William Blake, the Single Vision, and Newton's Sleep

William Blake, the Single Vision, and Newton's Sleep

Author: Keith Davies

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-27

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1000913368

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The history and philosophy of scientific ideas and the role poiēsis and imagination play in our understanding of science and progress are widely explored in this book. By examining the views of William Blake and other poets in the context of twentieth-century philosophers Hannah Arendt, Jacob Bronowski, Martin Heidegger, Bruno Latour and Karl Popper, amongst others, the book takes an eclectic approach drawing on examples from biology, history, literature, philosophy and economics, arguing for the reestablishment of imagination as a central attribute of science that may help to resolve some of our most pressing ecological problems as seen in the context of science and technology studies and what is loosely developing into the discipline of environmental humanities. Today, influential scientists looking at consciousness dismiss imagination regarding it at best as a mere epiphenomenon, a ghost in the machine, or at worst non-existent and to be denied. In this book, Keith G. Davies, who sees C. P. Snow’s debate on the separation of the arts and sciences as alive and well, traces the schism back to Plato but more importantly to the seventeenth century and David Hume’s removal of imagination in the conjunction between our observation of causes and their effects. Through extensive research and use of poetry, this book offers an alternate understanding of science with imagination and its continued significance in today’s world. This book is an excellent reference book for postgraduate students, professional researchers, William Blake scholars and the pejoratively labelled interested laymen with concerns in ecology and environmental humanities through offering a new perspective on the history of science and the role of imagination within this field.


Book Synopsis William Blake, the Single Vision, and Newton's Sleep by : Keith Davies

Download or read book William Blake, the Single Vision, and Newton's Sleep written by Keith Davies and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-27 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history and philosophy of scientific ideas and the role poiēsis and imagination play in our understanding of science and progress are widely explored in this book. By examining the views of William Blake and other poets in the context of twentieth-century philosophers Hannah Arendt, Jacob Bronowski, Martin Heidegger, Bruno Latour and Karl Popper, amongst others, the book takes an eclectic approach drawing on examples from biology, history, literature, philosophy and economics, arguing for the reestablishment of imagination as a central attribute of science that may help to resolve some of our most pressing ecological problems as seen in the context of science and technology studies and what is loosely developing into the discipline of environmental humanities. Today, influential scientists looking at consciousness dismiss imagination regarding it at best as a mere epiphenomenon, a ghost in the machine, or at worst non-existent and to be denied. In this book, Keith G. Davies, who sees C. P. Snow’s debate on the separation of the arts and sciences as alive and well, traces the schism back to Plato but more importantly to the seventeenth century and David Hume’s removal of imagination in the conjunction between our observation of causes and their effects. Through extensive research and use of poetry, this book offers an alternate understanding of science with imagination and its continued significance in today’s world. This book is an excellent reference book for postgraduate students, professional researchers, William Blake scholars and the pejoratively labelled interested laymen with concerns in ecology and environmental humanities through offering a new perspective on the history of science and the role of imagination within this field.


Faction Paradox

Faction Paradox

Author: Daniel O'Mahony

Publisher:

Published: 2008-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9780473124984

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Lately cannonballs have flown their arcs, leaving the crystal sky unbroken, while on Earth their traces are all too visible. Yet though Heaven has never seemed so far away, the divine is terribly closer. War on Earth presages War in Heaven; the struggle between the holy houses of Christ and their eternal Adversary has erupted among the living. These are the signs of the last days: in 1651, a dead angel is found in a tree in Lincolnshire and a nymph rises from the waters of Kent; in 1642, a dying man is miraculously healed in the grave; in 1665, uncanny skull-masked doctors descend upon a plague house; in 1683, the French secret service unveil mirrors that show the futures; in 1671, Aphra Behn - she-spy and poetesse - infiltrates a gathering of alchemists; in 1649, the English kill their king, and history begins... NEWTONS SLEEP by Daniel O'Mahony is the first Faction Paradox novel to be released by Random Static. Though set in and building on the Faction Paradox universe, it is a completely self-contained story that does not require any familiarity with previous Faction publications.


