Geoffrey Lloyd
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199214617
- eISBN:
- 9780191706493
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214617.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain ...
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This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain psychological capabilities — the capacity to learn a language, for instance. On the other, different individuals and groups have very different talents, tastes, and beliefs, for instance about how they see themselves, other humans and the world around them. These issues are highly charged, for any denial of psychic unity savours of racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the spectres of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs systems, and their mutual unintelligibility. The book examines where different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical, anthropological and historical, can take us. It discusses colour perception, spatial cognition, animal and plant taxonomy, the emotions, ideas of health and well-being, concepts of the self, agency and causation, varying perceptions of the distinction between nature and culture, and reasoning itself. It pays attention to the multidimensionality of the phenomena to be apprehended and to the diversity of manners, or styles, of apprehending them. The weight to be given to different factors, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, ideological, varies as between different subject areas and sometimes even within a single area. The book uses recent work in social anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and the history of ideas to redefine the problems and clarify how our evident psychic diversity can be reconciled with our shared humanity.Less
This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain psychological capabilities — the capacity to learn a language, for instance. On the other, different individuals and groups have very different talents, tastes, and beliefs, for instance about how they see themselves, other humans and the world around them. These issues are highly charged, for any denial of psychic unity savours of racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the spectres of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs systems, and their mutual unintelligibility. The book examines where different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical, anthropological and historical, can take us. It discusses colour perception, spatial cognition, animal and plant taxonomy, the emotions, ideas of health and well-being, concepts of the self, agency and causation, varying perceptions of the distinction between nature and culture, and reasoning itself. It pays attention to the multidimensionality of the phenomena to be apprehended and to the diversity of manners, or styles, of apprehending them. The weight to be given to different factors, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, ideological, varies as between different subject areas and sometimes even within a single area. The book uses recent work in social anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and the history of ideas to redefine the problems and clarify how our evident psychic diversity can be reconciled with our shared humanity.
Richard Gaskin
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239450
- eISBN:
- 9780191716997
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239450.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This book is about the philosophy of language. It analyses what is distinctive about sentences and the propositions they express — what marks them off from mere lists of words and mere aggregates of ...
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This book is about the philosophy of language. It analyses what is distinctive about sentences and the propositions they express — what marks them off from mere lists of words and mere aggregates of word-meanings respectively. Since it identifies the world with all the true and false propositions, the book's account of the unity of the proposition has significant implications for our understanding of the nature of reality. The book argues that the unity of the proposition is constituted by a certain infinitistic structure known in the tradition as ‘Bradley's regress’. Usually, Bradley's regress has been regarded as vicious, but the book argues that it is the metaphysical ground of the propositional unity, and gives us an important insight into the fundamental make-up of the world.Less
This book is about the philosophy of language. It analyses what is distinctive about sentences and the propositions they express — what marks them off from mere lists of words and mere aggregates of word-meanings respectively. Since it identifies the world with all the true and false propositions, the book's account of the unity of the proposition has significant implications for our understanding of the nature of reality. The book argues that the unity of the proposition is constituted by a certain infinitistic structure known in the tradition as ‘Bradley's regress’. Usually, Bradley's regress has been regarded as vicious, but the book argues that it is the metaphysical ground of the propositional unity, and gives us an important insight into the fundamental make-up of the world.
Debra L. Dodson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198296744
- eISBN:
- 9780191603709
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198296746.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The ratings of ten interest groups, along with party unity and presidential support scores, are analyzed to explore the broader evidence of change and stability in gender difference and women’s ...
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The ratings of ten interest groups, along with party unity and presidential support scores, are analyzed to explore the broader evidence of change and stability in gender difference and women’s impact across the strikingly different environments of the 103rd and 104th Congresses. Although the results suggest that increased descriptive representation will enhance substantive representation of women, these findings of gender difference coexist with evidence that descriptive representation might not necessarily contribute to increased substantive representation of women. Gender differences narrowed in the 104th, primarily due to the influx of a new cohort of Republican women who were in some cases even more conservative than their male colleagues, but also due to ‘conversion’ effects, as veteran Republican women shifted rightward in an institutional environment where the cost of difference increased. With Democratic men on average being more feminist/liberal than Republican women on average, the question is raised whether substantive representation of women would be better served by increasing the proportional presence of Democrats (regardless of gender) or by increasing women’s presence regardless of party.Less
The ratings of ten interest groups, along with party unity and presidential support scores, are analyzed to explore the broader evidence of change and stability in gender difference and women’s impact across the strikingly different environments of the 103rd and 104th Congresses. Although the results suggest that increased descriptive representation will enhance substantive representation of women, these findings of gender difference coexist with evidence that descriptive representation might not necessarily contribute to increased substantive representation of women. Gender differences narrowed in the 104th, primarily due to the influx of a new cohort of Republican women who were in some cases even more conservative than their male colleagues, but also due to ‘conversion’ effects, as veteran Republican women shifted rightward in an institutional environment where the cost of difference increased. With Democratic men on average being more feminist/liberal than Republican women on average, the question is raised whether substantive representation of women would be better served by increasing the proportional presence of Democrats (regardless of gender) or by increasing women’s presence regardless of party.
