Jeffrey T. Kenney
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195131697
- eISBN:
- 9780199785001
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019513169X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their ...
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The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their fellow Muslims. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Over the centuries, the Kharijites have repeatedly been invoked whenever militant opposition arose and today the label is frequently applied to extremist Islamic movements. After a brief look at Kharijite origins, this book focuses on contemporary Egypt. The book shows how religious images of the Kharijites have dominated public discussion about political opposition movements, effectively undermining attempts to discuss the real issues generating such movements.Less
The Kharijites were a splinter group that broke away from the main forces of Islam during the formative medieval period, purportedly refusing arbitration and committing bloody outrages against their fellow Muslims. Their influence in the political and theological life of the nascent faith has ensured their place in both critical and religious accounts of early Islamic history. Over the centuries, the Kharijites have repeatedly been invoked whenever militant opposition arose and today the label is frequently applied to extremist Islamic movements. After a brief look at Kharijite origins, this book focuses on contemporary Egypt. The book shows how religious images of the Kharijites have dominated public discussion about political opposition movements, effectively undermining attempts to discuss the real issues generating such movements.
John V. Kulvicki
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199290758
- eISBN:
- 9780191604010
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019929075X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This book argues that what it is to be a picture does not fundamentally concern how such representations can be perceived, but how they relate to one another syntactically and semantically. This kind ...
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This book argues that what it is to be a picture does not fundamentally concern how such representations can be perceived, but how they relate to one another syntactically and semantically. This kind of approach, first championed by Nelson Goodman in his Languages of Art, has not found many supporters in part because of weaknesses with Goodman’s account. It is shown that a properly crafted structural account of pictures has many advantages over the perceptual accounts that dominate the literature on this topic. Part I (Chapters 1-5) presents the account and draws out some of its immediate consequences. In particular, it explains the close relationship between pictures, diagrams, graphs, and other kinds of non-linguistic representation. Also, it undermines the claim that pictures are essentially visual by showing how many kinds of non-visual representations, including audio recordings and tactile line drawings, are genuinely pictorial. Part II (Chapters 6-10) shows that the structural account of depiction can help to explain why pictures seem so perceptually special. Part III (Chapters 11-12) provides a new account of pictorial realism and shows how accounting for realism relates to an account of depiction in general.Less
This book argues that what it is to be a picture does not fundamentally concern how such representations can be perceived, but how they relate to one another syntactically and semantically. This kind of approach, first championed by Nelson Goodman in his Languages of Art, has not found many supporters in part because of weaknesses with Goodman’s account. It is shown that a properly crafted structural account of pictures has many advantages over the perceptual accounts that dominate the literature on this topic. Part I (Chapters 1-5) presents the account and draws out some of its immediate consequences. In particular, it explains the close relationship between pictures, diagrams, graphs, and other kinds of non-linguistic representation. Also, it undermines the claim that pictures are essentially visual by showing how many kinds of non-visual representations, including audio recordings and tactile line drawings, are genuinely pictorial. Part II (Chapters 6-10) shows that the structural account of depiction can help to explain why pictures seem so perceptually special. Part III (Chapters 11-12) provides a new account of pictorial realism and shows how accounting for realism relates to an account of depiction in general.
Alan K. Bowman and Michael Brady (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262962
- eISBN:
- 9780191734533
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262962.001.0001
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
These fifteen chapters explore the ways in which recent developments in imaging, image analysis, and image display and diffusion can be applied to objects of material culture in order to enhance ...
