2. What robots do now
Alan Winfield
in Robotics: A Very Short Introduction
‘What robots do now’ looks at robots in industry and our lives today. Assembly line robots, or robot arms, lie on the unglamorous end of the robot family. These robots are effective as they ...
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3. Explanation in science
Samir Okasha
in Philosophy of Science: Very Short Introduction (2nd edn)
‘Explanation in science’ begins with Carl Hempel’s covering law model of explanation, which says that to explain a phenomenon is to show that its occurrence follows deductively from a ...
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5. Justice
Malcolm Gaskill
in Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction
The early church did not execute witches, seeing them as reformable, but in the Middle Ages the campaign against heresy intensified. Reliance on secular power to kill diabolists was ...
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Introduction
Frank A. J. L. James
in Michael Faraday: A Very Short Introduction
Michael Faraday's science addressed three key themes: research, communication, and application. These themes linked in various ways during his lifetime, although the relative amount of time ...
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10. What is metaphysics?
Stephen Mumford
in Metaphysics: A Very Short Introduction
‘What is metaphysics?’ attempts to explain the discipline as trying to understand the fundamental nature of reality. Metaphysics seeks to organize and systematize all these specific truths ...
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10. Nature and grace
Henry Chadwick
in Augustine: A Very Short Introduction
In reaction against Manicheism, Augustine in his thirties stressed both church authority and individual freedom. Without God's grace to rescue the fallen man, the right path could not be ...
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5. Modern Times I: The Christian Kabbalah
Joseph Dan
in Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction
Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the Kabbalah transformed from a uniquely Jewish tradition to one mixed with European culture, Christian thinking, philosophy, science, and magic. ...
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1. Fear
Malcolm Gaskill
in Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction
‘Fear’ reminds us that witches are monsters haunting our dreams, confirming who we are through what we are not. Witches are living projections of feelings that defy easy rationalization or ...
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2. Heresy
Malcolm Gaskill
in Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction
According to ‘Heresy’, historically, political and religious orthodoxy went together. Romans saw witches as ruthless criminals. The early Christian church expressed hostility to magic but ...
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Introduction
Lawrence M. Principe
in The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction
What was the Scientific Revolution and when was it? The Introduction states that it started around 1500 and ended around 1700 and it is the most important and talked-about era in the ...
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7. Faraday in the 20th century
Frank A. J. L. James
in Michael Faraday: A Very Short Introduction
The centenary of Michael Faraday's birth in 1891 was celebrated by a commemorative meeting of the Royal Institution. ‘Faraday in the 20th century’ charts his reputation, which once again ...
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6. Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and the ‘death of God’
Andrew Bowie
in German Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
‘Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and the “death of God”’ looks at the questioning of self-determination in the work of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. The importance of Greek tragedy to German ...
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6. How should the agnostic live?
Robin Le Poidevin
in Agnosticism: A Very Short Introduction
‘How should the agnostic live?’ compares the effects of agnosticism in science and morality. It argues that a religious life is possible for the agnostic. The argument for faith known as ...
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5. Science
Ronald de Sousa
in Love: A Very Short Introduction
Scientific scrutiny of love cannot reduce it to mere physical processes. Other perspectives are needed to explain why these mechanisms exist in the first place and what role they play in ...
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13. Empiricism
Jonathan Barnes
in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
‘Empiricism’ stresses that, for Aristotle, knowledge or science ultimately derives from perception. That is the source of the concepts in terms of which we seek to understand reality. ...
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20. Afterlife
Jonathan Barnes
in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
‘Afterlife’ argues that an account of Aristotle’s intellectual legacy would amount to a history of European thought. Aristotle’s various doctrines and beliefs were accepted and taught as ...
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8. Knowledge
Jonathan Barnes
in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
Whereas the Prior Analytics derives the theorems of a science from its axioms, the Posterior Analytics is concerned with the nature of the axioms themselves, and hence the general form of ...
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10. Reality
Jonathan Barnes
in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
Science is about real things. That is what makes it knowledge rather than fantasy. But what things are real? What are the fundamental items with which science is concerned? That is the ...
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12. Causes
Jonathan Barnes
in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
Material objects change, and their changes are caused. The scientist’s world is full of causes, and scientific knowledge requires the capacity to state causes and to give explanations. We ...
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19. The Arts
Jonathan Barnes
in Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction
The Poetics consists largely of the theory and criticism of tragic drama. Aristotle, however, saw the work as a contribution to ‘productive’ science, telling us how to produce ...
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