Sometime in 1355 the Northumbrian knight Sir Thomas Gray, meditating an ambition to write a history of England during his imprisonment by the Scots in Edinburgh, dreamed a dream. In it a Sibyl appears, to tutor him in his historical project. She takes him to a ladder leaning against a high wall in an orchard. As he climbs each of four rungs, he sees, through an opening in the wall, Walter, archdeacon of Exeter; Bede; the author of the Polychronicon ; (...) and the vicar of Tynemouth, author of the Historia aurea. The Sibyl explains that these writers cover the respective stages of insular history. The fifth and last rung concerns the future and is not for Sir Thomas to climb—the Sibyl quotes two prophecies, one by Merlin, and observes that deciphering them should be left to the divines. When the Sibyl instructs Gray to call his work Scalacronica— referring thus not only to the scaling ladder he is standing on but to his family arms—she makes his task clear: his history is to traverse the periods represented by the four figures and others, in a compilatory work. (shrink)

Francis Ingledew's impressive recent article in this journal argues the following: that the Trojan historiography produced by secular clerics for Norman lords and English kings is characterized by the defining features of the Virgilian philosophy of history . Even if the “Book of Troy” is “irreducible … to any single work,” Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae may be taken to be exemplary of it, since Geoffrey's “book is the effective mastertext of the new rendering of the historical (...) field.” In this article I set aside my agreement with the broad thrust of Ingledew's argument; instead I want to qualify it in two ways. In the first place, I question whether the template of the Aeneid can be used quite so straightforwardly for Galfridian material. More importantly, I question the notion of one “Troy Book.” There is another version of the “Troy Book,” that of Guido delle Colonne's Historia destructionis Troiae, translations of which constitute a significant body of English vernacular writing in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This tradition is resolutely anti-imperialistic in every way. Even if works in this tradition were written for aristocratic readers, they were pitched from a clerical position that stood opposed to imperial enterprise. I make each of these points by looking back to English narratives in the Guido tradition from the vantage point of Gavin Douglas's early-sixteenth-century translation of the Aeneid, his Eneados. (shrink)

This paper examines the role of managerial self-interest in the merger market. It looks at factors influencing managers'' merger decisions by analyzing managerial expense preference factors on cross-sectional data employing non-parametric statistical methods. The same factors are examined for acquiring, acquired, and merging firms, and control groups used in each case. The results support the authors'' contention that managerial discretion is a significant motivating factor for mergers. The changes in expense preference factors indicate management decisions which provide conditions allowing management (...) to indulge in management preferred expenditures, while reducing risk to their career. The authors then provide a moral/philosophic framework of ethical analysis for examining manager''s merger decisions, using teleological and deontological theories. They conclude that merger decisions motivated or influenced by self-interest are unethical and, in the process, provide managers facing a merger decision with a framework for making an ethical decision. (shrink)

This richly annotated second edition of the now-classic pairing of Bacon’s masterpieces, New Atlantis and The Great Instauration features the addition of other works by Bacon, including “The Idols of the Mind,” Of Unity in Religion” and “Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates,” as well a Summary of the each work and Questions for the reader. S Includes works new to the second edition, including “The Idols of the Mind,” “Of Unity in Religion,” and “Of the True Greatness (...) of Kingdoms and Estates” Updates the layout of the previous edition with a more generous interior design, making this work more student-friendly and easier to navigate in the classroom Each work is introduced and subsequently discussed, revealing the importance of Bacon’s work to his contemporaries as well as to modern readers Includes a comprehensive introduction and annotations throughout the text; as well as an appendix of Principal Dates in the Life of Sir Francis Bacon; a selected bibliography; and synopses and questions to accompany each work. (shrink)

This volume belongs to the first new critical edition of the works of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to have been produced since the nineteenth century. The edition presents the works in broadly chronological order and according to the best principles of modern textual scholarship. The seven works in the present volume belong to the final completed stages (Parts III-V) of Bacon's hugely ambitious six-part sequence of philosophical works, collectively entitled Instauratio magna (1620-6). All are presented in the original Latin with (...) new facing-page translations. Three of the seven texts (substantial works in two cases, and all sharing a startlingly improbable textual history) are published and translated here for the first time: these are an early version of the Historia densi, the 'lost' Abecedarium, and the Historia de animato & inanimato. Another--the Prodromi sive anticipationes philosphiae secundae--has likewise never been translated before. Together with their commentaries and the introduction they open the way to important new understandings of Bacon's mature philosophical thought. (shrink)

