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Author: I. Hodder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317762320
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295
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Book Description
This unique and fascinating book concentrates on the varying roles and functions that material culture may play in almost all aspects of the social fabric of a given culture. The contributors, from Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea, India, South America, the USA, and both Eastern and Western Europe, provide a rich variety of views and experience in a worldwide perspective. Several of the authors focus on essential points of principle and methodology that must be carefully considered before any particular approach to material culture is adopted. One of the many fundamental questions posed in the book is whether or not all material culture is equivalent to documents which can be 'read' and interpreted by the outside observer. If it is, what is the nature of the 'messages' or meanings conveyed in this way? The book also questions the extent to which acceptance, and subsequent diffusion, of a religious belief or symbol may be qualified by the status of the individuals concerned in transmitting the innovation, as well as by the stratification of the society involved. Several authors deal with 'works of art' and the most effective means of reaching an understanding of their past significance. In some chapters semiotics is seen as the most appropriate technique to apply to the decoding of the assumed rules and grammars of material culture expression.
Author: I. Hodder
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317762320
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Get Book Here
Book Description
This unique and fascinating book concentrates on the varying roles and functions that material culture may play in almost all aspects of the social fabric of a given culture. The contributors, from Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea, India, South America, the USA, and both Eastern and Western Europe, provide a rich variety of views and experience in a worldwide perspective. Several of the authors focus on essential points of principle and methodology that must be carefully considered before any particular approach to material culture is adopted. One of the many fundamental questions posed in the book is whether or not all material culture is equivalent to documents which can be 'read' and interpreted by the outside observer. If it is, what is the nature of the 'messages' or meanings conveyed in this way? The book also questions the extent to which acceptance, and subsequent diffusion, of a religious belief or symbol may be qualified by the status of the individuals concerned in transmitting the innovation, as well as by the stratification of the society involved. Several authors deal with 'works of art' and the most effective means of reaching an understanding of their past significance. In some chapters semiotics is seen as the most appropriate technique to apply to the decoding of the assumed rules and grammars of material culture expression.
Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521287746
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 324
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Book Description
The meaning of things is a study of the significance of material possessions in contemporary urban life, and of the ways people carve meaning out of their domestic environment. Drawing on a survey of eighty families in Chicago who were interviewed on the subject of their feelings about common household objects, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Rochberg-Halton provide a unique perspective on materialism, American culture, and the self. They begin by reviewing what social scientists and philosophers have said about the transactions between people and things. In the model of 'personhood' that the authors develop, goal-directed action and the cultivation of meaning through signs assume central importance. They then relate theoretical issues to the results of their survey. An important finding is the distinction between objects valued for action and those valued for contemplation. The authors compare families who have warm emotional attachments to their homes with those in which a common set of positive meanings is lacking, and interpret the different patterns of involvement. They then trace the cultivation of meaning in case studies of four families. Finally, the authors address what they describe as the current crisis of environmental and material exploitation, and suggest that human capacities for the creation and redirection of meaning offer the only hope for survival. A wide range of scholars - urban and family sociologists, clinical, developmental and environmental psychologists, cultural anthropologists and philosophers, and many general readers - will find this book stimulating and compelling.
Author: Elaine Freedgood
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226261638
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
Presents an analysis of nineteenth-century English fiction, focusing on objects found in three Victorian novels, arguing that these items have meanings the modern reader does not understand, but were clear to the Victorian reader.
Author: Kate Bassett
Publisher: North Star Editions, Inc.
ISBN: 0738741043
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 254
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Book Description
A gifted writer, seventeen-year-old Anna O’Mally is headed for the stars. Or she was until her uncle Joe died. Anna worshipped the ground Joe walked on ... until she discovers that she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did.
Author: Giuseppina Marsico
Publisher: Annals of Cultural Psychology
ISBN: 9781641136822
Category : Material culture
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
"Ordinary Things and Their Extraordinary Meaning provides a new look at the everyday relationship between psychological processes and extraordinary aspects of ordinary phenomena. Why should we deal with ordinary things? People's life is made of everyday practical, taken-for-granted things, such as driving a car, using money, listening music, etc. When you drive from home to workplace, you are migrating between contexts. Is this an empty space you are crossing, or the time you spend into the car is something meaningful? In psychological terms, things have, at least, three levels of existence, a material, a symbolic and an affective one. The underlying idea is that the symbolic elaboration of everyday things is characterized by the transcendence of the particular object-sign, leading to the creation of more and more complex sign fields. These fields expand according to an inclusive logic up to dialogically and dialectically incorporate opposites (i.e., clean/dirty, transparent/opaque, hide/show, join/divide, slow/fast, etc.). Even the meaning of 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary’ follow such an inclusive logic. If you give a positive value to ordinary, extraordinary is rule-breaking; otherwise, if ordinary means trivial, extraordinary assumes a positive value. Besides, things are cultural artifacts mediating the experience of the world, the psychological processes and the construction of mind. Reflecting upon 'things' is thus a more meaningful pathway to understand Psyche." -- back cover.
