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Mysticism refers to extraordinary experiences that transcend perceived reality and transform the individual. Section 1 introduces key features such as noetic and ineffable qualities, alongside psychological typologies and a fourfold hierarchy of mystical forms. Section 2 explores monistic mysticism, where self and ultimate reality merge in oneness and ego-dissolution, illustrated through perennial philosophy and its critiques. Section 3 examines nondualistic mysticism, in which the self remains distinct yet is absorbed into a transcendent order, exemplified in world religions where ego yields to the divine. Section 4 discusses dualistic mysticism, where the self encounters a separate nonhuman reality, often expressed through shamanism, spiritist visions, and psychedelic states. Section 5 presents pluralistic mysticism, emphasizing multiple dimensions of self and reality, integrating embodied and spiritual aspects, and drawing on nonphysicalism and parapsychology. Section 6 synthesizes these perspectives, stressing that transcendent realities require self-transformation and that mystical insights can inform daily life across culture.
Why are legislatures in some authoritarian regimes more powerful than others? Why does influence on policies and politics vary across dictatorships? To answer these questions, Lawmaking under Authoritarianism extends the power-sharing theory of authoritarian government to argue that autocracies with balanced factional politics have more influential legislatures than regimes with unbalanced or unstable factional politics. Where factional politics is balanced, autocracies have reviser legislatures that amend and reject significant shares of executive initiatives and are able to block or reverse policies preferred by dictators. When factional politics is unbalanced, notary legislatures may amend executive bills but rarely reject them, and regimes with unstable factional politics oscillate between these two extremes. Lawmaking under Authoritarianism employs novel datasets based on extensive archival research to support these findings, including strong qualitative case studies for past dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil, and Spain.
This Element examines post-apartheid pedagogy in South Africa to uncover philosophical and epistemological foundations on which it is predicated. The analysis reveals quaint epistemologies and their associated philosophical postulations, espousing solipsistic methodologies that position teachers and their students as passive participants in activities rendered abstract and contemplative – an intellectual odyssey and dispassionate pursuit of knowledge devoid of context and human subjectivity. To counteract the effects of such coercive epistemologies and Western orthodoxies, a decolonising approach, prioritising ethical grounding of knowledge and pedagogy is proposed. Inthis decolonising approach to learning and development, students enact the knowledge they embody, and, through such enactment of their culturally situated knowledge practices, students perceive concepts in their process of transformation and, consequently, acquire knowledge as tools for critical engagement with reality -and tools for meaningful pursuit of self-knowledge,agency, and identity development. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
The threat of an impending global water crisis has proliferated across water governance literature in the recent decades. However, defining the nature of this global water crisis remains a challenge, as a plethora of problems fall under this term. Simultaneously, contemporary waterscapes are hard to navigate due to the interconnected and wicked nature of water issues. Thus, to unravel this complex picture, it is fundamental to be reflexive about how water problems are identified, defined, and addressed. Conducting a systematic literature review and applying a constant comparison method, this Element identifies nine key human-water problématiques. Additionally, the analysis traces co-occurrences between diverse problématiques and their conceptual sub-clusters. Based on exhaustive literature, a reflection on the complex issue of 'what solutions?' is elaborated. Lastly, contributions to the ontological question of what a water problem is are offered, indicating a transition beyond an understanding of water issues as solely tangible.
This Element explores the textile crafts and cloth cultures of the Aegean Bronze Age, focusing on two categories of archaeological evidence: excavated textiles (or their imprints) and tools used for yarn production and weaving. Together, these types of material testimonies offer complementary perspectives on a textile history that spans 2,000 years. A gro wing body of evidence suggests that the Aegean was home to communities of skilled textile craftspeople who produced cloth ranging from plain and coarse to fine and elaborate. As regional connectivity increased throughout the Bronze Age, interactions in textile craft flourished. In time, textile production became central to the political economies that emerged in the Aegean region. The expertise of Bronze Age Aegean spinners and weavers is vividly illustrated through the material record of their tools, while even the smallest excavated cloth fragments stand as fragile, yet enduring testaments to textile craftsmanship.
