bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rely on your reasoning abilities, because folded paper may reach the moon
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Rely on your reasoning abilities, because folded paper may reach the moon” offers an introduction to exponential growth by way of an appealing problem regarding the surprisingly small number of folds necessary for a piece of paper to reach the moon. The discussion references the story of Britney Gallivan, a high-school student in California who set a world record for folding a piece of paper twelve times. The overall discussion is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches, including back-of-the-napkin calculations. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to rely on their reasoning abilities in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Act natural, because of Benford’s Law
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Act natural, because of Benford’s Law” explains how and why large data sets generated as a result of human behavior concerning health records, population counts, tax returns, stock prices, national debts, election data, and more, have numbers whose first digits are unevenly distributed, with Benford’s Law offering percentages. When an individual tampers with a naturally generated data set, they often introduce fake numbers whose first digits are (more or less) evenly distributed from one to nine. Often, a subsequent investigation reveals that someone has tampered with the data set. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to act natural so as to avoid looking like a fraudulent data set that does not observe Benford’s Law. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Resist comparison, because of chaos theory
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Resist comparison, because of chaos theory” tells the story of Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorologist Edward Lorenz who, while working on long-term weather forecasting in 1961, inadvertently upended notions of a Newtonian universe and ignited a scientific revolution by discovering chaos theory. The discussion of how a small change in an initial condition may effect a dramatic change in outcome is enhanced by numerous hand-drawn sketches. Also included are popular culture references to the “butterfly effect” in which the flap of a butterfly’s wings sets off a far-off tornado. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to resist comparing mathematical paths when working with a friend as small differences in starting places may lead to different outcomes. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Consider all options, as the shortest path between two points is not always straight
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Consider all options, as the shortest path between two points is not always straight” explains how to find the shortest path between two points on the globe by way of a “great circle”—an equator-like circle that goes around the widest part of a sphere. The discussion is enhanced with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to consider all options in mathematical and life pursuits, especially when a straight or straightforward path is unavailable. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Divide and conquer, just like Riemann sums in calculus
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Divide and conquer, just like Riemann sums in calculus” offers a basic introduction for how to estimate—with any desired non-zero margin of error—the area of an irregular shape. For an initial underestimate, readers are encouraged to draw a large rectangle that fits inside the irregular shape and then use the grade school formula to calculate the rectangle’s area: area equals length times width. To refine this underestimate, readers learn to draw multiple smaller rectangles inside the shape whose areas they also sum. An analogous method is provided for overestimates. The discussion concerning how to obtain underestimates or overestimates with any desired margin of error is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to consider dividing and conquering in all challenges they face in mathematics or life. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Embrace change, considering non-Euclidean geometry
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Embrace change, considering non-Euclidean geometry” offers a basic introduction to the geometry of curved surfaces in which the sum of the degrees of a triangle may equal more or less than 180°. The discussion is enhanced by numerous hand-drawn sketches, including triangles on spheres and saddles. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to embrace change as a way to alleviate boredom, understand one’s strengths, and uncover new opportunities and modes of thinking. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Make an educated guess, like Kepler with his Sphere-Packing Conjecture
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Make an educated guess, like Kepler with his Sphere-Packing Conjecture” provides an accessible discussion of the history and mathematics behind Johannes Kepler’s Sphere-Packing Conjecture—a statement concerning the densest way to pack spheres such as oranges. The discussion is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Though Kepler died before proving his conjecture, his legacy demonstrates the power of conjecture in mathematics. Hordes of mathematicians continued work on his claim for four centuries until Thomas Hales provided a proof of Kepler’s conjecture running to over 250 pages. Upon noting real-life sphere-packing applications in internet messaging, satellite broadcasting, and deep-space telecommunications, readers learn that Kepler’s guess changed the world for the better. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to let conjecture serve as a catalyst in their mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Join the community, with Hilbert’s twenty-three problems
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Join the community, with Hilbert’s twenty-three problems” tells the story of German mathematician David Hilbert who, in 1900 at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris, presented twenty-three problems in a first serious effort by any mathematician to curate a list of important open problems across mathematical subfields. In a speech accompanying his offering, he challenged mathematicians to solve all twenty-three problems in the next century. This chapter offers highlights and explanations of some of the twenty-three problems, including the Continuum Hypothesis, the Riemann Hypothesis, and Kepler’s Sphere-Packing Conjecture. With his broad reach, Hilbert understood the value of articulating community-wide mathematical goals, as well as the unifying effect that keeping score might have. Mathematics students and enthusiasts learn that they are part of a community of “zealous and enthusiastic disciples” of mathematics. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Enjoy the pursuit, as Andrew Wiles did with Fermat’s Last Theorem
