Andrew Biewener and Sheila Patek
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198743156
- eISBN:
- 9780191803031
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198743156.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Ecology
This book provides a synthesis of the physical, physiological, evolutionary, and biomechanical principles that underlie animal locomotion. An understanding and full appreciation of animal locomotion ...
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This book provides a synthesis of the physical, physiological, evolutionary, and biomechanical principles that underlie animal locomotion. An understanding and full appreciation of animal locomotion requires the integration of these principles. Toward this end, we provide the necessary introductory foundation that will allow a more in-depth understanding of the physical biology and physiology of animal movement. In so doing, we hope that this book will illuminate the fundamentals and breadth of these systems, while inspiring our readers to look more deeply into the scientific literature and investigate new features of animal movement. Several themes run through this book. The first is that by comparing the modes and mechanisms by which animals have evolved the capacity for movement, we can understand the common principles that underlie each mode of locomotion. A second is that size matters. One of the most amazing aspects of biology is the enormous spatial and temporal scale over which organisms and biological processes operate. Within each mode of locomotion, animals have evolved designs and mechanisms that effectively contend with the physical properties and forces imposed on them by their environment. Understanding the constraints of scale that underlie locomotor mechanisms is essential to appreciating how these mechanisms have evolved and how they operate. A third theme is the importance of taking an integrative and comparative evolutionary approach in the study of biology. Organisms share much in common. Much of their molecular and cellular machinery is the same. They also must navigate similar physical properties of their environment. Consequently, an integrative approach to organismal function that spans multiple levels of biological organization provides a strong understanding of animal locomotion. By comparing across species, common principles of design emerge. Such comparisons also highlight how certain organisms may differ and point to strategies that have evolved for movement in diverse environments. Finally, because convergence upon common designs and the generation of new designs result from historical processes governed by natural selection, it is also important that we ask how and why these systems have evolved.Less
This book provides a synthesis of the physical, physiological, evolutionary, and biomechanical principles that underlie animal locomotion. An understanding and full appreciation of animal locomotion requires the integration of these principles. Toward this end, we provide the necessary introductory foundation that will allow a more in-depth understanding of the physical biology and physiology of animal movement. In so doing, we hope that this book will illuminate the fundamentals and breadth of these systems, while inspiring our readers to look more deeply into the scientific literature and investigate new features of animal movement. Several themes run through this book. The first is that by comparing the modes and mechanisms by which animals have evolved the capacity for movement, we can understand the common principles that underlie each mode of locomotion. A second is that size matters. One of the most amazing aspects of biology is the enormous spatial and temporal scale over which organisms and biological processes operate. Within each mode of locomotion, animals have evolved designs and mechanisms that effectively contend with the physical properties and forces imposed on them by their environment. Understanding the constraints of scale that underlie locomotor mechanisms is essential to appreciating how these mechanisms have evolved and how they operate. A third theme is the importance of taking an integrative and comparative evolutionary approach in the study of biology. Organisms share much in common. Much of their molecular and cellular machinery is the same. They also must navigate similar physical properties of their environment. Consequently, an integrative approach to organismal function that spans multiple levels of biological organization provides a strong understanding of animal locomotion. By comparing across species, common principles of design emerge. Such comparisons also highlight how certain organisms may differ and point to strategies that have evolved for movement in diverse environments. Finally, because convergence upon common designs and the generation of new designs result from historical processes governed by natural selection, it is also important that we ask how and why these systems have evolved.
A. S. Argon
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198516002
- eISBN:
- 9780191705717
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198516002.003.0002
- Subject:
- Physics, Crystallography: Physics
Crystal plasticity is overwhelmingly a consequence of the self similar translations of dislocations, which is viewed as a limiting form of more general shear transformations that also include ...
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Crystal plasticity is overwhelmingly a consequence of the self similar translations of dislocations, which is viewed as a limiting form of more general shear transformations that also include twinning and martensitic transformations. Unlike elastic deformation, which can be homogeneous down to the atomic scale, plastic deformation involving dislocation translations or other shear transformations are locally discrete and inhomogeneous. Plasticity can be viewed as homogeneous only when the discrete processes are homogenized over a representative volume element (RVE), large enough to represent quasi-smooth behavior. Thus, for the purpose of viewing plasticity as a continuum field theory, its applicability is limited to volume elements no smaller than the RVE over which processes have been homogenized. In this chapter, the essential kinematics of inelastic deformation is introduced broadly. This is followed by the development of dislocation line properties that are associated with plastic strain production and the expenditure of plastic work in crystal plasticity, including concepts of dislocation line tension, dislocation mass, forms of interaction of dislocations with applied stresses, with each other, with free surfaces, and inhomogeneities. The principles of thermally activated deformation processes are introduced and then applied to dislocation glide and overcoming of local obstacles by thermal assistance. The detailed developments of dislocation properties emphasize face centered cubic crystals, including a full complement of partial dislocation and their dislocation.Less
Crystal plasticity is overwhelmingly a consequence of the self similar translations of dislocations, which is viewed as a limiting form of more general shear transformations that also include twinning and martensitic transformations. Unlike elastic deformation, which can be homogeneous down to the atomic scale, plastic deformation involving dislocation translations or other shear transformations are locally discrete and inhomogeneous. Plasticity can be viewed as homogeneous only when the discrete processes are homogenized over a representative volume element (RVE), large enough to represent quasi-smooth behavior. Thus, for the purpose of viewing plasticity as a continuum field theory, its applicability is limited to volume elements no smaller than the RVE over which processes have been homogenized. In this chapter, the essential kinematics of inelastic deformation is introduced broadly. This is followed by the development of dislocation line properties that are associated with plastic strain production and the expenditure of plastic work in crystal plasticity, including concepts of dislocation line tension, dislocation mass, forms of interaction of dislocations with applied stresses, with each other, with free surfaces, and inhomogeneities. The principles of thermally activated deformation processes are introduced and then applied to dislocation glide and overcoming of local obstacles by thermal assistance. The detailed developments of dislocation properties emphasize face centered cubic crystals, including a full complement of partial dislocation and their dislocation.