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These fifteen chapters explore the ways in which recent developments in imaging, image analysis, and image display and diffusion can be applied to objects of material culture in order to enhance historians' understanding of the period from which the objects came (in this case, the remote past). In interpreting artefacts, the historian acts out a perceptual-cognitive task of transforming often noisy and impoverished signals into semantically rich symbols that have to be set within a cultural and historical context. Engineering scientists, equipped with a range of sophisticated techniques, equipment and highly specialised knowledge, are not always as aware as they might be of the range and the exact nature of problems faced by historians in interpreting objects of material culture. By providing the opportunity for scholars from these communities to explain to each other what they are doing and how, the chapters explore the ways in which the scientific contributors and the historians are thinking about subjectivity of interpretation, visual cognition, and the need to improve methods of presenting evidence so as to feed directly back into their own scientific thinking and to encourage genuine innovation in their approach to developing methods of image-enhancement and interpretation of objects. A significant further dimension is the improvement of techniques of providing high quality images of important and valuable collections of original artefacts to scholars who cannot always study the originals directly. Another important development discussed here is the fact that such imaging techniques now offer the researcher valuable insurance against the processes of deterioration to which such artefacts are inevitably subject. Seven of the chapters are scientific and technical, while the other eight have an archaeological or historical focus.Less
These fifteen chapters explore the ways in which recent developments in imaging, image analysis, and image display and diffusion can be applied to objects of material culture in order to enhance historians' understanding of the period from which the objects came (in this case, the remote past). In interpreting artefacts, the historian acts out a perceptual-cognitive task of transforming often noisy and impoverished signals into semantically rich symbols that have to be set within a cultural and historical context. Engineering scientists, equipped with a range of sophisticated techniques, equipment and highly specialised knowledge, are not always as aware as they might be of the range and the exact nature of problems faced by historians in interpreting objects of material culture. By providing the opportunity for scholars from these communities to explain to each other what they are doing and how, the chapters explore the ways in which the scientific contributors and the historians are thinking about subjectivity of interpretation, visual cognition, and the need to improve methods of presenting evidence so as to feed directly back into their own scientific thinking and to encourage genuine innovation in their approach to developing methods of image-enhancement and interpretation of objects. A significant further dimension is the improvement of techniques of providing high quality images of important and valuable collections of original artefacts to scholars who cannot always study the originals directly. Another important development discussed here is the fact that such imaging techniques now offer the researcher valuable insurance against the processes of deterioration to which such artefacts are inevitably subject. Seven of the chapters are scientific and technical, while the other eight have an archaeological or historical focus.
Melissa Terras
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199204557
- eISBN:
- 9780191708121
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199204557.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, British and Irish History: BCE to 500CE
The ink and stylus tablets discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda are a unique resource for scholars of ancient history. However, the stylus tablets in particular are extremely difficult to read. ...
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The ink and stylus tablets discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda are a unique resource for scholars of ancient history. However, the stylus tablets in particular are extremely difficult to read. This book details the development of what appears to be the first system constructed to aid experts in the process of reading an ancient document, exploring the extent to which techniques from artificial intelligence can be used to develop a system that could aid historians in reading the stylus texts. Using knowledge elicitation techniques (borrowed from artificial intelligence and engineering science), a model is proposed for how experts construct a reading of a text. A prototype system is presented that can read in image data and produce realistic and plausible textual interpretations of the writing that appears on the documents. Incorporating knowledge elicited from experts working on the texts, and utilizing image processing techniques developed in engineering science to analyze the stylus tablets, the book includes a corpora of letter forms generated from the Vindolanda text corpus, and a detailed description of the architecture of the system. This research presents the first stages towards developing a cognitive visual system that can propagate realistic interpretations from image data.Less
The ink and stylus tablets discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda are a unique resource for scholars of ancient history. However, the stylus tablets in particular are extremely difficult to read. This book details the development of what appears to be the first system constructed to aid experts in the process of reading an ancient document, exploring the extent to which techniques from artificial intelligence can be used to develop a system that could aid historians in reading the stylus texts. Using knowledge elicitation techniques (borrowed from artificial intelligence and engineering science), a model is proposed for how experts construct a reading of a text. A prototype system is presented that can read in image data and produce realistic and plausible textual interpretations of the writing that appears on the documents. Incorporating knowledge elicited from experts working on the texts, and utilizing image processing techniques developed in engineering science to analyze the stylus tablets, the book includes a corpora of letter forms generated from the Vindolanda text corpus, and a detailed description of the architecture of the system. This research presents the first stages towards developing a cognitive visual system that can propagate realistic interpretations from image data.
Curtis J. Evans
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328189
- eISBN:
- 9780199870028
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328189.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book is about the crucial role that black religion has played in the United States as an imagined community or a united nation. The book argues that cultural images and interpretations of ...
