Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Kathryn D. Temple
Keyword(s):  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
History Of Emotions ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
To Come ◽  
Law And Humanities

This chapter establishes Blackstone's prominence, discusses his influence on Enlightenment thought about law and justice, and reveals his investment in legal emotions as related to harmonic justice. In a reading of his early poem “The Lawyer's Farewel,” it introduces Blackstone's poetics and illustrates methods of both close and surface reading common to literary analysis. The chapter argues that although Blackstone has been the subject of historical study, both Law and Humanities and history of emotions approaches can further illuminate Blackstone's method and impact. The chapter argues for a curatorial approach to Blackstone's work that takes into account his exercise of affective aesthetics and its impact on the history of emotions in law. It closes with a summary of the chapters to come and an argument in favor of foregrounding aesthetics and emotion in legal studies.

ACCOUNTING REPRESENTATION AND THE SLAVE TRADE: THE GUIDE DU COMMERCE OF GAIGNAT DE L'AULNAIS

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl S. McWatters ◽  
Yannick Lemarchand
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Real World ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
French Language ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Bear Witness ◽  
Language Literature

The Guide du commerce occupies a distinctive place in the French-language literature on accounting. Passed over by most specialists in the history of maritime trade and the slave trade, the manual has never been the subject of a documented historical study. The apparent realism of the examples, the luxury of details and their precision, all bear witness to a deep concern to go beyond a simple apprenticeship in bookkeeping. Promoting itself essentially as “un guide du commerce,” the volume offers strategic examples for small local businesses, as well as for those engaged in international trade. Yet, the realism also demonstrated the expertise of the author in the eyes of potential purchasers. Inspired by the work of Bottin [2001], we investigate the extent to which the manual reflects real-world practices and provides a faithful glimpse into the socio-economic context of the period. Two additional questions are discussed briefly in our conclusion. First, can the work of Gaignat constitute a source document for the history of la traite négrière? The second entails our early deliberations about the place of this volume in the history of the slave trade itself.

John von Neumann and the Evolutionary Growth of Complexity: Looking Backward, Looking Forward

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry McMullin
Keyword(s):  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Early Death ◽  
Problem Situation ◽  
John Von Neumann ◽  
Von Neumann ◽  
Comprehensive Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Evolutionary Growth

In the late 1940s John von Neumann began to work on what he intended as a comprehensive “theory of [complex] automata.” He started to develop a book length manuscript on the subject in 1952. However, he put it aside in 1953, apparently due to pressure of other work. Due to his tragically early death in 1957, he was never to return to it. The draft manuscript was eventually edited, and combined for publication with some related lecture transcripts, by Burks in 1966. It is clear from the time and effort that von Neumann invested in it that he considered this to be a very significant and substantial piece of work. However, subsequent commentators (beginning even with Burks) have found it surprisingly difficult to articulate this substance. Indeed, it has since been suggested that von Neumann's results in this area either are trivial, or, at the very least, could have been achieved by much simpler means. It is an enigma. In this paper I review the history of this debate (briefly) and then present my own attempt at resolving the issue by focusing on an analysis of von Neumann's problem situation. I claim that this reveals the true depth of von Neumann's achievement and influence on the subsequent development of this field, and further that it generates a whole family of new consequent problems, which can still serve to inform—if not actually define—the field of artificial life for many years to come.

scholarly journals Un historien se penche sur son passé

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-141
Author(s):  
Marcel Trudel
Keyword(s):  
Academic Career ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
French Canada ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
Assessment Of Evidence ◽  
Second World

