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James Graham: State of the Nation Playwright
by Maryam PhilpottJames Graham is one of the UK’s leading dramatists, a multi-award-winning writer who for almost 20 years has analysed and articulated concepts of power and authority in modern British society. James Graham: State of the Nation Playwright is the first full-length assessment of the writer’s output, applying core thematic areas - Democracy, Anarchy, Famous Faces and Television - to understand how different power bases operate in modern society, their effectiveness and influence, and how they came to pre-eminence during the last 70 years. The book concludes with an evaluation of Graham’s contribution to state-of-the-nation debates, Britain’s cycles of decline and its consequences for understanding contemporary national identity.
Re-Reading Tragic Africa: Development, Neoliberalism and Contemporary Fiction (New Comparisons in World Literature)
by Amy RushtonGrounded in world-systemic analysis, this book revisits the literary and social implications of ‘tragedy’ in relation to global narratives about Africa and within fiction by writers from the continent. It argues that working through the full complexity of ‘tragedy’ helps to identify and challenge plots that depict Africa as reaching a tragic impasse. Instead, reconsidering tragedy allows for further, related interventions including the implications of narratives of development, the argument for formally engaging with literary texts that present challenging material, reformulations of African political and cultural agency, and the possibilities to be found in utopian thinking. It claims that contemporary fiction helps to scrutinise the familiar big picture of Africa and create space for discussions about wider political and historical commonalities between the continent and the rest of the world. As such, the novels discussed in this study are not simply ‘about’ Africa: these fictionalnarratives position Africa as a central actor within the global history of late capitalism.
Writing Landscape and Setting in the Anthropocene: Britain and Beyond
by Philippa Holloway Craig Jordan-BakerThis edited collection offers an in-depth exploration of the role of landscape and place as literary ‘settings’. It examines the multifaceted relationships between authors, narrators, and characters to their locales, as well as broader considerations of the significance of the representation of landscape in a world deeply affected by human interventions. Consisting of case studies of projects that engage with these questions, as well as research examining the theoretical underpinnings of both creative practices/processes and post-textual analysis of published works, this volume is both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in scope. In the context of the climate crisis and a pandemic which has caused us to re-evaluate the significance of landscape and the environment, it responds to the need to engage current trends within the academy and in broader social debate about our relationship to the natural world.
Chinatown (G - Reference,information And Interdisciplinary Subjects Ser.)
by ThuanAn unfinished love story, humorous and haunting, of diasporic lives in Vietnam and France. The Métro shudders to a halt: an unattended bag has been found. For the narrator, a Vietnamese woman teaching in the Parisian suburbs, a fantastical interior monologue begins, looking back to her childhood in early '80s Hanoi, university studies in Leningrad, and the travails and ironies of life in France as an immigrant and single mother. But most of all she thinks of Chinese-Vietnamese Thụy, who she married in the aftermath of the Sino-Vietnamese war, much to her parents' disapproval, and whom she has not seen now for eleven years. The mystery around his disappearance feeds her memories, dreams and speculations, in which the idea of Saigon's Chinatown looms large. There's even a novel-in-progress, titled I'm Yellow, whose protagonist's attempts to escape his circumstances mirror the author-narrator's own.
Think to New Worlds: The Cultural History of Charles Fort and His Followers
by Joshua Blu BuhsHow a writer who investigated scientific anomalies inspired a factious movement and made a lasting impact on American culture. Flying saucers. Bigfoot. Frogs raining from the sky. Such phenomena fascinated Charles Fort, the maverick writer who scanned newspapers, journals, and magazines for reports of bizarre occurrences: dogs that talked, vampires, strange visions in the sky, and paranormal activity. His books of anomalies advanced a philosophy that saw science as a small part of a larger system in which truth and falsehood continually transformed into one another. His work found a ragged following of skeptics who questioned not only science but the press, medicine, and politics. Though their worldviews varied, they shared compelling questions about genius, reality, and authority. At the center of this community was adman, writer, and enfant terrible Tiffany Thayer, who founded the Fortean Society and ran it for almost three decades, collecting and reporting on every manner of oddity and conspiracy. In Think to New Worlds, Joshua Blu Buhs argues that the Fortean effect on modern culture is deeper than you think. Fort’s descendants provided tools to expand the imagination, explore the social order, and demonstrate how power is exercised. Science fiction writers put these ideas to work as they sought to uncover the hidden structures undergirding reality. Avant-garde modernists—including the authors William Gaddis, Henry Miller, and Ezra Pound, as well as Surrealist visual artists—were inspired by Fort’s writing about metaphysical and historical forces. And in the years following World War II, flying saucer enthusiasts convinced of alien life raised questions about who controlled the universe. Buhs’s meticulous and entertaining book takes a respectful look at a cast of oddballs and eccentrics, plucking them from history’s margins and spotlighting their mark on American modernism. Think to New Worlds is a timely consideration of a group united not only by conspiracies and mistrust of science but by their place in an ever-expanding universe rich with unexplained occurrences and visionary possibilities.
