The Apokatastasis Essays in Context: Leibniz and Thomas Burnet on the Kingdom of Grace and the Stoic/Platonic Revolutions

One of Leibniz’s more unusual philosophical projects is his presentation (in a series of unpublished drafts) of an argument for the conclusion that a time will necessarily come when “nothing would happen that had not happened before." Leibniz’s presentations of the argument for such a cyclical cosmology are all too brief, and his discussion of its implications is obscure. Moreover, the conclusion itself seems to be at odds with the main thrust of Leibniz’s own metaphysics. Despite this, we can discern a serious and important point to Leibniz’s consideration of the doctrine, namely in what it suggests about the proper boundary between metaphysics and theology, on the one hand, and ordinary history (whether human or natural), on the other. And we can get a better sense of Leibniz purpose in the essays by considering them in the context of Leibniz's response to Thomas Burnet's "Telluris theoria sacra" (1681-89). Leibniz praises Burnet's history of earth for presenting a harmony between the principles of nature and grace, a harmony absent in the cosmogonies of Descartes and the Newtonians. But Leibniz also complains that Burnet misconceives the boundary between natural explanation and reflections on divine wisdom. And Leibniz's essays on cyclical cosmology suggest the alternative to Burnet's account: a natural history of the earth and its inhabitants should be radically autonomous from, even if ultimately harmonious with, theological principles

Illusions of Grandeurs: Washingtonian Architecture as Seen by White and Black People of the Early Nineteenth Century

In the early nineteenth century, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson built a classically inspired capital designed to legitimize American republican ideals. White interpretations of the architecture gradually aligned more with the founders’ intentions, especially following its reconstruction after the 1814 conflagration. Enslaved and free black observers recognized their exclusion from the message of freedom and equality. Rather than finding their identity through federal buildings, they established their communities within churches, houses, and businesses owned by black people. The varied reactions to Washington’s and Jefferson’s designs demonstrated how the aesthetic idealization of republicanism revealed incongruities in the new capital

From the ashes, a fertile opportunity for historicism – Review Symposium on Leys’s The ascent of affect

Ruth Leys’s book is a thorough survey of the unmanaged forest and scrubland of emotion research: a hodgepodge of paradigmatic ideas that amounts to so much kindling. To most of this, Leys holds a match and allows us to stand in awe at the conflagration. In an ideal world, the psychologists would be watching too. Emotion research in psychological bowers is the heir to an epistemological inertia born of force of personality. Leys’s book is a genealogy of ideas, yes, but it is also, and principally, a genealogy of academic clientelism, and of men (mostly) whose convictions, assumptions, arrogance, politics, and outright scientism have permitted, imposed, and policed two generations of faulty thinking. The jig is up

The Great Space Weather Event during February 1872 Recorded in East Asia

The study of historical great geomagnetic storms is crucial for assessing the possible risks to the technological infrastructure of a modern society, caused by extreme space-weather events. The normal benchmark has been the great geomagnetic storm of September 1859, the so-called "Carrington Event". However, there are numerous records of another great geomagnetic storm in February 1872. This storm, about 12 years after the Carrington Event, resulted in comparable magnetic disturbances and auroral displays over large areas of the Earth. We have revisited this great geomagnetic storm in terms of the auroral and sunspot records in the historical documents from East Asia. In particular, we have surveyed the auroral records from East Asia and estimated the equatorward boundary of the auroral oval to be near 24.3 deg invariant latitude (ILAT), on the basis that the aurora was seen near the zenith at Shanghai (20 deg magnetic latitude, MLAT). These results confirm that this geomagnetic storm of February 1872 was as extreme as the Carrington Event, at least in terms of the equatorward motion of the auroral oval. Indeed, our results support the interpretation of the simultaneous auroral observations made at Bombay (10 deg MLAT). The East Asian auroral records have indicated extreme brightness, suggesting unusual precipitation of high-intensity, low-energy electrons during this geomagnetic storm. We have compared the duration of the East Asian auroral displays with magnetic observations in Bombay and found that the auroral displays occurred in the initial phase, main phase, and early recovery phase of the magnetic storm.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal on 31 May 201

Securitizations Are Dead - Long Live Securitizations?

