Philosophy as a cultural resource and medium of reflection for Hermann Weyl

In a talk given at Zurich in the late 1940s, Hermann Weyl discussed Ferdinand Gonseth's dialectical epistemology and considered it as being restricted too strictly to aspects of historical change. His experiences with post-Kantian dialectical philosophy, in particular Johann Gottlieb Fichte's derivation of the concept of space and matter, had been a stronger dialectical background for his own 1918 studies in purely infinitesimal geometry and the early geometrically unified field theory of matter (extending the Mie-Hilbert program). Although now Weyl distantiated himself from the speculative features of his youthful philosophizing and in particular from his earlier enthusiasm for Fichte, he again had deep doubts as to the cultural foundations of modern mathematical sciences and its role in material culture of high modernity. For Weyl, philosophical «reflection» was a cultural necessity he now turned towards Karl Jaspers' and Martin Heidegger's existentialism to find deeper grounds, similar to his turn towards Fichte's philosophy after World War I. The discussion in the late 1940s can be read as a kind of post-World-War-II «Nachtrag» to Weyl's more widely known philosophical comments on mathematics and the natural sciences published in the middle of the 1920s.     

The Pleistocene Peopling of the North: Paleolithic Milestones and Thresholds Horizons in Northern Eurasia: Part I: Lower Paleolithic Antecedents

Human occupation of northern Eurasia high latitudes entailed coping with severe bioclimatic circumstances and Ice Age cycle fluctuations. Resolving this “adaptability paradox” required depending on cultural, rather than biological means. Paleolithic evidence indicates culture historical developments of considerable time depth, long-term adaptive stages, and thresholds in the “peopling of the North.” It began with Lower Paleolithic populations expanding into temperate and continental Eurasia, becoming fully actualized during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. The Middle Paleolithic formative stage constituted a human biogeographic realm overlapping significantly with the Mammoth-Steppe Biome faunal complex. Part I identifies issues, time perspectivism, culture, foraging adaptation, and human biogeography concepts. Lower Paleolithic occurrences, initial occupation episodes are surveyed and discussed.     

《古代的交互作用:欧亚大陆的东部与西部》述评

最近 ,英国剑桥大学麦克唐纳研究所出版《古代的交互作用 :欧亚大陆的东部与西部》文集 ,它集中展示了欧亚大陆的考古及东西文化交流的最新成果。 1998年以来 ,剑桥大学举办了 3次大型国际会议 ,内容涉及欧亚大陆史前学、人类学、语言和文化。本书为 2 0 0 0年“史前后期欧亚草原的开发”会议文集。由著名考古学家伦福儒教授作序 ,收入不同国家学者的文章 2 1篇 ,全面介绍了欧亚草原新石器晚期至铁器时代初的考古发现和的研究成果 ;另有部分文章涉及该区域内的植物考古学与人种学的Y染色体DNA分析     

北宋首任治平寨主景思立荫补考析

景思立是北宋中期深受神宗皇帝器重的一员骁将。他两度活动于静宁：一是治平四年（1067）跟随郭逵上陇平定党令征叛乱并修筑治平寨有功,被提拔担任治平寨主;二是熙宁四年（1071）任德顺军知军事后对包括今静宁县境在内的德顺军进行管辖,并带领德顺军将士协助王韶开拓熙河一路。后为河州首任知州,于熙宁七年（1074）二月战死踏白城。本文通过对景思立以荫补官和担任治平寨主两事的分析,否定了明人赵时春关于其＂以兄思忠荫＂的错误观点,认为景思立是以父荫补官的,《宋史·景思立传》中＂以荫＂即是＂以父西上阁门使（景）泰荫＂的简说;推断景思立以父荫补官和担任治平寨主是不同时期的事情,他的父亲景泰卒亡和他获得荫补资格大致在皇祐二年至至和二年（1050～1055）,所获荫补资格为小使臣列的右班殿直或稍低的的三班借职、三班奉职,而治平四年（1067）＂主治平寨＂时的武阶大约在东头供奉官至内殿崇班间,很可能为内殿崇班。     

The state as a symbol or a means to an end: internal border changes in multinational federations

Federalism is an important institutional option for the management of difference in multinational states. A number of scholars have argued that the internal boundaries of such states should divide each constituent group into several federal units. In theory, boundary engineering of this type should activate cross‐cutting cleavages, subvert secessionist movements and, ultimately, foster political integration and stability. This article, by contrast, demonstrates the conditions under which the subdivision of territorial units can destabilise polities. Where statehood is a central symbol in nationalist narratives of constituent groups, the fragmentation of the sub‐state unit will be perceived as a threat to national identity of the group in question. The article compares former Yugoslavia and Nigeria, two cases in which such processes led to divergent outcomes.     

