Making Sense of Reality

Making Sense of Reality PDF Author: Tia DeNora
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1473905516
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
What is reality and how do we make sense of it in everyday life? Why do some realities seem more real than others, and what of seemingly contradictory and multiple realities? This book considers reality as we represent, perceive and experience it. It suggests that the realities we take as ‘real’ are the result of real-time, situated practices that draw on and draw together many things - technologies and objects, people, gestures, meanings and media. Examining these practices illuminates reality (or rather our sense of it) as always ‘virtually real’, that is simplified and artfully produced. This examination also shows us how the sense of reality that we make is nonetheless real in its consequences. Making Sense of Reality offers students and educators a guide to analysing social life. It develops a performance-based perspective (‘doing things with’) that highlights the ever-revised dimension of realities and links this perspective to a focus on object-relations and an ecological model of culture-in-action.

Making Sense of Reality

Making Sense of Reality PDF Author: Tia DeNora
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1473905516
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
What is reality and how do we make sense of it in everyday life? Why do some realities seem more real than others, and what of seemingly contradictory and multiple realities? This book considers reality as we represent, perceive and experience it. It suggests that the realities we take as ‘real’ are the result of real-time, situated practices that draw on and draw together many things - technologies and objects, people, gestures, meanings and media. Examining these practices illuminates reality (or rather our sense of it) as always ‘virtually real’, that is simplified and artfully produced. This examination also shows us how the sense of reality that we make is nonetheless real in its consequences. Making Sense of Reality offers students and educators a guide to analysing social life. It develops a performance-based perspective (‘doing things with’) that highlights the ever-revised dimension of realities and links this perspective to a focus on object-relations and an ecological model of culture-in-action.

Free Will

Free Will PDF Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451683405
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Sam Harris, bestselling author of THE END OF FAITH takes on one of today's liveliest issues: whether or not we actually have free will.

The Realities of Reality - Part II: Making Sense of Why Modern Science Advances (Volume 1)

The Realities of Reality - Part II: Making Sense of Why Modern Science Advances (Volume 1) PDF Author: Fritz Dufour, MBA, DESS
Publisher: Fritz Dufour
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This Volume 1 of Part II considers the factors that make science progress. It lays out the differences between normal science and pseudoscience by showing the importance of the scientific method in the advancement of science. It introduces the concept of Truth in science by raising the point that even though truth is based on the scientific method, can science be true? Can it depict reality? The author focuses on modern science, which, he thinks, was born thanks to the Scientific Revolution which started with Galileo Galilei and led to the Industrial Revolution. The impacts of the latter is analyzed in light modernism, modernization, and modernity, all three linked to scientific progress. The book also talks about the Newtonian scientific leap – by analyzing particularly the then social and political fabrics of England – and Albert Einstein by showing how he changed history. According to the author, our very physical world can help us understand scientific progress. So, he explains, among other things, the structure of atoms and molecules, the role of physics in the understanding of our universe, Quantum Mechanics, and the importance of Higgs-Boson. On the other hand, the book is a stunning revelation of how important information is to scientific progress. To make his point, the author, first, talks about John Vincent Atanasoff as the Father of computer thanks to the invention of his ABC computer and then, Alan Turing as the Father of modern computer thanks to his Turing Test and his views on Artificial Intelligence. Both men played a momentous role in the Digital Revolution and in the Information Age, according to the book. Finally, the author talks about nanotechnology, which explores the world of small, meaning at the atomic and the molecular levels and is an inescapable tool in the molecular biology revolution which, itself, is an important factor in scientific progress and in transhumanism or human enhancement defined as the ideology according to which man can surpass his present state by improving his genetic material.

The Realities of 'Reality' - Part II: Making Sense of Why Modern Science Advances (Volume 2 of 2)

The Realities of 'Reality' - Part II: Making Sense of Why Modern Science Advances (Volume 2 of 2) PDF Author: Fritz Dufour, MBA, DESS
Publisher: Fritz Dufour
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
The difference between Part I and Part II – Volumes 1 & 2 – of this series, is that in Part I the author showed how what we call reality starts with the inner self whereas Part II describes what, in fact, impacts and modifies the environment or reality and what are the factors behind that dynamics. What impacts and modifies the environment is science. This Volume 2 starts by showing how technology plays an important role in scientific progress. Although the relationship between the two is symbiotic, science can exist without technology but technology desperately needs science. Military technology is an example of how technology can help science advance. Some military inventions end up having civilian use. Science being at the center of society, the book makes the case for the direct impact of such social sciences as politics and economics on the advancement of science. Politics, says the author, influences science because of uncertainty in science, and economics does it thanks to the availability of money to scholars and scientists for their research. On the other hand, government also influences scientific progress through regulations. The book gives cyberspace regulation as an example. Furthermore, by showing how art influences science, the author really argues for the polyfactorial aspect of scientific progress. In that line of thought, he goes on to also prove that factors such as skepticism, curiosity, and the quest for knowledge greatly influence the advancement of science. That, says the author, “is a ninety-degree turn … By ending Part two that way, I wanted to, somehow, link it to Part I, which argues that reality starts from within.”

