scholarly journals A Model of the Universe in Kathmandu's Old Royal Palace

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Gudrun Bühnemann
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Royal Palace ◽  
Terrestrial Globe ◽  
Ritual Text ◽  
The Universe

This paper discusses a model of the universe found in Mohan courtyard of the old royal palace of Kathmandu, the Hanumānḍhokā. It was commissioned and installed by King Pratāpa Malla in 1656 CE.  The artifact is referred to as “earth-ball” or terrestrial globe (bhūgola) in an inscription and is based on Purāṇic concepts of the universe. An eighteenth-century ritual text indicates that it was an object of worship in the courtyard.

scholarly journals Carthusian symbolism in Architecture and Art: San Lorenzo of Padula

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Maria Fernanda García Marino
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
San Lorenzo ◽  
Desert Fathers ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Church ◽  
New Settlements

The aim of this contribution is to demonstrate through the study of the concrete example of the Charterhouse di San Lorenzo in Padula (Province of Salerno, Italy) how and to what extent, the utopian value of the spirituality of the Carthusian monks - inspired by the model of the Desert Fathers and the Church of primitive Christianity, devoted to the practices of strict enclosure, of rigorous abstinence, of meditation, of contemplation and of prayer - has affected the definition and development of a specific iconography; both for what concerns the figurative arts, which have as a milestone the theme of martyrdom and angels (the creatures closest to God), present within the monasteries of the order, both for what interests the architectural structure of buildings. Always the same as themselves, especially for the design, distribution and function of the spaces, which as a whole and in particular, they reflect, strictly and everywhere, the immutability of the Carthusian Rule, never changed since the foundation of the order in 1084. Following the model of the first monastery, built on the Chartreuse massif, in Grenoble (France), made by St. Bruno of Cologne, new settlements were erected and spread throughout Europe, with an exponential growth that does not suffer interruptions until the end of eighteenth century and that, left a deep and unequivocal cultural mark in the territory on which they extended. The Charterhouse model, a kind of Earthly Jerusalem like an imitation of the Celestial Jerusalem, can be well included in the universe of utopian architecture, but of the possible ones, where spirituality became tangible reality and where the sacredness of space conceived and built by the monks puts us in touch today the man with sensitive and perceptible experience, the so-called hierophany.

James Bradley, Sailing on the Thames

Lightspeed ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
John C. H. Spence
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
Speed Of Light ◽  
Astronomical Observations ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Independent Estimate ◽  
The Universe ◽  
At Home

The story of the astronomical observations of James Bradley in the eighteenth century, whose measurements of the small movements of a star throughout the year provided an independent estimate of the speed of the Earth around the Sun relative to the speed of light. His work provided the first experimental evidence in support of Copernicus’s theory that the earth is in motion, and against the idea that it is stationary at the center of the universe. His simple telescope at home, his brilliant idea and perseverance, and his life’s work and influence. The importance of his result for the development of Einstein’s theory of relativity and for theories of the Aether in the following centuries.

scholarly journals Astronomy and political theory

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S260) ◽  
pp. 595-602
Author(s):  
Nicholas Campion
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Near East ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Political Uncertainty ◽  
Global Village ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Single Set

AbstractThis paper will argue that astronomical models have long been applied to political theory, from the use of the Sun as a symbol of the emperor in Rome to the application of Copernican theory to the needs of absolute monarchy. We will begin with consideration of astral divination (the use of astronomy to ascertain divine intentions) in the ancient Near East. Particular attention will be paid to the use of Newton's discovery that the universe operates according to a single set of laws in order to support concepts of political quality and eighteenth century Natural Rights theory. We will conclude with consideration of arguments that the discovery of the expanding, multi-galaxy universe, stimulated political uncertainty in the 1930s, and that photographs of the Earth from Apollo spacecraft encouraged concepts of the ‘global village’.

Joseph Hall and Neo-Stoicism

PMLA ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 1130-1145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Chew
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Natural Religion ◽  
Ethical Point ◽  
Rule Of Life ◽  
Right Reason ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Thomas Browne ◽  
The Universe

During his own lifetime Bishop Joseph Hall was nicknamed “our spiritual Seneca” by Henry Wotton and later called “our English Seneca” by Thomas Fuller; as a result it has recently become fashionable to associate him with seventeenth-century English Neo-Stoicism. A seventeenth-century Neo-Stoic is of interest presumably because he points in the direction of eighteenth-century Neo-Stoicism, away from a revealed religion toward a natural religion, away from faith toward reason. In a recent article Philip A. Smith calls Hall “the leading Neo-Stoic of the seventeenth century” and says that he enthusiastically preached the “Neo-Stoic brand of theology” to which Sir Thomas Browne objected. This theology maintained that “to follow ‘right reason’ was to follow nature, which was the same thing as following God.” Smith goes on to say that “what most attracted seventeenth-century Christian humanists like Bishop Hall was the fact that Stoicism attempted to frame a theory of the universe and of the individual man which would approximate a rule of life in conformity with an ‘immanent cosmic reason‘”—though in the same paragraph he also mentions the point “that Neo-Stoic divines of the seventeenth century were interested in Stoicism almost exclusively from the ethical point of view.” He cites Lipsius to show how a Christian might reach an approximation between the Stoic Fate and Christian Providence, leaving the reader to assume that Hall might also have made this approximation. He says that “the natural light of reason, as expounded by the Stoic philosophers, became, for seventeenth-century Neo-Stoics, the accepted guide to conduct” and that “religious and moral writers endeavored to trace a relationship between moral and natural law which in effect resulted in the practical code of ethical behavior commonly associated with Neo-Stoicism.”

