Aesthetics.

The concept of aesthetics has been the interest of philosophers such as Plato, Hume and Kant, who understood aesthetics as something pure and searched the essence of beauty, or, "the ontology of aesthetics". But it was not before the beginning of the cultural sociology of early 19th century that the question was problematized in its social context, which took the differences and changes in historical view as an important process of aesthetical thought. Although Immanuel Kant's "Critique of Judgement" (1790) did formulate a non-relativistic idea of aesthetical universality, where both personal pleasure and pure beauty coexisted, it was concepts such as class taste that began the attempt to find essentially sociological answers to the problem of taste and aesthetics. Metaphysical or spiritual interpretations of common aesthetical values have shifted towards locating social groups that form the contemporary artistic taste or fashion. In his aesthetic philosophy, Kant denies any standard of a good taste, which would be the taste of the majority or any social group. For Kant, as discussed in his book titled the "Critique of Judgment", beauty is not a property of any object, but an aesthetic judgement based on a subjective feeling. He claims that a genuine good taste does exist, though it could not be empirically identified. Good taste cannot be found in any standards or generalizations, and the validity of a judgement is not the general view of the majority or some specific social group. Taste is both personal and beyond reasoning, and therefore disputing over matters of taste never reaches any universality. Kant stresses that our preferences, even on generally liked things, do not justify our judgements.  Every judgement of taste, according to Kant, presumes the existence of a "sensus communis", a consensus of taste. This non-existent consensus is an idea that both enables judgements of taste and is constituted by a somewhat conceptual cultivation of taste. A judgement does not take for granted that everyone agrees with it, but it proposes the community to share the experience. If the statement would not be addressed to this community, it is not a genuine subjective judgement. Kant's idea of good taste excludes fashion, which can be understood only in its empirical form, and has no connection with the harmony of ideal consensus. There is a proposition of a universal communal voice in judgements of taste, which calls for a shared feeling among the others.  Bourdieu argued against Kantian view of pure aesthetics, stating that the legitimate taste of the society is the taste of the ruling class. This position also rejects the idea of genuine good taste, as the legitimate taste is merely a class taste. This idea was also proposed by Simmel, who noted that the upper classes abandon fashions as they are adopted by lower ones.  Fashion in a Kantian sense is an aesthetic phenomenon and source of pleasure. For Kant, the function of fashion was merely a means of social distinction, and he excluded fashion from pure aesthetics because of its content's arbitrary nature. Simmel, following Kantian thought, recognises the usefulness of fashionable objects in its social context. For him, the function lies in the whole fashion pattern, and cannot be attributed to any single object. Fashion, for Simmel, is a tool of individuation, social distinction, and even class distinction, which are neither utilitarian or aesthetical criteria. Still, both Kant and Simmel agreed that staying out of fashion would be pointless.

Consumption.

Taste and consumption are closely linked together; taste as a preference of certain types of clothing, food and other commodities directly affects the consumer choices at the market. The causal link between taste and consumption is however more complicated than a direct chain of events in which taste creates demand that, in turn, creates supply. There are many scientific approaches to taste, specifically within the fields of economics, psychology and sociology.

Mechanics.

Definition of consumption in its classical economical context can be summed up in the saying "supply creates its own demand". In other words, consumption is created by and equates itself to production of market goods. This definition, however, is not adequate to accommodate any theory that tries to describe the link between taste and consumption.  A more complex economic model for taste and consumption was proposed by economist Thorstein Veblen. He challenged the simple conception of man as plain consumer of his utmost necessities, and suggested that the study of the formation of tastes and consumption patterns was essential for economics. Veblen did not disregard the importance of the demand for an economic system, but rather insisted on rejection of the principle of utility-maximization. The classical economics conception of supply and demand must be therefore extended to accommodate a type of social interaction that is not immanent in the economics paradigm.  Veblen understood man as a creature with a strong instinct to emulate others to survive. As social status is in many cases at least partially based on or represented by one's property, men tend to try and match their acquisitions with those who are higher in a social hierarchy. In terms of taste and modern consumption this means that taste forms in a process of emulation: people emulate each other, which creates certain habits and preferences, which in turn contributes to consumption of certain preferred goods.  Veblen's main argument concerned what he called "leisure class", and it explicates the mechanism between taste, acquisition and consumption. He took his thesis of taste as an economic factor and merged it with the neoclassical hypothesis of nonsatiety, which states that no man can ever be satisfied with his fortune. Hence, those who can afford luxuries are bound to be in a better social situation than others, because acquisition of luxuries by definition grants a good social status. This creates a demand for certain leisure goods, that are not necessities, but that, because of the current taste of the most well off, become wanted commodities.  In different periods of time, consumption and its societal functions have varied. In 14th century England consumption had significant political element. By creating an expensive luxurious aristocratic taste the Monarchy could legitimize itself in high status, and, according to the mechanism of taste and consumption, by mimicking the taste of the Royal the nobility competed for high social position. The aristocratic scheme of consumption came to an end, when industrialization made the rotation of commodities faster and prices lower, and the luxuries of the previous times became less and less indicator of social status. As production and consumption of commodities became a scale bigger, people could afford to choose from different commodities. This provided for fashion to be created in market.  The era of mass consumption marks yet another new kind of consumption and taste pattern. Beginning from the 18th century, this period can be characterized by increase in consumption and birth of fashion, that cannot be accurately explained only by social status. More than establishing their class, people acquired goods just to consume hedonistically. This means, that the consumer is never satisfied, but constantly seeks out novelties and tries to satisfy insatiable urge to consume.  In above taste has been seen as something that presupposes consumption, as something that exists before consumer choices. In other words, taste is seen as an attribute or property of a consumer or a social group. Alternative view critical to the attributative taste suggests that taste doesn't exist in itself as an attribute or a property, but instead is an activity in itself. This kind of pragmatic conception of taste derives its critical momentum from the fact that individual tastes can not be observed in themselves, but rather that only physical acts can. Building on Hennion, Arsel and Bean suggest a practice-theory approach to understanding taste.

Critical perspectives.

Consumption, especially mass consumerism has been criticized from various philosophical, cultural and political directions. Consumption has been described as overly conspicuous or environmentally untenable, and also a sign of bad taste.  Many critics have voiced their opinion against the growing influence of mass culture, fearing the decline in global divergence of culture. For example, it is claimed that the convenience of getting the same hamburger at fast food places like McDonald's can reduce consumer interest in traditional culinary experiences.  The Western culture of consumerism has been criticized for its uniformity. The critics argue, that while the culture industry promises consumers new experiences and adventures, people in fact are fed the same pattern of swift but temporary fulfillment. Here taste, it is suggested, is used as a means of repression; as something that is given from above, or from the industry of the mass culture, to people who are devoid of contentual and extensive ideologies and of will. This critique insists that the popular Western culture does not fill people with aesthetic and cultural satisfaction.

Social classes.

Arguably, the question of taste is in many ways related to the underlying social divisions of community. There is likely to be variation between groups of different socioeconomic status in preferences for cultural practices and goods, to the extent that it is often possible to identify particular types of class taste. Also, within many theories concerning taste, class dynamics is understood as one of the principal mechanisms structuring taste and the ideas of sophistication and vulgarity.

Imitation and distinction.

Sociologists suggest that people disclose much about their positions in social hierarchies by how their everyday choices reveal their tastes. That is preference for certain consumer goods, appearances, manners etc. may signal status because it is perceived as part of the lifestyle of high-status groups. But, it is further argued, not just that patterns of taste are determined by class structure. because people may also strategically employ distinctions of taste as resources in maintaining and redefining their social status.  When taste is explained on account of its functions for status competition, interpretations are often built on the model of social emulation. It is assumed, firstly, that people desire to distinguish themselves from those with lower status in the social hierarchy and, secondly, that people will imitate those in higher positions.  The German sociologist Georg Simmel (1858–1918) examined the phenomenon of fashion - as manifested in rapidly changing patterns of taste. According to Simmel, fashion is a vehicle for strengthening the unity of the social classes and for making them distinct. Members of the upper classes tend to signal their superiority, and they act as the initiators of new trends. But upper-class taste is soon imitated by the middle classes. As goods, appearances, manners etc. conceived as high-class status markers become popular enough, they lose their function to differentiate. So the upper classes have to originate yet more stylistic innovations.  The particular taste of the upper classes has been further analyzed by an economist Thorsten Veblen (1857–1929). He argues that distancing oneself from hardships of productive labour has always been the conclusive sign of high social status. Hence, upper-class taste is not defined by things regarded as necessary or useful but by those that are the opposite. To demonstrate non-productivity, members of the so-called leisure class waste conspicuously both time and goods. The lower social stratum try their best to imitate the non-productive lifestyle of the upper classes, even though they do not really have means for catching up.  One of the most widely referenced theories of class-based tastes was coined by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002), who asserted that tastes of social classes are structured on basis of assessments concerning possibilities and constraints of social action. Some choices are not equally possible for everyone. The constraints are not simply because members of different classes have varying amounts of economic resources at their disposal. Bourdieu argued that there are also significant non-economic resources and their distribution effects social stratification and inequality. One such resource is cultural capital, which is acquired mainly through education and social origin. It consists of accumulated knowledge and competence for making cultural distinctions. To possess cultural capital is a potential advantage for social action, providing access to education credentials, occupations and social affiliation.  By assessing relationships between consumption patterns and the distribution of economic and cultural capital, Bourdieu identified distinct class tastes within French society of the 1960s. Upper-class taste is characterized by refined and subtle distinctions, and it places intrinsic value on aesthetic experience. This particular kind of taste was appreciated as the legitimate basis for "good taste" in French society, acknowledged by the other classes as well. Consequently, members of the middle classes appeared to practice "cultural goodwill" in emulating the high-class manners and lifestyles. The taste of the middle classes is not defined as much by authentic appreciation for aesthetics as by a desire to compete in social status. In contrast, the popular taste of the working classes is defined by an imperative for "choosing the necessary". Not much importance is placed on aesthetics. This may be because of actual material deprivation excluding anything but the necessary but, also, because of a habit, formed by collective class experiences. Class related tastes become manifest in different cultural domains such as food, clothing, arts, humor, and even religion.

