How does the book-object in early modernity participate in the representation of scientific knowledge? How was the reader meant to approach the book and to comprehend its contents? This project starts from the contention that scientific knowledge is not a product simply to be deposited into unmarked containers and transmitted unproblematically. On the contrary, the book, whether literary or scientific, actively shapes and invents objects of scientific knowledge. Sensory, affective and cognitive ways in which the reader is expected to approach the book and its contents are implicit in its formatting of text and image, not to mention margins, presentational material and indices. This project draws from literary and natural scientific traditions of the French and Italian Renaissance in order to study how the early-modern book forms and performs scientific knowledge in various ways. Compelling the reader to interrupt his or her reading and to explore the book’s text and images as if they were objects in their own right, the book-object strives to imitate the experience and method of scientific discovery for the early-modern reader. To this end, touch, appetition, and bodily awareness become as important as sight and critical reasoning in a procedural approach and apprehension of knowledge in and of the book-object. An “aesthetics of discovery”, formed by the book and performed by the reader, is implicit in the book’s careful articulations of text and image. / Romance Languages and Literatures

The dissertation explores the centrality of the Platonic Solids, and polyhedral geometry generally, to the artistic and mixed-mathematical cultures of Renaissance Germany. Beginning with Albrecht Dürer’s groundbreaking treatise on geometry, the Underweyung der Messung (1525), the dissertation redefines sites of early modern experimentation to include the graphical spaces in which new geometrical knowledge was practiced, invented, contested, manipulated, discarded, and presented. The research describes the historical contexts and development of the practice of polyhedral geometry over the course of the 16th century, expanding from Dürer to the lesser-known textbooks for practical geometry that his work inspired in Germany, and continuing with epitomes of the polyhedral genre, namely Wenzel Jamnitzer’s Perspectiva corporum regularium (1568) and the drawings of the Augsburg artisan Lorentz Stöer. The dissertation then follows the migration of polyhedra into intarsia and turned-ivory artifacts used for teaching applied geometry to European aristocracy, and concludes by addressing the polyhedral cosmology of the astronomer Johannes Kepler. By tracing the lifespan of polyhedra from their use as perspectival tools and pedagogical devices in Renaissance workshops into courtly Kunstkammern and onto the precious surfaces of domestic objects, the dissertation uncovers the influence that the decorative arts had on the conceptualization of geometrical knowledge and its new engagement with materials and concepts of materiality. / History of Science

The scientific discoveries and inventions of the early seventeenth century, which include Johannes Kepler’s inverted retinal image, the refinement of lenses, and the invention of the telescope, transformed the status of vision in the acquisition of knowledge, thus modifying the nature of what is known and even challenging how things are known. Rather than focus on philosophical oppositions between seeing and looking, or on artistic practices such as linear perspective or anamorphosis in literature’s engagement with vision, this study privileges instead a dialogue with early modern optics. Deriving a theoretical framework from the scientific debates about vision and its instruments, which brings attention to the historically charged concepts of mediated perception, the visible and the invisible, and natural and mechanical sight, I examine how French and Italian authors in the early seventeenth century engaged with ocular and optical motifs to question the sense of sight and its authority. My corpus describes vision as indispensable to the observation and knowledge of the world, although the texts also expose the vulnerability of the sense of sight to error because of natural limitations or an inability to recognize the true form behind deceitful appearances. As such, they elucidate a crisis of knowledge and representation that characterizes the earlier decades of the seventeenth century. Based on the dynamics between the eye and visual aids as they appear in the scientific community, I identify two distinct visual modes in the literary texts, which correspond to the natural eye and the instrumentalized one, assisted and enhanced by a lens. The authors considered here, which include Béroalde de Verville, Traiano Boccalini, Agrippa d’Aubigné, and the writers involved in the polemics around Giambattista Marino’s L’Adone and Pierre Corneille’s Le Cid, present the two visual modes as existing in tension, which I define as “baroque vision.” The analyses of the literary texts demonstrate how the integration of lenses, be it through explicit references to optical devices or through more abstract portrayals that parallel the operations of the eye and the instrument, becomes emblematic of other concerns, from debates regarding discontent about dissimulation to discussions of poetic practice. / Romance Languages and Literatures

