[logo-brill.gif] Home Contact Sitemap Jobs Help [title_search.gif] ____________________ [Catalog] [Keyword..] [btn_go.gif]-Submit [search_dot.gif] [title_shopping.gif] (0) [i] [close.jpg] The Astrolabe An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time [astrolabe_small.jpg] Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called âspiderâ or ânetâ) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (âalidadeâ) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes. This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp Brillâs New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version. Close [spacer.gif] [spacer.gif] [line.gif] Publications & Services [redline.gif] Books [redline.gif] Journals [redline.gif] Reference Works [redline.gif] CD Roms [redline.gif] Advanced Search [redline.gif] Rights & Permissions [redline.gif] Customer Information [redline.gif] Alerting Services [redline.gif] News [line.gif] Online Publications [line.gif] Author Gateway [line.gif] Brill Corporate [line.gif] Our Imprints [dotmenu.gif] BRILL [dotmenu.gif] Hotei Publishing [dotmenu.gif] IDC [dotmenu.gif] Martinus Nijhoff Publishers [dotmenu.gif] VSP [spacer.gif] Publications & Services> Books> Book Series> The World as Active Power: Studies in the History of European Reason The World as Active Power: Studies in the History of European Reason Edited by Juhani Pietarinen and Valtteri Viljanen [spacer.gif] [26436.jpg] Books Available Publication year: 2009 Series: Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 180 ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007: 978 90 04 17712 3 ISBN-10: 90 04 17712 4 Cover: Hardback Number of pages: xii, 350 pp. List price: € 99.00 / US$ 147.00 [btn_addtocart.jpg]-Submit Table of contents Introduction, Juhani Pietarinen and Valtteri Viljanen 1. Platoâs Power Dualism, Juhani Pietarinen 2. The Active Principle in Stoic Philosophy, HÃ¥vard Løkke 3. Plotinus on Act and Power, Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson 4. Power and Activity in Early Medieval Thought, Tomas Ekenberg 5. Power and Possibility in Thomas Aquinas, Andreas Schmid 6. Causal Power in Descartesâs Mind-Body Union, Juhani Pietarinen 7. De novo creat: Descartes on Action, Interaction, and Continuous Creation, Timo Kajamies 8. Motion and Reason: Hobbesâs Difficulties with the Idea of Active Power, Juhani Pietarinen 9. Spinozaâs Actualist Model of Power, Valtteri Viljanen 10. Leibniz on Force, Activity, and Passivity, Arto Repo and Valtteri Viljanen 11. Kant on Force and Activity, Hemmo Laiho and Arto Repo 12. Differences that are None. Hegelâs Theory of Force in the Phenomenology of Spirit, Andreas Schmidt 13. Schopenhauerâs Twofold Dynamism, Valtteri Viljanen Index Readership All those interested in Western intellectual history, in particular in Platoâs influence on its development, in medieval modal theory, in early modern rationalists, and in nineteenth-century German philosophy. About the author(s) Juhani Pietarinen, Ph.D. (1972) in Philosophy, University of Helsinki, is Professor Emeritus of Practical Philosophy at the University of Turku. He is the coeditor of Perspectives on Human Conduct (1988), Genes and Morality (1999) and Philosophy and Biodiversity (2004), and the author of various articles on ethics and history of philosophy. Valtteri Viljanen, Ph.D. (2007) in Philosophy, University of Turku, is Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Turku. He is the author of Spinoza's Dynamics of Being: The Concept of Power and its Role in Spinoza's Metaphysics (2007) and of various articles on history of philosophy, especially on Spinoza. What is the ultimate explanatory factor for the existence of the world, for all its changing phenomena and the enduring order found in it? In the history of Western thought, we can find a longstanding philosophical tendency to answer this question in terms of power: the universe is understood as an ordered whole produced by a rational power, that is, by the power of reason. That power is thought to be active in the sense of being capable of existing and acting âin itselfâ as an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable cause of the world. The essays in this collection discuss the idea of active power in the world-explanations of Plato, the Stoics, Neoplatonism, early and late medieval scholasticism, Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer. [icon_print.gif] Print Version [icon_mail.gif] Recommendation [close.jpg] Tell a friend/Recommend to your library. 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