Mapmaking,science and state building in Russia before Peter the Great

While Peter the Great (ruled c1694–1725) can be credited with a concerted attempt to introduce modern European science, technology and other achievements to Russia, the fact that he built upon earlier processes of change which tended in the same direction is frequently underemphasized. The paper challenges the idea that Russia was totally isolated and static before Peter, but emphasizes the very different context in which science, technology and related pursuits developed there by comparison with Europe. It is asserted that the effects of state building in both the European and Russian cases gave rise to certain parallels and similarities. Using mapmaking as an example the paper suggests that its growing importance in both regions during this period was a reflection of the requirements of state building and not merely a product of the rise of commercial capitalism (the latter being as yet relatively insignificant in Russia). The frequently postulated links between commercial capitalism, the rise of mathematical sciences and a growing interest in mapmaking are questioned as being largely inapplicable to Russia before Peter and sometimes overstressed in the case of Europe. The paper presents an analysis of the early seventeenth century Book of the Great Map, a written artefact of pre-Petrine cartography which reflects the priorities and also some of the limitations of Russian mapmaking during the period.     

None daring to make us afraid

ABSTRACT

J.W. Breyer, the young South African military administration's first game warden in Namibia, was based at Namutoni on the south-eastern margin of the Etosha pan. Breyer died a lonely death and a meticulous inventory was rendered of Breyer's estate. Viktor Franke, the German commander in south-western Africa, and Cocky Hahn, the second South African commissioner of native affairs stationed at Ondangwa, similarly left a visual record of their intimate surroundings. An itinerary of their material worlds and hence of colonialism in Namibia is here revealed using photographs and other evidence, highlighting some of the complexities of the cultural practices of colonial administration and policing in southern Africa.     

爱好旅游能健体 喜欢摄影快乐多

正我平生喜欢旅游,退休以后又开始学习摄影。旅游摄影以其独特的魅力,让我大开眼界,尽情享受生活的乐趣。我们外出旅行的目的不仅是为了欣赏名胜古迹、人文景观,更是为了亲近那一片大自然。当飞机载着我们离开地面,掠过白云,尽情享受翱翔乐趣之时,时常有一种抑制不住的激动萦绕于怀。感谢现代交通工具的发达,是发达的科技让我们看到世界的美妙和宇宙的苍茫。古人云:"读万卷书,不如行万里     

Governing the Italian economy: a comparative perspective

Abstract

The paper revolves around the figure of Enrico Cuccia, the patron of Mediobanca for half a century, whose activities represented for bad and good how the Italian economic system was organized before the privatizations of the 1990s. It was Cuccia who ‘substituted’ an absentee State in strengthening the Italian big business sector.     

Pay us a Visit,Rivers of Siberia

Two Kazakhstan scientists give their view of the proposed diversion of Siberian water to the arid zone of Kazakhstan and Central Asia. They consider such a diversion essential if long-term plans for an expansion of agricultural production are to be met through the irrigation of potentially fertile desert lands.     

Removing science from magic,science and religion

Tambiah, Stanley J. Culture, Thought, and Social Action: An Anthropological Perspective. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985. ix + 411 pp. including references, notes, sources, and index. $30.00 cloth.     

浅谈唐太宗治国理念里的和谐意识

贞观之治是我国封建历史上著名盛世之一,它的形成原因很多,其中唐太宗治国理念里的和谐指导思想是其重要原因之一。文章从人才观、君臣观、君民观、民族观四方面阐述了唐太宗治国理念里的和谐意识及其作用。     

Governing Institutional Complexity: The Ecology of Games Framework

This paper provides an overview of our adaptation of Norton Long's concept of the “ecology of games” into a theoretical framework for analyzing institutional complexity. I discuss the basic concepts of the framework, discuss hypotheses related to fundamental questions in governance and policy, and outline some basic analytical approaches. The conclusion assesses the future prospects of the ecology of games framework, including future research needs for theoretical and empirical development.     

诗酒风流——从李白饮酒诗看中国酒文化与诗人创作之联系

中国的酒文化对诗人的精神世界,创作心态及作品风格产生着深远影响,本文联系中国诗人饮酒的渊源、历史,以李白为典型代表分析中国酒文化与诗人创作的相互联系。     

Pictures of science

Abstract

The apparently minor art of scientific illustration raises questions that bear directly on the 'two cultures' confrontation of art and science. A marked shift in approach is discerned at the beginning of the twentieth century, from the incorporation of illustrations within the text to the use of 'enframed' figures, often with captions, as a separate entity. It is proposed that this change, which appears to have coincided with the introduction of bivariate plots in scientific journals, represents the transition from the essentially narrative structure of natural philosophy to the more adversarial mode of modern science. The link between the restraint required of the graphic artist and minimalist and functionalist aesthetics such as those of the Bauhaus is examined, together with the possibility that such a persimonious method of presentation can carry an implicit message. The different roles of abstraction in science and art are discussed with particular reference to the work of Paul Klee.     

Inventing human science

Inventing Human Science: Eighteenth Century Domains. Edited by Christopher Fox, Roy Porter, and Robert Wokler (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995) $45.00 and £24.00 cloth, xv + 357 pp.