Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Politics Of The "New North": Putting History And Geography At Stake In Arctic Futures, Andrew T. Stuhl

Faculty Journal Articles

References to a “New North” have snowballed across popular media in the past

10 years. By invoking the phrase, scientists, policy analysts, journalists and others

draw attention to the collision of global warming and global investment in

the Arctic today and project a variety of futures for the region and the planet.

While changes are apparent, the trope of a “New North” is not new. Discourses

that appraised unfamiliar situations at the top of the world have recurred

throughout the twentieth century. They have also accompanied attempts to

cajole, conquer, civilize, consume, conserve and capitalize upon the far north.

This …

Remembering And Misremembering Hypatia: The Lessons Of Agora, Donald W. Viney

Faculty Submissions

The film Agora tells a somewhat fictionalized version of the story of Hypatia of Alexandria (d. 415). I raise and attempt to answer the question whether it is good historical fiction. After summarizing what is known from the historical record about Hypatia, my answer to the question is a qualified affirmative. I note the various historical details that the film preserves. The liberties that the film takes with her story are, by turns, problematic (e.g. reinforcing the view of a fundamental conflict between reason and faith), enlightening (e.g. in the introduction of the fictional character of Davus), unfair (e.g. in …

Sharing Credit: Public Historians And Scientists Reflecting On Collaboration, Allison C. Marsh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Marriage Of Science And Religion, Saurabh Kumar '14

2013 Spring Semester

At the end of A Canticle for Leibowitz, written by Walter M. Miller, Jr., the dropping of Lucifer and the resulting repetition of past destruction displays that there is an inherent flaw in the book’s futuristic society. The technological and scientific revival of a world that once repudiated knowledge is remarkable. However, the divergence of science and religion has caused humanity to use the power that comes with knowledge as irresponsibly as it did in the Flame Deluge. Mendelsohn states that, in speculative fiction, “religion is repeatedly depicted as dangerous, diverging humans from the path of reason and …

Syllabus: Kuhn's Philosophy Of Science, Joseph Torchia

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

A critical investigation of the philosophy of science of Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996), with a special focus upon his critique of the classical model of the development of science in terms of a cumulative acquisition of knowledge, and by implication, a gradual progression toward truth. In broader terms, the course assesses the metaphysical and epistemological implications of Kuhn’s understanding of scientific change and the possibility of scientific progress.

Transubstantiation And Quantum Physics: The Parallels Of Mystery In Religion And Science, Zachary Sexton

Spring 2013, Science and Religion

As the study of physics has progressed into the abstract realm of quanta, some have argued that the notion of transubstantiation is an unreasonable understanding of the Eucharist. However, when confronted with the uncertainty that modern physics presents, sharp parallels between this uncertainty and the metaphysical mysteries of transubstantiation. If it is reasonable to accept uncertainty in quantum physics, then it should be reasonable to accept the mysteries within the metaphysical world.

Can Human Beings Truly Be Considered Free?, Lea Noonan

Spring 2013, Science and Religion

There exists a complex relationship between human freedom and God's divine foreknowledge; the questions surrounding this topic abound and are difficult to answer. The question arises, if God knows all that we think and do, now and in the future, and has Providence over all of our actions, are we truly free; do we have free will? I assert that we do. The arguments that would pit God's foreknowledge and human freedom against each other as incompatible have a faulty foundation surrounding the nature of God's knowledge, His Being, and our purpose in the world. Essentially, the nature of God's …

Heisenberg’S Uncertainty Principle, Matthew Santos

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

In 1926 Werner Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle set the field of quantum mechanics on a trajectory riddled with indeterminacy, a trajectory which stood in stark contrast with the classical Newtonian world causality and origin. In doing so, Heisenberg effectively created a new standard by which physicists conducted their science, broadened the scope of that science, and altered the very worldview of those physicists. Such paradigmatic upheaval fits the philosophical model of scientific progress posited by Thomas Kuhn. However, in the ever-changing and still-evolving world of quantum mechanics, Heisenberg’s revolutionary work uniquely strays from Kuhn’s model in its further implications.

The Ever Changing Shape Of The Universe: A Kuhnian Analysis Of Edwin Hubble's Discoveries, John Bugnacki

Spring 2013, Kuhn's Philosophy of Science

Thomas Kuhn, author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, sought to explain how science changes, functions, and advances. According to Kuhn, science periodically undergoes a paradigm-shift during which time the prevailing methodologies, theories, and commitments of normal-science are all thrown into question until a new dominant paradigm takes hold. However, as his career progressed and his critics railed against his new conception of scientific progress, Kuhn would emphasize the role of linguistic incommensurability in paradigm shifts over normal-science. In 1923, astronomer Edwin Hubble took the first steps toward the discovery of galaxies. In doing so, Hubble simultaneously drew upon …

How Can We Explain Altruism?, Teresa Levasseur

Spring 2013, Science and Religion

This paper looks at the topic of Altruism, or more specifically altruistic behaviors. The paper explores the explanations offered from a scientific perspective as well as those from a theological perspective to determine which view offers a deeper understanding of altruism.