James Raven
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202370
- eISBN:
- 9780191675300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202370.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Economic History
This chapter examines the increasing resentment against the social and political aspirations of businessmen in the late 18th century, as reflected in popular literature. These depictions focused on ...
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This chapter examines the increasing resentment against the social and political aspirations of businessmen in the late 18th century, as reflected in popular literature. These depictions focused on three arriviste types: planters, manufacturers, and nabobs. Both the speed and the extent of social advancement were emphasized by novelists and magazine contributors. Sudden social climbing was portrayed as deceitful and dangerous, and writers touched upon many of the concerns discussed so far — the social and financial fears of luxury and fashion, the establishment of standards of taste, and the preservation of traditional features of status. Underpinning such contributions was the need to create a saleable cause to explain ills and to broadcast a simple, positive message. Many arguments were interwoven: their impact depended upon their interconnectedness and their confusion. By far the greatest attention was given to self-made men returning after service with the East India Company.Less
This chapter examines the increasing resentment against the social and political aspirations of businessmen in the late 18th century, as reflected in popular literature. These depictions focused on three arriviste types: planters, manufacturers, and nabobs. Both the speed and the extent of social advancement were emphasized by novelists and magazine contributors. Sudden social climbing was portrayed as deceitful and dangerous, and writers touched upon many of the concerns discussed so far — the social and financial fears of luxury and fashion, the establishment of standards of taste, and the preservation of traditional features of status. Underpinning such contributions was the need to create a saleable cause to explain ills and to broadcast a simple, positive message. Many arguments were interwoven: their impact depended upon their interconnectedness and their confusion. By far the greatest attention was given to self-made men returning after service with the East India Company.
Caroline Schaumann
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780300231946
- eISBN:
- 9780300252828
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300231946.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon ...
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European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of “conquering” alpine summits. Inspired by Romantic notions of nature, early mountaineers idealized their endeavors as sublime experiences, all the while deliberately measuring what they saw. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, new models of masculinity emerged that were fraught with tensions. This book examines how written and artistic depictions of nineteenth-century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene.Less
European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of “conquering” alpine summits. Inspired by Romantic notions of nature, early mountaineers idealized their endeavors as sublime experiences, all the while deliberately measuring what they saw. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, new models of masculinity emerged that were fraught with tensions. This book examines how written and artistic depictions of nineteenth-century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene.
Carolyn M. King and Roger A. Powell
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195322712
- eISBN:
- 9780199894239
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195322712.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
Weasels are feisty little critters that hunt widely-dispersed and well-hidden prey with impressive predatory efficiency, willowy grace, and electric energy. Most predators tackling prey larger than ...
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Weasels are feisty little critters that hunt widely-dispersed and well-hidden prey with impressive predatory efficiency, willowy grace, and electric energy. Most predators tackling prey larger than themselves hunt in groups, but the larger weasels are astonishingly bold, often acting alone to attack a bird or rabbit twice their own size. Smaller weasels hunt by searching every hole, sniffing under fallen logs, following scent trails, and responding to any small sounds that might betray a hidden rodent. They climb trees and swim streams confidently; they burrow under snow and leaves, and patrol underground runways and nests, day and night. They make up in agility what they lack in stature by wrapping their long bodies around a struggling victim to hold it. Their galloping metabolism makes weasels always hungry, and the energy equations of weasel hunting are marginal at most times, but critical when rodent populations decline.Less
Weasels are feisty little critters that hunt widely-dispersed and well-hidden prey with impressive predatory efficiency, willowy grace, and electric energy. Most predators tackling prey larger than themselves hunt in groups, but the larger weasels are astonishingly bold, often acting alone to attack a bird or rabbit twice their own size. Smaller weasels hunt by searching every hole, sniffing under fallen logs, following scent trails, and responding to any small sounds that might betray a hidden rodent. They climb trees and swim streams confidently; they burrow under snow and leaves, and patrol underground runways and nests, day and night. They make up in agility what they lack in stature by wrapping their long bodies around a struggling victim to hold it. Their galloping metabolism makes weasels always hungry, and the energy equations of weasel hunting are marginal at most times, but critical when rodent populations decline.
K. B. E. E. Eimeleus
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501747403
- eISBN:
- 9781501747427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501747403.003.0017
- Subject:
- History, Russian and Former Soviet Union History
This chapter concerns mountain skis that are securely attached to the foot. Such skis allow various methods of hill climbing because they are easier to control than running skis that have no heel ...
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This chapter concerns mountain skis that are securely attached to the foot. Such skis allow various methods of hill climbing because they are easier to control than running skis that have no heel straps. One has to know how to climb a hill, ski back down while making turns, and in general control one's skis. Only then can one move about in variable terrain and perform jumps with confidence. The chapter shows that one can surmount a small slope without special exertion simply by lifting the front part of the skis and driving them back into the snow more forcefully, thereby preventing a slide backward.Less
This chapter concerns mountain skis that are securely attached to the foot. Such skis allow various methods of hill climbing because they are easier to control than running skis that have no heel straps. One has to know how to climb a hill, ski back down while making turns, and in general control one's skis. Only then can one move about in variable terrain and perform jumps with confidence. The chapter shows that one can surmount a small slope without special exertion simply by lifting the front part of the skis and driving them back into the snow more forcefully, thereby preventing a slide backward.
Paola Monachesi
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199274758
- eISBN:
- 9780191705908
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274758.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter discusses the interface between syntax and argument structure. It considers a case study of a particular kind of complex predicate, that is, Romance auxiliaries. It focuses on Romanian ...
