- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226075358
- eISBN:
- 9780226075389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226075389.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This book describes the protection of myth saved by allegory, which was not eliminated by historians, philosophers, and theologians, but which made it possible to associate the most scandalous of ...
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This book describes the protection of myth saved by allegory, which was not eliminated by historians, philosophers, and theologians, but which made it possible to associate the most scandalous of narratives and bizarre details to deep truths. During the period when writing made its appearance, myth came into the picture only when it underwent a drastic assessment by the first historians and especially the first philosophers. Plato rejected allegory, though he did not abandon myth, but it was practiced by Aristotle with self-discipline and caution. Allegory enabled the constant adaptation and interpretation of myths to fit the context in which they were received. Thus, allegory made it possible for myths to survive.Less
This book describes the protection of myth saved by allegory, which was not eliminated by historians, philosophers, and theologians, but which made it possible to associate the most scandalous of narratives and bizarre details to deep truths. During the period when writing made its appearance, myth came into the picture only when it underwent a drastic assessment by the first historians and especially the first philosophers. Plato rejected allegory, though he did not abandon myth, but it was practiced by Aristotle with self-discipline and caution. Allegory enabled the constant adaptation and interpretation of myths to fit the context in which they were received. Thus, allegory made it possible for myths to survive.
James M. Banner Jr. and John R. Gillis (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226036564
- eISBN:
- 9780226036595
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226036595.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
In this collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these historians came of age just before the ...
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In this collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these historians came of age just before the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s and helped to transform both their discipline and the broader world of American higher education. The self-inventions they chronicle led, in many cases, to the invention of new fields—including women's and gender history, social history, and public history—that cleared paths in the academy and made the study of the past more capacious and broadly relevant. In these stories, aspiring historians will find inspiration and guidance, experienced scholars will see reflections of their own dilemmas and struggles, and all readers will discover an account of how today's seasoned historians embarked on their intellectual journeys.Less
In this collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these historians came of age just before the upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s and helped to transform both their discipline and the broader world of American higher education. The self-inventions they chronicle led, in many cases, to the invention of new fields—including women's and gender history, social history, and public history—that cleared paths in the academy and made the study of the past more capacious and broadly relevant. In these stories, aspiring historians will find inspiration and guidance, experienced scholars will see reflections of their own dilemmas and struggles, and all readers will discover an account of how today's seasoned historians embarked on their intellectual journeys.
Jeffrey Knapp
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226445717
- eISBN:
- 9780226445731
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226445731.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
Three decades of controversy in Shakespeare studies can be summed up in a single question: Was Shakespeare one of a kind? On one side of the debate are the Shakespeare lovers, the bardolatrists, who ...
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Three decades of controversy in Shakespeare studies can be summed up in a single question: Was Shakespeare one of a kind? On one side of the debate are the Shakespeare lovers, the bardolatrists, who insist on Shakespeare's timeless preeminence as an author. On the other side are the theater historians, who view modern claims of Shakespeare's uniqueness as a distortion of his real professional life. This book draws on an array of historical evidence to reconstruct Shakespeare's authorial identity as Shakespeare and his contemporaries actually understood it. It argues that Shakespeare tried to adapt his own singular talent and ambition to the collaborative enterprise of drama by imagining himself as uniquely embodying the diverse, fractious energies of the popular theater.Less
Three decades of controversy in Shakespeare studies can be summed up in a single question: Was Shakespeare one of a kind? On one side of the debate are the Shakespeare lovers, the bardolatrists, who insist on Shakespeare's timeless preeminence as an author. On the other side are the theater historians, who view modern claims of Shakespeare's uniqueness as a distortion of his real professional life. This book draws on an array of historical evidence to reconstruct Shakespeare's authorial identity as Shakespeare and his contemporaries actually understood it. It argues that Shakespeare tried to adapt his own singular talent and ambition to the collaborative enterprise of drama by imagining himself as uniquely embodying the diverse, fractious energies of the popular theater.
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226712024
- eISBN:
- 9780226712055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226712055.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter focuses on the job of historians of science, the staid and minute practices of whom have become more troubled and indefensible. These historians have to first understand, with some ...
