1.
Concept
–
A concept is an abstract idea representing the fundamental characteristics of what it represents. Concepts arise as abstractions or generalisations from experience or the result of a transformation of existing ideas, the concept is instantiated by all of its actual or potential instances, whether these are things in the real world or other ideas. Concepts are treated in many if not most disciplines both explicitly, such as in linguistics, psychology, philosophy, etc. and implicitly, such as in mathematics, physics, etc. In informal use the word concept often just means any idea and these concepts are then stored in long term memory In metaphysics, and especially ontology, a concept is a fundamental category of existence. It would go furniture, chair, and easy chair, the term concept is traced back to 1554–60, but what is today termed the classical theory of concepts is the theory of Aristotle on the definition of terms. The meaning of concept is explored in mainstream science, cognitive science, metaphysics. In computer and information science contexts, especially, the concept is often used in unclear or inconsistent ways. In a platonist theory of mind, concepts are construed as abstract objects and this debate concerns the ontological status of concepts – what they are really like. There is debate as to the relationship between concepts and natural language, concepts that can be equated to a single word are called lexical concepts. Study of concepts and conceptual structure falls into the disciplines of linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science. In the simplest terms, a concept is a name or label that regards or treats an abstraction as if it had concrete or material existence, such as a person, a place, or a thing. It may represent an object that exists in the real world like a tree, an animal. It may also name an object like a chair, computer, house. Abstract ideas and knowledge domains such as freedom, equality, science, happiness and it is important to realize that a concept is merely a symbol, a representation of the abstraction. The word is not to be mistaken for the thing, for example, the word moon is not the large, bright, shape-changing object up in the sky, but only represents that celestial object. Concepts are created to describe, explain and capture reality as it is known, Kant declared that human minds possess pure or a priori concepts. Instead of being abstracted from individual perceptions, like empirical concepts and he called these concepts categories, in the sense of the word that means predicate, attribute, characteristic, or quality. But these pure categories are predicates of things in general, not of a particular thing, according to Kant, there are 12 categories that constitute the understanding of phenomenal objects
Concept
–
When the mind makes a generalization such as the concept of tree, it extracts similarities from numerous examples; the simplification enables
higher-level thinking.
2.
Information
–
In other words, it is the answer to a question of some kind. It is thus related to data and knowledge, as data represents values attributed to parameters, as it regards data, the informations existence is not necessarily coupled to an observer, while in the case of knowledge, the information requires a cognitive observer. At its most fundamental, information is any propagation of cause, Information can be encoded into various forms for transmission and interpretation. It can also be encrypted for safe storage and communication, the uncertainty of an event is measured by its probability of occurrence and is inversely proportional to that. The more uncertain an event, the information is required to resolve uncertainty of that event. The bit is a unit of information, but other units such as the nat may be used. Example, information in one fair coin flip, log2 =1 bit, the concept that information is the message has different meanings in different contexts. The English word was derived from the Latin stem of the nominative. Inform itself comes from the Latin verb informare, which means to give form, eidos can also be associated with thought, proposition, or even concept. The ancient Greek word for information is πληροφορία, which transliterates from πλήρης fully and it literally means fully bears or conveys fully. In modern Greek language the word Πληροφορία is still in use and has the same meaning as the word information in English. In addition to its meaning, the word Πληροφορία as a symbol has deep roots in Aristotles semiotic triangle. In this regard it can be interpreted to communicate information to the one decoding that specific type of sign, from the stance of information theory, information is taken as an ordered sequence of symbols from an alphabet, say an input alphabet χ, and an output alphabet ϒ. Information processing consists of a function that maps any input sequence from χ into an output sequence from ϒ. The mapping may be probabilistic or deterministic and it may have memory or be memoryless. Often information can be viewed as a type of input to an organism or system, inputs are of two kinds, some inputs are important to the function of the organism or system by themselves. In his book Sensory Ecology Dusenbery called these causal inputs, other inputs are important only because they are associated with causal inputs and can be used to predict the occurrence of a causal input at a later time. Some information is important because of association with information but eventually there must be a connection to a causal input
Information
–
Partial map of the Internet, with nodes representing IP addresses
Information
–
The
ASCII codes for the word "
Wikipedia " represented in
binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding textual computer information
Information
–
Galactic (including dark) matter distribution in a cubic section of the Universe
Information
–
Information embedded in an abstract mathematical object with symmetry breaking nucleus
3.
Phenomenon
–
A phenomenon is any thing which manifests itself. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as things that appear or experiences for a sentient being, the term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon. In contrast to a phenomenon, a noumenon can not be directly observed, Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in this part of his philosophy, in which phenomenon and noumenon serve as interrelated technical terms. In modern philosophical use, the phenomena has come to mean what is experienced is the basis of reality. He wrote that humans could infer only as much as their senses allowed, thus, the term phenomenon refers to any incident deserving of inquiry and investigation, especially events that are particularly unusual or of distinctive importance. According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, Modern philosophers have used phenomenon to designate what is apprehended before judgment is applied and this may not be possible if observation is theory laden. In scientific usage, a phenomenon is any event that is observable, however common it might be, even if it requires the use of instrumentation to observe, record, another example of scientific phenomena can be found in the experience of phantom limb sensations. This occurrence, the sensation of feeling in amputated limbs, is reported by over 70% of amputees, although the limb is no longer present, they report still experiencing sensations. This is an event that defies typical logic and has been a source of much curiosity within the medical and physiological fields. A mechanical phenomenon is a phenomenon associated with the equilibrium or motion of objects. Some examples are Newtons cradle, engines, and double pendulums, in gemology, a phenomenon is an unusual optical effect that is displayed by a gem. Play-of-color, labradorescence, iridescence, adularescence, chatoyancy, asterism, aventurescence, lustre, group phenomena concern the behavior of a particular group of individual entities, usually organisms and most especially people. The behavior of individuals often changes in a setting in various ways. Social phenomena apply especially to organisms and people in that states are implicit in the term. Attitudes and events particular to a group may have effects beyond the group, in popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. The term is most commonly used to refer to occurrences that at first defy explanation or baffle the observer
Phenomenon
–
Cloud chamber phenomena. Scientists use phenomena to refine some
hypotheses and sometimes to disprove a
theory. See also
Animated Version.
Phenomenon
–
A comparison between a candle flame on Earth (left) and in a
microgravity environment, such as that found on the
ISS (right). The same burning phenomenon is
observed, but different flame shape and colouring phenomena are also observed.
Phenomenon
–
The combustion of a match is an observable occurrence, or event, and therefore a phenomenon.
4.
Ball
–
A ball is a round object with various uses. It is used in games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit. Balls can also be used for activities, such as catch, marbles. Balls made from hard-wearing materials are used in engineering applications to very low friction bearings. Black-powder weapons use stone and metal balls as projectiles, although many types of balls are today made from rubber, this form was unknown outside the Americas until after the voyages of Columbus. The Spanish were the first Europeans to see bouncing rubber balls which were employed most notably in the Mesoamerican ballgame, balls used in various sports in other parts of the world prior to Columbus were made from other materials such as animal bladders or skins, stuffed with various materials. As balls are one of the most familiar spherical objects to humans, no Old English representative of any of these is known. If ball- was native in Germanic, it may have been a cognate with the Latin foll-is in sense of a blown up or inflated. In the later Middle English spelling balle the word coincided graphically with the French balle ball, French balle is assumed to be of Germanic origin, itself, however. In Ancient Greek the word πάλλα for ball is attested besides the word σφαίρα, a ball, as the essential feature in many forms of gameplay requiring physical exertion, must date from the very earliest times. A rolling object appeals not only to a baby but to a kitten. Some form of game with a ball is found portrayed on Egyptian monuments, in Homer, Nausicaa was playing at ball with her maidens when Odysseus first saw her in the land of the Phaeacians. And Halios and Laodamas performed before Alcinous and Odysseus with ball play, of regular rules for the playing of ball games, little trace remains, if there were any such. Pollux mentions a game called episkyros, which has often been looked on as the origin of football and it seems to have been played by two sides, arranged in lines, how far there was any form of goal seems uncertain. Among the Romans, ball games were looked upon as an adjunct to the bath, and were graduated to the age and health of the bathers and this was struck from player to player, who wore a kind of gauntlet on the arm. These games are known to us through the Romans, though the names are Greek, the various modern games played with a ball or balls and subject to rules are treated under their various names, such as polo, cricket, football, etc. Several sports use a ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid, Ball Buckminster Fullerene Football Kickball Marbles Penny floater Prisoner Ball Shuttlecock Super Ball
Ball
–
Russian leather balls (
Russian: мячи), 12th-13th century.
