The Fifteenth Maudsley Lecture: The Professional Mind

1934 ◽  
Vol 80 (330) ◽  
pp. 469-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lord Macmillan

In devoting to the foundation of a memorial lectureship a portion of Dr. Maudsley's bequest, the learned Society which I have this afternoon the honour to address made an indulgent concession to the laity in prescribing that the lecture to be delivered should in alternate years be of a scientific and of a popular character. This year it is the turn of the popular lecturer—a rôle which I have assumed with some trepidation. The distinction drawn is an ominous one. It seems to suggest that to be scientific you must be unpopular, and to be popular you must be unscientific. But is there necessarily so absolute a dividing line between the two domains? I hazard the view that it is possible to be at once both popular and scientific. No doubt there is still a tendency in learned circles to deride what is known as popular science, but that is an inheritance from the days of the cheap and inaccurate manuals which used to be written by imperfectly informed persons, pretentiously professing to enlighten the masses on the truths of science. Nowadays, science has become more condescending, indeed almost affable, to democracy. The approach has come from both sides, for democracy is now better educated, and science is now more expert in the art of exposition. The advent of the internal combustion engine, of wireless telegraphy and of many other practical applications of science to daily life has created a new and widespread interest and aptitude on the part of the general public in the acquisition of accurate scientific knowledge, particularly among the younger generation. At the same time the physicist, the chemist and the biologist have found it possible and worth while to impart much of their learning to wider audiences. Science is daily entering more and more into the lives of the people, with the consequence that its social, economic and political implications are being more and more realized by its professors. The President of the Royal Society has reminded us that we live in an age when the advance and development of scientific knowledge are continually creating new social and economic problems of the utmost importance, and has emphasized the necessity of bridging the gap between the scientist and the layman by every possible means. The British Science Guild, now doing such excellent work, was founded some thirty years ago by Sir Norman Lockyer for the express purpose of promoting the application of scientific method and results to social problems and public affairs. The market-place can doubtless never supersede the laboratory, but the scientist no longer disdains to take his wares to market.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-192
Author(s):  
Rajeswari Sunder Rajan

Abstract This article identifies the rhetoric and sentiment of enthusiasm as a certain specifically Tamil historical-aesthetic-political conjuncture that operates in both an affective register and as a structure of publicity. The “people,” who emerge as a subject of politics within the crucible of the swadeshi movement, are both “the masses” (a populist political subject) as well as the anticipated citizens of a future sovereign democracy. To distinguish the Tamil conjuncture from the histories of European populism, Part I outlines the political implications of public enthusiasm in the European Enlightenment. Kant, in his articulation of enthusiasm as a form of reason, is the critical figure here. Whereas in English poetry enthusiasm was domesticated and contained, Bharati’s writings and their impact exemplify its very different trajectory in colonial India. In Part II, Bharati’s poetry is analyzed under three heads: the enthusiasm it manifests, its language and rhetoric, and its focus on nationalism and social reform. Part III describes the communicative technologies and the formation of Bharati’s public and then the colonial conjuncture in which his work encountered censorship and prohibition. The conclusion underlines the significance of Bharati’s writings and the relevance of the political enthusiasm they generated—and still do.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Klein

This is a pdf of the original typed manuscript of a lecture made in 2006. An annotated English translation will be published by the International Review of Social Psychology. I this text, Moscovici seeks to update his earlier work on the “conspiracy mentality” (1987) by considering the relationships between social representations and conspiracy mentality. Innovation in this field, Moscovici argues, will require a much thorough description and understanding of what conspiracy theories are, what rhetoric they use and what functions they fulfill. Specifically, Moscovici considers conspiracies as a form of counterfactual history implying a more desirable world (in which the conspiracy did not take place) and suggests that social representation theory should tackle this phenomenon. He explicitly links conspiracy theories to works of fiction and suggests that common principles might explain their popularity. Historically, he argues, conspiracism was born twice: First, in the middle ages, when their primary function was to exclude and destroy what was considered as heresy; and second, after the French revolution, to delegitimize the Enlightenment, which was attributed to a small coterie of reactionaries rather than to the will of the people. Moscovici then considers four aspects (“thematas”) of conspiracy mentality: 1/ the prohibition of knowledge; 2/ the duality between the majority (the masses, prohibited to know) and “enlightened” minorities; 3/ the search for a common origin, a “ur phenomenon” that connects historical events and provides a continuity to History (he notes that such a tendency is also present in social psychological theorizing); and 4/ the valorization of tradition as a bulwark against modernity. Some of Moscovici’s insights in this talk have since been borne out by contemporary research on the psychology of conspiracy theories, but many others still remain fascinating potential avenues for future research.


Author(s):  
Hugh B. Urban ◽  
Greg Johnson

The Afterword includes an interview with Bruce Lincoln, in which he is asked to reflect on the current study of religion, methods of comparison, and the political implications of academic discourse. In addition to responding to specific points in these chapters, Lincoln also fleshes out what he thinks it would mean “to do better” in the critical study of religion amid the ongoing crises of higher education today. Perhaps most importantly, he reflects upon and clarifies what he means by “irreverence” in the study of religion; an irreverent approach, he concludes, entails a rejection of the sacred status that other people attribute to various things, but not of the people themselves.


Author(s):  
Mark Bovens ◽  
Anchrit Wille

Civil society organizations are, if not schools, at least pools of democracy. In the ‘third sector’, too, active engagement and participation ‘by the people’ have given way to meritocracy, or, in other words, to rule by the well-educated. Many popularly rooted mass organizations have witnessed a decline in membership and political influence. Their role as intermediary between politics and society has been taken over by professionally managed advocacy groups that operate with university educated public affairs consultants. First, the chapter describes the associational revolution, the enormous increase in the number of civil society organizations. Then it in analyses the education gap in membership and the shift from large membership organizations to lean professional advocacy groups, which has occurred over the past three decades. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the net effect of this meritocratization of civil society for political participation and interest representation.


