Unit-report (al-khabar al-wahid/pl. al-akhbar al-ahad) constitute almost all transmitted reports (hadiths) compendiums in Islam. Still, there are numerous arguments about the scope of their authenticity among Muslim scholars (‘ulama). The present paper focusing on Shi‘ism (Imamism) first addresses the doctrines of the significant theologians and jurists of the school of Baghdad in the early centuries of Shi‘a-Islam, the school of Hilla in the middle centuries, and 14th century Shi‘a scholars on the epistemological status of al-akhbar al- ahad. It then will explore the central importance of ‘certitude’ (yaqin) in setting up the criteria of the authenticity of the hadiths among the early Imami scholars. This topic is naturally involved with the historical dispute of Usuli jurists and Akhbari. After examining the rationale of the authenticity of unit-report in the legal process and jurisprudence, the paper will deal with a substantial question: was the unit-report among the founder of Imami’s doctrines an authentic and reliable source in other sciences like kalam, divine metaphysics, experimental sciences, e.g. medicine (tibb), economic, sociology, politics and astronomy, or in the issues like the creation of the universe and ontological status of Prophet and Imams?

Salman Rushdie’s fiction is well-known for its abundant mixes of magic realist and science fiction textual elements. By resorting to three writing strategies, namely “meta-writing,” “split-writing” and writing about identity-related issues, Rushdie generates a type of “inter-generic writing” that serves to voice authorial appeals for hybridity, impurity and plurality. Meta-writing is an authorial construction of the neo-historicist verisimilitude justifying the legitimacy and self-sufficiency of literary writing. Split-writing reveals “the alterity of selves,” thus advocating tolerance and pluralism. Writing about identity-related issues is no less than a politicized identity construction, in the quest for multiple postcolonial subjectivities in the “Third Space.”

In this review, we elaborate on the contrasts between Theodor W. Adorno’s philosophy of New Music and E. LeRoi Jones’ reports on the Avant-Garde of Jazz in Black Music. Whereas Adorno’s papers on jazz nowadays are considered at least inadequate to describe the post-war developments in jazz, and, according to some, rather refer to the German salon music of the Weimar Republic, an interesting key figure of the emancipation of jazz is found in John Coltrane’s music. In Coltrane’s version of My Favorite Things, an audaciously musical and conceptual link is found between the popular music of the Broadway musical, the avant-garde of jazz and a famous masterpiece of the Baroque era. Consequently, building upon a statement by Blaise Pascal, the notion of passion in music – in contrast with the notion of boredom - is analyzed in relation to the personality structure of gifted individuals, as described by Kazimierz Dąbrowski and followers.

The clash of ideas between classical music and several avant-garde movements in the previous century, not only found its way into twentieth century musicology, it also lead to a number of new developments in music digitalization. This paper reflects on the inscription of these opposing ideas about the concept of music into the contemporary views on the human condition and the notion of computability of human interactions. Harry Partch, the American iconoclast broke away from the classic, predominantly European traditions in music, and contested the abstract architecture and well-tempered tonal system of it. The mathematician Guerrino Mazzola constructed an even bigger, abstract formalization system, that allegedly allows for a complete digitalization of music, from the mind and inner ear of the composer towards the scores, the gestures and sounds produced by the performers up to the auditory cortex of the listeners. In this paper we will mainly investigate the philosophical and musicological basis of this formalization system, which is essentially based on the Denotator system and a number of concepts from algebraic topology applied to music. Finally, we will unravel the typical de-humanizing aspects that are followed in the digitalization system as used by Mazzola, and what this approach implicates for humanity (and the human sciences).