Ball
–
Football from association football (soccer)
Ball
–
Baoding balls
Ball
–
Baseball
5.
Archaeologist
–
Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
Archaeologist
–
Roman ruins,
Lausanne, Switzerland.
Archaeologist
–
An early photograph of Stonehenge taken July 1877
Archaeologist
–
Artifacts discovered at the 1808
Bush Barrow excavation by Sir
Richard Colt Hoare and
William Cunnington.
Archaeologist
–
Mortimer Wheeler pioneered
systematic excavation in the early 20th century. Pictured, are his excavations at
Maiden Castle, Dorset, in October 1937.
6.
Sociologist
–
Sociology is the study of social behaviour or society, including its origins, development, organisation, networks, and institutions. It is a science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, disorder. Many sociologists aim to research that may be applied directly to social policy and welfare. Subject matter ranges from the level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems. The traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality, the range of social scientific methods has also expanded. Social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques, the linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-twentieth century led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophic approaches towards the analysis of society. There is often a great deal of crossover between social research, market research, and other statistical fields, Sociology is distinguished from various general social studies courses, which bear little relation to sociological theory or to social-science research-methodology. The US National Science Foundation classifies sociology as a STEM field, Sociological reasoning pre-dates the foundation of the discipline. Social analysis has origins in the stock of Western knowledge and philosophy. The origin of the survey, i. e, there is evidence of early sociology in medieval Arab writings. The word sociology is derived from both Latin and Greek origins, the Latin word, socius, companion, the suffix -logy, the study of from Greek -λογία from λόγος, lógos, word, knowledge. It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès in an unpublished manuscript, Sociology was later defined independently by the French philosopher of science, Auguste Comte, in 1838. Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society, Comte had earlier used the term social physics, but that had subsequently been appropriated by others, most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet. Comte endeavoured to unify history, psychology and economics through the understanding of the social realm. Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era, after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases, Comte gave a powerful impetus to the development of sociology, an impetus which bore fruit in the later decades of the nineteenth century. To say this is not to claim that French sociologists such as Durkheim were devoted disciples of the high priest of positivism. To be sure, beginnings can be traced back well beyond Montesquieu, for example, Marx rejected Comtean positivism but in attempting to develop a science of society nevertheless came to be recognized as a founder of sociology as the word gained wider meaning. For Isaiah Berlin, Marx may be regarded as the father of modern sociology
Sociologist
–
Ibn Khaldun statue in
Tunis,
Tunisia (1332–1406)
Sociologist
–
Sociology
Sociologist
–
Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
Sociologist
–
Karl Marx (1818–1883)
7.
Modern human behaviour
–
Behavioral modernity is a suite of behavioral and cognitive traits that distinguishes current Homo sapiens from other anatomically modern humans, hominins, and primates. Underlying these behaviors and technological innovations are cognitive and cultural foundations that have been documented experimentally and ethnographically, some of these human universal patterns are cumulative cultural adaptation, social norms, language, cooperative breeding, and extensive help and cooperation beyond close kin. Arising from differences in the record, a debate continues as to whether anatomically modern humans were behaviorally modern as well. There are many theories on the evolution of behavioral modernity and these generally fall into two camps, gradualist and cognitive approaches. The Later Upper Paleolithic Model refers to the idea that human behavior arose through cognitive, genetic changes abruptly around 40. Other models focus on how human behavior may have arisen through gradual steps. In order to classify what traits should be included in human behavior. Some examples of human universals are abstract thought, planning, trade, cooperative labor, body decoration, control. Along with these traits, humans possess a heavy reliance on social learning and this cumulative cultural change or cultural ratchet separates human culture from social learning in animals. As well, a reliance on social learning may be responsible in part for humans rapid adaptation to environments outside of Africa. Since cultural universals are found in all including some of the most isolated indigenous groups. Archaeologically a number of empirical traits have been used as indicators of human behavior. While these are often debated a few are generally agreed upon, shea outlines a variety of problems with this concept, arguing instead for behavioral variability, which, according to the author, better describes the archaeological record. Some researchers argue that a greater emphasis should be placed on identifying only those artifacts which are unquestionably, or purely and these authors note that traits used as a metric for behavioral modernity do not appear as a package until around 40–50,000 years ago. Klein specifically describes evidence of fishing, bone shaped as a tool, hearths, significant artifact diversity, although assemblages before 50,000 years ago show some diversity the only distinctly modern tool assemblages appear in Europe at 48,000. According to these authors, art only becomes common beyond this switching point, most researchers argue that a neurological or genetic change, perhaps one enabling complex language such as FOXP2, caused this revolutionary change in our species. Howiesons Poort, Blombos, and other South African archaeological sites, for example, show evidence of marine resource acquisition, trade, and abstract ornamentation at least by 80,000 years ago. Given evidence from Africa and the Middle East, a variety of hypotheses have put forth to describe an earlier
Modern human behaviour
–
Upper paleolithic, 16,000 years old, cave painting from
Lascaux cave in France
8.
Language
–
Language is the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication, particularly the human ability to do so, and a language is any specific example of such a system. The scientific study of language is called linguistics, questions concerning the philosophy of language, such as whether words can represent experience, have been debated since Gorgias and Plato in Ancient Greece. Thinkers such as Rousseau have argued that language originated from emotions while others like Kant have held that it originated from rational and logical thought, 20th-century philosophers such as Wittgenstein argued that philosophy is really the study of language. Major figures in linguistics include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky, estimates of the number of languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. However, any precise estimate depends on an arbitrary distinction between languages and dialects. Natural languages are spoken or signed, but any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli – for example, in whistling, signed and this is because human language is modality-independent. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings, human language has the properties of productivity and displacement, and relies entirely on social convention and learning. Its complex structure affords a wider range of expressions than any known system of animal communication. Language is processed in different locations in the human brain. Humans acquire language through interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently when they are approximately three years old. The use of language is deeply entrenched in human culture, a group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a language family. The languages of the Dravidian family that are mostly in Southern India include Tamil. Academic consensus holds that between 50% and 90% of languages spoken at the beginning of the 21st century will probably have become extinct by the year 2100. The English word language derives ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s tongue, speech, language through Latin lingua, language, tongue, and Old French language. The word is used to refer to codes, ciphers. Unlike conventional human languages, a language in this sense is a system of signs for encoding and decoding information. This article specifically concerns the properties of human language as it is studied in the discipline of linguistics. As an object of study, language has two primary meanings, an abstract concept, and a specific linguistic system, e. g. French
Language
–
A mural in
Teotihuacan, Mexico (c. 2nd century) depicting a person emitting a
speech scroll from his mouth, symbolizing speech
Language
–
Two girls learning
American Sign Language
Language
–
Braille writing represents language in a
tactile form.
