The Spirit of Matter discusses excessive objects: those things that move people but whose existence is often denied by modern wishful thinking about ‘mind over matter’, and that things are... Show moreThe Spirit of Matter discusses excessive objects: those things that move people but whose existence is often denied by modern wishful thinking about ‘mind over matter’, and that things are supposedly ‘dead’. Such wishful thinking can be traced back to Protestant Christian influences, that were secularized in the course of modern and colonial history. A range of excessive objects – exhibits of human remains or live people, fetishes, objects in a Catholic museum, exotic photographs, commodities, and computers – demonstrate a subordinate modern consciousness about powerful objects and their ‘life’. If humanity wants to survive current planetary socio-ecological crises, it should learn from its humility towards both artefacts and non-human things. Show less
Duyvesteyn, Isabelle; Wal, Anne Marieke van der 2022
Studying change in the course of human history, in different places, through the lens of a diverse set of core themes, World History for International Studies offers readers a set of windows into... Show moreStudying change in the course of human history, in different places, through the lens of a diverse set of core themes, World History for International Studies offers readers a set of windows into different debates historians have been conducting. Key themes, such as communication, trade, order, slavery, religion, war, identity, modernity, norms and ecology, are linked to specific world regions, which tell a story about how local ideas and individual contacts developed, started to overlap and became globally understood and used by ever larger groups of people. These themes are brought to life by a diverse set of key primary sources, such as a book, a letter, a medal, a temple and an epic, to showcase how historians have used sources to tell these stories and conduct debates. The book provides an introductory resource into the study of history and includes detailed suggestions for further study. Show less
This book presents a conception of modern personal identity in terms of consent, equality, and autonomy. For modern persons, these concepts function as moral values, evaluations, and virtues.... Show moreThis book presents a conception of modern personal identity in terms of consent, equality, and autonomy. For modern persons, these concepts function as moral values, evaluations, and virtues. Taken together they form a cultural identity that I refer to simply as ‘modern’. This cultural identity bridges the personal life of individual human persons and the institutional life of corporate persons. The shared sense of ‘modern’, with consent, equality, and autonomy as core moral values and chief virtues, forms and informs the (moral) governance and government of modern selves, modern corporations, and modern societies. One can be a ‘modern woman’ or a ‘modern man’, but one can also be a member of a ‘modern state’. There are ‘modern corporations’; and one can join a ‘modern church’ or a ‘modern party’ (cf. Nowoczesna in Poland); one might be subject to ‘modern law’; and one could participate in ‘modern marriage’. Each example shares the same sense of ‘modern’. In this way, modern cultural identity is a ‘constitution’ of a particular kind. I call it ‘the egalitarian constitution’. It is the contemporary instance of the soul-state analogy, an idea originally popularized by Plato. Show less
Three Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the... Show moreThree Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the Beninese video film "Yatin: Lieu de souffrance" (2002). The discussion centres on how people receive and understand these films together with the digital video technology that facilitate their recent success. Christian films are so important in this part of Benin that the question needs to be raised whether Christianity is shifting from a religion of the book towards a religion of film. The theoretical starting point is semiotics, a theory that has been foundational not only for film, media and media reception studies, but more recently also for the study of materiality. This thesis' main theoretical contribution is a critique of semiotics, arguing that this theory, which has been foundational to Western science, is in fact too limiting. Semiotics, even in its Peircean orientation, cannot sufficiently explain how people in the Commune of Cobly understand shrines, film and media more generally, both through their material manifestations and interactively in terms of communication. Instead, a process called "presencing", which goes beyond semiotics, can explain better people's understanding of shrines and media. Show less
