The two cultures and Renaissance humanism

Abstract

C. P. Snow's 'two cultures' distinction between scientific and humanistic thought is perennial. It may be said to correspond to empirical and metaphorical bents in human nature. Since antiquity, attempts have been made by some to bridge the gap. The natural bridge of scientific (in the broad sense) scholarship has been largely overlooked, but the development in the West of philological and historical methods by fifteenth and early sixteenth century humanists (in the technical sense) exhibits numerous criteria and examples of a scientific approach to the world around us, as does such scholarship today.     

The residual humanism of hybridity: retaining a sense of the earth

The concept of hybridity has become an influential theoretical tool for examining and reconsidering relations between society and nature. Although benefits have accrued from this school of thought, this paper contends the deployment of hybridity within the geographic discipline falls short of its reconstitutional claims. These shortcomings are a consequence of the original sources used to develop the language and logic of hybridity. Although the concept of hybridity has a long history in the biological sciences, the utilisation of hybridity in the geographic discipline has predominantly relied upon evolving theories developed in science and technology studies. This paper indicates how Haraway's cyborg and Latour's Middle Kingdom limit the scope of hybridity by portraying humanity as central to hybridity. The pervasive centrality of humans within the literature on hybridity (1) limits the ability of geographers to embrace poststructuralism in its entirety and (2) diminishes the discipline's claim to credibly represent the (natural) landscape. This paper argues for a thicker hybridity by borrowing from emergent theories in the biological sciences, wherein hybridity is conceived as a common occurrence that frequently takes place outside the direct purview of society. Rather than reifying nature, thick hybridity forces society to embrace environmental uncertainty more than it has heretofore.     

Fichte and the German Idiom: the Metaphysics of the Addresses to the German Nation

This article argues against the dominant Anglophone and Francophone interpretation of Fichte, which reads him as advancing either a form of ethnic or cultural nationalism. It claims that what is missing from the current reception of Fichte is the essentially philosophical and cosmopolitan character of his nationalism – the fact that the Addresses to the German Nation uses non‐empirical and cosmopolitical concepts to develop and articulate its nationalistic viewpoint. It therefore claims that the notion of a national philosophical idiom that the Addresses present, far from being a screen for its nationalism, is its driving engine. It does this by considering the problems of translating the German locution ist unsers Geschlechts. Consequently, it is claimed that the cosmo‐nationalism of Fichte is not reducible to a set of claims regarding ethnicity or even the empirical world, even if a discourse on the organismic, on what counts as life, irreducibly haunts the Addresses.     

Archeology in Conflict and UNESCO: Legal Aspects

This article analyzes the obligations under the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols related to the protection of cultural property in occupied territory. It goes on to provide practical examples of the return of cultural property from Iraq to Kuwait following the entry of Iraqi military forces into Kuwait in August 1990 and the legal framework of the return of Iraqi cultural property under operative paragraph 7 of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1483, adopted on 22 May 2003.     

The Jackal and the Lion: Aspects of Khoisan Folklore

This article explores the relationship between southern African Khoekhoe and San folktales through discussion of a specific nineteenth-century tale. Indigenous meanings embodied in the selected narratives rather than in Khoisan trickster tales in general are sought by explication of highly significant words and phrases.     

The German Empire and Palestine: German pilgrimages to Jerusalem between the 12th and 16th century

This study is an attempt to discuss various points of interest concerning the pilgrimages to Jerusalem which started from the German Empire during and after the Crusader period. On the basis of a comprehensive critical investigation, it will be demonstrated that by reason of extremely high travel expenses, most pilgrims decided against going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It is pointed out to what extent the noble and non-noble pilgrims from the Empire who planned the journey to Jerusalem would have to take into consideration their legal and moral obligations toward their feudal lords or local communities. It will be shown that most German pilgrims' ignorance of foreign languages furthered the cohesion and isolation of their travel parties on the road to Syria. As may be proved, they were not ready to adapt themselves to unusual manners and customs and had a remarkable penchant for violence. Finally, it will be demonstrated that the presence of German pilgrims ready to give donations or to pay for an indulgence must always have been a very important economic factor for some of the religious communities in Jerusalem.