The eclipse calculations in Tibet feature religious implications. One religious issue is Buddhist chronology (bstan rtsis). With Kālacakra calculational bases, Tibetan Kālacakra astronomers have tried to synchronize with the Buddhist texts, stating that the Buddha’s enlightenment occurred during a lunar eclipse of the full moon. The concept is called “backward calculation” (yar log gi rtsis). Another religious issue is the rite of poṣadha (gso sbyong). At some point in Tibet, the idea of ūnarātra (zhag mi thub) in the Abhidharma literature was used to argue the accuracy of the weekday (gza’) value of the skar rtsis for the performance of gso sbyong. However, the decision of the accurate day for the gso sbyong during the 18th century Amdo became an issue. At stake was the conjunction with the occurrence of the solar eclipses, whose dates occasionally matched up with the Qing Chinese calendar, not with the skar rtsis calendar. Upon these cases, one of the possible solutions was to perform gso sbyong in conformity with region (yul bstun gso sbyong) according to the Chinese date. Under the situation that an eclipse is closely tied to the religious chronology and practice, Tibetan astronomers made great efforts to produce the eclipse calculation results which were in accordance with direct experience (mngon sum). However, they have been confronted with the incongruity between their calculations and the real phenomena of an eclipse. Inevitably, the non-Kālacakra methods and knowledge, including observation, empirical data, debates, criticism, research into other traditions, etc. have been incorporated into the skar rtsis system based upon the Kālacakra. Technically, adding a correction (nur ster), the correction of residual (rtsis ’phro), the correction of a Great Conjunction at the zero point (stong chen ’das lo), etc., within the conceptual and methodological framework of the Kālacakra, have been used to tally calculations with the real phenomena of an eclipse. Also, the non-Kālacakra Chinese Lixiang kaocheng system (later known as Mā yang rgya rtsis), which was based upon modern geometric and trigonometric knowledge, was used. / Inner Asian and Altaic Studies

<p> Explores the foundations of political community as understood in two complementary ways: first, in contemporary normative political and social theory. Second, in the history of politics and in the history of philosophy. Particular attention is given to David Hume, Adam Smith, and Edmund Burke, as well as their relationship to contemporary political philosophers like Bernard Williams, John Rawls, Jeremy Waldron, Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Mills. Using Wittgenstein&rsquo;s concept of a form of life <i>(lebensform) </i> in the <i>Philosophical Investigations,</i> argues that there is a family within the history of political thought whose members share the understanding that a shared form of life, which develops organically and historically, is a necessary condition for a free society to work well. Examines how political and social obligation, trust and commerce, as well as sympathy and concepts of rights, all require interdependence and shared assumptions and expectations. This family balances the impulses of political realism and political idealism, though is somewhat more anti-idealist than pro-realist. Bottom-up thinking that doesn&rsquo;t fall in to the trap of idealism or of rationalism, due to a commitment to epistemological limits and the recognition of our finite capacities. In particular, I am interested in how we can combine the seemingly competing forces of culture and tradition (ways we have been doing things, one might say) with the necessary desire for change, reform, and progress. My approach to these questions can help shape the way we think about the size of states, if and when foreign intervention makes sense, the pace of change, and the necessary variety of political and social orders suited to a varying world.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

