"The Ancient Economy": The Problem and the Fraud

Periodically since about 1860 the debate about "The Ancient Economy" has raged vehemently as oikos controversy , Bücher-Meyer debate , primitivists versus modernists or simply as the Moses Finley debate . Therefore, Hopkins rightly remarked: "The ancient economy is an academic battleground. The contestants campaign under various colours--apologists, Marxists, modernizers, primitivists Even within schools, there are sects." This still seems to be the case, although the author of this article does not belong to any school or sect but is looking for an anti-ideological controllable scientific truth. Whatever that may be it is, certainly, a critical venture where "fraud" is at stake. In 1986, by symbolic accident the year of Finley's death, he dared to start a new period in the debate and at present the controversy with all its usual tricks seems at its zenith again. Did the bell toll for the last round in this beloved controversy? After 150 years of debate, one can never be sure about that, but we will try again. The subject matter is no less important than the question "to whom belongs antiquity?" or "for what purposes does one study its history or culture?" The following article wants to introduce the debate in a few sentences, question its present relevancy as the Moses Finley debate and provoke readers into another one.     

Theory of functional systems in the scientific school of P.K. Anokhin

In this paper we present brief biographical data of the outstanding Russian physiologist P.K. Anokhin and the stages of formation of the theory of functional systems, proposed by him. Furthermore we will deal with the architectonics of system organization of behavioral acts, underlying principles of the theory of functional systems as a part of the general theory of systems and the evolution of the theory of functional systems in the Anokhin Scientific School.     

Historical note: "the epileptic constitution": the psychoanalytic concept of epilepsy

The rise of the psychoanalytic approach to behavioral medicine in the early part of the 20th century created a unique concept of the nature and the aetiology of epilepsy based upon dynamic psychopathology. As a direct result of this a radical change in both medical and community perception of this condition was generated, and this was to persist up to and beyond the mid-century mark. This historical note details the adoption, and the rise and fall of this concept of "the epileptic constitution", and a consideration of the negative effects that flowed from this, permeating all areas of psychiatry, neurology and even the criminal justice system.     

The disease of the moon: the linguistic and pathological evolution of the English term "lunatic"

The public opinion and the scientific community incorrectly believe that the English term "lunatic" was originally related only to insanity, but it also referred to epileptic people. The aim of this article is to clarify the original meaning of the English word "lunatic" by analyzing the evolution of the relationship between psychiatric and neurological diseases and by pointing out the influence of the moon in the history of medicine, in popular traditions, and in English literature. The article also contains a detailed and accurate review of the modern scientific literature on the relationship between moon and epilepsy/psychiatric disorders.     

丸山真男学术立论中的事实与想象--"原型论"与"日本主义"情结

丸山真男的学术研究,在揭示出“日本早期近代化的基础奠定于江户时代”这一重要事实的同时,也超事实超学理地扩张了他的想象,这种想象,集中体现在他所提出的“原型论”当中,由于该理论与“日本主义”之间存有内在,本质和必然的联系,而这种联系又直接与少数人根深蒂固的“中国文化蔑视论”互为表里,因此,提出并正确认识这一问题,相信将有助于加强21世纪中日两国深层次的学术交流。     

Partners in Preservation: University of Montreal Research for the Preservation of the Montreal School Board Historic Schools

Since 2000, the Master’s Programme in Conservation de l’Environnement Bâti (conservation of the built environment) of the Université de Montréal has been collaborating with the Commission Scolaire de Montréal (Montreal School Board) for the preservation of the city’s scholastic heritage. Research projects and other activities have been undertaken to raise awareness about these historic buildings and to find practical solutions to ensure their future. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it will provide an overview of different research projects carried out within the framework of the partnership between the School Board and the master’s programme, concluding with the most important findings of that research. Second, it will describe the challenges facing the preservation of this vernacular public heritage, which—despite its modesty—is a significant part of the many neighbourhoods of Montréal.     

Jean-Martin Charcot and the epilepsy/hysteria relationship

Research from many perspectives has been made on the work of the French neurologist, J.-M. Charcot (1825-1893) with particular reference to his fame for his studies and "construction" of hysteria. What has not been demonstrated so far is the extent to which Charcot's construction can be explained by the perceived relationship between hysteria and epilepsy and Charcot's access to epileptic patients at La Salpêtrière. From the confusion that reigned concerning hysteria and epilepsy, both separately and in relation to each other, Charcot claimed to have isolated hysteria as a distinctive and universal pathology. This claim was partly based on the "grande attaque", representing the most intense degree of hysteria. A comparison with Gowers, the contemporary English neurologist suggests that diagnosis was the function of the practitioners' preferences; and a linguistic analysis pinpoints Charcot's problems in describing an isolated pathology in terms of its relation to its neighbour, epilepsy.     

