An Intellectual History Of Blindness

This volume studies two related problematics. First, Enlightenment ideas about human difference in general and blindness in particular were often at war with one another. Second, conflicts concerning Enlightenment thought continued in the lives and writings of many important blind thinkers, from Helen Keller in the late nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century, to present-day academics who are blind and their sighted allies, some activists and some not. Despite the continuation of this second problematic, blind persons made substantial progress in directing their own narratives, individually and collectively, and in both the personal and the political arenas. Many present-day activists attempt, either explicitly or implicitly, to complete or expand the unfinished positive work of the Enlightenment, seeking to update and stretch the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen to include and to assure the rights and participation of persons with disabilities. Ironically, many modern radical disability advocates implicitly or explicitly use the discourses of the Enlightenment in their attempts to harmonize discordant aspects of the eighteenth century tradition or to challenge that century’s enduring contradictions. In attempting to unlock the ideas of various Enlightenment thinkers, blind thought leaders and their allies have made significant progress in providing greater scope, freedom and rights to the blind and in fostering understanding of what it means to be blind—an important step in combating the pervasive fear of blindness that still haunts society. Author Frank Wyman examines three significant questions that Enlightenment thinkers posed about people who were blind: What is the capacity of a person who is blind to function in civil society? What is the nature of blind experience? What rights should people who are blind have in society? This volume explores the narratives of many blind thought leaders, including the remarkable Helen Keller, to determine how these questions, and the answers to them, changed over time.

From Homer to Helen Keller, from Dune to Stevie Wonder, from the invention of braille to the science of echolocation, M. Leona Godin explores the fascinating history of blindness, interweaving it with her own story of gradually losing her sight. “[A] thought-provoking mixture of criticism, memoir, and advocacy." —The New Yorker There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be “blind.” For millennia, blindness has been used to signify such things as thoughtlessness (“blind faith”), irrationality (“blind rage”), and unconsciousness (“blind evolution”). But at the same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil). Godin—who began losing her vision at age ten—illuminates the often-surprising history of both the condition of blindness and the myths and ideas that have grown up around it over the course of generations. She combines an analysis of blindness in art and culture (from King Lear to Star Wars) with a study of the science of blindness and key developments in accessibility (the white cane, embossed printing, digital technology) to paint a vivid personal and cultural history. A genre-defying work, There Plant Eyes reveals just how essential blindness and vision are to humanity’s understanding of itself and the world.

From Homer to Helen Keller, from Dune to Stevie Wonder, from the invention of braille to the science of echolocation, M. Leona Godin explores the fascinating history of blindness, interweaving it with her own story of gradually losing her sight. “[A] thought-provoking mixture of criticism, memoir, and advocacy." —The New Yorker There Plant Eyes probes the ways in which blindness has shaped our ocularcentric culture, challenging deeply ingrained ideas about what it means to be “blind.” For millennia, blindness has been used to signify such things as thoughtlessness (“blind faith”), irrationality (“blind rage”), and unconsciousness (“blind evolution”). But at the same time, blind people have been othered as the recipients of special powers as compensation for lost sight (from the poetic gifts of John Milton to the heightened senses of the comic book hero Daredevil). Godin—who began losing her vision at age ten—illuminates the often-surprising history of both the condition of blindness and the myths and ideas that have grown up around it over the course of generations. She combines an analysis of blindness in art and culture (from King Lear to Star Wars) with a study of the science of blindness and key developments in accessibility (the white cane, embossed printing, digital technology) to paint a vivid personal and cultural history. A genre-defying work, There Plant Eyes reveals just how essential blindness and vision are to humanity’s understanding of itself and the world.

