The final installment of an unprecedented intercultural dialogue. Other Press is proud to present the fifth volume in its groundbreaking Keywords series. Scholars from Africa, the Arab World, China, Europe, India, and the United States share their vision of how nature has been shaped by the cultural and philosophical context of their respective societies, and affected by modernization and Western technology. The Indian and African texts place a particular emphasis on the tension between Western influence, which radically transforms nature, and their traditional approach where nature is perceived as an intrinsic part of the human community. The Arabic philosophical and religious tradition frames the world as a realm of divine ordinances including natural science, physics, and mathematics. In China the word Zi Ran does not refer to the concept of nature as an abstract category but as an expression entrenched in everyday speech evolving with the mutation of Chinese philosophical ideas. In Europe, the modern definition of nature can be coined by a paradox: nature is what we believe to be true and what we acknowledge not to know, both a true fiction and a necessary fable. The American essay reveals that nature in the United States has been a dominant theme in history, art, and literature and has been associated with the image of pristine wilderness. The ecological crisis of recent times has brought back this romantic notion, which has wide political and religious consequences. At the eve of the twenty-first century, the Western perception of nature has grown closer to the traditional perspectives of the East. These essays offer an opportunity to rethink the implications of this interesting reversal. This volume includes essays by Chen Shaoming, Zhongshan University, Canton; Nader El-Bizri, University of Cambridge and Institute of Ismaili Studies, London; Leo Marx, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Vinay Kumar Srivastava, Delhi University; Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo, Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Pierre Zaoui, Université Paris X-Nanterre; with translations by Robert Bononno, Marolijn de Jager, and others.

Keywords: Nature

Business & Money

Nadia Tazi

Marjolijn de Jager

Robert Bononno

Economics

Other Press

This engaging work demonstrates that beauty truly does come from within. "Plastic surgery is not a magic wand," declares Dr. Jean-Claude Hagège in his critique of the dangerous confusion between beauty and seductiveness. Having seen, spoken with, and operated on hundreds of patients, Hagège offers a unique perspective on the important distinction between formal beauty and true seductive power. Although it can improve our external appearance, the surgeon's scalpel, Hagège cautions us, can do little to enhance our power to seduce. This important warning comes at a time when formal beauty and youth have become an imperative, making our appearance a commodity to be purchased on the marketplace. As Hagège relates the successes and failures of his practice, we learn that our misconceptions about how we should look are informed by the rational part of the brain, the cortex. Hagège explains that true seductive power does not emanate from the cortex, but from the limbic system, the part of the brain that gives us access to our emotions and to our desire to truly connect. When we think in terms of how we should appear, trying to conform to certain cultural standards of beauty with the hope of changing our relationship with the world, we are bound to be disappointed. Instead, if we are in close touch with the limbic system, we will be better able to access our feelings about who we truly want to be. Only then will our decisions about plastic surgery meet our expectations.

The Power of Seduction: Conceptions of Beauty and Cosmetic Surgery

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Jean-Claude Hagege

Psychology & Counseling

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Books by Marjolijn de Jager