P. G. Walsh
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198269953
- eISBN:
- 9780191601132
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269951.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
The treatise incorporates two main themes, virginity in itself, and the necessity of humility in consecrated virginity. Virginity itself is considered from three aspects: first, Christ and his mother ...
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The treatise incorporates two main themes, virginity in itself, and the necessity of humility in consecrated virginity. Virginity itself is considered from three aspects: first, Christ and his mother are adduced as ideal types of fecund virginity. Second, virginity surpasses conjugal fidelity in merit; the goods of marriage are human goods, but consecrated virginity is angelic. But marriage is not to be disparaged by consecrated virgins. In demeaning it, the manichees misinterpret I Cor. 7, and Jovinian is condemned for equating marriage with it. Third, the nature of the reward in heaven is outlined. The second main topic of the treatise is the importance of humility. Scriptural models are proposed—the centurion, the Canaanite woman, the tax collector, and finally Christ himself.Less
The treatise incorporates two main themes, virginity in itself, and the necessity of humility in consecrated virginity. Virginity itself is considered from three aspects: first, Christ and his mother are adduced as ideal types of fecund virginity. Second, virginity surpasses conjugal fidelity in merit; the goods of marriage are human goods, but consecrated virginity is angelic. But marriage is not to be disparaged by consecrated virgins. In demeaning it, the manichees misinterpret I Cor. 7, and Jovinian is condemned for equating marriage with it. Third, the nature of the reward in heaven is outlined. The second main topic of the treatise is the importance of humility. Scriptural models are proposed—the centurion, the Canaanite woman, the tax collector, and finally Christ himself.
Berit Brogaard
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199796908
- eISBN:
- 9780199933235
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199796908.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
David Kaplan was one of the most vivid supporters of the view that there are temporal contents which tense operators operate on. The conclusion that the truth-value of sentence content may be ...
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David Kaplan was one of the most vivid supporters of the view that there are temporal contents which tense operators operate on. The conclusion that the truth-value of sentence content may be sensitive to time shifts does not by itself qualify as temporalism. If there are tense operators in English, then Kaplan’s argument succeeds in establishing that temporal contents satisfy the condition that they are contents that some intensional operators operate on. Since we have already argued that temporal contents satisfy the other conditions for being a proposition, we could take Kaplan’s argument to show that temporal contents are propositions. In response to Kaplan’s argument, several eternalists have defended the view that sentences have two kinds of content, temporal and eternal, but that only eternal content has proposition-status. The two kinds of content are also known as ‘compositional content’ and ‘assertoric content’. Rather than simply referring back to the general objections to eternalism provided in the first three chapters, I shall here offer independent arguments against each of the double-content strategies.Less
David Kaplan was one of the most vivid supporters of the view that there are temporal contents which tense operators operate on. The conclusion that the truth-value of sentence content may be sensitive to time shifts does not by itself qualify as temporalism. If there are tense operators in English, then Kaplan’s argument succeeds in establishing that temporal contents satisfy the condition that they are contents that some intensional operators operate on. Since we have already argued that temporal contents satisfy the other conditions for being a proposition, we could take Kaplan’s argument to show that temporal contents are propositions. In response to Kaplan’s argument, several eternalists have defended the view that sentences have two kinds of content, temporal and eternal, but that only eternal content has proposition-status. The two kinds of content are also known as ‘compositional content’ and ‘assertoric content’. Rather than simply referring back to the general objections to eternalism provided in the first three chapters, I shall here offer independent arguments against each of the double-content strategies.
Anna Wierzbicka
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137330
- eISBN:
- 9780199867905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137337.003.0019
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
This chapter links the parable of the Doorkeeper and other “parables of vigilance” with the eighteenth‐century spiritual writer Jean Pierre De Caussade's “spirituality of the present moment.” It ...
