Luigi Gioia
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199553464
- eISBN:
- 9780191720796
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553464.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Early Christian Studies
The book provides a fresh description and analysis of Augustine's monumental treatise, De Trinitate, working on a supposition of its unity and its coherence from structural, rhetorical, and ...
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The book provides a fresh description and analysis of Augustine's monumental treatise, De Trinitate, working on a supposition of its unity and its coherence from structural, rhetorical, and theological points of view. The main arguments of the treatise are reviewed first: an examination of Scripture and the mystery of the Trinity; a discussion of ‘Arian’ logical and ontological categories; a comparison between the process of knowledge and formal aspects of the confession of the mystery of the Trinity; an account of the so‐called ‘psychological analogies’. These topics hold a predominantly instructive or polemical function. The unity and the coherence of the treatise become apparent especially when its description focuses on a truly theological understanding of the knowledge of God: Augustine aims at leading the reader to the vision and enjoyment of God the Trinity, in whose image we are created. This mystagogical aspect of the rhetoric of De Trinitate is unfolded through Christology, soteriology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of revelation. At the same time, from the vantage point of love, Augustine detects and powerfully depicts the epistemological consequences of human sinfulness, thus unmasking the fundamental deficiency of received theories of knowledge. Only love restores knowledge and enables phiolosophers to yield to the injunction which resumes philosophical enterprise as a whole, namely ‘know thyself.’Less
The book provides a fresh description and analysis of Augustine's monumental treatise, De Trinitate, working on a supposition of its unity and its coherence from structural, rhetorical, and theological points of view. The main arguments of the treatise are reviewed first: an examination of Scripture and the mystery of the Trinity; a discussion of ‘Arian’ logical and ontological categories; a comparison between the process of knowledge and formal aspects of the confession of the mystery of the Trinity; an account of the so‐called ‘psychological analogies’. These topics hold a predominantly instructive or polemical function. The unity and the coherence of the treatise become apparent especially when its description focuses on a truly theological understanding of the knowledge of God: Augustine aims at leading the reader to the vision and enjoyment of God the Trinity, in whose image we are created. This mystagogical aspect of the rhetoric of De Trinitate is unfolded through Christology, soteriology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of revelation. At the same time, from the vantage point of love, Augustine detects and powerfully depicts the epistemological consequences of human sinfulness, thus unmasking the fundamental deficiency of received theories of knowledge. Only love restores knowledge and enables phiolosophers to yield to the injunction which resumes philosophical enterprise as a whole, namely ‘know thyself.’
Paul Bartha
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195325539
- eISBN:
- 9780199776313
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325539.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
This book proposes a theory of analogical arguments, with special focus on analogies in mathematics and science. The core principle of the theory is that a good analogical argument must articulate a ...
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This book proposes a theory of analogical arguments, with special focus on analogies in mathematics and science. The core principle of the theory is that a good analogical argument must articulate a clear relationship capable of generalization. This idea leads to a set of distinct models for the critical analysis of prominent forms of analogical argument, corresponding to different logical, causal and probabilistic relationships that occur in scientific reasoning. The same principle allows us to relate analogical reasoning to broad norms and values of scientific practice, such as symmetry and unification. Elaborating this principle, the book raises questions and proposes answers regarding (1) criteria for evaluating analogical arguments, (2) the philosophical justification for analogical reasoning, and (3) the place of scientific analogies in the context of theoretical confirmation.Less
This book proposes a theory of analogical arguments, with special focus on analogies in mathematics and science. The core principle of the theory is that a good analogical argument must articulate a clear relationship capable of generalization. This idea leads to a set of distinct models for the critical analysis of prominent forms of analogical argument, corresponding to different logical, causal and probabilistic relationships that occur in scientific reasoning. The same principle allows us to relate analogical reasoning to broad norms and values of scientific practice, such as symmetry and unification. Elaborating this principle, the book raises questions and proposes answers regarding (1) criteria for evaluating analogical arguments, (2) the philosophical justification for analogical reasoning, and (3) the place of scientific analogies in the context of theoretical confirmation.
Nicholas J. Healy
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199278367
- eISBN:
- 9780191603419
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199278369.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This book represents a study of the meaning of "the end" in the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar, that highlights both the originality and the fruitfulness of his vision of a reciprocal drama ...
