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In Defence of Science: Science, Technology, and Politics in Modern Society
by Jack GroveScience holds a central role in the modern world, yet its complex interrelationships with nature, technology, and politics are often misunderstood or seen from a false perspective. In a series of essays that make extensive use of original work by sociologists, historians, and philosophers of science, J.W. Grove explores the roles and relationships of science in modern technological society. Modern Science can be viewed from four related perspectives. It is an expression of human curiosity – a passion to understand the natural world: what it is made of, how it is put together, and how it works. It is a body of practice – a set of ways of finding out that distinguish it from other realms of inquiry. It is a profession – a body of men and women owing allegiance to the pursuit of knowledge – and for those people, a career. And it is a prescriptive enterprise in that the increase of scientific understanding makes it possible to put nature to use in new kinds of technology. Each of these aspects of science is today the focus of critical scrutiny and, often, outright hostility. With many examples, Grove exposes the threats to science today: its identification with technology, its subordination to the state, the false claims made in its name, and the popular intellectual forces that seek to denigrate it as a source of human understanding and progress.
In Defence of British India: Great Britain in the Middle East, 1775-1842
by Edward IngramFirst Published in 1984. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
In Defence of British India: Great Britain in the Middle East, 1775–1842 (Routledge Library Editions: Colonialism and Imperialism #34)
by Edward IngramIn Defence of British India (1984) illustrates the problems arising from the British need to defend an Indian empire against the fluctuations in the European balance of power, preferably by isolating the empire from the European political system. The strategies devised by Britain to forestall and later to counter the expansion of European empires into the Middle East are known as the Great Game, which began in 1798 in response to the French invasion of Egypt. Later, the British planned an offensive in the Middle East itself as a means by which to defend their Indian empire.
In Defence of Canada Volume I: From the Great War to the Great Depression
by James EayrsThe years from 1919 to 1935 were not years in which defence was of pressing importance to the majority of Canadian politicians, yet this does not mean that the history of Ottawa's defence policies in this period of 'the fire-proof house' is dull or trivial. Professor Eayrs has had access to most of the documents, files, and diaries of these years, and from them has evolved a fascinating and well-written account of the attitudes and thoughts - and personalities - dominant at this time. Included in this survey are the story of the expedition to Siberia, the first account of the birth of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the defensive campaign waged by Walter Hose for the survival of the Canadian Navy, the founding of General McNaughton's 'Royal Twenty-Centers,' and many other aspects of the military history of Canada in those years. Seen from the present day some episodes have, it must be admitted, a wry folly to them. The central thesis or moral that emerges from the work is that military and diplomatic considerations ought to be indissolubly combined in study and analysis as well as in formulation and execution.
In Defence of Canada Volume II: Appeasement and Rearmament
by James EayrsIn Defence of Canada: Appeasement and Rearmament is a companion and sequel to Eayrs' In Defence of Canada: From the Great War to the Great Depression (Toronto 1964). Like Volume I, Volume II rejects as outmoded and misleading the traditional division of national security policy into two compartments, one called foreign policy, the other, defence policy. Like Volume I, Volume II is meant to demonstrate that the military and diplomatic components of national security policy are, and ought to be, indissolubly combined, in study and analysis, as well as in formulation and execution. The emphasis in Volume II is mainly on the diplomatic: the tempo and importance of Canadian diplomacy steadily increase during the period with which it is concerned. That period opens with the Italian war aggression against Ethiopia in 1935. It closes in the late summer and early fall of 1940, as the twilight war becomes a total war.
In Defence of Canada Volume III: Peacemaking and Deterrence
by James EayrsThe first two volumes of this outstanding history of Canada's defence and foreign policy have drawn unanimous acclaim from scholars and critics alike. Richard Preston said of the first volume that is 'opens up a new chapter in Canadian historiography' and of the second that is 'amply lives up to the promise of the earlier epoch-making book.' Kenneth McNaught stated: 'There could not be more important reading for anyone trying to apprehend the tenacious traditions underlying our present position in world affairs.' The third volume has been described in Political Science Quarterly as 'a first class book – learned in content, lucid and witty in style.'