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This chapter links the parable of the Doorkeeper and other “parables of vigilance” with the eighteenth‐century spiritual writer Jean Pierre De Caussade's “spirituality of the present moment.” It points out that the metaphor of the doorkeeper illuminates the idea of fulfilling God's appointed task (being a watchman, a doorkeeper) and the idea of urgency, and that it is aimed in particular at the following way of thinking:If God wants me to do something I don’t have to do it nowI can do it at some other time (later)This chapter argues that de Caussade's notion of “the sacrament of the present moment” illuminates the parable's message that God appears incognito in the duty or task of the present moment, and that watchfulness and readiness to recognize him, alert one to the opportunity to enter the Kingdom of God, by meeting God in the present moment.Less
This chapter links the parable of the Doorkeeper and other “parables of vigilance” with the eighteenth‐century spiritual writer Jean Pierre De Caussade's “spirituality of the present moment.” It points out that the metaphor of the doorkeeper illuminates the idea of fulfilling God's appointed task (being a watchman, a doorkeeper) and the idea of urgency, and that it is aimed in particular at the following way of thinking:
If God wants me to do something I don’t have to do it now
I can do it at some other time (later)
This chapter argues that de Caussade's notion of “the sacrament of the present moment” illuminates the parable's message that God appears incognito in the duty or task of the present moment, and that watchfulness and readiness to recognize him, alert one to the opportunity to enter the Kingdom of God, by meeting God in the present moment.
Ian Hinckfuss
- Published in print:
- 1975
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198245193
- eISBN:
- 9780191680854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198245193.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter is primarily concerned with the attitude towards what is present or now as opposed to what is here, particularly with respect to the feeling that what is now has a preferred status of ...
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This chapter is primarily concerned with the attitude towards what is present or now as opposed to what is here, particularly with respect to the feeling that what is now has a preferred status of existence to what was or what will be. It also argues that the ability to describe events as being in the past or present or future is not sufficient to give the idea of a flow of time. In addition, the chapter demonstrates how reductions to purely indexical tensed discourse can eliminate reference to times and places, though it is also argued that the tensed discourse of ordinary language is not purely indexical. The chapter specifically looks at Moore's problem. Furthermore, it deals with simultaneity, the theory of The Present, and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic radiation. Einstein's operational definition of simultaneity is also provided. The experimental confirmation of Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic radiation is finally elaborated.Less
This chapter is primarily concerned with the attitude towards what is present or now as opposed to what is here, particularly with respect to the feeling that what is now has a preferred status of existence to what was or what will be. It also argues that the ability to describe events as being in the past or present or future is not sufficient to give the idea of a flow of time. In addition, the chapter demonstrates how reductions to purely indexical tensed discourse can eliminate reference to times and places, though it is also argued that the tensed discourse of ordinary language is not purely indexical. The chapter specifically looks at Moore's problem. Furthermore, it deals with simultaneity, the theory of The Present, and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic radiation. Einstein's operational definition of simultaneity is also provided. The experimental confirmation of Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic radiation is finally elaborated.
Jesse J. Prinz
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780195314595
- eISBN:
- 9780199979059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314595.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter investigates the unity of consciousness. Two conscious states are unified if they are part of the same overarching state. If consciousness is engendered by attention, then two states are ...
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This chapter investigates the unity of consciousness. Two conscious states are unified if they are part of the same overarching state. If consciousness is engendered by attention, then two states are part of the same state if they are co-attended. Since attention is implemented by gamma oscillations, this suggests that unity arises when different populations of neurons are phase-locked in the gamma range. Evidence from sensory integration and other sources is brought to bear in defence of this hypothesis. Attention and gamma are also used to explain unity over time. Three durations of the conscious moment are distinguished and related to attention: a minimal conscious instant, a minimal duration or now, and a more extended or specious present. Finally, it is argued that consciousness is not always unified, but appears unified whenever we look for unity, because looking for unity creates gamma coherence.Less
This chapter investigates the unity of consciousness. Two conscious states are unified if they are part of the same overarching state. If consciousness is engendered by attention, then two states are part of the same state if they are co-attended. Since attention is implemented by gamma oscillations, this suggests that unity arises when different populations of neurons are phase-locked in the gamma range. Evidence from sensory integration and other sources is brought to bear in defence of this hypothesis. Attention and gamma are also used to explain unity over time. Three durations of the conscious moment are distinguished and related to attention: a minimal conscious instant, a minimal duration or now, and a more extended or specious present. Finally, it is argued that consciousness is not always unified, but appears unified whenever we look for unity, because looking for unity creates gamma coherence.