Roland Enmarch
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264331
- eISBN:
- 9780191734106
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264331.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This book presents a commentary on and an analysis of P. Leiden I 344 recto, which contains the poem variously called The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All or The Admonitions (Mahnworte), from ...
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This book presents a commentary on and an analysis of P. Leiden I 344 recto, which contains the poem variously called The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All or The Admonitions (Mahnworte), from the Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt. The first part of the book comprises an analysis of several literary aspects of the poem, including its unity, compositional date, reception, possible setting, genre, literary style and meaning. It also offers a literary reading of the poem within the context of the cultural and intellectual milieu that produced it. The second part of the book provides a detailed translation, commentary to, and literary reading of, the poem, subdivided into sections that largely follow the divisions within the manuscript. A metrical transliteration is given, broadly following the prosodic principles of Gerhard Fecht, which provide a pragmatic formal mode of analysis. The degree to which these are relevant to the compositional structure of the poem is discussed.Less
This book presents a commentary on and an analysis of P. Leiden I 344 recto, which contains the poem variously called The Dialogue of Ipuwer and the Lord of All or The Admonitions (Mahnworte), from the Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt. The first part of the book comprises an analysis of several literary aspects of the poem, including its unity, compositional date, reception, possible setting, genre, literary style and meaning. It also offers a literary reading of the poem within the context of the cultural and intellectual milieu that produced it. The second part of the book provides a detailed translation, commentary to, and literary reading of, the poem, subdivided into sections that largely follow the divisions within the manuscript. A metrical transliteration is given, broadly following the prosodic principles of Gerhard Fecht, which provide a pragmatic formal mode of analysis. The degree to which these are relevant to the compositional structure of the poem is discussed.
Tim Bayne
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199215386
- eISBN:
- 9780191594786
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215386.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, General
One of the features of consciousness that has been largely overlooked in recent treatments of the topic is its unity. What is the unity of consciousness? To what degree might consciousness be ...
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One of the features of consciousness that has been largely overlooked in recent treatments of the topic is its unity. What is the unity of consciousness? To what degree might consciousness be unified? And what implications might the unity of consciousness have for our conception of consciousness and the self? Drawing on philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, this book presents answers to these questions. The first part of the book develops a conception of the unity of consciousness according to which a subject has a unified conscious if and only if it has a single conscious state that subsumes each and every one of its conscious states. This conception of the unity of consciousness gives rise to the unity thesis—the claim that consciousness in human beings is necessarily unified. The second part of the volume examines the plausibility of the unity thesis. The book develops a model for evaluating the unity thesis and then goes on to apply this model to a wide range of syndromes—such as anosognosia, the hidden observer in hypnosis, and the split‐brain syndrome—in which the unity of consciousness is often said to breakdown. In each case the evidence in favour of disunity models is found wanting. The final third of the volume examines points of contact between the unity of consciousness on the one hand and theories of theories of consciousness, the sense of embodiment, and accounts of the self on the other.Less
One of the features of consciousness that has been largely overlooked in recent treatments of the topic is its unity. What is the unity of consciousness? To what degree might consciousness be unified? And what implications might the unity of consciousness have for our conception of consciousness and the self? Drawing on philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, this book presents answers to these questions. The first part of the book develops a conception of the unity of consciousness according to which a subject has a unified conscious if and only if it has a single conscious state that subsumes each and every one of its conscious states. This conception of the unity of consciousness gives rise to the unity thesis—the claim that consciousness in human beings is necessarily unified. The second part of the volume examines the plausibility of the unity thesis. The book develops a model for evaluating the unity thesis and then goes on to apply this model to a wide range of syndromes—such as anosognosia, the hidden observer in hypnosis, and the split‐brain syndrome—in which the unity of consciousness is often said to breakdown. In each case the evidence in favour of disunity models is found wanting. The final third of the volume examines points of contact between the unity of consciousness on the one hand and theories of theories of consciousness, the sense of embodiment, and accounts of the self on the other.
