The Palingenesis of De rerum natura

1994 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 81-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Schiesaro

1. If I had to sum up as concisely as I possibly can the subject matter of this paper, I would probably say that it was originally stimulated by the attempt to understand how Lucretius articulated his didactic plot. What is the plot of a poem that presents itself as analysing nothing less than ‘the nature of things’? It is safe to assume as a starting-point that a didactic poem which intends to revolutionize each and every principle of perception and evaluation of reality cannot remain unaffected by the theoretical views it tries to prove, and that the persuasive impact of those theories on the reader will inevitably be strengthened or weakened by the way the text situates itself in respect to those theories: the poem itself will be the most effective or the most damning example of its own theories.

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Maddy

AbstractThis talk surveys a range of positions on the fundamental metaphysical and epistemological questions about elementary logic, for example, as a starting point: what is the subject matter of logic—what makes its truths true? how do we come to know the truths of logic? A taxonomy is approached by beginning from well-known schools of thought in the philosophy of mathematics—Logicism, Intuitionism, Formalism, Realism—and sketching roughly corresponding views in the philosophy of logic. Kant, Mill, Frege, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Ayer, Quine, and Putnam are among the philosophers considered along the way.


Nuncius ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 584-609
Author(s):  
Simona Valeriani

This article takes as a starting point amateur architects in 17th-century England. It considers architectural writings including Henry Wotton’s Elements of Architecture (1624), Sir Balthasar Gerbier’s Councel and Advice to All Builders (1663) as well as Sir Roger Pratt’s and Sir Roger North’s notes on architecture and several building manuals. It enquires into the different kinds of knowledge and professional figures associated with architecture in the period. The paper scrutinizes how being a lover of architecture influenced the actors’ approach to other branches of knowledge such as garden design and agriculture. Did being an amateur shape the way in which one went about apparently more trivial aspects of life such as managing one’s estate? Comparing Roger Pratt’s unpublished notes with other contemporary sources on agriculture and estate management, it provides an insight into distinctive ways in which “amateurs” approached the subject.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-382
Author(s):  
Dunja Fehimović ◽  
Ruth Goldberg

Carlos Lechuga’s film Santa y Andrés (2016) has enjoyed worldwide acclaim as an intimate, dramatic portrayal of the unlikely friendship that develops in rural Cuba between Andrés, a gay dissident writer, and Santa, the militant citizen who has been sent to surveil him. Declared to be extreme and/or inaccurate in its historical depictions, the film was censored in Cuba and was the subject of intense controversy and public polemics surrounding its release in 2016. Debates about the film’s subject matter and its censorship extend ongoing disagreement over the role of art within the Cuban Revolution, and the changing nature of the Cuban film industry itself. This dossier brings together new scholarship on Santa y Andrés and is linked to an online archive of some of the original essays that have been written about the film by Cuban critics and filmmakers since 2016. The aim of this project is to create a starting point for researchers who wish to investigate Santa y Andrés, evaluating the film both for its contentious initial reception, and in terms of its enduring contribution to the history of Cuban cinema.


Author(s):  
William Welstead

Wildlife art does not receive the critical attention that it deserves. In this chapter, William Welstead considers how the images made after close observation in the field incorporate the signs and visual clues that enable us to identify the species, have some idea of what the individuals are doing and how they relate to the wider environment. These are all important factors in building an informed view of the non-human world and establishing how we feel about it. Wildlife artists tread a difficult path between serving science and catering for the affective response of viewers and between the representational and the abstract in depicting their subject matter. Welstead suggests that the way we recognise wildlife by its overall look or ‘jizz’ means that drawings and paintings can capture in a few lines and shapes the essence of the creature. This economical application of lines and colour therefore allows for at least some level of abstraction. The subject would merit further attention from ecocritics.


This chapter presents various aspects of material handling devices. At first, brief guidelines about the way to select various material handling devices is provided, followed by various material handling tasks and equipment. Based on the subject matter of this book, this chapter provides an overview of various intelligent techniques which have been applied to various aspects of intelligent vehicles. The last section provides overviews of all the subsequent chapters.


