Signe Cohen
Biographic Data
| ID | 3891440 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Signe Cohen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Signe |
| FAMILY NAME | Cohen |
| SIGNATURE | COHEN S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2038-1691 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya
The Āyurveda and the Four Principles of Medical Ethics
This paper examines the ethical frameworks that guide Āyurvedic practices and compares them with those underlying contemporary Western medicine. At the heart of current bioethical debates is the question of whether certain principles can be universally valid across cultures. This paper argues that while the moral vision of Āyurvedic medicine significantly differs from that of Western medicine in various respects, both systems share fundamental et…
From cakravartin to bodhisattva
This article examines globalization in an Asian context through the lens of two Buddhist concepts: the cakravartin and the bodhisattva. A cakravartin is a ruler who fuses spiritual and political power in his global reign. This article argues that the cakravartin represents one model of Buddhist globalization where the spread of the religion coincides with the growing military dominion of a BuddhGist king. A bodhisattva, on the other hand, is an e…
The Bhagavadgītā and the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda Upaniṣads
A Posthuman Dharma
S. Shankar's 2018 Tamil language science fiction film 2.0, the stand-alone sequel to his 2010 blockbuster Enthiran, presents a bleak vision of a near-present time when obsession with technology has led to deteriorating human relationships as well as destruction of the natural world. The film articulates a posthuman dharma founded on the understanding that humans have an ethical obligation towards all living things, not merely other humans. The fi…
Fantastic Beasts and the Dangers of American Nostalgia
At first glance, David Yates’s 2016 fantasy film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them appears to exemplify the nostalgic cinema that Fredric Jameson dismisses as postmodern pastiche that merely imitates the past through superficial details such as setting and costumes. Set in New York in 1926, Fantastic Beasts evokes the elegance and allure of the Roaring Twenties. The film invokes an idealized past, re-presented through the lens of “magic” as…
Time in the Upaniṣads
The Upaniṣads (ca. 800 BCE) were composed during a transitional time period in Hinduism when Vedic ritual and cosmogonic ideas began to give way to new worldviews. The intriguing Upaniṣadic notions of time have received little attention in the scholarly literature compared to the elaborate models of cyclical time that develop in later texts. I propose, however, that the Upaniṣads represent a seminal reorientation in Hindu conceptions of time. We …
"Memory, Desire, and "Magic
This essay analyzes the interconnection between memory, desire, and verbal performance in the three so called "women's love spells" in Atharvaveda 6.130-132. This study unpacks the many interconnected meanings of the term smará, which is used repeatedly in these poems, "memory", "desire", or "efficacious ritual speech". I challenge the traditional definition of these texts as "magical" and argue that applying "magic" as an analytical category to …
The Two Alchemists in Harry Potter
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series contains numerous references to alchemy. On a symbolic level, both Harry Potter and his archenemy Voldemort can be read as rival alchemists, one pursuing alchemy as a spiritual discipline and the other engaged in a purely material quest for physical immortality. Voldemort’s eventual defeat can be interpreted in light of his flawed understanding of the moral and spiritual side of the alchemical work
Upanishads
The Upaniṣads are among the most sacred foundational scriptures in the Hindu religion. Written from 800 BCE onward and making up part of the larger Vedic corpus, they offer the reader "knowledge lessons" on life, death, and immortality. While they are essential to understanding Hinduism and Asian religions more generally, their complexities make them almost impenetrable to anyone but serious scholars of Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture
A Postmodern Wizard
The Harry Potter series is rich in allusions to Celtic, Greek, Roman, Norse, and Hindu mythology, Arthurian legends, and Christianity. These religious and mythological elements are taken out of their original context and re-combined in a postmodern bricolage, reflecting the series' emphasis on cultural diversity and the forging of individual meaning
Time in the Upaniṣads
