Saint Augustine
R. P. H. Green (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198263340
- eISBN:
- 9780191601125
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263341.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
This is a completely new translation of the work that Augustine wrote to guide the Christian on how to interpret Scripture and communicate it to others, a kind of do‐it‐yourself manual for ...
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This is a completely new translation of the work that Augustine wrote to guide the Christian on how to interpret Scripture and communicate it to others, a kind of do‐it‐yourself manual for discovering what the Bible teaches and passing it on. Begun at the same time as his famous Confessions, but not completed until some thirty years later, it gives fascinating insight into many sides of his thinking, not least on the value of the traditional education of which the Confessions gives such a poor impression. Augustine begins by relating his theme to the love (and enjoyment) of God and the love of one's neighbour, and then proceeds to develop a theory of signs with which he can analyse the nature of difficulties in scripture. In studying unknown signs, Augustine finds a place for some disciplines enshrined in traditional culture and the school curriculum but not all; as for ambiguous signs, he carefully explores various kinds of problems, such as that of distinguishing the figurative from the literal, and has recourse to the hermeneutic system of the Donatist Tyconius. In the fourth and last book, he discusses how to communicate scriptural teaching, drawing on a lifetime of experience but also making notable use of the writings on rhetoric of Cicero, the classical orator. The translation is equipped with an introduction that discusses the work's aims and circumstances, outlines its contents and significance, commenting briefly on the manuscripts from which the Latin text – which is also provided in this volume – is derived, and also brief explanatory notes. There is a select bibliography of useful and approachable modern criticism of this important work.Less
This is a completely new translation of the work that Augustine wrote to guide the Christian on how to interpret Scripture and communicate it to others, a kind of do‐it‐yourself manual for discovering what the Bible teaches and passing it on. Begun at the same time as his famous Confessions, but not completed until some thirty years later, it gives fascinating insight into many sides of his thinking, not least on the value of the traditional education of which the Confessions gives such a poor impression. Augustine begins by relating his theme to the love (and enjoyment) of God and the love of one's neighbour, and then proceeds to develop a theory of signs with which he can analyse the nature of difficulties in scripture. In studying unknown signs, Augustine finds a place for some disciplines enshrined in traditional culture and the school curriculum but not all; as for ambiguous signs, he carefully explores various kinds of problems, such as that of distinguishing the figurative from the literal, and has recourse to the hermeneutic system of the Donatist Tyconius. In the fourth and last book, he discusses how to communicate scriptural teaching, drawing on a lifetime of experience but also making notable use of the writings on rhetoric of Cicero, the classical orator. The translation is equipped with an introduction that discusses the work's aims and circumstances, outlines its contents and significance, commenting briefly on the manuscripts from which the Latin text – which is also provided in this volume – is derived, and also brief explanatory notes. There is a select bibliography of useful and approachable modern criticism of this important work.
David Wengrow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159041
- eISBN:
- 9781400848867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.003.0004
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter considers the case for a much earlier beginning to the composite's story, among the hunter-gatherers and villagers of remote prehistory. It has been suggested that “imaginary animals,” ...
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This chapter considers the case for a much earlier beginning to the composite's story, among the hunter-gatherers and villagers of remote prehistory. It has been suggested that “imaginary animals,” “monsters,” and composite figures are found throughout the Upper Paleolithic art tradition that flourished among hunter-gatherers of the last Ice Age, between around 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. That tradition, or better complex of traditions, is most richly documented across a broad swath of southern Europe, on what were then the fringes of a vast steppe bordering the zone of maximum glaciation. The chapter first examines the frequency of composites among the surviving corpus of Paleolithic art, along with the significance of such images in the ritual life of prehistoric societies, before discussing the development of pictorial art in the later Neolithic of the Near East. It also describes animal figures in predynastic Egypt.Less
This chapter considers the case for a much earlier beginning to the composite's story, among the hunter-gatherers and villagers of remote prehistory. It has been suggested that “imaginary animals,” “monsters,” and composite figures are found throughout the Upper Paleolithic art tradition that flourished among hunter-gatherers of the last Ice Age, between around 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. That tradition, or better complex of traditions, is most richly documented across a broad swath of southern Europe, on what were then the fringes of a vast steppe bordering the zone of maximum glaciation. The chapter first examines the frequency of composites among the surviving corpus of Paleolithic art, along with the significance of such images in the ritual life of prehistoric societies, before discussing the development of pictorial art in the later Neolithic of the Near East. It also describes animal figures in predynastic Egypt.