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Enjoy the pursuit, as Andrew Wiles did with Fermat’s Last Theorem” recounts the story of how mathematician Andrew Wiles was undaunted in the face of 350 years’ worth of mathematicians’ failed efforts at attempting to solve Fermat’s Last Theorem. He believed in his abilities and ultimately succeeded in providing a proof. Along the way, he satisfied a human longing to seek knowledge and energized the mathematics community. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to remember to value the journey in mathematical and life pursuits, even when they struggle. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Change your perspective, with Viviani’s Theorem
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Change your perspective, with Viviani’s Theorem” explains a visual proof of Viviani’s Theorem which states that the sum of the distances from any point in an equilateral triangle to its edges by way of perpendicular lines is equal to the altitude of the given equilateral triangle. The discussion is enhanced with numerous hand-drawn sketches. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to consider the possibility that a change in perspective need not radically alter circumstances in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Be contradictory, because of the infinitude of primes
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Be contradictory, because of the infinitude of primes” offers encouragement and practice with the “proof-by-contradiction” method of mathematical proof. Any mathematician will tell you that the collection of prime numbers is infinite. However, readers are guided in proving this statement by contradicting it. The activity pushes readers to engage deeply with the reasons supporting the fact that there are an infinite number of primes. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to debate with enthusiasm in their mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Consider the less traveled path, because of the Jordan Curve Theorem
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Consider the less traveled path, because of the Jordan Curve Theorem” offers a basic introduction to simple, closed curves and explains why the theorem asserting that every simple closed curve in the plane separates the plane into an “inside” and an “outside” is best appreciated when considering pathological curves. A pathological curve, such as a space-filling curve or the Koch snowflake, is one that lacks features of so-called well-behaved curves. The discussion is enhanced by numerous hand-drawn sketches and a reference to “The Road Not Taken” by poet Robert Frost. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to consider the less traveled path in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Investigate, because of the golden rectangle
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Investigate, because of the golden rectangle” offers mathematics students and enthusiasts inspiration for mathematical play by way of a guided construction of the golden rectangle. The discussion is illustrated with numerous hand-drawn sketches. A golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio, which is, where the Greek letter (pronounced “phi”) is approximately equal to. Readers learn that an indirect, even haphazard, approach in mathematical play may lead to unanticipated discoveries. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Draw a picture, as in proofs without words
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Draw a picture, as in proofs without words” provides a short, wordless illustration proving that. The hand-drawn sketches invoke an earlier time in the reader’s life spent playing with blocks and making quiet yet important mathematical observations. Readers also learn of the story of young Carl Friedrich Gauss whose elementary teacher tried to keep the class busy by asking that they sum the first one hundred integers. Most of the students began the time-consuming process of adding but Gauss drew a few quick sketches that offered a shortcut to the solution: 5,050. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to consider play and drawing as methods for eliciting mathematical thoughts. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Keep an open mind, because imaginary numbers exist
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Keep an open mind, because imaginary numbers exist” offers a basic introduction to imaginary numbers, including their history and some real-life applications. In the 1500s, Italian mathematician Rafael Bombelli considered the possibility that an equation such as had a solution. Later, in the 1600s, Rene Descartes defined a new number with the property. He selected the letter for “imaginary”—a word that betrayed his discomfort with the idea. The number is a solution to the equation. In general, an imaginary number may be written as, where and are real numbers and. Mathematics students and enthusiasts who feel bewildered by any mathematical concept are encouraged to work to uncover mysteries in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Fail more often, just like Albert Einstein did with E=mc2
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Fail more often, just like Albert Einstein did with not only explains Einstein’s famous equation but tells the little-known story of how he experienced failure along the way. As Einstein worked to correct his mistakes, he not only gained a deeper understanding into the equation, but the entire field of special relativity. Many years later, in a letter to a young girl included in this chapter, he referenced his struggles when he wrote, “Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics; I can assure you that mine are still greater.” Mathematics students and enthusiasts learn that mistakes are an essential part of the mathematical process. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Follow your curiosity, along a space-filling curve
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Follow your curiosity, along a space-filling curve” tells the story of Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano’s quest for and discovery of a space-filling curve—a curve that completely fills a space such as a square—that most mathematicians and scientists at the time did not believe existed. For example, Isaac Newton, in his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, tried to ban space-filling curves. The discussion of space-filling curves is enhanced with numerous hand-drawn sketches showing how to construct German mathematician David Hilbert’s space-filling curve. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to foster a Peano-like curiosity in mathematical and life pursuits. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Exercise your imagination, with fractional dimensions
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Exercise your imagination, with fractional dimensions” offers a basic introduction to fractional dimensional objects. Unlike a one-dimensional line, a two-dimensional piece of paper, or a three-dimensional box, the dimension of a fractional dimensional object may not be represented by a whole number. The fractional dimensional Koch curve, for example, has approximately 1.26185 dimensions. The discussion is enhanced with numerous hand-drawn sketches providing instruction on how to construct and compute the dimension of the Koch curve. Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to exercise their imaginations in mathematical and life pursuits as a way of opening themselves up to more of life’s unusual possibilities. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Proceed with care, because some infinities are larger than others
Authors: D'Agostino Susan
Published: April 2020

