Robert A. Wilson

Nyhet

Kin Matters

Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

929 kr

Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar

Kin and kinship matter to us. We are social creatures and our kin or relatives are typically high on the list of those most important to us. Kin are those we care for and who care for us. Our family ties provide a sense of where and with whom we belong. Kin matters also impose boundaries on who we relate to and how, including in sexual and other intimate matters. The study of kinship has been a cornerstone of anthropology throughout its history, but kin matters matter beyond the confines of any academic discipline.Kin Matters: Relational Beings in the Fragile Sciences examines three related themes in the philosophy of anthropology concerning kin matters: the nature of relations, incest and its avoidance, and the study of kinship in cultural anthropology. It develops an integrative framework for thinking about kin matters recognizing that that there should be much more fluidity between the cognitive, biological, and social sciences--the fragile sciences--than one typically finds both in those sciences and in philosophical reflection on them. Along the way, Kin Matters offers a novel account of relations, challenges culture-first explanations of incest avoidance, and advocates for a redirection in the study of kinship.Kin Matters begins by reflecting on our standing as relational beings. We are creatures who actively relate to one another and our worlds to build social and other relationships. Much of that activity is biologically and psychologically mediated and so there is a ready-made place for each of the cognitive, biological, and social sciences in understanding ourselves as relational beings. We are also relatives: we have parents and often enough we have siblings and children. Kinship is something that changes over the course of our lives, but it is there literally from start to end. No wonder anthropologists early on made kin and the study of kinship pillars of their discipline. Yet current views of kinship in anthropology express a wariness of appeals to biology and psychology, and cultural anthropology has long pursued a separatist research strategy in kin matters. Kin Matters opens the way for a more integrative alternative.

Graphs, Colourings and the Four-Colour Theorem

AvRobert A. Wilson

Inbunden, Engelska, 2002

1 653 kr

Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar

The four-colour theorem is one of the famous problems of mathematics, that frustrated generations of mathematicians from its birth in 1852 to its solution (using substantial assistance from electronic computers) in 1976. The theorem asks whether four colours are sufficient to colour all conceivable maps, in such a way that countries with a common border are coloured with different colours.The book discusses various attempts to solve this problem, and some of the mathematics which developed out of these attempts. Much of this mathematics has developed a life of its own, and forms a fascinating part of the subject now known as graph theory.The book is designed to be self-contained, and develops all the graph-theoretical tools needed as it goes along. It includes all the elementary graph theory that should be included in an introduction to the subject, before concentrating on specific topics relevant to the four-colour problem.Part I covers basic graph theory, Euler's polyhedral formula, and the first published false `proof' of the four-colour theorem. Part II ranges widely through related topics, including map-colouring on surfaces with holes, the famous theorems of Kuratowski, Vizing, and Brooks, the conjectures of Hadwiger and Hajos, and much more besides. In Part III we return to the four-colour theorem, and study in detail the methods which finally cracked the problem.

Graphs, Colourings and the Four-Colour Theorem

AvRobert A. Wilson

Häftad, Engelska, 2002

860 kr

Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar

The four-colour theorem is one of the famous problems of mathematics, that frustrated generations of mathematicians from its birth in 1852 to its solution (using substantial assistance from electronic computers) in 1976. The theorem asks whether four colours are sufficient to colour all conceivable maps, in such a way that countries with a common border are coloured with different colours.The book discusses various attempts to solve this problem, and some of the mathematics which developed out of these attempts. Much of this mathematics has developed a life of its own, and forms a fascinating part of the subject now known as graph theory.The book is designed to be self-contained, and develops all the graph-theoretical tools needed as it goes along. It includes all the elementary graph theory that should be included in an introduction to the subject, before concentrating on specific topics relevant to the four-colour problem.Part I covers basic graph theory, Euler's polyhedral formula, and the first published false `proof' of the four-colour theorem. Part II ranges widely through related topics, including map-colouring on surfaces with holes, the famous theorems of Kuratowski, Vizing, and Brooks, the conjectures of Hadwiger and Hajos, and much more besides. In Part III we return to the four-colour theorem, and study in detail the methods which finally cracked the problem.