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This chapter discusses the interface between syntax and argument structure. It considers a case study of a particular kind of complex predicate, that is, Romance auxiliaries. It focuses on Romanian auxiliaries, whose properties are compared with those of Italian, French, and Portuguese auxiliaries on one hand, and with those of Bulgarian and Macedonian auxiliaries on the other. The chapter proposes that an appropriate labor division between syntactic structure and argument structure can manage the idiosyncratic behavior of Romance tense auxiliaries, which has the status of simple clitics. It considers the role of argument structure in dealing with clitic climbing and argues whether syntax exists as an autonomous module of the grammar or whether it acts merely as an interface between form and meaning.Less
This chapter discusses the interface between syntax and argument structure. It considers a case study of a particular kind of complex predicate, that is, Romance auxiliaries. It focuses on Romanian auxiliaries, whose properties are compared with those of Italian, French, and Portuguese auxiliaries on one hand, and with those of Bulgarian and Macedonian auxiliaries on the other. The chapter proposes that an appropriate labor division between syntactic structure and argument structure can manage the idiosyncratic behavior of Romance tense auxiliaries, which has the status of simple clitics. It considers the role of argument structure in dealing with clitic climbing and argues whether syntax exists as an autonomous module of the grammar or whether it acts merely as an interface between form and meaning.
Norman I. Badler, Cary B. Phillips, and Bonnie Lynn Webber
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195073591
- eISBN:
- 9780197560273
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195073591.003.0008
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Game Studies
Recent research in autonomous robot construction and in computer graphics animation has found that a control architecture with networks of functional behaviors is far ...
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Recent research in autonomous robot construction and in computer graphics animation has found that a control architecture with networks of functional behaviors is far more successful for accomplishing real-world tasks than traditional methods. The high-level control and often the behaviors themselves are motivated lay the animal sciences, where the individual behaviors have the following properties: . . .• they are grounded in perception. . . . . . . • they normally participate in directing an agent’s effectors. . . . . . . • they may attempt to activate or deactivate one-auother. . . . . . . • each behavior by itself performs some task useful to the agent. . . . In both robotics and animation there is a desire to control agents in environments, though in graphics both are simulated, and in both cases the move to the animal sciences is out of discontent with traditional methods. Computer animation researchers are discontent with direct kinematic control and are increasingly willing to sacrifice complete control for realism. Robotics researchers are reacting against the traditional symbolic reasoning approaches to control such as automatic planning or expert systems. Symbolic reasoning approaches are brittle and incapable of adapting to unexpected situations (both advantageous and disastrous). The approach taken is, more or less, to tightly couple sensors and effectors and to rely on what Brooks [Bro90] calls emergent behavior, where independent behaviors interact to achieve a more complicated behavior. From autonomous robot research this approach has been proposed under a variety of names including: subsumption architecture by [Bro86], reactive planning by [GL90, Kae90], situated activity by [AC87], and others. Of particular interest to us, however, are those motivated explicitly by animal behavior: new AI by Brooks [Bro90], emergent reflexive behavior by Anderson and Donath [AD90], and computational neuro-ethology by Beer, Chiel, and Sterling [BCS90]. The motivating observation behind all of these is that even very simple animals with far less computational power than a calculator can solve real world problems in path planning, motion control, and survivalist goal attainment, whereas a mobile robot equipped with sonar sensors, laser-range finders, and a radio-Ethernet connection to a, Prolog-based hierarchical planner on a supercomputer is helpless when faced with the unexpected.
Less
Recent research in autonomous robot construction and in computer graphics animation has found that a control architecture with networks of functional behaviors is far more successful for accomplishing real-world tasks than traditional methods. The high-level control and often the behaviors themselves are motivated lay the animal sciences, where the individual behaviors have the following properties: . . .• they are grounded in perception. . . . . . . • they normally participate in directing an agent’s effectors. . . . . . . • they may attempt to activate or deactivate one-auother. . . . . . . • each behavior by itself performs some task useful to the agent. . . . In both robotics and animation there is a desire to control agents in environments, though in graphics both are simulated, and in both cases the move to the animal sciences is out of discontent with traditional methods. Computer animation researchers are discontent with direct kinematic control and are increasingly willing to sacrifice complete control for realism. Robotics researchers are reacting against the traditional symbolic reasoning approaches to control such as automatic planning or expert systems. Symbolic reasoning approaches are brittle and incapable of adapting to unexpected situations (both advantageous and disastrous). The approach taken is, more or less, to tightly couple sensors and effectors and to rely on what Brooks [Bro90] calls emergent behavior, where independent behaviors interact to achieve a more complicated behavior. From autonomous robot research this approach has been proposed under a variety of names including: subsumption architecture by [Bro86], reactive planning by [GL90, Kae90], situated activity by [AC87], and others. Of particular interest to us, however, are those motivated explicitly by animal behavior: new AI by Brooks [Bro90], emergent reflexive behavior by Anderson and Donath [AD90], and computational neuro-ethology by Beer, Chiel, and Sterling [BCS90]. The motivating observation behind all of these is that even very simple animals with far less computational power than a calculator can solve real world problems in path planning, motion control, and survivalist goal attainment, whereas a mobile robot equipped with sonar sensors, laser-range finders, and a radio-Ethernet connection to a, Prolog-based hierarchical planner on a supercomputer is helpless when faced with the unexpected.
Heiko Narrog
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199694372
- eISBN:
- 9780191742279
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199694372.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics
After clarifying basic terms and concepts in the area of semantic change in section 1, extant hypotheses on semantic change in modality are discussed in section 2. Section 3 presents a personal view ...