Owen Chadwick
- Published in print:
- 1983
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198264453
- eISBN:
- 9780191682711
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198264453.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This is a biography of Hensley Henson, one of the most controversial religious figures in England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book examines Henson's education at ...
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This is a biography of Hensley Henson, one of the most controversial religious figures in England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book examines Henson's education at Oxford University and describes the highlights of his career as pastor of Ilford and Barking Church, as canon of Westminster Abbey, and as bishop of Hereford and Durham. It explores his involvement in political issues and his controversial views on such issues as divorce, the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, and the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany.Less
This is a biography of Hensley Henson, one of the most controversial religious figures in England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book examines Henson's education at Oxford University and describes the highlights of his career as pastor of Ilford and Barking Church, as canon of Westminster Abbey, and as bishop of Hereford and Durham. It explores his involvement in political issues and his controversial views on such issues as divorce, the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, and the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany.
Ismo Dunderberg
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199284962
- eISBN:
- 9780191603785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199284962.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter argues that the enigmatic ‘disciple Jesus loved’ in John cannot be identified, and that the evidence for his role as the founder and the leader of the Johannine group remains meagre. The ...
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This chapter argues that the enigmatic ‘disciple Jesus loved’ in John cannot be identified, and that the evidence for his role as the founder and the leader of the Johannine group remains meagre. The Beloved Disciple is no doubt an ideal figure in John, but he is not necessarily portrayed as a paradigm of true faith to the audience. Rather, his major function is to authenticate the contents of the Gospel of John. While he is often compared to the Paraclete in John, his figure is more closely connected with that of Jesus. He is one link in the chain of the transmission of divine revelation: the Father supplied the beloved Son with this revelation, and the Beloved Disciple was needed to transmit it to future generations.Less
This chapter argues that the enigmatic ‘disciple Jesus loved’ in John cannot be identified, and that the evidence for his role as the founder and the leader of the Johannine group remains meagre. The Beloved Disciple is no doubt an ideal figure in John, but he is not necessarily portrayed as a paradigm of true faith to the audience. Rather, his major function is to authenticate the contents of the Gospel of John. While he is often compared to the Paraclete in John, his figure is more closely connected with that of Jesus. He is one link in the chain of the transmission of divine revelation: the Father supplied the beloved Son with this revelation, and the Beloved Disciple was needed to transmit it to future generations.
Kenneth H. Craik
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195330922
- eISBN:
- 9780199868292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195330922.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
The theoretical framework advanced in this book generates not just one but three reputational networks for each person: the lifetime, transitional, and posthumous reputational networks. Following the ...
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The theoretical framework advanced in this book generates not just one but three reputational networks for each person: the lifetime, transitional, and posthumous reputational networks. Following the death of a notable person, a transition period occurs during which a chorus of survivors and keepers of the flame within the person’s lifetime reputational network coexist with an emerging network of writers and scholars who may never have met the biographical figure but begin to investigate, write about, and discuss the person’s lifelong conduct. Over several decades, the lifetime reputational network fades away, bowing out to a sometimes large and lively posthumous reputational network. In the case of major cultural figures, such as George Washington, the posthumous reputational network is even more extensive, encompassing most citizens of a nation and extending into posterity.Less
The theoretical framework advanced in this book generates not just one but three reputational networks for each person: the lifetime, transitional, and posthumous reputational networks. Following the death of a notable person, a transition period occurs during which a chorus of survivors and keepers of the flame within the person’s lifetime reputational network coexist with an emerging network of writers and scholars who may never have met the biographical figure but begin to investigate, write about, and discuss the person’s lifelong conduct. Over several decades, the lifetime reputational network fades away, bowing out to a sometimes large and lively posthumous reputational network. In the case of major cultural figures, such as George Washington, the posthumous reputational network is even more extensive, encompassing most citizens of a nation and extending into posterity.
