L. Weiskrantz
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198521921
- eISBN:
- 9780191706226
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198521921.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
Because there were some conditions under which D. B. spoke of a ‘feeling of movement’ when stimuli were turned on abruptly, the question arose as to whether this would still be true with gradual ...
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Because there were some conditions under which D. B. spoke of a ‘feeling of movement’ when stimuli were turned on abruptly, the question arose as to whether this would still be true with gradual onset of a stimulus. An apparatus was constructed in which two mechanically rotatable polaroid filters were mounted to allow various amounts of light to pass through from the projecting tachistosope, at a controlled rate of rotation. The rise time of onset of a stimulus varied from 1 ms to a maximum of 10,000 ms. The target was a circular 10° disc placed 25° eccentrically in the blind field. There were two different levels of contrast. The task was the same as for presence/absence such that randomly on half the trials there was no stimulus, and D. B. had to respond present or absent. D. B. performed very well (85%) even with the slowest rate of onset. With the very rapid onsets (1 ms) he said he had a ‘feeling of movement a couple of times’, but for slower rates onset there was no reported experience. Thus, first-order transients are not necessary for D. B.'s capacity to detect as such although they may be a necessary condition for an experience of change.Less
Because there were some conditions under which D. B. spoke of a ‘feeling of movement’ when stimuli were turned on abruptly, the question arose as to whether this would still be true with gradual onset of a stimulus. An apparatus was constructed in which two mechanically rotatable polaroid filters were mounted to allow various amounts of light to pass through from the projecting tachistosope, at a controlled rate of rotation. The rise time of onset of a stimulus varied from 1 ms to a maximum of 10,000 ms. The target was a circular 10° disc placed 25° eccentrically in the blind field. There were two different levels of contrast. The task was the same as for presence/absence such that randomly on half the trials there was no stimulus, and D. B. had to respond present or absent. D. B. performed very well (85%) even with the slowest rate of onset. With the very rapid onsets (1 ms) he said he had a ‘feeling of movement a couple of times’, but for slower rates onset there was no reported experience. Thus, first-order transients are not necessary for D. B.'s capacity to detect as such although they may be a necessary condition for an experience of change.
Roy Sorensen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195326574
- eISBN:
- 9780199870271
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326574.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
If a spinning disk casts a round shadow does the shadow also spin? When the cave guide turns out the light so that you can experience the total blackness, are you seeing in the dark? Or are you ...
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If a spinning disk casts a round shadow does the shadow also spin? When the cave guide turns out the light so that you can experience the total blackness, are you seeing in the dark? Or are you merely failing to see anything (just like your blind companion)? Seeing Dark Things uses visual riddles to explore our ability to see shadows, silhouettes, black ants, plus some things that are only metaphorically “dark” such as holes. These dark things are anomalies for the causal theory of perception: anything we see must be a cause of what we see. Roy Sorensen defends the causal theory of perception by treating absences as causes. With the help of fifty-nine figures, Sorensen proceeds bottom up from observation rather than top down from theory.Shadows are metaphysical amphibians with one foot on terra firma of common sense and the other in the murky waters of nonbeing. Seeing Dark Things portrays the causal theory of perception's confrontation with the shadows as a triumph against alien attack. Lessons from the parried threat deepen a theory that resonates strongly with common sense and science. Thus the book is an unorthodox defense of an orthodox theory.Less
If a spinning disk casts a round shadow does the shadow also spin? When the cave guide turns out the light so that you can experience the total blackness, are you seeing in the dark? Or are you merely failing to see anything (just like your blind companion)?
Seeing Dark Things uses visual riddles to explore our ability to see shadows, silhouettes, black ants, plus some things that are only metaphorically “dark” such as holes. These dark things are anomalies for the causal theory of perception: anything we see must be a cause of what we see. Roy Sorensen defends the causal theory of perception by treating absences as causes. With the help of fifty-nine figures, Sorensen proceeds bottom up from observation rather than top down from theory.
Shadows are metaphysical amphibians with one foot on terra firma of common sense and the other in the murky waters of nonbeing. Seeing Dark Things portrays the causal theory of perception's confrontation with the shadows as a triumph against alien attack. Lessons from the parried threat deepen a theory that resonates strongly with common sense and science. Thus the book is an unorthodox defense of an orthodox theory.