Think to New Worlds: The Cultural History of Charles Fort and His Followers
by Joshua Blu BuhsHow a writer who investigated scientific anomalies inspired a factious movement and made a lasting impact on American culture. Flying saucers. Bigfoot. Frogs raining from the sky. Such phenomena fascinated Charles Fort, the maverick writer who scanned newspapers, journals, and magazines for reports of bizarre occurrences: dogs that talked, vampires, strange visions in the sky, and paranormal activity. His books of anomalies advanced a philosophy that saw science as a small part of a larger system in which truth and falsehood continually transformed into one another. His work found a ragged following of skeptics who questioned not only science but the press, medicine, and politics. Though their worldviews varied, they shared compelling questions about genius, reality, and authority. At the center of this community was adman, writer, and enfant terrible Tiffany Thayer, who founded the Fortean Society and ran it for almost three decades, collecting and reporting on every manner of oddity and conspiracy. In Think to New Worlds, Joshua Blu Buhs argues that the Fortean effect on modern culture is deeper than you think. Fort’s descendants provided tools to expand the imagination, explore the social order, and demonstrate how power is exercised. Science fiction writers put these ideas to work as they sought to uncover the hidden structures undergirding reality. Avant-garde modernists—including the authors William Gaddis, Henry Miller, and Ezra Pound, as well as Surrealist visual artists—were inspired by Fort’s writing about metaphysical and historical forces. And in the years following World War II, flying saucer enthusiasts convinced of alien life raised questions about who controlled the universe. Buhs’s meticulous and entertaining book takes a respectful look at a cast of oddballs and eccentrics, plucking them from history’s margins and spotlighting their mark on American modernism. Think to New Worlds is a timely consideration of a group united not only by conspiracies and mistrust of science but by their place in an ever-expanding universe rich with unexplained occurrences and visionary possibilities.
I'm Not Here to Give a Speech
by Gabriel Garcia MarquezPenguin presents I'm Not Here to Give a Speech, the complete speeches of Nobel laureate and beloved novelist Gabriel García Márquez collected and published in English for the first time.Gabriel García Márquez has charmed generations of readers with his distinctive and richly expressive style. His talent for language is seen here as never before, in the public speeches he gave throughout his extraordinary life. These speeches chart Márquez's growth as a writer and orator, from an early talk given as a teenager graduating high school to his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. They offer new insight into the workings of the author's mind, drawing a portrait of Marquez as a writer and as a man.This is a rare gem from a writer who touched readers across the globe. I Am Not Here to Give a Speech is a must-buy for anyone who ever fell in love with Macondo or cherished a battered copy of Love in the Time of Cholera.Praise for Gabriel García Márquez:'The greatest novel in any language of the last fifty years' Salman Rushdie on One Hundred Years of Solitude'Should be required reading for the entire human race' New York Times on One Hundred Years of Solitude'A masterpiece' Evening Standard on Chronicle of a Death Foretold'As a reading experience it is completely magical' Observer on Living to Tell the Tale'It asks to be read more than twice, and the rewards are dazzling' Observer on The Autumn of the Patriarch'Márquez writes in this lyrical, magical language that no-one else can do' Salman Rusdhie on Collected Stories
The Green Lady: A Spirit, A Story, A Place
by null Sally BayleyFrom the critically acclaimed author Sally Bayley, The Green Lady is a poignant, brilliant exploration of the relationships between children and their teachers. In the style of her memoir Girl with Dove, this book explores a child’s search for artistic education and a sense of self. Lyrical and playful, Sally Bayley’s writing transports the reader into an eccentric world of teachers, guardians and guiding spirits of place. Moved by her female teachers, and guided by the artist J.M.W. Turner, Bayley’s protagonist goes in search of her maternal ancestors, in particular her grandmother, Edna May Turner. Following the narratives of other women in history who have taken different routes to independence and artistic freedom – including the educational suffragist Mary Neal, actress Margaret Rutherford, and poet Stevie Smith – Bayley considers the paths to happiness and the limitations social convention imposes. Part novel, part memoir, The Green Lady continues the traditions of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando as an imagined biography which urgently understands the need for a space of one’s own in which to thrive. As one of the book’s several foster children, Bayley reminds us that families and homes can be found and built within literature and the arts as well as nature's green spaces.
