Seyyed Hossein Nasr
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195108231
- eISBN:
- 9780199853441
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195108231.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
To understand the radical transformations brought about by modern science concerning the order of nature, it is necessary first to mention the significance of the traditional sciences of the cosmos ...
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To understand the radical transformations brought about by modern science concerning the order of nature, it is necessary first to mention the significance of the traditional sciences of the cosmos and the fact that they shared, in contrast to modern science, the same universe of discourse with the religion or religions of the civilization in whose bosom they were cultivated. In fact, modern science not only eclipsed the religious and traditional philosophical understanding of the order of nature in the West, but it also all but destroyed the traditional sciences. The divorce of the meaning of order in nature from its traditional sense and the substitution for it of laws governing the running of a machine—an idea so central to the rise of the Scientific Revolution and the eclipse of the traditional religious understanding of nature—is closely related to the modern idea of “laws of nature” that appeared at this time and became widely held in the 17th century.Less
To understand the radical transformations brought about by modern science concerning the order of nature, it is necessary first to mention the significance of the traditional sciences of the cosmos and the fact that they shared, in contrast to modern science, the same universe of discourse with the religion or religions of the civilization in whose bosom they were cultivated. In fact, modern science not only eclipsed the religious and traditional philosophical understanding of the order of nature in the West, but it also all but destroyed the traditional sciences. The divorce of the meaning of order in nature from its traditional sense and the substitution for it of laws governing the running of a machine—an idea so central to the rise of the Scientific Revolution and the eclipse of the traditional religious understanding of nature—is closely related to the modern idea of “laws of nature” that appeared at this time and became widely held in the 17th century.
Michael Horace Barnes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195396270
- eISBN:
- 9780199852482
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396270.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter describes and defends the method of modem science in preparation for religious responses to science. It begins with a general description of late formal operational thought and with the ...
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This chapter describes and defends the method of modem science in preparation for religious responses to science. It begins with a general description of late formal operational thought and with the claim that modem science is a major locale for such thought. A quick look at some critics of science sharpens the issue of the method of science. It describes that method in seven steps, which includes unitary naturalism and universalism, also elements of classical science. This leads to a defense of the validity of the method of science, especially in the face of postmodern interpretations. It also engages in a lengthy philosophical analysis of the possibility of some important degree of objectivity and universality to certain truth-claims.Less
This chapter describes and defends the method of modem science in preparation for religious responses to science. It begins with a general description of late formal operational thought and with the claim that modem science is a major locale for such thought. A quick look at some critics of science sharpens the issue of the method of science. It describes that method in seven steps, which includes unitary naturalism and universalism, also elements of classical science. This leads to a defense of the validity of the method of science, especially in the face of postmodern interpretations. It also engages in a lengthy philosophical analysis of the possibility of some important degree of objectivity and universality to certain truth-claims.
Hilary Marlow
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199569052
- eISBN:
- 9780191723230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199569052.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter explores the changes in human perception of the natural world that came about with the rise of modern science from the 16th century onwards, before narrowing its focus to the academic ...
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This chapter explores the changes in human perception of the natural world that came about with the rise of modern science from the 16th century onwards, before narrowing its focus to the academic study of the Hebrew scriptures from the late 19th century onwards. It contrasts the marginalization of creation that emerged from early biblical scholars in this period with the alternative, more positive perspectives that began to emerge at the end of the 20th century, including contemporary theological responses to environmental issues such as the development of eco-theology and eco-feminism.Less
This chapter explores the changes in human perception of the natural world that came about with the rise of modern science from the 16th century onwards, before narrowing its focus to the academic study of the Hebrew scriptures from the late 19th century onwards. It contrasts the marginalization of creation that emerged from early biblical scholars in this period with the alternative, more positive perspectives that began to emerge at the end of the 20th century, including contemporary theological responses to environmental issues such as the development of eco-theology and eco-feminism.
David A. Hollinger
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158426
- eISBN:
- 9781400845996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158426.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter interprets William James' entire career in the light of his affinity with the liberal Protestant elite of his time and place on the one hand, and his devotion to the calling of modern ...
