The search for a theory of cognition : early mechanisms and new ideas /
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The book brings into relief the variety of approaches and disciplines that have informed the quest for a theory of cognition. The center of interest are the historical, geographical, and theoretical peripheries of classic AI's mainstream research program. The twelve chapters bring back into focus the variety of strategies and theoretical questions that researchers explored while working toward a scientific theory of cognition and pre-cognition. The volume is organized in four parts, each one including three essays. The first one deals with cybernetics, the approach that may be considered as the most important periphery of classic AI research. The second part focuses on the geographical periphery of AI research. It examines how the theories and techniques developed on AI's home ground were translated into countries with different cultures and traditions: Italy, France, and the Soviet Union. The third part focuses on AI's periphery understood in the cultural and historical meaning of the term. It contains essays that locate some of the central concepts of AI, like representation and computability, within a broader philosophical (Descartes, Aristotle, Leibniz) and technical background (programming theory and practice). The fourth and final part of the volume is focused directly on the limitation of Turing's classic computability theory and its possible alternatives, some of which were studied in the early years of AI's research (e.g. Ashby's re-entrant information model), while others have been intensely studied in recent times (quantum automata).
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1 online resource (xxvii, 375 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-351) and index. :
9789401207157 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David Pingree /
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This collection of essays reflects the wide range of David Pingree's expertise in the scientific texts (above all, concerning astronomy and astrology) of Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, India, Persia, and the medieval Arabic, Hebrew and Latin traditions. Both theoretical aspects and the practical applications of the exact sciences-in time keeping, prediction of the future, and the operation of magic-are dealt with. The book includes several critical editions and translations of hitherto unknown or understudied texts, and a particular emphasis is on the diffusion of scientific learning from one culture to another, and through time. Above all, the essays show the variety and sophistication of the exact sciences in non-Western societies in pre-modern times.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047412441
9789004132023
In Synchrony with the Heavens, Volume 2 Instruments of Mass Calculation : (Studies X-XVIII) /
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This is the first investigation of one of the main interests of astronomy in Islamic civilization, namely, timekeeping by the sun and stars and the regulation of the astronomically-defined times of Muslim prayer. The study is based on over 500 medieval astronomical manuscripts first identified by the author, now preserved in libraries all over the world and originally from the entire Islamic world from the Maghrib to Central Asia and the Yemen. The materials presented provide new insights into the early development of the prayer ritual in Islam. They also call into question the popular notion that religion could not inspire serious scientific activity. Only one of the hundreds of astronomical tables discussed here was known in medieval Europe, which is one reason why the entire corpus has remained unknown until the present. A second volume, also to be published by Brill, deals with astronomical instruments for timekeeping and other computing devices.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047406754
9789004141889
Scent from the Garden of Paradise : musk and the Medieval Islamic world /
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Since antiquity, musk has been a valued perfume and medicine. Because the musk deer only lives in Central Eurasia, people in other locations had to trade for its musk. For medieval Islamic civilization, musk became the most important of all aromatics. The musk trade thus illuminates the nature of medieval Asian trade and musk's cultural effects on the Islamic world. Scent from the Garden of Paradise: Musk and the Medieval Islamic World examines the history of musk from its origins in Asia to its uses in the medieval Middle East, surveys the Islamic literature on musk, and discusses the roles of musk in perfumery and medicine, as well as the symbolic importance of musk in Islam.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004336315 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Essays in the philosophy and history of logic and mathematics /
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The book is a collection of the author's selected works in the philosophy and history of logic and mathematics. Papers in Part I include both general surveys of contemporary philosophy of mathematics as well as studies devoted to specialized topics, like Cantor's philosophy of set theory, the Church thesis and its epistemological status, the history of the philosophical background of the concept of number, the structuralist epistemology of mathematics and the phenomenological philosophy of mathematics. Part II contains essays in the history of logic and mathematics. They address such issues as the philosophical background of the development of symbolism in mathematical logic, Giuseppe Peano and his role in the creation of contemporary logical symbolism, Emil L. Post's works in mathematical logic and recursion theory, the formalist school in the foundations of mathematics and the algebra of logic in England in the 19th century. The history of mathematics and logic in Poland is also considered. This volume is of interest to historians and philosophers of science and mathematics as well as to logicians and mathematicians interested in the philosophy and history of their fields.
