This open access book presents a new translation, interpretation and analysis of selected passages from the so-called Mohist Canon, a Chinese text from ca. 300 BCE, and discusses the role of the text in the world history of science, arguing that it represents an early emergence of theoretical, systematized knowledge that is independent from parallel developments in ancient Greece. It is aimed at historians of science, of knowledge and of philosophy, and generally at readers interested in these topics from an intercultural perspective and particularly with respect to China.
The English Galileo—the title of this book draws on the extraordinary prominence of Galileo Galilei in the historiography of the early modern Scienti?c Revolution. At the same time it questions the uniqueness of Galileo (not as a person, of course, but as an early modern phenomenon) by proclaiming another ?gure of his kind: Thomas H- riot. But putting Harriot on a pedestal next to Galileo is not a concern of this book, which is rather motivated by questions of the following kind: How did modern s- ence come about? What were the processes of knowledge and concept transformation that led from premodern to modern science, and, more speci?cally, from preclassical to classical mechanics? Which aspects of these developments rely on the peculiarities of particular historical actors and what aspects re?ect more general characteristics of the knowledge system at the time and its potentials for development? To answer such questions it is obviously necessary to complement the existing studies on Galileo’s science with studies on the work of his lesser-known contemporaries; and it is imp- tant that these studies are carried out in similar detail to make the different prota- nists’ work comparable. Without such comparison—this is the basic assumption of this book—our understanding of the shared knowledge of early modern thinking and the processes of knowledge transformation from which modern science emerged will remain incomplete and biased.
This monograph investigates the development of human spatial knowledge by analyzing its elementary structures and studying how it is further shaped by various societal conditions. By taking a thoroughly historical perspective on knowledge and integrating results from various disciplines, this work throws new light on long-standing problems in epistemology such as the relation between experience and preformed structures of cognition. What do the orientation of apes and the theory of relativity have to do with each other? Readers will learn how different forms of spatial thinking are related in a long-term history of knowledge. Scientific concepts of space such as Newton’s absolute space or Einstein’s curved spacetime are shown to be rooted in pre-scientific structures of knowledge, while at the same time enabling the integration of an ever expanding corpus of experiential knowledge. This work addresses all readers interested in questions of epistemology, in particular philosophers and historians of science. It integrates forms of spatial knowledge from disciplines including anthropology, developmental psychology and cognitive sciences, amongst others.
The English Galileo—the title of this book draws on the extraordinary prominence of Galileo Galilei in the historiography of the early modern Scienti?c Revolution. At the same time it questions the uniqueness of Galileo (not as a person, of course, but as an early modern phenomenon) by proclaiming another ?gure of his kind: Thomas H- riot. But putting Harriot on a pedestal next to Galileo is not a concern of this book, which is rather motivated by questions of the following kind: How did modern s- ence come about? What were the processes of knowledge and concept transformation that led from premodern to modern science, and, more speci?cally, from preclassical to classical mechanics? Which aspects of these developments rely on the peculiarities of particular historical actors and what aspects re?ect more general characteristics of the knowledge system at the time and its potentials for development? To answer such questions it is obviously necessary to complement the existing studies on Galileo’s science with studies on the work of his lesser-known contemporaries; and it is imp- tant that these studies are carried out in similar detail to make the different prota- nists’ work comparable. Without such comparison—this is the basic assumption of this book—our understanding of the shared knowledge of early modern thinking and the processes of knowledge transformation from which modern science emerged will remain incomplete and biased.
This monograph investigates the development of human spatial knowledge by analyzing its elementary structures and studying how it is further shaped by various societal conditions. By taking a thoroughly historical perspective on knowledge and integrating results from various disciplines, this work throws new light on long-standing problems in epistemology such as the relation between experience and preformed structures of cognition. What do the orientation of apes and the theory of relativity have to do with each other? Readers will learn how different forms of spatial thinking are related in a long-term history of knowledge. Scientific concepts of space such as Newton’s absolute space or Einstein’s curved spacetime are shown to be rooted in pre-scientific structures of knowledge, while at the same time enabling the integration of an ever expanding corpus of experiential knowledge. This work addresses all readers interested in questions of epistemology, in particular philosophers and historians of science. It integrates forms of spatial knowledge from disciplines including anthropology, developmental psychology and cognitive sciences, amongst others.
This open access book presents a new translation, interpretation and analysis of selected passages from the so-called Mohist Canon, a Chinese text from ca. 300 BCE, and discusses the role of the text in the world history of science, arguing that it represents an early emergence of theoretical, systematized knowledge that is independent from parallel developments in ancient Greece. It is aimed at historians of science, of knowledge and of philosophy, and generally at readers interested in these topics from an intercultural perspective and particularly with respect to China.
With the transfer of ever more tasks and competences to the European level the EU’s administration has become increasingly complex, with ‘agencification’ as the most visible sign of this differentiation. This book offers a much-needed analytical overview of the field, with the aim of improving our understanding of administration at the European level, and indeed of improving the administration itself.
By employing a combination of approaches from several disciplines the authors elucidate the principles of a variety of biomechanical systems that rely on frictional surfaces or adhesive secretions to attach parts of the body to one another or to attach organisms to a substrate. This account provides an excellent starting point for engineers and physicists working with biological systems and for biologists studying friction and adhesion. It will also serve as a valuable introduction for graduate students entering this interdisciplinary field of research.
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