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This chapter interprets William James' entire career in the light of his affinity with the liberal Protestant elite of his time and place on the one hand, and his devotion to the calling of modern science on the other. It takes seriously his many references in Pragmatism to religious searching and indeed to “salvation,” so often left out of account by secular students of his thought. It reads Varieties of Religious Experience as the pivotal point in James' turn from a “separate spheres” defense of religion to an effort to mobilize a community of inquiry willing to test religious claims by experience. Against scholars who prefer to read James' corpus as a synchronic whole, the chapter shows that the meaning of his various works is best grasped when his career is approached diachronically, with each text analyzed according to the stage it marks in the development over time of his preoccupation with religion's relation to science.Less
This chapter interprets William James' entire career in the light of his affinity with the liberal Protestant elite of his time and place on the one hand, and his devotion to the calling of modern science on the other. It takes seriously his many references in Pragmatism to religious searching and indeed to “salvation,” so often left out of account by secular students of his thought. It reads Varieties of Religious Experience as the pivotal point in James' turn from a “separate spheres” defense of religion to an effort to mobilize a community of inquiry willing to test religious claims by experience. Against scholars who prefer to read James' corpus as a synchronic whole, the chapter shows that the meaning of his various works is best grasped when his career is approached diachronically, with each text analyzed according to the stage it marks in the development over time of his preoccupation with religion's relation to science.
Christopher I. Beckwith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155319
- eISBN:
- 9781400845170
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155319.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History
This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific ...
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This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific experiments, but instead contested issues in natural science, philosophy, and theology using the recursive argument method. This highly distinctive and unusual method of disputation was a core feature of medieval science, the predecessor of modern science. We know that the foundations of science were imported to Western Europe from the Islamic world, but until now the origins of such key elements of Islamic culture have been a mystery. This book traces how the recursive argument method was first developed by Buddhist scholars and was spread by them throughout ancient Central Asia. It shows how the method was adopted by Islamic Central Asian natural philosophers—most importantly by Avicenna, one of the most brilliant of all medieval thinkers—and transmitted to the West when Avicenna's works were translated into Latin in Spain in the twelfth century by the Jewish philosopher Ibn Da'ud and others. During the same period the institution of the college was also borrowed from the Islamic world. The college was where most of the disputations were held, and became the most important component of medieval Europe's newly formed universities. As the book demonstrates, the Islamic college also originated in Buddhist Central Asia. Using in-depth analysis of ancient Buddhist, Classical Arabic, and Medieval Latin writings, this book will help to transform our understanding of the origins of medieval scientific culture.Less
This book tells how key cultural innovations from Central Asia revolutionized medieval Europe and gave rise to the culture of science in the West. Medieval scholars rarely performed scientific experiments, but instead contested issues in natural science, philosophy, and theology using the recursive argument method. This highly distinctive and unusual method of disputation was a core feature of medieval science, the predecessor of modern science. We know that the foundations of science were imported to Western Europe from the Islamic world, but until now the origins of such key elements of Islamic culture have been a mystery. This book traces how the recursive argument method was first developed by Buddhist scholars and was spread by them throughout ancient Central Asia. It shows how the method was adopted by Islamic Central Asian natural philosophers—most importantly by Avicenna, one of the most brilliant of all medieval thinkers—and transmitted to the West when Avicenna's works were translated into Latin in Spain in the twelfth century by the Jewish philosopher Ibn Da'ud and others. During the same period the institution of the college was also borrowed from the Islamic world. The college was where most of the disputations were held, and became the most important component of medieval Europe's newly formed universities. As the book demonstrates, the Islamic college also originated in Buddhist Central Asia. Using in-depth analysis of ancient Buddhist, Classical Arabic, and Medieval Latin writings, this book will help to transform our understanding of the origins of medieval scientific culture.
Gary Hatfield
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139167
- eISBN:
- 9780199833214
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019513916X.003.0020
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
In Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Richard Rorty locates the perceived ills of modern philosophy in the “epistemological turn” of Descartes and Locke. Hatfield argues that Rorty’s accounts of ...
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In Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Richard Rorty locates the perceived ills of modern philosophy in the “epistemological turn” of Descartes and Locke. Hatfield argues that Rorty’s accounts of Descartes’s and Locke’s philosophical work are seriously flawed. Rorty misunderstood the participation of early modern philosophers in the rise of modern science, and he misdescribed their examination of cognition as psychological rather than epistemological. His diagnostic efforts were thereby undermined, and he missed Descartes’s original conception of a general physics and Locke’s probabilist analysis of the grounds for rational belief.Less
In Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Richard Rorty locates the perceived ills of modern philosophy in the “epistemological turn” of Descartes and Locke. Hatfield argues that Rorty’s accounts of Descartes’s and Locke’s philosophical work are seriously flawed. Rorty misunderstood the participation of early modern philosophers in the rise of modern science, and he misdescribed their examination of cognition as psychological rather than epistemological. His diagnostic efforts were thereby undermined, and he missed Descartes’s original conception of a general physics and Locke’s probabilist analysis of the grounds for rational belief.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter explores the alienation of many modern intellectuals. Perhaps the modern world is bereft of meaning, but the affluence provided by modern science means that for the vast majority of ...
