Origins of the term.

"Neoplatonism" is a modern term. The term "neoplatonism" has a double function as a historical category. On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus and his successors from those of the historical Plato. On the other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus's interpretation of Plato. In the nearly six centuries from Plato's time to Plotinus', there had been an uninterrupted tradition of interpreting Plato which had begun with Aristotle and with the immediate successors of Plato's academy and continued on through a period of Platonism which is now referred to as Middle Platonism. The term "neoplatonism" implies that Plotinus' interpretation of Plato was so distinct from those of his predecessors that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism. Some contemporary scholars, however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that "neoplatonism" constitutes a useful label. They claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus' teachings from those of his immediate predecessors.  Whether neoplatonism is a meaningful or useful historical category is itself a central question concerning the history of the interpretation of Plato. For much of the history of Platonism, it was commonly accepted that the doctrines of the neoplatonists were essentially the same as those of Plato. The Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino, for instance, thought that the neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic and accurate representation of Plato's philosophy. Although it is unclear precisely when scholars began to disassociate the philosophy of the historical Plato from the philosophy of his neoplatonic interpreters, they had clearly begun to do so at least as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century. Contemporary scholars often identify the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as an early thinker who took Plato's philosophy to be separate from that of his neoplatonic interpreters. However, others have argued that the differentiation of Plato from neoplatonism was the result of a protracted historical development that preceded Schleiermacher's scholarly work on Plato.

Origins and history of classical neoplatonism.

Neoplatonism started with Plotinus in the third century. Three distinct phases in classical neoplatonism after Plotinus can be distinguished: the work of his student Porphyry; that of Iamblichus and his school in Syria; and the period in the fifth and sixth centuries, when the Academies in Alexandria and Athens flourished.

Hellenism.

Neoplatonism synthesized ideas from various philosophical and religious cultural spheres. The most important forerunners from Greek philosophy were the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, and the neopythagoreans, especially Numenius of Apamea. Philo, a Hellenized Jew, translated Judaism into terms of Stoic, Platonic and neopythagorean elements, and held that God is "supra rational" and can be reached only through "ecstasy". Philo also held that the oracles of God supply the material of moral and religious knowledge. The earliest Christian philosophers, such as Justin and Athenagoras, who attempted to connect Christianity with Platonism, and the Christian Gnostics of Alexandria, especially Valentinus and the followers of Basilides, also mirrored elements of neoplatonism, albeit without its rigorous self-consistency.

Saccas.

Ammonius Saccas (died ; Greek: Ἀμμώνιος Σακκᾶς) was a teacher of Plotinus. Through Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus may have been influenced by Indian thought. The similarities between neoplatonism and the Vedanta philosophies of Hinduism have led several authors to suggest an Indian influence in its founding, particularly on Ammonius Saccas.  Both Christians (see Eusebius, Jerome, and Origen) and pagans (see Porphyry and Plotinus) claimed him a teacher and founder of the neoplatonic system. Porphyry stated in "On the One School of Plato and Aristotle", that Ammonius' view was that the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were in harmony. Eusebius and Jerome claimed him as a Christian until his death, whereas Porphyry claimed he had renounced Christianity and embraced pagan philosophy.

Plotinus.

Plotinus ( – ; Greek: Πλωτῖνος), born in upper Egypt, was a major Egyptian philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the father of neoplatonism. Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry's preface to his edition of Plotinus' "Enneads". While he was himself influenced by the teachings of classical Greek, Persian and Indian philosophy and Egyptian theology, his metaphysical writings later inspired numerous Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics over the centuries.  Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity, nor distinction; likewise, it is beyond all categories of being and non-being. The concept of "being" is derived by us from the objects of human experience and is an attribute of such objects, but the infinite, transcendent One is beyond all such objects and, therefore, is beyond the concepts which we can derive from them. The One "cannot be any existing thing" and cannot be merely the sum of all such things (compare the Stoic doctrine of disbelief in non-material existence) but "is prior to all existents".

Porphyry.

Porphyry (Greek: Πορφύριος, c. 233–c. 309) was a Syrian neoplatonist philosopher. He wrote widely on astrology, religion, philosophy, and musical theory. He produced a biography of his teacher, Plotinus. He is important in the history of mathematics because of his Life of Pythagoras and his commentary on Euclid's Elements, which Pappus used when he wrote his own commentary. Porphyry is also known as an opponent of Christianity and as a defender of Paganism; of his Adversus Christianos (Against the Christians) in 15 books, only fragments remain. He famously said, "The gods have proclaimed Christ to have been most pious, but the Christians are a confused and vicious sect."

Iamblichus.

Iamblichus, also known as Iamblichus Chalcidensis ( – ; Greek: Ἰάμβλιχος), was a Syrian neoplatonist philosopher who influenced the direction taken by later neoplatonic philosophy. He is perhaps best known for his compendium on Pythagorean philosophy. In Iamblichus' system, the realm of divinities stretched from the original One down to material nature itself, where soul, in fact, descended into matter and became "embodied" as human beings. The world is thus peopled by a crowd of superhuman beings influencing natural events and possessing and communicating knowledge of the future, and who are all accessible to prayers and offerings. Iamblichus had salvation as his final goal (see henosis). The embodied soul was to return to divinity by performing certain rites, or theurgy, literally, 'divine-working'.

Academies.

After Plotinus' (around 205–270) and his student Porphyry (around 232–309) Aristotle's (non-biological) works entered the curriculum of Platonic thought. Porphyry's introduction (Isagoge) to Aristotle's "Categoria" was important as an introduction to logic, and the study of Aristotle became an introduction to the study of Plato in the late Platonism of Athens and Alexandria. The commentaries of this group seek to harmonise Plato, Aristotle, and, often, the Stoa. Some works of neoplatonism were attributed to Plato or Aristotle. "De Mundo", for instance, is thought not to be the work of a 'pseudo-Aristotle' though this remains debatable.  Hypatia ( – 415) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician who served as head of the Platonist school in Alexandria, Egypt, where she taught philosophy, mathematics and astronomy prior to her murder by a fanatical mob of Coptic Parabalani monks because she had been advising the Christian prefect of Egypt Orestes during his feud with Cyril, Alexandria's dynastic archbishop. The extent of Cyril's personal involvement in her murder remains a matter of scholarly debate.  Proclus Lycaeus (February 8, 412 – April 17, 485), surnamed "The Successor" or "diadochos" (Greek Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος Próklos ho Diádokhos), was a Greek neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Greek philosophers (see Damascius). He set forth one of the most elaborate, complex, and fully developed neoplatonic systems, providing also an allegorical way of reading the dialogues of Plato. The particular characteristic of Proclus' system is his insertion of a level of individual ones, called henads between the One itself and the divine Intellect, which is the second principle. The henads are beyond being, like the One itself, but they stand at the head of chains of causation (seirai or taxeis) and in some manner give to these chains their particular character. They are also identified with the traditional Greek gods, so one henad might be Apollo and be the cause of all things apollonian, while another might be Helios and be the cause of all sunny things. The henads serve both to protect the One itself from any hint of multiplicity and to draw up the rest of the universe towards the One, by being a connecting, intermediate stage between absolute unity and determinate multiplicity.

Ideas.

The "Enneads" of Plotinus are the primary and classical document of neoplatonism. As a form of mysticism, it contains theoretical and practical parts. The theoretical parts deal with the high origin of the human soul, showing how it has departed from its first estate. The practical parts show the way by which the soul may again return to the Eternal and Supreme. The system can be divided between the invisible world and the phenomenal world, the former containing the transcendent One from which emanates an eternal, perfect, essence ("nous", or intellect), which, in turn, produces the world-soul.

The One.

For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is "the One", an utterly simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although, properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the most adequate names are "the One" or "the Good". The One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist or to be a being. Rather, the creative principle of all things is "beyond" being, a notion which is derived from Book VI of the "Republic", when, in the course of his famous analogy of the sun, Plato says that the Good is beyond being (ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας) in power and dignity. In Plotinus' model of reality, the One is the cause of the rest of reality, which takes the form of two subsequent "hypostases" or substances: Nous and Soul. Although neoplatonists after Plotinus adhered to his cosmological scheme in its most general outline, later developments in the tradition also departed substantively from Plotinus' teachings in regards to significant philosophical issues, such as the nature of evil.

Emanations.