scholarly journals « Manuscrit de Mr Dangicourt » : système métaphysique néantiste d’un disciple de Leibniz

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Timo Kaitaro
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Original Material ◽  
University Library ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Universe

<p>Dangicourt&rsquo;s Manuscript: The metaphysical system of nothingness from a disciple of Leibniz</p><p>The collection of clandestine philosophical manuscripts at the Helsinki University Library contains, among other typical seventeenth and early eighteenth century texts, an exchange of letters between Pierre Dangicourt and Alphonse Des Vignoles (1725&minus;1726). Both belong to the circle of thinkers close to the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Starting from some mathematical conjectures concerning the incommensurability of the sides and the diagonal of a geometrical square, Dangicourt develops a metaphysical system according to which &lsquo;original material&rsquo; (la mati&egrave;re originale) of the universe is &lsquo;nothingness&rsquo; (n&eacute;ant) and criticises the view according to which the universe consists of extended and existing composite parts. Des Vignoles presents a criticism of Dangicourt&rsquo;s ideas. In a letter to Dangicourt, Leibniz also presents criticisms of Dangcourt&rsquo;s system by insisting on the fictional nature of mathematical abstractions.</p>

The ‘Principle’ of Natural Order: or What the Enlightened Sceptics did not doubt

1978 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Stuart Brown
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Do So

My title advertizes a paradox. The characteristic complaint of the sceptic is that others make assumptions they are not entitled to make. A philosophical sceptic is committed to a systematic refusal to accept such assumptions in the absence of the kind of justification they think is required. A sceptic who, none the less, helps himself to such an assumption, seems to be caught in a paradoxical position. This is the kind of situation in which, it seems, certain eighteenth-century sceptical philosophers were placed in relation to the ‘principle’ of natural order. They did not doubt that there is such a principle, that there is a source or ultimate cause of the order to be found in the universe. And yet, on their own terms, is not the existence of such a principle something we should expect them to have doubted? What I shall try to do in this lecture is to bring out why they did not doubt the existence of such a principle and how serious their failure to do so is for their sceptical position.

The ‘Principle’ of Natural Order: or What the Enlightened Sceptics did not doubt

1978 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Stuart Brown
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Do So

My title advertizes a paradox. The characteristic complaint of the sceptic is that others make assumptions they are not entitled to make. A philosophical sceptic is committed to a systematic refusal to accept such assumptions in the absence of the kind of justification they think is required. A sceptic who, none the less, helps himself to such an assumption, seems to be caught in a paradoxical position. This is the kind of situation in which, it seems, certain eighteenth-century sceptical philosophers were placed in relation to the ‘principle’ of natural order. They did not doubt that there is such a principle, that there is a source or ultimate cause of the order to be found in the universe. And yet, on their own terms, is not the existence of such a principle something we should expect them to have doubted? What I shall try to do in this lecture is to bring out why they did not doubt the existence of such a principle and how serious their failure to do so is for their sceptical position.

scholarly journals Une communauté d’artistes et d’artisans français à l’étranger : Le cas des sculpteurs au château royal de Stockholm au XVIIIe siècle

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 117-131
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Michel
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Work Teams ◽  
Royal Academy ◽  
Construction Work ◽  
Royal Palace ◽  
Know How ◽  
Modernization Process ◽  
And Training ◽  
Swedish Royal Academy

A Community of French Artists and Craftsmen Abroad: A Case Study of theSculptors of the Royal Palace of Stockholm in the Eighteenth Century Following the approach of Linda Hinners’s research, this article comprises a study of French sculptors who worked on the construction of Stockholm’s royal palace in the eighteenth century. Indeed, between 1732 and 1765, the superintendent of royal buildings had recruited, through the action of social networks, thirty French sculptors. To encourage them to leave France, the superintendent offered them very attractive conditions of life and work, and the prospects of a career. Once there, these sculptors created the royal palace decoration from the sketches of the Swedish architects. Beyond their artistic ability, the Swedes utilized their great experience of construction work and technical know-how. Soon, they took over the management of the sculpture works and training of young Swedish craftsmen present on the site. With the recruitment of French experts, the Swedes therefore had skilled and knowledgeable work teams, which created autonomous production workshops. These latter also underwent a modernization process induced by the creation of the Superintendence of royal buildings and the Swedish Royal Academy. Thus, the French appear to have been the actors of a modern artistic policy that allowed Sweden to utilize the French aesthetic model.

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