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This book is about the crucial role that black religion has played in the United States as an imagined community or a united nation. The book argues that cultural images and interpretations of African American religion placed an enormous burden on black religious capacities as the source for black contributions to American culture until the 1940s. Attention to black religion as the chief bearer of meaning for black life was also a result of longstanding debates about what constituted the “human person” and an implicit assertion of the intellectual inferiority of peoples of African descent. Intellectual and religious capacities were reshaped and reconceptualized in various crucial historical moments in American history because of real world debates about blacks' place in the nation and continuing discussions about what it meant to be fully human. Only within the last half century has this older paradigm of black religion (and the concomitant assumption of a genetic deficiency in “intelligence”) been challenged with any degree of cultural authority. Black innate religiosity had to be denied before sufficient attention could be paid to actual proposals about black equal participation in the nation, though this should not be interpreted as a call for insufficient attention to the role of religion in the lives of African Americans and other ethnic groups.Less
This book is about the crucial role that black religion has played in the United States as an imagined community or a united nation. The book argues that cultural images and interpretations of African American religion placed an enormous burden on black religious capacities as the source for black contributions to American culture until the 1940s. Attention to black religion as the chief bearer of meaning for black life was also a result of longstanding debates about what constituted the “human person” and an implicit assertion of the intellectual inferiority of peoples of African descent. Intellectual and religious capacities were reshaped and reconceptualized in various crucial historical moments in American history because of real world debates about blacks' place in the nation and continuing discussions about what it meant to be fully human. Only within the last half century has this older paradigm of black religion (and the concomitant assumption of a genetic deficiency in “intelligence”) been challenged with any degree of cultural authority. Black innate religiosity had to be denied before sufficient attention could be paid to actual proposals about black equal participation in the nation, though this should not be interpreted as a call for insufficient attention to the role of religion in the lives of African Americans and other ethnic groups.
Jan Modersitzki
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198528418
- eISBN:
- 9780191713583
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528418.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Applied Mathematics
This text provides an introduction to the theoretical, practical, and numerical aspects of image registration, with special emphasis on medical imaging. Given a so-called reference and template ...
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This text provides an introduction to the theoretical, practical, and numerical aspects of image registration, with special emphasis on medical imaging. Given a so-called reference and template image, the goal of image registration is to find a reasonable transformation such that the transformed template is similar to the reference image. Image registration is utilized whenever information obtained from different viewpoints times and sensors needs to be combined or compared, and unwanted distortion needs to be eliminated. The book provides a systematic introduction to image registration and discusses the basic mathematical principles, including aspects from approximations theory, image processing, numerics, optimization, partial differential equations, and statistics, with a strong focus on numerical methods. A unified variational approach is introduced and enables a separation into data-related issues like image feature or image intensity-based similarity measures, and problem inherent regularization like elastic or diffusion registration. This general framework is further used for the explanation and classification of established methods as well as the design of new schemes and building blocks including landmark-, thin-plate-spline, mutual information, elastic, fluid, demon, diffusion, and curvature registration.Less
This text provides an introduction to the theoretical, practical, and numerical aspects of image registration, with special emphasis on medical imaging. Given a so-called reference and template image, the goal of image registration is to find a reasonable transformation such that the transformed template is similar to the reference image. Image registration is utilized whenever information obtained from different viewpoints times and sensors needs to be combined or compared, and unwanted distortion needs to be eliminated. The book provides a systematic introduction to image registration and discusses the basic mathematical principles, including aspects from approximations theory, image processing, numerics, optimization, partial differential equations, and statistics, with a strong focus on numerical methods. A unified variational approach is introduced and enables a separation into data-related issues like image feature or image intensity-based similarity measures, and problem inherent regularization like elastic or diffusion registration. This general framework is further used for the explanation and classification of established methods as well as the design of new schemes and building blocks including landmark-, thin-plate-spline, mutual information, elastic, fluid, demon, diffusion, and curvature registration.
Jan Modersitzki
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198528418
- eISBN:
- 9780191713583
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528418.003.0002
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Applied Mathematics
This chapter presents a typical application for image registration. The particular goal of the Human Neuro-Scanning Project is a three-dimensional reconstruction down to particular neurons of a whole ...
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This chapter presents a typical application for image registration. The particular goal of the Human Neuro-Scanning Project is a three-dimensional reconstruction down to particular neurons of a whole human brain based on microscopic modalities. The workflow that leads to stained histological slides and their digitalization is explained. The process is illustrated by various figures showing the sectioning process, the paraffin embedded brain, a sectioned slide, and the digitalization. It is shown that these processes lead to unwanted highly non-linear distortion of the sections that inhibits a direct reconstruction.Less
This chapter presents a typical application for image registration. The particular goal of the Human Neuro-Scanning Project is a three-dimensional reconstruction down to particular neurons of a whole human brain based on microscopic modalities. The workflow that leads to stained histological slides and their digitalization is explained. The process is illustrated by various figures showing the sectioning process, the paraffin embedded brain, a sectioned slide, and the digitalization. It is shown that these processes lead to unwanted highly non-linear distortion of the sections that inhibits a direct reconstruction.
Saskia Lettmaier
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199569977
- eISBN:
- 9780191722066
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199569977.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History
This chapter summarizes the evolution of the breach-of-promise action between 1800 and 1940, and draws attention to the action's importance to legal history for providing an illustration of the law's ...
