February 5, 2013
Democratic peace theory posits that democracies are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. In contrast to theories explaining war engagement, it is a ‘Theory Of Peace’ outlining motives that dissuade state-sponsored violence. Some theorists prefer terms such as ‘mutual democratic pacifism’ or ‘inter-democracy nonaggression hypothesis’ so as to clarify that a state of peace is not singular to democracies, but rather that it is easily sustained between democratic nations. Several factors are held as motivating peace between liberal states:
Democratic leaders are forced to accept culpability for war losses to a voting public; Publicly accountable statesmen are more inclined to establish diplomatic institutions for resolving international tensions; Democracies are less inclined to view countries with adjacent policy and governing doctrine as hostile; and Democracies tend to possess greater public wealth than other states, and therefore eschew war to preserve infrastructure and resources. Continue reading →
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February 5, 2013
Pax Americana (Latin: ‘American Peace’) is a term applied to the historical concept of relative peace in the Western Hemisphere and later the Western world resulting from the preponderance of power enjoyed by the United States beginning around the start of the 20th century. Although the term finds its primary utility in the later half of the 20th century, it has been used in various places and eras, such as the post-Civil War era in North America and globally during the time between the World Wars.
Pax Americana is primarily used in its modern connotations to refer to the peace established after the end of World War II in 1945. In this modern sense, it has come to indicate the military and economic position of the United States in relation to other nations. The term derives from and is inspired by the Pax Romana of the Roman Empire, the Pax Britannica of the British Empire, and the Pax Mongolica of the Mongol Empire.
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February 5, 2013
Social cycle theories are among the earliest social theories in sociology. Unlike the theory of social evolutionism, which views the evolution of society and human history as progressing in some new, unique direction(s), sociological cycle theory argues that events and stages of society and history are generally repeating themselves in cycles. Such a theory does not necessarily imply that there cannot be any social progress. In the early theory of ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian and the more recent theories of long-term (‘secular’) political-demographic cycles as well as in the Varnic theory of 20th century Indian philosopher P.R. Sarkar an explicit accounting is made of social progress.
The interpretation of history as repeating cycles of Dark and Golden Ages was a common belief among ancient cultures. The more limited cyclical view of history defined as repeating cycles of events was put forward in the academic world in the 19th century in historiosophy (a branch of historiography) and is a concept that falls under the category of sociology. However, Polybius, Ibn Khaldun, and Giambattista Vico can be seen as precursors of this analysis. The Saeculum (a length of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person or the equivalent of the complete renewal of a human population) was identified in Roman times.
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February 5, 2013
‘The 48 Laws of Power‘ (2000) is the first book by American author Robert Greene. The book, an international bestseller, is a practical guide for anyone who wants power, observes power, or wants to arm himself against power, and is popular with famous rappers, entrepreneurs, celebrities, athletes and actors including 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Dov Charney, Brian Grazer, Chris Bosh, and Will Smith. ‘The 48 Laws of Power’ is taught in business management classes and is one of the most requested books in American prison libraries.
The 48 Laws of Power are a distillation of 3,000 years of the history of power, drawing on the lives of strategists and historical figures like Niccolò Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, and P.T. Barnum. The book is intended to show people how to gain power, preserve it, and defend themselves against power manipulators. Continue reading →
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February 4, 2013
A double entendre is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Typically one of the interpretations is rather obvious whereas the other is more subtle. The more subtle of the interpretations may have a humorous, ironic, or risqué purpose. It may also convey a message that would be socially awkward, or even offensive, to state directly (the Oxford English Dictionary describes a double entendre as being used to ‘convey an indelicate meaning’).
A double entendre may exploit puns to convey the second meaning. Double entendres generally rely on multiple meanings of words, or different interpretations of the same primary meaning. They often exploit ambiguity and may be used to introduce it deliberately in a text. Sometimes a homophone (i.e. a different spelling that yields the same pronunciation) can be used as a pun as well as a ‘double entendre’ of the subject. Continue reading →
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February 4, 2013
A paraprosdokian [par-uh-pros-doke-ee-uhn] is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is extremely popular among comedians and satirists. Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but they also play on the double meaning of a particular word, creating a form of syllepsis.
‘Paraprosdokian’ comes from Greek for ‘against ‘expectation.’ Canadian linguist and etymology author William Gordon Casselman argues that, while the word is now in wide circulation, it is not a term of classical (or medieval) Greek or Latin rhetoric, but a late 20th century neologism. However, it occurs—with the same meaning—in Greek rhetorical writers of the 1st century BCE and the 1st and 2nd centuries CE.
