Science and Periodicals

Author(s):  
Sally Shuttleworth

Periodicals offer a wonderful guide to the Victorian age, and to the ways in which science entered into the general culture of the time. This study considers a range of different kinds of periodicals, and the diverse ways in which they engaged with contemporary science. Although evolutionary theory was obviously a significant presence, it formed only one part of a complex picture. In the literary-oriented periodicals, for example, we find particular emphasis placed on the ways in which scientific thinking appeared to intersect with the interests of fiction and poetry, whether in theories of selfhood or personal responsibility, or the relations between science and religion. There was also, more generally, a fascination with new inventions, and the possibilities opened up by new technologies, such as the ingenious suggestion for a ‘whispering machine’. Periodicals offer an intricate picture of a society grappling with rapid social and cultural change, charged with the immediacy which comes from their serial and time-bound nature. In their integration of cutting-edge science with the latest fiction or social commentary they established a model we could do well to emulate.

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Mesoudi

AbstractJablonka & Lamb's (J&L's) extended evolutionary theory is more amenable to being applied to human cultural change than standard neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory. However, the authors are too quick to dismiss past evolutionary approaches to human culture. They also overlook a potential parallel between evolved genetic mechanisms that enhance evolvability and learned cognitive mechanisms that enhance learnability.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon C. Lohse

The earliest Lowland Maya are commonly recognized by permanent architecture and the appearance of pottery. However, when other lines of evidence are considered, strong continuities with late Archaic populations can be seen. Reconciling these views relies on more than simply gathering more data. It is also necessary to consider the effect of decades of scholarship that defines the precolumbian Maya as “civilization” rather than considering the historical contexts of important transitions, such as the one that culminated with sedentism, the adoption of new technologies, and participation in long-distance exchange. The Archaic-to-Preclassic transition was relatively brief and largely obscured by the practices of establishing permanent dwellings. Nevertheless, this period must have been extremely dynamic and marked by significant cultural change, making it important to researchers interested in early Mesoamerica. Using three lines of evidence—subsistence, economy and technology, and stratigraphically controlled radiocarbon data—this article argues that the Lowland Maya had their cultural origins at least in the late Archaic and that the case for pottery before ca. 1000 B.C. remains uncertain. Future research is needed to determine precisely how far back in time certain cultural practices that characterize Preclassic and Classic Maya society can be documented.


ICONI ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 126-136
Author(s):  
Nadezhda A. Tsareva ◽  

The relevance of the topic is due to the attention to trends in the development of culture. The synthesis of cultural forms is one of the important factors in the dynamics of culture. The teaching of Russian symbolism about the synthesis of cultures was analyzed in the scientifi c literature of the entire twentieth century. The novelty of the research is to compare the idea of art synthesis in the early twentieth and twenty-fi rst centuries. Two aspects of the idea of synthesis are considered: 1) the relevance of the idea of art synthesis in the postmodern era; 2) music and the visual series as organizing centers of art synthesis in the era of information technology. The purpose of this article is to examine the teaching of Russian symbolism about the integration of various forms of art and the features of synthesis in the postmodern era. The idea of integrating cultural forms was one of the key elements in Russian symbolism at the beginning of the twentieth century and was interpreted as a real prospect for the development of culture. In a broad sense, synthesis in symbolism meant the integrity of life, the integration of all spheres of human activity, the “organic connection” of cultures of the past and present. The synthesis can be realized on the basis of the art of symbolism, which can create a new culture. The synthesis of arts was understood as the beginning of the formation of a new culture. The core of the synthesis of arts, the symbolists saw music. Postmodern art is characterized by synthetism. Computer and information technologies create new forms of synthetic media art. The video series becomes the center of integration construction of postmodern audiovisual culture forms. The symbolist idea of the synthesis of arts as the beginning of cultural change in the postmodern era remains a utopian project. But the creation of new art forms in postmodern culture i s based on integration. New technologies are becoming a factor that determines the specifi cs of the synthesis of arts and infl uences the dynamics of culture. Both in Russian symbolism and in modern art, the goal of art synthesis is to present an integral image of the world, to form a system of worldview attitudes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis ◽  
John E. Greer

A sample of 2129 pupils in the third through sixth years of Protestant and Catholic grammar schools in Northern Ireland completed an index concerned with attitudes towards creationism and evolutionary theory. The data demonstrate that among this age group in Northern Ireland, 48 percent accept the view that “God created the world as described in the Bible,” while 33 percent accept the view that “Science disproves the biblical account of creation.” Support for creationism is stronger among girls than boys, among Protestants than Catholics, and among third and fourth year students than fifth and sixth year students. The results have implications for understanding the conflict between science and religion and for both science educators and religious educators.