David Wengrow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159041
- eISBN:
- 9781400848867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.003.0002
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter examines what led Mikhail Rostovtzeff, an ancient historian, almost a century ago to compare distributions of composite figures from China to Scandinavia. Rostovtzeff is known for his ...
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This chapter examines what led Mikhail Rostovtzeff, an ancient historian, almost a century ago to compare distributions of composite figures from China to Scandinavia. Rostovtzeff is known for his controversial view that the true architects of classical civilization were not those tied to the land, whether as peasant laborers or feudal aristocracy, but rather the middling professional classes of merchants, industrialists, and bankers whose social aspirations were most closely in tune with the civic values of an expanding urban society. Rostovtzeff was also embroiled in debates over the chronological position and cultural affiliations of Bronze Age metal hoards, unearthed along the shores of the Caspian and Black Seas. The chapter considers Rostovtzeff's approach to the interpretation of imagery, and his particular attraction to the imaginary creatures of nomadic art. It might be argued that the movements of monsters offered a kind of visual counterpart to Rostovtzeff's story of an ever-expanding Bronze Age civilization.Less
This chapter examines what led Mikhail Rostovtzeff, an ancient historian, almost a century ago to compare distributions of composite figures from China to Scandinavia. Rostovtzeff is known for his controversial view that the true architects of classical civilization were not those tied to the land, whether as peasant laborers or feudal aristocracy, but rather the middling professional classes of merchants, industrialists, and bankers whose social aspirations were most closely in tune with the civic values of an expanding urban society. Rostovtzeff was also embroiled in debates over the chronological position and cultural affiliations of Bronze Age metal hoards, unearthed along the shores of the Caspian and Black Seas. The chapter considers Rostovtzeff's approach to the interpretation of imagery, and his particular attraction to the imaginary creatures of nomadic art. It might be argued that the movements of monsters offered a kind of visual counterpart to Rostovtzeff's story of an ever-expanding Bronze Age civilization.
David Wengrow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159041
- eISBN:
- 9781400848867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.003.0005
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter considers the cultural ecology of composite animals. Paleolithic and Neolithic societies sometimes created durable images of composite beings, and the few surviving candidates have often ...
More
This chapter considers the cultural ecology of composite animals. Paleolithic and Neolithic societies sometimes created durable images of composite beings, and the few surviving candidates have often been accorded great prominence in modern interpretations. Yet they remain strikingly isolated. If the popularity of minimally counterintuitive images is to be explained by their core cultural content and its appeal to universal cognitive biases, the question that arises is: Why did composite figures fail so spectacularly to “catch on” across the many millennia of innovation in visual culture that precede the onset of urban life? Much hinges here upon our conceptualization of the “counterintuitive” and its role in cultural transmission. To determine what kind of “cultural ecology” the composite animal belongs to, the chapter examines composites in early dynastic Egypt before discussing the relationship between the spread of urban civilization and the widespread transmission of images depicting composite beings.Less
This chapter considers the cultural ecology of composite animals. Paleolithic and Neolithic societies sometimes created durable images of composite beings, and the few surviving candidates have often been accorded great prominence in modern interpretations. Yet they remain strikingly isolated. If the popularity of minimally counterintuitive images is to be explained by their core cultural content and its appeal to universal cognitive biases, the question that arises is: Why did composite figures fail so spectacularly to “catch on” across the many millennia of innovation in visual culture that precede the onset of urban life? Much hinges here upon our conceptualization of the “counterintuitive” and its role in cultural transmission. To determine what kind of “cultural ecology” the composite animal belongs to, the chapter examines composites in early dynastic Egypt before discussing the relationship between the spread of urban civilization and the widespread transmission of images depicting composite beings.
David Wengrow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159041
- eISBN:
- 9781400848867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.003.0006
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter focuses on counterintuitive images and the mechanical arts. For much of their early prehistory, the relationship of composite figures, including animals, to humans was largely one of ...