In Defence of Free Will: With other Philosophical Essays
by Campbell, C AFirst published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
In Defence of History
by Tom Stammers Nicholas PierceyRichard Evans wrote In Defence of History at a time when the historian's profession was coming under heavy attack as a result of the ‘cultural turn’ taken by the discipline during the late 1980s and the 1990s. Historians were being forced to face up to postmodern thinking, which argued that, because all texts were the product of biased writers who had incomplete information, none could be privileged above others. In this reading, there could be no objective history, merely the study of the texts themselves. While In Defence of History addresses all aspects of historical method, its key focus is on an extensive evaluation of this postmodern thinking. Evans judges the acceptability of the reasoning advanced by the postmodernists – and finds it badly wanting. He is strongly critical both of the relevance and of the adequacy of their arguments, seeking to show that, ultimately, they are guilty of failing to accept the logic of their own position. All texts are equally valid, or invalid, they suggest – while insisting that the products of their own school are in fact more ‘true’ than those of their opponents. Evans concludes by pointing out that this same argument could be advanced to suggest that the works of Holocaust deniers are just as valid as are those of historians who accept that the Nazis set out to commit genocide. So why, he demands, is no postmodernist willing to say as much? A devastating example of the usefulness of relentless evaluation.
In Defence of History
by Richard J. Evans&“A lucid, muscular, and often sly reflection&” on the worth and purpose of historical scholarship by the award-winning author of The Third Reich Trilogy (Kirkus).In this volume, the renowned historian Richard J. Evans offers a fervent and deeply insightful defense of his craft and its importance to civilization. At a time when fact and historical truth are under unprecedented assault, Evans shows us why history is necessary. Taking us into the historians&’ workshop, he offers a firsthand look at how good history gets written. In staunch opposition to the wilder claims of postmodern historians, Evans thoroughly dismantles the notion that a realistic grasp of history is impossible to attain. He then goes on to explain the deadly political dangers of losing a historical perspective on the way we live our lives. In the tradition of E.H. Carr&’s What Is History? and G.R. Elton&’s The Practice of History, Evans&’ In Defense of History delivers &“a model of lucid and intelligent historiographical analysis&” (The Guardian, UK).
In Defence of Lenin
by Rob Sewell & Alan WoodsJohn Reed, the author of Ten Days that Shook the World, once said that Lenin was the most loved and the most hated person alive. He was loved by tens of millions who wanted to change society, but hated by the ruling class and their apologists. As the leader of the Russian Revolution, Lenin was a man who changed the world. A convinced Marxist, he created the Bolshevik Party, the most revolutionary party in history. Lenin translated the ideas of Marxism into reality. It is now one hundred years since his death. The bourgeois historians continue to slander him and his ideas. The task of this book is to explain his real life and ideas, and to draw out the significance of Lenin. Given the ongoing capitalist crisis, his ideas are gaining an increasingly wide echo. In so many ways, Lenin is more relevant today than ever before. Over two volumes, this book traces Lenin’s life and explains his ideas, drawing on the colossal heritage of what he actually wrote and did. This book also features an appendix of Krupskaya’s writings on Lenin, a chronology and over 250 images.
In Defence of Naval Supremacy
by John Tetsuro SumidaSumida presents a provocative and authoritative revisionist history of the origins, nature and consequences of the "Dreadnought Revolution" of 1906. Based on intensive and extensive archival research, the book strives to explain vital financial and technical matters which enable readers to observe the complex interplay of fiscal, technical, strategic, and personal factors that shaped the course of British naval decision-making during the critical quarter century that preceded the outbreak of the First World War.
In Defence of Objectivity (Routledge Studies in Critical Realism)
by Andrew CollierFirst Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
In Defence of Open Society: The Legendary Philanthropist Tackles the Dangers We Must Face for the Survival of Civilisation
by George SorosGeorge Soros is among the world's most prominent public figures. He is one of the history's most successful investors and his philanthropy, led by the Open Society Foundations, has donated over $14 billion to promote democracy and human rights in more than 120 countries. But in recent years, Soros has become the focus of sustained right-wing attacks in the United States and around the world based on his commitment to open society, progressive politics and his Jewish background. In this brilliant and spirited book, Soros offers a compendium of his philosophy, a clarion call-to-arms for the ideals of an open society: freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights, social justice, and social responsibility as a universal idea. In this age of nationalism, populism, anti-Semitism, and the spread of authoritarian governments, Soros's mission to support open societies is as urgent as it is important.