Theodore Martin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231181921
- eISBN:
- 9780231543897
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231181921.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
What does it mean to call something “contemporary”? More than simply denoting what’s new, it speaks to how we come to know the present we’re living in and how we develop a shared story about it. The ...
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What does it mean to call something “contemporary”? More than simply denoting what’s new, it speaks to how we come to know the present we’re living in and how we develop a shared story about it. The story of trying to understand the present is an integral, yet often unnoticed, part of the literature and film of our moment. In Contemporary Drift, Theodore Martin argues that the contemporary is not just a historical period but also a conceptual problem, and he claims that contemporary genre fiction offers a much-needed resource for resolving that problem.
Contemporary Drift combines a theoretical focus on the challenge of conceptualizing the present with a historical account of contemporary literature and film. Emphasizing both the difficulty and the necessity of historicizing the contemporary, the book explores how recent works of fiction depict life in an age of global capitalism, postindustrialism, and climate change. Through new histories of the novel of manners, film noir, the Western, detective fiction, and the postapocalyptic novel, Martin shows how the problem of the contemporary preoccupies a wide range of novelists and filmmakers, including Zadie Smith, Colson Whitehead, Vikram Chandra, China Miéville, Kelly Reichardt, and the Coen brothers. Martin argues that genre provides these artists with a formal strategy for understanding both the content and the concept of the contemporary. Genre writing, with its mix of old and new, brings to light the complicated process by which we make sense of our present and determine what belongs to our time.Less
What does it mean to call something “contemporary”? More than simply denoting what’s new, it speaks to how we come to know the present we’re living in and how we develop a shared story about it. The story of trying to understand the present is an integral, yet often unnoticed, part of the literature and film of our moment. In Contemporary Drift, Theodore Martin argues that the contemporary is not just a historical period but also a conceptual problem, and he claims that contemporary genre fiction offers a much-needed resource for resolving that problem.
Contemporary Drift combines a theoretical focus on the challenge of conceptualizing the present with a historical account of contemporary literature and film. Emphasizing both the difficulty and the necessity of historicizing the contemporary, the book explores how recent works of fiction depict life in an age of global capitalism, postindustrialism, and climate change. Through new histories of the novel of manners, film noir, the Western, detective fiction, and the postapocalyptic novel, Martin shows how the problem of the contemporary preoccupies a wide range of novelists and filmmakers, including Zadie Smith, Colson Whitehead, Vikram Chandra, China Miéville, Kelly Reichardt, and the Coen brothers. Martin argues that genre provides these artists with a formal strategy for understanding both the content and the concept of the contemporary. Genre writing, with its mix of old and new, brings to light the complicated process by which we make sense of our present and determine what belongs to our time.
Bart van Es
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199249701
- eISBN:
- 9780191719332
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249701.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This book describes six modes through which Early Modern England addressed the past: chronicle, chorography, antiquarian discourse, euhemerism, typology, and prophecy. By setting this material ...