More
This chapter focuses on counterintuitive images and the mechanical arts. For much of their early prehistory, the relationship of composite figures, including animals, to humans was largely one of avoidance. They remained generally very rare and special kinds of animals, only occasionally seen, even by those few people who became experts in their patterns of behavior. All of this changed with the emergence of a new and complex type of ecology, around 6,000 years ago. Urban and state-like societies offered a setting in which composites could, for the first time, thrive and multiply in significant numbers, leaving a clear and striking taphonomic imprint on the archaeological record. The chapter examines the processes through which composites spread among different regions and the frequency with which they moved across cultural frontiers. It also considers the relationship between the limited counterintuitiveness of these images and their cultural catchiness by describing a recent discovery at Tiryns.Less
This chapter focuses on counterintuitive images and the mechanical arts. For much of their early prehistory, the relationship of composite figures, including animals, to humans was largely one of avoidance. They remained generally very rare and special kinds of animals, only occasionally seen, even by those few people who became experts in their patterns of behavior. All of this changed with the emergence of a new and complex type of ecology, around 6,000 years ago. Urban and state-like societies offered a setting in which composites could, for the first time, thrive and multiply in significant numbers, leaving a clear and striking taphonomic imprint on the archaeological record. The chapter examines the processes through which composites spread among different regions and the frequency with which they moved across cultural frontiers. It also considers the relationship between the limited counterintuitiveness of these images and their cultural catchiness by describing a recent discovery at Tiryns.
David Wengrow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159041
- eISBN:
- 9781400848867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.003.0007
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter proposes some distinct patterns of transmission that are attested across multiple chronological periods and regional settings, shedding further light on the institutional contexts of ...
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This chapter proposes some distinct patterns of transmission that are attested across multiple chronological periods and regional settings, shedding further light on the institutional contexts of image transfer in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The distribution of composite figures in the visual record raises a number of intriguing problems for the study of cultural transmission. Their impressive transmission across cultural boundaries is consistent with the expectations of an “epidemiological” approach to the spread of culture, which would accord them a special kind of cognitive catchiness. This chapter considers the institutional role of externally derived images within centralized (or centralizing) societies and suggests that the macro-distribution of composites follows two distinct but regular modes of transmission and reception: the “transformative” mode and the “integrative” mode. It also introduces a third mode of transmission, termed “protective” mode.Less
This chapter proposes some distinct patterns of transmission that are attested across multiple chronological periods and regional settings, shedding further light on the institutional contexts of image transfer in the Bronze and Iron Ages. The distribution of composite figures in the visual record raises a number of intriguing problems for the study of cultural transmission. Their impressive transmission across cultural boundaries is consistent with the expectations of an “epidemiological” approach to the spread of culture, which would accord them a special kind of cognitive catchiness. This chapter considers the institutional role of externally derived images within centralized (or centralizing) societies and suggests that the macro-distribution of composites follows two distinct but regular modes of transmission and reception: the “transformative” mode and the “integrative” mode. It also introduces a third mode of transmission, termed “protective” mode.
China Mills
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199652501
- eISBN:
- 9780191739217
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199652501.003.0025
- Subject:
- Law, Family Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter explores the processes by which children framed as being ‘mentally ill’, and particularly here children who self-injure or hear voices, present us with a limit figure to current child ...
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This chapter explores the processes by which children framed as being ‘mentally ill’, and particularly here children who self-injure or hear voices, present us with a limit figure to current child rights discourse. In engaging with this limit figure, the chapter aims to examine the parochial frameworks drawn upon within legal decisions around children's rights to refuse ‘treatment’. In fact it aims to interrogate how psychiatric frameworks foreclose what can be understood to be ‘treatment’ in the first place. In contesting the frameworks by which the ‘child with mental health problems’ comes to be constituted, it engages with young people's own stories to enable dissonant and plural frames of recognition to come into view. Reading the stories that people who heard voices as children have told the author of this chapter, alongside the work of Giorgio Agamben and Judith Butler, particularly their theses around ‘bare’ and ‘precarious’ lives, enables further understanding of how dominant schemes of intelligibility may work to medicalize childhood experience; normalizing the absence of children with mental illness and pathologizing their presence within rights discourse. Thus we might conceptualize child rights as being a ‘violating enablement’ for children.Less
This chapter explores the processes by which children framed as being ‘mentally ill’, and particularly here children who self-injure or hear voices, present us with a limit figure to current child rights discourse. In engaging with this limit figure, the chapter aims to examine the parochial frameworks drawn upon within legal decisions around children's rights to refuse ‘treatment’. In fact it aims to interrogate how psychiatric frameworks foreclose what can be understood to be ‘treatment’ in the first place. In contesting the frameworks by which the ‘child with mental health problems’ comes to be constituted, it engages with young people's own stories to enable dissonant and plural frames of recognition to come into view. Reading the stories that people who heard voices as children have told the author of this chapter, alongside the work of Giorgio Agamben and Judith Butler, particularly their theses around ‘bare’ and ‘precarious’ lives, enables further understanding of how dominant schemes of intelligibility may work to medicalize childhood experience; normalizing the absence of children with mental illness and pathologizing their presence within rights discourse. Thus we might conceptualize child rights as being a ‘violating enablement’ for children.
