Development of Biochemical Concepts from Ancient to Modern Times. HENRY M. LEICESTER, Harvard Monographs in the History of Science, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1974, 286 pp., $ 15.

2002 ◽  
Vol 09 (03) ◽  
pp. 291-299
Author(s):  
Milan M. Ćirković

Recent intriguing discussion of heat death by Kutrovátz is critically examined. It is shown that there exists another way of answering the heat death puzzle, already present in the ancient philosophical tradition. This alternative route relies not only on the final duration of time (which has been re-discovered in modern times), but also on the notion of observational self-selection, which has received wide publicity in the last several decades under the title of the anthropic principle(s). We comment here on some further deficiencies of the account of Kutrovátz. Although the questions Kutrovátz raises are important and welcome, there are several errors in his treatment of cosmology which mar his account of the entire topic. In addition, the nascent discipline of physical eschatology holds promise of answering the basic explanatory task concerning the future evolution of the universe without appealing to metaphysics. This is a completely novel feature in the history of science, in contradistinction to the historical examples discussed by Kutrovátz.


Author(s):  
Dino Del Pino

The explanation of Simão Bacamarte’s personal and public dimensions introduces the diegetic scenario that aims to highlight the part played by madness as a pretext for social control. After recuperating the conditions to which senseless people submitted to in modern times, especially in France, we point to the hubris as relevant in the field of science, exemplifying it by using the intertextual link between The Alienist and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. During the conclusion, we aimed to show – after drawing a brief parallel between Simão and Brás Cubas – that Simão represents a parody of “the scientist”, a character that took shape with the evolution of the history of science and which was given unprecedented value after the 19th century.


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