scholarly journals Dialectics and the Measure of the World

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 2641-2651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Elden
Keyword(s):  
Human Geography ◽  
Alain Badiou ◽  
Abstract Thought ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Quentin Meillassoux

This ‘afterword’ to the papers on dialectics situates the debate in the ground between Marxism and poststructuralism. Rather than a wholesale rejection of the dialectic, these authors attempt to think how poststructuralism might force an encounter with it, retaining yet transforming it. Drawing on Deleuze's characterization of abstract thought as dealing with concepts that “like baggy clothes, are much too big”, and Bergson's complaint that dialectics are “too large … not tailored to the measurements of the reality in which we live”, the paper moves to thinking about the relation of dialectics, measure, and world. It does so through an interrogation of a nondialectical materialism, that of Alain Badiou and his ex-student Quentin Meillassoux, particularly Meillassoux's critique of correlationism. One of the key issues raised is the return of mathematics, and its embrace within some aspects of human geography. Raising the question of how this may reverse some of the gains of poststructuralism and Marxism in combating the reduction of the quantitative revolution, the paper concludes by asking if geography is really willing to accept mathematical ordering, not merely in terms of a way of understanding the world, but as a suggestion that this is how the world actually is.

The Sober Bacchae: Dance as Phenomenal Limitation in Nietzsche

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-76
Author(s):  
Monique Lyle
Keyword(s):  
World View ◽  
The Body ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Alain Badiou ◽  
Classical Greece ◽  
Birth Of Tragedy

This essay seeks to dispel entrenched critical opinion regarding dance across Nietzsche's writings as representative of Dionysian intoxication alone. Taking as its prompt the riposte of Alain Badiou, ‘Nietzsche is miles away from any doctrine of dance as a primitive ecstasy’ and ‘dance is in no way the liberated bodily impulse, the wild energy of the body’, the essay uncovers the ties between dance and Apollo in the Nietzschean theory of art while qualifying dance's relation to Dionysus. Primarily through an analysis of The Dionysiac World View and The Birth of Tragedy, the essay seeks to illuminate enigmatic statements about dance in Nietzsche (‘in dance the greatest strength is only potential, although it is betrayed by the suppleness of movement’ and ‘dance is the preservation of orderly measure’). It does this through an elucidation of the specific function of dance in Nietzsche's interpretation of classical Greece; via an assessment of the difficulties associated with the Nietzschean understanding of the bacchanal; and lastly through an analysis of Nietzsche's characterization of dance as a symbol. The essay culminates in a discussion of dance's ties to Nietzschean life affirmation; here the themes of physico-phenomenal existence, joy and illusion in Nietzsche are surveyed.

Speculative Realism and Science Fiction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Willems
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Cormac Mccarthy ◽  
Doris Lessing ◽  
Speculative Realism ◽  
Neil Gaiman ◽  
The World ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Quentin Meillassoux

A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid objects of investivation as humans, allowing a more responsible and truthful view of the world to take place. Brian Willems uses a range of science fiction literature that questions anthropomorphism both to develop and challenge this philosophical position. He looks at how nonsense and sense exist together in science fiction, the way in which language is not a guarantee of personhood, the role of vision in relation to identity formation, the difference between metamorphosis and modulation, representations of non-human deaths and the function of plasticity within the Anthropocene. Willems considers the works of Cormac McCarthy, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Doris Lessing and Kim Stanley Robinson are considered alongside some of the main figures of speculative materialism including Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Jane Bennett.

scholarly journals The absence of the caffeine synthase gene is involved in the naturally decaffeinated status of Coffea humblotiana, a wild species from Comoro archipelago

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Raharimalala ◽  
Stephane Rombauts ◽  
Andrew McCarthy ◽  
Andréa Garavito ◽  
Simon Orozco-Arias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wild Species ◽  
Illegitimate Recombination ◽  
Recombination Mechanism ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Robusta Coffee ◽  
Caffeine Synthase ◽  
The World ◽  
Decaffeinated Coffee ◽  
Chromosome Level

AbstractCaffeine is the most consumed alkaloid stimulant in the world. It is synthesized through the activity of three known N-methyltransferase proteins. Here we are reporting on the 422-Mb chromosome-level assembly of the Coffea humblotiana genome, a wild and endangered, naturally caffeine-free, species from the Comoro archipelago. We predicted 32,874 genes and anchored 88.7% of the sequence onto the 11 chromosomes. Comparative analyses with the African Robusta coffee genome (C. canephora) revealed an extensive genome conservation, despite an estimated 11 million years of divergence and a broad diversity of genome sizes within the Coffea genus. In this genome, the absence of caffeine is likely due to the absence of the caffeine synthase gene which converts theobromine into caffeine through an illegitimate recombination mechanism. These findings pave the way for further characterization of caffeine-free species in the Coffea genus and will guide research towards naturally-decaffeinated coffee drinks for consumers.

scholarly journals Theoretical and Empirical Characterization of Water as a Factor: Examples and Related Issues with the World Trade Model

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 459
Author(s):  
Ignacio Cazcarro ◽  
Albert E. Steenge
Keyword(s):  
World Trade ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Considerable Change ◽  
Water Research ◽  
Trade Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Model ◽  
Selection Of

