Miranda Fricker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198237907
- eISBN:
- 9780191706844
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198237907.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Justice is one of the oldest and most central themes of philosophy, but sometimes we would do well to focus instead on injustice. In epistemology, the very idea that there is a first-order ethical ...
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Justice is one of the oldest and most central themes of philosophy, but sometimes we would do well to focus instead on injustice. In epistemology, the very idea that there is a first-order ethical dimension to our epistemic practices — the idea that there is such a thing as epistemic justice — remains obscure until we adjust the philosophical lens so that we see through to the negative space that is epistemic injustice. This book argues that there is a distinctively epistemic genus of injustice, in which someone is wronged specifically in their capacity as a knower, wronged therefore in a capacity essential to human value. The book identifies two forms of epistemic injustice: testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice. In doing so, it charts the ethical dimension of two fundamental epistemic practices: gaining knowledge by being told and making sense of our social experiences. As the account unfolds, the book travels through a range of philosophical problems. Thus, the book finds an analysis of social power; an account of prejudicial stereotypes; a characterization of two hybrid intellectual-ethical virtues; a revised account of the State of Nature used in genealogical explanations of the concept of knowledge; a discussion of objectification and ‘silencing’; and a framework for a virtue epistemological account of testimony. The book reveals epistemic injustice as a potent yet largely silent dimension of discrimination, analyses the wrong it perpetrates, and constructs two hybrid ethical-intellectual virtues of epistemic justice which aim to forestall it.Less
Justice is one of the oldest and most central themes of philosophy, but sometimes we would do well to focus instead on injustice. In epistemology, the very idea that there is a first-order ethical dimension to our epistemic practices — the idea that there is such a thing as epistemic justice — remains obscure until we adjust the philosophical lens so that we see through to the negative space that is epistemic injustice. This book argues that there is a distinctively epistemic genus of injustice, in which someone is wronged specifically in their capacity as a knower, wronged therefore in a capacity essential to human value. The book identifies two forms of epistemic injustice: testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice. In doing so, it charts the ethical dimension of two fundamental epistemic practices: gaining knowledge by being told and making sense of our social experiences. As the account unfolds, the book travels through a range of philosophical problems. Thus, the book finds an analysis of social power; an account of prejudicial stereotypes; a characterization of two hybrid intellectual-ethical virtues; a revised account of the State of Nature used in genealogical explanations of the concept of knowledge; a discussion of objectification and ‘silencing’; and a framework for a virtue epistemological account of testimony. The book reveals epistemic injustice as a potent yet largely silent dimension of discrimination, analyses the wrong it perpetrates, and constructs two hybrid ethical-intellectual virtues of epistemic justice which aim to forestall it.
Thomas L. Brodie
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195138368
- eISBN:
- 9780199834037
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138368.003.0034
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The following two texts consist essentially of genealogies – the shrunken genealogy of Jacob (Genesis 35:21–29) and the expansive genealogy of his old nemesis, Esau (36:1–37:1). The brevity of ...
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The following two texts consist essentially of genealogies – the shrunken genealogy of Jacob (Genesis 35:21–29) and the expansive genealogy of his old nemesis, Esau (36:1–37:1). The brevity of Jacob's genealogy seems to be explained by its opening: the incest of Jacob's eldest son, Reuben, with Jacob's concubine, Bilhah – an event which would have undermined the father. Jacob hears, but does nothing and says nothing. (He acts on it when he is dying, 49:3–4). For the moment, he is diminished, and his genealogy reflects it. (In better circumstances, his genealogy is longer, 46:8–27).Less
The following two texts consist essentially of genealogies – the shrunken genealogy of Jacob (Genesis 35:21–29) and the expansive genealogy of his old nemesis, Esau (36:1–37:1). The brevity of Jacob's genealogy seems to be explained by its opening: the incest of Jacob's eldest son, Reuben, with Jacob's concubine, Bilhah – an event which would have undermined the father. Jacob hears, but does nothing and says nothing. (He acts on it when he is dying, 49:3–4). For the moment, he is diminished, and his genealogy reflects it. (In better circumstances, his genealogy is longer, 46:8–27).
Rachel Trubowitz
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199604739
- eISBN:
- 9780191741074
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604739.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This book focuses on changing seventeenth-century English views of maternal nurture and the nation. The revaluation of maternal nursing goes hand-in-hand with the reformation of the nation, ...