Language
–
Two men and a woman having a conversation in
American Sign Language
9.
Francis Bacon
–
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, PC KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, and author. He served both as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England, after his death, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. Bacon has been called the father of empiricism and his works argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. Most importantly, he argued this could be achieved by use of a sceptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves. This marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, Bacon was generally neglected at court by Queen Elizabeth, but after the accession of King James I in 1603, Bacon was knighted. He was later created Baron Verulam in 1618 and Viscount St. Alban in 1621, because he had no heirs, both titles became extinct upon his death in 1626, at 65 years of age. Bacon died of pneumonia, with one account by John Aubrey stating that he had contracted the condition while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat. Francis Bacon was born on 22 January 1561 at York House near the Strand in London, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon by his wife, Anne Bacon. His mothers sister was married to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health, which would plague him throughout his life. He received tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a leaning toward Puritanism. Bacons education was conducted largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum and he was also educated at the University of Poitiers. It was at Cambridge that he first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his precocious intellect and his studies brought him to the belief that the methods and results of science as then practised were erroneous. His reverence for Aristotle conflicted with his rejection of Aristotelian philosophy, on 27 June 1576, he and Anthony entered de societate magistrorum at Grays Inn. A few months later, Francis went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the state of government and society in France under Henry III afforded him valuable political instruction. For the next three years he visited Blois, Poitiers, Tours, Italy, and Spain, during his travels, Bacon studied language, statecraft, and civil law while performing routine diplomatic tasks. On at least one occasion he delivered diplomatic letters to England for Walsingham, Burghley, the sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so. Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt, Bacon stated that he had three goals, to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his church
Francis Bacon
–
Portrait of Francis Bacon, by
Frans Pourbus (1617),
Palace on the Water in
Warsaw.
Francis Bacon
–
The 18-year-old Francis Bacon. Inscription around his head reads: Si tabula daretur digna animum mallem,
Latin for "If one could but paint his mind" (see also below).
National Portrait Gallery, London
Francis Bacon
–
The
Italianate York Water Gate – the entry to York House, built about 1626, the year of Bacon's death
Francis Bacon
–
Francis Bacon's statue at
Gray's Inn, South Square, London
10.
Novum Organum
–
The Novum Organum, fully Novum Organum Scientiarum, is a philosophical work by Francis Bacon, written in Latin and published in 1620. The title is a reference to Aristotles work Organon, which was his treatise on logic, in Novum Organum, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism. This is now known as the Baconian method, for Bacon, finding the essence of a thing was a simple process of reduction, and the use of inductive reasoning. In finding the cause of a nature such as heat. Then another list should be drawn up, listing situations that are similar to those of the first list except for the lack of heat, a third table lists situations where heat can vary. The Pillars, as the boundary of the Mediterranean, have been smashed through opening a new world for exploration, Bacon hopes that empirical investigation will, similarly, smash the old scientific ideas and lead to greater understanding of the world and heavens. The Latin tag across the bottom – Multi pertransibunt & augebitur scientia – is taken from Daniel 12,4 and it means, Many will travel and knowledge will be increased. Bacons work was instrumental in the development of the scientific method. His technique bears a resemblance to the formulation of the scientific method in the sense that it is centered on experimental research. Bacons emphasis on the use of experiments to provide additional observances of a phenomenon is one reason that he is often considered the Father of the Experimental Philosophy. Bacon begins the work with a rejection of pure a priori deduction as a means of discovering truth in natural philosophy, of his philosophy, he states, Now my plan is as easy to describe as it is difficult to effect. The emphasis on beginning with observation pervades the entire work, Novum organum was actually published as part of a much larger work, Instauratio magna—the great restoration. Originally intending Instauratio magna to contain six parts, Bacon did not come close to completing this series, as parts V, Bacon titled this first book Aphorismi de Interpretatione Naturae et Regno Hominis. In the first book of aphorisms, Bacon criticises the current state of natural philosophy, thus if the notions themselves are confused, and recklessly abstracted from things, nothing built on them is sound. The only hope lies in true Induction. In many of his aphorisms, Bacon reiterates the importance of inductive reasoning, Induction, methodologically opposed to deduction, entails beginning with particular cases observed by the senses and then attempting to discover the general axioms from those observations. In other words, induction presupposes nothing, deduction, on the other hand, begins with general axioms, or first principles, by which the truth of particular cases is extrapolated. Bacon emphasises the strength of the process that is inherent in induction, There are
Novum Organum
–
The title page illustration of Instauratio magna
11.
Elizabethan era
–
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in English history marked by the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Historians often depict it as the age in English history. In terms of the century, the historian John Guy argues that England was economically healthier, more expansive. This golden age represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music, the era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of Englands past style of theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home and it was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm before its royal union with Scotland. The Elizabethan Age may be viewed especially highly when considered in light of the failings of the periods preceding Elizabeths reign, the Protestant/Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism. England was also compared to the other nations of Europe. The Italian Renaissance had come to an end under the weight of Spanish domination of the peninsula, France was embroiled in its own religious battles due to significant Spanish intervention, that would only be settled in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes. The one great rival was Spain, which England clashed both in Europe and the Americas in skirmishes that exploded into the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604 and this drained both the English Exchequer and economy that had been so carefully restored under Elizabeths prudent guidance. English commercial and territorial expansion would be limited until the signing of the Treaty of London the year following Elizabeths death, economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade, persistent theft of Spanish treasure, and the African slave trade. The Victorian era and the early 20th century idealised the Elizabethan era, the Encyclopædia Britannica maintains that he long reign of Elizabeth I, 1558–1603, was Englands Golden Age. Merry England, in love with life, expressed itself in music and literature, in architecture and this idealising tendency was shared by Britain and an Anglophilic America. In popular culture, the image of those adventurous Elizabethan seafarers was embodied in the films of Errol Flynn, in response and reaction to this hyperbole, modern historians and biographers have tended to take a more dispassionate view of the Tudor period. Elizabethan England was not particularly successful in a military sense during the period, having inherited a virtually bankrupt state from previous reigns, her frugal policies restored fiscal responsibility. Her fiscal restraint cleared the regime of debt by 1574, and this general peace and prosperity allowed the attractive developments that Golden Age advocates have stressed. The Elizabethan Age was also an age of plots and conspiracies, frequently political in nature, high officials in Madrid, Paris and Rome sought to kill Elizabeth, a Protestant, and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic. That would be a prelude to the recovery of England for Catholicism. In 1570, the Ridolfi plot was thwarted, in 1584, the Throckmorton Plot was discovered, after Francis Throckmorton confessed his involvement in a plot to overthrow the Queen and restore the Catholic Church in England
Elizabethan era
–
Queen Elizabeth
Elizabethan era
–
The National Armada memorial in
Plymouth using the Britannia image to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 (William Charles May, sculptor, 1888)
Elizabethan era
–
Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty. Detail from The Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession, c. 1572, attributed to
Lucas de Heere.
Elizabethan era
–
The Spanish Armada fighting the English navy at the
Battle of Gravelines in 1588.
12.
