Ann E. Cudd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195187434
- eISBN:
- 9780199786213
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195187431.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This book presents a new, integrated theory of social oppression, which tackles the fundamental question that no theory of oppression has satisfactorily answered: if there is no natural hierarchy ...
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This book presents a new, integrated theory of social oppression, which tackles the fundamental question that no theory of oppression has satisfactorily answered: if there is no natural hierarchy among humans, why are some cases of oppression so persistent? The book argues that the explanation lies in the coercive co-opting of the oppressed to join in their own oppression. This answer sets the stage for analysis throughout the book, as it explores the questions of how and why the oppressed join in their oppression. The book argues that oppression is an institutionally structured harm perpetrated on social groups by other groups using direct and indirect material, economic, and psychological force. Among the most important and insidious of the indirect forces is an economic force that operates through oppressed persons' own rational choices. This force constitutes the central feature of analysis, and the book argues that this force is especially insidious because it conceals the fact of oppression from the oppressed and from others who would be sympathetic to their plight. The oppressed come to believe that they suffer personal failings and this belief appears to absolve society from responsibility. While in the book's view oppression is grounded in material exploitation and physical deprivation, it cannot be long sustained without corresponding psychological forces. The book examines the direct and indirect psychological forces that generate and sustain oppression. It discusses strategies that groups have used to resist oppression and argues that all persons have a moral responsibility to resist in some way. The concluding chapter proposes a concept of freedom that would be possible for humans in a world that is actively opposing oppression, arguing that freedom for each individual is only possible when we achieve freedom for all others.Less
This book presents a new, integrated theory of social oppression, which tackles the fundamental question that no theory of oppression has satisfactorily answered: if there is no natural hierarchy among humans, why are some cases of oppression so persistent? The book argues that the explanation lies in the coercive co-opting of the oppressed to join in their own oppression. This answer sets the stage for analysis throughout the book, as it explores the questions of how and why the oppressed join in their oppression. The book argues that oppression is an institutionally structured harm perpetrated on social groups by other groups using direct and indirect material, economic, and psychological force. Among the most important and insidious of the indirect forces is an economic force that operates through oppressed persons' own rational choices. This force constitutes the central feature of analysis, and the book argues that this force is especially insidious because it conceals the fact of oppression from the oppressed and from others who would be sympathetic to their plight. The oppressed come to believe that they suffer personal failings and this belief appears to absolve society from responsibility. While in the book's view oppression is grounded in material exploitation and physical deprivation, it cannot be long sustained without corresponding psychological forces. The book examines the direct and indirect psychological forces that generate and sustain oppression. It discusses strategies that groups have used to resist oppression and argues that all persons have a moral responsibility to resist in some way. The concluding chapter proposes a concept of freedom that would be possible for humans in a world that is actively opposing oppression, arguing that freedom for each individual is only possible when we achieve freedom for all others.
Mauro Fabrizio and Angelo Morro
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198527008
- eISBN:
- 9780191713316
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198527008.001.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Applied Mathematics
This book is devoted to the mathematical modelling of electromagnetic materials. Electromagnetism in matter is developed with particular emphasis on material effects, which are ascribed to memory in ...
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This book is devoted to the mathematical modelling of electromagnetic materials. Electromagnetism in matter is developed with particular emphasis on material effects, which are ascribed to memory in time and nonlocality. Within the mathematical modelling, thermodynamics of continuous media plays a central role in that it places significant restrictions on the constitutive equations. Further, as shown in connection with uniqueness, existence and stability, variational settings, and wave propagation, a correct formulation of the pertinent problems is based on the knowledge of the thermodynamic restrictions for the material. The book is divided into four parts. Part I (chapters 1 to 4) reviews the basic concepts of electromagnetism, starting from the integral form of Maxwell’s equations and then addressing attention to the physical motivation for materials with memory. Part II (chapers 5 to 9) deals with thermodynamics of systems with memory and applications to evolution and initial/boundary-value problems. It contains developments and results which are unusual in textbooks on electromagnetism and arise from the research literature, mainly post-1960s. Part III (chapters 10 to 12) outlines some topics of materials modelling — nonlinearity, nonlocality, superconductivity, and magnetic hysteresis — which are of great interest both in mathematics and in applications.Less
This book is devoted to the mathematical modelling of electromagnetic materials. Electromagnetism in matter is developed with particular emphasis on material effects, which are ascribed to memory in time and nonlocality. Within the mathematical modelling, thermodynamics of continuous media plays a central role in that it places significant restrictions on the constitutive equations. Further, as shown in connection with uniqueness, existence and stability, variational settings, and wave propagation, a correct formulation of the pertinent problems is based on the knowledge of the thermodynamic restrictions for the material. The book is divided into four parts. Part I (chapters 1 to 4) reviews the basic concepts of electromagnetism, starting from the integral form of Maxwell’s equations and then addressing attention to the physical motivation for materials with memory. Part II (chapers 5 to 9) deals with thermodynamics of systems with memory and applications to evolution and initial/boundary-value problems. It contains developments and results which are unusual in textbooks on electromagnetism and arise from the research literature, mainly post-1960s. Part III (chapters 10 to 12) outlines some topics of materials modelling — nonlinearity, nonlocality, superconductivity, and magnetic hysteresis — which are of great interest both in mathematics and in applications.