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This chapter explores the alienation of many modern intellectuals. Perhaps the modern world is bereft of meaning, but the affluence provided by modern science means that for the vast majority of people, the world has probably never been so enchanted. The romantic nostalgia so characteristic of modernist ideas is unlikely to have any general appeal once industrial conditions have been established. Curiously, there is very little empirical investigation into the purported misery of modern men and women, and certainly few findings to back up the view that disenchantment dominates most of social life. In contrast, there is a massive amount of evidence supporting the view of people being distracted from questions of meaning by the demands of status competition. This leads to the central point: artists and intellectuals have their own particular worries, and so may not give an accurate report on modern social conditions.Less
This chapter explores the alienation of many modern intellectuals. Perhaps the modern world is bereft of meaning, but the affluence provided by modern science means that for the vast majority of people, the world has probably never been so enchanted. The romantic nostalgia so characteristic of modernist ideas is unlikely to have any general appeal once industrial conditions have been established. Curiously, there is very little empirical investigation into the purported misery of modern men and women, and certainly few findings to back up the view that disenchantment dominates most of social life. In contrast, there is a massive amount of evidence supporting the view of people being distracted from questions of meaning by the demands of status competition. This leads to the central point: artists and intellectuals have their own particular worries, and so may not give an accurate report on modern social conditions.
Nicholas Maxwell
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199261550
- eISBN:
- 9780191698750
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261550.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter first expresses that standard empiricism does not give justice to the achievements of modern science. The chapter then presents ten problems that standard empiricism cannot solve: the ...
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This chapter first expresses that standard empiricism does not give justice to the achievements of modern science. The chapter then presents ten problems that standard empiricism cannot solve: the practical, theoretical, and methodological problems of induction; the problem of what simplicity is; the problem of the rationale of preferring simple to complex theories; the problem of the theoretical character of evidence; the problem of the rejection of evidence when it clashes with theory; the problem of the meaning of scientific progress; the problem of progress in knowledge about the nature of fundamental physical entities; and the problem of scientific discovery. Lastly, it concludes that standard empiricism falls on the basis that evidence alone cannot conceivably determine choice of theory in science.Less
This chapter first expresses that standard empiricism does not give justice to the achievements of modern science. The chapter then presents ten problems that standard empiricism cannot solve: the practical, theoretical, and methodological problems of induction; the problem of what simplicity is; the problem of the rationale of preferring simple to complex theories; the problem of the theoretical character of evidence; the problem of the rejection of evidence when it clashes with theory; the problem of the meaning of scientific progress; the problem of progress in knowledge about the nature of fundamental physical entities; and the problem of scientific discovery. Lastly, it concludes that standard empiricism falls on the basis that evidence alone cannot conceivably determine choice of theory in science.
Amos Funkenstein
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691181356
- eISBN:
- 9780691184265
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181356.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This book is a pioneering work of intellectual history that transformed our understanding of the relationship between Christian theology and the development of science. The author explores the ...
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This book is a pioneering work of intellectual history that transformed our understanding of the relationship between Christian theology and the development of science. The author explores the metaphysical foundations of modern science and shows how, by the 1600s, theological and scientific thinking had become almost one. Major figures like Descartes, Leibniz, Newton, and others developed an unprecedented secular theology whose debt to medieval and scholastic thought shaped the trajectory of the scientific revolution. The book ends with the author's influential analysis of the seventeenth century's “unprecedented fusion” of scientific and religious language. Featuring a new foreword, the book is a pathbreaking and classic work that remains a fundamental resource for historians and philosophers of science.Less
This book is a pioneering work of intellectual history that transformed our understanding of the relationship between Christian theology and the development of science. The author explores the metaphysical foundations of modern science and shows how, by the 1600s, theological and scientific thinking had become almost one. Major figures like Descartes, Leibniz, Newton, and others developed an unprecedented secular theology whose debt to medieval and scholastic thought shaped the trajectory of the scientific revolution. The book ends with the author's influential analysis of the seventeenth century's “unprecedented fusion” of scientific and religious language. Featuring a new foreword, the book is a pathbreaking and classic work that remains a fundamental resource for historians and philosophers of science.