Thales
–
Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek/Phoenician philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from Miletus in Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Thales is recognized for breaking from the use of mythology to explain the world and the universe, and instead explaining natural objects and phenomena by theories and hypothesis, i. e. science. Aristotle reported Thales hypothesis that the principle of nature and the nature of matter was a single material substance. In mathematics, Thales used geometry to calculate the heights of pyramids and he is the first known individual to use deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales theorem. He is the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed, the ancient source, Apollodorus of Athens, writing during the 2nd century BCE, thought Thales was born about the year 625 BCE. The dates of Thales life are not exactly known, but are roughly established by a few events mentioned in the sources. According to Herodotus Thales predicted the eclipse of May 28,585 BC. Diogenes Laërtius quotes the chronicle of Apollodorus of Athens as saying that Thales died at the age of 78 during the 58th Olympiad and attributes his death to heat stroke while watching the games. Plutarch had earlier told this version, Solon visited Thales and asked him why he remained single, nevertheless, several years later, anxious for family, he adopted his nephew Cybisthus. Thales involved himself in many activities, taking the role of an innovator, some say that he left no writings, others say that he wrote On the Solstice and On the Equinox. Diogenes Laërtius quotes two letters from Thales, one to Pherecydes of Syros, offering to review his book on religion, Thales identifies the Milesians as Athenian colonists. He was aware of the existence of the lodestone, and was the first to be connected to knowledge of this in history, according to Aristotle, Thales thought lodestones had souls, because iron is attracted to them. According to Hieronymus, historically quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Thales found the height of pyramids by comparison between the lengths of the shadows cast by a person and by the pyramids, several anecdotes suggest Thales was not just a philosopher, but also a businessman. A story, with different versions, recounts how Thales achieved riches from an olive harvest by prediction of the weather, in one version, he bought all the olive presses in Miletus after predicting the weather and a good harvest for a particular year. Thales’ political life had mainly to do with the involvement of the Ionians in the defense of Anatolia against the power of the Persians. In neighbouring Lydia, a king had come to power, Croesus and he had conquered most of the states of coastal Anatolia, including the cities of the Ionians. The story is told in Herodotus, the war endured for five years, but in the sixth an eclipse of the Sun spontaneously halted a battle in progress. It seems that Thales had predicted this solar eclipse, the Seven Sages were most likely already in existence, as Croesus was also heavily influenced by Solon of Athens, another sage
Thales
–
Thales of Miletus
Thales
–
An olive mill and an olive press dating from Roman times in
Capernaum, Israel.
Thales
–
Total
eclipse of the
Sun
Thales
–
The Ionic Stoa on the Sacred Way in Miletus
13.
Anaximander
–
Anaximander was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia. He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales and he succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he counted Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils. Little of his life and work is known today, according to available historical documents, he is the first philosopher known to have written down his studies, although only one fragment of his work remains. Fragmentary testimonies found in documents after his death provide a portrait of the man, like many thinkers of his time, Anaximanders philosophy included contributions to many disciplines. In astronomy, he attempted to describe the mechanics of celestial bodies in relation to the Earth, in physics, his postulation that the indefinite was the source of all things led Greek philosophy to a new level of conceptual abstraction. His knowledge of geometry allowed him to introduce the gnomon in Greece and he created a map of the world that contributed greatly to the advancement of geography. He was also involved in the politics of Miletus and was sent as a leader to one of its colonies, Anaximander, son of Praxiades, was born in the third year of the 42nd Olympiad. According to Apollodorus of Athens, Greek grammarian of the 2nd century BC, he was years old during the second year of the 58th Olympiad. Establishing a timeline of his work is now impossible, since no document provides chronological references, Themistius, a 4th-century Byzantine rhetorician, mentions that he was the first of the known Greeks to publish a written document on nature. Therefore, his texts would be amongst the earliest written in prose, by the time of Plato, his philosophy was almost forgotten, and Aristotle, his successor Theophrastus and a few doxographers provide us with the little information that remains. However, we know from Aristotle that Thales, also from Miletus and it is debatable whether Thales actually was the teacher of Anaximander, but there is no doubt that Anaximander was influenced by Thales theory that everything is derived from water. 3rd-century Roman rhetorician Aelian depicts him as leader of the Milesian colony to Apollonia on the Black Sea coast, indeed, Various History explains that philosophers sometimes also dealt with political matters. It is very likely that leaders of Miletus sent him there as a legislator to create a constitution or simply to maintain the colony’s allegiance. Anaximanders theories were influenced by the Greek mythical tradition, and by some ideas of Thales – the father of philosophy – as well as by observations made by older civilizations in the East. This was a practice for the Greek philosophers in a society which saw gods everywhere, therefore they could fit their ideas into a tolerably elastic system. Some scholars see a gap between the mythical and the new rational way of thought which is the main characteristic of the archaic period in the Greek city states. This has given rise to the phrase Greek miracle, but if we follow carefully the course of Anaximanders ideas, we will notice that there was not such an abrupt break as initially appears. The basic elements of nature which the first Greek philosophers believed that constituted the universe represent in fact the primordial forces of previous thought and their collision produced what the mythical tradition had called cosmic harmony
Anaximander
–
Relief representing Anaximander (Roma, Museo Nazionale Romano). Probably Roman copy of an earlier Greek original. This is the only existing image of Anaximander from the ancient world.
Anaximander
–
Detail of
Raphael 's painting
The School of Athens, 1510–1511. This could be a representation of Anaximander leaning towards
Pythagoras on his left.
14.
Aristotle
–
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, at seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Platos Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books and he believed all peoples concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotles views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works, Aristotles views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, some of Aristotles zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First Teacher and his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotles philosophy continue to be the object of academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his style as a river of gold – it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived. Aristotle, whose means the best purpose, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice. His father Nicomachus was the physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was orphaned at a young age, although there is little information on Aristotles childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Platos Academy and he remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor, there, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermiass adoptive daughter or niece and she bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BC, Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave not only to Alexander
Aristotle
–
Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by
Lysippus,
c. 330 BC. The
alabaster mantle is modern.
Aristotle
–
Aristotelianism
Aristotle
–
School of Aristotle in
Mieza,
Macedonia, Greece
Aristotle
–
"Aristotle" by
Francesco Hayez (1791–1882)
15.
Isaac Newton
–
His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published in 1687, laid the foundations of classical mechanics. Newton also made contributions to optics, and he shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus. Newtons Principia formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that dominated scientists view of the universe for the next three centuries. Newtons work on light was collected in his influential book Opticks. He also formulated a law of cooling, made the first theoretical calculation of the speed of sound. Newton was a fellow of Trinity College and the second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, politically and personally tied to the Whig party, Newton served two brief terms as Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge, in 1689–90 and 1701–02. He was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705 and he spent the last three decades of his life in London, serving as Warden and Master of the Royal Mint and his father, also named Isaac Newton, had died three months before. Born prematurely, he was a child, his mother Hannah Ayscough reportedly said that he could have fit inside a quart mug. When Newton was three, his mother remarried and went to live with her new husband, the Reverend Barnabas Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Newtons mother had three children from her second marriage. From the age of twelve until he was seventeen, Newton was educated at The Kings School, Grantham which taught Latin and Greek. He was removed from school, and by October 1659, he was to be found at Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Henry Stokes, master at the Kings School, persuaded his mother to send him back to school so that he might complete his education. Motivated partly by a desire for revenge against a bully, he became the top-ranked student. In June 1661, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge and he started as a subsizar—paying his way by performing valets duties—until he was awarded a scholarship in 1664, which guaranteed him four more years until he would get his M. A. He set down in his notebook a series of Quaestiones about mechanical philosophy as he found it, in 1665, he discovered the generalised binomial theorem and began to develop a mathematical theory that later became calculus. Soon after Newton had obtained his B. A. degree in August 1665, in April 1667, he returned to Cambridge and in October was elected as a fellow of Trinity. Fellows were required to become ordained priests, although this was not enforced in the restoration years, however, by 1675 the issue could not be avoided and by then his unconventional views stood in the way. Nevertheless, Newton managed to avoid it by means of a special permission from Charles II. A and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1672. Newtons work has been said to distinctly advance every branch of mathematics then studied and his work on the subject usually referred to as fluxions or calculus, seen in a manuscript of October 1666, is now published among Newtons mathematical papers
Isaac Newton
–
Portrait of Isaac Newton in 1689 (age 46) by
Godfrey Kneller
Isaac Newton
–
Newton in a 1702 portrait by
Godfrey Kneller
Isaac Newton
–
Isaac Newton (Bolton, Sarah K. Famous Men of Science. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1889)
Isaac Newton
–
Replica of Newton's second
Reflecting telescope that he presented to the
Royal Society in 1672
16.