2020 ◽  
pp. 030981682098238
Author(s):  
Miloš Šumonja

The news is old – neoliberalism is dead for good, but this time, even Financial Times knows it. Obituaries claim that it had died from the coronavirus, as the state, not the markets, have had to save both the people and the economy. The argument of the article is that these academic and media interpretations of ‘emergency Keynesianism’ misidentify neoliberalism with its anti-statist rhetoric. For neoliberalism is, and has always been, about ‘the free market and the strong state’. In fact, rather than waning in the face of the coronavirus crisis, neoliberal states around the world are using the ongoing ‘war against the virus’ to strengthen their right-hand grip on the conditions of the working classes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 58-60
Author(s):  
Katanakal Sarada ◽  
◽  
Dr. K. Nirmalamma ◽  
◽  

Mobile commerce is the buying and selling of goods and Services through wireless handled devices such as smart phones and tablets etc. Ecommerce Users to access M-commerce enables online shopping platforms without needing to use & a desktop computer. For example, purchase and sale of products. Online like banking and paying bills. (Virtual market place apps the Amazon mobile App, Android pay, Samsung pay etc...) The main idea behind M. commerce Is to enable various applications and services available on the internet to portable devices (mobiles, laptops, tables etc.) to overcome the constraints of a desktop computer. M commerce aims Serve all information and material needs of the people in a convenient and easy way.


Author(s):  
Jarosław Janusz Mamala ◽  
K. Praznowski ◽  
S. Kołodziej ◽  
G. Ligus

The powertrain is a very important subassembly in a car and is responsible not only for the automotive industry’s impact on the environment but also for the safety of people travelling by car and performing overtaking manoeuvres and joining traffic. In general, the powertrain is a combination of the drive unit and drive transmission, wherein the drive unit is responsible for the available driving force in the car’s wheels and for the car’s ability to accelerate when the throttle pedal is rapidly pressed at a constant gearbox ratio. The availability of the driving force reserve in the powertrain is the most important issue for the reason of safety of the people travelling by car. In the case of drive unit what they are of the combustion engines, the rapid pressing of the throttle pedal in the car acceleration process leads to a temporary deficiency in the driving force and in the powertrain’s output. The deficiency in the driving force has a negative impact on acceleration and driving comfort. In this paper, the authors assessed and analysed two different short-term compressed air supercharging systems for combustion engines with air supplied from a high-pressure tank. The analysis covered the response of the combustion engine with spark ignition to the gradual increase in pressure in the air-intake system. The assumption is that the applied short-term compressed air supercharging system could improve the driving force during the phase of the engine’s increasing crankshaft rotational speed. This helps to achieve the improved passenger car acceleration dynamics, depending on the supercharging method and throttle pedal exertion. When analysing the car’s acceleration dynamics, expressed by the shorter time of increasing the longitudinal speed from initial to final, it was possible to shorten the acceleration time. It is also possible to observe an improved driving force behaviour, especially during the first phase of acceleration.


2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroljub Tomic ◽  
Slobodan Popovic ◽  
Nenad Miljic ◽  
Stojan Petrovic ◽  
Milos Cvetic ◽  
...  

In this paper a simplified procedure of an internal combustion engine in-cylinder pressure record analysis has been presented. The method is very easy for programming and provides quick evaluation of the gas temperature and the rate of combustion. It is based on the consideration proposed by Hohenberg and Killman, but enhances the approach by involving the rate of heat transferred to the walls that was omitted in the original approach. It enables the evaluation of the complete rate of heat released by combustion (often designated as ?gross heat release rate? or ?fuel chemical energy release rate?), not only the rate of heat transferred to the gas (which is often designated as ?net heat release rate?). The accuracy of the method has been also analyzed and it is shown that the errors caused by the simplifications in the model are very small, particularly if the crank angle step is also small. A several practical applications on recorded pressure diagrams taken from both spark ignition and compression ignition engine are presented as well.


2019 ◽  

The article is focused on identifying local and speech strategies (tactics) that are subjected to the global strategy of demagoguery in American political discourse. The article concerns analysis of the definitions and synonyms of the term demagoguery. Such analysis confirmed the appropriateness of considering demagoguery as a specific strategy of political discourse. The results of the research ascertain that the term demagoguery is perceived differently in Ukrainian and English linguistic cultures. Ukrainians perceive demagoguery as a tool for deceiving and manipulation, while Englishmen think of it as of a method of leading a political game and broadening the voter base. The recipients of demagoguery in Ukrainian linguistic culture are uneducated groups of people, while in English linguistic culture the recipient is the people as a whole. Demagoguery as a specific strategy of political discourse is mainly used to influence the electorate through appealing to the feelings, instincts, and prejudices and through forming required political views and preferences. The analysis of the American sociologists’ works enabled us to identify the main features of demagoguery. They are the following: the focus on broadening the audience, using propaganda for manipulating the masses and entertaining character. Analysis of empirical evidence, Donald Trump's thankful speech, which was given at the Republican national convention in 2016, allows us to single out local strategies of demagoguery. The local strategies of demagoguery, which are typical for American political discourse, are the following: populism, manipulation, subjectivation, fascination, and information simplification. Moreover, the article identifies and describes speech tactics that are typical for each local strategy. Among them, there are tactics of empty promises, lies, accusing, ridicule, using slogans, vulgarization, intimidation, and a tactic of finding a scapegoat. The research also concerns analysis of the linguistic means used for the realization of every local strategy and speech tactic. The most frequently used linguistic means are usage of expressive language with positive and negative meaning, repetition, anthroponomy, and subjectivation.


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