The Limits of Historical Explanations

Philosophy ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 41 (157) ◽  
pp. 199-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Recent Trend ◽  
Recent Discussion ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Status

Although the literature on the logic of historical enquiry is already vast and still growing, it continues to polarise overwhelmingly around a single disputed point—whether historical explanations have their own logic, or whether every successful explanation must conform to the same deductive model. Recent discussion, moreover, has shown an increasing element of agreement—there has been a marked trend away from accepting any strictly positivist view of the matter. It will be argued here that both the traditional polarity and the recent trend in this debate have tended to be misleading. The positiviste (it will be conceded) have been damagingly criticised. But their opponents (it will be suggested) have produced no satisfying alternative. They have tended instead to accept as proper historical explanations whatever has been offered by the historians themselves in the course of trying to explain the past. But a further type of analysis must be required (and will be attempted here) if some account is to be given of the status, and not merely the function, of the language in which these explanations are offered. Such an analysis, moreover (it will finally be suggested) has implications of some importance in considering the appropriate strategy for historical enquiries.

Lot's Offer of his Daughters to his People in the Torah and the Qur'an: A Comparative Study in Two Parts (Part One)

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-224
Author(s):  
ʿĀʾiḍ B. Sad Al-Dawsarī
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Status ◽  
Moral Problems ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
Similarities And Differences

The story of Lot is one of many shared by the Qur'an and the Torah, and Lot's offer of his two daughters to his people is presented in a similar way in the two books. This article compares the status of Lot in the Qur'an and Torah, and explores the moral dimensions of his character, and what scholars of the two religions make of this story. The significance of the episodes in which Lot offers his daughters to his people lies in the similarities and differences of the accounts given in the two books and the fact that, in both the past and the present, this story has presented moral problems and criticism has been leveled at Lot. Context is crucial in understanding this story, and exploration of the ways in which Lot and his people are presented is also useful in terms of comparative studies of the two scriptures. This article is divided into three sections: the first explores the depiction of Lot in the two texts, the second explores his moral limitations, and the third discusses the interpretations of various exegetes and scholars of the two books. Although there are similarities between the Qur'anic and Talmudic accounts of this episode, it is read differently by scholars from the two religions because of the different contexts of the respective accounts.

LEGAL RESEARCH AT AHMAD IBRAHIM KULLIYYAH OF LAWS, INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA: TRENDS AND POLICIES

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hunud Abia Kadouf ◽  
Umar Aimhanosi Oseini ◽  
Ainul Jaria Maidin
Keyword(s):  
Research Output ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Institution ◽  
Research Activities ◽  
The Status

The primary function of Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Laws, at the very beginning of its inception, was that of teaching civil law and Sharî’ah subjects. As it matured, its vision has been varied from teaching to that of research with the aim of attaining the status of a full research institution that provides both quality research and best legal education in the region. Similar to other institutions of higher education in Malaysia, the responsibility of research is a shared function of both graduate students and the academic staff. The research output, on the part of the students is mostly composed of either Master Dissertations or PhD Theses. The academic members of the Faculty, however, are involved either in direct research, individually or jointly, supervision, and publications of their findings. By investigating and analyzing factors influencing research activities at AIKOL in the past twenty years, the researchers will be able to identify the general trends and development of research as it unfolded over years. The researchers hope that the policymakers, at both Faculty and University levels, will use the findings to improve research quality by boldly addressing the problems hampering research progress at AIKOL.