Eric T. Olson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176421
- eISBN:
- 9780199872008
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176421.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Discussions of personal identity commonly ignore the question of our basic metaphysical nature: whether we are biological organisms, spatial or temporal parts of organisms, bundles of perceptions, or ...
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Discussions of personal identity commonly ignore the question of our basic metaphysical nature: whether we are biological organisms, spatial or temporal parts of organisms, bundles of perceptions, or what have you. This book is a general study of this question. It begins by explaining what the question means and how it differs from others, such as questions of personal identity and the mind-body problem. It then examines critically the main possible accounts of our metaphysical nature. The book does not endorse any particular account but argues that the matter turns on issues in the ontology of material objects. If composition is universal–if any material things whatever make up something bigger–then we are temporal parts of organisms. If things never compose anything bigger, so that there are only mereological simples, then either we are simples–perhaps the immaterial souls of Descartes–or we do not exist at all. If some things compose bigger things and others do not, we are organisms.Less
Discussions of personal identity commonly ignore the question of our basic metaphysical nature: whether we are biological organisms, spatial or temporal parts of organisms, bundles of perceptions, or what have you. This book is a general study of this question. It begins by explaining what the question means and how it differs from others, such as questions of personal identity and the mind-body problem. It then examines critically the main possible accounts of our metaphysical nature. The book does not endorse any particular account but argues that the matter turns on issues in the ontology of material objects. If composition is universal–if any material things whatever make up something bigger–then we are temporal parts of organisms. If things never compose anything bigger, so that there are only mereological simples, then either we are simples–perhaps the immaterial souls of Descartes–or we do not exist at all. If some things compose bigger things and others do not, we are organisms.
Maxine Berg (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265321
- eISBN:
- 9780191760495
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265321.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This book brings together a number of the major historians now entering the field, and rethinking the way they write their histories. The book includes the reflections of China experts, historians of ...
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This book brings together a number of the major historians now entering the field, and rethinking the way they write their histories. The book includes the reflections of China experts, historians of India and Japan, of Latin America, Africa, and Europe on their past writing, and the new directions in which global history is taking them. The book shows the rapid advances in the field from early and inspiring questions of encounters between East and West, of the wealth and poverty of nations — why are we so rich and they so poor? — and the crisis of empires to new thinking on global material cultures, on composite zones and East Asian development paths. It presents historians at a crossroads: enjoying the great excitement of moving out of national borders and reconnecting parts of the world once studied separately, but also facing the huge challenge of new methodologies of comparison, collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and the problems of the rapidly disappearing tools of foreign languages.Less
This book brings together a number of the major historians now entering the field, and rethinking the way they write their histories. The book includes the reflections of China experts, historians of India and Japan, of Latin America, Africa, and Europe on their past writing, and the new directions in which global history is taking them. The book shows the rapid advances in the field from early and inspiring questions of encounters between East and West, of the wealth and poverty of nations — why are we so rich and they so poor? — and the crisis of empires to new thinking on global material cultures, on composite zones and East Asian development paths. It presents historians at a crossroads: enjoying the great excitement of moving out of national borders and reconnecting parts of the world once studied separately, but also facing the huge challenge of new methodologies of comparison, collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and the problems of the rapidly disappearing tools of foreign languages.
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.
Roger E. Raab and Owen L. de Lange
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198567271
- eISBN:
- 9780191717970
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198567271.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Atomic, Laser, and Optical Physics
The book opens with a chapter on the classical theory of multipoles in electromagnetism, in which static and dynamic multipole expansions of various physical quantities are derived, including of the ...
