4. Superstition in the modern world

2020 ◽  
pp. 56-86
Author(s):  
Stuart Vyse
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Magical Thinking ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Supernatural Beliefs

After the years of rapid scientific progress that followed the Enlightenment, the label ‘superstitious’, with rare exceptions, was now applied to unscientific beliefs that defied reason. Despite the growing dominance of scientific reasoning, superstition, pseudoscience, and magical thinking did not go away. ‘Superstitions in the modern world’ first considers 19th-century spiritualism, a social movement that kept supernatural beliefs alive before science became a more mature enterprise. It then turns to the kinds of popular superstitions that survive today from lucky and unlucky numbers and colours to certain objects and behaviours and discusses their origins. It also looks at some more elaborate systems of superstition.

Corruption as a Political Issue in Modern Societies: France, Great Britain and the United States in the Long 19th Century

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Ivo Engels
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Bureaucratic State

The so-called “long 19th century”, from the French Revolution to the First World War, ranks as the crucial phase in the genesis of the modern world. In the Western countries this period was characterized by the differentiation of the public and the private spheres, the birth of the modern bureaucratic state and the delegitimation of early modern practices such as clientelism and patronage. All these fundamental changes are, among other things, usually considered important preconditions for the modern perception of corruption.This paper will concentrate on this crucial phase by means of a comparative analysis of debates in France, Great Britain and the United States, with the aim to elucidate the motives for major anti-corruption movements. The questions are: who fights against corruption and what are the reasons for doing so? I will argue that these concerns were often very different and sometimes accidental. Furthermore, an analysis of political corruption may reveal differences between the political cultures in the countries in question. Thus, the history of corruption serves as a sensor which enables a specific perspective on politics. By taking this question as a starting point the focus is narrowed to political corruption and the debates about corruption, while petty bribery on the part of minor civilservants, as well as the actual practice in the case of extensive political corruption, is left aside.

Religion and Toleration from the Enlightenment to the Post-Secular Era

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Forst
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Pierre Bayle ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter addresses the classical question of the relationship between enlightenment and religion. In doing so, the chapter compares Jürgen Habermas's thought to that of Pierre Bayle and Immanuel Kant. For, although Habermas undoubtedly stands in a tradition founded by Bayle and Kant, he develops a number of important orientations within this tradition and has changed his position in his recent work. The chapter studies this change to understand Habermas's position better. It also draws attention to a fundamental question raised by the modern world: what common ground can human reason establish in the practical and theoretical domain between human beings who are divided by profoundly different religious (including antireligious) views?

Characteristics of Scientific Inquiry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Miksza ◽  
Kenneth Elpus
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Statistical Tools ◽  
Basic Characteristics ◽  
Historical Developments

This chapter introduces the reader to basic characteristics of science and situates the design and analysis considerations presented throughout the book within the context of scientific inquiry. A brief description of key historical developments regarding the philosophy of science is provided. An overview of the fundamental aspects of inductive and deductive scientific reasoning and the importance of falsification to scientific progress is presented. In addition, the values of objectivity and transparency as well as the importance of scientific community are stressed. The usefulness of statistical tools for helping researchers clarify their questions, establish criteria for their judgments, and communicate evidence for their claims is also discussed.

scholarly journals QUANTUM COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-59
Author(s):  
Antonio Manzalini ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Information Communication Technologies ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
5G Network ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Second Wave

Today, like never before, we are witnessing a pervasive diffusion of ultra-broadband fixed-mobile connectivity, the deployment of Cloud-native 5G network and service platforms, and the wide adoption of Artificial Intelligence. It has the so-called Digital Transformation of our Society: as a matter of fact, the transformative role of Telecommunications and Information Communication Technologies (ICT) has long been witnessed as a precursor of scientific progress and economic growth in the modern world. Nevertheless, this transformation is still laying its foundations on Electronics and the impending end of Moore’s Law: therefore, a rethinking of the long-term ways of doing computation and communications has been already started. Among these different ways, quantum technologies might trigger the next innovation breakthrough in the medium long-term. In this direction, the paper provides an overview of the state of the art, challenges, and opportunities posed by an expected second wave of quantum technologies and services.

Orientalism in the Art Music of the Ionian Islands

2019 ◽  
pp. 296-317
Author(s):  
Kostas Kardamis
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Ionian Islands ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The 19Th Century

The Ionian Islands were at an early stage cut off from the Eastern Roman Empire, experienced the changes that came with the Renaissance, actively participated in the Enlightenment and were in contact with the multifarious ideologies of the 19th century. These factors transformed their art music, which followed the ‘western’ trends. In this context, ‘orientalism’ appeared as an additional creative element in certain indigenous composers’ works. Its use ranged from the stereotypical ‘western’ approach regarding the Orient to the employment of ‘oriental’ elements as media of political (especially during the struggles for the Islands’ annexation to the Greek Kingdom), national (as a conventional ‘Greek characteristic’) and social statements, and as a way for the works’ entrepreneurial promotion to a larger audience. The chapter discusses these changing—and often concurrent and diverging—attitudes through case studies; it stresses that ‘orientalism’ never became a compositional fixation for Ionian Islands composers.