Abstract Every historian ought to be invited to appear before his peers, as formal retirement looms, to present his reflections on his discipline. Looking backwards is, of course, an historian's profession; to do so in individual terms is, however, a deep personal pleasure. This is especially true when so much has taken place during one lifetime, both to the profession of which one is a part, and the society within which one grew. The younger generation of historians should remember how different things were. It was common to come, as the author did, to the profession with a training in a different academic discipline; unlike today's teachers, one could and did become a Canadian historian without the intense formal study which marks the contemporary graduate school. Choosing a profession research in Canadian history was the result of happenstance; selecting a sub-field — in the author's case, the history of the French régime — was a personal one, resulting from a need to know much more about the origins of the society which developed along the St. Lawrence. This lack of a formal historical profession in French Canada did not reflect a disinterest in the past; to the contrary, the society's culture was firmly rooted in its past. But it was a history of a special type, and its advocates were vigorously opposed to any reassessment which challenged their cherished notions. Today's younger historians must not forget the handicaps which their predecessors had to overcome. There was a day, not so very long ago, when, to write the history of French Canada, one had to be both French Canadian and an active Catholic. Behind each completed monograph stands a litany of obstacles: the precarious nature of an academic career, the chronic inadequacy of its wages, the unsatisfactory quality of archival institutions (and sometimes of their staffs), the diplomacy required to obtain the evidence one needed, and the difficulties in finding a publisher and seeing the manuscript to printing. The joy in the process rested with the personal achievement, and its acceptance by the few whose judgement you respected. Only the obstinate and truly devoted scholar survived such circumstances. What has been achieved? History in French Canada has made enormous strides since the Second World War, in part because of the influence of a "scientific" view of historical study, in part through the cross-fertilisation of associated disciplines, in part because of the scholarly standards of contemporary historians. Ideological dogmatism, which has itself been a danger to the integrity of the history that has been written, has largely been overcome. The task of the historian remains the objective assessment of evidence, so that the integrity of history does not itself become the historian's first victim. To assist in this difficult task historians must continue to call on the resources of sister disciplines, such as geography, sociology, economics and law. These serve to broaden one's perspective, even though some of these techniques frankly mystify us with their complexity. Sometimes it appears that the use of social science methods obscures actual results, that effective communications has been weakened by jargon, and that overspecialisation threatens the meaningful generalisation. Yet in the end one trusts that an intelligible history results. So long as the historian refuses to serve a political or ideological master, we all have a future. If the historian, on the other hand, seeks the role of prophet, he departs from his proper place.

Deputation to the Lord Advocate in Regard to the Lunacy Law

1878 ◽  
Vol 23 (104) ◽  
pp. 611-612
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Similar Nature ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Do So

On Friday, 2nd November, a deputation of asylum superintendents, members of district boards, and managers of Royal Asylums, waited on the Lord Advocate at his chambers, Edinburgh, with the view of bringing under the notice of his Lordship an omission in the Scotch lunacy law, there being no provisions at present for granting pensions to old and deserving officers in the Scotch district and parochial asylums, as in England and Ireland. The deputation consisted of Professor Balfour, Professor Maclagan, Dr. Fraser, ex-Bailie Miller, Mr. D. Scott Moncrieff, W.S., Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, Dr. Cameron, Lochgilphead; Dr. Jamieson, Aberdeen; Dr. Anderson, Rosewell; Dr. Grierson, Melrose; Dr. Wallace, Greenock; Dr. Makintosh, Murthly; Dr. Rutherford, Lenzie; Dr. Ireland, Larbert; Dr. Clouston, Morningside; Dr. Rorie, Dundee; Dr. Howden, Montrose, &c. The deputation were introduced by Professor Maclagan, who strongly supported the views of the deputation. Dr. Mackintosh, addressing his Lordship, said—The reasons which have caused the medical and other officers of the public asylums of Scotland to come before you are, I think, fairly set forth in the petition which was placed in your Lordship's hands some months ago. I need not, therefore, refer to them in detail, but would only draw your attention to the anomalous (and at the same time, disadvantageous) conditions in which such officials are placed when contrasted with their brethren in England and Ireland. Most of us had hoped that the matter would, ere this, have been taken up by the General Board of Lunacy for Scotland, but the Board (who received a deputation last February in the most courteous manner) has no intention of moving in this or any other legislation at present. Moreover, the Commissioners thought that the best course was that now adopted—via., to bring the subject before you ourselves. The service which we have the honour to represent is as much a public service as the army and navy, or as the civil and parochial services, and perhaps it is not exceeded by any of them in the increasing attention which is necessary, or by the harassing nature of the duties. It therefore seems the more reasonable (besides being a simple act of justice) to place the service on a footing in regard to superannuation allowances similar to that occupied by the public asylums of England and Ireland. In urging upon your Lordship the great need for as speedy a solution of the question as possible, we do so in the knowledge that several special amendments of a similar nature have been made. Moreover, we are satisfied that the insertion of such a clause as that indicated in the petition as an amendment into the Act, will be an important day in the history of such institutions, both as regards the efficiency and stability of the staff, and the comfort of the inmates. Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, as a member of a district lunacy board, also urged the injustice and impolicy of the present law. The Lord Advocate said that he would give the subject his most favourable consideration. It seemed a very proper matter to have been brought before him, the only question being when he could get an opportunity of introducing a clause to remedy the present defect.