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After clarifying basic terms and concepts in the area of semantic change in section 1, extant hypotheses on semantic change in modality are discussed in section 2. Section 3 presents a personal view of semantic change in modality, which is defined by the following overall tendencies: first, semantic change as category climbing, that is, change from lower to higher categories in semantic and syntactic hierarchical clause structures, and second, increase in speech‐act‐orientation, including speaker‐orientation (subjectivity), hearer‐orientation (intersubjectivity), and discourse‐orientation.Less
After clarifying basic terms and concepts in the area of semantic change in section 1, extant hypotheses on semantic change in modality are discussed in section 2. Section 3 presents a personal view of semantic change in modality, which is defined by the following overall tendencies: first, semantic change as category climbing, that is, change from lower to higher categories in semantic and syntactic hierarchical clause structures, and second, increase in speech‐act‐orientation, including speaker‐orientation (subjectivity), hearer‐orientation (intersubjectivity), and discourse‐orientation.
Liliane Haegeman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199740376
- eISBN:
- 9780199895304
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199740376.003.0010
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter is concerned with the restrictions on clitic climbing with Italian sembrare. For some speakers sembrare may behave either as a lexical verb and resist clitic climbing, or as a ...
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This chapter is concerned with the restrictions on clitic climbing with Italian sembrare. For some speakers sembrare may behave either as a lexical verb and resist clitic climbing, or as a restructuring verb, allowing clitic climbing (Cinque 1999, 2002, 2004). However, even for the latter speakers, clitic climbing is excluded with certain modal or aspectual auxiliaries, in conditional clauses and in the complements of factive verbs. This chapter provides evidence that ‘restructuring’ sembrare is inserted in the head encoding evidential mood (Cinque 2004). Speaker-related modal markers must be licensed by Force, in the left periphery. The left periphery of conditional clauses and of the complements of factive predicates lacks Force; as a result, speaker-oriented modal markers, among which evidential markers, are excluded, hence evidential sembrare cannot be licensed. The absence of Force in conditional clauses will be shown to follow from the movement analysis of such clauses.Less
This chapter is concerned with the restrictions on clitic climbing with Italian sembrare. For some speakers sembrare may behave either as a lexical verb and resist clitic climbing, or as a restructuring verb, allowing clitic climbing (Cinque 1999, 2002, 2004). However, even for the latter speakers, clitic climbing is excluded with certain modal or aspectual auxiliaries, in conditional clauses and in the complements of factive verbs. This chapter provides evidence that ‘restructuring’ sembrare is inserted in the head encoding evidential mood (Cinque 2004). Speaker-related modal markers must be licensed by Force, in the left periphery. The left periphery of conditional clauses and of the complements of factive predicates lacks Force; as a result, speaker-oriented modal markers, among which evidential markers, are excluded, hence evidential sembrare cannot be licensed. The absence of Force in conditional clauses will be shown to follow from the movement analysis of such clauses.
Jane Manning
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780199390960
- eISBN:
- 9780199391011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199390960.003.0067
- Subject:
- Music, Performing Practice/Studies, Popular
This chapter addresses American composer Joan Tower’s Up High (2010). This is an extended, warmly lyrical song of considerable charm and poignancy. It is couched in an accessible and tuneful musical ...
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This chapter addresses American composer Joan Tower’s Up High (2010). This is an extended, warmly lyrical song of considerable charm and poignancy. It is couched in an accessible and tuneful musical language and carries an uplifting and idealistic message. The music gradually becomes more complex and modernistic as it progresses, especially in the full and varied piano textures which run continuously throughout. Although the piece was written for the admirable soprano Dawn Upshaw, its range is quite low at times and there is much concentration on the middle register. This means that the singer’s tone must be secure and well controlled, with a quality that can cut through the piano at its busiest.Less
This chapter addresses American composer Joan Tower’s Up High (2010). This is an extended, warmly lyrical song of considerable charm and poignancy. It is couched in an accessible and tuneful musical language and carries an uplifting and idealistic message. The music gradually becomes more complex and modernistic as it progresses, especially in the full and varied piano textures which run continuously throughout. Although the piece was written for the admirable soprano Dawn Upshaw, its range is quite low at times and there is much concentration on the middle register. This means that the singer’s tone must be secure and well controlled, with a quality that can cut through the piano at its busiest.
Simon Bainbridge
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198857891
- eISBN:
- 9780191890468
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198857891.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This book examines the relationship between Romantic-period writing and the activity that Samuel Taylor Coleridge christened ‘mountaineering’ in 1802. It argues that mountaineering developed as a ...
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This book examines the relationship between Romantic-period writing and the activity that Samuel Taylor Coleridge christened ‘mountaineering’ in 1802. It argues that mountaineering developed as a pursuit in Britain during the Romantic era, earlier than is generally recognized, and shows how writers including William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Ann Radcliffe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Walter Scott were central to the activity’s evolution. It explores how the desire for physical ascent shaped Romantic-period literary culture, and investigates how the figure of the mountaineer became crucial to creative identities and literary outputs. Illustrated with twenty-five images from the period, the book shows how mountaineering in Britain had its origins in scientific research, antiquarian travel, and the search for the picturesque and the sublime. It considers how writers engaged with mountaineering’s power dynamics and investigates issues including the politics of the summit view (what Wordsworth terms ‘visual sovereignty’), the relationships between different types of ‘mountaineers’, and the role of women in the developing cultures of ascent. Placing the work of canonical writers alongside a wide range of other types of mountaineering literature, this book reassesses key Romantic-period terms and ideas, such as vision, insight, elevation, revelation, transcendence and the sublime. It opens up new ways of understanding the relationship between Romantic-period writers and the world that they experienced through their feet and hands, as well as their eyes, as they moved through the challenging landscapes of the British mountains.Less
This book examines the relationship between Romantic-period writing and the activity that Samuel Taylor Coleridge christened ‘mountaineering’ in 1802. It argues that mountaineering developed as a pursuit in Britain during the Romantic era, earlier than is generally recognized, and shows how writers including William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Ann Radcliffe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, and Walter Scott were central to the activity’s evolution. It explores how the desire for physical ascent shaped Romantic-period literary culture, and investigates how the figure of the mountaineer became crucial to creative identities and literary outputs. Illustrated with twenty-five images from the period, the book shows how mountaineering in Britain had its origins in scientific research, antiquarian travel, and the search for the picturesque and the sublime. It considers how writers engaged with mountaineering’s power dynamics and investigates issues including the politics of the summit view (what Wordsworth terms ‘visual sovereignty’), the relationships between different types of ‘mountaineers’, and the role of women in the developing cultures of ascent. Placing the work of canonical writers alongside a wide range of other types of mountaineering literature, this book reassesses key Romantic-period terms and ideas, such as vision, insight, elevation, revelation, transcendence and the sublime. It opens up new ways of understanding the relationship between Romantic-period writers and the world that they experienced through their feet and hands, as well as their eyes, as they moved through the challenging landscapes of the British mountains.