David F. Armstrong and Sherman E. Wilcox
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195163483
- eISBN:
- 9780199867523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195163483.003.0009
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
This concluding chapter presents a summary of the main argument of the book, which is that signed languages are in an important sense not unique, that they are merely manifestations of the human ...
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This concluding chapter presents a summary of the main argument of the book, which is that signed languages are in an important sense not unique, that they are merely manifestations of the human language ability, unfamiliar only because language scientists of the time were not familiar with deaf people and their natural languages. It has been proposed that transformation of gesture into language lies at the heart of the origin of language, that just as grammaticization-as-ritualization accounts for the change from lexical to grammatical, it also accounts for the transformation of gesture into language. Ritualization is implicated in the phylogenetic evolution of language from nonlinguistic behaviours, with visible gestures playing a key role.Less
This concluding chapter presents a summary of the main argument of the book, which is that signed languages are in an important sense not unique, that they are merely manifestations of the human language ability, unfamiliar only because language scientists of the time were not familiar with deaf people and their natural languages. It has been proposed that transformation of gesture into language lies at the heart of the origin of language, that just as grammaticization-as-ritualization accounts for the change from lexical to grammatical, it also accounts for the transformation of gesture into language. Ritualization is implicated in the phylogenetic evolution of language from nonlinguistic behaviours, with visible gestures playing a key role.
DIRK SPILKER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199284122
- eISBN:
- 9780191712579
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284122.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The German communists who resumed their work in Soviet-occupied eastern Germany in the dying days of World War II were determined to exploit the existing power vacuum and seize — with help from the ...
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The German communists who resumed their work in Soviet-occupied eastern Germany in the dying days of World War II were determined to exploit the existing power vacuum and seize — with help from the Soviet Union — the key posts in the new administrations. Their plan was to absorb Germany's proud but weakened Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) into a communist-led Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and thus win control of the German workers' movement, destroy the power of Germany's upper bourgeoisie through a series of radical economic reforms promoted under the guise of anti-fascism, and win the support of the German middle classes by protecting their interests and rejecting calls for an immediate transition to socialism. This strategy worked well until, in the autumn of 1945, opposition to the communists from Germany's other political parties, which had earlier been non-existent because of the post-war chaos, increased. Still, the founding of the SED was a success for the communists at a time when few things were certain in Germany.Less
The German communists who resumed their work in Soviet-occupied eastern Germany in the dying days of World War II were determined to exploit the existing power vacuum and seize — with help from the Soviet Union — the key posts in the new administrations. Their plan was to absorb Germany's proud but weakened Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) into a communist-led Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and thus win control of the German workers' movement, destroy the power of Germany's upper bourgeoisie through a series of radical economic reforms promoted under the guise of anti-fascism, and win the support of the German middle classes by protecting their interests and rejecting calls for an immediate transition to socialism. This strategy worked well until, in the autumn of 1945, opposition to the communists from Germany's other political parties, which had earlier been non-existent because of the post-war chaos, increased. Still, the founding of the SED was a success for the communists at a time when few things were certain in Germany.
Patrick Major
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199243280
- eISBN:
- 9780191714061
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243280.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Few historical changes occur literally overnight, but on 13 August 1961 18 million East Germans awoke to find themselves walled in by an edifice which was to become synonymous with the Cold War: the ...