“Proceed with care, because some infinities are larger than others” explains in detail why the infinite set of real numbers—all of the numbers on the number line—represents a far larger infinity than the infinite set of natural numbers—the counting numbers. Readers learn to distinguish between countable infinity and uncountable infinity by way of a method known as a “one-to-one correspondence.” Mathematics students and enthusiasts are encouraged to proceed with care in both mathematics and life, lest they confuse countable infinity with uncountable infinity, large with unfathomably large, or order with disorder. At the chapter’s end, readers may check their understanding by working on a problem. A solution is provided.
Constitutive relativity in Plato
Authors: Duncombe Matthew
Published: April 2020

This chapter argues that key passages in Plato, which discuss relativity, assume a constitutive view. The formal features—exclusivity, reciprocity, aliorelativity, and existential symmetry—are identified in those passages. These principles are not confined to one dialogue, philosophical topic, or speaker. But they all follow from constitutive relativity. So we can see some of the role constitutive relativity plays. The chapter argues that Plato assumes a constitutive view of relativity by showing that the formal features of constitutive relativity are present across his writing. Section 2.1 discusses Symposium 199d–e and Sophist 255c. Section 2.2 argues for exclusivity in the Symposium 200a–201c and Theaetetus 204b–205a. Section 2.3 argues for reciprocity in Statesman 283d–e. Section 2.4 argues for existential symmetry in Theaetetus 156a–157c. Section 2.5 analyses aliorelativity in Charmides 167c–169a.
Relativity and separation in the theory of Forms
Authors: Duncombe Matthew
Published: April 2020

At Parmenides 133c–134e, Parmenides presents what he calls the ‘Greatest Difficulty’ with Socrates’ inchoate theory of Forms. Although many scholars have recognized that Parmenides’ objection relies on relativity, they have not been able to offer a satisfactory account of the Greatest Difficulty. This chapter shows that once we understand that Plato’s constitutive understanding of relativity is in play, we can give a satisfactory reading. This adds further evidence that Plato assumes a constitutive view of relativity. Section 3.1 introduces the texts of the Greatest Difficulty. Sections 3.2–3.4 discuss the main existing approaches to the argument in the literature. Scholars generally think that the Greatest Difficulty does not pose a threat to the theory of Forms, either because it is not formally valid, or, if it is formally valid, because it begs the question against the Platonist. However, this chapter argues that the Greatest Difficulty poses a genuine challenge to the theory of Forms. Furthermore, the existing approaches assume that Plato holds an incompleteness view of relativity. The chapter argues that, in fact, the Greatest Difficulty assumes a constitutive view of relativity. Section 3.5 shows how it is possible to properly understand the Greatest Difficulty, with the constitutive view of relativity assumed in the background.
Relativity against dogmatism in Sextus Empiricus
Authors: Duncombe Matthew
Published: April 2020

Sextus often tells us that relativity underpins Pyrrhonian Scepticism. Some scholarship focuses on the role of relativity in overarching Pyrrhonist sceptical strategies. Much less scholarship addresses relativity in Sextus’ criticism of particular dogmatic concepts. This chapter argues that Sextus invokes conceptual relativity—a version of constitutive relativity—in his treatment of three dogmatic concepts: signs, causes, and demonstration. However, as a Pyrrhonist, Sextus would likely resist committing himself to a certain concept of relativity, even a conceptual one. This chapter argues that Sextus employs conceptual relativity dialectically against his dogmatic opponents. First, the chapter sets up the two readings of Sextus’ view of relativity. The chapter then presents direct and indirect evidence that the conceptual view is present in Sextus.
Homer’s Intelligent Machines
Authors: Liveley Genevieve , Thomas Sam
Published: April 2020

