Transcendental Method in Action

Lonergan’s treatment of transcendental method in the first chapter of \u3cMethod in Theology\u3e presents a bit of a puzzle. Something about heightening consciousness at the level of experience is different from the reflexive operations by which we objectify this heightened experience. Lonergan’s summary statement of transcendental method makes no explicit reference to what this difference is. In this paper, I work out an interpretation of transcendental method in which I relate the problem of being explicit about heightening consciousness at the level of experience to the problem of objectifying the subject-as-subject: both are a matter of performance. In this regard I identify a performative mode of subjective operation – in addition to the direct and introspective modes that Lonergan identifies in \u3cInsight\u3e – and develop an account of this mode of operation as it is manifested experientially in feelings and existentially in action. I relate the notion of feelings as data of consciousness to Lonergan’s account of the unity-in-tension of human consciousness, various forms and degrees of tension being the primary feeling-states of conscious experience. Finally, I note the significance of transcendental method in action with regard to understanding the subtleties of subject-to-subject communication in the encounter of patient and clinician as part of a philosophy of health on which I am working

A Critical Review of Circularity - ‘design for disassembly’ assessment methods applied in the development of modular construction panels - an Irish case study

The construction and operation of buildings has a significant negative impact on the environment and is a major contributor to global warming. The EU has responded with a range of policy measures including targets to decarbonise the existing building stock and to promote circular economy principles in the built environment. The Drive 0 project aimed to demonstrate potential for such accelerated decarbonisation of the building stock using circular modularised solutions, which necessitated the development and application of circularity - design for disassembly assessment methods, undertaken at key stages during the life of the project, to aid design development and benchmarking of proposed solutions, which is an identified knowledge gap in research. This paper presents a critical review of the Drive 0 circularity - design for disassembly assessment methods applied in the development of the Irish modularised wall panel, providing case specific insights into the challenges and complexity of implementing and assessing circularity and design for disassembly in buildings, drawing from relevant literature in the field, and contributing to key retrofit, modularity and circularity research needs notably case specific application in construction

Five-String Fiddle and the American Vernacular

This research examines the emergence of the five-string fiddle in contemporary North American fiddle culture within the past ten years. By interacting with leading artistlevel practitioners, the research documents the evolution and impact of the instrument to date in exploring the possibilities the five-string fiddle presents for musical performance and innovation. North American vernacular music and, in particular, the contemporary fiddle playing landscape, exemplifies virtousic and innovative idiomatic technique and improvisation as central to an overarching musical explosion, evidenced in the music of many high level, multi-stylistic contemporary practitioners. Within contemporary American fiddle performance, it is compelling to observe how many of the most innovative and highly regarded players now perform on five-string fiddles. The research uses a qualitative research methodology, drawing on interviews conducted with seven leading American fiddle players, each of whom has adopted the five-string fiddle in their own musical practice. The participants represent a rich cross section of American fiddle culture. They emerged naturally during the course of the literature review, and in-depth listening research, as particularly relevant sample cases. All participants were identified as leading exponents of the diversities encompassed in American fiddle music, between them sharing extensive professional recording, performance and academic experience, and all playing on five-string instruments. The research is further illuminated through practice, reflecting on my own musical work in illustrating how I have personally adopted the five-string fiddle, drawing influence from the research in demonstrating some wider possibilities of the instrument. This enquiry is important as it addresses the lack of specific research to date regarding the five-string fiddle, despite the significanance it holds for some of American fiddle music\u27s leading exponents, and consequently, for fiddle music itself. Equally significant, is the role of the instrument in facilitating the performance of innovative extended instrumental techniques, in particular, the five-string fiddles association with the rhythmic/percussive \u27chop\u27 bow techniques, now, so conspicuous within contemporary groove-based American string music. ix The findings of this research established the definitive emergence of the five-string fiddle, and subscribe that the five-string has now become a widely accepted part of the mainstream instrumentation in American music. This understanding emerges clearly through the words and practice of the participants. From this perspective, the research identifies the musical reasons that inspire the instruments popularity and elaborates through practice, the musical possibilities it presents to others

When Slavery Was Called Freedom: Evangelicalism, Proslavery, and the Causes of the Civil War