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This chapter summarizes the evolution of the breach-of-promise action between 1800 and 1940, and draws attention to the action's importance to legal history for providing an illustration of the law's responsiveness to cultural mythology.Less
This chapter summarizes the evolution of the breach-of-promise action between 1800 and 1940, and draws attention to the action's importance to legal history for providing an illustration of the law's responsiveness to cultural mythology.
Bradley Monton (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199218844
- eISBN:
- 9780191711732
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218844.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This book contains thirteen specially written chapters which discuss topics from the work of Bas C. van Fraassen, one of the most important contemporary philosophers of science. The central and ...
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This book contains thirteen specially written chapters which discuss topics from the work of Bas C. van Fraassen, one of the most important contemporary philosophers of science. The central and unifying theme of the book is empiricism, an approach which van Fraassen developed most fully in The Scientific Image and The Empirical Stance. Thirteen experts examine van Fraassen's defence of scientific anti-realism (which he sees as a core tenet of empiricism), as well as his claim that adopting a philosophical position like empiricism does not consist of holding a particular set of beliefs, but is rather a matter of taking a stance. The book concludes with an extensive and intriguing reply by van Fraassen, in which he develops and corrects his old views, and offers new insights into the nature of science, empiricism, and philosophy itself.Less
This book contains thirteen specially written chapters which discuss topics from the work of Bas C. van Fraassen, one of the most important contemporary philosophers of science. The central and unifying theme of the book is empiricism, an approach which van Fraassen developed most fully in The Scientific Image and The Empirical Stance. Thirteen experts examine van Fraassen's defence of scientific anti-realism (which he sees as a core tenet of empiricism), as well as his claim that adopting a philosophical position like empiricism does not consist of holding a particular set of beliefs, but is rather a matter of taking a stance. The book concludes with an extensive and intriguing reply by van Fraassen, in which he develops and corrects his old views, and offers new insights into the nature of science, empiricism, and philosophy itself.
John Heil
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199596201
- eISBN:
- 9780191741876
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199596201.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, General
This book offers answers to the following questions. What does reality encompass? Is reality exclusively physical? Or does reality include non‐physical — mental, and perhaps ‘abstract’ — aspects? ...
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This book offers answers to the following questions. What does reality encompass? Is reality exclusively physical? Or does reality include non‐physical — mental, and perhaps ‘abstract’ — aspects? What is it to be physical or mental — or to be an abstract entity? What are the elements of being, reality’s building blocks? How is the manifest image we inherit from our culture and refine in the special sciences related to the scientific image as we have it in fundamental physics? Can physics be understood as providing a ‘theory of everything’, or do the various sciences make up a hierarchy corresponding to autonomous levels of reality? Is our conscious human perspective on the universe in the universe or at its limits? What, if anything, makes ordinary truths, truths of the special sciences, and truths of mathematics true? And what is it for an assertion or judgment to be ‘made true’? Answers to these questions are framed in terms of a comprehensive ontology of substances and properties inspired by Descartes, Locke, their successors, and their more recent exemplars. Substances are simple, lacking parts that are themselves substances. Properties are modes (tropes), particular ways particular substances are, not universals. Arrangements of propertied substances serve as truthmakers for all the truths that have truthmakers. The deep story about the nature of these truthmakers is addressed by fundamental physics.Less
This book offers answers to the following questions. What does reality encompass? Is reality exclusively physical? Or does reality include non‐physical — mental, and perhaps ‘abstract’ — aspects? What is it to be physical or mental — or to be an abstract entity? What are the elements of being, reality’s building blocks? How is the manifest image we inherit from our culture and refine in the special sciences related to the scientific image as we have it in fundamental physics? Can physics be understood as providing a ‘theory of everything’, or do the various sciences make up a hierarchy corresponding to autonomous levels of reality? Is our conscious human perspective on the universe in the universe or at its limits? What, if anything, makes ordinary truths, truths of the special sciences, and truths of mathematics true? And what is it for an assertion or judgment to be ‘made true’? Answers to these questions are framed in terms of a comprehensive ontology of substances and properties inspired by Descartes, Locke, their successors, and their more recent exemplars. Substances are simple, lacking parts that are themselves substances. Properties are modes (tropes), particular ways particular substances are, not universals. Arrangements of propertied substances serve as truthmakers for all the truths that have truthmakers. The deep story about the nature of these truthmakers is addressed by fundamental physics.