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This book focuses on changing seventeenth-century English views of maternal nurture and the nation. The revaluation of maternal nursing goes hand-in-hand with the reformation of the nation, especially between 1603 and 1675. Maternal nurture gains new prominence in the early modern cultural imagination at the precise moment when England undergoes a major conceptual paradigm shift — from the traditional, dynastic body politic, organized by organic bonds, to the post-dynastic, modern nation, comprised of symbolic and affective relations. The period’s interlocking reassessments of maternal nurture and the nation also manifest (especially in the case of Milton) English Protestant views of Judeo-Christian relations. The book’s five chapters examine a wide range of reformed-and-traditional, well-known-and-somewhat-obscure texts — including A pitiless Mother, William Gouge’s Of Domesticall Duties, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Charles I’s Eikon Basilike, and Milton’s Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes — and such early modern visual images as The power of women (a late sixteenth-century Dutch engraving), William Marshall’s engraved frontispiece to Richard Braithwaite’s The English Gentleman and Gentlewoman (1641), and Peter Paul Rubens’s painting of Roman Charity (1630). The book demonstrates that the idealized figure of the nurturing mother equivocally mediates between customary Judaic/Hebraic paradigms of English kingship and reformed models of England as the new Israel.Less
This book focuses on changing seventeenth-century English views of maternal nurture and the nation. The revaluation of maternal nursing goes hand-in-hand with the reformation of the nation, especially between 1603 and 1675. Maternal nurture gains new prominence in the early modern cultural imagination at the precise moment when England undergoes a major conceptual paradigm shift — from the traditional, dynastic body politic, organized by organic bonds, to the post-dynastic, modern nation, comprised of symbolic and affective relations. The period’s interlocking reassessments of maternal nurture and the nation also manifest (especially in the case of Milton) English Protestant views of Judeo-Christian relations. The book’s five chapters examine a wide range of reformed-and-traditional, well-known-and-somewhat-obscure texts — including A pitiless Mother, William Gouge’s Of Domesticall Duties, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Charles I’s Eikon Basilike, and Milton’s Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes — and such early modern visual images as The power of women (a late sixteenth-century Dutch engraving), William Marshall’s engraved frontispiece to Richard Braithwaite’s The English Gentleman and Gentlewoman (1641), and Peter Paul Rubens’s painting of Roman Charity (1630). The book demonstrates that the idealized figure of the nurturing mother equivocally mediates between customary Judaic/Hebraic paradigms of English kingship and reformed models of England as the new Israel.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious ...
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Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? This book looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom's genealogical culture. The book presents the first extended biographical exploration of the major twentieth-century Saudi scholar Hamad al-Jāsir, whose genealogical studies frame the story about belonging and identity in the modern kingdom. It examines the interplay between al-Jāsir's genealogical project and his many hundreds of petitioners, mostly Saudis of nontribal or lower status origin who sought validation of their tribal roots in his genealogical texts. Investigating the Saudi relationship to this opaque, orally inscribed historical tradition, the book considers the consequences of modern Saudi genealogical politics and how the most intimate anxieties of nontribal Saudis today are amplified by the governing strategies and kinship ideology of the Saudi state. Challenging the impression that Saudi culture is determined by puritanical religiosity or rentier economic principles, the book shows how the exploration and establishment of tribal genealogies have become influential phenomena in contemporary Saudi society. Beyond Saudi Arabia, this book casts important new light on the interplay between kinship ideas, oral narrative, and state formation in rapidly changing societies.Less
Why do tribal genealogies matter in modern-day Saudi Arabia? What compels the strivers and climbers of the new Saudi Arabia to want to prove their authentic descent from one or another prestigious Arabian tribe? This book looks at how genealogy and tribal belonging have informed the lives of past and present inhabitants of Saudi Arabia and how the Saudi government's tacit glorification of tribal origins has shaped the powerful development of the kingdom's genealogical culture. The book presents the first extended biographical exploration of the major twentieth-century Saudi scholar Hamad al-Jāsir, whose genealogical studies frame the story about belonging and identity in the modern kingdom. It examines the interplay between al-Jāsir's genealogical project and his many hundreds of petitioners, mostly Saudis of nontribal or lower status origin who sought validation of their tribal roots in his genealogical texts. Investigating the Saudi relationship to this opaque, orally inscribed historical tradition, the book considers the consequences of modern Saudi genealogical politics and how the most intimate anxieties of nontribal Saudis today are amplified by the governing strategies and kinship ideology of the Saudi state. Challenging the impression that Saudi culture is determined by puritanical religiosity or rentier economic principles, the book shows how the exploration and establishment of tribal genealogies have become influential phenomena in contemporary Saudi society. Beyond Saudi Arabia, this book casts important new light on the interplay between kinship ideas, oral narrative, and state formation in rapidly changing societies.
