Month: July 2013
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Aristoteles als kladpapier
Door Susan Derksen Er zijn lezers die zich er stevig aan ergeren: je leent een boek bij de bibliotheek, slaat het open en moet dan constateren dat een vorige lener er een meer interactieve relatie met het materiaal op na hield dan jij had willen beleven. Uitroeptekens, pijlen, trefwoorden, onbedoeld vervelend pedante correcties: typisch ergernissen…
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Of Embryos and Transmutation Part I – A Genealogy of Evolution
By Robbert Striekwold Ideas concerning species transformation and embryonic development enjoy a long and quirky history of perceived parallels and cross-pollination. In the first and introductory part of this series, I will take a look at the etymology of the word ‘evolution’ in biology. It entered the field as a term in embryology in the…
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The Uses of Snobbery. How leaving out explanations kicked historical linguistics upward
By Floris Solleveld How many people could read Arabic script in Germany around 1800? The question struck me in 2006 as I was making my first steps in intellectual history with a paper on Friedrich Schlegel’s Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (1808). Schlegel’s book – now considered a groundbreaking work in comparative linguistics…
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The Tale of the Four Foot Phallus
By Hans Schouwenburg Until its renovation in 2010, the former Arts and Humanities Library of Utrecht University (Letterenbibliotheek) housed a rather unusual treasure. It was not a rare book, incunabulum, or any other peculiar curiosity from the special collections. Nor was it proudly displayed in a cabinet or carefully stored on a bookshelf. In fact,…