First Monday ◽  
2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tore Slaatta

Architecture and media technology is melting into each other, and buildings are turning into becoming media infrastructure. Following Sharon Zukin's suggestions on how to interpret urban change as social and cultural change, the article discuss how our new electronic landscapes mediates, both symbolically and materially, between the socio-spatial differentiation of capital implied by market and the socio-spatial homogeneity of labour suggested by place. The focus is set on how large media corporations are presently developing building projects where the use of screen technology is an important element. These projects are analysed as reflecting shifting corporate and cultural ideas about the relations between media and society: a new material and symbolic relation between constructed spaces for symbolic creativity in the global audio visual industry and global urban centres. As with all "new" technologies, the convergence of buildings and media technology has been envisaged for some time; what is new is not necessarily the idea, but the ways in which current technology makes it possible. As the technological possibilities of urban screens unfold, we become able to analyse their social and cultural consequences more fully.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-133
Author(s):  
John Henry King

Abstrak Seperti yang dikatakan oleh Pendeta David Platt, Pendeta Utama di Gereja Alkitab McLean di Washington, D.C., dengan tepat menyatakannya, “Injil adalah sumber kehidupan Kekristenan.” Di sinilah letak motif Kristen;” menyatakan Dewan Misionaris 1928, “sederhana. Kita tidak bisa hidup tanpa Kristus dan kita tidak tahan memikirkan manusia yang hidup tanpa Dia.” Bagi Dr. Platt tantangannya adalah “bagaimana menghidupi Injil itu dalam kehidupan kita, keluarga, dan gereja di zaman kebingungan seksual, aborsi legal, materialisme yang merajalela, rasisme yang kejam, meningkatnya krisis pengungsi, berkurangnya kebebasan beragama, dan sejumlah masalah sosial penting lainnya.” Dalam karyanya “From Christendom to Apostolic Mission” Uskup Kagan, Uskup Bismarck, North Dakota, melihat perlunya Gereja sekali lagi mengenakan jubah misionaris karena kita tidak lagi hidup dalam budaya kristen. Stanley Hauerwas, seorang teolog, ahli etika Amerika, dalam karyanya, "The Christian Difference, or Surviving Postmodernism," menyebut karya kita "perjuangan hidup dan mati dengan dunia." …menambahkan: “Saya pikir adalah kesalahan serius untuk tidak menganggap serius postmodernisme.” Hauerwas melihat orang-orang percaya sebagai “komunitas di pengasingan.” (Postmodernisme adalah intelektualisme yang melelahkan dunia yang tidak lagi memandang kehidupan dalam kerangka prinsip-prinsip absolut atau universal. Mereka melangkah lebih jauh dengan mengatakan bahwa semua pemikiran sama-sama relevan (bahwa tidak ada batasan, tidak ada aturan, tidak ada hierarki, tidak ada realitas objektif). dan semua fakta hanyalah 'konstruksi sosial.') Seperti yang ditulis Dr. Platt, “Sebagai pengikut Kristus, kita membodohi diri sendiri jika kita tidak menghadapi kenyataan bahwa kepercayaan dan ketaatan kepada Alkitab di zaman anti-Kristen pasti akan membawa risiko dalam keluarga, masa depan, hubungan seseorang. , reputasi, karier, dan kenyamanan di dunia ini.” Dunia menaruh kepercayaan mereka pada kemajuan evolusioner bukan pada Tuhan. Menurut Kejadian 1 Tuhan adalah Pencipta kita yang pertama. Kreasionisme tidak memiliki kesamaan dengan teori evolusi. Teori evolusi menunjukkan bahwa kita sedang menuju dunia utopis di mana "survival of the fittest" adalah proses alami meninggalkan yang terbaik dari yang terbaik, bukan pemeliharaan ilahi yang merencanakan untuk mengakhiri dosa dan korupsi. Pemikiran postmodern dan teori evolusi menentang apa yang dimaksud dengan eskatologi Kristen. Allah sebagai Pencipta kita menciptakan kita, untuk kemuliaan-Nya. Jika ini tidak benar, Roma 3:23 akan menjadi omong kosong, karena kita tidak dapat mengabaikan hubungan yang menurut postmodernisme materialistis tidak ada. Dosa dan penghakiman Tuhan sekarang diejek oleh doktrin bahwa pengetahuan, kebenaran, dan moralitas hanya ada dalam kaitannya dengan budaya. Susunan Kristen telah digantikan dengan realitas materialistis. Kami, dalam kebenaran sederhana, misionaris untuk perubahan budaya. Apologet Kristen J. F. Baldwin mengakui pentingnya kehidupan yang heroik dan dipenuhi Roh, sebagai argumen paling kuat yang memberi isyarat kepada orang-orang yang tidak percaya kepada iman. “Manusia modern lebih bersedia mendengarkan saksi daripada guru,” Paus Paulus Keenam mengamati. Kita sekarang, sebagai Peter, harus menyelesaikan masalah ini di dalam hati kita. Upaya untuk membungkam kita harus gagal. Ketika sampai pada pesan Injil tentang Salib, “Kita harus lebih taat kepada Allah daripada kepada manusia” (Kisah Para Rasul 5:29) Abstract As Pastor David Platt, Lead Pastor at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C., so aptly states it, “The Gospel is the lifeblood of Christianity.” Herein lies the Christian motive;” states the 1928 Missionary Council, “it is simple. We cannot live without Christ and we cannot bear to think of men living without Him.” To Dr. Platt the challenge is “how to live out that gospel in our lives, families, and churches in an age of sexual confusion, legal abortion, rampant materialism, violent racism, escalating refugee crises, diminishing religious liberties, and a number of other significant social issues.” In his work “From Christendom to Apostolic Mission” Bishop Kagan, the Bishop of Bismarck, North Dakota, sees the necessity for the Church to once again don the mantle of the missionary since we are no longer living in a christian culture. Stanley Hauerwas, an American theologian, ethicist, in his work, “The Christian Difference, or Surviving Postmodernism,” called ours ”a life and death struggle with the world.” …adding: “I think it is a serious mistake not to take postmodernism seriously.” Hauerwas saw believers as “a community-in-exile.” (Postmodernism is a world-weary intellectualism that no longer views life in terms of absolutes or universal principles. They go so far as to say that all thought is equally relevant (that there are no boundaries, no rules, no hierarchies, no objective reality and all facts are just ‘social constructs.’) As Dr. Platt writes, “As followers of Christ, we are fooling ourselves if we don’t face the reality that belief in and obedience to the Bible in an anti-Christian age will inevitably lead to risk in one’s family, future, relationships, reputation, career, and comfort in this world.” The world puts their faith in an evolutionary progress not in God. According to Genesis 1 God is first our Creator. Creationism has nothing in common with evolutionary theory. Evolutionary theory suggests we are heading toward a utopian world where “survival of the fittest” is a natural process leaving the best of the best instead of a divine providence that plans an end to sin and corruption. Postmodern thought and evolutionary theory counters what Christian eschatology is all about. God as our Creator made us, for His glory. If this were untrue, Romans 3:23 would be nonsense, since we cannot fall short of a relationship that a materialistic postmodernism says doesn’t exist. Sin and God’s judgment is now mocked by the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality only exist in relation to culture. Christendom has been replaced with a materialistic reality. We are, in simple truth, missionaries to cultural change. Christian apologist J. F. Baldwin recognizes the importance of heroic, Spirit-filled living, as the most powerful argument beckoning nonbelievers to the faith. “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers,” Pope Paul the Sixth observed. We now, as Peter, must settle the matter in our hearts. The effort to silence us must fail. When it comes to the Gospel message of the Cross, “ We must obey God rather than people” (Acts 5:29)