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This book represents a study of the meaning of "the end" in the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar, that highlights both the originality and the fruitfulness of his vision of a reciprocal drama between God and the world. The argument of the book can be summed up simply: being -creaturely being and trinitarian being -unveils its final countenance as love in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. After setting forth three basic problems inherent in Christian eschatology, Healy introduces Balthasar's trinitarian perspective: eschatology is concerned with the life of the Trinity, as revealed by Jesus Christ, and as the origin and final destiny of the whole created cosmos. The book presupposes that a critical engagement with Balthasar's thought requires attending to the original way he uses philosophy within theology. Thomas Aquinas' analogy of being, fulfilled in the person of Christ, is both the abiding precondition of, and is ultimately disclosed in, the drama between God and the world whose form takes shape within Christ's return to the Father. The ultimate form of the end, and thus the measure of all that is meant by eschatology, is given in Christ's eucharistic and pneumatic gift of himself - gift that simultaneously lays bare the mystery of the Trinity and enables Christ to "return" to the Father in communion with the whole of creation. Insofar as Christ reveals the trinitarian life and the mystery of creation in their dramatic interplay, he establishes the form of eschatology as a participation in God's engagement with the world. Under the sign of the Holy Spirit and the Eucharist, Christian eschatology involves a sharing in Christ's double movement into the world and, together with the world, into God. By developing the metaphysical dimensions of Balthasar's doctrine of the last things, Healy shows that his writings on the eschaton contain unexpected resources for the ecclesial renewal envisaged by the Second Vatican Council and its missionary opening to the world.Less
This book represents a study of the meaning of "the end" in the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar, that highlights both the originality and the fruitfulness of his vision of a reciprocal drama between God and the world. The argument of the book can be summed up simply: being -creaturely being and trinitarian being -unveils its final countenance as love in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. After setting forth three basic problems inherent in Christian eschatology, Healy introduces Balthasar's trinitarian perspective: eschatology is concerned with the life of the Trinity, as revealed by Jesus Christ, and as the origin and final destiny of the whole created cosmos. The book presupposes that a critical engagement with Balthasar's thought requires attending to the original way he uses philosophy within theology. Thomas Aquinas' analogy of being, fulfilled in the person of Christ, is both the abiding precondition of, and is ultimately disclosed in, the drama between God and the world whose form takes shape within Christ's return to the Father. The ultimate form of the end, and thus the measure of all that is meant by eschatology, is given in Christ's eucharistic and pneumatic gift of himself - gift that simultaneously lays bare the mystery of the Trinity and enables Christ to "return" to the Father in communion with the whole of creation. Insofar as Christ reveals the trinitarian life and the mystery of creation in their dramatic interplay, he establishes the form of eschatology as a participation in God's engagement with the world. Under the sign of the Holy Spirit and the Eucharist, Christian eschatology involves a sharing in Christ's double movement into the world and, together with the world, into God. By developing the metaphysical dimensions of Balthasar's doctrine of the last things, Healy shows that his writings on the eschaton contain unexpected resources for the ecclesial renewal envisaged by the Second Vatican Council and its missionary opening to the world.
James P. Blevins and Juliette Blevins (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547548
- eISBN:
- 9780191720628
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547548.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
Analogy is a central component of language structure, language processing, and language change. This book addresses central questions about the form and acquisition of analogy in grammar. What ...
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Analogy is a central component of language structure, language processing, and language change. This book addresses central questions about the form and acquisition of analogy in grammar. What patterns of structural similarity do speakers select as the basis for analogical extension? What types of items are particularly susceptible or resistant to analogical pressures? At what levels do analogical processes operate and how do processes interact? What formal mechanisms are appropriate for modeling analogy? What analogical processes are evident in language acquisition? Answers to these questions emerge from this book which is a synthesis of typological, experimental, computational, and developmental paradigms.Less
Analogy is a central component of language structure, language processing, and language change. This book addresses central questions about the form and acquisition of analogy in grammar. What patterns of structural similarity do speakers select as the basis for analogical extension? What types of items are particularly susceptible or resistant to analogical pressures? At what levels do analogical processes operate and how do processes interact? What formal mechanisms are appropriate for modeling analogy? What analogical processes are evident in language acquisition? Answers to these questions emerge from this book which is a synthesis of typological, experimental, computational, and developmental paradigms.
Andrew Stewart Skinner
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198233343
- eISBN:
- 9780191678974
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198233343.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Following the publication of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, it appears that Adam Smith gave greater emphasis to jurisprudence and economics at the expense of the ethical material. While the lectures ...