Stig Stenholm
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199603589
- eISBN:
- 9780191729270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199603589.003.0010
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This section summarizes the arguments and comments on the opinions presented. This chapter is aiming at exhibiting an impression of the worlds of reality as seen from a position of modern science. ...
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This section summarizes the arguments and comments on the opinions presented. This chapter is aiming at exhibiting an impression of the worlds of reality as seen from a position of modern science. Consequently there is no attempt to include a complete list of references. Thus only essential sources are indicated. The result is multifariously different from a strictly analytic formulation. It is a hazy view, but it suggests to me the existence of a thing of beauty, the human participation in reality.Less
This section summarizes the arguments and comments on the opinions presented. This chapter is aiming at exhibiting an impression of the worlds of reality as seen from a position of modern science. Consequently there is no attempt to include a complete list of references. Thus only essential sources are indicated. The result is multifariously different from a strictly analytic formulation. It is a hazy view, but it suggests to me the existence of a thing of beauty, the human participation in reality.
Howard Marchitello
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199608058
- eISBN:
- 9780191729492
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608058.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature, Shakespeare Studies
The reassessment of the ‘two cultures’ of art and science has been one of the most urgent areas of research in literary and historical studies over the last fifteen years. The early modern period is ...
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The reassessment of the ‘two cultures’ of art and science has been one of the most urgent areas of research in literary and historical studies over the last fifteen years. The early modern period is an ideal site for such an investigation precisely because of the pre-disciplinary nature of its science. The central focus of this book falls upon the wide-ranging practices of what will come to be called “science” prior to its separation into a realm of its own, one of the legacies of the renaissance and its encounter with modernity. This book offers a new critical examination of the complex and mutually-sustaining relationship between literature and science—and, more broadly, art and nature—in the early modern period. Redefining literature and art as knowledge-producing practices and, at the same time, recasting the practices of emergent science as imaginative and creative and literary, this book argues for a more complex understanding of early modern culture in which the scientific can be said to produce the literary and the literary can be said to produce the scientific. Drawing upon recent work in the field of science studies and focusing on selected works of major writers of the period—including Bacon, Donne, Galileo, and Shakespeare, among others—this book recovers a range of early modern discursive and cultural practices for a new account of the linked histories of science and literature.Less
The reassessment of the ‘two cultures’ of art and science has been one of the most urgent areas of research in literary and historical studies over the last fifteen years. The early modern period is an ideal site for such an investigation precisely because of the pre-disciplinary nature of its science. The central focus of this book falls upon the wide-ranging practices of what will come to be called “science” prior to its separation into a realm of its own, one of the legacies of the renaissance and its encounter with modernity. This book offers a new critical examination of the complex and mutually-sustaining relationship between literature and science—and, more broadly, art and nature—in the early modern period. Redefining literature and art as knowledge-producing practices and, at the same time, recasting the practices of emergent science as imaginative and creative and literary, this book argues for a more complex understanding of early modern culture in which the scientific can be said to produce the literary and the literary can be said to produce the scientific. Drawing upon recent work in the field of science studies and focusing on selected works of major writers of the period—including Bacon, Donne, Galileo, and Shakespeare, among others—this book recovers a range of early modern discursive and cultural practices for a new account of the linked histories of science and literature.
Basit Bilal Koshul
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748695416
- eISBN:
- 9781474416078
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748695416.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter analyses Muhammad Iqbal's continuing relevance in three parts. The first part examines the ‘One/Many’ problem in the universe through Iqbal's concepts of khudi and the reality of God. It ...
