The uses of biology

Boyd, Robert, and Peter J. Richerson. Culture and the Evolutionary Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. vii + 331 pp. including references and author and subject indices. $29.95 cloth.

Butterworth, George, Julie Rutkowska, and Michael Scaife, eds. Evolution and Developmental Psychology. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985. xxiv + 205 pp. including chapter references and index. $27.50 cloth.     

The uses of rhetoric

This essay provides a general introduction to the special number on Jacob L. Talmon (1916–1980). The essay sketches the outlines of Talmon's intellectual biography, beginning with his study of the origins of totalitarian democracy, moving through his analysis of nationalism and political messianism, and ending with his study of the ideological clash of the 20th century. The essay raises the question of whether Talmon should be seen as a thinker wishing to defend existing traditions (i.e. a “priest”), or as a radical anti-authoritarian skeptic (i.e. a “jester”). Moreover, being both an anti-nationalist liberal, and a zionist at the same time, Talmon, the essay shows, was aware of the fact his own stance was problematic and at times even paradoxical. The last section of the essay presents the seven essays, which are included in the special issue.     

The transformation of kinship and the family in late Anglo-Saxon England

The development of the family into a small unit in which descent was traced almost exclusively through the male line is regarded as a major turning point in medieval European history. The early stages of the formation of agnatic kinship have usually been connected to strategies designed to preserve and retain control of patrimonies and castles, arising from the breakdown of public order. In this article it is suggested that the emergence of new kinship values was connected to the investment of aristocratic energy and resources in monastic programmes, and to subtle changes in lay involvement with the rituals associated with death and the salvation of souls.     

The uses of memory in African studies

Since the 1950's, African specialists have used memory both as a tool and as an object of research.

Anthropologists were finally becoming aware that all social interaction inherently contains ambiguity and conflict and were coming to terms with the impact of colonialism. They started taking a productive interest in what societies, in their present practice, had to say about and make of their past. Roger Bastide (Les religions africaines au Brésil) made collective memory and its functioning the heart of a rich sociological study, situated in a long historical context.

At the same time, historians were starting to write the history of Africa, an effort largely made possible by a tradition of oral transmission. The first consideration was the documentary usefulness of this oral tradition, more or less institutionalized. Historians evaluated these oral sources according to technical criteria, in order to write source critiques. But the nature of the work led to a changed focus. Historians reduced their emphasis on the gathering of factual data and started treating that data with greater skepticism. They also started to strongly repudiate the implicit model of written sources and archives. They became, instead, more concerned with the various forms of memory and fascinated with the analysis of the workings of memory itself in society, and with what new historical information lay hidden in people's memories. Life histories, and personal memories are also used today.     

论中国古代社会的虚拟血缘关系

Virtual kinship in ancient Chinese society mainly includes two types: brothers without kinship and father and son without kinship. From the Wei and Jin to the Sui and Tang dynasties, when the clan society and the imperial regimes were declining or on the edge of disintegration, virtual kinship became an important choice for marginalized families and lower strata of society in forming new social groups. After the Song Dynasty, virtual brothers without kinship was severely suppressed and even forbidden by authorities because of its tremendous threat to the stability of the dynasty. Due to its low social cost and high efficiency in forming a new social group, it became the main organization pattern of the secret folk society in the Ming and Qing dynasties.     

The astrolabe: Its uses and derivatives

Despite the technical means available for its diffusion, the information explosion is such that a diminishing proportion of geographical literature achieves the circulation that it deserves. The problem is illustrated by reference to a single country — Finland. In the case of such a country, even assuming familiarity with its languages, access to significant publication often proves impossible save on its home ground. Examples of three types of geographical literature are reviewed — 1) literature from the past which merits wider acquaintance because of its enduring value; 2) literature from the present which, on the score of methodology or theory independently of content, deserves attention, but which — not appearing in internationally familiar outlets — is unlikely to gain recognition; 3) similar literature directly relevant to the geography of Finland in the publications of cognate disciplines. The rate of change in the geographical scene and the volume of publication generated make it increasingly difficult for the would‐be specialist in even a relatively narrow field to keep up‐to‐date and to speed the circulation of information.     

Athapaskan kinship: Still an open question

Isidore Dyen and David F. Aberle. Lexical Reconstruction: The Case of the Proto‐Athapaskan Kinship System. New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1974. xx + 498 pp. Maps, tables, works cited, and indices. $27.50.     

Composing Einstein: exploring the kinship of art and science

Abstract

The work Albert Einstein published in 1905 led to a revolution in physics and the way nature is explained. At the same time, his physics touches on profound existential questions which are also dwelt upon in the arts. This article addresses the relatedness of music and physics, art and science. The point of departure is my composition The Einstein Resoundings, and how writing it refined my sensitivity to the deeper layers of creative effort. I discuss points of contact between the spheres of music and physics: the phenomenon of quantum leaps, continuous and discontinuous structures in tone and atom, and the role of continuity and discontinuity in the act of creation. My reflection on the kinship of art and science is based on the notion of complementarities. This allows a double perspective on art and science as different in regard to activity and language, but similar in regard to their mutually complementing characters.     

The uses of Greek Orthodoxy in the early poetry of Yannis Ritsos

Abstract

The influence of Greek Orthodoxy on Ritsos' poetry, previously neglected because of the poet's political commitments, is examined. Against the backdrop of the poet's Orthodox upbringing and his early conversion to communism, Ritsos' uses of Orthodoxy in certain poems written before 1948 are considered. The diversity is demonstrated during this period of Ritsos' conception and treatment of the tensions and oppositions between Orthodoxy and Marxism. The ideological influence of Varnalis on the earliest collection, Tρακτ?ρ, can be contrasted with the more nuanced use of Orthodox material in Eπιταφιο? and the sympathetic depiction of childhood religion in Mια πυγολαμπιδα φωτιζ?ι τη νυχτα. Only in the particular conditions of wartime Greece does Ritsos manage a bridge between Orthodoxy and Marxism: H Kυρα Aμπ?λιων synthesizes Ritsos' liberation message with images rooted in popular religion.