Noi credevamo (We Believed): Story and history of emotions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Patat
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Of Emotions ◽  
Historical Film ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
The One

In the last ten years, Noi credevamo (We Believed) (Martone 2010) has been the subject of a very careful criticism interested not only in its historical-ideological implications but also in its semiotic specificities. The purpose of this article is to summarize the cardinal points of these two positions and to add to them some critical observations that have not been noted so far. On the one hand, it is a matter of highlighting how, as a historical film, the work is connected with the history of emotions, a recent historiographical trend that aims to detect the narrative devices of ideological propaganda and the diffusion of feelings since the late eighteenth century. On the other hand, the article proposes a new interpretation of Mario Martone’s film, starting with the analysis of phenomena that are not only historical but also technical and structural.

Loving Justice

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn D. Temple
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Real World ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Western World ◽  
History Of Emotions ◽  
History Of ◽  
English Law ◽  
Law And Humanities

How do people develop loyalty to the legal system they inhabit? This book focuses on legal emotions in William Blackstone's transformative, bestselling Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–69), a collection of volumes that deeply impacted English legal culture and became an icon for English common law values across the British Empire. Blackstone, not only a lawyer and judge, but a poet who believed that “the only true and natural foundations of society are the wants and fears of individuals,” was ideally situated to condense English law into a form that evoked emotions. Using a history of emotions and Law and Humanities approach, the book argues that in enlisting an affective aesthetics to invoke emotions such as desire, disgust, melancholia, embarrassment, terror, tenderness, and happiness, Blackstone encouraged readers to feel as much as reason their way to justice in ways that have continued to influence the Western world. This book treats the Commentaries—reinterpreted here in affective, aesthetic, and real-world contexts—as offering a complex map of our affective relationship to juridical culture, one that illuminates both individual and communal understandings of our search for justice and is crucial for understanding both justice and injustice today.

Deputation to the Lord Advocate in Regard to the Lunacy Law

1878 ◽  
Vol 23 (104) ◽  
pp. 611-612
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Similar Nature ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Do So

On Friday, 2nd November, a deputation of asylum superintendents, members of district boards, and managers of Royal Asylums, waited on the Lord Advocate at his chambers, Edinburgh, with the view of bringing under the notice of his Lordship an omission in the Scotch lunacy law, there being no provisions at present for granting pensions to old and deserving officers in the Scotch district and parochial asylums, as in England and Ireland. The deputation consisted of Professor Balfour, Professor Maclagan, Dr. Fraser, ex-Bailie Miller, Mr. D. Scott Moncrieff, W.S., Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, Dr. Cameron, Lochgilphead; Dr. Jamieson, Aberdeen; Dr. Anderson, Rosewell; Dr. Grierson, Melrose; Dr. Wallace, Greenock; Dr. Makintosh, Murthly; Dr. Rutherford, Lenzie; Dr. Ireland, Larbert; Dr. Clouston, Morningside; Dr. Rorie, Dundee; Dr. Howden, Montrose, &c. The deputation were introduced by Professor Maclagan, who strongly supported the views of the deputation. Dr. Mackintosh, addressing his Lordship, said—The reasons which have caused the medical and other officers of the public asylums of Scotland to come before you are, I think, fairly set forth in the petition which was placed in your Lordship's hands some months ago. I need not, therefore, refer to them in detail, but would only draw your attention to the anomalous (and at the same time, disadvantageous) conditions in which such officials are placed when contrasted with their brethren in England and Ireland. Most of us had hoped that the matter would, ere this, have been taken up by the General Board of Lunacy for Scotland, but the Board (who received a deputation last February in the most courteous manner) has no intention of moving in this or any other legislation at present. Moreover, the Commissioners thought that the best course was that now adopted—via., to bring the subject before you ourselves. The service which we have the honour to represent is as much a public service as the army and navy, or as the civil and parochial services, and perhaps it is not exceeded by any of them in the increasing attention which is necessary, or by the harassing nature of the duties. It therefore seems the more reasonable (besides being a simple act of justice) to place the service on a footing in regard to superannuation allowances similar to that occupied by the public asylums of England and Ireland. In urging upon your Lordship the great need for as speedy a solution of the question as possible, we do so in the knowledge that several special amendments of a similar nature have been made. Moreover, we are satisfied that the insertion of such a clause as that indicated in the petition as an amendment into the Act, will be an important day in the history of such institutions, both as regards the efficiency and stability of the staff, and the comfort of the inmates. Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, as a member of a district lunacy board, also urged the injustice and impolicy of the present law. The Lord Advocate said that he would give the subject his most favourable consideration. It seemed a very proper matter to have been brought before him, the only question being when he could get an opportunity of introducing a clause to remedy the present defect.

