Shapes and Patterns in Visualizing Human Knowledge

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Osinski ◽  
Veslava Osinska
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Fractal Structures ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Knowledge Presentation ◽  
Historical Outline ◽  
Effective Visualization ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Over Time

The concepts of knowledge presentation have their origin in the early Middle Ages and establish contemporary trends in visualization activity. Using the latest scientific observations, it is possible to conclude that circles and spheres are the most common natural shapes in both micro- and macrospace. The next most often used metaphor in medieval literature is a tree: an instance of fractals that today determines the geometry of nature. The fractals are the strong attractors of human mind space. The problem is how these two forms interact with each other and how they coexist in the context of effective visualization of information. The chapter presents an intercultural historical outline of appropriate graphical forms for knowledge representation. The authors strive to prove the main hypothesis: fractals and spheres contribute to modern complex visualization. The reasons may be sought in human perception and cognition. This chapter discusses visualization problems in the form of tree-like fractal structures embedded in spherical shapes over time, different cultures, and inter-personal relationships.

The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Cultures

This work represents a combination of different genres: cultural history, philosophical anthropology, and textbook. It follows a handful of different but interrelated themes through more than a dozen texts that were written over a period of several millennia. By means of an analysis of these texts, this work presents a theory about the development of Western Civilization from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The main line of argument traces the various self-conceptions of the different cultures as they developed historically. These self-conceptions reflect different views of what it is to be human. The thesis is that in these we can discern the gradual emergence of what we today call inwardness, subjectivity and individual freedom. As human civilization took its first tenuous steps, it had a very limited conception of the individual. Instead, the dominant principle was that of the wider group: the family, clan or people. Only in the course of history did the idea of what we know as individuality begin to emerge. It took millennia for this idea to be fully recognized and developed. The conception of human beings as having a sphere of inwardness and subjectivity subsequently had a sweeping impact on all aspects of culture, such as philosophy, religion, law, and art. Indeed, this conception largely constitutes what is today referred to as modernity. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that this modern conception of human subjectivity was not simply something given but rather the result of a long process of historical and cultural development.

Quel corpus pour l’étude du dialecte niçois ?

2021 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-361
Author(s):  
Philippe Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Descriptive Grammar ◽  
Written Production ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Social Use ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Made In ◽  
Do So

Abstract A new project has just been launched to write a synchronic, descriptive grammar of Niçois, the Occitan dialect of Nice. In this article, I define the corpus of the research. To do so, I first review written production from the Middle Ages to the present. I then analyze the linguistic features of Niçois over time, in order to determine the precise starting point of the current language state. But because of reinforced normativism and the decreasing social use of Niçois among the educated population, written language after WWII became artificial and does not really correspond to recordings made in the field. The corpus will thus be composed of writings from the 1820’s to WWII and recordings from the last few decades.

scholarly journals The translation and transmission of ‘diatribal’ verbs in the textual traditions of the Zlatostruj collection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simeon Dekker
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Form Equation ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Textual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Textual Traditions ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Middle Ages

AbstractThe ‘diatribe’ is a dialogical mode of exposition, originating in Hellenistic Greek, where the author dramatically performs different voices in a polemical-didactic discourse. The voice of a fictitious opponent is often disambiguated by means of parenthetical verba dicendi, especially φησί(ν). Although diatribal texts were widely translated into Slavic in the Middle Ages, the textual history of the Zlatostruj collection of Chrysostomic homilies especially suits an investigation not only of how Greek ‘diatribal’ verbs were translated, but also how the Slavic verbs were transmitted or developed in different textual traditions. Over time, Slavic redactional activity led to a homogenization of verb forms. The initial variety of the original translation was partly eliminated, and the verb forms "Equation missing" and "Equation missing" became more firmly established as prototypical diatribal formulae. Especially the (increased) use of the 2sg form "Equation missing" has theoretical consequences for the text’s dialogical structure. Thus, an important dialogical component of the diatribe was reinforced in the Zlatostruj’s textual history on Slavic soil.

Literature and the Senses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Dugan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Study ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Literary Representations ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Historical Periods ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Culture And Language ◽  
Sensory Studies

Sensory studies is an interdisciplinary field connecting insights from history, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religion, literature, and art to the scientific study of human perception. Though research in this field draws upon a wide variety of methodologies and focuses on different historical periods and geographical areas, it is unified through a core tenet: that the human sensorium is as much a cultural, historical, and aesthetic phenomenon as it is an environmental and a biological one. Social mores, geographies, religious beliefs, and individual abilities shape perception in uniquely cultural ways. Put more succinctly, sensory studies, as a field, argues for the cultural study of the senses and the sensuous study of culture. And language is squarely at the center of scholarly questions about perception; literary studies thus provides useful methodological tools for understanding not only how we represent visceral experiences (such as sensation) to others through language but also how these strategies have changed over time. The study of literature and the senses emphasizes the important role of language in representing visceral experience and the important role of aesthetics and history in shaping literary representations.

On the Psychology of the Crusades

1906 ◽  
Vol 52 (219) ◽  
pp. 745-755
Author(s):  
William W. Ireland
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
The World ◽  
Common Nature ◽  
The Middle Ages

Although the world will never again see anything like the great crusades of the middle ages, these events may be traced to causes which, though now of less force, still influence the human mind, appealing to the simplest and deepest cravings of our common nature.

