Eddingtons Search for a Fundamental Theory: A Key to the Universe
Author: C. W. Kilmister File Type: pdf Many people today are unaware that back in the 1930s, Sir Arthur Eddington, the celebrated astrophysicist, made great strides toward his own theory of everything. In 1936 and 1946 Eddingtons last two books were published. These works are strangely tentative and obscure, unlike his earlier lucid and authoritative works. This volume examines how Eddington came to write these uncharacteristic books--in terms of the physics and history of the day--and what value they have to modern physics. The result is an illuminating description of the development of theoretical physics in the first half of the twentieth century from a unique point of view. It will provide fascinating reading for scholars in the philosophy of science, theoretical physics, applied mathematics and the history of science.Review...an interesting window on the turbulent onset of the `new physics during the first forty years of this century, David Kaiser, Isis...a valuable addition to the literature. Julian B. Barbour, The Times Higher Education Supplement...an illuminating description of the development of theoretical physics in the first half of the twentieth century from a unique point of view how it affected Eddingtons thought....will be of interest to anyone with a curiosity about physics and the development of theories of nature. Louis H. Kauffman, Mathematical Reviews Book DescriptionA reconciliation of theories of the very small and the very large scale is a key issue in physics. Many people are unaware that back in the thirties, Sir Arthur Eddington, the celebrated astrophysicist, made great strides towards his own theory of everything. In 1936 and 1946 Eddingtons last two books were published. Unlike his earlier lucid and authoritative works, these are strangely tentative and obscure. This volume examines how Eddington came to write these uncharacteristic books and what value they have to modern physics. The result is a unique, illuminating description of the development of theoretical physics in the first half of the twentieth century. This will provide fascinating reading for scholars in the philosophy of science, theoretical physics, applied mathematics and the history of science.
Author: Sarah Kofman
File Type: pdf
inferior pdf missing wordsMarx, Freud, Nietzschein vastly different ways all three employed the metaphor of the camera obscura in their work. In this classic bookat last available in an English translationthe distinguished French philosopher Sarah Kofman offers an extended reflection on this metaphor. She contrasts the mechanical function of the camera obscura as a kind of copy machine, rendering a mirror-image of the work, with its use in the writings of master thinkers. In her opening chapter on Marx, Kofman provides a reading of inversion as necessary to the ideological process. She then explores the metaphor of the camera obscura in Freuds description of the unconscious. For Nietzsche the camera obscura is a metaphor for forgetting. Kofman asks here whether the magical apparatus of the camera obscura, rather than bringing about clarity, serves some thinkers as fetish. Camera Obscura is a powerful discussion of a metaphor that dominates contemporary theory from philosophy to film. **
Author: Mark Jago
File Type: pdf
Mark Jago presents and defends a novel theory of what truth is, in terms of the metaphysical notion of truthmaking. This is the relation which holds between a truth and some entity in the world, in virtue of which that truth is true. By coming to an understanding of this relation, he argues, we gain better insight into the metaphysics of truth. The first part of the book discusses the property being true, and how we should understand it in terms of truthmaking. The second part focuses on truthmakers, the worldly entities which make various kinds of truths true, and how they do so. Jago argues for a metaphysics of states of affairs, which account for things having properties and standing in relations. The third part analyses the logic and metaphysics of the truthmaking relation itself, and links it to the metaphysical concept of grounding. The final part discusses consequences of the theory for language and logic. Jago shows how the theory delivers a novel and useful theory of propositions, the entities which are true or false, depending on how things are. A notable feature of this approach is that it avoids the Liar paradox and other puzzling paradoxes of truth.
Author: Brian P. Levack
File Type: pdf
This fascinating collection of documents illustrates the development of ideas about witchcraft from ancient times to the twentieth century. Many of the sources come from the period between 1400 and 1750, when more than 100,000 people mainly women were prosecuted for witchcraft in Europe and colonial America. Including trial records, demonological treatises and sermons, literary texts, narratives of demonic possession, and artistic depiction of witches, the documents reveal how contemporaries from various periods have perceived alleged witches and their activities. Brian P. Levack shows how notions of witchcraft have changed over time. He looks at the connection between gender and witchcraft and the nature of the witchs perceived power.This Sourcebook provides students of the history of witchcraft with a broad range of sources, many of which have been translated into English for the first time, with commentary and background by one of the leading scholars in the field.