From the One emanated the rest of the universe as a sequence of lesser beings.

Demiurge or Nous.

The original Being initially emanates, or throws out, the "nous", which is a perfect image of the One and the archetype of all existing things. It is simultaneously both being and thought, idea and ideal world. As image, the "nous" corresponds perfectly to the One, but as derivative, it is entirely different. What Plotinus understands by the "nous" is the highest sphere accessible to the human "mind", while also being pure "intellect" itself. "Nous" is the most critical component of idealism, Neoplatonism being a pure form of idealism. The demiurge (the "nous") is the energy, or "ergon" (does the work), which manifests or organises the material world into perceivability.

The world-soul.

The image and product of the motionless nous is the "world-soul", which, according to Plotinus, is immaterial like the "nous". Its relation to the "nous" is the same as that of the "nous" to the One. It stands between the "nous" and the phenomenal world, and it is permeated and illuminated by the former, but it is also in contact with the latter. The "nous/spirit" is indivisible; the world-soul may preserve its unity and remain in the "nous", but, at the same time, it has the power of uniting with the corporeal world and thus being disintegrated. It therefore occupies an intermediate position. As a single world-soul, it belongs in essence and destination to the intelligible world; but it also embraces innumerable individual souls; and these can either allow themselves to be informed by the "nous", or turn aside from the nous and choose the phenomenal world and lose themselves in the realm of the senses and the finite.

The phenomenal world.

The soul, as a moving essence, generates the corporeal or phenomenal world. This world ought to be so pervaded by the soul that its various parts should remain in perfect harmony. Plotinus is no dualist in the same sense as sects like the Gnostics; in contrast, he admires the beauty and splendour of the world. So long as idea governs matter, or the soul governs the body, the world is fair and good. It is an image – though a shadowy image – of the upper world, and the degrees of better and worse in it are essential to the harmony of the whole. But, in the actual phenomenal world, unity and harmony are replaced by strife or discord; the result is a conflict, a becoming and vanishing, an illusive existence. And the reason for this state of things is that bodies rest on a substratum of matter. Matter is the indeterminate: that with no qualities. If destitute of form and idea, it is evil; as capable of form, it is neutral. Evil here is understood as a parasite, having no-existence of its own (parahypostasis), an unavoidable outcome of the Universe, having an "other" necessity, as a harmonizing factor.

Celestial hierarchy.

Later neoplatonic philosophers, especially Iamblichus, added hundreds of intermediate beings such as gods, angels, demons, and other beings as mediators between the One and humanity. The neoplatonist gods are omni-perfect beings and do not display the usual amoral behaviour associated with their representations in the myths.

Evil.

Neoplatonists did not believe in an independent existence of evil. They compared it to darkness, which does not exist in itself but only as the absence of light. So, too, evil is simply the absence of good. Things are good insofar as they exist; they are evil only insofar as they are imperfect, lacking some good which they should have.

Return to the One.

Neoplatonists believed human perfection and happiness were attainable in this world, without awaiting an afterlife. Perfection and happiness—seen as synonymous—could be achieved through philosophical contemplation.  All people return to the One, from which they emanated.  The neoplatonists believed in the pre-existence, and immortality of the soul. The human soul consists of a lower irrational soul and a higher rational soul (mind), both of which can be regarded as different powers of the one soul. It was widely held that the soul possesses a "vehicle", accounting for the human soul's immortality and allowing for its return to the One after death. After bodily death, the soul takes up a level in the afterlife corresponding with the level at which it lived during its earthly life. The neoplatonists believed in the principle of reincarnation. Although the most pure and holy souls would dwell in the highest regions, the impure soul would undergo a purification, before descending again, to be reincarnated into a new body, perhaps into animal form. Plotinus believed that a soul may be reincarnated into another human or even a different sort of animal. However, Porphyry maintained, instead, that human souls were only reincarnated into other humans. A soul which has returned to the One achieves union with the cosmic universal soul and does not descend again; at least, not in this world period.

Influence.

Early Christianity.

Augustine.

Certain central tenets of neoplatonism served as a philosophical interim for the Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo on his journey from dualistic Manichaeism to Christianity. As a Manichee hearer, Augustine had held that evil has substantial being and that God is made of matter; when he became a neoplatonist, he changed his views on these things. As a neoplatonist, and later a Christian, Augustine believed that evil is a privation of good and that God is not material. When writing his treatise 'On True Religion' several years after his 387 baptism, Augustine's Christianity was still tempered by neoplatonism.  The term "Logos" was interpreted variously in neoplatonism. Plotinus refers to Thales in interpreting Logos as the principle of meditation, the interrelationship between the Hypostases (Soul, Spirit (nous) and the 'One'). St. John introduces a relation between 'Logos' and the Son, Christ, whereas St. Paul calls it 'Son', 'Image', and 'Form'. Victorinus subsequently differentiated the Logos interior to God from the Logos related to the world by creation and salvation.  For Augustine, the Logos "took on flesh" in Christ, in whom the Logos was present as in no other man. He strongly influenced Early Medieval Christian Philosophy. Perhaps the key subject in this was Logos.

Origen and Pseudo-Dionysius.

Some early Christians, influenced by neoplatonism, identified the Neoplatonic One, or God, with Yahweh. The most influential of these would be Origen, the pupil of Ammonius Saccas; and the sixth-century author known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, whose works were translated by John Scotus in the ninth century for the West. Both authors had a lasting influence on Eastern Orthodox and Western Christianity, and the development of contemplative and mystical practices and theology.

Gnosticism.

Neoplatonism also had links with Gnosticism, which Plotinus rebuked in his ninth tractate of the second "Enneads": "Against Those That Affirm The Creator of The Cosmos and The Cosmos Itself to Be Evil" (generally known as "Against The Gnostics").  Due to their belief being grounded in Platonic thought, the neoplatonists rejected Gnosticism's vilification of Plato's demiurge, the creator of the material world or cosmos discussed in the Timaeus. Neoplatonism has been referred to as orthodox Platonic philosophy by scholars like John D. Turner; this reference may be due, in part, to Plotinus' attempt to refute certain interpretations of Platonic philosophy, through his Enneads. Plotinus believed the followers of Gnosticism had corrupted the original teachings of Plato and often argued against likes of Valentinus who, according to Plotinus, had given rise to doctrines of dogmatic theology with ideas such as that the Spirit of Christ was brought forth by a conscious god after the fall from Pleroma. According to Plotinus, The One is not a conscious god with intent nor a godhead nor a conditioned existing entity of any kind, rather a requisite principle of totality which is also the source of ultimate wisdom.

Byzantine education.

After the Platonic Academy was destroyed in the first century BC, philosophers continued to teach Platonism, but it was not until the early 5th century (c. 410) that a revived academy (which had no connection with the original Academy) was established in Athens by some leading Neoplatonists. It persisted until 529 AD when it was finally closed by Justinian I because of active paganism of its professors. Other schools continued in Constantinople, Antioch and Alexandria which were the centers of Justinian's empire.  After the closure of the Neoplatonic academy, neoplatonic and/or secular philosophical studies continued in publicly funded schools in Alexandria. In the early seventh century, the neoplatonist Stephanus brought this Alexandrian tradition to Constantinople, where it would remain influential, albeit as a form of secular education. The university maintained an active philosophical tradition of Platonism and Aristotelianism, with the former being the longest unbroken Platonic school, running for close to two millennia until the fifteenth century  Michael Psellos (1018–1078) a Byzantine monk, writer, philosopher, politician, and historian. He wrote many philosophical treatises such as "De omnifaria doctrina". He wrote most of his philosophy during his time as a court politician at Constantinople in the 1030s and 1040s.  Gemistus Pletho ( – 1452; Greek: Πλήθων Γεμιστός) remained the preeminent scholar of neoplatonic philosophy in the late Byzantine Empire. He introduced his understanding and insight into the works of neoplatonism during the failed attempt to reconcile the East–West Schism at the council of Florence. At Florence, Pletho met Cosimo de' Medici and influenced the latter's decision to found a new Platonic Academy there. Cosimo subsequently appointed as head Marsilio Ficino, who proceeded to translate all Plato's works, the Enneads of Plotinus, and various other neoplatonist works into Latin.

Islamic neoplatonism.

