Malanima Paolo, Astrid Kander, and Paul Warde
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691143620
- eISBN:
- 9781400848881
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691143620.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter focuses on coal development blocks. From an energy point of view, the key aspects of the first industrial revolution were coal, steam, and iron. The development block was built around ...
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This chapter focuses on coal development blocks. From an energy point of view, the key aspects of the first industrial revolution were coal, steam, and iron. The development block was built around two core innovations, the steam engine and new techniques in metallurgy, saving on both labor and land. The chapter first considers the core innovations of the period, including the steam engine, the complementarity of coal and steam power, James Watt's engine and rotary motion, and innovation in iron. It then discusses the growth dynamics of the coal development block, focusing on market widening and market suction with respect to coal and iron, and concludes with an analysis of the transport revolution during the period.Less
This chapter focuses on coal development blocks. From an energy point of view, the key aspects of the first industrial revolution were coal, steam, and iron. The development block was built around two core innovations, the steam engine and new techniques in metallurgy, saving on both labor and land. The chapter first considers the core innovations of the period, including the steam engine, the complementarity of coal and steam power, James Watt's engine and rotary motion, and innovation in iron. It then discusses the growth dynamics of the coal development block, focusing on market widening and market suction with respect to coal and iron, and concludes with an analysis of the transport revolution during the period.
Mark Casson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199213979
- eISBN:
- 9780191707469
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213979.003.0002
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History, Organization Studies
This chapter argues that Victorian Britain was not so committed to laissez faire as some historians have suggested. Although railways were privately promoted they needed to be authorized individually ...
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This chapter argues that Victorian Britain was not so committed to laissez faire as some historians have suggested. Although railways were privately promoted they needed to be authorized individually by Local & Personal Acts of Parliament. Railways were only one of a number of innovative types of project promoted in Victorian Britain; others included ports and harbours, and gas, electricity, and water schemes. Railways connected mining and manufacturing districts to ports, and connected major towns and cities to London. Together with ocean shipping, they formed a crucial part of the steam-powered inter-modal international system of transport on which the British Empire was based.Less
This chapter argues that Victorian Britain was not so committed to laissez faire as some historians have suggested. Although railways were privately promoted they needed to be authorized individually by Local & Personal Acts of Parliament. Railways were only one of a number of innovative types of project promoted in Victorian Britain; others included ports and harbours, and gas, electricity, and water schemes. Railways connected mining and manufacturing districts to ports, and connected major towns and cities to London. Together with ocean shipping, they formed a crucial part of the steam-powered inter-modal international system of transport on which the British Empire was based.
Larry Lankton
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195083576
- eISBN:
- 9780199854158
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195083576.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
A massive Corliss steam engine served as the United States centennial celebration's centerpiece. It was an appropriate symbol of a young nation on the move. The young Republic had started the 19th ...
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A massive Corliss steam engine served as the United States centennial celebration's centerpiece. It was an appropriate symbol of a young nation on the move. The young Republic had started the 19th century as a weak sister of Great Britain and other western nations. The transformation of the Lake copper industry at the hands of steam power started early. The first steam locomotive arrived on the Keweenaw in 1864, when the jointly managed Pewabic and Franklin mines purchased a small engine and put it to the task of delivering rock to their stampmill inclines. Harnessed steam power radically transformed the Lake Superior copper mining industry after the mid-1840s. It drove shop machinery and air compressors. Observers often noted that the Lake mines modernized their surface operations more than their underground ones and they observed precisely.Less
A massive Corliss steam engine served as the United States centennial celebration's centerpiece. It was an appropriate symbol of a young nation on the move. The young Republic had started the 19th century as a weak sister of Great Britain and other western nations. The transformation of the Lake copper industry at the hands of steam power started early. The first steam locomotive arrived on the Keweenaw in 1864, when the jointly managed Pewabic and Franklin mines purchased a small engine and put it to the task of delivering rock to their stampmill inclines. Harnessed steam power radically transformed the Lake Superior copper mining industry after the mid-1840s. It drove shop machinery and air compressors. Observers often noted that the Lake mines modernized their surface operations more than their underground ones and they observed precisely.