Criticism of class-based theories.

Theories of taste which build on the ideas of status competition and social emulation have been criticized from various standpoints. Firstly, it has been suggested that it is not reasonable to trace all social action back to status competition. That is while marking and claiming status are strong incentives, people also have other motivations as well. Secondly, it has been argued that it not plausible to assume that tastes and lifestyles are always diffusing downwards from the upper classes. and that in some situations the diffusion of tastes may move in the opposite direction.  It has also been argued that the association between social class and taste is no longer quite as strong as it used to be. For instance, theorists of the Frankfurt School have claimed that the diffusion of mass cultural products has obscured class differences in capitalist societies. That is that products consumed passively by members of different social classes are virtually all the same, with only superficial differences regarding to brand and genre. Other criticism has concentrated on the declassifying effects of postmodern culture; that consumer tastes are now less influenced by traditional social structures, and they engage in play with free-floating signifiers to perpetually redefine themselves with whatever they find pleasurable.

Bad taste.

"Bad taste" (also poor taste or vulgarity) is generally a title given to any object or idea that does not fall within a person's idea of the normal social standards of the time or area. Varying from society to society and from time to time, bad taste is generally thought of as a negative thing, but also changes with each individual. A contemporary view is that "a good deal of dramatic verse written during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods is in poor taste because it is bombast" or high-sounding language with little meaning.

In sociology, taste is an individual's personal, cultural and aesthetic patterns of choice and preference. Taste is drawing distinctions between things such as styles, manners, consumer goods, and works of art and relating to these. Social inquiry of taste is about the human ability to judge what is beautiful, good, and proper.

作为美学、社会学、经济学和人类学的概念,品味是一系列关于选择和喜好的文化规律。人会依据其品味对不同的风格、礼貌、举止、消费品和艺术品等有所区分、有所选择。关于品味的社会研究聚焦于人类判断何谓「美」、「好」和「对」的能力。


Early life and education.

William's father, Charles Blackstone, was a silk mercer from Cheapside, the son of a wealthy apothecary. He became firm friends with Thomas Bigg, a surgeon and the son of Lovelace Bigg, a gentleman from Wiltshire. After Bigg's sister Mary came to London, Charles eventually persuaded her to marry him in 1718. This was not seen as a good match for her, but the couple lived happily and had four sons, three of whom lived into adulthood. Charles (born August 1719) and Henry (May 1722), both became fellows of New College, Oxford and took holy orders. Their last son, William, was born on 10 July 1723, five months after Charles' death in February.  Although Charles and Mary Blackstone were members of the middle class rather than landed gentry, they were particularly prosperous. Tax records show Charles Blackstone to have been the second most prosperous man in the parish in 1722, and death registers show that the family had several servants. This, along with Thomas Bigg's assistance to the family following Charles' death, helps explain the educational upbringing of the children. William Blackstone was sent to Charterhouse School in 1730, nominated by Charles Wither, a relative of Mary Blackstone. William did well there, and became head of the school by age 15. However, after Charles' death the family fortunes declined, and after Mary died (5 January 1736) the family's resources largely went to meet unpaid bills. William was able to remain at Charterhouse as a "poor scholar", having been named to that position in June 1735 after being nominated by Sir Robert Walpole.  Blackstone revelled in Charterhouse's academic curriculum, particularly the Latin poetry of Ovid and Virgil. He began to attract note as a poet at school, writing a 30-line set of rhyming couplets to celebrate the wedding of James Hotchkis, the headmaster. He also won a silver medal for his Latin verses on John Milton, gave the annual Latin oration in 1738, and was noted as having been the favourite student of his masters. On 1 October 1738, taking advantage of a new scholarship available to Charterhouse students, Blackstone matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Oxford.

Study.

There are few surviving records of Blackstone's undergraduate term at Oxford, but the curriculum of Pembroke College had been set out in 1624, and Prest notes that it was probably still followed in 1738, so Blackstone would have studied Greek, science, logic, rhetoric, philosophy, mathematics, geography and poetry. Blackstone was particularly good at Greek, mathematics and poetry, with his notes on William Shakespeare being included in George Steevens' 1781 edition of Shakespeare's plays. Many of Blackstone's undergraduate texts survive, and they include few legal texts, instead being wide-ranging; politics, current affairs, poetry, geometry and controversial theological texts. The last element is understandable, given his family's theological interests, but the more surprising element is the sheer number of texts he owned given his relative poverty as a student.  On 9 July 1740, after only a year and a half as a Bachelor of Arts student, Blackstone was admitted to study for a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, civil law being the only legal area recognised by his university. This degree course was seven years long, the first two "supposedly devoted to a broad course of reading in humane studies", which allowed him to study his own interests. On 20 November 1741 he was admitted to the Middle Temple, the first step on the road to becoming a barrister, but this imposed no obligations and simply allowed a legal career to be an option. At the time there was no proper legal education system, and Blackstone read (in his own time) "Coke on Littleton", the works of Henry Finch, and related legal tracts.  In addition to his formal studies, Blackstone published a collection of poetry which included the draft version of "The Lawyer to his Muse", his most famous literary work. In 1743 he published "Elements of Architecture" and "An Abridgement of Architecture", two treatises on the rules governing the art of construction. His next work (1747) was "The Pantheon: A Vision", an anonymously published book of poetry covering the various religions in the world. It depicts a narrator's walking dream through the buildings of various religions, which are all (other than Christianity) depicted in a negative light. This followed his election as a Fellow of All Souls, Oxford on 2 November 1743, and his call to the Bar by the Middle Temple on 28 November 1746.  His call to the Bar saw Blackstone begin to alternate between Oxford and London, occupying chambers in Pump Court but living at All Souls College. As the central courts only sat for three months of the year, the rest of his time was spent on Assize when his work at All Souls permitted. He regularly acted as a law reporter; his personal notes on cases start with "Hankey v Trotman" (1746). Blackstone's barrister practice began slowly; his first case in the Court of King's Bench was in 1748, and he had only 6 additional motions there through 1751. Two appearances in the Court of Chancery are also noted, and he is known to have been consulted in Roger Newdigate's long-running lawsuit there, but his early court appearances are infrequent. This is considered to have been due to bad luck, with his call to the Bar occurring at the same time as the massive contraction in business by the central courts, along with his singular lack of connections due to his status as an orphan from the middle class; he was described as "unrecognised and unemployed". He filled his time by acting as counsel for Oxford, and from May 1749 with his election as Recorder of Wallingford.

University administration.

