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The arena of everyday life
by Carja Butijn Gerda Casimir Johan Van OphemIn 'The arena of everyday life' nine authors look back and forward at developments in the sociology of consumers and households. Nine chapters show variety in the employed methods, from multivariate analyses of survey data to classical essays. The contributions are organised around four themes. In the first theme, two chapters entail a critical discussion of the concepts livelihood and household. The second part deals with health, in particular food security, hygiene and aids/HIV. The third theme focuses on female opportunities to foster income procurement of household by respectively microfinance and entrepreneurship. The fourth theme concentrates on two topical societal developments in a Western society, the first chapter dealing with the issue of creating opportunities for tailor-made services to older people, the second one focussing on the home-work balance of telecommuters. This publication, written by international researchers, once supervised by prof. Anke Niehof, while writing their PhD dissertation, or (former) colleagues of Niehof, covers the many issues and reflecting her work and interest. The arena of everyday life is what her research and teaching evolved around, as shown in this book.
Arena of Monsters (Escape from Planet Alcatraz)
by Michael DahlZak Nine has been captured and placed in Planet Alcatraz's "Monster Zoo." But this isn't any ordinary zoo. This zoo holds dozens of alien "monsters" who are forced to fight for the entertainment of the prison planet's owners. Zak's friend, Erro, is determined to break into the zoo to rescue the human boy. Erro will need to rely on his Quom survival skills to succeed. Will he be able to find Zak, avoid the zoo's Overseers, and find a way out?
Arene Chemistry
by Jacques MortierOrganized to enable students and synthetic chemists to understand and expand on aromatic reactions covered in foundation courses, the book offers a thorough and accessible mechanistic explanation of aromatic reactions involving arene compounds. * Surveys methods used for preparing arene compounds and their transformations * Connects reactivity and methodology with mechanism * Helps readers apply aromatic reactions in a practical context by designing syntheses * Provides essential information about techniques used to determine reaction mechanisms
Argonaute Proteins: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology #725)
by Tom C. Hobman Thomas F. DuchaineWith the rapid proliferation of RNAi applications in basic and clinical sciences, the challenge has now become understanding how components of RNAi machinery function together in a regulated manner. Argonaute proteins are the central effectors of RNAi and are highly conserved among eukaryotes and some archaebacteria. These RNA-binding proteins use small guide RNAs to silence expression of genes at the mRNA and DNA levels. In Argonaute Proteins: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in this burgeoning field provide detailed, up-to-date methods to study Argonaute protein functions and interactions in a wide variety of cell types ranging from yeast to mammalian systems, as well as in vitro. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular BiologyTM series format, chapters include brief introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Practical and authoritative, Argonaute Proteins: Methods and Protocols serves as a vital reference for both experienced and novice scientists approaching the vast complexities of RNAi research.
Argonaute Proteins: Methods and Protocols (Methods in Molecular Biology #1680)
by Katsutomo Okamura Kotaro NakanishiThis volume covers methods that analyze various Argonaute proteins from a variety of organisms to help researchers better understand their properties ranging from a molecular level to an organismal level. The chapters in this book explore the following topics: identification and expression analysis of guide nucleic acids and their targets; analysis of biochemical properties of Argonautes; biological functions of Argonautes; and obtaining materials and setting up analysis platforms. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and authoritative, Argonaute Proteins: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for researchers and scientists looking to expand their knowledge of Argonaute proteins and their functions.
Arguing A.I.: The Battle for Twenty-first Century Science
by Sam WilliamsFew scientific topics since the theory of biological evolution have inspired as much controversy as artificial intelligence has. Even now, fifty years after the term first made its appearance in academic journals, many philosophers and more than a few prominent scientists and software programmers dismiss the pursuit of thinking machines as the modern-day equivalent of medieval alchemists' hunt for the philosopher's stone--a pursuit based more on faith than on skeptical inquiry. In Arguing A.I., journalist Sam Williams charts both the history of artificial intelligence from its scientific and philosophical roots and the history of the A.I. debate. He examines how and why the tenor of the debate has changed over the last half-decade in particular, as scientists are struggling to take into account the latest breakthroughs in computer science, information technology, and human biology. For every voice predicting machines like 2001's HAL within the next twenty to thirty years, others have emerged with more pessimistic forecasts. From artificial intelligence's pioneers John McCarthy and Marvin Minsky, to futurist authors Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec, to software architects Bill Joy and Jaron Lanier,Arguing A. I. introduces readers to the people participating in the current debate, both proponents and critics of A.I. who are changing the way computers "think" and the way we think about computers. Ultimately, Arguing A.I. is as much a history of thought as it is a history of science. Williams notes that many of the questions plaguing modern scientists and software programmers are the same questions that have concerned scientists and philosophers since time immemorial: What are the fundamental limitations of science and scientific inquiry? What is the nature of intelligence? And, most important, what does it really mean to be human?