There were three major reasons for the prominence of neoplatonic influences in the historical Muslim world:  Various Arabic scholars and philosophers, including Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Ibn Arabi, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and al-Himsi, adapted neoplatonism to conform to the monotheistic constraints of Islam. The translations of the works which extrapolate the tenets of God in neoplatonism present no major modification from their original Greek sources, showing the doctrinal shift towards monotheism. Islamic adapted the concepts of the One and the First Principle to Islamic theology, attributing the First Principle to God. God is a transcendent being, omnipresent and inalterable to the effects of creation. Islamic philosophers used the framework of Islamic mysticism in their interpretation of Neoplatonic writings and concepts.  The translation and interpretation of Islamic neoplatonists had lasting effects on Western philosophers, affecting Descartes' view on the conception of being.

Jewish thought.

In the Middle Ages, neoplatonist ideas influenced Jewish thinkers, such as the Kabbalist Isaac the Blind, and the Jewish neoplatonic philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol ("Avicebron"), who modified it in the light of their own monotheism. Neoplatonist ideas also influenced Islamic and Sufi thinkers such as al Farabi and Avicenna.

Western mysticism.

The works of Pseudo-Dionysius were instrumental in the flowering of western medieval mysticism, most notably Meister Eckhart.

Western Renaissance.

Neoplatonism ostensibly survived in the Eastern Christian Church as an independent tradition and was reintroduced to the West by Pletho ( – 1452/1454), an avowed pagan and opponent of the Byzantine Church, inasmuch as the latter, under Western scholastic influence, relied heavily upon Aristotelian methodology. Plethon's Platonic revival, following the Council of Florence (1438–1439), largely accounts for the renewed interest in Platonic philosophy which accompanied the Renaissance.  "Of all the students of Greek in Renaissance Italy, the best-known are the Neoplatonists who studied in and around Florence" (Hole). Neoplatonism was not just a revival of Plato's ideas, it is all based on Plotinus' created synthesis, which incorporated the works and teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and other Greek philosophers. The Renaissance in Italy was the revival of classic antiquity, and this started at the fall of the Byzantine empire, who were considered the "librarians of the world", because of their great collection of classical manuscripts and the number of humanist scholars that resided in Constantinople (Hole).  Neoplatonism in the Renaissance combined the ideas of Christianity and a new awareness of the writings of Plato.  Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) was "chiefly responsible for packaging and presenting Plato to the Renaissance" (Hole). In 1462, Cosimo I de' Medici, patron of arts, who had an interest in humanism and Platonism, provided Ficino with all 36 of Plato's dialogues in Greek for him to translate. Between 1462 and 1469, Ficino translated these works into Latin, making them widely accessible, as only a minority of people could read Greek. And, between 1484 and 1492, he translated the works of Plotinus, making them available for the first time to the West.  Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) was another excelling neoplatonist during the Italian Renaissance. He could not only speak and write in Latin and Greek, but he also had immense knowledge on the Hebrew and Arabic languages. The pope banned his works because they were viewed as heretical – unlike Ficino, who managed to stay on the right side of the church.  The efforts of Ficino and Pico to introduce neoplatonic and Hermetic doctrines into the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church has recently been evaluated in terms of an attempted "Hermetic Reformation".

Cambridge Platonists (17th century).

In the seventeenth century in England, neoplatonism was fundamental to the school of the Cambridge Platonists, whose luminaries included Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, Benjamin Whichcote and John Smith, all graduates of the University of Cambridge. Coleridge claimed that they were not really Platonists, but "more truly Plotinists": "divine Plotinus", as More called him.  Later, Thomas Taylor (not a Cambridge Platonist) was the first to translate Plotinus' works into English.

Modern neoplatonism.

Notable modern neoplatonists include Thomas Taylor, "the English Platonist", who wrote extensively on Platonism and translated almost the entire Platonic and Plotinian corpora into English, and the Belgian writer Suzanne Lilar.  The science fiction writer Philip K. Dick identified as a Neoplatonist and explores related mystical experiences and religious concepts in his theoretical work, compiled in The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick.

Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the third century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as it encapsulates a chain of thinkers which began with Ammonius Saccas and his student Plotinus (c. 204/5 – 270 AD) and which stretches to the sixth century AD. Even though neoplatonism primarily circumscribes the thinkers who are now labeled Neoplatonists and not their ideas, there are some ideas that are common to neoplatonic systems, for example, the monistic idea that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".

新柏拉图主义(Neo-Platonism),是公元3世纪由亚历山大城的普罗提诺发展出的哲学派别,是古希腊文化末期最重要的哲学流派,对基督教神学产生了重大影响。


History.

The JKU was established as the "College of Social Sciences, Economics and Business" ("Hochschule für Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften") in 1966. The Faculty of Sciences and Engineering was established three years later and in 1975, the college was awarded university status and the Faculty of Law was integrated on campus. The university was named in honor of astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) who wrote his magnum opus "harmonices mundi" ("The Harmony of the world") in Linz during the early 17th century and taught mathematics at a school for the landed gentry ("Adelichen Landt-Schuelen") near Linz. At present, the campus added the "JKU Science Park", additional buildings for science and engineering institutes. In 2019 many new buildings are being built.

Campus.

JKU's campus is located in the northeast of Linz, in the "Auhof" area of the "St. Magdalena" district. The university buildings are placed in a 90-acre (364,000 m2) park centered around a pond.

Infrastructure.

The campus is accessible by the Linz tram lines "1" and "2" and the express bus line "77". On weekdays, trams travel every 5 minutes and a trip to the city center ("Hauptplatz") takes approximately 16 minutes.  The JKU is also located close to Austria's autobahn network at the"Dornach" exit on the "A7 Mühlkreisautobahn" (ca. 1 km or 0.6 miles). In anticipation of extending the campus, an additional autobahn exit, "Auhof", is currently in the construction stages and is expected to better facilitate traffic, allowing a more direct route to the university.  A bicycle path in the north-east corner of the town located along the north side of the Danube river provides direct access to the university and helps to reduce traffic in the area.

Housing.

Many larger dormitories are within walking distance of the university, such as the "Julius Raab Heim", the "WIST Haus", the "Kepler Heim", the "ESH" and the "KHG Heim". Several other dormitories are located in different parts of Linz, providing housing for more than 3,100 students in all of Linz.  Some of the dormitories become hotels during the summer holidays, most notably the "Julius Raab Heim" under the name "Hotel Sommerhaus".

Organization.

Management.

The university Rector and Academic Senate are responsible for the university's management. There are several vice rectors who are each assigned to specific task areas and who assist the Rector. The university board is an independent body that advises and counsels the Rector and Academic Senate on management issues. Deans and faculty committees are responsible for management on a faculty level. Rector and deans are elected for a 4-year period whereas faculty committees are elected for a 2-year period.

Faculties and Degree Programs.

The Johannes Kepler University has four faculties with a total of 127 institutes.

Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics and Business (SoWi).

The Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics and Business is the oldest and largest faculty in terms of students and graduates. The faculty consists of 32 institutes and offers academic degrees e.g. in Economics and Business Administration, Business Informatics, Business and Education, Social Economics, Sociology and Statistics.  The faculty's abbreviation "SoWi" is derived from the German name of the faculty, "Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät".

Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (TN).

The Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences was established in 1969 and initially offered degrees e.g. in Technical Mathematics, Computer Science and Technical Physics. Over time, degrees in Technical Chemistry, Mechatronics and Information Electronics were introduced.  Several master's degrees to specialize in the area of computer science, mathematics and physics, such as pervasive computing, industrial mathematics or biophysics are available. Doctorate degrees are offered in the areas of natural science and technical science.  The TN faculty consists of 51 distinctive institutes and the German name is "Technisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät", hence the abbreviation "TN" or "TNF".

Faculty of Law (RE).

The Faculty of Law was officially established in 1975. Before that time period, law degrees were offered by the "SoWi" faculty, which was then the"Faculty of Social Sciences, Economics, Business and Law". In addition to Diploma and doctorate degrees in law, the RE faculty offers a Bachelor's degree in Business Law in cooperation with the "SoWi" faculty. Law degrees are also offered via multimedia distance learning.  The abbreviation "RE" is derived from the first two letters of the faculty's name German name, "Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakultät." At present, the RE faculty consists of 20 institutes.

Faculty of Medicine (MED).

The Faculty of Medicine was founded in 2014. A new MED-Campus is being built.

Interdisciplinary programs.

