Understanding the universe at the close of the 20th century

2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 233
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
The Universe

scholarly journals Fertilization Narratives in the Art of Gustav Klimt, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo: Repression, Domination and Eros among Cells

Leonardo ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott F. Gilbert ◽  
Sabine Brauckmann
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Human Embryos ◽  
Diego Rivera ◽  
Frida Kahlo ◽  
Embryo Formation ◽  
Human Fertilization ◽  
Gustav Klimt ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Early Human

Fertilization narratives are powerful biological stories that can be used for social ends, and 20th-century artists have used fertilization-based imagery to convey political and social ideas. In Danae, Gustav Klimt used an esoteric stage of early human embryos to indicate successful fertilization and the inability of government repression to stifle creativity. In Man, Controller of the Universe, Diego Rivera painted a mural of a man controlling an ovulating ovary, depicting Trotsky's view that society will rationally regulate human fertilization. His former wife, Frida Kahlo, refuted this view in Moses: Nucleus of Creation, wherein she painted images of fertilization and embryo formation as the ultimate acts of erotic consummation and generation.

3. Stars

2016 ◽  
pp. 22-49
Author(s):  
James Binney
Keyword(s):  
Star Formation ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Binary Stars ◽  
Star Clusters ◽  
Solar Neutrinos ◽  
Interstellar Gas ◽  
Stellar Seismology ◽  
Stellar Masses ◽  
Century Science ◽  
The Universe

Most of what we know about the Universe has been gleaned from the study of stars, and a major achievement of 20th-century science was to understand how stars work and their lifecycles from birth to death. ‘Stars’ describes this lifecycle beginning with star formation when a cloud of interstellar gas suffers a runaway of its central density. It then considers nuclear fusion, key stellar masses, and life after the main sequence when the star burns its core helium. The surfaces of stars are described along with stellar coronae and exploding stars—both core-collapse and deflagration supernovae. Finally, globular star clusters, solar neutrinos, stellar seismology, and binary stars are discussed.

In That Golden Land: The Spiritual Odyssey of Henry Roth's Call It Sleep

Prospects ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 379-399
Author(s):  
Nancy J. Rosenbloom
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
York City ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Henry Roth ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
The Universe

With these words, Henry Roth beganCall It Sleep, a novel published in 1934 when its author was twenty-eight years old.Call It Sleepranks among the most powerful novels of the 20th century, precisely because of the questions it does ask about the conflicts of immigrant life, the demands of assimilation, and the search for spiritual nourishment in the modern world. Roth locates his narrative in New York City during the peak years of mass migration from Europe between 1907 and 1914. At the center ofCall It Sleepis David, a precocious and sensitive child at age six, who is already questioning his place in the universe and the meaning of God. Thus,Call It Sleeppresents a narrative of how a small immigrant boy makes sense of his world, a world defined by both its physical and spiritual dimensions.

scholarly journals Nations in the bubble of social reality: language and all that

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Kamusella
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
John Searle ◽  
Primary Function ◽  
Material Reality ◽  
The Universe

Nations in the bubble of social reality: language and all that In the last century and a half scholars from different disciplines began to distinguish between material reality (the universe), the biosphere, and social reality (the semiosphere), as three important heuristic categories. In the latter half of the 20th century, the philosophers John L. Austin and John Searle proposed that language and its use enable humans to generate social reality. They also analyzed the mechanisms of the process. From another perspective, the evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar offered an explanation of how language was selected in the process of human evolution, and argued that its primary function is group-building, that is, the generation of social cohesion. Drawing on these insights, the article proposes that the dilemma of whether nations exist objectively or are subjective entities can be resolved by analyzing this problem in the light of Searle’s distinction between ontological objectivity / subjectivity and epistemic objectivity / subjectivity. Narody w koronie rzeczywistości społecznej widziane z perspektywy językaOd półtora stulecia badacze z zakresu różnych dyscyplin zaczęli wyraźnie rozróżniać pomiędzy rzeczywistością materialną (tj. wszechświatem, ogółem bytów materialnych), biosferą oraz rzeczywistością społeczną (semiosferą), jako powiązanymi ze sobą trzema kategoriami analizy heurystycznej. W drugiej połowie XX stulecia filozofowie języka John L. Austin i John Searle dali tezę, iż to język oraz jego użycie pozwala ludziom generować rzeczywistość społeczną. Obydwaj również badali mechanizmy rządzące tym procesem generacji. Z kolei psycholog ewolucyjny Robin Dunbar przedstawił model wyjaśniający, jak język (tzn. biologiczna zdolność językowa) został wyselekcjonowany w procesie ewolucji. Na tej podstawie postawił on tezę, iż prymarną funkcją języka jest umożliwianie budowania grup ludzkich, czyli innymi słowy, generowanie potrzebnej ku temu spójności społecznej. Korzystając z powyżej wymienionych ustaleń, artykuł proponuje nowe podejście do szeroko dyskutowanej kwestii czy narody istnieją obiektywnie lub są subiektywnymi bytami, analizując to zagadnienie w świetle zaproponowanego przez J. Searle’a rozróżnienia pomiędzy ontyczną obiektywnością/subiektywnością a epistemiczną obiektywnością/subiektywnością.

