scholarly journals Measurement, self-tracking and the history of science: An introduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fenneke Sysling
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Ideal

This article introduces the papers contained in this special issue and explores a new field of interest in the history of science: that of measurement and self-making. In this special issue, we aim to show that a focus on self-tracking and individualized measurement provides insight into the ways technologies of quantification, when applied to individual bodies and selves, have introduced new notions of autonomy, responsibility, citizenship, and the possibility of self-improvement and life-course decisions. This introduction is an exploratory history of measurement and self-making, and it provides a discussion of self-tracking in the past as part of the genealogy of present-day digital self-tracking technologies. It concludes that a focus on measurement and self-making highlights the relationship between measurement and morality, the making of the ideal of an autonomous self, capable of improvement, and the relationship between autonomy and surveillance.

Reframing the Sciences of the Long Eighteenth Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 58-66
Author(s):  
Giuliano Pancaldi
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Eighteenth Century ◽  
Past Half

Here I survey a sample of the essays and reviews on the sciences of the long eighteenth century published in this journal since it was founded in 1969. The connecting thread is some historiographic reflections on the role that disciplines—in both the sciences we study and the fields we practice—have played in the development of the history of science over the past half century. I argue that, as far as disciplines are concerned, we now find ourselves a bit closer to a situation described in our studies of the long eighteenth century than we were fifty years ago. This should both favor our understanding of that period and, hopefully, make the historical studies that explore it more relevant to present-day developments and science policy. This essay is part of a special issue entitled “Looking Backward, Looking Forward: HSNS at 50,” edited by Erika Lorraine Milam.

The Relationship Between Global Diverisfication and Spatio-Temporal Transitions in Paleozoic Bivalvia

1990 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
Arnold I. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Space Dimension ◽  
Temporal Changes ◽  
Time Dimension ◽  
Global Diversity ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Global Diversification

Over the past several years, a variety of macroevolutionary studies have focused on global diversification patterns exhibited by the earth's biota as a whole, as well as among constituent groups. One motivation for this increased attention is the recognition that analyses of temporal changes in global diversity can provide substantial insight into underlying macroevolutionary processes (e.g. Sepkoski, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1984; Sepkoski et al., 1981; Gould and Calloway, 1980; Carr and Kitchell, 1980; Kitchell and Carr, 1985; Miller and Sepkoski, 1988). Indeed, much about the dynamics of macroevolution has been elucidated through such investigations, but major diversity transitions in the history of life cannot be fully understood without consideration of the local, environmental/ecological contexts in which they took place. In other words, in the study of macroevolution, it is important to pay as much attention to the space dimension as has historically been paid to the time dimension. The utility of a spatio-temporal approach has been demonstrated in a series of studies conducted by Sepkoski and Sheehan (1983), Sepkoski and Miller (1985), Jablonski and Bottjer (1983), Bottjer and Jablonski (in press), Droser and Bottjer (1988), Bottjer et al. (1988), and Miller (1988, in press). Collectively, these investigations have suggested that major changes in the global diversities of several groups were accompanied by measurable paleoenvironmental shifts.

scholarly journals Disassembling archeology, reassembling the modern world

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Carruthers ◽  
Stéphane Van Damme
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Scientific Ethics ◽  
Circulation Of Knowledge ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article provides a substantive discussion of the relevance of the history of archeology to the history of science. At the same time, the article introduces the papers contained in this special issue as exemplars of this relevance. To make its case, the article moves through various themes in the history of archeology that overlap with key issues in the history of science. The article discusses the role and tension of regimes of science in antiquarian and archeological practices, and also considers issues of scale and place, particularly in relation to the field. Additionally, the piece attends to issues of professionalization and the constitution of an archeological public, at the same time as discussing issues of empire, colonialism, and the circulation of knowledge. Meanwhile, enriching discussions within and beyond the history of science, the article discusses the history of archeology and its relationship with museums, collecting, and material culture and materiality. Finally, the piece discusses the relationship of the history of archeology with wider discussions about scientific ethics. In conclusion, the article questions whether we should speak of ‘the history of archeology’ at all.

The Report on Relations Between Anglican and Presbyterian Churches

1957 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-388
Author(s):  
Norman Sykes ◽  
Edward Symonds ◽  
J. L. M. Haire
Keyword(s):  
General Assembly ◽  
Elizabeth I ◽  
Church Of Scotland ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Presbyterian Churches

‘Shall two walk together except they be agreed?‘ may well been a widespread question asked on both sides of the Border when the appointment of a joint Committee of Representatives, nominated respectively by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, to consider means of establishing closer relations between the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches was announced. The Report entitled ‘Relations between Anglican and Presbyterian Churches’ offers a provisional answer to this question, by affording evidence of a surprising degree of mutual rapprochement and by setting forth the bases for further action. Perhaps this measure of agreement is more surprising than ought to have been the case; for the history of the two national, established Churches of England and Scotland indicates how near they have been to each other in polity in the past; and how fortuitous were the circumstances which drove them apart. ‘This is the ideal which springs to light in the last months of 1558’ wrote F. W. Maitland of the relationship of the two nations at the accession of Elizabeth I, ‘deliverance from the toils of foreign potentates; amity between two sister nations; union in a pure religion.’ A Scottish contemporary, William Maitland indeed wrote to William Cecil in England, that ‘earnest embracing of religion will join us straitly together’. It was a consummation then devoutly to be wished; and no less still to be desired in the reign of Elizabeth II after the lapse of four centuries.

