Word: abstract
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...theory holds a special appeal for the curious non-specialist. While the field is "sufficiently firm to provide satisfaction and confidence," it is also "fruitfully underdeveloped enough to provide a treasure trove of mysteries." As a science, it encompasses a huge range of approaches and styles from the most abstract to the most particular--"what, if anything, did Tyrannosaurus do with his puny front legs, anyway?" And most importantly, evolutionary theory affects all our lives by addressing where we came from and how we got here...
...prodigal son." Representing an assortment of his sociological writings from 1960-80, they are also his personal favorites. These essays not only compose an impressive body of knowledge and rhetoric, but also evoke a classical dilemma--the role of the intellectual. While Bell fights, and wins, war in the abstract, his victories seem pyrrhic. By the end of his 17 essays, any reader will beg for a solution to the problems he has raised. Although each essay contains a trace of hope, Bell always falls short of an answer, or even advice, leaving the reader in despair...
...musings will no doubt prove prescient, his analysis correct. Michael Harrington probably did "cheat" Marx, in the abstract. Nonetheless, Marx hoped for--nay, expected--the merging of theory and praxis. His was a resounding call to action. Bell's ideas have a powerful appeal, but Michael Harrington is out on the streets, trying to affect social change, while Bell is in his office, analyzing social change. The choice is stark: this weekend, you can skim The Winding Passage and absorb ideas; or you can attend the nearest DSOC meeting
CONSIDER FOR A MOMENT a country rife with political conflict and uneven economic development, tugged in opposite directions by competing social forces and different levels of government; a country confronting entrenched traditions while trying to focus on the future. Then take this abstract model and apply it to the place of your choice--chances are, the last country you would choose is directly north...
...notion sounds abstract. But the study cites successful work by the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. Founded by Professor Matthew Lipman of Montclair State College in New Jersey, the institute offers a reading and discussion program that teaches the fundamentals of logic to schoolchildren as early as the fifth grade. The text for the program contains stories about young "Harry Stottlemeier" (Lipman's transliteration of Aristotle), who playfully makes discoveries about syllogistic major premises and unsnarls faulty logic like the following: "All minnows are fish; all sharks are fish; therefore, all minnows are sharks...