Douglas Kerr
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099340
- eISBN:
- 9789882206892
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099340.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This is a literary history that examines British writing about the East—centred on India but radiating as far as Egypt and the Pacific—in the colonial and postcolonial period. It takes as its subject ...
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This is a literary history that examines British writing about the East—centred on India but radiating as far as Egypt and the Pacific—in the colonial and postcolonial period. It takes as its subject “the East” that was real to the British imagination, largely the creation of writers who described and told stories about it, descriptions and stories coloured by the experience of empire and its aftermath. The book discusses the work of writers such as Stevenson, Kipling, Conrad, and Orwell, but also covers less-well-known literary authors, including Anglo-Indian romance writing, the reports and memoirs of administrators, and travel writing from Auden and Isherwood in China to Redmond O'Hanlon in Borneo. It produces a history of this writing by looking at a series of “figures” or tropes of representation through which successive writers sought to represent the East and the British experience of it—tropes such as exploring the hinterland, going native, and the figure of rule itself. The book raises issues of identity and representation; power and knowledge; and, centrally, the question of how to represent other people.Less
This is a literary history that examines British writing about the East—centred on India but radiating as far as Egypt and the Pacific—in the colonial and postcolonial period. It takes as its subject “the East” that was real to the British imagination, largely the creation of writers who described and told stories about it, descriptions and stories coloured by the experience of empire and its aftermath. The book discusses the work of writers such as Stevenson, Kipling, Conrad, and Orwell, but also covers less-well-known literary authors, including Anglo-Indian romance writing, the reports and memoirs of administrators, and travel writing from Auden and Isherwood in China to Redmond O'Hanlon in Borneo. It produces a history of this writing by looking at a series of “figures” or tropes of representation through which successive writers sought to represent the East and the British experience of it—tropes such as exploring the hinterland, going native, and the figure of rule itself. The book raises issues of identity and representation; power and knowledge; and, centrally, the question of how to represent other people.
David Wengrow
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159041
- eISBN:
- 9781400848867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159041.003.0008
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This book concludes with a discussion of the emergent properties of cognition. It first considers an essay published in 1942 by Rudolph Wittkower entitled “Marvels of the East: A Study in the History ...
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This book concludes with a discussion of the emergent properties of cognition. It first considers an essay published in 1942 by Rudolph Wittkower entitled “Marvels of the East: A Study in the History of Monsters,” which documented the transmission of a particular style of ethnographic description (and depiction) from its earliest known sources in hand-copied manuscripts of the fourth century BC to the age of the printing press. The monsters in question fall mostly under this book's definition of “composites.” The book proceeds by examining how the counterfactual properties of composite figures were offset against two distinct forms of intuitive knowledge, one universal and the other historically contingent. It suggests that the specific distribution of composite figures in the visual record must be situated within the institutional dynamics of elite culture, and within particular strategies of governance that first took root during the Bronze Age, including the dissemination of officially sanctioned images through mechanical reproduction.Less
This book concludes with a discussion of the emergent properties of cognition. It first considers an essay published in 1942 by Rudolph Wittkower entitled “Marvels of the East: A Study in the History of Monsters,” which documented the transmission of a particular style of ethnographic description (and depiction) from its earliest known sources in hand-copied manuscripts of the fourth century BC to the age of the printing press. The monsters in question fall mostly under this book's definition of “composites.” The book proceeds by examining how the counterfactual properties of composite figures were offset against two distinct forms of intuitive knowledge, one universal and the other historically contingent. It suggests that the specific distribution of composite figures in the visual record must be situated within the institutional dynamics of elite culture, and within particular strategies of governance that first took root during the Bronze Age, including the dissemination of officially sanctioned images through mechanical reproduction.