Cathy Gutierrez
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195388350
- eISBN:
- 9780199866472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388350.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Spiritualists believed that science would reveal the truths of their metaphysical claims and embraced medical and technological progress on all fronts. Spiritualist ritual was predicated on the ...
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Spiritualists believed that science would reveal the truths of their metaphysical claims and embraced medical and technological progress on all fronts. Spiritualist ritual was predicated on the invention of the telegraph: instant and invisible communication across space was the precursor to communication with those in heaven. With the steam engine revolutionizing ideas of time, futurity and progress competed with the lionizing of the past. Spiritualists proposed that new machines could be made to perfect communication with the dead and created several devices from the simple to the extraordinary. Photography, a burgeoning medium that seemed purely objective to most observers, was conscripted to prove the existence of the dead as spirit photographs proliferated across the country and abroad.Less
Spiritualists believed that science would reveal the truths of their metaphysical claims and embraced medical and technological progress on all fronts. Spiritualist ritual was predicated on the invention of the telegraph: instant and invisible communication across space was the precursor to communication with those in heaven. With the steam engine revolutionizing ideas of time, futurity and progress competed with the lionizing of the past. Spiritualists proposed that new machines could be made to perfect communication with the dead and created several devices from the simple to the extraordinary. Photography, a burgeoning medium that seemed purely objective to most observers, was conscripted to prove the existence of the dead as spirit photographs proliferated across the country and abroad.
Vaclav Smil
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195168747
- eISBN:
- 9780199835522
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195168747.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
No other technical innovation had such a far-reaching impact on modern civilization as the creation of an admirably reliable system of electricity generation, transmission, and conversion. Thomas A. ...
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No other technical innovation had such a far-reaching impact on modern civilization as the creation of an admirably reliable system of electricity generation, transmission, and conversion. Thomas A. Edison was its bold initiator but soon came improvements and extensions, most notably the steam turbine of Charles A. Parsons and electric motor of Nikola Tesla. The system became technically mature within a generation after its introduction and it continues to provide the most versatile, as well as the most convenient form of energy whose conversions range from increasingly efficient lighting to every kind of manufacturing, mass transportation and the vast realm of electronic devices.Less
No other technical innovation had such a far-reaching impact on modern civilization as the creation of an admirably reliable system of electricity generation, transmission, and conversion. Thomas A. Edison was its bold initiator but soon came improvements and extensions, most notably the steam turbine of Charles A. Parsons and electric motor of Nikola Tesla. The system became technically mature within a generation after its introduction and it continues to provide the most versatile, as well as the most convenient form of energy whose conversions range from increasingly efficient lighting to every kind of manufacturing, mass transportation and the vast realm of electronic devices.
JOE C. TRUETT
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520258396
- eISBN:
- 9780520944527
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520258396.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
The Big Brown Steam Electric Station was built several miles east of Fairfield to generate electricity to feed into the Texas power grid that electrified homes, offices, and industries throughout the ...
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The Big Brown Steam Electric Station was built several miles east of Fairfield to generate electricity to feed into the Texas power grid that electrified homes, offices, and industries throughout the state. It was designed to be fueled by lignite—a low-energy version of coal to be mined near the station. This chapter describes landscape rejuvenation in the area. Once the coal was removed, the soil overburden replaced, and the land recontoured, revegetation commenced. Grasses, shrubs, and trees were planted and soon after, animals began to move through and recolonize. Reclamation failed when Texas Utilities returned the land to private hands and bulldozers razed the landscape at Big Brown.Less
The Big Brown Steam Electric Station was built several miles east of Fairfield to generate electricity to feed into the Texas power grid that electrified homes, offices, and industries throughout the state. It was designed to be fueled by lignite—a low-energy version of coal to be mined near the station. This chapter describes landscape rejuvenation in the area. Once the coal was removed, the soil overburden replaced, and the land recontoured, revegetation commenced. Grasses, shrubs, and trees were planted and soon after, animals began to move through and recolonize. Reclamation failed when Texas Utilities returned the land to private hands and bulldozers razed the landscape at Big Brown.