An Intellectual History of Psychology, already a classic in its field, is now available in a concise new third edition. It presents psychological ideas as part of a greater web of thinking throughout history about the essentials of human nature, interwoven with ideas from philosophy, science, religion, art, literature, and politics. Daniel N. Robinson demonstrates that from the dawn of rigorous and self-critical inquiry in ancient Greece, reflections about human nature have been inextricably linked to the cultures from which they arose, and each definable historical age has added its own character and tone to this long tradition. An Intellectual History of Psychology not only explores the most significant ideas about human nature from ancient to modern times, but also examines the broader social and scientific contexts in which these concepts were articulated and defended. Robinson treats each epoch, whether ancient Greece or Renaissance Florence or Enlightenment France, in its own terms, revealing the problems that dominated the age and engaged the energies of leading thinkers. Robinson also explores the abiding tension between humanistic and scientific perspectives, assessing the most convincing positions on each side of the debate. Invaluable as a text for students and as a stimulating and insightful overview for scholars and practicing psychologists, this volume can be read either as a history of psychology in both its philosophical and aspiring scientific periods or as a concise history of Western philosophy’s concepts of human nature.

Between 1730 and 1750, Domingos Alvares traversed the colonial Atlantic world like few Africans of his time--from Africa to South America to Europe. By tracing the steps of this powerful African healer and vodun priest, James Sweet finds dramatic means fo

This book, set out over three-volumes, provides a comprehensive history of economic thought in the 20th century with special attention to the cultural and historical background in the development of theories, to the leading or the peripheral research communities and their interactions, and finally to an assessment and critical appreciation of economic theories. Volume II addresses economic theory in the period between the two world wars in which the economic theory went through a process of criticism of old mainstream, deconstruction and reconstruction and theoretical ferment which involved the intellectual communities of economists emphasizing their nature of evolving interacting entities. This work provides a significant and original contribution to the history of economic thought and gives insight to the thinking of some of the major international figures in economics. It will appeal to students, scholars and the more informed reader wishing to further their understanding of the history of the discipline.

Perspectives on Early and Modern Intellectual History brings together several disciplines and historical periods, and three generations of scholars to celebrate the pedagogical and scholarly career of Nancy Struever, who taught in the Humanities Center and Department of History at The John Hopkins University. Twenty-three essays reflect the breadth of disciplinary competence and the standards of scholarly rigor that Stuever instilled in her students and demonstrates in her scholarship. The book is organized around three divisional areas of inquiry: Renaissance Humanism, Histories of Art, and Rhetorics, Philosophies, and Histories. The first part includes studies on Shakespeare and Ariosto; essays on Machiavelli, Caterina da Siena, and Lorenzo Valla; and Manetti on the library of Nicholas V. The section on histories of art contains contributions on L.B. Alberti, on early modern spectacle and the performance of images, and on rhetoric and art. The third section continues with discussions of rhetoric, history, and literature from a more theoretical viewpoint. The book concludes with a bibliography of Stuever's works. Authors include: Marvin Becker, Marjorie O'Rourke Boyle, Salvatore Camporeale, F. Edward Cranz, Elizabeth Cropper, Marc Fumaroli, Thomas M. Greene, Michael Ann Holly, J. G. A. Pocock, Charles Trinkaus, and Hayden White. Joseph Marino is an independent scholar and is with Current Analysis in Virginia. Melinda Schlitt is Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts, Dickinson College.

Winner of the 2014 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award In An Intellectual History of China, Professor Ge Zhaoguang presents a history of traditional Chinese knowledge, thought and belief to the late six century CE with a new approach offering a new perspective. It appropriates a wide range of source materials and emphasizes the necessity of understanding ideas and thought in their proper historical contexts. Its analytical narrative focuses on the dialectical interaction between historical background and intellectual thought. While discussing the complex dynamics of interaction among the intellectual thought of elite Chinese scholars, their historical conditions, their canonical texts and the “worlds of general knowledge, thought and belief,” it also illuminates the significance of key issues such as the formation of the Chinese world order and its underlying value system, the origins of Chinese cultural identity and foreign influences.

Over the last two decades a major revaluation has been taking place of the colonial Puritan imagination. With the growth of interest in early American literature has come increasing recognition of its quality and a better understanding of its place in the continuity of American culture. However, much of the best critical work to date has been published as articles in scholarly journals, and in bringing together for the first time the best work in this growing field the present anthology fills a number of important needs. It is at once a valuabale and accessible introduction for students, a summing-up of a new enterprise, and a guide for further studies.