Through close literary analysis of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, this chapter traces the various gradations of weak to strong machine ‘intelligence’ that these ancient poems describe and the mind models that they assume. Beginning with a re-examination of the weak AI evinced in Homer’s descriptions of relatively simple automata, it goes on to analyse Homer’s autonomous vehicles and golden slave girls, considering the more sophisticated models of artificial mind and machine cognition attributed to Homer’s stronger, embodied AI. Throughout, this chapter asks: What kinds of priorities and paradigms do we find in AI stories from Homeric epic and how do these still resonate in contemporary discourse on AI? In particular, what distinctions does Homer draw between artificial and human minds and intelligences? And what is the legacy of Homer’s intelligent machines and the ancient narrative history of AI?
‘A Push-Button Type of Thinking’
Authors: Matthews Graham
Published: April 2020

Midcentury experiments in AI soon resulted in machines that could devise logical proofs, and solve calculus and visual analogy problems; for the first time in human history, AI moved from the realm of myth to become a real possibility. These technological developments catalysed the publication of numerous AI narratives that explored its impact on contemporary issues such as the labour market, centralization, heuristics, and global communication networks. This chapter contends that midcentury AI narratives must be situated in relation to concomitant technological developments in automation and cybernetics that stimulated widespread concern among government institutions, businesses, and the public. It analyses the varied representation of AI in midcentury novels such as Michael Frayn’s The Tin Men (1965), Len Deighton’s Billion-Dollar Brain (1966), and Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). These novels problematize AI narrative tropes by resisting anthropomorphic tendencies and implausible utopian and dystopian scenarios; instead, they address the societal ramifications—both positive and negative—for humans faced with technological breakthroughs in AI.
AI: Artificial Immortality and Narratives of Mind Uploading
Authors: Cave Stephen
Published: April 2020

AI promises to be a master technology that can solve any problem—including the problem of death. There are two main contemporary narratives describing how AI might achieve this: cyborgization and mind uploading. This chapter focuses on the latter. It examines how works of nonfiction by influential technologists, in particular Hans Moravec and Ray Kurzweil, have framed this possibility. It pays particular attention to three narrative elements: the promise of boundless wish fulfilment, the assumption of exponential technological progress, and the assumption of personal survival through the mind-uploading process. It then examines how works of fiction, including those of William Gibson, Greg Egan, Pat Cadigan, Robert Sawyer, Rudy Rucker, and Cory Doctorow, offer problematized accounts of these claims. It focuses on three problems in particular, which I call the problems of identity, stability, and substrate. It concludes that science fiction offers a particularly important site of critique and response to techno-utopian narratives.
Knowledge-Based Decision Theory?
Authors: Comesaña Juan
Published: April 2020

This chapter argues against Factualism, holding that the thesis fails in both directions: not everything we know is part of our evidence, and not all evidence is knowledge. Fumerton’s thesis (that rational action requires rational beliefs and, as added here, rational credences) is defended from the charge that it leads to unacceptable dilemmas. It is then argued that full beliefs (and not just credences) have a role to play in Bayesian decision theory. The argument that not all knowledge is evidence appeals to inferential knowledge. The main claim of the chapter is that not all evidence is knowledge. It is argued that it can be rational to act on the basis of false beliefs and therefore (given Fumerton’s thesis) that it is rational to believe those false propositions.
The Normative Force of Unjustified Beliefs
Authors: Comesaña Juan
Published: April 2020

The previous chapter argued that our evidence is constituted by those beliefs that are ultima facie justified by our experiences—but what about our unjustified beliefs? Do they have any justificatory power of their own? This chapter discusses a puzzle that arises regarding that question, and argues that we should take to heart the lessons learned from an older puzzle: the puzzle of contrary-to-duty obligations. It is argued that these obligations, as well as what Broome has called “normative requirements,” can be understood in the model of the restrictor view of conditionals.
The Uses of Philosophy
Authors: Moriarty Michael
Published: April 2020

