D’Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1717–83)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Single Point ◽  
Denis Diderot ◽  
Mathematical Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
European Science ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Serial Publication

Mathematician, scientist and man of letters, Jean D’Alembert is a central figure of the French Enlightenment. As a young man he made significant contributions to the refinement of mathematical techniques, and later was actively engaged in the theoretical controversies which surrounded the gradual assimilation of Newtonian mechanics into the mainstream of European science. For twelve years (1746–58) he was co-editor, with Denis Diderot, of the Encyclopedia, the serial publication of which was one of the defining events of the Enlightenment period as a whole. D’Alembert frequented the various Paris salons where much of the intellectual fervour and high-spiritedness of the age was cultivated and given shape. As Secretary of the French Academy he worked assiduously to advance the cause of human knowledge. D’Alembert’s philosophy is characterized by an abiding commitment to the clarity and precision which attends mathematical abstraction. He believed that in its essence the natural order is internally structured by laws whose operation can be articulated under the principles of geometry. All natural phenomena are to be explained under the terms of those basic mathematical principles that govern the scientific domain in which they are located (chemistry or astronomy for example), and all scientific domains could be brought ultimately to perfect consistency and systematic order within a comprehensive theory. The events and processes which constitute the natural order reflect the reality of the mathematical structure which underlies them. As he says in the Preliminary Discourse (1751) to the Encyclopedia (1751–65), ‘The universe would only be one fact and one great truth for whoever knew how to embrace it from a single point of view’.

scholarly journals OS EMBATES DA NORMATIZAÇÃO: GÊNERO E CULTURA NO ILUMINISMO FRANCÊS * THE CLASHES OF NORMALIZATION: GENDER AND CULTURE IN FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
Flora Morena Maria Martini de Araujo
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
European Society ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Western Society ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Traditional Structures

Se observarmos com cuidado notamos o quanto o Iluminismo foi, e ainda é, um objeto de estudo constante na historiografia. Muitos historiadores e historiadoras têm sido seduzidos pelos encantos deste movimento que sacudiu as estruturas tradicionais da sociedade europeia moderna e acabou transformando a sociedade ocidental. Por sua complexidade e riqueza, seja de objetos ou por sua disseminação, são incalculáveis trabalhos que tratam do Iluminismo a partir das abordagens mais diversas. A partir disto, neste artigo buscamos abordar este tema a partir dao viés analítido de gênero, atentando para de que maneira os prerrupostos dos filósofos, médicos e pedagogos vão delimitar as subjetividades, educação e locais de atuação feminina a partir do que consideravam “os parâmetros da organização natural".*Through a critical and careful point of view, it is possible to notice how much the Enlightenment was, and still is, an object of constant study in historiography. Many historians have been seduced by the charms of this movement that shook the traditional structures of modern European society and eventually transformed Western society. Because of their complexity and richness, there are incalculable works that deal with the Enlightenment from the most diverse approaches. From this aspect, in this article we seek to approach this theme from the analytical gender bias, looking at how the assumptions of philosophers, physicians and pedagogues tried to delimit subjectivities, education and places of feminine action from what they considered “the parameters of natural organization”.

Bīsotūn and the French Enlightenment

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-614
Author(s):  
DANIEL THOMAS POTTS
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transmission ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Western Iran ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Political Service

AbstractThis study examines a little-known case of Enlightenment knowledge transmission centred on the rock-cut monument of Darius I at Bīsotūn in western Iran. It discusses a report on the monument published by the cartographer and historian Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, which originated with the Decalced Carmelite monk Emmanuel de Saint-Albert (born Jean-Claude Ballyet); who transmitted it to Isaac Bellet, a doctor involved in secret negotiations in Constantinople; who in turn sent it to Louis, Duke d'Orléans, in Paris; who passed it on to d'Anville. The collison of scholarly interest, political service and scientific personality offers a fascinating case study of the Enlightenment ‘republic of letters’ in action.

Where Does Niklas Luhmann’s Card Index Come From?

