7908 results for "Science"

The fate of "culture": Geertz and beyond

Sherry B. Ortner
Clifford Geertz is one of the foremost figures in the reconfiguration of the boundary between the social sciences and the humanities in the second half of the twentieth century. Expanding the power and complexity of the anthropological concept of culture, his work is both foundational to, and in critical counterpoint with, that vast interdisciplinary spectrum of scholarship known today as "cultural studies." This book brings together seven leading scholars from four disciplines to take a fresh look at Geertz's work, and to consider the continuing implications of his work in the contemporary context. Framed by an important introduction by anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner, the articles cover such topics as seventeenth-century English ghosts, Jewish merchants in early capitalism, Egyptian women in the age of television, and the role of Sherpas in Himalayan mountaineering, as well as such methodological issues as the place of emotional empathy and "complicity" in ethnographic fieldwork, and the mutual illumination of culture and history. Clifford Geertz is one of the foremost figures in the reconfiguration of the boundary between the social sciences and the humanities in the second half of the twentieth century. Expanding the power and complexity of the anthropological concept of culture, his work is both foundational to, and in critical counterpoint with, that vast interdisciplinary spectrum of scholarship known today as "cultural studies." This book brings together seven leading scholars from four disciplines to take a fresh look at Geertz's work, and to consider the continuing implications of his work in the contemporary context. Framed by an important introduction by anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner, the articles cover such topics as seventeenth-century English ghosts, Jewish merchants in early capitalism, Egyptian women in the age of television, and the role of Sherpas in Himalayan mountaineering, as well as such methodological issues as the place of emotional empathy and "complicity" in ethnographic fieldwork, and the mutual illumination of culture and history.
University of California Press 1999 169 pages

New World New Mind

Robert Ornstein,Paul Ehrlich
Robert Ornstein and Paul Ehrlich explain that we are causing our own problems because we have created a world where our basic mental functions are no longer suitable. We evolved over a period of millions of years to survive in small tribal families on the wild grassy plains of East Africa. Now the way we live has nothing to do with that time and place, but the mental tools that were developed to survive on the savanna have remained unchanged. These instincts were wonderfully adapted to the environment that shaped them. But that world, the world that made us, is gone. Now these same instincts are causing us to destroy the world that we made. The threats we face are of our own making, and we can unmake them. If people learn how we have come to this point, we can restore our hope for the future. New World New Mind describes the way our minds have evolved, and offers suggestions for how to cope with who we are in the world we live in now. Recent decades have seen remarkable progress in many areas. For example, despite the abject suffering of millions of people, it is nonetheless true that there has been unprecedented alleviation of poverty and disease for the world's poorest people. There are so many promising and astonishing advances in medicine, technology, and the social and physical sciences that if we give ourselves a chance to survive, our species could enter a golden age.
Malor Books 2020-09 320 pages

1001 facts everyone should know about Israel

Bard, Mitchell Geoffrey
Hardly a day passes when Israel is not in the news. Virtually all the press coverage, however, is about the conflict between Israel and her neighbors. There is so much more to Israel that is positive and should be better known. This book provides essential facts about not only the political events in the news, but also the positive contributions Israel is making in the arts and sciences. It describes some of the remarkable sites and people that make the country unique. This is not a recitation of facts and figures, but a mosaic of the most important aspects of Israel's past and present. The book will entertain those interested in some of the fascinating trivia about Israel and inform those doing more serious research about the economy, government, and culture of the Jewish State.
Rowman & Littlefield 2005-11 185 pages

Waiting for Foucault, still

Sahlins, Marshall
First devised as after-dinner entertainment at a decennial meeting of the Association of Social Anthropologists in Great Britain, and first published by Prickly Pear Press in 1993, this expanded edition of Waiting for Foucault represents some of the brightest anthropological satire—mixed in with some of the most serious intellectual issues in the human sciences. Whether he's summing up the state of the discipline ("Some things are better left un-Said") or ruminating on the ancients, Sahlins delivers a strong mixture of wit and wisdom.
Prickly Paradigm Press 2002-08-01 84 pages