Andrew Vincent
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199271252
- eISBN:
- 9780191601101
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199271259.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The core argument in this chapter is that conventionalist argument, if pursued, is profoundly reductionist. Radical conventionalism can mutate into the thesis of perspectivism. In this scenario, ...
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The core argument in this chapter is that conventionalist argument, if pursued, is profoundly reductionist. Radical conventionalism can mutate into the thesis of perspectivism. In this scenario, conventionalism links up with the intellectual movements of postmodernism and poststructuralism. The committed postmodern or poststructural critic aims to search out foundationalism in all the remote and hidden corners of political theory. The chapter examines the diverse contributions of Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, William Connolly, Richard Rorty, and Jean‐François Lyotard to political theory.Less
The core argument in this chapter is that conventionalist argument, if pursued, is profoundly reductionist. Radical conventionalism can mutate into the thesis of perspectivism. In this scenario, conventionalism links up with the intellectual movements of postmodernism and poststructuralism. The committed postmodern or poststructural critic aims to search out foundationalism in all the remote and hidden corners of political theory. The chapter examines the diverse contributions of Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, William Connolly, Richard Rorty, and Jean‐François Lyotard to political theory.
Carl A. Raschke
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231173841
- eISBN:
- 9780231539623
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231173841.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter argues that the crisis of representation proves itself to be intertwined with a crisis in the theory of sovereignty, suggesting a deeper challenge to liberalism.
This chapter argues that the crisis of representation proves itself to be intertwined with a crisis in the theory of sovereignty, suggesting a deeper challenge to liberalism.
Romila Thapar
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195637984
- eISBN:
- 9780199081912
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195637984.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
This book examines the link between time and history in the Indian context. It debunks the concept of time as cyclic in early India and subsequently the denial of history. The book indicates the ...
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This book examines the link between time and history in the Indian context. It debunks the concept of time as cyclic in early India and subsequently the denial of history. The book indicates the existence of linear time in Indian texts such as genealogies, biographies, and chronicles, where time-reckoning was recorded through generations, regnal years and eras. The volume suggests that cyclic time was used in cosmological contexts while linear time was used in historical contexts. It further argues that historical consciousness existed in early India.Less
This book examines the link between time and history in the Indian context. It debunks the concept of time as cyclic in early India and subsequently the denial of history. The book indicates the existence of linear time in Indian texts such as genealogies, biographies, and chronicles, where time-reckoning was recorded through generations, regnal years and eras. The volume suggests that cyclic time was used in cosmological contexts while linear time was used in historical contexts. It further argues that historical consciousness existed in early India.
J. Kameron Carter
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195152791
- eISBN:
- 9780199870578
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195152791.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter begins here the work of developing a theological account of the modern problem of race, starting with an analysis of Cornel West's genealogy of race, ultimately labeling this approach ...
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This chapter begins here the work of developing a theological account of the modern problem of race, starting with an analysis of Cornel West's genealogy of race, ultimately labeling this approach problematic it for its inability to come to terms with what is religious, theological and political — all at the same time — about modernity and about how race functions within it. It then turns to Michel Foucault's work. The strength of his genealogy of race, which he positions within a genealogy of the state, is its opening onto a genealogy of religion, one that identifies the quest to overcome Jews and Judaism — the problem of supersessionism — as what propels modernity and moves its discourse of race, which is modernity's inner architecture. Unable to fully account for the theological nature of this problem, Foucault himself remained captive to his own form of intellectual supersessionism.Less
This chapter begins here the work of developing a theological account of the modern problem of race, starting with an analysis of Cornel West's genealogy of race, ultimately labeling this approach problematic it for its inability to come to terms with what is religious, theological and political — all at the same time — about modernity and about how race functions within it. It then turns to Michel Foucault's work. The strength of his genealogy of race, which he positions within a genealogy of the state, is its opening onto a genealogy of religion, one that identifies the quest to overcome Jews and Judaism — the problem of supersessionism — as what propels modernity and moves its discourse of race, which is modernity's inner architecture. Unable to fully account for the theological nature of this problem, Foucault himself remained captive to his own form of intellectual supersessionism.