This account of Canada's early research and telecommunications satellite programs provides insight into the evolution of Canada's advanced technology capacity, viewed by most as essential to a country's well-being. It synthesizes developments in several fields including federal government science and industrial policies, and Canada-U.S. relations. It also reveals the unintended impacts of nationalism. Through source materials including Royal Commission reports, position papers, and internal memoranda, this study attempts to recreate the policy consciousness that pervaded the federal government from the late 1950's into the early 1970's to expose and understand the motivations that led Canada to enter the space age and to become the first country in the world to have its own domestic telecommunications satellite. Like consciousness itself, the development of Canada's early satellite program was based on the blending of experience and perception. The success of the first Alouette led to the extended International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies (ISIS) research satellite program, while prevailing perceptions about the need to bolster Canada's science and technology base as well as concerns about American cultural and economic dominance guided policy makers to invest in a domestic telecommunications satellite in the late 1960's. The consciousness that affected Canadian policy and opinion makers oscillated between a defensive and an expansionary nationalism. Despite nearly a century of nationhood, the Canadian mentality of the 1960's unfairly compared itself with the leading Anglo metropoles of Great Britain and the United States, which resulted in a self-defeating inferiority complex and anti-colonial outlook. At the same time, Canada, in keeping with the rest of Western culture, was affected by an imperial drive that impelled politicians and government officials to seek ways to ensure that the country expanded and developed. In the early part of the decade, this drive began to focus on science and technology as the keys to prosperity. Canadian policy makers quickly adopted this stance, but their prescriptions were based on misleading analyses that the country's research and development (R&D) greatly lagged behind other industrial nations. Social critics and government insiders leapt to the mistaken conclusion that the blame for this perceived underdevelopment lay with the pattern of American foreign ownership in the Canadian economy. Policy and opinion leaders' ready acceptance of the "branch plant" explanation regarding what they believed were weaknesses in Canada's R&D base, despite credible evidence to the contrary, indicated their tendency to place perception ahead of analysis to the detriment of sound decision making and planning. Thus, the paradox of economic nationalism was that it weakened Canadian initiative rather than strengthened it, as was the purported intent.

Pro-gradu -tutkimukseni selvittää millä tavalla Yhdysvaltojen yhteiskunnalliset muutokset 1980–1990-luvuilla heijastuvat stand up -komiikkaan ja minkälaista kritiikkiä näitä muutoksia kohtaan esitettiin. Olen pääasiallisesti rajannut kritiikin kohteet koskettamaan merkittävimpiä historiallisia tapahtumia, poliittista ja kulttuurillista muutosta, sekä sitä millaisena Amerikka ja amerikkalaisuus on nähty näinä vuosikymmeninä. Rajasin tutkimukseni Bill Hicksiin ja George Carliniin, koska he edustavat aikakauden kriittisimpiä ääniä stand upin saralla, sekä ovat tunnustettuja koomikoita, jotka ovat vaikuttaneet paljon alan kehitykseen. Päälähteenä tutkimuksessani ovat Hicksin ja Carlinin videolle tallennetut esiintymiset, jotka on julkaistu myös dvd:llä. George Carlinin osalta Yktallenteet ovat osa HBO specials -sarjaa: Carlin at Carnegie (1982), Carlin on Campus (1984), Playin’ with Tour Head (1986), What Am I Doing in New Jersey (1988), Doin’ It Again (1990), Jammin’ in New York (1992) Back in Town (1996), ja You Are All Diseased (1999). Bill Hicksin osalta lähteenä olen käyttänyt seuraavia videotallenteita: Sane Man (1989), One Night Stand (1991), Relentless (1992) ja Revelations (1993). Tutkittavan aikakauden yhteiskunnalliset ja henkisen ilmapiirin muutokset Yhdysvalloissa, eivät jääneet huomaamatta historiaa tuntevilta ja omaa aikaansa seuraavilta koomikoilta. Sekä Hicksin että Carlinin kritiikissä on havaittavissa klassisen liberalismin kaiut, sekä huoli siitä mihin suuntaan Yhdysvallat on kansakuntana ajautumassa. Massamedian, markkinavoimien ja poliittisten päättäjien kolmikanta ei kuitenkaan ole viime kädessä syytettynä kaikesta pahasta, minkä tutkittavat koomikot näkevät maataan vaivaavan, vaan he asettavat syytettyjen penkille lopputuomiolle amerikkalaisen yksilön, joka heidän mielestään on antanut itsensä edellä mainittujen voimien vietäväksi. Perimmäisenä amerikkalaisena arvona nähdään siis edelleen yksilön vapaus ja sen tuoma vastuu. Osansa saavat myös media, markkinavoimat ja niiden talutusnuoraan koomikoiden mielestä valjastettu poliittinen päätöksenteko, uskonnollisen oikeiston nousu sekä ylikaupallistunut viihdeteollisuus. Molempien koomikoiden näkemysten mukaan kansalaisten kyky itsenäiseen kriittiseen ajatteluun on tietoisesti turrutettu ja heistä on tehty kuluttajia, joiden päätehtävänä on entisestään tukea kapean taloudellisen eliitin asemaa. Laajempi aatehistoriallinen tutkimus Yhdysvaltojen yhteiskunnallisista muutoksista viime vuosituhannen lopulla on ehdottoman tarpeellinen, jo pelkästään siitä syystä että suomenkielinen tutkimus tällä allalla koskien kyseistä maata on valitettavan vähäistä.