David M. Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199590612
- eISBN:
- 9780191723391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590612.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics/Epistemology
It is desirable to expel absences from the ontology. Phil Dowe's account of preventions and omissions (which involve absences) indicates that they supervene on actual causal states of affairs. ...
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It is desirable to expel absences from the ontology. Phil Dowe's account of preventions and omissions (which involve absences) indicates that they supervene on actual causal states of affairs. Totality states of affairs can then be used to give truthmakers for truths of absence. It is noted that this result was anticipated by Russell. The solution is applied to give truthmakers for the possibility (but not the existence) of what David Lewis calls ‘aliens’.Less
It is desirable to expel absences from the ontology. Phil Dowe's account of preventions and omissions (which involve absences) indicates that they supervene on actual causal states of affairs. Totality states of affairs can then be used to give truthmakers for truths of absence. It is noted that this result was anticipated by Russell. The solution is applied to give truthmakers for the possibility (but not the existence) of what David Lewis calls ‘aliens’.
David Constantine
- Published in print:
- 1988
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198157885
- eISBN:
- 9780191673238
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198157885.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Poetry
This new critical biography of Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) is the first to appear for more than fifty years. In this time his status as one of the greatest European poets has become increasingly ...
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This new critical biography of Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) is the first to appear for more than fifty years. In this time his status as one of the greatest European poets has become increasingly apparent — yet he is commonly considered a ‘difficult’ poet. A prime aim of this book is to make Hölderlin more accessible. This comprehensive discussion of Hölderlin's work includes close readings of many individual poems, with English translations of all quotations. The book recounts in a chronological framework the main line of the poet's life, his dealings with his important contemporaries, his love for Susette Gontard, and the long years of loneliness and frustration. Hölderlin is an archetypal figure, exciting fear and pity, a poet whose religion was founded on the conviction that his gods were absent, and whose modernity lies in his experience of absence.Less
This new critical biography of Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843) is the first to appear for more than fifty years. In this time his status as one of the greatest European poets has become increasingly apparent — yet he is commonly considered a ‘difficult’ poet. A prime aim of this book is to make Hölderlin more accessible. This comprehensive discussion of Hölderlin's work includes close readings of many individual poems, with English translations of all quotations. The book recounts in a chronological framework the main line of the poet's life, his dealings with his important contemporaries, his love for Susette Gontard, and the long years of loneliness and frustration. Hölderlin is an archetypal figure, exciting fear and pity, a poet whose religion was founded on the conviction that his gods were absent, and whose modernity lies in his experience of absence.
Sydney D. Bailey and Sam Daws
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198280736
- eISBN:
- 9780191598746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280734.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Looks at voting at the UN Security Council. The introduction makes the point that a proposal (or draft resolution) may be submitted by any member/s of the Council (known as the sponsor or ...
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Looks at voting at the UN Security Council. The introduction makes the point that a proposal (or draft resolution) may be submitted by any member/s of the Council (known as the sponsor or co‐sponsors), and that a member of the UN who is not a member of the Council may also submit a proposal, but it will only be put to the vote at the request of a Council member. A procedural motion or draft resolution may be withdrawn at any time as long as no vote has been taken on it, unless it has more than one sponsor, in which case a vote may be required. The first two sections of the chapter discuss procedural motions and substantive decisions, and the next section discusses the veto (as implied by Article 27 of the Charter), and includes tables giving details of all vetoes cast from 1946 to mid 1997. The following two sections discuss the double veto (examples are given) and the ‘hidden veto’, and the remaining sections discuss abstentions (with examples), absence, non‐participation in the vote, consensus and unanimity (details are tabulated of Council resolutions adopted ‘without a vote’ or ‘by consensus’), and when decisions are binding.Less
Looks at voting at the UN Security Council. The introduction makes the point that a proposal (or draft resolution) may be submitted by any member/s of the Council (known as the sponsor or co‐sponsors), and that a member of the UN who is not a member of the Council may also submit a proposal, but it will only be put to the vote at the request of a Council member. A procedural motion or draft resolution may be withdrawn at any time as long as no vote has been taken on it, unless it has more than one sponsor, in which case a vote may be required. The first two sections of the chapter discuss procedural motions and substantive decisions, and the next section discusses the veto (as implied by Article 27 of the Charter), and includes tables giving details of all vetoes cast from 1946 to mid 1997. The following two sections discuss the double veto (examples are given) and the ‘hidden veto’, and the remaining sections discuss abstentions (with examples), absence, non‐participation in the vote, consensus and unanimity (details are tabulated of Council resolutions adopted ‘without a vote’ or ‘by consensus’), and when decisions are binding.