While dividing his time, Blackstone became an administrator at All Souls, securing appointment as accountant, treasurer and bursar on 28 November 1746. Completion of the Codrington Library and Warton Building, first started in 1710 and 1720 respectively but not built until 1748, is attributed to his work. In 1749 he became Steward of the Manors, and in 1750 was made Senior Bursar. Records show a "perfectionist zeal" in organising the estates and finances of All Souls, and Blackstone was noted for massively simplifying the complex accounting system used by the college. In 1750 Blackstone completed his first legal tract, "An Essay on Collateral Consanguinity", which dealt with those claiming a familial tie to the founder or All Souls in an attempt to gain preeminence in elections. Completion of his Doctor of Civil Law degree, which he was awarded in April 1750, admitted him to Convocation, the governing body of Oxford, which elected the two burgesses who represented it in the House of Commons, along with most of the university officers. With this and with his continuing work at the university, Blackstone announced on 3 July 1753 his intentions to "no longer attend the Courts at Westminster, but to pursue my Profession in a Way more agreeable to me in all respects, by residing at Oxford [and] to engraft upon this Resolution a Scheme which I am told may be beneficial to the University as well as myself", which was to give a set of lectures on the common law – the first lectures of that sort in the world.  This was not entirely out of benevolence; according to Prest, Blackstone was likely aware that an Oxford alumnus, Charles Viner, was planning to endow a professorship of English law. The Regius Professorship of Civil Law had also become vacant in 1753; despite support from Lord Mansfield, Blackstone had been rejected in favour of Robert Jenner, widely considered Blackstone's lesser intellectually but a far greater political mind. In addition, a private lecture series would be extremely lucrative. While his All Souls fellowship gave him £70 a year, records show that the lecture series brought him £116, £226 and £111 a year respectively from 1753 to 1755 – a total of £453 (£ in terms). A prospectus was issued on 23 June 1753, and with a class of approximately 20 students, the first set of lectures were completed by July 1754. Despite Blackstone's limited oratory skills and a speaking style described by Jeremy Bentham as "formal, precise and affected", Blackstone's lectures were warmly appreciated. The second and third series were far more popular, partly due to the then unusual use of printed handouts and lists of suggested reading. No copies of these handouts exist, but Alexander Popham, later a close friend of Blackstone, attended the lectures and made notes, which survive. These show Blackstone's attempts to reduce English law to a logical system, with the division of subjects later being the basis for his "Commentaries".  Following his lecture series, Blackstone became more prominent in convocation and other university activities. Oxford and Cambridge at the time had a strange system of law; due to their unique natures, they had exclusive jurisdiction over both academics and students in a fashion which followed either the common law or their own customs, based on the civil law. With his appointment as assessor (or chief legal officer) of the Chancellor's Court, Blackstone became far more involved in the university's peculiar legal system, and records show him sitting between eight and ten times a year from 1753 to 1759, mainly dealing with small claims of debt. He also wrote a manual on the Court's practice, and through his position gained a large number of contacts and connections, as well as visibility, which aided his legal career significantly. This period also saw Blackstone write his last known piece of poetry, "Friendship: An Ode", in 1756.  In 1756 Blackstone published the first of his full legal texts, the 200 page "An Analysis of the Laws of England". Published by the Clarendon Press, the treatise was intended to demonstrate the "Order, and principal Divisions" of his lecture series, and a structured introduction to English law. Prest calls this "a marked advance on any previous introduction to English law.. including constitutional, civil and criminal law, public and private law, substantive law and procedure, as well as some introductory jurisprudential content". The initial print run of 1,000 copies almost immediately sold out, leading to the printing of three more 1,000-book lots over the next three years, which all sold out. A fifth edition was published in 1762, and a sixth, edited to take into account Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England", in 1771. Because of the success of the "Commentaries", Prest remarks that "relatively little scholarly attention has been paid to this work"; at the time, however, it was hailed as "an elegant performance.. calculated to facilitate this branch of knowledge".

Vinerian Professor of English Law.

On 8 March 1758, the group executing Charles Viner's will reported to Convocation that Viner recommended creating a Chair of English Law, with a £200 salary. After much debate, this position was created, and on 20 October 1758 Blackstone was confirmed as the first Vinerian Professor of English Law. On 24 October he gave his first lecture, to "a crowded audience"; the text was soon printed and published as "A Discourse on the Study of the Law". The lecture was tremendously popular, being described as a "sensible, spirited and manly exhortation to the study of the law"; the initial print run sold out, necessitating the publication of another 1,000 copies, and it was used to preface later versions of the "Analysis" and the first volume of the "Commentaries". Within the university, however, Blackstone was not as popular. As soon as the lecture series opened, an anonymously written open letter was published charging that Blackstone had "violated the Statutes of the University, by arbitrarily changing the Day appointed for reading his solemn Lectures". Blackstone suffered a nervous breakdown soon after the first lecture, and on 24 November he launched a suit in the Chancellor's Court against "William Jackson of the City of Oxford Printer" for £500 damages, justified by Jackson "printing and publishing a scandalous Libell notoriously reflecting on the Character of him the said William Blackstone". Jackson had refused to reveal who ordered the anonymous pamphlet, leading to the suit, but it evidently did not proceed further.  This suit, along with the struggle over the Vinerian Professorship and other controversies, damaged his reputation within the university, as evidenced by his failure to win election as Vice Warden in April 1759, losing to John White. Prest attributes Blackstone's unpopularity to specific personality traits, saying his "determination...in pursuit of causes to which he committed himself could irritate as well as intimidate those of a more relaxed disposition. While quick to take offence at perceived slights on his own character and motives, he could also show surprising indifference to the effect his words and actions might have on others". This marked the beginning of his break with Oxford, which coincided with his growing influence outside the university. In 1759 Lord Bute, Prince George's official tutor, requested copies of Blackstone's lectures, which he forwarded. Later that year Blackstone was paid £200 by the Prince, who became an "appreciative, loyal, and soon to be incomparably influential patron". This patronage, and Blackstone's purchase of a set of chambers in the Inner Temple, also transferring to that Inn, were significant steps in his departure from Oxford. In 1759 Blackstone published another two works, "The Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest, with other authentic Instruments", described as a "major piece of pioneering scholarship" leading to Blackstone's election to the Society of Antiquaries in February 1761, and "A Treatise on the Law of Descents in Fee Simple", which was later used, almost verbatim, as chapters 14 and 15 of the "Commentaries".

London.

Work at the Bar.

With sponsorship from the Prince of Wales and his success with the "Analysis", Blackstone began work as a barrister, although he kept up his lecture series at Oxford. By 1760 he had become "a very eminent figure indeed in the world of letters", and his legal practice grew as a result. Although not considered a great barrister of the period, he maintained a steady flow of cases, primarily in the King's Bench and Exchequer of Pleas. On the death of the third Earl of Abingdon, Blackstone was retained as counsel for the executors and trustees to oversee the family's attempts to pay off debts and meet other obligations. On 5 May 1761 he married Sarah Clitherow, a member of a family of lesser gentry from Middlesex. Their first child, William Bertie Blackstone, born 21 August 1762, did not survive to adulthood. Seven more children were born; Henry, James, Sarah, Mary, Philippa, William, Charles, and George, who also died in childhood. The Blackstones had a large estate in Wallingford in Berkshire, including 120 acres (46 ha) of pastureland around the River Thames and the right of advowson over St Peter's Church.  In February 1761 Blackstone was considered as a potential Tory candidate for the rotten borough of Hindon in Wiltshire. After consultation with friends, he agreed to this prospect – at the same time refusing the offer of appointment as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. On 30 March 1761 he was returned for Hindon, and took his seat. This did not limit his legal work, initially, with the seat being given without a requirement to attend or vote in a particular way, and the grant of a patent of precedence at the same time actually increased the demand on his time. Court records show him pleading before Lord Mansfield in the Court of King's Bench soon after his election, and acting as counsel in "Tonson v Collins", a copyright case, "Thiquet v Bath", an important case on international law, and "R v d'Eon", acting for the prosecution in a feud over Louis XV's newly appointed cross-dressing Ambassador to the United Kingdom.  With this increase in his practice, Blackstone also saw an increase in his out-of-court work, writing opinions and recommendations for various Oxford colleges, the MP Jonathan Rashleigh and the fourth Earl of Abingdon, who paid him to draft several private Acts of Parliament. In December 1761, he asked Lord Shelburne, a patron, for his assistance in gaining appointment as Chief Justice of Chester, writing again in July 1762 to "prevail upon Lord Bute to recommend me to his Majesty's Notice", anticipating an upcoming vacancy in the Court of Common Pleas. Parliamentary service was considered a "desirable if never absolutely essential qualification for would-be English judges", something that did not necessarily bode well for Blackstone. Naturally inarticulate and reticent, he was an infrequent and "indifferent" speaker during his first session of Parliament, speaking only 14 times in seven years. His chosen career did lend him to politics, in that the lawyers in the House of Commons were often added to select committees to provide them with technical expertise in drafting legislation. He again applied for a judicial post in December 1762, after an opening in the Exchequer of Pleas came up, but lost to George Perrott, a leading Exchequer barrister. The next five vacancies also failed to go to Blackstone, after the appointment of Lord Camden (a Whig) as Lord Chancellor.

Commentaries on the Laws of England.

