Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life PDF Download

Author: Albert Borgmann
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226066290
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Table of Contents Acknowledgments Part One - The Problem of Technology 1. Technology and Theory 2. Theories of Technology 3. The Choice of a Theory 4. Scientific Theory 5. Scientific Explanation 6. The Scope of Scientific Explanation 7. Science and Technology Part Two - The Character of Technology 8. The Promise of Technology 9. The Device Paradigm 10. The Foreground of Technology 11. Devices, Means, and Machines 12. Paradigmatic Explanation 13. Technology and the Social Order 14. Technology and Democracy 15. The Rule of Technology 16. Political Engagement and Social Justice 17. Work and Labor 18. Leisure, Excellence, and Happiness 19. The Stability of Technology Part Three - The Reform of Technology 20. The Possibilities of Reform 21. Deictic Discourse 22. The Challenge of Nature 23. Focal Things and Practices 24. Wealth and the Good Life 25. Political Affirmation 26. The Recovery of the Promise of Technology Notes Index.

Author: Edward C. Rosenthal Ph.D.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262250241
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
How today's cornucopia of choices has transformed our lives and our culture, from the foundations of scientific theory to the anxiety of everyday decisions. Today most of us are awash with choices. The cornucopia of material goods available to those of us in the developed world can turn each of us into a kid in a candy store; but our delight at picking the prize is undercut by our regret at lost opportunities. And what's the criterion for choosing anything—material, spiritual, the path taken or not taken—when we have lost our faith in everything? In The Era of Choice Edward Rosenthal argues that choice, and having to make choices, has become the most important influence in both our personal lives and our cultural expression. Choice, he claims, has transformed how we live, how we think, and who we are. This transformation began in the nineteenth century, catalyzed by the growing prosperity of the Industrial Age and a diminishing faith in moral and scientific absolutes. The multiplicity of choices forces us to form oppositions; this, says Rosenthal, has spawned a keen interest in dualism, dilemmas, contradictions, and paradoxes. In response, we have developed mechanisms to hedge, compromise, and to synthesize. Rosenthal looks at the scientific and philosophical theories and cultural movements that choice has influenced—from physics (for example, Niels Bohr's theory that light is both particle and wave) to postmodernism, from Disney trailers to multiculturalism. He also reveals the effect of choice on the personal level, where we grapple with decisions that range from which wine to have with dinner to whether to marry or divorce, as we hurtle through lives of instant gratification, accelerated consumption, trend, change, and speed. But we have discovered, writes Rosenthal, that sometimes, we can have our cake and eat it, too.

Author: Helen Birch
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452166870
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
The author of Just Draw Botanicals “helps readers tap into rich traditions of life drawing, demonstrating how to use everyday people as muses” (Library Journal). Drawn from Life offers bite-size lessons that will help anyone master the classic practice of life drawing. Over 100 pieces of art by contemporary artists illustrate fundamentals such as line, contour, and color, plus surprising and innovative techniques that will take your drawings to the next level. Showcasing a wide range of styles and methods, this is a refreshing new guide to a timeless art form. “This beautiful little book details various drawing styles from a variety of artists. You’ll be inspired to draw as soon as you pick it up!” —Mindful Art Studio “An insightful book . . . The ideas and tips are great for practice and further exploration.” —Parka Blogs

Author: Olwyn M. Blouet
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 9781861893130
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
When Americans seek an escape from the worries and dilemmas of everyday life, the crystal blue waters and white sands of the Caribbean islands seem like the answer to a prayer. Yet this image of a tourist’s paradise hides a tumultuous history marked by strife and division over race, political power, and economic inequality. Olwyn Blouet explores the story of “the Caribbean” over the last 50 years, revealing it to be a region positioned at the heart of some the most prominent geopolitical issues of modern times. Navigating a rich mélange of cultures and histories, Blouet unearths a complex narrative that is frequently overlooked in histories of the Americas. In stark contrast to widely-read guidebooks, this chronicle unflinchingly probes two strikingly different worlds in the Caribbean islands—those of the haves and the have-nots—created by the volatile mixture of colonial politics, racial segregation, and economic upheaval. The strategic political relations between Caribbean nations, Cuba in particular, and the world powers during the Cold War; the economic transformations instigated by tourism; and the modernizing efforts of Caribbean nations in order to meet the demands of a globalizing twenty-first century market are among the numerous issues explored by Blouet in her efforts to redress the historical record’s imbalance. The Contemporary Caribbean also explores the proud histories of the region's many nations in sports such as cricket and baseball, as well as their famed cuisines, and the uneasy balance today between local traditions and the vestiges of colonial influence.

