Journal of Letters

A Study of Tourist Behavior in Destination Selection and Distribution of Tourists Using an Agent-Based Model:

Thitirat Panbumrungkij, Ekkamol Vannametee — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0700

This research aims to investigate the selection of travel destinations by tourists using an agent-based model (ABM) as well as the distribution of tourists at destinations in Chon Buri Province. The ABM was developed using the NetLogo program and operated on a geographic information system (GIS). This study examined tourist behaviors via 3,200 agents that proportionally represent the number of excursionists in Chon Buri Province in 2019. The tourist agents were classified into 12 groups according to sex and age range, each having different levels of interest in destination types. In this study, we define six types of tourist destinations, with 59 destinations in total. The agents started their decision-making by randomly choosing a destination type, given a probability function representing the chances of each destination type being selected based on each agent group’s rank of interests. The agents only selected destinations from the type that they had chosen in a range of 50 kilometers from the agent's current location. Agents were released to the study area on an hourly basis, traveled at a constant speed of 60 km/h, and stayed at the chosen destination for two hours. The agents were allowed to choose destinations from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Based on 45 model simulations, the types of destinations that were most selected by tourist agents were natural (48%), followed by recreational (30%) and cultural and religious (17%). The largest number of tourists was at historical and shopping destinations, as these types of destinations are few in number in the study area. Model results correspond to the most observed tourist groups at five surveyed destinations. It was also found that tourists were not evenly distributed over the province but concentrated at Pattaya City and Saen Suk Municipality, where there are a large number of destinations of different types. Results from this study can be employed for tourism planning and development at a local and national scale.

From “Context” to “Paratext”:

Warunee Udomsilpa — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0700

In Seuils (1987), French narratologist Gerard Genette presents the notion of “paratext” and explains that each of the paratext’s elements is regarded as having a literary function. This article attempts to apply this notion to analyze “Demain”, a poem in État de veille, a collection of poetry composed by early the twentieth century French poet Robert Desnos. The findings demonstrate that the notion of paratext not only helps readers comprehend the essential meaning of the poem but also enables them to examine the poem more profoundly and to come up with a variety of interpretations. Paratext can also function effectively with the poem’s historical context and the poet’s biography, thereby proving useful for textual analysis.

Analogy, Concept and Cognition

Kanit (Mitinunwong) Sirichan — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0700

This research paper aims to study analogy as a type of comparative thinking and to investigate whether it is justified to claim that an analogical thought has cognitive content. Two theories in cognitive science claim that an analogy has cognitive content. The first one is called the weak view of analogy in cognition; this is expressed in, for example, the works of Gust et al. (2008), Lakoff & Johnson (1980), Hesse (1966), and Black (1955). The second one is called the strong view of analogy in cognition, seen, for example, in the works of Hofstadter (2001, 2006) and Hofstadter and Sanders (2013). According to the weak view, analogical thought is only a necessary condition of cognition. But in the strong view, analogy is both a necessary and a sufficient condition of cognition. Regardless of the differences, neither theory is justified in claiming analogical content. While the weak view cannot provide an account of the perceptual aspect of content, the strong view suffers from a lack of normative constraint for analogical content.

Infernal Symbioses:

Rawitawan Sophonpanich — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0700

This article explores the possibility of foregrounding Dante’s Inferno from the epic La Divina Commedia in this day and age of environmental crises. This catastrophic state has androgenic origins and has been labeled by climate scientists as the “Anthropocene” – a new geological era marked by the ways in which humanity has irrevocably altered the earth system. Nevertheless, Donna Haraway has voiced her opposition against this classification, postulating that it contains too much nihilistic and pessimistic connotations that function to discourage humans from doing the work necessary to alleviate the crises. Haraway therefore proposes “Chthulucene” to denote the temporally and spatially nonspecific epoch in which humans must learn to live with the trouble. This article features a re-reading of Dante’s Inferno in the scope of the Chthulucene. It shows that even though the work was written in the medieval period, it is still possible to read Inferno in the Chthulucenic context. This possibility draws upon the discovery that (1) the narrative focuses on the journey of the protagonist through a blasted landscape of Hell, which is described as ruins, and (2) in order to get through such a landscape, it is imperative to build alliances with other beings, which is comparable to what biological science calls symbiosis.

