The Science of Describing

The Science of Describing
Author: Brian W. Ogilvie
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2008-09-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0226620867

Out of the diverse traditions of medical humanism, classical philology, and natural philosophy, Renaissance naturalists created a new science devoted to discovering and describing plants and animals. Drawing on published natural histories, manuscript correspondence, garden plans, travelogues, watercolors, and drawings, The Science of Describing reconstructs the evolution of this discipline of description through four generations of naturalists. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, naturalists focused on understanding ancient and medieval descriptions of the natural world, but by the mid-sixteenth century naturalists turned toward distinguishing and cataloguing new plant and animal species. To do so, they developed new techniques of observing and recording, created botanical gardens and herbaria, and exchanged correspondence and specimens within an international community. By the early seventeenth century, naturalists began the daunting task of sorting through the wealth of information they had accumulated, putting a new emphasis on taxonomy and classification. Illustrated with woodcuts, engravings, and photographs, The Science of Describing is the first broad interpretation of Renaissance natural history in more than a generation and will appeal widely to an interdisciplinary audience.

Describing Species

Describing Species
Author: Judith E. Winston
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 546
Release: 1999
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780231068246

A basic practical manual for the process of describing new species, this desperately needed desk reference and guide to nomenclatural procedure and taxonomic writing serves as a Strunk & White of species description, covering both botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature.

Describing the Dynamics of "Free" Material Components in Higher-Dimensions

Describing the Dynamics of
Author: Dr. Martin Concoyle
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 831
Release: 2014
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1490723706

The issue which the new ideas of these new books really raise with our culture, is not about whether they are true, since these new ideas identify a valid context for physical description, and whereas the current context for math and physics (2014) cannot do that, ie they cannot describe the stable properties of a general many-(but-few)-body system. Whereas the new ideas about math and physics can be used to solve the most fundamental problems about the physical world, in regard to understanding physical stability, a problem which the current descriptive context of math and physics (2014) cannot solve. That is, "what now, in 2014, passes for math and physics knowledge are delusions."* Yet these delusions are the ideas expressed in our propaganda-education system about math and physics. Rather The real issue, which these new ideas present to our culture, is about our cultural relation to "what is beyond the material world." That is, it is about our cultural representation of religion, or the spirit. In particular, in relation to the "previous knowledge humans needed to possess" in order to make Gobekli-tepe, Puma Punku, Stonehenge, etc, ie simply to be able to lift and position such large stones, as well as the understanding which is needed to go beyond the context of the material world, and into the context of all the ancient mythologies in regard to the ancient religious stories, etc etc *The current paradigm (in 2014) describes a general state of indefi nable randomness in which there is always "a chaotic transitioning process" which exists as random elementary-particle collisions, and which, supposedly, is perpetually occurring. Thus, their description of the wide range of the generally stable states of the many-(but-few)-body systems..., into which this "forever chaotically transitioning" process supposedly settles but explicit descriptions of this process do not exist. Instead their answer is that "such stable, many-(but-few)-body systems are too complicated to describe."

Describing Inner Experience?

Describing Inner Experience?
Author: Russell Hurlburt
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2011-08-19
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0262263165

A psychologist and a philosopher with opposing viewpoints discuss the extent to which it is possible to report accurately on our own conscious experience, considering both the reliability of introspection in general and the particular self-reported inner experiences of "Melanie," a subject interviewed using the Descriptive Experience Sampling method. Can conscious experience be described accurately? Can we give reliable accounts of our sensory experiences and pains, our inner speech and imagery, our felt emotions? The question is central not only to our humanistic understanding of who we are but also to the burgeoning scientific field of consciousness studies. The two authors of Describing Inner Experience disagree on the answer: Russell Hurlburt, a psychologist, argues that improved methods of introspective reporting make accurate accounts of inner experience possible; Eric Schwitzgebel, a philosopher, believes that any introspective reporting is inevitably prone to error. In this book the two discuss to what extent it is possible to describe our inner experience accurately. Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel recruited a subject, "Melanie," to report on her conscious experience using Hurlburt's Descriptive Experience Sampling method (in which the subject is cued by random beeps to describe her conscious experience). The heart of the book is Melanie's accounts, Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel's interviews with her, and their subsequent discussions while studying the transcripts of the interviews. In this way the authors' dispute about the general reliability of introspective reporting is steadily tempered by specific debates about the extent to which Melanie's particular reports are believable. Transcripts and audio files of the interviews will be available on the MIT Press website. Describing Inner Experience? is not so much a debate as it is a collaboration, with each author seeking to refine his position and to replace partisanship with balanced critical judgment. The result is an illumination of major issues in the study of consciousness—from two sides at once.

Describing the Hand of God

Describing the Hand of God
Author: Robert Brennan
Publisher: James Clarke & Company
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2016-04-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0227905326

The question of divine agency in the world remains one important unresolved underlying obstacle in the dialogue between theology and science. Modern notions of divine agency are shown to have developed out of the interaction of three factors in early modernity. Two are well known: late medieval perfect-being theology and the early modern application of the notion of the two books of God's revelation to the understanding of the natural order. It is argued the third is the early modern appropriation of theAugustinian doctrine of inspiration. This assumes the soul's existence and a particular description of divine agency in humans, which became more generally applied to divine agency in nature. Whereas Newton explicitly draws the parallel between divine agency in humans and that in nature, Darwin rejects its supposed perfection and Huxley raises serious questions regarding the traditional understanding of the soul. This book offers an alternative incarnational description of divine agency, freeing consideration of divine agency from being dependent on resolving the complex issues of perfect-being theology and the existence of the soul. In conversation with Barth's pneumatology, this proposal is shown to remain theologically coherent and plausible while resolving or avoiding a range of known difficulties in the science-theology dialogue.

Describing Early America

Describing Early America
Author: Pamela Regis
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1999-04-21
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780812216868

"Regis makes an important contribution to the understanding of eighteenth-century American ideas."--

Describing Species

Describing Species
Author: Judith E. Winston
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 541
Release: 1999-11-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0231506651

New species are discovered every day—and cataloguing all of them has grown into a nearly insurmountable task worldwide. Now, this definitive reference manual acts as a style guide for writing and filing species descriptions. New collecting techniques and new technology have led to a dramatic increase in the number of species that are discovered. Explorations of unstudied regions and new habitats for almost any group of organisms can result in a large number of new species discoveries—and hence the need to be described. Yet there is no one source a student or researcher can readily consult to learn the basic practical aspects of taxonomic procedures. Species description can present a variety of difficulties: Problems arise when new species are not given names because their discoverers do not know how to write a formal species description or when these species are poorly described. Biologists may also have to deal with nomenclatural problems created by previous workers or resulting from new information generated by their own research. This practical resource for scientists and students contains instructions and examples showing how to describe newly discovered species in both the animal and plant kingdoms. With special chapters on publishing taxonomic papers and on ecology in species description, as well as sections covering subspecies, genus-level, and higher taxa descriptions, Describing Species enhances any writer's taxonomic projects, reports, checklists, floras, faunal surveys, revisions, monographs, or guides. The volume is based on current versions of the International Codes of Zoological and Botanical Nomenclature and recognizes that systematics is a global and multicultural exercise. Though Describing Species has been written for an English-speaking audience, it is useful anywhere Taxonomy is spoken and will be a valuable tool for professionals and students in zoology, botany, ecology, paleontology, and other fields of biology.