The Greek Paradox

The Greek Paradox PDF Author: Graham Allison
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262510929
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
As a bridge between the East and West, a pole of stability in the Balkans, and a Mediterranean crossroads, Greece could play a significant role in the post-Cold War world. But Greece's performance in domestic and international policy falls short of this promise. The essays in The Greek Paradox look at some of the reasons for this gap and suggest possible political and economic reforms.The contributors, both scholars and policymakers, examine a range of contemporary issues in the Balkans and on NATO's southern flank. The essays shed light on nation building, political and economic development, modernization, and post-Cold War international relations. Contributors Graham T. Allison, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, Michael S. Dukakis, Misha Glenny, Dimitris Keridis, F. Stephen Larrabee, Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Alexis Papahelas, Elizabeth Prodromou, Monteagle Stearns, Constantine Stephanopoulos, Stavros B. Thomadakis, Basilios E. Tsingos, Loukas Tsoukalis, Susan Woodward CSIA Studies in International Security

The Greek Paradox

The Greek Paradox PDF Author: Graham Allison
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262510929
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book Here

Book Description
As a bridge between the East and West, a pole of stability in the Balkans, and a Mediterranean crossroads, Greece could play a significant role in the post-Cold War world. But Greece's performance in domestic and international policy falls short of this promise. The essays in The Greek Paradox look at some of the reasons for this gap and suggest possible political and economic reforms.The contributors, both scholars and policymakers, examine a range of contemporary issues in the Balkans and on NATO's southern flank. The essays shed light on nation building, political and economic development, modernization, and post-Cold War international relations. Contributors Graham T. Allison, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, Michael S. Dukakis, Misha Glenny, Dimitris Keridis, F. Stephen Larrabee, Kalypso Nicolaïdis, Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Alexis Papahelas, Elizabeth Prodromou, Monteagle Stearns, Constantine Stephanopoulos, Stavros B. Thomadakis, Basilios E. Tsingos, Loukas Tsoukalis, Susan Woodward CSIA Studies in International Security

The Motion Paradox

The Motion Paradox PDF Author: Joseph Mazur
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780525949923
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Traces the epic history of Greek philosopher Zeno's yet-unsolved paradox of motion, citing the contributions of top minds to the scientific community's understanding of the elusive basic structure of time and space.

Zeno's Paradox

Zeno's Paradox PDF Author: Joseph Mazur
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780452289178
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
The fascinating story of an ancient riddle and what it reveals about the nature of time and space Three millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Zeno constructed a series of logical paradoxes to prove that motion is impossible. Today, these paradoxes remain on the cutting edge of our investigations into the fabric of space and time. Zeno's Paradox uses the motion paradox as a jumping-off point for an exploration of the twenty-five-hundred-year quest to uncover the true nature of the universe. From Galileo to Einstein to Stephen Hawking, some of the greatest minds in history have tackled the problem and made spectacular breakthroughs, but through it all, the paradox of motion remains.

The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought

The Concept of Motion in Ancient Greek Thought PDF Author: Barbara M. Sattler
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781108745215
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
This book examines the birth of the scientific understanding of motion. It investigates which logical tools and methodological principles had to be in place to give a consistent account of motion, and which mathematical notions were introduced to gain control over conceptual problems of motion. It shows how the idea of motion raised two fundamental problems in the 5th and 4th century BCE: bringing together being and non-being, and bringing together time and space. The first problem leads to the exclusion of motion from the realm of rational investigation in Parmenides, the second to Zeno's paradoxes of motion. Methodological and logical developments reacting to these puzzles are shown to be present implicitly in the atomists, and explicitly in Plato who also employs mathematical structures to make motion intelligible. With Aristotle we finally see the first outline of the fundamental framework with which we conceptualise motion today.

What the Tortoise Said to Achilles

What the Tortoise Said to Achilles PDF Author: Lewis Carroll
Publisher: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ISBN: 8726645726
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 9

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Book Description
When a tortoise challenges a great Greek hero to use his logic in order to decipher a simple philosophical argument, slight chaos ensues. ‘What the Tortoise Said to Achilles’ is an endless cycle of suppositions and deductions. A refined piece of philosophical writing, Caroll’s discussion was one of the first steps towards paradoxically explaining logical truth. His clever prose makes this novel an essential read for budding philosophers and logic aficionados. Lewis Caroll (1832-1898) was a British author. He was famed for his novel ‘Alice in Wonderland' and its sequel ‘Through the Looking-Glass’. Both of which have been successfully adapted to film and stage. Aside from this, he was also a mathematician, professional photographer, and clergyman. His colorful plotlines, powerful imagery, and endless imagination earned him the title of one of the most notable authors of the nineteenth century. Among his other notable works are the poetic collection "Phantasmagoria and Other Poems", the poem "The Hunting of the Snark", and the fairy novel "Sylvie and Bruno".