Wolfram Manzenreiter
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267374
- eISBN:
- 9780520950320
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267374.003.0011
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gender and Sexuality
This chapter examines the potential of alternative sports for the creation of new and alternative masculinities in Japan. It focuses on the sport of free-climbing, which despite its inherent ...
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This chapter examines the potential of alternative sports for the creation of new and alternative masculinities in Japan. It focuses on the sport of free-climbing, which despite its inherent androgynous characteristics, as with other alternative sports, is highly gendered in conventional way. While heteronormative ideas of a natural or naturalized gender order persist, alternative sports and similar countercultures provide opportunities for popularizing new and alternative masculinities. In this chapter, the research data are based on an extensive participant observation between two different groups of free climbers from western Japan in the years 1995 and 1996. The chapter starts with an overview of free-climbing in Japan. The proceeding sections explore the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, the importance of the body, and various markers of status differentiation and status inversion within the subculture. The chapter concludes by discussing the appropriateness of androgyny as a concept in sports and by providing comments on the variability and plurality of masculine identities among Japanese free climbers.Less
This chapter examines the potential of alternative sports for the creation of new and alternative masculinities in Japan. It focuses on the sport of free-climbing, which despite its inherent androgynous characteristics, as with other alternative sports, is highly gendered in conventional way. While heteronormative ideas of a natural or naturalized gender order persist, alternative sports and similar countercultures provide opportunities for popularizing new and alternative masculinities. In this chapter, the research data are based on an extensive participant observation between two different groups of free climbers from western Japan in the years 1995 and 1996. The chapter starts with an overview of free-climbing in Japan. The proceeding sections explore the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, the importance of the body, and various markers of status differentiation and status inversion within the subculture. The chapter concludes by discussing the appropriateness of androgyny as a concept in sports and by providing comments on the variability and plurality of masculine identities among Japanese free climbers.
D. Brynn Hibbert
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195162127
- eISBN:
- 9780197562093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195162127.003.0007
- Subject:
- Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry
I asked a professor, visiting from a nation well regarded for its hardworking ethos, whether in his search for ever better catalysts for some synthesis or other, he ...
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I asked a professor, visiting from a nation well regarded for its hardworking ethos, whether in his search for ever better catalysts for some synthesis or other, he used experimental design. His answer was, “I have many research students. They work very hard!” Many people believe that an infinite number of monkeys and typewriters would produce the works of Shakespeare, but these days few organizations have the luxury of great numbers of researchers tweaking processes at random in order to make them ever more efficient. The approach of experimental scientists is to systematically change aspects of a process until the results improve. In this chapter I look at this approach from a statistical viewpoint and show how a structured methodology, called experimental design, can save time and effort and arrive at the best (statistically defined) result. It may be a revelation to some readers that the tried-and-trusted “change one factor at a time” approach might yield incorrect results, after requiring more experiments than is necessary. In the sections that follow, I explain how experimental design entails more than just having an idea of what you are going to do before beginning an experiment. Optimization is the maximizing or minimizing a response by changing one or more input variables. In this chapter optimization is synonymous with maximization, as any minimization can be turned into a maximization by a straightforward transformation: Minimization of cost can be seen as maximization of profit; minimization of waste turns into maximization of production; minimization of f(x) is maximization of 1/f(x) or -f(x). Before describing methods of effecting such an optimization, the term optimization must be carefully defined, and what is being optimized must be clearly understood. There are some texts on experimental design available for chemists, although often the subject is treated, as it is here, within a broader context. A good starter for the basics of factorial designs is the Analytical Chemistry Open Learning series (Morgan 1991). Reasonably comprehensive coverage is given in Massart et al.’s (1997) two-volume series, and also in a book from the Royal Society of Chemistry (Mullins 2003).
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I asked a professor, visiting from a nation well regarded for its hardworking ethos, whether in his search for ever better catalysts for some synthesis or other, he used experimental design. His answer was, “I have many research students. They work very hard!” Many people believe that an infinite number of monkeys and typewriters would produce the works of Shakespeare, but these days few organizations have the luxury of great numbers of researchers tweaking processes at random in order to make them ever more efficient. The approach of experimental scientists is to systematically change aspects of a process until the results improve. In this chapter I look at this approach from a statistical viewpoint and show how a structured methodology, called experimental design, can save time and effort and arrive at the best (statistically defined) result. It may be a revelation to some readers that the tried-and-trusted “change one factor at a time” approach might yield incorrect results, after requiring more experiments than is necessary. In the sections that follow, I explain how experimental design entails more than just having an idea of what you are going to do before beginning an experiment. Optimization is the maximizing or minimizing a response by changing one or more input variables. In this chapter optimization is synonymous with maximization, as any minimization can be turned into a maximization by a straightforward transformation: Minimization of cost can be seen as maximization of profit; minimization of waste turns into maximization of production; minimization of f(x) is maximization of 1/f(x) or -f(x). Before describing methods of effecting such an optimization, the term optimization must be carefully defined, and what is being optimized must be clearly understood. There are some texts on experimental design available for chemists, although often the subject is treated, as it is here, within a broader context. A good starter for the basics of factorial designs is the Analytical Chemistry Open Learning series (Morgan 1991). Reasonably comprehensive coverage is given in Massart et al.’s (1997) two-volume series, and also in a book from the Royal Society of Chemistry (Mullins 2003).
