Andrew Law Research Articles

Determinism, Death, and Meaning by Stephen Maitzen

Reviewed by: Determinism, Death, and Meaning by Stephen Maitzen Andrew Law MAITZEN, Stephen. Determinism, Death, and Meaning. New York: Routledge, 2022. 189 pp. Cloth, $160.00 In this short but sweeping book, Stephen Maitzen touches on issues in logic, physics, determinism, death, meaning, and more. The claims that Maitzen argues for are bold, the arguments are precise, and the implications are massive. Naturally, given the relatively short length of the book, there are several areas where Maitzen leaves his reader wishing for more, but there is no denying that the book is challenging and elegant. While I (still) disagree with much of what Maitzen offers, I nevertheless found it a fruitful exercise to think through the nuanced and clever lines of reasoning developed in this work. The book consists of six chapters, the first of which is devoted to articulating and defending the doctrine of "metaphysical rationalism." This doctrine, as Maitzen conceives of it, consists of three claims: (i) that everything has a logically sufficient explanation; (ii) that no proposition is both true and false; and (iii) that every proposition is either true or false. The bulk of chapter one is devoted to arguing in favor of and defending claims (ii) and (iii). He engages with most all of the well-worn lines of argumentation—the liar paradox, trivialism, vagueness, intuitionistic logic, and so on. In the second chapter, Maitzen proceeds to show that, if rationalism is correct, determinism must be true. He starts by claiming that (roughly) "determinism implies that every event, in all its details, is necessitated by the state of the universe obtaining at some time prior to its occurrence and by the states of the universe obtaining at all times prior to its occurrence" (emphasis in the original). Distinctively, Maitzen takes the doctrine of determinism to be an a priori and necessary truth. In the rest of the chapter, he endorses three arguments for determinism, the third being the most novel and challenging, at least in my view. He dubs it the [End Page 823] argument from "no magic" which, (overly) simplified, runs as follows: For every event, there is a token way in which, and hence token mechanism by which, the event occurred—to say otherwise is to allow for magic. But if determinism is false, then for at least one event, there is no token mechanism by which the event occurred—it is common to discuss "gappy" mechanisms under indeterminism, but "gappy" token mechanisms aren't really mechanisms at all. So, determinism is true. In the third chapter, Maitzen defends determinism against a slew of objections in order of increasing significance: that if determinism is true, every event recurs eternally; that introspection or the rationality of deliberation shows that determinism is false (or at least ought not be believed); that determinism implies a problematic kind of fatalism; that determinism is incompatible with free will and moral responsibility; and that our best theories in physics undermine determinism. The fourth chapter draws out implications of determinism (and rationalism), chiefly that the universe is infinitely old, that there is no metaphysically fundamental level, and that every event gives rise to an infinite explanatory regress. Maitzen also engages with some highly influential objections to rationalism, such as the claim that rationalism implies that every event is logically necessary, a result Maitzen is keen to avoid. While I especially enjoyed the first four chapters, I suspect most readers will find chapters 5 and 6 to be the most interesting since it is here that Maitzen engages with the issues of death, regret, grief, gratitude, and meaning. A central premise of these chapters is that ordinary counterfactuals such as "If Stephen hadn't flipped on the light switch, the room would (still) be dark" or "If Stephen had turned on the radio, music would be playing right now" are either false or trivially true. This is supposed to be a result of the conjunction of determinism and the (actual) laws of physics. Most basically, the laws of our world are time-symmetric—they can be run "in reverse"—and the events of our world are extremely sensitive—think of the "butterfly effect." Maitzen argues that these claims imply that the...

Andrew Law on Chinese ecologies - China's Urban Revolution: Understanding Chinese Eco-Cities by Austin Williams London: Bloomsbury, 2017 220pp. Price £17.99 (pb)

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Poster Abstracts

Poster Abstracts

Andrew Law's Select Harmony (1779 Edition): The Context of a Late Eighteenth Century Tune Book