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Following the publication of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, it appears that Adam Smith gave greater emphasis to jurisprudence and economics at the expense of the ethical material. While the lectures on theology have not been discovered as yet, it is at least possible that Smith's position would have shown agreement with that of Isaac Newton. Smith made use of a number of Newtonian analogies whose implications are not inconsistent with the view of God as the Divine Architect or Great Superintendent of the Universe. He made wide use of mechanistic (and other) analogies, seeing in the universe a ‘great machine’ wherein we may observe ‘means adjusted with the nicest artifice to the ends which they are intended to produce’. The remaining parts of Smith's lectures — ethics, jurisprudence, and economics — were seen by him as the parts, separate but interconnected, of an even wider system of social science, a point that emerges clearly from the advertisement to the sixth edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, published in the year of Smith's death.Less
Following the publication of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, it appears that Adam Smith gave greater emphasis to jurisprudence and economics at the expense of the ethical material. While the lectures on theology have not been discovered as yet, it is at least possible that Smith's position would have shown agreement with that of Isaac Newton. Smith made use of a number of Newtonian analogies whose implications are not inconsistent with the view of God as the Divine Architect or Great Superintendent of the Universe. He made wide use of mechanistic (and other) analogies, seeing in the universe a ‘great machine’ wherein we may observe ‘means adjusted with the nicest artifice to the ends which they are intended to produce’. The remaining parts of Smith's lectures — ethics, jurisprudence, and economics — were seen by him as the parts, separate but interconnected, of an even wider system of social science, a point that emerges clearly from the advertisement to the sixth edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, published in the year of Smith's death.
John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199266579
- eISBN:
- 9780191601446
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199266573.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
The chapter discusses the use of the comparative method by Northern Ireland's political partisans and academics. It shows how analogies with other conflicts have been used by partisans to further ...
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The chapter discusses the use of the comparative method by Northern Ireland's political partisans and academics. It shows how analogies with other conflicts have been used by partisans to further their political agendas. These analogies are tied to important international norms, and their use by Northern Ireland's politicians are an attempt to influence international opinion, as well as cement group solidarity. The second part of the chapter summarizes how Northern Ireland has been analysed by academics employing important comparative political theories, including consociationalism and integrationism.Less
The chapter discusses the use of the comparative method by Northern Ireland's political partisans and academics. It shows how analogies with other conflicts have been used by partisans to further their political agendas. These analogies are tied to important international norms, and their use by Northern Ireland's politicians are an attempt to influence international opinion, as well as cement group solidarity. The second part of the chapter summarizes how Northern Ireland has been analysed by academics employing important comparative political theories, including consociationalism and integrationism.
John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199266579
- eISBN:
- 9780191601446
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199266573.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
The chapter offers a comparative evaluation of Northern Ireland's Agreement and the one reached in South Africa, and underlines the differences between them. It argues that the analogy between ...
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The chapter offers a comparative evaluation of Northern Ireland's Agreement and the one reached in South Africa, and underlines the differences between them. It argues that the analogy between Northern Ireland and South Africa should be read in different ways than it is by nationalist and unionist integrationists, and by social transformationists. It explains that the Northern Ireland conflict has important exogenous dimensions that are missing in South Africa, This is illustrated by two central points: (i) while South Africans reached agreement because of endogenous factors, cooperation by the British and Irish governments was essential to the attainment of agreement in Northern Ireland; (ii) while South Africa's settlement required new political institutions internal to the country, a vital part of Northern Ireland's agreement involved the construction of trans-border political institutions linking Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.Less
The chapter offers a comparative evaluation of Northern Ireland's Agreement and the one reached in South Africa, and underlines the differences between them. It argues that the analogy between Northern Ireland and South Africa should be read in different ways than it is by nationalist and unionist integrationists, and by social transformationists. It explains that the Northern Ireland conflict has important exogenous dimensions that are missing in South Africa, This is illustrated by two central points: (i) while South Africans reached agreement because of endogenous factors, cooperation by the British and Irish governments was essential to the attainment of agreement in Northern Ireland; (ii) while South Africa's settlement required new political institutions internal to the country, a vital part of Northern Ireland's agreement involved the construction of trans-border political institutions linking Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.
Richard Swinburne
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198240709
- eISBN:
- 9780191598586
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198240708.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
Investigates whether the claim that there is a God can be spelt out in a coherent way. Part 1 analyses how we can show some claim to be coherent or incoherent. God is supposed to be a personal being, ...