Peter N. Davies
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780968128893
- eISBN:
- 9781786944757
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780968128893.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Maritime History
This journal reprints the history of the Elder Dempster company by Peter N. Davies, from 1852-1972, originally published in 1973. It includes an additional chapter, also by Peter Davies, on the ...
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This journal reprints the history of the Elder Dempster company by Peter N. Davies, from 1852-1972, originally published in 1973. It includes an additional chapter, also by Peter Davies, on the history of the company from 1973-1989, covering its decline and final years. The purpose is to describe and analyse the economic history of the Elder Dempster shipping company and its predecessors, and provide an account of West African and British economic backgrounds. The journal is divided into five parts, each concerning a different era in the company’s history. Part 1 covers the formation of the African Steam Ship Company, which would eventually merge and become Elder Dempster; Part 2 covers the expansion of Elder Dempster and the partnership with Alfred Lewis Jones; Part 3 explores major historical events and their impact on Elder Dempster, including the Great War, the transition from war to peace, and the end of the Royal Mail group; Part 4 concerns the establishment of Elder Dempster Lines Limited, the emergence of successful rival companies, the Second World War and post-war reconstruction, and prediction for the company for the 1970s and beyond, as this part concluded the first edition of the history; Part 5 is a retrospective look at the 1970s and 1980s, and tracks the decline of Elder Dempster and the evolution of the Ocean Group.Less
This journal reprints the history of the Elder Dempster company by Peter N. Davies, from 1852-1972, originally published in 1973. It includes an additional chapter, also by Peter Davies, on the history of the company from 1973-1989, covering its decline and final years. The purpose is to describe and analyse the economic history of the Elder Dempster shipping company and its predecessors, and provide an account of West African and British economic backgrounds. The journal is divided into five parts, each concerning a different era in the company’s history. Part 1 covers the formation of the African Steam Ship Company, which would eventually merge and become Elder Dempster; Part 2 covers the expansion of Elder Dempster and the partnership with Alfred Lewis Jones; Part 3 explores major historical events and their impact on Elder Dempster, including the Great War, the transition from war to peace, and the end of the Royal Mail group; Part 4 concerns the establishment of Elder Dempster Lines Limited, the emergence of successful rival companies, the Second World War and post-war reconstruction, and prediction for the company for the 1970s and beyond, as this part concluded the first edition of the history; Part 5 is a retrospective look at the 1970s and 1980s, and tracks the decline of Elder Dempster and the evolution of the Ocean Group.
Chris Freeman and Francisco Louçã
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199251056
- eISBN:
- 9780191596278
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199251053.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
Major inventions and improvements in the design of high‐pressure steam engines made it possible to use them for steam‐powered locomotives as well as for steamships and a widening range of industrial ...
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Major inventions and improvements in the design of high‐pressure steam engines made it possible to use them for steam‐powered locomotives as well as for steamships and a widening range of industrial machines, based on cheap coal and iron.The highly successful demonstration trials of locomotives on the Liverpool to Manchester railway in 1831 triggered waves of railway investment in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s, amounting to ‘mania’ but leading ultimately to the creation of an efficient new transport infrastructure, first in Britain but later in many other countries.Contrary to the views of some cliometric historians, we argue that the railroads and the telegraph were immensely important in bringing huge competitive advantages in speed and reliability of transport and communication to many American industries.No less important were the institutional changes associated with the management of an efficient railway network and affecting many other industries in their capacity for managing stocks, forward planning, finance, personnel, industrial relations and government regulation.The construction of a railway network in North America in the 1850s and 60s with the huge scale economies and efficiency improvements it brought to many other industries and services, enabled the US economy to overtake Britain, the erstwhile leader of the Industrial Revolution, in the second half of the nineteenth century.Less
Major inventions and improvements in the design of high‐pressure steam engines made it possible to use them for steam‐powered locomotives as well as for steamships and a widening range of industrial machines, based on cheap coal and iron.