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This chapter analyses Muhammad Iqbal's continuing relevance in three parts. The first part examines the ‘One/Many’ problem in the universe through Iqbal's concepts of khudi and the reality of God. It shows how Iqbal's philosophy is an ‘achievement possessing a philosophical importance far transcending the world of Islam’. The second part offers an illustrative example of how religion and science come into dialogue in Iqbal's thought. It shows Iqbal critiquing and repairing the cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments for the existence of God by combining the findings of modern science with the wisdom of the Qur'an. Lastly, the third part suggests that the dialogue between religion and science at the core of Iqbal's thought can be better understood through the lens provided by Charles Peirce's pragmatism.Less
This chapter analyses Muhammad Iqbal's continuing relevance in three parts. The first part examines the ‘One/Many’ problem in the universe through Iqbal's concepts of khudi and the reality of God. It shows how Iqbal's philosophy is an ‘achievement possessing a philosophical importance far transcending the world of Islam’. The second part offers an illustrative example of how religion and science come into dialogue in Iqbal's thought. It shows Iqbal critiquing and repairing the cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments for the existence of God by combining the findings of modern science with the wisdom of the Qur'an. Lastly, the third part suggests that the dialogue between religion and science at the core of Iqbal's thought can be better understood through the lens provided by Charles Peirce's pragmatism.
Krzysztof Michalski
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143460
- eISBN:
- 9781400840212
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143460.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter examines Nietzsche's argument that all knowledge is inherently moral, as applicable to science. Regardless of the content of scientific assertions, scientific activity is an endeavor ...
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This chapter examines Nietzsche's argument that all knowledge is inherently moral, as applicable to science. Regardless of the content of scientific assertions, scientific activity is an endeavor undertaken for one reason or another and, as such, expresses the conscious or unconscious preferences of those who engage in it; it testifies to what they believe is good, and what they believe is evil. Science carries this moral sense, too. However, according to Nietzsche, the moral character of modern science consists of its lie and its deception (in other words, its nihilism): it tries to turn our attention away from the Apocalypse, from the end of everything and the new beginning hidden in every moment of our lives.Less
This chapter examines Nietzsche's argument that all knowledge is inherently moral, as applicable to science. Regardless of the content of scientific assertions, scientific activity is an endeavor undertaken for one reason or another and, as such, expresses the conscious or unconscious preferences of those who engage in it; it testifies to what they believe is good, and what they believe is evil. Science carries this moral sense, too. However, according to Nietzsche, the moral character of modern science consists of its lie and its deception (in other words, its nihilism): it tries to turn our attention away from the Apocalypse, from the end of everything and the new beginning hidden in every moment of our lives.
Jonathan Garb
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226295800
- eISBN:
- 9780226295947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226295947.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Chapter 5 begins with a sharp distinction between continuous and discontinuous forms of twentieth century and contemporary Kabbalah. This break theory is compared to the “mourning theory” developed ...
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Chapter 5 begins with a sharp distinction between continuous and discontinuous forms of twentieth century and contemporary Kabbalah. This break theory is compared to the “mourning theory” developed by Peter Homans. The interrelationship between discontinuous Kabbalah and the New Age movement, as well as positive psychology is critiqued here. A large part of the chapter is devoted to the social psychology of Yehuda Ashlag and his comparisons between Kabablah's psychology and modern science. The first-time discussion of Haredi Kabbalah in Israel and the United States covers its critiques of Zionism and Western psychotherapy, dialogue with neuroscience as well as its own reflection on the history of modern Kabbalah. The chapter concludes with a critical discussion of the Kabbalah scholarship under the influence of identity politics.Less
Chapter 5 begins with a sharp distinction between continuous and discontinuous forms of twentieth century and contemporary Kabbalah. This break theory is compared to the “mourning theory” developed by Peter Homans. The interrelationship between discontinuous Kabbalah and the New Age movement, as well as positive psychology is critiqued here. A large part of the chapter is devoted to the social psychology of Yehuda Ashlag and his comparisons between Kabablah's psychology and modern science. The first-time discussion of Haredi Kabbalah in Israel and the United States covers its critiques of Zionism and Western psychotherapy, dialogue with neuroscience as well as its own reflection on the history of modern Kabbalah. The chapter concludes with a critical discussion of the Kabbalah scholarship under the influence of identity politics.
Frederick C. Beiser
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163093
- eISBN:
- 9781400852536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163093.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter examines the so-called “materialism controversy,” one of the most important intellectual disputes of the second half of the nineteenth century. The dispute began in the 1850s, and its ...