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This book describes six modes through which Early Modern England addressed the past: chronicle, chorography, antiquarian discourse, euhemerism, typology, and prophecy. By setting this material alongside the works of Edmund Spenser, the book explores allusive strategies ranging in effect from eulogy to polemic. Key Spenserian texts, including The Faerie Queene, The Shepeardes Calendar, and A View of the Present State of Ireland, are read against Elizabethan cultural documents extending from popular print to restricted manuscripts. Over the course of six chapters, each focusing on a single ‘form’, the book shows Spenser to have been an exceptional historical thinker. Drawing on recent studies of nationhood, the study not only offers a new picture of the English ‘Poet Historical’, but also makes an innovative contribution to current debates concerning the relationship between literature and history.Less
This book describes six modes through which Early Modern England addressed the past: chronicle, chorography, antiquarian discourse, euhemerism, typology, and prophecy. By setting this material alongside the works of Edmund Spenser, the book explores allusive strategies ranging in effect from eulogy to polemic. Key Spenserian texts, including The Faerie Queene, The Shepeardes Calendar, and A View of the Present State of Ireland, are read against Elizabethan cultural documents extending from popular print to restricted manuscripts. Over the course of six chapters, each focusing on a single ‘form’, the book shows Spenser to have been an exceptional historical thinker. Drawing on recent studies of nationhood, the study not only offers a new picture of the English ‘Poet Historical’, but also makes an innovative contribution to current debates concerning the relationship between literature and history.
Christopher Pavsek
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231160995
- eISBN:
- 9780231530811
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231160995.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter studies four of Alexander Kluge's major film and video works. Kluge's early documentary on the Nuremberg Party Grounds, Brutality in Stone (1961), is often described as an experimental ...
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This chapter studies four of Alexander Kluge's major film and video works. Kluge's early documentary on the Nuremberg Party Grounds, Brutality in Stone (1961), is often described as an experimental or critical documentary about the legacy of National Socialism, portrayed primarily through an exploration of the monumental architecture of the Nazi period. Yesterday Girl (1965) works against the mythology of the German “zero hour” after the World War II, in which the traumas of the past were repressed, while The Assault of the Present (1985) is concerned by the “temporal imperialism” of the New Media. The Fruits of Trust (2009) attempts to nurture the utopian principle of cinema within the seemingly hostile medium of television in an era marked simultaneously by the “timelessness of the earthly eternity” of capitalism, and a growing economic and environmental crisis that suggests that human beings' time on Earth might be all too limited.Less
This chapter studies four of Alexander Kluge's major film and video works. Kluge's early documentary on the Nuremberg Party Grounds, Brutality in Stone (1961), is often described as an experimental or critical documentary about the legacy of National Socialism, portrayed primarily through an exploration of the monumental architecture of the Nazi period. Yesterday Girl (1965) works against the mythology of the German “zero hour” after the World War II, in which the traumas of the past were repressed, while The Assault of the Present (1985) is concerned by the “temporal imperialism” of the New Media. The Fruits of Trust (2009) attempts to nurture the utopian principle of cinema within the seemingly hostile medium of television in an era marked simultaneously by the “timelessness of the earthly eternity” of capitalism, and a growing economic and environmental crisis that suggests that human beings' time on Earth might be all too limited.
Penelope Deutscher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231181518
- eISBN:
- 9780231543620
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231181518.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
In this chapter, Deutscher argues for a different understanding of Foucauldian critique and of the possibilities for transformation of the present with which his concept of critique is typically ...
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In this chapter, Deutscher argues for a different understanding of Foucauldian critique and of the possibilities for transformation of the present with which his concept of critique is typically associated. Foucauldian critique, she argues, is “cumulative.” By exploring the diversity of analyses offered by Foucault, she shows that a number of the forms of power he described did not replace each other chronologically in a linear progression. Instead, as Wendy Brown has emphasized, forms of power coincide. But instead of coinciding a mere contingent assemblages, Foucault shows that modes of power redeploy elements belonging to other modes. His analysis thus reveals that such elements are forces of immanent contestation lying in the present. As such, Foucault’s cumulative understanding of critique proves itself timely when contemporary modes of governmentality (including omnipresent neoliberalism) appear to be particularly intransigent.Less
In this chapter, Deutscher argues for a different understanding of Foucauldian critique and of the possibilities for transformation of the present with which his concept of critique is typically associated. Foucauldian critique, she argues, is “cumulative.” By exploring the diversity of analyses offered by Foucault, she shows that a number of the forms of power he described did not replace each other chronologically in a linear progression. Instead, as Wendy Brown has emphasized, forms of power coincide. But instead of coinciding a mere contingent assemblages, Foucault shows that modes of power redeploy elements belonging to other modes. His analysis thus reveals that such elements are forces of immanent contestation lying in the present. As such, Foucault’s cumulative understanding of critique proves itself timely when contemporary modes of governmentality (including omnipresent neoliberalism) appear to be particularly intransigent.