In Defence of Our Humanity: Real Life as a United Nations Ambassador in a Troubled World (Springer Biographies)
by Stephen HillThis book is based on Stephen Hill’s direct experience working in the United Nations for many years as consultant and over a decade as full time Member of Staff—based in Indonesia and part-time in Paris, serving as United Nations Regional Director for Science for Asia and the Pacific as well as Principal Director and Ambassador of the United Nations Agency UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) across South East Asia. It was not always a quiet life. Stephen had to handle the negotiations and aftermath of two of his own UN staff taken hostage in 1996 for five months by freedom fighters into the jungles of West Papua; the May 1998 Revolution in Indonesia where he had to escape his house at 2.00am through mobs and fires while his own security staff had changed into civilian clothes and run off down the street to escape, then evacuate everyone else, but stay to report to the UN Security Council and liaise with the incoming Transition Government. In the early 2000s, Stephen needed to escape Indonesia, under UN Security instruction, from the terrorist organisation, Abu Sayyaf from Mindanao, the Southern Philippines, when they sent a Hit Squad down through Manado and across Sulawesi towards Jakarta to assassinate him in Jakarta because of his collaborative work throughout Mindanao’s previous fundamentalist Islamic conflict zones, amongst other things, bringing literacy to 7,000 villagers, mainly women, building nine radio stations with community support across religious lines, and introducing basic education into Islamic Schools previously teaching only the Koran and Arabic. This book captures all of this rather exciting life but delivers a message from experience—the Power of Community and Cultural Empowerment in successful United Nations Action to bring positive change into the world.
In Defence of Serendipity
by Seb OlmaIn Defence of Serendipity is a lively and buccaneering work of investigative philosophy, treating the origins of "serendipity, accident and sagacity", both as riddles and philosophical concepts that can be put to a future political use. Taking in Aristotle, LSD, Tony Blair and techno-mysticism, Olma challenges the prevailing faith in the benevolence of digital technology and the illegitimate equation of innovation and entrepreneurship, arguing instead that we must take responsibility for the care of society's digital infrastructure, and prevent its degeneration into an apparatus of marketing and finance. For although there is nothing wrong with marketing and finance per se, if they alone lead technological development, free of any discretionary political interference, the freedom to be exploited will be as much a part of the future as our ability to intervene freely in our lives, will be a thing of the past.
In Defence of Theatre: Aesthetic Practices and Social Interventions
by Kathleen Gallagher Barry FreemanWhy theatre now? Reflecting on the mix of challenges and opportunities that face theatre in communities that are necessarily becoming global in scope and technologically driven, In Defence of Theatre offers a range of passionate reflections on this important question.Kathleen Gallagher and Barry Freeman bring together nineteen playwrights, actors, directors, scholars, and educators who discuss the role that theatre can - and must - play in professional, community, and educational venues. Stepping back from their daily work, they offer scholarly research, artists' reflections, interviews, and creative texts that argue for theatre as a response to the political and cultural challenges emerging in the twenty-first century. Contributors address theatre's contribution to local and global politics of place, its power as an antidote to various modern social ailments, and its pursuit of equality. Of equal concern are the systematic and practical challenges that confront those involved in realizing theatre's full potential.
In Defence of the Faith
by James E. WadsworthJoaquim Marques de Araújo ardently defended the Portuguese Inquisition for fifty years, only to find himself sidelined and forgotten. In Defence of the Faith offers an insightful examination of one man's career as a comissário of the Portuguese Inquisition in Pernambuco, Brazil, from 1770 to 1820. James Wadsworth argues that as legal extensions of the inquisitors in Lisbon, the comissários played a role far superior to what their small numbers might suggest. They were not the psychopaths, fanatics, or secret network of spies so common in the popular imagination. Rather, they were the linchpins in the inquisitional system that policed the orthodoxy of the Catholic flock and qualified candidates for inquisitional office. Joaquim Marques's career demonstrates that comissários had considerable room to manoeuvre, though they remained distinctly vulnerable to social and political shifts in power. His story reveals an institution divided against itself, which proved unwilling or unable to support its men in the field. Consequently, Joaquim Marques's attempts to protect himself and the Inquisition from attack proved futile. He died a defeated man on the eve of the political, intellectual, and spiritual upheaval he had long predicted and resisted. In Defence of the Faith is a study of the decline of the old regime and the rise of a new order in late-colonial Brazil as experienced by an unbending agent of a once powerful institution that slowly collapsed during his lifetime.