James Davison Hunter
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199730803
- eISBN:
- 9780199777082
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730803.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Two overriding characteristics of our time are difference and dissolution. The problem of difference bears on how Christians engage the world outside of their own community, while the problem of ...
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Two overriding characteristics of our time are difference and dissolution. The problem of difference bears on how Christians engage the world outside of their own community, while the problem of dissolution bears on the nature of Christian witness. Pluralism creates both a fragmentation among worldviews and the social structures that support these worldviews. These are social conditions that make faithfulness difficult and faithlessness almost natural. For pluralism creates social conditions in which God is no longer an inevitability. There are key aspects of contemporary life that take us into radically new territory; into a social and cultural landscape that has very few recognizable features from cultures, societies, or civilizations past. The negative aspect of difference and dissolution is that they present conditions advantageous for the development of nihilism: autonomous desire and unfettered will legitimated by the ideology and practices of choice.Less
Two overriding characteristics of our time are difference and dissolution. The problem of difference bears on how Christians engage the world outside of their own community, while the problem of dissolution bears on the nature of Christian witness. Pluralism creates both a fragmentation among worldviews and the social structures that support these worldviews. These are social conditions that make faithfulness difficult and faithlessness almost natural. For pluralism creates social conditions in which God is no longer an inevitability. There are key aspects of contemporary life that take us into radically new territory; into a social and cultural landscape that has very few recognizable features from cultures, societies, or civilizations past. The negative aspect of difference and dissolution is that they present conditions advantageous for the development of nihilism: autonomous desire and unfettered will legitimated by the ideology and practices of choice.
Jolyon Mitchell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335989
- eISBN:
- 9780199868940
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335989.003.0022
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Focusing on the film Shooting Dogs (2005) and its specific historical context, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, this chapter brings to light many of the different lines of inquiry available when teaching ...
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Focusing on the film Shooting Dogs (2005) and its specific historical context, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, this chapter brings to light many of the different lines of inquiry available when teaching about genocide from a religious perspective. The chapter communicates the wealth of pedagogical potential by examining the themes of absence, ritual, and presence in Shooting Dogs and then by considering the more general issues of witnessing, viewing, and remembering when it comes to the moral challenges of the fact of genocide. The chapter contends that film education, at its best, can assist students in developing a more critical understanding of the difficulties raised by attempting to depict genocide cinematically, the related religious and theological issues, and the wider problems and values of cinematic violence. Undertaken in a creative, supportive, and imaginative environment, film education that focuses on seeing through films about genocide may even inspire students to consider ways of living that will promote a more peaceful world.Less
Focusing on the film Shooting Dogs (2005) and its specific historical context, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, this chapter brings to light many of the different lines of inquiry available when teaching about genocide from a religious perspective. The chapter communicates the wealth of pedagogical potential by examining the themes of absence, ritual, and presence in Shooting Dogs and then by considering the more general issues of witnessing, viewing, and remembering when it comes to the moral challenges of the fact of genocide. The chapter contends that film education, at its best, can assist students in developing a more critical understanding of the difficulties raised by attempting to depict genocide cinematically, the related religious and theological issues, and the wider problems and values of cinematic violence. Undertaken in a creative, supportive, and imaginative environment, film education that focuses on seeing through films about genocide may even inspire students to consider ways of living that will promote a more peaceful world.
Ramsay Burt
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386691
- eISBN:
- 9780199863600
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386691.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Ramsay Burt interrogates normative definitions of masculinity in ethical perspective by a close reading of two modern dance solos: Joe Goode's performance of his 29 Effeminate Gestures, and Pina ...