Australia and People Seeking Asylum who Arrive by Boat

2018 ◽  
pp. 518-536
Author(s):  
Caroline Fleay
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The United Nations

Throughout the past forty years various leaders from both major political parties in Australia have categorized the arrival by boat of people seeking asylum as a “crisis” and the people themselves as “illegal.” This is despite Australia being a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and receiving relatively few people who seek asylum compared with many other countries. Punitive government policies and processes have further reinforced these representations, such that “crisis” and “illegal” can now be understood as both categories of analysis and practice. The repeated use of such categories may be helping to produce and reproduce prejudice and racism and obscure the needs and experiences of people seeking asylum.

scholarly journals Taxonomy of Dark Energy Models

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Verónica Motta ◽  
Miguel A. García-Aspeitia ◽  
Alberto Hernández-Almada ◽  
Juan Magaña ◽  
Tomás Verdugo
Keyword(s):  
Dark Energy ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Accelerated Expansion ◽  
Energy Component ◽  
The Past ◽  
Energy Models ◽  
The Status ◽  
Expansion Of The Universe ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Unknown Component

The accelerated expansion of the Universe is one of the main discoveries of the past decades, indicating the presence of an unknown component: the dark energy. Evidence of its presence is being gathered by a succession of observational experiments with increasing precision in its measurements. However, the most accepted model for explaining the dynamic of our Universe, the so-called Lambda cold dark matter, faces several problems related to the nature of such energy component. This has led to a growing exploration of alternative models attempting to solve those drawbacks. In this review, we briefly summarize the characteristics of a (non-exhaustive) list of dark energy models as well as some of the most used cosmological samples. Next, we discuss how to constrain each model’s parameters using observational data. Finally, we summarize the status of dark energy modeling.

scholarly journals Research on the Literature of Green Building Based on the Web of Science: A Scientometric Analysis in CiteSpace (2002–2018)

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingling Shi ◽  
Xinping Liu
Keyword(s):  
Web Of Science ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Development Trend ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Building Industry ◽  
Scientometric Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Evolution Pattern ◽  
The Status

Since the 21st century, the concept of green building has been gradually popularized and implemented in more countries, which has become a popular direction in the area of sustainability in the building industry. Over the past few decades, many scholars and experts have done extensive research on green building. The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze and visualize the status quo of green building. Therefore, based on Web of Science (WoS), this paper analyzed the existing knowledge system of green building using CiteSpace, identified keywords related to green building and their frequency of occurrence using the function of keyword co-occurrence analysis, recognized five clusters using the function of cluster analysis, and explored the knowledge evolution pattern of green building using citation bursts analysis in order to reveal how research related to green building has evolved over time. On the basis of aforementioned keywords, clusters, and citation bursts analysis, this paper has built a knowledge graph for green building. This paper can help readers to better understand the status quo and development trend of green building and to easier recognize the shortcomings in the development of green building, so as to provide a promising direction for future research.

Bare Nature

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Shields
Keyword(s):  
Direct Costs ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Ethical Challenge ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Implicit Relation ◽  
Personal Cost ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Status

This article considers the ethical implications of a stance toward or relation with the natural environment that could be characterized as dominant across many sectors of not only the economy but consumption patterns generally. Despite popular perception or denial of climate change over the past decades, this is an implicit relation toward the collateral risks and damages to ecosystems by human activity. Not only are livelihoods sustained on the basis of natural resources but the direct costs of hydrocarbon development are borne locally in the environment. For some, this is understood to be without a personal cost despite the fears expressed. The article quotes from interviews with residents. It stages a broader, continuing conversation about the ambivalence of being dependent on hydrocarbons. This article explores the difficulty of developing an ethical engagement with the nonhuman and natural ecosystems when they are relegated to the status of what will be referred to as “bare nature.” Rather than state of exception or standing reserve, nonhuman nature is only present as a form of absence and as nonentities and does not present an ethical challenge or claim.

The Primacy of Politics

1951 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Pollock
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Important Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
Generous Time ◽  
The Status ◽  
Do So

In presenting my valedictory to this distinguished Association which has honored me by selecting me as its President, I should like to point out by way of introduction what has happened to this office, and therefore to me, during the past year. I have heard of one of my distinguished predecessors some twenty-five years ago who had little else to do as President of this Association than work all year on his presidential address. This was important work and I have no word of criticism of it. But the Association has changed, and today it leaves to the harried wearer of its presidential toga little time to reflect about the status of political science and his own impact, if any, upon it. An active Association life, now happily centered in our new Washington office, is enough to occupy the full time of your President, and universities as well as this Association might well take note. Therefore, in presenting my own reflections to you this evening in accordance with the custom of our Association, I do so without the benefit of the generous time and scholarly leisure which were the privileges of some of my distinguished predecessors.Nevertheless I do base my presidential address today upon my own active participation in the problems of government, as well as upon my scholarly experience. I have extracted it in part from the dynamics of pulsating political life. It has whatever authority I may possess after having been exposed these twenty-five years to the cross-fire of politics, domestic and foreign, as well as to the benign and corrective influences of eager students and charitable colleagues.