Wilfrid S. Kendall and Ilya Molchanov (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199232574
- eISBN:
- 9780191716393
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232574.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Geometry / Topology
Stochastic geometry is a subject with roots stretching back at least 300 years, but one which has only been formed as an academic area in the last 50 years. It covers the study of random patterns, ...
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Stochastic geometry is a subject with roots stretching back at least 300 years, but one which has only been formed as an academic area in the last 50 years. It covers the study of random patterns, their probability theory, and the challenging problems raised by their statistical analysis. It has grown rapidly in response to challenges in all kinds of applied science, from image analysis through to materials science. Recently, still more stimulus has arisen from exciting new links with rapidly developing areas of mathematics, from fractals through percolation theory to randomized allocation schemes. Coupled with many ongoing developments arising from all sorts of applications, the area is changing and developing rapidly. This book is intended to lay foundations for future research directions by collecting together seventeen chapters contributed by leading researchers in the field, both theoreticians and people involved in applications, surveying these new developments both in theory and in applications. It will introduce and lay foundations for appreciating the fresh perspectives, new ideas, and interdisciplinary connections now arising from stochastic geometry and from other areas of mathematics now connecting to this area.Less
Stochastic geometry is a subject with roots stretching back at least 300 years, but one which has only been formed as an academic area in the last 50 years. It covers the study of random patterns, their probability theory, and the challenging problems raised by their statistical analysis. It has grown rapidly in response to challenges in all kinds of applied science, from image analysis through to materials science. Recently, still more stimulus has arisen from exciting new links with rapidly developing areas of mathematics, from fractals through percolation theory to randomized allocation schemes. Coupled with many ongoing developments arising from all sorts of applications, the area is changing and developing rapidly. This book is intended to lay foundations for future research directions by collecting together seventeen chapters contributed by leading researchers in the field, both theoreticians and people involved in applications, surveying these new developments both in theory and in applications. It will introduce and lay foundations for appreciating the fresh perspectives, new ideas, and interdisciplinary connections now arising from stochastic geometry and from other areas of mathematics now connecting to this area.
James Barr
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198263760
- eISBN:
- 9780191600395
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198263767.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Natural theology is the idea that human beings ‘by nature’, just through being human, know something of God, or alternatively that they gain such knowledge through experience of the world we live in. ...
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Natural theology is the idea that human beings ‘by nature’, just through being human, know something of God, or alternatively that they gain such knowledge through experience of the world we live in. An opposite is revelation, a knowledge of God communicated through special channels such as the Bible. Natural theology was long accepted as a basic ingredient in theology and indeed in science, but in modern times was widely rejected, notably in Barthianism. But what if the Bible itself uses, depends on and supports natural theology? This book examines the biblical materials (Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha and New Testament) that seem to give an affirmative answer. On biblical grounds, it argues, the importance of natural theology is undeniable.Less
Natural theology is the idea that human beings ‘by nature’, just through being human, know something of God, or alternatively that they gain such knowledge through experience of the world we live in. An opposite is revelation, a knowledge of God communicated through special channels such as the Bible. Natural theology was long accepted as a basic ingredient in theology and indeed in science, but in modern times was widely rejected, notably in Barthianism. But what if the Bible itself uses, depends on and supports natural theology? This book examines the biblical materials (Hebrew Bible, Apocrypha and New Testament) that seem to give an affirmative answer. On biblical grounds, it argues, the importance of natural theology is undeniable.
Peter Eaton and Paul West
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199570454
- eISBN:
- 9780191722851
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570454.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Atomic, Laser, and Optical Physics
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an amazing technique that allies a versatile methodology (it allows the imaging of samples in liquid, vacuum or air) to imaging with unprecedented resolution. But it ...
