Manuel Castells: Network Theories of Power
Manuel Castells (20 February 2010) 'Network Theories of Power', University of Southern California
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
The Seven Liberal Arts: The Trivium & The Quadrivium
"Originally the liberal arts were seven in number. They were divided into the three-fold Trivium of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric, and the four-fold Quadrivium of Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. These words mean, respectively, a three-way and a four-way crossroads, implying that these paths of knowledge are fundamentally interconnected -- and, by extension, that all other paths can be found to intersect here, as well. The T[rivium]. was the basis of elementary education (whence we probably get the word 'trivial'): Grammar taught the craft of reading and writing; Logic, of careful reasoning; and Rhetoric, of effective communication. The Q[uadrivium]. was the basis of advanced education: Arithmetic taught the science of number; Geometry, of form; Music, of sound (and of 'harmony' in the most general sense of the word -- 'number in motion', as it was often put); Astronomy, of time (of 'form in motion'). Moreover, from the very beginning, whether openly acknowledged or carefully alluded to, each of the Quadrivial sciences was accompanied by its complementary metaphysical art. Each dealt not only with the outer structures, but also with the inner meanings of its discipline. Thus, Arithmetic included Arithmology, the understanding that numbers were not merely quantities, but also qualities (that 'two', for instance, is also 'duality, polarity'); Geometry included what is nowadays called Geomancy, the understanding (in, for example, the design of temples or cathedrals, or in the graphic arts) that the spirit and the emotions can be affected in particular ways by particular forms; Astronomy included Astrology, the divination of the meanings of cycles of time; and Music included not only the study of 'practical theory', of nomenclature and technique (e.g. 'this is a minor third', 'this is the Mixolydian mode'), but also the study of 'speculative theory', of the meanings and influences of tones and intervals and scales.
Traditionally the seven liberal arts have been positioned in opposition to the 'servile arts'. In this sense while the liberal arts generally refer to knowledge 'appropriate for free men' (social and political elites) the servile arts have been associated with specialised tradesman skills and knowledge e.g. engineering and design."
(Steven C. Rasmussen 28 March 1996)
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The Constellations ProjectSHARE
Medosch: Individuality And Expression Aren't Important
"According to Armin Medosch, in an interconnected environment, individuality or expression are neither important. What's important are the new forms of sharing, spreading and planning the digital work. With collective actions this cultural domain progresses in its entirety, because sharing and collaborating mean learning from each other."
(Valentina Culatti, 10/2006, Neural.it)
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The Constellations ProjectSHARE
After Universal Grand Narratives: shared narratives, narrative flows
"global communications has made commonly shared narrative more possible now than in the past. Think of the rolling celebration of the millennium in the year 2000 from Kiribati around the world to the mid-Pacific on our televisions. The mobilisation of sentiment through those same media, be it at the death of Diana, Princess of Wales; the views on the Middle East from Al-Jezeera; or the devastating effects of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean have created shared narratives that were not possible before the information era. To be sure, viewers of these spectacles and reportage are not passive agents; they can construct meaning at local levels that elude the control of the meaning makers. One should more properly speak here of narrative flows, that is, chains of locally constructed and transmitted narratives that are at once mutually intelligible, yet reflect concrete circumstances in local communities. Such flows have been in evidence in the social forces of globalisation since the mid-1990s, and are becoming more prevalent today. These flows may well represent as close as we may come to an explicitly "universal" - be it socially or in [belief in spirituality] - in our complex and interconnected times."
(Robert J. Schreiter, p.14)
2). Schreiter, R. J. (2005). "A New Modernity: Living and Believing in an Unstable World". The Anthony Jordan Lectures, Newman Theological College, Edmonton Alberta, March 18-19, 2005 p.14. http://www.mission-preciousblood.org/Docsfiles/schreiter_new_modernity.pdf (Accessed 10 August 2005).
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The Constellations ProjectSHARE