The Christian Church in the Last Seventy Years

1943 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-34
Author(s):  
Kenneth Scott Latourette
Keyword(s):  
Large Volume ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

A strange contrast exists in the status of the Christian Church in the past seventy years. On the one hand the Church has clearly lost some of the ground which once appeared to be safely within its possession. On the other hand it has become more widely spread geographically and, when all mankind is taken into consideration, more influential in shaping human affairs than ever before in its history. In a paper as brief as this must of necessity be, space can be had only for the sketching of the broad outlines of this paradox and for suggesting a reason for it. If details were to be given, a large volume would be required. Perhaps, however, we can hope to do enough to point out one of the most provocative and important set of movements in recent history.

Status of French Road Map to Improve Environmental Fatigue Rules

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Faidy
Keyword(s):  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Fatigue Curve ◽  
Fatigue Tests ◽  
Stress Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Road Map ◽  
The Status ◽  
Load Effects ◽  
Section Viii

During the past 30 years many fatigue tests and fatigue analysis improvements have been developed in France in order to improve Codified Fatigue Rules of RCC-M and ASME Codes [1, 2]. This paper will present the major technical improvements to obtain reasonable evaluation of potential fatigue damage through EDF road map. Recently new results [3] confirm possible un-conservative fatigue material data: - High cycle fatigue in air for stainless steel, - Environmental effects on fatigue S-N curve for all materials - Fatigue Crack Growth law under PWR environment for stainless steel. In front of these new results, EDF has developed a “Fatigue Road Map” to improve the different steps of Codified fatigue rules. A periodic up-dating of proposed rules in the different French Codes: RCC-M, RCC-MRx and RSE-M with research of harmonization with other Code rules developed in USA, Japan and Germany in particular, will be done on a yearly basis. During the past 15 years, many results have been obtained through fatigue tests of stainless steel materials: - mean and design fatigue curve in air, - environmental effects on fatigue curves, - plasticity effects, - bi-axial load effects, - mean stress effects, - stress indices, - transferability from small to large specimen, - weld versus base metal. In parallel, many new developments have been made in non-nuclear pressure equipment industry: like the reference stress of ASME Section VIII or the structural stress of EN 13445. These methods are mainly well adapted to fatigue pressure cycling. In front of that situation, the French nuclear code organization needs to propose reliable rules for new design and for operating plants. Different proposals are under discussion and the status of the EDF proposals are presented in the paper. The consequences could be important for the utilities because a large part of the in-service inspection program is connected to some fatigue usage factor level between 0.5 and 1.

Translating the Past: Rethinking Rajatarangini Narratives in Colonial India

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chitralekha Zutshi
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Relative Significance ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
The Past ◽  
Its Regions ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The Status ◽  
Multiple Levels

The status of Kalhana's poem Rajatarangini was mediated in colonial India in part through its English translations. However, the intent of the translations has been insufficiently analyzed in the context of the interrelationship between Orientalist and nationalist projects and the historical and literary ideas that informed them. The translators of Rajatarangini framed the text as more than a solitary example of Indian historical writing; rather, they engaged with it on multiple levels, drawing out, debating, and rethinking the definitions of literature and history and the relative significance of and relationship between them in capturing the identity of the nation and its regions. This article examines two translations of the text—one “Orientalist” and the other “nationalist”—with the purpose of interrogating these categories, by drawing out the complex engagement between European and indigenous ideas, and the dialogue between past and present that informed their production.

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