Author(s):  
Filippo Sabetti

This article attempts to take stock of the state of research on democracy and culture by providing answers to several sets of questions. It seeks to improve the understanding of the relationship between culture and action, and between political culture and democratic outcomes. The article begins by exploring the way the literature has dealt with the possible meaning of culture and political culture and their relationship to action. It also suggests why there has been little contribution to democracy derived from political culture research, and identifies how the efforts to rethink how and why the subject matter is approached in certain ways led many analysts to break out of established epistemological demarcations. This eventually led to the reinvigorated tools of investigation and research on democracy and civic culture. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications of improved tools of investigation for future research.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kostas Boyiopoulos

This essay looks at Arthur Machen's underexplored experimental masterpiece The Hill of Dreams (1897/1907), his personal novel rooted in the Decadent nineties. Its daringness does not just lie in the subject matter but also in the manner its stylistic techniques evoke. The present investigation is interested in Machen's multifarious use of the image of the maze/labyrinth – or Welsh caerdroia – an apt symbol for the presentation of London. Machen's labyrinth is a motif, a metaphor for the thought process, and a metafictional device. In the story of Lucian Taylor, the troubled self-destructive litterateur, the labyrinthine characterises not only setting, terrain, self-movement, mind, and textual tissue, but also the way these components, or modalities, come together. Aside from showcasing the various ways the labyrinth materialises in The Hill of Dreams, the essay argues that Machen's achievement consists of a discursive meta-labyrinth that cuts across, or combines, the different spheres of consciousness, terrain, and textuality. The concepts of pattern recognition, liminal thresholds, and ‘infolding’ are employed in support of the claims made.


Antichthon ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 58-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Burton

AbstractThis paper discusses a series of archaic poems in which one poet responds directly to the work of another, identifying the other by name or by direct allusion (for example, Simonides frag. 542 PMG, Solon frag. 20 West, Sappho frag. 137 Voigt). Such responses often disagree with their models, and this disagreement is frequently constructed in terms of a correction, not only to the subject matter, but also to the way in which the original is composed. These responses, therefore, not only reflect the pattern of improvisation and ‘capping’ common to much Greek poetry, but form an ongoing debate on the nature and role of the poet and his poetry. The construction of such responses also serves to underline both the importance of improvisation and the permanency of the fame conveyed by the completed poem.


Author(s):  
Olga Jimeno Blunes

<p>A dos hechos debe A Satyr Against Mankind (1675) su fama y su interés para la crítica: por un lado, a que como primer ejemplo de su clase en la literatura inglesa contiene abundantes referencias a autores u obras clásicas y de su momento; por otro, sin olvidar la polémica personalidad de su autor, a que algo en sus versos parece indicar que la voz satírica no es sino el trasunto de un Conde de Rochester desengañado y en contra de su propio destino como hombre. Sin embargo, la maestría del poeta de la Restauración no radica tanto en la originalidad de su tema como en su tratamiento de éste, de modo que se puede incluso dudar de su discutido carácter autobiográfico si se analiza la estructura de su contenido, organizado según los procedimientos retóricos propios del género y de la época.</p><p>Two are the facts to which A Satyr Against Mankind (1675) owes its critical interest and fame. To begin with, as the first example of its kind written in English, its numerous literary sources can be traced back from the Classics to the contemporary works of the XVII century intellectuals. Secondly, considering Rochester's own polemic character and personality, there is something in its satirical voice that seems to be revealing but the poet's own frustration and rejection of his destiny as a man. Nevertheless, Rochester's mastery does not lie in the originality of the subject matter but in the N vay he handles his materials. Thus it is possible to question the controversial issue of biographical evidence in this poem by analysing the structure of its content and the way thought is organised under the rhetoric principies in vigour at the time.</p>


Author(s):  
Beale Hugh ◽  
Bridge Michael ◽  
Gullifer Louise ◽  
Lomnicka Eva

This chapter discusses the significance of distinguishing between the various types of property over which security may be taken, or which may be the subject matter of a retention of title or other quasi-security device, since the same general principles will be applicable whatever the nature of the property. There are also differences between the various kinds of property, which will mean that the way the law applies in practice will differ. Thus, a charge over either ‘inventory’ such as stock in trade or raw materials will in practice usually have to be a floating charge rather than a fixed one; the chapter shows how it is very difficult to take and maintain a fixed charge over book debts or other receivables.


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