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Ramsay Burt interrogates normative definitions of masculinity in ethical perspective by a close reading of two modern dance solos: Joe Goode's performance of his 29 Effeminate Gestures, and Pina Bausch's Der Fensterputzer, performed by Dominique Mercy. Calling on the theoretical concepts of Judith Butler, Peggy Phelan, and Mieke Bal, Burt shows how each solo troubles gender norms by exploiting the power of unmarked masculinity, especially how the breaking up of the binary of “presence” and “absence” can destabilize conventional expectations of performance. Such strategies can draw on history and memory to transform masculinity as a singular ideal into the plural idea of “masculinities,” which are social and cultural performances that change continually.Less
Ramsay Burt interrogates normative definitions of masculinity in ethical perspective by a close reading of two modern dance solos: Joe Goode's performance of his 29 Effeminate Gestures, and Pina Bausch's Der Fensterputzer, performed by Dominique Mercy. Calling on the theoretical concepts of Judith Butler, Peggy Phelan, and Mieke Bal, Burt shows how each solo troubles gender norms by exploiting the power of unmarked masculinity, especially how the breaking up of the binary of “presence” and “absence” can destabilize conventional expectations of performance. Such strategies can draw on history and memory to transform masculinity as a singular ideal into the plural idea of “masculinities,” which are social and cultural performances that change continually.
A. Townsend Peterson, Jorge Soberón, Richard G. Pearson, Robert P. Anderson, Enrique Martínez-Meyer, Miguel Nakamura, and Miguel Bastos Araújo
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691136868
- eISBN:
- 9781400840670
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691136868.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
This chapter discusses the process of transforming a species’ primary occurrence data into a synthetic understanding of the geographic and ecological conditions under which the species occurs. The ...
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This chapter discusses the process of transforming a species’ primary occurrence data into a synthetic understanding of the geographic and ecological conditions under which the species occurs. The focus is on correlative models based on occurrence data, since such models can have quite broad applicability. The chapter first considers different types of occurrence data as well as factors that connect the suitability of a site to the existence of a data record documenting the species’ presence or absence at that site. It then examines variations in the geographic and ecological characteristics of species distributions and occurrences, along with sampling bias in geographic and environmental spaces. It also describes the characteristics of absence data before concluding with an assessment of issues of content and availability that affect occurrence data.Less
This chapter discusses the process of transforming a species’ primary occurrence data into a synthetic understanding of the geographic and ecological conditions under which the species occurs. The focus is on correlative models based on occurrence data, since such models can have quite broad applicability. The chapter first considers different types of occurrence data as well as factors that connect the suitability of a site to the existence of a data record documenting the species’ presence or absence at that site. It then examines variations in the geographic and ecological characteristics of species distributions and occurrences, along with sampling bias in geographic and environmental spaces. It also describes the characteristics of absence data before concluding with an assessment of issues of content and availability that affect occurrence data.
Charlotte Linde
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195140286
- eISBN:
- 9780199871247
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195140286.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter discusses silences and absences within an institution. Silences include official and unofficial silences, counter-stories, erasures, and story-telling rights. An analysis is provided of ...
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This chapter discusses silences and absences within an institution. Silences include official and unofficial silences, counter-stories, erasures, and story-telling rights. An analysis is provided of how to find a silence: by comparison of accounts, by noting unofficial stories and counter-stories, by examining who speaks for the institution and who does not, by noting who is not present in the stories, by comparison to the stories predictable in given circumstances, and by investigation of the external records. The chapter examines a major silence within MidWest Insurance: official stories do not describe an anti-discrimination lawsuit which changed the company's hiring policies. A silence of interpretation is also examined: absence of discussion of the fact that the all the presidents of the company have been chosen from a small number of families. The chapter argues that silences are contextual: what can not be spoken in public may be freely discussed in private.Less
This chapter discusses silences and absences within an institution. Silences include official and unofficial silences, counter-stories, erasures, and story-telling rights. An analysis is provided of how to find a silence: by comparison of accounts, by noting unofficial stories and counter-stories, by examining who speaks for the institution and who does not, by noting who is not present in the stories, by comparison to the stories predictable in given circumstances, and by investigation of the external records. The chapter examines a major silence within MidWest Insurance: official stories do not describe an anti-discrimination lawsuit which changed the company's hiring policies. A silence of interpretation is also examined: absence of discussion of the fact that the all the presidents of the company have been chosen from a small number of families. The chapter argues that silences are contextual: what can not be spoken in public may be freely discussed in private.
Allan F. Mirsky and Connie C. Duncan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195176704
- eISBN:
- 9780199864706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176704.003.0006
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, History of Neuroscience
This chapter reviews the history of research on attention, including studies generated during wartime, and accounts of the impairment seen in brain-injured soldiers, as described by Luria and ...
