David Summers’ Real Spaces: World Art History and the Rise of Western Modernism remains one the most ambitious and compelling attempts to develop a new analytic framework for art-historical analysis across geographic and temporal boundaries. Despite this accomplishment, since its publication nearly 15 years ago the book has continued to face the criticism of being a problematically Western project. But what are the philosophical ideas on which Real Spaces is based? And how is it that these general ideas are troublingly Western, rather than being more generally human or cross-cultural? A prominent reading by James Elkins of Real Spaces has positioned its claims in relation to the philosophical project of Martin Heidegger, as Summers’ terminology does have Heideggerean overtones. Building on Elkins’ reading, in this essay I argue that Summers’ book is more accurately understood as a form of neo-Pragmatism. To substantiate this claim, I emphasize some known parallels between Heidegger’s project and that of Pragmatism in general as well as a variety of similarities between Real Spaces and the vocabularies of Richard Rorty and Charles Sanders Peirce that Summers himself has noted. While such an argument may merely seem to replace one Western philosophical understanding of Real Spaces for another, doing so also allows the book to be understood in relation to some of neo-Pragmatism’s most compelling moral or ethical claims and thereby to more adequately answer the criticism that Summers’ alternative art history is just another precariously Western project.
Schenk, Frederik
V?liranta, Minna
Muschitiello, Francesco
Tarasov, Lev
Heikkil?, Maija
Bj?rck, Svante
Brandefelt, Jenny
Johansson, Arne V.
N?slund, Jens-Ove
Wohlfarth, Barbara
The paper explores exceptional thermal conditions, an area of research that has increased in significance in the context of the changes that are being observed in climate. Specifically, the study addressed the frequency, long-term change and spatial coverage of exceptionally hot summers, and exceptionally cool summers (EHS and ECS) in Europe. The statistical criterion of plus/minus two standard deviations from the long-term average was used to identify EHS and ECS at 60 weather stations over the period 1951-2010. The study has demonstrated that EHS are characterised by greater temperature anomalies than ECS and are approximately twice as frequent. They occurred virtually everywhere within the study area, whilst ECS are concentrated in its northern part. Five EHS (1972, 2002, 2003, 2007, and 2010) and three ECS (1956, 1962, and 1976) were large enough to be recorded by at least 10% of the stations.
The current debate on secular stagnation is suffering from some vagueness and several shortcomings. The same is true for the economic policy implications. Therefore, we provide an alternative view on stagnation tendencies based on Josef Steindl's contributions. In particular, Steindl (1952) can be viewed as a pioneering work in the area of stagnation in modern capitalism. We hold that this work is not prone to the problems detected in the current debate on secular stagnation: It does not rely on the dubious notion of an equilibrium real interest rate as the equilibrating force of saving and investment at full employment levels, in principle, with the adjustment process currently blocked by the unfeasibility of a very low or even negative equilibrium rate. It is based on the notion that modern capitalist economies are facing aggregate demand constraints, and that saving adjusts to investment through income growth and changes in capacity utilization in the long run. It allows for potential growth to become endogenous to actual demand-driven growth. And it seriously considers the role of institutions and power relationships for long-run growth—-and for stagnation.
The paper reports on a study of extremely cool summers (ECS), a rare but significant phenomenon responsible for various adverse economic effects. These include, in particular, effects on agriculture and the tourist industry. The seasons, their spatial extent and individual characteristics were identified in Central and Eastern Europe. The research was based on average seasonal air temperatures (June to August) and the numbers of days with maximum temperatures[25, 30 and 35 degrees C and minimum temperatures[20 degrees C, as recorded at 59 weather stations during the period 1951-2010. An ECS was defined as having an average temperature at least 2 standard deviations (t <= t(av). - 2 sigma) lower than the average at a given station during the study period. ECS occurred at only 34 of the 59 stations (58 % of all stations), one or two per station, mainly in the northern part of the study area. Six such seasons were recorded by at least 5 % of all stations in 1962, 1969, 1976, 1978, 1984 and 1994. The average temperature of an ECS was typically 2-3 degrees C lower than the long-term average. While some ECSs included an extremely cool month, most such seasons (58 %) were defined by low temperatures persisting for long periods in all summer months.
A quantizer including passive summers, dynamic comparators and a clock generator. Each passive summer samples the input voltages and a reference voltage scaled by one of multiple graduated gains, and subtracts the scaled reference voltage from the sum of the input voltages. The graduated gains divide a predetermined voltage range into multiple voltage subranges, each between sequential pairs of the passive summers. The dynamic comparators compare each sequential pair of passive summer output voltages according to multiple splitting ratios and provide corresponding quantization bits. The dynamic comparators are activated in groups to reduce comparator kickback. Each dynamic comparator recharges the passive summer output voltages coupled to its inputs back to their initial voltage values to reduce kickback residual. The passive summers eliminate the need for a resistor string to generate the reference voltages. Staggered activation and comparator recharging replace preamplifiers used to suppress kickback and kickback residuals.