bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
I’m Not a Kid. I’m a Shark!
Authors: Donahue James J.
Published: May 2019

As the author and artist of Nimona (2015) and one of the original authors of Lumberjanes (ongoing), Noelle Stevenson has used her graphic novels to demonstrate the fluidity of identity construction for a young-adult audience. Specifically writing for young women and the LGBTQ communities, Stevenson uses her work to create characters and situations that present empowering moments for an audience that is often underrepresented in mainstream comics. Further, these moments are always grounded in the celebration of community. Additionally, by identifying and then deconstructing some of the traditional genre devices employed by young adult authors, Stevenson highlights how these genres often encourage reading practices based on the acceptance of social norms. In response, Stevenson’s work engages in a form of disruption aimed at challenging normative reading practices, be they literary or social, opening up safe spaces for her readers’ own efforts at coming to terms with their identities.
Event (De)composition
Authors: Chen Sherry Yong , Husband E. Matthew
Published: May 2019

Grammatical theories of event structure have broadly proposed that event representations are decomposed and articulated in a variety of different constituents across a sentence. These theories raise questions for sentence comprehension: how are cues to these disparate components recognized and put back together to construct a complete and coherent representation of the event under discussion? Such questions are made all the more complex during real-time processing as these components arrive one after another in quick succession, and yet studies show that speakers are highly sensitive to these cues and use them to guide interpretation in a rapid and highly incremental fashion. The chapter examines studies from the psycholinguistic literature with a focus on three aspects of event structure: manner and result verbal meanings, temporal boundaries of events, and the encoding of event participants.
Focus
Authors: Kim Christina S.
Published: May 2019

This chapter provides an overview of experimental investigations on focus, how focus is cued and interpreted, and how the perception of focus affects other aspects of sentence or discourse comprehension. Early studies about the impact of focusing on attention and memory continue to inform current research; since that time, experimental findings related to focus have gone hand in hand with developments in theoretical semantics and pragmatics. This chapter covers some main strands of this body of experimental work, including the influence of focus on syntactic ambiguity resolution, focus as a cue to discourse structure, focus and pronoun resolution, the role of focus in referential disambiguation, the inference of focus alternatives, and cues to focus projection. The chapter concludes with some points to watch for in future research.
Modified Numerals
Authors: Nouwen Rick , Alexandropoulou Stavroula , McNabb Yaron
Published: May 2019

This chapter discusses the use of experimental methods for probing the semantics and pragmatics of numeral modification. Modified numerals, like ‘at least 3’ or ‘more than 2’, are interesting from a theoretical point of view because they give rise to a range of implicature-like inferences depending on the form of the modifier and the immediate linguistic context. The chapter discusses both studies that aim to counter or support existing theoretical proposals in the literature and studies that bring in entirely new theoretical issues. It also reflects on methodological issues in this area.
Metonymy
Authors: Schumacher Petra B.
Published: May 2019

This chapter addresses metonymy, an operation that is used to refer to an entity by means of an expression that has a particular semantic or conceptual relation to that entity (e.g. ‘the ham sandwich’ referring to a customer at a restaurant or ‘the wooden turtle’ referring to an object on a shelf). It discusses different types and communicative functions of metonymy and delineates it from other referential ambiguities such as homonymy and polysemy. The chapter reviews experimental evidence from real-time processing, acquisition, and language disorder and illustrates that discrete cognitive processes are involved in the constitution of extended meanings. It presents a classification of referential ambiguities based on neurocognitive profiles and suggests that the different types of ambiguities may be linked to the diachronic development of meaning alternations.
Introduction
Authors: Cummins Chris , Katsos Napoleon
Published: May 2019

This Introduction briefly tracks the emergence of research in semantics and pragmatics that employs paradigms from experimental psychology, from foundational work in the 1970s to the flourishing community conducting ‘experimental semantics and pragmatics’ today. The Handbook, the first in this field, aspires to be comprehensive in terms of the topics and methodologies covered, to be forward-looking in its identification of avenues for further investigation, and to be accessible to a broad audience, inviting researchers from linguistics, psychology, and other backgrounds to engage with these issues.
Marketing for Publishing
Authors: Baverstock Alison
Published: May 2019

Marketing, which long had a subsidiary role within the publishing process, is now both central to its operation and a potential pathway to influence within the industry. Formalization of understanding around marketing, through research, process-analysis, and associated publication, in scholarly and professional publications as well as the general media, has led to awareness that the marketing function is relevant across all publishing operations, with a very wide range of potential contributors: from publishers and authors to retailers and readers. Further development of marketing has been fuelled by the increasing availability of relevant market data, the development of new ways of reaching customers, the emergence of online marketing solutions and collaborations and a growing recognition of the value of diversity, of both content and workforce, with an accompanying increased awareness of publishing opportunities available. Beginning with an analysis of customer-focus, in which all marketing is grounded, this chapter outlines the increasing complexity of routes to market, and suggests likely future developments within both publishing practice and Publishing Studies.
Rights
Authors: Owen Lynette
Published: May 2019