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Investigates whether the claim that there is a God can be spelt out in a coherent way. Part 1 analyses how we can show some claim to be coherent or incoherent. God is supposed to be a personal being, omnipresent, perfectly free and creator of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, a source of moral obligation, and eternal. Part 2 analyses how these divine properties can be understood in a coherent and mutually consistent way. Part 3 considers divine necessity and claims that God's existence necessarily must be understood as this being the ultimate brute fact on which all else depends, but his having the divine properties necessarily must be understood as his having these properties being logically necessary for his existence. The final chapter argues that, if a God of the kind analysed in earlier chapters exists, he is worthy of worship.Less
Investigates whether the claim that there is a God can be spelt out in a coherent way. Part 1 analyses how we can show some claim to be coherent or incoherent. God is supposed to be a personal being, omnipresent, perfectly free and creator of the universe, omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, a source of moral obligation, and eternal. Part 2 analyses how these divine properties can be understood in a coherent and mutually consistent way. Part 3 considers divine necessity and claims that God's existence necessarily must be understood as this being the ultimate brute fact on which all else depends, but his having the divine properties necessarily must be understood as his having these properties being logically necessary for his existence. The final chapter argues that, if a God of the kind analysed in earlier chapters exists, he is worthy of worship.
Michael C. Banner
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240198
- eISBN:
- 9780191680113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240198.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science
This chapter discusses a number of proposed analogies and propositions made in relation to theistic and scientific reasoning. The arguments presented in this book, along with remarks by Hume and ...
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This chapter discusses a number of proposed analogies and propositions made in relation to theistic and scientific reasoning. The arguments presented in this book, along with remarks by Hume and Wittgenstein, are also included in the discussion.Less
This chapter discusses a number of proposed analogies and propositions made in relation to theistic and scientific reasoning. The arguments presented in this book, along with remarks by Hume and Wittgenstein, are also included in the discussion.
Francesca Aran Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199219285
- eISBN:
- 9780191711664
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199219285.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Because of their descriptive cast, narrative theologies are oriented to considering the future as the most significant tense; they thus recoup the ancient Christian millennarian tradition, as it ...
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Because of their descriptive cast, narrative theologies are oriented to considering the future as the most significant tense; they thus recoup the ancient Christian millennarian tradition, as it surfaces in, for instance, Joachim of Fiore. This focus on futurity indicates that the basic motivation in narrative theologies is the quest for scientific predictability. A philosophical theology which gives metaphysical status to the way in which scientific hypotheses are epistemically verified (in the future) is bound to say, with Hegel, that the truth of a proposition is what it becomes, just as the ‘truth’ of a story is its outcome. Rather than making God the epistemic outcome of human acts of knowledge or story-telling, this chapter proposes that God is a much livelier and energetic thing, love. The two foremost analogies of this dramatic love are tragedy and comedy. The book's thesis thus achieves the aim of narrative theologies to be true to the ‘God of the Gospel’ rather than the gods of our culture.Less
Because of their descriptive cast, narrative theologies are oriented to considering the future as the most significant tense; they thus recoup the ancient Christian millennarian tradition, as it surfaces in, for instance, Joachim of Fiore. This focus on futurity indicates that the basic motivation in narrative theologies is the quest for scientific predictability. A philosophical theology which gives metaphysical status to the way in which scientific hypotheses are epistemically verified (in the future) is bound to say, with Hegel, that the truth of a proposition is what it becomes, just as the ‘truth’ of a story is its outcome. Rather than making God the epistemic outcome of human acts of knowledge or story-telling, this chapter proposes that God is a much livelier and energetic thing, love. The two foremost analogies of this dramatic love are tragedy and comedy. The book's thesis thus achieves the aim of narrative theologies to be true to the ‘God of the Gospel’ rather than the gods of our culture.
Robert Hanna
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199285549
- eISBN:
- 9780191713965
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199285549.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter explores the same basic Kantian presuppositional links with respect to causation. It begins by unpacking the basics of Kant's metaphysics of causation, with special reference to the ...