Green's functions and boundary value problems

Stakgold, Ivar
"This Third Edition includes basic modern tools of computational mathematics for boundary value problems and also provides the foundational mathematical material necssary to understand and use the tools. Central to the text is a down-to-earth approach that shows readers how to use differential and integral equations when tackling significant problems in the physical sciences, engineering, and applied mathematics, and the book maintains a careful balance between sound mathematics and meaningful applications. A new co-author, Michael J. Holst, has been added to this new edition, and together he and Ivar Stakgold incorporate recent developments that have altered the field of applied mathematics, particularly in the areas of approximation methods and theory including best linear approximation in linear spaces; interpolation of functions in Sobolev Spaces; spectral, finite volume, and finite difference methods; techniques of nonlinear approximation; and Petrov-Galerkin and Galerkin methods for linear equations. Additional topics have been added including weak derivatives and Sobolev Spaces, linear functionals, energy methods and A Priori estimates, fixed-point techniques, and critical and super-critical exponent problems. The authors have revised the complete book to ensure that the notation throughout remained consistent and clear as well as adding new and updated references. Discussions on modeling, Fourier analysis, fixed-point theorems, inverse problems, asymptotics, and nonlinear methods have also been updated"--
Wiley 2011-02-08 855 pages

The curve of life: correspondence of Heinz Kohut, 1923-1981

Kohut, Heinz
Psychoanalyst, teacher, and scholar, Heinz Kohut was one of this century's most important intellectuals. A rebel, according to many mainstream psychoanalysts, Kohut challenged Freudian orthodoxy and the medical control of psychoanalysis in America. His success in treating narcissistic disorders and his highly influential book How Does Analysis Cure? established Kohut's Self Psychology as the strongest rival to traditional psychoanalysis today. The Curve of Life reveals Kohut's private and public life through a unique collection of lively and thoughtful correspondence with colleagues, public figures, family, and close friends. Over 300 never-before-published letters, drawn from Kohut's private files and from colleagues, cover Kohut's life from his native Austria in the 1930s until his death in 1981. Because many of his letters were so substantive, this rich collection clarifies Kohut's landmark published works. In letters to such diverse personalities as Anna Freud and Bruno Walter, Kohut meditated on some of the most intriguing psychoanalytic questions of the day—the nature of psychological cure, the relationship between doctor and patient, and the role of the Oedipus complex in psychoanalysis. The correspondence also reveals Kohut's lively interest in literature, music, history, and culture, as well as his deep and often contentious involvement in the politics of the psychoanalytic movement. Kohut discussed his theories in letters to August Aichhorn, Heinz Hartmann, the Surgeon General, and even Jacqueline Kennedy, and the responses, some published here for the first time, prompted him to explore his ideas from a variety of perspectives. A letter from Anna Freud provoked Kohut to respond this way: "What you had to say gave me great pleasure, and your approval was a welcome support amidst the inescapable insecurities under pressure to which we are all exposed. Strangely enough, it was not the discussion of scientific contributions and other statements that I had sent to you but the very last, parting sentence of your letter which gave me the most food for thought. You sent me your best wishes for the presidency of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and expressed the hope that '...this office permits opportunity for some revolutionary moves.'" The Curve of Life illuminates the evolution of Kohut's theory of the psychology of the self, and provides a rare glimpse into the institutional and intellectual history of psychoanalysis in the last half of this century. These letters will fascinate not only scholars in psychoanalysis, but also those in the humanities, social sciences, and even theology, as well as general readers curious about the private thoughts of a towering figure in intellectual life.
University of Chicago Press 1994-08-15 443 pages

The handbook of impression formation: a social psychological approach

Emily Balcetis,Gordon B. Moskowitz
"Presenting diverse perspectives from eminent scholars and contemporary researchers, The Handbook of Impression Formation contextualizes current and future areas of research in the social psychology of impression formation within a rich historic framework. Affirming that impression formation is at the core of human experience, chapters explore how and why people form snap judgments about others and when those impressions update. They examine the processes through which people infer the reasons for the events they encounter, allowing people to plan for appropriate behavioral responses to social contexts. The research reviewed is informed by the foundational theory of unconscious automatic processes involved in making judgements of other people, pioneered by Professor Jim Uleman who contributes a chapter that suggests important new directions, and concludes the volume by reflecting on the state of the field more broadly. The book explores how certain attributes stimulate categorization, examining current issues around implicit bias, stereotypes, and social media. Chapters cover a range of approaches, featuring personal narratives, presentation of new data and discoveries, comprehensive literature reviews, and contemplations on where the field must go and what questions require focus for progress to be made, calling for even the most advanced scholars to contribute more to the collective investigation of impression formation. This fascinating work provides a solid foundation from which all researchers can build a new and unique program of research, and arms the reader with the intellectual tools they need to chart new theoretical territory and discover aspects of the human experience we have yet to even wonder about. It is essential reading for students and academics in social psychology, and the social sciences more broadly"--
Routledge 2022 519 pages