The master's degree program in web sciences is divided into branches of study: social web, web art & design, web business & economy, web engineering as well as web and the law. It offers those with academic background in various fields a research-led expansion and in-depth look at fields relevant to the web such as technology, business, law, society, art and culture.

Distance learning.

The JKU maintains several distance learning centers in Austria that offer degrees and courses at the German FernUniversität Hagen, the British Open University and JKU's own distance law degree program.

Other universities in Linz.

There are three other universities in Linz: The University of Art and Design Linz, a public university for arts and industrial design (ca. 800 students), the Anton Bruckner Private University with approx. 1000 students enrolled, and the Catholic Private University Linz with about 500 students, which has been a Papal faculty since 1978.

The Johannes Kepler University Linz (German: "Johannes Kepler Universität Linz", short: "JKU") is a public institution of higher education in Austria. It is located in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. It offers bachelor's, master's, diploma and doctoral degrees in business, engineering, law, science, social sciences and medicine.

约翰·开普勒林茨大学(,简称JKU),简称林兹大学(),是奥地利的公立大学,为纪念天文学家开普勒的大学。它位于上奥地利邦首府林茨市。设有商业,工程,法律,科学和社会科学的学士、硕士和博士学位。至今为止,共有18,036名学生在林兹东北部的公园校园学习,其中九分之一的学生来自国外。该大学是奥地利第一个在1998年引入电子学生证的大学。


Early life and education.

Childhood.

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735 (October 19, 1735, Old Style, Julian calendar), to John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston. He had two younger brothers, Peter (1738-1823) and Elihu (1741-1775), and a sister, Jerusha (1748-1810). Adams was born on the family farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. His mother was from a leading medical family of present-day Brookline, Massachusetts. His father was a deacon in the Congregational Church, a farmer, a cordwainer, and a lieutenant in the militia. John Sr. served as a selectman (town councilman) and supervised the building of schools and roads. Adams often praised his father and recalled their close relationship. Adams's great-great-grandfather Henry Adams emigrated to Massachusetts from Braintree, Essex, England, around 1638.  Though raised in modest surroundings, Adams felt pressured to live up to his heritage. His was a family of Puritans, who profoundly affected their region's culture,

College education and adulthood.

At age sixteen, Adams entered Harvard College in 1751, studying under Joseph Mayhew. As an adult, Adams was a keen scholar, studying the works of ancient writers such as Thucydides, Plato, Cicero, and Tacitus in their original languages. Though his father expected him to be a minister, after his 1755 graduation with an A.B. degree, he taught school temporarily in Worcester, while pondering his permanent vocation. In the next four years, he began to seek prestige, craving "Honour or Reputation" and "more from [his] fellows", and was determined to be "a great

Law practice and marriage.

In 1756, Adams began reading law under James Putnam, a leading lawyer in Worcester. In 1758, he earned an A.M. from Harvard, and in 1759 was admitted to the bar. He developed an early habit of writing about events and impressions of men in his diary; this included James Otis Jr.'s 1761 legal argument challenging the legality of British writs of assistance, allowing the British to search a home without notice or reason. Otis's argument inspired Adams to the cause of the American colonies.  A group of

Career before the Revolution.

Opponent of Stamp Act.

Adams rose to prominence leading widespread opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765. The Act was imposed by the British Parliament without consulting the American legislatures. It required payment of a direct tax by the colonies for stamped documents, and was designed to pay for the costs of Britain's war with France. Power of enforcement was given to British vice admiralty courts, rather than common law courts. These Admiralty courts acted without juries and were greatly disliked. The Act was despised for both its monetary cost and implementation without colonial consent, and encountered violent resistance, preventing its enforcement. Adams authored the "Braintree Instructions" in 1765, in the form of a letter sent to the representatives of Braintree in the Massachusetts legislature. In it, he explained that the Act should be opposed since it denied two fundamental rights guaranteed to all Englishmen (and which all free men deserved): rights to be taxed only by consent and to be tried by a jury of one's peers. The instructions were a succinct and forthright defense

Counsel for the British: Boston Massacre.

Britain's passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767 revived tensions, and an increase in mob violence led the British to dispatch more troops to the colonies. On March 5, 1770, when a lone British sentry was accosted by a mob of citizens, eight of his fellow soldiers reinforced him, and the crowd around them grew to several hundred. The soldiers were struck with snowballs, ice, and stones, and in the chaos the soldiers opened fire, killing five civilians, bringing about the infamous Boston Massacre. The accused soldiers were arrested on charges of murder. When no other

Becoming a revolutionary.

Adams, who had been among the more conservative of the Founders, persistently held that while British actions against the colonies had been wrong and misguided, open insurrection was unwarranted and peaceful petition with the ultimate view of remaining part of Great Britain was a better alternative. His ideas began to change around 1772, as the British Crown assumed payment of the salaries of Governor Thomas Hutchinson and his judges instead of the Massachusetts legislature. Adams wrote in the "Gazette" that these measures would destroy judicial independence and place the colonial government in closer subjugation to the Crown. After discontent among members of the legislature, Hutchinson delivered a speech warning that Parliament's powers over the colonies were absolute and that any resistance was

Continental Congress.

Member of Continental Congress.

In 1774, at the instigation of Samuel Adams, the First Continental Congress was convened in response to the Intolerable Acts, a series of deeply unpopular measures intended to punish Massachusetts, centralize authority in Britain, and prevent rebellion in other colonies. Four delegates were chosen by the Massachusetts legislature, including Adams, who agreed to attend, despite an emotional plea from his friend Jonathan Sewall not to.  Shortly after he arrived in Philadelphia, Adams was placed on the 23-member Grand Committee tasked with drafting a letter of grievances to King George III. The members of the committee soon split into conservative and radical factions. Although the Massachusetts delegation was largely passive, Adams criticized conservatives such as Joseph Galloway,

Independence.

Throughout the first half of 1776, Adams grew increasingly impatient with what he perceived to be the slow pace of declaring independence. He kept busy on the floor of the Congress, helping push through a plan to outfit armed ships to launch raids on enemy vessels. Later in the year, he drafted the first set of regulations to govern the provisional navy. Adams drafted the preamble to the Lee resolution of colleague Richard Henry Lee. He developed a rapport with Delegate Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, who had been slower to support independence but by early 1776 agreed that it was necessary. On June 7, 1776, Adams seconded the resolution, which stated, "These colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." Prior to independence being declared, Adams organized and

Diplomatic service.

Commissioner to France.

Before the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Adams advocated in Congress that independence was necessary to establish trade, and conversely, trade was essential for the attainment of independence; he specifically urged negotiation of a commercial treaty with France. He was then appointed, along with Franklin, Dickinson, Benjamin Harrison of Virginia and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, "to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign powers." While Jefferson was laboring over the Declaration of Independence, Adams worked on the Model Treaty. The Model Treaty authorized a commercial agreement with France but contained no provisions for formal recognition or military assistance. There were provisions for what constituted French territory. The treaty adhered to the provision that "free ships make free goods," allowing neutral nations to trade reciprocally while exempting an agreed upon list of contraband. By late 1777, America's finances were in tatters, and that September a

Ambassador to the Dutch Republic.

In mid-1780, Adams traveled to the Dutch Republic. One of the few other existing republics at the time, Adams thought it might be sympathetic to the American cause. Securing a Dutch loan could increase American independence from France and pressure Britain into peace. At first, Adams had no official status, but in July he was formally given permission to negotiate for a loan and took up residence in Amsterdam in August. Adams was originally optimistic and greatly enjoyed the city, but soon became disappointed. The Dutch, fearing British retaliation, refused to meet Adams. Before he had arrived, the British found out about secret aid the Dutch had sent to the Americans, the British authorized reprisals against their ships, which only increased their apprehension. Word had also reached Europe of American battlefield defeats. After five months of not meeting with a single Dutch official, Adams in early 1781 pronounced Amsterdam "the capital of the reign of Mammon." He was finally invited to present his credentials as ambassador to the Dutch government at The Hague on April 19, 1781, but they did not

Treaty of Paris.

