The Positive Mind: Its Development and Impact on Modernity and Postmodernity
Author: Evaldas NekraĊĦas File Type: pdf This book is a radical reappraisal of positivism as a major movement in philosophy, science and culture. In examining positivist movement and its contemporary impact, the author had six goals. First, to provide a more precise and systematic definition of the notion of positivism. Second, to describe positivism as a trend of thought concerned not only with the theory of knowledge and philosophy of science, but also with problems of ethics, social, and political philosophy. Third, to examine the development of positivism as a movement it was born in the 18th century during the Enlightenment, took the form of social positivism in the 19th century, was transformed at the turn of the 20th century with the emergence of empirio-criticism, and became logical positivism (or logical empiricism) in the 20th century. Fourth, to reveal the external and internal factors of this evolution. Fifth, to disclose the relation of positivism to other trends of philosophy. Sixth, to determine the influence the positive mind had upon other cultural phenomena, such as the natural and social sciences, law, politics, arts, religion, and everyday life. **About the Author Evaldas Nekrasas is Professor of Philosophy at Vilnius University, Lithuania
Author: Eduardo Lalo
File Type: pdf
The streets of Paris at night are pathways coursing with light and shadow, channels along which identity may be formed and lost, where the grand inflow of history, art, language, and thoughtand of lovecan both inspire and enfeeble. For the narrator of Eduardo Lalos Uselessness, it is a world long desired. But as this young aspiring writer discovers upon leaving his home in San Juan to studyto live and be rebornin the city of his dreams, Pariss twinned influences can rip you apart. Lalos first novel, Uselessness is something of a bildungsroman of his own student days in Paris. But more than this, it is a literary precis of his oeuvreof themes that obsess him still. Told in two parts, Uselessness first follows our narrator through his romantic and intellectual awakenings in Paris, where he elevates his adopted home over the moribund one he has left behind. But as he falls in and out of love he comes to realize that as a Puerto Rican, he will always be apart. Ending the greatest romance of his lifethat with the city of Paris itselfhe returns to San Juan. And in this new era of his life, he is forced to confront choices made, ambitions lost or unmetto look upon lives not lived. A tale of the travails of youthful romance and adult acceptance, of foreignness and isolation both at home and abroad, and of the stultifying power of the desire to belongand to be movedUselessness is here rendered into English by the masterful translator Suzanne Jill Levine. For anyone who has been touched by the disquieting passion of Paris, Uselessness is a stirring saga. **About the Author Eduardo Lalo is a writer, essayist, artist, and photographer from Puerto Rico. He is the author of twelve books, including the Gallegos Prizewinning Simone, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Suzanne Jill Levine is a leading scholar, critic, and translator of twentieth-century Latin American literature. She is professor in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she is founder and director of the Translation Studies Program. She is the author of several books including The Subversive Scribe Translating Latin American Fiction and has translated works by Manuel Puig, Jorge Luis Borges, Bioy Casares, and Severo Sarduy, among many other writers.
Author: Stephen Mitchell
File Type: pdf
The Second Edition of A History of the Later Roman Empire features extensive revisions and updates to the highly-acclaimed, sweeping historical survey of the Roman Empire from the accession of Diocletian in AD 284 to the death of Heraclius in 641. ul lFeatures a revised narrative of the political history that shaped the late Roman Empirel lIncludes extensive changes to the chapters on regional history, especially those relating to Asia Minor and Egyptl lOffers a renewed evaluation of the decline of the empire in the later sixth and seventh centuriesl lPlaces a larger emphasis on the military deficiencies, collapse of state finances, and role of bubonic plague throughout the Europe in Romes declinel lIncludes systematic updates to the bibliographyl ul **
Author: Iain Hamilton Grant
File Type: pdf
Presenting a lucid account of Schellings major works in the philosophy of nature alongside those of his scientific contemporaries who pursued and furthered that work, this book does not simply aim to present Schellings extravagant speculative physic
Author: Thomas R. Gray, Nat Turner
File Type: pdf
1831 Abstract Nat Turner (18001831) was known to his local fellow servants in Southampton County as The Prophet. On the evening of Sunday, August 21, 1831, he met six associates in the woods at Cabin Pond, and about 200 a.m. they began to enter local houses and kill the white inhabitants. Over the next 36 hours, they were joined by as many as 60 other slaves and free blacks, and they killed at least 10 men, 14 women, and 31 infants and children. By noon of Tuesday, August 23, the insurgents had been killed, captured, or dispersed by local militia. Nat Turner alone escapeduntil October 30, when he was caught in the immediate vicinity, having used several hiding places over the previous 9 weeks. The next day he was delivered to the county sheriff and lodged in the county jail in Jerusalem (now Courtland), Virginia. There, from November 1 through November 3, he was interviewed by Thomas Ruffin Gray, a 31-year-old lawyer who had previously represented several other defendants charged in the uprising. Gray had witnessed the aftermath of the killings, interviewed other participants, and survivors, and had supplied written accounts to various newspapers. He was familiar with the outlines of Nat Turners life and the plot, and he was aware of the intense interest and the commercial possibilities of its originators narrative. In the Confessions, Nat Turner appears more a fanatic than a practical liberator. He tells of being spoken to by the Holy Spirit, of seeing visions and signs in the heavensthat I was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty. In Grays view, He is a complete fanatic, or plays his part most admirably. On November 5th, Nat Turner was tried and condemned to be executed on November 9th, he was hanged. On November 10th, Gray registered his copyright for the Confessions, in Washington, D.C. Within a week his pamphlet appeared, and it is estimated over 50,000 copies were sold in the next few months. This electronic online edition is based on the first edition, published at Baltimore, MD, in November 1831. Download Included in American Studies Commons Share
Author: Max Glaskin
File Type: pdf
