George Basalla
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195171815
- eISBN:
- 9780199786862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171815.003.0005
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
American astronomer Percival Lowell adopted Schiaparelli’s canali and used them in his theories about Mars, its irrigation canals, and its advanced civilization. Lowell built an observatory in ...
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American astronomer Percival Lowell adopted Schiaparelli’s canali and used them in his theories about Mars, its irrigation canals, and its advanced civilization. Lowell built an observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and spent the last two decades of his life observing and mapping the Martian landscape, refining his theories about the planet, and writing four popular books on Mars. A firm believer in the existence of Martian canals, Lowell refused to accept the work of distinguished astronomers that contradicted his theories. Lowell’s view of Mars finally found its niche in popular culture, notably science fiction. In part, Lowell’s popularity stemmed from the fact that his conception of Mars resonated with the American experience in the late 19th and early 20th century.Less
American astronomer Percival Lowell adopted Schiaparelli’s canali and used them in his theories about Mars, its irrigation canals, and its advanced civilization. Lowell built an observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and spent the last two decades of his life observing and mapping the Martian landscape, refining his theories about the planet, and writing four popular books on Mars. A firm believer in the existence of Martian canals, Lowell refused to accept the work of distinguished astronomers that contradicted his theories. Lowell’s view of Mars finally found its niche in popular culture, notably science fiction. In part, Lowell’s popularity stemmed from the fact that his conception of Mars resonated with the American experience in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Ruth W. Grant (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226306834
- eISBN:
- 9780226306858
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226306858.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
What does a good life look like? How do people become good? Are there multiple, competing possibilities for what counts as a good life, all equally worthy? Or, is there a unified and transcendent ...
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What does a good life look like? How do people become good? Are there multiple, competing possibilities for what counts as a good life, all equally worthy? Or, is there a unified and transcendent conception of the good that should guide our judgment of the possibilities? What does a good life look like when it is guided by God? How is a good life involved with the lives of others? And, finally, how good is good enough? These questions are the focus of this book, the product of a year-long conversation about goodness. Its eight chapters challenge the dichotomies that usually govern how goodness has been discussed in the past: altruism versus egoism; reason versus emotion; or moral choice versus moral character. Instead, the contributors seek to expand the terms of the discussion by coming at goodness from a variety of perspectives: psychological, philosophic, literary, religious, and political. In each case, they emphasize the lived realities and particulars of moral phenomena, taking up examples and illustrations from life, literature, and film—from Achilles and Billy Budd, to Oskar Schindler and Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, to Iris Murdoch and the citizens of Flagstaff, Arizona.Less
What does a good life look like? How do people become good? Are there multiple, competing possibilities for what counts as a good life, all equally worthy? Or, is there a unified and transcendent conception of the good that should guide our judgment of the possibilities? What does a good life look like when it is guided by God? How is a good life involved with the lives of others? And, finally, how good is good enough? These questions are the focus of this book, the product of a year-long conversation about goodness. Its eight chapters challenge the dichotomies that usually govern how goodness has been discussed in the past: altruism versus egoism; reason versus emotion; or moral choice versus moral character. Instead, the contributors seek to expand the terms of the discussion by coming at goodness from a variety of perspectives: psychological, philosophic, literary, religious, and political. In each case, they emphasize the lived realities and particulars of moral phenomena, taking up examples and illustrations from life, literature, and film—from Achilles and Billy Budd, to Oskar Schindler and Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, to Iris Murdoch and the citizens of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Romand Coles
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226306834
- eISBN:
- 9780226306858
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226306858.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter presents the recognition that alternative visions of goodness are required in a world where the dominant vision of “goodness” is deeply implicated in evil. It turns to Iris Murdoch's ...
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This chapter presents the recognition that alternative visions of goodness are required in a world where the dominant vision of “goodness” is deeply implicated in evil. It turns to Iris Murdoch's writings to display how to envision goodness differently by attending to beauty and its connections to excellence, contingency, and tragedy. Murdoch's conception of the good is rooted in an affective-aesthetic engagement with the “unself” that engenders an energetic crosscurrent in the midst of the hyperactive productions of the ego. She offers an aesthetic sensibility that greatly resists the ideological character of most aesthetic reflection. In relation to the aesthetic intensity of the land, Flagstaff was developing a rich emergent tradition of citizen action to protect and improve common goods. In Flagstaff, the crosscurrent rivulets and back eddies were shown in order to advance possibilities for undomesticated flows of more generous and receptive practice beyond the canalized mainstreams.Less
This chapter presents the recognition that alternative visions of goodness are required in a world where the dominant vision of “goodness” is deeply implicated in evil. It turns to Iris Murdoch's writings to display how to envision goodness differently by attending to beauty and its connections to excellence, contingency, and tragedy. Murdoch's conception of the good is rooted in an affective-aesthetic engagement with the “unself” that engenders an energetic crosscurrent in the midst of the hyperactive productions of the ego. She offers an aesthetic sensibility that greatly resists the ideological character of most aesthetic reflection. In relation to the aesthetic intensity of the land, Flagstaff was developing a rich emergent tradition of citizen action to protect and improve common goods. In Flagstaff, the crosscurrent rivulets and back eddies were shown in order to advance possibilities for undomesticated flows of more generous and receptive practice beyond the canalized mainstreams.
