Anthropomorphizing The Cosmos

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Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos

Prudence M. Rice
Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos Book PDF

Author : Prudence M. Rice
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2019-04-14
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781607328896

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Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos by Prudence M. Rice Pdf

Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos explores the sociocultural significance of more than three hundred Middle Preclassic Maya figurines uncovered at the site of Nixtun-Ch'ich' on Lake Petén Itzá in northern Guatemala. In this careful, holistic, and detailed analysis of the Petén lakes figurines—hand-modeled, terracotta anthropomorphic fragments, animal figures, and musical instruments such as whistles and ocarinas—Prudence M. Rice engages with a broad swath of theory and comparative data on Maya ritual practice. Presenting original data, Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos offers insight into the synchronous appearance of fired-clay figurines with the emergence of societal complexity in and beyond Mesoamerica. Rice situates these Preclassic Maya figurines in the broader context of Mesoamerican human figural representation, identifies possible connections between anthropomorphic figurine heads and the origins of calendrics and other writing in Mesoamerica, and examines the role of anthropomorphic figurines and zoomorphic musical instruments in Preclassic Maya ritual. The volume shows how community rituals involving the figurines helped to mitigate the uncertainties of societal transitions, including the beginnings of settled agricultural life, the emergence of social differentiation and inequalities, and the centralization of political power and decision-making in the Petén lowlands. Literature on Maya ritual, cosmology, and specialized artifacts has traditionally focused on the Classic period, with little research centering on the very beginnings of Maya sociopolitical organization and ideological beliefs in the Middle Preclassic. Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos is a welcome contribution to the understanding of the earliest Maya and will be significant to Mayanists and Mesoamericanists as well as nonspecialists with interest in these early figurines

The Soul in the Stone

Ashley Curtis
The Soul in the Stone Book PDF

Author : Ashley Curtis
Publisher : Kommode Verlag
Page : 191 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2023-03-14
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 9783905574050

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The Soul in the Stone by Ashley Curtis Pdf

The currently unfolding ecological catastrophe is the result of more than just deforestation, fossil fuel extraction, and factory farming. Behind the immediate causes of the degradation of our environment lies something else: a deeply rooted but ultimately absurd understanding of our place in the universe. Through a series of encounters with a striking array of protagonists - from revolutionary physicists and embattled philosophers to subsistence hunters and Himalayan shamans - The Soul in the Stone exposes the incoherence of the barren, human-centered perspective dominant in most societies today. It recommends instead an alternative worldview: one that acknowledges and honors non-human experience and, precisely because it does, is both more logically consistent and more fulfilling. And might just save the planet.

Keywords for Environmental Studies

Joni Adamson,William A. Gleason,David Pellow
Keywords for Environmental Studies Book PDF

Author : Joni Adamson,William A. Gleason,David Pellow
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 253 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2016-02-26
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780814724446

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Keywords for Environmental Studies by Joni Adamson,William A. Gleason,David Pellow Pdf

Introduces key terms, quantitative and qualitative research, debates, and histories for Environmental and Nature Studies Understandings of “nature” have expanded and changed, but the word has not lost importance at any level of discourse: it continues to hold a key place in conversations surrounding thought, ethics, and aesthetics. Nowhere is this more evident than in the interdisciplinary field of environmental studies. Keywords for Environmental Studies analyzes the central terms and debates currently structuring the most exciting research in and across environmental studies, including the environmental humanities, environmental social sciences, sustainability sciences, and the sciences of nature. Sixty essays from humanists, social scientists, and scientists, each written about a single term, reveal the broad range of quantitative and qualitative approaches critical to the state of the field today. From “ecotourism” to “ecoterrorism,” from “genome” to “species,” this accessible volume illustrates the ways in which scholars are collaborating across disciplinary boundaries to reach shared understandings of key issues—such as extreme weather events or increasing global environmental inequities—in order to facilitate the pursuit of broad collective goals and actions. This book underscores the crucial realization that every discipline has a stake in the central environmental questions of our time, and that interdisciplinary conversations not only enhance, but are requisite to environmental studies today. Visit keywords.nyupress.org for online essays, teaching resources, and more.