Arguing About Science (Arguing About Philosophy)
by Alexander Bird James LadymanArguing About Science is an outstanding, engaging introduction to the essential topics in philosophy of science, edited by two leading experts in the field. This exciting and innovative anthology contains a selection of classic and contemporary readings that examine a broad range of issues, from classic problems such as scientific reasoning; causation; and scientific realism, to more recent topics such as science and race; forensic science; and the scientific status of medicine. The editors bring together some of the most influential contributions of famous philosophers in the field, including John Stuart Mill and Karl Popper, as well as more recent extracts from philosophers and scientists such as Ian Hacking, Stephen Jay Gould, Bas van Fraassen, Nancy Cartwright, and John Worrall. The anthology is organised into nine clear sections: science, non science and pseudo-science race, gender and science scientific reasoning scientific explanation laws and causation science and medicine probability and forensic science risk, uncertainty and science policy scientific realism and anti-realism. The articles chosen are clear, interesting, and free from unnecessary jargon. The editors provide lucid introductions to each section in which they provide an overview of the debate, as well as suggestions for further reading.
Arguing From Evidence in Middle School Science: 24 Activities for Productive Talk and Deeper Learning
by Jonathan F. Osborne Brian M. Donovan J. Joseph Henderson Anna C. MacPherson Andrew J. WildTeaching your students to think like scientists starts here! Use this straightforward, easy-to-follow guide to give your students the scientific practice of critical thinking today's science standards require. Ready-to-implement strategies and activities help you effortlessly engage students in arguments about competing data sets, opposing scientific ideas, applying evidence to support specific claims, and more. Use these 24 activities drawn from the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences to: Engage students in 8 NGSS science and engineering practices Establish rich, productive classroom discourse Extend and employ argumentation and modeling strategies Clarify the difference between argumentation and explanation Stanford University professor, Jonathan Osborne, co-author of The National Resource Council’s A Framework for K-12 Science Education—the basis for the Next Generation Science Standards—brings together a prominent author team that includes Brian M. Donovan (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study), J. Bryan Henderson (Arizona State University, Tempe), Anna C. MacPherson (American Museum of Natural History) and Andrew Wild (Stanford University Student) in this new, accessible book to help you teach your middle school students to think and argue like scientists!
Arguing From Evidence in Middle School Science: 24 Activities for Productive Talk and Deeper Learning
by Jonathan F. Osborne Brian M. Donovan J. Joseph Henderson Anna C. MacPherson Andrew J. WildTeaching your students to think like scientists starts here! Use this straightforward, easy-to-follow guide to give your students the scientific practice of critical thinking today's science standards require. Ready-to-implement strategies and activities help you effortlessly engage students in arguments about competing data sets, opposing scientific ideas, applying evidence to support specific claims, and more. Use these 24 activities drawn from the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences to: Engage students in 8 NGSS science and engineering practices Establish rich, productive classroom discourse Extend and employ argumentation and modeling strategies Clarify the difference between argumentation and explanation Stanford University professor, Jonathan Osborne, co-author of The National Resource Council’s A Framework for K-12 Science Education—the basis for the Next Generation Science Standards—brings together a prominent author team that includes Brian M. Donovan (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study), J. Bryan Henderson (Arizona State University, Tempe), Anna C. MacPherson (American Museum of Natural History) and Andrew Wild (Stanford University Student) in this new, accessible book to help you teach your middle school students to think and argue like scientists!