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This chapter examines the so-called “materialism controversy,” one of the most important intellectual disputes of the second half of the nineteenth century. The dispute began in the 1850s, and its shock waves reverberated until the end of the century. The main question posed by the materialism controversy was whether modern natural science, whose authority and prestige were now beyond question, necessarily leads to materialism. Materialism was generally understood to be the doctrine that only matter exists and that everything in nature obeys only mechanical laws. If such a doctrine were true, it seemed there could be no God, no free will, no soul, and hence no immortality. These beliefs, however, seemed vital to morality and religion. So the controversy posed a drastic dilemma: either a scientific materialism or a moral and religious “leap of faith.” It was the latest version of the old conflict between reason and faith, where now the role of reason was played by natural science.Less
This chapter examines the so-called “materialism controversy,” one of the most important intellectual disputes of the second half of the nineteenth century. The dispute began in the 1850s, and its shock waves reverberated until the end of the century. The main question posed by the materialism controversy was whether modern natural science, whose authority and prestige were now beyond question, necessarily leads to materialism. Materialism was generally understood to be the doctrine that only matter exists and that everything in nature obeys only mechanical laws. If such a doctrine were true, it seemed there could be no God, no free will, no soul, and hence no immortality. These beliefs, however, seemed vital to morality and religion. So the controversy posed a drastic dilemma: either a scientific materialism or a moral and religious “leap of faith.” It was the latest version of the old conflict between reason and faith, where now the role of reason was played by natural science.
Ehrhard Bahr
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520251281
- eISBN:
- 9780520933804
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520251281.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
During his exile in Denmark, Bertolt Brecht selected Galileo Galilei, an early representative of modern science, as protagonist for a play that he began to write in October 1938. He represents ...
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During his exile in Denmark, Bertolt Brecht selected Galileo Galilei, an early representative of modern science, as protagonist for a play that he began to write in October 1938. He represents Galileo as a scientist who first resisted the authorities of his time, but, when threatened with torture or death by the Inquisition, complied in order to survive for the sake of science. Brecht presents Galileo's recantation as a cunning device to allow him to continue his experiments in secret and achieve earth-shaking results in his research. His Galileo, written in collaboration with the British movie actor Charles Laughton, is an extension of the discussion of modern science in Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment. It takes the debate to a new level, involving the audience in making a decision about the role of science in the atomic age. The model for Brecht's drama was the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, whose research on the fission of uranium Brecht considered as important as Galileo's studies.Less
During his exile in Denmark, Bertolt Brecht selected Galileo Galilei, an early representative of modern science, as protagonist for a play that he began to write in October 1938. He represents Galileo as a scientist who first resisted the authorities of his time, but, when threatened with torture or death by the Inquisition, complied in order to survive for the sake of science. Brecht presents Galileo's recantation as a cunning device to allow him to continue his experiments in secret and achieve earth-shaking results in his research. His Galileo, written in collaboration with the British movie actor Charles Laughton, is an extension of the discussion of modern science in Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment. It takes the debate to a new level, involving the audience in making a decision about the role of science in the atomic age. The model for Brecht's drama was the Danish physicist Niels Bohr, whose research on the fission of uranium Brecht considered as important as Galileo's studies.
Jonathan B. Edelmann
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199641543
- eISBN:
- 9780191732232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641543.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism, Religious Studies
Introduces the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and its commentarial tradition as seen within the context of traditional Indian thought and modern Indological studies, highlighting the specific theological and ...
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Introduces the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and its commentarial tradition as seen within the context of traditional Indian thought and modern Indological studies, highlighting the specific theological and historical themes that are most relevant to a dialogue with the sciences. Furthermore, it introduces the relevant historical and theological themes present within the Western history of science since the time of Francis Bacon to the present, highlighting the specific themes that will later be addressed from a Hindu theological perspective.Less
Introduces the Bhāgavata Purāṇa and its commentarial tradition as seen within the context of traditional Indian thought and modern Indological studies, highlighting the specific theological and historical themes that are most relevant to a dialogue with the sciences. Furthermore, it introduces the relevant historical and theological themes present within the Western history of science since the time of Francis Bacon to the present, highlighting the specific themes that will later be addressed from a Hindu theological perspective.
Richard W. Flory
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520230002
- eISBN:
- 9780520936706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520230002.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
Journalism played a significant role in the secularization of American public life by spreading ideas adapted from institutional spheres of knowledge production to the general public. This chapter ...
