Uncertain chances [[electronic resource] ] : science, skepticism, and belief in nineteenth-century American literature / / Maurice S. Lee

• Autore: Lee Maurice S
• Pubblicazione: New York ; ; Oxford, : Oxford University Press, c2012
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (250 p.)
• Disciplina: 810.9
• Soggetto topico: American literature - 19th century - History and criticism; Chance in literature; Probability in literature; Skepticism in literature; Belief and doubt in literature; Pragmatism in literature; Literature and science - United States - History - 19th century; Christianity and literature - United States - History - 19th century
• Soggetto geografico: United States Intellectual life 19th century
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Probably Poe; Method-If Method There Is; Vast Individual Error; Things External to the Game; 2. Moby-Dick and the Opposite of Providence; The Cause of the Hunt; The Indifferent Sword of Chance; At a Venture; 3. Doubting If Doubt Itself Be Doubting: After Moby-Dick; Judge ye, then, ye Judicious; Pierre and Pragmatism; "Bartleby" and Buridan's Ass; 4. Douglass's Long Run; Providence and Improvidence; Balancing Probabilities; Give Them a Chance!; Reconstructing Black Pragmatism; 5. Roughly Thoreau; Axes and Knives; Errors and Averages ; Fish and GamesAn Unfinished Life of Science; Summing Up; 6. Dickinson's Precarious Steps, Surprising Leaps, and Bounds; Romantic Embarrassments; Chances for Heaven; Precarious Gaits; Having an Experience; Coda: Lost Causes and the Civil War; Notes; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y
• Sommario/riassunto: The role of chance changed in the nineteenth century, and American literature changed with it. Long dismissed as a nominal concept, chance was increasingly treated as a natural force to be managed but never mastered. New theories of chance sparked religious and philosophical controversies while revolutionizing the sciences as probabilistic methods spread from mathematics, economics, and sociology to physics and evolutionary biology. Chance also became more visible in everyday life, as Americans attempted to control its power through weather forecasting, insurance policies, military strategy, a
• Titolo autorizzato: Uncertain chances
• ISBN: 0-19-020853-8; 0-19-998581-2; 1-283-42737-0; 0-19-979767-6; 9786613427373
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910792226303321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II