This chapter gives an account of the reported conversation between Pascal and Isaac Le Maître de Sacy, one of the leading presences in the Port-Royal community, in which Pascal explains his views about Montaigne (considered as a representative of scepticism) and Epictetus the Stoic. Pascal’s reduction of all philosophy to a contest between these opposed views is discussed. Both writers have insights of value to the Christian. Montaigne destroys an excessive confidence in human reason, and Epictetus preaches lofty moral ideals and submission to Providence; but Montaigne can encourage moral and religious laziness, and Epictetus pride in human capacities. In different ways, they have failed to take account of the truth proclaimed by Christianity: that humanity is a fallen race.
Belief, Reason, Persuasion, Faith
Authors: Moriarty Michael
Published: April 2020

In a short work on the art of persuasion, Pascal argues that our beliefs are shaped both by our understanding and by our will. The persuader must therefore take account of his audience’s existing beliefs and desires. Pascal sees knowledge as depending on fundamental concepts that cannot be defined and fundamental principles that cannot be proved. He distinguishes between ‘geometrical’ and more intuitive ways of thinking; his account of the latter is compared with Newman’s. The existence of God cannot be convincingly proved by philosophical argument. In any case, faith is a divine gift; it is not a rational conviction resulting from proof, but more like the belief we have in the fundamental realities of our experience such as time, space, and number. Argument, such as Pascal himself uses in the Pensées, may, however, pave the way for faith.
The Fall
Authors: Moriarty Michael
Published: April 2020

Pascal argues that the doctrine of the Fall explains the contradictions he has studied. Human nature has been transformed by original sin. Our ‘greatness’ is the residue of our former nature, the vestigial memory of which takes the form of our frustration at the ‘wretchedness’ into which we have fallen. Pascal’s particular conception of the Fall is essentially inspired by St Augustine, from whom he derives the key notion of concupiscence (earthly desire), and certain problems in the Augustinian theory are discussed. The chapter concludes by mentioning more recent presentations of the doctrine in the work of Kierkegaard and Rahner, and of contemporary theologians discussing the relationship between the doctrine and findings in biology.
Conclusion
Authors: Moriarty Michael
Published: April 2020

There is a brief discussion of Pascal’s affinities with existentialism. One of these concerns his denial that we can infer moral norms from human nature as it is. Our attitude to human nature will largely condition how we react to his philosophy. His arguments for Christian belief are to a certain extent detachable from his particular version of Augustinian theology. He remains relevant partly because we cannot escape confronting human nature as a problem and because he insists on the liberating potential of Christianity. He functions still as a witness to his faith.
Ahmednagar
Authors: Manz Stefan , Panayi Panikos
Published: April 2020

Ahmednagar developed the same type of symbolic importance for those interned in India as that which Knockaloe held for the Germans interned in Great Britain. While much smaller in scale than the head camp further north, Ahmednagar lasted for a similar length of time and played a leading role in the incarceration of Germans from East Africa, India, and Siam. The camp lay on the site of a medieval fort. The few thousand male internees complained about the conditions they endured but, as in other imperial camps, they experienced humane treatment and developed a rich prison camp society. As in the rest of the Empire, the Germans in Ahmednagar and in the other camps in India faced deportation back to Europe, especially upon the Golconda during 1915 and 1916. This ship came to have the same symbolic significance as Ahmednagar for the end of the German presence in India.
Forging Germans under Germany
Authors: Mezger Caroline
Published: April 2020

Chapter 3 is dedicated to the German occupation of the Western Banat during World War II. Employing archival and press sources from Germany and Serbia, as well as original oral history interviews, it explores the interplay between Reich-German and local Donauschwaben authorities in shaping institutions that would profoundly affect ethnic German children and young people’s wartime experience and conceptualizations of “Germanness”: the National Socialist Volksgruppenführung (minority leadership), the German-language school, and the Church. As the chapter shows, experiences of violence, the Nazi takeover of virtually all local ethnic German organizations, and the disappearance of any official religious alternatives caused an at least public equation of “German” with “National Socialist”—a definition which would be promoted, ignored, and resisted by individual youth.
Language Reform and the Lens of Simile in Experimentalist Texts
Authors: Webster Erin
Published: April 2020