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Journalism played a significant role in the secularization of American public life by spreading ideas adapted from institutional spheres of knowledge production to the general public. This chapter focuses on two areas of journalism history: changes in the presentation of traditional religion in the press; and efforts to establish the “profession” of journalism between 1870 and 1930. During this period, traditional religion was presented as being too sectarian and lacking in modern understanding, and modern science was emphasized as the authoritative voice for modern life. Journalism professionalizers framed professional journalism in religious terms, arguing that “factual” knowledge was the key to solving social problems and that journalism alone was in the position to provide such knowledge to the mass of society. This placed journalism in an indispensable role between primary knowledge producers and the rest of society, in which capacity it fulfilled the role of the moral educator of modern society.Less
Journalism played a significant role in the secularization of American public life by spreading ideas adapted from institutional spheres of knowledge production to the general public. This chapter focuses on two areas of journalism history: changes in the presentation of traditional religion in the press; and efforts to establish the “profession” of journalism between 1870 and 1930. During this period, traditional religion was presented as being too sectarian and lacking in modern understanding, and modern science was emphasized as the authoritative voice for modern life. Journalism professionalizers framed professional journalism in religious terms, arguing that “factual” knowledge was the key to solving social problems and that journalism alone was in the position to provide such knowledge to the mass of society. This placed journalism in an indispensable role between primary knowledge producers and the rest of society, in which capacity it fulfilled the role of the moral educator of modern society.
Eric Schatzberg
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226583839
- eISBN:
- 9780226584027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226584027.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The sharp medieval distinction between philosophy and the mechanical arts began to erode in the fifteenth century, in part because technical knowledge became increasingly important to political ...
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The sharp medieval distinction between philosophy and the mechanical arts began to erode in the fifteenth century, in part because technical knowledge became increasingly important to political rulers, especially in fields such as gunpowder weapons, mining, and public architecture. The links between technical knowledge and political power encouraged a surge in authorship about the mechanical arts, with works written by both humanist scholars and artisan-practitioners. Francis Bacon drew from this tradition when be began arguing, about two centuries later, for a closer connection between natural philosophy and practical application. Yet respect for the mechanical arts did not imply respect for the artisan. Instead, natural philosophers maintained a conceptual hierarchy of mind over hand that mirrored the social hierarchy of the philosopher over the artisan.Less
The sharp medieval distinction between philosophy and the mechanical arts began to erode in the fifteenth century, in part because technical knowledge became increasingly important to political rulers, especially in fields such as gunpowder weapons, mining, and public architecture. The links between technical knowledge and political power encouraged a surge in authorship about the mechanical arts, with works written by both humanist scholars and artisan-practitioners. Francis Bacon drew from this tradition when be began arguing, about two centuries later, for a closer connection between natural philosophy and practical application. Yet respect for the mechanical arts did not imply respect for the artisan. Instead, natural philosophers maintained a conceptual hierarchy of mind over hand that mirrored the social hierarchy of the philosopher over the artisan.
Rajshree Chandra
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198065579
- eISBN:
- 9780199080120
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198065579.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
This chapter considers the cognitive hierarchies which are implied and structured by the intellectual property regime. It looks at the sociology of knowledge creation and the implications that it has ...
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This chapter considers the cognitive hierarchies which are implied and structured by the intellectual property regime. It looks at the sociology of knowledge creation and the implications that it has for opening up epistemes. It takes the argument of social construction of knowledge and extends it to question the claimed scientificity and objectivity of Western Modern Sciences (WMS) in an endeavour to engage with the possibility of multiple constructions and representations of reality and question the claimed universality and hegemony of WMS. It regards the conception and the institution of intellectual property rights (IPRs) as an enterprise which reinstates the particularistic perspectives of science and the universalistic notions of development. It regards this conceptualization of IPRs as a productive and a stratifying force and therefore as an exercise of power. Finally, the chapter engages with the issues of science citizenship, and the limits of existing measures for enlisting the participation of the marginalized citizens in the creation of knowledge.Less
This chapter considers the cognitive hierarchies which are implied and structured by the intellectual property regime. It looks at the sociology of knowledge creation and the implications that it has for opening up epistemes. It takes the argument of social construction of knowledge and extends it to question the claimed scientificity and objectivity of Western Modern Sciences (WMS) in an endeavour to engage with the possibility of multiple constructions and representations of reality and question the claimed universality and hegemony of WMS. It regards the conception and the institution of intellectual property rights (IPRs) as an enterprise which reinstates the particularistic perspectives of science and the universalistic notions of development. It regards this conceptualization of IPRs as a productive and a stratifying force and therefore as an exercise of power. Finally, the chapter engages with the issues of science citizenship, and the limits of existing measures for enlisting the participation of the marginalized citizens in the creation of knowledge.