In Defence of the Faith: Joaquim Marques de Araújo, a Comissário in the Age of Inquisitional Decline (McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Religion #2)
by James E. WadsworthJoaquim Marques de Araújo ardently defended the Portuguese Inquisition for fifty years, only to find himself sidelined and forgotten. In Defence of the Faith offers an insightful examination of one man's career as a comissário of the Portuguese Inquisition in Pernambuco, Brazil, from 1770 to 1820. James Wadsworth argues that as legal extensions of the inquisitors in Lisbon, the comissários played a role far superior to what their small numbers might suggest. They were not the psychopaths, fanatics, or secret network of spies so common in the popular imagination. Rather, they were the linchpins in the inquisitional system that policed the orthodoxy of the Catholic flock and qualified candidates for inquisitional office. Joaquim Marques's career demonstrates that comissários had considerable room to manoeuvre, though they remained distinctly vulnerable to social and political shifts in power. His story reveals an institution divided against itself, which proved unwilling or unable to support its men in the field. Consequently, Joaquim Marques's attempts to protect himself and the Inquisition from attack proved futile. He died a defeated man on the eve of the political, intellectual, and spiritual upheaval he had long predicted and resisted. In Defence of the Faith is a study of the decline of the old regime and the rise of a new order in late-colonial Brazil as experienced by an unbending agent of a once powerful institution that slowly collapsed during his lifetime.
In Defence of the Republic
by CiceroCicero (106-43BC) was the most brilliant orator in Classical history. Even one of the men who authorized his assassination, the Emperor Octavian, admitted to his grandson that Cicero was: 'an eloquent man, my boy, eloquent and a lover of his country'. This new selection of speeches illustrates Cicero's fierce loyalty to the Roman Republic, giving an overview of his oratory from early victories in the law courts to the height of his political career in the Senate. We see him sway the opinions of the mob and the most powerful men in Rome, in favour of Pompey the Great and against the conspirator Catiline, while The Philippics, considered his finest achievements, contain the thrilling invective delivered against his rival, Mark Antony, which eventually led to Cicero's death.
In Defence of the Terror
by Slavoj Zizek Sophie WahnichFor two hundred years after the French Revolution, the Republican tradition celebrated the execution of princes and aristocrats, defending the Terror that the Revolution inflicted upon on its enemies. But recent decades have brought a marked change in sensibility. The Revolution is no longer judged in terms of historical necessity but rather by "timeless" standards of morality. In this succinct essay, Sophie Wahnich explains how, contrary to prevailing interpretations, the institution of Terror sought to put a brake on legitimate popular violence--in Danton's words, to "be terrible so as to spare the people the need to be so"--and was subsequently subsumed in a logic of war. The Terror was "a process welded to a regime of popular sovereignty, the only alternatives being to defeat tyranny or die for liberty."
In Defense of Anarchism
by Robert P. WolffOnce more available in paperback, and with a new Preface, here is Robert Paul Wolff's classic 1970 analysis of the foundations of the authority of the state and the problems of political authority and moral autonomy in a democracy.
