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Electric current

An electric current is a flow of charged particles,  such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is defined as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface. The moving particles are called charge carriers, which may be one of several types of particles, depending on the conductor. In electric circuits the charge carriers are often electrons moving through a wire. In semiconductors they can be electrons or holes. In an electrolyte the charge carriers are ions, while in plasma, an ionized gas, they are ions and electrons.

In the International System of Units (SI), electric current is expressed in units of ampere (sometimes called an "amp", symbol A), which is equivalent to one coulomb per second. The ampere is an SI base unit and electric current is a base quantity in the International System of Quantities (ISQ). Electric current is also known as amperage and is measured using a device called an ammeter.

Electric currents create magnetic forces, which are used in motors, generators, inductors, and transformers. In ordinary conductors, they cause Joule heating, which creates light in incandescent light bulbs. Time-varying currents emit electromagnetic waves, which are used in telecommunications to broadcast information.

Symbol
The conventional symbol for current is $I$, which originates from the French phrase intensité du courant, (current intensity). Current intensity is often referred to simply as current. The $I$ symbol was used by André-Marie Ampère, after whom the unit of electric current is named, in formulating Ampère's force law (1820). The notation travelled from France to Great Britain, where it became standard, although at least one journal did not change from using $C$ to $I$ until 1896.

Conventions

The conventional direction of current, also known as conventional current,  is arbitrarily defined as the direction in which  charges flow. In a conductive material, the moving charged particles that constitute the electric current are called charge carriers. In metals, which make up the wires and other conductors in most electrical circuits, the positively charged atomic nuclei of the atoms are held in a fixed position, and the negatively charged electrons are the charge carriers, free to move about in the metal. In other materials, notably the semiconductors, the charge carriers can be positive or negative, depending on the dopant used. Positive and negative charge carriers may even be present at the same time, as happens in an electrolyte in an electrochemical cell.

A flow of positive charges gives the same electric current, and has the same effect in a circuit, as an equal flow of negative charges in the opposite direction. Since current can be the flow of either positive or negative charges, or both, a convention is needed for the direction of current that is independent of the type of charge carriers. Negatively charged carriers, such as the electrons (the charge carriers in metal wires and many other electronic circuit components), therefore flow in the opposite direction of conventional current flow in an electrical circuit.

Reference direction
A current in a wire or circuit element can flow in either of two directions. When defining a variable $$I$$ to represent the current, the direction representing positive current must be specified, usually by an arrow on the circuit schematic diagram. This is called the reference direction of the current $$I$$. When analyzing electrical circuits, the actual direction of current through a specific circuit element is usually unknown until the analysis is completed. Consequently, the reference directions of currents are often assigned arbitrarily. When the circuit is solved, a negative value for the current implies the actual direction of current through that circuit element is opposite that of the chosen reference direction.

Ohm's law
Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference across the two points. Introducing the constant of proportionality, the resistance, one arrives at the usual mathematical equation that describes this relationship: $$I = \frac{V}{R},$$

where I is the current through the conductor in units of amperes, V is the potential difference measured across the conductor in units of volts, and R is the resistance of the conductor in units of ohms. More specifically, Ohm's law states that the R in this relation is constant, independent of the current.

Alternating and direct current
In alternating current (AC) systems, the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. AC is the form of electric power most commonly delivered to businesses and residences. The usual waveform of an AC power circuit is a sine wave, though certain applications use alternative waveforms, such as triangular or square waves. Audio and radio signals carried on electrical wires are also examples of alternating current. An important goal in these applications is recovery of information encoded (or modulated) onto the AC signal.

In contrast, direct current (DC) refers to a system in which the movement of electric charge in only one direction (sometimes called unidirectional flow). Direct current is produced by sources such as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Alternating current can also be converted to direct current through use of a rectifier. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through semiconductors, insulators, or even through a vacuum as in electron or ion beams. An old name for direct current was galvanic current.

Occurrences
The occurrences of electric current can be divided into three main types: inorganic, biological and technological.

1. Inorganic occurrences of electricity in nature
Electrostatic materials - piezoelectricity - the geophysical flow of molten iron

Natural observable examples of electric current include static electric discharge and electricity in the Earth's mantle. Electrostaticity was among the earliest discoveries of inorganic electricity occurring in nature. Already early in history, it was discovered that certain types of stone and resins, like amber, can become electrostatic when friction is applied. Rubbing amber will cause it to become negatively charged. Piezoelectricity occurs when applying mechanical strain to certain crystals, causing them to become electrically polarized. Iron monoxide (FeO), which makes up 9% of the Earth mantle, conducts electricity (especially when molten); this is believed to contribute to Earth's rotation.

Atmospheric occurrence

Lightning flashes are also one of the earliest discovered natural observable examples of electric current. Electric charge can build up vertically in dense clouds, leading to lightning that discharges in flashes to the ground. The flashes follow a path of lowest electric resistance through the air.

In the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, it was discovered that the solar wind is the source of the polar auroras that occur in the atmosphere near the North and South Poles. The aurora borealis and aurora australis are generated by flows of charged particles emanating from the Sun, which occur when solar activity is high (temporarily strong solar flares).