"铁岭立卫"与辛禑朝出师攻辽

本通过对一些重要史料的解析,对引起颇多争议的“铁岭”的位置重新进行了探讨,并分析指出：明朝立卫的本意既是对以鸭绿江为界的东北边界的确认,也是对朝鲜半岛东北部女其居民进行沼抚的初步行动;双方东北边界的最终确立是在永乐年间;出师攻辽是高丽历来存在的扩张倾向及其内部亲元与亲明两派矛盾激化的结果,“铁岭立卫“事件的发生为其提供了借口。     

"周鸿庆事件"与美日台三角关系

1963年末发生的"周鸿庆事件"引发了台日关系的危机.在这场事件中,日本不顾台湾当局的压力,坚持允许周鸿庆返回大陆.在台湾看来,这是日本亲大陆的严重过失行为,因此对日采取了激烈的报复措施,台日矛盾激化,一度濒临"断交"的边缘.作为台日双方的盟友,美国利用驻台"大使馆"向台湾当局斡旋,不断对其施加压力.美国国务卿腊斯克也亲自访日、访台,为解决双方矛盾不遗余力.最终,在美国的调节下,台日双方各让一步,就此渡过了这场"外交"危机.在解决整个事件的过程中,美国的重要作用不可低估,同时,美国在远东的战略意图也反映得淋漓尽致.     

“三大政策”与独立自主的新中国外交

中国革命胜利前夕,中共中央制定了"另起炉灶"、"打扫干净屋子再请客"和"一边倒"的三大外交政策."三大政策"的基本内容是:废除一切不平等条约,彻底清除帝国主义的残余势力,拒绝承认国民党政府与外国的外交关系;新中国是一个充分享有独立、自由的主权国家,作为国际社会中的平等一员,它与任何国家的关系必须以平等互利和尊重领土主权为基础;中国的独立离不开社会主义国家和国际无产阶级的援助,为确保未来的国家安全和经济建设的顺利开展,新中国将加入以苏联为首的和平民主阵营."三大政策"反映了新民主主义革命的必然要求,表明了即将站立起来的中国人民掌握自己命运的坚强意志.独立自主是"三大政策"的本质和核心."三大政策"有着有机的内在联系,共同构成了新中国外交的坚实基础.     

环境史中的欧洲特殊道路问题

欧洲为什么率先进行工业革命是一个永恒的问题,从东西方环境史比较的角度可能会对此得出独特的解释。当然,这种比较必须建立在坚实的实地研究的基础上。本文要分析的十个问题是：谨慎对待精神观点,环境史的制度分析,耕地与牧场的平衡与失衡,西欧的婚姻模式,延续、持续性和自给自足,森林和权力,欧洲多中心主义的优势,魏特夫“亚细亚生产方式”的绿色复兴,欧洲殖民主义的环境影响,环境史上是否存在一个“欧洲奇迹”。从这十方面的比较中会对“环境史中的欧洲特殊道路问题”有更清楚的把握,进而揭示出一个辩证的历史逻辑,即“长期的成功恰恰加剧了危机”。这或许就是东方前现代的繁荣昭示给现在西方文明的前景。     

The Paradigmatic City: Postindustrial Illusion and the Los Angeles School

In the 1980s a group of geographers known informally as the Los Angeles School proclaimed Los Angeles as the paradigmatic metropolis of the late-twentieth century. The postmodern/flexible specialization model Los Angeles School adherents developed to explain Los Angeles and validate its paradigmatic status is critiqued theoretically and empirically. The unfortunate timing of their claims of Los Angeles' suzerainty over the Pacific Rim is discussed, and the development and status of its propulsive industrial sectors, such as armaments, aerospace, entertainment, finance, and real estate, are examined. The armaments industry receives special attention because of its critical role in postwar Los Angeles' growth and subsequent decline and because the Los Angeles School devoted considerable research and even praise to this particular type of government "warfare" spending as a key constituent of the area's technopole. The entertainment industry is not sufficient to extract Los Angeles from its continuing crisis. At the moment, Los Angeles lacks any credible plan for overcoming the contemporary malaise. The difficulties in the Los Angeles School's analysis are held to stem from their theoretical synthesis of postmodernism and flexible specialization, a natural but unfortunate Ptolemaic perspective expressed in the belief that one's particular locale is paradigmatic and a lack of recognition of the malignant aspects of defense-spurred economic development.     

