The Reality Frame

Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785782142
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Book Description
Weaving together the great ideas of science, The Reality Frame takes us on a thrilling journey from empty space all the way to the human mind. Acclaimed science writer Brian Clegg builds up reality piece by piece, from space, to time, to matter, movement, the fundamental forces, life, and the massive transformation that life itself has wrought on the natural world. He reveals that underlying it all is not, as we might believe, a system of immovable absolutes, but the ever-shifting, amorphous world of relativity. From religion to philosophy, humanity has traditionally sought out absolutes to explain the world around us, but as science has developed, relativity has swept away many of these certainties, leaving only a handful of unchangeable essentials – such as absolute zero, nothingness, light – leading to better science and a new understanding of the essence of being human. This is an Ascent of Man for the 21st century, the gripping story of modern science that will fill you with wonder and give you a new insight into our place in the universe.

Image, Reality and Media Construction

Author: Fengmin Yan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9813290765
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
This book explores how news media construct social issues and events and thereby convey certain perceptions within the scope of framing theory. By operationalizing media framing as a process of interpretation through defining problem, diagnosing causes, making moral judgments and suggesting solutions, the book proposes a systematic and transparent approach to images in news discourse. Based on a frame analysis, it examines how German news media framed a list of China-related issues and events, and thereby conveyed particular beliefs and opinions on this country. Moreover, it investigates whether there were dominant patterns of interpretation and the extent to which diverse views were evident by comparing two major daily newspapers with opposite political orientations - the FAZ and the taz. Motivated by the relationship between image and reality, the book explores image formation and persistence from media construction of meaning and human cognitive complexity in perceiving others. Media select certain issues and events and then interpret them from particular perspectives. A variety of professional and non-professional factors behind news making may result in biased representations. In addition, from a social psychological perspective, inaccurate perceptions of foreign cultures may arise from categorical thinking, biased processing of stimulus information, intergroup conflicts of interest and in-group favoritism. Accordingly, whether media coverage deviates from reality is not the main concern of this book; instead, it emphasizes the underlying logics upon which the conclusions and judgments were drawn. It therefore contributes to a rational understanding of Western discourse and holds practical implications for both Chinese public diplomacy and a more constructive role of news media in promoting the understanding of others.

Frames of War

Author: Judith Butler
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1784782491
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
In Frames of War, Judith Butler explores the media’s portrayal of state violence, a process integral to the way in which the West wages modern war. This portrayal has saturated our understanding of human life, and has led to the exploitation and abandonment of whole peoples, who are cast as existential threats rather than as living populations in need of protection. These people are framed as already lost, to imprisonment, unemployment and starvation, and can easily be dismissed. In the twisted logic that rationalizes their deaths, the loss of such populations is deemed necessary to protect the lives of ‘the living.’ This disparity, Butler argues, has profound implications for why and when we feel horror, outrage, guilt, loss and righteous indifference, both in the context of war and, increasingly, everyday life. This book discerns the resistance to the frames of war in the context of the images from Abu Ghraib, the poetry from Guantanamo, recent European policy on immigration and Islam, and debates on normativity and non-violence. In this urgent response to ever more dominant methods of coercion, violence and racism, Butler calls for a re-conceptualization of the Left, one that brokers cultural difference and cultivates resistance to the illegitimate and arbitrary effects of state violence and its vicissitudes.

The Reality Frame

Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 9781785782817
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A thrilling journey from empty space all the way to the human mind.

The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes

Author: Donald Hoffman
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393254704
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Book Description
Can we trust our senses to tell us the truth? Challenging leading scientific theories that claim that our senses report back objective reality, cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman argues that while we should take our perceptions seriously, we should not take them literally. From examining why fashion designers create clothes that give the illusion of a more “attractive” body shape to studying how companies use color to elicit specific emotions in consumers, and even dismantling the very notion that spacetime is objective reality, The Case Against Reality dares us to question everything we thought we knew about the world we see.

What We Can Never Know

Author: David Gamez
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826491618
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
A lively, engaging and provocative examination of the limits of philosophy and science through studies of perception, time, madness and knowledge. >

Ten Billion Tomorrows

Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 125005785X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
An exciting new book about real-life technology derived from science fiction and its impact on the world.

Framing Fat

Author: Samantha Kwan
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813560934
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Book Description
According to public health officials, obesity poses significant health risks and has become a modern-day epidemic. A closer look at this so-called epidemic, however, suggests that there are multiple perspectives on the fat body, not all of which view obesity as a health hazard. Alongside public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advertisers of the fashion-beauty complex, food industry advocates at the Center for Consumer Freedom, and activists at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Framing Fat takes a bird’s-eye view of how these multiple actors construct the fat body by identifying the messages these groups put forth, particularly where issues of beauty, health, choice and responsibility, and social justice are concerned. Samantha Kwan and Jennifer Graves examine how laypersons respond to these conflicting messages and illustrate the gendered, raced, and classed implications within them. In doing so, they shed light on how dominant ideas about body fat have led to the moral indictment of body nonconformists, essentially “framing” them for their fat bodies.

The Power of Framing

Author: Gail T. Fairhurst
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470901322
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
Praise for The Power of Framing "The primary work of leadership involves managing meaning through framing. Fairhurst shows that the way leaders use language to frame people, situations, and events has important consequences for the way individuals make sense of the world and their actions. The Power of Framing is an accessible and inspirational read for leaders who want to shape their organizations in ethically responsible ways." J. KEVIN BARGE, professor, Texas A&M University "An ideal book for MBA students and business professionals who are interested in specific tools for constructing leadership in their professional worlds. By focusing on the language toolbox of leadership, the book empowers anyone to construct leadership through talk and interaction." JOLANTA ARITZ, associate professor, Center for Management Communication, USC Marshall School of Business "Building on her earlier acclaimed work, and written in a highly accessible style, Fairhurst's thoughtful study provides us with a practical and highly relevant analysis of the power of framing language from a leadership perspective. This is a must-have book." DAVID GRANT, professor of organizational studies, University of Sydney "Communication is the most important element of leadership, and framing of the subject and situation is one of the most powerful tools available to leaders. Gail Fairhurst has created the handbook to help leaders do this right. A must-read for anyone in a leadership capacity." RICH KILEY, venture capitalist, and retired Procter & Gamble marketing and HR executive "To be an effective global manager, there is nothing more critical than understanding how to frame an issue so that you are effectively communicating and motivating in a culturally sensitive manner. This book will tune you into these issues and show you how to make certain your communication is properly interpreted by your audience." OLGA JACOB, general sales manager (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg), American Airlines

Faith's Knowledge

Author: Paul Tyson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1610978188
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 211

Book Description
Can we know truth even though certain proof is unattainable? Can we be known by Truth? Is there a relationship between belief and truth, and if so, what is the nature of that relationship? Do we need to have faith in reason and in real meaning to be able to reason towards truth? These are the sorts of questions this book seeks to address. In Faith's Knowledge, Paul Tyson argues that all knowledge that aims at truth is always the knowledge of faith. If this is the case, then--against our modernist cultural assumptions about knowledge--truth cannot be had by proof. Yet, if this is true, then mere information and simply objective facts do not (for us as knowers) exist. Knowledge is always embedded in belief, and knowledge and belief is always expressed in relationships, histories, narratives, shared meanings, and power. Hence, a theological sociology of knowledge emerges out of these explorations in thinking about knowledge as a function of faith.