The trade in subsidiary rights can be of significant importance to the publishing process, with rights sales providing vital additional revenue for authors and publishers alike; in many cases, potential rights sales can influence the overall publishing decision. The acquisition of rights can extend the range of a commissioned list. This chapter sets out to examine the importance of securing a suitable rights ‘package’ from the author (or via the author’s agent) in order to maximize the exploitation of intellectual property rights through the active exploitation of appropriate rights categories such as same-language territorial rights, translation rights, serial rights, audio rights, dramatization rights, and electronic rights. In addition, it touches on areas of rights which are reactive (the granting of permissions) or in effect contracted out (collective secondary licensing via a mandate to the national Collective Management Organization). It also covers key issues on the acquisition of rights.
Reading
Authors: van der Weel Adriaan
Published: May 2019

Print and digital reading continue to co-exist, and more time than ever in history is spent reading. However, the digital revolution is causing a massive shift away from books and other traditional industry products. In this hybrid world increasing time is spent reading blogs, web pages, fan fiction, text messages, email, comments, cheap self-published e-books and so on. These texts tend to be shorter, the reading faster paced and less in-depth. While not intrinsically good or bad, these changes are certainly not ‘neutral’ either, for the book industry, or for society at large. To remain relevant, the publishing industry needs to consciously promote a book culture, partnering widely, most notably with education, which offers the greatest potential for structural socialization of serious long-form reading.
Bookselling
Authors: Thomas Niels Peter
Published: May 2019

Booksellers have always been vital to the publishing mix, making or breaking books’ success, but bookselling is now very much in transition. Coming from a stable system of wholesale and retail, we have seen the rise of chain bookstores, followed by the creation of the world’s largest and most powerful bookshop—Amazon.com. Entirely new business models for all book formats have emerged in the last decade, as well as new products and services consisting of books and related media. Bookselling remains in many countries a highly regulated business, but will see further change due to dependencies between the different book business models, technological innovation, the continuing competition with related industries, and a changing demographics of book buyers.
Book Design
Authors: Luna Paul
Published: May 2019

Drawing on contemporary and historical examples, this chapter considers design at both list and individual book level, discussing branding, cover design, and text design, to show how design presents a book to its readers. Focusing on the existence of clearly defined genres in publishing, it analyses the typical characteristics and design approaches of these genres. Technologies of printing are considered in relation to binding styles and page layout, especially the integration of text and illustrations. The chapter discusses the role of technology in transforming the designer from specifier to implementer of design decisions. It concludes by considering the advantages and disadvantages of ebooks and printed books and outlining the skills required of a book designer for the future.
The Future of Publishing
Authors: Bhaskar Michael , Phillips Angus
Published: May 2019

The present era of publishing is marked by unusually intense transformations, driven by technological change and the digital revolution. Trying to understand the future of publishing is an important strategic question for all stakeholders, but it remains difficult: the track record of accurate prediction is poor. Another way to think about the future is via thought experiments. This chapter expounds eight possible experiments for thinking through change in publishing, including looking at what would happen if brand authors self-published; artificial intelligence superseded authorial functions; and books started to disappear from day-to-day life. It considers automated translation, online only bookselling, and all publishing and reading becoming pure service with no residual ‘product’. Lastly, it thinks through what would happen if ebooks were free but print was five times the price. None of these thought experiments are claimed as predictions; in thinking about them, we hope to gain a better appreciation of some possible fault lines in the future of publishing.
Introduction
Authors: Bhaskar Michael , Phillips Angus
Published: May 2019

Publishing is one of only a handful of industries which has a lineage dating back centuries, yet in important respects, remains on the frontlines of change. This alone would render it an interesting object of academic study, and yet it is only the start of what is peculiar and valuable about this protean and influential industry. Publishing has a global significance because it pioneers new cultural forms and trends; it undergirds the public sphere and the production and dissemination of new scientific knowledge; it enables modern education systems. Publishing then, has a structural role in society. However, defining publishing remains a challenge and while it is often connected to the idea of a book, this is by no means exhaustive of publishing as journal publishers would be the first to attest. And beyond that, the book itself, as with publishing, faces a time of immense change. The digital revolution has impacted books and publishing and understanding this change is one of the key challenges of understanding publishing today. This Introduction sets up such questions and then summarizes the volume as a whole. It seeks to position the work as an example of interdisciplinary scholarship from across the fields of media, communication, literature, sociology, business, and library and information science, whilst also producing an analysis poised between theory and practice: as both a landmark in the study of publishing but also something useful in its dynamic, messy reality as an ongoing, flourishing activity.
Publishing and Society
Authors: Le Roux Elizabeth
Published: May 2019