This article originates from the theoretical and empirical characterization of factors in the World Trade Model (WTM). It first illustrates the usefulness of this type of model for water research to address policy questions related to virtual water trade, water constraints and water scarcity. It also illustrates the importance of certain key decisions regarding the heterogeneity of water and its relation to the technologies being employed and the prices obtained. With regard to WTM, the global economic input–output model in which multiple technologies can produce a “homogeneous output”, it was recently shown that two different mechanisms should be distinguished by which multiple technologies can arise, i.e., from “technology-specific” or from “shared” factors, which implies a mechanism-specific set of prices, quantities and rents. We discuss and extend these characterizations, notably in relation to the real-world characterization of water as a factor (for which we use the terms technology specific, fully shared and “mixed”). We propose that the presence of these separate mechanisms results in the models being sensitive to relatively small variations in specific numerical values. To address this sensitivity, we suggest a specific role for specific (sub)models or key choices to counter unrealistic model outcomes. To support our proposal we present a selection of simulations for aggregated world regions, and show how key results concerning quantities, prices and rents can be subject to considerable change depending on the precise definitions of resource endowments and the technology-specificity of the factors. For instance, depending on the adopted water heterogeneity level, outcomes can vary from relatively low-cost solutions to higher cost ones and can even reach infeasibility. In the main model discussed here (WTM) factor prices are exogenous, which also contributes to the overall numerical sensitivity of the model. All this affects to a large extent our interpretation of the water challenges, which preferably need to be assessed in integrated frameworks, to account for the main socioeconomic variables, technologies and resources.

scholarly journals Quentin Meillassoux, Después de la finitud. Ensayo sobre la necesidad de la contingencia

ENDOXA ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 397
Author(s):  
Gastón Ricardo Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Alain Badiou ◽  
Quentin Meillassoux

Reseña de Después de la finitud, el primer libro publicado por Quentin Meillassoux (discípulo de Alain Badiou) y un ensayo que ha cobrado relevancia por ser la semilla del reciente movimiento filosófico llamado “realismo especulativo”.

Guaranteed Sweet or Guaranteed Non–Sweet – Fruit and the Future of Hortical Pty Ltd

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-16
Author(s):  
John Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Nir Spectroscopy ◽  
New Product ◽  
New Venture ◽  
Product Service ◽  
First Mover Advantage ◽  
The World ◽  
Infra Red ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Viable Business

ABSTRACTWe pick up the case as the new venture moves from a decade of dedicated scientific research into the early stages of becoming a commercially viable business. The case considers the potential of the Near Infra Red (NIR) spectroscopy technology to revolutionise the fruit markets of the world as well as the realities of trying to change existing practices and culture. The dilemma of first-mover advantage as compared to learning from the mistakes of early competitors is included. Various possible business models are introduced. The case also asks the students to consider some of the key issues of a new product/service launch.

A Novel Processing Route for the Fabrication of Monolithic and Composite Silicon Nitride

1992 ◽  
Vol 287 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. V. Raman ◽  
S. V. Rele
Keyword(s):  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Hot Isostatic Pressing ◽  
Thermal Exposure ◽  
Processing Route ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Α Phase ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Novel Processing ◽  
Composite Silicon

ABSTRACTCurrent hot isostatic consolidation methodology used for the fabrication of complex-shaped Si3N4-based components requires the use of an expensive glass encapsulation technique and extended thermal exposure (in hours) of the specimen. An alternative consolidation approach involving the use of solid pressure transmitting media under high pressure, has enabled the consolidation of Si3N4 alloys without the need for glass encapsulation.Characterization of microstructures and mechanical properties of this (MOR, fracture toughness) material has been carried out and will be presented. It has been noted that in Si 3N4/8%Y2O3-4%Al2O3 composition, consolidated using this approach, a significantly larger volume fraction of α phase has been retained compared with typically observed conversion in α⇒ β in hot isostatically pressed material or sintered material.Key issues for addressing densification and microstructure control using this process are presented. This rapid consolidation approach appears to be a promising alternative to hot isostatic pressing for the fabrication of complex-shaped Si3N4 components.

Area Studies and Desire: Towards a Genealogy

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-65
Author(s):  
Hye-Joon Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Area Studies ◽  
Western Area ◽  
The World ◽  
38Th Parallel ◽  
The One

Area studies, as a newly fashionable field of academic research, needs to recognize its less likely precedents if it is going to secure for itself a fresh start. The question of “desire” is relevant here because it indicates the less value-free aspects in its genealogy. As shown in Emma Bovary's embellished representation of Paris at her provincial home, an understanding of an area often reflects the particular needs and desires of the one who understands that area. Such restricted and restricting views of an area repeats itself outside the world of literary fictions, as is shown by the example of Guizot's picture of Europe in which his own country is given a privileged place as the very center of Western civilization itself. An instructive case showing the thin line between the projected desire of one who strives to know a geographical area and the scientific purity of the labor itself is further offered by Napoleon Bonaparte's heavy reliance on Orientalist scholarship in his invasion of Egypt. Moving further east from Egypt to China, we witness the denigrating remarks on China made by the great German thinkers of the past century, Hegel and Weber. Although their characterization of Chinese culture could find echoes in unbiased empirical research, they reveal all the same the trace of Europeans' desire to affirm their superiority over the supposedly inferior and false civilization of the East. Similarly, the Americans who divided the Korean peninsular at the 38th Parallel, with unquestioning confidence in their knowledge of the area and in the justice of their action, rightfully deserve their place in the tradition of Western area studies of serving the needs to dominate, control and exploit an objectified overseas territory. He assumed that words had kept their meaning, that desires still pointed in a single direction, and that ideas retained their logic; and he ignored the fact that the world of speech and desires has known invasions, struggles, plundering, disguises, ploys. From these elements, however, genealogy retrieves an indispensable restraint: it must record the singularity of events outside of any monotonous finality; it must seek them in the most unpromising places, in what we tend to feel is without history—in sentiments, love, conscience, instincts; it must be sensitive to their recurrence, not in order to trace the gradual curve of their evolution, but to isolate the different scenes where they engaged in different roles. — Michel Foucault, “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History” (Foucault 139–40).

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