Copernicus
–
Copernicus was born and died in Royal Prussia, a region that had been part of the Kingdom of Poland since 1466. A polyglot and polymath, he obtained a doctorate in law and was also a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat. In 1517 he derived a quantity theory of money – a key concept in economics –, Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in the city of Toruń, in the province of Royal Prussia, in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. His father was a merchant from Kraków and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Toruń merchant, Nicolaus was the youngest of four children. His brother Andreas became an Augustinian canon at Frombork and his sister Barbara, named after her mother, became a Benedictine nun and, in her final years, prioress of a convent in Chełmno, she died after 1517. His sister Katharina married the businessman and Toruń city councilor Barthel Gertner and left five children, Copernicus fathers family can be traced to a village in Silesia near Nysa. The villages name has been variously spelled Kopernik, Copernik, Copernic, Kopernic, Coprirnik, in the 14th century, members of the family began moving to various other Silesian cities, to the Polish capital, Kraków, and to Toruń. The father, Mikołaj the Elder, likely the son of Jan, Nicolaus was named after his father, who appears in records for the first time as a well-to-do merchant who dealt in copper, selling it mostly in Danzig. He moved from Kraków to Toruń around 1458, Nicolaus father was actively engaged in the politics of the day and supported Poland and the cities against the Teutonic Order. In 1454 he mediated negotiations between Polands Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki and the Prussian cities for repayment of war loans, Copernicuss father married Barbara Watzenrode, the astronomers mother, between 1461 and 1464. The Modlibógs were a prominent Polish family who had been known in Polands history since 1271. The Watzenrode family, like the Kopernik family, had come from Silesia from near Świdnica and they soon became one of the wealthiest and most influential patrician families. Lucas Watzenrode the Elder, a merchant and in 1439–62 president of the judicial bench, was a decided opponent of the Teutonic Knights. In 1453 he was the delegate from Toruń at the Grudziądz conference that planned the uprising against them, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, the astronomers maternal uncle and patron, was educated at the University of Kraków and at the universities of Cologne and Bologna. He was an opponent of the Teutonic Order, and its Grand Master once referred to him as the devil incarnate. In 1489 Watzenrode was elected Bishop of Warmia against the preference of King Casimir IV, as a result, Watzenrode quarreled with the king until Casimir IVs death three years later. Watzenrode was then able to close relations with three successive Polish monarchs, John I Albert, Alexander Jagiellon, and Sigismund I the Old. He was a friend and key advisor to each ruler, Watzenrode came to be considered the most powerful man in Warmia, and his wealth, connections and influence allowed him to secure Copernicus education and career as a canon at Frombork Cathedral
Copernicus
–
1580 portrait (artist unknown) in the Old Town City Hall,
Toruń
Copernicus
–
Toruń birthplace (ul. Kopernika 15, left). Together with the house at no. 17 (right), it forms the Muzeum Mikołaja Kopernika.
Copernicus
–
Copernicus' maternal uncle,
Lucas Watzenrode the Younger
Copernicus
–
Collegium Maius,
Kraków
17.
Kepler
–
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution, he is best known for his laws of motion, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi. These works also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newtons theory of universal gravitation, Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a seminary school in Graz, where he became an associate of Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg. Later he became an assistant to the astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague and he was also a mathematics teacher in Linz, and an adviser to General Wallenstein. Kepler lived in an era when there was no distinction between astronomy and astrology, but there was a strong division between astronomy and physics. Kepler was born on December 27, the feast day of St John the Evangelist,1571 and his grandfather, Sebald Kepler, had been Lord Mayor of the city. By the time Johannes was born, he had two brothers and one sister and the Kepler family fortune was in decline and his father, Heinrich Kepler, earned a precarious living as a mercenary, and he left the family when Johannes was five years old. He was believed to have died in the Eighty Years War in the Netherlands and his mother Katharina Guldenmann, an innkeepers daughter, was a healer and herbalist. Born prematurely, Johannes claimed to have weak and sickly as a child. Nevertheless, he often impressed travelers at his grandfathers inn with his phenomenal mathematical faculty and he was introduced to astronomy at an early age, and developed a love for it that would span his entire life. At age six, he observed the Great Comet of 1577, in 1580, at age nine, he observed another astronomical event, a lunar eclipse, recording that he remembered being called outdoors to see it and that the moon appeared quite red. However, childhood smallpox left him with vision and crippled hands. In 1589, after moving through grammar school, Latin school, there, he studied philosophy under Vitus Müller and theology under Jacob Heerbrand, who also taught Michael Maestlin while he was a student, until he became Chancellor at Tübingen in 1590. He proved himself to be a mathematician and earned a reputation as a skilful astrologer. Under the instruction of Michael Maestlin, Tübingens professor of mathematics from 1583 to 1631 and he became a Copernican at that time. In a student disputation, he defended heliocentrism from both a theoretical and theological perspective, maintaining that the Sun was the source of motive power in the universe. Despite his desire to become a minister, near the end of his studies, Kepler was recommended for a position as teacher of mathematics and he accepted the position in April 1594, at the age of 23. Keplers first major work, Mysterium Cosmographicum, was the first published defense of the Copernican system
Kepler
–
A 1610 portrait of Johannes Kepler by an unknown artist
Kepler
–
Birthplace of Johannes Kepler in Weil der Stadt
Kepler
–
Portraits of Kepler and his wife in oval medallions
Kepler
–
House of Johannes Kepler and Barbara Müller in Gössendorf near Graz (1597–1599)
18.
Galileo
–
Galileo Galilei was an Italian polymath, astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician. He played a role in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Galileo also worked in applied science and technology, inventing an improved military compass, Galileos championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of a stellar parallax. He was tried by the Inquisition, found vehemently suspect of heresy and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He has been called the father of observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of scientific method, and the father of science. Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy, on 15 February 1564, the first of six children of Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist, composer, and music theorist, and Giulia, three of Galileos five siblings survived infancy. The youngest, Michelangelo, also became a noted lutenist and composer although he contributed to financial burdens during Galileos young adulthood, Michelangelo was unable to contribute his fair share of their fathers promised dowries to their brothers-in-law, who would later attempt to seek legal remedies for payments due. Michelangelo would also occasionally have to borrow funds from Galileo to support his musical endeavours and these financial burdens may have contributed to Galileos early fire to develop inventions that would bring him additional income. When Galileo Galilei was eight, his family moved to Florence and he then was educated in the Vallombrosa Abbey, about 30 km southeast of Florence. Galileo Bonaiuti was buried in the church, the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence. It was common for mid-sixteenth century Tuscan families to name the eldest son after the parents surname, hence, Galileo Galilei was not necessarily named after his ancestor Galileo Bonaiuti. The Italian male given name Galileo derives from the Latin Galilaeus, meaning of Galilee, the biblical roots of Galileos name and surname were to become the subject of a famous pun. In 1614, during the Galileo affair, one of Galileos opponents, in it he made a point of quoting Acts 1,11, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven. Despite being a genuinely pious Roman Catholic, Galileo fathered three children out of wedlock with Marina Gamba and they had two daughters, Virginia and Livia, and a son, Vincenzo. Their only worthy alternative was the religious life, both girls were accepted by the convent of San Matteo in Arcetri and remained there for the rest of their lives. Virginia took the name Maria Celeste upon entering the convent and she died on 2 April 1634, and is buried with Galileo at the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. Livia took the name Sister Arcangela and was ill for most of her life, Vincenzo was later legitimised as the legal heir of Galileo and married Sestilia Bocchineri
Galileo
–
Portrait of Galileo Galilei by
Giusto Sustermans
Galileo
–
Galileo's beloved elder daughter, Virginia (
Sister Maria Celeste), was particularly devoted to her father. She is buried with him in his tomb in the
Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.