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This chapter explores the same basic Kantian presuppositional links with respect to causation. It begins by unpacking the basics of Kant's metaphysics of causation, with special reference to the three Analogies of Experience and the Third Antinomy of Pure Reason. It then analyzes the problem of free will and works out a new version of Kant's theory of freedom, called the Embodied Agency Theory. Some of the intimate Kantian links between freedom and nature are explored, and a biological interpretation of the Embodied Agency Theory is developed. It is argued that for Kant, the irreversibility of time — ‘Time's Arrow’ — entails a necessary connection between naturally mechanized causation and the possibility of human practical causation.Less
This chapter explores the same basic Kantian presuppositional links with respect to causation. It begins by unpacking the basics of Kant's metaphysics of causation, with special reference to the three Analogies of Experience and the Third Antinomy of Pure Reason. It then analyzes the problem of free will and works out a new version of Kant's theory of freedom, called the Embodied Agency Theory. Some of the intimate Kantian links between freedom and nature are explored, and a biological interpretation of the Embodied Agency Theory is developed. It is argued that for Kant, the irreversibility of time — ‘Time's Arrow’ — entails a necessary connection between naturally mechanized causation and the possibility of human practical causation.
Gloria L. Schaab
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195329124
- eISBN:
- 9780199785711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329124.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Chapter 3 addresses the question of how theology in dialogue with science authentically expresses insights concerning the ineffable mystery of God and suffering. Because neither science nor theology ...
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Chapter 3 addresses the question of how theology in dialogue with science authentically expresses insights concerning the ineffable mystery of God and suffering. Because neither science nor theology can speak uncritically as if a one‐to‐one correspondence existed between the meaning of their words and the realities to which they refer, nor can they speak instrumentally as if their words were simply useful fictions, each discipline must speak in terms of a critical or skeptical realism. In so doing, each employs certain concepts, analogies, metaphors, or models to signify something akin to the entity to which its words refer. This approach to scientific and theological language leads to the methodology of inference‐to‐the‐best‐explanation. This methodology aims not at certainty but at intelligibility, not at finality but at fecundity, not at immutability but at emergence with regard to its metaphors and models.Less
Chapter 3 addresses the question of how theology in dialogue with science authentically expresses insights concerning the ineffable mystery of God and suffering. Because neither science nor theology can speak uncritically as if a one‐to‐one correspondence existed between the meaning of their words and the realities to which they refer, nor can they speak instrumentally as if their words were simply useful fictions, each discipline must speak in terms of a critical or skeptical realism. In so doing, each employs certain concepts, analogies, metaphors, or models to signify something akin to the entity to which its words refer. This approach to scientific and theological language leads to the methodology of inference‐to‐the‐best‐explanation. This methodology aims not at certainty but at intelligibility, not at finality but at fecundity, not at immutability but at emergence with regard to its metaphors and models.
Laurence Whitehead
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199253289
- eISBN:
- 9780191600326
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199253285.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Proposes an interpretative framework for the comparison of democratic transitions. It argues that the complex dynamics, shifting agendas, and multiple interactions that characterize all such ...
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Proposes an interpretative framework for the comparison of democratic transitions. It argues that the complex dynamics, shifting agendas, and multiple interactions that characterize all such processes can be integrated and brought into focus by the construction of an analogy with theatre and drama. Every democratic transition obeys the logic of a public dramatic performance. The chapter also revisits the origins of democracy to confirm the robustness of this analogy with drama.Less
Proposes an interpretative framework for the comparison of democratic transitions. It argues that the complex dynamics, shifting agendas, and multiple interactions that characterize all such processes can be integrated and brought into focus by the construction of an analogy with theatre and drama. Every democratic transition obeys the logic of a public dramatic performance. The chapter also revisits the origins of democracy to confirm the robustness of this analogy with drama.
Richard Swedberg
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155227
- eISBN:
- 9781400850358
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155227.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
In the social sciences today, students are taught theory by reading and analyzing the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and other foundational figures of the discipline. What they rarely learn, however, ...