The 1779 edition of Select Harmony: containing in a plain and concise manner, the rules of singing: together with a collection of psalm tunes, hymns and anthems, by Andrew Law (1749-1821), is an archetypal example of a tune book of the late eighteenth century. (1) The purpose of this research is to consider the contents and production of an original manuscript of Select Harmony in the context of the author's life and the tune books of his contemporaries. This author examined an original manuscript of Select Harmony to illuminate and expand upon existing research regarding it. The present study attempts to contribute to the research by focusing on an extant copy of a single tune book. Select Harmony was introduced at a time when America's first music educators were seeking viable approaches to the teaching of sight-singing, (2) a problem that is still a central goal of music education. (3) The challenges of differing methods and philosophies encountered by early singing school masters are similar to those faced by contemporary music teachers. Review of Relevant Literature The first recorded attempts at improving music making in America involved church music carried from England to the colonies. (4) The early settlers in the colonies sang metrical psalms to familiar tunes, and the quality of these practices quickly degenerated. As a result, the desire for better musical experiences took hold in early America. (5) This movement introduced tools for musically educating the public such as the tune book, easily identified by its oblong shape. (6) A group of singing school masters who rose to prominence during the eighteenth century produced at least 319 different editions of these tune books by (1800). (7) Unfortunately, these music educators are only mentioned briefly in much of the existing literature on early music education. (8) Their works have been even more sparsely documented. (9) Recent scholarship attempted to remedy this shortage by providing bibliographic information and physical locations of editions of many sacred music tune books. (10) Andrew Law has been favorably highlighted in recent scholarship, revealing his talents as a tune book compiler and musical reformer. (11) Select Harmony, produced in late 1778, was Law's first attempt at releasing a tune book. Tunes were added to the 1778 preliminary edition, and the 1779 edition was released. This was followed by a second edition in 1782 and a third in 1812. The 1779 edition is similar to many tune books of its time and is not one of Law's more important books. However, the 1779 edition of Select Harmony can reveal information about the nature of changes made to later editions and variations. Select Harmony made a progressive departure from many tune books of the time; it contained tunes and lyrics together in the same book. Law's next work, A Collection of Hymn Tunes from the Most Modern and Approved Authors and A Collection of Hymns for Social Worship did not include tunes and texts together. The tune book, as the name suggests, was a book of tunes only. The Collection of Hymns contained only text. Law continued his compilations, adding longer and more detailed theoretical introductions to his works. The four editions of Rudiments of Music, The Musical Magazine, The Musical Primer, Christian Harmony volumes 1 and 2, and The Art of Singing established Law as a strong singing school master. The Art of Singing and The Musical Primer are Law's most often-mentioned works, apparently because they contain his most notable musical instructions. Andrew Law was influenced a great deal by works of other Yankee tunesmiths. Among the many tune books of the period, four appear to have had the greatest influence on Select Harmony and its later editions: Urania, The New England Psalm Singer, The Singing Master's Assistant, and The Easy Instructor. James Lyons' Urania, appearing in 1761, was found among the possessions of Andrew Law. …

Architectures: modernism and after

List of Illustrations. Notes on Contributors. Series Editor's Preface. Preface. Introduction: Architectures in the Plural: Andrew Ballantyne. 1. An Avant--garde Academy: Simon Sadler (University of California, Davis). 2. Aalto and the Tutelary Goddesses: Sarah Menin (University of Newcastle). 3. Becoming--skyscraper: Ayn Rand's Architect: Gerard Loughlin (University of Newcastle). 4. Steps Towards a Sustainable Architecture: Brenda and Robert Vale (University of Auckland, New Zealand). 5. Gordon Matta--Clark's Building Dissections: Stephen Walker (University of Sheffield). 6. Territoriality and Identity at RAF Menwith Hill: David Wood (University of Newcastle). 7. Domestic Space Transformed, 1850--2000: Elizabeth Cromley (Northeastern University). 8. English Townscape as Cultural and Symbolic Capital: Andrew Law (University of Newcastle). Bibliography. Index

The Handel Society of Dartmouth

In the summer of 1807 there was little reason for President John Wheelock to be happy with the state of music at Dartmouth College. The Musical Choir, which used to be one of the highlights of commencement exercises, was practically silent now. Yet at Wheelock's own graduation, the first Dartmouth commencement 1771, the choir sang two anthems, one an original composition by Frisbee and Ripley, graduating seniors educated for missionaries among remote Indians.' In 1791 the Musical Choir gave a concert of vocal and instrumental music as a prelude, then opened the exercises with an anthem by John Hubbard, A.M. (Dartmouth, 1785), and concluded the program by singing Champlain by Samuel Holyoke, in a manner that showed the sublimity of their art. 2 The college even awarded musical reformer Holyoke an honorary bachelor's degree that day. For the next ten years the choir joined the other college clubs that presented individual oratorical days during commencement week. It gave a musical performance and heard an oration by a musically talented senior. And it kept abreast of new developments music. One of its number, a Mr. Crage, attended a singing school at Exeter, New Hampshire, directed by the contentious, opinionated reformer Andrew Law. Crage boasted to Law that he and the other Dartmouth students had begun to develop a taste for such music, and to be sick of the common kind.'3 As late as 1803 President Wheelock was given reason to be proud

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist . Richard A. Crawford .

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist . Richard A. Crawford .

Review: Andrew Law, American Psalmodist by Richard A. Crawford

Review: Andrew Law, American Psalmodist by Richard A. Crawford

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist. By <italic>Richard A. Crawford</italic>. [Pi Kappa Lambda Studies in American Music.] (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. 1968. Pp. xix, 424. $12.00.)

Journal Article Andrew Law, American Psalmodist. By Richard A. Crawford. [Pi Kappa Lambda Studies in American Music.] (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. 1968. Pp. xix, 424. $12.00.) Get access Andrew Law, American Psalmodist. By Crawford Richard A.. [Pi Kappa Lambda Studies in American Music.] (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. 1968. Pp. xix, 424. $12.00.) Thomas Wendel Thomas Wendel San Jose State College Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 74, Issue 4, April 1969, Pages 1361–1362, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/74.4.1361-a Published: 01 April 1969

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law, American Psalmodist

Andrew Law and the Pirates

Andrew Law and the Pirates

Andrew Law and the Pirates

Andrew Law and the Pirates

Copyright and Andrew Law

Copyright and Andrew Law