Every July hundreds of thousands flock to the Champs-Elysees in Parisand millions more to their televisions and computersto witness the dramatic conclusion of the grueling three weeks of the Tour de France. There is no better measure of the worldwide love of the bicycle. But of the 1.2 billion cyclists traversing the worlds roadways and trails, few of us take the time to consider the science behind the sport. The simple process of getting about on two wheels brings us in touch with a wealth of fascinating science, and here journalist Max Glaskin investigates the scientific wonders that keep cyclists in their saddles. Cycling Science tours readers through a wide variety of topics, from tire rolling resistance and the difference between yield strength and ultimate strength, to the importance of aerodynamics and the impact that shaved legs have on speed. Each chapter explores a different subjectfundamentals, strength and stability, materials, power, aerodynamics, and the human factorand is organized around a series of questions What is the ideal frame shape? What is the biggest source of drag? What keeps a bicycle from falling over? How much power can a cyclist produce? Which muscles does cycling use? Each question is examined with the aid of explanatory diagrams and illustrations, and the book can be used to search for particular topics, or read through for a comprehensive overview of how machine and rider work together. Athletes have much to gain from understanding the science of their sports, and Cycling Science will be a must-read for cyclists of all stripesprofessionals, recreational riders, and anyone seeking to enhance their enjoyment of cycling. **Review For Cycling Science How Rider and Machine Work Together, British cyclist and journalist Max Glaskin mined hundreds of scientific studies and academic papers for findings that he explains in accessible language. The book is organized around a series of questions and answers framed to educate professional and recreational riders as well as the scientifically curious. The questions range from the practical (What is the most efficient bike design?) to the speculative (Why might plasma be the future of bike materials?). Each answer is accompanied by a terrific set of infographics. (Boston Globe) This book explores everything from the aerodynamics of bicycle helmets to reaction times to finding the perfect bicycle frame, drawing on studies from disciplines such as physics, brain science, and biology. Its accessible format and broad range of topics make it well suited to satisfy the curiosity of the casual recreational rider, or even the hard-core cycling enthusiast. (Globe and Mail) Max Glaskins Cycling Science straddles the space between popular accounts typically found in cycling enthusiast magazines and the more academic treatments of David Gordon Wilson or Edmund Burke. Its a fairly large gap, but Glaskin spans it ably. Approaching its subject from the standpoints of both rider and machine, the book covers all the basics of human performance and how a two-wheeled conveyance converts that into the worlds most efficient transportation system. Illustrations are perhaps the books greatest strength Prior to the back matter of notes, glossary and index, not a spread goes by without at least one. (David Schoonmaker American Scientist) Usually, coffee-table books are for browsing and display. Here is an exception. This book has enough content to get the attention of readersfrom those interested in bicycling as a mode of transportation to those who work out on bicycles to professional racers. . . . The excellent illustrations facilitate understanding of the operation of this least polluting of all mechanical systems of transportation. In six chapters, the author covers an enormous amount of material related to the materials, design, manufacture, and physics of the bicycle. There is nothing that is missing or out of place. . . . Highly recommended. (N. Sadanand, Central Connecticut State University Choice) Max Glaskin presents his ideas in a straightforward, user-friendly, and consistently informative and entertaining way. . . . Reading this book, be it from cover-to-cover or dipping into it as the mood takes you, can only enhance the experience of cycling, in whatever form you may take it. (Cycling Shorts) Cycling Science by Max Glaskin guides readers through a wide variety of topics, from tyre rolling resistance and the difference between yield strength and ultimate strength, to the importance of aerodynamics and any impact that shaved legs have on speed.Bikebiz.com (Bikebiz.com) 2013 Outstanding Academic Title (Choice magazine) About the Author Max Glaskin is an award-winning science and technology journalist with a special interest in cycling. He has contributed to a vast range of publications, including New Scientist, Readers Digest, and the Sunday Times.
Author: Werner Bonefeld
File Type: pdf
This article explores Adornos negative dialectics as a critical social theory of economic objectivity. It rejects the conventional view that Adorno does not offer a critique of the economic forms of capitalist society. The article holds that negative dialectics is a dialectics of the social world in the form of the economic object, one that is governed by the movement of economic quantities, that is, real economic abstractions. Negative dialectics refuses to accept the constituted economic categories as categories of economic nature. Instead, the article argues, it amounts to a conceptualized social praxis [begriffene Praxis] of the capitalistically constituted social relations, which manifest themselves in the form of seemingly independent economic categories. Economic nature is a socially constituted nature, which entails the class antagonism in its concept. The article concludes that for negative dialectics the explanation of real economic abstractions lies in the understanding of the class-divided nature of human practice.
Author: Carlos Fraenkel
File Type: pdf
This volume draws a balanced picture of the Rationalists by bringing their intellectual contexts, sources and full range of interests into sharper focus, without neglecting their core commitment to the epistemological doctrine that earned them their traditional label. The collection of original essays addresses topics ranging from theodicy and early modern music theory to Spinozas anti-humanism, often critically revising important aspects of the received picture of the Rationalists. Another important contribution of the volume is that it brings out aspects of Rationalist philosophers and their legacies that are not ordinarily associated with them, such as the project of a Cartesian ethics. Finally, a strong emphasis is placed on the connection of the Rationalists philosophy to their interests in empirical science, to their engagement in the political life of their era, and to the religious background of many of their philosophical commitments.Read More