Book Synopsis Faction Paradox by : Daniel O'Mahony

Download or read book Faction Paradox written by Daniel O'Mahony and published by . This book was released on 2008-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lately cannonballs have flown their arcs, leaving the crystal sky unbroken, while on Earth their traces are all too visible. Yet though Heaven has never seemed so far away, the divine is terribly closer. War on Earth presages War in Heaven; the struggle between the holy houses of Christ and their eternal Adversary has erupted among the living. These are the signs of the last days: in 1651, a dead angel is found in a tree in Lincolnshire and a nymph rises from the waters of Kent; in 1642, a dying man is miraculously healed in the grave; in 1665, uncanny skull-masked doctors descend upon a plague house; in 1683, the French secret service unveil mirrors that show the futures; in 1671, Aphra Behn - she-spy and poetesse - infiltrates a gathering of alchemists; in 1649, the English kill their king, and history begins... NEWTONS SLEEP by Daniel O'Mahony is the first Faction Paradox novel to be released by Random Static. Though set in and building on the Faction Paradox universe, it is a completely self-contained story that does not require any familiarity with previous Faction publications.


Blake: Selected Poems

Blake: Selected Poems

Author: William Blake

Publisher: Heinemann

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9780435150822

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The books in this A Level poetry series contain a glossary and notes on each page. The approach encourages students to develop their own responses to the poems, and an A Level Chief Examiner offers exam tips. This text contains selected poems of William Blake.


Book Synopsis Blake: Selected Poems by : William Blake

Download or read book Blake: Selected Poems written by William Blake and published by Heinemann. This book was released on 1996 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The books in this A Level poetry series contain a glossary and notes on each page. The approach encourages students to develop their own responses to the poems, and an A Level Chief Examiner offers exam tips. This text contains selected poems of William Blake.


The Holistic Inspirations of Physics

The Holistic Inspirations of Physics

Author: Val Dusek

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780813526355

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While many books have claimed parallels between modern physics and Eastern philosophy, none have dealt with the historical influences of both Chinese traditional thought and non-mechanistic, holistic western thought on the philosophies of the scientists who developed electromagnetic field theory. In The Holistic Inspirations of Physics, R. Valentine Dusek asks: to what extent is classical field theory a product of organic and holistic philosophies and frameworks? Electromagnetic theory has been greatly influenced by holistic worldviews, Dusek posits, and he highlights three alternative scientific systems that made the development of electromagnetic theory possible: medieval Chinese science, Western Renaissance occultism, and the German romantic traditions. He situates these "alternative" approaches in their social context and background, and traces their connection with components of "accepted" physical science in relation to a number of social movements and philosophical theories. Readers will learn of specific contributions made by these alternative traditions, such as the Chinese inventing the compass and discovering the earth's magnetic field and magnetic declination. Western alchemical ideas of active forces and "occult" influences contributed to Newton's theory of gravitation force as action at a distance, rather as a result of purely mechanical collisions and contact action. Dusek also describes the extent to which women's culture supplied (often without credit) the philosophical background ideas that were absorbed into mainstream field theory.


Book Synopsis The Holistic Inspirations of Physics by : Val Dusek

Download or read book The Holistic Inspirations of Physics written by Val Dusek and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While many books have claimed parallels between modern physics and Eastern philosophy, none have dealt with the historical influences of both Chinese traditional thought and non-mechanistic, holistic western thought on the philosophies of the scientists who developed electromagnetic field theory. In The Holistic Inspirations of Physics, R. Valentine Dusek asks: to what extent is classical field theory a product of organic and holistic philosophies and frameworks? Electromagnetic theory has been greatly influenced by holistic worldviews, Dusek posits, and he highlights three alternative scientific systems that made the development of electromagnetic theory possible: medieval Chinese science, Western Renaissance occultism, and the German romantic traditions. He situates these "alternative" approaches in their social context and background, and traces their connection with components of "accepted" physical science in relation to a number of social movements and philosophical theories. Readers will learn of specific contributions made by these alternative traditions, such as the Chinese inventing the compass and discovering the earth's magnetic field and magnetic declination. Western alchemical ideas of active forces and "occult" influences contributed to Newton's theory of gravitation force as action at a distance, rather as a result of purely mechanical collisions and contact action. Dusek also describes the extent to which women's culture supplied (often without credit) the philosophical background ideas that were absorbed into mainstream field theory.


