The contested Jacksonian legacy

John Hughlings Jackson has since the early twentieth century occupied the position of the doyen of British neurology. Among those who knew him personally and claimed allegiance to his legacy were the leading neurological practitioners, Henry Head (1861-1940) and Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson (1878-1937). In terms of their professional profiles and attitudes Head and Kinnier Wilson had much in common. They however interpreted the Jacksonian legacy in divergent ways that illustrate how the content and import of Jackson's views were subject to interpretation and to contestation among those who claimed to be his disciples.     

The legacy of Charles Schmidt to the study of Christian dualism

Charles Schmidt's Histoire et doctrine de la secte des Cathares was published 150 years ago and marked the beginning of the modern scholarly study of Catharism. This article examines, with special reference to recent publications, how well Schmidt's work has stood the test of time. The topic is dealt with under the five broad headings which Schmidt himself used: Cathar origins; The spread of Catharism in Western Europe; The decline of Catharism and the reasons for it; Cathar beliefs; The persecution of Catharism and the papal Inquisition. The article concludes with a brief survey of the mythological approach to Catharism, which has developed since Schmidt wrote.     

The science and scientific legacy of Operation Chastise

Abstract

Operation Chastise, more often known as the 'Dambusters raids', was one of the most audacious aerial military operations of the Second World War, in that it made use of operationally untested technical innovations under extreme logistical constraints. Of particular interest is the scientific environment in which the mission was implemented. Here I review the principal scientific innovations that were necessary for the realisation of the mission. These went beyond the rotating depth charge itself. Simple but nevertheless ingenious methods for altitude and range finding were devised for low altitude flying, and the new system of two stage blue day–night flying was implemented for simulated night flying. Even drugs to combat airsickness during low altitude flight in turbulence were tested. The diverse technical expertise that was necessary for the original idea to be transformed into a logistical reality in less than three months provides a particularly lucid instance of effective scientific management in a framework of rapid technological change. I also describe an expedition inspired by these developments, which fifty years on used a dedicated low altitude night flying microlight aircraft (the Barnes Wallis Moth Machine) to catch insects over a rainforest canopy, illustrating the legacies that such missions can leave.     

Judging appearances: The continuing legacy of Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt and the Meaning of Politics. Edited by Craig Calhoun and John McGowan (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), viii + 362 pp. $54.95 cloth $21.95 paper.

Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss: German Emigrés and American Political Thought after World War II. Edited by Peter Graf Kielmansegg, Horst Mewes, and Elisabeth Glaser‐Schmidt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), x + 208 pp. $49.95/£35.00 cloth, $16.95 paper.

Hannah Arendt: Twenty Years Later. Edited by Larry May and Jerome Kohn (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996), viii + 384 pp. $40.00 cloth, $17.50 paper.     

Marx's Utopian legacy

The terms "utopia" and "utopian" have long been used in predominantly dismissive ways. That this is the case is due partly to Karl Marx and his followers, who criticized socialist competitors as ineffectual dreamers. But while Marxism worked hard to present itself as realistic, serious and scientific, this essay argues that core elements of Marx's own project are utopian. Marx's utopianism lay in the aim of abolishing the distinction between state and civil society, and in the harmony he assumed would emerge as a result of that change. Consequently, the very concepts of "freedom" and "equality" would be transformed; the old debates about them would simply be redundant in communist society. This essay will explain why such objectives are utopian and even dangerous, and then evaluate the importance of and problems with this utopian legacy. In recovering Marx's utopianism we need not accept Marx's implication that utopianism itself has no real value for social and political change.     

The legacy of past urban waste disposal on local soils

Many attributes of present day soils can only be explained by reference to land management in the historic past. This is particularly well expressed in the plaggen soils which occur extensively on the north European plain. These deepened soils owe their dominant characteristics to the application from the 12th century of turf materials, often impregnated with dung. Similar deepening of soils can result from the disposal of urban waste. This paper discusses the results of soil research focused on a small Scottish town (Nairn). A soil survey revealed topsoils of over 1 m overlying fluvioglacial sands and gravels; such deepening is explained by the use of town waste on the burgh's arable lands from at least the 17th century up until the mid-19th century when an integrated sewerage system was installed. Micromorphological study of this deepened topsoil revealed the presence of many small black carbonaceous particles. Oxygen:carbon ratios were calculated from microprobe results as a means of confirming the carbonaceous nature of these particles. Soil phosphorus was primarily concentrated on the perimeter of these particles. The high quality of present day soils on the edge of the town is explained by the disposal of waste material, which included much carbonised material. This paper is the first to highlight the importance and potential of examining the gradation in soils from urban to rural contexts.     

The legacy of Camillo Golgi for modern concepts of brain organization

The experimental advance made by Camillo Golgi's 'black reaction' has been universally recognized as the start of the modern revolution in the study of the nervous system. By contrast, his concepts of nervous organization, particularly his support for the idea of a 'nervous reticulum', have been universally rejected. The premise of the present paper is that ideas of a biologist of this stature deserve re-examination. Golgi's arguments for considering the holistic function of the brain seem to come from his experience as a physician, and presage the views of the gestaltists and, more recently, the conceptual underpinnings of artificial neural networks. His interest in the possible nutritional roles of neuronal dendrites can be seen to anticipate current investigations, at the cellular level, of the metabolic basis of brain imaging. These and other currents in Golgi's thought deserve further study.     