In 1583, Edward Kelley claimed to have made a number of archaeological discoveries on Northwick Hill in Worcestershire, including a forged document, the “Northwick scroll”, purportedly giving the location of treasure hidden by the Danes. The scroll was subsequently deciphered by Kelley’s employer, John Dee. Kelley’s hoax, which had to fool one of the country’s most learned men, was carefully constructed and drew on recent antiquarian work. However, Kelley also relied on older traditions of magical treasure hunting, thereby combining two (...) apparently antithetical approaches to the past. The article uses the example of Kelley’s hoax to argue that hoaxes served a useful and illuminating function in the early development of archaeology by testing the boundaries of plausibility. Furthermore, Kelley’s synthesis of learned antiquarianism and treasure hunting challenges the view that Elizabethan antiquaries were unwilling to excavate. Kelley’s methodologies in constructing the hoax echoed those of William Camden and others by linking excavated objects with chronicles and landscape features to create an integrated account of an imagined past. However, the hoax’s success also rested on Dee’s willingness to become a treasure hunter, demonstrating that elite learned antiquarian endeavours were not always distant from the aims of traditional “hill diggers”. (shrink)

The essence of temporal universe creation is that any analytical solution has to comply with the boundary condition of our universe; dimensionality and causality constraints. The essence of this book is to show that everything has a price within our temporal (t > 0) universe; energy and time.

: Standard ethical frameworks struggle to deal with transhumanism, ecological issues and the rising technodiversity because they are focused on guiding and evaluating human behavior. Ethics needs its Copernican revolution to be able to deal with all moral agents, including not only humans, but also artificial intelligent agents, robots or organizations of all sizes. We argue that embracing the complexity worldview is the first step towards this revolution, and that standard ethical frameworks are still entrenched in the Newtonian worldview. We (...) first spell out the foundational assumptions of the Newtonian worldview, where all change is reduced to material particles following predetermined trajectories governed by the laws of nature. However, modern physical theories such as relativity, quantum mechanics, chaos theory and thermodynamics have drawn a much more confusing and uncertain picture, and inspired indecisive, subjectivist, relativist, nihilist or postmodern worldviews. Based on cybernetics, systems theory and the new sciences of complexity, we introduce the complexity worldview that sees the world as interactions and their emergent organizations. We use this complexity worldview to show the limitations of standard ethical frameworks such as deontology, theology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, evolutionary ethics and pragmatism. Keywords: Complexity, philosophy, ethics, cybernetics, transhumanism, universal ethics, systems ethics. (shrink)

Bigotry distractions are strategic invocations of racism, transphobia, or negative stigma toward other marginalized groups to shape political discourse. Although the vast majority of Americans agree on large policy issues ranging from reducing air pollution to prosecuting corporate crime, bigotry distractions divert attention from areas of agreement toward divisive identity issues. This article explores how the nefarious targeting of identity groups through bigotry distractions may be the tallest barrier to health reform, and social change more broadly. The discussion extends the (...) literature on dog whistles, strategic racism, and scapegoating. (shrink)

Transparency and openness are broadly endorsed in energy and environmental modelling and analysis, but too little attention is given to the transparency of value-laden assumptions. Current practices for transparency focus on making model source code and data available, documenting key equations and parameter values, and ensuring replicability of results. We argue that, even when followed, these guidelines are insufficient for achieving deep transparency, in the sense that results often remain driven by implicit value-laden assumptions that are opaque to other modellers (...) and researchers, and that may not be understood by wider audiences to be controversial. This paper identifies additional best practices for achieving transparency by highlighting issues where disagreement over value judgements will persist for the foreseeable future. Recommendations for deepening transparency are developed by learning from successes and ongoing challenges represented in three case studies. We provide recommendations to accelerate the adoption of additional best practices for deepening transparency of energy and environmental modelling in policy-relevant domains, increasing stakeholder participation with non-modellers, and encouraging interdisciplinary dialogue. (shrink)