This chapter sheds new light on the ‘plain style’ movement associated with the experimental philosophy of England’s Royal Society by demonstrating that our critical understanding of this movement as inherently anti-figurative has been hampered by an anachronistic understanding of how early modern Europeans understood figurative language to function. Drawing upon philosophical and experimentalist writings by Francis Bacon, Thomas Sprat, Robert Boyle, and Robert Hooke, this chapter shows that, rather than being against the use of metaphor and simile outright, experimentalist writers conceived of textual ‘similitudes’ as literary analogues to the mechanical technology of the lens. As such, they, like lenses, could serve both to clarify and to distort the objects they were used to describe and therefore must be carefully chosen and applied. The chapter concludes with an exploration of how readers responded to Hooke’s use of simile in his 1665 treatise on microscopy, Micrographia, by analyzing contemporaneous critiques of his work by Andrew Marvell, Samuel Butler, and Margaret Cavendish that target his literary style in addition—and relation—to his optical science.
Envisioning Empire in Bacon, Hooke, and Cavendish
Authors: Webster Erin
Published: April 2020

This chapter examines Francis Bacon’s fictional ‘new world’ discovery narrative, The New Atlantis (1626), and its influence on Robert Hooke’s Micrographia (1665) and Margaret Cavendish’s Blazing World (1666). It begins by showing how Bacon’s dream of a visually rooted imperial empiricism gives shape to Hooke’s observations, both physical and textual, of the ‘new world’ revealed to him by the technology of the microscope. It then turns to Cavendish’s utopian fiction as another new world narrative in this tradition and argues that in this work Cavendish directly responds to the visually charged imperialistic empiricism of The New Atlantis and Micrographia. Where Bacon and Hooke posit optically enhanced vision as a means through which particular humans could both discover and ‘improve’ nature to meet their own ends, The Blazing World, in keeping with Cavendish’s own vitalist philosophy, celebrates the knowledge of non-human animals and holds out intersubjectivity in place of objectivity as the most fruitful means of engaging both human and non-human nature.
The Optics of Virtue in Boyle, Cowley, and Behn
Authors: Webster Erin
Published: April 2020

This chapter reads Aphra Behn’s farcical play, The Emperor of the Moon (1687), as a sustained and engaged critique of the figure of the experimentalist ‘virtuoso’ as he is presented in defences of the Royal Society circulating in Restoration London. It begins with a close reading of the language of virtue in a series of Royal Society apologetics before turning to Behn’s play in order to show how Behn exposes the ironies present in the virtuoso’s claim to transcend sensual pleasures in pursuit of intellectual ones when measured against the sexually charged language with which these same self-proclaimed virtuosos describe their own experimental practices. By bringing the conventional controlling father figure of Restoration comedy together with the figure of the virtuoso, Behn’s play reveals the extent to which the latter was dependent upon a gendered rhetoric of voyeurism and visual control. At the same time, she leverages the hypocrisy of the virtuoso’s claims to virtuous viewership in order to question other forms of patriarchal authority over women’s bodies and women’s desires. The chapter concludes with a reading of Behn’s poem ‘On a Juniper Tree’ (1684) as an imaginative work that presents a more ethical model of visual engagement with feminine and natural bodies.
Criminalizing Atrocity
Authors: Berlin Mark S.
Published: April 2020

Why do countries adopt criminal legislation making it possible to prosecute government and military officials for human rights violations? Over the past thirty years, dozens of countries have prosecuted their own or other states’ officials for past atrocities. Criminalizing Atrocity tells the story of the global spread of national criminal laws against atrocity crimes—genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity—laws that have helped pave the way for this remarkable trend toward greater accountability. It traces the early-twentieth-century origins of national atrocity laws to a group of influential European criminal law scholars and explains the global patterns by which they have since spread. The book shows that understanding why countries criminalize atrocities requires understanding how they do so. In many cases, criminalization has not been the result of concerted government initiative, but of inconspicuous choices made by technocratic legal experts who have been delegated authority to draft large-scale reforms to countries’ criminal codes. Drawing on research in comparative law and norm diffusion, Criminalizing Atrocity explains how such reform projects prompt technocratic drafters to select legal ideas, like atrocity laws, that have been endorsed by their professional communities and deemed by drafters to be important features of a “modern” criminal code. To test this argument, Criminalizing Atrocity draws on a range of original quantitative and qualitative data, including in-depth case studies of Guatemala, Colombia, Poland, and the Maldvies, and a new, comprehensive dataset tracking the global spread of atrocity laws since Word War II. The book’s findings highlight the importance of professional communities in the modern renaissance of atrocity justice and the domestication of international legal norms.
The Puzzle of Atrocity Criminalization
Authors: Berlin Mark S.
Published: April 2020