Comparative Conceptual Metaphors in Thai Politics:

Theewara Saengin — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0700

The changes in Thailand’s electoral system over a period of more than 20 years have influenced the use of language that reflects the perspectives of people in Thai society. This article aims to (1) study Thai political metaphors before the 2023 elections in political analysis articles in the ThaiRath online newspaper between October 1 and December 31, 2022, and (2) compare Thai political metaphors before the 2023 elections with those in 2001 and 2007 using a conceptual metaphor framework for comparing one thing to another through a process of mapping meaning from a source domain to a target domain, as proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). The study revealed that prior to the 2023 elections, there were five political metaphors that reflected consistent perspectives in the years 2001 and 2007. These metaphors were “politics is a fight,” “politics is a journey,” “politics is a competition,” “politics is a show,” and “politics is business.” Additionally, there were three deviating metaphors in both years: “politics is sickness,” “politics is gambling,” and “politics is an animal” The comparison of these similar and different metaphors demonstrates that Thai society still perceives politics as involving competition and a struggle for personal and collective gains by playing roles according to various responsibilities and duties. Similar to various kinds of performance, politicians and political parties use these strategies to gain favor and acceptance among the public. However, over the past 20 years or more, it has become evident that Thai society’s negative perception of politics has intensified. Politics is viewed as a risky endeavor, involving both gains and losses, and politicians exhibit survival behaviors akin to various animals. Moreover, politics is also seen as a source of problems affecting the well-being and livelihood of people in the society.

Melancholic Cries from Border:

Direk Hongthong — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0700

After King Rama IX passed away in 2016, many groups of Thai citizens, including Northern Khmers in the southern part of Northeastern Thailand, produced literary texts for mourning the late king. This research paper aimed at examining 29 pieces of Northern Khmers’ lyrics composed for mourning the late King Rama IX and posted on www.youtube.com from October 16^th, 2016 to October 14^th, 2017. This study, which applied Chatuporn Misakul’s research on Thai poetry of sorrow (2013) as guideline, revealed that the data, which were Northern Khmers’ new group of literary works, were presented in 5 main aspects: (1) mourning the death of the late King Rama IX (2) eulogizing him (3) recording information, events and experience relating to him (4) making pledges to him and (5) making wishes for him. The data’s main contents were presented in correspondence with the characteristic components of three Thai literary genres: lamentation, eulogy, and life recording genres, which were combined to establish a Thai literary genre called ‘Poetry of Sorrow.’ Meanwhile, their remaining contents expressed their shared characteristics with Thai contemporary literary texts composed for the same situation. However, some of their details expressed the influence of Northern Khmers’ traditional literary text and concept and the influence of Khmer linguistic culture in Cambodia as well. This study did identify the characteristics of Northern Khmers’ new group of literary texts and broadened many perspectives towards Thai citizens’ Poetry of Sorrow in terms of textual compositional methods, scope of data, languages used, groups of textual producers, and channels of textual distribution.

Chinese Ecological Attitudes in the Modern Era and Foundations of Taoist Philosophy:

Yao Siqi — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0700

This paper analyzed (1) the language representations of attitude resources in the “Biodiversity Conservation in China” whitepaper based on Martin and White’s appraisal theory, and (2) hidden modern Chinese eco-attitudes as reflected in the whitepaper. The findings were that the whitepaper used all three attitude subcategories: (1) judgment, (2) appreciation, and (3) affect, in decreasing order of significance. Judgment and appreciation were highly proportional and positive, while distribution of affect was minimal. Chinese eco-attitudes in the new era, as reflected in the white paper, may be considered from three perspectives: overall outlook, equality and future perspective. Ecological awareness of respecting and protecting nature may be awakened, influenced by the concepts of “heaven and man are united as one” and “Tao operates naturally” as fundamental philosophies in traditional Chinese culture. Promoting harmonious coexistence between humans and nature would boost natural resource protection and sustainable development.

T. M. Scanlon on Normativity: A Methodological Exploration

Piyarudee Chaiyaporn — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0700

This article argues that T. M. Scanlon’s account of normativity, grounded in the concepts of reasons and reason relations, is strongly justified as it attains substantive coherence through the method of reflective equilibrium. The argument focuses on three strategies employed by Scanlon in his critical analysis of Joseph Raz’s and Jonathan Dancy’s alternative accounts of normativity, namely, (1) characterization, (2) the pursuit of narrow reflective equilibrium (N-RE), and (3) the pursuit of wide reflective equilibrium (W-RE). In addition to the robustness provided by substantive coherence, which safeguards his account against Justin Clarke-Doane’s objection regarding reliability, Scanlon is also able to address other criticisms. This is because Scanlon’s philosophical methodology incorporates (1) conceptualization and generalization through instances and (2) the pursuit of convergence among divergent accounts.

Front Matter

Naya Sucha-xaya — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0700