The Mach-Planck debate revisited: democratization of science or elite knowledge?

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayo Siemsen
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
World War ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Popularization Of Science ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Subject ◽  
First World

Is scientific knowledge the domain of the intellectual elite or is it everyman’s concern, thus making the popularization of science a democratic activity integrally required of science itself? This is a question whose history extends back even longer than the enlightenment period. As technology starts to permeate every inch of daily life, the issues involved for our future development become more pressing and a matter of socio-political development. Dostoyevsky brought this to the point in a fictional dispute between a Great Inquisitor and Christ. This was also the subject of fierce scientific debates, the most prominent of which was probably the debate between Ernst Mach and Max Planck at the turn of the century, before the first world war, when the new Physics (quantum theory and relativity) was discovered and its relevance for our view of the world and our place in it was hotly discussed. For Mach, the job of popularization should rest with science - an informed public cannot be manipulated as easily by ‘pop science’. This article focuses on the mostly neglected political epistemological level of the debate, its sporadic later flare-ups in different places with different protagonists (Wagenschein, Wittenberg), and its relevance for the popularization of science today.

De Brusselse vereniging De Veldbloem zoekt toenadering tot Hendrik Conscience. Twee pas ontdekte brieven

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-289
Author(s):  
Luc Vandeweyer
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
De Man ◽  
First World

Het wordt in de historiografie van de Vlaamse beweging aanvaard dat Hendrik Conscience door de Brusselse progressieve vereniging ‘De Veldbloem’ in 1872 werd gevraagd om te kandideren voor de parlementaire verkiezingen. Conscience zou dat geweigerd hebben. Dit is uiteraard geen onbetekenend feit in de biografie van de man die ‘zijn volk leerde lezen’.Dit gegeven is terug te voeren op de geschriften van Antoon Jacob (°1889) van na de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Jacob werd beschouwd als een autoriteit inzake Conscience. Maar waar is het bewijs? Hij verwees daarbij naar “uitvoerige correspondentie” maar die is niet te vinden. Het ADVN slaagde erin om de archivalische nalatenschap van de in 1947 gestorven Jacob te verwerven. Daarin bleken heel wat brieven van en aan Conscience te zitten. De briefwisseling met ‘De Veldbloem’ was onderwerp van deze bijdrage. Daarin is geen spoor te vinden van de poging om Conscience op het politieke strijdtoneel te brengen in Brussel. Daarbij moet de vraag gesteld worden hoe Jacob deze archiefstukken verzamelde en wat ermee is gebeurd tijdens zijn turbulente leven en talrijke omzwervingen. Het is best mogelijk dat er een en ander is verloren gegaan. Toch is deze nalatenschap een belangrijke aanwinst voor de studie van de geschiedenis van de Vlaamse beweging en die van Conscience in het bijzonder. ________ The Brussels association ‘De Veldbloem’ seeks contact with Hendrik Conscience. Two recently discovered letters It is an accepted fact in the historiography of the Flemish Movement that the Brussels progressive Association ‘De Veldbloem’ [=the Wildflower] asked Hendrik Conscience in 1872 to be their candidate for the parliamentary elections. It is said that Hendrik Conscience refused the request. This is of course a very significant fact in the biography of the man ‘who taught his people to read.’ This information may be inferred from the writings of Antoon Jacob (°1889) from the period after the First World War. Jacob was regarded as an authority on Conscience. But where is the evidence of this? In his claim, he referred to ‘extensive correspondence’, but that correspondence is not extant. The ADVN managed to acquire the archival legacy of Jacob who died in 1947. It turned out that it included quite a number of letters to and from Conscience. The exchange of letters with ‘De Veldbloem’ was the subject of this contribution. It contains no trace of the attempt to bring Conscience into the political arena in Brussels. It raises the question how Jacob collected these archival documents and what happened to them during his turbulent life and his many peregrinations.  It is certainly possible that some documents have been lost. However, this legacy is still an important acquisition for the study of the history of the Flemish Movement and of Conscience in particular.

VI. Lord Bryce and the First World War

1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith G. Robbins
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Look Back ◽  
University Life ◽  
The Subject ◽  
First World ◽  
Life Politics

James Bryce considered that 1914 would be a satisfying year. He had just been created a viscount and, at the age of seventy-six, could look back on a career of distinction in university life, politics and diplomacy. He could continue to write books and indulge in correspondence with his friends. In fact, the books were not written and his correspondence became very practical. The tension in Europe in the summer of 1914 caused many people to ask him for advice on the best course of action. What, in particular, were Liberals to do? Some M.P.s were talking of peace demonstrations to keep Britain out of European war, but Bryce hesitated. On the evening of 31 July, the matter was discussed with J. A. Spender who noted that ‘… Bryce … strongly advised not to join this demonstration. He agreed that violation of Belgium would be casus belli.’ When Belgium was violated, Bryce was committed to the war but his commitment was reluctant, hesitant and with foreboding. The consequences of his decision are the subject of this article.