Understanding Sublimation in Freudian Theory and Modernist Writing (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature)
by Luke ThurstonWhat is at stake in Freud’s enduring preoccupation with a process supposedly diverting sexuality into cultural activity? In this study, a leading scholar of psychoanalysis and literature re-opens the old question of sublimation in a critical reading that explores one of the last remaining puzzles of Freudian thought. Using the rigorous framework provided by Jean Laplanche, Luke Thurston resituates sublimation as an unfinished Freudian concept bound up with a much wider history of philosophical and literary reflection. Exploring the misunderstanding and reinvention of sublimation both in accounts of cultural history and in Lacan’s celebrated reading of Antigone, Thurston challenges some of the prevalent assumptions still seen in contemporary “theory.” Thurston links his critical investigation of psychoanalysis to modernist literature, discovering both parallels and alternatives to Freud’s idea of sublimation in little-known works by May Sinclair and David Jones. The study concludes by arguing that these modernist artists, both of whom were significantly affected by trauma during the First World War, produced work radically at odds with the established canons of representation, and that this “anti-hermeneutic” art can be linked to a “Copernican” sublimation, a process not controlled by the ego but vitalizing it and decentring its habitual structure.
Teaching and Researching Listening: Third Edition (Applied Linguistics in Action)
by Michael RostWidely considered to be a foundational work in the field of listening, Teaching and Researching Listening is among the most recommended textbooks in applied linguistics oral communication courses, and the most cited reference in current research on second language listening development. Known for its comprehensiveness, clarity, insight, and practical applications, this fourth edition has been substantially revised to reflect the latest research in the areas of linguistics, neuroscience, applied technologies, and teaching methodology, with expanded sections on teaching applications and explorations in social research related to listening.This completely revised edition includes:• Detailed overviews of the underlying processes of listening, with additional coverage of decoding processes• Expansion of sections dealing with artificial intelligence (AI), speech recognition, and input enhancement software• Emphasis on research of listening in spoken interaction and cross-cultural communication • Clear templates for instructors and curriculum designers, with an expansive set of practical resources• Guidance in using observational methods for exploring listening in a range of educational and professional contexts• Website support, with presentation slides, infographics, and question banks for each chapterThis fourth edition of Teaching and Researching Listening serves as an authoritative and comprehensive survey of issues related to teaching and researching oral communication, providing value for language teachers, educational researchers, instructional designers, interpreters, and other language practitioners.
Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art
by Lauren Elkin'Destined to become a new classic' Chris KrausA dazzlingly original reassessment of women's stories, bodies and art - and how we think about them.For decades, feminist artists have confronted the problem of how to tell the truth about their experiences as bodies. Queer bodies, sick bodies, racialised bodies, female bodies, what is their language, what are the materials we need to transcribe it?Exploring the ways in which feminist artists have taken up this challenge, Art Monsters is a landmark intervention in how we think about art and the body. Weaving daring links between disparate artists and writers – from Julia Margaret Cameron’s photography to Kara Walker’s silhouettes, Vanessa Bell’s portraits to Eva Hesse’s rope sculptures – Lauren Elkin shows that their work offers a potent celebration of beauty and excess, sentiment and touch, the personal and the political.‘The Susan Sontag of her generation’ Deborah Levy
Teaching and Researching Listening (Applied Linguistics in Action)
by Michael RostWidely considered to be a foundational work in the field of listening, Teaching and Researching Listening is among the most recommended textbooks in applied linguistics oral communication courses, and the most cited reference in current research on second language listening development. Known for its comprehensiveness, clarity, insight, and practical applications, this fourth edition has been substantially revised to reflect the latest research in the areas of linguistics, neuroscience, applied technologies, and teaching methodology, with expanded sections on teaching applications and explorations in social research related to listening.This completely revised edition includes:• Detailed overviews of the underlying processes of listening, with additional coverage of decoding processes• Expansion of sections dealing with artificial intelligence (AI), speech recognition, and input enhancement software• Emphasis on research of listening in spoken interaction and cross-cultural communication • Clear templates for instructors and curriculum designers, with an expansive set of practical resources• Guidance in using observational methods for exploring listening in a range of educational and professional contexts• Website support, with presentation slides, infographics, and question banks for each chapterThis fourth edition of Teaching and Researching Listening serves as an authoritative and comprehensive survey of issues related to teaching and researching oral communication, providing value for language teachers, educational researchers, instructional designers, interpreters, and other language practitioners.
Understanding Sublimation in Freudian Theory and Modernist Writing (Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature)
by Luke ThurstonWhat is at stake in Freud’s enduring preoccupation with a process supposedly diverting sexuality into cultural activity? In this study, a leading scholar of psychoanalysis and literature re-opens the old question of sublimation in a critical reading that explores one of the last remaining puzzles of Freudian thought. Using the rigorous framework provided by Jean Laplanche, Luke Thurston resituates sublimation as an unfinished Freudian concept bound up with a much wider history of philosophical and literary reflection. Exploring the misunderstanding and reinvention of sublimation both in accounts of cultural history and in Lacan’s celebrated reading of Antigone, Thurston challenges some of the prevalent assumptions still seen in contemporary “theory.” Thurston links his critical investigation of psychoanalysis to modernist literature, discovering both parallels and alternatives to Freud’s idea of sublimation in little-known works by May Sinclair and David Jones. The study concludes by arguing that these modernist artists, both of whom were significantly affected by trauma during the First World War, produced work radically at odds with the established canons of representation, and that this “anti-hermeneutic” art can be linked to a “Copernican” sublimation, a process not controlled by the ego but vitalizing it and decentring its habitual structure.
Personal Conflict Management: Theory and Practice
by Melanie J. Reese Suzanne McCorkle Amy Janan Johnson Ioana A. CioneaThis third edition bridges the theory behind why conflict occurs with specific skills and tools to transform difficult interpersonal encounters into beneficial, constructive exchanges.Providing an understanding of the common causes of conflict, this edition continues its discussions of causes of conflict, what affects how conflict occurs and unfolds, and strategies to manage conflict. Separate chapters are dedicated to examining conflict in common, everyday contexts such as families, friendships, the workplace, or on social media. This edition also features updated information and examples, further connections between conflict and communication, a revised chapter on conflict in close relationships, as well as a new chapter on intercultural conflict.The book is ideal for introductory conflict and communication courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.An instructor manual, significantly updated as well, is also available online, including summaries of the chapters, activities, a test bank, and sample syllabi and assignments. Please visit www.routledge.com/ 9781032412412