What is technology? How and why did techniques – including materials, tools, processes and products – become central subjects of study in anthropology and archaeology? In this book, Nathan Schlanger explores the invention of technology through the work of the eminent ethnologist and prehistorian André Leroi-Gourhan (1911–1986), author of groundbreaking works such as Gesture and Speech. While employed at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, Leroi-Gourhan initially specialized in ethnographic studies of 'material civilizations'. By the 1950s, however, his approach broadened to encompass evolutionary and behavioral perspectives from history, biology, psychology and philosophy. Focused on the material dimensions of techniques, Leroi-Gourhan's influential investigations ranged from traditional craft activities to automated production. They also anticipated both the information age and the environmental crisis of today. Schlanger's study offers new insights into the complexity of Leroi-Gourhan's interdisciplinary research, methods, and results, spanning across the 20th century social sciences and humanities.
In Saints as Divine Evidence, Robert MacSwain explores 'the hagiological argument' for God, that is, human holiness as evidence for divinity. Providing an overview of the contested place of evidence in religious belief, and a case study of someone whose short but compelling life allegedly bore witness to the reality of God, MacSwain then surveys sainthood as understood in philosophy of religion, ethics, Christian theology, church history, comparative religion, and cultural studies. With epistemological and hagiological frameworks established, he further identifies and analyses three distinct forms of the argument, which he calls the 'propositional', the 'perceptual', and the 'performative'. Each version understands both evidence and sainthood differently, and the relevant concepts include exemplarity, inference, altruism, perception, religious experience, performativity, narrative, witness, and embodiment. MacSwain's study expands the standard list of theistic arguments and moves the discussion from purely logical and empirical considerations to include spiritual, ethical, and personal issues as well.
According to Kant, citizenship amounts to freedom (Freiheit), equality (Gleichheit), and civil self-sufficiency (Selbständigkeit). This Element provides a unifying interpretation of these three elements. Vrousalis argues that Kant affirms the idea of interdependent independence: in the just society, citizens have independent use of their interdependent rightful powers. Kant therefore thinks of the modern state as a system of cooperative production, in which reciprocal entitlements to one another's labour carry a justificatory burden. The empirical form of that ideal is a republic of economically independent commodity producers. It follows that citizenship and poverty, for Kant, are inextricably connected. Vrousalis explains how Kant's arguments anticipate Hegel's discussion of the division of labour, Marx's account of alienated labour, and Rawls' defence of a well-ordered society. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
This Element argues for the benefits of integrating the perspectives of a new historiography of paleontology in the training of upcoming paleontologists and in the paleontological community's culture more broadly. Wrestling with the complex legacy of its past, the paleontological community is facing the need to reappreciate its history to address issues of accessibility and equity affecting the field, such as gender gap, parachute science, and specimen repatriation. The ability of the paleontological community to address these issues depends partly on the nature of its engagement with the past in which they find their source. This Element provides a conceptual toolkit to help with the interpretation of the unprecedented position in which the paleontological community finds itself regarding its past. It also introduces historiographical resources and provides some suggestions to foster collaboration between paleontology and the history of paleontology.
Why do adversaries sometimes cooperate to restrain their military competition? Why do they design arms control agreements with intrusive verification in some cases but rely on minimal transparency in others? Amidst ongoing international competition, arms control remains rare despite potential mutual benefits, and agreements vary dramatically in their approaches to monitoring. This book reveals how uncertainty from domestic political changes-such as leadership transitions or social unrest- can enable arms control. It identifies two paths to agreement: during periods of uncertainty, states that previously relied on informal understandings hedge by establishing lightly-monitored agreements, while those that anticipated deception take calculated risks through agreements with intensive verification. Through comprehensive data analysis and rich case studies, Jane Vaynman challenges conventional wisdom about uncertainty in international relations while offering insights for policymakers. As states confront challenges from nuclear competition to emerging technologies, understanding when arms control becomes viable is more vital than ever.
