Lawrence A. Scaff
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147796
- eISBN:
- 9781400836710
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147796.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Population and Demography
This chapter examines Max Weber's views on science and world culture by focusing on his lecture at the Congress of Arts and Science held in September 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis ...
More
This chapter examines Max Weber's views on science and world culture by focusing on his lecture at the Congress of Arts and Science held in September 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Congress featured hundreds of papers assessing the state of knowledge in the human, biological, and physical sciences; medicine; law; the humanities; religion; and education. Weber spoke in a social science panel concerned with rural communities. The discussions centered on the methodological unity of the sciences. The chapter first considers Weber's insistence on science as an experimental inquiry into the phenomena and actualities of the world, which also assumed that scientific knowledge was a product of culture, before discussing his views on “rural society,” European capitalism and American equality of legal rights, and his implicit questioning of American “exceptionalism.” It also analyzes Weber's thoughts about art, gender, education, and authority.Less
This chapter examines Max Weber's views on science and world culture by focusing on his lecture at the Congress of Arts and Science held in September 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Congress featured hundreds of papers assessing the state of knowledge in the human, biological, and physical sciences; medicine; law; the humanities; religion; and education. Weber spoke in a social science panel concerned with rural communities. The discussions centered on the methodological unity of the sciences. The chapter first considers Weber's insistence on science as an experimental inquiry into the phenomena and actualities of the world, which also assumed that scientific knowledge was a product of culture, before discussing his views on “rural society,” European capitalism and American equality of legal rights, and his implicit questioning of American “exceptionalism.” It also analyzes Weber's thoughts about art, gender, education, and authority.
Ruth Barton
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226551616
- eISBN:
- 9780226551753
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226551753.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The chapter examines changing modes of support for scientific research and science education. The X-men were deeply committed to the expansion of science education but, contrary to historiographical ...
More
The chapter examines changing modes of support for scientific research and science education. The X-men were deeply committed to the expansion of science education but, contrary to historiographical opinion, were not leading lobbyists for state aid to science. Their activism in education was sustained by the belief that science would change “ways of thinking.” They lobbied, sat on committees, examined, and wrote textbooks. Most notably, Huxley and Lubbock were members of the Devonshire Royal Commission on the advancement of science. They failed to persuade elite public schools and the well-endowed ancient universities that science was essential to a liberal education, but were successful at lower levels, through the burgeoning examination system of the Science and Art Department, which met the aspirations of middling sorts of people. Thus, the School of Science at South Kensington, a school for training teachers, became the chief institution of science education in England and the School of Mines, from which it was carved, diminished in status. Finally, the chapter focuses on Hirst, whose career in science education provides vignettes of the social life of the X Club and of gender issues– including the roles of the Club wives and contemporary controversies on education for women.Less
The chapter examines changing modes of support for scientific research and science education. The X-men were deeply committed to the expansion of science education but, contrary to historiographical opinion, were not leading lobbyists for state aid to science. Their activism in education was sustained by the belief that science would change “ways of thinking.” They lobbied, sat on committees, examined, and wrote textbooks. Most notably, Huxley and Lubbock were members of the Devonshire Royal Commission on the advancement of science. They failed to persuade elite public schools and the well-endowed ancient universities that science was essential to a liberal education, but were successful at lower levels, through the burgeoning examination system of the Science and Art Department, which met the aspirations of middling sorts of people. Thus, the School of Science at South Kensington, a school for training teachers, became the chief institution of science education in England and the School of Mines, from which it was carved, diminished in status. Finally, the chapter focuses on Hirst, whose career in science education provides vignettes of the social life of the X Club and of gender issues– including the roles of the Club wives and contemporary controversies on education for women.
David Harrington Watt
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780801448270
- eISBN:
- 9781501708541
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801448270.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This introductory chapter considers the analyses of fundamentalism that were produced by a group of scholars associated with the highly influential Fundamentalism Project, which was sponsored by the ...
More
This introductory chapter considers the analyses of fundamentalism that were produced by a group of scholars associated with the highly influential Fundamentalism Project, which was sponsored by the American Academy of Arts and Science and housed at the University of Chicago in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These analyses are among the most sophisticated interpretations of fundamentalism that have ever been presented. Writer Karen Armstrong relied on them heavily as she was formulating her ideas about fundamentalism, as have many other writers and scholars. The influence the Fundamentalism Project has exerted on the way Americans think about fundamentalism is almost impossible to exaggerate. But for all its influence, the Fundamentalism Project was an odd enterprise in several important respects.Less
This introductory chapter considers the analyses of fundamentalism that were produced by a group of scholars associated with the highly influential Fundamentalism Project, which was sponsored by the American Academy of Arts and Science and housed at the University of Chicago in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These analyses are among the most sophisticated interpretations of fundamentalism that have ever been presented. Writer Karen Armstrong relied on them heavily as she was formulating her ideas about fundamentalism, as have many other writers and scholars. The influence the Fundamentalism Project has exerted on the way Americans think about fundamentalism is almost impossible to exaggerate. But for all its influence, the Fundamentalism Project was an odd enterprise in several important respects.