Between the devil and the deep blue sea: nationality,power and symbolic trade‐offs among evangelical Protestants in contemporary Northern Ireland1

ABSTRACT. National identity is a symbolically complex configuration, with shifts of emphasis and reprioritisations of content negotiated in contexts of power. This paper shows how they occur in one post‐conflict situation – Northern Ireland – among some of the most extreme of national actors – evangelical Protestants. In‐depth interviews reveal quite radical shifts in the content of their British identity and in their understanding of and relation to the Irish state, with implications for their future politics. The implications for understanding ethno‐religious nationalism, nationality shifts and the future of Northern Ireland are drawn out.     

Khmer sandstone quarries of Kulen Mountain and Koh Ker: a petrographic and geochemical study

Sandstone from several ancient quarries and natural outcrops located at the eastern foothill of Kulen Mountain and in Koh Ker, northern Cambodia, has been characterized by means of petrographic analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and geochemical analysis. The samples have been collected during a series of field surveys organized jointly by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA). The data show how the sandstone quarried from these sites is characterized by an overall petrographic and geochemical homogeneity, and is consistent with the upper terms of the Lower–Middle Jurassic Terrain Rouge Formation.     

Protagonists and politics in the Italian women's movement: a reflection on the work of Annarita Buttafuoco

This article retraces Annarita Buttafuoco's work as a historian of the women's political movement in Italy through a brief survey of her essays and books. These covered more than two centuries of history, ranging from the echoes of the French Revolution in Italy and the constitution of the Jacobin Republics to the struggles for female suffrage and emancipation in the liberal era down to the period after the Second World War and the founding of the Italian Republic. Emphasizing the originality of both the sources and the methodological approaches she used, the article offers a critical appreciation of Annarita Buttafuoco's research and her role in organizing and shaping collective research projects. It is focused on three specific issues: the history of women as conscious historical subjects, the history of women's political movements not only in their social and political contexts but also in relation to institutional networks and the practices of citizenship.     

Pushing the Boundaries of 1980s Feminism in a Northern English Town

During the 1980s, women youth workers in Wigan changed their male-orientated profession and communicated their feminist beliefs to young women in council estates. Through practical activities with young women feminism was lived rather than theorized, as they implemented the demands of the women’s liberation movement. A strong strand of personal development was woven throughout their work, driven by powerful emotion arising from the consciousness-raising process. After a decade of growth, cuts to local government services decimated the work with girls and young women. Notwithstanding their lasting reputation in the youth work profession, they were ultimately unrealistic about what was required to solidify, and therefore protect, their position within the council structure. The 1980s work with girls did, however, lay down a bedrock of practice which is acknowledged by youth work scholars to have filtered into mainstream youth work practice and training.     

Intrasite features distribution as a source of social information: The case of Djaba-Hosséré (Northern Cameroon)

The spatial organization of Dìì settlements has been considered as the reflection of the peculiar social organization of Dìì chiefdoms: a model based on an association of several lineages, most of them being necessary for the working of the whole. The distribution of thousands of surface remains (features and ceramics) located on the eastern foot of the Djaba massif, the site of the eponymous chieftaincy in the early 19th century, together with stratigraphic data, is likely to provide information about the age and the foundation process of a Dìì chiefdom. Following the spatial analysis, we will see that, locally, the growth of political complexity began about the 18th century and that this process may have resulted in the arrival of ‘foreigners’ among one or more of the autochthonous communities, one of what appears to have been strongly involved in metallurgical activities. Archaeological data seems thus to indicate that the foundation myth of the ‘generous foreigner’ shared by most of the Dìì chieftaincies was based on historical events.