Kwakiutl Ethnography

Boas, Franz
Presents an unfinished Boas manuscript and selected publications in which the renowned anthropologist records his observations of such aspects of Kwakiutl culture as social and economic organization, religion, and art. Franz Boas, a German-born American anthropologist, became the most influential anthropologist of his time. He left Germany because of its antiliberal and anti-Semitic climate. As a Columbia University professor for 37 years (1899-1936), he created both the field of anthropology and the modern concept of culture. Boas played a key role in organizing the American Anthropological Association (AAA) as an umbrella organization for the emerging field. At both Columbia and the AAA, Boas encouraged the "four field" concept of anthropology; he personally contributed to physical anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, as well as cultural anthropology. His work in these fields was pioneering. Both directly and through the influence of such students as Ruth Benedict, Melville J. Herskovits, Alfred L. Kroeber, and Margaret Mead, he set the agenda for all subsequent American cultural anthropology. In His lifetime Boas had many leadership roles Assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History; editor of The Journal of American Folklore; president of the New York Academy of Sciences, and founder of the International Journal of American Linguistics. Boas is the author of hundreds of scientific monographs and articles. He died in 1942.
University of Chicago Press 1975 439 pages

Israeli women's studies: a reader / Esther Fuchs, editor

Esther Fuchs
Israeli women do not enjoy the equality, status, and power often attributed to them by the media and popular culture. Despite significant achievements and progress, as a whole they continue to earn less than their male counterparts, are less visible and influential in the political arena, do not share equal responsibilities or privileges in the military, have unequal rights and freedoms in family life and law, and are less influential in shaping the nation's self image and cultural orientation. Bringing together classic essays by leading scholars of Israeli culture, this reader exposes the hidden causes of ongoing discrimination and links the restrictions that Israeli women experience to deeply entrenched structures, including colonial legacies, religious traditions, capitalism, nationalism, and ongoing political conflict. In contrast, the essays also explore how women act creatively to affect social change and shape public discourse in less ostensible ways. Providing balanced perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities, this comprehensive reader reflects both an emerging consensus and exciting diversity in the field. It is the definitive text for courses in Israeli women's studies.
Rutgers University Press 2005 342 pages

The calling of sociology and other essays on the pursuit of learning

Shils, Edward
This third volume of the Selected Papers of Edward Shils brings together ten essays, three of which have never been published before and all the others of which have been completely revised and elaborated. They deal with the history of American and European sociology as an intellectual undertaking and as a means to the attainment of practical ends. Professor Shils's main themes are the influence of ethical and practical intentions on scholarly study in the social sciences, the autonomy of the intellectual tradition of sociology, and the significance of the institutional organization of sociological teaching and research.
University of Chicago Press 1980 498 pages

Being We: Phenomenological contributions to social ontology

Zahavi, Dan
"What does it take to constitute a we with others and how does feeling, thinking, and acting as part of a we, transform one's sense of self, one's relation to others, and the way one experiences the world? Is individual subjectivity something that necessarily requires a communal grounding or does a we-relationship always presuppose a plurality of pre-existing selves? What kind of understanding of and relation to others is required if a we is to emerge? Questions regarding the ontological, epistemological, and social character of we is not only of contemporary societal relevance, but are also questions that were intensively discussed by early phenomenological philosophers such as Husserl, Reinach, Stein, Scheler, Walther, Gurwitsch, and Schutz. Drawing on and engaging with ideas and distinctions found in these historical resources, Being We combines historical scholarship and systematic theorizing. It breaks new ground by interweaving work on selfhood and first-personal experience, social cognition, and collective intentionality, offers a much-needed cross fertilization between philosophy and theoretical considerations in the social sciences (sociology, anthropology, and social psychology), and provides a novel account of the complex interrelation between we, you, and I."-- Provided by publisher
Oxford University Press 2025 217 pages

Essays in socio-economics

Etzioni, Amitai
These essays deal with various aspects of a new, rising field, socio economics. The field is seeking to combine the variables studied by neoclassical economists with those typically studied by other social sciences. The combination is expected to provide a better understanding of economic behavior and the economy as well as society; make more reliable predictions; and be more in line with normative values we seek to uphold. The new field, though, may be less elegant mathematically and possibly less parsimonious than neoclassical economics. Some of my ideas on this subject are included in a previously published book, The Moral Dimension: TowardA New Economics (New York: The Free Press, 1988). They also led to a formation of an international society of several thousand scholars who are interested in the field, the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics. The essays at hand are in effect grouped. The first two, previously published respectively in the Journal of Economic Psychology and Business Ethics Quarterly, reflect my most recent thinking. They both have a utopian streak that may stand out especially in these days when unfeathered capitalism is the rage. The first points to people, who far from making consuming ever more their life's project, seek a less affiuent way oflife. It examines the psychological foundations and the social consequences of such an approach.
Springer 2011 182 pages

