radio-telescope

Any device for studying the heavens that uses input from soundwaves coming from distant galaxies instead of images, as in a traditional telescope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rasselas

A fiction by Samuel Johnson, written in 1759.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading University

Comprehensive institution of higher education, located in Reading, England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

reality principle

In Freudian psychology, the adult, devoid-of-fantasy "real world" which a mature, sane individual comes to accept as a given.

 

 

 

 

 

 

reductio ad absurdum

Refutation/rejection of a logical argument or position by  rephrasing/  reformulating it in such a way that that its premises are shown to yield preposterous results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

reductionism

Any approach/method/theory which attempts to explain complex matters through simple explanations. Usually a disparaging term.

 

 

 

 

 

 

referential language

For I. A. Richards, language which refers to actual things in the real world and hence has meaning. Poetry, for Richards, is merely emotive language, and hence without meaning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reformation

A multi-national 16th century revolt, spearheaded by such key dissenters as Martin Luther, Henry VIII of England, and John Calvin, against the Catholic Church and the rule of the Pope. giving rise to the creation of Protestant Christian denominations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remembrance of Things Past

À la recherche du temps perdu (1913-27), 16 volume novel by Marcel Proust.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Renaissance

That period in Western history (roughly the 15th through the 17th centuries) in which the medieval world view was supplanted by a new more humanistic mindset that gave rebirth to many of the cultural priorities of the classical world, bringing about new developments in both the arts and science.

 

 

 

 

 

 

res cogitans

In Descartes' dualism, "thinking substance"--mind

 

 

 

 

 

 

res extensa

In Descartes' dualism, "extended substance"--matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

revolt against dualism

A. O. Lovejoy's name (The Revolt Against Dualism [1930]) for the modern rebellion against philosophical dualism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

revolutionary science

Thomas Kuhn's term (in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) for scientific investigation conducted by revolutionary scientists which seeks to question and perhaps overthrow the existing paradigm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Famous Romantic poem by Coleridge, originally published in Lyrical Ballads (1797).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rip van Winkle

Character in a story by Washington Irving who falls asleep for twenty years, missing, among other things, the American Revolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Romantic Idealism

Describes any of the early 19th Century positions assumed by such idealist philosophers as Schelling, Schleirmacher, Fichte, Coleridge, Hegel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosicrucians

"[A] worldwide brotherhood claiming to possess esoteric wisdom handed  down from ancient times. The name derives from the order's symbol, a combination of  a rose and a cross. The teachings of Rosicrucianism combine elements of occultism  reminiscent of a variety of religious beliefs and practices" (Britannica Online).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Royal Engineers

Branch of the British military concerned with such logistical matters as communication, design, construction, and deployment.