This chapter will introduce you to some of the key formal social work theories that underpin practice. We begin with the individualistic and systems-based theories that originated in psychology and conservative sociology respectively. As was evident in Chapter 5 on the history of social work, these establishment theories generally dominated social work before the emergence of critical social work theories. We then shift our attention to the development of critical theories, such as Marxist, radical, structural, feminist and anti-oppressive perspectives that aim for social justice and autonomy, and discuss the more recent contribution of poststructural and queer theories to the evolution of critical theories and to critical social work. The newer critical theories developed out of critiques of the older establishment theories, so it is necessary to have some familiarity with the principles of both. Finally, we draw on research with our first-year students to demonstrate the application of theory in relation to a case study.

The rediscovery that the Vienna Circle’s neopositivist philosophy of science was not an exercise in theory for theory’s sake, but regarded by some of its most prominent practitioners as closely related to ongoing struggles for the social, economic, and political transformation of society (in his North American exile Rudolf Carnap spoke of “scientific humanism”), has attracted the attention of feminist and anti-racist philosophers. This chapter seeks to establish that two doctrines also associated with neopositivism (and shared by Carnap and Otto Neurath) need not prove as rebarbative for contemporary activist scholars as they may appear initially. It is argued, first, that understood as a qualified adoption of Max Weber’s position their conception of scientific value freedom (better: scientific value neutrality) does not undermine their ambition that science and its philosophy serve their sociopolitical engagement, and, second, that their conception of value noncognitivism does not at all render discussions of nonepistemic normative matters meaningless, but only bars deciding them as intersubjectively binding on a priori philosophical or empirical scientific grounds. Joint deliberation is needed.

This concluding chapter revisits naturalized aesthetics, in which our understanding of art and aesthetic experience is clarified through a bidirectional exchange between philosophy and the empirical sciences, arguing for further collaboration with history and literature—disciplines whose existing cognitivist subfields are known as the cognitive humanities. The first part takes a closer look at the troublesome concept of the ‘natural,’ noting a tendency for neuroaesthetic approaches to search for human universals rather than attending to the particulars of culture and era. By contrast, naturalized aesthetics is—and ought to be—centrally concerned with other ‘natural’ connotations such as coherence with empirical evidence. The second part argues for the historical contingency of mental taxonomies and offers the history of emotions as a model for historicizing cognition and the arts. Awareness of past conceptions helps us ‘denaturalize’ present-day understandings to better appreciate how cognition is emergent and biocultural. The third part discusses scholarship applying the framework of distributed or situated (4E) cognition to aspects of the Early Modern theatre and the Enlightenment novel. Overall, a robust engagement between naturalized aesthetics and the cognitive humanities transforms the topic of cognition and the arts as well as the interdisciplinary exchange known as cognitive science.

Rivers and their valleys have long been a source of contemplation and wonder. They are not only key geomorphic agents, but they are also economically important, acting as transportation arteries, sources of irrigation water and food, and as generators of hydropower. We also use rivers for drinking, waste disposal, and for a variety of recreational activities. Many geomorphologists consider running water to be the most dominant and important geomorphic process – shaping landscapes everywhere. Even in deserts, running water is often the most important and widespread geomorphic agent.

Most valleys have a stream or a river at their bottom. In ancient days, it was thought that water simply “found” its way into preexisting valleys, forming rivers there. Geomorphologists now know that most valleys were formed by the rivers currently within them, which moved sediment out and carved the valley over time.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East signal the return of geopolitics. This book challenges conventional approaches that ignore border change, arguing that geopolitics is driven by nationalism and focusing on how nationalism transforms the state. Using geocoded historical maps covering state borders and ethnic groups in Europe, the authors’ spatial approach shows how, since the French Revolution, nationalism has caused increasing congruence between state and national borders and how a lack of congruence increased the risk of armed conflict. This macro process is traced from early modern Europe and widens the geographic scope to the entire world in the mid twentieth century. The analysis shows that the risk of conflict may be increased by how nationalists, seeking to revive past golden ages and restore their nations’ prestige, respond to incongruent borders. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

The Nonet for Winds and Strings follows a four-movement “sonata cycle” design that had become standard in the Classical chamber music tradition by the 1840s: A sonata-form first movement in a fast tempo is followed by a slow movement and an upbeat Scherzo, then a sonata-form finale. Farrenc’s sonata forms demonstrate the influence of her teacher Anton Reicha, whose treatises provide a guide to the informed study of her works. Farrenc’s innovations include continuous development in these movements and colorful harmonic narratives that deviate from later “textbook” explanations of form. Her use of contrapuntal writing, learned variation techniques, and references to familiar pieces from the wind chamber repertoire (Septets by Beethoven and Hummel) demonstrate her compositional mastery. Throughout the Nonet, she writes expertly for the instruments and incorporates playful dialogue and brilliant-style writing for all nine players in every movement. The Nonet became her most popular work, in part, because it balances virtuosity with craftsmanship, and the fun interactions between friends within the ensemble create an atmosphere of learned play for listeners and performers alike.

