Radical Empiricism

A theory of knowledge and a metaphysics (theory of Being) advanced by William James, an American pragmatist philosopher and psychologist, based on the pragmatic theory of truth and the principle of pure experience, which contends that the relations between things are at least as real as the things themselves, that their function is real, and that no hidden substrata

Puerta Del Sol

Main plaza of Madrid, Spain. It was reputedly named for a gate (puerta) that stood there until 1510 and had on its front a representation of the sun (sol). Throughout Madrid's history the square has been the focal point of transportation and of intellectual and economic activity. It was the first part of the city to be equipped with modern conveniences (electric lights, streetcars)

Lord

In the British Isles, a general title for a prince or sovereign or for a feudal superior (especially a feudal tenant who holds directly from the king, i.e., a baron). In the United Kingdom the title today denotes a peer of the realm, whether or not he sits in Parliament as a member of the House of Lords. Before the Hanoverian succession, before the use of �prince� became settled

Pius Ix

The year of revolutions began in Sicily; soon all Europe was ablaze and Pius was faced with demands, both liberal and nationalist, much beyond what he had been prepared to grant (see Revolutions of 1848). On March 14 he was compelled to grant a constitution establishing a two-chamber parliament with full legislative and fiscal powers subject only to the pope's personal veto. On

Yoccoz, Jean-christophe

Yoccoz was awarded the Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Z�rich,

Lahmu And Lahamu

Usually, Lahmu and Lahamu represent silt, but in some texts they seem to take the form

Arts, South Asian, Classical Sanskrit kavya (200 - 1200)

Prepared for by the systematization of the Sanskrit language by Panini, the development of the great epics, notably the Ramayana, and the refinements of prosody represented by the Pali lyrics, there arose, in the first centuries AD, a Sanskrit literary style that governed canons of taste for a millennium and remained influential far later through modern Indian languages

Waldteufel, Emil

In 1865 he became court pianist to Empress Eug�nie and the following

Truman, Bess

Retiring to their home in Independence, the Trumans had less to do with politics than with their grandchildren and friends. After her death Bess was buried beside her husband at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence. For his unpretentious wife, he had already specified her epitaph: First Lady of the U.S., 1945 - 1953.

Performing Arts, Far East.

A few Japanese films stood out from the commercial run. In Dolls, Takeshi Kitano linked three contemporary love stories inspired by the traditional bunraku doll theatre. Kitano's own early career in vaudeville was imaginatively chronicled by Makoto Shinozaki in Asakusa Kid. Akira Kurosawa's former assistant Takashi Koizumi adapted a novel by Keishi Nagi and

Offaly

Irish �Uibh Fhaila� county in the province of Leinster, Ireland. With an area of 771 square miles (1,998 square km), it is bounded by Counties Westmeath and Meath (north), Kildare (east), Laoighis and Tipperary (south), and Galway and Roscommon (west). The River Shannon forms its western boundary. Offaly consists mainly of a large section of the central lowland, though its southwestern boundary runs along

Performing Arts, France.

World War II was recalled in several films. In Laissez-passer, his film � clef, Bertrand Tavernier re-created the atmosphere of filmmaking in occupied France. G�rard Jugnot directed and starred in the accomplished Monsieur Batignole, about a Gentile butcher who saves a Jewish boy from the Gestapo. The American documentarist Frederick Wiseman filmed Catherine

Turin, University Of

Italian �Universit� Degli Studi Di Torino, � autonomous coeducational state institution of higher learning in Turin, Italy, that was founded in 1404. Erasmus was a graduate of the school in 1506. The university was reorganized and reestablished in 1713. An Institute of Business and Economics was added in 1906, a veterinary medicine faculty was added in 1934, and faculties of agriculture, pharmacy, and commerce were added in 1935. Among the

Francien Dialect

The medieval dialect of Old French that furnishes the basis for the literary and official form of the modern French language. Francien was spoken in the region of �le-de-France, which included the city of Paris, and its preeminence is an indication of the political and intellectual prominence of Paris in the 13th and 14th centuries. Despite its importance, the dialect