Collins, John Francis In October this year there are to be two events at the Vatican. Beginning on 7 October and going through to 28 October bishops from all over the world are to gather at a Synod on 'New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith.' On 11 October, midway through the Synod, the whole Church will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The bishops who are to gather this year at (...) the Synod follow in the footsteps of the more than 2000 Bishops who gathered at the Second Vatican Council. John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council, with the following words 'Looked at one way there is the deposit of faith or the truths which are contained in our doctrine which we venerate, looked at another way there is the way by which the same (the deposit of faith) is enunciated both in its meaning and its spirit.' In a recent interview for Salt and Light Television the inaugural head of the Pontifical Council for the promotion of the New Evangelisation Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella noted that what Vatican II did for the Church is still present in our community. Later in the interview the Archbishop stated that the 'New Evangelisation is not a new work, it is a new mentality; a new language, a new enthusiasm for announcing the gospel.' There is continuity between both the spirit and letter of the Archbishop's words recorded in 2012 and the words of John XXIII in opening Vatican II. That is, as a Church, what we are seeking is new ways to announce the meaning and spirit of the deposit of faith, the truths contained in doctrine. What would later be called the new evangelisation permeated Vatican II. (shrink)

Collins, John Francis; Carroll, Sandra The publication of the 'Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons and Guidelines for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons' by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, in August 2016, has renewed focus on the role of permanent deacon. This article uses a heuristic structure to discuss the role of the permanent deacon in the Catholic Church in Australia. It then provides a historical perspective and background on the worker priest movement from the mid-twentieth (...) century to explore the possibility of its application to the contemporary role of permanent deacon. (shrink)

In dieser Schrift begründet Dante die Priorität der Volks- und Muttersprache vor der lateinischen Gelehrtensprache und fordert eine italienische Hochsprache. Er untermauert seine Ausführungen durch eine anthropologische Erörterung der menschlichen Sprachfähigkeit. Dank einer originellen Interpretation des biblischen Mythos vom Turmbau von Babel legt er eine vernünftig begründete Neubewertung der Vielfalt und der historischen Entwicklung der Sprachen vor. Das Problem der Sprache stellt sich im Denken Dantes in zweifacher Weise: als Problem der Sprache der Philosophie und unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Philosophie (...) der Sprache. In "De vulgari eloquentia" bietet Dante ein ganzes Arsenal metaphysischer Paradigmen auf, um der sprachlichen Verständigung der Menschen eine unvordenkliche Dignität zu geben. Er stellt die gesamte Philosophie in den Dienst des Menschen als sprechendes Wesen. Auch wenn Dante die Doppelbestimmung der Sprache als sinnliches Zeichen, das den Gedanken des einen Menschen einem andern zu vermitteln fähig ist, von der Tradition übernimmt, setzt er andere Akzente. Die Sprache der Menschen ist nicht nur eine im Vergleich zur Transparenz der reinen Geister unvollkommenere Form der Kommunikation, sondern sie wird positiv als die dem Menschen gänzlich angemessene und entsprechende Form der Kommunikation interpretiert: Das Sprechen ist der "herausragende Akt des menschlichen Geschlechts". Mit dem Erscheinen von "De vulgari eloquentia" liegt die vierbändige Ausgabe der Philosophischen Werke Dante Alighieris vollständig vor. Bislang erschienen Bd. 1: Das Schreiben an Cangrande (PhB 463) Bd. 2: Disputation über das Wasser und die Erde (PhB 464) Bd. 4: Das Gastmahl I-IV (PhB 466a-d). (shrink)

The book takes well-established, scientific evidence on consciousness to interrogate, and re envisions questions of personal reincarnation and thus of the mind/body problem. Methodologically, the basis of the book is rooted in the careful argumentation and logical appraisal of classical materialism and the history of the mind-body problem.