Galileo
–
Galileo Galilei. Portrait by
Leoni
Galileo
–
Cristiano Banti 's 1857 painting Galileo facing the
Roman Inquisition
19.
Perception
–
Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. All perception involves signals in the system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sense organs. For example, vision involves light striking the retina of the eye, smell is mediated by odor molecules, Perception is not the passive receipt of these signals, but is shaped by learning, memory, expectation, and attention. Perception can be split into two processes, firstly, processing sensory input, which transforms these low-level information to higher-level information. Secondly, processing which is connected with a persons concepts and expectations, Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness. Since the rise of psychology in the 19th Century, psychologys understanding of perception has progressed by combining a variety of techniques. Psychophysics quantitatively describes the relationships between the qualities of the sensory input and perception. Sensory neuroscience studies the mechanisms underlying perception. Perceptual systems can also be studied computationally, in terms of the information they process, Perceptual issues in philosophy include the extent to which sensory qualities such as sound, smell or color exist in objective reality rather than in the mind of the perceiver. The perceptual systems of the brain enable individuals to see the world around them as stable, even though the information is typically incomplete. Human and animal brains are structured in a way, with different areas processing different kinds of sensory information. Some of these take the form of sensory maps, mapping some aspect of the world across part of the brains surface. These different modules are interconnected and influence each other, for instance, taste is strongly influenced by smell. The process of perception begins with an object in the real world, by means of light, sound or another physical process, the object stimulates the bodys sensory organs. These sensory organs transform the energy into neural activity—a process called transduction. This raw pattern of activity is called the proximal stimulus. These neural signals are transmitted to the brain and processed, the resulting mental re-creation of the distal stimulus is the percept. An example would be a shoe, the shoe itself is the distal stimulus
Perception
–
The
Necker cube and
Rubin vase can be perceived in more than one way.
20.
Shape
–
A shape is the form of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material composition. Psychologists have theorized that humans mentally break down images into simple geometric shapes called geons, examples of geons include cones and spheres. Some simple shapes can be put into broad categories, for instance, polygons are classified according to their number of edges as triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, etc. Each of these is divided into categories, triangles can be equilateral, isosceles, obtuse, acute, scalene, etc. while quadrilaterals can be rectangles, rhombi, trapezoids, squares. Other common shapes are points, lines, planes, and conic sections such as ellipses, circles, among the most common 3-dimensional shapes are polyhedra, which are shapes with flat faces, ellipsoids, which are egg-shaped or sphere-shaped objects, cylinders, and cones. If an object falls into one of these categories exactly or even approximately, thus, we say that the shape of a manhole cover is a disk, because it is approximately the same geometric object as an actual geometric disk. Similarity, Two objects are similar if one can be transformed into the other by a scaling, together with a sequence of rotations, translations. Isotopy, Two objects are isotopic if one can be transformed into the other by a sequence of deformations that do not tear the object or put holes in it. Sometimes, two similar or congruent objects may be regarded as having a different shape if a reflection is required to transform one into the other. For instance, the b and d are a reflection of each other, and hence they are congruent and similar. Sometimes, only the outline or external boundary of the object is considered to determine its shape, for instance, an hollow sphere may be considered to have the same shape as a solid sphere. Procrustes analysis is used in many sciences to determine whether or not two objects have the shape, or to measure the difference between two shapes. In advanced mathematics, quasi-isometry can be used as a criterion to state that two shapes are approximately the same. Simple shapes can often be classified into basic objects such as a point, a line, a curve, a plane. However, most shapes occurring in the world are complex. Some, such as plant structures and coastlines, may be so complicated as to defy traditional mathematical description – in which case they may be analyzed by differential geometry, or as fractals. In geometry, two subsets of a Euclidean space have the shape if one can be transformed to the other by a combination of translations, rotations. In other words, the shape of a set of points is all the information that is invariant to translations, rotations
Shape
–
A variety of
polygonal shapes.
21.
Hierarchical
–
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being above, below, or at the same level as one another. A hierarchy can link entities either directly or indirectly, and either vertically or diagonally, indirect hierarchical links can extend vertically upwards or downwards via multiple links in the same direction, following a path. This is akin to two co-workers or colleagues, each reports to a superior, but they have the same relative amount of authority. Organizational forms exist that are alternative and complementary to hierarchy. A hierarchy is a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority, Hierarchies have their own special vocabulary. Most hierarchies use a more specific vocabulary pertaining to their subject, for example, with data structures, objects are known as nodes, superiors are called parents and subordinates are called children. In a business setting, a superior is a supervisor/boss and a peer is a colleague, degree of branching refers to the number of direct subordinates or children an object has a node has). Hierarchies can be categorized based on the degree, the highest degree present in the system as a whole. Categorization in this way yields two broad classes, linear and branching, in a linear hierarchy, the maximum degree is 1. In other words, all of the objects can be visualized in a lineup, note that this is referring to the objects and not the levels, every hierarchy has this property with respect to levels, but normally each level can have an infinite number of objects. An example of a hierarchy is the hierarchy of life. In a branching hierarchy, one or more objects has a degree of 2 or more, for many people, the word hierarchy automatically evokes an image of a branching hierarchy. Branching hierarchies are present within numerous systems, including organizations and classification schemes, the broad category of branching hierarchies can be further subdivided based on the degree. A flat hierarchy is a hierarchy in which the maximum degree approaches infinity. Most often, systems intuitively regarded as hierarchical have at most a moderate span, therefore, a flat hierarchy is often not viewed as a hierarchy at all. For example, diamonds and graphite are flat hierarchies of numerous carbon atoms which can be decomposed into subatomic particles. An overlapping hierarchy is a hierarchy in which at least one object has two parent objects. Pseudo-Dionysius used the related Greek word both in reference to the hierarchy and the ecclesiastical hierarchy
Hierarchical
–
Matryoshka dolls, also known as nesting dolls or Russian dolls. Each doll is encompassed inside another until the smallest one is reached. This is the concept of nesting. When the concept is applied to
sets, the resulting ordering is a nested hierarchy.
Hierarchical
–
Hierarchy - people on a "ladder"
Hierarchical
–
Career-oriented purposes can be diagrammed using a hierarchy describing how less important actions support a larger goal.
22.
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Title page of
Systema Naturae, Leiden, 1735
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Evolution of the
vertebrates at class level, width of spindles indicating number of families. Spindle diagrams are typical for
Evolutionary taxonomy
Taxonomy (biology)
–
The same relationship, expressed as a
cladogram typical for
cladistics
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Type specimen for
Nepenthes smilesii, a tropical
pitcher plant.
23.
