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Plutarch reading Plato: Interpretation and Mythmaking in the Early Empire
Get PDFPlutarch of Chaeronea, an eminent figure among the Platonists of the early Roman Empire, built his philosophy by continuously drawing frameworks and models from Plato’s dialogues, both in his works dedicated solely to exegesis and his own lively philosophical dialogues. He both interprets Plato and adapts various models from the Platonic dialogues. Each philosopher was especially concerned with problems posed by myth, yet each also employed their own elaborate and imagistic narratives. In this study, I argue two main points. First, Plutarch’s treatment of mythic narratives, in their dangers and their potential uses, is carefully modelled after Plato. Both are concerned not only about the educational ramifications of stories for the young, but also the problem of how unreal images can lead the audience to reality. Plutarch nevertheless develops his myths, especially in the dialogues De sera numinis vindicta and De facie in orbe lunae, to fulfill similar functions as Plato’s, whether to emphasize a predominate ethical point in the rest of the dialogue, such as in the myth of Er, or to provide a teleological sketch for how the arrangement of the world might be good, such as in the Timaeus. Imagistic narratives such as these, for Plutarch as for Plato, do not transcend the reach of rational discourse, as much of the scholarship holds, however, but rather form likely accounts. Second, I argue that Plutarch constructs his own Platonic mythmaking as a distinctive kind of discourse that acts in parallel to dialectic interpretation. Whether interpreting traditional religious material, such as from the cults of Delphi and Isis, or explaining the complicated meanings of Plato’s Timaeus through appeal to the other dialogues, these dialectical discourses also yield likely accounts. Given the epistemic difficulties posed by both theology and physics, for different reasons, Plutarch cannot transcend beyond such accounts. The complementary use of these two modes of discourse, dialectical exegesis and imagistic mythmaking, illuminates some central workings of Plutarch’s Platonism
Reframing Femininity: Collecting Pictures of Early Christian Virgin Martyrs in Seicento Naples
No full textThis dissertation is an art historical study of the production and consumption of early Christian female martyr imagery in seventeenth-century Naples. Although it was the second largest city in Europe at the time, scholars have only recently begun to study the flourishing art market and the prevalence of devotional culture in the lives of Neapolitan citizens. Through a dedicated study of the interplay between socioeconomic conditions, politics and religious devotion, I will examine the use of virgin martyr imagery as instruments of female agency in sacred and secular contexts. Both the wealthy elite and the urban poor collected female portraits of saints in prints, hagiographies, drawings, and paintings. Artisans and street vendors sold moderately priced, often secondhand, pictures of saints, while aristocratic Neapolitans commissioned sacred portraits and displayed them in their palace galleries alongside paintings of family members. My research will explore how these pictures of virgin martyrs allowed collectors to communicate authority or undermine patriarchal controls, while also providing nonelite audiences with appealing examples of female agency
Magneto-Driven Gradients of Diamagnetic Objects for Engineering Complex Tissues
Get PDFEngineering complex tissues represents an extraordinary challenge and, to date, there have been few strategies developed that can easily recapitulate native‐like cell and biofactor gradients in 3D materials. This is true despite the fact that mimicry of these gradients may be essential for the functionality of engineered graft tissues. Here, a non‐traditional magnetics‐based approach is developed to predictably position naturally diamagnetic objects in 3D hydrogels. Rather than magnetizing the objects within the hydrogel, the magnetic susceptibility of the surrounding hydrogel precursor solution is enhanced. In this way, a range of diamagnetic objects (e.g., polystyrene beads, drug delivery microcapsules, and living cells) are patterned in response to a brief exposure to a magnetic field. Upon photo‐crosslinking the hydrogel precursor, object positioning is maintained, and the magnetic contrast agent diffuses out of the hydrogel, supporting long‐term construct viability. This approach is applied to engineer cartilage constructs with a depth‐dependent cellularity mirroring that of native tissue. These are thought to be the first results showing that magnetically unaltered cells can be magneto‐patterned in hydrogels and cultured to generate heterogeneous tissues. This work provides a foundation for the formation of opposing magnetic‐susceptibility‐based gradients within a single continuous material
Killing Them to Save Us’: Lessons from Politicide for Preventing and Countering Terrorism
Get PDFThis chapter reviews and extends the analysis of mass political murder advanced by Chirot and McCauley, then applies this analysis to understanding and countering terrorism. The justification for this application is that both politicide and terrorism target civilians in the context of asymmetric conflict. Three generalizations emerge. Politicide and terrorism cannot be understood or countered without (i) studying both sides in the conflict, (ii) separate studies of leaders, perpetrators, and mass sympathizers, and (iii) acknowledgment of the threats and grievances perceived by both sides. The chapter concludes with implications for fighting the war of ideas against jihadist and right-wing terrorists
Stitching the Fragmented: Critical Making as a Strategy for Language and Culture Learning
No full textVideo presentation for T3+BlendLAC 2020 Virtual Conference, presented by Vickie Karasic (Bryn Mawr College), Melanie Peron (University of Pennsylvania), and Meaghan Moody (University of Rochester