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Few historical changes occur literally overnight, but on 13 August 1961 18 million East Germans awoke to find themselves walled in by an edifice which was to become synonymous with the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. This new history rejects traditional, top‐down approaches to Cold War politics, exploring instead how the border closure affected ordinary East Germans, from workers and farmers to teenagers and even party members, ‘caught out’ by Sunday the Thirteenth. Party, police, and Stasi reports reveal why one in six East Germans fled the country during the 1950s, undermining communist rule and forcing the eleventh‐hour decision by Khrushchev and Ulbricht to build a wall along the Cold War's frontline. Did East Germans resist or come to terms with immurement? Did the communist regime become more or less dictatorial within the confines of the so‐called ‘Antifascist Defence Rampart’? Using film and literature, but also the GDR's losing battle against Beatlemania, Patrick Major's cross‐disciplinary study suggests that popular culture both reinforced and undermined the closed society. Linking external and internal developments, Major argues that the GDR's official quest for international recognition, culminating in Ostpolitik and United Nations membership in the early 1970s, became its undoing, unleashing a human rights movement which fed into, but then broke with, the protests of 1989. After exploring the reasons for the fall of the Wall and reconstructing the heady days of the autumn revolution, the author reflects on the fate of the Wall after 1989, as it moved from demolition into the realm of memory.Less
Few historical changes occur literally overnight, but on 13 August 1961 18 million East Germans awoke to find themselves walled in by an edifice which was to become synonymous with the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. This new history rejects traditional, top‐down approaches to Cold War politics, exploring instead how the border closure affected ordinary East Germans, from workers and farmers to teenagers and even party members, ‘caught out’ by Sunday the Thirteenth. Party, police, and Stasi reports reveal why one in six East Germans fled the country during the 1950s, undermining communist rule and forcing the eleventh‐hour decision by Khrushchev and Ulbricht to build a wall along the Cold War's frontline. Did East Germans resist or come to terms with immurement? Did the communist regime become more or less dictatorial within the confines of the so‐called ‘Antifascist Defence Rampart’? Using film and literature, but also the GDR's losing battle against Beatlemania, Patrick Major's cross‐disciplinary study suggests that popular culture both reinforced and undermined the closed society. Linking external and internal developments, Major argues that the GDR's official quest for international recognition, culminating in Ostpolitik and United Nations membership in the early 1970s, became its undoing, unleashing a human rights movement which fed into, but then broke with, the protests of 1989. After exploring the reasons for the fall of the Wall and reconstructing the heady days of the autumn revolution, the author reflects on the fate of the Wall after 1989, as it moved from demolition into the realm of memory.
Louis A. Girifalco
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199228966
- eISBN:
- 9780191711183
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228966.003.0016
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
The theory of relativity is unique and is based on very simple ideas. In fact, it has only one fundamental premise and one physical fact. The premise is that the laws of physics must be the same ...
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The theory of relativity is unique and is based on very simple ideas. In fact, it has only one fundamental premise and one physical fact. The premise is that the laws of physics must be the same everywhere. It does not matter where we are or how we are moving, the laws must be the same. This is just an article of faith in the unity of nature. The physical fact is that the speed of light in a vacuum is the same no matter what. If the light source is stationary, or moving towards us, or moving away from us, we always measure the same speed. This is counterintuitive, but experiment shows it to be true and it must be accepted. Relativity then follows by inexorable logic. This minimalist foundation is part of the beauty of relativity. The structure of the theory is also so beautiful that it compels belief.Less
The theory of relativity is unique and is based on very simple ideas. In fact, it has only one fundamental premise and one physical fact. The premise is that the laws of physics must be the same everywhere. It does not matter where we are or how we are moving, the laws must be the same. This is just an article of faith in the unity of nature. The physical fact is that the speed of light in a vacuum is the same no matter what. If the light source is stationary, or moving towards us, or moving away from us, we always measure the same speed. This is counterintuitive, but experiment shows it to be true and it must be accepted. Relativity then follows by inexorable logic. This minimalist foundation is part of the beauty of relativity. The structure of the theory is also so beautiful that it compels belief.
Carolyne Larrington
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119821
- eISBN:
- 9780191671210
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119821.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This is a comparative study of Old Icelandic and Old English wisdom poetry. It examines problems of form, unity, and coherence, and how the genre responds to social change, both reflecting and ...
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This is a comparative study of Old Icelandic and Old English wisdom poetry. It examines problems of form, unity, and coherence, and how the genre responds to social change, both reflecting and shaping the thinking of the communities that originate it. The author analyses the differences between the pagan wisdom of Norse, ranging through everyday practical advice, rune magic, and spells, and the Christian, socially oriented ideals of Old English wisdom poetry, strongly rooted in Christian concepts of ‘natural’ order and hierarchy in God’s Creation. Close reading in primary texts, both runic and magical, lays bare the skilful, structural integration of pragmatic, social wisdom with other kinds of knowledge. The book explores the possibility of Christian influence on Norse texts and demonstrates the impact of Christian learning on the ancient pagan genre. The existence of a gnomic ‘key’ in Norse and English narrative verse is also shown. Far from being platitudinous moralizing, the wisdom poets of the two literatures reveal themselves as comic, ironic, dramatic, and grandiose by turns, exploring a gamut of themes unequalled in any other genre of the period.Less
This is a comparative study of Old Icelandic and Old English wisdom poetry. It examines problems of form, unity, and coherence, and how the genre responds to social change, both reflecting and shaping the thinking of the communities that originate it. The author analyses the differences between the pagan wisdom of Norse, ranging through everyday practical advice, rune magic, and spells, and the Christian, socially oriented ideals of Old English wisdom poetry, strongly rooted in Christian concepts of ‘natural’ order and hierarchy in God’s Creation. Close reading in primary texts, both runic and magical, lays bare the skilful, structural integration of pragmatic, social wisdom with other kinds of knowledge. The book explores the possibility of Christian influence on Norse texts and demonstrates the impact of Christian learning on the ancient pagan genre. The existence of a gnomic ‘key’ in Norse and English narrative verse is also shown. Far from being platitudinous moralizing, the wisdom poets of the two literatures reveal themselves as comic, ironic, dramatic, and grandiose by turns, exploring a gamut of themes unequalled in any other genre of the period.