scholarly journals History and Philosophy of Science: a Phylogenetic approach

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 655-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Lennox
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Scientific Field ◽  
Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Structure Of Scientific Revolutions ◽  
Historical Investigation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Problems ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

In the aftermath of Thomas Kuhn's The structure of scientific revolutions, there was a great deal of discussion about the relationship between the History of Science and the Philosophy of Science. A wider issue was at stake in these discussions: 'normativism' versus 'naturalism' in Epistemology. If the History of Science, at best, gives us reliable information about what actually occurred historically, how can it inform debates about such things as confirmation or explanation in Philosophy of Science? This essay makes a case for the centrality of historical investigation in the Philosophy of Science. I will defend what I term the 'Phylogenetic' approach to the Philosophy of Science. I will argue that since the foundations and dominant methods of a particular scientific field are shaped by its history, studying that History can give us considerable insight into conceptual and methodological problems in a particular Science. The case will be made both on general, philosophical grounds, and by compelling instantiation.

AI Narratives

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Intelligent Machines ◽  
Narrative History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Imaginative Thinking ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

This book is the first to examine the history of imaginative thinking about intelligent machines. As real artificial intelligence (AI) begins to touch on all aspects of our lives, this long narrative history shapes how the technology is developed, deployed, and regulated. It is therefore a crucial social and ethical issue. Part I of this book provides a historical overview from ancient Greece to the start of modernity. These chapters explore the revealing prehistory of key concerns of contemporary AI discourse, from the nature of mind and creativity to issues of power and rights, from the tension between fascination and ambivalence to investigations into artificial voices and technophobia. Part II focuses on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in which a greater density of narratives emerged alongside rapid developments in AI technology. These chapters reveal not only how AI narratives have consistently been entangled with the emergence of real robotics and AI, but also how they offer a rich source of insight into how we might live with these revolutionary machines. Through their close textual engagements, these chapters explore the relationship between imaginative narratives and contemporary debates about AI’s social, ethical, and philosophical consequences, including questions of dehumanization, automation, anthropomorphization, cybernetics, cyberpunk, immortality, slavery, and governance. The contributions, from leading humanities and social science scholars, show that narratives about AI offer a crucial epistemic site for exploring contemporary debates about these powerful new technologies.

Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens (1845–1909) a humanist of modern times

1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (312) ◽  
pp. 300-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Pustogarov
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Record ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
The Ideal

In the history of humankind, no matter how far back we look into the past, peaceful relations between people and nations have always been the ideal, and yet this history abounds in wars and bloodshed. The documentary evidence, oral tradition and the mute testimony of archaeological sites tell an incontrovertible tale of man's cruelty and violence against his fellow man. Nevertheless, manifestations of compassion, mercy and mutual aid have a no less ancient record. Peace and war, goodneighbourly attitudes and aggression, brutality and humanity exist side by side in the contemporary world as well.

Joseph Soloveitchik and Immanuel Kant's Mitzvah-Aesthetic

AJS Review ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Braiterman
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Social Ethics ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Critique Of Judgment ◽  
Jewish Thought ◽  
Personal Morality ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

In the following pages, I will address the relationship between Jewish thought and aesthetics by bringing Joseph Soloveitchik into conversation with Immanuel Kant, whose Critique of Judgment remains an imposing monument in the history of philosophical aesthetics. While Buber and Rosenzweig may have been more accomplished aesthetes, Soloveitchik's aesthetic proves closer to Kant's own. In particular, I draw upon the latter's distinction between the beautiful and the sublime and the notion of a form of indeterminate purposiveness without determinate purpose. I will relate these three figures to Soloveitcchik's understanding of halakhah and to the ideal of performing commandments for their own sake (li-shemah). The model of mitzvah advanced by this comparison is quintessentially modern: an autonomous, self-contained, formal system that does not (immediately) point to extraneous goods, such as spiritual enlightenment, personal morality, or social ethics. The good presupposed by this system proves first and foremost “aesthetic.” That is, immanent to the system. Supererogatory goods enter into the picture only afterward as second-order effects.

Wisdom and Wisdom Literature

2021 ◽  
pp. xxii-14
Author(s):  
Will Kynes
Keyword(s):  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the volume by arguing that the study of biblical wisdom is in the midst of a potential paradigm shift, as interpreters are beginning to reconsider the relationship between the concept of wisdom in the Bible and the category Wisdom Literature. This offers an opportunity to explore how the two have been related in the past, in the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation, how they are connected in the present, as three competing primary approaches to Wisdom study have developed, and how they could be treated in the future, as new possibilities for understanding wisdom with insight from before and beyond the development of the Wisdom Literature category are emerging.

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