Henry Rousso
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226165066
- eISBN:
- 9780226165370
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226165370.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
In this book Rousso sets two tasks for himself: (1) to provide a history of the problem of “contemporariness” in history writing; (2) to analyze how contemporary history came to be a sub-discipline ...
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In this book Rousso sets two tasks for himself: (1) to provide a history of the problem of “contemporariness” in history writing; (2) to analyze how contemporary history came to be a sub-discipline and especially how it arose in response to catastrophes over the course of the 20th century. Above all, he is interested in how historians grapple with the problem of distance from an event even if they may have been participants. The book considers the current status of the discipline and provides an analysis of present-day societies in terms of the relations they maintain with the past, on the basis of the historiographical situation in France, Germany, and the English-speaking world. The history of the present time has come face to face with the tragedies of the 20th Century, especially World War I & II, and of the 21st. We must address history even when it reaches or exceeds the limit of the comprehensible and the acceptable. History no longer unfolds as traditions to be respected, legacies to be transmitted, knowledge to be elaborated, but rather as a constant “work” of mourning or memory. The new history of the present time is summoned to respond to the challenges of the return of the near past in a lethal form, as well as to seek atonement. Historians of the present time, sometimes against their will, have themselves become actors in a history still being made.Less
In this book Rousso sets two tasks for himself: (1) to provide a history of the problem of “contemporariness” in history writing; (2) to analyze how contemporary history came to be a sub-discipline and especially how it arose in response to catastrophes over the course of the 20th century. Above all, he is interested in how historians grapple with the problem of distance from an event even if they may have been participants. The book considers the current status of the discipline and provides an analysis of present-day societies in terms of the relations they maintain with the past, on the basis of the historiographical situation in France, Germany, and the English-speaking world. The history of the present time has come face to face with the tragedies of the 20th Century, especially World War I & II, and of the 21st. We must address history even when it reaches or exceeds the limit of the comprehensible and the acceptable. History no longer unfolds as traditions to be respected, legacies to be transmitted, knowledge to be elaborated, but rather as a constant “work” of mourning or memory. The new history of the present time is summoned to respond to the challenges of the return of the near past in a lethal form, as well as to seek atonement. Historians of the present time, sometimes against their will, have themselves become actors in a history still being made.
Gabriel Rockhill
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474405355
- eISBN:
- 9781474422321
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474405355.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The opening chapter explores a philosophic question that reflexively sheds light on the orientation of the book as a whole: how can we write the history of the present? Against the backdrop of the ...
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The opening chapter explores a philosophic question that reflexively sheds light on the orientation of the book as a whole: how can we write the history of the present? Against the backdrop of the more specific question of how to understand the present state of philosophy, it turns to the late work of Michel Foucault and his unique account of the ontology of actuality or of contemporary reality (ontologie de l’actualité). It carefully reconstitutes his concern with providing a historico-philosophical justification of his own project, which he situates in a trajectory that begins with the emergence of the ontology of actuality in the later Kant. It assesses the contemporary relevancy of his critique of historical periodization and his redefinition of modernity in terms of a critical attitude. Given the apparent contradiction between his rejection of periodic history and his identification of a new era of historical thought, the chapter goes on to suggest that an alternative logic of history—founded on the three dimensions of time, space and social practice—would allow us to completely reformulate the way in which we think the present.Less
The opening chapter explores a philosophic question that reflexively sheds light on the orientation of the book as a whole: how can we write the history of the present? Against the backdrop of the more specific question of how to understand the present state of philosophy, it turns to the late work of Michel Foucault and his unique account of the ontology of actuality or of contemporary reality (ontologie de l’actualité). It carefully reconstitutes his concern with providing a historico-philosophical justification of his own project, which he situates in a trajectory that begins with the emergence of the ontology of actuality in the later Kant. It assesses the contemporary relevancy of his critique of historical periodization and his redefinition of modernity in terms of a critical attitude. Given the apparent contradiction between his rejection of periodic history and his identification of a new era of historical thought, the chapter goes on to suggest that an alternative logic of history—founded on the three dimensions of time, space and social practice—would allow us to completely reformulate the way in which we think the present.
