Missing links: W. V. Quine, the making of ‘Two Dogmas’, and the analytic roots of post-analytic philosophy

This essay argues that post-analytic philosophy finds its origins not only in an invented tradition—that of ‘analytic philosophy’—but also in an invented dilemma: namely, the response to the allegedly overweening dominance of ‘positivism’ in American philosophy. I begin by surveying the problems with the folk wisdom about positivism and analytic philosophy. This pervasive narrative locates the emergence of post-analytic philosophy after a period of hegemony for logical positivism and cognate philosophical subfields. Taking seriously evidence indicating a distinct overlap in the construction of the analytic and post-analytic traditions, I return to the founding moment of American analytic philosophy in the years immediately following World War II. What we see, I suggest, is not a reaction against a clearly defined and powerful logical positivist mainstream, but the careful, piecewise co-ordination of what would become characteristic ‘analytic’ modes of argument, problematics, and tool kits. Willard Van Orman Quine played a central role in this process, and for this reason I focus on the circumstances in which his field-defining 1951 article, ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’ was written and received. I conclude with the claim that both analytic and post-analytic philosophers relied on a peculiar image of the failure of logical positivism, and of the opportunities that failure presented.     

The Congressional Committee Intelligence System: Information,Oversight, and Change

Data from a study of top staffers on congressional committees indicate that Congress is rich in sources of information about the executive branch, and that it exploits these sources surprisingly well. An observer of the contemporary Congress can read Max Weber's classic essay on "bureaucracy" with minimum alarm. Weber's bureaucracy had an "overtowering" position relative to its nominal political masters because of its continuity, expertise, and ability to guard information (secrecy). U.S. congressional committees have built a formidable counter organization. Committee staffers are not mere "dilettantes" who stand opposite administrative "experts." They have a significant level of experience in the areas covered by the agencies they oversee, and well developed communication networks which give them significant opportunities to push aside any veil covering bureaucratic decisions and activities. Moreover, they indicate a surprisingly active approach to keeping track of agency activities, leading one to question the predominance in the contemporary period of the "fire alarm" approach described in the literature. The article develops reasons why an active information seeking style may be more attractive now than in the past and suggests a connection between environmental changes, changes in information seeking behavior, and changes in other aspects of oversight behavior.     

An Early Islamic Inter-Settlement Agroecosystem in the Coastal Sand of the Yavneh Dunefield,Israel

This study examines the remains of an agricultural complex found in the Yavneh coastal dunefield, central Israel. Known as a plot-and-berm agroecosystem, the complex consisted of earthworks in a crisscross pattern of sand berms and sunken agricultural plots that were used for groundwater harvesting. The plots, which provided easy access to the high groundwater table and the berms around them, are overlaid by a gray sand unit covered by pottery sherds and artifacts. This gray sand is more fertile than the underlying sand, suggesting refuse enrichment. Artifactual similarity of the finds to those of inland (Tel) Yavneh suggests that Yavneh was the main source for the refuse additive. Based on artifacts and OSL ages it seems that this agroecosystem was active during the 10th to early 12th centuries a.d. The agroecosystem demonstrates an early example of an Early Islamic agrotechnological attempt in marginal and sandy regions of the Mediterranean basin.     

Italy in the Aftermath of the First World War

France and Italy at the Paris Peace Conference     

Carto‐bibliography on the Web: Links Combining Text and Image

Wolfgang Scharfe, Abriss der Kartographie Brandenburgs, 1771–1821. Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission zu Berlin, de Gruyter Verlag, vol. 35, 1972. pp. 357, 27 maps, appendix with indexes. DM. 84.

H. Sigurdsson, Kortasaga Islands. Reykjavik, 1971. pp. 278, 69 × 42 cm. $ 55.

N. J. W. Thrower, Maps and man. An éxamination of cartography in relation to culture and civilization. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, Inc., 1972. pp. vii + 184.

L. Stegena, Maps of Hungary by Lazarus Secretarius. Budapest, the Department of Cartography, Roland Eötvös University, 1971. 5 plates, 63 × 48 cm.

W. P. Cumming, R. A. Skelton, and D. B. Quinn, The discovery of North America. London, Elek Books Ltd., 1971. pp. 304, 362 ill. £ 10.

C. Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici. Volume 4, Celestial and maritime atlases and pilot books. Amsterdam, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1970. pp. xlvi + 519, with plates.

A. Schäfer and H. Weber, Inventar der handgezeichneten Karten und Pläne zur europäischen Kriegsgeschichte des 16.‐19. Jahrhunderts im Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe. Stuttgart, 1971. pp. 350, 8 illustrations. DM 48.

G. Grosjean and M. Cavelti, 500 Jahre schweizer Landkarten. Zürich, Orell Füssli Verlag, 1971. 30 map‐facsimiles, 48.5 × 50 cm., with text, in slip‐case, Sfr. 260.

Capitão‐de‐fragata Max Justo Guedes, Anônimo ‐ Antônio Sanches, c. 1633. Rio de Janeiro, Biblio‐teca Nacional, 1970. pp. 25, 1 coloured and folded map, 37 × 27 cm., monograph.

J. Cortesão, Historia do Brasil nos velhos mapas. Brazilian Foreign Ministry, 2 vols., 1965–1971.

National Maritime Museum, Catalogue of the Library. Volume 3, Parts 1 and 2, Atlases and cartography. London, H.M.S.O., 1971, 2 vols. pp. 1166. £ 14 (for two parts).

E. W. Gilbert, British pioneers in geography. Newton Abbott, Devon. 1972. pp. 271. £ 3.95.

Wilcomb E. Washburn (Editor), Proceedings of the Vinland Map Conference. Chicago, 1971. ('Studies in the history of discoveries’, Monograph Series of the Society for the History of Discoveries.) pp. xvii + 185, illustrations. $ 10.

C. Sanz, Ciento noventa mapas antiguos del mundo de los siglos 1 al 18 que forman parte del proceso cartografico mundial. Madrid. 1970. pp. 150, 190 plates.     

Geographical imaginations,public education and the everyday worlds of Fascist Italy

This article explores the phenomena of geographical imaginations and their seldom-noted promotion within various corners of Fascist Italy. Imagined geographies are socially constructed understandings of other places and regions and, as such, they are malleable, contingent, shifting and unquantifiable. Nevertheless, these imaginaries help us to navigate our imaginative worlds and our relative place in the material world. In 1930s Italy, various interest groups associated with the colonial and expansionist projects of Fascism promoted the development of wider geographical imaginaries among Italians. Academic geographers were often key figures in these initiatives: some prompted these projects, while others did so at the behest of the regime and its desire to expand Italians' coscienza geografica (the geographical imagination) to an ‘imperial level’. This article explores how academic geographers from Trieste sought to contribute to this project and to embed their geographical knowledge into the ordinary, everyday circuits of public life. The article therefore outlines the notion of the geographical imagination and demonstrates via case studies how Triestine geographers tried to nurture these phenomena. Finally, it suggests that, although elusive and amorphous, geographical imaginations were a feature of everyday life in some corners of Fascist Italy and, as such, they deserve academic attention.