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The book opens with a chapter on the classical theory of multipoles in electromagnetism, in which static and dynamic multipole expansions of various physical quantities are derived, including of the Maxwell fields D and H. Chapter 2 presents a semi-classical account of multipole theory, in which the Barron-Gray gauge is used to derive multipole polarizabilities describing the induction of molecular moments by a harmonic plane wave. Aspects of symmetry are treated in Chapter 3 — space-time behaviour of tensors and physical properties of molecules and crystals. In Chapter 4, D(E,B) and H(E,B) are obtained for linear anisotropic media, yielding expressions for the material constants which are required to satisfy origin independence, the Post constraint, and certain symmetries but fail the first two. Despite these difficulties, the standard theory is used in Chapter 5 to derive a wave propagation equation; this is applied to explain various physical effects in transmission, two of which are also described in a scattering theory. Chapter 6 deals with the reflection of electromagnetic waves from an anisotropic medium. The reflected intensities violate origin independence, showing again the unphysical nature of existing multipole theory. In Chapter 7, the fields are transformed while leaving Maxwell's equations unchanged, from which new material constants are derived in Chapter 8 that meet the three requirements in Chapter 4. Chapter 9 applies the transformed expressions to transmission and reflection phenomena, confirming the results of Chapter 5, while yielding reflected intensities that satisfy space and time invariances.Less
The book opens with a chapter on the classical theory of multipoles in electromagnetism, in which static and dynamic multipole expansions of various physical quantities are derived, including of the Maxwell fields D and H. Chapter 2 presents a semi-classical account of multipole theory, in which the Barron-Gray gauge is used to derive multipole polarizabilities describing the induction of molecular moments by a harmonic plane wave. Aspects of symmetry are treated in Chapter 3 — space-time behaviour of tensors and physical properties of molecules and crystals. In Chapter 4, D(E,B) and H(E,B) are obtained for linear anisotropic media, yielding expressions for the material constants which are required to satisfy origin independence, the Post constraint, and certain symmetries but fail the first two. Despite these difficulties, the standard theory is used in Chapter 5 to derive a wave propagation equation; this is applied to explain various physical effects in transmission, two of which are also described in a scattering theory. Chapter 6 deals with the reflection of electromagnetic waves from an anisotropic medium. The reflected intensities violate origin independence, showing again the unphysical nature of existing multipole theory. In Chapter 7, the fields are transformed while leaving Maxwell's equations unchanged, from which new material constants are derived in Chapter 8 that meet the three requirements in Chapter 4. Chapter 9 applies the transformed expressions to transmission and reflection phenomena, confirming the results of Chapter 5, while yielding reflected intensities that satisfy space and time invariances.
Avner Offer
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199216628
- eISBN:
- 9780191696015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216628.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Economic History
Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have come to enjoy an era of rising material abundance. Yet this has been accompanied by a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, ...
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Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have come to enjoy an era of rising material abundance. Yet this has been accompanied by a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, addiction, mental instability, crime, obesity, inequality, economic insecurity, and declining trust. This book argues that well-being has lagged behind affluence in these societies, because they present an environment in which consistent choices are difficult to achieve over different time ranges and in which the capacity for personal and social commitment is undermined by the flow of novelty. The book's approach draws on economics and social science, makes use of the latest cognitive research, and provides a detailed and reasoned critique of modern consumer society, especially the assumption that freedom of choice necessarily maximizes individual and social well-being. The book falls into three parts. Part one analyzes the ways in which economic resources map on to human welfare, why choice is so intractable, and how commitment to people and institutions is sustained. It argues that choice is constrained by prior obligation and reciprocity. The second section then applies these conceptual arguments to comparative empirical studies of advertising, of eating and obesity, and of the production and acquisition of appliances and automobiles. Finally, in part three, the book investigates social and personal relations in the USA and Britain, including inter-personal regard, the rewards and reversals of status, the social and psychological costs of inequality, and the challenges posed to heterosexual love and to parenthood by the rise of affluence.Less
Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have come to enjoy an era of rising material abundance. Yet this has been accompanied by a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, addiction, mental instability, crime, obesity, inequality, economic insecurity, and declining trust. This book argues that well-being has lagged behind affluence in these societies, because they present an environment in which consistent choices are difficult to achieve over different time ranges and in which the capacity for personal and social commitment is undermined by the flow of novelty. The book's approach draws on economics and social science, makes use of the latest cognitive research, and provides a detailed and reasoned critique of modern consumer society, especially the assumption that freedom of choice necessarily maximizes individual and social well-being. The book falls into three parts. Part one analyzes the ways in which economic resources map on to human welfare, why choice is so intractable, and how commitment to people and institutions is sustained. It argues that choice is constrained by prior obligation and reciprocity. The second section then applies these conceptual arguments to comparative empirical studies of advertising, of eating and obesity, and of the production and acquisition of appliances and automobiles. Finally, in part three, the book investigates social and personal relations in the USA and Britain, including inter-personal regard, the rewards and reversals of status, the social and psychological costs of inequality, and the challenges posed to heterosexual love and to parenthood by the rise of affluence.