Robert J. Fogelin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199739998
- eISBN:
- 9780199895045
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739998.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Figuratively Speaking (1986) examines figures of speech that concern meaning—irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others—to show how they work and to explain their ...
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Figuratively Speaking (1986) examines figures of speech that concern meaning—irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others—to show how they work and to explain their attraction. Building on the ideas of Paul Grice and Amos Tversky, this work shows how figurative language derives its power from its insistence that the reader participate in the text, looking beyond the literal meaning of the figurative language to the meanings that are implied. With examples ranging from Shakespeare, John Donne, and Jane Austen to e.e. cummings, Bessie Smith, and Monty Python, this work shows that the intellectual and aesthetic force of figurative language is not derived from inherent magical power, but instead from the opportunity it provides for unlimited elaboration in the hands of those gifted in its use. A distinctive feature of this work is that it presents a modern restatement of the view, first put forward by Aristotle, that metaphors are to be treated as elliptical similes. In a generalized form, this restatement of the Aristotelian view treats both metaphors and similes (and a number of other tropes) as figurative comparisons. The book then offers a detailed defense of this “comparativist” view of metaphors in response to the almost universal rejection of it by eminent philosophers. This new edition has extended the notion of figurative comparisons to cover synecdoche. It also ventures into new territory by considering two genres, fables and satires.Less
Figuratively Speaking (1986) examines figures of speech that concern meaning—irony, hyperbole, understatement, similes, metaphors, and others—to show how they work and to explain their attraction. Building on the ideas of Paul Grice and Amos Tversky, this work shows how figurative language derives its power from its insistence that the reader participate in the text, looking beyond the literal meaning of the figurative language to the meanings that are implied. With examples ranging from Shakespeare, John Donne, and Jane Austen to e.e. cummings, Bessie Smith, and Monty Python, this work shows that the intellectual and aesthetic force of figurative language is not derived from inherent magical power, but instead from the opportunity it provides for unlimited elaboration in the hands of those gifted in its use. A distinctive feature of this work is that it presents a modern restatement of the view, first put forward by Aristotle, that metaphors are to be treated as elliptical similes. In a generalized form, this restatement of the Aristotelian view treats both metaphors and similes (and a number of other tropes) as figurative comparisons. The book then offers a detailed defense of this “comparativist” view of metaphors in response to the almost universal rejection of it by eminent philosophers. This new edition has extended the notion of figurative comparisons to cover synecdoche. It also ventures into new territory by considering two genres, fables and satires.
Ryan Nichols
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199276912
- eISBN:
- 9780191707759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199276912.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter analyzes Reid's theory of visual perception. Specifically, it determines the nature of Reid's theory of visual perception and its implications on a theory of perceptual knowledge. Vision ...
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This chapter analyzes Reid's theory of visual perception. Specifically, it determines the nature of Reid's theory of visual perception and its implications on a theory of perceptual knowledge. Vision had seemed to Reid's predecessors obviously to be indirect. While he disagrees with this sentiment, his concession to the Way of Ideas is his recognition of a type of visual intermediary, which he calls ‘visible figure’. He argues that the presence of visible figure does not thwart his attempt to show that even visual perception can provide us direct access to features of the world. Analysis of Reid's underdeveloped notion of visible figure yields a theory of perception that implies touch and vision afford us differently structured relations to the mind-independent world.Less
This chapter analyzes Reid's theory of visual perception. Specifically, it determines the nature of Reid's theory of visual perception and its implications on a theory of perceptual knowledge. Vision had seemed to Reid's predecessors obviously to be indirect. While he disagrees with this sentiment, his concession to the Way of Ideas is his recognition of a type of visual intermediary, which he calls ‘visible figure’. He argues that the presence of visible figure does not thwart his attempt to show that even visual perception can provide us direct access to features of the world. Analysis of Reid's underdeveloped notion of visible figure yields a theory of perception that implies touch and vision afford us differently structured relations to the mind-independent world.