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This chapter reviews the history of research on attention, including studies generated during wartime, and accounts of the impairment seen in brain-injured soldiers, as described by Luria and Rosvold. The chapter goes on to review some of the seminal behavioral, neurophysiological, electrophysiological and anatomical studies done in the past 60 years related to impaired attention, with particular emphasis on absence epilepsy. Assessment of attention is one of the major components of modern neuropsychological practice; it is well known, that in addition to epilepsy and the eponymous ADHD, impaired attention is characteristic of schizophrenia, head injury, and other neuropsychiatric and medical disorders. A model of attention elements is reviewed, and there is discussion of environmental factors that contribute to the development of attention impairment.Less
This chapter reviews the history of research on attention, including studies generated during wartime, and accounts of the impairment seen in brain-injured soldiers, as described by Luria and Rosvold. The chapter goes on to review some of the seminal behavioral, neurophysiological, electrophysiological and anatomical studies done in the past 60 years related to impaired attention, with particular emphasis on absence epilepsy. Assessment of attention is one of the major components of modern neuropsychological practice; it is well known, that in addition to epilepsy and the eponymous ADHD, impaired attention is characteristic of schizophrenia, head injury, and other neuropsychiatric and medical disorders. A model of attention elements is reviewed, and there is discussion of environmental factors that contribute to the development of attention impairment.
Jan Westerhoff
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195375213
- eISBN:
- 9780199871360
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375213.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter deals with Nāgārjuna’s critique of the notion of causation. It first discusses the interdependence of cause and effect, followed by an analysis of the critique of the four ways of causal ...
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This chapter deals with Nāgārjuna’s critique of the notion of causation. It first discusses the interdependence of cause and effect, followed by an analysis of the critique of the four ways of causal production: self-production, production from another object, production from itself and another object, and causeless production. A second set of arguments Nāgārjuna presents against causation deal with the possible relations between cause and effect: cause and effect being successive, overlapping or simultaneous. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of Nāgārjuna’s thought on time.Less
This chapter deals with Nāgārjuna’s critique of the notion of causation. It first discusses the interdependence of cause and effect, followed by an analysis of the critique of the four ways of causal production: self-production, production from another object, production from itself and another object, and causeless production. A second set of arguments Nāgārjuna presents against causation deal with the possible relations between cause and effect: cause and effect being successive, overlapping or simultaneous. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of Nāgārjuna’s thought on time.
Angelica Goodden
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199238095
- eISBN:
- 9780191716669
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199238095.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
Though exile was meant to imprison her, it paradoxically gave Staël freedom as a thinker and writer, enabling her to be as active a dissident as any woman at that time was capable of being. Her life ...
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Though exile was meant to imprison her, it paradoxically gave Staël freedom as a thinker and writer, enabling her to be as active a dissident as any woman at that time was capable of being. Her life of absence and writing about absence and writing about absence — often in the extended sense of ‘difference’ or ‘otherness’ — generated a range of works of great literary richness and socio-critical importance. The way in which she combined liberalism, qualified feminism, and Europeanism with nationalism speaks especially loudly to readers today, however dated some of the literary vehicles of her thought may appear. As an outstanding writer and thinker in the ‘age of the celebrity’, she used her influence as a theoretical and practical activist to thwart tyranny (epitomized for her by the oppressive regime of Napoleon, who tried to restrict her mind and body and failed to do either). Exile, in her, generated experience and thence literature; so it became a tool she could use for disseminating the ideas that most effectively challenged despotism and best illustrated her abiding preoccupation with human freedom.Less
Though exile was meant to imprison her, it paradoxically gave Staël freedom as a thinker and writer, enabling her to be as active a dissident as any woman at that time was capable of being. Her life of absence and writing about absence and writing about absence — often in the extended sense of ‘difference’ or ‘otherness’ — generated a range of works of great literary richness and socio-critical importance. The way in which she combined liberalism, qualified feminism, and Europeanism with nationalism speaks especially loudly to readers today, however dated some of the literary vehicles of her thought may appear. As an outstanding writer and thinker in the ‘age of the celebrity’, she used her influence as a theoretical and practical activist to thwart tyranny (epitomized for her by the oppressive regime of Napoleon, who tried to restrict her mind and body and failed to do either). Exile, in her, generated experience and thence literature; so it became a tool she could use for disseminating the ideas that most effectively challenged despotism and best illustrated her abiding preoccupation with human freedom.