Corinne G. Dempsey
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199860333
- eISBN:
- 9780199919598
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860333.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth celebrates the merits of carefully contextualized comparison as an illuminating approach to the study of religion. Drawing from ethnographical work in ...
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Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth celebrates the merits of carefully contextualized comparison as an illuminating approach to the study of religion. Drawing from ethnographical work in several sites over a period of sixteen years, Dempsey juxtaposes Hindu and Christian, Indian and Euroamerican religious expressions that take shape as folklore figures, democratizing theologies, sanctified terrain, and extraordinary human abilities. She uncovers how these expressions, all of which lend sacred meaning and power to the material realities of religious participants, push against systems promoting otherworldly abstractions. The book’s comparison of these religious modes deepens insights into the qualities and interpretations of the earthbound sacred, sheds light on contours otherwise obscured, and suggests possibilities for bridging human contingencies across religious and cultural divides. The method and structure of this book represent a two-tiered rebuttal to two similarly constructed critiques. A complaint commonly lodged against comparison is that it imposes abstractions that erase culturally embedded realities. Critics of religion view religious systems as likewise imposing spiritualized conceptions that neglect earthly realities. As both sets of critics see it, scholarly comparison and religion, dictated from above, easily lend themselves to imperialistic structures of oppression. Unsurprisingly, as frameworks that name and claim varieties of power, both are often guilty as charged. Yet by comparing contextually across religious and cultural divides, this book demonstrates how practitioners variously engage with religious forms and experiences that meet earthly concerns and dismantle oppressive abstractions in the process.Less
Bringing the Sacred Down to Earth celebrates the merits of carefully contextualized comparison as an illuminating approach to the study of religion. Drawing from ethnographical work in several sites over a period of sixteen years, Dempsey juxtaposes Hindu and Christian, Indian and Euroamerican religious expressions that take shape as folklore figures, democratizing theologies, sanctified terrain, and extraordinary human abilities. She uncovers how these expressions, all of which lend sacred meaning and power to the material realities of religious participants, push against systems promoting otherworldly abstractions. The book’s comparison of these religious modes deepens insights into the qualities and interpretations of the earthbound sacred, sheds light on contours otherwise obscured, and suggests possibilities for bridging human contingencies across religious and cultural divides. The method and structure of this book represent a two-tiered rebuttal to two similarly constructed critiques. A complaint commonly lodged against comparison is that it imposes abstractions that erase culturally embedded realities. Critics of religion view religious systems as likewise imposing spiritualized conceptions that neglect earthly realities. As both sets of critics see it, scholarly comparison and religion, dictated from above, easily lend themselves to imperialistic structures of oppression. Unsurprisingly, as frameworks that name and claim varieties of power, both are often guilty as charged. Yet by comparing contextually across religious and cultural divides, this book demonstrates how practitioners variously engage with religious forms and experiences that meet earthly concerns and dismantle oppressive abstractions in the process.
Robert Stern
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239108
- eISBN:
- 9780191716942
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239108.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The aim of this chapter is to criticize Thomas Baldwin's claim that in developing an identity theory of truth F. H. Bradley was following Hegel. It is argued that Baldwin has incorrectly understood ...