Publishing reflects society, but can also influence society, because textual products fit into the wider economic, political, and cultural context. Publishing also varies according to its particular social setting: it is affected by diversity and demographics. Debates around education, language and culture all overlap with publishing. The industry cannot be separated from issues of identity, because books reflect social values and perceptions, and are thus linked to issues of gender, class, race (among other categories), and national identity. Published products thus sometimes reflect inequalities and may be used to entrench the interests of powerful groups, including governments.
Economics of Publishing
Authors: Greco Albert N.
Published: May 2019

The development of economic theories, from Adam Smith to Paul Samuelson, allowed researchers the ability to address issues related to risk and complexity, including the need to analyse financial valuation calculations. Yet the emergence of ‘behavioural economics’ added new topics to be addressed by economists and researchers in other disciplines including strategy, marketing as well as psychological, social, and emotional issues. This chapter addresses economic theories and financial metrics and how some were applied by publishers and financial service companies in their evaluation of publishing companies. Augmenting these economic theories are two sample profit and loss (i.e. P&L) statements for a traditionally printed adult trade hardcover book as well as a P&L for this book published as an ebook. In addition, there is a financial analysis of the Scholastic Corporation.
Globalization and Publishing
Authors: Kovač Miha , Wischenbart Rüdiger
Published: May 2019

This chapter demonstrates how different global value surveys have confirmed what any observant and educated global traveller knows—that even in similarly developed countries, people have different values and tastes and, consequently, they read different books. Further, the chapter explains how the global spread of printing technology and market forces have produced similar results in all book markets worldwide. First, the number of published titles is rapidly increasing. Second, the number of bestsellers and print runs per title are decreasing, although a very few blockbuster titles stand outas exceptions. Third, due to the first two trends, publishers’ average income per title has decreased so that the entire book industry has become increasingly dependent on bestsellers. Yet, due to value differences among countries and cultures, the traditional publishing business model has come under a number of pressures and a variety of new book ecosystems has emerged.
Expertise in Weather Forecasting
Authors: LaDue Daphne S. , Daipha Phaedra , Pliske Rebecca M. , Hoffman Robert R.
Published: May 2019

Weather forecasting is a highly technical domain, relying on many kinds of technologies and many kinds of data. This chapter summarizes four research programs ranging from organizational to individual analyses to provide unique, complementary insights about expertise. Forecaster learning was highly dependent on the forecasters’ context, and whether they gained expertise depended on having a strong personal identity as a forecaster. How forecasters coped with risk and uncertainty suggests expertise is not just a deeper causative understanding, but an ability to provide an accurate forecast that serves users well. Novice forecasters employ rule-based knowledge, while experts employ a fluid and flexible application of knowledge. Expert forecasters have extensive, complex knowledge about each type of weather process they forecast, a knowledge that may be lost if not captured and passed on to the next generation. This empirical work on professional activity in context has the potential to invigorate studies of expertise.
Modeling Experts with Fast-and-Frugal Heuristics
Authors: Hoffrage Ulrich
Published: May 2019

According to the program reviewed in this chapter, people—including experts—use fast-and-frugal heuristics. These heuristics are models of bounded rationality that function well under limited knowledge, memory, and computational capacities. These heuristics are ecologically rational: they are fitted to the structure of information in the environment. While studying experts in the context of this program amounts to modeling them with fast-and-frugal heuristics, studying the acquisition of expertise focuses on how laypeople learn such heuristics. Experts can be viewed as intuitive statisticians. They have larger samples than novices and they are—through experience, education, and feedback—able to construct both accurate models of their environment and smart heuristics. Because fast-and-frugal heuristics do not require complex calculation and are typically easy to set up, this program offers a straightforward way to aid experts: After the heuristics’ performance has been determined under various environmental conditions, experts can be educated about these results.
Philosopher Defying the Philosophers
Authors: van Ruler Han
Published: May 2019

Descartes’s life was marked by a series of remarkable innovations in mathematics, science, and philosophy, as much as by the philosopher’s frequent changes of environment. In 1628 he returned to the Netherlands, where he had begun his philosophical journey ten years earlier, and where he was soon to embark on writing a mechanistic system of the world. Shocked by the Galileo affair, he would initially publish only “samples” of his own way of thinking, but fierce engagement in philosophical controversy ultimately made him abandon the idea of trying to convince academics. Whereas his publications continued to follow an erratic pattern, Descartes increasingly focused on friendships with intellectuals in high places, and all the while stayed true to the idea of reforming the sciences on the basis of inborn intellectual capacities he deemed to be custom-made for uncovering the nature of reality.
Descartes on Freedom
Authors: Ragland C. P.
Published: May 2019