Steven Paul Hopkins
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195127355
- eISBN:
- 9780199834327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195127358.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter focuses on a few stanzas of two long Tamil prabandhams — the Mummaïikkêvai and the Navamaïimålai — that use elements of classical Tamil akam love poetry as they have been appropriated by ...
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This chapter focuses on a few stanzas of two long Tamil prabandhams — the Mummaïikkêvai and the Navamaïimålai — that use elements of classical Tamil akam love poetry as they have been appropriated by the Çôvårs — especially by Nammåôvår — to evoke Deóika's experience of Devanåyaka Svåmi, the form of Vishnu at a sacred place where he is said to have spent 30 years of his life, Tiruvahândrapuram. Whereas Vedåntadeóika's praises of Varadaråja at Kåñcâ stress Vishnu's overall puõuam nature as awesome majestic king with his queens, at Tiruvahândrapuram, Devanåyaka (The “Lord of Gods”), no less “awesome,” is the intimate, “interior,” love mode of akam dominates. The devotional attitude in these Tamil verses is mirrored in Deóika's Sanskrit and Pråkrit poems to this same form of Vishnu. And while the Sanskrit and Prakrit hymns to Devanåyaka consciously make use of their own conventions of erotic love to convey his love of this form of God, his Tamil verses suitably mine what had become with the work of the Çôvårs, a ‘Tamil’ poetics of passionate, intimate religious love. The thematic close reading of stanzas from these two Tamil poems includes discussions of various female personae from the Tamil akam poetry, love and separation, divine absence and presence, Vishnu's beautiful body and the temple icon, the “eros of place,” love and bathing imagery (niråìal) in Vedåntadeóika and the female Çôvår Çïìåö and, most significantly, the theology of beauty (“beauty that saves”) that emerges from these poems.Less
This chapter focuses on a few stanzas of two long Tamil prabandhams — the Mummaïikkêvai and the Navamaïimålai — that use elements of classical Tamil akam love poetry as they have been appropriated by the Çôvårs — especially by Nammåôvår — to evoke Deóika's experience of Devanåyaka Svåmi, the form of Vishnu at a sacred place where he is said to have spent 30 years of his life, Tiruvahândrapuram. Whereas Vedåntadeóika's praises of Varadaråja at Kåñcâ stress Vishnu's overall puõuam nature as awesome majestic king with his queens, at Tiruvahândrapuram, Devanåyaka (The “Lord of Gods”), no less “awesome,” is the intimate, “interior,” love mode of akam dominates. The devotional attitude in these Tamil verses is mirrored in Deóika's Sanskrit and Pråkrit poems to this same form of Vishnu. And while the Sanskrit and Prakrit hymns to Devanåyaka consciously make use of their own conventions of erotic love to convey his love of this form of God, his Tamil verses suitably mine what had become with the work of the Çôvårs, a ‘Tamil’ poetics of passionate, intimate religious love. The thematic close reading of stanzas from these two Tamil poems includes discussions of various female personae from the Tamil akam poetry, love and separation, divine absence and presence, Vishnu's beautiful body and the temple icon, the “eros of place,” love and bathing imagery (niråìal) in Vedåntadeóika and the female Çôvår Çïìåö and, most significantly, the theology of beauty (“beauty that saves”) that emerges from these poems.
Steven Paul Hopkins
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195127355
- eISBN:
- 9780199834327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195127358.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The Conclusion takes note, in a discursive way, with an eye to methodological issues, of some of the most important themes the book has touched upon, summarizing what might be termed the patterns of ...
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The Conclusion takes note, in a discursive way, with an eye to methodological issues, of some of the most important themes the book has touched upon, summarizing what might be termed the patterns of Deóika's devotional poetics in Tamil, Sanskrit, and Pråkrit, and placing his work within south Indian bhakti literatures. Themes include Sanskrit and the “cosmopolitan vernacular” (Tamil and Pråkrit), the “philosopher as poet,” bhakti themes of the shrine and its sacred locale, icon, temple and päjå (temple ritual veneration), anubhavas, a theology of beauty, divine absence and “emotionalism,” Vedåntadeóika's creative synthesis of philosophy and poetry, and his affirmation of the distinct powers of his three working languages.Less
The Conclusion takes note, in a discursive way, with an eye to methodological issues, of some of the most important themes the book has touched upon, summarizing what might be termed the patterns of Deóika's devotional poetics in Tamil, Sanskrit, and Pråkrit, and placing his work within south Indian bhakti literatures. Themes include Sanskrit and the “cosmopolitan vernacular” (Tamil and Pråkrit), the “philosopher as poet,” bhakti themes of the shrine and its sacred locale, icon, temple and päjå (temple ritual veneration), anubhavas, a theology of beauty, divine absence and “emotionalism,” Vedåntadeóika's creative synthesis of philosophy and poetry, and his affirmation of the distinct powers of his three working languages.