The highly successful demonstration trials of locomotives on the Liverpool to Manchester railway in 1831 triggered waves of railway investment in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s, amounting to ‘mania’ but leading ultimately to the creation of an efficient new transport infrastructure, first in Britain but later in many other countries.
Contrary to the views of some cliometric historians, we argue that the railroads and the telegraph were immensely important in bringing huge competitive advantages in speed and reliability of transport and communication to many American industries.
No less important were the institutional changes associated with the management of an efficient railway network and affecting many other industries in their capacity for managing stocks, forward planning, finance, personnel, industrial relations and government regulation.
The construction of a railway network in North America in the 1850s and 60s with the huge scale economies and efficiency improvements it brought to many other industries and services, enabled the US economy to overtake Britain, the erstwhile leader of the Industrial Revolution, in the second half of the nineteenth century.
D Eisenberg and W Kauzmann
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198570264
- eISBN:
- 9780191715266
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570264.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Condensed Matter Physics / Materials
This book has correlated many experimental observations and theoretical discussions from scientific literature on water. Topics covered include the water molecule and forces between water molecules; ...
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This book has correlated many experimental observations and theoretical discussions from scientific literature on water. Topics covered include the water molecule and forces between water molecules; the thermodynamic properties of steam; the structures of the ices; the thermodynamic, electrical, spectroscopic, and transport properties of the ices and of liquid water; hydrogen bonding in ice and water; and models for liquid water. The main emphasis of the book is on relating the properties of ice and water to their structures. Some background material in physical chemistry has been included.Less
This book has correlated many experimental observations and theoretical discussions from scientific literature on water. Topics covered include the water molecule and forces between water molecules; the thermodynamic properties of steam; the structures of the ices; the thermodynamic, electrical, spectroscopic, and transport properties of the ices and of liquid water; hydrogen bonding in ice and water; and models for liquid water. The main emphasis of the book is on relating the properties of ice and water to their structures. Some background material in physical chemistry has been included.
Christopher Hill
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206682
- eISBN:
- 9780191677274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206682.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Ideas
Revolutions are not made without ideas, but they are not made by intellectuals. Steam is essential to driving a railway engine; but neither a locomotive nor a permanent way can be built out of steam. ...
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Revolutions are not made without ideas, but they are not made by intellectuals. Steam is essential to driving a railway engine; but neither a locomotive nor a permanent way can be built out of steam. This book deals with the steam. However, a sociological approach to intellectual history carries its own risks. Karl Marx himself did not fall into the error of thinking that men's ideas were merely a pale reflection of their economic needs, with no history of their own. So, although this book is concerned mainly with intellectual history, it claims that the thinkers were not isolated from their societies. The history of ideas necessarily deals with trends to which there are individual exceptions. The book argues that on the whole the ideas of the scientists favoured the Puritan and Parliamentarian cause.Less
Revolutions are not made without ideas, but they are not made by intellectuals. Steam is essential to driving a railway engine; but neither a locomotive nor a permanent way can be built out of steam. This book deals with the steam. However, a sociological approach to intellectual history carries its own risks. Karl Marx himself did not fall into the error of thinking that men's ideas were merely a pale reflection of their economic needs, with no history of their own. So, although this book is concerned mainly with intellectual history, it claims that the thinkers were not isolated from their societies. The history of ideas necessarily deals with trends to which there are individual exceptions. The book argues that on the whole the ideas of the scientists favoured the Puritan and Parliamentarian cause.
