The notion of controversy space is the key element of the new model of scientific and philosophical change introduced in this book. Devised as an alternative to classical models, the model of Controversy Spaces is a heuristic tool for the reconstruction of processes of conceptual change in the history of science and philosophy. The first chapter of this volume outlines in its initial section the historical trajectory of the dialectical, adversarial approach to the progress of knowledge, from its ancient flourishing and its almost complete oblivion in modernity up to its contemporary revival. Then the main features that characterize the structure and dynamics of controversy spaces are identified and examined. In the rest of the book the reader will find a detailed, fascinating series of case studies that apply the CS model in a variety of scientific areas, ranging from physics to linguistics, as well as the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of historiography.

Controversy in Science Museums focuses on exhibitions that approach sensitive or controversial topics. With a keen sense of past and current practices, Pedretti and Navas Iannini examine and re-imagine how museums and science centres can create exhibitions that embrace criticality and visitor agency. Drawing on international case studies and voices from visitors and museum professionals, as well as theoretical insights about scientific literacy and science communication, the authors explore the textured notion of controversy and the challenges and opportunities practitioners may encounter as they plan for and develop controversial science exhibitions. They assert that science museums can no longer serve as mere repositories for objects or sites for transmitting facts, but that they should also become spaces for conversations that are inclusive, critical, and socially responsible. Controversy in Science Museums provides an invaluable resource for museum professionals who are interested in creating and hosting controversial exhibitions, and for scholars and students working in the fields of museum studies, science communication, and social studies of science. Anyone wishing to engage in an examination and critique of the changing roles of science museums will find this book relevant, timely, and thought provoking.

Among the various issues debated in philosophy today, this book focuses on one which is unquestionably central: can we claim to have any regulated procedure that uses common norms to resolve human disagreements?Although this is a question with profound classical roots, it is explored in this work through the prism of a key notion in today’s thought: controversy. The aim of adopting this approach is to determine whether controversies might constitute this regulated procedure.What are controversies? Are they only a type of reasoned and ordered debate? Are they a complex process of making or fixing rational beliefs? Each chapter of this book can be seen as a way of contributing to the analysis of human rationality, but viewed not so much as something unitary and pre-established that needs to be discovered, but rather as something that is neither unitary or pre-established; something that still needs to be achieved.

In the famous Correspondence with Clarke, which took place during the last year of Leibniz’s life, Leibniz advanced several arguments purporting to refute the absolute theory of space and time that was held by Newton and his followers. The main aim of this book is to reassess Leibniz’s attack on the Newtonian theory in so far as he relied on the principle of the identity of indiscernibles. The theological side of the controversy is not ignored but isolated and discussed in the last three chapters, which deal with problems connected with the notions of omnipotence and omniscience.

The public visibility of Islam is becoming increasingly controversial throughout European countries. With case studies drawn from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, this book examines a range of public issues, including mosque construction, ritual slaughter, Sharia councils and burqa bans, addressing the question of ’Islamic difference’ in public life outside the confines of established normative discourses that privilege freedom of religion, minority rights or multiculturalism. Acknowledging the creative role of dissent, it explores the manner in which public controversies unsettle the religious-secular divide and reshape European norms in the domains of aesthetics, individual freedom, animal rights and law. Developing an innovative conceptual framework and elaborating the notion of controversy as a methodological tool, Islam and Public Controversy in Europe draws our attention to the processes of interaction, confrontation and mutual transformation, thereby opening up a new horizon for rethinking difference and pluralism in Europe. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in religion, integration, cultural difference and the public sphere.

This book offers a new, multidisciplinary way of thinking about the Kingdom of God which fully recognises its sociological and spatial significance in performing boundaries of the sacred. Though spatial-critical perspectives have been increasingly recognised as important across many disciplines, the significance of non-physical religious spaces and their correspondence to boundaries of the sacred has not been explored fully, and never using the specific example of the Kingdom of God. Wenell considers the diverse and sometimes contradictory articulation of the Kingdom in the gospels as well as the ways that Kingdom language frames contemporary ethical debates. Her study of the Kingdom is located within the wider study of religion, affording the opportunity to investigate connections between space, belonging and the sacred. Wenell structures her investigation in four key areas that engage with the Kingdom in different, but theoretically interconnected ways. She begins by setting out a theory of sacred space that is capable of including the Kingdom, and establishing key concepts such as boundary, performance, physical/non-physical spatiality, spokespersons and controversy. Wenell then focuses on the synoptic gospels and the origins of the Kingdom, noting aspects of uncertainty as well as areas of agreement and controversy over boundaries of the sacred in these uniquely interrelated texts. The third and fourth areas of investigation move into cultural reception, considering instances where the Kingdom is formative for identity and ethical relationships both in individual and wider group belonging terms. Specific reference is made to issues of ethical consuming and displacement, placing the Kingdom in dialogue with Bauman's discussion of a society of consumers, and Arendt's notion of equitable co-habitation of the earth.