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A collection of previously published essays; those originally written in Polish have been translated into English for this publication. :
1 online resource (343 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-334) and index. :
9789042030916 :
0303-8157 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Pizhūhishhāʾī dar tārīkh-i ʿilm : Maqālātī dar bāra-yi tārīkh-i riyāḍiyyāt, nujūm, mikānīk, wa pizishkī /
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As is well known, large parts of the Greek sciences were assimilated by the medieval Muslim world. Equally well known is the fact that quite a number of Muslim scholars contributed to the further development of some of these sciences and also, that some of their works were translated into Latin and other western languages, leaving their imprint on late medieval and early modern science in turn. For this reason, anyone interested in the history of science in the western world will be interested in reading about the history of science in Islam and vice versa. This is why the editor of the present collection of articles has done well to bring together contributions from both fields, in French, English, and Persian. While all of these articles are interesting in their own right, the section dedicated to Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī (d. 672/1274) and a study of Descartes' (d. 1650) de Solidorum elementis deserve special mention.
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1 online resource. :
9789004405813
9786002030184
Mathematical Instrumentation in Fourteenth-Century Egypt and Syria : The Illustrated Treatise of Najm al-Dīn al-Miṣrī /
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This volume contains the critical edition with English translation of a richly-illustrated Arabic treatise on the construction of over one hundred various astronomical instruments, many of which are otherwise unknown to specialists. It was composed by Najm al-Dīn al-Misrī, a rather shadowy figure, in Cairo ca. 1330. The edition is accompanied by a detailed technical and historical commentary, which is framed as a self-standing essay on Islamic mathematical instrumentation. While this essay/commentary is mainly based on Najm al-Dīn's treatise, it also benefits from the consultation of a large number of previously unstudied manuscripts, and includes a discussion of all relevant sources from the period 800-1500.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047402176
9789004130159
On Both Sides of the Strait of Gibraltar : Studies in the history of medieval astronomy in the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghrib /
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"In On Both Sides of the Strait of Gibraltar Julio Samsó studies the history of medieval astronomy in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), the Maghrib and the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. He proves that the Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, Castilian and Catalan sources belong to the same tradition whose origin can be dated in the 11th century due to the changes in Ptolemy's astronomical theory introduced by the Toledan astronomer Ibn al-Zarqālluh/Azarquiel. The book also analyses the role of al-Andalus and the Iberian Peninsula in the transmission of Islamic astronomy to Europe and justifies the fact that Eastern Islamic works published after ca. 950 CE were not accessible to medieval European scholars because they had not reached al-Andalus"--
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004436589
9789004436565
Why Translate Science? : Documents from Antiquity to the 16th Century in the Historical West (Bactria to the Atlantic) /
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From antiquity to the 16th century, translation united culturally the peoples in the historical West (from Bactria to the shores of the Atlantic) and fueled the production and circulation of knowledge. The Hellenic scientific and philosophical curriculum was translated from and into, to mention the most prevalent languages, Greek, Syriac, Middle Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. To fill a lack in existing scholarship, this volume collects the documents that present the insider evidence provided in contemporary accounts of the motivations and purposes of translation given in the personal statements by the agents in this process, the translators, scholars, and historians of each society. Presented in the original languages with an English translation and introductory essays, these documents offer material for the study of the historical contextualization of the translations, the social history of science and philosophy in their interplay with traditional beliefs, and the cultural policies and ideological underpinnings of these societies. Contributors Michael Angold, Pieter Beullens, Charles Burnett, David Cohen, Gad Freudenthal, Dag Nikolaus Hasse, Anthony Kaldellis, Daniel King, Felix Mundt, Ignacio Sánchez, Isabel Toral, Uwe Vagelpohl, and Mohsen Zakeri.