A Priori

Gregory Schrempp
A Priori Book PDF

Author : Gregory Schrempp
Publisher : McGill-Queen's University Press
Page : 315 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2012-03-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780773587472

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A Priori by Gregory Schrempp Pdf

Humans have long been captivated by mythology and theorized about the lessons embedded in their tales. In The Ancient Mythology of Modern Science, Gregory Schrempp brings a mythologist's critical eye to popular science writing, a flourishing genre that forms a key link between science and popular consciousness. Schrempp argues that the defining and appealing characteristic of this genre is not simplification or "dumbing-down," but the attempt to parlay scientific findings into aesthetically and morally compelling visions that offer guidance for humanity. Schrempp argues that in striving for inspirational visions, popular science invariably reproduces - with ingenious invention - the structures, strategies, and cosmic imagery that infuse traditional mythological views of the cosmos. His claim challenges the widespread tendency to separate myth and science. Schrempp considers both the intellectual history of mythography and concrete examples from world mythologies including ancient Greek, Oceanic, and Native American. Schrempp's explorations span a range of fields, including astronomy, evolutionary biology, and cognitive science. In a world informed, transformed, and sometimes mesmerized by science, this book offers the first in-depth study of popular science writing from a mythologist's perspective.

Ancient Mythology of Modern Science

Gregory Allen Schrempp
Ancient Mythology of Modern Science Book PDF

Author : Gregory Allen Schrempp
Publisher : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780773539891

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Ancient Mythology of Modern Science by Gregory Allen Schrempp Pdf

Examining the nature of myth-making and its surprising appearance in popular science writing.

Metaphor and Discourse

A. Musolff,J. Zinken
Metaphor and Discourse Book PDF

Author : A. Musolff,J. Zinken
Publisher : Springer
Page : 269 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2009-03-26
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780230594647

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Metaphor and Discourse by A. Musolff,J. Zinken Pdf

The contributors present a coherent collection of work on the functioning of metaphor in public discourse and related discourse areas from a broadly cognitive-linguistic background, providing a state-of-the-art overview of research on the discursive grounding of metaphor from a cognitive-linguistic perspective.

Radiant Circles

Alder MoonOak
Radiant Circles Book PDF

Author : Alder MoonOak
Publisher : John Hunt Publishing
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2022-09-30
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781803410630

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Radiant Circles by Alder MoonOak Pdf

Radiant Circles is an examination of both Ecospirituality and the Church of all Worlds, a specific NeoPagan organisation inspired by a science fiction novel and founded by Oberon Zell, a practicing Wizard. The book ranges widely in its historical, cultural and theological exploration of the Church and discusses its role and place as both as a unique Neo-Pagan and futurist New Religious Movement.

Faces in the Clouds

Stewart Elliott Guthrie
Faces in the Clouds Book PDF

Author : Stewart Elliott Guthrie
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 1995-04-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780190282745

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Faces in the Clouds by Stewart Elliott Guthrie Pdf

Religion is universal human culture. No phenomenon is more widely shared or more intensely studied, yet there is no agreement on what religion is. Now, in Faces in the Clouds, anthropologist Stewart Guthrie provides a provocative definition of religion in a bold and persuasive new theory. Guthrie says religion can best be understood as systematic anthropomorphism--that is, the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman things and events. Many writers see anthropomorphism as common or even universal in religion, but few think it is central. To Guthrie, however, it is fundamental. Religion, he writes, consists of seeing the world as humanlike. As Guthrie shows, people find a wide range of humanlike beings plausible: Gods, spirits, abominable snowmen, HAL the computer, Chiquita Banana. We find messages in random events such as earthquakes, weather, and traffic accidents. We say a fire "rages," a storm "wreaks vengeance," and waters "lie still." Guthrie says that our tendency to find human characteristics in the nonhuman world stems from a deep-seated perceptual strategy: in the face of pervasive (if mostly unconscious) uncertainty about what we see, we bet on the most meaningful interpretation we can. If we are in the woods and see a dark shape that might be a bear or a boulder, for example, it is good policy to think it is a bear. If we are mistaken, we lose little, and if we are right, we gain much. So, Guthrie writes, in scanning the world we always look for what most concerns us--livings things, and especially, human ones. Even animals watch for human attributes, as when birds avoid scarecrows. In short, we all follow the principle--better safe than sorry. Marshalling a wealth of evidence from anthropology, cognitive science, philosophy, theology, advertising, literature, art, and animal behavior, Guthrie offers a fascinating array of examples to show how this perceptual strategy pervades secular life and how it characterizes religious experience. Challenging the very foundations of religion, Faces in the Clouds forces us to take a new look at this fundamental element of human life.