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In the social sciences today, students are taught theory by reading and analyzing the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and other foundational figures of the discipline. What they rarely learn, however, is how to actually theorize. This book is a practical guide to doing just that. This user manual for social theorists explains how theorizing occurs in what the book calls the context of discovery, a process in which the researcher gathers preliminary data and thinks creatively about it using tools such as metaphor, analogy, and typology. The book guides readers through each step of the theorist's art, from observation and naming to concept formation and explanation. To theorize well, you also need a sound knowledge of existing social theory. The book introduces readers to the most important theories and concepts, and discusses how to go about mastering them. If you can think, you can also learn to theorize. This book shows you how. The book features helpful examples throughout, and also provides practical exercises that enable readers to learn through doing.Less
In the social sciences today, students are taught theory by reading and analyzing the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and other foundational figures of the discipline. What they rarely learn, however, is how to actually theorize. This book is a practical guide to doing just that. This user manual for social theorists explains how theorizing occurs in what the book calls the context of discovery, a process in which the researcher gathers preliminary data and thinks creatively about it using tools such as metaphor, analogy, and typology. The book guides readers through each step of the theorist's art, from observation and naming to concept formation and explanation. To theorize well, you also need a sound knowledge of existing social theory. The book introduces readers to the most important theories and concepts, and discusses how to go about mastering them. If you can think, you can also learn to theorize. This book shows you how. The book features helpful examples throughout, and also provides practical exercises that enable readers to learn through doing.
Christopher Hood
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198297659
- eISBN:
- 9780191599484
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198297653.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Returns to the general question of what sort of science public management is or can be and how cultural theory can contribute to that science. If public management is (as suggested earlier) dominated ...
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Returns to the general question of what sort of science public management is or can be and how cultural theory can contribute to that science. If public management is (as suggested earlier) dominated by rhetorical forms of argument, cultural theory can help take one step further than conventional analyses of rhetoric by differentiating rhetorical ‘families’—this theme is explored in this chapter, which looks at what a cultural‐theory framework can add to the analysis of public management as an arena for rhetoric, and aims to do three things. First, it briefly expands on a now familiar argument (noted in the first chapter)—that shifts in what counts as received ideas in public management work through a process of fashion and persuasion, not through proofs couched in strict deductive logic, controlled experiments, or even systematic analysis of all available cases. Second, and more ambitiously, it aims to bring together the analysis of rhetoric in public management with the four ways of doing public management that were explored in Part II, to show how each of those approaches can have its own rhetoric, in the sense of foreshortened proofs, analogies, and parables; the aim is to put a cultural‐theory perspective to work in a different way, to identify multiple rhetorics of public management. Third, it briefly develops the suggestion made in Chapters 1 and 2 that shifts (change) in received ideas about how to organize typically occur in a reactive way, through rejection of existing arrangements with their known faults, rather than through a positive process of reasoning from a blank slate.Less
Returns to the general question of what sort of science public management is or can be and how cultural theory can contribute to that science. If public management is (as suggested earlier) dominated by rhetorical forms of argument, cultural theory can help take one step further than conventional analyses of rhetoric by differentiating rhetorical ‘families’—this theme is explored in this chapter, which looks at what a cultural‐theory framework can add to the analysis of public management as an arena for rhetoric, and aims to do three things. First, it briefly expands on a now familiar argument (noted in the first chapter)—that shifts in what counts as received ideas in public management work through a process of fashion and persuasion, not through proofs couched in strict deductive logic, controlled experiments, or even systematic analysis of all available cases. Second, and more ambitiously, it aims to bring together the analysis of rhetoric in public management with the four ways of doing public management that were explored in Part II, to show how each of those approaches can have its own rhetoric, in the sense of foreshortened proofs, analogies, and parables; the aim is to put a cultural‐theory perspective to work in a different way, to identify multiple rhetorics of public management. Third, it briefly develops the suggestion made in Chapters 1 and 2 that shifts (change) in received ideas about how to organize typically occur in a reactive way, through rejection of existing arrangements with their known faults, rather than through a positive process of reasoning from a blank slate.
John M. Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199608331
- eISBN:
- 9780191732119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608331.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Phonetics / Phonology
It is concluded that the presence of a range of analogies in structure between the two planes of phonology and syntax reflects both the human perception of similarities between the substances ...
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It is concluded that the presence of a range of analogies in structure between the two planes of phonology and syntax reflects both the human perception of similarities between the substances grammaticalized by linguistic representation and the implementation of the same mental apparatus in the construction of linguistic structure. These analogies are limited by discrepancies between the two planes, in the complexity of their categorization and the structures they project, determined on the one hand by the need, in the syntax, to represent complex conceptual scenes, and, on the other, by the constraints imposed on categorial, derivational, and structural elaboration allowed by the limited domain grammaticalized by phonology, a domain intimately associated with physical implementation. These differences between the planes also affect and reflect their relationship to the lexicon, where they are related by the asymmetrical relation of exponence.Less
It is concluded that the presence of a range of analogies in structure between the two planes of phonology and syntax reflects both the human perception of similarities between the substances grammaticalized by linguistic representation and the implementation of the same mental apparatus in the construction of linguistic structure. These analogies are limited by discrepancies between the two planes, in the complexity of their categorization and the structures they project, determined on the one hand by the need, in the syntax, to represent complex conceptual scenes, and, on the other, by the constraints imposed on categorial, derivational, and structural elaboration allowed by the limited domain grammaticalized by phonology, a domain intimately associated with physical implementation. These differences between the planes also affect and reflect their relationship to the lexicon, where they are related by the asymmetrical relation of exponence.