CHRISTOPHER HAIGH
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199216505
- eISBN:
- 9780191711947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216505.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Social History, History of Ideas
This chapter focuses on the practice of religion. The law regulated churchgoing, and ministers and churchwardens were horrified that people might do as they pleased. But casual absence from services ...
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This chapter focuses on the practice of religion. The law regulated churchgoing, and ministers and churchwardens were horrified that people might do as they pleased. But casual absence from services was very common.Less
This chapter focuses on the practice of religion. The law regulated churchgoing, and ministers and churchwardens were horrified that people might do as they pleased. But casual absence from services was very common.
Phil Huston
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227396
- eISBN:
- 9780823235438
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823227396.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
What does Martin Buber mean, in I and Thou, by the claim that the one thing that matters is full acceptance of presence? In a journey of exploration through Buber's early writings, ...
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What does Martin Buber mean, in I and Thou, by the claim that the one thing that matters is full acceptance of presence? In a journey of exploration through Buber's early writings, especially his first major philosophical work, Daniel: Dialogues in Realization, this book seeks to clarify Buber's predialogical concept of God. Buber's desire for presence, it finds, began with an overwhelming experience of absence, a search for a presence that will not let him down, that will not be a “mis-encounter.” This book is an invaluable guide to Buber's early writings. It aims to foster an understanding of the rich depth and many layers of thought in Buber's masterpiece, I and Thou, and an appreciation of the radical change that took place in Buber's concept of God prior to its publication in 1923.Less
What does Martin Buber mean, in I and Thou, by the claim that the one thing that matters is full acceptance of presence? In a journey of exploration through Buber's early writings, especially his first major philosophical work, Daniel: Dialogues in Realization, this book seeks to clarify Buber's predialogical concept of God. Buber's desire for presence, it finds, began with an overwhelming experience of absence, a search for a presence that will not let him down, that will not be a “mis-encounter.” This book is an invaluable guide to Buber's early writings. It aims to foster an understanding of the rich depth and many layers of thought in Buber's masterpiece, I and Thou, and an appreciation of the radical change that took place in Buber's concept of God prior to its publication in 1923.
Lisa Silverman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794843
- eISBN:
- 9780199950072
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794843.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, History of Religion
This chapter examines how Hugo Bettauer’s 1923 novel The City Without Jews explicitly addresses the way in which the presence of Jews in interwar Vienna was in fact conditional upon their accepting ...
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This chapter examines how Hugo Bettauer’s 1923 novel The City Without Jews explicitly addresses the way in which the presence of Jews in interwar Vienna was in fact conditional upon their accepting an abstract form of their own “absence.” By omitting Jewish women from the text, the book also reveals how Jewish men predicated the possibility of their own presence upon the effacement of Jewish women. The implications of this gendered absence are explored via examples from the publishing industry. Publishers provided opportunities for Jewish women to earn a living as writers, translators, and literary agents, but only at the price of strictly limiting their content. Vicki Baum was more successful in the German market, but the rigidity with which she was marketed as a New Woman by her Jewish publishers in Berlin indicates the strict limits placed upon her visibility in the public sphere. Ironically, those same limits allowed Austrian writers like Mela Hartwig to experiment with less mainstream writing styles and content, albeit at the cost of Jewish visibility. The lives of these writers underscore the various ways in which Austrian literature—and its accompanying rules of consumption—framed the condition of Jewish “absence.”Less
This chapter examines how Hugo Bettauer’s 1923 novel The City Without Jews explicitly addresses the way in which the presence of Jews in interwar Vienna was in fact conditional upon their accepting an abstract form of their own “absence.” By omitting Jewish women from the text, the book also reveals how Jewish men predicated the possibility of their own presence upon the effacement of Jewish women. The implications of this gendered absence are explored via examples from the publishing industry. Publishers provided opportunities for Jewish women to earn a living as writers, translators, and literary agents, but only at the price of strictly limiting their content. Vicki Baum was more successful in the German market, but the rigidity with which she was marketed as a New Woman by her Jewish publishers in Berlin indicates the strict limits placed upon her visibility in the public sphere. Ironically, those same limits allowed Austrian writers like Mela Hartwig to experiment with less mainstream writing styles and content, albeit at the cost of Jewish visibility. The lives of these writers underscore the various ways in which Austrian literature—and its accompanying rules of consumption—framed the condition of Jewish “absence.”