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The aim of this chapter is to criticize Thomas Baldwin's claim that in developing an identity theory of truth F. H. Bradley was following Hegel. It is argued that Baldwin has incorrectly understood certain passages from Hegel which he cites in defense of this view, and that Hegel's conception of truth in these passages was material, not propositional — that is, it concerned the identity of an object and its concept, not a proposition and object being referred to in that proposition.Less
The aim of this chapter is to criticize Thomas Baldwin's claim that in developing an identity theory of truth F. H. Bradley was following Hegel. It is argued that Baldwin has incorrectly understood certain passages from Hegel which he cites in defense of this view, and that Hegel's conception of truth in these passages was material, not propositional — that is, it concerned the identity of an object and its concept, not a proposition and object being referred to in that proposition.
P. F. Strawson
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198751182
- eISBN:
- 9780191695032
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198751182.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General, Metaphysics/Epistemology
All developed human beings possess a practical mastery of a vast range of concepts, including such basic structural notions as those of identity, truth, existence, material objects, mental states, ...
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All developed human beings possess a practical mastery of a vast range of concepts, including such basic structural notions as those of identity, truth, existence, material objects, mental states, space, and time; but a practical mastery does not entail theoretical understanding. It is that understanding which philosophy seeks to achieve. This book sets out to explain and illustrate a certain conception of the nature of analytical philosophy. The author draws on his many years of teaching at Oxford University, during which he refined and developed his route to understanding the fundamental structure of human thinking. Among the distinctive features of his exposition are the displacement of an older, reductive conception of philosophical method (the ideal of ‘analysing’ complex ideas into simpler elements) in favour of elucidating the interconnections between the complex but irreducible notions which form the basic structure of our thinking; and the demonstration that the three traditionally distinguished departments of metaphysics (ontology), epistemology, and logic are but three aspects of one unified enquiry.Less
All developed human beings possess a practical mastery of a vast range of concepts, including such basic structural notions as those of identity, truth, existence, material objects, mental states, space, and time; but a practical mastery does not entail theoretical understanding. It is that understanding which philosophy seeks to achieve. This book sets out to explain and illustrate a certain conception of the nature of analytical philosophy. The author draws on his many years of teaching at Oxford University, during which he refined and developed his route to understanding the fundamental structure of human thinking. Among the distinctive features of his exposition are the displacement of an older, reductive conception of philosophical method (the ideal of ‘analysing’ complex ideas into simpler elements) in favour of elucidating the interconnections between the complex but irreducible notions which form the basic structure of our thinking; and the demonstration that the three traditionally distinguished departments of metaphysics (ontology), epistemology, and logic are but three aspects of one unified enquiry.
Vaclav Smil
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195168754
- eISBN:
- 9780199783601
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195168755.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Technical progress in the 20th century was based on the unprecedented technical advances that took place during the two pre-WWI generations (1867-1914). All of these fundamental and lasting ...
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Technical progress in the 20th century was based on the unprecedented technical advances that took place during the two pre-WWI generations (1867-1914). All of these fundamental and lasting inventions — most notably electricity generation, internal combustion engines, new materials, and new means of communication — had undergone major technical transformations that improved their performance, reliability, durability, and ease of use while lowering their cost. In addition, the century saw its share of new inventions and innovations, ranging from plastics to solid state electronics.Less
Technical progress in the 20th century was based on the unprecedented technical advances that took place during the two pre-WWI generations (1867-1914). All of these fundamental and lasting inventions — most notably electricity generation, internal combustion engines, new materials, and new means of communication — had undergone major technical transformations that improved their performance, reliability, durability, and ease of use while lowering their cost. In addition, the century saw its share of new inventions and innovations, ranging from plastics to solid state electronics.
Katherine Hawley
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199275434
- eISBN:
- 9780191699818
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199275434.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
How do things persist? Are material objects spread out through time just as they are spread out through space? Or is temporal persistence quite different from spatial extension? This key question ...
