Marsilio Ficino und Frane Petrić zur „ontologischen Priorität“ von Materie und Raum

This paper is a comparison of some of the central ontological claims on the nature of prime matter of the Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino, and the nature of space of Frane Petrić, the sixteenth century Platonist from the town of Cres. In it I argue that there are two respects in which the natural philosophies of both Platonists resemble one another, especially when it comes to the ontological status of the most basic substrate of the material world. First, both Ficino and Petrić argue for the basic existence of matter and space. Second, both philosophers attribute an “ontological priority” to matter and space over what are seen as the fleeting qualities of the material world.Ovaj članak je usporedba nekih od centralnih ontoloških stavova o naravi prve materije renesansnog platonista Marsilia Ficina te naravi prostora Frane Petrića, platonista 16. stoljeća iz grada Cresa. U njemu tvrdim da postoje dva aspekta u kojima prirodne filozofije oba platonista nalikuju jedna drugoj, naročito po pitanju ontološkog statusa najtemeljnijeg supstrata materijalnog svijeta. Kao prvo, i Ficino i Petrić se zalažu za temeljnu egzistenciju materije i prostora. Kao drugo, oba filozofa pridaju »ontološki prioritet« materiji i prostoru nad onim što se smatra da su prolazne kvalitete materijalnog svijeta.Cet article est une comparaison de certaines affirmations ontologiques sur la nature de la matière première chez le platonicien de la Renaissance Marsilio Ficino et sur la nature de l’espace chez Frane Petrić, platonicien du XVIème siècle issu de la ville de Cres. J’y soutiens que les philosophies naturelles des deux platoniciens se ressemblent à deux égards, notamment en ce qui concerne le statut ontologique du substrat le plus fondamental du monde matériel. D’abord, Ficino comme Petrić soutiennent l’existence fondamentale de la matière et de l’espace. Deuxièmement, les deux philosophes attribuent la « priorité ontologique » à la matière et à l’espace sur ce qui est considéré comme qualités éphémères du monde materiel.Dieser Artikel ist ein Vergleich einiger der signifikanten ontologischen Behauptungen über die Natur der ersten Materie des renaissancistischen Platonikers Marsilio Ficino und über das Gepräge des Raums Frane Petrićs, eines aus der Stadt Cres stammenden Platonikers des 16. Jahrhunderts. Darin vertrete ich die Ansicht, es bestünden zwei Hinsichten, in denen die natürlichen Philosophien beider Platoniker einander ähnelten, speziell in puncto ontologischer Sachlage des grundlegendsten Substrats der materiellen Welt. Zuallererst treten sowohl Ficino wie auch Petrić für eine fundamentale Existenz der Materie und des Raums ein. Zweitens messen die beiden Philosophen der Materie und dem Raum eine „ontologische Priorität“ zu über die als flüchtig erachteten Qualitäten der materiellen Welt

Enhancing the Structure and Impact of Honors by Contract Projects with Templates and Research Hubs

The Honors by Contract (HBC) option is by its nature underdefined. That is to say, there are likely as many versions of the HBC as there are honors programs or colleges that use them. Some HBCs are attached to non-honors courses to augment the course content, whereas others are stand-alone mentored replacements for honors seminars themselves, following more of an independent study model. Some programs use HBCs to initiate students into the nature and scope of undergraduate research, and the deliverables vary widely. Likewise, the challenges and difficulties surrounding HBCs change from institution to institution. Because it appears natural to conclude that we cannot state the necessary and sufficient conditions of HBCs and the best practices governing their use, it should come as no surprise that the HBC option can be not only a source of frustration and perplexity but also an important opportunity for honors program administrators, faculty, and students to innovate. Justifying the HBC and exploring best practices are critically important because of both the criticism raised in this volume and a more general cultural skepticism about the value of the liberal arts and honors programs (Keller). Defining and justifying HBCs are especially important tasks because honors programs increasingly use them to supplement or replace honors requirements. This chapter proposes two specific strategies—HBC Templates and HBC Research Hubs—that the Marist College Honors Program recently implemented to increase the likelihood of HBC success. Our work applies some recent research in organizational behavior indicating that more robust pedagogical structures lead to greater innovation and more meaningful projects. Both our templates and research hubs are efforts to build such structures in support of undergraduate research in honors

Balancing International Aspirations with Honors Expectations: Expanding Honors to a Branch Campus in Florence, Italy