When Slavery Was Called Freedom uncovers the cultural and ideological bonds linking the combatants in the Civil War era and boldly reinterprets the intellectual foundations of secession. John Patrick Daly dissects the evangelical defense of slavery at the heart of the nineteenth century’s sectional crisis. He brings a new understanding to the role of religion in the Old South and the ways in which religion was used in the Confederacy. Southern evangelicals argued that their unique region was destined for greatness, and their rhetoric gave expression and a degree of coherence to the grassroots assumptions of the South. The North and South shared assumptions about freedom, prosperity, and morality. For a hundred years after the Civil War, politicians and historians emphasized the South’s alleged departures from national ideals. Recent studies have concluded, however, that the South was firmly rooted in mainstream moral, intellectual, and socio-economic developments and sought to compete with the North in a contemporary spirit. Daly argues that antislavery and proslavery emerged from the same evangelical roots; both Northerners and Southerners interpreted the Bible and Christian moral dictates in light of individualism and free market economics. When the abolitionist’s moral critique of slavery arose after 1830, Southern evangelicals answered the charges with the strident self-assurance of recent converts. They went on to articulate how slavery fit into the “genius of the American system” and how slavery was only right as part of that system. Honorable Mention, 2003 Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship Daly’s is an immensely valuable book, continuing and extending the recent focus on religion in the Civil War. His voice is a perfectly balanced one. His analysis draws on important theoretical, philosophical, and theological work, whichhe balances with solid historical documentation and deft analysis. —Civil War Book Review Makes a significant contribution of scholarly understanding of the social implications of religious faith in nineteenth-century America. —Civil War History This is a well-written, thought-provoking volume that raises new questions while covering familiar territory. The result is a book that nuances our understanding of the southern defense of slavery, the coming of the Civil War, and evangelicalism’s role in fostering the sectional crisis. —Georgia Historical Quarterly A valuable contribution to our understanding of antebellum ideology and the role of religious ideas in the sectional conflict. —H-Net Reviews A fascinating new perspective on religion in the Old South and the causes of America’s fratricidal conflict. —H-Net Reviews This book addresses big topics—religion, slavery, the Civil War—in a fresh way, with immense scholarship, and with incisive analysis, and the author forces the reader to think afresh about the role of religion (especially its influence on politics, society, and ‘public’ matters) in the Old South. Recommended for every scholar of the era and region. —John Boles Daly argues that, while race lay at the heart of southern slavery, it did not define the southern defense of the institution. Evangelicals defended slavery, not in the abstract, but as it was practiced by evangelical slaveholders in keeping with the evangelical emphasis on individual conversion and responsibility. —Journal of American History An important study of a significant aspect of southern culture, one that should be read by all who are interested in the intellectual defense of slavery. —Journal of Southern History An important new look at the nexus of evangelical Protestantism and Confederate nationalism. . . . Daly\u27s artfully written work, as accessible an intellectual history as this reader has ever encountered, is a must-read for all interested in antebellum evangelicals or in proslavery theory. —Journal of Southern Religion A genuinely new perspective on religious proslavery and its role in bringing about the Civil War. —Journal of the Early Republic To his credit, Daly has produced that most laudable of things: a useful history book. Its short length plus its clear prose makes it an excellent introduction for beginners in the field, yet his insights into the southern evangelical mind make this fascinating reading for even the most dedicated expert. —Maryland Historical Magazine This bold account offers a fresh look at the ways that religion, and it strong influence on politics and society, contributed to the bloody conflict. —McCormick (SC) Messenger Draws historians back to one of the defining aspects of antebellum southern culture: evangelical religion. . . . Sheds light on the staying power of the South’s attachment to the Bible and its use in proclaiming racist and proslavery views both before and after the Civil War. —Southern Historian Daly covers new ground along a well-trodden path of historical scholarship. —Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Daly’s work is admirable, both for the thoroughness of his research and for his carefully detailed history of evangelicalism and the proslavery movement. —Journal of American Folklore When Slavery Was Called Freedom definitely provides new and useful information for those interested in the religious attitudes of the Confederate South. —Debbie A. Hanson, Journal of American Folklore This highly commendable work should make its mark in the field of American religious history. —Bertram Wyatt-Brownhttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/1149/thumbnail.jp