In Defense of Andrew Jackson
by Bradley Birzer“I’m not an Andrew Jackson fan, but I’m definitely a Bradley Birzer fan. His case for Old Hickory is as strong as any I’ve seen and deserves to be reckoned with.”- THOMAS E. WOODS JR., author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. “Most discussion of Andrew Jackson falls into predictable ruts, defaulting automatically to clichés that reflect more on our own time than his. Whether America is entering another ‘Jacksonian’ period depends upon understanding the first one more clearly, and we have Bradley Birzer to thank for taking up a spirited defense of this complicated man and his legacy.” - STEVEN F. HAYWARD, author of The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution 1980-1989. “Liberal revisionists have pounded Andrew Jackson down to the point where Democrats are ashamed to admit he founded their party. In Defense of Andrew Jackson sets the record straight on America’s first populist president.” - JAMES S. ROBBINS, author of Erasing America: Losing Our Future by Destroying Our Past. “As a man and a military hero, Andrew Jackson is as American as they come. But in this timely biography, Bradley Birzer has managed to peel back layers of cliché and reveal our seventh president as a more complex human being than current textbooks allow.” - GLEAVES WHITNEY, director of Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies. "He was a man of the frontier, self-made but appreciative of those who gave him their loyalty and support. He was, pure and simple, and American..." He was controversial in his time—and even more controversial in our own. Indian fighter, ardent patriot, hero of the War of 1812, the very embodiment of America’s democratic and frontier spirit, Andrew Jackson was an iconic figure. Today, Jackson is criticized and reviled – condemned as a slave-owner, repudiated as the president who dispatched the Indians down the “Trail of Tears,” dropped with embarrassment by the Democratic Party, and demanded by many to be removed from the twenty-dollar bill. Who is the real Andrew Jackson? The beloved Old Hickory whom Americans once revered? Or the villain who has become a prime target of the Social Justice Warriors? Using letters, diaries, newspaper columns, and notes, historian Bradley Birzer provides a fresh and enlightening perspective on Jackson —unvarnished, true to history, revealing why President Donald Trump sees Andrew Jackson as a political role model, and illustrating the strong parallels between the anxieties of Jacksonian America and the anxieties of the "Hillbilly Elegy" voting bloc of today. In this brilliant new book, Bradley Birzer makes the case that Jackson was… The epitome of the American frontier republican. Passionately devoted to individual liberty. A staunch proponent of Christian morality. Not only dedicated but also vital to the preservation of the Union. A significant and influential role model to President Donald J. Trump. In Defense of Andrew Jackson sets the record straight on our seventh president, revealing a radically new but historically accurate perspective on Jackson.
In Defense of Barbarism: Non-Whites Against the Empire
by Louisa YousfiA provocative, beautiful and defiant essay highlighting the pitfalls of integration in France by a talented young writer with North African rootsIs social integration all it&’s cracked up to be? Not in the defiant view of first-time French author Louisa Yousfi, who herself has North African roots. Taking its inspiration from the leading Algerian writer Kateb Yacine(&‘I&’m better off not being too cultivated. I have to retain a certain barbarianism&’), this provocative essay explores ways of resisting the cultural and moral hegemony of the French "Empire."Citing a wide range of cultural references, from the characters of Chester Himes and Toni Morrison to the in-your-face rap lyrics of the &‘street prophets&’ Booba and PNL, she extolls the virtues of her inner barbarian and champions those brave souls who refuse to be &‘domesticated&’.Challenging the conventional wisdom that posits integration as an unalloyed good, she shows how assimilation can equate to the loss of traditions, religion, language, and culture. And, whether discussing 9/11, the Algerian colonial era, the media treatment of celebrities of Arab origin, or the second-class status of French citizens from an immigrant background, she holds an uncompromising mirror up to the West and its moral shortcomings, as if to say: a barbarian I may be, but who is the real monster?Yousfi, a young, charismatic and dynamic author who uses a refreshingly wide range of cultural reference points, including rap music, to construct her argument, opens up the path of a decolonial cultural politics and an aesthetics of resistance.
In Defense of Charisma
by Vincent W. LloydMartin Luther King, Jr., has charisma—as does Adolf Hitler. So do Brad Pitt, Mother Teresa, and many a high school teacher. Charisma marks, or masks, power; it legitimates but also attracts suspicion. Sociologists often view charisma as an irrational, unstable source of authority, superseded by the rational, bureaucratic legitimacy of modernity. Yet charisma endures in the modern world; perhaps it is reinvigorated in the postmodern, as the notoriety of celebrities, politicians, and New Age gurus attests. Is charisma a tool of oppression, or can it help the fight against oppression? Can reexamining the concept of charisma teach us anything useful about contemporary movements for social justice?In Defense of Charisma develops an account of moral charisma that weaves insights from politics, ethics, and religion together with reflections on contemporary culture. Vincent W. Lloyd distinguishes between authoritarian charisma, which furthers the interests of the powerful, naturalizing racism, patriarchy, and elitism, and democratic charisma, which prompts observers to ask new questions and discover new possibilities. At its best, charisma can challenge the way we see ourselves and our world, priming us to struggle for justice. Exploring the biblical Moses alongside Charlton Heston’s performance in The Ten Commandments, the image of Martin Luther King, Jr., together with tweets from the Black Lives Matter movement, and the novels of Harper Lee and Sherman Alexie juxtaposed with the writings of Emmanuel Levinas, In Defense of Charisma challenges readers to turn away from the blinding charisma of celebrities toward the humbler moral charisma of the neighbor, colleague, or relative.