Before the Standing Stones: From Land Forms to Religious Attitudes and Monumentality

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce E. Salisbury
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Spiritual Beliefs ◽  
Religious Expression ◽  
Religious Attitudes ◽  
Religious Feeling ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Over Time

Any study of great prehistoric monuments from standing stones to pyramids involves exploring people’s spiritual beliefs. There had to be some strong sense of awe to motivate people to do the kind of extraordinary work to erect such monuments, and in the ancient world, religion served as the greatest motivator. There are many ways to study religion, and each academic discipline uses its own methods, which in turn shape its conclusions. Anthropologists compare different religions to see how different cultures express their beliefs; sociologists look at the functions religions serve to maintain a social cohesiveness. Psychologists of religion might look at the way religious feelings are manifest in individuals, and theologians try to explore deep truths about the nature of God. All these approaches reveal some truths about this complex phenomenon we call religion and the results often seem like those of the proverbial blind men describing parts of an elephant while missing the glory of the whole. I, too, will focus on one small part of the religious experience—the feeling that lies at the heart of those who have felt the spiritual, and while there have been many disciplines that have studied this religious experience, from psychology to philosophy to sociology, my approach is historical. I will try to explore the nature of people’s religious expression over time, as they change and as they stay the same. What is this religious feeling? As we might expect, there are many different interpretations and analyses of the nature of the religious experience. It may mean the capacity of feeling at one with something larger than oneself, which is the definition of ‘mysticism’. It maymean a belief in—a faith in—a supernatural being. For the purposes of this chapter, however, I will simply accept the experience as a capacity humans have to feel awe and reverence (Bellah 2011). This enduring sense of awe—what has been famously called the idea of the holy (Otto 1950)—lies somewhere at the heart of all subsequent religious impulses.

A brief history of suicidal behaviour

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Navneet Kapur ◽  
Robert Goldney
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Suicidal Behaviour ◽  
Social Influences ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Middle Ages

This chapter places suicide and suicidal behaviour in a European historical context. Although suicide has been documented throughout history, its meaning and functions have varied over time. In the Middle Ages, suicide was regarded as sinful but, subsequently, was conceptualized in terms of social influences or mental illness. Systematic research into suicidal behaviour has been undertaken for more than two centuries. The contributions of Morselli, using statistical and epidemiological techniques, were particularly notable. Many of the accepted social and psychiatric antecedents of suicide we talk about today were well described by the nineteenth century.

Nationalist historiography and the English and Gaelic worlds in the late middle ages

1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (97) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven G. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Historical Coverage ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Much more so than in modern times, sharp cultural and social differences distinguished the various peoples inhabiting the British Isles in the later middle ages. Not surprisingly these differences and the interaction between medieval forms of culture and society have attracted considerable attention by historians. By comparison with other fields of research, we know much about the impact of the Westminster government on the various regions of the English polity, about the interaction between highland and lowland Scotland and about the similarities and differences between English and Gaelic Ireland. Yet the historical coverage of these questions has been uneven, and what at first glance might appear obvious and promising lines of inquiry have been largely neglected — for example the relationship between Gaelic Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, or between Wales, the north of England and the lordship of Ireland as borderlands of the English polity. No doubt the nature and extent of the surviving evidence is an important factor in explaining this unevenness, but in fact studies of interaction between different cultures seem to reflect not so much their intrinsic importance for our understanding of different late medieval societies as their perceived significance for the future development of movements culminating in the present.

The new Basrah Museum: dedicated to the archaeological and historical inheritance of Basrah and Iraq

Antiquity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 93 (369) ◽  
pp. 811-813
Author(s):  
Adil Hashim Ali
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Arabian Gulf ◽  
Fertile Crescent ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
A Site ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The City

Located in the Fertile Crescent and at the head of the Persian/Arabian Gulf, the city of Basra is steeped in history. Close to the heart of ancient Mesopotamia, the territory of modern Iraq was occupied variously by Achaemenids and Seleucids, Parthians, Romans and Sassanids, before the arrival of Islam in the early middle ages. In more recent history, the city's strategic position near the Gulf coast has made Basra a site of contestation and conflict. This exposure to so many different cultures and civilisations has contributed to the rich identity of Basra, a wealth of history that demands a cultural museum able to present all of the historical periods together in one place. The original Basra Museum was looted and destroyed in 1991, during the first Gulf War. The destruction and loss of so much of Iraq's history and material culture prompted official collaboration to build a new museum that would represent the city of Basrah and showcase its significance in the history of Iraq. The culmination of an eight-year collaborative project between the Iraq Ministry of Culture, the State Board of Antiquities and the Friends of Basrah Museum, the new museum was opened initially in September 2016. Already established as a cultural landmark in the city, with up to 200 visitors a day and rising, the museum was officially opened on 20 March 2019. The author was fortunate to be present for this event and able to explore the new galleries (Figure 1).

Trends in the drawing of mechanisms since the early Middle Ages

2001 ◽  
Vol 215 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Ceccarelli ◽  
M Cigola
Keyword(s):  
Mechanism Design ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Mechanical Design ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Historic Background

Drawing of mechanisms is a fundamental tool for mechanical design and representation. In this paper a historical study on the evolution of representation of mechanisms has been carried out in order to establish the historic background and identify the progress over time. Investigating several authors has identified basic changes in the evolution of mechanism drawing, and a few examples are reported in this paper to stress the main concepts. The drawing of mechanisms has evolved from an intentionally incomplete representation to a naturalistic and pictorial view, then from concise sketches and kinematic diagrams to modern abstract graphic pictures. The development of mechanism drawing has been strongly linked with and affected by the evolution of knowledge in mechanical sciences and particularly mechanism design.

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