After negotiating the loan with the Dutch, Adams was re-appointed as the American commissioner to negotiate the war-ending treaty, the Treaty of Paris. Vergennes still disapproved of Adams, so Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and Henry Laurens were appointed to collaborate with Adams, although Jefferson did not go to Europe and Laurens was posted to the Dutch Republic.  In the final negotiations, securing fishing rights off Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island proved both very important and very difficult. In response to very strict restrictions proposed by the British, Adams insisted that not only should American fishermen be allowed to travel as close to shore as desired, but that they should be

Ambassador to Great Britain.

Adams was appointed the first American ambassador to Great Britain in 1785. When a counterpart assumed that Adams had family in England, Adams replied, "Neither my father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, great grandfather or great grandmother, nor any other relation that I know of, or care a farthing for, has been in England these one hundred and fifty years; so that you see I have not one drop of blood in my veins but what is American." After arriving in London from Paris, Adams had his first

Vice presidency, 1789–1797.

Election.

On June 17, Adams arrived back in Massachusetts to a triumphant welcome. He returned to farming life in the months after. The nation's first presidential election was soon to take place. Because George Washington was widely expected to win the presidency, many felt that the vice presidency should go to a northerner. Although he made no public comments on the matter, Adams was the primary contender. Each state's presidential electors gathered on February 4, 1789, to cast their. The person with the most votes would be president and the second would become vice president. Adams received 34 electoral college votes in the election, second place

Tenure.

The sole constitutionally prescribed responsibility of the vice president is to preside over the Senate, where he can cast a tie-breaking vote. Early in his term, Adams became deeply involved in a lengthy Senate controversy over the official titles for the president and executive officers of the new government. Although the House agreed that the president should be addressed simply as "George Washington, President of the United States", the Senate debated the issue at some length. Adams favored the adoption of the style of "Highness" (as well as the title of "Protector of Their [the United States'] Liberties") for the president. Some senators favored a variant of "Highness" or the lesser "Excellency"." Anti-federalists in the Senate objected to the monarchical sound of them all; Jefferson described them

Election of 1796.

The election of 1796 was the first contested American presidential election. Twice, George Washington had been elected to office unanimously but, during his presidency, deep philosophical differences between the two leading figures in the administration – Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson – had caused a rift, leading to the founding of the Federalist and Republican parties. When Washington announced that he would not be a candidate for a third term, an intense partisan struggle for control of Congress and the presidency

Presidency, 1797–1801.

Inauguration.

Adams was sworn into office as the nation's second president on March 4, 1797, by Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth. As president, he followed Washington's lead in using the presidency to exemplify republican values and civic virtue, and his service was free of scandal. Adams spent much of his term at his Massachusetts home Peacefield, preferring the quietness of domestic life to business at the capital. He ignored the political patronage and office seekers which other office holders utilized.  Historians debate his

Failed peace commission and XYZ affair.

Historian Joseph Ellis writes that "[t]he Adams presidency was destined to be dominated by a single question of American policy to an extent seldom if ever encountered by any succeeding occupant of the office." That question was whether to make war with France or find peace. In Europe, Britain and France were at war as a result of the French Revolution. Hamilton and the Federalists favored the British monarchy against what they perceived to be the political and anti-religious radicalism of the French Revolution, while Jefferson and the Republicans, with their firm opposition to monarchy, strongly supported France. The French had supported Jefferson for

Alien and Sedition Acts.

Despite the XYZ Affair, Republican opposition persisted. Federalists accused the French and their associated immigrants of provoking civil unrest. In an attempt to quell the outcry, the Federalists introduced, and the Congress passed, a series of laws collectively referred to as the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were signed by Adams in June 1798. Congress specifically passed four measures – the Naturalization Act, the Alien Friends Act, the Alien Enemies Act and the Sedition Act. All came within a period of two weeks, in what Jefferson called an "unguarded passion." The Alien Friends Act, Alien Enemies Act, and Naturalization Acts targeted immigrants, specifically French, by giving the president greater deportation authority and increasing citizenship requirements. The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government or its officials. Adams had not promoted any of these acts, but was urged to sign them by his wife and cabinet. He eventually agreed and signed the bills into law. The

Quasi-War.

In May 1798, a French privateer captured a merchant vessel off of the New York Harbor. An increase in attacks on sea marked the beginning of the undeclared naval war known as the Quasi-War. Adams knew that America would be unable to win a major conflict, both because of its internal divisions and because France at the time was dominating the fight in most of Europe. He pursued a strategy whereby America harassed French ships in an effort sufficient to stem the French assaults on American interests. In May, shortly after the attack in New York, Congress created a separate Navy Department. The prospect of a French invasion of the U.S. mainland led for calls to build up the army. Hamilton and other "High Federalists" were particularly adamant that a large army be called up, in spite of a common fear, particularly among Republicans, that large standing armies were subversive to liberty. In May, a "provisional"

Fries's Rebellion.

To pay for the military buildup of the Quasi-War, Adams and his Federalist allies enacted the Direct Tax of 1798. Direct taxation by the federal government was widely unpopular, and the government's revenue under Washington had mostly come from excise taxes and tariffs. Though Washington had maintained a balanced budget with the help of a growing economy, increased military expenditures threatened to cause major budget deficits, and the Federalists developed a taxation plan to meet the need for increased government revenue. The Direct Tax of 1798 instituted a progressive land value tax of up to 1%

Federalist divisions and peace.

On May 5, 1800, Adams's frustrations with the Hamilton wing of the party exploded during a meeting with McHenry, a Hamilton loyalist who was universally regarded, even by Hamilton, as an inept Secretary of War. Adams accused him of subservience to Hamilton and declared that he would rather serve as Jefferson's vice president or minister at The Hague than be beholden to Hamilton for the presidency. McHenry offered to resign at once, and Adams accepted. On May 10, he asked Pickering to resign. Pickering refused and was summarily dismissed. Adams named John Marshall as Secretary of State and Samuel Dexter as Secretary of War. In 1799, Napoleon took over as head of the French government in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and declared the French Revolution over. News of this event increased Adams's desire to disband the provisional army, which, with Washington now dead, was commanded only by Hamilton. His moves

Establishing government institutions and move to Washington.

Adams's leadership on naval defense has sometimes led him to be called the "father of the American Navy." In July 1798, he signed into law An Act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, which authorized the establishment of a government-operated marine hospital service. In 1800, he signed the law establishing the Library of Congress.  Adams made his first official visit to the nation's new seat of government in early June 1800. Amid the "raw and unfinished" cityscape, the president found the public buildings "in a much greater forwardness of

Election of 1800.

With the Federalist Party deeply split over his negotiations with France, and the opposition Republican Party enraged over the Alien and Sedition Acts and the expansion of the military, Adams faced a daunting reelection campaign in 1800. The Federalist congressmen caucused in the spring of 1800 and nominated Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The Republicans nominated Jefferson and Burr, their candidates in the previous election.  The campaign was bitter and characterized by malicious insults by partisan presses on both sides. Federalists claimed that the Republicans were the enemies of "all who love order, peace, virtue, and religion." They were said to be libertines and dangerous radicals who

Judicial appointments.

Adams appointed two U.S. Supreme Court associate justices during his term in office: Bushrod Washington, the nephew of American founding father and President George Washington, and Alfred Moore. After the retirement of Ellsworth due to ill health in 1800, it fell to Adams to appoint the Court's fourth Chief Justice. At the time, it was not yet certain whether Jefferson or Burr would win the election. Regardless, Adams believed that the choice should be someone "in the full vigor of middle age" who could counter what might be a long line of successive Republican presidents. Adams chose his Secretary of State John Marshall. He, along with Stoddert, was one of Adams's few trusted cabinet members, and

Retirement.

Initial years.

Adams resumed farming at Peacefield in the town of Quincy and began work on an autobiography. The work had numerous gaps and was eventually abandoned and left unedited. Most of Adams's attention was focused on farm work. He regularly worked around the farm but mostly left manual labor to hired hands. His frugal lifestyle and presidential salary had left him with a considerable fortune by 1801. In 1803, the bank holding his cash reserves of about $13,000 collapsed. John Quincy resolved the crisis by buying

Correspondence with Jefferson.

