2,553 research outputs found
The Anonymous Works of Robert Boyle and the Reasons Why a Protestant Should not Turn Papist (1687)
No full textRobert Boyle was the author of several works that appeared without his name on the title page. It has long been assumed that one of these was Reasons Why a Protestant Should not Turn Papist (London 1687), but this has never been established. This essay reviews all the available evidence about Boyle\u27s authorship, denies the attribution, and identifies the real author as the Scottish physician David Abercromby (d. 1702), a former Jesuit who was a principal recipient of Boyle\u27s patronage in the 1680s
Theology and natural philosophy in late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century Britain
No full textA number of historians of science have claimed that the early Boyle Sermons provided a platform for the promotion of a moderate-Anglican social and political ideology underpinned by Newtonian natural philosophy. However, by examining in detail the texts of Richard Bentley, John Harris and Samuel Clarke, this thesis argues that their Sermons should not be characterised as 'Newtonian'. These texts were highly complex literary productions constructed with the intention of achieving victory over the enemies of Christianity. An examination of their rhetorical strategies
focuses attention on the use to which various cognitive materials - including natural philosophy - were put. Thus the presence of Newtonian concepts in the texts is
explained by the aims and overall scholarly programmes of the Lecturers. It will also be argued that the term 'Boyle Lectureship' is problematic and that the main elements of the Lectureship - Robert Boyle's bequest, the Trustees, the
Lecturers, and the Sermons - cannot be conflated into a single historical unit. Therefore, throughout this study, emphasis is placed on the contingent and singular
behaviour of individuals located within an ecclesiastical and scholarly community, where career promotion and the notion of scholarly credit were important. The brief
in Boyle's last will and testament stipulated that the Lecturers must defend Christianity using the scholarly tools to hand. In this thesis it will be shown that the
personnel of the Lectureship conformed to Boyle's brief and that they utilised all available methods and materials in the pursuance of their legal and institutional
responsibilities. This approach removes the analysis of the Lectureship from an overarching sociological perspective; instead the Sermons are interpreted as exemplary texts in the rhetorical prosecution of the enemies of Christianity. This study, therefore, acknowledges the complex nature of theological texts in early modern England
War Eagles: A Bird's Eye View of 305th Bomb Group and the Eighth Air Force from the experiences of David C. Cox and Joseph B. Boyle
No full textThe purpose of this study is to document the history of the 305th Bomb Group and the Eighth Air Force during the critical early period (late 1942 through 1943) in World War II through the experiences of two members who served during this era. This thesis will take a personal view of the aerial combat through the wartime diary of David C. Cox and the oral history of Joseph B. Boyle. Cox and Boyle were friends who served in the 305th Bomb Group from its beginning until they were shot down during different missions in 1943. After the downing of their planes by the Germans, both men became re-acquainted as they became roommates in Stalag Luft III, the German POW camp where events depicted in the movie The Great Escape happened.
Other studies have documented the history of the Eighth Air Force and the 305th Bomb Group. During this time, the Eighth Air Force was just beginning to learn the difficulty of conducting daylight bombing missions over Europe. During the period from October 1942 through December of 1943, the losses for the Eighth Air Force were very high, mostly due to the lack of a fighter that could escort the bombers all the way to their targets and back. Other historians have documented the difficulties that the Eighth Air Force, and the 305th Bomb Group in particular, faced during this stage of World War II. What makes this study unique are the sources of David Cox's diary and Joseph Boyle's oral history, which make a much richer and more personal history of the early days of the 305th Bomb Group
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
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