After the financial markets slumped worldwide in 2008, securitizations were seen as a major cause of the conflagration. The securitization market dried up because this financial instrument was no longer trusted. At the time, no one thought securitizations had any future as a financial innovation. However, just three years after the financial meltdown, the securitization market in the US has made a recovery, despite its continued systemic risks. There is still no unified regulatory framework nor binding transparency. Hardly anything has been learnt from the financial crisis of 2008.securitization, financial market crisis, ratings

Performance and Safety to NAVSEA Instruction 9310.1A of Lithium-thionyl Chloride Reserve Batteries

The design, performance and safety of a fully engineered, selfcontained Li/SOCl2 battery as the power source for underwater applications. In addition to meeting the performance standards of the end user this battery is successfully tested under the rigorous safety conditions of NAVSEA Instruction 9310.1A for use on land, aircraft and surface ships

Build n burn: using fire as a tool to evoke, educate and entertain

The visceral nature of fire was exploited in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods in Britain by the burning down of timber buildings and monuments, as well as the cremation of the dead. These big fires would have created memories, perhaps even ‘flashbulb memories’, and this powerful mnemonic aspect of fire was likely of significance to the social and religious lives of individuals, families and communities. This article introduces the Build N Burn concept, where fires are recreated and deployed alongside public talks, performances, experimental archaeology activities and demonstrations by craft specialists to create memorable and informative public events. Three public engagements to date, two on the island of Arran and one in Caithness, both Scotland, are described here. In each case, we constructed replica timber structures inspired by local prehistoric sites, and then burned these down in a free-to-attend public event at dusk, evoking the culmination of a prehistoric festival. Build N Burn has, at its core, the principle of delivering memorable experiences for the public inspired by prehistory, underpinned by research and experiment, using events which draw on cross-sectoral collaboration and working with local communities. This article offers a critical reflection on work to date, and discusses future potential for such activities, utilizing the mnemonic power and transformational potential of fire for public engagement and experimental archaeology

Apocalypses and the Sage. Different Endings of the World in Seneca

This paper deals with apocalypse, intended as a revelation or prediction related to the end of the world, in Seneca’s prose work. The descriptions and readings of this event appear to be quite different from each other. My analysis will follow two main directions. Firstly, I will show the human side of the question, focussing on the condition of the sage facing the universal ruin in the context of the macroscopic narrative structure of most passages, and on the differences between the Epicurean and the Stoic view on this point. Secondly, I will turn to the descriptions of the end of the world which we can find in the Naturales Quaestiones. I will argue that Seneca’s choice of flood or conflagration as representations for the apocalypse are not haphazard, but may be motivated by a subtle political narrative, and thus linked to the Stoic struggle for taking part in the governing of the state. In particular, the end of book three represents a flood which probably alludes to Tiber’s floods.Keywords: Seneca; Final flood; ekpyrosis; End of the world; Fire of Rome; Tiber’s flood.Este artículo trata del apocalipsis, entendido como una revelación o predicción relacionada con el fin del mundo, en las obras en prosa de Séneca. Las descripciones y lecturas de este evento parecen ser bastante diferentes entre sí. Mi análisis seguirá dos direcciones principales. En primer lugar, mostraré el lado humano de la cuestión, centrándome en la condición del sabio frente a la ruina universal en el contexto de la estructura narrativa macroscópica de la mayoría de los pasajes, y en las diferencias entre el punto de vista epicúreo y el estoico en este punto. En segundo lugar, me referiré a las descripciones del fin del mundo que podemos encontrar en las Naturales Quaestiones. Argumentaré que la elección de Séneca de las representaciones de inundación o conflagración para el apocalipsis no es fortuita, sino que puede estar motivada por una sutil narrativa política y, por lo tanto, vinculada a la lucha estoica por tomar parte en el gobierno del Estado. En particular, el final del tercer libro representa una inundación que probablemente alude a las inundaciones del Tíber

Entertaining Satan: Why We Tolerate Terrorist Incitement

Words are dangerous. That is why governments sometimes want to suppress speech. The law of free speech reflects a settled decision that, at the time that law was adopted, the dangers were worth tolerating. But people keep dreaming up nasty new things to do with speech. Recently, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other terrorist organizations have employed a small army of Iagos on the internet to recruit new instruments of destruction. Some of what they have posted is protected speech under present First Amendment law. In response, scholars have suggested that there should be some new exception to the law of free speech. Thus far, no workable exception has been suggested