In early 1801, Adams sent Thomas Jefferson a brief note after returning to Quincy wishing him a happy and prosperous presidency. Jefferson failed to respond, and they did not speak again for nearly 12 years. In 1804, Abigail, unbeknownst to her husband, wrote to Jefferson to express her condolences upon the death of his daughter Polly, who had stayed with the Adamses in London in 1787. This initiated a brief correspondence between the two which quickly descended into political rancor. Jefferson terminated it by not replying to Abigail's fourth letter. Aside from that, by 1812 there had been no communication between Peacefield and Monticello since Adams left office.  In early 1812, Adams reconciled with Jefferson. The previous year had been tragic for Adams; his brother-in-law and friend Richard Cranch had died along with his widow Mary, and Nabby had been diagnosed with breast cancer. These events mellowed Adams and caused him to soften his outlook. Their mutual friend Benjamin Rush, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence who had been corresponding with both, encouraged them to reach out to each other. On New

Last years and death.

Abigail died of typhoid on October 28, 1818, at their Quincy home, Peacefield.  The year 1824 was filled with excitement in America, featuring a four-way presidential contest which included John Quincy. The Marquis de Lafayette toured the country and met with Adams, who greatly enjoyed Lafayette's visit to Peacefield. Adams was delighted by the election of John Quincy to the presidency. The results became official in February 1825 after a deadlock was decided in the House of Representatives. He remarked, "No man who ever held the office of President would congratulate a friend on obtaining it."  Less than a month before his death, Adams issued a statement about the destiny of the United States, which historian

Political writings.

"Thoughts on Government".

During the First Continental Congress, Adams was sometimes solicited for his views on government. While recognizing its importance, Adams had privately criticized Thomas Paine's 1776 pamphlet "Common Sense", which attacked all forms of monarchy, even constitutional monarchy of the sort advocated by John Locke. It supported a unicameral legislature and a weak executive elected by the legislature. According to Adams, the author had "a better hand at pulling down than building." He believed that the views expressed in the pamphlet were "so democratical, without any restraint or even an attempt at any equilibrium or counter poise, that it must produce confusion and every evil work." What Paine advocated was a radical democracy with the views of the majority neither checked nor counterbalanced. This was incompatible with the system of checks and balances that conservatives like Adams would implement. Some delegates urged Adams to commit his views to paper. He did so in separate letters to these colleagues. So

Massachusetts Constitution.

After returning from his first mission to France in 1779, Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention with the purpose of establishing a new constitution for Massachusetts. He served on a committee of three, also including Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin, to draft the constitution. The task of writing it fell primarily to John Adams. The resulting Constitution of Massachusetts was approved in 1780. It was the first constitution written by a special committee, then ratified by the people; and was the first to feature a bicameral legislature. Included were a distinct executive – though restrained

"Defence of the Constitutions".

Adams's preoccupation with political and governmental affairs – which caused considerable separation from his wife and children – had a distinct familial context, which he articulated in 1780: "I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have the liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine."  While in London, Adams learned of a convention being planned to amend the Articles of

Political philosophy and views.

Slavery.

Adams never owned a slave and declined on principle to use slave labor, saying, "I have, through my whole life, held the practice of slavery in such abhorrence, that I have never owned a negro or any other slave, though I have lived for many years in times, when the practice was not disgraceful, when the best men in my vicinity thought it not inconsistent with their character, and when it has cost me thousands of dollars for the labor and subsistence of free men, which I

Accusations of monarchism.

Throughout his lifetime Adams expressed controversial and shifting views regarding the virtues of monarchical and hereditary political institutions. At times he conveyed substantial support for these approaches, suggesting for example that "hereditary monarchy or aristocracy" are the "only institutions that can possibly preserve the laws and liberties of the people." Yet at other times he distanced himself from such ideas, calling himself "a mortal and irreconcilable enemy to Monarchy" and "no friend to hereditary limited monarchy in America." Such denials did not assuage his critics, and Adams was often accused of being a monarchist. Historian Clinton Rossiter portrays Adams not as a monarchist but a revolutionary conservative who sought to balance republicanism with the stability of monarchy to create "ordered liberty." His 1790 "Discourses on Davila" published in the "Gazette of the United States"

Religious views.

Adams was raised a Congregationalist, since his ancestors were Puritans. According to biographer David McCullough, "as his family and friends knew, Adams was both a devout Christian, and an independent thinker, and he saw no conflict in that." In a letter to Rush, Adams credited religion with the success of his ancestors since their migration to the New World. He believed that regular church service was beneficial to man's moral sense. Everett (1966) concludes that "Adams strove for a religion based on a common sense sort of reasonableness" and maintained that religion must change and evolve toward perfection. Fielding (1940) argues that Adams's beliefs synthesized Puritan, deist, and humanist concepts. Adams at one point said that Christianity had originally been revelatory, but was being misinterpreted in the service of superstition, fraud, and unscrupulous power.  Frazer (2004) notes that while he shared many perspectives with deists and often used deistic terminology, "Adams clearly was not a deist. Deism rejected any and

Legacy.

Historical reputation.

Franklin summed up what many thought of Adams when he said, "He means well for his country, is always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses." Adams came to be seen as someone with a long, distinguished, and honorable career in public service, and a man of great patriotism and integrity, but whose vanity, stubbornness, and cantankerousness often got him into unnecessary trouble. Adams strongly felt that he would be forgotten and underappreciated by history. These feelings often manifested themselves through envy and verbal attacks on other Founders.  Historian George Herring argues that Adams was the most independent-minded of the Founders. Though he formally aligned with the Federalists, he was somewhat a party unto himself, at times disagreeing with the Federalists as much as he did the Republicans. He was often described as "prickly", but his tenacity was fed by decisions made in the face of universal opposition. Adams was often combative, which diminished presidential decorum, as he admitted in his old age: "[As President] I refused to suffer in silence. I sighed, sobbed, and groaned, and sometimes screeched and screamed. And I must confess to my shame and sorrow that I sometimes swore." Stubbornness was seen as one of his defining traits, a fact for which Adams made no apology. "Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right," he wrote. His resolve to advance peace with France while maintaining a posture of defense reduced his popularity and contributed to his defeat for reelection. Most historians applaud him for avoiding an all-out war with France during his presidency. His signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts is almost always condemned.  According to Ferling, Adams's political philosophy fell "out of step" with the way that the

In memoriam.

Adams is commemorated as the namesake of various counties, buildings, and other items. One example is the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress, an institution whose existence Adams had signed into law. Unlike many other Founders, Adams does not have a monument

John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States, from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain and served as the first vice president of the United States. Adams was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with many important figures in early American history, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.

约翰·亚当斯(英语:John Adams,1735年-10月30日-1826年-7月4日),马萨诸塞州人,律师出身,美国政治家。曾经参与独立宣言的共同签署,被美国人视为其中一位开国元勋。并在1789年-1797年间,出任美国第一任副总统。其后,在1797年-1801年间,接替华盛顿成为美国第2任总统。


Definition.

An apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault. Commonly, the apse of a church, cathedral or basilica is the semicircular or polygonal termination to the choir or sanctuary, or sometimes at the end of an aisle. In relation to church architecture it is generally the name given to where the altar is placed or where the clergy are seated. An apse is occasionally found in a synagogue, e.g. Maoz Haim Synagogue.  The apse is separated from the main part of the church by the transept.  Smaller apses are sometimes built in locations other than the east end, especially for reliquaries or shrines of saints.

History.

The domed apse became a standard part of the church plan in the early Christian era.

Related features.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church tradition, the south apse is known as diaconicon and the north apse as prothesis. Various ecclesiastical features of which the apse may form part are drawn together here:

Chancel.

The chancel (or sanctuary), directly to the east beyond the choir contains the High Altar, where there is one (compare communion table). This area is reserved for the clergy, and was therefore formerly called the "presbytery," from the Greek "presbuteros" meaning "elder", or in older and Catholic usage, "priest".

Chevet-apse chapels.

Hemi-cyclic choirs, first developed in the East, came to use in France in 470. By the onset of the 13th century, they had been augmented with radiating apse chapels outside the choir aisle, the entire structure of Apse, Choir and radiating chapels coming to be known as the "chevet" (French, "headpiece").

In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin "absis": "arch, vault" from Greek ἀψίς "apsis" "arch"; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an "exedra". In Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic Christian church (including cathedral and abbey) architecture, the term is applied to a semi-circular or polygonal termination of the main building at the liturgical east end (where the altar is), regardless of the shape of the roof, which may be flat, sloping, domed, or hemispherical. Smaller apses may also be in other locations, especially shrines.

