What is the history of criticism but the history of men attempting to make sense of the manifold elements in art that will not allow themselves to be reduced to a single philosophy or a single aesthetic theory??

Accordingly, it is the aim of this essay to advance a new theory of imitation ( which I shall call mimesis in order to distinguish it from earlier theories of imitation ) and a new theory of invention ( which I shall call symbol for reasons to be stated hereafter ).

The central concern of Erich Auerbach's impressive volume called Mimesis is to describe the shift from a classic theory of imitation ( based upon a recognition of levels of truth ) to a Christian theory of imitation in which the levels are dissolved.

And it is clearly argued by Lord Percy of Newcastle, in his remarkable long essay, The Heresy Of Democracy, and in a more general way by Voegelin, in his New Science Of Politics, that this same Rousseauan idea, descending through European democracy, is the source of Marx's theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Thus, in no ordinary sense of ' simplicity ' is the Ptolemaic theory simpler than the Copernican.

Analogously, anyone who argues that Einstein's theory of gravitation is simpler than Newton's, must say rather more to explain how it is that the latter is mastered by student-physicists, while the former can be managed ( with difficulty ) only by accomplished experts.

In a sense, Einstein's theory is simpler than Newton's, and there is a corresponding sense in which Copernicus' theory is simpler than Ptolemy's.

The strongest appeal of the Copernican formulation consisted in just this: ideally, the justification for dealing with special problems in particular ways is completely set out in the basic ' rules ' of the theory.

My reply is that I associate myself with all those who affirm that Gentile-Jewish relations should contribute to the theory and practice of human dignity.

Finally we may note that the idea appears in educational theory where its influence is at present widespread.

The point is that an ethical critic, with an assist from Freud, can seize on this theory to argue that tragedy provides us with a harmless outlet for our hostile urges.

In his study Samuel Johnson, Joseph Wood Krutch takes this line when he says that what Aristotle really means by his theory of catharsis is that our evil passions may be so purged by the dramatic ritual that it is `` less likely that we shall indulge them through our own acts ''.

But beginning, for all practical purposes, with Frederick Seebohm's English Village Community scholars have had to reckon with a theory involving institutional and agrarian continuity between Roman and Anglo-Saxon times which is completely at odds with the reigning concept of the Anglo-Saxon invasions.

that theory was and is sound.

This can only be for one of two reasons: either the two are quite different and will require totally different theory ( and hence techniques ), or our existing theories are insufficiently general.

A state, the highest form of human organization in fact and theory, could be subjected to Law only by a manifestation of self-will, or consent.

It appeared that the theory could be saved in one way only.

Unless one takes refuge in the theory -- however disguised -- that Negroes are, somehow, different from white people, I do not see how one can escape the conclusion that the Negro's status in this country is not only a cruel injustice but a grave national liability.

The social exchange theory postulates that altruism only exists when benefits outweigh costs.

The exact number and placement of Endosymbiotic theory | endosymbiotic events is currently unknown, so this diagram can be taken only as a general guide It represents the most parsimonious way of explaining the three types of endosymbiotic origins of plastids.

In theory it can occur only in nuclei somewhat heavier than nickel ( element 28 ), where overall binding energy per nucleon is no longer a minimum, and the nuclides are therefore unstable toward spontaneous fission-type processes.

Also, as we now know, bosons also have antiparticles, but since bosons do not obey the Pauli exclusion principle ( only fermions do ), hole theory does not work for them.

In quantum field theory, this process is allowed only as an intermediate quantum state for times short enough that the violation of energy conservation can be accommodated by the uncertainty principle.

But this extremely ingenious theory would at most explain only the mystic word Abracadabra, whose connection with Abrasax is by no means certain.

The Gaussian theory, however, is only true so long as the angles made by all rays with the optical axis ( the symmetrical axis of the system ) are infinitely small, i. e. with infinitesimal objects, images and lenses ; in practice these conditions are not realized, and the images projected by uncorrected systems are, in general, ill defined and often completely blurred, if the aperture or field of view exceeds certain limits.

Consequently the Gaussian theory only supplies a convenient method of approximating to reality ; and no constructor would attempt to realize this unattainable ideal.

Bundle theory, originated by the 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume, is the ontological theory about objecthood in which an object consists only of a collection ( bundle ) of properties, relations or tropes.

However, the argument concludes that the conceptual challenge of bare particulars leaves a bundle of properties and nothing more as the only possible conception of an object, thus justifying bundle theory.

The choice between the two definitions usually matters only in very formal contexts, like category theory.

Remaining issues, such as the cuspy halo problem and the dwarf galaxy problem of cold dark matter, are not fatal to the dark matter explanation as solutions to such problems exist which involve only further refinements of the theory.