scholarly journals The feminine image of Russia in the religious and philosophical writings by Russian thinkers at the turn of the 20th century

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 ◽  
pp. 01041
Author(s):  
Arcady G. Sadovnikov ◽  
Alina E. Korzheva ◽  
Farrukh Begidjon Khudoidodzoda
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Silver Age ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Philosophical Writings ◽  
The Universe

The article looks at the versions of the feminine image of Russia in the religious and philosophical reflections of the Russian thinkers who worked during the Silver Age (the period of Russian culture covering approximately 1890–1917): Vladimir Solovyov, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Sergei Bulgakov. Special attention is paid to the balance between the male and female principles, which are endowed with certain characteristics in different works by Russian thinkers, not only from the perspective of human nature but also in terms of the nature of Russian culture and mentality, as well as the cosmic nature of the universe. Analysis of the religious and philosophical pursuit of the Silver Age relating to the feminine image of Russia allows the authors to specify the ideas of the characteristics of femininity engrained in the Russian culture and clarify the role of this pursuit in the development of the reflexive Russian thought directed towards becoming aware of these characteristics. The belief about the salvatory mission carried out by the feminine aspect of the human and cosmic nature distinctively identified in the religious and philosophical writings by the Russian thinkers belonging to the Siver Age requires further study. The research has been conducted within the framework of the symbolic direction of cultural studies with the help of comparative analysis, the method of theoretical reconstruction, and problematic-logical, functional, and systemic approaches. These methods allowed the authors to specify the problematic field of the research and define the main concepts to examine the statements about the feminine aspect of Russian culture by different authors as a unified system of forms aimed at the comprehension of the value and symbolic foundation of the national ethnic culture.

scholarly journals Citizen of the universe. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s cosmic philosophy and science fiction

2017 ◽  
pp. 335-360
Author(s):  
Piotr Klafkowski
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
Large School ◽  
Soviet Science Fiction ◽  
The Universe

The paper discusses Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s philosophy as it can be reconstructed from his writings of two kinds, the academic papers and the works generally, though not always correctly, classified as science fiction. It is stressed that Tsiolkovsky belongs to the large school of Russian philosophers known as the Cosmists, and he is placed within the group of 20th century academic-minded Cosmists. The first part of the paper reconstructs Tsiolkovsky’s cosmic philosophy on the basis of his philosophical works, which amount to half of his published works. The second part of the paper discusses all the works by Tsiolkovsky available in English under the science fiction label. The paper also contains comparisons of Tsiolkovsky’s views with the philosophicalreligious system propagated by Nicholas and Helena Roerich, known as Agni Yoga, and its ancient Indian roots. It is also mentioned that Tsiolkovsky played an important role in the development of the early Russian, or more properly Soviet, science fiction movies. The paper stresses that Tsiolkovsky always based his writings on solid scientific foundations, so that the label “science fiction” does not always apply to them.

L’hétéronomie chez les Inuit du Nord canadien. « Des pouvoirs qu’on ne connaît pas »1

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Laugrand
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Modern Idea ◽  
The Universe

From oral sources collected in the contemporary period, this article re-examines several major categories of Inuit thought, taking into account their transformation following Christianization. In the 20th century, the Inuit have changed many of their practices, whereas at another level – that of schemes – the idea of a heteronomous order has remained more stable. In both contexts of shamanism and Christianity, powers circulate through mediators. The modern idea of being able to produce its own laws, to base society on the full autonomy of actors without ever taking into account the great spiritual forces of the universe, has never been accepted. The Inuit still consider that they belong to a world that is both unstable and relational, where other beings, such as animals, deceased and spirits or non-human beings, interact, so that humans cannot change the course of events alone. Two questions arise: to what extent has Christianity affected heteronomy and increased the mysterious part of Inuit animism? Can Sila, an encompassing spiritual force, be conceived as an ‘Inuit mana’?

