Melania Bucciarelli, Berta Joncus (eds.): Music as Social and Cultural Practice: Essays in Honour of Reinhard Strohm (2007)
Filed under book | Tags: · music
The linking theme of the essays collected here is the intersection of musical work with social and cultural practice. Inspired by Professor Strohm’s ideas, as is fitting in a volume in his honour, leading scholars in the field explore diverse conceptualizations of the ‘work’ within the contexts of a specific repertory, over four main sections. Music in Theory and Practice studies the link between treatises and musical practice, and analyses how historical writings can reveal period views on the ‘work’ in music before 1800. Art and Social Process: Music in Court and Urban Societies looks at the social and cultural practices informing composition from the late Renaissance until the mid-eighteenth century, and interrogates current notions of canon formation and the exchange between local and foreign traditions. Creating an Opera Industry focuses on how genre and artistic autonomy were defined in operas from diverse eras and countries, explaining the role of literature and politics in this process. Finally, The Crisis of Modernity treats nineteenth-century music, offering new models for ‘work’ and ‘context’ to challenge reigning theories of the meaning of these terms.
Publisher Boydell Press, 2007
ISBN 1843833174, 9781843833178
Length 443 pages
Asher Seidel: Inhuman Thoughts: Philosophical Explorations of Posthumanity (2008)
Filed under book | Tags: · life, philosophy, posthumanism, transhumanism
Inhuman Thoughts is a philosophical exploration of the possibility of increasing the physiological and psychological capacities of humans to the point that they are no longer biologically, psychologically, or socially human. The movement is from the human through the trans-human, to the post-human. The tone is optimistic; Seidel argues that such an evolution would be of positive value on the whole.
Seidel’s initial argument supports the need for a comprehensive ethical theory, the success of which would parallel that of a large-scale scientific revolution, such as Newtonian mechanics. He elaborates the movement from the improved-but-still-human to the post-human, and philosophically examines speculated examples of post-human forms of life, including indefinitely extended life-span, parallel consciousness, altered perception, a-sociality, and a-sexuality.
Inhuman Thoughts is directed at those interested in philosophical questions on human nature and the best life given the possibilities of that nature. Seidel’s overall argument is that the most satisfactory answer to the latter question involves a transcendence of the present confines of human nature.
Publisher Lexington Books, 2008
ISBN 0739123289, 9780739123287
130 pages
PDF (updated on 2012-3-9)
Comment (1)Linda Marie Harasim (ed.): Global Networks. Computers and International Communication (1993)
Filed under book | Tags: · internet, networks, technology, virtual communities
Global Networks takes up the host of issues raised by the new networking technology that now links individuals, groups, and organizations in different countries and on different continents. The twenty-one contributions focus on the implementation, application, and impact of computer-mediated communication in a global context.
Previously limited to scientific research, global networks now have an impact on social, educational, and business communications. Individuals with a personal computer, a modem, and some simple software can join a new social community that is based on interest, not location. Global Networks, which was written largely with the assistance of the internet, provides an understanding of the issues, opportunities, and pitfalls of this new social connectivity. It looks at how -networking technology can support and augment communication and collaboration from such perspectives as policy constraints and opportunities, language differences, cross-cultural communication, and social network design.
Publisher MIT Press, 1993
ISBN 0262082225, 9780262082228
Length 411 pages