Christopher Deacy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335989
- eISBN:
- 9780199868940
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335989.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
While identifying Christ figures in films can be a provocative and productive classroom tool, seeing such films as a mere illustration of theology can be ultimately superficial and misleading. When ...
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While identifying Christ figures in films can be a provocative and productive classroom tool, seeing such films as a mere illustration of theology can be ultimately superficial and misleading. When is theology in a film, and when is theology brought to a film? Although much academic writing has focused on identifying Christ figures in the movies, this chapter takes a step back and examines the interplay between film and theology more generally around the theme of the Christ figure, with implications for both teaching and theory.Less
While identifying Christ figures in films can be a provocative and productive classroom tool, seeing such films as a mere illustration of theology can be ultimately superficial and misleading. When is theology in a film, and when is theology brought to a film? Although much academic writing has focused on identifying Christ figures in the movies, this chapter takes a step back and examines the interplay between film and theology more generally around the theme of the Christ figure, with implications for both teaching and theory.
Peter Schäfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153902
- eISBN:
- 9781400842285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153902.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter deals with an exegesis of Daniel 7:9, found only in the Babylonian Talmud, which boldly assigns the Messiah–King David a throne in heaven, next to that of God. This presents a clear ...
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This chapter deals with an exegesis of Daniel 7:9, found only in the Babylonian Talmud, which boldly assigns the Messiah–King David a throne in heaven, next to that of God. This presents a clear evidence that certain rabbis felt attracted to the idea of a second divine figure, enjoying equal rights with God. The angry rejection of this idea by other rabbis demonstrates that such “heretical” ideas gained a foothold within the rabbinic fold of Babylonian Jewry. The Bavli's Daniel exegesis finds its counterpart in the David Apocalypse, which gives an elaborate description of the elevated David and his worship in heaven. This unique piece is structurally similar to the elevation of the Lamb (that is, Jesus Christ) in the New Testament Book of Revelation and can be interpreted as a response to the New Testament.Less
This chapter deals with an exegesis of Daniel 7:9, found only in the Babylonian Talmud, which boldly assigns the Messiah–King David a throne in heaven, next to that of God. This presents a clear evidence that certain rabbis felt attracted to the idea of a second divine figure, enjoying equal rights with God. The angry rejection of this idea by other rabbis demonstrates that such “heretical” ideas gained a foothold within the rabbinic fold of Babylonian Jewry. The Bavli's Daniel exegesis finds its counterpart in the David Apocalypse, which gives an elaborate description of the elevated David and his worship in heaven. This unique piece is structurally similar to the elevation of the Lamb (that is, Jesus Christ) in the New Testament Book of Revelation and can be interpreted as a response to the New Testament.
Peter Schäfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153902
- eISBN:
- 9781400842285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153902.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines rabbinic attitudes toward the angels. Enoch-Metatron, being transformed into the highest of all angels and becoming a divine figure next to God, stands at the extreme ...
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This chapter examines rabbinic attitudes toward the angels. Enoch-Metatron, being transformed into the highest of all angels and becoming a divine figure next to God, stands at the extreme (Babylonian) end of a much larger spectrum of rabbinic attitudes toward the angels. Earlier Palestinian sources were vehemently opposed to any such possibility of the angels being granted a role transcending their traditional task of praising God and acting as his messengers. This is particularly true for the creation story and the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai. With regard to the former, the rabbis set great store in pointing out that the angels were not created on the first day of creation—to make sure that nobody should arrive at the dangerous idea that these angels participated in the act of creation. Similarly, the rabbis took great care in not granting the angels too active a role during the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai.Less
This chapter examines rabbinic attitudes toward the angels. Enoch-Metatron, being transformed into the highest of all angels and becoming a divine figure next to God, stands at the extreme (Babylonian) end of a much larger spectrum of rabbinic attitudes toward the angels. Earlier Palestinian sources were vehemently opposed to any such possibility of the angels being granted a role transcending their traditional task of praising God and acting as his messengers. This is particularly true for the creation story and the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai. With regard to the former, the rabbis set great store in pointing out that the angels were not created on the first day of creation—to make sure that nobody should arrive at the dangerous idea that these angels participated in the act of creation. Similarly, the rabbis took great care in not granting the angels too active a role during the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai.