Art and micro-cosmos: kinetic art and mid-20th-century cosmology

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Rycroft
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Visual Art ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Kinetic Art ◽  
Figurative Art ◽  
Illusory Movement ◽  
Art Research ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Universe

Recent work by cultural geographers on visual art has emphasized performative and participatory aspects focusing upon the embodied and multi-sensory experience of encountering and being part of a work of art. Research on non-figurative art has much to offer in elucidating the relationships and distinctions between representation, non-representation and abstraction. Non figurative artists were representing or enacting a new kind of materiality, one that was putative, in process and ever changing. That materiality was based upon the adoption of a mid-20th-century cosmology and inspired by recent advances in the understanding of matter and the universe. Kinetic art, which is characterized by a set of abstract aesthetics that represent or reproduce real or illusory movement, was, especially in the post-war period, inspired by this new cosmology. Mid-century kinetic artists created non-figurative abstract models of the latest understandings to bring their associated energies, forces and motions to the senses of the viewer-participant. The models that kinetic artists produced in a variety of media were designed to be experienced in an embodied manner rather than simply viewed. These and other models of a mid-century cosmology signify a period in which the practices of representation were shifting significantly and consequently demand our attention.

scholarly journals SPACE AND TIME RELATIONSHIP IN METAPHYSICAL PAINTINGS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (71) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Time Space ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe

Metaphysics, which deals with concepts such as existence, existentialism, space and god in its general content, is a branch of philosophy. It sought answers to questions related to these concepts through methods and perspectives different from science. The reason for all these questions is the effort to define the universe. Metaphysical philosophy has been the search for a solution to helplessness caused by the uncertainties caused throughout the history by life and death. Perspectives developed in parallel with the perception of the period have also shaped the questions and propositions. All these metaphysical approaches do not contain a definition that is independent of time and space. Time and space, as one of the most fundamental problematics of metaphysics, are accepted as the most important elements in placing and making sense of the human into the universe. In this context, metaphysics, which has a transphysical perspective as well as the accepted scientific expansions of real and reality, was mostly visible in the field of art rather than science. The aim of this article is to analyze the role of metaphysical philosophy in the emergence of metaphysical art in the context of the effects of social events, especially the destructions and disappointments caused by the world wars in the 20th century, on the artists and the reflections of the existential inquiries related to this. Furthermore this study includes definitions and processes of metaphysics. The works of Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carra have been interpreted in terms of form and content within the scope of metaphysics by considering the concepts of time-space. Keywords: Metaphysics, Space, Time, Metaphysical Art

scholarly journals Wojciecha Kudyby Gorce Pana

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 351-360
Author(s):  
Dorota Heck
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Religious Poetry ◽  
The World ◽  
Literary Geography ◽  
Poetic Imagination ◽  
Poetic Diction ◽  
The Universe

Wojciech Kudyba’s Gorce Pana Gorce of the LordIn the 20th century religious poetry was mainly the domain of famous poet priests; today better known are secular authors from various generations, for example Zbigniew Jankowski, Wojciech Bonowicz, Krzysztof Koehler, Wojciech Wencel and Mirosław Dzień. Standing out with his avoidance of pathos and clarity of poetic diction, Wojciech Kudyba published his first book of poetry appreciated by literary critics, Tyszowce i inne miasta Tyszowce and other towns, thirteen years ago. It was followed in 2008 by Gorce Pana Gorce of the Lord — of key importance to the understanding of the role of the mountains in Kurdyba’s poetic imagination — and Ojciec się zmienia The Father is changing in 2011. The summa of the poet’s oeuvre so far, a selection entitled W końcu świat Finally the world, is divided into three parts: “Inne miasta” Other towns, “Inne góry” Other mountains and “Kogo brak” Who’s missing. They correspond to his earlier volumes of poetry. The poet’s own descriptions point to the considerable signifi cance of a coherent composition of the collection. Repetitions of the various motifs resemble a rosary or a sequence of mirror reflections. Hermeneutic analyses of the various poems lead to a conclusion that harmony, questioned by the possibility of self-irony, results in the eff ect of moved form, sought after by the poet, while literary geography, fascination with the mountains and respect for epiphany balance out the irony, stabilising the emphasis on the eternal harmony of the universe present in the beauty of Gorce.

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