D. Eisenberg and W. Kauzmann
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198570264
- eISBN:
- 9780191715266
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198570264.003.0002
- Subject:
- Physics, Condensed Matter Physics / Materials
The properties of the real vapour, like those of ice and liquid water, are affected by the forces acting between the molecules. Studies of water in the vapour state have contributed to what is known ...
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The properties of the real vapour, like those of ice and liquid water, are affected by the forces acting between the molecules. Studies of water in the vapour state have contributed to what is known about the interactions between water molecules. This chapter first considers the origin of these forces and their relation to the second and third virial coefficients of steam. It then discusses the thermodynamic properties of real vapour in detail.Less
The properties of the real vapour, like those of ice and liquid water, are affected by the forces acting between the molecules. Studies of water in the vapour state have contributed to what is known about the interactions between water molecules. This chapter first considers the origin of these forces and their relation to the second and third virial coefficients of steam. It then discusses the thermodynamic properties of real vapour in detail.
Gundula Kreuzer
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520279681
- eISBN:
- 9780520966550
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520279681.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
Exploring opera from the perspectives of media studies and technology studies, this pioneering book examines how composers since the late eighteenth century have increasingly integrated specific ...
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Exploring opera from the perspectives of media studies and technology studies, this pioneering book examines how composers since the late eighteenth century have increasingly integrated specific audiovisual details into their creative visions, thereby furthering the development of stage machineries as well as the means of their codification. In particular, composers fostered what the author calls “Wagnerian technologies”: multisensory devices intended to veil both the artificiality of illusionist stage representation and their own mechanicity. Building on Richard Wagner’s theories of the total work of art and exposing its reliance on technology, the book looks in detail at the uses and effects of curtains, the gong (or tam-tam), and steam. Designed to appeal directly to the audience’s sensorium like media interfaces, these technologies not only mediated between the sound and sight of a production but also smoothed over its heterogeneous materialities. Drawing on scores, performance documents, treatises, reviews, and cultural discourses, the book traces the practical, hermeneutic, and artistic implications of each titular technology in a wealth of European operatic works—both well known and obscure—by Wagner and the generations of composers around him. Each technology was temporarily absorbed into common notions of the relevant operas but gradually transformed in later productions, in its own mechanical evolution, and its resurgence across performance genres of the last half century. With its interdisciplinary angle on the history and materiality of staging, Curtain, Gong, Steam thus expands the concept of the operatic work.Less
Exploring opera from the perspectives of media studies and technology studies, this pioneering book examines how composers since the late eighteenth century have increasingly integrated specific audiovisual details into their creative visions, thereby furthering the development of stage machineries as well as the means of their codification. In particular, composers fostered what the author calls “Wagnerian technologies”: multisensory devices intended to veil both the artificiality of illusionist stage representation and their own mechanicity. Building on Richard Wagner’s theories of the total work of art and exposing its reliance on technology, the book looks in detail at the uses and effects of curtains, the gong (or tam-tam), and steam. Designed to appeal directly to the audience’s sensorium like media interfaces, these technologies not only mediated between the sound and sight of a production but also smoothed over its heterogeneous materialities. Drawing on scores, performance documents, treatises, reviews, and cultural discourses, the book traces the practical, hermeneutic, and artistic implications of each titular technology in a wealth of European operatic works—both well known and obscure—by Wagner and the generations of composers around him. Each technology was temporarily absorbed into common notions of the relevant operas but gradually transformed in later productions, in its own mechanical evolution, and its resurgence across performance genres of the last half century. With its interdisciplinary angle on the history and materiality of staging, Curtain, Gong, Steam thus expands the concept of the operatic work.
John Armstrong and David M. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780986497377
- eISBN:
- 9781786944474
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780986497377.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Maritime History
This book presents an in-depth study of the impact of the steamship on Britain during its first forty years, roughly between 1810 and 1850. It relates the early steamship to several industrial themes ...