半圆形后殿(,英语:Apse)在建筑学上是指一个覆盖着半球形拱顶或半圆顶的建筑体。对于罗马,拜占庭和哥特式的基督教修道院、主教座堂和教堂建筑,该术语适用于东端主楼的所有半圆形或多角形后殿,不论其屋顶形状是平的,倾斜,圆顶,或半球形。比如在天主教的西欧主教座堂建筑中,该部分是整个主教座堂建筑中不可或缺的。


Types.

Crossword grids such as those appearing in most North American newspapers and magazines feature solid areas of white squares. Every letter is checked (i.e. is part of both an "across" word and a "down" word) and usually each answer must contain at least three letters. In such puzzles shaded squares are typically limited to about one-sixth of the total. Crossword grids elsewhere, such as in Britain, South Africa, India and Australia, have a lattice-like structure, with a higher percentage of shaded squares (around 25%), leaving about half the letters in an answer unchecked. For example, if the top row has an answer running all the way across, there will often be no across answers in the second row.  Another tradition in puzzle design (in North America, India, and Britain particularly) is that the grid should have 180-degree rotational (also known as "radial") symmetry, so that its pattern appears the same if the paper is turned upside down. Most puzzle designs also require that all white cells be orthogonally contiguous (that is, connected in one mass through shared sides, to form a single polyomino).  The design of Japanese crossword grids often follows two additional rules: that shaded cells may not share a side (i.e. they may not be orthogonally contiguous) and that the corner squares must be white.  The "Swedish-style" grid (picture crosswords) uses no clue numbers, as the clues are contained in the cells which do not contain answers. Arrows indicate in which direction the clues have to be answered: vertical or horizontal. This style of grid is also used in several countries other than Sweden, often in magazines, but also in

Clues: conventions and types.

Orthography.

Capitalization of answer letters is conventionally ignored; crossword puzzles are typically filled in, and their answer sheets are almost universally published, in all caps, except in the

Straight or quick.

Some crossword clues, called "straight" or "quick clues", are simple definitions of the answers. Some clues may feature anagrams, and these are usually explicitly described as such. Often, a straight clue is not in itself sufficient to distinguish between several possible answers, either because multiple synonymous answers may fit or because the clue itself is a homonym (e.g., "Lead" as in to be ahead in a contest or "Lead" as in the element), so the solver must make use of "checks" to establish the correct answer with certainty. For example, the answer to the

Abbreviations.

The constraints of the American-style grid (in which every letter is checked) often require a fair number of answers not to

Themes.

Many American crossword puzzles feature a "theme" consisting of a number of long entries (generally three to five in a standard 15×15-square "weekday-size" puzzle) that share some relationship, type of pun, or other element in common. As an example, the "New York Times" crossword of April 26, 2005 by Sarah Keller, edited by Will Shortz, featured five themed entries ending in the different parts of a

Indirect clues.

Many puzzles feature clues involving wordplay which are to be taken metaphorically or in some sense other than their literal meaning, requiring some form of lateral thinking. Depending on the puzzle creator

Cryptic crosswords.

In cryptic crosswords, the clues are puzzles in themselves. A typical clue contains both a definition at the beginning or end of the clue and wordplay, which provides a way to manufacture the word indicated by the definition, and which may not parse logically. Cryptics usually give the length of their answers in parentheses after the clue, which is especially useful with multi-word answers. Certain signs indicate different forms of wordplay. Solving cryptics is harder to learn than standard crosswords, as learning to interpret the different types of cryptic clues can take some practice. In Great Britain and throughout much of the Commonwealth, cryptics of varying degrees of difficulty are featured in many newspapers.  There are several types of wordplay used in cryptics. One is straightforward definition substitution using parts of a word. For example, in one puzzle by Mel Taub, the answer

Metapuzzles.

Some crossword designers have started including a metapuzzle, or "meta" for short: a second puzzle within the completed puzzle. After the player has correctly solved the crossword puzzle in the usual fashion, the solution forms the basis of a second puzzle. The designer usually includes a hint to the metapuzzle.

Schrödinger or quantum puzzles.

Some puzzle grids contain more than one correct answer for the same set of clues. These are called Schrödinger or quantum puzzles, alluding to the Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment in quantum physics. Schrödinger puzzles have frequently been published in venues including "Fireball Crosswords" and "The American Values Club Crosswords", and at least ten have appeared in "The New York Times" since the late 1980s. The daily New York Times puzzle for November 5, 1996, by Jeremiah Farrell,

The first entries.

In the 'Quick' crossword in "The Daily Telegraph" newspaper (Sunday and Daily, UK), it has become a convention also to make the first few words (usually two or three, but can be more) into

Double clue lists.

Sometimes newspapers publish one grid that can be filled by solving either of two lists of clues—usually a straight and a cryptic. The solutions given by the two lists may be different, in which case the solver must decide at the outset which list they are going to follow, or the solutions may be identical, in which case the straight clues offer additional help for a solver having difficulty with the cryptic clues. For example, the solution APARTHEID might be clued as "Bigotry aside, I'd take him (9)" in the cryptic list, and "Racial separation (9)" in the straight

Other clue variations.

Any type of puzzle may contain "cross-references", where the answer to one clue forms part of another clue, in which it is referred to by number and direction. E.g., a puzzle might have 1-Across clued as "Central character in The Lord of the

Major variants.

These are common crossword variants that vary more from a regular crossword than just an unusual grid shape or unusual clues; these crossword variants may be based on different solving principles and require a different solving skill set.

Cipher crosswords.

Cipher crosswords were invented in Germany in the 19th century. Published under various trade names (including Code Breakers, Code Crackers, and Kaidoku), and not to be confused with cryptic crosswords (ciphertext puzzles are commonly known as cryptograms), a cipher crossword replaces the clues for each entry with clues for each white cell of the grid—an integer from 1 to 26 inclusive is printed in the corner of each. The objective, as any other crossword, is to determine

Diagramless crosswords.

In a diagramless crossword, often called a diagramless for short or, in the UK, a skeleton crossword or carte blanche, the grid offers overall dimensions, but the locations of most of the clue numbers and shaded squares are unspecified. A solver must deduce not only the answers to individual clues, but how to fit together partially built-up clumps of answers into larger clumps with properly set shaded squares. Some of these puzzles follow the

Fill-in crosswords.

A fill-in crossword (also known as crusadex or cruzadex) features a grid and the full list of words to be entered in that grid, but does not give explicit clues for where each word goes. The challenge is figuring out how to integrate the list of words together within the grid so that

Crossnumbers.

A crossnumber (also known as a cross-figure) is the numerical analogy of a crossword, in which the solutions to the clues are numbers instead of words. Clues are usually arithmetical expressions, but can also be general

Acrostic puzzles.

An acrostic is a type of word puzzle, in eponymous acrostic form, that typically consists of two parts. The first is a set of lettered clues, each of which has numbered blanks representing the letters of the answer. The second part is a long series of

Arroword.

The arroword is a variant of a crossword that does not have as many black squares as a true crossword, but has arrows inside

History.

