The Necessity of Atheism
The Necessity of Atheism

Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-02-15

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 9781543132632

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"The Necessity of Atheism" is a treatise on atheism by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, printed in 1811 by C. and W. Phillips in Worthing while Shelley was a student at University College, Oxford. A copy of the first version was sent as a short tract signed enigmatically to all heads of Oxford colleges at the University. At that time the content was so shocking to the authorities that he was "rusticated" (expelled from the University) for refusing to deny authorship, together with his friend and fellow student, Thomas Jefferson Hogg. A revised and expanded version was printed in 1813. Shelley's early profession of atheism in this tract not only led to his expulsion from Oxford but also branded him as a radical agitator and thinker, setting an early pattern of marginalisation and ostracism from the intellectual and political circles of his time. Though Shelley's poetry and prose output remained steady throughout his life, most publishers and journals declined to publish his work for fear of being arrested themselves for blasphemy or sedition. Shelley did not live to see success and influence in his time, although these reach down to the present day not only in literature, but in major movements in social and political thought.

A History of University College, Oxford
A History of University College, Oxford

Author: Robin Darwall-Smith

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2008-06-19

Total Pages: 660

ISBN-13:

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This is the first history in over a century of what is arguably Oxford's oldest College. As one of the few organizations in the UK whose history goes back so far, this is an account of the College from its origins over seven and a half centuries ago to the present day.

Mind Shift
Mind Shift

Author: John Parrington

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-04-22

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0192521640

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John Parrington argues that social interaction and culture have deeply shaped the exceptional nature of human consciousness. The mental capacities of the human mind far outstrip those of other animals. Our imaginations and creativity have produced art, music, and literature; built bridges and cathedrals; enabled us to probe distant galaxies, and to ponder the meaning of our existence. When our minds become disordered, they can also take us to the depths of despair. What makes the human brain unique, and able to generate such a rich mental life? In this book, John Parrington draws on the latest research on the human brain to show how it differs strikingly from those of other animals in its structure and function at a molecular and cellular level. And he argues that this 'shift', enlarging the brain, giving it greater flexibility and enabling higher functions such as imagination, was driven by tool use, but especially by the development of one remarkable tool - language. The complex social interaction brought by language opened up the possibility of shared conceptual worlds, enriched with rhythmic sounds, and images that could be drawn on cave walls. This transformation enabled modern humans to leap rapidly beyond all other species, and generated an exceptional human consciousness, a sense of self that arises as a product of our brain biology and the social interactions we experience. Our minds, even those of identical twins, are unique because they are the result of this extraordinarily plastic brain, exquisitely shaped and tuned by the social and cultural environment in which we grew up and to which we continue to respond through life. Linking early work by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky to the findings of modern neuroscience, Parrington explores how language, culture, and society mediate brain function, and what this view of the human mind may bring to our understanding and treatment of mental illness.