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Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an amazing technique that allies a versatile methodology (it allows the imaging of samples in liquid, vacuum or air) to imaging with unprecedented resolution. But it goes one step further than conventional microscopic techniques; it also allows us to make measurements of magnetic, electrical or mechanical properties of the widest possible range of samples, with nanometre resolution. This book will demystify AFM for the reader, making it easy to understand, and easy to use. Peter Eaton and Paul West share a common passion for atomic force microscopy. However, they have very different perspectives on the technique. Over the past 12 years Peter used AFMs as the focal point of his research in a variety of scientific projects from materials science to biology. Paul, on the other hand, is an instrument builder and has spent the past 25 years creating these microscopes for scientists and engineers. This insightful book covers the theory, practice and applications of atomic force microscopes and will serve as an introduction to AFM for scientists and engineers that want to learn about this powerful technique, and as a reference book for expert AFM users. Application examples from the physical, materials, and life sciences, nanotechnology and industry illustrate the many and varied capabilities of the technique.Less
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an amazing technique that allies a versatile methodology (it allows the imaging of samples in liquid, vacuum or air) to imaging with unprecedented resolution. But it goes one step further than conventional microscopic techniques; it also allows us to make measurements of magnetic, electrical or mechanical properties of the widest possible range of samples, with nanometre resolution. This book will demystify AFM for the reader, making it easy to understand, and easy to use. Peter Eaton and Paul West share a common passion for atomic force microscopy. However, they have very different perspectives on the technique. Over the past 12 years Peter used AFMs as the focal point of his research in a variety of scientific projects from materials science to biology. Paul, on the other hand, is an instrument builder and has spent the past 25 years creating these microscopes for scientists and engineers. This insightful book covers the theory, practice and applications of atomic force microscopes and will serve as an introduction to AFM for scientists and engineers that want to learn about this powerful technique, and as a reference book for expert AFM users. Application examples from the physical, materials, and life sciences, nanotechnology and industry illustrate the many and varied capabilities of the technique.
Arad Reisberg
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199204892
- eISBN:
- 9780191709487
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199204892.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Company and Commercial Law
This chapter aims to analyse the theoretical rationales behind derivative actions, and to ask how they relate to our understanding of the social value and roles of the derivative action as a ...
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This chapter aims to analyse the theoretical rationales behind derivative actions, and to ask how they relate to our understanding of the social value and roles of the derivative action as a corporate governance tool. An initial analysis of the merits and demerits of the derivative action is presented in Section 2.2. Section 2.3 analyses the roles derivative actions may assume in enforcing corporate accountability. The question addressed is whether their purpose is primarily to deter misconduct or simply to compensate the company for the wrongdoing. As part of this, the possible benefits and limitations of these rationales will be explored. Finally, Section 2.4 examines the public image, or expressive value, of the derivative action. The purpose is to determine if some of the features inherent in the derivative action procedure enhance or detract from the understanding of derivative action as a positive social force.Less
This chapter aims to analyse the theoretical rationales behind derivative actions, and to ask how they relate to our understanding of the social value and roles of the derivative action as a corporate governance tool. An initial analysis of the merits and demerits of the derivative action is presented in Section 2.2. Section 2.3 analyses the roles derivative actions may assume in enforcing corporate accountability. The question addressed is whether their purpose is primarily to deter misconduct or simply to compensate the company for the wrongdoing. As part of this, the possible benefits and limitations of these rationales will be explored. Finally, Section 2.4 examines the public image, or expressive value, of the derivative action. The purpose is to determine if some of the features inherent in the derivative action procedure enhance or detract from the understanding of derivative action as a positive social force.
Meriel Jones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199570089
- eISBN:
- 9780191738760
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570089.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Despite the growth of research on masculinity both in Gender Studies and in Classical Studies, and the resurgence of interest in ancient fiction, no volume has yet been devoted to exploring the ...
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Despite the growth of research on masculinity both in Gender Studies and in Classical Studies, and the resurgence of interest in ancient fiction, no volume has yet been devoted to exploring the representation of masculinity in the Greek novels. This book examines three key discourses of ancient Greek masculinity (paideia, andreia, and sexual ideology) evidenced in the five so-called ‘ideal’ Greek novels (those of Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus, Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus). Jones argues that while some of the narratives may be set in the classical past, the masculine concerns they display are inescapably symptomatic of the imperial present, and that their male protagonists should therefore be viewed as reflecting some of the ‘gender troubles’ of the real worlds of their authors. Using modern theories of the ‘performance’ of gender as tools for analysis, the study finds that many of the novels’ men betray an awareness that their masculine identities depend very much on the maintenance of their image before others – they are conscious of ‘playing the man’. The book also puts forward the hypothesis that, while most of the authors uphold accepted scripts of masculinity, Achilles Tatius constructs Cleitophon as a ‘misperformer’ of masculinity, as a means of challenging and subverting traditional codes of gender.Less
Despite the growth of research on masculinity both in Gender Studies and in Classical Studies, and the resurgence of interest in ancient fiction, no volume has yet been devoted to exploring the representation of masculinity in the Greek novels. This book examines three key discourses of ancient Greek masculinity (paideia, andreia, and sexual ideology) evidenced in the five so-called ‘ideal’ Greek novels (those of Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus, Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus). Jones argues that while some of the narratives may be set in the classical past, the masculine concerns they display are inescapably symptomatic of the imperial present, and that their male protagonists should therefore be viewed as reflecting some of the ‘gender troubles’ of the real worlds of their authors. Using modern theories of the ‘performance’ of gender as tools for analysis, the study finds that many of the novels’ men betray an awareness that their masculine identities depend very much on the maintenance of their image before others – they are conscious of ‘playing the man’. The book also puts forward the hypothesis that, while most of the authors uphold accepted scripts of masculinity, Achilles Tatius constructs Cleitophon as a ‘misperformer’ of masculinity, as a means of challenging and subverting traditional codes of gender.