Jeffrey Insko
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198825647
- eISBN:
- 9780191864285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198825647.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
The Ever-Present Now: Time, History, and Antebellum American Writing begins with Garrison’s experience of the present moment’s dire intensity, because for him and a number of his contemporaries, that ...
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The Ever-Present Now: Time, History, and Antebellum American Writing begins with Garrison’s experience of the present moment’s dire intensity, because for him and a number of his contemporaries, that experience exemplifies an attitude and stance toward history and one’s own place in it that is the central focus of this book. The introduction establishes the Romantic concern with “the living present” as an ethico-political imperative through readings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s well-known poem “A Psalm of Life” and William Lloyd Garrison’s little-known 1857 speech “The Living Present and the Dead Past.” The introduction argues that in their devotion to the present, Longfellow and Garrison give expression to a historical disposition at odds both with modern historiographical injunctions against “presentism” and with political moderation.Less
The Ever-Present Now: Time, History, and Antebellum American Writing begins with Garrison’s experience of the present moment’s dire intensity, because for him and a number of his contemporaries, that experience exemplifies an attitude and stance toward history and one’s own place in it that is the central focus of this book. The introduction establishes the Romantic concern with “the living present” as an ethico-political imperative through readings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s well-known poem “A Psalm of Life” and William Lloyd Garrison’s little-known 1857 speech “The Living Present and the Dead Past.” The introduction argues that in their devotion to the present, Longfellow and Garrison give expression to a historical disposition at odds both with modern historiographical injunctions against “presentism” and with political moderation.
Paul Rabinow and Anthony Stavrianakis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226036885
- eISBN:
- 9780226037073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226037073.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
This conclusion presents some final reflections on the labors of collaborative fieldwork. It also discusses the conceptual parameters of the terms “the contemporary” and “the present”.
This conclusion presents some final reflections on the labors of collaborative fieldwork. It also discusses the conceptual parameters of the terms “the contemporary” and “the present”.
George Kouvaros
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816695560
- eISBN:
- 9781452953540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816695560.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Chapter 4 considers how the formal strategies evident in the photographs Frank has produced since the publication of The Americans influence the storytelling structures and forms of address employed ...
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Chapter 4 considers how the formal strategies evident in the photographs Frank has produced since the publication of The Americans influence the storytelling structures and forms of address employed in the loose trilogy constituted by Life Dances On … , Home Improvements and The Present. In each of these works, Frank records the details of a world that is close at hand: a cup resting under a dripping faucet, flies crawling across a windowpane, dime-store souvenirs gathering dust on a windowsill. At the same time, he renders the presence of people and events that exist only through the processes of memory.Less
Chapter 4 considers how the formal strategies evident in the photographs Frank has produced since the publication of The Americans influence the storytelling structures and forms of address employed in the loose trilogy constituted by Life Dances On … , Home Improvements and The Present. In each of these works, Frank records the details of a world that is close at hand: a cup resting under a dripping faucet, flies crawling across a windowpane, dime-store souvenirs gathering dust on a windowsill. At the same time, he renders the presence of people and events that exist only through the processes of memory.
Alexander Gelley
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823262564
- eISBN:
- 9780823266562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823262564.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Messianism for Benjamin was in no sense the expectation of an ultimate redemption but rather a willingness to confront the extreme alternatives posed by the present situation. This messianism is not ...
