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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Leibniz was a German philosopher who belonged to the Rationalist school of philosophers, to which also belonged Descartes and Spinoza. But Leibniz was not only a philosopher, he was also a considerable authority on law, a diplomat, a historian and an outstanding mathematician — as is proved by his discovery in 1676, independently of Newton, of the Differential Calculus. Leibniz was the son of a Professor of Philosophy of Leipzig University, who died when his son was only 6, but who left behind a fine collection of books which the young Leibniz read eagerly. Leibniz studied law at the University, and then, while in the service of the Elector of Mainz, he visited Paris and London and became acquainted with the learned men of his time. When he was 30 he became official librarian of the Brunswich family at Hanover, where he remained till he died. His philosophy is set out in a short paper, The Mondadology, which he wrote two years before his death. Otherwise, except for one or two famous essays, his philosophical and scientific ideas have had to be assembled from his various papers and letters which, fortunately, have survived. They show Leibniz’’s brilliant intellect, especially in his attempt to relate mathematics and logic so that problems of philosophy could be exactly calculated and no longer be under dispute. He held that everything from a table to man’’s soul, and even to God himself, is made up of "monads" atoms, each of which is a simple, indivisible, imperishable unit, different from every other monad and constantly changing.George Berkeley Berkeley was born of an aristocratic Irish family and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he remained as fellow and tutor. All his best work was written very early, and by the age of 27 he had made a reputation as a writer on philosophy. In 1712 Berkeley went to London and associated with the literary men of the day, among whom he was warmly welcomed. Berkeley travelled widely in Italy and France, and then spent a few years in the English colonies of North America and the West Indians, where he had hoped to found a missionary college. When his hope failed, he returned to Ireland, and in 1734 was appointed Bishop of Cloyne. He spent 18 years administrating his diocese, living a happy family life with his wife and children, and writing books on both philosophical and practical subject. In 1752 he retired to Oxford, where he died the next year at the age of 68. Berkeley’’s claim to fame rests on his philosophy. His views are in contrast, deliberately, to those of John Locke. As an idealist he believes that mind comes before matter, while a Materialist holds everything depends upon matter. Beyond his strictly philosophical works, Berkeley was interested in natural science and mathematics. He wrote an Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, in which he attempted to explain how we are able to judge the distance of objects from us. Though science has made great advances since Berkeley’’s day, his essay is still of value.David Hume Hume is a celebrated Scottish philosopher and historian. In 1739, after a period of study in Paris, when he was only 28, he published one of the most influential books of English philosophy of modern times — the Treatise of Human Nature. It excited little interest, however, when it first, appeared, and Hume turned to writing admirable essays on a variety of topics. In 1752 he returned to Edinburgh as librarian of Advocates’’ Library, and began to compose A History of England, the final volume of which was published in 1761. From 1761 to 1765, he was secretary to the British Embassy in Paris; where he was sought after by the cultured society. For the rest of his life he lived in his native Edinburgh, the central figure of a distinguished group of writers.Hume’’s chief fame as a philosopher rests on the strict and logical way in which he applied the principle of John Locke, that all thought is built up from simple and separate elements, which Hume calls impressions. He believed that even a human being is a bundle of different perceptions, and has no permanent identity. His criticism of man’’s belief that everything has a cause seemed to deny what we assume, not merely from ordinary experience, but from a scientific knowledge; and since he wrote, philosophers have been trying to find answers to his penetrating doubts. Indeed he has had more influence upon recent discussion in England about the principles of knowledge than any other philosopher of the past. Who believed in the treatment of philosophy in a scientific way
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Professor Meredith Thring, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Queen Mary College, London showed off his latest invention to the Press yesterday. It is a mechanical coal miner which, he claims, could solve Britain’’s energy problems within ten years. Not that he thinks the National Coal Board will be at all interested. " I have taken my previous ideas of mechanical mining to previous Chairmen of the Board but each time nothing has happened," he said. "The Board are not thinking enough about the future. My latest idea would put the cost of coal down and produce twice as much with the same labour force. " Professor Thring finished making his mechanical coal miner only on Sunday night. He showed the wooden model yesterday at Queen Mary College. It is rather like a giant ant, with a headlight, two TV camera "eyes" , and arms the same size and strength as human arms. This particular coal miner, however, would only be eighteen inches tall, which would enable it to mine much smaller areas of coal than those that can be mined by human beings. It would open up rich areas of coal in the Durham coal fields which have not been workable since the last century. " I would have thought the unions would be delighted with the mechanical coal miners," said Professor Thring. " We would be employing as many miners as at present, with all their skills, but they would all be working on the surface. " The human miner would in fact sit at the controls above ground. He would put his hands into "gloves" and work the metal hands of the coal miner as if they were his own. The mechanical miner could go down as deep as 10,000 feet, and would cost ￡10,000. " It will put the cost of coal down because the cost of the machines is going to be very low in relation to the present cost of supplying fresh air to mines," said Professor Thring. " There need to be no oxygen present, and this would mean there would be no risk of explosions. " The Professor does his economic sums as follows. Britain needs each year as much energy as 350 million tons of coal would provide; and North Sea oil will only provide the same amount of energy as 150 million tons of coal for fifty years, while the cost of nuclear power is ten times greater than the cost of getting oil. " We can get ten times as much coal as North Sea oil. We could have 250 million tons a year — double the present amount — for 200 years at least, and solve the energy crisis. The mechanical coal miner could be developed and active within six or seven years. " Could be, certainly! But Professor Thring knows very well how much luck he will need to succeed, which is why he gave the public display of his latest invention yesterday, to try to get opinion-makers on his side. Professor Thring expects that the Coal Board will________.