The Upaniṣads (ca. 800 BCE) were composed during a transitional time period in Hinduism when Vedic ritual and cosmogonic ideas began to give way to new worldviews. The intriguing Upaniṣadic notions of time have received little attention in the scholarly literature compared to the elaborate models of cyclical time that develop in later texts. I propose, however, that the Upaniṣads represent a seminal reorientation in Hindu conceptions of time. We …
A Postmodern Wizard
The Harry Potter series is rich in allusions to Celtic, Greek, Roman, Norse, and Hindu mythology, Arthurian legends, and Christianity. These religious and mythological elements are taken out of their original context and re-combined in a postmodern bricolage, reflecting the series' emphasis on cultural diversity and the forging of individual meaning
Upanishads
The Upaniṣads are among the most sacred foundational scriptures in the Hindu religion. Written from 800 BCE onward and making up part of the larger Vedic corpus, they offer the reader "knowledge lessons" on life, death, and immortality. While they are essential to understanding Hinduism and Asian religions more generally, their complexities make them almost impenetrable to anyone but serious scholars of Sanskrit and ancient Indian culture
The Two Alchemists in Harry Potter
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series contains numerous references to alchemy. On a symbolic level, both Harry Potter and his archenemy Voldemort can be read as rival alchemists, one pursuing alchemy as a spiritual discipline and the other engaged in a purely material quest for physical immortality. Voldemort’s eventual defeat can be interpreted in light of his flawed understanding of the moral and spiritual side of the alchemical work
Time in the Upaniṣads
The Upaniṣads (ca. 800 BCE) were composed during a transitional time period in Hinduism when Vedic ritual and cosmogonic ideas began to give way to new worldviews. The intriguing Upaniṣadic notions of time have received little attention in the scholarly literature compared to the elaborate models of cyclical time that develop in later texts. I propose, however, that the Upaniṣads represent a seminal reorientation in Hindu conceptions of time. We …
"Memory, Desire, and "Magic
This essay analyzes the interconnection between memory, desire, and verbal performance in the three so called "women's love spells" in Atharvaveda 6.130-132. This study unpacks the many interconnected meanings of the term smará, which is used repeatedly in these poems, "memory", "desire", or "efficacious ritual speech". I challenge the traditional definition of these texts as "magical" and argue that applying "magic" as an analytical category to …
Fantastic Beasts and the Dangers of American Nostalgia
At first glance, David Yates’s 2016 fantasy film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them appears to exemplify the nostalgic cinema that Fredric Jameson dismisses as postmodern pastiche that merely imitates the past through superficial details such as setting and costumes. Set in New York in 1926, Fantastic Beasts evokes the elegance and allure of the Roaring Twenties. The film invokes an idealized past, re-presented through the lens of “magic” as…
The Bhagavadgītā and the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda Upaniṣads
A Posthuman Dharma
S. Shankar's 2018 Tamil language science fiction film 2.0, the stand-alone sequel to his 2010 blockbuster Enthiran, presents a bleak vision of a near-present time when obsession with technology has led to deteriorating human relationships as well as destruction of the natural world. The film articulates a posthuman dharma founded on the understanding that humans have an ethical obligation towards all living things, not merely other humans. The fi…
From cakravartin to bodhisattva
This article examines globalization in an Asian context through the lens of two Buddhist concepts: the cakravartin and the bodhisattva. A cakravartin is a ruler who fuses spiritual and political power in his global reign. This article argues that the cakravartin represents one model of Buddhist globalization where the spread of the religion coincides with the growing military dominion of a BuddhGist king. A bodhisattva, on the other hand, is an e…
The Āyurveda and the Four Principles of Medical Ethics
This paper examines the ethical frameworks that guide Āyurvedic practices and compares them with those underlying contemporary Western medicine. At the heart of current bioethical debates is the question of whether certain principles can be universally valid across cultures. This paper argues that while the moral vision of Āyurvedic medicine significantly differs from that of Western medicine in various respects, both systems share fundamental et…
The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya
Philosophy (9 works) · Art (7 works) · Literature (7 works) · History (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Indian and Buddhist Studies (4 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (3 works) · Epistemology (3 works)