Steven Rendall
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198151807
- eISBN:
- 9780191672842
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198151807.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
Most modern critics (even those who have emphasized the ‘evolution’ of Montaigne's ideas) have sought to explain away the contradictions and incoherences of Montaigne's Essais. This book investigates ...
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Most modern critics (even those who have emphasized the ‘evolution’ of Montaigne's ideas) have sought to explain away the contradictions and incoherences of Montaigne's Essais. This book investigates the role of these internal differences in the opinions recorded, in voices and modes of discourse, in logical levels, in conceptions of writing and of reading, through a series of careful, lucid readings of selected passages from the Essais. The author tracks their operation in Montaigne's text and shows how Montaigne's writing constantly recontextualizes his own discourse (through his practice of interpolating new material in successive editions and adding new chapters) as well as that of other authors (through quotation, paraphrase, commentary). Rather than merely negative features, the author argues that such ‘differences’ are essential to a practice of writing that both defines and challenges a notion of ‘unity’, and can be seen as an uneasy and disturbing element related to a historical shift from earlier ways of controlling meaning, to one based on ‘the author function’.Less
Most modern critics (even those who have emphasized the ‘evolution’ of Montaigne's ideas) have sought to explain away the contradictions and incoherences of Montaigne's Essais. This book investigates the role of these internal differences in the opinions recorded, in voices and modes of discourse, in logical levels, in conceptions of writing and of reading, through a series of careful, lucid readings of selected passages from the Essais. The author tracks their operation in Montaigne's text and shows how Montaigne's writing constantly recontextualizes his own discourse (through his practice of interpolating new material in successive editions and adding new chapters) as well as that of other authors (through quotation, paraphrase, commentary). Rather than merely negative features, the author argues that such ‘differences’ are essential to a practice of writing that both defines and challenges a notion of ‘unity’, and can be seen as an uneasy and disturbing element related to a historical shift from earlier ways of controlling meaning, to one based on ‘the author function’.
Jon M. Robertson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199212606
- eISBN:
- 9780191707360
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199212606.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter demonstrates that Athanasius — as desirous of holding to a true monotheism as were others of his day — located the ‘oneness’ demanded by monotheism in the Godhead (or θέ οτης) within ...
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This chapter demonstrates that Athanasius — as desirous of holding to a true monotheism as were others of his day — located the ‘oneness’ demanded by monotheism in the Godhead (or θέ οτης) within which a plurality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exists. This view substantially differed from that of Eusebius of Caesarea and was a considerable theological issue at stake in the ‘Arian’ controversy; an issue which affected liturgy, worship, and the very identification of Christianity as a type of monotheism. The chapter begins by inspecting an early argument for the divine unity proffered by Athanasius in the Contra Gentes. It then analyses Athanasius' view of the unity of the ‘Godhead’ (θέ οτης) in Contra Arianos I, II, and III.Less
This chapter demonstrates that Athanasius — as desirous of holding to a true monotheism as were others of his day — located the ‘oneness’ demanded by monotheism in the Godhead (or θέ οτης) within which a plurality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exists. This view substantially differed from that of Eusebius of Caesarea and was a considerable theological issue at stake in the ‘Arian’ controversy; an issue which affected liturgy, worship, and the very identification of Christianity as a type of monotheism. The chapter begins by inspecting an early argument for the divine unity proffered by Athanasius in the Contra Gentes. It then analyses Athanasius' view of the unity of the ‘Godhead’ (θέ οτης) in Contra Arianos I, II, and III.
Michael P. Lynch
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199218738
- eISBN:
- 9780191711794
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199218738.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology, Philosophy of Language
This introductory chapter provides two important motivations for the view of truth presented in the book. First, an account of truth that makes sense of both the diversity of our thought and its ...
