics K-12
Betsy DeVos. Donald Trump. The Every Student Succeeds Act. Congress. State chiefs. School spending. Elections. Education Week reporters keep watch on education policy and politics in the nation's capital and in the states.
By Alyson Klein — May 24, 2011 2 min read
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., may have said last week that he doesn't think the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education will get done before the Obama administration's August deadline. But that doesn't mean he's not talking about his own plans for renewing the law.
Kline appeared on Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" radio show this morning (yes, that Bill Bennett, the one who served as U.S. Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan). The House education committee chairman sketched out his plan for breaking the ESEA into smaller pieces. He said he'd like to get up to three smaller bills done over the summer, then tackle bigger issues, like accountability and teacher training, in the fall.
And he talked up the panel's very first ESEA-related bill, which the committee will mark up tomorrow. It would eliminate 43 programs in the U.S. Department of Education, including some that lawmakers see as duplicative or not right for the federal government, and others that already have been defunded, haven't been funded in years, or were authorized but never got money.
Having so many programs on the books, "is just too complicated and difficult to deal with," Kline told Bennett. (More on Kline and some of the eliminated programs over at Curriculum Matters.)
Kline also talked about the administration's signature education redesign initiative, Race to the Top. He said he's worried that the administration is using it partly to prod states to adopt common standards. States got extra points in the education redesign competition if they were part of a coalition working toward more uniform, rigorous standards, and the department gave out an additional $350 million to help states create more uniform assessments tied to those standards.
With Race to the Top, "the federal government is starting to push a national curriculum," Kline said. "As you know, that's been against the law, and I think correctly so."
UPDATE: Great analysis and information from Catherine Gewertz of Curriculum Matters fame here.
Kline also gave a shout-out to his fellow Minnesotan Republican, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has a robust record on education and recenty declared that he's planning to run for president. Kline called Pawlenty a "really, really fine man" who has "taken on" teachers' unions to improve learning outcomes.
And Kline gave more hints on where he stands on accountabilty. He praised the National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP, saying we need an "excellent tool" for student progress and comparing different states. And he said he'd like to see the continued disaggregation of student data by subgroups, such as students in special education. But he also said, "We do need some measuring stick out there, but we do not need the U.S. Secretary of Education telling us how to do the job."
Want more? Full interview is here.
Alyson Klein
Assistant Editor, Education Week
Alyson Klein is an assistant editor for Education Week.
ESEA No Child Left Behind Act
President-elect Joe Biden proposed new aid for schools as part of a broader COVID-19 relief plan, which will require congressional approval.
Federal Obama Education Staff Involved in Race to the Top, Civil Rights Join Biden's White House
Both Catherine Lhamon and Carmel Martin will serve on President-elect Joe Biden's Domestic Policy Council.
Andrew Ujifusa, January 14, 2021
Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of Education, speaks after being introduced at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del., Dec. 23, 2020, as Biden, right, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, left, look on.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
Special Education What Biden's Pick for Ed. Secretary Discussed With Disability Rights Advocates
Advocates for students with disabilities want Biden to address discipline and the effects of COVID-19 on special education.
Miguel Cardona, chosen to lead the U.S. Department of Education, photographed in his 4th-grade classroom at Israel Putnam School in Meriden, Conn., in 1998.
Courtesy of the Record-Journal
Federal Who Is Miguel Cardona? Education Secretary Pick Has Roots in Classroom, Principal's Office
Evie Blad & Andrew Ujifusa, January 14, 2021


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