Personal Conflict Management: Theory and Practice
by Melanie J. Reese Suzanne McCorkle Amy Janan Johnson Ioana A. CioneaThis third edition bridges the theory behind why conflict occurs with specific skills and tools to transform difficult interpersonal encounters into beneficial, constructive exchanges.Providing an understanding of the common causes of conflict, this edition continues its discussions of causes of conflict, what affects how conflict occurs and unfolds, and strategies to manage conflict. Separate chapters are dedicated to examining conflict in common, everyday contexts such as families, friendships, the workplace, or on social media. This edition also features updated information and examples, further connections between conflict and communication, a revised chapter on conflict in close relationships, as well as a new chapter on intercultural conflict.The book is ideal for introductory conflict and communication courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.An instructor manual, significantly updated as well, is also available online, including summaries of the chapters, activities, a test bank, and sample syllabi and assignments. Please visit www.routledge.com/ 9781032412412
Eliot After The Waste Land (Eliot Biographies #2)
by Robert CrawfordThe second volume of Robert Crawford's magisterial biography of the revolutionary modernist, visionary poet and troubled man, drawing on extensive new sources.In this compelling and meticulous portrait of the twentieth century's most important poet, Robert Crawford completes the story he began in Young Eliot. Drawing on extensive new sources and letters, this is the first full-scale biography to make use of Eliot's most significant surviving correspondence, including the archive of letters (unsealed for the first time in 2020) detailing his decades-long love affair with Emily Hale.This long-awaited second volume, Eliot After 'The Waste Land', tells the story of the mature Eliot, his years as a world-renowned writer and intellectual, and his troubled interior life.From his time as an exhausted bank employee after the publication of The Waste Land, through the emotional turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s, and his years as a firewatcher in bombed wartime London, Crawford reveals the public and personal experiences that helped generate some of Eliot's masterpieces.He explores the poet's religious conversion, his editorship at Faber and Faber, his separation from Vivien Haigh-Wood and happy second marriage to Valerie Fletcher, and his great work Four Quartets.Robert Crawford presents this complex and remarkable man not as a literary monument but as a human being: as a husband, lover and widower, as a banker, editor, playwright and publisher, but most of all as an epoch-shaping poet struggling to make art among personal disasters.
Digital Semiotics: Digitale Produkte und Services mit Zeichentheorie besser verstehen und besser gestalten
by Klaus M. BernsauDieses Buch erklärt, wie Unternehmen mit Hilfe der Semiotik – der Lehre von den Zeichen – ihre digitalen Produkte und Dienstleistungen erfolgreicher machen können. Denn die Wellness-App, der Warenkorb im Onlineshop oder der Like-Button in der Produktansicht haben eines gemeinsam: Sie basieren auf digitalen Zeichen. Diese kundengerecht einzusetzen, wird immer mehr zum Schlüssel für das Produkterlebnis und damit zur Voraussetzung für den Produkterfolg. Die moderne Semiotik verbindet Sprachwissenschaft, Erkenntnistheorie, Anthropologie, Psychologie und Sozialwissenschaften zu einem faszinierenden Blick auf digitale Angebote. Der Autor zeigt, wie Unternehmen diese Erkenntnisse nutzen können und liefert ein praxisnahes Buch für Produktmanager*innen, Marketer*innen, Kommunikator*innen, Designer*innen, Softwareentwickler*innen – kurz: für alle, die für digitale Produkte und Dienstleistungen verantwortlich sind.
Exploring Korean Politeness Across Online and Offline Interactions (Advances in (Im)politeness Studies)
This open-access edited volume brings together the latest research on Korean politeness (K-Politeness) from multidisciplinary and multimodal perspectives across a broad range of different interactional contexts and communication platforms, both online and offline. The volume examines how Korean language speakers construct, negotiate, and utilize politeness or impoliteness as discursive practices during daily interaction. The studies not only include intimate interactions between family members and friends, but also institutional interactions between business vendors and customers, doctors and patients, talk show hosts and their guests, as well as politicians. The studies include discussions on the perception of Korean (im)politeness of K-wave viewers and fans. The role of media is discussed and how it influences public discourse and speakers’ perception and practice of Korean (im)politeness. This text also examines interactions through instant text messages, chat boxes in livestreaming sites, online chat boxes with business vendors, and related communication channels. Although the disciplines and methodologies may vary, the studies are based on empirical research. This volume provides new insights through contributions from researchers of different disciplines, including communications, sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, discourse analysis, and pragmatics; it appeals to students and researchers in these fields.