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This introductory chapter provides two important motivations for the view of truth presented in the book. First, an account of truth that makes sense of both the diversity of our thought and its cognitive unity is needed. Second, an account of truth that allows us to retain truth as an explanatory tool is needed.Less
This introductory chapter provides two important motivations for the view of truth presented in the book. First, an account of truth that makes sense of both the diversity of our thought and its cognitive unity is needed. Second, an account of truth that allows us to retain truth as an explanatory tool is needed.
Jeffrey S. Lantis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199535019
- eISBN:
- 9780191715952
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199535019.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, International Relations and Politics
The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe (or European Constitution) provided a plan for deepening European integration with a centralization of power in Brussels. Supporters believed that it ...
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The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe (or European Constitution) provided a plan for deepening European integration with a centralization of power in Brussels. Supporters believed that it offered the promise of greater political, economic, and social unity for Europe in the twenty-first century. French and German government leaders hailed the advent of the treaty as a “moment of destiny” for the continent. While the German government ratified the treaty quickly, it generated serious controversy in France. Voters rejected the treaty in a national referendum on June 1, 2005, dealing a serious blow to progress on European integration.Less
The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe (or European Constitution) provided a plan for deepening European integration with a centralization of power in Brussels. Supporters believed that it offered the promise of greater political, economic, and social unity for Europe in the twenty-first century. French and German government leaders hailed the advent of the treaty as a “moment of destiny” for the continent. While the German government ratified the treaty quickly, it generated serious controversy in France. Voters rejected the treaty in a national referendum on June 1, 2005, dealing a serious blow to progress on European integration.
Donald Rutherford and J. A. Cover (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195143744
- eISBN:
- 9780199835317
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195143744.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This book presents 12 essays that illustrate the current state of scholarship on Leibniz’s metaphysics. Essays 1 and 2 tackle the different aspects of one of the main topics of Leibniz’s metaphysics ...
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This book presents 12 essays that illustrate the current state of scholarship on Leibniz’s metaphysics. Essays 1 and 2 tackle the different aspects of one of the main topics of Leibniz’s metaphysics — the relation of unity and multiplicity. Essays 3 and 4 focus on the ontological status of body in Leibniz’s middle period. Essays 5 and 6 challenge the features of Leibniz’s hypothesis of preestablished harmony. Essay 7 surveys Leibniz’s claims on behalf of teleological concepts in the explanation of nature and harmony. Essay 8 explores the conception of spontaneity or self-determination. Essays 9 and 10 examine Leibniz’s doctrine of moral necessity. Essays 11 and 12 address the role of “intelligence” in Leibniz’s account of freedom.Less
This book presents 12 essays that illustrate the current state of scholarship on Leibniz’s metaphysics. Essays 1 and 2 tackle the different aspects of one of the main topics of Leibniz’s metaphysics — the relation of unity and multiplicity. Essays 3 and 4 focus on the ontological status of body in Leibniz’s middle period. Essays 5 and 6 challenge the features of Leibniz’s hypothesis of preestablished harmony. Essay 7 surveys Leibniz’s claims on behalf of teleological concepts in the explanation of nature and harmony. Essay 8 explores the conception of spontaneity or self-determination. Essays 9 and 10 examine Leibniz’s doctrine of moral necessity. Essays 11 and 12 address the role of “intelligence” in Leibniz’s account of freedom.
DAVID GARY SHAW
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204015
- eISBN:
- 9780191676086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204015.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions ...
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Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions such as the cathedral and the Borough Community. It may well be that the sort of volatility that is of the nature of towns actually contributes to the tenacity with which such groups reinforce and strengthen their corporate bodies. Community may thrive most where the instability of the membership is most acute. In a town such as Wells, where demographic and economic realities produced a largely transient population and where two local authorities vied for influence, the signs of the collectivity may well have loomed even larger. Thus, the official mentality of the leaders of the town was one which fostered the importance of unity, tradition, solidarity, and the connection of surrogate brotherhood. Social complexity helped to father social and cultural unity.Less
Although Wells was a town of, at best, medium size throughout the Middle Ages, it was a surprisingly complex place and yet it easily kept its identity, because of the continuation of institutions such as the cathedral and the Borough Community. It may well be that the sort of volatility that is of the nature of towns actually contributes to the tenacity with which such groups reinforce and strengthen their corporate bodies. Community may thrive most where the instability of the membership is most acute. In a town such as Wells, where demographic and economic realities produced a largely transient population and where two local authorities vied for influence, the signs of the collectivity may well have loomed even larger. Thus, the official mentality of the leaders of the town was one which fostered the importance of unity, tradition, solidarity, and the connection of surrogate brotherhood. Social complexity helped to father social and cultural unity.