Rebecca M. Empson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197264737
- eISBN:
- 9780191753992
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264737.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter presents narratives concerned with people's past experiences of loss and migration. This is explored through the prism of their current interstitial position as an ethnic minority living ...
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This chapter presents narratives concerned with people's past experiences of loss and migration. This is explored through the prism of their current interstitial position as an ethnic minority living in Mongolia's far countryside. Narratives about the Buriad's sustained persecution by the Mongolian state are often evoked as a means by which to objectify themselves as different from other Mongolians. In contrast, narratives of continuity revolving around the tracing of clans and genealogies are used to highlight connections to a wider Buriad diaspora. Focusing on the way in which people define themselves against or alongside others, the chapter reveals some of the idioms by which people evoke different kinds of personhood. These narratives provide a background against which ideas of separation and containment can be used to think through other aspects of Buriad social life.Less
This chapter presents narratives concerned with people's past experiences of loss and migration. This is explored through the prism of their current interstitial position as an ethnic minority living in Mongolia's far countryside. Narratives about the Buriad's sustained persecution by the Mongolian state are often evoked as a means by which to objectify themselves as different from other Mongolians. In contrast, narratives of continuity revolving around the tracing of clans and genealogies are used to highlight connections to a wider Buriad diaspora. Focusing on the way in which people define themselves against or alongside others, the chapter reveals some of the idioms by which people evoke different kinds of personhood. These narratives provide a background against which ideas of separation and containment can be used to think through other aspects of Buriad social life.
William L Randall and A. Elizabeth McKim
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195306873
- eISBN:
- 9780199894062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306873.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter argues that spiritual aging is ultimately a narrative endeavor. After considering the relationship between spirituality and wisdom, aging, and religion, it proposes that spirituality has ...
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This chapter argues that spiritual aging is ultimately a narrative endeavor. After considering the relationship between spirituality and wisdom, aging, and religion, it proposes that spirituality has to do with transcending our lifestories. The inevitability of death is then explored from a poetic perspective, with death seen as having an aesthetic necessity, as The End. Along such lines, the chapter critiques the notion of “successful aging.” The powerful role of master narratives in the formation of individuals' lifestories is considered next, as is the idea that a life can be conceived as a sacred story, or parable, with limitless potential for meaning. The chapter then enlists the concepts of gerotranscendence, generativity, and genealogy to trace the various ways in which, effectively, we let our stories go. It argues that the recognition of the open-endedness of our stories and the experience of wonder at their mystery is a hallmark of spiritual growth.Less
This chapter argues that spiritual aging is ultimately a narrative endeavor. After considering the relationship between spirituality and wisdom, aging, and religion, it proposes that spirituality has to do with transcending our lifestories. The inevitability of death is then explored from a poetic perspective, with death seen as having an aesthetic necessity, as The End. Along such lines, the chapter critiques the notion of “successful aging.” The powerful role of master narratives in the formation of individuals' lifestories is considered next, as is the idea that a life can be conceived as a sacred story, or parable, with limitless potential for meaning. The chapter then enlists the concepts of gerotranscendence, generativity, and genealogy to trace the various ways in which, effectively, we let our stories go. It argues that the recognition of the open-endedness of our stories and the experience of wonder at their mystery is a hallmark of spiritual growth.
Sarah Bowen Savant and Helena de Felipe (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748644971
- eISBN:
- 9781474400831
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748644971.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This collection of nine case studies provides an understanding of genealogy in Muslim societies and highlights how ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in such ...