_The Empirical Science of Religious Education_ draws together a collection of innovative articles in the field of religious education which passed the editorial scrutiny of Professor Robert Jackson over the course of his impactful fourteen year career as editor of the British Journal of Religious Education. These articles have made an enormous contribution to the international literature establishing of the empirical science of religious education as a research field. The volume draws together, organises and illustrates the contours of this emerging (...) field and is an essential compendium which covers work in: teacher education and teacher experience; student understanding, attitudes and values; varieties of religious schooling, and; worldview and life interpretation Organised into ten thematic sections the contributors cover the field comprehensively and bring with them an international and reflexive approach to their research. It is an essential resource for those practitioners and researchers who wish to access original and innovative research undertaken by way of ethnographic fieldwork, practitioner research, life-history approaches to research, psychological scales and measures, and large surveys. Particularly interested readers will be studying PGCE and masters level programmes in religious education, as well as qualified religious educators undertaking continuing professional development. (shrink)

Agnostics as well as theists should answer evidential arguments from evil, at least when confronted with them. In this paper, I answer such an argument by appealing to sceptical agnosticism. A sceptical agnostic is not only undecided about the existence of a perfectly good and omnipotent God, but also believes that we cannot make any judgement about whether or not seemingly gratuitous evil probably is gratuitous. I argue that such agnosticism has several advantages compared with sceptical theism.

THE LIFE Of FRANCIS BACON, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. THE ancient Egyptians had a law, which ordained that the actions and characters of their dead ...

Francis Fukuyama is one of the most significant political theorists of the past thirty years. Bursting into public awareness in 1989 with his provocative thesis about "the end of history," Fukuyama has made fascinating contributions to a wide range of subjects - the importance of trust in societies, the potential dangers of biotechnology, the development of political authority and the modern state, and most recently, the role of identity in politics. This book records a series of conversations with Fukuyama (...) in which he discusses his background and its role in shaping his thinking, the context and genesis of his major works, and his thoughts in light of the dramatic developments of the past decade, especially the rise of populism around the world. The result is a fascinating picture of a major intellectual. The book both provides an overview of Fukuyama's thought and reveals new insights into his best-known work. This book also allows readers to trace the themes which have animated Fukuyama's entire intellectual career. (shrink)

Excerpt from The Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, and Lord High-Chancellor of England, Vol. 3 of 3: Methodized, and Made English, From the Originals; With Occasional Notes, to Explain What Is Obscure; And Shew How Far the Several Plans of the Author, for the Advancement of All the Parts of Knowledge, Have Been Executed to the Present Time Ibe Nores occafionally added, we bope, will more fully open tbe De fign and Scope of (...) tbe P: ece', jo as to render it generally intelligible, and lead to its fart/oer Advancement. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

THE SENSE OF BEAUTY: A FIRST APPROXIMATION It is generally acknowledged that during the first half of the eighteenth century a profound change was wrought in the theory of art and natural beauty. To this period we owe the establishment of the modem system of the arts. 1 In England, the notion of a separate and autonomous disci pline devoted solely to art and to beauty came into being through the concept of "aesthetic disinterestedness. " 2 In addition, emphasis in (...) the theory of art shifted from object to subject - from the work of art to the perceiver and critic. Focal point for this change was the sense of beauty which, in concert with the moral sense of the British school, represented a dominant force in Enlightenment value theory. It is Francis Hutcheson who, more than anyone else, can be thought of as the founder and principal spokesman of this philosophical coterie. If the aesthetic sense was instrumental in the transfer of interest, in the philosophy of art, from object to perceiver, the aesthetic and moral senses together were no less important in a parallel transference of value judgment from the rational to the sensate. (shrink)

Catholics and Evangelical Protestants often find themselves on the same side on a variety of issues in bioethics. However, some Evangelicals have expressed reluctance to embrace the natural law reasoning used by Catholics in academic and policy debates. In this article, I argue that the primary concerns raised by Evangelicals about natural law reasoning are, ironically, concerns expressed by and intrinsic to the natural law tradition itself. To show this, I address two types of Protestant critics: the Frustrated Fellow Traveler (...) and the Solo Scripturist. (shrink)