美国国会“涉藏立法”的历史考察

近二十年来,美国国会通过立法活动提出并通过了一系列干涉中国西藏事务的"涉藏议案"。其主要内容包括:要求美国政府将对华政策与"西藏问题"挂钩;以"西藏人权"为借口干涉西藏事务;为"藏独"势力提供援助,等等。作为美国对华人权外交的组成部分,这些"涉藏议案"对中美关系产生了不容忽视的负面影响,不仅使美国对中国所谓侵犯"西藏人权"问题的干涉长期存在,而且也在很大程度上助长了西藏分裂势力在国外的分裂活动。     

"Silently Farting in the Face of the Empire." Review of Paul and the Imperial Roman Order

Abstract

As the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy ventures more frequently into the sphere of environmental ethics and makes pronouncements on large-scale environmental problems, its effectiveness will consistently be undercut by its commitment to what is traditionally called "Catholic act analysis," which when used to evaluate a host of commonplace actions leads Catholics to believe that they are morally unproblematic. Yet when these same actions are performed day after day and year after year, they contribute to many large-scale environmental problems that are unquestionably harmful—and are often viewed negatively by the Catholic hierarchy. At some point, this pattern of approving morally of certain actions the cumulative, corporate side effects of which cause pernicious environmental problems will strain the Catholic Church's credibility on environmental matters—and until the hierarchy reexamines its commitment to Catholic act analysis, this dilemma will be unavoidable.     

Turkey's "New" Foreign Policy toward Eurasia

Two geographers specializing in Turkey's international relations examine the reframing of foreign policy issues under the country's Justice and Development Party (JDP; also known by its Turkish acronym AKP), in power since 2002. After first locating the JDP within Turkey's current political landscape, the authors investigate how notions of civilizational geopolitics have led to a "new geographic imagination" under JDP that has influenced foreign policy thinking. The authors argue that JDP foreign policy exhibits some continuity with that of earlier governments in terms of activist policies toward Central Eurasia (comprising the Middle East, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia), but are based on a new conceptual foundation that views Turkey not as part of Western civilization but as the emerging leader of its own "civilizational basin" (consisting of the former Ottoman territories plus adjoining regions inhabited by Muslim and Turkic peoples). They then explore the implications for Turkey's future relations with the Central Eurasian region (of which Turkey is assumed to be the leader) and countries of the West (viewed now as "neighbors" but no longer "one of us").     

Inclusiveness and coherency in the history of the neurosciences

The International Society for the History of the Neurosciences (ISHN) defines "neurosciences" broadly, and we want to encourage the widest possible range of scholarly approaches to our subject. However, this deliberate inclusiveness could potentially cause problems with internal coherency in our organization and in the scholarship that we are trying to create. In other words, we need to avoid the pitfalls of the internalist-externalist tension without losing the benefits of both perspectives. In fact, I think that there is a large and interesting "gray zone," where the boundary between these supposedly separate approaches is both artificial and porous. This should be one of the most rewarding intellectual domains for the study of neuroscience history, because our subject is always culturally loaded by the mind/body problem and by the assumptions that it entails. Of course, neuroscience history is also influenced by all of the other cultural and scientific aspects of the milieus in which it is conducted. Understanding neuroscience history in all of its multiple historical contexts will require the participation of a wide range of scholarly viewpoints. To keep ourselves coherent in the process, we will have to educate each other.     

"A twist in the tale" of a surgeon and his patient: an Australian first in seizure localization

In 1894 at St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, George Adlington Syme removed a meningioma from a patient with symptomatic focal epilepsy. The operation stands as the first surgery based on seizure localization in Australia. It is also the country's first documented successful resection of an intracranial meningioma. It followed William Macewen's landmark cerebral localization case on the boy John McKinley by 18 years and Victor Horsley's first epilepsy case on Hughlings Jackson's patient James B. by a mere 8 years. Syme's patient, Constable John G., survived the operation by some 23 years, dying from a gunshot wound to the head in 1917. Newly discovered inquest papers reveal that the coroner's judgment that the death was accidental completely fails to address the more credible scenario of suicide. The story makes for a fascinating epilogue to an important landmark in Australia's neurosurgical history.     

廪君巴人发源地“武落钟离山”地名新解

古代文献记载廪君巴人发源于"武落钟离山"。当代学者对"武落钟离山"这个历史地名的解释差异比较大,有的认为它是"武落山"、"钟离山"二山的合称,有的认为它的本名是"落钟山",有的认为它在湖北清江流域,有的认为它在重庆大宁河流域。实际上,"武落钟离山"本名"武陵钟离山","武落"为"武陵"传写之误,"武陵"即武陵郡。"武陵钟离山"去掉郡名"武陵",就叫做"钟离山"。这表明廪君巴人的发源地是在清江(夷水)流域而非大宁河流域。     

《读书志》的文献学成就

读书志作为一种特殊的私家目录体裁发轫于宋代,至清代才真正的成熟起来,它实质上是中国古代学术与中国古代私家目录双重发展的必然结果。《开有益斋读书志》是清代学者朱绪曾的一部目录学专著,也是清代私家运用"读书志"体例撰修的典型著作之一,在一定程度上代表了清代私家修目的最高水平。本文着重考察该志在目录学、校勘学方面的成就,揭示其所反映的学术思想。