Stanley Weintraub
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813037264
- eISBN:
- 9780813041544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813037264.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
People known to Bernard Shaw had every reason to fear becoming recognizable characters in his plays. Whether from history, literature, or his own crowded career, Shaw's relationships to real or ...
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People known to Bernard Shaw had every reason to fear becoming recognizable characters in his plays. Whether from history, literature, or his own crowded career, Shaw's relationships to real or imagined personalities reveal a complexity beyond easy formulation. He put himself into a Jesus, a Caesar, a Cetewayo, a Napoleon, and even into an Edward VIII. Shaw rehabilitated the shocking Lady Colin Campbell and reinvented Virginia Woolf. What he was not, or could not be, himself, became indirectly and imaginatively parts of other personalities, past and present. The lives in this book are a sampling, extraordinary only in being dimensions of Bernard Shaw.Less
People known to Bernard Shaw had every reason to fear becoming recognizable characters in his plays. Whether from history, literature, or his own crowded career, Shaw's relationships to real or imagined personalities reveal a complexity beyond easy formulation. He put himself into a Jesus, a Caesar, a Cetewayo, a Napoleon, and even into an Edward VIII. Shaw rehabilitated the shocking Lady Colin Campbell and reinvented Virginia Woolf. What he was not, or could not be, himself, became indirectly and imaginatively parts of other personalities, past and present. The lives in this book are a sampling, extraordinary only in being dimensions of Bernard Shaw.
Walter van de Leur
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195124484
- eISBN:
- 9780199868711
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195124484.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter brings up the various distinctive techniques in Strayhorn’s composing and arranging. These include through-composed forms with developmental sections and integrated introductions, ...
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This chapter brings up the various distinctive techniques in Strayhorn’s composing and arranging. These include through-composed forms with developmental sections and integrated introductions, transitory sections and codas. His clever use of temporary modulations points up his control over harmony and counterpoint. The chapter shows how Strayhorn further availed himself of a variety of elements — harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic figures and passages that not only guarantee the internal cohesion of a given piece, but also strongly unify his works as a whole, clearly setting it apart it from Ellington’s oeuvre. The characteristics that allow the listener to distinguish Strayhorn’s work from Ellington’s are detailed: specific usage of dissonance, chords, voice leading, instrumentation, rhythmic figures, textures, and backgrounds.Less
This chapter brings up the various distinctive techniques in Strayhorn’s composing and arranging. These include through-composed forms with developmental sections and integrated introductions, transitory sections and codas. His clever use of temporary modulations points up his control over harmony and counterpoint. The chapter shows how Strayhorn further availed himself of a variety of elements — harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic figures and passages that not only guarantee the internal cohesion of a given piece, but also strongly unify his works as a whole, clearly setting it apart it from Ellington’s oeuvre. The characteristics that allow the listener to distinguish Strayhorn’s work from Ellington’s are detailed: specific usage of dissonance, chords, voice leading, instrumentation, rhythmic figures, textures, and backgrounds.
Ian P. Howard and Brian J. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367607
- eISBN:
- 9780199867264
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367607.003.0023
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology
The appearance of an object or of the way we respond to it can be influenced by its perceived distance with respect to other objects. For instance, the way one object appears to move with respect to ...
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The appearance of an object or of the way we respond to it can be influenced by its perceived distance with respect to other objects. For instance, the way one object appears to move with respect to another object is influenced by how the objects are arranged in depth. Also, stimuli that interact when seen in the same depth plane may cease to interact when separated in depth. This is a useful feature of perception because it allows us to concentrate our attention on objects in the plane of interest without being distracted by events occurring in other depth planes. This chapter discusses these issues. Topics covered include stereopsis and figure perception, stereo and motion segregation, and stereoscopic interpolation.Less
The appearance of an object or of the way we respond to it can be influenced by its perceived distance with respect to other objects. For instance, the way one object appears to move with respect to another object is influenced by how the objects are arranged in depth. Also, stimuli that interact when seen in the same depth plane may cease to interact when separated in depth. This is a useful feature of perception because it allows us to concentrate our attention on objects in the plane of interest without being distracted by events occurring in other depth planes. This chapter discusses these issues. Topics covered include stereopsis and figure perception, stereo and motion segregation, and stereoscopic interpolation.