In 1765 Blackstone announced his resignation from the Vinerian Chair, effective after his 1766 lectures. These were divided into two 14-lecture series, on "private wrongs" and "public wrongs" delivered between 12 February and 24 April. At this point Blackstone had published nothing new since "A Treatise on the Law of Descents in Fee Simple" in 1759. The decision to resign was most likely due to the increasing demands of his legal practice and the reduced profit from the lectures, which, after peaking at £340 in 1762, dropped to £239 a year later and to £203 for the final round of lectures in 1765–6. In response, Blackstone decided to publish a new book – "Commentaries on the Laws of England". The first volume was published in November 1765, bringing the author £1,600 – the full work would eventually bring in over £14,000. Owen Ruffhead described Volume I as "masterly", noting that "Mr Blackstone is perhaps the first who has treated the body of the law in a liberal, elegant and constitutional manner. A vein of good sense and moderation runs through every page". Every copy was sold within six months, and the second and third volumes, published in October 1766 and June 1768, received a similar reception. The fourth and final volume appeared in 1770, dealing with Criminal Law. With the financial success of the "Commentaries", Blackstone moved in 1768 from his London property in Carey Fields to No. 55 Lincoln's Inn Fields. Neighbours included the Sardinian ambassador, Sir Walter Rawlinson, Lord Northington, John Morton and the Third Earl of Abingdon, making it an appropriate house for a "great and able Lawyer".  Blackstone's treatise was republished in 1770, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1778 and in a posthumous edition in 1783. Reprints of the first edition, intended for practical use rather than antiquary interest, were published until the 1870s in England and Wales, and a working version by Henry John Stephen, first published in 1841, was reprinted until after the Second World War. The first American edition was produced in 1772; prior to this, over 1,000 copies had already been sold in the Thirteen Colonies.

Judge.

Even after the publication of the "Commentaries", Blackstone's chances of judicial appointment remained slim. While he was old enough, experienced enough and widely respected, the presence of Lord Camden as Lord Chancellor and Blackstone's lack of aristocratic patrons at the time hindered his chances. In January 1770, however, Lord Grafton's government began to fall, with Camden resigning on 17 January and Solicitor-General John Dunning, following him. George III appointed Lord North as Prime Minister, and North picked Charles Yorke as Lord Chancellor. Yorke's death on 20 January, after holding the position for less than three days, left several important legal positions within the government open. As such, Blackstone, now MP for Westbury, was apparently approached to become Solicitor-General; he refused, not wanting to deal with the complicated duties attached to the position.  On 9 February 1770 – apparently with the intervention of the King, and possibly Lord Mansfield – Blackstone became a Justice of the Common Pleas, succeeding Edward Clive, and was made a Serjeant-at-Law on 12 February. After only four days it was announced that Joseph Yates was to move to the Common Pleas, and Blackstone was again sworn in as a judge, this time of the Court of King's Bench. This was apparently due to Yates' poor health; Lord Mansfield ran a busy court as Lord Chief Justice, and it was felt that his transfer to the Common Pleas was for the best. Others commented that it was instead due to political and judicial disagreement, with Yates unwilling to stomach the changes which Mansfield made to English law. Blackstone sat regularly as a judge, despite bouts of ill health, and also served on various circuit courts. Prest describes him as an "exceptionally careful, conscientious and well-respected judge.. his judgments ranging between narrowly framed technicalities [and] broad statements of public commentary". He was, however, considered a poor trial judge, being reversed on appeal more frequently than any of his peers.  Blackstone returned to the Common Pleas on 25 June 1770, having spent less than six months in the King's Bench; Jeremy Bentham asserted that this was due to Mansfield's having Blackstone removed similarly to his removal of Yates. Bentham asserted that in the King's Bench, Blackstone was "always in hot water", and that there was "heartburning" between the two; Bentham's account is considered dubious because historically, Mansfield and Blackstone had an excellent relationship, with the third volume of the "Commentaries" describing Mansfield as "a judge, whose masterly acquaintance with the law of nations was known and revered by every state in Europe". There is only one recorded King's Bench case, "R v Proprietors of Birmingham Canal Navigation", in which Blackstone and Mansfield disagreed.  In the Common Pleas, Blackstone operated under a civil jurisdiction rather than a mixed civil and criminal one. This played to his strengths, and many of his decisions are considered farsighted; the principle in "Blaney v Hendricks", for example, that interest is due on an account where money was lent, which anticipated Section 3 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934. Blackstone's decision in "Goldswain's Case" was later repeated by Lord Denning in "Falmouth Boat Construction Co v Howell" in 1950.

Criticism.

English jurist Jeremy Bentham was a critic of Blackstone's theories. Others saw Blackstone's theories as inaccurate statements of English law, using the Constitutions of Clarendon, the Tractatus of Glanville and the 1689 Bill of Rights as particularly obvious examples of laws Blackstone omitted.

Death.

Blackstone had long suffered from gout, and by November 1779 also had a nervous disorder which caused dizziness, high blood pressure, and possibly diabetes. By 3 February 1780 he was too weak to write, and after "some Days almost totally insensible", he died on 14 February. After a service conducted by Bishop Barrington on 22 February, Blackstone was buried in the family vault under St Peter's Church, Wallingford. His estate at his death was worth less than £15,000; therefore William Eden secured a £400 annual royal pension for Sarah Blackstone. The initial reaction to Blackstone's death was subdued, but in December 1780 the Fellows of All Souls College agreed that "a Statue be erected to the memory of Sr W Blackstone deceased". Constructed by John Bacon, the life-sized statue of Blackstone in his judicial robes cost £539, and has rested in the Codrington Library since 1872. His brother-in-law, James Clitherow, also published two volumes of his law reports which added £1,287 to the estate, and in 1782 the "Biographical History of Sir William Blackstone" appeared.

Legacy.

Blackstone's primary legacy is his written work, specifically the "Commentaries on the Laws of England". Demand for reprinted, abridged and translated versions was "almost inexhaustible" in the 18th and 19th centuries, although the "Commentaries"' emphasis on the sovereignty of Parliament drew ire. Alexis de Tocqueville described Blackstone as "an inferior writer, without liberality of mind or depth of judgment". Other commentators differ; one described him as "the core element in the British Enlightenment", comparing him to Montesquieu, Beccaria and Voltaire. Academics have said that the "Commentaries" were crucial in changing English Law from a system based on actions to a system of substantive law. At the time of publication, the common law of England was still, in some ways, in its infancy, with people uncertain as to what the law was. The "Commentaries" helped to solidify legal thinking. At the same time, legal education had stalled, and Blackstone's work gave the Law "at least a veneer of scholarly respectability". William Searle Holdsworth, one of Blackstone's successors as Vinerian Professor, argued that "if the Commentaries had not been written when they were written, I think it very doubtful that [the United States], and other English speaking countries would have so universally adopted the [common] law".  The "Commentaries" had a particular influence in the United States; James Iredell, an original Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States wrote that the "Commentaries" were "Books admirably calculated for a young Student, and indeed may instruct the most learned.. Pleasure and Instruction go hand in hand". When the "Commentaries" were first printed in North America, 1,400 copies were ordered for Philadelphia alone. Academics have also noted the early reliance of the Supreme Court on the "Commentaries", probably due to a lack of US legal tradition at that time. The US academic Robert Ferguson notes that "all our formative documents – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers and the seminal decisions of the Supreme Court under John Marshall – were drafted by attorneys steeped in Sir William Blackstone's "Commentaries on the Laws of England". So much was this the case that the "Commentaries" rank second only to the Bible as a literary and intellectual influence on the history of American institutions". Even today, the "Commentaries" are cited in Supreme Court decisions between 10 and 12 times a year.  Within United States academia and practise, as well as within the judiciary, the "Commentaries" had a substantial impact; with the scarcity of law books on the frontier, they were "both the only law school and the only law library most American lawyers used to practise law in America for nearly a century after they were published". Blackstone had drawn up a plan for a dedicated School of Law, and submitted it to the University of Oxford; when the idea was rejected he included it in the "Commentaries". It is from this plan that the modern system of American law schools comes. Subscribers to the first edition of Blackstone, and later readers who were profoundly influenced by it, include James Iredell, John Marshall, James Wilson, John Jay, John Adams, James Kent and Abraham Lincoln.  In the early 1920s the American Bar Association presented a statue of Blackstone to the English Bar Association, however, at the time, the sculpture was too tall to be placed in the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The sculpture, designed by Paul Wayland Bartlett was eventually cast in Europe and presented back to the US for display. Congress approved the placement of the sculpture in Washington, D.C. on 15 March 1943, and appropriated $10,000 for the installation. The bronze statue is a nine-foot (2.7 m) standing portrait of Blackstone wearing judicial robes and a long curly wig, holding a copy of "Commentaries". It is placed on a tall granite base and stands on Constitution Avenue & 3rd Street NW. The town of Blackstone, Virginia is named after him.  The North Wall Frieze in the courtroom of the Supreme Court of the United States depicts William Blackstone, as one of the most influential legal commentators in world history.

Blackstone's Ratio or Blackstone's Formulation.