Tony K. Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195392722
- eISBN:
- 9780199777327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195392722.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The Caitanya caritāmṛta opened with the doctrine of the pañca tattva, the theological basis for Caitanya’s descent with his retinue, dhāma, whose individuals were named by the hundreds. To articulate ...
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The Caitanya caritāmṛta opened with the doctrine of the pañca tattva, the theological basis for Caitanya’s descent with his retinue, dhāma, whose individuals were named by the hundreds. To articulate a unified Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community, Kṛṣṇadāsa adopted the metaphor of the tree of bhakti: Caitanya’s gurus the roots, Caitanya the trunk, and four key branches, locating every devotee in Bengal, Orissa, and Vraja. By highlighting prior works, the Caitanya caritāmṛta functioned as commentary on tradition. Kṛṣṇadāsa’s pervasive rhetoric of humility leaves the impression of reportage; yet he proffered privileged readings, inserted theological arguments in Caitanya’s mouth, and expanded stories with previously unknown information. His seemingly passing praise of select devotees and texts impels the reader to never-explicitly-stated conclusions, a technique of indirect assertion by analogy. The resulting acts of inclusion and exclusion gently guide the reader to sanctioned readings, the founding canon. These strategies together constituted a grammar of tradition.Less
The Caitanya caritāmṛta opened with the doctrine of the pañca tattva, the theological basis for Caitanya’s descent with his retinue, dhāma, whose individuals were named by the hundreds. To articulate a unified Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community, Kṛṣṇadāsa adopted the metaphor of the tree of bhakti: Caitanya’s gurus the roots, Caitanya the trunk, and four key branches, locating every devotee in Bengal, Orissa, and Vraja. By highlighting prior works, the Caitanya caritāmṛta functioned as commentary on tradition. Kṛṣṇadāsa’s pervasive rhetoric of humility leaves the impression of reportage; yet he proffered privileged readings, inserted theological arguments in Caitanya’s mouth, and expanded stories with previously unknown information. His seemingly passing praise of select devotees and texts impels the reader to never-explicitly-stated conclusions, a technique of indirect assertion by analogy. The resulting acts of inclusion and exclusion gently guide the reader to sanctioned readings, the founding canon. These strategies together constituted a grammar of tradition.
Pavel Gregoric
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199277377
- eISBN:
- 9780191707537
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199277377.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
This chapter examines Aristotle's notion of perceptual discrimination, which he discusses in De Anima III.2 (426 b 8-427 a 16) and III.7 (431 a 20 b 1). In the first of these passages the ...
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This chapter examines Aristotle's notion of perceptual discrimination, which he discusses in De Anima III.2 (426 b 8-427 a 16) and III.7 (431 a 20 b 1). In the first of these passages the solution from De Sensu 7 seems to be rejected because it cannot account for perceptual discrimination of two or more homogeneous special perceptibles, e.g. black and white. That solution is supplanted by another one in which Aristotle compares the discriminating capacity to the geometrical point. This analogy is closely examined and an interpretation of its application to the case of perceptual discrimination of homogeneous special perceptibles is proposed. This interpretation is then supported, if only tentatively, by an analysis of a notoriously difficult passage from De Anima III.7. It is concluded that Aristotle's explanation of simultaneous perception and perceptual discrimination of two or more homogeneous special perceptibles is rather unsatisfactory. Less
This chapter examines Aristotle's notion of perceptual discrimination, which he discusses in De Anima III.2 (426 b 8-427 a 16) and III.7 (431 a 20 b 1). In the first of these passages the solution from De Sensu 7 seems to be rejected because it cannot account for perceptual discrimination of two or more homogeneous special perceptibles, e.g. black and white. That solution is supplanted by another one in which Aristotle compares the discriminating capacity to the geometrical point. This analogy is closely examined and an interpretation of its application to the case of perceptual discrimination of homogeneous special perceptibles is proposed. This interpretation is then supported, if only tentatively, by an analysis of a notoriously difficult passage from De Anima III.7. It is concluded that Aristotle's explanation of simultaneous perception and perceptual discrimination of two or more homogeneous special perceptibles is rather unsatisfactory.
