The aim of this book is to give a general idea of the way in which Modern Science looks out on the world. By selecting a few salient illustrations, it seeks to show how the various sciences are disclosing the Order of Nature. It is hoped that it may be of service to the able minded reader who wishes an introduction of an informal type to the chief scientific problems of today. The book is meant to be suggestive as well as informative; and two characteristic features may be noted, for they are deliberate: the illustrations of scientific progress that have been selected are taken from all the great orders of facts – from astronomy to anthropology; and they deal not with easy things, but with the big problems that matter most.

The aim of this book is to give a general idea of the way in which Modern Science looks out on the world. By selecting a few salient illustrations, it seeks to show how the various sciences are disclosing the Order of Nature. It is hoped that it may be of service to the able minded reader who wishes an introduction of an informal type to the chief scientific problems of today. The book is meant to be suggestive as well as informative; and two characteristic features may be noted, for they are deliberate: the illustrations of scientific progress that have been selected are taken from all the great orders of facts – from astronomy to anthropology; and they deal not with easy things, but with the big problems that matter most.

In the present book those results of physical research which are of importance for an understanding of nature have been compiled in a short and, in so far as the author was capable, popular presentation. The whole can be arranged in four sections. The first section concerns bodies as they appear to us and as we perceive them directly by means of our eyes. By further research we have learnt that these bodies are built out of very small particles which we call atoms. Even though these atoms cannot be seen directly with the eye, yet we still have quite certain proofs of their existence and of many of their properties. The whole of our knowledge concerning the atomic structure of matter has been discussed in the second section. The work of the last few decades has allowed us to penetrate still further into the inner structure of matter. The structure of the atom itself is examined in the third section. Finally, there exists a whole series of phenomena, which have been explained on the assumption that, in addition to ponderable matters, there is something still else which fills all interstellar space, a medium which is called the aether. The phenomena which take place in this medium are discussed in the last section of the book.

Literary Converts is a biographical exploration into the spiritual lives of some of the greatest writers in the English language: Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh, C.S. Lewis, Malcolm Muggeridge, Graham Greene, Edith Sitwell, Siegfried Sassoon, Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, T.S. Eliot and J.R.R. Tolkien. The role of George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells in intensifying the religious debate despite not being converts themselves is also considered. Many will be intrigued to know more about what inspired their literary heroes; others will find the association of such names with Christian belief surprising or even controversial. Whatever viewpoint we may have, Literary Converts touches on some of the most important questions of the twentieth century, making it a fascinating read.

The understanding of history can be advanced only by the combination or alternation, of analysis and synthesis. Detailed research and generalizing survey are not antiethical but complementary. For a long time, however, the specialist has reigned supreme in our schools. The need is now, surely, for a return to synoptic writing. The present work was undertaken to supply the need of a synthesis. It is a map of a large region, not a geological chart of a square mile or the plan of a single city. Its value, if any, lies in its view of the interrelations of large tracts of social and intellectual life, not in the intensive investigation of narrow fields.

The birth of modern science was linked to the rise in Western Europe of a new sensibility, that of the scientific intellectual. Such a person was no more technician, looking at science as just a job to be done, but one for whom the scientific stand-point is a philosophy in the fullest sense. In The Scientific Intellectual, Lewis S. Feuer traces the evolution of this new human type, seeking to define what ethic inspired him and the underlying emotions that created him.Under the influence of Max Weber, the rise of the scientific spirit has been viewed by sociologists as an offspring of the Protestant revolution, with its asceticism and sense of guilt acting as causative agents in the rise of capitalism and the growth of the scientific movement. Feuer takes strong issue with this view, pointing out how it is at odds with what we know of the psychological conditions of modern societies making for human curiosity and its expression in the observation of and experiment with nature.Feuer shows that wherever a scientific movement has begun, it has been based on emotions that issue in what might be called a hedonist-libertarian ethic. The scientific intellectual was a person for whom science was a 'new philosophy,' a third force rising above religious and political hatreds, seeking in the world of nature liberated vision, a intending to use and enjoy its knowledge. In his new introduction to this brilliantly readable volume, Professor Feuer reviews the book's critical reception and expands the scope of the original edition to include fascinating discussions of Francis Bacon, Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, Thomas Hardy, and others. The Scientific Intellectual will be of interest to scientists and intellectual historians.

The central question in legal philosophy is the relationship between law and morality. The legal systems of many countries around the world have been influenced by the principles of the Enlightenment: freedom, equality and fraternity. The position is similar in relation to the accompanying state ideal of the democratic constitutional state as well as the notion of a welfare state. The foundation of these principles lies in the ideal of individual autonomy. The law must in this view guarantee a social order which secures the equal freedom of all. This freedom is moreover fundamental because in modern pluralistic societies a great diversity of views exist concerning the appropriate way of life. This freedom ideal is however also strongly contested. In Law, Order and Freedom, a historical overview is given pertaining to the question of the extent to which the modern Enlightenment values can serve as the universal foundation of law and society.

Today's domestic-advice writers--women such as Martha Stewart, Cheryl Mendelson, and B. Smith--are part of a long tradition, notes Sarah Leavitt. Their success rests on a legacy of literature that has focused on the home as an expression of ideals. Here, Leavitt crafts a fascinating genealogy of domestic advice, based on her readings of hundreds of manuals spanning 150 years of history. Over the years, domestic advisors have educated women about everything from modernism and morality to sanitation and design. Their writings helped create the idealized vision of home held by so many Americans, Leavitt says. Investigating cultural themes in domestic advice written since the mid-nineteenth century, she demonstrates that these works, which found meaning in kitchen counters, parlor rugs, and bric-a-brac, have held the interest of readers despite vast changes in women's roles and opportunities. Domestic-advice manuals have always been the stuff of fantasy, argues Leavitt, demonstrating cultural ideals rather than cultural realities. But these rich sources reveal how women understood the connection between their homes and the larger world. At its most fundamental level, the true domestic fantasy was that women held the power to reform their society through first reforming their homes.

Brings Heidegger’s perspective to bear on questions of ethics, moral freedom, and its social implications, rooting much of Heidegger in his joining with or rejoinders to Kant.