On The Metaphysical Necessity Of Suffering From Natural Evil, Ryan Edward Sullivan

Spring 2013, Science and Religion

Why does God permit suffering in the world? If God is wholly good, omnipotent, and omniscient, why would He not intervene to prevent us from suffering? These are questions that pertain to the problem of evil: how to reconcile the existence of God with the evil occurrences of this world, without sacrificing any of His divine attributes. The most potent version of the problem of evil is a recent formulation known as the evidential argument from evil. The evidential argument states that while the existence of God is not logically incompatible with the fact that there are evil occurrences, there …

Together, Science And Art Can Provide Answers In Search For Truth, Carla Poindexter

UCF Forum

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of UCF this year, we are reminded that the core benefit of an upper-level education is the opportunity to pursue and obtain insight and knowledge over blindness and ignorance.

Integrating Art And Science In Undergraduate Education, Daniel Gurnon, Julian Voss-Andreae, Jacob Stanley

Faculty Scholarship

The prevailing vision for undergraduate science education includes increased collaboration among teachers of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and an overhaul of introductory courses [1–4]. But by staying within the borders of STEM, are we overlooking connections between the arts and innovative science? Likewise, are we missing an important opportunity to inspire and inform nonscientists? Here we explore how weaving the visual arts into a science curriculum can both help develop scientific imagination and engage nonscientists. As an example, we describe a recent collaboration between artists and scientists to create a series of science-inspired sculptures.

You’Ll Find No Answers Here, Joseph M. Morelli

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

One Studio Art graduate student's slog through the disciplines of art and science; noting the similarities, overlaps, and differences, and becoming utterly flummoxed in the process. It's about coming to terms with not knowing a whole lot about anything, really, but pressing on regardless.

Dodgy Science Or Global Necessity? Local Media Reporting Of Marine Parks, Michelle Voyer, Tanja Dreher, William Gladstone, Heather Goodall

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The digital age and globalization has brought international issues to our doorstep and placed the local in the context of the global. News media have played a crucial role in allowing recognition and exploration of the global origins and outcomes of many environmental crises such as climate change, deforestation, threatened species management and biodiversity loss (Cottle, 2011c). The modern environmental movement has responded to the global scale of these crises with campaigns for global solutions. Many of these campaigns rely heavily on coordinated, collective action across a multitude of jurisdictions around the world, with the success of global campaigns dependent …

Rethinking The Secular: Religion, Ethics And Science In Food Regulation, Richard Mohr

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

This paper explores some issues at the intersection of regulation and religion, as they apply to food. It reports on a work in progress examining the regulations and values that affect choices at food and drink outlets in an inner suburban street in Sydney.

It is part of a larger projected study of food as a central social, material and religious concern. In it we are exploring questions around community relations in a culturally and religiously diverse society. Here I focus on the ways religious, ethical and scientific considerations interact with regulatory regimes, whether those of government, industry, or religious …

Six Ideal Types Of Public Engagement With Science And Technology: Reflections On Capital, Legitimacy And Models Of Democracy, Nicola J. Marks

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

A number of researchers have been analysing apparent shifts from top-down approaches to public engagement with science and technology towards more participatory ones. Some have revealed the existence of often unacknowledged assumptions about how science and public should interact. These normative visions shape public engagement and may go against any shift towards inclusiveness. To further probe this, interviews with 41 stem cell scientists were carried out. They reveal diverse normative visions of publics, scientists, dialogue, relevant technical and political capital, and scientific citizenship. From this, six ideal types of public engagement with science and technology are constructed and connected to …

Book Review: The Self-Made Map: Cartographic Writing In Early Modern France; And, The Face Of The Earth: Natural Landscapes, Science And Culture, Michael G. Leggett

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Politics, and (therefore) national and personal identity, are at the core of these two publications. The analysis of the remarkable period of European (and therefore world) history during the early modern period of the 15th and 16th centuries is discussed in the first book and provides the call for the kind of topographic descriptions compiled during the early part of the 21st Century, the topic of the second book. Then as now, proliferation of technology and political change provide the background to these accounts—overtly in the first, occluded in the second.

Hpv Vaccines And Cancer Prevention, Science Versus Activism, Lucija Tomljenovic, Roslyn Judith Wilyman, Eva Vanamee, Christopher A. Shaw

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

The rationale behind current worldwide human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination programs starts from two basic premises, 1) that HPV vaccines will prevent cervical cancers and save lives and, 2) have no risk of serious side effects. Therefore, efforts should be made to get as many pre-adolescent girls vaccinated in order to decrease the burden of cervical cancer. Careful analysis of HPV vaccine pre- and post-licensure data shows however that both of these premises are at odds with factual evidence and are largely derived from significant misinterpretation of available data

Guanxi, Social Capital Theory And Beyond: Toward A Globalized Social Science, Xiaoying Qi

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

Western theoretical traditions can benefit from systematic engagement with non-Western concepts: This is shown through an analysis of the Chinese concept guanxi. After considering the general nature of guanxi, including its possible association with corrupt practices and its particular cultural characteristics, the paper goes on to identify the elements of its general form which have universal representation. The possibility of conceiving guanxi as a variant form of social capital is explored. This shows the way in which both the expressive and instrumentalized forms of guanxi indicate otherwise neglected aspects of social and economic relationships not always recognized and addressed by …