Why do governments take atrocity offenses, like genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, from international law and legislate them into domestic criminal law, empowering national courts to prosecute their own, and sometimes other states’, government and military officials? The question is important, because the international community has constructed an international legal regime to prosecute the most serious human rights violations, but that regime is designed to rely primarily on domestic criminal courts to try offenders. To fulfill this role, domestic courts often require specific legislation that defines and criminalizes these offenses in national law. Yet, the adoption of national atrocity laws is puzzling, since in a number of ways, these laws appear to threaten states’ interests. This introductory chapter highlights the puzzle of atrocity criminalization and discusses its importance for the functioning of the international atrocity regime. It then situates this study in existing literatures and highlights the book’s contributions to research on atrocity justice, human rights, and international law. Next, it summarizes the book’s main arguments and details the study’s multi-method research design, which combines quantitative analyses of new, original datasets with in-depth qualitative case studies of Guatemala, Colombia, Poland, and the Maldives.
Introduction
Authors: Tacoma Laurens E.
Published: April 2020

Traditionally, historians regard the demise of the Roman Republic as the end of politics. If politics is regarded as decision making that affects society as a whole, something certainly changed with the advent of single rule. Yet the traditional political institutions of senate and city council continued to exist for a remarkably long period of sixth centuries afterwards. It is argued that their role became social rather than political and that they became self-referential, offering the elite a platform to define and negotiate its own position and enact and negotiate major tensions and ambiguities of elite life. The behaviour of their members is best analysed under the heading of political culture, here defined as ‘a style of doing politics’. Such an approach focuses on the social meaning of the form of the behaviour rather than on the content of the decisions. The approach is underpinned by the theory of bounded rationality, which assumes that participants are bound by language and conventions. It is argued that a case study approach, focusing on specific texts or clusters of texts, offers the best way to proceed. It presents seven cases that will be studied in successive chapters, each representing a major tension or ambiguity inherent in Roman political culture.
Debating Space
Authors: Tacoma Laurens E.
Published: April 2020

This chapter analyses the first tension around which Roman political culture revolved: the restricted space for debate. The issue is discussed on the basis of Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis. With the coming of the Principate the number of issues on which the senate could take decisions was reduced, as was its capacity to debate them seriously. At the same time, the emperor positioned himself as the upholder of the social order and as protector of the state’s institutions. As the senate’s functioning was predicated on the voluntary behaviour of its members, this left the senators some agency. The result was a particular social dynamic in which debates were conducted as if nothing had changed, but where both emperor and senators were locked in expectations about each other’s behaviour. In reflecting on the ambiguities, there were two major themes to consider. The first was that there were situations in which the senate had to debate matters that pertained directly to the position of the emperor. The other occurred when the senate debated its own membership. Both not only revolved around the senate’s capacity to debate these matters in a serious way, but both also raised the issue of the role of imperial intervention. How much space for debate was left? The Apocolocyntosis brilliantly explored both.
Making Fun of Elections
Authors: Tacoma Laurens E.
Published: April 2020

This chapter analyses the third characteristic of Roman political culture, the tension between solemnity and self-conscious reflexivity. It does so on the basis of two letters of Pliny the Younger about jokes that were made during senatorial elections. From his letters it emerges that campaigns for office continued to matter immensely for senators, despite the fact that the balance of power had shifted with the advent of single rule. During the elections the emperor was inserted at the top of the existing hierarchical elite network, rather than that his power was presented as external and inimical to that of the senate. It positioned the emperor in a role of guardian and protector of senatorial values, but at the same time left the senate’s functioning intact. The meaning of the elections should be primarily sought in their social function: they offered the elite a stage for the reaffirmation of their position, both individually vis-à-vis their peers, and collectively to the rest of the populace. Campaigns were a competition about reputation, but this competition would involve a wider group than the candidates alone: it was as much about the position of their high-ranking supporters. In the process, all participants lost much of what constituted their personal characteristics. Given the emphasis on reputation and stability, senators increasingly positioned themselves primarily as senators, rather than as individuals. The corollary was that self-reflective humour should find no place within the curia.
The Economy of Favours
Authors: Tacoma Laurens E.
Published: April 2020