My Business Is to Create

My Business Is to Create

Author: Eric G. Wilson

Publisher: University of Iowa Press

Published: 2011-05-01

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1587299917

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For William Blake, living is creating, conforming is death, and “the imagination . . . is the Human Existence itself.” But why are imagination and creation—so vital for Blake—essential for becoming human? And what is imagination? What is creation? How do we create? Blake had answers for these questions, both in word and in deed, answers that serve as potent teachings for aspiring writers and accomplished ones alike. Eric G. Wilson’s My Business Is to Create emulates Blake, presenting the great figure’s theory of creativity as well as the practices it implies. In both his life and his art, Blake provided a powerful example of creativity at any cost—in the face of misunderstanding, neglect, loneliness, poverty, even accusations of insanity. Just as Los cries out in Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, “I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Man's; / I will not Reason and Compare: my business is to Create,” generations of writers and artists as diverse as John Ruskin, William Butler Yeats, Allen Ginsberg, Philip K. Dick, songwriter Patti Smith, the avant-garde filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, and the underground comic-book artist R. Crumb have taken Blake’s creed as inspiration. Unwilling to cede his vision, Blake did more than simply produce iconoclastic poems and paintings; he also cleared a path toward spiritual and ethical enlightenment. To fashion powerful art is to realize the God within and thus to feel connected with enduring vitality and abundant generosity. This is Blake’s everlasting gospel, distilled here in an artist’s handbook of interest to scholars, writing teachers, and those who have made writing their way of life. My Business Is to Create is indispensable for all serious artists who want to transform their lives into art and make their art more alive.


Book Synopsis My Business Is to Create by : Eric G. Wilson

Download or read book My Business Is to Create written by Eric G. Wilson and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For William Blake, living is creating, conforming is death, and “the imagination . . . is the Human Existence itself.” But why are imagination and creation—so vital for Blake—essential for becoming human? And what is imagination? What is creation? How do we create? Blake had answers for these questions, both in word and in deed, answers that serve as potent teachings for aspiring writers and accomplished ones alike. Eric G. Wilson’s My Business Is to Create emulates Blake, presenting the great figure’s theory of creativity as well as the practices it implies. In both his life and his art, Blake provided a powerful example of creativity at any cost—in the face of misunderstanding, neglect, loneliness, poverty, even accusations of insanity. Just as Los cries out in Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, “I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Man's; / I will not Reason and Compare: my business is to Create,” generations of writers and artists as diverse as John Ruskin, William Butler Yeats, Allen Ginsberg, Philip K. Dick, songwriter Patti Smith, the avant-garde filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, and the underground comic-book artist R. Crumb have taken Blake’s creed as inspiration. Unwilling to cede his vision, Blake did more than simply produce iconoclastic poems and paintings; he also cleared a path toward spiritual and ethical enlightenment. To fashion powerful art is to realize the God within and thus to feel connected with enduring vitality and abundant generosity. This is Blake’s everlasting gospel, distilled here in an artist’s handbook of interest to scholars, writing teachers, and those who have made writing their way of life. My Business Is to Create is indispensable for all serious artists who want to transform their lives into art and make their art more alive.


Blake and Lucretius

Blake and Lucretius

Author: Joshua Schouten de Jel

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-11-23

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 3030888886

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This book demonstrates the way in which William Blake aligned his idiosyncratic concept of the Selfhood – the lens through which the despiritualised subject beholds the material world – with the atomistic materialism of the Epicurean school as it was transmitted through the first-century BC Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura. By addressing this philosophical debt, this study sets out a threefold re-evaluation of Blake’s work: to clarify the classical stream of Blake’s philosophical heritage through Lucretius; to return Blake to his historical moment, a thirty-year period from 1790 to 1820 which has been described as the second Lucretian moment in England; and to employ a new exegetical model for understanding the phenomenological parameters and epistemological frameworks of Blake’s mythopoeia. Accordingly, it is revealed that Blake was not only aware of classical atomistic cosmogony and sense-based epistemology but that he systematically mapped postlapsarian existence onto an Epicurean framework.