Author: Eliot Weinberger
File Type: epub
Internationally acclaimed as one of the most innovative writers today, Eliot Weinberger has taken the essay into unexplored territories on the borders of poetry and narrative where the only rule, according to the author, is that all the information must be verifiable.With An Elemental Thing, Weinberger turns from his celebrated political chronicles to the timelessness of the subjects of his literary essays. With the wisdom of a literary archaeologist-astronomer-anthropologist-zookeeper, he leads us through histories, fables, and meditations about the ten thousand things in the universe the wind and the rhinoceros, Catholic saints and people named Chang, the Mandaeans on the Iran-Iraq border and the Kaluli in the mountains of New Guinea. Among the thirty-five essays included are a poetic biography of the prophet Muhammad, which was praised by theLondon Timesfor its great beauty and grace, and The Stars, a reverie on whats up there that has already been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, and Maori. **
Author: Mike Thomson
File Type: epub
The remarkable story of a small, makeshift library in the town of Daraya, and the people who found hope and humanity in its books during a four-year siege. Daraya lies on the fringe of Damascus, just southwest of the Syrian capital. Yet for four years it lived in another world. Besieged by government forces early in the Syrian Civil War, its people were deprived of food, bombarded by heavy artillery, and under the constant fire of snipers. But deep beneath this scene of frightening devastation lay a hidden library. While the streets above echoed with shelling and rifle fire, the secret world below was a haven of books. Long rows of well-thumbed volumes lined almost every wall bloated editions with grand leather covers, pocket-sized guides to Syrian poetry, and no-nonsense reference books, all arranged in well-ordered lines. But this precious horde was not bought from publishers or loaned by other libraries--they were the books salvaged and scavenged at great personal risk from the doomed city above. The story of this extraordinary place and the people who found purpose and refuge in it is one of hope, human resilience, and above all, the timeless, universal love of literature and the compassion and wisdom it fosters.ReviewMike Thomsons relationship with the people of Daraya as they were being systematically smashed to pieces has produced one of the most extraordinary stories to come out of the Syrian conflict. The assembly of a library under almost daily threat of death and destruction is appalling and, at the same time, hugely inspiring. A unique tribute to the power of books and the unquenchable human spirit. * Michael Palin, author and broadcaster* An inspiring read-humanity at its best, overcoming adversity at the height of war with the power of love for their secret library. * David Nott, author of War Doctor* Writing in a clear and thoughtful style, Thomson obviously cares for the people he is reporting about. This book marries geopolitical understanding of Syrias war with deeply emotional stories of humans dealing with a horrifying reality in extraordinary ways. * Booklist, starred*About the Author Mike Thomson is a reporter and presenter for radio and television news. He has reported for BBC News from most of the worlds most troubled and dangerous places. These have included Syria, Somalia, Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, Darfur, DR Congo, Libya, North Sinai and the Central African Republic. He also writes regularly for several leading British newspapers including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Independent. He lives in London.
Author: Nellie Hermann
File Type: epub
The lyrically told story of one of the worlds greatest artists finding his true calling br br br br Though Vincent van Gogh is one of the most popular painters of all time, we know very little about a ten-month period in the painters youth when he and his brother, Theo, broke off all contact. In The Season of Migration, Nellie Hermann conjures this period in a profoundly imaginative, original, and heartbreaking vision of Van Goghs early years, before he became the artist we know today. In December 1878, Vincent van Gogh arrives in the coal-mining village of Petit Wasmes in the Borinage region of Belgium, a blasted and hopeless landscape of hovels and slag heaps and mining machinery. Not yet the artist he is destined to become, Vincent arrives as an ersatz preacher, barely sanctioned by church authorities but ordained in his own mind and heart by a desperate and mistaken spiritual vocation. But what Vincent experiences in the Borinage will change him. Coming to preach a useless gospel he thought he knew and believed, he learns about love, suffering, and beauty, ultimately coming to see the world anew and finding the divine not in religion but in our fallen human world. In startlingly beautiful and powerful language, Hermann transforms our understanding of Van Gogh and the redemptive power of art.**
Author: Glenn Greenwald
File Type: mobi
Glenn Greenwalds No Place to Hide is the story of one of the greatest national security leaks in US history. In June 2013, reporter and political commentator Glenn Greenwald published a series of reports in the Guardian which rocked the world. The reports revealed shocking truths about the extent to which the National Security Agency had been gathering information about US citizens and intercepting communication worldwide, and were based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden to Greenwald. Including new revelations from documents entrusted to Greenwald by Snowden, this essential book tells the story of Snowden and the NSA and examines the far-reaching consequences of the governments surveillance program, both in the US and abroad. The first thing I do when I turn on the computer in the morning is go to Glenn Greenwalds blog. He is truly one of our greatest writers right now Michael Moore The most important voice to have entered the political discourse in years Bill Moyers Glenn Greenwald is the author of several US bestsellers, including How Would A Patriot Act?, and A Tragic Legacy. Acclaimed as one of the twenty-five most influential political commentators by The Atlantic, Greenwald is a former constitutional law and civil rights attorney. He has been a columnist for the Guardian since August 2012 and his work has appeared in numerous newspapers and political news magazines, including The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.