This chapter discusses the fifth characteristic of Roman political culture; the fact that competition for honour between cities became locked in expectations about the mutual behaviour of its participants. It analyses this on the basis of the rescript of Constantine to the Umbrian city of Hispellum. In the Roman period under single rule competition between cities continued unabated, but the direction and nature of it changed. What might be regarded as a form of ‘horizontal’ competition or ‘peer polity interaction’ between communities that were in principle of equal status was now increasingly conducted along vertical lines: communities tried to enhance their status by obtaining privileges and honours from the ruler that affected their ranking in the urban network. In this way the ruler became not only the external arbiter in the competition for status, but at the same time actively shaped that competition. The symbolic exchange with the ruler was structured by petitions which were presented by embassies sent by communities. The relation between emperor and subject was construed in their interaction, and both the requests and their answers could therefore be bent and subtly manipulated to fit their writers’ wishes. However, as both parties became locked in expectations of each other’s behaviour, in the honorific exchanges exactly what was perceived as a gift obtained from the ruler and what was perceived as an honour given to the ruler became obfuscated. An economy of favours emerged in which benefactor and beneficiary played leapfrog.
Draining Resources
Authors: Tacoma Laurens E.
Published: April 2020

This chapter discusses the sixth characteristic of Roman political culture: ambiguity in the agency of benefactions. It is analysed on the basis of a small dossier concerning a drainage project carried out in the reign of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic. Members of the elite were supposed to engage voluntarily in benefactions that were directed at the wider community. In reality social expectations were very strong. The Roman period of single rule altered the dynamic of the benefactions. Although they remained an integral part of the internal competition within the elite, in larger projects the ruler became a primary point of reference. Given the tension between voluntary and forced behaviour, the ruler’s role was ambiguous: was he the actual initiator of benefactions that were in reality state ventures, or merely offering approbation to private initiative? The agency in benefactions had never been completely clear, but benefactions could now be used by both ruler and elite to construe a relation between the two parties. The drainage project discussed in this chapter occurred under Ostrogothic rule. It not only shows the durability of Roman modes of behaviour, but precisely because engaging in benefactions offered a type of discourse that had proven to be successful over several centuries, it lent itself to adaptation to changing situations. The language of benefaction offered common ground to ruler and senate, and at the same time allowed both parties to position themselves as the embodiment of Roman values in a radically changed society.
Scripting Politics
Authors: Tacoma Laurens E.
Published: April 2020

This chapter analyses the seventh characteristic of Roman political culture. The way that political institutions were functioning was based on the claim that they were central to society. Reality was different, and this produced ambiguities in the way elites positioned themselves. These can be analysed on the basis of the Ravenna papyri, which contain a number of reports of meetings of the city council of Ravenna and some other Italian cities. They show how a number of developments coalesced. First, the city council still formed a place to foster elite identity, but it did so in a society in which the traditional markers of elite identity were no longer adhered to by all, in which the church took over some of the social and economic roles, and in which some persons outside the council quite likely enjoyed a significantly higher level of wealth and status than the councillors themselves. Second, it shows what functions the remaining councils could perform, both at a practical and a symbolic level. By authenticating documents in accordance with the requirements of late-antique law, they performed an important practical notarial function. At a symbolic level, the elaborate procedures meant that social relations were enacted during the transactions. The council could assume—if only briefly—the central position in society that it still claimed. Third, it also shows the scripted quality of the proceedings. As the functions of the council and its role in society were reduced, role playing took over. Politics became literally scripted.
Conclusion
Authors: Tacoma Laurens E.
Published: April 2020

The conclusion brings the major characteristics of Roman political culture together and discusses the implications of the approach. It sketches some of the connections between the seven cases. It addresses the question of the extent to which Roman political culture changed over time. The boundaries of the subject in space and time are delineated in order to investigate to what extent it is justifiable to regard Roman political culture as a single, homogenous entity. It discusses the implications of the spread of Roman political culture over the rest of the institutional landscape. The emergence of an alternative, Christian discourse is sketched, focusing on the way it appropriated elements of traditional political culture. It addresses institutional longevity: how can we explain the continuation of political institutions that served no apparent political function?
The Means Principle
Authors: Quong Jonathan
Published: April 2020

Chapter 7 develops and defends a novel conception of the means principle. The chapter argues that there is an absolute prohibition on the harmful use of another person’s body or other rightful property, unless the person who is harmed is duty bound to permit this use, or has otherwise waived their claims against such use. He argues that this principle does not focus on an agent’s intentions, but rather only on whether achieving the outcome that ostensibly justifies an agent’s act requires the use of another person’s body or rightful property. The chapter argues that this conception of the means principle is superior to competing principles in the literature, and it outlines some of the implications for the morality of defensive force.