Book Synopsis Blake and Lucretius by : Joshua Schouten de Jel

Download or read book Blake and Lucretius written by Joshua Schouten de Jel and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-11-23 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book demonstrates the way in which William Blake aligned his idiosyncratic concept of the Selfhood – the lens through which the despiritualised subject beholds the material world – with the atomistic materialism of the Epicurean school as it was transmitted through the first-century BC Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura. By addressing this philosophical debt, this study sets out a threefold re-evaluation of Blake’s work: to clarify the classical stream of Blake’s philosophical heritage through Lucretius; to return Blake to his historical moment, a thirty-year period from 1790 to 1820 which has been described as the second Lucretian moment in England; and to employ a new exegetical model for understanding the phenomenological parameters and epistemological frameworks of Blake’s mythopoeia. Accordingly, it is revealed that Blake was not only aware of classical atomistic cosmogony and sense-based epistemology but that he systematically mapped postlapsarian existence onto an Epicurean framework.


Newton's Sleep

Newton's Sleep

Author: R. Tallis

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1995-09-27

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0230379249

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'Vast in its intellectual scope, it should induce not so much sleep as controversy, whether literary or scientific, philosophical or political. It skims the oceans of academe in a manner accessible to the educated public, informed and cogently argued, stylistically dense...' - Sandra Goldbeck-Wood, British Medical Journal `Tallis can, and frequently does, write extremely well. He also writes with considerable passion...Raymond Tallis, is perhaps best seen as an exceptionally interesting and broad-minded heir to Huxley, preaching the cause of the Church Scientific.' - Richard Webster, Times Literary Supplement Reviews of Not Saussure and The Explicit Animal: Not Saussure - 'I greatly enjoyed it...' - Bernard Bergonzi 'The Explicit Animal - '...his books are genuine contributions to professional debate...' - Stephen R.L. Clarke, Times Literary Supplement Newton's Sleep examines the complementary roles of science and art in human life. Science has been criticised for being at best useful but spiritually derelict, and art for attempting to answer the spiritual needs of humankind while ignoring the material needs of millions who live in want. Newton's Sleep deals with the charges that science is spiritually empty and that art fails in its civilising mission by relating these aspects of human culture to the physical and metaphysical hungers of an explicit animal who lives in both the Kingdom of Means and the Kingdom of Ends. 'Tallis can, and frequently does, write extremely well. He also writes with considerable passion...Tallis...is perhaps best seen as an exceptionally interesting and broad-minded heir to Huxley, preaching the cause of the Church Scientific...' Richard Webster


Book Synopsis Newton's Sleep by : R. Tallis

Download or read book Newton's Sleep written by R. Tallis and published by Springer. This book was released on 1995-09-27 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Vast in its intellectual scope, it should induce not so much sleep as controversy, whether literary or scientific, philosophical or political. It skims the oceans of academe in a manner accessible to the educated public, informed and cogently argued, stylistically dense...' - Sandra Goldbeck-Wood, British Medical Journal `Tallis can, and frequently does, write extremely well. He also writes with considerable passion...Raymond Tallis, is perhaps best seen as an exceptionally interesting and broad-minded heir to Huxley, preaching the cause of the Church Scientific.' - Richard Webster, Times Literary Supplement Reviews of Not Saussure and The Explicit Animal: Not Saussure - 'I greatly enjoyed it...' - Bernard Bergonzi 'The Explicit Animal - '...his books are genuine contributions to professional debate...' - Stephen R.L. Clarke, Times Literary Supplement Newton's Sleep examines the complementary roles of science and art in human life. Science has been criticised for being at best useful but spiritually derelict, and art for attempting to answer the spiritual needs of humankind while ignoring the material needs of millions who live in want. Newton's Sleep deals with the charges that science is spiritually empty and that art fails in its civilising mission by relating these aspects of human culture to the physical and metaphysical hungers of an explicit animal who lives in both the Kingdom of Means and the Kingdom of Ends. 'Tallis can, and frequently does, write extremely well. He also writes with considerable passion...Tallis...is perhaps best seen as an exceptionally interesting and broad-minded heir to Huxley, preaching the cause of the Church Scientific...' Richard Webster


Glorious Incomprehensible

Glorious Incomprehensible

Author: Sheila A. Spector

Publisher: Bucknell University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 9780838754696

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Traces the evolution of hebraic etymologies and mystical grammars as indicators of a profound shift in Blake's subjective consciousness from the earliest prose tracts, worked on before 1790, to the last years of his life, when he was still completing 'Jerusalem'.