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This collection of nine case studies provides an understanding of genealogy in Muslim societies and highlights how ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in such societies. The volume provides a window onto Muslim societies, particularly with regard to the generation, preservation and manipulation of genealogical knowledge. The case studies draw on primary sources from across the Middle East, the Maghreb, and Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from works of classical Arabic heritage to oral testimonies gained from fieldwork. They stress the malleability of kinship and memory, along with the interests that this malleability serves. They also address questions about how genealogical knowledge has been generated, how it has empowered political and religious elites, and how it has shaped our understanding of the past. Finally, the book examines the authenticity, legitimacy, and institutionalisation of genealogical knowledge, Muslim hierarchy, and the basis of sectarian, tribal, ethnic and other identities.Less
This collection of nine case studies provides an understanding of genealogy in Muslim societies and highlights how ideas about kinship and descent have shaped communal and national identities in such societies. The volume provides a window onto Muslim societies, particularly with regard to the generation, preservation and manipulation of genealogical knowledge. The case studies draw on primary sources from across the Middle East, the Maghreb, and Sub-Saharan Africa, ranging from works of classical Arabic heritage to oral testimonies gained from fieldwork. They stress the malleability of kinship and memory, along with the interests that this malleability serves. They also address questions about how genealogical knowledge has been generated, how it has empowered political and religious elites, and how it has shaped our understanding of the past. Finally, the book examines the authenticity, legitimacy, and institutionalisation of genealogical knowledge, Muslim hierarchy, and the basis of sectarian, tribal, ethnic and other identities.
Moulie Vidas
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154862
- eISBN:
- 9781400850471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154862.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter examines a thematic series of sugyot that concern the genealogical division of the Jewish people, arguing that the Babylonian Talmud trains its audience to view the production of ...
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This chapter examines a thematic series of sugyot that concern the genealogical division of the Jewish people, arguing that the Babylonian Talmud trains its audience to view the production of genealogical knowledge, and the traditions in which it is transmitted, as manipulated and personally motivated. The chapter offers a critique of this genealogical knowledge, which encompasses statements, rulings, bits of information that the rabbis transmitted in the matter of Jewish genealogy, in particular, the classification of certain persons, families, or regions as genealogically “unfit” or “impure” for the purpose of marriage. Two principal sections of the Bavli's discussion of m. Qidd., each illustrating a different aspect of Talmudic composition, are analyzed. The first is a conversational sugya, which focuses on the purification of Israel. The second segment has at its center a long story about Rav Yehuda, and it concludes with a list of genealogical traditions.Less
This chapter examines a thematic series of sugyot that concern the genealogical division of the Jewish people, arguing that the Babylonian Talmud trains its audience to view the production of genealogical knowledge, and the traditions in which it is transmitted, as manipulated and personally motivated. The chapter offers a critique of this genealogical knowledge, which encompasses statements, rulings, bits of information that the rabbis transmitted in the matter of Jewish genealogy, in particular, the classification of certain persons, families, or regions as genealogically “unfit” or “impure” for the purpose of marriage. Two principal sections of the Bavli's discussion of m. Qidd., each illustrating a different aspect of Talmudic composition, are analyzed. The first is a conversational sugya, which focuses on the purification of Israel. The second segment has at its center a long story about Rav Yehuda, and it concludes with a list of genealogical traditions.
Adam Rogers and Richard Hingley
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199584727
- eISBN:
- 9780191595301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584727.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter examines the intellectual context of Edward Gibbon's monumental and highly influential work The decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) and its role in the complex history and ...
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This chapter examines the intellectual context of Edward Gibbon's monumental and highly influential work The decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) and its role in the complex history and genealogy of imperialism. It also addresses the impact of the notion of ‘decline’ both on Gibbon's contemporaries and on later writers, thinkers, and politicians in Britain during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when imperialism and the idea of British imperial decline had become major topics for discussion and debate. As a historical work, The decline and fall particularly influenced the writings of the prominent Oxford ancient historian Francis Haverfield (1860–1919), whose publications absorbed many contemporary attitudes about imperialism. Haverfield's work, in turn, influenced the development of the discipline of Roman archaeology for decades to come, especially concerning the themes of cultural superiority and decline.Less
This chapter examines the intellectual context of Edward Gibbon's monumental and highly influential work The decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776–88) and its role in the complex history and genealogy of imperialism. It also addresses the impact of the notion of ‘decline’ both on Gibbon's contemporaries and on later writers, thinkers, and politicians in Britain during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when imperialism and the idea of British imperial decline had become major topics for discussion and debate. As a historical work, The decline and fall particularly influenced the writings of the prominent Oxford ancient historian Francis Haverfield (1860–1919), whose publications absorbed many contemporary attitudes about imperialism. Haverfield's work, in turn, influenced the development of the discipline of Roman archaeology for decades to come, especially concerning the themes of cultural superiority and decline.