Science and society: studies in the sociology of science

Agassi, Joseph
"If a science has to be supported by fraudulent means, let it perish. " With these words of Kepler, Agassi plunges into the actual troubles and glories of science (321). The SOciology of science is no foreign intruder upon scientific knowledge in these essays, for we see clearly how Agassi transforms the tired internalistJexternalist debate about the causal influences in the history of science. The social character of the entire intertwined epistemological and practical natures of the sciences is intrinsic to science and itself split: the internal sociology within science, the external sociology of the social setting without. Agassi sees these social matters in the small as well as the large: from the details of scientific communication, changing publishing as he thinks to 'on-demand' centralism with less waste (Ch. 12), to the colossal tension of romanticism and rationality in the sweep of historical cultures. Agassi is a moral and political philosopher of science, defending, dis turbing, comprehending, criticizing. For him, science in a society requires confrontation, again and again, with issues of autonomy vs. legitimation as the central problem of democracy. And furthermore, devotion to science, pace Popper, Polanyi, and Weber, carries preoccupational dangers: Popper's elitist rooting out of 'pseudo-science', Weber's hard-working obsessive . com mitment to science. See Agassi's Weberian gloss on the social psychology of science in his provocative 'picture of the scientist as maniac' (437).
D. Reidel Pub. Co 1981-09-01 531 pages

Mind, life, and universe: conversations with great scientists of our time

Margulis, Lynn,Punset, Eduard
Nearly forty of the world's most esteemed scientists discuss the big questions that drive their illustrious careers. Co-editor Eduardo Punset—one of Spain's most loved personages for his popularization of the sciences—interviews an impressive collection of characters drawing out the seldom seen personalities of the world's most important men and woman of science. In Mind, Life and Universe they describe in their own words the most important and fascinating aspects of their research. Frank and often irreverent, these interviews will keep even the most casual reader of science books rapt for hours. Can brain science explain feelings of happiness and despair? Is it true that chimpanzees are just like us when it comes to sexual innuendo? Is there any hard evidence that life exists anywhere other than on the Earth? Through Punset's skillful questioning, readers will meet one scientist who is passionate about the genetic control of everything and another who spends her every waking hour making sure African ecosystems stay intact. The men and women assembled here by Lynn Margulis and Eduardo Punset will provide a source of endless interest. In captivating conversations with such science luminaries as Jane Goodall, James E. Lovelock, Oliver Sachs, and E. O. Wilson, Punset reveals a hidden world of intellectual interests, verve, and humor. Science enthusiasts and general readers alike will devour Mind, Life and Universe, breathless and enchanted by its truths.
Chelsea Green Pub 2007 358 pages

Newton's darkness: two dramatic views

Djerassi, Carl
”What purpose is served by showing that England's greatest natural philosopher is flawed … like other mortals?” asks one of the characters in Newton's Darkness. “We need unsullied heroes ” But what if the hero is sullied? At stake is an issue that is as germane today as it was 300 years ago: a scientist's ethics must not be divorced from scientific accomplishments. There is probably no other scientist of whom so many biographies and other historical analyses have been published than Isaac Newton — all of them in the standard format of documentary prose because of their didactic purpose to transmit historical information. Newton's Darkness, however, illuminates the darker aspects of Newton's persona through two historically grounded plays dealing with two of the bitterest struggles in the history of science.The name of Isaac Newton appears in virtually every survey of the public's choice for the most important persons of the second millennium. Yet the term “darkness” can be applied to much of Newton's personality. Adjectives that have been used to describe facets of his personality include “remote”, “lonely”, “secretive”, “introverted”, “melancholic”, “humorless”, “puritanical”, “cruel”, “vindictive” and, perhaps worst of all, “unforgiving”. The trait most relevant to the present book is Newton's obsessively competitive nature, which was often out of proportion to the warranted facts, as demonstrated in three of Newton's best-known bitter conflicts: with the physicist Robert Hooke, the astronomer royal John Flamsteed, and a German contemporary of almost equal intellectual prowess, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz — the last fight eventually turning into an England vs Continental Europe competition. It is two of these three relentless drawn-out battles that are illuminated in Newton's Darkness in the form of historically grounded drama.After a summary of the historical evidence, the book starts with the Newton-Hooke struggle (Chapter 2), which was conducted mano a mano, and is then followed by little-known aspects of the Newton-Leibniz confrontation (Chapter 3), which was fought largely through surrogates — notably the infamous, anonymous committee of 11 Fellows of the Royal Society.
Imperial College Press 2003 184 pages