Although Descartes considered human freedom to be of the utmost practical and theoretical importance, his remarks about it are scattered and highly ambiguous, giving rise to several conflicting interpretations of Cartesian freedom—especially as it relates to determinism. This chapter provides a survey of the relevant texts and the competing interpretations, arguing ultimately that for Descartes, human freedom consists in the ability to do the right thing. On this account, freedom is not compatible with being determined to err or to sin, but it is compatible with being determined to embrace the truth or to love God.
Descartes, Politics, and “True Human Beings”
Authors: Antoine-Mahut Delphine
Published: May 2019

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Descartes wrote nothing that resembles a political treatise. However, to think about the relations between human beings, he employs a mechanist anthropology. And in tandem with this, Descartes theorizes about what, in these human beings, is a high political and ethical requirement. In the Passions of the Soul, this requirement is conceived as both a passion and a virtue: generosity. So it is precisely because Descartes was compelled to reflect on the “true human being” in all his complexity that he provides us with a politics that is both demanding and realist.
Mersenne
Authors: Buccolini Claudio
Published: May 2019

Mersenne’s multidisciplinary interests marked the relationship of intellectual collaboration that linked him to Descartes, whose research and publications he solicited and promoted, though without ever becoming a “Cartesian”. Mersenne “molecularized” the Cartesian philosophy in terms of a series of specific issues, but the way in which the Minim triggered the debate generated criticism and polemics rather than adhesions to Cartesianism. Mersenne based his argumentations on philosophical and theological presuppositions that differed from those formulated by Descartes, particularly concerning the hypothetical status of science, the validity of logical-mathematical truths, the radicalization of divine omnipotence, and the argument of deceiving God. The unpublished theological manuscripts of the 1640s reveal, however, that after the 1641 Objections, the Minim was ready to accept crucial Cartesian metaphysical theses, but in his own peculiar way.
Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia as a Cartesian
Authors: Shapiro Lisa
Published: May 2019

Elisabeth Simmern van Pallandt, or as she is more commonly referred to, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, is most well known for her extended correspondence with Descartes and for being the subject of the dedication of Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy. In that dedication, Descartes notes that “the outstanding and incomparable sharpness of your [Elisabeth’s] intelligence is obvious from the penetrating examination you have made of all the secrets of these sciences”, that she is the only person who “completely understood all my previously published works”, both metaphysics and geometry, that her “intellect is … unique in finding everything equally clear”, and finally that she exhibits “all the necessary conditions for perfect and sublime wisdom”. Given his admiration for her, it is reasonable to think that Descartes saw Elisabeth not simply as a political patron but also as a philosophical ally, and so to think of Princess Elisabeth as a Cartesian. This chapter examines this claim in more detail. After briefly outlining some salient details of Elisabeth’s biography, it considers three different senses in which Elisabeth might be thought of as a Cartesian.
Claude Clerselier and the Development of Cartesianism
Authors: Schmaltz Tad M.
Published: May 2019

This chapter concerns the relation of Claude Clerselier (1614–84) to Descartes and later Cartesianism. Clerselier was a personal acquaintance and trusted correspondent of Descartes who, after Descartes’s death, became his literary executor, and a major figure in French Cartesianism. In this discussion there are sections devoted to the following: 1) Clerselier’s interactions with Descartes; 2) his work as editor of Descartes’s correspondence and posthumous texts; 3) his role as a leader of the campaign for Cartesianism in post-Descartes France; 4) his involvement in controversies over Cartesianism that focused on the theological issue of the Eucharist; and 5) the legacy of his influence on French Cartesianism.
What Descartes Read
Authors: Ariew Roger
Published: May 2019

A collection of fifty essays on Descartes and his influence in the seventeenth century. The first section is devoted to various aspects of Descartes’s philosophy (biography, epistemology, metaphysics, natural philosophy (science), mathematics, philosophical theology, etc.). The second section is devoted to Descartes’s influence, especially Cartesians and the Cartesian movement, in France, the Netherlands, Italy, England and elsewhere. The third section is devoted to the critics and opponents of Descartes and Cartesianism.
Antoine Arnauld
Authors: Moreau Denis
Published: May 2019