Author: Hubert Dreyfus
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439101701
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
An inspirational book that is “a smart, sweeping run through the history of Western philosophy. Important for the way it illuminates life today and for the controversial advice it offers on how to live” (The New York Times). “What constitutes human excellence?” and “What is the best way to live a life?” These are questions that human beings have been asking since the beginning of time. In their critically acclaimed book, All Things Shining, Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly argue that our search for meaning was once fulfilled by our responsiveness to forces greater than ourselves, whether one God or many. These forces drew us in and imbued the ordinary moments of life with wonder and gratitude. Dreyfus and Kelly argue in this thought-provoking work that as we began to rely on the power of our own independent will we lost our skill for encountering the sacred. Through their original and transformative discussion of some of the greatest works of Western literature, from Homer’s Odyssey to Melville’s Moby Dick, Dreyfus and Kelly reveal how we have lost our passionate engagement with the things that gave our lives purpose, and show how, by reading our culture’s classics anew, we can once again be drawn into intense involvement with the wonder and beauty of the world. Well on its way to becoming a classic itself, this inspirational book will change the way we understand our culture, our history, our sacred practices, and ourselves.
Author: Gary Ostertag
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191507954
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 480
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Book Description
Stephen Schiffer's writing has been central to analytic philosophy of language and mind since the 1970s. In 1972 his book Meaning launched an important research program into Gricean, or intention-based, approaches to linguistic meaning, which would come to dominate much subsequent theorizing about language. A sea change occurred in 1987 with the publication of Remnants of Meaning. Schiffer here repudiated the project initiated by Meaning, arguing that the theory of public-language meaning it described and the account of mental representation it required were based on false presuppositions. The ramifications here were far reaching and set the agenda for discussions in the philosophy of language and mind for a generation. In 2003, The Things We Mean initiated a more positive program, but one informed by the negative results of Remnants. Things also reflected the broadening of Schiffer's concerns, which now extended to metaphysics, metaethics, and the skeptical paradoxes. In Meanings and Other Things fourteen leading philosophers explore central themes in Schiffer's writings. Topics range from theories of meaning to moral cognitivism, the nature of paradox, and the problem of vagueness. The volume also contains a comprehensive introduction that describes the evolution of Schiffer's thought, and closes with Schiffer's replies to his critics, extended essays that bring us up to date on Schiffer's current thinking on the themes that have defined not only his career, but philosophy of language as it is now practised.
Author: Roy F. Baumeister
Publisher: Guilford Press
ISBN: 9780898625318
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 450
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Book Description
Who among us has not at some point asked, what is the meaning of life?' In this extraordinary book, an eminent social scientist looks at the big picture and explores what empirical studies from diverse fields tell us about the human condition. MEANINGS OF LIFE draws together evidence from psychology, history, anthropology, and sociology, integrating copious research findings into a clear and conclusive discussion of how people attempt to make sense of their lives. In a lively and accessible style, emphasizing facts over theories, Baumeister explores why people desire meaning in their lives, how these meanings function, what forms they take, and what happens when life loses meaning. It is the most comprehensive examination of the topic to date.
Author: Leonard Diepeveen
Publisher: Intellect (UK)
ISBN: 9781789383782
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
Shiny objects attract and fascinate us. While they used to derive their power from their rarity, today, shininess is pervasive: its attraction is a foundation of consumer culture and it has attendant effects on our architecture, our conceptions of the body, and our production of spectacle. In Shiny Things, Leonard Diepeveen and Timothy van Laar examine the meanings and functions of shininess in visual art and material culture. Exploring the works of a diverse range of artists--including Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Carolee Schneemann, Audrey Flack, Fra Angelico, and Gerard ter Borch--the authors open the discourse to topics as disparate as automobiles, Richard Nixon, and Liberace. With accessible writing and a careful application of contemporary theory, this is scholarship that challenges stale thought and will appeal to any progressive thinker looking for new ways to present ideas.
Author: John Koenig
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501153668
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “It’s undeniably thrilling to find words for our strangest feelings…Koenig casts light into lonely corners of human experience…An enchanting book. “ —The Washington Post A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express—until now. Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: “sonder.” Or maybe you’ve watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That’s called “lachesism.” Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you’ve never actually experienced. That’s “anemoia.” If you’ve never heard of these terms before, that’s because they didn’t exist until John Koenig set out to fill the gaps in our language of emotion. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows “creates beautiful new words that we need but do not yet have,” says John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars. By turns poignant, relatable, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition—from “astrophe,” the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to “zenosyne,” the sense that time keeps getting faster. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is for anyone who enjoys a shift in perspective, pondering the ineffable feelings that make up our lives. With a gorgeous package and beautiful illustrations throughout, this is the perfect gift for creatives, word nerds, and human beings everywhere.