Chang Dae Han
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780195187823
- eISBN:
- 9780197562352
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780195187823.003.0005
- Subject:
- Chemistry, Physical Chemistry
Polymer products have long been used for a variety of applications in our daily lives, as well as for some more exotic applications, such as biomedical devices, ...
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Polymer products have long been used for a variety of applications in our daily lives, as well as for some more exotic applications, such as biomedical devices, superhigh- speed airplanes, and outer-space vehicles. Other applications are too numerous to mention them all here. There are many steps involved in the production of polymer products, from the synthesis of raw materials to the manufacturing of the finished products. Of the many steps involved, the fabrication (processing) step plays a pivotal role in determining the quality of the final products. Successful processing of polymeric materials requires a good understanding of their rheological behavior (Han 1976, 1981). Thus, intimate relationships exist between polymer rheology and polymer processing. In this chapter we describe briefly some of these close relationships between polymer rheology and polymer processing. Rheology is the science that deals with the deformation and flow of matter. Hence, polymer rheology is the science that deals with the deformation and flow of polymeric materials. Since there are a variety of polymeric materials, we can classify polymer rheology further into different categories, depending upon the nature of the polymeric materials; for instance, (1) the rheology of homogeneous polymers, (2) the rheology of miscible polymer blends, (3) the rheology of immiscible polymer blends, (4) the rheology of particulate-filled polymers, (5) the rheology of fiberglass-reinforced polymers, (6) the rheology of organoclay nanocomposites, (7) the rheology of polymeric foams, (8) the rheology of thermosets, (9) the rheology of block copolymers, and (10) the rheology of liquid-crystalline polymers. Each of these polymeric materials exhibits its own unique rheological characteristics. Thus, different theories are needed to interpret the experimental results of the rheological behavior of different polymeric materials. However, at present we do not have a comprehensive theory that can describe the rheological behavior of some polymeric materials and thus we must resort to empirical correlations to interpret the experimentally observed rheological behavior of those materials. It is then fair to state that a complete understanding of the rheological behavior of all polymeric materials remains quite a challenge indeed.
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Polymer products have long been used for a variety of applications in our daily lives, as well as for some more exotic applications, such as biomedical devices, superhigh- speed airplanes, and outer-space vehicles. Other applications are too numerous to mention them all here. There are many steps involved in the production of polymer products, from the synthesis of raw materials to the manufacturing of the finished products. Of the many steps involved, the fabrication (processing) step plays a pivotal role in determining the quality of the final products. Successful processing of polymeric materials requires a good understanding of their rheological behavior (Han 1976, 1981). Thus, intimate relationships exist between polymer rheology and polymer processing. In this chapter we describe briefly some of these close relationships between polymer rheology and polymer processing. Rheology is the science that deals with the deformation and flow of matter. Hence, polymer rheology is the science that deals with the deformation and flow of polymeric materials. Since there are a variety of polymeric materials, we can classify polymer rheology further into different categories, depending upon the nature of the polymeric materials; for instance, (1) the rheology of homogeneous polymers, (2) the rheology of miscible polymer blends, (3) the rheology of immiscible polymer blends, (4) the rheology of particulate-filled polymers, (5) the rheology of fiberglass-reinforced polymers, (6) the rheology of organoclay nanocomposites, (7) the rheology of polymeric foams, (8) the rheology of thermosets, (9) the rheology of block copolymers, and (10) the rheology of liquid-crystalline polymers. Each of these polymeric materials exhibits its own unique rheological characteristics. Thus, different theories are needed to interpret the experimental results of the rheological behavior of different polymeric materials. However, at present we do not have a comprehensive theory that can describe the rheological behavior of some polymeric materials and thus we must resort to empirical correlations to interpret the experimentally observed rheological behavior of those materials. It is then fair to state that a complete understanding of the rheological behavior of all polymeric materials remains quite a challenge indeed.
Diego Pérez-Salicrup
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199245307
- eISBN:
- 9780191917516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199245307.003.0013
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Physical Geography and Topography
The southern Yucatán peninsular region contains the largest and most rapidly disappearing continuous tract of tropical forest in Mexico (Flores and Espejel ...
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The southern Yucatán peninsular region contains the largest and most rapidly disappearing continuous tract of tropical forest in Mexico (Flores and Espejel Carvajal 1994; Delfín Gonzales, Parra, and Echazarreta 1995; Acopa and Boege 1998). Vegetation in the region is a mosaic of forest types with different structural appearances (Flores and Espejel Carvajal 1994; Hernández-Xolocotzi 1959; Miranda 1958) that primarily reflect variation in environmental and edaphic conditions (Ibarra-Manríquez 1996). However, the structure and tree composition of forests in the region, as elsewhere in the central Maya lowlands, has been and remains strongly influenced by human activity (Ch. 2). In spite of the abundance of botanical work throughout the Yucatán peninsula, little attention has been devoted to characterizing the forests in this frontier region quantitatively, and the variation and distribution of forests remain poorly documented. Yet, it is precisely this kind of documentation that is required for integrated land studies of the kind that the SYPR project is undertaking (Turner et al. 2001). Since the third decade of the twentieth century, botanical interest has focused on the flora of the Yucatán Peninsula, especially that located in the historically more accessible portion of the peninsula (Ibarra-Manríquez 1996). Early twentieth-century studies (Lundell 1938; Standley 1930) led to a broad classification of the primary vegetation as deciduous tropical forests (Miranda 1958), or evergreen tropical forests (Rzedowski 1981), controlled in distribution by the northwest to southeast precipitation gradient, distinctive dry season, and karstic terrain (Ch. 2). Today, the entire region is appropriately labeled a seasonally dry tropical forest (Bullock, Mooney, and Medina 1995). During the rainy season (May–October) most species have their canopies fully displayed and light is a limiting factor in the forest understory (Martínez-Ramos 1985, 1994). For the remainder of the year, monthly precipitation usually does not exceed 100mm. During the lowest rainfall months (February–April), water may become limiting and considerable defoliation takes place, especially in the north and west. Other factors controlling forest structure and composition include topography, twentieth-century land-use history, and hurricanes (Brokaw and Walker 1991; Cooper-Ellis et al. 1999).