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Messianism for Benjamin was in no sense the expectation of an ultimate redemption but rather a willingness to confront the extreme alternatives posed by the present situation. This messianism is not equivalent to a utopian position. Where a utopia is future directed, Benjamin’s messianism is radically presentist, in the sense of Vergegenwärtigung, which stresses the dimension of realization or fulfillment in a present moment. What Benjamin termed “weak” messianism in the Theses is consistent with the fundamentally performative aim of his writing, designed to awaken a readership by means of image, example, anecdote, citation. The intent of The Arcades Project was to realize a textual medium that would have the kind of capacity that Benjamin ascribed to fashion and to revolution-“a tiger’s leap into the past.” This chapter traces, in a series of evolving stages, a discontinuous messianic current in Benjamin’s work, beginning with his early “The Life of Students” and extending to his preoccupation with certain fantastic and parabolic narratives.Less
Messianism for Benjamin was in no sense the expectation of an ultimate redemption but rather a willingness to confront the extreme alternatives posed by the present situation. This messianism is not equivalent to a utopian position. Where a utopia is future directed, Benjamin’s messianism is radically presentist, in the sense of Vergegenwärtigung, which stresses the dimension of realization or fulfillment in a present moment. What Benjamin termed “weak” messianism in the Theses is consistent with the fundamentally performative aim of his writing, designed to awaken a readership by means of image, example, anecdote, citation. The intent of The Arcades Project was to realize a textual medium that would have the kind of capacity that Benjamin ascribed to fashion and to revolution-“a tiger’s leap into the past.” This chapter traces, in a series of evolving stages, a discontinuous messianic current in Benjamin’s work, beginning with his early “The Life of Students” and extending to his preoccupation with certain fantastic and parabolic narratives.
M. Joshua Mozersky
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198718161
- eISBN:
- 9780191787508
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718161.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
The present enjoys a position of privilege in human experience. Why is this the case, if the world itself is tenseless, i.e. does not distinguish one time from any other? In this chapter it is argued ...
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The present enjoys a position of privilege in human experience. Why is this the case, if the world itself is tenseless, i.e. does not distinguish one time from any other? In this chapter it is argued that the tenseless theory of time can, when combined with a direct reference theory of temporal indexicals, and an account of the role that causation plays in perception, explain this phenomenon. It is concluded that the semantics of perceptual belief reports is tenseless and that even an eternalist world is one in which tensed language and thought would be useful.Less
The present enjoys a position of privilege in human experience. Why is this the case, if the world itself is tenseless, i.e. does not distinguish one time from any other? In this chapter it is argued that the tenseless theory of time can, when combined with a direct reference theory of temporal indexicals, and an account of the role that causation plays in perception, explain this phenomenon. It is concluded that the semantics of perceptual belief reports is tenseless and that even an eternalist world is one in which tensed language and thought would be useful.
Mette Bundvad
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198739708
- eISBN:
- 9780191802652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198739708.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Chapter 4 discusses the present in Qohelet. Central to the chapter is an in-depth analysis of 3:1–15. First, the analysis outlines the temporal scheme of the poem in 3:2–8. This poem offers a ...
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Chapter 4 discusses the present in Qohelet. Central to the chapter is an in-depth analysis of 3:1–15. First, the analysis outlines the temporal scheme of the poem in 3:2–8. This poem offers a schematic presentation of events and activities as an interpretative framework, through which the times of an individual’s life can be understood and rendered meaningful despite their impermanence. Second, the chapter discusses the narrator’s rejection of this temporal scheme in 3:9ff.: the establishment of this kind of system radically exceeds the human ability to understand and decode temporal conditions. According to Qohelet, the human experience of alternating times prevents them from establishing any reliable patterns of expectations towards time—also in the present moment and their own everyday existence. Finally, Chapter 4 surveys material which is representative for Qohelet’s engagement with human society in the light of temporal reality (4:1–3 and 5:7).Less
Chapter 4 discusses the present in Qohelet. Central to the chapter is an in-depth analysis of 3:1–15. First, the analysis outlines the temporal scheme of the poem in 3:2–8. This poem offers a schematic presentation of events and activities as an interpretative framework, through which the times of an individual’s life can be understood and rendered meaningful despite their impermanence. Second, the chapter discusses the narrator’s rejection of this temporal scheme in 3:9ff.: the establishment of this kind of system radically exceeds the human ability to understand and decode temporal conditions. According to Qohelet, the human experience of alternating times prevents them from establishing any reliable patterns of expectations towards time—also in the present moment and their own everyday existence. Finally, Chapter 4 surveys material which is representative for Qohelet’s engagement with human society in the light of temporal reality (4:1–3 and 5:7).