Steve Zeitlin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501702358
- eISBN:
- 9781501706370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702358.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, Folk Literature
This chapter describes the POEMobile, an art truck with brightly painted iron wings arching above its roof and poems in two dozen languages emblazoned on its sides. Jointly sponsored by Bowery Arts + ...
More
This chapter describes the POEMobile, an art truck with brightly painted iron wings arching above its roof and poems in two dozen languages emblazoned on its sides. Jointly sponsored by Bowery Arts + Science and City Lore, the truck projects poems onto walls and buildings, combining live poetry readings and musical performances in neighborhoods throughout New York. As poets perform in their native languages on the street or plaza, a beam of light soars past them and the words float in light above their heads, often several stories high. The projections open with an animated feathered wing brushing words onto the building, an idea inspired by a Martin Espada line: “God must be an owl, electricity coursing through the hollow bones, a white wing brushing the building.” The door of the POEMobile is inscribed with lines of poetry in some of the world's endangered languages.Less
This chapter describes the POEMobile, an art truck with brightly painted iron wings arching above its roof and poems in two dozen languages emblazoned on its sides. Jointly sponsored by Bowery Arts + Science and City Lore, the truck projects poems onto walls and buildings, combining live poetry readings and musical performances in neighborhoods throughout New York. As poets perform in their native languages on the street or plaza, a beam of light soars past them and the words float in light above their heads, often several stories high. The projections open with an animated feathered wing brushing words onto the building, an idea inspired by a Martin Espada line: “God must be an owl, electricity coursing through the hollow bones, a white wing brushing the building.” The door of the POEMobile is inscribed with lines of poetry in some of the world's endangered languages.
Omar W. Nasim
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084374
- eISBN:
- 9780226084404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084404.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Chapter 2 provides a broader cultural, historical, and philosophical context for the work of Lord Rosse and by extension other nebular researchers. By following the public circulation and ...
More
Chapter 2 provides a broader cultural, historical, and philosophical context for the work of Lord Rosse and by extension other nebular researchers. By following the public circulation and consumption, reproduction and presentation of two published images of the same object (M51), it is possible to explore how different publics used the images, what was expected of them, and how the images were fashioned or manipulated in order to fit particular purposes, arguments, or visions of the cosmos. Of particular interest is how the published images of the “Great Spiral” operated as the phenomenon to be explained by scientific theory. In light of their proxy status, the images were used to identify the possible mechanics, constitution, and structure of the object in space. At the same time they were also used to critique practices of looking and drawing, and to enlarge the public’s imagination and sometimes horror of the dark infinite. This chapter broadens our perspective of the power of the image of a nebula for Victorian audiences.Less
Chapter 2 provides a broader cultural, historical, and philosophical context for the work of Lord Rosse and by extension other nebular researchers. By following the public circulation and consumption, reproduction and presentation of two published images of the same object (M51), it is possible to explore how different publics used the images, what was expected of them, and how the images were fashioned or manipulated in order to fit particular purposes, arguments, or visions of the cosmos. Of particular interest is how the published images of the “Great Spiral” operated as the phenomenon to be explained by scientific theory. In light of their proxy status, the images were used to identify the possible mechanics, constitution, and structure of the object in space. At the same time they were also used to critique practices of looking and drawing, and to enlarge the public’s imagination and sometimes horror of the dark infinite. This chapter broadens our perspective of the power of the image of a nebula for Victorian audiences.
Omar W. Nasim
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084374
- eISBN:
- 9780226084404
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084404.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
There can be little doubt that it was because of the giant telescopes that were being built at the end of the 18th and for most of the 19th century that the modern study of nebulae began. Also of ...
