The Old Tune: English Professors on Science and Literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-97
Author(s):  
Emelie Jonsson
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Present Form ◽  
Science And Literature ◽  
Literary Scholarship ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Advance Knowledge

Abstract Ian Duncan's Human Forms and Devin Griffiths's Age of Analogy attempt to illuminate interactions between evolutionary theories and literature from the late eighteenth century up through the nineteenth century. They do not advance knowledge about this subject. Both authors treat evolution as a semi-fictional construction that owes more to literary inspiration than to the scientific method, and they reduce literature to a battleground for ideological forces. They write using dense terminology, shifting rhetoric, and flights of verbal performance that obscure their claims. In all these respects, they are representative of the field “science and literature”—and particularly of the subfield that studies evolution and literature. I analyze the history of this subfield of literary scholarship and attempt to explain how it developed into its present form. The subfield was founded in the 1980s on the basis of poststructuralist theory and has never escaped the core assumptions of that theory: our minds cannot reach outside culture; our thoughts, behaviors, and ideas about the world are primarily the result of our culture; some cultural traditions are oppressive while others are liberating; and the meaning of texts cannot be determined. Though Duncan and Griffiths represent the highest level of scholarship on evolution and literature, I argue that they fail their fascinating subject by offering very little that is new within their own field, and nothing that is of value to other fields.

scholarly journals Patriarchy in the Digital Conjuncture: An Analysis of Google’s James Damore

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Little ◽  
Alison Winch
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Method ◽  
Software Engineer ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Silicon Valley ◽  
High Status ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Belief ◽  
The World ◽  
New Form

Our case study looks at the events surrounding the sacking ofGoogle engineer James Damore who was fired for authoring a memo which stated that women are biologically less suited to high-stress, high-status technical employment than men. Damore, asserting that his document ‘was absolutely consistent with what he’d seen online’, instantly became an ambivalent hero of the alt-right. Like the men who own and run the companies of Silicon Valley, the software engineer subscribes to the idea that the world can be understood and altered through the rigorous application of the scientific method. And as he draws on bodies of knowledge from evolutionary psychology and mathematical biology, we see how the core belief structures of Silicon Valley, when transferred from the technical to the cultural and social domain, can reproduce the sort of misogynistic ‘rationalism’ that fuels the alt-right. We argue that Damore’s memo is in line with Google’s ideology of ‘dataism’: that is the belief that the world can be reduced to decontextualised information and subject to quantifiable logics.Through its use of dataism, the memo reveals much about the similarities and continuities between Damore, the ideas laid out n his memo, and Google itself. Rather than being in opposition, these two entities are jostling for a place in the patriarchal structures of a new form of capitalism.

Philosophy of Physics: A Very Short Introduction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Philosophy Of Physics ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Fundamental Physics ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Parallel Universes ◽  
Large Systems

Philosophy of Physics: A Very Short Introduction explores the core topics of philosophy of physics through three key themes: the nature of space and time; the origin of irreversibility and probability in the physics of large systems; how we can make sense of quantum mechanics. Central issues discussed include: the scientific method as it applies in modern physics; the distinction between absolute and relative motion; the way that distinction changes between Newton’s physics and special relativity; what spacetime is and how it relates to the laws of physics; how fundamental physics can make no distinction between past and future and yet a clear distinction exists in the world we see around us; why it is so difficult to understand quantum mechanics, and why doing so might push us to change our fundamental physics, to rethink the nature of science, or even to accept the existence of parallel universes.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole von Germeten
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Sex Work ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
First Century ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

The conclusion surveys how in nineteenth-century Mexico, Europe, and regions around the world under European colonial rule, sex work took place in an environment of increasing government intervention, a phase in the history of sexuality that extends into the twenty-first century. The concern about disease control took on a more scientific, sanitary tone in the eighteenth century. This discourse remained critical to sex work law, as it does to the present day. Through prolific regulations, scientific studies, works of literature, and statements made by sex workers themselves, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw an enormous increase in the archiving and inscribing of women who sold sex. But their roles remained the same: either pathetic victims (usually of non-whites or non-Christians or other feared populations), lascivious and scandalous disturbers of the peace, or dehumanized and horrific threats to public health. Imperialism and international conceptions of race/gender difference led to increasing government regulation in locations as dispersed as the disappearing Spanish American viceroyalties, extending outwards to Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

Teacher Effectiveness in Singapore

2021 ◽  
pp. 192-226
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Gareis
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Quality ◽  
Education System ◽  
Career Advancement ◽  
Educational Quality ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
City State

Singapore is an island city-state located at the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Although one of the smallest countries in the world by landmass, it has an outsized record for educational excellence as evidenced by consistently high rankings on indicators of international comparison. While no single measure is indicative of educational quality, the Singapore education system is unquestionably effective. In this chapter, the quality and effectiveness of teachers are explored, beginning with a brief history of Singaporean education and then an overview of three defining characteristics of the Singapore education system as related to teacher quality. Then, the chapter presents a career-spanning perspective on teaching in Singapore from entry to pre-service preparation to induction, continuous professional learning, and career advancement. Throughout, a prevailing theme is evident: the value placed on teacher quality is an intentional, strategic feature of the Singaporean system, at the core of which is valuing teachers as learners and innovators.

Reading Henry Maundrell’s Sacred Geography in Eighteenth-Century England and Germany

2019 ◽  
pp. 210-226
Author(s):  
Simon Mills
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Holy Land ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
The World ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Sacred Geography ◽  
History Of

This chapter explains the remarkable popularity of Henry Maundrell’s A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter AD 1697 (1703). It argues that Maundrell’s eye-witness reportage of his travels in the Holy Land provided the book’s readers with a storehouse of geographical observations and descriptions of eastern customs with which they could recreate imaginatively the world of the Scriptures. Tracing the book’s use by editors, commentators, translators, and paraphrasts, it argues that Maundrell was most often put to work in defence of the Bible against attacks on its claims to truth. Yet in the hands of Maundrell’s late eighteenth-century German translator, the naturalist and historicist tendencies inherent in his account were brought into sharper focus; ‘sacred geography’ was transformed into a history of biblical culture.