John Reumann
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198262015
- eISBN:
- 9780191682285
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198262015.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The blend of variety and unity apparent in the thought of the New Testament has been a subject for theological debate through the ages. Certain themes, teachings, and characterizations are clearly ...
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The blend of variety and unity apparent in the thought of the New Testament has been a subject for theological debate through the ages. Certain themes, teachings, and characterizations are clearly consistent, but others are perplexing in their diversity. This distinction was acknowledged by the New Testament writers themselves. For example, the author of 2 Peter looking back at the letters of ‘our beloved brother Paul’ confesses that they contain ‘some things hard to understand’. This book explores in detail the different aspects of variety and unity in the entire New Testament. The book gives special attention to the sixteen books which fall outside the central Gospels and Pauline epistles and which offer the greatest challenge to the defence of unity. These include such important writings as Revelation, 1 Peter, Hebrews, and James. The discussion shows that, despite contemporary emphasis on the pluralism of the writings, there remains a central unifying focus: faith in Jesus as the Christ. Emphases on social setting, rhetoric, and narrative are shown to enrich traditional historical criticism and to open up the New Testament for readers today.Less
The blend of variety and unity apparent in the thought of the New Testament has been a subject for theological debate through the ages. Certain themes, teachings, and characterizations are clearly consistent, but others are perplexing in their diversity. This distinction was acknowledged by the New Testament writers themselves. For example, the author of 2 Peter looking back at the letters of ‘our beloved brother Paul’ confesses that they contain ‘some things hard to understand’. This book explores in detail the different aspects of variety and unity in the entire New Testament. The book gives special attention to the sixteen books which fall outside the central Gospels and Pauline epistles and which offer the greatest challenge to the defence of unity. These include such important writings as Revelation, 1 Peter, Hebrews, and James. The discussion shows that, despite contemporary emphasis on the pluralism of the writings, there remains a central unifying focus: faith in Jesus as the Christ. Emphases on social setting, rhetoric, and narrative are shown to enrich traditional historical criticism and to open up the New Testament for readers today.
James Mayall
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199267217
- eISBN:
- 9780191601118
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199267219.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
After the end of the Cold War, many in the West viewed Africa as a testing ground for the solidarist argument that sovereignty was no longer an absolute principle and that the international community ...
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After the end of the Cold War, many in the West viewed Africa as a testing ground for the solidarist argument that sovereignty was no longer an absolute principle and that the international community could intervene to protect individual from human rights violations. This argument seems particularly challenging in the African context, given the continental leadership’s historic commitment to territorial integrity and non-intervention. However, as the author shows, African leaders from 1945 to 1990 were largely upholding the pluralist international norms of the time. In other words, the case for humanitarian intervention – and the problems posed by the practice – are not region-specific. The early 1990s, during which the United Nations intervened in Somalia, seemed to confirm the solidarist position. However, the failure to intervene in Rwanda in 1994, and the more recent experience of interventions in Sierra Leone, present a more mixed picture. Humanitarian intervention remains a controversial practice because of its coercive means, and its tendency to attribute blame or responsibility in what are often very complex civil conflicts.Less
After the end of the Cold War, many in the West viewed Africa as a testing ground for the solidarist argument that sovereignty was no longer an absolute principle and that the international community could intervene to protect individual from human rights violations. This argument seems particularly challenging in the African context, given the continental leadership’s historic commitment to territorial integrity and non-intervention. However, as the author shows, African leaders from 1945 to 1990 were largely upholding the pluralist international norms of the time. In other words, the case for humanitarian intervention – and the problems posed by the practice – are not region-specific. The early 1990s, during which the United Nations intervened in Somalia, seemed to confirm the solidarist position. However, the failure to intervene in Rwanda in 1994, and the more recent experience of interventions in Sierra Leone, present a more mixed picture. Humanitarian intervention remains a controversial practice because of its coercive means, and its tendency to attribute blame or responsibility in what are often very complex civil conflicts.
Paul Abela
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199242740
- eISBN:
- 9780191697173
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199242740.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Immanuel Kant claims that transcendental idealism yields a form of realism at the empirical level. Polite silence might best describe the reception this assertion has garnered among even sympathetic ...