Contributions to the History of Psychology: XXXII. On Living with a Specter: The Story of Anomalistic Psychology

1982 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-694
Author(s):  
Leonard Zusne
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Psychical Research ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Academic Psychology ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Relationship

The subject matter of anomalistic psychology is human behavior and experiences for which paranormal or occult causation is claimed and which appear to violate some of the basic principles on which nature is known to operate. The ambivalence and skepticism of American psychologists concerning paranormal and occult matters are examined historically, as is the relationship between academic psychology, psychical research and parapsychology, and anomalistic psychology. The difference between parapsychology and anomalistic psychology in terms of two contrasting orientations is stressed. The reasons for the persistence of beliefs in ESP and related phenomena are examined, and the need for psychology to come to grips with them is stated.

scholarly journals Croonian lecture : The respiratory process in muscle and the nature of muscular motion

1917 ◽  
Vol 89 (619) ◽  
pp. 444-467 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Cell ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Specific Chemical ◽  
Cell Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Living Substance ◽  
Intimate Knowledge ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Chief Interest

Mr. President and Fellows: —We are keenly sensible of the honour done to us in our being called to lecture on this occasion, and in making this acknowledgment we would express our special gratification in being so enabled to pay this act of piety to the memory of William Croone, whom we commemorate to-day. The Croonian Lecture was founded through his generosity in order to encourage the study of muscular motion, but some sixteen years have now passed since that subject was last treated by the Lecturer. During those years many additions have been made to our knowledge of the subject, and great changes have resulted in our views of it. It is a pleasure to us that we have now the opportunity of taking up again the broken thread of the series, and of turning to-day to the chosen subject of Croone’s own enquiries and chief interest. We could wish that a time more free from other occupations and anxieties than the present had allowed us to do this less unworthily. Croone found in muscle the chief immediate hope of studying the energy discharges of living elements, and it was surely an enlightened instinct which led him to foresee, however dimly then, what we must recognise as still true after this lapse of two and a half centuries. We still must look to the study of muscular motion as the most fruitful, and perhaps for some time to come the only, avenue to intimate' knowledge of the modes of energy discharge by the living cell, and of their relation to the specific chemical processes of life. More than this, it is the study of muscle activity which has so far given us all we know of the meaning of respiration as the accompaniment of life. The study of respiratory exchanges in the lungs and in the blood of mammals has given us valuable lessons, and has unfolded attractive stories of animal adaptation to environment. That study takes its place in the natural history of the Vertebrates, and has a living value for the purposes of human medicine. It is describing to us the modes in which oxygen reaches and carbon dioxide leaves the cell under the anatomical conditions of the vertebrate animal, but it does not attack the intimate problems of respiration as a process of animal cell life in general. Croone, of Cambridge, was too close in time and sympathy to the genius of Mayow, and to the work of his other contemporaries at Oxford, not to realise that in the study of muscle lay probably the first path to knowledge of the inner processes of life within the living substance itself.

scholarly journals What, if Anything, Can the History of Emotions Learn from the Neurosciences?

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-105
Author(s):  
Tuomas Tepora
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
History Of Emotions ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
Temporal Variance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Exclusive Or

The last decade has seen a wave of scholarship on both the history of emotions and the affective and social neurosciences. Both disciplines promote the view that emotions serve partly cognitive and goal-driven functions and are thus susceptible to change. Differences are, however, marked in understanding the nature of the change in question. Is it rooted in social constructivism or neuroplasticity? Are these two paradigms mutually exclusive or compatible? Is it even possible or intellectually sound to utilize ‘laboratory-produced’ and isolated data in historical studies? Nevertheless, in light of recent research on the connections between the history of emotions and the neurosciences the article suggests that the interplay between the historical and brain-scientific knowledge may be more fruitful than has previously been understood. Thus far the implications of the critical and social brain sciences for the history of emotions remain to be worked out. This article proposes an intellectual move from linguistically defined constructivism towards a more corporeal understanding of emotions with a constructivist element. This leads us theoretically towards an understanding of emotions as biocultural, historically changing experiences and intellectual concepts, which, however, possess certain transcultural continuities. The article highlights the intrinsic and dynamic relationship between pan-human characteristics and cultural, normative and temporal variance in emotions. However, the article explores the methodological difficulties and dangers of applying specific brain-scientific data to historical study. The difficulty arises mainly from the academic distance between the history of emotions and the neurosciences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document