Samuel Wesley and the Missa De Spiritu Sancto

1999 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-319
Author(s):  
Philip Olleson
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Performing Edition ◽  
Subsequent Performance ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
World Premiere

A good deal of attention has been paid in recent years to the relationships between Methodists and Catholics in England in the eighteenth century and, in particular, to John Wesley’s own dealings with Catholics and Catholicism. This article examines a link with Catholicism at the very heart of Methodism’s first family: the involvement of Samuel Wesley (1766–1837), the younger of the two musician sons of Charles Wesley, and the nephew of John. As will be seen below, Wesley converted in 1784, marking the occasion by composing an elaborate setting of the Ordinary of the Mass (the Missa de Spiritu Sancto) which he sent to Pope Pius VI. This article discusses the background to the composition of the Mass, its musical content, and the subsequent history of its autograph score. It is prompted by the publication of a performing edition of the work and by a subsequent performance (almost certainly the world première) in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, on 10 September 1997, which was recorded and later broadcast on both Irish and British radio.

Part III Regimes and Doctrines, Ch.35 Theorizing Free Trade

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orford Anne
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Market Distortion ◽  
Historical Trajectory

This chapter re-examines the history of free trade and its relationship to international law. It locates contemporary trade agreements within a larger story about the relation between the state, the market, and the social; explores why it is useful to place current trade agreements within a longer historical trajectory; offers a brief narrative of how the concept of free trade has moved across a two-hundred-year period since the late eighteenth century; and concludes that concepts such as free trade (and related concepts such as discrimination, market distortion, protection, and subsidies) are the product of political struggles over particular ways of understanding the world, justifying entitlements to resources, explaining why some people should profit from the labour of others, and legitimizing the exercise of power.

Logical and Scientific Method in Early Buddhist Texts

1968 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. P. Misra
Keyword(s):  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Buddhist Ethics ◽  
Indian Thought ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

By rejecting animism and ritualism and emphasizing a rational outlook which treats reality as a causally and functionally determined system of plural synergies (saṁskāras), the emergence of Buddhism marks an important event in the history of Indian thought. The most distinctive feature of Buddhist ethics is its freedom from theism, which leaves room for rationalism and rules out submission to some superhuman power controlling the world-process. Prior to the advent of Buddhism even theUpaniṣadswere not completely free from theistic influence in their speculations. It is proposed here to point to the Buddhist contribution to the growth of scientific outlook and methodology in India.

scholarly journals Principles and biological concepts of heredity before Mendel

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Péter Poczai ◽  
Jorge A. Santiago-Blay
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Alma Mater ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
Standard Textbook ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biological Concepts ◽  
First Time

AbstractThe knowledge of the history of a subject stimulates understanding. As we study how other people have made scientific breakthroughs, we develop the breadth of imagination that would inspire us to make new discoveries of our own. This perspective certainly applies to the teaching of genetics as hallmarked by the pea experiments of Mendel. Common questions students have in reading Mendel’s paper for the first time is how it compares to other botanical, agricultural, and biological texts from the early and mid-nineteenth centuries; and, more precisely, how Mendel’s approach to, and terminology for debating, topics of heredity compare to those of his contemporaries? Unfortunately, textbooks are often unavailing in answering such questions. It is very common to find an introduction about heredity in genetic textbooks covering Mendel without mentions of preceding breeding experiments carried out in his alma mater. This does not help students to understand how Mendel came to ask the questions he did, why he did, or why he planned his pea studies the way he did. Furthermore, the standard textbook “sketch” of genetics does not allow students to consider how discoveries could have been framed and inspired so differently in various parts of the world within a single historical time. In our review we provide an extended overview bridging this gap by showing how different streams of ideas lead to the eventual foundation of particulate inheritance as a scientific discipline. We close our narrative with investigations on the origins of animal and plant breeding in Central Europe prior to Mendel in Kőszeg and Brno, where vigorous debates touched on basic issues of heredity from the early eighteenth-century eventually reaching a pinnacle coining the basic questions: What is inherited and how is it passed on from one generation to another?

scholarly journals A Review on Electrohomeopathic Medicinal Practice: Origin, Principles, Medicinal Plants Used and Its Current Status in India

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
P. Sureshbabu ◽  
E. Siddalingamurthy ◽  
N. L. Shashidhara ◽  
B. Sooryanarayanarao ◽  
D. C. Bhavya
Keyword(s):  
Indian Population ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Medical System ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Medical Systems ◽  
Natural Plant ◽  
The Core ◽  
Disease Condition ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Natural plant medicines have been used as remedies for various diseases since ages. Various medical systems have been established and practiced across the world, of which some are gained popularity and constitutional recognition while some are yet to find recognition in certain geographical areas. Electrohomeopathy is one such medical practice which is picking up on acceptance by the Indian population. The Electrohomeopathy or Electropathic system of medicine has a history of nearly 150 years of existence. In India, the system has been in practice for more than a century. This is a purely plant-based medical system, first started by C.C. Mattei of Italy during the 1850s. Extraction of electrals or phytoconstituents from different plants and recombining in appropriate proportions as per the requirement of the patient’s disease condition forms the core principle of the system. In this review article, we briefly touch upon the origin, historical evolution, and basic principle, list of plants used, types of remedies used and current status in India and also throws light on what the future holds for the Electrohomeopathy medicine and treatment.

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