From large-scale quantitative studies in the digital humanities to AI-generated poetry, scientific reading seemingly reigns supreme. However, these reading practices preceded, and often shaped, modern literary criticism and the rise of close reading. The Search for a Science of Verse restores this history, tracing the unruly and deeply political attempts to fashion a scientific account of poetry from 1880 onwards. It also investigates a set of modern poets, from Laura Riding to Veronica Forrest-Thomson, who thought about how their verse offers a form of knowledge not reducible to scientific explanation. It gives an account of the singularity of poetic thinking in their work, which actualises instances of meaning-making that prioritise the singular over the rule-governed. The Search for a Science of Verse is thus a historical inquiry into how techno-scientific reason sought to exert its full domination over the poetic imagination—and how that imagination, in turn, responded.
This book is about the power of story-telling and the place of myth in the cultural memory of ancient Mesopotamia. Rather than reducing mythology to an archaic state of the mind, this study redefines myth as a system of knowledge (episteme) and part of cognitive and cultural experience serving as an explanatory system. It demonstrates how among the multiple ways of world-making (Nelson Goodman) myth not only reflects experiences and reality but also constitutes reality in text and image alike. Drawing on cognitive semiotics, visual studies, and cognitive narratology, it explores the power of the image in showing and revealing something that is absent (deixis). Thus, it demonstrates the contribution of the image to knowledge production. The book calls for re-introducing meaning when dealing with the imagery and iconology of ancient Mesopotamia and introduces an innovative approach to the art history of the ancient Near East.
The adoption of the EU Takeover Directive in 2004 was marked by significant challenges, with negotiations spanning over a decade. This book provides comprehensive analysis, practical insights, and forward-looking policy recommendations. It discusses contentious issues such as the mandatory bid rule, acting in concert, and take-over defences. It also looks at developments such as sustainability in takeovers, multiple voting rights, or new ways to structure ownership changes. It offers a clear and engaging understanding of the TOD's historical evolution, its transposition, the current institutional design of takeover authorities, conflict of law issues, and the enforcement of takeover law across the EU. And it looks at its practical impact as well as its future developments. With contributions from leading experts, international comparisons, and case studies, it is an authoritative guide to the takeover law in Europe and beyond.
Pauline scholars have misconstrued key features of Paul's portrayal of love by arguing that Paul idealises self-sacrifice and 'altruism'. In antiquity, ideal loving behaviour was intended to construct a relationship of shared selves with shared interests; by contrast, modern ethics has rejected this notion of love and selfhood. In this study, Logan Williams explores Paul's Christology and ethics beyond the egoism-altruism dichotomy. He provides a fresh evaluation of self-giving language in Greek literature and shows that 'gave himself' is not a fixed phrase for self-sacrifice. In Galatians, for example, self-giving languages depict Jesus' love as an act of self-gifting. By re-evaluating the apostle's description of Christ's loving action, Williams demonstrates that Paul portrays Jesus' loving action as his positive participation in the condition of others. He also interrogates the ethics in Galatians and shows that Paul's love-ethics encourage the Galatians not to sacrifice themselves for others but to share themselves with others.
What impact does war have on women's well-being? War is far more likely to occur in countries where women lack equal standing in society. When those wars occur, the effects are also gendered. If gender inequality is affected by both the causes and impacts of armed conflict, we need to think about the implications of this interrelationship. Focusing on gendered political inequality, this Element takes a large-N approach to exploring whether inequality variation in states at conflict leads to variation in women's health outcomes. By linking the two processes, the authors are able to directly account for the impact of political inequality on which countries participate in civil conflict when they estimate the impact of inequality on conflict consequences, particularly those relating to women's health.