Oliver P. Morton and the Politics of the Civil War and Reconstruction

Oliver P. Morton and the Politics of the Civil War and Reconstruction is an outstanding biography of a vital subject. Morton deserves the greater attention James Fuller gives him. Morton‘s career as Indiana’s Republican governor has always merited attention, but Fuller goes a step past this to show that his even longer career as a senator during Reconstruction was equally important. Civil War historians know Morton primarily as the wartime governor of Indiana (1861-1867). Famously, Morton did not call the state legislature into session when Democrats took control of it. Morton feared the Democrat’s Copperhead tendencies and tepid support for the war. Morton instituted one-man rule and raised funds on his own. Despite the technical illegality of some of Morton’s actions, Fuller convincingly documents the wisdom and effectiveness of Morton’s leadership. Fuller presents Morton as a consistent fighter for equality and nationalism who saw the power of the Republican Party as the best means of promoting both. The historiography of the Civil War leader has too often labelled Morton a ruthless opportunist. Partly due to caricatures and slanders against him, Morton has not been the subject of a full biography in over a hundred years. This biography updates and corrects scholarship by showing Morton as principled, judicious, and skilled in his use of governmental power to promote freedom

Comparison of Drought Response between Delphinium nuttallianum and Taraxacum officinale

As global warming raises average temperatures, increases evaporation rates, and brings earlier snowmelt, drought has become more frequent in the state of Colorado and the intermountain region in general. Native plant species are expected to adapt to these changes faster than non-native ones. The common dandelion (T. officinale) is a non-native plant in the Gunnison Basin, but as drought conditions increase in frequency, how are the plant’s abundance levels rising or falling compared to Nuttall’s larkspur (D. nuttallianum)? This question was investigated by comparing years with varying degrees of drought using a suite of GIS tools and high-resolution drone imagery. The year 2019 was just above average in precipitation levels, while 2020 was well below average. In 2021, an early snowmelt preceded another summer of significant drought. Dandelion abundance decreased in 2020 from 2019 abundance, while the Nuttall’s larkspur abundance remained constant. However, the larkspurs experienced a large decline in 2021 and dandelions returned to the abundance level of 2019. The results of this study offer insights for the future about how droughts may impact the communities in which dandelions and larkspurs exist from the changes in abundance and spatial variance seen with these two flower species

Transfer of control in instruction and classroom management from the cooperating teacher to the student teacher : the degrees of freedom in decision-making involved in the preservice clinical experience.

Within the period of each student teaching experience a series of transfers takes place in which responsibility for decision-making in instruction and classroom management is shifted from the cooperating teacher to the student teacher and culminates with the assumption of the role of teacher by the student teacher. The purpose of this study was to investigate the transfer of instruction and classroom control and the degrees of freedom allowing the student teacher to make decisions during the preservice clinical experience. Six categories were used as a framework to discipline the collection of the data: Time Sequence, Readiness, Formal Communication--Conferences, Informal Communication--Cues and Signs, Degrees of Freedom and Proximity, and Legal and Moral Responsibilities. The methodology involved three phases of investigation: oral interviews, classroom observations, and questionnaires. The population in Phases 1 and 2 consisted of ten matched pairs of cooperating teachers and student teachers who were interviewed and observed. In Phase 3 nine cooperating teachers and eight student teachers comprised a different, non-matched population who responded to two types of questionnaires. All participants were from elementary preservice clinical experiences in western Massachusetts. Collected data from the three phases were qualitatively analyzed to identify significant factors relative to the transfer of control. Cooperating teachers and student teachers had no personal explicit time sequence to grant or receive the transfer of control but believed an implicit pattern existed. Student teachers had no personal criteria for readiness to assume control but determined it by personal successes in classroom management, lesson ownership, and pupil respect. Cooperating teachers had an implicit pattern for determining readiness based on these factors. Conferencing varied in length and content; reflective thinking and philosophical discussion were not major components. Cues and signs were important indicators of the progress of the transfer of control. Student teachers needed to experience degrees of freedom to make decisions as they assumed control. They believed the cooperating teacher\u27s proximity affected the mode of instruction and limited the degrees of freedom in their instructional and management styles. Legal questions limited the latitude of the student teacher\u27s risk-taking and decision-making potential