2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 179-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolai Basel ◽  
Ute Harms ◽  
Helmut Prechtl ◽  
Thomas Weiß ◽  
Martin Rothgangel

Two widely heralded yet contested approaches to economics have emerged in recent years. One follows an older, rather neglected approach which emphasizes evolutionary theory in terms of individuals and institutions. The other emphasizes economies as complex adaptive systems. Important concepts from evolutionary theory include the distinction between proximate and ultimate causation, multilevel selection, cultural change as an evolutionary process, and human psychology as a product of gene–culture coevolution. Relevant concepts from complexity theory include self-organization, fractals, chaos, sensitive dependence, basins of attraction, and path dependence. This book explores these two bodies of theory and their potential impact on economics. Central themes include the challenges that emerge through integration, evolutionary behavioral economics, and the evolution of institutions. Practical applications are provided and avenues for future research highlighted.


Author(s):  
Isabela Maria Silva Leão ◽  
Fernanda de Jesus Costa ◽  
Graça Simões Carvalho ◽  
Heslley Machado Silva

This work aimed to analyse students’ conceptions in a graduate course of biology teachers at the University Centre of Formiga, Minas Gerais, Brazil, of topics related to evolutionary theory (Chance and Natural selection) and creationism (God and Intelligent design). We used a part of the European BIOHEAD-CITIZEN questionnaire in a sample of 56 students, studying in their 2nd, 4th and 6th terms. The four-category Barbour model (conflict, independence, dialogue and integration) was used to analyse the data and characterise the students’ ideas of the relationship between science and religion. Using the Pearson chi-square statistical test (χ2), the differences among the groups of students were tested, at the statistical significance level of 5%. The results show that most students are able to establish a relationship of independence between issues of evolutionary theory and creationism. Even religious students can establish boundaries that separate the fields of science and religion. Due to the importance of evolutionary theory for science and for biology in particular, it is necessary for new research to be carried out in the Brazilian context to determine students’ and teachers’ perceptions on the topic and to improve the teaching of evolutionary theory in the biological context and to refrain from inserting personal religious considerations into general science and biology classes.


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