Book Synopsis Glorious Incomprehensible by : Sheila A. Spector

Download or read book Glorious Incomprehensible written by Sheila A. Spector and published by Bucknell University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the evolution of hebraic etymologies and mystical grammars as indicators of a profound shift in Blake's subjective consciousness from the earliest prose tracts, worked on before 1790, to the last years of his life, when he was still completing 'Jerusalem'.


Ursula K. Le Guin: Always Coming Home (LOA #315)

Ursula K. Le Guin: Always Coming Home (LOA #315)

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

Publisher: Library of America

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 1598536044

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Ursula K. Le Guin's richly-imagined vision of a post-apocalyptic California, in a newly expanded version prepared shortly before her death This fourth volume in the Library of America’s definitive Ursula K. Le Guin edition presents her most ambitious novel and finest achievement, a mid-career masterpiece that showcases her unique genius for world building. Framed as an anthropologist’s report on the Kesh, survivors of ecological catastrophe living in a future Napa Valley, Always Coming Home (1985) is an utterly original tapestry of history and myth, fable and poetry, story- telling and song. Prepared in close consultation with the author, this expanded edition features new material added just before her death, including for the first time two “missing” chapters of the Kesh novel Dangerous People. The volume con- cludes with a selection of Le guin’s essays about the novel’s genesis and larger aims, a note on its editorial and publication history, and an updated chronology of Le guin’s life and career. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.


Book Synopsis Ursula K. Le Guin: Always Coming Home (LOA #315) by : Ursula K. Le Guin

Download or read book Ursula K. Le Guin: Always Coming Home (LOA #315) written by Ursula K. Le Guin and published by Library of America. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ursula K. Le Guin's richly-imagined vision of a post-apocalyptic California, in a newly expanded version prepared shortly before her death This fourth volume in the Library of America’s definitive Ursula K. Le Guin edition presents her most ambitious novel and finest achievement, a mid-career masterpiece that showcases her unique genius for world building. Framed as an anthropologist’s report on the Kesh, survivors of ecological catastrophe living in a future Napa Valley, Always Coming Home (1985) is an utterly original tapestry of history and myth, fable and poetry, story- telling and song. Prepared in close consultation with the author, this expanded edition features new material added just before her death, including for the first time two “missing” chapters of the Kesh novel Dangerous People. The volume con- cludes with a selection of Le guin’s essays about the novel’s genesis and larger aims, a note on its editorial and publication history, and an updated chronology of Le guin’s life and career. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.


The Torn Book

The Torn Book

Author: Jason Allen Snart

Publisher: Susquehanna University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 9781575911090

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"The Torn Book: UnReading William Blake's Marginalia argues for the connection between British poet and painter William Blake's marginalia (the annotations he made in the volumes he owned and borrowed) and the role that often multivalent symbols like pens, writers, readers, and books play throughout his art." "The Torn Book pays particular attention to original Blake items, including the various annotated volumes housed at the Huntington Library, Houghton Library, Cambridge's University Library and Wren Library, Dr. Williams's Library, and the British Library, among others."--BOOK JACKET.


Book Synopsis The Torn Book by : Jason Allen Snart

Download or read book The Torn Book written by Jason Allen Snart and published by Susquehanna University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Torn Book: UnReading William Blake's Marginalia argues for the connection between British poet and painter William Blake's marginalia (the annotations he made in the volumes he owned and borrowed) and the role that often multivalent symbols like pens, writers, readers, and books play throughout his art." "The Torn Book pays particular attention to original Blake items, including the various annotated volumes housed at the Huntington Library, Houghton Library, Cambridge's University Library and Wren Library, Dr. Williams's Library, and the British Library, among others."--BOOK JACKET.