Margret Frenz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199451753
- eISBN:
- 9780199084579
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199451753.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Social History
Chapter 7, ‘Remembering East Africa’, reflects on how migration is remembered, and how remembering or forgetting shape individual and collective memories and identities. East African Goans often ...
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Chapter 7, ‘Remembering East Africa’, reflects on how migration is remembered, and how remembering or forgetting shape individual and collective memories and identities. East African Goans often recall their lives in East Africa as having been the ‘best time’ of their lives, often silencing contentious experiences related to race, class, and gender. Many still regard East Africa nostalgically as ‘home’ and have ambivalent perspectives on return visits. Often, reunions have functioned as catalysts to help first generation migrants to live with a present that is perceived as ‘uncomfortable’. The interviews illustrate very clearly that how life in East Africa is remembered differs between second and third generation East African Goans now living in the UK, Canada, Goa, or East Africa.Less
Chapter 7, ‘Remembering East Africa’, reflects on how migration is remembered, and how remembering or forgetting shape individual and collective memories and identities. East African Goans often recall their lives in East Africa as having been the ‘best time’ of their lives, often silencing contentious experiences related to race, class, and gender. Many still regard East Africa nostalgically as ‘home’ and have ambivalent perspectives on return visits. Often, reunions have functioned as catalysts to help first generation migrants to live with a present that is perceived as ‘uncomfortable’. The interviews illustrate very clearly that how life in East Africa is remembered differs between second and third generation East African Goans now living in the UK, Canada, Goa, or East Africa.
Sabina Donati (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804784511
- eISBN:
- 9780804787338
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804784511.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
“Becoming Visible”: Italian Women and Their Male Co-Citizens in the Liberal State
“Becoming Visible”: Italian Women and Their Male Co-Citizens in the Liberal State
Ingo Trauschweizer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813177007
- eISBN:
- 9780813177038
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813177007.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Military History
In the final chapter I widen the chronology to consider Taylor’s advice and commentary into the 1980s. Taylor appeared as a “Wise Man” in deliberations on Vietnam; he was one of the final holdouts ...
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In the final chapter I widen the chronology to consider Taylor’s advice and commentary into the 1980s. Taylor appeared as a “Wise Man” in deliberations on Vietnam; he was one of the final holdouts who thought the president should stay the course even after the Tet Offensive. He remained a liberal Cold War hawk in his public commentaries throughout the 1970s, when he became a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. In his 1984 testimony before a congressional committee that would ultimately craft the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act, Taylor stated that the JCS could not be reformed—the committee needed to be torn down. He remained consistent: he preferred one general to command the armed forces and offer powerful advice aligned with the president’s foreign policy.Less
In the final chapter I widen the chronology to consider Taylor’s advice and commentary into the 1980s. Taylor appeared as a “Wise Man” in deliberations on Vietnam; he was one of the final holdouts who thought the president should stay the course even after the Tet Offensive. He remained a liberal Cold War hawk in his public commentaries throughout the 1970s, when he became a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. In his 1984 testimony before a congressional committee that would ultimately craft the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act, Taylor stated that the JCS could not be reformed—the committee needed to be torn down. He remained consistent: he preferred one general to command the armed forces and offer powerful advice aligned with the president’s foreign policy.