Memoir Writing For Dummies
by Ryan G. Van CleaveUnlock your storytelling journey with expert guidance Memoir writing isn’t just for celebrities and politicians. For anyone prone to self-reflection and ready to give shape to your memories and experiences, Memoir Writing For Dummies is your definitive guide. This book offers a concrete roadmap for writing a captivating memoir. Get advice on exploring your past, mapping out your story, and perfecting your plot, setting, character, and dialogue. You’ll also find information on recruiting the help of AI and digital media for a more dynamic storytelling experience. Whether you’re an amateur author with a story to tell or a bestselling author trying out a new genre, Memoir Writing For Dummies will guide you every step of the way. Gain a deep understanding of the memoir genre and kickstart your journey into autobiographical writing Learn how to structure your memoir to grab readers’ attention from the first page and keep them engrossed throughout Organize your thoughts, address sensitive topics, and seamlessly weave your insights and reactions into your narrative Embrace technology to streamline your writing process and share your story with the world Everyone has a story worth sharing, and Memoir Writing For Dummies provides would-be memoirists with the essential tools they need to share their life stories with the world and become published authors.
Writing and Publishing in Architecture and Design
by Anne MasseyThis book outlines the process of writing and publishing research in the field of architecture and design. The book sets out to help researchers find a voice and find the best fit for their work. Information about the different types of publication on offer is set out, as well as how to make that important initial approach. From pitching an idea for a review in a magazine, to producing a journal article right through to the monograph, Writing and Publishing in Architecture and Design maps out the different steps for the novice author. Your first steps in publishing can be daunting, and the book offers material which will inspire confidence, by demystifying the publication process. It also includes valuable nuts and bolts material such as planning and structure, time management, writing styles, editing, production of the final manuscript and picture research. How do you turn your PhD into a book? How do you turn conference proceedings into a publication? Commissioning editors and authors share their experiences through interview and offer recipes for success as well as what to avoid. Key titles from the past are included as case studies, and their pathway to publication explored. This is an invaluable book for anyone working in the fields of architecture and design, with an ambition to publish.
Writing and Publishing in Architecture and Design
by Anne MasseyThis book outlines the process of writing and publishing research in the field of architecture and design. The book sets out to help researchers find a voice and find the best fit for their work. Information about the different types of publication on offer is set out, as well as how to make that important initial approach. From pitching an idea for a review in a magazine, to producing a journal article right through to the monograph, Writing and Publishing in Architecture and Design maps out the different steps for the novice author. Your first steps in publishing can be daunting, and the book offers material which will inspire confidence, by demystifying the publication process. It also includes valuable nuts and bolts material such as planning and structure, time management, writing styles, editing, production of the final manuscript and picture research. How do you turn your PhD into a book? How do you turn conference proceedings into a publication? Commissioning editors and authors share their experiences through interview and offer recipes for success as well as what to avoid. Key titles from the past are included as case studies, and their pathway to publication explored. This is an invaluable book for anyone working in the fields of architecture and design, with an ambition to publish.
The Oxford Handbook of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Oxford Handbooks)
The Oxford Handbook of Ralph Waldo Emerson is the most expansive collection of critical essays on Emerson to date, a survey that approaches Emerson from the vantages of climate change, racial justice, print culture, the digital humanities, the new religious studies, hemispheric American Studies, health humanities, and affect theory among other critical perspectives. Curated between a forward by editor Christopher Hanlon--who makes the case for a capacious and contemporary Emerson--and Cornel West--the activist-scholar whose influential work on Emerson merges with a career of advocacy for economic and racial justice?this collection assesses the history and state of Emerson scholarship while charting pathways for new work on this most essential American writer. Comprised of new works by leading figures in nineteenth-century Americanist literary studies, the volume suggests directions into underexamined facets of Emerson's writing, life, and reputation. From Emerson's engagements with energy infrastructure and the processes of extraction that undergirded the locomotives he rode and the energy economies he sometimes extolled; to the vicissitudes of age he experienced alongside the romantic tropes of youthful vigour he both re-circulated and re-tooled; to Emerson's poetry, both in its philosophical formulations and in its reflections of the material circumstances of nineteenth-century print culture; to Emerson's resonance beyond the United States, elsewhere in the western hemisphere; to the Black press and its refractions of Emersonian transcendentalism in the midst of ante- and post-bellum justice struggles; to the legacies of Emerson to be found in the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Rachel Carson, and in the versions of ?Emerson? to be found in children's literature; to his often-fraught and often-fruitful engagements with reform movements of various sorts; to the prospects for digital processes of re-reading Emerson and his contemporaries' styles of textual production and engagement, The Oxford Handbook of Ralph Waldo Emerson is a necessary resource for students, scholars, and general readers committed to the study of Emerson, transcendentalism, and current critical approaches to United States literature.