Dit literair-historisch proefschrift volgt het innovatieve proces van de romancyclus A la recherche du temps perdu die zich, mede onder invloed van de avant-garde schilderkunst, ontwikkelt van het ... Show moreDit literair-historisch proefschrift volgt het innovatieve proces van de romancyclus A la recherche du temps perdu die zich, mede onder invloed van de avant-garde schilderkunst, ontwikkelt van het ‘classicisme moderne’, de poëtica van de Nouvelle Revue Française die de roman kenmerkt in de beginfase, tot een literair modernisme. De korte, autonome passage uit de roman Sodom en Gomorra, waarin tot tweemaal toe het woord ‘rosace’ genoemd wordt, is ons uitgangspunt en speelt de hoofdrol bij de bestudering van de ideale compositie zoals die Marcel Proust voor ogen stond en zoals de auteur deze ‘Roos van Rivebelle’ een rol laat spelen in het creatieve wordingsproces van de verteller, waar zij een essentiële schakel lijkt te vormen in het leidmotief van de witte en roze meidoorns. De ‘Roos’ niet alleen in de betekenis van de bloemen behorend tot het geslacht Rosa, zinnebeeld van schoonheid, vergan kelijkheid en liefde, maar tevens in de architectonische en Franse betekenis van de grote Roos van de kerk oftewel het cirkelvormige roosvenster. Show less
De Leidse hoogleraar theoretische fysica Paul Ehrenfest (1880-1933) was goed bevriend met Niels Bohr en Albert Einstein. In tegenstelling tot zijn beroemde tijdgenoten lag zijn kracht niet bij het... Show moreDe Leidse hoogleraar theoretische fysica Paul Ehrenfest (1880-1933) was goed bevriend met Niels Bohr en Albert Einstein. In tegenstelling tot zijn beroemde tijdgenoten lag zijn kracht niet bij het doen van grote ontdekkingen. Wel had hij een uitzonderlijk talent voor het verhelderen van complexe vraagstukken in de fysica. Het leven en werk van Ehrenfest biedt een intrigerend perspectief op de manier waarop wetenschappers uit dat tijdsgewricht hun weg probeerden te vinden in een periode van roerige wetenschappelijke, maatschappelijke en politieke ontwikkelingen. Behalve dat Ehrenfest een bloeiende onderzoeksschool opbouwde droeg hij ook bij aan de ontwikkeling en internationalisering van de Nederlandse natuurkunde, het universitaire onderwijs, en het ontstaan van een nieuw vakgebied __ de econometrie. Hij stimuleerde de ontwikkeling van de Russische en Amerikaanse theoretische fysica en versterkte de band tussen universiteit en industrie. Zijn tijdgenoten kenden Ehrenfest als een invloedrijk persoon die veel had bereikt. Tragisch is dat iedereen, behalve hij zelf, dat zag. Show less
Starting with Weber’s disenchantment thesis, a sociological tradition has developed that associates modernity with a crisis of meaning. The de-mystification of our worldview and the decreasing... Show moreStarting with Weber’s disenchantment thesis, a sociological tradition has developed that associates modernity with a crisis of meaning. The de-mystification of our worldview and the decreasing influence of religious traditions in specific are seen as obstacles for making sense of human existence. But in fact, modern societies are full of meaning and they continue to be religious. This study shows that, in an implicit form, religion can be found everywhere in our culture. The Internet hype of the 1990s was a particularly effervescent example of implicit religiosity. The hopeful discourse about the Internet that typified this hype drew on religious ideas and language, and it inspired strong belief. This dissertation explores the appeal of the Internet as an object of faith and it looks at how it could serve as a source of meaning. Show less
Starting with Weber’s disenchantment thesis, a sociological tradition has developed that associates modernity with a crisis of meaning. The de-mystification of our worldview and the decreasing... Show moreStarting with Weber’s disenchantment thesis, a sociological tradition has developed that associates modernity with a crisis of meaning. The de-mystification of our worldview and the decreasing influence of religious traditions in specific are seen as obstacles for making sense of human existence. But in fact, modern societies are full of meaning and they continue to be religious. This study shows that, in an implicit form, religion can be found everywhere in our culture. The Internet hype of the 1990s was a particularly effervescent example of implicit religiosity. The hopeful discourse about the Internet that typified this hype drew on religious ideas and language, and it inspired strong belief. This dissertation explores the appeal of the Internet as an object of faith and it looks at how it could serve as a source of meaning. Show less
