Science and democracy are two of the most cherished values of Western Civilization, so much so that they are often associated with each other. With science, it is held, comes democracy. But, will democracy necessarily blossom with the seed of science? Inversely, does the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory on December 1, 2020 represent a predictor…[Read more]

When the same $9 billion allocated to a nation’s annual budget (Puerto Rico 2015) is spent on a single scientific instrument (Hubble telescope) or to administer a single scientific facility for a year (CERN), we might presume that science is today a monolithic enterprise, akin to what the pyramids of Ancient Egypt had been in their day. Yet when…[Read more]

Los Congresos Científicos Pan-Americanos abrieron una nueva época de intercambio científico no solamente dentro de los pa?ses de América Latina sino entre estos y los Estados Unidos. Figuras importantes como Albert. A. Michelson, ganador del Premio Nobel en 1907, regularmente atendieron estas conferencias, así ayudando a difundir los últimos avanc…[Read more]

Biology and Ethics provides a historian’s perspective of the attempts to ground an ethics within a biological framework. Aside from its analysis of schools as social Darwinism, eugenics, and sociobiology, it attempts to evaluate their veracity using cases as Japan’s Unit 731, the Guatemala Syphilis study, and others. In spite of the much disputed…[Read more]

The purpose of this book is to analyse the role which the development of the German Altertumswissenschaft at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries had (in combination with the English-French intellectual base) on the birth of the Romantic reception of the ancient traditions in Poland.

One of the recurring themes in the public perception of containment policies during the current COVID-19 pandemic are the supposedly uneven and everchanging measures taken up by international, national and local authorities. This is especially the case in countries with a federal structure, like Germany. Not surprisingly, historical containment…[Read more]

This chapter analyses the image production practices of the Goettingen university anatomist and natural historian Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840) and the Berlin artis Daniel Chodowiecki (1726-1801) when they collaborated on Blumenbach’s Beyträge zur Naturgeschichte (1790). Blumenbach wanted Chodowiecki to produce family scences for each of…[Read more]

The Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville was one of the most widely read works of the early Middle Ages, as is evidenced by the number of surviving manuscripts. August Eduard Anspach’s handlist from the 1940s puts their number at almost 1,200, of which approximately 300 were estimated to have been copied before the year 1000. This article, based on a…[Read more]

In this essay, I shall examine VR technology so as to ascertain the kind of human-technology relations therein. This will be done using the framework provided by Don Ihde and Peter-Paul Verbeek (who are currently seen as postphenomenologists). My choice of VR technology, as an instantiation of technological advancement, is due to its impact on…[Read more]

In this essay, I shall examine VR technology so as to ascertain the kind of human-technology relations therein. This will be done using the framework provided by Don Ihde and Peter-Paul Verbeek (who are currently seen as postphenomenologists). My choice of VR technology, as an instantiation of technological advancement, is due to its impact on…[Read more]

In this essay, I examined the idea of ‘technological revolution’ to confirm whether it connotes a sort of incorporation of existing technologies as new ones emerges or whether it portrays a ‘sharp discontinuity’ from the prior technologies. I began by exploring the dictionary definitions of ‘revolution’ in order to appropriate its usage in re…[Read more]

In this essay, I examined the idea of ‘technological revolution’ to confirm whether it connotes a sort of incorporation of existing technologies as new ones emerges or whether it portrays a ‘sharp discontinuity’ from the prior technologies. I began by exploring the dictionary definitions of ‘revolution’ in order to appropriate its usage in re…[Read more]

During comparative discourse, some scholars have ridiculed African indigenous concepts, phenomena, beliefs, and worldview in a forceful attempt to allow it to fit into western framework and to avoid the charge of irrationality. It is against this background this essay attempt to establish the basis for the rationality of discourse within the…[Read more]

During comparative discourse, some scholars have ridiculed African indigenous concepts, phenomena, beliefs, and worldview in a forceful attempt to allow it to fit into western framework and to avoid the charge of irrationality. It is against this background this essay attempt to establish the basis for the rationality of discourse within the…[Read more]

This essay focuses on Patricia Churchland contribution to this interdisciplinary approach towards gaining a holistic understanding of our human nature and realities surrounding us, with specific reference to the perceived framework needed for the development of a unified theory of the mind-brain. A critical engagement with Churchland’s ideas s…[Read more]

This essay focuses on Patricia Churchland contribution to this interdisciplinary approach towards gaining a holistic understanding of our human nature and realities surrounding us, with specific reference to the perceived framework needed for the development of a unified theory of the mind-brain. A critical engagement with Churchland’s ideas s…[Read more]

Philip Kitcher is one of the most influential philosophers of science of the past two decades. In “The Advancement of Science (1993)”, he endeavor to probe the notions of progress and rationality in science. His position, in line with his teacher, Thomas Kuhn, was a critique of what he called ‘a legendary view of science’. Thus, he gave new int…[Read more]

This paper is a critical appraisal of Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism and a deployment of its emphasis on economic factor in addressing Nigeria’s socio-economic situation. As we applaud Marx’s materialistic approach to history as an account that is rich enough to promote contextual understanding of past events in various part of the w…[Read more]

This paper is a critical appraisal of Karl Marx’s theory of historical materialism and a deployment of its emphasis on economic factor in addressing Nigeria’s socio-economic situation. As we applaud Marx’s materialistic approach to history as an account that is rich enough to promote contextual understanding of past events in various part of the w…[Read more]

Literary journalism offers an important way for explaining the complexity of the scientific world to a lay audience. An analysis of two of Richard Preston’s pieces published by The New Yorker, “The Mountains of Pi” and “Capturing the Unicorn” and how they give emphasize science-in-the-making.