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This chapter focuses on the job of historians of science, the staid and minute practices of whom have become more troubled and indefensible. These historians have to first understand, with some intimacy, the scientific theories, ideas, and observations for which an explanation is sought. He or she must be careful from mistaking analogies for homologies and from assuming one set of ideas to have descended from the other just because the two sets are similar. The historians must demonstrate that a particular scientist met with, corresponded with, or read the books of the person whose ideas seem to be the progenitors. This must be done to establish the firmer ground of probability for real genealogical relations. Moreover, the historian must try to isolate the intellectual exigencies and other social and psychological pressures, which render comprehensible the selections made by a scientist from the range of possible ideas.Less
This chapter focuses on the job of historians of science, the staid and minute practices of whom have become more troubled and indefensible. These historians have to first understand, with some intimacy, the scientific theories, ideas, and observations for which an explanation is sought. He or she must be careful from mistaking analogies for homologies and from assuming one set of ideas to have descended from the other just because the two sets are similar. The historians must demonstrate that a particular scientist met with, corresponded with, or read the books of the person whose ideas seem to be the progenitors. This must be done to establish the firmer ground of probability for real genealogical relations. Moreover, the historian must try to isolate the intellectual exigencies and other social and psychological pressures, which render comprehensible the selections made by a scientist from the range of possible ideas.
Laura Doan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226001586
- eISBN:
- 9780226001753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226001753.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This chapter examines how gender historians and historians of sexuality each discuss World War I’s disruptive effects in bringing together large numbers of like-minded women in war work and the ...
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This chapter examines how gender historians and historians of sexuality each discuss World War I’s disruptive effects in bringing together large numbers of like-minded women in war work and the military, but reach separate conclusions about the nature and significance of homosociality as a source of cultural anxiety. The former shows little interest in how the war contributed to the development of a more coherent narrative of female homosexual identity or distinct models of female homosexuality; their larger concerns focus on the perceived changes in the moral and social regulation of sexual relations between women and men. Historians of lesbianism, on the other hand, regard World War I as a turning point in the way in which homosexuality was represented.Less
This chapter examines how gender historians and historians of sexuality each discuss World War I’s disruptive effects in bringing together large numbers of like-minded women in war work and the military, but reach separate conclusions about the nature and significance of homosociality as a source of cultural anxiety. The former shows little interest in how the war contributed to the development of a more coherent narrative of female homosexual identity or distinct models of female homosexuality; their larger concerns focus on the perceived changes in the moral and social regulation of sexual relations between women and men. Historians of lesbianism, on the other hand, regard World War I as a turning point in the way in which homosexuality was represented.
Massimo Pigliucci and Maarten Boudry
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226051796
- eISBN:
- 9780226051826
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226051826.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to offer a lively and constructive discussion about demarcationism among philosophers, sociologists, historians, and professional ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to offer a lively and constructive discussion about demarcationism among philosophers, sociologists, historians, and professional skeptics. By proposing something of a new philosophical subdiscipline, the Philosophy of Pseudoscience, it attempts to convince those following in Larry Laudan's footsteps that the term “pseudoscience” does single out something real that merits attention. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to offer a lively and constructive discussion about demarcationism among philosophers, sociologists, historians, and professional skeptics. By proposing something of a new philosophical subdiscipline, the Philosophy of Pseudoscience, it attempts to convince those following in Larry Laudan's footsteps that the term “pseudoscience” does single out something real that merits attention. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226473154
- eISBN:
- 9780226473178
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226473178.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Pierre Bayle has entertained readers with his fireworks, his deflation of pretensions, his frequent off-color insinuations, and his bravura performances. These features made Bayle's Historical and ...
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Pierre Bayle has entertained readers with his fireworks, his deflation of pretensions, his frequent off-color insinuations, and his bravura performances. These features made Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary an internationally acclaimed work until the eighteenth century. A master of erudition as well as artful presentation and manipulation, Bayle wrote and argued in a manner that would draw some at least to ponder what he might really think. This was a point recognized by competent readers of the past, including Denis Diderot, Doris Lessing, and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. One of the Dictionary's major aims is to detect and correct others' errors, and Bayle shows in detail the faithlessness of others. He offers Suetonius's history as a model to emulate. He finds much to admire, and at the same time much to deplore, in the works of the ancient historians.Less
Pierre Bayle has entertained readers with his fireworks, his deflation of pretensions, his frequent off-color insinuations, and his bravura performances. These features made Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary an internationally acclaimed work until the eighteenth century. A master of erudition as well as artful presentation and manipulation, Bayle wrote and argued in a manner that would draw some at least to ponder what he might really think. This was a point recognized by competent readers of the past, including Denis Diderot, Doris Lessing, and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. One of the Dictionary's major aims is to detect and correct others' errors, and Bayle shows in detail the faithlessness of others. He offers Suetonius's history as a model to emulate. He finds much to admire, and at the same time much to deplore, in the works of the ancient historians.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226473154
- eISBN:
- 9780226473178
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226473178.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
In his celebrated History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon characterizes himself as a “philosophic historian.” The book is an account of relentless decay and decline, ...