Tutkielman aiheena on suomalaisen oikeusfilosofi Aulis Aarnion oikeusteoreettinen kokonaisnäkemys. Tutkimuksen kohteena on Aarnion oikeuskäsitys aate- ja oppihistoriallisesti tulkittuna historiallisessa kontekstissa. Aineistona on käytetty Aarnion kirjallista tuotantoa ja pääasiassa muuta tutkimuskirjallisuutta. Myös oikeustapauksia ja virallisjulkaisuja on käytetty elävöittämään ilmaisua. Tarkoituksena on ollut systematisoida historialliseen kontekstiin Aarnion käsitys oikeustieteen tutkimuskohteesta ja sen tutkimisen tavasta ja samalla valaista tämän ajattelun yhteyksiä yhteiskuntaan ja historiallisiin ajatustraditioihin sekä poliittisiin olosuhteisiin. Tutkimusmenetelmä on hermeneuttinen. Tutkimuksessa on eläydytty Aarnion ajatteluun, toisaalta on analyysin ja erittelyn keinoin haettu yhteyksiä, pitkiäkin linjoja sekä pelkästään tietylle ajanjaksolle ominaisia piirteitä. Tärkeimmät lähdeteokset ovat Perillisen oikeusasemasta (1967), Mitä lainoppi on? (1978) ja Laintulkinnan teoria — Yleisen oikeustieteen oppikirja (1989). Keskeinen tutkimustulos on, että Aarnio kehitti teoriansa vastauksena lainopin kriisiin. Lainoppi oli menettämässä tieteen aseman ja tähän Aarnio ei voinut tyytyä. Yhteiskunnan kehitys vaati uutta oikeuden teoreettista jäsennystä. Entinen teoria ei ollut enää käyttökelpoinen. Erityisesti luunkova legalistinen perinne oli yhteiskuntakehityksen jarruna. Oli edettävä kohti arvot perustellusti huomioivaa argumentaatiota. Tutkimuksessa on selvitetty, että Aarnion ajattelun kaikki seuraukset eivät olleet teoreetikon ennakoitavissa. Siten osa taustaoletuksista on kulkeutunut eri ajattelijoiden fragmenttien yhteisvaikutuksena Suomeen. Erityisesti yhdysvaltalaiseen oikeusteoreettiseen keskusteluun osallistuminen on samalla kuljettanut osin vieraita elementtejä suomalaiseen oikeuskulttuuriin. Aulis Aarnion ajattelun perusperiaatteiden muodostumisen vaiheet kertovat koko suomalaisen yhteiskunnan ja oikeuskulttuurin muodostumisesta. Aarnion merkitys suomalaisen oikeuskulttuurin, lakimiesten mentaliteetin ja itseymmärryksen rakentamisessa on suuri. Historiallinen näkökulma korostaa tätä puolta ja auttaa ymmärtämään tämän käsityksen ja oikeusajattelun muutoksen historiaa. Tutkimusta on syytä jatkaa Aarnion yksityisen materiaaliin tutustumalla, kun se tulee mahdollisesti saataville tieteellistä tutkimusta varten.

Kandidaatintutkielmassani tarkastelen, miten karhuaiheisia metsästyskertomuksia Suomen Urheilulehteen vuosina 1898–1905 kirjoittaneet henkilöt suhtautuivat karhuun.