Ptolemy's Philosophy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Feke
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
True Path ◽  
Unique System ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Mathematical Sciences ◽  
Significant Figures ◽  
Element Theory

The Greco-Roman mathematician Claudius Ptolemy is one of the most significant figures in the history of science. He is remembered today for his astronomy, but his philosophy is almost entirely lost to history. This book reconstructs Ptolemy's general philosophical system—including his metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics—and to explore its relationship to astronomy, harmonics, element theory, astrology, cosmology, psychology, and theology. The book uncovers references to a complex and sophisticated philosophical agenda scattered among Ptolemy's technical studies in the physical and mathematical sciences. It shows how he developed a philosophy that was radical and even subversive, appropriating ideas and turning them against the very philosophers from whom he drew influence. The book reveals how Ptolemy's unique system is at once a critique of prevailing philosophical trends and a conception of the world in which mathematics reigns supreme. The book demonstrates how Ptolemy situated mathematics at the very foundation of all philosophy—theoretical and practical—and advanced the mathematical way of life as the true path to human perfection.

World as (Arabic) Text: Mīr Dāmād and the Neopythagoreanization of Philosophy in Safavid Iran

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-431
Author(s):  
Matthew Melvin-Koushki
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Arabic Text ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Mathematical Text ◽  
Western History ◽  
Ibn Sina ◽  
Primary Mode ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Abstract The heavily Neoplatonic and antiquarian-perennialist tenor of Safavid philosophy is now widely recognized by specialists; but few have acknowledged its equally notable Neopythagorean turn. Likewise, that the primary mode of applied Neoplatonic-Neopythagorean philosophy as a Safavid imperial way of life was occult science has been ignored altogether, making impossible a history of its practice. The case of the Twelver Shiʿi sage-mage Mīr Dāmād – famed down to the present as an occult scientist – is here especially illustrative: for he was largely responsible for this Neopythagoreanization of Safavid philosophy, which saw the remarkable transmogrification of Ibn Sīnā himself into a Neopythagorean-occultist, by his espousal of a peculiarly Mamluk-Timurid-Aqquyunlu brand of philosophical lettrism (ʿilm al-ḥurūf) in at least three of his many works. The example of this imperial Neopythagoreanizing lettrist is thus crucial for understanding the intellectual and religiopolitical continuity of Safavid Shiʿi culture with Sunni precedent, as well as contemporary Persianate and Latinate parallels. Within Western history of science more broadly, Mīr Dāmād and the host of his fellow Muslim kabbalists must now be restored to the master mathesis narrative whereby scientific modernity is but the upshot of early modern Western philosophers’ penchant for reading the world as a mathematical text.

scholarly journals The sportification of judo: global convergence and evolution

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shohei Sato
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Global Convergence ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The West ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Olympic Sport

AbstractThis article re-examines our understanding of modern sport. Today, various physical cultures across the world are practised under the name of sport. Almost all of these sports originated in the West and expanded to the rest of the world. However, the history of judo confounds the diffusionist model. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a Japanese educationalist amalgamated different martial arts and established judo not as a sport but as ‘a way of life’. Today it is practised globally as an Olympic sport. Focusing on the changes in its rules during this period, this article demonstrates that the globalization of judo was accompanied by a constant evolution of its character. The overall ‘sportification’ of judo took place not as a diffusion but as a convergence – a point that is pertinent to the understanding of the global sportification of physical cultures, and also the standardization of cultures in modern times.

scholarly journals Pierre Monbeig and the Formation of Geography in Brazil (1925-1957): Geohistory of Knowledge, Intellectual History and the Insertion of Brazilian Geography into the World-Science

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Alves de Lira
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
World Science ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
The World ◽  
University Professor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Context

This paper aims to present the exemplarity of an intellectual meeting between a French intellectual, trained in history and geography at the Sorbonne, France (before spending time in Spain during the beginning of his doctorate), and the “Brazilian terrain”. From his training to his work as a university professor in Brazil, what I want to characterize is a transnational intellectual context in the domain of the history of science, using geographical reasoning as a reference. However, before becoming aware of these intellectual processes, it should be said that at the base of this context lies the Brazilian space. This kind of reasoning as a proposed methodology is named here the geohistory of knowledge. In this paper, I seek to present this methodology and its theoretical and empirical results, focusing on how the construction of contextualization can be related to space.