Arguing to Solve a Mystery
by Meghan Comstock Andrew Falk Emily Gibson Tessaly JenNIMAC-sourced textbook
Arguing with Numbers: The Intersections of Rhetoric and Mathematics (RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric #16)
by James Wynn G. Mitchell ReyesAs discrete fields of inquiry, rhetoric and mathematics have long been considered antithetical to each other. That is, if mathematics explains or describes the phenomena it studies with certainty, persuasion is not needed. This volume calls into question the view that mathematics is free of rhetoric. Through nine studies of the intersections between these two disciplines, Arguing with Numbers shows that mathematics is in fact deeply rhetorical. Using rhetoric as a lens to analyze mathematically based arguments in public policy, political and economic theory, and even literature, the essays in this volume reveal how mathematics influences the values and beliefs with which we assess the world and make decisions and how our worldviews influence the kinds of mathematical instruments we construct and accept. In addition, contributors examine how concepts of rhetoric—such as analogy and visuality—have been employed in mathematical and scientific reasoning, including in the theorems of mathematical physicists and the geometrical diagramming of natural scientists. Challenging academic orthodoxy, these scholars reject a math-equals-truth reduction in favor of a more constructivist theory of mathematics as dynamic, evolving, and powerfully persuasive. By bringing these disparate lines of inquiry into conversation with one another, Arguing with Numbers provides inspiration to students, established scholars, and anyone inside or outside rhetorical studies who might be interested in exploring the intersections between the two disciplines.In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume are Catherine Chaput, Crystal Broch Colombini, Nathan Crick, Michael Dreher, Jeanne Fahnestock, Andrew C. Jones, Joseph Little, and Edward Schiappa.
Arguing with Numbers: The Intersections of Rhetoric and Mathematics (RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric)
by James Wynn G. Mitchell ReyesAs discrete fields of inquiry, rhetoric and mathematics have long been considered antithetical to each other. That is, if mathematics explains or describes the phenomena it studies with certainty, persuasion is not needed. This volume calls into question the view that mathematics is free of rhetoric. Through nine studies of the intersections between these two disciplines, Arguing with Numbers shows that mathematics is in fact deeply rhetorical. Using rhetoric as a lens to analyze mathematically based arguments in public policy, political and economic theory, and even literature, the essays in this volume reveal how mathematics influences the values and beliefs with which we assess the world and make decisions and how our worldviews influence the kinds of mathematical instruments we construct and accept. In addition, contributors examine how concepts of rhetoric—such as analogy and visuality—have been employed in mathematical and scientific reasoning, including in the theorems of mathematical physicists and the geometrical diagramming of natural scientists. Challenging academic orthodoxy, these scholars reject a math-equals-truth reduction in favor of a more constructivist theory of mathematics as dynamic, evolving, and powerfully persuasive. By bringing these disparate lines of inquiry into conversation with one another, Arguing with Numbers provides inspiration to students, established scholars, and anyone inside or outside rhetorical studies who might be interested in exploring the intersections between the two disciplines.In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume are Catherine Chaput, Crystal Broch Colombini, Nathan Crick, Michael Dreher, Jeanne Fahnestock, Andrew C. Jones, Joseph Little, and Edward Schiappa.
Argument in the Greenhouse: The International Economics of Controlling Global Warming (Global Environmental Change Ser.)
by Sujata Gupta Stephen Hall Nick Mabey Clare SmithHow can greenhouse gases be controlled and reduced? Will it be in time? This book adds a significant new contribution to the crucial climate change/global warming debate. Incorporating the key political and legal considerations into `real world' applied economic analysis, the authors provide a unique focus on the wider political economy of the problem. All the key issues of controlling climate change (costs, timing and degree of stabilisation, ecological taxt reform, developing countries, and evolution of international agreements), are placed firmly within the current legal and political context, with state-of-the-art economic techniques introduced to analyse different policy proposals. Covering both the developing and developed world, this book identifies important new policies to foster effective agreements on eissions and prevent global warming - realistic policies, likely to receive support at both international and domestic levels. be in time? This book adds a significant new contribution to the crucial climate change/global warming debate. Incorporating the key political and legal considerations into 'real world' applied economic analysis, the book's authors provide a unique focus on the wider political economy of the problem. All the key issues of controlling climate change (costs, timing and degree of stabilisation, ecological tax reform, developing countries and evolution of international agreements), are placed firmly within the current legal and political economy context, with state-of-the-art economic techniques introduced to analyse different policy proposals. Covering both the developing and developed world, this book identifies important new policies to foster effective agreements on emmissions and prevent global warming - realistic policies which are likely to receive support at both international and domestic levels.