Charles Taliaferro and Jil Evans (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199563340
- eISBN:
- 9780191731303
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563340.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies
This book brings together chapters addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between ‘new atheists’ and religious ...
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This book brings together chapters addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between ‘new atheists’ and religious apologists today is often hostile. This book sets a new tone by locating the debate between theism and naturalism (most ‘new atheists’ are self-described ‘naturalists’) in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven chapters are about the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature. This book represents a variety of points of view, including the philosophy of religion and of science, art history, and visual art.Less
This book brings together chapters addressing the role of images and imagination recruited in the perennial debates surrounding nature, mind, and God. The debate between ‘new atheists’ and religious apologists today is often hostile. This book sets a new tone by locating the debate between theism and naturalism (most ‘new atheists’ are self-described ‘naturalists’) in the broader context of reflection on imagination and aesthetics. The eleven chapters are about the power of imagination and the role of aesthetics in deciding between worldviews or philosophies of nature. This book represents a variety of points of view, including the philosophy of religion and of science, art history, and visual art.
David M. Armstrong
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199590612
- eISBN:
- 9780191723391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590612.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The hypothesis is that space‐time is what there is. W.V. Quine's ‘abstract objects’ are rejected. What exists should play some causal role (Graham Oddie's Eleatic Principle). The nature of space‐time ...
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The hypothesis is that space‐time is what there is. W.V. Quine's ‘abstract objects’ are rejected. What exists should play some causal role (Graham Oddie's Eleatic Principle). The nature of space‐time is subject to scientific investigation (Wilfrid Sellars' distinction between the manifest and the scientific image of the world). Is there room for metaphysics? Yes, because a number of topic neutral notions (of which causality is an important instance) are contested by philosophers and scientists. As argued by C.B. Martin, metaphysics seeks a more abstract model of the world than that provided by science.Less
The hypothesis is that space‐time is what there is. W.V. Quine's ‘abstract objects’ are rejected. What exists should play some causal role (Graham Oddie's Eleatic Principle). The nature of space‐time is subject to scientific investigation (Wilfrid Sellars' distinction between the manifest and the scientific image of the world). Is there room for metaphysics? Yes, because a number of topic neutral notions (of which causality is an important instance) are contested by philosophers and scientists. As argued by C.B. Martin, metaphysics seeks a more abstract model of the world than that provided by science.
Ernest Hartmann
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199751778
- eISBN:
- 9780199863419
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751778.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Clinical Psychology
This book presents a theory of dreaming based on many years of psychological and biological research. Critical to this theory is the concept of a Central Image; this book describes his repeated ...
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This book presents a theory of dreaming based on many years of psychological and biological research. Critical to this theory is the concept of a Central Image; this book describes his repeated finding that dreams of being swept away by a tidal wave are common among people who have recently experienced a trauma of some kind—a fire, an attack, or a rape. Dreams with these Central Images are not dreams of the traumatic experience itself, but rather the Central Image reveals the emotional response to the experience. Dreams with a potent Central Image, like the tidal wave, vary in intensity along with the severity of the trauma; this pattern was shown quite powerfully in a systematic study of dreams occurring before and after the September 11 attacks in New York. This book's theory comprises three fundamental elements: dreaming is simply one form of mental functioning, occurring along a continuum from focused waking thought to reverie, daydreaming, and fantasy. Second, dreaming is hyperconnective, linking material more fluidly and making connections that aren't made as readily in waking thought. Finally, the connections that are made are not random, but rather are guided by the dreamer's emotions or emotional concerns—and the more powerful the emotion, the more intense the Central Image.Less
This book presents a theory of dreaming based on many years of psychological and biological research. Critical to this theory is the concept of a Central Image; this book describes his repeated finding that dreams of being swept away by a tidal wave are common among people who have recently experienced a trauma of some kind—a fire, an attack, or a rape. Dreams with these Central Images are not dreams of the traumatic experience itself, but rather the Central Image reveals the emotional response to the experience. Dreams with a potent Central Image, like the tidal wave, vary in intensity along with the severity of the trauma; this pattern was shown quite powerfully in a systematic study of dreams occurring before and after the September 11 attacks in New York. This book's theory comprises three fundamental elements: dreaming is simply one form of mental functioning, occurring along a continuum from focused waking thought to reverie, daydreaming, and fantasy. Second, dreaming is hyperconnective, linking material more fluidly and making connections that aren't made as readily in waking thought. Finally, the connections that are made are not random, but rather are guided by the dreamer's emotions or emotional concerns—and the more powerful the emotion, the more intense the Central Image.