When school officials in Kalkaska, Michigan, closed classes last week, the media flocked to the story, portraying the town’’s 2,305 students as victims of stingy taxpayers. There is some truth to that; the property-tax rate here is one-third lower than the state average. But shutting their schools also allowed Kalkaska’’s educators and the state’’s largest teachers’’ union, the Michigan Education Association, to make a political point. Their aim was to spur passage of legislation Michigan lawmakers are debating to increase the state’’s share of school funding. It was no coincidence that Kalkaska shut its schools two weeks after residents rejected a 28% property-tax increase. The school board argued that without the increase it lacked the $1.5 million needed to keep schools open. But the school system had not done all it could to keep the schools open. Officials declined to borrow against next year’’s state aid, they refused to trim extracurricular activities and they did not consider seeking a smaller — perhaps more acceptable — tax increase. In fact, closing early is costing Kalkaska a significant amount, including $600,000 in unemployment payments to teachers and staff and $250,000 in lost state aid. In February, the school system promised teachers and staff two months of retirement payments in case schools closed early, a deal that will cost the district $275 ,000 more. Other signs suggest school authorities were at least as eager to make a political statement as to keep schools open. The Michigan Education Association hired a public relations firm to stage a rally marking the school closings, which attracted 14 local and national television stations and networks. The president of the National Education Association, the MEA’’s parent organization, flew from Washington, D. C. , for the event. And the union tutored school officials in the art of television interviews. School supervisor Doyle Disbrow acknowledges the district could have kept schools open by cutting programs but denies the moves were politically motivated. Michigan lawmakers have reacted angrily to the closing. The state Senate has already voted to put the system into receivership and reopen schools immediately; the Michigan House plans to consider the bill this week. According to the passage, the closing of the schools developed into a crisis because of________.
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German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck may be most famous for his military and diplomatic talent, but his legacy includes many of today’’s social insurance programs. During the middle of the 19th century, Germany, along with other European nations, experienced an unprecedented rash of workplace deaths and accidents as a result of growing industrialization. Motivated in part by Christian compassion for the helpless as well as a practical political impulse to undercut the support of the socialist labor movement, Chancellor Bismarck created the world’’s first workers’’ compensation law in 1884. By 1908, the United States was the only industrial nation in the world that lacked workers’’ compensation insurance. America’’s injured workers could sue for damages in a court of law, but they still faced a number of tough legal barriers. For example, employees had to prove that their injuries directly resulted from employer negligence and that they themselves were ignorant about potential hazards in the workplace. The first state workers’’ compensation law in this country passed in 1911, and the program soon spread throughout the nation. After World War II, benefit payments to American workers did not keep up with the cost of living. In fact, real benefit levels were lower in the 1970s than they were in the 1940s, and in most states the maximum benefit was below the poverty level for a family of four. In 1970, President Richard Nixon set up a national commission to study the problems of workers’’ compensation. Two years later, the commission issued 19 key recommendations, including one that called for increasing compensation benefit levels to 100% of the states’’ average weekly wages. In fact, the average compensation benefit in America has climbed from 55% of the states’’ average weekly wages in 1972 to 97% today. But as most studies show, every 10% increase in compensation benefits results in a 5% increase in the numbers of workers who file for claims. And with so much more money floating in the workers’’ compensation system, it’’s not surprising that doctors and lawyers have helped themselves to a large slice of the growing pie. The author ends the passage with the implication that________.
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