Nicknamed “the Grand Arnauld” by his contemporaries, Antoine Arnauld was a central figure in the intellectual life of the seventeenth century. This chapter presents a synthetic overview of the various aspects of Antoine Arnauld’s relationship to Cartesianism: his first exchanges with Descartes (in the Fourth Objections and correspondence), the “Port-Royal Logic”, and the numerous texts that he composed in the last years of his life, especially in his discussions with Malebranche, Leibniz, and the partisans of the doctrine of the “vision in God”. The chapter attempts to specify to what extent there is a “philosophy of Antoine Arnauld” and to determine whether Arnauld should be considered a “Cartesian” thinker.
The Ambiguities of Malebranche’s Cartesianism
Authors: Bardout Jean-Christophe
Published: May 2019

The reception of Descartes in the second half of the seventeenth century took very different forms, which have been the subject of numerous and documented studies. On this subject, we cannot limit ourselves to categories that are too simplistic. Descartes had faithful disciples and resolute adversaries; he also had critical readers, combining admiration and the conviction that his philosophy, as revolutionary as it is, had to be both followed and reformed. The Oratorian Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715), who passes for one of the greatest French Cartesians, surely counts among the number of readers who wants to be Cartesian, without however being understood as a disciple of Descartes. Malebranche himself has perfectly expressed the nature of his Cartesianism in declaring, at the end of his first work, the Search after Truth (Recherche de la vérité; 1674–5): “I admit however that I owe to Descartes or to his manner of doing philosophy the opinions that I oppose to his, and the boldness to criticize him.” In this chapter I attempt to clarify the sense of this remarkably ambivalent affirmation with some examples.
The Prince of Cartesian Philosophers
Authors: del Prete Antonella
Published: May 2019

Pierre-Sylvain Régis was considered as the “prince of the Cartesian philosophers”: he was a prominent conférencier and he had written a renowned textbook. But what is it to be Cartesian for Régis? His System of Philosophy is presented as an exposition of his master’s philosophy, incorporating the contributions of other heirs of Descartes and developing philosophical connections with other “moderns” such as Hobbes. Régis’s relationship with Malebranche, Cordemoy, and La Forge is quite complex: Régis does not hesitate to implicitly use their works while explicitly arguing with them. However, Régis is much closer to the metaphysical, psychological, and gnoseological theories supported by Desgabets: they both oppose the major current of Cartesianism, refusing to attribute any activity independent from the body to the soul. Studying the Système is an excellent way to understand what Cartesianism has become in the late seventeenth century: a huge stage where Descartes’s heritage is being interpreted in different ways.
The Curious Case of Henricus Regius
Authors: Schmaltz Tad M.
Published: May 2019

This chapter concerns the complex relation of the Dutch medical professor Henricus Regius (1598–1679) to Descartes and Cartesianism. What makes the case of Regius curious is that even after he was publicly repudiated by Descartes, he was recognized by some of his contemporaries as a representative of Cartesian philosophy. The discussion of Regius is structured around three stages of his relation to Cartesianism: 1) his initial role as a trusted disciple of Descartes, followed by 2) his controversies with Descartes and other Cartesians, and ending with 3) the importance of his role in post-Descartes Cartesian medicine.
Geulincx and the Quod Nescis Principle
Authors: Sangiocomo Andrea
Published: May 2019

Geulincx is known as one of the first early modern defenders of occasionalism—the doctrine according to which God is the only cause of natural phenomena, while finite beings are merely “occasional causes” for God’s intervention. Although Geulincx has been portrayed as a Cartesian occasionalist, this chapter argues that Geulincx’s occasionalism does not arise from Descartes’s philosophy, but rather he exploits some central tenets of Descartes’s metaphysics in order to develop his own philosophical and theological agenda. The chapter suggests that the argumentative strategy Geulincx uses to develop his occasionalism is shaped by theological concerns and addresses problems left unresolved in the later Scholastic and Renaissance natural philosophy, which were made more urgent by the Calvinist account of God’s special providence.
Descartes’s Correspondence and Correspondents
Authors: Verbeek Theo , Bos Erik-Jan
Published: May 2019

Descartes’s correspondence is an integral part of his work. Several important theories and doctrines can be known only from the correspondence, or, on the basis of the correspondence, must be qualified or can be rendered more precise. It is also through his letters that we learn about Descartes’s publishing strategies, his opinion on his contemporaries and their work, and his interest in experiments and observations. From time to time Descartes’s letters also allow us a glimpse of his daily business. In brief, the correspondence can be seen as an intellectual laboratory. This chapter examines Descartes’s voluminous correspondence and discusses a few of his correspondents. It also considers the epistolary form and content of his letters, and situates them in the context of other philosophical correspondences in this period.
Cartesianism and Eucharistic Physics
Authors: Armogathe Jean-Robert
Published: May 2019

The Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist (the transformation of the whole substance of the bread in the body of Christ) was a stumbling block for Cartesian physics, which denied any accidents. Descartes worried about this and proposed several solutions in order to solve the difficulty and assert his orthodoxy. Despite this, the problem stirred up fierce discussions among his followers and brought him official condemnation from the Catholic church. This chapter shows how this debate is not only a theological debate concerning transubstantiation—Descartes has had to bring a theological discussion into philosophy. The true issue in this discussion is not the explanation of the dogma, but the definition of the body.
Pascal and Port-Royal
Authors: Bouchilloux Hélène
Published: May 2019

Pascal is the only Port-Royal writer to start an actual confrontation with Descartes, arguing that he is right to make philosophy a discourse from a principle, but wrong to reduce philosophy to a search for a wholly human wisdom. By adopting Jesus Christ and the dual nature of man, of which Jesus Christ is the model, as his principle, Pascal wants to show that Descartes’s philosophy is not only useless for salvation, but also uncertain in its claim to certitude, certitude never being purely rational. The erroneous conception that Descartes has of the knowledge of nature, but also of the knowledge of oneself and of God, is therefore attributed to this metaphysical ambition.
Gassendi as Critic of Descartes
Authors: Lolordo Antonia
Published: May 2019

Pierre Gassendi is best known today as a critic of Descartes. This chapter surveys Gassendi’s Objections to the Meditations, Descartes’s Reply, and Gassendi’s Counter-Objections in the Disquisitio Metaphysica. The central theme of this debate is methodology. Gassendi thinks that the methodology of the Meditations is hopeless: nobody can genuinely clear their mind of preconceived opinions, and if they did, they would not have discovered new foundations for the sciences, but instead be trapped in a state of suspended judgment. Gassendi’s critique is not entirely fair to Descartes, and Descartes’s reply fails to take seriously the main points of the critique.
Henry More, Supporter and Opponent of Cartesianism
Authors: Reid Jasper
Published: May 2019

Henry More was one of Descartes’s earliest English supporters, but later became one of his most vigorous critics. This chapter explores the philosophical connections between the two, focusing particularly on their views on body and spirit. More regarded life, not thought, as the principal attribute of immaterial substance, and he increasingly rejected Cartesian mechanism in favour of a vitally animated physical world. The principal attributes of body were impenetrability and discerpibility (i.e. divisibility, though ultimately into indivisible atoms). Body could not be defined in terms of extension, More argued, because spirits were extended too, space was really distinct from body, and a vacuum was possible (though not actually existent).
Simon Foucher and Anti-Cartesian Skepticism
Authors: Hickson Michael W.
Published: May 2019

Historians of philosophy have read Simon Foucher both as a Cartesian philosopher wedded to the basic principles of Descartes’s philosophy, and also as a fierce anti-Cartesian skeptic whose writings may be responsible more than anyone else’s for the “downfall of Cartesianism”. This chapter argues that this “Foucher enigma” arises because Foucher’s writings, when considered in themselves, are Cartesian in spirit even when they criticize Descartes. But taken in the context of the wave of late seventeenth-century French skepticism, Foucher’s writings contribute to a devastating attack on Descartes’s criterion of truth. The conclusion is that, perhaps like Descartes, Foucher was a skeptic malgré lui.
Descartes’s Metaphysics
Authors: Nolan Lawrence
Published: May 2019

This chapter defends the systematic nature of Descartes’s metaphysics by locating the source of many of his doctrines in one central, unifying principle. This principle, that the attributes of a substance are identical with the substance itself and with each other, underlies many of Descartes’s most important metaphysical doctrines. An appreciation of the principle resolves several interpretive puzzles pertaining to his metaphysics, provides Descartes with resources for answering objections, uncovers his reasons for holding doctrines that otherwise seem unmotivated, and reveals his commitment to views that he never explicitly affirms. It thus goes beyond the texts while also elucidating them in surprising ways.
Physics and Metaphysics in Descartes and Newton
Authors: Janiak Andrew
Published: May 2019

Isaac Newton had a vexed relationship with his most important immediate predecessor in mathematics and philosophy, René Descartes. He was typically loath to admit the importance of Cartesian ideas for the development of his own thinking in mathematics and natural philosophy. For this reason, generations of students and scholars relying on Newton’s published work had little inkling of Descartes’s significance. This unfortunate fact was compounded by the tendency of philosophers to focus on the Meditations or the Regulae in their scholarship, for it was Descartes’s Principles above all that influenced Newton’s thinking as a young man. With the discovery of a previously unpublished manuscript amongst Newton’s papers by two famous historians of science in the middle of the twentieth century, everything changed. The manuscript, now known as De Gravitatione after its first line, illustrates the astonishing care with which Newton read the Principles, focusing his critical acumen on Descartes’s understanding of space, time, and motion. These criticisms of Descartes, in turn, shine light on otherwise opaque passages in Newton’s most significant published discussion of space, time, and motion, the Scholium in Principia mathematica. Indeed, the very title of the latter work represents both an homage to, and a swipe at, Descartes’s work: Newton would offer mathematical principles of natural philosophy to replace Descartes’s qualitative account. It is not a stretch to say that Newton saw further because he stood on Descartes’s shoulders, even if he wouldn’t admit it publicly.
Mind and Psychology in Descartes
Authors: Hatfield Gary
Published: May 2019

