BSJ

The Butler Scholarly Journal

Category: BIASFREE

  1. The Emergence of Time Within the Spacial System of Comics

    To define the concept of emergence as ‘a process whereby larger entities, patterns, and regularities arise through interactions among smaller or simpler entities that themselves do not exhibit such properties’ (1) helps us to better understand print as Marshall McLuhan saw it: a fundamentally emergent technology. The new oil base for printing came ‘from the painters rather than the calligraphers’, and ‘the smaller cloth and wine presses embodied most of the features required by the printing press… the primary problems of innovation centered around the arts of engraving and casting…’ The goldsmiths and many others were needed to make up…

  2. Identity and Emergence: A Radical Relationship

    The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue – Antisthenes Throughout the twentieth century the social sciences underwent a shift toward symbolic and cultural studies, which placed the issue of identity at the core of these disciplines. The dismissal of identity as an essential property rooted in stable characteristics led scholars to focus on the social processes through which the self emerges, and the factors involved in them. Although this paradigmatic shift might seem obvious nowadays, it has had, and still has, profound and radical consequences in regards to how the…

  3. Simulated Life and Mathematical Abstraction: Emergent Behaviour, Emerging Concepts

    ‘Consider an infinite two-dimensional square grid.’ It does not have the same impact as the old physics joke of ‘assuming a spherical cow in a vacuum’ (1) in terms of humour (or at least, science humour), but the statement may well seem equally absurd. For a start the mind cannot truly visualise anything infinite; we only ever perceive and process a finite part of the universe at any given time. We may have a vague sense of the vastness which exists beyond our perception, whether finite or infinite, but we cannot see it. In trying to understand the original statement,…

  4. Blog: What is Emergence?

    In January 2015, Josephine Butler College formed the first pilot BIASFREE Student Scholars group to discuss the Institute for Advanced Study’s (IAS) annual theme of Emergence. The group meets on an informal and regular basis to develop ideas in a supportive and welcoming setting. We remain open to new members, so please do get in touch if this is of interest to you. The group will be using this blog to report back on lectures and discuss their own scholarly interests in relation to the theme. According to the IAS website, this year’s theme of emergence ‘opens up ways to…

  5. BIASFREE Student Scholars

    Are you intellectually curious and need a platform for your ideas? Have you considered a career in academia? Do you want to see your writing published in a scholarly journal? If you answered yes to these questions, would value the opportunity to hone your skills in academic writing and presentation, and would like the chance to work with world class scholars then read on…   Josephine Butler College is delighted to announce the launch of Butler’s Institute for Advanced Study – Furthering Research and Educational Experience (BIASFREE). BIASFREE will draw together fellows from the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and…