The Great Palace of Constantinople was the heart of Byzantium for almost a thousand years, serving as both a political and architectural model for Christendom and the Islamic world. Despite its historical significance, reconstructing its layout remains challenging due to the scarce amount of archaeological evidence. This Element synthesises the historical and topographical evolution of the palace, examining its architectural typologies and the role of ritual and artistic objects in representing imperial power. It also addresses key historiographical issues, such as the identification and dating of the Peristyle of the Mosaics, as well as its role in imperial ceremonies. The research is based on textual sources, archaeology, and graphic documentation, culminating in a virtual reconstruction through 3D imaging. By integrating these methodologies, this Element aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of the Great Palace, its influence, and its role as a central stage for Byzantine ceremonial and ideological expression.
How did Soviet Jews rebuild their lives after the Holocaust? How did they navigate Stalinist rule, reclaim their place in society, and seek retribution against those responsible for wartime atrocities? This study uncovers the resilience and adaptability of Soviet Jews in postwar Moldavia, a borderland where identities were fluid, loyalties were tested, and survival demanded ingenuity. Using newly accessed archives and oral histories, Diana Dumitru reveals how Jews pursued professional success, resisted discrimination, and sought vengeance on their wrongdoers. Far from passive subjects of repression, they carved out spaces for agency in an era of contradictions – between social mobility and state-imposed limitations, between the Soviet promise of equality and the rising anti-Jewish drive of the early 1950s, and between ideological control and personal ambition. In doing so, this study offers a fresh perspective on a complex, understudied chapter of 20th-century history.
Students will develop a practical understanding of data science with this hands-on textbook for introductory courses. This new edition is fully revised and updated, with numerous exercises and examples in the popular data science tool Python, a new chapter on using Python for statistical analysis, and a new chapter that demonstrates how to use Python within a range of cloud platforms. The many practice examples, drawn from real-life applications, range from small to big data and come to life in a new end-to-end project in Chapter 11. New 'Data Science in Practice' boxes highlight how concepts introduced work within an industry context and many chapters include new sections on AI and Generative AI. A suite of online material for instructors provides a strong supplement to the book, including lecture slides, solutions, additional assessment material and curriculum suggestions. Datasets and code are available for students online. This entry-level textbook is ideal for readers from a range of disciplines wishing to build a practical, working knowledge of data science.
While global financial capital is abundant, it flows into corporate investments and real estate rather than climate change actions in cities. Political will and public pressure are crucial to redirecting funds. Studies of economic impacts underestimate the costs of climate disasters, especially in cities, so they undermine political commitments while understating potential climate-related returns. The shift of corporate approaches towards incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts offers promise for private-sector climate investments but are recently contested. Institutional barriers remain at all levels, particularly in African cities. Since the Global North controls the world's financial markets, new means of increasing funding for the Global South are needed, especially for adaptation. Innovative financial instruments and targeted use of environmental insurance tools can upgrade underdeveloped markets and align urban climate finance with ESG frameworks. These approaches, however, require climate impact data collection, programs to improve cities' and countries' creditworthiness, and trainings. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Students will develop a practical understanding of data science with this hands-on textbook for introductory courses. This new edition is fully revised and updated, with numerous exercises and examples in the popular data science tool R, a new chapter on using R for statistical analysis, and a new chapter that demonstrates how to use R within a range of cloud platforms. The many practice examples, drawn from real-life applications, range from small to big data and come to life in a new end-to-end project in Chapter 11. New 'Data Science in Practice' boxes highlight how concepts introduced work within an industry context and many chapters include new sections on AI and Generative AI. A suite of online material for instructors provides a strong supplement to the book, including lecture slides, solutions, additional assessment material and curriculum suggestions. Datasets and code are available for students online. This entry-level textbook is ideal for readers from a range of disciplines wishing to build a practical, working knowledge of data science.