Among the most well-known of Blackstone's contributions to judicial theory is his own statement of the principle that it "is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer".  While this argument originates at least as far back as Genesis 18:23–32 in the Bible, as well as versions by Maimonides and Sir John Fortescue, Blackstone's analysis is the one picked up by Benjamin Franklin and others, so that the term has become known as "Blackstone's Ratio".  As John Adams, having studied Blackstone, put it:  Blackstone's Ratio is a maxim of English law, having been established as such within a few decades of Blackstone's work being published. It is also cited in courts and law in the US, and is strongly emphasised to American law students.

Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the "Commentaries on the Laws of England". Born into a middle-class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1738. After switching to and completing a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, he was made a fellow of All Souls, Oxford, on 2 November 1743, admitted to Middle Temple, and called to the Bar there in 1746. Following a slow start to his career as a barrister, Blackstone became heavily involved in university administration, becoming accountant, treasurer and bursar on 28 November 1746 and Senior Bursar in 1750. Blackstone is considered responsible for completing the Codrington Library and Warton Building, and simplifying the complex accounting system used by the college. On 3 July 1753 he formally gave up his practice as a barrister and instead embarked on a series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind. These were massively successful, earning him a total of £453 (£ in terms), and led to the publication of "An Analysis of the Laws of England" in 1756, which repeatedly sold out and was used to preface his later works.

威廉·布莱克斯通(英语:William Blackstone,1723年-7月10日-1780年-2月14日)英国18世纪法学家、法官、托利党政治家,以创作《英格兰法律评论》而知名。布莱克斯通生于英国伦敦中产阶级家庭,先后在查特豪斯公学、牛津大学彭布罗克学院接受教育,后在牛津大学万灵学院担任研究员。此后,布莱克斯通曾担任律师、大学讲师、法官,创作多部法学著作,对英美法系产生重大影响。


浩劫杀阵:切尔诺贝利之影

Setting.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R." takes place in an area called the Zone, which is based on the real-life Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and partly on the settings of the source material, Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's science fiction novella "Roadside Picnic" and Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Stalker", as well as the latter's subsequent novelization by the original authors. The Zone encompasses roughly 30 square kilometers and features a slice of the Chernobyl area extending south from Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant; geographical changes for artistic license include moving the city of Pripyat into this area (it is actually to the north-west of the power station), although the city itself is directly modeled on its real-life counterpart, albeit smaller in size. The term Stalkers was also used for the scientists and engineers who explored the interior of the Chernobyl sarcophagus after its hasty construction in 1986. In addition, the Zone is also a term used to refer to the 30 kilometer Exclusion Zone around the power plant.  In the game's backstory, after the initial Chernobyl disaster, attempts were made to repopulate the area, primarily with scientists and military personnel. However, in 2006, almost 20 years after the first incident, a mysterious second disaster occurred, killing or mutating most of the inhabitants. "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." begins years later, after people have begun coming to the Zone in search of money, valuable artifacts, and scientific information. In keeping with the post-nuclear decay within the Zone, extreme radiation has caused mutations among animals and plants in the area. As a result of the second disaster, the Zone is also littered with dangerous small areas of altered physics, known as anomalies. Explorers and scavengers operating within the Zone, known as Stalkers, possess an anomaly detector, which emits warning beeps of a varying frequency depending on their proximity to an anomaly.

Gameplay.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl" is primarily a first-person shooter survival horror video game, but it also features many RPG elements. The player does not gain additional abilities or statistics like most RPGs (though the player does level through game play from "novice" to "expert" which has slight effects on the ability to aim accurately), but is instead allowed to attach artifacts which can increase or decrease player attributes. Artifacts found within the Zone have both positive and negative effects except for some rare artifacts which have only positive attributes.  There are a large number of items in the game, so the player has customization choices which are constrained primarily by how much exploring they do. The game also attempts to blend the story and character interaction which are commonly associated with RPGs. However, conversation branches are extremely limited and do not significantly influence the course of the game, aside from accepting or declining missions.  The Zone itself is a large and varied area, consisting of wilderness, human settlements, and several heavily guarded military bases. However, the game world is not a true contiguous world, but rather 18 different maps separated by loading screens. Transfer from one area to another can only be accomplished at certain specific passageways; wire fences and extreme radiation levels block the player from attempting to cross the map in any other area.  Creatures within The Zone are vastly different from their real-world counterparts: dogs, boars, crows, and many more. Additionally, some areas contain mutated humans who have become affected by the so-called Brain Scorcher. Artificial intelligence of wildlife is highly developed and presents many realistic behaviors, such as fights over food and pack mentality, which can be observed in non-scripted events. The game engine was designed so that animal behavior is calculated even if the player is in a different part of the Zone.  There are several different variations of anomaly, each one having a unique impact upon those who cross its path. They can be potentially deadly to the player and the NPCs, delivering electric shocks, or pulling them into the air and crushing them. Most anomalies produce visible air or light distortions and their extent can be determined by throwing bolts (of which the player carries an infinite supply) to trigger them. Artifacts are found scattered throughout the Zone, often near clusters of anomalies. As well as being traded for money, a number of artifacts can be worn so that they provide certain benefits and detriments (for example, increasing a stalker's resistance to gunfire while also contaminating him with small amounts of radiation) although certain rarer artifacts provide benefits without any negative effects.  The game does not feature controllable vehicles (although vehicles are programmed in the game code, they are not available without the use of a third party modification, and even if added, they are not entirely stable, as a single knife slash can destroy it completely) and thus players are required to go from place to place on foot. A sprint option using a limited stamina bar can be used to temporarily increase the player's rate of movement, though this is reduced by the weight of objects the player is carrying, and weapons cannot be fired while sprinting. It is possible to sprint indefinitely by using artifacts and keeping below a certain weight limit (50 kg); however, it is impossible to sprint with certain weapons (e.g. RPG-7 and SVD).  Radioactive contamination caused by the nuclear incidents at Chernobyl occurs in specific invisible patches throughout the Zone. Although most areas are not contaminated, areas near abandoned construction equipment that was used in the post-accident clean-up, certain military vehicular wreckage and a variety of other locations create fields of radiation of varying intensity and size, some of which cannot be passed through without the proper protective equipment and anti-contaminant agents. The equipment is simplified into various sets of armor that have different levels of radiation protection. Additional radiation resistance may be conferred by some artifacts, and radiation sickness may be treated by medication or by consuming vodka.  When the player enters a highly irradiated area, they will begin to receive radiation poisoning. During this time, a radiation icon appears on the screen and fades through from green to yellow to red, signifying the strength of the poisoning, which grows the longer the player remains present in the affected areas. The stronger the poisoning, the faster the player's health decreases. Unless the player dies from damage caused by radiation poisoning, there are no permanent effects from contracting it other than health loss. However, radiation will persist and continue to drain health until either radiation medication or a substantial amount of vodka is consumed. Radiation can primarily be avoided by wearing certain artifacts that neutralize radiation or more advanced suits that will effectively protect the player from radiation.  In much the same way radiation works as a gameplay mechanic, the player will occasionally become hungry during their travels. During this state, an icon of a crossed fork and spoon will appear. Consuming in-game food items returns the player state from hungry to not hungry, which removes the negative impact on stamina that the hunger status gives. However, if one ignores eating, it will result in the death of the player in a certain amount of time.  As with radiation and hunger, bleeding is another state of detriment which the player must try to avoid or manage while playing the game. Bleeding occurs when the player sustains certain kinds of injuries of certain severity (such as being shot or stabbed). The player will lose the amount of health determined by the landed blow and will continue to lose small amounts of health as they hemorrhage. Bleeding can sometimes stop on its own, but the player can prevent further bleeding by applying bandages or using first aid kits, thereby preventing further health loss.

Plot.