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This book presents an in-depth study of the impact of the steamship on Britain during its first forty years, roughly between 1810 and 1850. It relates the early steamship to several industrial themes including diffusion; construction; modernisation; the role of government - particularly the difficult attempt to align laissez-faire politics with the greater need for public safety measures due to technological advance; business and finance; plus public reaction and tourism. The aim is to establish the significance of the steamship as a conduit of modernisation and societal change. It consists of a foreword, introduction, and fourteen chapters devoted to specific themes, structured to ensure each chapters build on the preceding chapter’s progress. Collectively, they demonstrate that the development of both experience and enterprise with steam power both gained and refined during this period made the mid-century expansion of steamship technology across Britain possible. Ultimately, it establishes that steamship services began to adapt to oceanic routes, steam began to integrate into the world economy, and the age of sail began to draw to a close.Less
This book presents an in-depth study of the impact of the steamship on Britain during its first forty years, roughly between 1810 and 1850. It relates the early steamship to several industrial themes including diffusion; construction; modernisation; the role of government - particularly the difficult attempt to align laissez-faire politics with the greater need for public safety measures due to technological advance; business and finance; plus public reaction and tourism. The aim is to establish the significance of the steamship as a conduit of modernisation and societal change. It consists of a foreword, introduction, and fourteen chapters devoted to specific themes, structured to ensure each chapters build on the preceding chapter’s progress. Collectively, they demonstrate that the development of both experience and enterprise with steam power both gained and refined during this period made the mid-century expansion of steamship technology across Britain possible. Ultimately, it establishes that steamship services began to adapt to oceanic routes, steam began to integrate into the world economy, and the age of sail began to draw to a close.
Susan Pockett, William P. Banks, and Shaun Gallagher (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262162371
- eISBN:
- 9780262281690
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262162371.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience
Our intuition tells us that we, our conscious selves, cause our own voluntary acts. Yet scientists have long questioned this; Thomas Huxley, for example, in 1874 compared mental events to a steam ...
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Our intuition tells us that we, our conscious selves, cause our own voluntary acts. Yet scientists have long questioned this; Thomas Huxley, for example, in 1874 compared mental events to a steam whistle that contributes nothing to the work of a locomotive. New experimental evidence (most notably, work by Benjamin Libet and Daniel Wegner) has brought the causal status of human behavior back to the forefront of intellectual discussion. This multidisciplinary collection advances the debate, approaching the question from a variety of perspectives. The contributors begin by examining recent research in neuroscience which suggests that consciousness does not cause behavior, offering the outline of an empirically based model which shows how the brain causes behavior and where consciousness might fit in. Other contributors address the philosophical presuppositions that may have informed the empirical studies, raising questions about what can be legitimately concluded about the existence of free will from Libet’s and Wegner’s experimental results. Others examine the effect recent psychological and neuroscientific research could have on legal, social, and moral judgments of responsibility and blame—in situations including a Clockwork Orange-like scenario of behavior correction.Less
Our intuition tells us that we, our conscious selves, cause our own voluntary acts. Yet scientists have long questioned this; Thomas Huxley, for example, in 1874 compared mental events to a steam whistle that contributes nothing to the work of a locomotive. New experimental evidence (most notably, work by Benjamin Libet and Daniel Wegner) has brought the causal status of human behavior back to the forefront of intellectual discussion. This multidisciplinary collection advances the debate, approaching the question from a variety of perspectives. The contributors begin by examining recent research in neuroscience which suggests that consciousness does not cause behavior, offering the outline of an empirically based model which shows how the brain causes behavior and where consciousness might fit in. Other contributors address the philosophical presuppositions that may have informed the empirical studies, raising questions about what can be legitimately concluded about the existence of free will from Libet’s and Wegner’s experimental results. Others examine the effect recent psychological and neuroscientific research could have on legal, social, and moral judgments of responsibility and blame—in situations including a Clockwork Orange-like scenario of behavior correction.