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The southern Yucatán peninsular region contains the largest and most rapidly disappearing continuous tract of tropical forest in Mexico (Flores and Espejel Carvajal 1994; Delfín Gonzales, Parra, and Echazarreta 1995; Acopa and Boege 1998). Vegetation in the region is a mosaic of forest types with different structural appearances (Flores and Espejel Carvajal 1994; Hernández-Xolocotzi 1959; Miranda 1958) that primarily reflect variation in environmental and edaphic conditions (Ibarra-Manríquez 1996). However, the structure and tree composition of forests in the region, as elsewhere in the central Maya lowlands, has been and remains strongly influenced by human activity (Ch. 2). In spite of the abundance of botanical work throughout the Yucatán peninsula, little attention has been devoted to characterizing the forests in this frontier region quantitatively, and the variation and distribution of forests remain poorly documented. Yet, it is precisely this kind of documentation that is required for integrated land studies of the kind that the SYPR project is undertaking (Turner et al. 2001). Since the third decade of the twentieth century, botanical interest has focused on the flora of the Yucatán Peninsula, especially that located in the historically more accessible portion of the peninsula (Ibarra-Manríquez 1996). Early twentieth-century studies (Lundell 1938; Standley 1930) led to a broad classification of the primary vegetation as deciduous tropical forests (Miranda 1958), or evergreen tropical forests (Rzedowski 1981), controlled in distribution by the northwest to southeast precipitation gradient, distinctive dry season, and karstic terrain (Ch. 2). Today, the entire region is appropriately labeled a seasonally dry tropical forest (Bullock, Mooney, and Medina 1995). During the rainy season (May–October) most species have their canopies fully displayed and light is a limiting factor in the forest understory (Martínez-Ramos 1985, 1994). For the remainder of the year, monthly precipitation usually does not exceed 100mm. During the lowest rainfall months (February–April), water may become limiting and considerable defoliation takes place, especially in the north and west. Other factors controlling forest structure and composition include topography, twentieth-century land-use history, and hurricanes (Brokaw and Walker 1991; Cooper-Ellis et al. 1999).
Deborah Lawrence and David R. Foster
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780199245307
- eISBN:
- 9780191917516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199245307.003.0014
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Physical Geography and Topography
The total area of agricultural systems in tropical Mexico increased by 64 per cent from 1977 to 1992—a mean annual deforestation rate of 1.9 per cent ...
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The total area of agricultural systems in tropical Mexico increased by 64 per cent from 1977 to 1992—a mean annual deforestation rate of 1.9 per cent (Cairns et al. 2000). In all likelihood, this rate has continued for the past ten years. Dry tropical forest covers 8 per cent of Mexico and is subject to conversion for agricultural use (Trejo and Dirzo 2000). Because the southern Yucatán contains the largest contiguous block of dry tropical forest in Mexico and Central America, understanding the biogeochemical consequences of land-use change there is important for effective national and international conservation and development efforts. Over the past four decades the southern Yucatán peninsular region has undergone an increasing amount and intensity of land use (Chs. 3, 9, 10). These land uses, many focused on swidden practices, alter the structure and function of forested lands and often generate new feedbacks in terms of subsequent human use. Consequently, a major goal in assessing regional environmental change is to understand how biogeochemical processes respond to land-use change, emphasizing the potential of a human-dominated landscape to sustain continued human use. One of the greatest challenges in these studies is to untangle the effects of environmentally induced variation from, for example, climate, geology, or natural disturbance, from that induced by human activity. In the SYPR project the approach to this challenge has been to investigate variation in ecosystem processes in several study sites across the dominant environmental gradients while focusing on the influence of local, human-controlled factors within a given area. In the southern Yucatán peninsular region annual precipitation increases by more than 50 per cent over a distance of 120km. Median annual precipitation varies from about 900mm in the northern part of the study area to about 1,400mm in the southern part. This dramatic gradient overlies a seasonal pattern shared by all sites regardless of their total annual precipitation. Rainfall is highly variable, with a pronounced dry period lasting from four to six months, depending on latitude. The range in precipitation observed in the study area encompasses approximately 50 per cent of the variation in precipitation of dry tropical forests worldwide (Murphy and Lugo 1986).