Michael McKenna
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199740031
- eISBN:
- 9780199918706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740031.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, General
This chapter attends to questions of scope. The conversational theory explains blaming on analogy with a conversational response. Central to the explanation is the relation between blamer and blamed. ...
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This chapter attends to questions of scope. The conversational theory explains blaming on analogy with a conversational response. Central to the explanation is the relation between blamer and blamed. But we often blame in the absence of the blamed, for example, blaming the dead. The theory explains these cases as parasitic on the fundamental cases in which blame is able to take on its communicative role as a response to the one blamed. Yet a different question of scope has to do with the range of things a person can be responsible for. Some contend that an agent is only blameworthy for acts that involve violations of moral obligations or moral wrongdoing. Others claim that one can be blameworthy for bad or vicious acts as well. An even more inclusive view is that one can also be blameworthy for the nonvoluntary, such as character traits not freely acquired. The conversational theory makes room for the inclusive view while attempting to accommodate the intuitive support for the more restrictive thesis. Just as different kinds of conversations have different norms that are more or less restrictive, so too our moral responsibility practices have different norms, some more and some less restrictive.Less
This chapter attends to questions of scope. The conversational theory explains blaming on analogy with a conversational response. Central to the explanation is the relation between blamer and blamed. But we often blame in the absence of the blamed, for example, blaming the dead. The theory explains these cases as parasitic on the fundamental cases in which blame is able to take on its communicative role as a response to the one blamed. Yet a different question of scope has to do with the range of things a person can be responsible for. Some contend that an agent is only blameworthy for acts that involve violations of moral obligations or moral wrongdoing. Others claim that one can be blameworthy for bad or vicious acts as well. An even more inclusive view is that one can also be blameworthy for the nonvoluntary, such as character traits not freely acquired. The conversational theory makes room for the inclusive view while attempting to accommodate the intuitive support for the more restrictive thesis. Just as different kinds of conversations have different norms that are more or less restrictive, so too our moral responsibility practices have different norms, some more and some less restrictive.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199596201
- eISBN:
- 9780191741876
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199596201.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, General
This chapter discusses the ‘received view’ of causation as a relation among events that is asymmetrical (effects follow causes), nonreflexive (no event can cause itself), transitive (if A causes B, ...
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This chapter discusses the ‘received view’ of causation as a relation among events that is asymmetrical (effects follow causes), nonreflexive (no event can cause itself), transitive (if A causes B, and B causes C, A causes C), and backed by laws. The suggestion is that, although elements of the received view reflect aspects of the phenomenon of causation, it might be beneficial to consider the causal nexus, particular causings. Causings are manifestings of powers or dispositions. Causings are symmetrical and continuous, instances of interactions. Playing cards propped up against one another provide a more representative, less misleading model than do colliding billiard balls. Causing is fully deterministic. Indeterminacy can be introduced into the universe via spontaneous manifestations of certain properties (as in the decay of a radium atom). The causal efficacy of absences is discussed along with talk of preventers, antidotes, blockers, inhibitors, and finks.Less
This chapter discusses the ‘received view’ of causation as a relation among events that is asymmetrical (effects follow causes), nonreflexive (no event can cause itself), transitive (if A causes B, and B causes C, A causes C), and backed by laws. The suggestion is that, although elements of the received view reflect aspects of the phenomenon of causation, it might be beneficial to consider the causal nexus, particular causings. Causings are manifestings of powers or dispositions. Causings are symmetrical and continuous, instances of interactions. Playing cards propped up against one another provide a more representative, less misleading model than do colliding billiard balls. Causing is fully deterministic. Indeterminacy can be introduced into the universe via spontaneous manifestations of certain properties (as in the decay of a radium atom). The causal efficacy of absences is discussed along with talk of preventers, antidotes, blockers, inhibitors, and finks.