Marsupial
–
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia and the Americas, a distinctive characteristic common to these species is that most of the young are carried in a pouch. Well-known marsupials include kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, possums, opossums, wombats, Tasmanian devils, others include the numbat, the bandicoot, the bettong, the bilby, the quoll, and the quokka. Marsupials represent the clade originating from the last common ancestor of extant metatherians, like other mammals in the Metatheria, they give birth to relatively undeveloped young that often reside with the mother in a pouch, for a certain amount of time. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur on the Australian continent, the remaining 100 are found in the Americas — primarily in South America, but thirteen in Central America, and one in North America, north of Mexico. Taxonomically, the two divisions of Marsupialia are, American and Australian marsupials. The order Microbiotheria is found in South America, but is believed to be closely related to Australian marsupials. There are many small species in each group. The term opossum is used to refer to American species, while similar Australian species are properly called possums, again, shrew opossums are more closely related to australidelphians than to true opossums. Order Notoryctemorphia. Marsupials have the characteristics of mammals—e. g. Mammary glands, three middle ear bones, and true hair, there are, however, striking differences as well as a number anatomical features that separate them from Eutherians. In addition to the front pouch, which contains multiple nipples for the protection and sustenance of their young, ossified patellae are absent in most modern marsupials and epipubic bones are present. Marsupials also lack a gross communication between the right and left brain hemispheres, the skull has peculiarities in comparison to higher mammals. In general, the skull is small and tight. Holes are located in the front of the orbit, the cheekbone is enlarged and extends further to the rear. The angular extension of the jaw is bent toward the center. Another feature is the palate which, in contrast to the higher mammals foramina. The teeth differ from that of mammals, so that all taxa except wombats have a different number of incisors in the upper and lower jaws
Marsupial
Marsupial
–
Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)
Marsupial
–
The
sugar glider, a marsupial, (left) and
flying squirrel, a
rodent, (right) are examples of
convergent evolution.
Marsupial
24.
Monotreme
–
Monotremes are basal mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young like marsupials and placental mammals. The only surviving examples of monotremes are all indigenous to Australia and New Guinea, the existing monotreme species are the platypus and four species of echidnas. There is currently debate regarding monotreme taxonomy. The word monotreme comes from the Greek μονός, monos and τρῆμα, trema, in common with reptiles and marsupials, monotremes lack the connective structure which in placental mammals is the primary communication route between the right and left brain hemispheres. Extant monotremes lack teeth as adults, fossil forms and modern platypus young have a tribosphenic form of molars, which is one of the hallmarks of extant mammals. Some recent work suggests that monotremes acquired this form of molar independently of placental mammals and marsupials, toothloss in modern monotremes might be related to their development of electrolocation. Monotreme jaws are constructed differently from those of other mammals. Nonetheless, findings on the extinct species Teinolophos confirm that suspended ear bones evolved independently among monotremes, the external opening of the ear still lies at the base of the jaw. DNA suggests that while this trait is shared and is synapomorphic with birds, platypuses are still mammals, l-ascorbic acid is synthesized only in the kidneys. The monotremes also have extra bones in the girdle, including an interclavicle and coracoid. Monotremes retain a reptile-like gait, with legs on the sides of, rather than underneath, the monotreme leg bears a spur in the ankle region, the spur is not functional in echidnas, but contains a powerful venom in the male platypus. This venom is derived from b-defensins, proteins that are present in mammals that create holes in viral and bacterial pathogens, some reptile venom is also composed of different types of b-defensins, another trait shared with reptiles. It is thought to be an ancient mammalian characteristic, as many non-monotreme archaic mammal groups also possess venomous spurs, the penis only carries semen, urine is excreted through the cloaca. The monotreme penis is similar to a penis, and is covered by a preputial sac. However, the egg is retained for some time within the mother, which provides the egg with nutrients. Newborn monotremes are larval and fetus-like, much like those of marsupials, Monotremes, like all mammals, lactate, but have no defined nipples, excreting the milk from their mammary glands via openings in their skin. All species are long-lived, with low rates of reproduction and relatively prolonged parental care of infants, the zygotes of monotremes, however, undergo meroblastic division, which causes the ovum to split but not completely. Monotremes metabolic rate is low by mammalian standards
Monotreme
Monotreme
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Platypus
Monotreme
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Long-beaked echidna
Monotreme
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A 100-million-year-old
Steropodon jaw on display at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, USA
25.
Philosophy
–
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was coined by Pythagoras. Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument and systematic presentation, classic philosophical questions include, Is it possible to know anything and to prove it. However, philosophers might also pose more practical and concrete questions such as, is it better to be just or unjust. Historically, philosophy encompassed any body of knowledge, from the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, natural philosophy encompassed astronomy, medicine and physics. For example, Newtons 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics, in the 19th century, the growth of modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and specialize. In the modern era, some investigations that were part of philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology. Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits remained part of philosophy, for example, is beauty objective or subjective. Are there many scientific methods or just one, is political utopia a hopeful dream or hopeless fantasy. Major sub-fields of academic philosophy include metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, logic, philosophy of science, since the 20th century, professional philosophers contribute to society primarily as professors, researchers and writers. Traditionally, the term referred to any body of knowledge. In this sense, philosophy is related to religion, mathematics, natural science, education. This division is not obsolete but has changed, Natural philosophy has split into the various natural sciences, especially astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and cosmology. Moral philosophy has birthed the social sciences, but still includes value theory, metaphysical philosophy has birthed formal sciences such as logic, mathematics and philosophy of science, but still includes epistemology, cosmology and others. Many philosophical debates that began in ancient times are still debated today, colin McGinn and others claim that no philosophical progress has occurred during that interval. Chalmers and others, by contrast, see progress in philosophy similar to that in science, in one general sense, philosophy is associated with wisdom, intellectual culture and a search for knowledge. In that sense, all cultures and literate societies ask philosophical questions such as how are we to live, a broad and impartial conception of philosophy then, finds a reasoned inquiry into such matters as reality, morality and life in all world civilizations. Socrates was an influential philosopher, who insisted that he possessed no wisdom but was a pursuer of wisdom
Philosophy
–
René Descartes
Philosophy
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Thomas Aquinas
Philosophy
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Jeremy Bentham
Philosophy
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Thomas Hobbes
26.
Red
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Red is the color at the longer-wavelengths end of the spectrum of visible light next to orange, at the opposite end from violet. Red color has a predominant light wavelength of roughly 620–740 nanometers, light with a longer wavelength than red but shorter than terahertz radiation and microwave is called infrared. Red is one of the secondary colors, resulting from the combination of yellow. Traditionally, it was viewed as a primary colour, along with yellow and blue, in the RYB color space and traditional color wheel formerly used by painters. Reds can vary in shade from light pink to very dark maroon or burgundy. Red is the color of cyan. In nature, the red color of blood comes from hemoglobin, the red color of the Grand Canyon and other geological features is caused by hematite or red ochre, both forms of iron oxide. It also causes the red color of the planet Mars, the color of autumn leaves is caused by pigments called anthocyanins, which are produced towards the end of summer, when the green chlorophyll is no longer produced. One to two percent of the population has red hair, the color is produced by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin. Since red is the color of blood, it has historically been associated with sacrifice, danger, modern surveys in the United States and Europe show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love and joy. In China, India and many other Asian countries it is the color of symbolizing happiness, since the 19th century, red has also been associated with socialism and communism. The word red is derived from the Old English rēad, the word can be further traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root rewdʰ-. In Sanskrit, the word means red or blood. In the Akkadian language of Ancient Mesopotamia and in the modern Inuit language of Inuit, the words for colored in Latin and Spanish both also mean red. In Portuguese the word for red is vermelho, which comes from Latin vermiculus, in the Russian language, the word for red, Кра́сный, comes from the same old Slavic root as the words for beautiful—красивый and excellent—прекрасный. Thus Red Square in Moscow, named long before the Russian Revolution, in heraldry, the word gules is used for red. Red can vary in hue from orange-red to violet-red, and for each hue there is a variety of shades and tints. Red hematite powder was found scattered around the remains at a grave site in a Zhoukoudian cave complex near Beijing
Red
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Pure, or solid red, the color of most ripe
strawberries.