Sheila Delany
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195109887
- eISBN:
- 9780199855216
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195109887.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations ...
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This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations of history and literature in this particularly turbulent period in English history, beginning with The Wars of the Roses and moving on to the Hundred Years War. The book examines the first collection of all female saints' lives in any language: Legends of Holy Women composed by Bokenham between 1443 and 1447. The book is organized around the image of the body—a medieval procedure becoming popular once again in current attention to the social construction of the body. One emphasis is Bokenham's relation to the body of English literature, particularly Chaucer, the symbolic head of the 15th century. Another emphasis is a focus on the genre of saints' lives, particularly female saints' lives, with their striking use of the body of the saint to generate meaning. Finally, the image of the body politic, the controlling image of medieval political thought is given, and Bokenham's means to examine the political and dynastic crises of 15th-century England. The book uses these three major concerns to explain the literary innovation of Bokenham's Legend, and the larger and political importance of that innovation.Less
This book breaks important ground in 15th-century scholarship, a critical site of cultural study. The book examines the work of English Augustinian friar Osbern Bokenham, and explores the relations of history and literature in this particularly turbulent period in English history, beginning with The Wars of the Roses and moving on to the Hundred Years War. The book examines the first collection of all female saints' lives in any language: Legends of Holy Women composed by Bokenham between 1443 and 1447. The book is organized around the image of the body—a medieval procedure becoming popular once again in current attention to the social construction of the body. One emphasis is Bokenham's relation to the body of English literature, particularly Chaucer, the symbolic head of the 15th century. Another emphasis is a focus on the genre of saints' lives, particularly female saints' lives, with their striking use of the body of the saint to generate meaning. Finally, the image of the body politic, the controlling image of medieval political thought is given, and Bokenham's means to examine the political and dynastic crises of 15th-century England. The book uses these three major concerns to explain the literary innovation of Bokenham's Legend, and the larger and political importance of that innovation.
Gregory A. Staley
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387438
- eISBN:
- 9780199866809
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387438.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato wanted to ban tragedians from his ideal community because he ...
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As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato wanted to ban tragedians from his ideal community because he believed that they dabbled in the philosopher’s business but had no “idea” what they were doing. Aristotle set out to answer Plato’s objections by arguing that fiction offers a faithful image of the truth and promotes emotional health through the mechanism of catharsis. This book argues that Aristotle’s definition of tragedy actually had its greatest impact not on Greek tragedy itself but on the later history of the idea of tragedy, beginning with the tragedies of the Roman poet and Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 bc–ad 65), whose Latin plays were known and read in the Renaissance for centuries before the now more famous Greek tragedies were rediscovered. When Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) composed An Apology for Poetry, he borrowed from Seneca the word idea to designate what we would now label as a “theory” of tragedy. Through Sidney, Seneca’s plays came to exemplify an idea of tragedy that was at its core Aristotelian. Senecan tragedy enacts Aristotle’s conception of the genre as a vivid image of the truth and treats tragedy as a natural venue in which to explore the human soul.Less
As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato wanted to ban tragedians from his ideal community because he believed that they dabbled in the philosopher’s business but had no “idea” what they were doing. Aristotle set out to answer Plato’s objections by arguing that fiction offers a faithful image of the truth and promotes emotional health through the mechanism of catharsis. This book argues that Aristotle’s definition of tragedy actually had its greatest impact not on Greek tragedy itself but on the later history of the idea of tragedy, beginning with the tragedies of the Roman poet and Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 bc–ad 65), whose Latin plays were known and read in the Renaissance for centuries before the now more famous Greek tragedies were rediscovered. When Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586) composed An Apology for Poetry, he borrowed from Seneca the word idea to designate what we would now label as a “theory” of tragedy. Through Sidney, Seneca’s plays came to exemplify an idea of tragedy that was at its core Aristotelian. Senecan tragedy enacts Aristotle’s conception of the genre as a vivid image of the truth and treats tragedy as a natural venue in which to explore the human soul.
