An American Collection of Source Books for the History of Navigation

1955 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-223
Author(s):  
E. G. R. Taylor

A country that frowns on rich men must be content to let its rare books cross the ocean. Certainly it will lose all those which make no appeal to the literary man, and those to which the devotee of ‘pure’ science is indifferent, since these are the two groups who might be consulted before such a transference, or whose protests would be listened to. Hence it is that, because only a tiny minority has as yet been interested in the crude beginnings of applied science and technology, a discerning American member of the Institute, Mr. Henry C. Taylor, has formed a collection of about one hundred and fifty books which tell the story of how skippers and pilots were taught to set course and make port during the Great Age of Discovery and Colonization. Nearly half of these books are in English, and this is understandable, for although the pioneers of the new methods of navigation were the Portuguese, the English sailor took pride of place after the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Mr. Taylor appears at one time to have been satisfied with the breezy statement of Captain Smith of Virginia in 1626 that the seaman was sufficiently equipped if he had his Almanack, his Waggoner, a manual or two, and knew a good instrument-maker like Master Bates on Tower Hill. But one book leads to another, and, having got together these half-dozen books, he began to study them.

Philosophy ◽  
1949 ◽  
Vol 24 (88) ◽  
pp. 56-68
Author(s):  
Paul Arthur Schilpp

Philosophy, I know, is philosophia perennis. A “dated” philosophy, therefore, would appear almost to amount to a contradiction in terms. In this sense the “challenge” implied by the title of this paper seems out of place. A challenge to philosophers—well, perhaps. But a challenge to philosophers in the atomic age (or, for that matter, in any specific age)—no!In general such an objection is well taken. But we are, of course, never confronted with a situation “in general,” but always with a very specific—and to-day, moreover, with a unique—situation. It is a situation which has changed radically even since the close of official hostilities at the so-called end of World War II. True enough, the history of the two world-wars had already brought home to us the fact that, with the accelerating development of applied science and technology, wars were rapidly approaching a tremendous scale of destructive power. Thus it became difficult to imagine any possibilities of still more powerful implements of devastation.


Author(s):  
Ahmad Hasan Ridwan

The idea of Cak Nur (Nurkholish Madjid)in the history of Islamic thought is a complex actual problem. His ideas can be portrayed in two ways, namely pure science and applied science. In the area of "pure science," inclusive hermeneutics is a unique basis for the idea of pluralism. Inclusive hermeneutics views pluralism as a product of a new intellectual tradition. The new intellectual tradition certainly brings a change agenda in the process of the historical continuity of thought in Indonesia. The purpose of this article is to analyze the inclusive hermeneutics of Cak Nur in the concept of fiqh pluralism. The conclusion of this article is that Cak Nur is able to conduct various discourses over the boundaries of normativity so that he can enter the universal realm. This can be seen in the discourse on religions and culture. Cak Nur can break through the barriers that exist in these two problems by trying to dialogue the meeting point of the equation. As a scholar, Cak Nur took this position so that he could sit together with other scientists from various cultures and different beliefs to dialogue and discuss a problem objectively. In the area of applied science, there is an internal influence regarding Islam. This area must be held by Cak Nur because if someone has offered a value, he will enter the element of subjectivity. In studying Islam, he became a Muslim scholar who enlightened byhis flexibility and scientific authority.


1980 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 33-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.F. Ray

The world's non-renewable resources are obviously finite—and the renewable ones are also limited—and without scientific and technological advance mankind would long ago have been facing serious material shortages. Earlier anxieties, however, did not materialise since new materials have been discovered or new methods introduced to produce and process them. This study surveys the history of some three dozen materials which are new, or were ‘new’ at the time of their introduction in general use. Many of them were developed or discovered as the outcome of a need—wartime or market pressure—whilst others were the result of spontaneous and random scientific/technological push. The conclusion suggests that whilst history does not necessarily repeat itself in solving future problems of material shortages it provides basis for the hope that progress will overcome possibly emerging scarcities.


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