Making Sense of Reality

Making Sense of Reality PDF Author: Kerstin Pilkvist
Publisher: Socialy Press
ISBN: 9781681178042
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Realistic' is a term of everyday use and a word that non-academics use frequently and unguardedly in talking about pictures. Roughly, it can be taken to mean that the depiction is like the real thing of which it is a depiction; more specifically that the depiction is like the real thing with respect to its visual character. When we examine the world of sentient beings, some portions of it are certainly thought to be governed by `necessity'. There are, to begin with, the effects of the interplay of human beings with nature -- their own bodies and what is external to them. Our personal perceptions of the world influence us on many levels. Our perceptions mandate our expectations, thoughts, emotional reactions, and even the physical terrain of our nervous system. Our perceptions therefore shape the person we are when are alone and with a group. It includes what comes to your mind when you see a tree; the thoughts that manifest when thinking about Africa; the emotions that unfold when confronted with new ideas, and so on. You understand the world through your perceptions of it. The way your world view, reality tunnel, mental filter, or perception is constructed has been theorized on for years, and it is closely related to the nature. Of course there are many things that influence the way you see and feel the world. This book examines the practices that illuminate reality as always virtually real, that is simplified and artfully produced. It also shows how the sense of reality that we make is however real in its consequences. Behind all these behaviours and mindsets are value systems. When people adopt and believe things without bringing a conscious mind to the subject, they give up their individuality. They let others do their own thinking for them, and in the case of culture, essentially adopt a kind of religion. Making Sense of Reality offers students and educators a guide to analysing social life.

Making Sense of Messages

Making Sense of Messages PDF Author: Mark Stoner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351130102
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Making Sense of Messages, now in its second edition, retains the apprenticeship approach which facilitates effectively learning the complex content and skills of rhetorical theory and criticism. A new chapter on “The Rhetoric of Ignorance” provides needed theory and examples that help students deal with the new rhetorical landscape marked by such discursive complexities as “fake news,” “whataboutism,” and denial of science that creates rather than reduces uncertainty in public argument. A new chapter, “Curating and Analyzing Multimodal Mediated Rhetoric,” deals with problems of media criticism in the digital age. It provides theory, models of application, and commentary that help novice critics understand and mindfully practice criticism that leads to insight, not mere opinion. Throughout the book, extended and updated examples and commentaries are designed to promote "novice-to-expert" agency in students. This textbook is ideal for introductory courses in contemporary rhetoric, rhetorical criticism, and critical analysis of mass media.

Making Sense of Nonsense

Making Sense of Nonsense PDF Author: Raymond Moody
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
ISBN: 0738763373
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
What do the whimsical writings of Dr. Seuss have in common with near-death experiences? The answer is that nonsense writing and spiritual experiences seem to defy all logic and yet they both can make a powerful personal impact. In this book, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Raymond Moody shares the groundbreaking results of five decades of research into the philosophy of nonsense, revealing dynamic new perspectives on language, logic, and the mystical side of life. Explore the meaningful feelings that accompany nonsense language and learn how engaging with nonsense can help you on your own spiritual path. Discover how nonsense transcends classical logic, opening the doorway to new spiritual and philosophical breakthroughs. With dozens of examples from literature, comedy, music, and the history of religion, this book presents a unique new approach to the mysteries of the human spirit.

Making Sense of Everyday Life

Making Sense of Everyday Life PDF Author: Susie Scott
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745658458
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
This accessible, introductory text explains the importance of studying 'everyday life' in the social sciences. Susie Scott examines such varied topics as leisure, eating and drinking, the idea of home, and time and schedules in order to show how societies are created and reproduced by the apparently mundane 'micro' level practices of everyday life. Each chapter is organized around three main themes: 'rituals and routines', 'social order', and 'challenging the taken-for-granted', with intriguing examples and illustrations. Theoretical approaches from ethnomethodology, Symbolic Interactionism and social psychology are introduced and applied to real-life situations, and there is clear emphasis on empirical research findings throughout. Social order depends on individuals following norms and rules which are so familiar as to appear natural; yet, as Scott encourages the reader to discover, these are always open to question and investigation. This user-friendly book will appeal to undergraduate students across the social sciences, including the sociology of everyday life, the sociology of emotions, social psychology and cultural studies, and will reveal the fascinating significance our everyday habits hold.

Making Sense of Life and the Universe

Making Sense of Life and the Universe PDF Author: Tawanda Chisango
Publisher: Tredition Gmbh
ISBN: 9783347002852
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Some books have pretty words but don't help much. Some have substance and tell a lot about reality. Some books look good but you can't judge a book by it's cover. Then there is a book that touches the soul on a deep level and tries to explain the inexplicable, that book is making sense of life and the universe. In this book you will find different spiritual concepts elucidated in a clear and coherent manner. From God, prayer, concepts about good and evil to the meaning of life. This book is filled with wisdom. You will find ideas that we contemplate about when we are in solitude. Every page is filled with wisdom and knowledge. In making sense of life and the universe you will get a clear picture of the true God, the God that most people don't want to know, that is the God that incarnates itself in this reality in order to know itself. This book is a search for the ultimate meaning of life.

Making Sense of It All

Making Sense of It All PDF Author: Thomas V. Morris
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802806529
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Thomas V. Morris discusses life, death, religion, the nature of faith and more. This captivating book is ideal both for thoughtful unbelievers who consider Christianity unreasonable, and Christians wanting to know how to share their faith with sceptics. Writing in an engaging, conversational style, Morris takes an intriguing new look at the big questions that keep coming up -- questions about life, death, God, religion, the nature of faith, the formation of an adequate worldview, and the meaning of life. Morris explores these kinds of questions in an earnest yet thoroughly entertaining and easily readable way, relating numerous personal anecdotes, incorporating intriguing material from the films of Woody Allen and the journals of Tolstoy, and using the writings of the seventeenth-century genius Blaise Pascal as a central guide.