Stefan Helmreich, Sophia Roosth, and Michele Friedner
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164809
- eISBN:
- 9781400873869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164809.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines how scientists working on Artificial Life have understood their practices as situated historically. It first considers the practice of finding genealogies for Artificial Life, ...
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This chapter examines how scientists working on Artificial Life have understood their practices as situated historically. It first considers the practice of finding genealogies for Artificial Life, arguing that such a search for ancestors carries acute historiographical and epistemological dangers. It then comments on computer simulations that fashion the computer as a kind of fish tank into which users can peer to see artificial life forms swimming about. It also discusses a different realm of modeling, that of cognition in Artificial Intelligence. The chapter concludes by suggesting a mode of imagining history that it calls an underwater archaeology of knowledge. In an underwater archaeology of knowledge, representational artifacts become mixed in with portraits of the world, requiring new sorts of narrative disentangling and qualification.Less
This chapter examines how scientists working on Artificial Life have understood their practices as situated historically. It first considers the practice of finding genealogies for Artificial Life, arguing that such a search for ancestors carries acute historiographical and epistemological dangers. It then comments on computer simulations that fashion the computer as a kind of fish tank into which users can peer to see artificial life forms swimming about. It also discusses a different realm of modeling, that of cognition in Artificial Intelligence. The chapter concludes by suggesting a mode of imagining history that it calls an underwater archaeology of knowledge. In an underwater archaeology of knowledge, representational artifacts become mixed in with portraits of the world, requiring new sorts of narrative disentangling and qualification.
Jeffrey Bell and Claire Colebrook (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748636082
- eISBN:
- 9780748671748
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748636082.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Despite the fact that time, evolution, becoming and genealogy are central concepts in Gilles Deleuze's work, there has been no sustained study of his philosophy in relation to the question of ...
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Despite the fact that time, evolution, becoming and genealogy are central concepts in Gilles Deleuze's work, there has been no sustained study of his philosophy in relation to the question of history. This book aims to open up Deleuze's relevance to those working in history, the history of ideas, science studies, evolutionary psychology, history of philosophy and interdisciplinary projects inflected by historical problems. The essays in this volume (all by internationally recognised Deleuze scholars) cover all aspects of Deleuze's philosophy and its relation to history, ranging from the application of Deleuze's philosophy to historical method, Deleuze's own use of the history of philosophy, his interpretations of other historical thinkers (such as Hume and Nietzsche), and the complex theories of time and evolution in his work.Less
Despite the fact that time, evolution, becoming and genealogy are central concepts in Gilles Deleuze's work, there has been no sustained study of his philosophy in relation to the question of history. This book aims to open up Deleuze's relevance to those working in history, the history of ideas, science studies, evolutionary psychology, history of philosophy and interdisciplinary projects inflected by historical problems. The essays in this volume (all by internationally recognised Deleuze scholars) cover all aspects of Deleuze's philosophy and its relation to history, ranging from the application of Deleuze's philosophy to historical method, Deleuze's own use of the history of philosophy, his interpretations of other historical thinkers (such as Hume and Nietzsche), and the complex theories of time and evolution in his work.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This book examines why tribal genealogies continue to be a central facet of modern Saudi identity despite the erosion of kinship ties resulting from almost 300 years of religious conditioning, and ...