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Immanuel Kant claims that transcendental idealism yields a form of realism at the empirical level. Polite silence might best describe the reception this assertion has garnered among even sympathetic interpreters. This book challenges that prejudice, offering a controversial presentation and rehabilitation of Kant's empirical realism that places his realist credentials at the centre of the account of representation he offers in the Critique of Pure Reason. This interpretation ranges over the major themes contained in the Analytic of Principles and relevant portions of the Dialectic. Kant's analysis of the conditions necessary for determinate representation is shown to involve a realist understanding of the relation of mind and world. The realist character of Kant's account of empirical truth, and his commitment to the unity of nature, are defended against competing empiricist, pragmatist, and methodological readings. This title links Kant studies to contemporary philosophical debates, and will appeal to scholars and students of Kant, as well as epistemologists, metaphysicians, and philosophers of science interested in a powerful, experience-sensitive, form of realism.Less
Immanuel Kant claims that transcendental idealism yields a form of realism at the empirical level. Polite silence might best describe the reception this assertion has garnered among even sympathetic interpreters. This book challenges that prejudice, offering a controversial presentation and rehabilitation of Kant's empirical realism that places his realist credentials at the centre of the account of representation he offers in the Critique of Pure Reason. This interpretation ranges over the major themes contained in the Analytic of Principles and relevant portions of the Dialectic. Kant's analysis of the conditions necessary for determinate representation is shown to involve a realist understanding of the relation of mind and world. The realist character of Kant's account of empirical truth, and his commitment to the unity of nature, are defended against competing empiricist, pragmatist, and methodological readings. This title links Kant studies to contemporary philosophical debates, and will appeal to scholars and students of Kant, as well as epistemologists, metaphysicians, and philosophers of science interested in a powerful, experience-sensitive, form of realism.
Robert Merrihew Adams
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199207510
- eISBN:
- 9780191708824
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207510.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This book offers a systematic, comprehensive framework for thinking about the moral evaluation of character. Many recent attempts to stake out a place in moral philosophy for this concern define ...
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This book offers a systematic, comprehensive framework for thinking about the moral evaluation of character. Many recent attempts to stake out a place in moral philosophy for this concern define virtue in terms of its benefits for the virtuous person or for human society more generally. Part One of this book presents and defends a conception of virtue as intrinsic excellence of character, worth prizing for its own sake and not only for its benefits. The other two parts address two challenges to the ancient idea of excellence of character. One challenge arises from the importance of altruism in modern ethical thought, and the question of what altruism has to do with intrinsic excellence. Part Two argues that altruistic benevolence has indeed a crucial place in excellence of character, but that moral virtue should also be expected to involve excellence in being for other goods besides the well-being (and the rights) of other persons. It explores relations among cultural goods, personal relationships, one's own good, and the good of others, as objects of excellent motives. The other challenge is typified by doubts about the reality of moral virtue, arising from experiments and conclusions in social psychology. Part Three of the book explores in detail the prospects for an empirically realistic conception of excellence of character as an object of moral aspiration, endeavour, and education. It argues that such a conception will involve renunciation of the ancient thesis of the unity or mutual implication of all virtues, and acknowledgement of sufficient ‘moral luck’ in the development of any individual's character to make virtue very largely a gift, rather than an individual achievement, though nonetheless excellent and admirable for that.Less
This book offers a systematic, comprehensive framework for thinking about the moral evaluation of character. Many recent attempts to stake out a place in moral philosophy for this concern define virtue in terms of its benefits for the virtuous person or for human society more generally. Part One of this book presents and defends a conception of virtue as intrinsic excellence of character, worth prizing for its own sake and not only for its benefits. The other two parts address two challenges to the ancient idea of excellence of character. One challenge arises from the importance of altruism in modern ethical thought, and the question of what altruism has to do with intrinsic excellence. Part Two argues that altruistic benevolence has indeed a crucial place in excellence of character, but that moral virtue should also be expected to involve excellence in being for other goods besides the well-being (and the rights) of other persons. It explores relations among cultural goods, personal relationships, one's own good, and the good of others, as objects of excellent motives. The other challenge is typified by doubts about the reality of moral virtue, arising from experiments and conclusions in social psychology. Part Three of the book explores in detail the prospects for an empirically realistic conception of excellence of character as an object of moral aspiration, endeavour, and education. It argues that such a conception will involve renunciation of the ancient thesis of the unity or mutual implication of all virtues, and acknowledgement of sufficient ‘moral luck’ in the development of any individual's character to make virtue very largely a gift, rather than an individual achievement, though nonetheless excellent and admirable for that.