The Names of Science: Terminology and Language in the History of the Natural Sciences
by Prof Helge KraghThe history of science is echoed in the development of its language and the names chosen for its technical terms. The Names of Science examines in detail how, over time, new words have entered the scientific lexicon and how some of them, but far from all, have survived to the present. Why is a transistor called a transistor and not something else? Why was the term 'scientist' only coined in 1834, and why was the name regarded as controversial for a long time afterwards? There is a story behind every scientific word we use today. In this work, Helge Kragh tells many of these stories, taking a broad historical perspective from the Renaissance to the present. By combining elements of linguistics with the history of the natural sciences including physics, chemistry, and astronomy, this book offers a new and innovative perspective on the historical development of the natural sciences. Following an introductory list of useful linguistic terms, the book is structured in six chapters, which cover important phases in the history of science, dealing with a vast range of scientific terminology from physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, to cosmology. It also considers, if only briefly, how English - and not, say, Latin or French - developed to become the internationally accepted language of science. Contrary to other works dealing with the subject, The Names of Science pays serious attention to the historical dimension of scientific language, and to the way in which scientists have, sometimes unconsciously, acted as linguists and neologists in their research work.
Austinian Themes: Illocution, Action, Knowledge, Truth, and Philosophy
by Marina Sbis?Austinian Themes offers a reconstruction of philosophical views on several themes developed by J. L. Austin. Exploring Austin's work in detail through a series of thematically organized chapters, Marina Sbis? draws on both published work as well as unpublished manuscript notes to offer a defence of Austin's speech act theory, characterized by a specific notion of illocution, against some important criticisms. Sbis? offers a reconstruction of Austin's responsibility-based conception of action drawing on his remarks on acts and actions in How to Do Things with Words and in later papers. Exploring Austin's contributions to epistemology and the philosophy of perception (including his realist stance, anti-scepticism, and presentational view of perception), Sbis? analyses the roles that he assigns to knowledge in the dynamics of assertion. On the theme of truth, Austin's claims are expounded and explained as worthy of reassessment. Other chapters explore the ways in which Austin deals with sense, reference, 'family resemblances', truth-falsity assessments, and context-dependence. Austin's most famous statement of method, as outlining a 'linguistic phenomenology', is cast as analogous to Husserl's phenomenology in adopting an epoch? which isolates language (rather than consciousness), a reading which helps to clarify several characteristic positions adopted by Austin. On metaphilosophical themes, Sbis? analyses the notion of ordinariness, distinguishing it from common sense and the endorsement of the 'Linguistic Turn', approaching it instead in terms of the by-default nature of the social bond and conversational cooperation. Various recurrent aspects of Austin's philosophy are illuminated: the opposition to dichotomies, the attention paid to intersubjectivity, the commitment to a 'sober' philosophy, and a strong sense of human situatedness.
Alien Structure: Language and Reality
by Matti EklundWhat sorts of alien languages can there be? And might reality be such that some alien language represents reality better than familiar languages do? Alien languages are here languages that use different kinds of semantic tools than any familiar languages use. The question of the existence of alien languages is interesting in itself: what kinds of languages are possible? But attending to the issue of alien languages also problematizes the relationship between language and reality, and highlights the possibility that reality could have a fundamentally different structure than we otherwise take it to have. Despite the foundational significance of these questions, they have received virtually no explicit attention in the literature. But the book brings up and criticizes existing contemporary work that promises to be at least indirectly relevant. A main claim of the book is that alien languages are possible and that we should be alert to the possibility that reality has alien structure and is best described by an alien language. The book also raises other possibilities regarding this debate. Maybe we should not say that the world has either kind of structure but can be equally well described using either kind of languages.