The Arid Lands: History, Power, Knowledge
by Diana K. DavisDeserts are commonly imagined as barren, defiled, worthless places, wastelands in need of development. This understanding has fueled extensive anti-desertification efforts -- a multimillion-dollar global campaign driven by perceptions of a looming crisis. In this book, Diana Davis argues that estimates of desertification have been significantly exaggerated and that deserts and drylands -- which constitute about 41% of the earth's landmass -- are actually resilient and biodiverse environments in which a great many indigenous people have long lived sustainably. Meanwhile, contemporary arid lands development programs and anti-desertification efforts have met with little success. As Davis explains, these environments are not governed by the equilibrium ecological dynamics that apply in most other regions. Davis shows that our notion of the arid lands as wastelands derives largely from politically motivated Anglo-European colonial assumptions that these regions had been laid waste by "traditional" uses of the land. Unfortunately, such assumptions still frequently inform policy. Drawing on political ecology and environmental history, Davis traces changes in our understanding of deserts, from the benign views of the classical era to Christian associations of the desert with sinful activities to later (neo)colonial assumptions of destruction. She further explains how our thinking about deserts is problematically related to our conceptions of forests and desiccation. Davis concludes that a new understanding of the arid lands as healthy, natural, but variable ecosystems that do not necessarily need improvement or development will facilitate a more sustainable future for the world's magnificent drylands.
The Arid Lands: History, Power, Knowledge (History for a Sustainable Future)
by Diana K. DavisAn argument that the perception of arid lands as wastelands is politically motivated and that these landscapes are variable, biodiverse ecosystems, whose inhabitants must be empowered. Deserts are commonly imagined as barren, defiled, worthless places, wastelands in need of development. This understanding has fueled extensive anti-desertification efforts—a multimillion-dollar global campaign driven by perceptions of a looming crisis. In this book, Diana Davis argues that estimates of desertification have been significantly exaggerated and that deserts and drylands—which constitute about 41% of the earth's landmass—are actually resilient and biodiverse environments in which a great many indigenous people have long lived sustainably. Meanwhile, contemporary arid lands development programs and anti-desertification efforts have met with little success. As Davis explains, these environments are not governed by the equilibrium ecological dynamics that apply in most other regions. Davis shows that our notion of the arid lands as wastelands derives largely from politically motivated Anglo-European colonial assumptions that these regions had been laid waste by “traditional” uses of the land. Unfortunately, such assumptions still frequently inform policy. Drawing on political ecology and environmental history, Davis traces changes in our understanding of deserts, from the benign views of the classical era to Christian associations of the desert with sinful activities to later (neo)colonial assumptions of destruction. She further explains how our thinking about deserts is problematically related to our conceptions of forests and desiccation. Davis concludes that a new understanding of the arid lands as healthy, natural, but variable ecosystems that do not necessarily need improvement or development will facilitate a more sustainable future for the world's magnificent drylands.
Arid Lands Water Evaluation and Management (Environmental Science and Engineering)
by Robert Maliva Thomas MissimerA large part of the global population lives in arid lands which have low rainfall and often lack the water required for sustainable population and economic growth. This book presents a comprehensive description of the hydrogeology and hydrologic processes at work in arid lands. It describes the techniques that can be used to assess and manage the water resources of these areas with an emphasis on groundwater resources, including recent advances in hydrologic evaluation and the differences between how aquifer systems behave in arid lands versus more humid areas. Water management techniques are described and summarized to show how a more comprehensive approach to water management is required in these areas, including the need to be aware of cultural sensitivities and conditions unique to many arid regions. The integration of existing resources with the addition of new water sources, such as desalination of brackish water and seawater, along with reusing treated wastewater, will be required to meet future water supply needs. Also, changing climatic conditions will force water management systems to be more robust so that future water supply demands can be met as droughts become more intense and rainfall events become more intense. A range of water management techniques are described and discussed in order to illustrate the methods for integrating these measures within the context of arid lands conditions.
Aristarchus of Samos: The Ancient Copernicus
by Thomas Heath"A most welcome addition to the literature of astronomical history." -- Nature"A most important contribution to the early history of Greek thought and a notable monument of English scholarship." -- Journal of Hellenic StudiesThis classic work traces Aristarchus of Samos's anticipation by two millennia of Copernicus's revolutionary theory of the orbital motion of the earth. Heath's history of astronomy ranges from Homer and Hesiod to Aristarchus and includes quotes from numerous thinkers, compilers, and scholasticists from Thales and Anaximander through Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and Heraclides. 34 figures.