More
There can be little doubt that it was because of the giant telescopes that were being built at the end of the 18th and for most of the 19th century that the modern study of nebulae began. Also of immense significance, however, was the fundamental role-played by paper and pencil. But what role did paper and the hand play in coming to terms with something as mysterious as these deep sky objects? What possibly could these paper implements of the hand contribute to the scientific observation of celestial objects that no hand could ever touch, twist or twirl? And in contrast to pencil and paper, when photography was finally successfully applied to the nebulae very late in the century, how exactly did its methods contrast to the former? In order to answer these and other related questions about the techniques, nature and practices of scientific observation, Observing by Hand investigates the unpublished observing books and paper records of five different nineteenth century observers dedicated to the study of the nebulae: Sir John F. W. Herschel, the third Earl of Rosse, William Lassell, Ebenezer Porter Mason, and Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel. The book argues that rather than being mere aide memoire, hand drawn images operated as tools for seeing better with, for directing observation, for selection and judgement, for stabilizing the image of the phenomena, for consolidating and coordinating hands and eyes, and for making out details otherwise barely perceptible. The work explores the relationship between observing, the act of drawing, and the constitution of scientific phenomena.Less
There can be little doubt that it was because of the giant telescopes that were being built at the end of the 18th and for most of the 19th century that the modern study of nebulae began. Also of immense significance, however, was the fundamental role-played by paper and pencil. But what role did paper and the hand play in coming to terms with something as mysterious as these deep sky objects? What possibly could these paper implements of the hand contribute to the scientific observation of celestial objects that no hand could ever touch, twist or twirl? And in contrast to pencil and paper, when photography was finally successfully applied to the nebulae very late in the century, how exactly did its methods contrast to the former? In order to answer these and other related questions about the techniques, nature and practices of scientific observation, Observing by Hand investigates the unpublished observing books and paper records of five different nineteenth century observers dedicated to the study of the nebulae: Sir John F. W. Herschel, the third Earl of Rosse, William Lassell, Ebenezer Porter Mason, and Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel. The book argues that rather than being mere aide memoire, hand drawn images operated as tools for seeing better with, for directing observation, for selection and judgement, for stabilizing the image of the phenomena, for consolidating and coordinating hands and eyes, and for making out details otherwise barely perceptible. The work explores the relationship between observing, the act of drawing, and the constitution of scientific phenomena.
Omar W. Nasim
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084374
- eISBN:
- 9780226084404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084404.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
From the first entry of two nebulae into the observational records of Lord Rosse, the chapter follows these objects until they are prepared for the engraver’s plate and thus, publication. The ever ...
More
From the first entry of two nebulae into the observational records of Lord Rosse, the chapter follows these objects until they are prepared for the engraver’s plate and thus, publication. The ever multiplying preliminary sketches for these two objects reveal strategies used by the Rosse project to consolidate the eyes and hands of many assistants. Central to these layered movements and accretion of visual information is the gradual familiarization that an observer gained with an object–a process that was vital in his coming-to-know. The second part of this chapter discusses the internal and external demands made for a new procedure of observation, one that was capable of incorporating both the measured and pictorial aspects in one image. The author argues that this shift was as much a reflection of a growing and hardening distinction between scientific and artistic work, as it was a reflection of a general discontent on the part of well known nebular observers outside the Rosse project. But even in the new procedures it remained a challenge to find new ways to coordinate the eyes and hands of many assistants.Less
From the first entry of two nebulae into the observational records of Lord Rosse, the chapter follows these objects until they are prepared for the engraver’s plate and thus, publication. The ever multiplying preliminary sketches for these two objects reveal strategies used by the Rosse project to consolidate the eyes and hands of many assistants. Central to these layered movements and accretion of visual information is the gradual familiarization that an observer gained with an object–a process that was vital in his coming-to-know. The second part of this chapter discusses the internal and external demands made for a new procedure of observation, one that was capable of incorporating both the measured and pictorial aspects in one image. The author argues that this shift was as much a reflection of a growing and hardening distinction between scientific and artistic work, as it was a reflection of a general discontent on the part of well known nebular observers outside the Rosse project. But even in the new procedures it remained a challenge to find new ways to coordinate the eyes and hands of many assistants.
Omar W. Nasim
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226084374
- eISBN:
- 9780226084404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226084404.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The first part of chapter 4 turns to the work of William Lassell, which will underscore a characteristic of observational procedures: their dependence on the instrumental means available. This ...
More
The first part of chapter 4 turns to the work of William Lassell, which will underscore a characteristic of observational procedures: their dependence on the instrumental means available. This emphasis will go into further highlighting the strategies used by our earlier observers in their attempts to transcend their apparatuses and sites. Part 2 of the same chapter will investigate a procedure used by Wilhelm Tempel, which was developed particularly with an eye to artistic skill, technique, and the final lithographed product. In the face of the rising number of “contradictory” representations of the nebulae at the end of the century, Tempel proposed that observers draw only what they see and eschew the inclusion of the mind; it is what this proposal meant for him and how he proposed to achieve it that will be explored.Less
The first part of chapter 4 turns to the work of William Lassell, which will underscore a characteristic of observational procedures: their dependence on the instrumental means available. This emphasis will go into further highlighting the strategies used by our earlier observers in their attempts to transcend their apparatuses and sites. Part 2 of the same chapter will investigate a procedure used by Wilhelm Tempel, which was developed particularly with an eye to artistic skill, technique, and the final lithographed product. In the face of the rising number of “contradictory” representations of the nebulae at the end of the century, Tempel proposed that observers draw only what they see and eschew the inclusion of the mind; it is what this proposal meant for him and how he proposed to achieve it that will be explored.