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How do things persist? Are material objects spread out through time just as they are spread out through space? Or is temporal persistence quite different from spatial extension? This key question lies at the heart of any metaphysical exploration of the material world, and it plays a crucial part in debates about personal identity and survival. This book explores and compares three theories of persistence — endurance, perdurance, and stage theories — investigating the ways in which they attempt to account for the world around us. Having provided valuable clarification of its two main rivals, the book concludes by advocating stage theory. Such a basic issue about the nature of the physical world naturally has close ties with other central philosophical problems. This book includes discussions of change and parthood, of how we refer to material objects at different times, of the doctrine of Humean supervenience, and of the modal features of material things. In particular, it contains new accounts of the nature of worldly vagueness, and of what binds material things together over time, distinguishing the career of a natural object from an arbitrary sequence of events. Each chapter concludes with a reflection about the impact of these metaphysical debates upon questions about our personal identity and survival.Less
How do things persist? Are material objects spread out through time just as they are spread out through space? Or is temporal persistence quite different from spatial extension? This key question lies at the heart of any metaphysical exploration of the material world, and it plays a crucial part in debates about personal identity and survival. This book explores and compares three theories of persistence — endurance, perdurance, and stage theories — investigating the ways in which they attempt to account for the world around us. Having provided valuable clarification of its two main rivals, the book concludes by advocating stage theory. Such a basic issue about the nature of the physical world naturally has close ties with other central philosophical problems. This book includes discussions of change and parthood, of how we refer to material objects at different times, of the doctrine of Humean supervenience, and of the modal features of material things. In particular, it contains new accounts of the nature of worldly vagueness, and of what binds material things together over time, distinguishing the career of a natural object from an arbitrary sequence of events. Each chapter concludes with a reflection about the impact of these metaphysical debates upon questions about our personal identity and survival.
Richard Cross
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198269748
- eISBN:
- 9780191683787
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198269748.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion, Theology
Duns Scotus, along with Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham, was one of the three most talented and influential of the medieval schoolmen, and a highly original and ...
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Duns Scotus, along with Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham, was one of the three most talented and influential of the medieval schoolmen, and a highly original and creative thinker. Natural philosophy, or physics, is one of the areas of his system which has not received detailed attention in modern literature. But it is important, both for understanding Scotus's contributions in theology, and in tracing some important developments in the basically Aristotelian world-view which Scotus and his contemporaries espoused. This book contains discussion and analysis of Scotus's accounts of the nature of matter; the structure of material substance; mass; the nature of space, time, and motion; quantitative and qualitative change; and the various sorts of unity which can be exhibited by different kinds of whole. It also includes discussion of Scotus's accounts of chemical composition, organic unity, and nutrition. Scotus's views on these matters are philosophically sophisticated, and often highly original.Less
Duns Scotus, along with Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham, was one of the three most talented and influential of the medieval schoolmen, and a highly original and creative thinker. Natural philosophy, or physics, is one of the areas of his system which has not received detailed attention in modern literature. But it is important, both for understanding Scotus's contributions in theology, and in tracing some important developments in the basically Aristotelian world-view which Scotus and his contemporaries espoused. This book contains discussion and analysis of Scotus's accounts of the nature of matter; the structure of material substance; mass; the nature of space, time, and motion; quantitative and qualitative change; and the various sorts of unity which can be exhibited by different kinds of whole. It also includes discussion of Scotus's accounts of chemical composition, organic unity, and nutrition. Scotus's views on these matters are philosophically sophisticated, and often highly original.
T. A. Cavanaugh
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199272198
- eISBN:
- 9780191604157
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199272190.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter considers a number of remaining questions following the arguments of the previous chapters: Does one owe reparations for causing foreseen harm? How (considering cases Quinn proposes) ...
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This chapter considers a number of remaining questions following the arguments of the previous chapters: Does one owe reparations for causing foreseen harm? How (considering cases Quinn proposes) does double effect apply in cases of allowing? Can one employ double effect to evaluate one’s otherwise good act that becomes problematic due to another’s wrongful conduct (material cooperation)? While the i/f distinction has independent ethical relevance, must the law accord it similar independent legal import? How does the Roman Catholic Church receive DER? The chapter also indicates how jurists in constitutional legal systems that incorporate exceptionless legal norms (such as the U.S. Bill of Rights) employ a legal analogue to double effect.Less
This chapter considers a number of remaining questions following the arguments of the previous chapters: Does one owe reparations for causing foreseen harm? How (considering cases Quinn proposes) does double effect apply in cases of allowing? Can one employ double effect to evaluate one’s otherwise good act that becomes problematic due to another’s wrongful conduct (material cooperation)? While the i/f distinction has independent ethical relevance, must the law accord it similar independent legal import? How does the Roman Catholic Church receive DER? The chapter also indicates how jurists in constitutional legal systems that incorporate exceptionless legal norms (such as the U.S. Bill of Rights) employ a legal analogue to double effect.
Peter S. Wells
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143385
- eISBN:
- 9781400844777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0009
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
This chapter deals with performances, which refer specifically to actions that people carried out in social contexts—“with an audience” and with their material culture. To be a performance, an action ...