Red
–
Red
Red
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Scarlet is one quarter of the way between the colors red and orange. It is the color worn by a
cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church..
Red
–
The
cardinal takes its name from the color worn by Roman Catholic
cardinals.
27.
Qualia
–
In philosophy and certain models of psychology, qualia are individual instances of subjective, conscious experience. Examples of qualia include the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, as qualitative characters of sensation, qualia stand in contrast to propositional attitudes. Much of the debate over their importance hinges on the definition of the term, There are many definitions of qualia, which have changed over time. One of the simpler, broader definitions is, The what it is character of mental states. There are recognizable qualitative characters of the given, which may be repeated in different experiences, but although such qualia are universals, in the sense of being recognized from one to another experience, they must be distinguished from the properties of objects. Confusion of these two is characteristic of many historical conceptions, as well as of current essence-theories, the quale is directly intuited, given, and is not the subject of any possible error because it is purely subjective. Frank Jackson later defined qualia as. certain features of the bodily sensations especially, but also of certain perceptual experiences, Daniel Dennett identifies four properties that are commonly ascribed to qualia. According to these, qualia are, ineffable, that is, they cannot be communicated, intrinsic, that is, they are non-relational properties, which do not change depending on the experiences relation to other things. Private, that is, all comparisons of qualia are systematically impossible. Directly or immediately apprehensible in consciousness, that is, to experience a quale is to know one experiences a quale, another way of defining qualia is as raw feels. A raw feel is a perception in and of itself, considered entirely in isolation from any effect it might have on behavior, in contrast, a cooked feel is that perception seen as existing in terms of its effects. For example, the perception of the taste of wine is an ineffable, raw feel, a cooked feel is not qualia. While very few ever claim that such an entity, called a zombie, actually exists. Since it is by definition impossible to convey qualia verbally, it is impossible to demonstrate them directly in an argument. Arguments for qualia generally come in the form of thought experiments designed to lead one to the conclusion that qualia exist, although it does not actually mention the word qualia, Thomas Nagels paper What Is it Like to Be a Bat. is often cited in debates over qualia. Nagel argues that consciousness has a subjective character, a what-it-is-like aspect. He states that an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism—something it is like for the organism. Nagel also suggests that the aspect of the mind may not ever be sufficiently accounted for by the objective methods of reductionistic science
Qualia
–
Inverted qualia
Qualia
–
Saturated colors are a commonly used example of a quale.
Qualia
–
Daniel Dennett
Qualia
–
Marvin Minsky
28.
Karl Marx
–
Karl Marx was a Prussian-born philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Born in Trier to a family, he later studied political economy. His work has influenced subsequent intellectual, economic, and political history. These economic critiques were set out in works such as the three volumes, published between 1867 and 1894, that comprise Das Kapital. According to Marx, states are run in the interests of the class but are nonetheless represented as being in favor of the common interest of all. He predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system, socialism. Marx actively fought for its implementation, arguing that the class should carry out organised revolutionary action to topple capitalism. Marx has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and his work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital, and subsequent economic thought. Many intellectuals, labour unions, artists and political parties worldwide have been influenced by Marxs work, Marx is typically cited as one of the principal architects of modern sociology and social science. Karl Marx was born on 5 May 1818 to Heinrich Marx and he was born at Brückengasse 664 in Trier, a town then part of the Kingdom of Prussias Province of the Lower Rhine. Marx was ancestrally Jewish, his grandfather was a Dutch rabbi, while his paternal line had supplied Triers rabbis since 1723. Marx was also a cousin once removed of German Romantic poet Heinrich Heine, also born to a German Jewish family in the Rhineland. Largely non-religious, Heinrich was a man of the Enlightenment, interested in the ideas of the philosophers Immanuel Kant, a classical liberal, he took part in agitation for a constitution and reforms in Prussia, then governed by an absolute monarchy. In 1815 Heinrich Marx began work as an attorney, in 1819 moving his family to a property near the Porta Nigra. Her sister Sophie Pressburg, was Marxs aunt and was married to Lion Philips Marxs uncle through this marriage, Lion Philips was a wealthy Dutch tobacco manufacturer and industrialist, upon whom Karl and Jenny Marx would later often come to rely for loans while they were exiled in London. Little is known of Karl Marxs childhood, the third of nine children, he became the oldest son when his brother Moritz died in 1819. Young Karl was baptised into the Lutheran Church in August 1824 along with his siblings, Sophie, Hermann, Henriette, Louise, Emilie. Young Karl was privately educated, by Heinrich Marx, until 1830, by employing many liberal humanists as teachers, Wyttenbach incurred the anger of the local conservative government
Karl Marx
–
Marx in 1875
Karl Marx
–
Marx's birthplace in Trier. It was purchased by the
Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1928 and now houses a museum devoted to him.
Karl Marx
–
Jenny von Westphalen in the 1830s
Karl Marx
–
Friedrich Engels, whom Marx met in 1844; they became lifelong friends and collaborators.
29.
Commodity
–
In economics, a commodity is a marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services, the word commodity came into use in English in the 15th century, from the French commodité, amenity, convenience. Going further back, the French word derives from the Latin commoditas, meaning suitability, convenience, the Latin word commodus meant variously appropriate, proper measure, time, or condition, and advantage, benefit. The term commodity is specifically used for a good or service when the demand for it has no qualitative differentiation across a market. In other words, a commodity good or service has full or partial but substantial fungibility, that is, the market treats its instances as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. As the saying goes, From the taste of wheat, it is not possible to tell who produced it, a Russian serf, petroleum and copper are other examples of such commodities, their supply and demand being a part of one universal market. Items such as systems, on the other hand, have many aspects of product differentiation, such as the brand, the user interface. The demand for one type of stereo may be larger than demand for another. In contrast, one of the characteristics of a commodity good is that its price is determined as a function of its market as a whole, well-established physical commodities have actively traded spot and derivative markets. Generally, these are basic resources and agricultural products such as ore, sugar. Soft commodities are goods that are grown, while hard commodities are ones that are extracted through mining, there is another important class of energy commodities which includes electricity, gas, coal and oil. Electricity has the characteristic that it is usually uneconomical to store, hence. Commoditization occurs as a goods or services market loses differentiation across its supply base, as such, goods that formerly carried premium margins for market participants have become commodities, such as generic pharmaceuticals and DRAM chips. Following this trend, nanomaterials are emerging from carrying premium profit margins for market participants to a status of commodification, there is a spectrum of commoditization, rather than a binary distinction of commodity versus differentiable product. Many products degree of commoditization depends on the mentality and means. For example, milk, eggs, and notebook paper are not differentiated by many customers, for them, other customers take into consideration other factors besides price, such as environmental sustainability and animal welfare. This is a list of companies trading globally in commodities, descending by size as of October 28,2011, on a commodity exchange, it is the underlying standard stated in the contract that defines the commodity, not any quality inherent in a specific producers product. Commodities exchanges include, Bourse Africa Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Chicago Board of Trade Chicago Mercantile Exchange Dalian Commodity Exchange Euronext and these markets will quickly respond to changes in supply and demand to find an equilibrium price and quantity
Commodity
–
Yerba mate (left),
coffee bean (middle) and
tea (right), all used for
caffeinated infusions, are commodity
cash crops.
Commodity
Commodity