"Shadow of Chernobyl" offers multiple endings based on the player's choices throughout the game. This section assumes the player achieves the most complete ending.  The game begins in the year 2012, with an unconscious, wounded stalker (the player character) being brought to Sidorovich, a black-market trader operating inside the Zone. Sidorovich is able to save his life, but the wounded stalker is amnesic; the only clues to his identity are a tattoo on his arm of the acronym "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." and his PDA which contains only one entry in the to-do list: "Kill Strelok." The amnesic stalker is dubbed "Marked One" by Sidorovich.  The Marked One repays Sidorovich by performing certain tasks, and in the process receives information about Strelok's possible whereabouts. With no other leads to his past or the cause of his amnesia, the Marked One follows the information from contact to contact, tracing Strelok's past movements and learning more about his supposed assassination target; the more he learns about him, the more he recovers scattered memories. Eventually, the Marked One follows a lead to a factory in Yantar that is home to a Brain Scorcher, a field which effectively destroys the mind of anyone who comes within its range, zombifying and turning them violent and hostile. Scientists studying the phenomenon determine that it is man-made and recruit the Marked One to enter a secret laboratory underneath the factory to disable it.  Information taken from a body in the lab directs the Marked One to track down a member of Strelok's group named Doc. In an attempt to reach him in Strelok's underground base, the Marked One inadvertently triggers an explosive booby trap and is nearly killed, only to be rescued by Doc. While he is incapacitated, Doc speaks to the Marked One about the rumor of a giant artifact known as the Wish Granter located somewhere in the center of the Zone, but also indicates that the Marked One "is" Strelok, calling him by that name. However, before Strelok can fully recover, Doc leaves.  Further leads send Strelok towards the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, where the Wish Granter is believed to be located. However, the journey to Chernobyl itself has been all but impossible due to the presence of another, larger Brain Scorcher south of Pripyat, as well as the Monolith faction of extremely fanatical stalkers who worship the Wish Granter, referring to it as the Monolith, and kill anyone attempting to access it. Strelok makes his way through a dense forest south of Pripyat and deactivates the second Brain Scorcher, re-opening the path to the abandoned city.  Pripyat is in chaos as stalkers of multiple factions, including the military, clash with the heavily armed and numerous Monolith forces. Strelok eventually makes his way to the Chernobyl facility, also held and viciously fortified by Monolith forces. After fighting his way through both Monolith and military troops, Strelok discovers the giant Wish Granter artifact inside the sarcophagus as well as a secret laboratory underneath it. Inside the heavily defended lab is a large holographic terminal, through which an entity calling itself the C-Consciousness communicates. It readily answers Strelok's questions, revealing what it is, who Strelok is, and the events prior to his amnesia.  In 1989, three years after the Chernobyl disaster, the Soviet Union decided to use the Exclusion Zone for special research into the human mind. Results included enhanced ESP, psychic weapons, and the eventual formation of the C-Consciousness, a hivemind of seven neurally-linked scientists. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the self-aware C-Consciousness took control of the Zone and continued its research. In 2006, twenty years after the nuclear disaster, the C-Consciousness attempted to bring about world peace through global mind-control by directly interacting with the noosphere; however, these attempts resulted in the unintentional twisting of the physical terrain around Chernobyl as well as the mutation of resident life forms, creating the Zone in its current form. In an attempt to hide its existence, the C-Consciousness created the two Brain Scorcher fields and erected a Monolith artifact – the Wish Granter – in the center of the Zone, which it uses to brainwash any stalkers who reach it; brainwashed stalkers are tattooed with the "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." acronym and reprogrammed to serve the C-Consciousness.  Rumors of the Wish Granter began to spread throughout the Zone. A group of four stalkers, Strelok, Ghost, Fang, and Doc, attempted to reach the Wish Granter by battling on their way to Chernobyl, but after encountering the fanatical Monolith faction and a man named Scar they were forced to retreat. Strelok was knocked unconscious while the others were able to escape. On the way back, Fang was killed by a sniper in Pripyat. Some time later, Ghost was killed in the Brain Scorcher control facility under Yantar. The unconscious Strelok was discovered by the C-Consciousness; unaware of his identity, it had him brainwashed, reprogrammed him and mistakenly assigned him the task of killing himself. On the way out of the Zone, the truck carrying the still unconscious Strelok was destroyed in a lightning storm and he was discovered by another passing stalker, leading to his discovery.  Once the C-Consciousness has finished answering Strelok's questions, he is given a choice: merge with the C-Consciousness to ensure its continued existence, or stop the C-Consciousness from continuing its experiments. Strelok refuses to assist the C-Consciousness. He is transported to the exterior of the Chernobyl plant, where he navigates his way through teleportation anomalies, elite Monolith soldiers, and mutants in order to reach the source of the C-Consciousness. Once inside, Strelok shoots the encapsulated scientists which form the C-Consciousness. Strelok then kills his own C-Consciousness unit and is released out of the nightmare.  Afterwards, Strelok is shown standing in a grassy field, watching the sky as the clouds break and the sun comes out. The Zone is apparently gone. He questions whether or not he made the right decision, but as he lies down in the grass he concludes that while he may never know what was right, he is happy that he survived. He lies down on the grass and falls asleep.

Technical features.

The X-Ray Engine is a DirectX 8.1/9 Shader Model 3.0 graphics engine. Up to a million polygons can be on-screen at any one time. The engine features HDR rendering, parallax and normal mapping, soft shadows, motion blur, widescreen support, weather effects and day/night cycles. As with other engines that use deferred shading, the X-Ray Engine does not support multisample anti-aliasing with dynamic lighting enabled. However, a different form of anti-aliasing can be enabled with dynamic lighting which utilizes an edge detection algorithm to smooth edges between objects. The game takes place in a thirty square kilometer area, and both the outside and inside of this area are rendered to the same amount of detail. Some textures in the game were photographs of the walls in the developers' studio. As of patch 1.0003 the X-Ray Engine supports "surround screen" monitor setups, including a 16:9 native resolution ratio.  The X-Ray Engine is among the first of its kind to feature real time Global illumination through a method called Photon mapping, the GI system runs entirely through the CPU on one core and was first seen implemented in a beta build as early as 2004 however remained experimental through ShoC development most likely due to its massive performance hit.  The X-ray engine uses GSC Game World's proprietary ALife artificial intelligence engine. ALife supports more than one thousand characters inhabiting the Zone. These characters are non-scripted, meaning that AI life can be developed even when not in contact with the player. The NPCs have a full life cycle (task accomplishment, combat, rest, feeding and sleep) and the same applies to the many monsters living in the Zone (hunting, attacking stalkers and other monsters, resting, eating, sleeping). These monsters migrate in large groups. The non-scripted nature of the characters means that there are an unlimited number of random quests. For instance, rescuing stalkers from danger, destroying stalker renegades, protecting or attacking stalker camps or searching for treasure. The AI characters travel around the entire Zone as they see fit. Several attack tactics were cut for difficulty reasons, including the ability for enemies to heal wounded allies and give orders.  "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." uses a heavily modified version of the ODE physics engine. Ragdoll physics, destructible objects, realistic bullet ballistics and skeletal animation can all be found in the game. Bullets are affected by gravity, bounced against solid surfaces at oblique angles, and firearms are highly inaccurate when fired without aiming. To score consistent hits at medium or long range, players must aim using the iron sights on their guns. Additionally, hit damage is pseudo-realistic, and the player can die after only being shot a few times (although later in the game various armor suits and artifacts can be acquired that increase the player's resistance to damage). Late-game depends heavily on scoped weaponry due to the well-armed and armored enemies that keep their distance from the player.  A weather system is integrated into various parts of the landscape and allows a variety of weather effects, such as sunshine, storms and showers. The weapons available, behavior of the AI, game tactics and ranking systems depend on the weather. Unlike most dynamic weather systems, the game features complete dynamic wet surfaces such as pavement, concrete, brick walls, etc.  The game features ambient music by Frey Vladimir aka "MoozE". It also has three songs from the Ukrainian band Firelake.

Development and release.

The game was first announced by GSC Game World in November 2001, as "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost", although it had been talked about as early as 2000. It had its release date, originally as summer 2003, pushed back several times. Meanwhile, hundreds of screenshots of the game had been released, as well as a dozen preview video clips, accompanied by other forms of promotion by GSC, such as inviting fans to their offices in Kiev to play the current build of the game. However, due to the delays some considered "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." to be vaporware.  In late December 2003, a pre-alpha build of the game was leaked to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. This build, marked as version 1096, inadvertently acted as a fully functional tech demo of "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s" engine, despite its lack of NPC enemies and fauna. After that, with the game missing the 2003 release date and still far from being finished, the publisher THQ sent Dean Sharpe (the later CEO of "Metro" developer 4A Games, which would be formed by some ex-members of GSC Game World who had worked on "Shadow of Chernobyl") to oversee cutting many features and downsizing the overall scale and ambitions to save it from development hell, leaving much of it to be picked up in a sequel.  In February 2005, THQ expressed a desire to see the game released toward the end of its 2006 fiscal year (31 March 2006) but maintained that no release date had been set. In October 2005, THQ confirmed that "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." would not be out "until the second half of THQ's 2007 fiscal year - October 2006 at the earliest." In February 2006, THQ revised this possible release window, saying the game would not be in stores until the first quarter of 2007. In an interview at the Russian Gameland Awards, PR Manager Oleg Yavorsky indicated that release was planned for September 2006. In 2006, the game came 9th in "Wired"s Vaporware '06 award.  In late February GSC managed to release a public beta. A multiplayer demo was released to the public on 15 March 2007. On 2 March 2007, it was announced that the game went gold.  In February 2009, due to popular demand GSC Game World released "xrCore" build 1935, dated 18 October 2004. It uses a completely different physics engine with many cut monsters, levels, and vehicles. It was also significantly larger than the retail release. It is however somewhat unstable, but features the full game along with a "fully functional ALife system". It is currently available for free download from the GSC servers and mirrors. Multiple other builds of the game have been since publicly released as well, along with design documents.

Reception.