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The total area of agricultural systems in tropical Mexico increased by 64 per cent from 1977 to 1992—a mean annual deforestation rate of 1.9 per cent (Cairns et al. 2000). In all likelihood, this rate has continued for the past ten years. Dry tropical forest covers 8 per cent of Mexico and is subject to conversion for agricultural use (Trejo and Dirzo 2000). Because the southern Yucatán contains the largest contiguous block of dry tropical forest in Mexico and Central America, understanding the biogeochemical consequences of land-use change there is important for effective national and international conservation and development efforts. Over the past four decades the southern Yucatán peninsular region has undergone an increasing amount and intensity of land use (Chs. 3, 9, 10). These land uses, many focused on swidden practices, alter the structure and function of forested lands and often generate new feedbacks in terms of subsequent human use. Consequently, a major goal in assessing regional environmental change is to understand how biogeochemical processes respond to land-use change, emphasizing the potential of a human-dominated landscape to sustain continued human use. One of the greatest challenges in these studies is to untangle the effects of environmentally induced variation from, for example, climate, geology, or natural disturbance, from that induced by human activity. In the SYPR project the approach to this challenge has been to investigate variation in ecosystem processes in several study sites across the dominant environmental gradients while focusing on the influence of local, human-controlled factors within a given area. In the southern Yucatán peninsular region annual precipitation increases by more than 50 per cent over a distance of 120km. Median annual precipitation varies from about 900mm in the northern part of the study area to about 1,400mm in the southern part. This dramatic gradient overlies a seasonal pattern shared by all sites regardless of their total annual precipitation. Rainfall is highly variable, with a pronounced dry period lasting from four to six months, depending on latitude. The range in precipitation observed in the study area encompasses approximately 50 per cent of the variation in precipitation of dry tropical forests worldwide (Murphy and Lugo 1986).
Zack Bekowies and Mairi McLaughlin
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198840176
- eISBN:
- 9780191875724
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198840176.003.0007
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter examines the loss of clitic climbing in French from a Gallo-Romance perspective. A corpus of four hagiographical texts published in the second half of the seventeenth century is used to ...
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This chapter examines the loss of clitic climbing in French from a Gallo-Romance perspective. A corpus of four hagiographical texts published in the second half of the seventeenth century is used to explore when clitic climbing ceased to be preferred in complex verbal predicates. The results confirm the main research hypothesis, namely that the variant with clitic climbing was retained for longer in texts published in Toulouse than in those published in Paris. The longer retention of clitic climbing is likely to be the effect of contact with varieties of Occitan in which clitic climbing was never lost. The results also contribute to research on text types in historical linguistics by showing that the change took place in the same way in hagiographical texts as it did in other types of text, even if there is variation regarding its dating.Less
This chapter examines the loss of clitic climbing in French from a Gallo-Romance perspective. A corpus of four hagiographical texts published in the second half of the seventeenth century is used to explore when clitic climbing ceased to be preferred in complex verbal predicates. The results confirm the main research hypothesis, namely that the variant with clitic climbing was retained for longer in texts published in Toulouse than in those published in Paris. The longer retention of clitic climbing is likely to be the effect of contact with varieties of Occitan in which clitic climbing was never lost. The results also contribute to research on text types in historical linguistics by showing that the change took place in the same way in hagiographical texts as it did in other types of text, even if there is variation regarding its dating.
Ilaria Scaglia
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198848325
- eISBN:
- 9780191882869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198848325.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History, European Modern History
By looking at the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA, or International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation), an international organization created in 1932 “to promote ...
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By looking at the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA, or International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation), an international organization created in 1932 “to promote mountaineering and climbing worldwide,” this chapter explores the “moral economy” of internationalism, or the dynamics through which internationalist groups used feelings to attribute moral values to specific beliefs and behaviors. It demonstrates that the UIAA used emotions to promote both its image and its mission. It presented alpinism as a means to engender “friendship” among nations, mimicking the League of Nations’ rhetoric and activities in this period. It also employed emotions as a tool to manage its relationships and as an essential ingredient to stage its events (e.g. international congresses and exhibitions). As such, it inaugurated a set of ideas and practices which would become normative in the subsequent decades.Less
By looking at the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme (UIAA, or International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation), an international organization created in 1932 “to promote mountaineering and climbing worldwide,” this chapter explores the “moral economy” of internationalism, or the dynamics through which internationalist groups used feelings to attribute moral values to specific beliefs and behaviors. It demonstrates that the UIAA used emotions to promote both its image and its mission. It presented alpinism as a means to engender “friendship” among nations, mimicking the League of Nations’ rhetoric and activities in this period. It also employed emotions as a tool to manage its relationships and as an essential ingredient to stage its events (e.g. international congresses and exhibitions). As such, it inaugurated a set of ideas and practices which would become normative in the subsequent decades.
Michael S. Reidy
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226109503
- eISBN:
- 9780226109640
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226109640.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
A disproportionately large percentage of the most prominent evolutionary naturalists, and almost every member of the X-Club, traveled and climbed in the Swiss Alps. John Tyndall and Leslie Stephen, ...
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A disproportionately large percentage of the most prominent evolutionary naturalists, and almost every member of the X-Club, traveled and climbed in the Swiss Alps. John Tyndall and Leslie Stephen, in particular, were simultaneously the most vocal of the evolutionary naturalists and the two most accomplished alpinists of their age. The height of their climbing came in the early 1860s, the same years in which they formulated their agnosticism. This paper will examine their journals and letters to uncover the role that mountaineering played as they formulated and defended a naturalistic framework. The questions the mountains forced them to ask, whether through beauty or desolation, order or chaos (what William Clifford termed “cosmic emotion”) helped influence their common project of formulating an ethic based on nature rather than God.Less
A disproportionately large percentage of the most prominent evolutionary naturalists, and almost every member of the X-Club, traveled and climbed in the Swiss Alps. John Tyndall and Leslie Stephen, in particular, were simultaneously the most vocal of the evolutionary naturalists and the two most accomplished alpinists of their age. The height of their climbing came in the early 1860s, the same years in which they formulated their agnosticism. This paper will examine their journals and letters to uncover the role that mountaineering played as they formulated and defended a naturalistic framework. The questions the mountains forced them to ask, whether through beauty or desolation, order or chaos (what William Clifford termed “cosmic emotion”) helped influence their common project of formulating an ethic based on nature rather than God.