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This chapter deals with performances, which refer specifically to actions that people carried out in social contexts—“with an audience” and with their material culture. To be a performance, an action must be aimed at communicating with others. A performance involves some kind of movement by a person or persons, and the focus here is with those movements that involved the manipulations of objects. These include throwing swords into the lake at La Tène; arranging bent and broken scabbards in the ditch at Gournay-sur-Aronde; and placing iron tools in the fire at Forggensee. At Snettisham, they buried gold neckrings. All these actions were performed by prehistoric people and were held in open spaces where they could be seen by others, in some cases by large numbers of them.Less
This chapter deals with performances, which refer specifically to actions that people carried out in social contexts—“with an audience” and with their material culture. To be a performance, an action must be aimed at communicating with others. A performance involves some kind of movement by a person or persons, and the focus here is with those movements that involved the manipulations of objects. These include throwing swords into the lake at La Tène; arranging bent and broken scabbards in the ditch at Gournay-sur-Aronde; and placing iron tools in the fire at Forggensee. At Snettisham, they buried gold neckrings. All these actions were performed by prehistoric people and were held in open spaces where they could be seen by others, in some cases by large numbers of them.
Peter S. Wells
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143385
- eISBN:
- 9781400844777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143385.003.0011
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Historical Archaeology
The preceding chapters examined three categories of objects—pottery, fibulae, and swords with their scabbards—and two ways of manipulating objects—arrangements in graves and performances involving ...
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The preceding chapters examined three categories of objects—pottery, fibulae, and swords with their scabbards—and two ways of manipulating objects—arrangements in graves and performances involving human bodily action with objects—over the two-thousand-year period from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The focus has been on visual aspects of objects and the changes in their visual character over time. This chapter synthesizes the material laid out in chapters 5 through 10. It draws attention to the consistency of the patterns in the visual character of material culture in each of the three main periods of time considered in this book, and to the character of the changes that took place in the fifth century BC and in the second century BC.Less
The preceding chapters examined three categories of objects—pottery, fibulae, and swords with their scabbards—and two ways of manipulating objects—arrangements in graves and performances involving human bodily action with objects—over the two-thousand-year period from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the prehistoric Iron Age. The focus has been on visual aspects of objects and the changes in their visual character over time. This chapter synthesizes the material laid out in chapters 5 through 10. It draws attention to the consistency of the patterns in the visual character of material culture in each of the three main periods of time considered in this book, and to the character of the changes that took place in the fifth century BC and in the second century BC.
Joanne Punzo Waghorne
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195156638
- eISBN:
- 9780199785292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156638.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Three general reconfigurations of sacred space — sometimes interlocking, sometimes in tension — emerge from the new style and sensibilities of contemporary global Hindu temples with implications for ...
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Three general reconfigurations of sacred space — sometimes interlocking, sometimes in tension — emerge from the new style and sensibilities of contemporary global Hindu temples with implications for the general history of religions. The first is the emergence of a new sense of the sacred sphere, of temple space within an urban environment dominated by the ownership of houses and not land or even natural phenomenon. Second, even the architecture of both space and the polity of new temples reflects democratic models of civic organizations, which leads to new space for lectures and education. Third, complex middle-class religious sensibilities emerge within the temples, which affect the style and polity of the temple and even the faces of the deities, often creating a new visual theology. How will these living sacred spaces of the temple matter for historians of religions? Will this kind of public, and in many ways empirical, sacrality once again challenge the field to reconsider material sacrality?Less
Three general reconfigurations of sacred space — sometimes interlocking, sometimes in tension — emerge from the new style and sensibilities of contemporary global Hindu temples with implications for the general history of religions. The first is the emergence of a new sense of the sacred sphere, of temple space within an urban environment dominated by the ownership of houses and not land or even natural phenomenon. Second, even the architecture of both space and the polity of new temples reflects democratic models of civic organizations, which leads to new space for lectures and education. Third, complex middle-class religious sensibilities emerge within the temples, which affect the style and polity of the temple and even the faces of the deities, often creating a new visual theology. How will these living sacred spaces of the temple matter for historians of religions? Will this kind of public, and in many ways empirical, sacrality once again challenge the field to reconsider material sacrality?
Anderson Blanton
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469623979
- eISBN:
- 9781469623993
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469623979.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
In this work, Anderson Blanton illuminates how prayer, faith, and healing are intertwined with technologies of sound reproduction and material culture in the charismatic Christian worship of southern ...