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Cevolini
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Filing Cabinet ◽  
The Social ◽  
Enlightenment Project ◽  
Card Index ◽  
Social Use ◽  
The Mind

Thanks to a grant of the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste, Bielefeld University has started a fifteen-year project (2015–2030) that includes the production of a critical edition of Niklas Luhmann’s extant works and manuscripts, as well as the digitalization of his famous card index. This valuable enterprise has rekindled interest in what many scholars hold to be a ‘holy grail’: a marvelous instrument that aided great creativity and scientific production by the German sociologist. Indeed, people feel that looking inside the filing cabinet is like looking inside the mind of a genius at work. This article suggests a different point of view, rooted in the Enlightenment project of the sociologist of Bielefeld. The main hypothesis is that in the use of a card index as a surprise generator, there is nothing particularly surprising if one considers the evolution of knowledge management in early modern Europe. Rather, the question should be: how it is possible to explain the evolutionary improbability of the social use of ‘machines’ as secondary memories for knowledge management and reproduction? This article provides some suggestions for research and tries to determine where Luhmann’s card index comes from.

scholarly journals Inverse semigroups and their natural order

1978 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Mitsch
Keyword(s):  
Inverse Semigroup ◽  
Partial Order ◽  
Homomorphic Image ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Inverse Semigroups ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Trivial Group

The natural order of an inverse semigroup defined by a ≤ b ⇔ a′b = a′a has turned out to be of great importance in describing the structure of it. In this paper an order-theoretical point of view is adopted to characterise inverse semigroups. A complete description is given according to the type of partial order an arbitrary inverse semigroup S can possibly admit: a least element of (S, ≤) is shown to be the zero of (S, ·); the existence of a greatest element is equivalent to the fact, that (S, ·) is a semilattice; (S, ≤) is directed downwards, if and only if S admits only the trivial group-homomorphic image; (S, ≤) is totally ordered, if and only if for all a, b ∈ S, either ab = ba = a or ab = ba = b; a finite inverse semigroup is a lattice, if and only if it admits a greatest element. Finally formulas concerning the inverse of a supremum or an infimum, if it exists, are derived, and right-distributivity and left-distributivity of multiplication with respect to union and intersection are shown to be equivalent.

scholarly journals Conditions for the physical realizability of a typical component z(y)-matrix of a matching quadrupole of a general form in a concentrated elemental basis

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
Gennady Devyatkov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Half Plane ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Signal Source ◽  
Left Half ◽  
Left Half Plane ◽  
Broadband Matching ◽  
Typical Component ◽  
Physical Realizability

When solving problems of broadband matching, very often there is a need for a certain form of the amplitude-frequency characteristic. In connection with this, the problem comes up of synthesizing broadband matching devices that simultaneously have correcting properties, i.e. having a given frequency dependence of the power conversion coefficient in the operating frequency band. The use of broadband reactive matching - correcting circuits in most practical cases is difficult because of the reflected power. This leads to the problem of the synthesis of broadband matching-correcting circuits with arbitrary immittances of the signal source and load in an elemental basis of a general form, containing along with reactive and active elements, which has not been adequately solved. Therefore, it becomes necessary to find the conditions for the physical realizability of a typical component of the immitance matrix of a two-port network of general form containing poles in the left half-plane of complex frequencies. In this paper the necessary and sufficient conditions are defined for the physical realizability of the immitance matrix of a typical component of a subclass of two-terminal networks of general form in a lumped elemental electric basis, when the poles of the Eigen functions in the Foster representation can be in the left half-plane of complex frequencies, excluding the imaginary and real axes. This allows to synthesis of broadband dissipative matching, matching-correcting circuits and matched attenuators in an elemental basis of a general form with arbitrary immitances of the signal source and load from a single point of view.

scholarly journals Graffiti as a sign: the semiotic approach to the study of the phenomenon

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (18) ◽  
pp. 92-98
Author(s):  
Maria Chikarkova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Street Art ◽  
The Media ◽  
Cultural Code ◽  
The One ◽  
Different Characteristics