Science, Bread, and Circuses

Gregory Schrempp
Science Bread and Circuses Book PDF

Author : Gregory Schrempp
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2014-10-28
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781492017042

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Science, Bread, and Circuses by Gregory Schrempp Pdf

In Science, Bread, and Circuses, Gregory Schrempp brings a folkloristic viewpoint to the topic of popular science, calling attention to the persistence of folkloric form, idiom, and worldview within the increasingly important dimension of popular consciousness defined by the impact of science. Schrempp considers specific examples of texts in which science interpreters employ folkloric tropes—myths, legends, epics, proverbs, spectacles, and a variety of gestures from religious tradition—to lend credibility and appeal to their messages. In each essay he explores an instance of science popularization rooted in the quotidian round: variations of proverb formulas in monumental measurements, invocations of science heroes like saints or other inspirational figures, the battle of mythos and logos in parenting and academe, how the meme has become embroiled in quasi-religious treatments of the problem of evil, and a range of other tropes of folklore drafted to serve the exposition of science. Science, Bread, and Circuses places the relationship of science and folklore at the very center of folkloristic inquiry by exploring a range of attempts to rephrase and thus domesticate scientific findings and claims in folklorically imbued popular forms.

The Cognitive Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism

Gabriella Airenti,Marco Cruciani,Alessio Plebe
The Cognitive Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism Book PDF

Author : Gabriella Airenti,Marco Cruciani,Alessio Plebe
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2019-10-04
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9782889630387

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The Cognitive Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism by Gabriella Airenti,Marco Cruciani,Alessio Plebe Pdf

The attribution of human traits to non-humans - animals, artifacts or even natural events - is an attitude, deeply grounded in human mind. It is frequent to see children addressing dolls and figures as if they were alive. Adults often attribute mental states and emotions to animals. In everyday life humans speak of events such as fires as if they possessed some form of intentionality, a behavior sometimes shared also by scientists. Furthermore, a systematized form of anthropomorphism underlies most religions. The pervasiveness of this phenomenon makes it a particularly interesting object of psychological enquiry. Psychologists have set out to understand which aspects of human mind are involved in this behavior, its motivations and the circumstances favoring its enactment. Moreover, there is an ongoing debate among scientists about the merits or harm of anthropomorphism in the scientific study of animal behavior and in scientific discourse. Despite the interest and the specificity of the topic most of the relevant studies are scattered across disciplines and have not built a systematic research framework. This observation has motivated the collection of articles presented here, under the unifying perspective of the cognitive underpinnings of anthropomorphism. Within this general umbrella, the authors included in this e-book have explored the issues mentioned above from different points of view. From their work it emerges that far from being the result of naive beliefs, the exercise of anthropomorphism involves a multiplicity of mental abilities including perception and imagination. They also show that the context and the interactive situation are crucial to understanding this phenomenon. Some authors analyze the relationship between anthropomorphization and theory of mind abilities both in typical and atypical populations. Finally, others contributions have identified possible benefits deriving from the natural attitude to anthropomorphize, as a design philosophy for robots and artifacts in general, or as a useful heuristic in the scientific study of animal behavior.

Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands

Brigitte Faugère,Christopher Beekman
Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands Book PDF

Author : Brigitte Faugère,Christopher Beekman
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 419 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2020-02-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781607329954

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Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands by Brigitte Faugère,Christopher Beekman Pdf

In Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands, Latin American, North American, and European researchers explore the meanings and functions of two- and three-dimensional human representations in the Precolumbian communities of the Mexican highlands. Reading these anthropomorphic representations from an ontological perspective, the contributors demonstrate the rich potential of anthropomorphic imagery to elucidate personhood, conceptions of the body, and the relationship of human beings to other entities, nature, and the cosmos. Using case studies covering a broad span of highlands prehistory—Classic Teotihuacan divine iconography, ceramic figures in Late Formative West Mexico, Epiclassic Puebla-Tlaxcala costumed figurines, earth sculptures in Prehispanic Oaxaca, Early Postclassic Tula symbolic burials, Late Postclassic representations of Aztec Kings, and more—contributors examine both Mesoamerican representations of the body in changing social, political, and economic conditions and the multivalent emic meanings of these representations. They explore the technology of artifact production, the body’s place in social structures and rituals, the language of the body as expressed in postures and gestures, hybrid and transformative combinations of human and animal bodies, bodily representations of social categories, body modification, and the significance of portable and fixed representations. Anthropomorphic Imagery in the Mesoamerican Highlands provides a wide range of insights into Mesoamerican concepts of personhood and identity, the constitution of the human body, and human relationships with gods and ancestors. It will be of great value to students and scholars of the archaeology and art history of Mexico. Contributors: Claire Billard, Danièle Dehouve, Cynthia Kristan-Graham, Melissa Logan, Sylvie Peperstraete, Patricia Plunket, Mari Carmen Serra Puche, Juliette Testard, Andrew Turner, Gabriela Uruñuela, Marcus Winter

To Become a God

Michael J. Puett
To Become a God Book PDF

Author : Michael J. Puett
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 378 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2020-10-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781684170418

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To Become a God by Michael J. Puett Pdf

Evidence from Shang oracle bones to memorials submitted to Western Han emperors attests to a long-lasting debate in early China over the proper relationship between humans and gods. One pole of the debate saw the human and divine realms as separate and agonistic and encouraged divination to determine the will of the gods and sacrifices to appease and influence them. The opposite pole saw the two realms as related and claimed that humans could achieve divinity and thus control the cosmos. This wide-ranging book reconstructs this debate and places within their contemporary contexts the rival claims concerning the nature of the cosmos and the spirits, the proper demarcation between the human and the divine realms, and the types of power that humans and spirits can exercise. It is often claimed that the worldview of early China was unproblematically monistic and that hence China had avoided the tensions between gods and humans found in the West. By treating the issues of cosmology, sacrifice, and self-divinization in a historical and comparative framework that attends to the contemporary significance of specific arguments, Michael J. Puett shows that the basic cosmological assumptions of ancient China were the subject of far more debate than is generally thought.

The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos

Michael Rowan-Robinson
The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos Book PDF

Author : Michael Rowan-Robinson
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780192862167

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The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos by Michael Rowan-Robinson Pdf

How old is the universe? How far away are the galaxies and how fast are they travelling away from us? How do galaxies form? Michael Rowan-Robinson answers these and many more questions in a highly original and intringuing way. He encapsulates our current knowledge (both what we do and don't know) of the origin and the nature of the universe into nine numbers, or independant characteristics. The complex ideas that underpin modern cosmology such as the origin of the elements and quantum therory are explained clearly and accessibly, and more speculative ideas like inflation and superstrings are also covered, but with a refreshing scepticism. Rowan-Robinson ends the book with a look to the future, predicting that with further space missions we will accurately know the nine numbers described in this book by the year 2015, but concludes that the origin of the Big Bang itself will still be a mystery by the end of the twenty-first century, and perhaps even in the year 3000.

The Riddle of Creation

Ruth Wehlau
The Riddle of Creation Book PDF

Author : Ruth Wehlau
Publisher : New York : Peter Lang
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Foreign Language Study
ISBN : UOM:39015041757678

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The Riddle of Creation by Ruth Wehlau Pdf

The Creation is one of the most important themes in Old English poetry. The Riddle of Creation approaches the Creation through its metaphors, focussing especially on images relating to architecture and the body. These are shown to form organized structures extending throughout the poetry, structures which are ironically inverted in the Exeter Book riddles. Overall, these metaphors reveal not only Anglo-Saxon notions about the created world, but fundamental concepts about the nature of poetic creation as well.

Literature and Encyclopedism in Enlightenment Britain

Seth Rudy
Literature and Encyclopedism in Enlightenment Britain Book PDF

Author : Seth Rudy
Publisher : Springer
Page : 261 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2014-10-02
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9781137411549

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Literature and Encyclopedism in Enlightenment Britain by Seth Rudy Pdf

Literature and Encyclopedism in Enlightenment Britain tells the story of long-term aspirations to comprehend, record, and disseminate complete knowledge of the world. It draws on a wide range of literary and non-literary works from the early modern era and British Enlightenment.