Into the Ghost-land

2020 ◽  
pp. 8-11
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Guerrilla Warfare ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Main Study ◽  
Magical Thinking ◽  
The World ◽  
The Senses ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Main Study Area

This chapter describes the arrival of the Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP) archaeologists at the derelict Hejaz Railway—GARP’s main study area—which snakes across the deserts and wadis of southern Jordan, from the medieval town of Ma’an to the Bedouin settlement of Mudawwara near the border with Saudi Arabia. There was an enchantment of the senses in finding traces of the world’s first global industrialized conflict alongside those of deep prehistory, churned together it seems by the advent of modern guerrilla warfare, where time is built into the relationship between metal and rust. The sand itself has been touched, blown, and sifted by history, from Nabatean spice traders to Hajj pilgrims, from Ottoman Turkish troops to the Bedouin. Each of these experienced the desert in their own way, and like others in distant parts of the world, brought their own magical thinking to bear on their surroundings. Indeed, the empty desert is anything but, and the ruins of the Arab Revolt emerge from it as a unique heritage of the modern world.

Edwards the Mentor

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhys S. Bezzant
Keyword(s):  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Mentoring Relationship ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Metropolitan Cities ◽  
The One

Among his many accolades, Jonathan Edwards was an effective mentor who trained many leaders for the church. Though his pastoral work is often overlooked, this book investigates the background, method, theological rationale, and legacy of his mentoring ministry. He does what mentors normally do—meeting with individuals to discuss ideas and grow in skills—but undertakes these activities in a distinctly modern or affective key. His correspondence is composed in an informal style, his understanding of friendship and conversation takes up the conventions of the great metropolitan cities of Europe of his day, his pedagogical commitments are surprisingly progressive, and his aspirations for those he mentors are bold and subversive. The practice of mentoring is presented in this book as the exchange between authority and agency, in which the more experienced person in the mentoring relationship empowers the one in the position of a learner, whose own character and competencies are nurtured. When Edwards explains his mentoring practice theologically, he expounds the theme of seeing God face to face, which recognizes that human beings learn through the example of friends as well as the exposition of propositions. The book is a case study in cultural engagement, for Edwards deliberately takes up certain features of the modern world in his mentoring and yet resists other pressures that the Enlightenment generated. If his world witnessed the philosophical evacuation of God from the created order, Edwards’s mentoring is designed to draw God back into an intimate connection with human experience.

Ideas for Your “Bag of Tricks”

1958 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 265-267
Author(s):  
Humphrey C. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Experienced Teacher ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
Electronic Computing ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Computing Machines

The experienced teacher has a bag of tricks of the trade at her command every day and uses a wide variety of them in the daily work of the classroom. You have doubtless heard a great deal recently about the discovery technique because in the hands of a skilled teacher it is said to provide (1) interest for the learner, and (2) satisfaction to the teacher. In our modern world, methods used a generation ago do not seem to create the same interest on the part of the student. The student of today needs to feel that today's methods are the newest, best, and most effective. With the advent of television, scientific progress, electronic computing machines, space satellites, supersonic speeds, intercontinental missiles and the like, he has a right to expect teachers who are alert, well informed, specialists in their fields and who can employ effective, modern methods of instruction.

Succession Rights of Muslim Women in the Modern World: An Analytical Appraisal

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-135
Author(s):  
Mohd Altaf Hussain Ahangar
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Uniform Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Law Of Succession ◽  
The 19Th Century

Islam allows women the right to succession on the principle of a double share to a man and a single share to a woman. This principle is in reality an improvement on the operating law even in the 19th century wherein women were totally excluded from succession. Presently all Muslims are not governed by a uniform succession law. There are Muslim countries where the Shari‛ah is followed in theory while in reality a woman is excluded from inheritance. There are Muslim countries where Muslim women are allowed equal succession rights with men. Most non-Muslim countries have a uniform law of succession for all its citizens. This article addresses the question as to whether the modern law operating particularly in non-Muslim countries in comparison to Islamic law does better justice to nearer female heirs.

scholarly journals Filozoficzno-historyczne zaplecze etyki biznesu

2018 ◽  
pp. 151-179
Author(s):  
Paweł Więckowski
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
European Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Culture ◽  
The 19Th Century

The text describes different philosophical concepts and historically important cultural phenomena that should be considered while rethinking ethical side of business. Broad range of both philosophical (such as the search for the foundations of morality, social contract) and social subjects (such as history of centralized state, individualism) is presented to help the reflections. The background for analysis is the history of culture, especially of primary collective society; contrasted with it is individualism of classical Athens with corresponding reaction of philosophers; development of state and Christianity in Roman Empire; organismic medieval state; Renaissance, reformation and the birth of capitalism; the Enlightenment breakthrough and English capitalism; liberalism and Darwinism of the 19th century; the catastrophe of European culture and success of America of the 20th century.

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