Exploring the Historical Context of Graphic Symbols: the NOTAE Knowledge Graph and its Visual Interface

Graphic symbols i.e. graphic entities drawn as a visual unit in a written text and representing something other or something more than a word of that text are the research object of the NOTAE project, which investigates them in the documentary practice of the late Roman State and Post-Roman Kingdoms (400-800 AD). While research results from the project are stored by filling forms resulting from the analysis of ancient documents, we argue that the availability of a navigable knowledge graph can ease the work of researchers at finding non trivial implications in data. In this paper, we propose a first version of the NOTAE Knowledge Graph, and we outline future works and possible synergies

Studies in the Linguistic Foundations of Thought in Early Irish Tradition

The thesis investigates early Irish views on the concepts of thought and cognition through the lens of philosophy of language. It aims to establish how problems of linguistic expression relate to the understanding of mental activity in early Irish learned tradition (ca. 650–1100), particularly in such discourse-oriented disciplines as grammar and biblical exegesis. Irish contributions to this topic offer a unique perspective on the relationship between language and thought, not least due to the thriving bilingualism of Irish intellectual tradition. Therefore, this study brings together Latin and vernacular evidence and traces links between ideas expressed in both languages. The study has a tripartite structure which moves from the views on the material aspects of language, towards Irish theories of meaning, and onwards to ideas that imagine thought itself as a special kind of language. The first part centres around Irish approaches to phonology, writing systems and criteria that define a word. It aims to explore the ways in which Irish grammarians considered the material aspects of language to establish basic mental mechanisms for the creation and processing of meaning. Part two surveys evidence for Irish theories of signification and investigates problems of the relationship between form, meaning and thought. The final part considers Irish language-philosophical theories which connect language and cognition, namely the techniques of non-literal exegesis and the concept of ‘mental speech’ – a metaphorical device which presents thought patterns in terms of language patterns. Overall, the thesis offers the first comprehensive study of the intersection of philosophy of language and philosophy of mind in early Irish intellectual tradition

Natural knowledge and Aristotelianism at early modern protestant universities

This volume aims to shed new light on the ways in which science was institutionalized and the central role played by university culture at reformed universities in the early modern period. It particularly explores the relationship between the Aristotelian legacy in Protestant centers of learning and the new natural knowledge which emerged from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century. Within the university context, Aristotelianism proved to be a dynamic tradition which we would term a ‘mobile episteme’ in line with the research program of the Collaborative Research Centre Episteme in Motion and the ERC endeavor EarlyModernCosmology (Horizon 2020, GA 725883). The transformation of academic science depended on its circulation in institutional and intellectual networks. The transfer and exchange of knowledge always implied its reformulation and often its deep alteration as well, even in those cases in which the explicit intention of the historical actors was to preserve and secure a received canon of knowledge, such as the corpus Aristotelicum or the Scholastic style of thought. As a matter of fact, the cross-pollination between ‘early’ forms of knowledge and ‘modern’ perspectives produced changes of content, theory, and experience. The fields that underwent major hybridizations and shifts range from astronomy to astrology, medicine, theories of the soul, alchemy, physics, and biology. Because methodologies were revised throughout this process, later instantiations of method, including rhetoric, epistemology, and theories of argumentation must be reevaluated within the terms of this transformative episteme

Persistent Traditions

The adoption of agriculture is one of the major developments in human history. Archaeological studies have demonstrated that the trajectories of Neolithisation in Northwest Europe were diverse. This book presents a study into the archaeology of the communities involved in the process of Neolithisation in the Lower Rhine Area (5500-2500 cal BC). It elucidates the role played by the indigenous communities in relation to their environmental context and in view of the changes that becoming Neolithic brought about. This work brings together a comprehensive array of excavated archaeological sites in the Lower Rhine Area. Their analysis shows that the succession of Late Mesolithic, Swifterbant culture, Hazendonk group and Vlaardingen culture societies represents a continuous long-term tradition of inhabitation of the wetlands and wetland margins of this area, forming a culturally continuous record of communities in the transition to agriculture. After demonstrating the diversity of the Mesolithic, the subsequent developments regarding Neolithisation are studied from an indigenous perspective. Foregrounding the relationship between local communities and the dynamic wetland landscape, the study shows that the archaeological evidence of regional inhabitation points to long-term flexible behaviour and pragmatic decisions being made concerning livelihood, food economy and mobility. This disposition also influenced how the novel elements of Neolithisation were incorporated. Animal husbandry, crop cultivation and sedentism were an addition to the existing broad spectrum economy but were incorporated within a set of integrative strategies. For the interpretation of Neolithisation this study offers a complementary approach to existing research. Instead of arguing for a short transition based on the economic importance of domesticates and cultigens at sites, this study emphasises the persistent traditions of the communities involved. New elements, instead of bringing about radical changes, are shown to be attuned to existing hunter-gatherer practices. By documenting indications of the mentalité of the inhabitants of the wetlands, it is demonstrated that their mindset remained essentially ‘Mesolithic’ for millennia. This book is accompanied by a separate 422 page volume containing the appendices. These constitute a comprehensive inventory of 159, mostly excavated archaeological sites in the Lower Rhine Area

1985 April, Memphis State University bulletin

Vol. 74, No. 1 of the Memphis State University bulletin containing the undergraduate catalog for 1985-86, 1985 April.https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-ua-pub-bulletins/1160/thumbnail.jp

Semiotic Themes

277 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references. University of Kansas author