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In this work, Anderson Blanton illuminates how prayer, faith, and healing are intertwined with technologies of sound reproduction and material culture in the charismatic Christian worship of southern Appalachia. From the radios used to broadcast prayer to the curative faith cloths circulated through the postal system, material objects known as spirit-matter have become essential since the 1940s, Blanton argues, to the Pentecostal community's understanding and performances of faith. Hittin' the Prayer Bones draws on Blanton's extensive site visits with church congregations, radio preachers and their listeners inside and outside the broadcasting studios, and more than thirty years of recorded charismatic worship made available to him by a small Christian radio station. In documenting the transformation and consecration of everyday objects through performances of communal worship, healing prayer, and chanted preaching, Blanton frames his ethnographic research in the historiography of faith healing and prayer, as well as theoretical models of materiality and transcendence. At the same time, his work affectingly conveys the feelings of horror, healing, and humor that are unleashed in practitioners as they experience, in their own words, the sacred, healing presence of the Holy Ghost.Less
In this work, Anderson Blanton illuminates how prayer, faith, and healing are intertwined with technologies of sound reproduction and material culture in the charismatic Christian worship of southern Appalachia. From the radios used to broadcast prayer to the curative faith cloths circulated through the postal system, material objects known as spirit-matter have become essential since the 1940s, Blanton argues, to the Pentecostal community's understanding and performances of faith. Hittin' the Prayer Bones draws on Blanton's extensive site visits with church congregations, radio preachers and their listeners inside and outside the broadcasting studios, and more than thirty years of recorded charismatic worship made available to him by a small Christian radio station. In documenting the transformation and consecration of everyday objects through performances of communal worship, healing prayer, and chanted preaching, Blanton frames his ethnographic research in the historiography of faith healing and prayer, as well as theoretical models of materiality and transcendence. At the same time, his work affectingly conveys the feelings of horror, healing, and humor that are unleashed in practitioners as they experience, in their own words, the sacred, healing presence of the Holy Ghost.
Jonathan Bennett
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199258871
- eISBN:
- 9780191597046
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199258872.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Conditionals are of two basic kinds, often called ‘indicative’ and ‘subjunctive’. This book expounds and evaluates the main literature about each kind. It eventually defends the view of Adams and ...
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Conditionals are of two basic kinds, often called ‘indicative’ and ‘subjunctive’. This book expounds and evaluates the main literature about each kind. It eventually defends the view of Adams and Edgington that indicatives are devices for expressing subjective probabilities, and the view of Stalnaker and Lewis that subjunctives are statements about close possible worlds. But it also discusses other views, e.g. that indicatives are really material conditionals, and Goodman's approach to subjunctives.Less
Conditionals are of two basic kinds, often called ‘indicative’ and ‘subjunctive’. This book expounds and evaluates the main literature about each kind. It eventually defends the view of Adams and Edgington that indicatives are devices for expressing subjective probabilities, and the view of Stalnaker and Lewis that subjunctives are statements about close possible worlds. But it also discusses other views, e.g. that indicatives are really material conditionals, and Goodman's approach to subjunctives.
Mark S. Morrisson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195306965
- eISBN:
- 9780199785414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306965.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
The interests of occult alchemists and mainstream chemists combined in the founding of the Alchemical Society in London in 1912. The mid-19th-century occult understanding of alchemy as primarily ...
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The interests of occult alchemists and mainstream chemists combined in the founding of the Alchemical Society in London in 1912. The mid-19th-century occult understanding of alchemy as primarily about spiritual transformation (so-called spiritual alchemy) and not material transmutation was supplanted by an increasing certitude that ancient and medieval alchemy had always been a material process, though one with spiritual implications. Reciprocally, scientists in the Alchemical Society came to see the relevance and even spiritual significance of alchemy to modern atomic science.Less
The interests of occult alchemists and mainstream chemists combined in the founding of the Alchemical Society in London in 1912. The mid-19th-century occult understanding of alchemy as primarily about spiritual transformation (so-called spiritual alchemy) and not material transmutation was supplanted by an increasing certitude that ancient and medieval alchemy had always been a material process, though one with spiritual implications. Reciprocally, scientists in the Alchemical Society came to see the relevance and even spiritual significance of alchemy to modern atomic science.