Author: Alexandra Kingston-Reese
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1609386752
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
Contemporary Novelists and the Aesthetics of Twenty-First Century American Life gives us a new way to view contemporary art novels, asking the key question: How do contemporary writers imagine aesthetic experience? Examining the works of some of the most popular names in contemporary fiction and art criticism, including Zadie Smith, Teju Cole, Siri Hustvedt, Ben Lerner, Rachel Kushner, and others, Alexandra Kingston-Reese finds that contemporary art novels are seeking to reconcile the negative feelings of contemporary life through a concerted critical realignment in understanding artistic sensibility, literary form, and the function of the aesthetic. Kingston-Reese reveals how contemporary writers refract and problematize aesthetic experience, illuminating an uneasiness with failure: firstly, about the failure of aesthetic experiences to solve and save; and secondly, the literary inability to articulate the emotional dissonance caused by aesthetic experiences now.

Author: Martin King Whyte
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226895491
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Through interviews with city residents, Martin King Whyte and William L. Parish provide a unique survey of urban life in the last decade of Mao Zedong's rule. They conclude that changes in society produced under communism were truly revolutionary and that, in the decade under scrutiny, the Chinese avoided ostensibly universal evils of urbanism with considerable success. At the same time, however, they find that this successful effort spawned new and equally serious urban problems—bureaucratic rigidity, low production, and more.

Author: Don Schweitzer
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1556351070
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
Jesus Christ for Contemporary Life is an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, grounded in what can be known historically of Jesus and informed by subsequent reflection upon him, which hopes to help shape a Christian identity characterized by "bounded openness." Don Schweitzer moves from the historical Jesus to the present in three parts. In the first part Schweitzer develops an understanding of Jesus as the Word of God, who became incarnate to give the goodness and beauty of God further expression in time and space. Second, he explores how various atonement theories articulate ways in which Jesus empowers people to further express this beauty and goodness in their own lives. And finally, Schweitzer explores how Jesus relates to people in the church, to the events and movements in history, to other religions, and to Christians in their dialogue with God in prayer.

Author: David Shulman
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1483319423
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The Presentation of Self in Contemporary Social Life covers the popular theories of Erving Goffman, and shows modern applications of dramaturgical analysis in a wide range of social contexts. David Shulman’s innovative new text demonstrates how Goffman’s ideas, first introduced in 1959, continue to inspire research into how we manage the impressions that others form about us. He synthesizes the work of contemporary scholars who use dramaturgical approaches from several disciplines, who recognize that many values, social norms, and laws have changed since Goffman’s time, and that contemporary society offers significant new forms of impression management that we can engage in and experience. After a general introduction to dramaturgical sociology, readers will see many examples of how Goffman’s ideas can provide powerful insights into familiar aspects of contemporary life today, including business and the workplace, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and the digital world.

Author: Peter Kivisto
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
ISBN: 1412978157
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
Illuminating Social Life has enjoyed increasing popularity with each edition. It is the only book designed for undergraduate teaching that shows today's students how classical and contemporary social theories can be used to shed new light on such topics as the internet, the world of work, fast food restaurants, shopping malls, alcohol use, body building, sales and service, and new religious movements.A perfect complement for the sociological theory course, it offers 13 original essays by leading scholars in the field who are also experienced undergraduate theory teachers. Substantial introductions by the editor link the applied essays to a complete review of the classical and modern social theories used in the book.

Author: Rosemary L. Hopcroft
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317353307
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Offering new research and analysis on the relation between gender and evolution, this book explains conflict between the sexes and the frequent emergence and stubborn continuation of patriarchal regimes that serve to control the behavior of women in societies around the world, both past and present. Women and men are different, on average. But that does not mean they are unequal. Indeed, understanding average differences is key to the full realization of equality in health care and other dimensions of social life. Hopcroft shows that gender differences in physiology, psychology, and behavior can be traced to slight differences in evolved traits between men and women. These differences exist because of sex differences in investment in offspring, which meant that, in the environment of evolution, some adaptive problems were more important for men to solve than for women, and vice versa. For men, the most important adaptive problem to solve was that of finding a mate. Men who did not solve this problem are not our ancestors. For women, the most important adaptive problem to solve was that of successfully bearing and raising children. Women who did not solve this problem are not our ancestors. These small differences underlie all the differences described in the book, including sex differences in mate preferences, physiology, cognition, aggression, status striving, and emotional experience. It can also help explain the differential treatment of children by parents, the differential success of boys and girls in modern schools, and sex differences in style of communication.