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This book examines why tribal genealogies continue to be a central facet of modern Saudi identity despite the erosion of kinship ties resulting from almost 300 years of religious conditioning, and despite the unprecedented material transformation of Saudi society in the oil age. It considers what accounts for the compulsion to affirm tribal belonging in modern Saudi Arabia by focusing on verse 49:13 of the Quran and the multiple contexts in which it is embedded in the kingdom. More specifically, the book asks why this verse is interpreted by so many Saudis as a license to assert their particularist tribal identities, while its ostensibly equalizing final clause is dismissed as an afterthought. It also explores the politicization of the Arabian oral culture by documenting the life and work of the Arabian genealogist and historian Hamad al-Jāsir.Less
This book examines why tribal genealogies continue to be a central facet of modern Saudi identity despite the erosion of kinship ties resulting from almost 300 years of religious conditioning, and despite the unprecedented material transformation of Saudi society in the oil age. It considers what accounts for the compulsion to affirm tribal belonging in modern Saudi Arabia by focusing on verse 49:13 of the Quran and the multiple contexts in which it is embedded in the kingdom. More specifically, the book asks why this verse is interpreted by so many Saudis as a license to assert their particularist tribal identities, while its ostensibly equalizing final clause is dismissed as an afterthought. It also explores the politicization of the Arabian oral culture by documenting the life and work of the Arabian genealogist and historian Hamad al-Jāsir.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter investigates Najdi historiography from a genealogical perspective in order to elucidate how and why central Arabian genealogies were documented from the eighteenth through the twentieth ...
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This chapter investigates Najdi historiography from a genealogical perspective in order to elucidate how and why central Arabian genealogies were documented from the eighteenth through the twentieth century. It considers how Saudi bedouin and settled populations conceived of their kinship relations through their own eyes and through the eyes of Western travelers. It also discusses the caste-like status hierarchies that existed in central Arabia before the modern period, hierarchies rooted in Arabian political culture, and how the emergence of these hierarchies in modern Saudi history represents an important transition in the kingdom's social and cultural life. Finally, it examines the beginnings of modern genealogical culture in Saudi Arabia and suggests that the documenting of lineages and their mass circulation in print helped transform Saudi genealogies from reflexive components of social and political life into coveted objects of modern Saudi identity.Less
This chapter investigates Najdi historiography from a genealogical perspective in order to elucidate how and why central Arabian genealogies were documented from the eighteenth through the twentieth century. It considers how Saudi bedouin and settled populations conceived of their kinship relations through their own eyes and through the eyes of Western travelers. It also discusses the caste-like status hierarchies that existed in central Arabia before the modern period, hierarchies rooted in Arabian political culture, and how the emergence of these hierarchies in modern Saudi history represents an important transition in the kingdom's social and cultural life. Finally, it examines the beginnings of modern genealogical culture in Saudi Arabia and suggests that the documenting of lineages and their mass circulation in print helped transform Saudi genealogies from reflexive components of social and political life into coveted objects of modern Saudi identity.
Nadav Samin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164441
- eISBN:
- 9781400873852
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164441.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines the compulsion to claim tribal belonging in relation to a set of institutional policies and techniques adopted by the modern Saudi state over the course of the twentieth ...
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This chapter examines the compulsion to claim tribal belonging in relation to a set of institutional policies and techniques adopted by the modern Saudi state over the course of the twentieth century. It explains how these policies and techniques combine to produce a genealogical rule of governance that underpins political practice in Saudi Arabia. It also considers how the Saudi state's efforts to standardize citizen identities according to genealogical criteria through identification papers called tūbiʻiyya, promote lineal authentication as a core political function, and privilege kinship as a dominant symbol of Āl-Saʻud rule have made genealogy a pervasive aspect of social and political life in the modern kingdom. The chapter concludes by analyzing the territorial dispute over the oasis of Buraymī.Less
This chapter examines the compulsion to claim tribal belonging in relation to a set of institutional policies and techniques adopted by the modern Saudi state over the course of the twentieth century. It explains how these policies and techniques combine to produce a genealogical rule of governance that underpins political practice in Saudi Arabia. It also considers how the Saudi state's efforts to standardize citizen identities according to genealogical criteria through identification papers called tūbiʻiyya, promote lineal authentication as a core political function, and privilege kinship as a dominant symbol of Āl-Saʻud rule have made genealogy a pervasive aspect of social and political life in the modern kingdom. The chapter concludes by analyzing the territorial dispute over the oasis of Buraymī.
Christopher Janaway
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199279692
- eISBN:
- 9780191707407
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279692.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This book presents a full commentary on Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality and combines close reading of key passages with an overview of Nietzsche's wider aims. It argues that Nietzsche's ...