The Aristotelian Mechanics
by Joyce Van LeeuwenThisbook examines the transmission processes of the Aristotelian Mechanics. It does so to enable readers to appreciate thevalue of the treatise based on solid knowledge of the principles of the text. In addition, the book's critical examination helps clear up many of the currentmisunderstandings about the transmission of the text and the diagrams. The first part of the book sets out the Greek manuscript tradition of the Mechanics, resulting in a newlyestablished stemma codicum that illustrates the affiliations of themanuscripts. This research has led to new insights into the transmission of thetreatise, most importantly, it also demonstrates an urgent need for a new text. A first critical edition of the diagrams contained in the Greek manuscripts ofthe treatise is also presented. These diagrams are not only significant for areconstruction of the text but can also be considered as a commentary on thetext. Diagrams are thus revealed to be a powerful tool in studying processes ofthe transfer and transformation of knowledge. This becomes especially relevantwhen the manuscript diagrams are compared with those in the printed editionsand in commentaries from the early modern period. The final part of the bookshows that these early modern diagrams and images reflect the altered scope ofthe mechanical discipline in the sixteenth century.
The Aristotelian Mirabilia and Early Peripatetic Natural Science (Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities)
by Arnaud ZuckerThis is the first volume devoted to the sections of the Aristotelian Mirabilia on natural science, filling a significant gap in the history of the Aristotelian study of nature and especially of animals. The chapters in this volume explore the Mirabilia, or De mirabilibus auscultationibus (On Marvelous Things Heard), and its engagement with the natural sciences. The first two chapters deliver an introduction to this work: one a discussion of the history of the text; the other a discussion of Aristotelian epistemology and methodology, and the role of the Mirabilia in that context. This is followed by eight chapters that, together, are effectively a commentary on those sections of the Mirabilia with close connections to Aristotle’s Historia animalium and to a number of Theophrastus’ scientific treatises. Finally, the volume ends with two chapters on thematic topics connected to natural science running throughout the work, namely color and disease. The Aristotelian Mirabilia and Early Peripatetic Natural Science should prove invaluable to scholars and students interested in the ancient Greek study of nature, ancient philosophy, and Aristotelian science in particular.
Aristotelian Subjectivism: Francisco Suárez’s Philosophy of Perception (Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind #28)
by Daniel HeiderThis monograph presents new material on Francisco Suárez’s comprehensive theory of sense perception. The core theme is perceptual intentionality in Suárez’s theory of the senses, external and internal, as presented in his Commentaria una cum quaestionibus in libros Aristotelis De anima published in 1621. The author targets the question of the multistage genesis of perceptual acts by considering the ontological “items” involved in the procession of sensory information. However, the structural issue is not left aside, and the nature of the relationship due to which our perceptions are mental representations of this or that object is also considered. The heuristic historiographical background includes not only the theories of classical authors, such as Aristotle and Aquinas, but also those of late medieval authors of the fourteenth century. These are headed by John Duns Scotus, John of Jandun, Peter Auriol and Peter John Olivi. Readers will discover the differences between Suárez’s and Aquinas’s views, as well as other sources that may have served as positive inspiration for the Jesuit’s theory. By considering the late medieval philosophy of the fourteenth century, this book helps, to a certain extent, to fill a gap in the historiography of philosophy regarding the link between late medieval and early modern scholasticism. In the first part of the book, the metaphysics of the soul and powers is considered. Chapters on the external senses follow, covering topics such as the sensible species, the causes of sensation, self-awareness, and the ordering of the external senses. A further chapter is devoted to the internal senses and the author argues that by reducing the number and functional scope of the interior senses Suárez deepens the gap between the external senses and the intellect, but he reduces it through emphasizing the unifying efficacy of the soul.This book brings a synthetic and unifying perspective to contemporary research and will particularly appeal to graduate students and researchers in theology and philosophy, especially philosophy of mind.