Makarios cultural diplomacy legacy in the republic of Cyprus

ABSTRACT

The article explores the cultural diplomacy initiatives undertaken by the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) during Makarios presidency (1960–1977) in order to strengthen the state acknowledgement and visibility in the international scenery and promote a nation brand focused mainly on the Hellenocentric aspect of the Greek-Cypriots’ cultural identity. Cyprus, a recently independent state (1960), shaped its cultural diplomacy practices according to the political developments; on the escalation of bi-communal conflicts internally and the international insecurity provoked by the Cold War rhetoric. This paper aims to map certain state cultural initiatives in an attempt to make connections between the internal identity-building process and the external projection of cultural identity and gain a better understanding about how a small-sized state can pursue and project a nation brand abroad by practicing the diplomacy of culture.     

David Hartley's psychobiological associationism and the legacy of Aristotle

The idea that there are certain "laws" of learning (similarity, contrast, contiguity) can be traced to Aristotle. He maintained that external stimuli cause small movements in the vessels to the dominant heart, the vestiges of which can be linked to one another. Aristotle's laws of learning were incorporated into the writings of Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley, men who said nothing about the physiological correlates of mental associations. This left the door open for David Hartley to combine mental associationism with the Newtonian idea that sensations can cause minute particle vibrations in the nerves. Hartley's amalgam of psychology, philosophy, and neurology was first presented in 1746, as a "trial balloon" at the end a little-known monograph on a treatment for kidney stones. It was repeated three years later in his better-known Observations on Man. In many ways, modern psychobiological connectionism can be traced back to Hartley's Conjectures of 1746, in which Aristotle's original thoughts were modified with then current ideas about functions of the mind and the nervous system.     

A contested legacy: the Kennedy Committee revisited

The Kennedy Committee Report on Ireland's reformatory and industrial schools, published in 1970, is an important, though contested, milestone in the history of Ireland's childcare policy. The Committee found its genesis in Church/state conflict and conducted much of its work in the teeth of state and religious opposition. Its published report was watered down on the understanding that the state would act to curb the worst excesses of the system without the need for some of the more damaging discoveries reaching the public realm. Notwithstanding this the published report became the focus of political manoeuvring that stifled its potential effectiveness. Its legacy, therefore, is mixed, marking the beginning of the slow painful modernisation of the Irish childcare system whilst being an opportunity lost in terms of its potential to ameliorate the suffering of children detained in the system for a further three decades.     

Arafat's legacy,Abbas's challenges

The death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004 left much more than a set of job vacancies: as ‘Mr Palestine’, Arafat had come to embody the Palestinian cause, but also, due to the nature of his rule, left his successor Mahmoud Abbas with a list of major political and economic challenges. Chief among these is the Palestine Authority's relations with Israel and the need to return quickly to the negotiating table. But linked to the peace process are the conflicting challenges from Abbas's various domestic contenders, including from a new ‘young guard’ in the territories, a predominantly ‘old guard’ in the diaspora, and from Islamist groups—not to mention the problems stemming from the dire state of the Palestinian economy. This article examines these issues as both a legacy of Yasser Arafat and as a set of interconnected problems that will complicate Abbas' political manoeuvring in the coming months and years.     

The legacy of communism: difficult histories,emotions and contested narratives

Abstract

This paper considers contested and traumatic narratives, using a case study of the planned National Museum of Romanian Communism and the site of Jilava Penitentiary, a former communist prison, near Bucharest in Romania. It discusses what happened when representatives from different groups of former victims and perpetrators met together with facilitators and worked towards a shared understanding of the past to reach some consensus about how to deal with different and apparently conflicting narratives within a new museum of communism. It draws on notions of emotional communities in order to understand the role heritage plays in contested situations. It also considers the nature of transitional justice (‘Transitional justice is an approach to systematic or massive violations of human rights that both provides redress to victims and creates or enhances opportunities for the transformation of the political systems, conflicts, and other conditions that may have been at the root of the abuses’.) in this context.     

The legacy of Atatürk: Turkish political structures and policy-making

Turkey occupies a peculiar position in both international relations and economic policy-making. On the international front, the country is still in many senses a frontier state defining a major part of its policy outlook in terms of a political metaphor that has as much to do with the Cold War of the past as the east/west divide of the present. In the economic arena, Turkey is still one of the increasingly rare emerging markets which has never really broken free from the high growth/high inflation spiral. This article seeks to explain these apparent anomalies in terms of political structures within Turkey. The problems facing Turkish policy-makers and their inability to triumph over them is related to the weakness of political institutions within Turkey itself. Turkish political parties lack the legitimacy, policy coherence or firm base of public support easily to embrace programmes which might be perceived to threaten either the historic international position of the state or the well-being of the clients of the large state-controlled part of the economy. This weakness derives from the manner in which modern Turkey was created in the first half of the last century, a process that produced flaws in political structures which the following fifty years of democratic experience has not entirely erased.