The BCS theory, however, requires only that the potential be attractive, regardless of its origin.

According to this theory, the cycle of philosophical upheavals that in part drove the diversification of Buddhism into its many schools and sects only began once Buddhists began attempting to make explicit the implicit philosophy of the Buddha and the early suttas.

In complexity theory, the satisfiability problem ( SAT ) is a decision problem, whose instance is a Boolean expression written using only AND, OR, NOT, variables, and parentheses.

Paracelsus ( 1493 – 1541 ), for example, rejected the 4-elemental theory, and with only a vague understanding of his chemicals and medicines formed a hybrid of alchemy and science in what was to be called iatrochemistry.

Claude Shannon proved, using information theory considerations, that any theoretically unbreakable cipher must have keys which are at least as long as the plaintext, and used only once: one-time pad.

Charles Darwin proposed the theory of universal common descent through an evolutionary process in On the Origin of Species, twice stating the hypothesis that there was only one progenitor for all life forms and ending with " There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one ".

Chomsky argued that in order to explain language, we needed a theory like generative grammar, which not only attributed internal representations but characterized their underlying order.

We may thus trace the notion of individual autonomy from its manifestation in religious practice and theological reflection through practical politics and political theory into literature and the arts.

In this connection, it might be noted that the theory of games was a mathematical discovery long before its uses in political science were exploited.

Anthropology has been used in Britain to provide an alternative explanation for the Financial crisis of 2007 – 2010 to the technical explanations rooted in economic and political theory.

They seek to explain why certain beliefs about categories would appear in political science as ideology, in religion as dogma, or in science as theory.

A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.

The political scientist Michael Barkun discussing the usage of this term in contemporary American culture holds that a conspiracy theory is a belief which explains an event as the result of a secret plot by exceptionally powerful and cunning conspirators to achieve a malevolent end.

In April 1823, US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams discussed the rules of political gravitation, in a theory often referred to as the " ripe fruit theory ".

Hegel, in his Elements of the Philosophy of Right ( 1820 ), gave it a philosophical justification that concurred with evolving contemporary political theory and the Protestant Christian view of natural law.

Ronald Dworkin ( 2005 ) rejects Hart's theory and proposes that all individuals should expect the equal respect and concern of those who govern them as a fundamental political right.

Rén is the basis of Confucian political theory: it presupposes an autocratic ruler, exhorted to refrain from acting inhumanely towards his subjects.

Referred to variously as the Confucian hypothesis and as a debated component of the more all-encompassing Asian Development Model, there exists among political scientists and economists a theory that Confucianism plays a large latent role in the ostensibly non-Confucian cultures of modern-day East Asia, in the form of the rigorous work ethic it endowed those cultures with.

Far from trying to build a systematic or formalist theory, he wanted his disciples to master and internalize the old classics, so that their deep thought and thorough study would allow them to relate the moral problems of the present to past political events ( as recorded in the Annals ) or the past expressions of commoners ' feelings and noblemen's reflections ( as in the poems of the Book of Odes ).

The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in Lǐ () is based on three important conceptual aspects of life: ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, social and political institutions, and the etiquette of daily behavior.

Modern European conservatives such as Edmund Burke have found the extreme idealism of either democracy may endanger broader liberties, and similarly reject " abstract reason " as a guide for political theory.

Classical liberalism was the dominant political theory in Britain from the early 19th century until the First World War.

" American political scientists John R. Oneal and Bruce M. Russett, well known for their work on the democratic peace theory, state:

The specific relationship between the political leaders and the clergy varied but, in theory, the national and political divisions were at times subsumed under the leadership of the church as an institution.

Most proxies for " grievance "-the theory that civil wars begin because of issues of identity, rather than economics-were statistically insignificant, including economic equality, political rights, ethnic polarization and religious fractionalization.

However, this political restriction is less confining than it may first appear in that the Marxist historical framework is surprisingly flexible, and a rather simple matter to modify an alternative historical theory to use language that at least does not challenge the Marxist interpretation of history.

The Kuomintang issued their own theory of political stages based on Sun Yatsen's proposal though it is limited only to recent history.

Core concepts are: ( 1 ) That critical social theory should be directed at the totality of society in its historical specificity ( i. e. how it came to be configured at a specific point in time ), and ( 2 ) That critical theory should improve understanding of society by integrating all the major social sciences, including geography, economics, sociology, history, political science, anthropology, and psychology.

This version of " critical " theory derives from Kant's ( 18th-century ) and Marx's ( 19th Century ) use of the term " critique ", as in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Marx's concept that his work Das Kapital ( Capital ) forms a " critique of political economy.