Education abroad has the potential to leave a deep and transformative impact on the lives of honors students. That education abroad and a broader focus on the larger world beyond the boundaries of campuses comprises a core value of many honors programs and colleges comes as no surprise. In addition to providing a rigorous education and undergraduate research opportunities, many honors programs aspire to making their students more cosmopolitan in their worldview. The philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah explains that cosmopolitanism blends two important values: it stretches us “beyond those to whom we are related by the ties of kith and kind, and even the more formal ties of a shared citizenship,” and helps us recognize that “[p]eople are different . . . and there is much to learn from our differences” (xv). Cosmopolitanism has intrinsic and extrinsic value for honors students and indeed for all students studying abroad. Studying abroad exposes students to art, languages, philosophies, and cultures that can enrich their understanding of the range of human expression and ideas, and they learn important lessons about their own humanity and the world around them. On its own terms, this engagement with an increasingly complex world, opens their eyes to relevant and living alternatives to many of the beliefs and practices they embrace, often only through the force of custom, habit, or convenience. Education abroad also has an instrumental purpose in building and sharpening essential intellectual and interpersonal skills that play a critical role in students’ academic, personal, and professional development (Dwyer; Dwyer and Peters). While abroad, students may develop important critical reasoning skills and intellectual virtues (Nguyen), as well as greater confidence, maturity, empathy, and creativity (Gray et al.; Maddux and Galinsky). International experiences are also linked to the honors thesis project in unexpected but significant ways, and they sometimes alter career paths and graduate degrees pursued after graduation (Markus et al.). Finally, education abroad uniquely prepares students to compete for selective international post-graduate opportunities, including the Fulbright Student Program and the Marshall and Rhodes scholarships. These benefits appear to impact students positively long after graduation (Mulvaney, “Long-Term Impact”—also reprinted in this volume)

MEMS/ECD Method for Making Bi(2-x)Sb(x)Te3 Thermoelectric Devices

A method of fabricating Bi(2-x)Sb(x)Te3-based thermoelectric microdevices involves a combination of (1) techniques used previously in the fabrication of integrated circuits and of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and (2) a relatively inexpensive MEMS-oriented electrochemical-deposition (ECD) technique. The present method overcomes the limitations of prior MEMS fabrication techniques and makes it possible to satisfy requirements

The Magnetohydrodynamics of Shock-Cloud Interaction in Three Dimensions

The magnetohydrodynamic evolution of a dense spherical cloud as it interacts with a strong planar shock is studied, as a model for shock interactions with density inhomogeneities in the interstellar medium. The cloud is assumed to be small enough that radiative cooling, thermal conduction, and self-gravity can be ignored. A variety of initial orientations (including parallel, perpendicular, and oblique to the incident shock normal) and strengths for the magnetic field are investigated. During the early stages of the interaction (less than twice the time taken for the transmitted shock to cross the interior of the cloud) the structure and dynamics of the shocked cloud is fairly insensitive to the magnetic field strength and orientation. However, at late times strong fields substantially alter the dynamics of the cloud, suppressing fragmentation and mixing by stabilizing the interface at the cloud surface. Even weak magnetic fields can drastically alter the evolution of the cloud compared to the hydrodynamic case. Weak fields of different geometries result in different distributions and amplifications of the magnetic energy density, which may affect the thermal and non-thermal x-ray emission expected from shocked clouds associated with, for example, supernovae remnants.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal; a higher resolution file can be found at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~msshin/science/shock_cloud.pdf.g

Electrical transport in amorphous semiconducting AlMgB14 films

The electrical transport properties of semiconducting AlMgB14films deposited at room temperature and 573K are reported in this letter. The as-deposited films are amorphous, and they exhibit high n-type electrical conductivity, which is believed to stem from the conduction electrons donated by Al, Mg, and/or Fe impurities in these films. The film deposited at 573K is less conductive than the room-temperature-deposited film. This is attributed to the nature of donor or trap states in the band gap related to the different deposition temperatures

Mechanochemical synthesis and high temperature thermoelectric properties of calcium-doped lanthanum telluride La_(3−x)Ca_xTe_4

The thermoelectric properties from 300–1275 K of calcium-doped La_(3−x)Te_4 are reported. La_(3−x)Te_4 is a high temperature n-type thermoelectric material with a previously reported zT_(max) 1.1 at 1273 K and x = 0.23. Computational modeling suggests the La atoms define the density of states of the conduction band for La_(3−x)Te_4. Doping with Ca^(2+) on the La^(3+) site is explored as a means of modifying the density of states to improve the power factor and to achieve a finer control over the carrier concentration. High purity, oxide-free samples are produced by ball milling of the elements and consolidation by spark plasma sintering. Calcium substitution upon the lanthanum site was confirmed by a combination of Rietveld refinements of powder X-ray diffraction data and wave dispersive spectroscopy. A zT_(max) 1.2 is reached at 1273 K for the composition La_(2.2)Ca_(0.78)Te_4 and the relative increase compared to La_(3−x)Te_4 is attributed to the finer carrier concentration