Although graffiti is a well-known phenomenon of street art, there is still no single point of view on this phenomenon (even if it is considered art at all). Both the essence and the manifestations of graffiti remain a matter of debate - there are dozens of different classifications, that they are based on different characteristics. However, the phenomenon has rarely attracted attention from the point of view of semiotics, though it is the semiotic reading of graffiti that makes it possible to understand its nature more deeply. Due to semiotics we could create an integrative classification, which would combine stylistics and subject matter into one system. The article made exactly such an attempt –providing of the semiotic classification of graffiti, based on Ch. Peirce’s classification of semiotic signs. Graffiti is a sign, because it has a material shell of the latter, a marked object and rules of interpretation. It functions within the subculture and signifies the individual's desire to escape from the deterministic nature of urban life (J. Baudrillard). It is a culture of the semiosphere, which continuously gives rise to new connotations and, accordingly, generates new receptions. An important component of graffiti interpretation is the cultural code; it is not read outside the field of conventionality, cultural context. Decoding of graffiti can occur in three ways. From our point of view, it is appropriate to use S. Hall’sclassification. He suggested a scheme for "decrypting" messages in the media, however, in our opinion, his scheme works for any communicative act (including graffiti). He distinguished dominant ("dominant-hegemonic"), oppositional ("oppositional") and negotiated ("negotiated") decoding. In the graffiti situation, oppositional decoding prevails among ordinary recipients (passers-by). U. Eco called this type aberrant, because it provides "decryption" of text with a different code than the one it was created for. Authors of graffiti themselves are often not fully aware of what they createalso. Modern writers use techniques of op-art, Dadaism, surrealism, etc., without being very oriented in all these directions. When graffiti combines different types of art (for example, the combination of painting with literature), it takes into account the features of inter-semiotic translation, which makes the decoding situation even more complicated. We offercreating a semioticclassificationofgraffiti, that might be based on Ch. Peirce’s classification of semiotic signs, whichdistinguishthesigns-copies, signs-indexes, signs-symbols. It could help the essence of graffiti and decode them.

scholarly journals Orthographies in Grammar Books – Rationalism and Enlightenment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomislav Stojanov
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Strong Connection ◽  
European Languages ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point

This work describes the orthographic content in grammars of European languages in the 17th and the 18th century. Reviewed were 17 grammars for 7 languages in Rationalism, 15 grammars for 11 languages in the Enlightenment, and 12 Latin orthographies. As for orthographic entities in the broader sense (orthography as a way to write down speech), our starting point were orthographic grapheme units which are contrasted to meaning (i.e. orthographic entities in the narrower sense, e.g. punctuation). Contrary to the traditional description which focused on spelling, this work observes the beginnings of orthographic content in grammars and its development into an autonomous language phenomenon and norm. The strong connection between orthography and grammar is described and it is established that, from the diachronic point of view, orthography cannot be integrally reviewed without studying the grammatical teachings.

scholarly journals Metode dan Pendekatan dalam Studi Islam: Pembacaan atas Pemikiran Charles J. Adams

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Luluk Fikri Zuhriyah
Keyword(s):  
Single Point ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interesting Object ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
Oriental Studies

<p>Islam has been an interesting object of study for both Muslims and non-Muslims over a long period of time. A number of methods and approaches have also been introduced. In due time, Islam is now no longer understood solely as a doctrine or a set of belief system. Nor is it interpreted merely as an historical process. Islam is a social system comprising of a complex web of human experience. Islam does not only consist of formal codes that individuals should look at and obey. It also contains some cultural, political and economic values. Islam is a civilization. Given the complex nature of Islam it is no longer possible to deal with it from a single point of view. An inter-disciplinary perspective is required.</p><p>In the West, social and humanities sciences have long been introduced in the study of religion; studies that put a stronger emphasis on what we currently know as the history of religion, psychology of religion, sociology of religion and so on. This kind of approach in turn, is also applied in the Western studies of the Eastern religions and communities.</p><p>Islam as a religion is also dealt with in this way in the West. It is treated as part of the oriental culture to the extent that—as Muhammad Abdul Raouf has correctly argued—Islamic studies became identical to the oriental studies. By all means, the West preceded the Muslims in studying Islam from modern perspectives; perspective that puts more emphasis on social, cultural, behavioral, political and economic aspects. Among the Western scholars that approach Islam from this angle is Charles Joseph Adams whose thought this research is interested to explore.</p>

scholarly journals Prawo siły jako polityczna konsekwencja naturalizmu — na przykładzie myśli Jeana-Jacques’a Rousseau

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Haremska
Keyword(s):  
Natural Order ◽  
Political Consequence ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Law

The law of force as a political consequence of naturalism: on the example of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Jean‐Jacques Rousseau rejected the Enlightenment ideas of reason, equality and progress. He experienced the charm of physical vigour and male causative power. He preached the apotheosis of primal instincts and the cult of strength. Rousseau’s historiosophy disavowed the optimistic vision of the Enlightenment and became its main competitor. The philosopher questioned the existing civilization; on its debris he wanted to restore the natural order based on biologically conditioned inequalities.

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