The concern of this chapter is with varieties of philosophical humanism and their own conceptions of the nature and significance of science. After an initial characterization of major themes in Renaissance humanism, it describes three main varieties that are evident in twentieth-century European philosophy – humanism as essentialism, humanism as rational subjectivity, and existential humanism. Different varieties of humanism are associated with different conceptions of science, some allied to the sciences, others antipathetic to them, while yet others offer subtler positions. The upshot is that there are different tales to tell about the relationship of (varieties of) philosophical humanism to (conceptions of) science, only some of which fit popular modern celebratory claims about a necessary alliance of humanism and science. If we take a wider look at the history of philosophy, we find ongoing experimentation with forms of humanism and explorations of diverse ways of understanding and evaluating scientific knowledge and ambitions. What we find is what we ought to expect of social, creative, epistemically sophisticated, self-expressive creatures: endless variety.

This chapter first describes how we measure data, and how its creation has skyrocketed in recent years. We then define Big Data and psychology for the purposes of the book, and motivate why their intersection is important to study. The chapter ends with a guide to how to use the book, and brief summaries of the upcoming chapters.

Arches, hoodoos, buttes, mesas … these are the picturesque landforms that most tourists and landscape-lovers know about, and which are the focus of many parks and recreation areas. All of these landforms are bedrock-controlled, with rock at or immediately beneath the surface. This chapter introduces a wide array of bedrock-controlled landforms. Most have formed on sedimentary rock, the most common rock in Earth’s upper crust. Thus, much of the focus in this chapter will be on landforms developed on flat-lying bedrock strata (layers) that have experienced minimal tectonic disturbance throughout their history. Chapters 9 and 10 focus on bedrock-controlled landforms formed on much more tectonically active landscapes.

This chapter presents one of the most recent additions to the historical sociolinguistic toolkit, a community of practice (CoP). The discussion of definitions and delimitations of this concept places it in the ‘three waves’ of sociolinguistic research and builds comparisons and contrasts with two neighbouring frameworks: social networks and discourse communities. The focus moves on to the applications of CoPs in historical sociolinguistics. The dimensions of practice – joint enterprise (or domain), mutual engagement, and shared repertoire – are redefined for the purpose of historical sociolinguistics and illustrated with examples from studies which engage with the sociohistorical and cultural context of communication. We show how language change – or, indeed, resistance to change – may be observed through a CoP lens. Prolific contexts where the concept of a CoP has been fruitfully employed include letter writing, the production of manuscripts and early prints, professional discourse, trial proceedings, multilingual practices and online blogging.

Weathering is central to geomorphology; without it, landforms would not exist. Weathering sculpts rocks and landscapes at all scales, from producing tiny pits on rock surfaces to forming large valleys. It is everywhere.

However, weathering does not work alone. Instead, it operates alongside other surficial processes to produce the landscapes we see around us. Weathering is often defined as the in situ (meaning “in position”) breakdown of rocks and minerals. It is distinct from erosion, which involves the removal and transport of material, usually downslope. Often, weathering preconditions rocks for erosion by making them weaker and less coherent. Together, weathering and erosion operate to form landforms via denudation – the overall lowering of the land surface.

Chapter 1 examines Agnolo Gaddi’s work between 1392 and 1395 in the chapel in Prato cathedral, which was built to house the Virgin’s Belt, the most important relic in the city. Primary sources allow reconstruction of the ceremony during which the precious relic of the Virgin’s Belt was displayed to the public. The monumental narratives of the origins of the Holy Belt and its journey to Prato celebrated Prato’s favored status as custodian of the relic. Detailed surviving payments, here published in full for the first time, reveal a narrative of the chapel’s construction and decoration and bring to light how the artist, Agnolo Gaddi, collaborated with Florentine and Pratese artisans in the enterprise. Agnolo’s  professional and personal connections with the Pratese Opera, and the social identities of its members, expose a rich network of relationships in which the commission unfolded.