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This book presents a full commentary on Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality and combines close reading of key passages with an overview of Nietzsche's wider aims. It argues that Nietzsche's practice of genealogy pursues psychological and historical truths concerning the origins of modern moral values, but also emphasizes the significance of his rhetorical methods as an instrument of persuasion. Nietzsche's outlook is broadly one of naturalism, but he is critical of typical scientific and philosophical methods for their advocacy of impersonality and suppression of the affects. Nietzsche's principal opponents are Schopenhauer and Paul Rée, both of whom account for morality in terms of selflessness. Nietzsche believes that our allegiance to a post-Christian morality that centres around selflessness, compassion, guilt, and denial of the instincts is not primarily rational but affective: underlying feelings, often ambivalent and poorly grasped in conscious thought, explain our moral beliefs. The Genealogy is designed to detach the reader from his or her allegiance to morality and prepare for the possibility of new values. According to Nietzsche's ‘perspectivism’, this book argues that one can best understand a topic such as morality through allowing as many of one's feelings as possible to speak about it. And Nietzsche's further aim is to enable us to ‘feel differently’: to this end his provocation of the reader's affects both helps us grasp the affective origins of our attitudes and prepares the way for healthier values such as the affirmation of life and the self-satisfaction to be attained by ‘giving style to one's character’.Less
This book presents a full commentary on Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality and combines close reading of key passages with an overview of Nietzsche's wider aims. It argues that Nietzsche's practice of genealogy pursues psychological and historical truths concerning the origins of modern moral values, but also emphasizes the significance of his rhetorical methods as an instrument of persuasion. Nietzsche's outlook is broadly one of naturalism, but he is critical of typical scientific and philosophical methods for their advocacy of impersonality and suppression of the affects. Nietzsche's principal opponents are Schopenhauer and Paul Rée, both of whom account for morality in terms of selflessness. Nietzsche believes that our allegiance to a post-Christian morality that centres around selflessness, compassion, guilt, and denial of the instincts is not primarily rational but affective: underlying feelings, often ambivalent and poorly grasped in conscious thought, explain our moral beliefs. The Genealogy is designed to detach the reader from his or her allegiance to morality and prepare for the possibility of new values. According to Nietzsche's ‘perspectivism’, this book argues that one can best understand a topic such as morality through allowing as many of one's feelings as possible to speak about it. And Nietzsche's further aim is to enable us to ‘feel differently’: to this end his provocation of the reader's affects both helps us grasp the affective origins of our attitudes and prepares the way for healthier values such as the affirmation of life and the self-satisfaction to be attained by ‘giving style to one's character’.
Christopher Janaway
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199279692
- eISBN:
- 9780191707407
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279692.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This opening chapter introduces Nietzsche's primary aims: genealogy and revaluation of values. Genealogy is the attempt to explain current moral feelings and beliefs by tracing their origins to ...
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This opening chapter introduces Nietzsche's primary aims: genealogy and revaluation of values. Genealogy is the attempt to explain current moral feelings and beliefs by tracing their origins to generic psychological states — typically drives and affects — in past human beings that caused our present attitudes via forms of cultural mediation. The values Nietzsche wishes to call into question centre around forms of selflessness. It is argued that the polemic of the Genealogy attacks not only morality, but his two named opponents in the Preface of the Genealogy, Schopenhauer and Rée, for their construal of morality as selflessness. Genealogy is instrumental towards a revaluation of values, in which positive value would cease to be assigned to being ‘unegoistic’. Both genealogy and revaluation presuppose arousal of affects, and the prevailing conception of philosophy as dispassionate and impersonal is, for Nietzsche, another manifestation of the promotion of selflessness that he finds in morality.Less
This opening chapter introduces Nietzsche's primary aims: genealogy and revaluation of values. Genealogy is the attempt to explain current moral feelings and beliefs by tracing their origins to generic psychological states — typically drives and affects — in past human beings that caused our present attitudes via forms of cultural mediation. The values Nietzsche wishes to call into question centre around forms of selflessness. It is argued that the polemic of the Genealogy attacks not only morality, but his two named opponents in the Preface of the Genealogy, Schopenhauer and Rée, for their construal of morality as selflessness. Genealogy is instrumental towards a revaluation of values, in which positive value would cease to be assigned to being ‘unegoistic’. Both genealogy and revaluation presuppose arousal of affects, and the prevailing conception of philosophy as dispassionate and impersonal is, for Nietzsche, another manifestation of the promotion of selflessness that he finds in morality.
