The rhetorical strategy of William Paley’s Natural theology (1802): Part 1, William Paley’s Natural theology in context

This article reconstructs the historical and philosophical contexts of William Paley’s Natural theology (1802). In the wake of the French Revolution, widely believed to be the embodiment of an atheistic political credo, the refutation of the transmutational biological theories of Buffon and Erasmus Darwin was naturally high on Paley’s agenda. But he was also responding to challenges arising from his own moral philosophy, principally the psychological quandary of how men were to be kept in mind of the Creator. It is argued here that Natural theology was the culmination of a complex rhetorical scheme for instilling religious impressions that would increase both the virtue and happiness of mankind. Philosophy formed an integral part of this strategy, but it did not comprise the whole of it. Equally vital were those purely rhetorical aspects of the discourse which, according to Paley, were more concerned with creating ‘impression’. This facet of his writing is explored in part one of this two-part article. Turning to the argumentative side of the scheme, part two examines Paley’s responses to David Hume and Erasmus Darwin in the light of the wider strategy of inculcation at work throughout all his writings.     

‘The long-lost truth’: Sir Isaac Newton and the Newtonian pursuit of ancient knowledge

In the 1720s the antiquary and Newtonian scholar Dr. William Stukeley (1687-1765) described his friend Isaac Newton as ‘the Great Restorer of True Philosophy’. Newton himself in his posthumously published Observations upon the prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733) predicted that the imminent fulfilment of Scripture prophecy would see ‘a recovery and re-establishment of the long-lost truth’. In this paper I examine the background to Newton’s interest in ancient philosophy and theology, and how it related to modern natural philosophical discovery. I look at the way in which the idea of a ‘long-lost truth’ interested others within Newton’s immediate circle, and in particular how it was carried forward by Stukeley’s researches into ancient British antiquities. I show how an interest in and respect for ancient philosophical knowledge remained strong within the first half of the eighteenth century.     

Athanasius Kircher’s magical instruments: an essay on ‘science’, ‘religion’ and applied metaphysics

In this paper I endeavour to bridge the gap between the history of material culture and the history of ideas. I do this by focussing on the intersection between metaphysics and technology—what I call ‘applied metaphysics’—in the oeuvre of the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. By scrutinising the interplay between texts, objects and images in Kircher’s work, it becomes possible to describe the multiplicity of meanings related to his artefacts. I unearth as yet overlooked metaphysical and religious meanings of the camera obscura, for instance, as well as of various other optical and magnetic devices. Today, instruments and artefacts are almost exclusively seen in the light of a narrow economic and technical concept. Historically, the ‘use’ of artefacts is much more diverse, however, and I argue that it is time to historicize the concept of ‘utility’.     

论道教神学

神学是有神论思想的全部内容 ,并非基督教的专利。道教与世界其他宗教一样 ,具有自己的神学思想结构体系 ,道教的神学思想包含了丰富内容     

《荒原》和《四个四重奏》的对照分析

本文从神话学与神学的运用、非个性化与个性化的语言以及意象性结构与音乐性结构等三个方面对T．S．艾略特的代表作《荒原》和《四个四重奏》进行对照分析,从中进一步了解艾略特皈依宗教前后两个时期在诗歌创作的风格和理念上的变化。     

艾丽丝·默多克小说《钟》里的“无上帝神学”思想

试图通过艾丽丝·默多克的长篇小说<钟>里的重要人物形象朵拉的"反叛"、大宅邸里禁欲的后果、以及"钟"的意象这三个方面切入进行剖析,认为这部小说所传达出的宗教思想与她在20世纪90年代提出的"无上帝神学"思想有所呼应.     

成层软粘土地基非线性流变固结理论研究

研究了具有非线性流变特性的成层地基一维固结问题,并考虑了土的自重、渗透性变化和变荷载。基于多层地基一维线弹性固结解析解和迭代法,建立了求解该复杂问题的半解析算法,并编制了相应的计算程序AODNRCLS;此工作使固结理论更趋完善。     

含蜡原油再启动过程流型分析

为研究含蜡原油管道再启动过程,分析了压力沿管道的传播、原油的屈服、黏度由初始状态裂降至平衡状态和管道的清管四过程。根据流体连续性方程、运动方程及流变性方程,建立压力、流变性及剪切力相互耦合的再启动数学模型。该模型考虑含蜡原油的压缩性、屈服应力及沿管道位置和时间变化的流变性影响。停输后原油的流变性方程采用宾汉模型,并考虑屈服应力的逐时变化。模型分析中考虑了层流和紊流的变化,通过数值模拟给出计算结果,此模型更接近于含蜡原油再启动的真实情况。     

Newtonianism and religion in the Netherlands

In the early eighteenth century Newtonianism became popular in the Netherlands both in academic (Boerhaave, ’sGravesande, Van Musschenbroek) and non-academic circles. The ‘Book of Nature’ was interpreted with the help of Newton’s natural philosophy and his ideas about a providential deity, thereby greatly enhancing the attractiveness of physico-theology in the eighteenth-century United Provinces. Like other Europeans the Dutch welcomed physico-theology as a strategic means in their battle against irreligion and atheism. Bernard Nieuwentijt, Johan Lulofs, Petrus Camper, and Johannes Florentius Martinet were prominent experts in the field. Combining Newtonian notions with Leibnizian optimism and romanticist trends, physico-theology remained popular in the Netherlands well into the nineteenth century.     

试探牛顿神学自然观及其与机械论思想的关系

近代经典物理学奠基人牛顿,是一位有着浓厚神学思想的近代科学家。文章首先介绍了牛顿的神学自然观,从分析其特征出发探讨了近代科学和神学的关系,得出近代科学史上神学和科学相互联系、相互影响的互动关系。最后以牛顿的相关神学自然观思想为视角,剖析牛顿机械论思想在具体科学思想中的体现和作用,并以此来探讨神学和科学结合的可能性和途径。