Michael Patrick Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195333527
- eISBN:
- 9780199868896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195333527.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The chapter serves both as a brief biography of Balthasar and a protracted bibliography of his work. The consideration of Balthasar's monumental opus (The Glory of the Lord, Theo‐drama, and ...
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The chapter serves both as a brief biography of Balthasar and a protracted bibliography of his work. The consideration of Balthasar's monumental opus (The Glory of the Lord, Theo‐drama, and Theo‐logic) provides a critical “system” in which to read texts and begins to illustrate Balthasar's unique contribution to current discussions about the intersection between theology, history, philosophy, and narrative art. The chapter demonstrates that not only is Balthasar one of the most important Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, but also his work has practical contributions to make to discourses in critical theory. Like critical theory, Balthasar's work is theological, literary, anthropological, philosophical, psychological, political, and historical, which are critical theory's main components. In the spirit of the ressourcement theology that shaped him, Balthasar is primarily interested in renewing attention to older sources in order to critique the idealistic excesses of modernity. In this sense, Balthasar reveals a postmodern temperament: he too is concerned with issues of language and difference, with aporia, with plurality, with surplus, and with horizons of meaning, to name a few. The difference between Balthasar and the majority of critical theorists resides in ontological and theological orientation: it is therefore a difference of imagination and of grammar. The chapter elaborates on these and other dynamic relationships.Less
The chapter serves both as a brief biography of Balthasar and a protracted bibliography of his work. The consideration of Balthasar's monumental opus (The Glory of the Lord, Theo‐drama, and Theo‐logic) provides a critical “system” in which to read texts and begins to illustrate Balthasar's unique contribution to current discussions about the intersection between theology, history, philosophy, and narrative art. The chapter demonstrates that not only is Balthasar one of the most important Catholic theologians of the twentieth century, but also his work has practical contributions to make to discourses in critical theory. Like critical theory, Balthasar's work is theological, literary, anthropological, philosophical, psychological, political, and historical, which are critical theory's main components. In the spirit of the ressourcement theology that shaped him, Balthasar is primarily interested in renewing attention to older sources in order to critique the idealistic excesses of modernity. In this sense, Balthasar reveals a postmodern temperament: he too is concerned with issues of language and difference, with aporia, with plurality, with surplus, and with horizons of meaning, to name a few. The difference between Balthasar and the majority of critical theorists resides in ontological and theological orientation: it is therefore a difference of imagination and of grammar. The chapter elaborates on these and other dynamic relationships.
Luigi Gioia
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199553464
- eISBN:
- 9780191720796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553464.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Early Christian Studies
This chapter presents a selective analysis of commentators who argue for anagogical or analogical interpretations of the dynamics of the De Trinitate, mainly Olivier Du Roy and Karl Barth. Other ...
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This chapter presents a selective analysis of commentators who argue for anagogical or analogical interpretations of the dynamics of the De Trinitate, mainly Olivier Du Roy and Karl Barth. Other commentators (especially Karl Rahner), who trace the alleged modalistic bent of Western Trinitarian theology back to Augustine and attribute to him the opposition between the prominence given to the philosophy of the essence in the West versus the apophatic or ‘communional’ approach of the East, are then considered. Finally, the review of secondary literature examines ways of preventing ‘proto‐Cartesian’ readings of the De Trinitate through alternative more accurate examinations of the anthropology and the Christology of the treatise (Rowan Williams and Lewis Ayres).Less
This chapter presents a selective analysis of commentators who argue for anagogical or analogical interpretations of the dynamics of the De Trinitate, mainly Olivier Du Roy and Karl Barth. Other commentators (especially Karl Rahner), who trace the alleged modalistic bent of Western Trinitarian theology back to Augustine and attribute to him the opposition between the prominence given to the philosophy of the essence in the West versus the apophatic or ‘communional’ approach of the East, are then considered. Finally, the review of secondary literature examines ways of preventing ‘proto‐Cartesian’ readings of the De Trinitate through alternative more accurate examinations of the anthropology and the Christology of the treatise (Rowan Williams and Lewis Ayres).