Critical reception.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl" received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the game for its style and depth while criticising technical issues, mentioning the number of bugs present. It received a score of 82.70% on GameRankings and 82/100 on Metacritic.  The game design of the Zone was one of the most favored aspects. GameSpot praised the style and level design, stating "This is a bleak game, but in a good way, as it captures its post apocalyptic setting perfectly", while Eurogamer called it "one of the scariest games on the PC", going on to say "Like the mythological Chernobyl zone it is based upon, this game is a treacherous, darkly beautiful terrain." "Game Informer" did not find the gameplay particularly innovative, but still complimented the basic FPS design, saying, ""S.T.A.L.K.E.R." isn’t the revolution that we all hoped it would be. It is, however, a respectable and sometimes excellent first-person adventure" whereas GameSpot called it "one of the best ballistics models ever seen in a game, and as a result, firefights feel authentic as you try and hit someone with what can be a wildly inaccurate rifle".  Upon release, "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." was criticized for having numerous bugs, especially when used with the then-recently released Windows Vista. IGN found the game "tended to stutter quite often, sometimes pausing for three or four seconds at regular intervals, which occurred on two different Windows XP computers at maximum visual quality," and some cases of game crashing glitches. Another criticized aspect was the story, which to some reviewers was "incoherent" and which "PC Gamer" stated "fails in the specific story of your character".

Awards.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R." won the Special Achievement award for Best Atmosphere in GameSpot's Best and Worst 2007, stating that ""S.T.A.L.K.E.R." captures the 'ghost town' nature of the zone, from the abandoned cities to the overgrown wilderness. Then, the game adds its own paranormal elements, which help make a spooky environment almost terrifying at times."

Sales.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R." received a "Silver" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. As of September 2008, "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." has sold 2 million copies worldwide. GSC Game World CEO Sergiy Grygorovych has said "We are very pleased that "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." became so popular among players from all over the world. Financial success will allow us to develop "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." in different directions as a brand."

Legacy.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky".

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky" is a prequel set a year before "Shadow of Chernobyl". The game world consists of a mix of old, redesigned areas and completely new levels. The updated engine supports the Inverse Kinematics animation system, allowing more and better animations. New effects such as volumetric lighting were also included. In general, the developers sought to take the basics of everything in "Shadow of Chernobyl" and enhance them. Better AI, graphics and new game-play additions, such as faction wars, were some of the added features.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat".

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat" is a sequel set after the events in "Shadow of Chernobyl". The game features new areas recreated by their true-to-life locales such as Pripyat town, Yanov Railway Station, Jupiter Factory, Kopachi Village and more. Other features include an improved A-Life system, a new player interface, a brand-new story and a number of unique characters, two new monsters and behavior and abilities, an extended system of side quests, a sleep function and a free play mode.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost" restoration projects.

In 2014, a mod aimed at restoring cancelled features from the early versions of the game was released as a standalone game titled "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Lost Alpha", development of which has since still continued with "Lost Alpha - Developer's Cut" released in 2017. Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Craig Pearson praised many aspects of the 2014 version, but also noted the presence of stability problems and bugs.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a first-person shooter survival horror video game developed by Ukrainian game developer GSC Game World and published by THQ in 2007 following a long development. The game is set in an alternative reality, where a second nuclear disaster occurred at the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, causing strange changes in the area around it. The game features a non-linear storyline and includes role-playing gameplay elements such as trading and two-way communication with non-player characters.

是一款于2007年3月20日发行,由乌克兰游戏开发商GSC Game World制作开发的第一人称射击游戏。


Antiquity.

The earliest known use of cryptography is found in non-standard hieroglyphs carved into the wall of a tomb from the Old Kingdom of Egypt circa 1900 BC. These are not thought to be serious attempts at secret communications, however, but rather to have been attempts at mystery, intrigue, or even amusement for literate onlookers.  Some clay tablets from Mesopotamia somewhat later are clearly meant to protect information—one dated near 1500 BC was found to encrypt a craftsman's recipe for pottery glaze, presumably commercially valuable. Furthermore, Hebrew scholars made use of simple monoalphabetic substitution ciphers (such as the Atbash cipher) beginning perhaps around 600 to 500 BC.  In India around 400 BC

Medieval cryptography.

David Kahn notes in "The Codebreakers" that modern cryptology originated among the Arabs, the first people to systematically document cryptanalytic methods. Al-Khalil (717–786) wrote the "Book of Cryptographic Messages", which contains the first use of permutations and combinations to list all possible Arabic words with and without vowels.  The invention of the frequency analysis technique for breaking monoalphabetic substitution ciphers, by Al-Kindi, an Arab mathematician, sometime around AD 800, proved to be the single most significant cryptanalytic advance until World War II. Al-Kindi wrote a book on cryptography entitled "Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma" ("Manuscript for the Deciphering Cryptographic Messages"), in which he described the first cryptanalytic techniques, including some for polyalphabetic ciphers, cipher classification, Arabic phonetics and syntax, and most importantly, gave the first descriptions on frequency analysis. He also covered methods of encipherments, cryptanalysis of certain encipherments, and statistical analysis of letters and letter combinations in Arabic. An important contribution of Ibn Adlan (1187–1268) was on sample size for use of frequency analysis.  In early medieval England between the years 800–1100, substitution ciphers were frequently used by scribes as a playful and clever way to encipher notes, solutions to riddles, and colophons. The ciphers tend to be fairly straightforward, but sometimes they deviate from an ordinary pattern, adding to their complexity, and possibly also to their sophistication. This period saw vital and significant cryptographic experimentation in the West.  Ahmad al-Qalqashandi (AD 1355–1418) wrote the "Subh al-a'sha", a 14-volume encyclopedia which included a section on cryptology. This information was attributed to Ibn al-Durayhim who lived from AD 1312 to 1361, but whose writings on cryptography have been lost. The list of ciphers in this work included both substitution and transposition, and for the first time, a cipher with multiple substitutions for each plaintext letter (later called homophonic substitution). Also traced to Ibn al-Durayhim is an exposition on and a worked

Cryptography from 1800 to World War II.

Although cryptography has a long and complex history, it wasn't until the 19th century that it developed anything more than ad hoc approaches to either encryption or cryptanalysis (the science of finding weaknesses in crypto systems). Examples of the latter include Charles Babbage's Crimean War era work on mathematical cryptanalysis of polyalphabetic ciphers, redeveloped and published somewhat later by the Prussian Friedrich Kasiski. Understanding of cryptography at this time typically consisted of hard-won rules of thumb; see, for example, Auguste Kerckhoffs' cryptographic writings in the latter 19th century. Edgar Allan Poe used systematic methods to solve ciphers in the 1840s. In particular he placed a notice of his abilities in the Philadelphia paper "Alexander's Weekly (Express) Messenger", inviting submissions of ciphers, of which he proceeded to solve almost all. His success created a public stir for some months. He later wrote an essay on methods of cryptography which proved useful as an introduction for novice British cryptanalysts attempting to break German codes and ciphers during World War I, and a famous story, "The Gold-Bug",

World War II cryptography.

By World War II, mechanical and electromechanical cipher machines were in wide use, although—where such machines were impractical—code books and manual systems continued in use. Great advances were made in both cipher design and cryptanalysis, all in secrecy. Information about this period has begun to be declassified as the official British 50-year secrecy period has come to an end, as US archives have slowly opened, and as assorted memoirs and articles have appeared.

Germany.

The Germans made heavy use, in several variants, of an electromechanical rotor machine known as Enigma. Mathematician Marian Rejewski, at Poland's Cipher Bureau, in December 1932 deduced the detailed structure of the German Army Enigma, using mathematics and limited documentation supplied by Captain Gustave Bertrand of French military intelligence. This was the greatest breakthrough in cryptanalysis in a thousand years and more, according to historian David Kahn. Rejewski and his mathematical Cipher Bureau colleagues, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski, continued reading Enigma and keeping pace with the evolution of the German Army machine's components and encipherment procedures. As the Poles' resources became strained by the changes being introduced by the Germans, and as war loomed, the Cipher Bureau, on the Polish General Staff's instructions, on 25 July 1939, at Warsaw, initiated French and British intelligence representatives into the secrets of Enigma decryption.  Soon after the Invasion of Poland by Germany on 1 September 1939, key Cipher Bureau personnel were evacuated southeastward; on 17 September, as the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the East, they crossed into Romania. From there they reached Paris, France; at PC Bruno, near Paris, they continued

Japan.

A US Army group, the SIS, managed to break the highest security Japanese diplomatic cipher system (an electromechanical stepping switch machine called Purple by the Americans) in 1940, before World War II began. The locally developed Purple machine replaced the earlier "Red" machine used by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, and a related machine, the M-1, used by Naval attachés which was broken by the U.S. Navy's Agnes

Allies.