THE ROLE OF ENGLAND IN THE FORMATION OF THE PROTO-STATEHOOD OF THE IRAQI KURDS AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR (1918–1920) IN THE MANDATE TERRITORIES FORM

2020 ◽  
pp. 179-191
Author(s):  
Kirill V. Vertyaev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Iraqi Kurdistan ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
First World

The article develops the stadial formation thesis of the proto-statehood among the Iraqi Kurds. The concept of national identity of the Iraqi Kurds remains the subject of a complex and long-lasting discussion. The main obstacle for the emergence of the Kurdish integral nationalism is still the fact that the Kurds speak different dialects of Kurdish language, and still maintain political and inter-clan conflicts over the distribution of power (not to mention the futility of any attempts to define political boundaries of Iraqi Kurdistan). Ironically, Great Britain faced practically the same contradictions during its occupation of Mesopotamia at the end of the WWI (following the Mudros armistice in October 1918), when British attempts to create an independent Kurdish state failed for a number of reasons, which are discussed in the article. In our opinion, this period was responsible for the formation of proto-statehood in Kurdish area (Kingdom of Kurdistan, for example, obtained classic characteristics of a chiefdom, but at the same time had a vivid anti-colonial, anti-imperialist orientation). The phenomenology of the British government’s political relations with such ‘quasi-states’ presents the subject for this article’s analysis.

Venezuela through the Prism of Pan-Germanism: Towards Understanding the Venezuelan Crisis (1902-1903) in German Society

2021 ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Alexander Turygin
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
German Society ◽  
World War ◽  
German Government ◽  
The Public ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
First World

The article deals with the formation of German colonial ideology in South America. The example of Venezuela is used to study the "discovery" of South America by German society in the late 19th — early 20th centuries, as well as the controversial policy of establishing Germany on the other side of the Atlantic. Germany's participation in the Venezuelan crisis (1902-1903) demonstrates the split in German society between the government and the nationalist-minded part of society, the manipulation of whose consciousness becomes a means of non-political influence for the Pan-German league (Alldeutscher Verband). The Venezuelan crisis, as part of the local diplomatic crises on the eve of the First World War, demonstrates the interest of the German government in the new status of a "world power", although national identity is now formed by German nationalists. Since there is no unity between official Berlin and the public in understanding the essence of colonialism, a paradox arises, which has become the subject of scientific study relatively recently. The article also problematizes one of the classic theses of imperialist theory the economic expansion is followed by territorial claims.

Continental Naval Doctrines Between the Wars. The Impact of German Naval Experience on the Italian Navy (1919-1943)

2021 ◽  
pp. 096834452110434
Author(s):  
Fabio De Ninno
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Early Years ◽  
World War ◽  
Weapon Systems ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

During the interwar era, German naval history and naval doctrine exercised a profound influence on the development of the Italian Navy. The subject is relevant to understand how continental sea powers naval doctrines developed after the First World War, attempting to integrate new weapon systems to overcome the previous limits of the Fleet in being strategy. Italian naval thinkers incorporated the lessons offered by their German counterparts, preparing to repeat many of their mistakes, which explained in part the failures of Italian sea power in the early years of the Second World War.

The Development of Military Aviation in Australia

1964 ◽  
Vol 68 (637) ◽  
pp. 25-34
Author(s):  
W. H. Garing
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
List Type ◽  
World War ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Military Aviation ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

Because two world wars have exerted such a profound influence on military aviation I have chosen to treat the subject under the following headings:The BeginningThe First World War.The Inter-War Years.The Second World War.From 1945 to the present.The Future.Under each heading I will endeavour to outline the developments and changes in technology and rôle which have taken place, and to indicate the effects these were to have upon each succeeding period.

III Woolton at the Ministry of Food

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-70
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Home Front ◽  
Food Control ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

The Ministry of Food was essentially created during the War, and survived until it was reabsorbed into the Ministry of Agriculture in 1958. It has been the subject of extensive popular and scholarly interest as part of research into the management of the Second World War on the Home Front. Lessons about food control had been learned from the experiences of the First World War, which were consciously applied to this war. This was in part because so many of the men had been involved in that conflict in some way, including Woolton himself. They had personal memories of what had worked well then, but were also very aware of the mistakes that had been made, which they did not wanted repeated. Woolton certainly was, as his ...

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