History of Thought

El tratado de la frase por Ibn al-Sîd al-Batalyawsî

by Salvador Peña

Published in 'Miscelánea de estudios árabes y hebraicos' 42-43, 1 (1993-94), pp. 203-217.

The analysis of the fragments concerning the theory and description of the sentence in the Andalusian Ibn al-Sîd's... more The analysis of the fragments concerning the theory and description of the sentence in the Andalusian Ibn al-Sîd's works provides us with an insight into the general treatrise of sentence developed by Muslim mediaeval scholars: its foundations, limits and results both in the fields of expression and content.

Servire l'Ideologia: Storiografia e Nazionalismo nella Romania di Ceausescu

by Francesco Zavatti

This article originally appeared on Modena History Institute's "Annale 2011", Edizioni Artestampa, Modena, 2011, pp. 44-51. Written in Italian (English version will come soon).

Kings and Tyrants: Leonardo Bruni's translation of Xenophon's Hiero

by Brian Maxson

published in "Renaissance Studies" April 2010

Leonardo Bruni published one of his most widely copied translations, Xenophon's pro-monarchical Hiero, shortly before... more Leonardo Bruni published one of his most widely copied translations, Xenophon's pro-monarchical Hiero, shortly before he penned his more famous original works, his Dialogues and Panegryic to the City of Florence.  Scholars have traditionally focused on the political ideas present in these original treatises; yet, despite the centrality of political ideas to the Hiero, its temporal proximity to these works, and its enormous popularity (the work exists in 200 fifteenth-century manuscripts), scholars have neglected to offer a full assessment of Bruni's translation in the context of these works.  Bruni's translation of Xenophon's Hiero fit into a debate in early fifteenth-century Florence about Julius Caesar and the Florentine poet Dante.  The two major thinkers in the debate, Bruni and Coluccio Salutati, agreed that a distinction had to be made between kings and tyrants based on legal claim and quality of rule.  The Hiero reinforced this assumption.  The two men disagreed, however, about which category applied to Julius Caesar and what this meant for the reputation of Dante.

The evils of monotheism

by George Clarke

Las miserias del monoteísmo

by George Clarke

Medicine, Mechanics, Magic in Ta'alumot Hokhma

by Tzvi Langermann

available also on MUSE

One of two papers I am uploading today which study issues of science and philosophy in a book by Moses Galeano, a... more One of two papers I am uploading today which study issues of science and philosophy in a book by Moses Galeano, a svant who worked in Istanbul around 1500; rich in information, much of it novel, about the sciences of the times.

David Hume

by Peter Fosl

In British Philosophers, 1500-1899, co-edited with Philip B. Dematteis, volume 252 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography (Detroit & London: Gale Research, Inc., 2002), 195-223

Entry on Hume in volume 252 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography Entry on Hume in volume 252 of the Dictionary of Literary Biography

Dialectics in Zapotec thinking

by Fadwa El Guindi

Galbraith's Synthesis: Understanding the U.S. Federal Environmental Ethic

by Gabriel Ertsgaard

Draft only. I wrote this paper for an environmental ethics class last August. The professor suggested that I expand it for publication, which I intend to do. However, I stretched myself to the limits of my competency with regard to economic matters, and so will have to improve my grasp of that area before I attempt to do more.

Two often conflicting ethics shape American federal environmental policy. These are the ethic of consumerism and the... more Two often conflicting ethics shape American federal environmental policy. These are the ethic of consumerism and the ethic of sustainability. Both exert normative, moral influence on human behavior. Thus to fully understand either one, we must examine both.

Humans and Houyhnhnms

by Gabriel Ertsgaard

Draft only. I may revise this for publication as either a journal article or a book chapter. My work tends to have the feel of a "well-researched essay," rather than a "research article." Does anyone (Meryl, Jason) have a suggestion regarding the proper venue for a scholar with my stylistic tendencies?

The Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels resemble horses who evolved intelligence. The Yahoos resemble pre-linguistic... more The Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels resemble horses who evolved intelligence. The Yahoos resemble pre-linguistic human ancestors. Evolutionary neuroscience has raised some of the same questions about the limits of human reason as Swift raised through his satire. By applying evolutionary thought to the tale of Gulliver’s last voyage we will come to a better understanding of what both Jonathan Swift and evolutionary science can teach us about what it means to be human.

Degeneracy at Multiple Levels of Complexity

by Paul Mason

"published in 'Biological Theory: Integrating Development, Evolution and Cognition', 2010, 5(3), 277-288."

Degeneracy is a poorly understood process, essential to natural selection. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the concept... more Degeneracy is a poorly understood process, essential to natural selection. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the concept of degeneracy was commandeered by the colonial imagination. A rigid understanding of species, race, and culture grew to dominate the normative thinking that persisted well into the burgeoning new industrial age. A 20th-century reconfiguration of the concept by George Gamow highlighted a form of intraorganismic variation that is still underexplored. Degeneracy exists in a population of variants where structurally different components perform a similar, but not necessarily identical, function with respect to context. The presence of degeneracy increases a system's complexity and robustness against perturbations. The loss of a genetic component in biological systems, for example, can be compensated by redundant elements (the presence of isomorphic and isofunctional components), or by degenerate elements (heteromorphic variants that are isofunctional). A historical survey of the use of the term “degeneracy” reveals how and why the processes it once designated, and the mechanisms it now represents, have largely escaped the purview of contemporary science. Despite confusion and general oversight, degeneracy has been characterized by select researchers at the molecular, genetic, and neuronal levels. The concept is a potent analytical tool to understand selection, variation, and transmission.