Scott Gordon – författare

This book examines the development of the theory and practice of constitutionalism, defined as a political system in which the coercive power of the state is controlled through a pluralistic distribution of political power. It explores the main venues of constitutional practice in ancient Athens, Republican Rome, Renaissance Venice, the Dutch Republic, seventeenth-century England, and eighteenth-century America. From its beginning in Polybius' interpretation of the classical concept of "mixed government," the author traces the theory of constitutionalism through its late medieval appearance in the Conciliar Movement of church reform and in the Huguenot defense of minority rights. After noting its suppression with the emergence of the nation-state and the Bodinian doctrine of "sovereignty," the author describes how constitutionalism was revived in the English conflict between king and Parliament in the early Stuart era, and how it has developed since then into the modern concept of constitutional democracy.

The main theme of these lectures is man's struggle to understand himself as a social being. The author argues that the chief inspiration for this effort, insofar as it has been successful, has been the rationalist philosophy of physical science, and that constructive social science has been based on this philosophy rather than upon theology and ethical philosophy. He goes on to discuss the major problems confronting man in his attempts to come to grips with the modern social world - problems of social and political organization, of equality and aspiration, of intellect and reason - and ends with a plea for liberalism and rationalism as the political and intellectual foundations of freedom and progress. This fascinating and thought-provoking apology for liberalism and the social scientist will be valuable reading for anyone interested in problems facing them both today.

This updated edition includes step-by-step instruction on modern OpenGL 4.0+ GLSL shader programming with C++, along with the theoretical foundations of 3D computer graphics. Every shader stage is explored, from the basics of modeling, textures, lighting, shadows, etc., through advanced techniques such as tessellation, noise maps, water, and stereoscopy. This new edition includes expanded coverage of camera control, refraction, and a new chapter on ray tracing with bounding volume hierarchies for complex models. The companion files include all the source code, shaders, model files, skyboxes, etc., needed to run every example in the book.