Die Pansophie des Comenius und der Baconismus der Royal Society

The specific comprehension of the subject of the modern times in the 17th century articulates itself in the pretension to be the master of the world of nature and human beings. This pretension, however, was not longer legitimated in a theological or biblical argumentation, but with the philosophical hint on a special qualification of the human being: knowledge and science. In this view, the philosophical reflections of Francis Bacon of Verulam, which were culminating in the well-known judgement of the coincidence of knowledge and power, became the very important philosophy of science of the most prominent academy of sciences in the 17th century: The Royal Society of London. This “Baconism” distincted himself strictly from all questions belonging to religion, politics, social or moral problems. This distinction was the reason for its opposition to the “Pansophie” of Johann Amos Comenius, whose main intention was the general reformation of the whole world, including a reform of science, religion and politics. The insistence of Comenius for the social responsibility of science is still up-to-date.     

Putting the crisis to work: The real estate sector and London's housing crisis

The idea of ‘crisis’ plays an important role in academic and policy imaginations (Heslop and Ormerod, 2020), particularly since the global financial crisis. Across major western cities, at the same time as policy-makers have had to respond to ‘the (economic) crisis’, many have also experienced intense ‘housing crises’ and the acute divergence of average incomes and house prices. In response, cities such as London have become central sites in debates around housing acquisition by the ultra-wealthy, land value extraction and growing levels of unaffordability. However, much critical geography research on housing crises is state-centred or focused on civil society impacts, with relatively little reflection on the real estate sector and the work that crisis does as a narrative in shaping institutionalised and actor-centred practices. In this paper, we draw on in-depth research with developers, investors, and advisors in London to argue that crisis-driven policy responses have created political risk which is differentially experienced by actors across the sector, with large housebuilders and advisors benefitting whilst smaller niche developers move out. Moreover, we show how consultants, investors and developers have used the crisis situation to create new geographies, products and investor types in the housing market. These, in turn, require regulatory support and demonstrate the inherently political nature of crisis narratives' use. We use the London case to broaden understandings of the impact that conceptualisations of ‘crisis’ have on urban and regional planning practices, and how these influence and shape processes of contemporary urban development.     

船桥会与清代陕南地方社会

船桥会是清初至民国末年汉江流域普遍存在的民间组织,它依托渡口而存在,并募集资金以建桥造船,利涉汉江.清代陕南船桥会内部实行有章可循的科层制管理,权责明晰.绅粮公议基础上推举的首士和会首在任期内全权负责船桥会事务,会首掌管会产,冬则搭桥,夏则造船,并负责拣选和雇佣水夫、巡河.水夫负责摆渡,巡河负责监督.南郑县案例表明,水...     

顾颉刚先生在西北

“七七事变”后,顾颉刚接受管理中英庚子赔款董事会的委托,考察设计西北教育。考察设计工作告一段落后,顾颉刚深入考察了河、湟、洮、岷地区的民族社会,并在发展西北民族教育、民族经济、民族关系等方面提出了独到的见解和有益的建议。     

浙路风潮再反思——光复会计划失败的原因

光复会计划在浙路风潮中之所以失败,一是由于绅商的两重性及清政府各级官员的自救之策弱化了朝野冲突;二是光复会本身的“异端性“及革命处于低潮、对下层民众缺乏深入细致的宣传组织工作、与立宪派较量的力度不够;三是中下层民众斗争的焦点集中在“认购路股“的方式上,及农民的相对漠然态度、宁波帮工人的特殊性、股金来源涉及面不广等因素使其计划缺乏广泛而彻底的群众基础.     

刘少奇毛泽东新民主主义社会构思之比较

建国前后,刘少奇与毛泽东在新民主主义社会发展前途、党的领导地位、中心任务、国营经济的领导成份等重大治国方略上有一致的认识,这是他们从同样的政治理念思考重大问题必然得出的结论;在关于新民主主义社会发展战略实施步骤、对城乡私人经济的具体态度上有不同的看法,这是他们各自探索的客观反映。     

Transformation and Specialization in London and its Topography

This article puts John Tallis’s London Street Views (1838–40) into conversation with some of the major topographical projects that preceded them. By examining how London was represented in works including Richard Horwood’s PLAN of the Cities of LONDON and WESTMINSTER the Borough of SOUTHWARK, and PARTS adjoining Shewing every HOUSE (1792–9), Richard Phillips’s Modern London (1804) and Rudolph Ackermann’s Microcosm of London (1808–10), it considers the extent to which the form, content, price and organizing principles of the Street Views iterated on prior traditions while drawing out aspects of Tallis’s work that should be read as representing innovative new directions. The Street Views were more specialized and more explicitly focused on business than the relatively genteel works of the earlier nineteenth century, but topography had long been a commercial prospect, often publisher-led rather than author-driven. As the century progressed, changes in the city and in technologies of representation modified the ways in which visions of London were assembled and sold, allowing for significant expansions in their potential audiences. However, there were also considerable continuities in what was depicted, in the reliance on part-publication and in the areas that were seen as being crucial to the experience of the metropolis. This article traces these continuities and discontinuities qualitatively, quantitatively and spatially.     

Introduction: Roundtable on John Tallis’s London Street Views (1838–1840)

John Tallis’s London Street Views (1838–1840) offers a striking and a distinctive account of the early Victorian metropolis. This introduction outlines its significance and contextualizes the essays included in this roundtable.     

A civilized nation: Japan and the Red Cross 1877–1900

Abstract

The history of both the Red Cross and the Japanese Red Cross is based on a teleological and eurocentric narrative which is strongly shaped by national histories and focused on persons. To assume 1863 as the founding date of the Red Cross is highly debatable, considering that most national relief organisations were renamed ‘Red Cross Societies’ only in the 1880s. In this Japan is no exception, since first a Haku-Ai-Sha (Philanthropic Society) was founded in 1877 and then turned into the Japanese Red Cross Society in 1887. Japanese actors must be regarded as intrinsically motivated and active participants in the Red Cross movement who saw an ideal and a model in the Euro-American ‘way of civilisation’ and humanity. It has taken about 30 years to turn the Haku-Ai-Sha in Japan into a humanitarian society which is accepted both at home and abroad and, with its 728,507 members in 1900, which constituted the largest Red Cross Society in the world.