Lancaster

In the 17th century

Amiens Cathedral

Also called �Notre-Dame d'Amiens, �or �the Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Amiens�

Epistle

In literature there are two basic traditions of verse epistles, one derived from Horace's Epistles and the other from Ovid's Epistulae heroidum (better known as Heroides). The tradition based on Horace addresses moral and philosophical themes and has been the most popular

Adams, William

At the age of 12 Adams was apprenticed in the merchant marine, afterward sailing in the British navy and later serving a company of Barbary merchants. In 1598 he shipped as pilot major with five Dutch ships bound from Europe for the East Indies via the Straits of Magellan.

Bahnaric Languages

Branch of the Mon-Khmer family of languages, itself a part of the Austroasiatic stock. The Bahnaric branch is divided into West, Northwest, North, Central, and South subbranches. North Bahnaric languages, such as Sedang and Halang, are spoken primarily in central Vietnam. Central Bahnaric languages, such as Bahnar itself, are spoken in central Vietnam and adjacent parts

Wyoming, University Of

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Laramie, Wyoming, U.S. It is a land-grant university, comprising colleges of Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, and Law as well as the Graduate School. The state's only university, it offers programs leading to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in about 120 major

Spa

The practice of �taking the waters� for therapeutic purposes reached its heyday in the 19th century, but springs have been considered places of healing at many

China, Political history

Ineptitude on the throne, bureaucratic factionalism at court, rivalries among Mongol generals, and ineffective supervision and coordination of provincial and local administration had gravely weakened the Y�an government by the 1340s. And in 1351 disastrous flooding of the Huang and Huai river basins aroused hundreds of thousands of long-oppressed Chinese peasants

Henderson

City, seat of Henderson county, northwestern Kentucky, U.S., on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River, 7 miles (11 km) south of Evansville, Indiana. The town site, around Red Banks (settled 1784), was laid out in 1797 by the Transylvania Land Company and named for its promoter, Richard Henderson. Originally a farming settlement, its economy is evenly balanced among industry, agriculture (corn

Amalthea

Small, inner satellite of Jupiter discovered in 1892 by the American astronomer E.E. Barnard. It circles Jupiter once every 11 h 57 min at a distance of 181,000 km (112,220 miles) in a nearly circular, uninclined orbit. Photographs transmitted by the U.S. probes Voyagers 1 and 2 in 1979 show that Amalthea is an irregular body measuring 270 � 166 � 150 km (167 � 103 � 93 miles); the long axis always points toward Jupiter. Amalthea has a very

Dench, Dame Judi

Dench studied at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art in London. In 1957 she gave her first important critically acclaimed performance, as Ophelia in the Old Vic production of Hamlet

Loisy, Alfred Firmin

Loisy trained at the Institut Catholique in Paris, where he was influenced by the historian L.-M.-O. Duchesne,

Beresford, William Carr Beresford, Viscount, Baron Beresford Of Albuera And Dungarvan, Duke (duque) De Elvas

An illegitimate son of the 2nd Earl of Tyrone (afterward 1st Marquess of Waterford), Beresford entered the British army in 1785. As a brigadier general

Biblical Literature, The Ketuvim

That the formation of the Ketuvim as a corpus was not completed until a very late date is evidenced by the absence of a fixed name, or indeed any real name, for the third division of Scripture. Ben Sira refers to �the other books of our fathers,� �the rest of the books�; Philo speaks simply of �other writings� and Josephus of �the remaining books.� A widespread practice of entitling

Tepee

Also spelled �Tipi, � tall tent dwelling of the Indians of the American Great Plains. Although it is often thought to be the dwelling used by all North American Indians, only the Plains tribes, representing about one-fifth of them, ever used the tepee, and they only for the last two or three hundred years. The introduction of horses, guns, and metal knives by the Spanish in the early 18th century