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A collection of documents from antiquity to the 16th century in the historical West (Bactria to the Atlantic), in the original languages with an English translation and introductory essays, about the motivations and purposes of translation from and into Greek, Syriac, Middle Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin, as given in the personal statements by the translators, scholars, and historians of each society. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004472648
9789004472631
Le corps respirant : la pensée physiologique chez Galien /
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This volume provides a new approach to Galen's theory of respiration and to his physiological thinking. The method involves reconstructing Galen's theoretical and experimental research in the structure and context of his reasoning. The book deals with the problem of muscular respiratory movement, the structure and function of organs such as the heart, lungs and pulmonary vessels, and the purpose of breathing. Other topics include bodily respiration (diapnoe), the explanation of asphyxia, miasmas and other pathological processes. The book ends with a study of breathing and vocal exercises in the Greco-Roman world. This is an important reassessment of several questions that are fundamental to the history of medicine; it provides a truer understanding of one of the most impressive contributions to western medical thought.
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1 online resource (viii, 302 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004377387 :
0925-1421 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Atlas of mammal distribution through Africa from the LGM (18 ka) to modern times : the zooarchaeological record /
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This work provides the first overview of mammal species distributions in Africa since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 18 ka) to modern time.
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Previously issued in print: 2017. :
1 online resource : illustrations (black and white, and colour) :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781784915414 (ebook) :
Man and bird in the Palaeolithic of Western Europe /
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This text considers the nature of the interaction between birds and hunter-gatherers in Western Europe. It examines aspects of avian behaviour and the qualities targeted at different periods by hunter-gatherers, who recognised the utility of the diversity of avian groups in various applications of daily life and thought.
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Also issued in print: 2021. :
1 online resource (iv, 149 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (black and white, and colour) :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781789699104 (PDF ebook) :
Living with seismic phenomena in the Mediterranean and beyond between antiquity and the Middle Ages : proceedings of Cascia (25-26 October, 2019) and Le Mans (2-3 June, 2021) confe...
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In a Mediterranean area characterised by strong seismic activity, the earthquake that struck central Italy in 2016 caused considerable damage to the archaeological and historical heritage. This catastrophic event, as well as recent archaeological fieldwork and palaeoseimological research in the same area, led to the organisation in 2019 of the first International Conference Living with seismic phenomena in the Mediterranean from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Cascia (Italy). In 2021, a second Conference, devoted to the same topic, was held at Le Mans University (France). The articles collected in this work constitute a selection of the oral presentations or posters presented during the two Conferences.
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Also issued in print: 2022.
Conference proceedings. :
1 online resource (436 pages) : illustrations (black and white, and colour), maps (black and white, and colour) :
Specialized. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9781803272368 (PDF ebook) :
Travellers in Ottoman lands : the botanical legacy /
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This splendidly illustrated work focuses on the botanical legacy of many parts of the former Ottoman Empire - including present-day Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, the Balkans, and the Arabian Peninsula - as seen and described by travellers both from within and from outside the region.
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Previously issued in print: 2018.
Includes index. :
1 online resource (xxii, 358 pages) : illustrations (colour), maps :
Specialized. :
9781784919160 (ebook) :
On winds /
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In Theophrastus of Eresus: On Winds , Robert Mayhew provides a critical edition of the Greek text with English translation and commentary on the sole Peripatetic treatise devoted specifically to winds, by Aristotle's successor in the Lyceum. This is the first edition of this text to appear in over forty years, and the first ever to make use not only of the twelve medieval manuscripts but also of the Oxyrhynchus papyrus fragment of this work (first published in 1986). The lengthy commentary attempts to explain this difficult (and often corrupt) text and its relationship to Aristotle's meteorological theory and scientific methodology.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004351837 :
0079-1687 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.