The Americans referred to the intelligence resulting from cryptanalysis, perhaps especially that from the Purple machine, as 'Magic'. The British eventually settled on 'Ultra' for intelligence resulting from cryptanalysis, particularly that from message traffic protected by the various Enigmas. An earlier British term for Ultra had been 'Boniface' in an attempt to suggest, if betrayed, that it might have an individual agent as a source. Allied cipher machines used in World War II included the British TypeX and the American SIGABA; both were electromechanical rotor designs similar in spirit to the Enigma, albeit with major improvements.

Role of women.

The UK and US employed large numbers of women in their code-breaking operation, with close to 7,000 reporting to Bletchley Park and 11,000 to the separate US Army and Navy operations, around Washington, DC. By tradition in Japan and Nazi doctrine in Germany, women were excluded from war work, at least until late in the war. Even after encryption systems were broken, large amounts of

Modern cryptography.

Encryption in modern times is achieved by using algorithms that have a key to encrypt and decrypt information. These keys convert the messages and data into "digital gibberish" through encryption and then return them to the original form through decryption. In general, the longer the key is, the more difficult it is to crack the code. This holds true because deciphering an encrypted message by brute force would require the attacker to try every possible key. To put this in context, each binary unit of information, or bit, has a value of 0 or 1. An 8-bit key would then have 256 or 2^8 possible keys. A 56-bit key would have 2^56, or 72 quadrillion, possible keys to try and decipher the message. With modern technology, cyphers using keys with these lengths are becoming easier to decipher. DES, an early US Government approved cypher, has an effective key length of 56 bits, and test messages using that cypher have been broken by brute force key search. However, as technology advances, so does the quality of encryption. Since World War II, one of the most notable advances in the study of cryptography is the introduction of the asymmetric key cyphers (sometimes termed public-key cyphers). These are algorithms which use two mathematically related keys for encryption of the same message. Some of these algorithms permit publication of one of the keys, due to it being extremely difficult to determine one key simply from knowledge of the other.  Beginning around 1990, the use of the Internet for commercial purposes and the introduction of commercial transactions over the Internet called for a widespread standard for encryption. Before the introduction of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), information sent over the Internet, such as financial data, was encrypted if at all, most commonly using the Data Encryption Standard (DES). This had been approved by NBS (a US Government agency) for its security, after public call for, and a competition among, candidates for such a cypher algorithm. DES was approved for a short period, but saw extended use due to complex wrangles over the use by the public of high quality encryption. DES was finally replaced by the AES after another public competition organized by the NBS successor agency, NIST. Around the late 1990s to early 2000s, the use of public-key algorithms became a more common approach for encryption, and soon a hybrid of the two schemes became the most accepted way for e-commerce operations to proceed. Additionally, the creation of a new protocol known as the Secure Socket Layer, or SSL, led the way for online transactions to take place. Transactions ranging from purchasing goods to online bill pay and banking used SSL. Furthermore, as wireless Internet connections became more common among households, the need for encryption grew, as a level of security was needed in these everyday situations.

Claude Shannon.

Claude E. Shannon is considered by many to be the father of mathematical cryptography. Shannon worked for several years at Bell Labs, and during his time there, he produced an article entitled "A mathematical theory of cryptography". This article was written in 1945 and eventually was published in the Bell System Technical Journal in 1949. It is commonly accepted that this paper was the starting point for development of modern cryptography. Shannon was inspired during the war to address "[t]he problems of cryptography [because] secrecy systems furnish an interesting application of communication theory". Shannon identified the two main goals of cryptography: secrecy and authenticity. His focus was on exploring secrecy and thirty-five years later, G.J. Simmons would address the issue of authenticity. Shannon wrote a further article entitled "A mathematical theory of communication" which highlights one of the most significant aspects of his work: cryptography's

An encryption standard.

The mid-1970s saw two major public (i.e., non-secret) advances. First was the publication of the draft Data Encryption Standard in the U.S. "Federal Register" on 17 March 1975. The proposed DES cipher was submitted by a research group at IBM, at the invitation of the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST), in an effort to develop secure electronic communication facilities for businesses such as banks and other large financial organizations. After advice and modification by the NSA, acting behind the scenes, it was adopted and published as a Federal Information Processing Standard Publication in 1977 (currently at FIPS 46-3). DES was the first publicly accessible cipher to be 'blessed' by a national agency such as the NSA. The release of its specification by NBS stimulated an explosion

Public key.

The second development, in 1976, was perhaps even more important, for it fundamentally changed the way cryptosystems might work. This was the publication of the paper New Directions in Cryptography by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman. It introduced a radically new method of distributing cryptographic keys, which went far toward solving one of the fundamental problems of cryptography, key distribution, and has become known as Diffie–Hellman key exchange. The article also stimulated the almost immediate public development of a new class of enciphering algorithms, the asymmetric key algorithms.  Prior to that time, all useful modern encryption algorithms had been symmetric key algorithms, in which the same cryptographic key is used with the underlying algorithm by both the sender and the recipient, who must both keep it secret. All of the electromechanical machines used in World War II were of this logical class, as were the Caesar and Atbash ciphers and essentially all cipher systems throughout history. The 'key' for a code is, of course, the codebook, which must likewise be distributed and kept secret, and so shares most of the same problems in practice.  Of necessity, the key in every such system had to be exchanged between the communicating parties in some secure way prior to any use of the system (the term usually used is 'via a secure channel') such as a trustworthy courier with a briefcase handcuffed to a wrist, or face-to-face contact, or a loyal carrier pigeon. This requirement is never trivial and very rapidly becomes unmanageable as the number of participants increases, or when secure channels aren't available for key exchange, or when, as is sensible cryptographic practice, keys are frequently changed. In particular, if messages are meant to be secure from other users, a separate key is required for each possible pair of users. A system of this kind is known as a secret key, or symmetric key cryptosystem. D-H key exchange (and succeeding improvements and variants) made operation of these systems much easier, and more secure, than had ever been possible before in all of history.  In contrast, asymmetric key encryption uses a pair of mathematically related keys, each of which decrypts the encryption performed using the other. Some, but not all, of these algorithms have the additional property that one of the paired keys cannot be deduced from the other by any known method other than trial and error. An algorithm of this kind is known as

Hashing.

Hashing is a common technique used in cryptography to encode information quickly using typical algorithms. Generally, an algorithm is applied to a string of text, and the resulting string becomes the "hash value". This creates a "digital fingerprint" of the message, as the specific hash value is used to identify a specific message. The output from the algorithm is also referred to as a "message digest" or a "check sum". Hashing is good for determining if information has been changed in transmission. If the hash value is different upon reception than upon sending, there is evidence the message has been altered. Once the algorithm has been applied to the data to be hashed, the hash function produces a fixed-length output. Essentially, anything passed through the hash function should

Cryptography politics.

The public developments of the 1970s broke the near monopoly on high quality cryptography held by government organizations (see S Levy's "Crypto" for a journalistic account of some of the policy controversy of the time in the US). For the first time ever, those outside government organizations had access to cryptography not readily breakable by anyone (including governments). Considerable controversy, and conflict, both public and private, began more or less immediately, sometimes called the crypto wars. They have not yet subsided. In many countries, for example, export of cryptography is subject to restrictions. Until 1996 export from the U.S. of cryptography using keys longer than 40 bits (too small to be

Modern cryptanalysis.

While modern ciphers like AES and the higher quality asymmetric ciphers are widely considered unbreakable, poor designs and implementations are still sometimes adopted and there have been important cryptanalytic breaks of deployed crypto systems in recent years. Notable examples of broken crypto designs include the first Wi-Fi encryption scheme WEP, the Content Scrambling System used for encrypting and controlling DVD use, the A5/1 and A5/2 ciphers used in GSM cell phones, and the CRYPTO1 cipher used in the widely deployed MIFARE Classic smart cards from NXP Semiconductors, a spun off division of Philips Electronics. All of

Cryptography, the use of codes and ciphers to protect secrets, began thousands of years ago. Until recent decades, it has been the story of what might be called classic cryptography — that is, of methods of encryption that use pen and paper, or perhaps simple mechanical aids. In the early 20th century, the invention of complex mechanical and electromechanical machines, such as the Enigma rotor machine, provided more sophisticated and efficient means of encryption; and the subsequent introduction of electronics and computing has allowed elaborate schemes of still greater complexity, most of which are entirely unsuited to pen and paper.

密码学起源于数千年以前,直到最近的几十年为止,这部分密码学被称为经典密码学,经典密码的主要使用笔和纸,或者简单的机械辅助工具来加密。到了20世纪早期,随着一些复杂机械和电动机械的发明,更复杂和有效的加密方法随之诞生,例如以恩尼格玛密码机为代表的回转轮加密法;随后的电子元件和计算机更是使其变得进一步复杂和精密,此时出现的绝大多数加密方法已经完全摆脱了传统的纸笔运用了。