Prime Ministers in Greece

Prime Ministers in Greece PDF Author: Kevin Featherstone
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191026700
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
This book is concerned with a large question in one small, but highly problematic case: how can a prime minister establish control and coordination across his or her government? The Greek system of government sustains a 'paradox of power' at its very core. The Constitution provides the prime minister with extensive and often unchecked powers. Yet, the operational structures, processes and resources around the prime minister undermine their power to manage the government. Through a study of all main premierships between 1974 and 2009, Prime Ministers in Greece argues that the Greek prime minister has been 'an emperor without clothes'. The costs of this paradox included the inability to achieve key policy objectives under successive governments and a fragmented system of governance that provided the backdrop to Greece's economic meltdown in 2010. Building on an unprecedented range of interviews and archival material, Featherstone and Papadimitriou set out to explore how this paradox has been sustained. They conclude with the Greek system meeting its 'nemesis': the arrival of the close supervision of its government by the 'Troika' - the representatives of Greece's creditors. The debt crisis challenged taboos and forced a self-reflection. It remains unclear, however, whether either the external strategy or the domestic response is likely to be sufficient to make the Greek system of governance 'fit for purpose'.

The Logos of Heraclitus

The Logos of Heraclitus PDF Author: Eva Brann
Publisher: Paul Dry Books
ISBN: 1589882644
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
“In this extraordinary meditation, Eva Brann takes us to the fierce core of Heraclitus's vision and shows us the music of his language. The thought and beautiful prose in The Logos of Heraclitus are a delight.”—Barry Mazur, Harvard University “An engaged solitary, an inward-turned observer of the world, inventor of the first of philosophical genres, the thought-compacted aphorism,” “teasingly obscure in reputation, but hard-hittingly clear in fact,” “now tersely mordant, now generously humane.” Thus Eva Brann introduces Heraclitus—in her view, the West’s first philosopher. The collected work of Heraclitus comprises 131 passages. Eva Brann sets out to understand Heraclitus as he is found in these passages and particularly in his key word, Logos, the order that is the cosmos. “Whoever is captivated by the revelatory riddlings and brilliant obscurities of what remains of Heraclitus has to begin anew—accepting help, to be sure, from previous readings—in a spirit of receptivity and reserve. But essentially everyone must pester the supposed obscurantist until he opens up. Heraclitus is no less and no more pregnantly dark than an oracle…The upshot is that no interpretation has prevailed; every question is wide open.”

Zeno's Paradoxes

Zeno's Paradoxes PDF Author: Wesley C. Salmon
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 9780872205604
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A reprint of the Bobbs-Merrill edition of 1970. These essays lead the reader through the land of the wonderful shrinking genie to the warehouse where the infinity machines are kept. By careful examination of a lamp that is switched on and off infinitely many times, or the workings of a machine that prints out an infinite decimal expansion of pi, we begin to understand how it is possible for Achilles to overtake the tortoise. The concepts that form the basis of modern science---space, time, motion, change, infinity---are examined and explored in this edition. Includes an updated bibliography.

Plato's Parmenides

Plato's Parmenides PDF Author: Samuel Scolnicov
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520925114
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
Of all Plato’s dialogues, the Parmenides is notoriously the most difficult to interpret. Scholars of all periods have disagreed about its aims and subject matter. The interpretations have ranged from reading the dialogue as an introduction to the whole of Platonic metaphysics to seeing it as a collection of sophisticated tricks, or even as an elaborate joke. This work presents an illuminating new translation of the dialogue together with an extensive introduction and running commentary, giving a unified explanation of the Parmenides and integrating it firmly within the context of Plato's metaphysics and methodology. Scolnicov shows that in the Parmenides Plato addresses the most serious challenge to his own philosophy: the monism of Parmenides and the Eleatics. In addition to providing a serious rebuttal to Parmenides, Plato here re-formulates his own theory of forms and participation, arguments that are central to the whole of Platonic thought, and provides these concepts with a rigorous logical and philosophical foundation. In Scolnicov's analysis, the Parmenides emerges as an extension of ideas from Plato's middle dialogues and as an opening to the later dialogues. Scolnicov’s analysis is crisp and lucid, offering a persuasive approach to a complicated dialogue. This translation follows the Greek closely, and the commentary affords the Greekless reader a clear understanding of how Scolnicov’s interpretation emerges from the text. This volume will provide a valuable introduction and framework for understanding a dialogue that continues to generate lively discussion today.

Scylla

Scylla PDF Author: Marianne Govers Hopman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139851853
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
What's in a name? Using the example of a famous monster from Greek myth, this book challenges the dominant view that a mythical symbol denotes a single, clear-cut 'figure' and proposes instead to define the name 'Scylla' as a combination of three concepts - sea, dog and woman - whose articulation changes over time. While archaic and classical Greek versions usually emphasize the metaphorical coherence of Scylla's components, the name is increasingly treated as a well-defined but also paradoxical construct from the late fourth century BCE onward. Proceeding through detailed analyses of Greek and Roman texts and images, Professor Hopman shows how the same name can variously express anxieties about the sea, dogs, aggressive women and shy maidens, thus offering an empirical response to the semiotic puzzle raised by non-referential proper names.