The bad things we do because of empathy

ABSTRACT

Empathy is usually seen as a prosocial and morally positive influence on behaviour. This article provides an overview of cases of negative acts motivated by empathy. It includes discussions of polarizations that are fueled by side-taking and empathy, selfish forms of empathy (such as sadistic empathy, vampirism, and helicopter parenting), and filtered empathy (using identification with a third person as a medium to have empathy with another). The definition of empathy used is to co-experience the situation of another.     

Just a Little Bend on the S-Curve: The Rise and Fall of Linguistic Change in Post-Classical Biblical Hebrew

The paper deals with the text-critical challenge and the variationist analysis in application to the historical linguistics of Biblical Hebrew, coming out in recent research, particularly in Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew by Robert Rezetko and Ian Young (2014). Different textual transmissions have become part of the linguistic corpus and an indispensable part of historical-linguistic research. Variationist analysis corroborates that some explicit innovative processes in the standard literary idiom of the Persian period were reversed by the conservative tendency, distinctive in the Qumran corpus, so that it will be more accurate to speak about two different stages in Late Biblical Hebrew development: Persian period and Late Hellenistic—early Roman periods.     

Simulating archaeologists? Using agent-based modelling to improve battlefield excavations

The study of material culture generated by military engagements has created an emergent sub-discipline of archaeological studies centred on battlefields. This approach has developed a particular and sophisticated methodology that is able to deal with the fact that archaeologists will often not find either structures or a useful stratigraphical record on the site, as the material remains of the battle will basically be metallic objects carried by combatants. It is therefore rather complicated not only to test hypotheses about battle events based on archaeological data, but also to validate the methodology used. Here we propose the use of agent-based models to explore these issues in the case of eighteenth-century battlefield archaeology. The simulation is divided into four different steps. Firstly, a battle is simulated in order to generate realistic virtual archaeological remains left by an engagement between two armies of this era. We then simulate the loss of information that the passing of time produces in the battlefield. The third step involves simulating the archaeological survey, enabling us to explore different survey strategies and the impact on the interpretation of the event itself. Finally, we design a confidence index in order to compare the results of the different virtual excavations using spatial analysis and statistics. The results show that the methodology is fully functional in terms of understanding a battle, and it allows us to suggest new strategies to improve fieldwork and to develop new ways of exploring these particular archaeological sites. It is concluded that the described approach illustrates how simulation can be used to explore methodological issues of archaeological science.     

Study of medieval glass fragments from Savona (Italy) and their relation with the glass produced in Altare

Altare was in the medieval and post-medieval period an important glassmaking center in the Liguria region in Northern Italy. The first historical evidence of glassmaking in Altare is dated to the twelfth century. In spite of that, due to the continuity of glassmaking up to the present time and the contemporaneous intensive urbanization of the territory, no medieval glass from Altare or its immediate vicinity has been analyzed up to now. In this work, glass from archaeological excavations in the center of Savona, city with close ties with the glassmaking center, was studied. Glass fragments, dated from the tenth to the sixteenth century were selected from the collections of the Archaeological Museum in Savona and non-destructively analyzed with quantitative PIXE-PIGE. The resulting compositions, compared with known glass productions of the same time and evaluated on the basis of historical documents, offer an interesting panorama on the variety of glass circulation in Liguria.     

是什么成就了尹珍

本文试图从历史文化、地理环境、家学师承、人格品质和历史政治的角度分析是什么成就了尹珍。     

Notes on Contributors

By the end of the century, and under pressure from new scientific theories of minds and emotions, the languages in which the Victorians understood the relationship between inner feeling and moral action came under great pressure. At the same time, the established association between aesthetic and moral value was being challenged by aestheticism's espousal of ‘art for art's sake’. This essay examines one very distinctive response to these issues: Vernon Lee's development of the concept of ‘empathy’. Lee offers empathy as a scientifically verifiable process which explains why beauty matters to us. She also seeks to use it to mediate a new position capable of acknowledging the power of aestheticism's critique of Victorian moralism, while re-establishing moral action as central to aesthetic experience.     

The cultural landscape of Celtic countries: A review

Innovation Diffusion: A New Perspective. By L. A. Brown. Pp. xx + 345, 23.5 × 16, illustrations, index. Methuen, London, 1981.

Location and Trade Theory. By Joseph T. Johnson. (Chicago Department of Geography, Research Paper No. 198, 1981). 201 pp., 22.5 × 15. $8.00.

Rural Conservation in Inter‐War Britain. By John Sheail. 25 × 16, 263 pp., plates, figures, tables, notes, index. Clarendon, Oxford, 1981. £16.50.

Tourist Development. By Douglas Pearce. 23.5 × 15.5, 112 pp., figures, tables, bibliography, index. Topics in Applied Geography, Longmans, Harlow, 1981, £3.95.

Islay: Biography of an Island. By Margaret C. Storrie. 260 pp., 21 × 15. Numerous maps and photographs, appendix, index. Oa Press, Islay, 1981.

Easter Ross 1750‐1850: The Double Frontier. By Ian R. M. Mowat. 270 pp., 24 × 16. Bibliography, appendices, indexes. John Donald, Edinburgh, 1981. £15.00.

EDUCATIONAL

Air and Earth. By Michael Atherton and Roger Robinson. 24.5 × 19, 80 pp. Hodder &; Stoughton, Sevenoaks, 1981. £1.95.

Map Practice. By Brian Turk. 30 × 21, 32 pp. University Tutorial Press, Slough, 1981. £2.60.     

Barley and identity in the Spanish colonial Audiencia of Quito: Archaeobotany of the 18th century San Blas neighborhood in Riobamba

Archaeological excavation of two late-18th century household middens in the San Blas parish of the colonial city of Riobamba resulted in the recovery of samples of archaeobotanical remains dating to the period before the AD 1797 destruction of the city in an earthquake. These seed remains were dominated by barley (Hordeum vulgare) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). The dominance of these two grains in samples from artisans’ households in this marginal neighborhood suggests that we should question the assumption that imported Old World domesticates were associated with more elite houses during the Spanish colonial period in the Andes.     

秦高陵君史迹探微

高陵君弩机及高陵君鼎为秦昭王时期器物。高陵君名悝,又号叶阳君,因封于高陵而得名,还曾封于彭、邓等地。高陵即今陕西省高陵县,彭在今甘肃省东部镇原县一带,邓在今河南省郾城县一带。高陵君约生于公元前320年前后,卒于公元前262年,享年59岁。高陵君为秦昭王前期秦国实权派人物之一,掌控秦国大权、左右秦国局势,其统治十分张扬跋扈、奢华腐朽。在其母宣太后死后,被秦昭王所杀害。     

地理的视角:中国历史地理研究与教学的前沿

2011年2月19日到20日,在美国中南部的阿肯色州州会小石城举行了"中国历史的地理视角国际学术研讨会",藉以推广地理学在传统汉学界的影响。本次会议由阿肯色州大学小石城分校(University of Arkansas,Little Rock)组织,得到了中国大陆、中国台湾、英国、德国、白俄罗斯与美国等各地学者的高度重视。19日全天开会,总共提交12篇论文,论点创新,时地跨越很广,从古代到当代,从华西北到华东南,收获相当丰富。主要演讲者是伊利诺斯州大学芝加哥分校(University of Illinois,Chicago)的何特勒(Laura Hostetler)和哈佛大学(Harvard University)的包弼德(Peter Bol)。20日上午包弼德举行颇有启示的讲座,即关于"中国历史地理信息系统"的研究与教学实用。