Main entry:

Daston, Lorraine, 1951- author.

Title & Author:

Rules : a short history of what we live by / Lorraine Daston.

Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2022]
©2022

Description:

xiii, 359 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Series:

The Lawrence Stone lectures

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-347) and index (pages 349-359).
Introduction: The hidden history of rules -- Ancient rules : straightedges, models, and laws -- The rules of art : head and hand united -- Algorithms before mechanical calculation -- Algorithmic intelligence in the age of calculating machines -- Rules and regulations -- Natural laws and laws of nature -- Bending and breaking rules -- Epilogue: More honored in the breach.

Summary:

A panoramic history of rules in the Western world. Rules order almost every aspect of our lives. They set our work hours, dictate how we drive and set the table, tell us whether to offer an extended hand or cheek in greeting, and organize the rites of life, from birth through death. We may chafe under the rules we have, and yearn for ones we don't, yet no culture could do without them. In Rules, historian Lorraine Daston traces their development in the Western tradition and shows how rules have evolved from ancient to modern times. Drawing on a rich trove of examples, including legal treatises, cookbooks, military manuals, traffic regulations, and game handbooks, Daston demonstrates that while the content of rules is dazzlingly diverse, the forms that they take are surprisingly few and long-lived. Daston uncovers three enduring kinds of rules: the algorithms that calculate and measure, the laws that govern, and the models that teach. She vividly illustrates how rules can change--how supple rules stiffen, or vice versa, and how once bothersome regulations become everyday norms. Rules have been devised for almost every imaginable activity and range from meticulous regulations to the laws of nature. Daston probes beneath this variety to investigate when rules work and when they don't, and why some philosophical problems about rules are as ancient as philosophy itself while others are as modern as calculating machines. Rules offers a wide-angle view on the history of the constraints that guide us--whether we know it or not--Publisher's description.

ISBN:

9780691254081 paperback
0691254087 paperback
9780691156989 hardcover
0691156980 hardcover
electronic book
9780691239187

Subject:

Rules (Philosophy)
Social norms.
Order (Philosophy)
Authority.
Algorithms.
Law.
Natural law.
Computer algorithms.
Ethics
Autorité.
Ordre (Philosophie)
Algorithmes.
Droit naturel.
Règle (Philosophie)
Normes sociales.
algorithms.
rules (instructions)
order (metaphysical concept)

Added entries:

Lawrence Stone lectures.

Short history of what we live by

Holdings:

Location: Library main 315604
Call No.: 315604
Copy: 1
Status: Available