Paul Langford
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199246403
- eISBN:
- 9780191697586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246403.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Social History
This chapter explains the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the English people. The Industrial Revolution that started in the United Kingdom had tremendous outcomes, including cultural and ...
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This chapter explains the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the English people. The Industrial Revolution that started in the United Kingdom had tremendous outcomes, including cultural and socioeconomic effects. Industries and transportation that used the steam engine emerged, creating faster mobility and increased production of goods.Less
This chapter explains the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the English people. The Industrial Revolution that started in the United Kingdom had tremendous outcomes, including cultural and socioeconomic effects. Industries and transportation that used the steam engine emerged, creating faster mobility and increased production of goods.
Robert C. Allen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264775
- eISBN:
- 9780191734984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264775.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain given at the British Academy's 2009 Keynes Lecture in Economics. This text suggests that the Industrial ...
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This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain given at the British Academy's 2009 Keynes Lecture in Economics. This text suggests that the Industrial Revolution was Britain's response to the global economy that emerged after 1500 and that Britain's success in world trade resulted in one of the most urbanised economies in Europe with unusually high wages and cheap energy prices. The text here also highlights the contribution of Britain in the invention of the steam engine and the cotton spinning machines and in scientific discoveries relating to atmospheric pressure.Less
This chapter presents the text of a lecture on the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain given at the British Academy's 2009 Keynes Lecture in Economics. This text suggests that the Industrial Revolution was Britain's response to the global economy that emerged after 1500 and that Britain's success in world trade resulted in one of the most urbanised economies in Europe with unusually high wages and cheap energy prices. The text here also highlights the contribution of Britain in the invention of the steam engine and the cotton spinning machines and in scientific discoveries relating to atmospheric pressure.
Peter N. Davies (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780969588559
- eISBN:
- 9781786944894
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780969588559.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Maritime History
John Holt (1841-1915) was a successful British merchant who made several voyages to West Africa during his lifetime to establish business and trade in the era of British Imperialism. His diaries are ...
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John Holt (1841-1915) was a successful British merchant who made several voyages to West Africa during his lifetime to establish business and trade in the era of British Imperialism. His diaries are presented in two accounts; the first, from 1862-1872, documents his life as a merchant on the West African island of Fernando Po, initially working for James Lynslager and eventually purchasing the trade company and expanding it significantly. Holt’s own vessel, Maria, and his affiliation with the African Steam Ship Company, made his maritime trade activities particularly succssful. The second account records his voyage in the Maria from Liverpool to Fernando Po in 1869-1872, and documents his trade relationships across West Africa. The volume is rounded out by diary entries from the ten-day voyage of the Peep o’Day along the Krou coast, and concludes with John Holt’s family tree. This volume presents a comprehensive account of Holt’s life as a means of preserving history and adding to the field of study of mercantile livliehoods and shipping trade industries under British imperialism. It also seeks to celebrate the individual accomplishments made in John Holt’s career.Less
John Holt (1841-1915) was a successful British merchant who made several voyages to West Africa during his lifetime to establish business and trade in the era of British Imperialism. His diaries are presented in two accounts; the first, from 1862-1872, documents his life as a merchant on the West African island of Fernando Po, initially working for James Lynslager and eventually purchasing the trade company and expanding it significantly. Holt’s own vessel, Maria, and his affiliation with the African Steam Ship Company, made his maritime trade activities particularly succssful. The second account records his voyage in the Maria from Liverpool to Fernando Po in 1869-1872, and documents his trade relationships across West Africa. The volume is rounded out by diary entries from the ten-day voyage of the Peep o’Day along the Krou coast, and concludes with John Holt’s family tree. This volume presents a comprehensive account of Holt’s life as a means of preserving history and adding to the field of study of mercantile livliehoods and shipping trade industries under British imperialism. It also seeks to celebrate the individual accomplishments made in John Holt’s career.