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February 3, 2013
The ARGUS-IS, or the Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System, is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project contracted to BAE Systems.
According to DARPA: ‘The mission of the Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance – Imaging System (ARGUS-IS) program is to provide military users a flexible and responsive capability to find, track and monitor events and activities of interest on a continuous basis in areas of interest. Continue reading →
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February 3, 2013
Sentiocentrism [sen-tee-oh-sen-triz-uhm] is the belief that sentient individuals are the center of moral concern; all and only sentient beings (animals that feel, including humans) have intrinsic value and moral standing; the rest of the natural world has instrumental value. Both humans and other sentient animals have rights and/or interests that must be considered.
The sentiocentrists consider the discrimination of sentient beings of other species to be speciesism, an arbitrary discrimination. Therefore, the coherent sentiocentrism means taking into consideration and respect all sentient animals, and often living a vegan lifestyle. The utilitarian criterion of moral standing is, therefore, all and only sentient beings (sentiocentrism). Continue reading →
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February 3, 2013
Devolution [dev-uh-loo-shuh] is the notion that a species can change into a more ‘primitive’ form over time. Devolution presumes that there is a preferred hierarchy of structure and function, and that evolution must mean ‘progress’ to ‘more advanced’ organisms. This may include the idea that some modern species that have lost functions or complexity accordingly must be degenerate forms of their ancestors.
However, according to the definition of evolution, and particularly of the modern evolutionary synthesis in which natural selection leads to evolutionary adaptation, phenomena represented as instances of devolution are in every sense evolutionary. The idea of devolution is based at least partly on the presumption that ‘evolution’ requires some sort of purposeful direction towards ‘increasing complexity.’ Modern evolutionary theory poses no such presumption and the concept of evolutionary change is independent of either any increase in complexity of organisms sharing a gene pool, or any decrease, such as in vestigiality or in loss of genes.
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February 3, 2013
In the context of human evolution, human vestigiality [ve-stij-ee-al-i-tee] involves those characters (such as organs or behaviors) occurring in the human species that are considered vestigial—in other words having lost all or most of their original function through evolution. Although structures usually called ‘vestigial’ often appear functionless, a vestigial structure may retain lesser functions or develop minor new ones.
In some cases, structures once identified as vestigial simply had an unrecognized function. The examples of human vestigiality are numerous, including the anatomical (such as the human appendix, tailbone, wisdom teeth, and inside corner of the eye), the behavioral (goose bumps and infant grasp reflex), sensory (decreased olfaction), and molecular (junk DNA). Many human characteristics are also vestigial in other primates and related animals.
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February 3, 2013
In political theory and theology, to immanentize [im-uh-nuhnt-ize] the eschaton [ess-cah-ton] means trying to bring about the eschaton (the final, heaven-like stage of history) in the immanent world. It has been used by conservative critics as a pejorative reference to certain utopian projects, such as socialism, communism, and transhumanism. In all these contexts it means ‘trying to make that which belongs to the afterlife happen here and now (on Earth)’ or ‘trying to create heaven here on Earth.’
According to conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg, writing in ‘National Review Online’: ‘In modern parlance, the phrase was coined by Eric Voegelin in The New Science of Politics in 1952. In the 1950s and 1960s, thanks largely to William F. Buckley’s popularization of the phrase, Young Americans for Freedom turned it into a political slogan.’ Buckley was the most notable of many US conservative readers of Voegelin’s work. Voegelin, a German-born American political philosopher, identified a number of similarities between ancient Gnosticism and the beliefs held by a number of modernist political theories, particularly Communism and Nazism.
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February 2, 2013
Capsaicin [kap-sey-uh-sin] is a chemical substance. It is responsible for the sense of hotness found in chile peppers. In mammals, it causes a sensation of burning of the tissues it comes in contact with. Capsicain, and other similar substances called capsaicinoids are produced by chile peppers and other plants, probably as deterrents against certain herbivores and fungi. Pure capsaicin is a hydrophobic, colorless, odorless, crystalline to waxy compound.
Capsaicinoids are added to food to make it have a hot taste, but it can also be used as an analgesic (painkiller). Such painkillers are often directly used on the skin. The burning of the capsaicin masks the real pain. Capsicaicin is also the main agent in pepper spray. Capsicain is not soluble in water; it binds to oil and fat. Soap can be used to wash it off. In 2006, it was discovered that the venom of a certain tarantula species activates the same pathway of pain as is activated by capsaicin, the first demonstrated case of such a shared pathway in both plant and animal anti-mammal defense. Continue reading →
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