The title for the world's first crossword puzzle is disputed. Some such puzzles were included in "The Stockton Bee" (1793–1795), an ephemeral publication. The phrase "cross word puzzle" was first written in 1862 by Our Young Folks in the United States. Crossword-like puzzles, for example Double Diamond Puzzles, appeared in the magazine "St. Nicholas", published since 1873. Another crossword puzzle appeared on September 14, 1890, in the Italian magazine "Il Secolo Illustrato della Domenica". It was designed by Giuseppe Airoldi and titled "Per passare il tempo" ("To pass the time"). Airoldi's puzzle was a four-by-four grid with no shaded squares; it included horizontal and vertical clues.  Crosswords in England during the 19th century were of an elementary kind, apparently derived from the word square, a group of words arranged so the letters read alike vertically and horizontally, and printed in children's puzzle books and various periodicals.  On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, England, published a "word-cross" puzzle in the "New York World" that embodied most of the features of the modern genre. This puzzle is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. An illustrator later reversed the "word-cross" name to "cross-word.  Crossword puzzles became a regular weekly feature in the "New York World," and spread to other newspapers; the "Pittsburgh Press," for example, was publishing them at least as early as 1916 and "The Boston Globe" by 1917. By the 1920s, the crossword phenomenon was starting to attract notice. In October 1922, newspapers published a comic strip by Clare Briggs entitled "Movie of a Man Doing the Cross-Word Puzzle," with an enthusiast muttering "87 across 'Northern Sea Bird'!!??!?!!? Hm-m-m starts with an 'M', second letter is 'U'... I'll look up all the words starting with an 'M-U...' mus-musi-mur-murd—Hot Dog! Here 'tis! Murre!" In 1923 a humorous squib in "The Boston Globe" has a wife ordering her husband to run out and "rescue the papers... the part I want is blowing down the street." "What is it you're so keen about?" "The Cross-Word Puzzle. Hurry, please, that's a good boy." In "The New Yorker"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first issue, released in 1925, the "Jottings About Town" section wrote, "Judging from the number of solvers in the subway and "L" trains, the crossword puzzle bids fair to become a fad with New Yorkers." In 1925, the New York Public Library reported that "The latest craze to strike libraries is the crossword puzzle," and complained that when "the puzzle 'fans' swarm to the dictionaries and encyclopedias so as to drive away readers and students who need these books in their daily work, can there be any doubt of the Library's duty to protect its legitimate readers?"  The first book of crossword puzzles was published by Simon & Schuster in 1924, after a suggestion from co-founder Richard Simon's aunt. The publisher was initially skeptical that the book would succeed, and only printed a small run at first. The book was promoted with an included pencil, and "This odd-looking book with a pencil attached to it" was an instant hit, leading crossword puzzles to become a craze of 1924. To help promote its books, Simon & Schuster also founded the Amateur Cross Word Puzzle League of America, which began the process of developing standards for puzzle design.  The crossword puzzle fad received extensive attention, not all of it positive: In 1924, "The New York Times" complained of the "sinful waste in the utterly futile finding of words the letters of which will fit into a prearranged pattern, more or less complex. This is not a game at all, and it hardly can be called a sport... [solvers] get nothing out of it except a primitive form of mental exercise, and success or failure in any given attempt is equally irrelevant to mental development." A clergyman called the working of crossword puzzles "the mark of a childish mentality" and said, "There is no use for persons to pretend that working one of the puzzles carries any intellectual value with it.". However, another wrote a complete "Bible Cross-Word Puzzle Book". Also in 1925, "Time Magazine" noted that nine Manhattan dailies and fourteen other big newspapers were carrying crosswords, and quoted opposing views as to whether "This crossword craze will positively end by June!" or "The crossword puzzle is here to stay!" In 1925, "The New York Times" noted, with approval, a scathing critique of crosswords by "The New Republic"; but concluded that "Fortunately, the question of whether the puzzles are beneficial or harmful is in no urgent need of an answer. The craze evidently is dying out fast and in a few months it will be forgotten." and in 1929 declared, "The cross-word puzzle, it seems, has gone the way of all fads..." In 1930, a correspondent noted that "Together with "The Times" of London, yours is the only journal of prominence that has never succumbed to the lure of the cross-word puzzle" and said that "The craze—the fad—stage has passed, but there are still people numbering it to the millions who look for their daily cross-word puzzle as regularly as for the weather predictions."  The term "crossword" first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1933.  "The New York Times" began to publish a crossword puzzle on 15 February 1942, spurred on by the idea that the puzzle could be a welcome distraction from the harsh news of World War II. "The New York Times"'s first puzzle editor was Margeret Petherbridge Farrar, who was editor from 1942 to 1969. She was succeeded by Will Weng, who was succeeded by Eugene T. Maleska. Since 1993, they have been edited by Will Shortz, the fourth crossword editor in "Times". In 1978 Shortz founded and still directs the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. However, a number of other high-profile puzzles have since emerged in the United States in particular, many of which rival the Times in quality and prestige. These include "The New Yorker", "The Washington Post", "The Wall Street Journal", "Brendan Emmett Quigley", "The American Values Club", "Inkubator Crosswords," and "Fireball Crosswords" (the latter four of which are distributed digitally).  Simon & Schuster continues to publish the "Crossword Puzzle Book Series" books that it began in 1924, currently under the editorship of John M. Samson. The original series ended in 2007 after 258 volumes. Since 2008, these books are now in the Mega series, appearing three times per year and each featuring 300 puzzles.  The British cryptic crossword was imported to the US in 1968 by composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim in "New York" magazine. Until 2006, "The Atlantic Monthly" regularly featured a cryptic crossword "puzzler" by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, which combines cryptic clues with diabolically ingenious variations on the construction of the puzzle itself. In both cases, no two puzzles are alike in construction, and the intent of the puzzle authors is to entertain with novelty, not to establish new variations of the crossword genre.  In the United Kingdom, the "Sunday Express" was the first newspaper to publish a crossword on November 2, 1924, a Wynne puzzle adapted for the UK. The first crossword in Britain, according to Tony Augarde in his "Oxford Guide to Word Games" (1984), was in "Pearson's Magazine" for February 1922.  The 2006 documentary "Wordplay", about enthusiasts of "The New York Times"'s puzzle, increased public interest in crosswords. It highlighted attendees of Will Shortz's American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, including former American president Bill Clinton and American comedian Jon Stewart.

Non-English languages.

Due to the large amount of words ending on a vowel, Italian crossword-makers have perhaps the most difficult task. The right margin and the bottom can be particularly difficult to put together. From such a perspective, Swedish crossword-makers have a far easier task. Especially in the large picture crosswords, both conjugation of verbs and declension of adjectives and nouns are allowed. A Swedish clue like ""kan sättas i munnen" = "sked"" ("can be put in the mouth" = "spoon") can be grammatically changed; ""den kan sättas i munnen" = "skeden"" ("it can be put in the mouth" = "the spoon"), as the definite form of a noun includes declension.

Orthography.

From their origin in New York, crosswords have spread to many countries and

Grid design, clues, and conventions.

French-language crosswords are smaller than English-language ones, and not necessarily square: there are usually 8–13 rows and columns, totaling 81–130 squares. They need not be symmetric and two-letter words are allowed, unlike in most English-language puzzles. Compilers strive to minimize use of shaded squares. A black-square usage of 10% is typical; Georges Perec compiled many 9×9 grids for Le Point with four or even three black squares. Rather than numbering the individual clues, the rows and columns are numbered as on a chessboard. All clues for a given row or column are listed, against its number, as separate sentences. This is similar to the notation used in the aforementioned "Daily Mail Blankout" puzzles.  In Italy, crosswords are usually oblong and larger than French ones, 13×21

Construction.

American-style crosswords.

In typical themed American-style crosswords, the theme is created first, as a set of symmetric long Across answers will be needed around which the grid can be created. Since the grid will typically have 180-degree rotational symmetry, the answers will need to be also: thus a typical 15×15 square American puzzle might have two 15-letter entries and two 13-letter entries that could be arranged appropriately in the grid (e.g., one 15-letter entry in the third row, and the other symmetrically in the 13th row; one 13-letter entry starting in the first square of the 6th row and the other ending in the last square of the 10th row). The theme must not only be funny or interesting, but also internally consistent. In the April 26, 2005 by Sarah Keller mentioned above, the five themed entries contained in the different parts of a tree: SQUAREROOT, TABLELEAF,

Software.

Software that aids in "creating" crossword puzzles has been written since at least 1976; one popular example was Crossword Magic for the Apple II in the 1980s. The earliest software relied on people to input a list of fill words and clues, and automatically maps the answers onto a suitable grid. This is a search problem in computer science because there are many possible arrangements to be checked against the rules of construction. Any given set of answers might have zero, one, or multiple legal arrangements. Modern open source libraries

Notation.

Originally Petherbridge called the two dimensions of the crossword puzzle "Horizontal" and "Vertical". Among various numbering schemes, the standard became that in which only the start squares of each word were numbered, from left to right and top to bottom. "1 Horizontal" and "1 Vertical" and the like were names for the clues, the cross words, or the grid locations, interchangeably.  Later in the Times these terms commonly became "Across" and "Down" and notations for clues could either use the words or the letters "A" and "D", with or without hyphens.

A crossword is a word puzzle and word search game that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The game's goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues, which lead to the answers. In languages that are written left-to-right, the answer words and phrases are placed in the grid from left to right and from top to bottom. The shaded squares are used to separate the words or phrases.

填字游戏是一种常见的纸上益智游戏。 游戏一般给出一个矩形的表格。这个表格被分割为若干个大小相同的方格,方格的颜色有白色与黑色两种。白色的方格组成一些交叉的行与列,行列的长度不等。