The Aristotelian Tradition and the Rise of British Empiricism
by Marco SgarbiOffers an extremely bold, far-reaching, and unsuspected thesis in the history of philosophy: Aristotelianism was a dominant movement of the British philosophical landscape, especially in the field of logic, and it had a long survival. British Aristotelian doctrines were strongly empiricist in nature, both in the theory of knowledge and in scientific method; this character marked and influenced further developments in British philosophy at the end of the century, and eventually gave rise to what we now call British empiricism, which is represented by philosophers such as John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume. Beyond the apparent and explicit criticism of the old Scholastic and Aristotelian philosophy, which has been very well recognized by the scholarship in the twentieth century and which has contributed to the false notion that early modern philosophy emerged as a reaction to Aristotelianism, the present research examines the continuity, the original developments and the impact of Aristotelian doctrines and terminology in logic and epistemology as the background for the rise of empiricism.Without the Aristotelian tradition, without its doctrines, and without its conceptual elaborations, British empiricism would never have been born. The book emphasizes that philosophy is not defined only by the 'great names', but also by minor authors, who determine the intellectual milieu from which the canonical names emerge. It considers every single published work of logic between the middle of the sixteenth and the end of the seventeenth century, being acquainted with a number of surviving manuscripts and being well-informed about the best existing scholarship in the field.
Aristotle and The Philosophy of Law: Theory, Practice And Justice (Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice #23)
by Nuno M.M.S. Coelho Liesbeth Huppes-CluysenaerThe book presents a new focus on the legal philosophical texts of Aristotle, which offers a much richer frame for the understanding of practical thought, legal reasoning and political experience. It allows understanding how human beings interact in a complex world, and how extensive the complexity is which results from humans' own power of self-construction and autonomy. The Aristotelian approach recognizes the limits of rationality and the inevitable and constitutive contingency in Law. All this offers a helpful instrument to understand the changes globalisation imposes to legal experience today. The contributions in this collection do not merely pay attention to private virtues, but focus primarily on public virtues. They deal with the fact that law is dependent on political power and that a person can never be sure about the facts of a case or about the right way to act. They explore the assumption that a detailed knowledge of Aristotle's epistemology is necessary, because of the direct connection between Enlightened reasoning and legal positivism. They pay attention to the concept of proportionality, which can be seen as a precondition to discuss liberalism.
Aristotle on Time
by Tony RoarkAristotle's definition of time as 'a number of motion with respect to the before and after' has been branded as patently circular by commentators ranging from Simplicius to W. D. Ross. In this book Tony Roark presents an interpretation of the definition that renders it not only non-circular, but also worthy of serious philosophical scrutiny. He shows how Aristotle developed an account of the nature of time that is inspired by Plato while also thoroughly bound up with Aristotle's sophisticated analyses of motion and perception. When Aristotle's view is properly understood, Roark argues, it is immune to devastating objections against the possibility of temporal passage articulated by McTaggart and other 20th century philosophers. Roark's novel and fascinating interpretation of Aristotle's temporal theory will appeal to those interested in Aristotle, ancient philosophy and the philosophy of time.
Aristotle's Classification of Animals: Biology and the Conceptual Unity of the Aristotelian Corpus
by Pierre PellegrinThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1986.
Aristotle's Ladder, Darwin's Tree: The Evolution of Visual Metaphors for Biological Order
by J. David ArchibaldLeading paleontologist J. David Archibald explores the rich history of visual metaphors for biological order from ancient times to the present and their influence on humans' perception of their place in nature, offering uncommon insight into how we went from standing on the top rung of the biological ladder to embodying just one tiny twig on the tree of life. He begins with the ancient but still misguided use of ladders to show biological order, moving then to the use of trees to represent seasonal life cycles and genealogies by the Romans. The early Christian Church then appropriated trees to represent biblical genealogies. The late eighteenth century saw the tree reclaimed to visualize relationships in the natural world, sometimes with a creationist view, but in other instances suggesting evolution. Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) exorcised the exclusively creationist view of the "tree of life," and his ideas sparked an explosion of trees, mostly by younger acolytes in Europe. <P><P> Although Darwin's influence waned in the early twentieth century, by midcentury his ideas held sway once again in time for another and even greater explosion of tree building, generated by the development of new theories on how to assemble trees, the birth of powerful computing, and the emergence of molecular technology. Throughout Archibald's far-reaching study, and with the use of many figures, the evolution of "tree of life" iconography becomes entwined with our changing perception of the world and ourselves.