Pale Shelter, Cold Hands: Making Criminal Justice Better

In memory of Mona. Inaugural Lecture.

Macht der Refrains im Codex Montpellier

Little scholarly attention was paid to the origin and rhythmic structure of the Codex Montpellier motets between the early twentieth century and the flurry of (mainly anglophone) research in the last fifteen years. The connecting thread between generations of researchers had torn and the work of Gustav Jacobsthal (1845-1912) and Yvonne Rokseth (1890-1948) have not been integrated into the state of research: Rokseth's views were forgotten after the Second World War, while Jacobsthal's results were published posthumously only in 2010. This article demonstrates the congruence of their methods and conclusions, especially regarding the influence of the refrains on the early motets, based on quotations from Jacobsthal papers and Rokseth's observations published in 1939. Furthermore it reviews the German-French interrelations in the interpretation of the early motets since the mid-nineteenth century, particularly the similarities and differences between Rokseth and representatives of the "school" of Friedrich Ludwig respectively. In addition, the article offers the first publication if a letter by Heinrich Besseler to Rokseth from 1934, as well as excerpts from her inaugural lecture at Strasbourg 1937.

TORT LAW AND THE MORAL LAW: ANGLO-FRENCH DIVERGENCES

Tunc's inaugural lecture “Tort Law and the Moral Law” in 1972 aimed to set out the moral foundations of tort liability in common law and French law. It triggered exchanges in this Journal with Hamson who challenged Tunc's views. This article explores the context of the debate and then reviews the subsequent developments of English and French law. Both systems have continued on the same path as the protagonists set out in their debate with France deepening its grounding in social solidarity as a justification for tort liability while English law sees its place only in state action or private charity.

Thermal Properties of Solids – Theoretical Basis, Research Methods and Selected Results of Proprietary Research

This paper refers to an inaugural lecture prepared by the author for the inauguration of the New Academic Year 2020/2021 at the Faculty of Mechatronics, Armament and Aerospace of Military University of Technology (MUT) in Warsaw (Poland) on 2 October 2020. It presents the origins of research into thermal properties of solids since the mid-1970s by the employees of the thermodynamic research unit at the Department of Aerodynamics and Thermodynamics, followed by the basic modalities of heat transfer, theoretical foundations of thermal expansion, specific heat, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of solids. The measuring apparatus created as a result of proprietary research studies and purchased from market-leading manufacturers is shown with a selection of results from the research into the thermal properties of solids, which are largely the outcome of the application our own research procedures.

Semon Lecture: ‘Laryngectomy Practice Based on Personal Research’, Royal Society of Medicine, 5 November 2020, London, UK

I wish to thank the Semon Committee for inviting me to deliver the 2020 Semon lecture. This is a very special honour, as is evidenced by the list of distinguished lecturers dating back to the inaugural lecture delivered at University College London in 1913. I am not the first South African to deliver the Semon lecture, having been preceded by my previous chairman Sean Sellars in 1993, and by Jack Gluckman in 2001, who was South African raised and educated and who subsequently became the chairman of otolaryngology in Cincinnati, USA.

The law of the global economy and the spectre of inequality

Drawing on my inaugural lecture, I argue that the spectre of inequality haunts international law. The presence of the spectre first of all draws attention to what is rotten in the global economic order: how the law of the global economy has contributed to high levels of inequality while, at the same time, abdicating responsibility for it. Second, like all spectres, international law’s spectre of inequality is animated by a spirit, the spirit of social justice. It points to forsaken paths, lost memories and conjures up past possibilities that were not realized. Third, the spectre endures unless we give in and break with current repetitions. It directs those in search of progressive change towards productive contradictions within global order. Those contradictions are indeed carriers of hope. They offer reason to believe that the future is open. Engaging with the spectre of inequality in international law turns out to be much less daunting than failing to do so.

Non-discursive philosophy by imagining new practices through design

In this commentary on Rietveld’s inaugural lecture, we exemplify with one of our design cases for project Expedition RWS 2050, how Rietveld’s and our method are complementary. Within this project, RWS invited us to contribute our design skills and make relevant future scenarios experienceable. To scaffold imaginative discussions about everyday life in 2050 with a cross-section of the Dutch population, we wrote seven short speculative stories and designed a set of physical discussion tools. When looking at this design case and the cases Rietveld describes in his inaugural lecture, one can see that we both are guided by and contributing to the development of ecological and enactive philosophy, which rejects the dichotomy between sensorimotor and higher cognition. In his approach, Rietveld pushes the boundaries of the affordances of the material during the making process, whereas we predominantly investigate the affordances of the things and practices which we have designed. Despite these differences, we are both pursuing engagement with philosophical practice through non-discursive means while imagining new sociomaterial practices.

Let’s talk about affordances: some implications of the social-material affordances approach

In Erik Rietveld’s inaugural lecture “The Affordances of Art for Making Technologies,” art is presented as a valuable avenue to enrich the environment with material and social affordances that may enhance human meaning giving practices. In this contribution, I make a distinction between conventional and unconventional practices and argue for an account of sociomateriality that covers the whole spectrum and not just the evidently artistic and artful ones. In this context, I plea for a cognitive science program that adds to the rich resources art has to offer for understanding the whole spectrum of practices and deals with the complexity of social, material, and cultural practices.

Professorship and family life

Chapter 2 describes Lorentz’s appointment as university professor, his move from Arnhem to Leiden, the methodology and views on physics in his inaugural lecture on molecular theories in physics, and his use of mathematics for the development of his theoretical work on optics and molecular theory, among other topics. Lorentz’s induction and involvement in the Royal Academy of Sciences is discussed in this chapter. Other sections are devoted to Lorentz’s experimental work in physics together with Pieter Zeeman, and to his work with various friends and colleagues, like Kamerlingh Onnes and Van de Sande Bakhuyzen. Lorentz’s first foreign contacts are explored, in particular those with Woldemar Voigt, Ludwig Boltzmann, Felix Klein, and Walther Nernst. Lorentz’s teaching and his first public activities are discussed here, as well as his marriage and his family life.

Centralizing the cut: a feminist, queer, crip response to powerful playgrounds

Responding to Erik Rietveld’s inaugural lecture, this commentary asks which bodies and what sites of design and architecture are centralized when thinking about “The Affordances of Art for Making Technologies”? Departing from personal experience and Nicholas Mirzoeff’s counterhistory of visuality, I analyze what it means to imagine “the end of sitting.” Through an engagement with crip theory and disability activism, I aim to understand which architectural sites should be disrupted. RAAAF’s practice of cutting and splitting closely relates to the work of the ‘70s artist Gordon Matta-Clark. But the radical proposals of both RAAAF and Matta-Clark engage with power in almost oppositional ways. While Matta-Clark offers the cut as a final space, RAAAF aims to create new worlds. I question the need for new worlds, since they are built on current power structures, instead of dismantling them.