David Philip Miller
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781789620818
- eISBN:
- 9781789629767
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781789620818.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter re-evaluates the place of natural philosophical inquiry in Watt’s life and work, and its relationship to his practical projects. It examines how family, education and working life opened ...
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This chapter re-evaluates the place of natural philosophical inquiry in Watt’s life and work, and its relationship to his practical projects. It examines how family, education and working life opened up natural philosophical inquiry for him, and shaped his orientation towards it. Watt’s bursts of experimentation on steam and on the nature of airs are described, which led to his claim to have discovered the compound nature of water, and to his work in pneumatic medicine. It is argued that Watt developed a coherent chemistry of heat that has not been fully appreciated and that informed his steam engine improvements in fundamental but indirect ways, providing a framework for understanding its internal processes. Finally, the varied sites of Watt’s inquiries beyond the laboratory are considered, as is his problematic relationship with the community of natural philosophers, showing that the business of natural philosophy was his primary concern.Less
This chapter re-evaluates the place of natural philosophical inquiry in Watt’s life and work, and its relationship to his practical projects. It examines how family, education and working life opened up natural philosophical inquiry for him, and shaped his orientation towards it. Watt’s bursts of experimentation on steam and on the nature of airs are described, which led to his claim to have discovered the compound nature of water, and to his work in pneumatic medicine. It is argued that Watt developed a coherent chemistry of heat that has not been fully appreciated and that informed his steam engine improvements in fundamental but indirect ways, providing a framework for understanding its internal processes. Finally, the varied sites of Watt’s inquiries beyond the laboratory are considered, as is his problematic relationship with the community of natural philosophers, showing that the business of natural philosophy was his primary concern.
David M. Williams and John Armstrong
Lewis R. Fischer and Even Lange (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780986497339
- eISBN:
- 9781786944511
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780986497339.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Maritime History
This essay examines the impact of three tremendous developments in maritime transport technology - the steamship, the telegraph, and the railway - on global industrialisation and the advent of the ...
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This essay examines the impact of three tremendous developments in maritime transport technology - the steamship, the telegraph, and the railway - on global industrialisation and the advent of the ‘Second Global Age’. It is divided into three parts: the first surveys the development of steam navigation and locomotion by country and continent; the second explores the relationship between maritime trade and the ‘new world economy’ - particularly the impact of shortened distances and the increase in availability of information; and the third examines the challenges for maritime merchants that developed alongside the improved global communication systems. It concludes that both transport and communication were essential to the development of a world economy, and that British maritime activity was a crucial contributory element.Less
This essay examines the impact of three tremendous developments in maritime transport technology - the steamship, the telegraph, and the railway - on global industrialisation and the advent of the ‘Second Global Age’. It is divided into three parts: the first surveys the development of steam navigation and locomotion by country and continent; the second explores the relationship between maritime trade and the ‘new world economy’ - particularly the impact of shortened distances and the increase in availability of information; and the third examines the challenges for maritime merchants that developed alongside the improved global communication systems. It concludes that both transport and communication were essential to the development of a world economy, and that British maritime activity was a crucial contributory element.
Torsten Feys
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781927869000
- eISBN:
- 9781786944443
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781927869000.003.0101
- Subject:
- History, Maritime History
This section is a brief introduction to the remainder of the journal, outlining how mass migration became a big business during the transition from sail to steam technology between 1870 and 1914. It ...
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This section is a brief introduction to the remainder of the journal, outlining how mass migration became a big business during the transition from sail to steam technology between 1870 and 1914. It also states that records from the Holland-America Line form the majority of the sources for the subsequent chapters.Less
This section is a brief introduction to the remainder of the journal, outlining how mass migration became a big business during the transition from sail to steam technology between 1870 and 1914. It also states that records from the Holland-America Line form the majority of the sources for the subsequent chapters.
