Hubris and melancholy in multinational states

ABSTRACT. The article sets out to explore the rather different roles that hubris and melancholy can play in the relations between majority and minority nationalities within multinational states. In the case of majority‐type nationalities, there is a sense of being a Staatsvolk, a feeling reinforced by linguistic, cultural, geographical, and political characteristics associated with the larger nation‐state. There may also be a sense of pride caught up with the larger identity between the nation‐state and the empire with which it is associated. For their part, minority‐type nationalities have been more prone to express their national sentiment in melancholic terms. Hence a tendency to dwell on lost battles of the past, on suppressed rebellions, on recurrent threats of assimilation and linguistic extinction. There may be elements both of hubris and of melancholy to national sentiment in multinational states, and the dialectic between the two colours their overall political development.     

Reception,wit, and the unity of Virgil's Georgics 1

This essay considers the ways in which the reception of Virgil's Georgics in eighteenth-century English verse may inform, enrich and complicate present-day readings of Virgil, focusing on questions raised by readers’ detection of wit or humorousness in Virgil and by the critical aim of discovering poetic unity in the Georgics.     

Technology,Free Labor,and Slavery: Lincoln on Discovery and Invention

Abstract

Abraham Lincoln presented a lecture in 1858–1859 on the process of “Discoveries and Invention.” In this lecture he discusses man's desire to improve his condition and the use of technology to that end. The process of discovery and invention allows man to develop that technology and alleviate his state. Education, especially literacy, allows knowledge to be passed down through time, facilitating yet further improvement. Yet, Lincoln warns that human nature can also become raw material, as seen in the institution of slavery. In light of Lincoln's more commonly known natural rights argument against slavery, this warning about human nature takes on greater significance. Coupled with an address on agriculture from 1859, Lincoln's lecture on discovery and invention attempts to illustrate the liberating power of invention and education while reminding us of the limits posed by man's natural equality.     

The Golgi Stain: Invention,Diffusion and Impact on Neurosciences

The black reaction, invented in 1873 by Camillo Golgi (1843-1926), was the first technique to reveal neurons in their entirety, i.e. with all their processes. This important development passed unnoticed at first and only received wide international attention after a long delay. The Golgi stain was widely employed for almost thirty years and was directly responsible for major advances in our knowledge of the microscopic anatomy of the nervous system, as well as in other fields of study. In the hands of other researchers, the black reaction provided vital evidence that helped to establish the neuron theory. The Golgi stain was almost forgotten in the period between the two World Wars, but the introduction of the electron microscope to neurocytological research revived its use around the middle of the twentieth century. Today, the black reaction is still used extensively not only in combination with electron microscopy, but also as an autonomous technique in studies on the evolution, ontogeny, and organization of the nervous system.     

张衡地动仪的发明、失传与历史继承

地动仪的发明和失传存在深厚的社会背景.悬挂物对地震的良好反应是诞生科学思想的物质基础.地动仪是对天然验震器的发展,张衡不仅在利用物体惯性测震上,也在检测和记录地震微弱信号上有技术创新,成功测到公元134年12月13日陇西地震.天诫观念把自然现象与社会问题混为一谈,导致张衡晚年和地动仪的悲剧.仪器可能失传于东汉末年,当时发生了洛阳大火、毁铜铸钱、京师搬迁、人口剧减和灵台被毁等极端严重的社会混乱.张衡的科学思想和实践对现代地震学的起步发挥过思想启迪作用.对地动仪的研究需要开展科学实验,学术观点的统一只能建立在科学实验的基础上.     

Young islanders,the meteorological imagination,and the art of geopolitical engagement

There is scant literature analysing how young islanders regard climate change, particularly in terms of resilience, agency and a geopolitical aesthetic. To address that gap, this paper offers a theoretical framework and empirical example responding to such issues. The work's theoretical foci are upon the role of the artist as interlocutor; the importance of arts practices in encouraging children to participate in climate change debates and actions; and the potential of what anthropologist Tim Ingold has called the meteorological imagination. These three matters inform a two-year praxis project – A Map of a Dream of the Future – involving methods from the geohumanities and engagement with young islanders, academics, artists and writers, community cultural development workers, and educators. Together, we worked on various activities to draw out our individual and collective ideas about islands, arts, climate change, and geopolitics. In the process were created an education kit, children's workshops and exhibitions, and a professional art installation at a major national arts festival. At the same time, new insights have been gained about how the meteorological imagination may be a significant resource by which to work with children as they come to terms with a future whose climate has changed.     

Images of meditation,uncertainty and repentance in ancient art

Tracing back the history of a single gesture from a painting by Caravaggio to the portrait statue of Demosthenes by Polyeuktos, the problem of its meaning is first posed in terms of iconographical tradition. On the other side, the mutual relation between this gesture and its meaning is not a fixed one: one and the same gesture can cover some different (and even opposite) meanings, and conversely one and the same meaning can be conveyed by some different gestures. Some ways of describing and focusing this changing connection (seen as one of signifier and signified) are suggested.     

Ethics,politics and practices in rock art conservation

Abstract

Weathering and deterioration of Norwegian rock art has become an increasing area of concern over the last decade, with subsequent increasing efforts towards conservation. This has brought questions onto the agenda regarding the ethics and politics involved in conservation theory and practice. It is argued that such issues have been difficult to debate due to the concept of conservation being regarded as a legal and moral ideal. Referring the situation in Norway to ongoing global debates and perspectives regarding rock art conservation enables us to reveal and discuss some of the fundamental and complex philosophical issues involved. Notions of authenticity which implicitly underlie attitudes to rock art conservation are questioned, and the relationship between ‘green’ politics and rock art conservation is also discussed. A tendency towards uniform solutions and avoidance of critical issues, seen as influenced by strong social-democratic political traditions in Scandinavia, is at odds with the growing realization that most approaches to rock art conservation inevitably have unforeseen and frequently undesired consequences. Rather than further segmenting ethics, politics or practices in rock art conservation, a self-critical and reflective approach is suggested whereby changing concepts of ethics and authenticity are continuously debated.

Aucune loi ne pourra jamais préserver la sacralité d'un lieu … si ce n'est une loi morale, non écrite,adoptée et respectée par chaque individu, un véritable code personnel d'éthique.

(Soleilhavoup, 1994: 14)