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In his celebrated History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon characterizes himself as a “philosophic historian.” The book is an account of relentless decay and decline, interrupted only by delusions of recovery. Yet it is more of an astonishing re-creation of the vibrancy and rich variety of human life, its barbarity and nobility, its blind subjection to barely perceived impersonal forces and to singularly willful men and women. Through the 3,000 pages of the Decline and Fall, Gibbon offers a stunning account of the progress of the Christian religion, the Roman persecutions of the first Christians, and the theological history of the doctrine of the Incarnation. Gibbon demonstrates his remarkable ability to assess a condition or situation from the perspective of a people living in the past somewhere, and then reassess matters from his own modern standpoint. This is evident in Chapter 2 of the Decline and Fall, “Of the Union and Internal Prosperity of the Roman Empire, in the Age of the Antonines.”Less
In his celebrated History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon characterizes himself as a “philosophic historian.” The book is an account of relentless decay and decline, interrupted only by delusions of recovery. Yet it is more of an astonishing re-creation of the vibrancy and rich variety of human life, its barbarity and nobility, its blind subjection to barely perceived impersonal forces and to singularly willful men and women. Through the 3,000 pages of the Decline and Fall, Gibbon offers a stunning account of the progress of the Christian religion, the Roman persecutions of the first Christians, and the theological history of the doctrine of the Incarnation. Gibbon demonstrates his remarkable ability to assess a condition or situation from the perspective of a people living in the past somewhere, and then reassess matters from his own modern standpoint. This is evident in Chapter 2 of the Decline and Fall, “Of the Union and Internal Prosperity of the Roman Empire, in the Age of the Antonines.”
Robert B. Townsend
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226923925
- eISBN:
- 9780226923949
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226923949.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
From the late nineteenth century until World War II, competing spheres of professional identity and practice redrew the field of history, establishing fundamental differences between the roles of ...
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From the late nineteenth century until World War II, competing spheres of professional identity and practice redrew the field of history, establishing fundamental differences between the roles of university historians, archivists, staff at historical societies, history teachers, and others. This book takes us from the beginning of this professional shift—when the work of history included not just original research, but also teaching and the gathering of historical materials—to a state of microprofessionalization that continues to define the field today. Drawing on extensive research among the records of the American Historical Association and a multitude of other sources, the book traces the slow fragmentation of the field from 1880 to the divisions of the 1940s manifest today in the diverse professions of academia, history teaching, and public history. By revealing how the founders of the contemporary historical enterprise envisioned the future of the discipline, it offers insight into our own historical moment and the way the discipline has adapted and changed over time.Less
From the late nineteenth century until World War II, competing spheres of professional identity and practice redrew the field of history, establishing fundamental differences between the roles of university historians, archivists, staff at historical societies, history teachers, and others. This book takes us from the beginning of this professional shift—when the work of history included not just original research, but also teaching and the gathering of historical materials—to a state of microprofessionalization that continues to define the field today. Drawing on extensive research among the records of the American Historical Association and a multitude of other sources, the book traces the slow fragmentation of the field from 1880 to the divisions of the 1940s manifest today in the diverse professions of academia, history teaching, and public history. By revealing how the founders of the contemporary historical enterprise envisioned the future of the discipline, it offers insight into our own historical moment and the way the discipline has adapted and changed over time.
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226254708
- eISBN:
- 9780226254722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226254722.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Foucault is a spatializing thinker. This chapter considers Foucault's spatialized reasoning as a method of historical understanding and as a strategy in his ongoing struggle against traditional ...
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Foucault is a spatializing thinker. This chapter considers Foucault's spatialized reasoning as a method of historical understanding and as a strategy in his ongoing struggle against traditional intellectual history, and finally as a self-referential tool, sketching an initial turn of the compass and sextant on his own work the better to understand the “spaces” charted by his life-long project. The chapter analyzes the relation between the various epistemes that Foucault uncovers in Western thought since the Renaissance, arguing that an aesthetic relation of “fittingness” obtains among them that offer a kind of unity and intelligibility to archaeological history while respecting the empirical and aleatory nature of the discontinuities that fragment such an historical account.Less
Foucault is a spatializing thinker. This chapter considers Foucault's spatialized reasoning as a method of historical understanding and as a strategy in his ongoing struggle against traditional intellectual history, and finally as a self-referential tool, sketching an initial turn of the compass and sextant on his own work the better to understand the “spaces” charted by his life-long project. The chapter analyzes the relation between the various epistemes that Foucault uncovers in Western thought since the Renaissance, arguing that an aesthetic relation of “fittingness” obtains among them that offer a kind of unity and intelligibility to archaeological history while respecting the empirical and aleatory nature of the discontinuities that fragment such an historical account.