This chapter reviews the basic tenets of Descartes’s mind–body dualism and its context, including the epistemological role of mind in its capacity as a pure intellect and as part of a being with sensory perception. Then, putting aside the metaphysics of dualism, it focuses on the functional aspects of mind and its relation to body, and on the role of the bodily machine in Descartes’s psychology. Within this large territory, it examines mind and psychology as categories applicable to Descartes’s writings before turning to the active role of the brain in Descartes’s theory of mind and machine psychology, including his “natural geometry”, his theory of the passions, and the machine psychology of mindless non-human animals—and of human beings, when the body acts without direction from the mind.
Descartes and Medicine
Authors: Manning Gideon
Published: May 2019

This chapter answers three basic questions: why did Descartes come to study medicine; how, as an untrained student of medicine, did he approach the discipline; and, finally, how did he propose to heal the body and soul? Starting in the 1620s, when his interests in optics prompted Descartes to study the anatomy of the eye and brain, through to his correspondence with Elisabeth in the 1640s, when he assumed the role of a corresponding physician against the backdrop of his mature metaphysics and natural philosophy, medicine is shown to be intimately connected to Descartes’s philosophical project as well as his practical aspirations.
Comparative Law and Comparative Knowledge
Authors: Jansen Nils
Published: May 2019

This chapter sets out to clarify the ideas of comparison and comparative knowledge. It analyses different approaches to these two issues, both from an analytical perspective and by means of a comparison with other disciplines, such as historical linguistics, comparative religion, and comparative history. The chapter describes the core of comparative knowledge as a structured description of a set of similarities and differences of the objects compared. Analytically, the article is based on the distinction of classifying comparison, qualifying comparison, and complex comparisons. Although qualifying and complex judgments of similarity and difference are irreducibly subjective, they are not meaningless if they relate to a clearly defined epistemological perspective or to a common understanding of the relevant circumstances; moreover they can be rationalized by a number of different tecniques. Those methodological techniques are presented in a list of nine basic conclusions.
The Functional Method of Comparative Law
Authors: Michaels Ralf
Published: May 2019

The functional method has become both the mantra and the bête noire of comparative law. For its proponents it is the most, perhaps the only, fruitful method. For its opponents, it represents everything bad about mainstream comparative law. This chapter tries to reconstruct and evaluate functionalist comparative law by placing it within the larger framework of other disciplines, especially the social sciences. Such an interdisciplinary analysis yields three promises. First, the interdisciplinary look makes possible a (re-) construction of a more theoretically grounded functional method of comparative law than is usually presented. Second, the interdisciplinary approach helps formulate and evaluate the concept in order to determine how functional the method really is. Third, comparison with functionalism in other disciplines can reveal what is special about functionalism in comparative law, and why what in other disciplines would rightly be regarded as methodological shortcomings may in fact be fruitful for comparative law. This opens the way to a reformulated functional method of comparative law.
Comparative Law, Transplants, and Receptions
Authors: Graziadei Michele
Published: May 2019

The comparative study of transplants and receptions investigates the patterns of change triggered by contacts among laws and legal cultures. The study of legal transfers offers considerable intellectual rewards. It shows that the law is a complex phenomenon and corrects simplistic views regarding what law is and how it develops. Furthermore, it highlights how the language of the law is transformed as a consequence of such a dynamic through translations and adaptations. The spread of legal institutions, ideals, ideologies, doctrines, rules, and so on, is often in the hands of professional elites. The study of transplants and receptions demonstrates that the knowledge and standing of those elites comes from interactions between the local and non-local dimensions of the law. This picture is true in Berlin, in New York, in London, and in Lima, but it is also true in less cosmopolitan environments. The study of legal transplants has sometimes been accused of embracing a conservative orientation. Yet, this study simply subjects the law’s pretensions concerning its origins and ends to critical analysis. Doing so is not inconsistent with advancing progressive goals at all; in fact, it may be vital to a progressive agenda.
Comparative Law and the Islamic (Middle Eastern) Legal Culture
Authors: Mallatt Chibli
Published: May 2019