scholarly journals Changing features of the concept of pilgrimage: the example of the Mevlana's museum in Konya

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 196-210
Author(s):  
Nilay Hosta ◽  
Birsen Limon
Keyword(s):  
Business Sector ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Economic Resource ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Special Place ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time Of Year ◽  
Religious Aspects

Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi was a philosopher who influenced our era with his ‘humanist’ thoughts, his invitation towards everybody to friendship and brotherhood and his ideas about love and humanism. The museum, opened in his name in 1926 in Konya, Turkey, has been converted into a special place, describing Mevlevi’s way of life, telling the history of the Mevlana Dervish lodge and exhibiting related works with religious historical values. This important Museum, attracting many visitors from all over the world, including Turkey, represents unique examples both in architecture and genuine works of arts from Seljuk and the Ottoman period.Today faith tourism, emerging as a business sector, due to the increasing number of travelling people everyday, fulfils the space of the religious obligations related to travelling and also shows itself in religious aspects, not only pertaining to the major dimensions of a religion, but also by affecting all other religion-related rituals. The Mevlana Museum has become one of the places affected by the faith tourism. It has turned into an economic resource and become an important place for advertising Turkey, having visitors any time of year.

Not to Amuse My Readers Any Longer

2019 ◽  
pp. 205-218
Author(s):  
Scott Huler
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

This chapter retraces Huler’s thoughts about Lawson’s book, including Lawson’s collection of plants and insects that benefitted the history of science. Huler does not fail to mention his admiration for Lawson’s voyage with the Indians and their tradition. Lawson provides his opinion of slaves and considers Indians the freest People in the World. Lastly, Huler makes his last stop in Grifton listening to lectures and learning of traditional crafts. Huler closes his book with thoughts about Lawson’s death and reminiscences about the beauty of nature.

Can Children Benefit from Thought Experiments?

2019 ◽  
pp. 262-279
Author(s):  
Igor Bascandziev ◽  
Paul L. Harris
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Causal Structure ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Popular Belief ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

The “child as scientist” metaphor has been a source of many important insights about how children learn about the world. Extensive research has shown that, like scientists, children construct and test theories about the world through observation, exploration, and experimentation. What is not known, however, is whether children are similar to scientists in their employment of thought experimentation and other rationalistic processes when trying to learn about the world. Although the history of science has documented many instances of thought experiments being central to conceptual revolutions, there have been no empirical studies that ask the same question within developmental psychology. Such empirical studies are needed and warranted. Contrary to popular belief, children’s imagination is not fanciful or poorly disciplined. Instead, their imagination is constrained by knowledge of causal principles across different domains. Thus, engaging children in thought experiments should not produce unrealistic or impossible outcomes; rather, it should produce outcomes consistent with the causal structure of the world. Indeed, the consideration of hitherto unacknowledged implications of such outcomes may teach children something new about the world. This chapter reviews evidence from several studies that were not originally designed to test whether children can benefit from thought experiments but which nonetheless provide encouraging preliminary evidence of such benefit. Somewhat surprisingly, they hint that at least under some circumstances, the benefit from thought experiments may be greater than the benefit from direct observations of the world.

Design in Deloney's Jack of Newbury

PMLA ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Dorsinville
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
World View ◽  
The State ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Literary Value ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Political Conception ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

Jack of Newbury's surface realism in characters, setting, and speech has led to an underestimation of its historical and literary value. A close reading reveals the consistent use of the Greco-Roman ethical-political conception of the state, epitomized in the figure of the ruler. Deloney shows his familiarity with this tradition, probably known to him through Erasmus and Sidney, in the three controlling motifs of his novel. First, the middle class of weavers, represented in Jack's household and dramatized in allegories and symbols, is portrayed as a self-sufficient state where peace and harmony reign. Second, this state is shown to be such because of the nature of its ruler, Jack, a benevolent, generous, wise man. Third, the middle-class way of life—hard work, thriftiness, material gains—serves as princely education; accordingly, Jack, from a menial position, goes on to become ruler of the state. Jack of Newbury, as a systematical reordering of an aristocratic tradition, represents the world view of the emergent middle class; and as such, a momentous shift in the social temper of the Renaissance and an important step in the evolution of the novel.

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