This article examines comparative law in Islamic/Middle Eastern legal culture. The first section discusses the comparative framework in Islamic law and civilization. The second section describes the rule of law in the prism of the legal profession. The third section discusses the notions of public and private in issues such as constitutions, contracts, and torts, and family law. A millennium and a half after the Islamic revelation, unrest and violence associated with the Islamic/Middle Eastern world make one wonder, from a comparative perspective, whether West and East are not on a collision course precisely because of their diametrically opposed concepts of law. On the Western side, law is associated with nation-states and their territory; on the Islamic/Middle Eastern side, law is dominated by the personal dimension, defined by an individual’s religious, and often sectarian identity.
Development of Comparative Law in France
Authors: Fauvarque-Cosson Bénédicte
Published: May 2019

France has a long and solid tradition of comparative law. This article traces the discipline’s development in France, describing its strengths and weaknesses. As universal a science as it is, comparative law has distinctive features in each country. While there is currently no such thing as French or Italian comparative law in the sense that there is French or Italian contracts law, there is an identifiable French style in comparative law that is closely related to the development of French legal thought in general. The never-ending question of the purpose of comparative law emerges as one of the fundamental jurisprudential debates of the twentieth century. The first section of this article details the historical rise of comparative law in France. The second section chronicles its decline. The third section predicts its renaissance, provided French scholars, practitioners, and judges give the study of comparative law the regard it is due, in the light of the internationalization and Europeanization of the law.
Comparative Law and Language
Authors: Curran Vivian Grosswald
Published: May 2019

The study of language is a cognitive model for comparative law. Language’s own dependence on translation is instructive in understanding comparative law in terms of the contrasting categories that undergird the civil and common law legal systems. Comparative law is situated between deeply entrenched, mutually contradictory aspirations of universalism and pluralism. While former domains of pluralism and difference are receding, difference itself remains undiminished. Comparative law’s effectiveness as a translator of the foreign depends on how well its acquired skills and methods can be adapted to new kinds of foreignness.
Comparative Law and Economic Analysis of Law
Authors: Faust Florian
Published: May 2019

This chapter discusses the relationship between comparative law and economic analysis of law. After providing an overview of the characteristics of the economic analysis of law, it explains how one of the two disciplines can operate as an ancillary discipline to the other; this has been termed ‘Comparative Law and Economics’. The next section describes how comparative law and economic analysis of law can be brought together by making one discipline the subject matter of the other. It suggests that the role of economic analysis of law may be greater in case law systems than in codified systems and that this role may vary according to the subject of legislation. The section concludes with considerations on the role comparative law plays and should play in different contexts. Finally, it is argued that comparative law and economics should not be considered a discipline on its own.
Comparative Contract Law
Authors: Kötz Hein
Published: May 2019

This chapter discusses contract law in relation to comparative law. It first considers some of the reasons why contract law has become the classical subject matter of comparative law before explaining the practical relevance of the rules on general contract law to comparative studies. It then examines the similarities and differences between civil law and common law, along with the enforceability of agreements on the basis of the parties’ intention to create legal relations, the ‘doctrine of consideration’, and formal requirements of the contract. The chapter goes on to describe the two processes of ascertaining the content of a contract, namely: interpretation and supplementation. It also looks at illegal, immoral, and unfair contracts as well as the provisions on mistake, claims for performance of contractual obligations, termination of contracts, and claims for damages in case of non-performance or if a party does not perform its obligations properly.
Unjustified Enrichment in Comparative Perspective
Authors: Visser Daniel
Published: May 2019

The emergence of unjust enrichment as a cause of action in its own right in England and Australia sparked a remarkable debate between, on the one hand, civil and common lawyers, who were confronted with thinking which was often completely outside the paradigm to which they had become accustomed, and, on the other hand, between common lawyers inter se about the merits of the various ways in which unjust enrichment may be understood and organized. At the heart of this debate was the struggle of the common law to confront and deal with the deficit caused by its reliance solely on ‘unjust factors’ to make sense of enrichment liability without taking account of the notion of ‘absence of basis’. This chapter argues that comparative lawyers can make an important contribution to the future of the fractured and fractious world of unjustified enrichment by uncovering the enormous wealth of learning of which both the common law and the civil law are the repositories, and so bring the same level of understanding to the law of unjustified enrichment which has, over the years, been achieved between the systems in regard to contract and tort.
Comparative Tort Law
Authors: Wagner Gerhard
Published: May 2019

Tort law has always been one of the major areas of comparative law. Whereas the law of property, even today, remains on the outskirts of comparative learning, the law of extra-contractual liability has attracted much interest from comparative law scholars. This article considers general clauses versus a variety of individual torts, the scope of protection, the liability for fault, strict liability, and tort law and insurance. It also discusses the choice between the tort system and no-fault insurance schemes. Finally, it addresses the challenges raised by digitalization. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the solutions offered, the principles and the commentaries thereon certainly provide a valuable starting point for further scholarly efforts and critical discussion.