Cosmic occurrences

The discovery of Birkeland currents by Kristian Birkeland has triggered further research into electric phenomena in the magnetosphere and in the cosmos. Thanks to the research of pioneering scientists and engineers like Hannes Alfvén, Irving Langmuir and Donald E. Scott, it was discovered that electricity is ubiquitous in the universe. Plasmas account for a large part of matter in the cosmos; plasmas are electrically charged. It is now believed that plasma-filled cosmic filaments are probably responsible for transfer of electricity through the universe. Recent astrophysical research indicates that such filaments can transfer electricity both between galaxies and between star clusters. Neutron stars, pulsars, magnetars, quasars and astrophysical jets play an important role in cosmic electric phenomena. It is hypothesized that star formation in clusters is in part powered by those filaments, as the star formation mostly occurs along strings, following the plasma filaments. It is believed that the intergalactic plasma filaments are slowly rotating, because of their electric charge that generates multi-layer, concentric electromagnetic fields. This filament rotation may account for the position and rotation of galaxies. This is a field of ongoing scientific research. The James Webb Space Telescope yields new insights that enable further astrophysical exploration into this subject.

2. Organic occurrences of electricity - biological use of electricity
Nerve system and electromagnetic sensitivity

A biological example of current is the flow of ions in neurons and nerves, responsible for both brain activity and sensory perception. Neurons are found in all animals, even in very small animals like starfish and seahorses. Brain development is more substantial in higher organisms, enabling thought and memory. Consciousness is enabled in the highest organisms, including man. Some mammals, like whales and dolphins, are capable of wireless communication, thanks to their brain activity and/or quantum effects. A pod of these sea mammals can communicate, for example to warn each other of predators. Migratory birds can sense the magnetic field of the Earth, using it to coordinate their flight. Some migratory sea animals, like salmon and sea turtles, also use Earth's magnetic field to navigate during long-distance migration.

Electroreception and electrogenesis

Electroreceptive animals have the ability to perceive natural electrical stimuli. Electrogenic animals, like eels, have organs that are capable of producing electric shocks - as a means of protection or as part of predator behaviour.

Photosynthesis and electrification of mechanical energy

Some species of plants can generate electricity at a microscopic level, either through photosynthesis or through electrification of mechanical energy. For instance, the oleander is able to capture mechanical energy from wind stirring its leaves, and transform it into electricity for use in the plant. Natural photosynthesis in chlorophyll is highly efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, which then drives the chemical formation of glucose. That electricity can also be used artificially in a photo-bioelectrochemical cell.

3. Technological usage of electric current - wired and wireless
Man-made occurrences of electric current include the controlled flow of conduction electrons in metal wires, such as overhead power lines for long-distance energy delivery and the smaller wires within electrical and electronic devices. Eddy currents are electric currents that occur in conductors exposed to changing magnetic fields. Similarly, electric currents occur, particularly in the surface, of conductors exposed to electromagnetic waves. When oscillating electric currents flow at the correct voltages within radio antennas, radio waves are generated.

Pantographs are an example of electricity transfer through a sliding contact. The pantograph has enabled large-scale electrification of railways, subway and tram networks, as well as networks of trolley buses.

Subsea interconnectors enable large-scale coast-to-coast electricity transfer between countries.

In electronics, other forms of electric current include the flow of electrons through resistors or through the vacuum in a vacuum tube, the flow of ions inside a battery, and the flow of holes within metals and semiconductors.

A newly developed use of electric current is wireless charging of batteries, for use in phones and electric vehicles for instance. Poynting's theorem shows that electric energy can be transferred from A to B, without carrying current from A to B. This is achieved by using one or more coils in A. The coils generate an electromagnetic field that carries the electric energy to B. Wireless charging devices could potentially be integrated in furniture, walls or road surfaces. Currently research is being done in long-distance wireless charging.

Measurement
Current can be measured using an ammeter. While a galvanometer offers direct electric current measurement, it requires breaking the electrical circuit, which can be inconvenient for certain applications. Current can also be measured without breaking the circuit by detecting the magnetic field associated with the current. Devices, at the circuit level, use various techniques to measure current:
 * Shunt resistors
 * Hall effect current sensor transducers
 * Transformers (however DC cannot be measured)
 * Magnetoresistive field sensors
 * Rogowski coils
 * Current clamps

Resistive heating
Joule heating, also known as ohmic heating and resistive heating, is the process of power dissipation by which the passage of an electric current through a conductor increases the internal energy of the conductor,  converting thermodynamic work into heat. The phenomenon was first studied by James Prescott Joule in 1841. Joule immersed a length of wire in a fixed mass of water and measured the temperature rise due to a known current through the wire for a 30 minute period. By varying the current and the length of the wire he deduced that the heat produced was proportional to the square of the current multiplied by the electrical resistance of the wire.

$$P \propto I^2 R. $$

This relationship is known as Joule's Law. The SI unit of energy was subsequently named the joule and given the symbol J. The commonly known SI unit of power, the watt (symbol: W), is equivalent to one joule per second.

Electromagnet
In an electromagnet a coil of wires behaves like a magnet when an electric current flows through it. When the current is switched off, the coil loses its magnetism immediately. Electric current produces a magnetic field. The magnetic field can be visualized as a pattern of circular field lines surrounding the wire that persists as long as there is current.

Electromagnetic induction
Magnetic fields can also be used to make electric currents. When a changing magnetic field is applied to a conductor, an electromotive force (EMF) is induced, which starts an electric current, when there is a suitable path.

Radio waves
When an electric current flows in a suitably shaped conductor at radio frequencies, radio waves can be generated. These travel at the speed of light and can cause electric currents in distant conductors.

Conduction mechanisms in various media
In metallic solids, electric charge flows by means of electrons, from lower to higher electrical potential. In other media, any stream of charged objects (ions, for example) may constitute an electric current. To provide a definition of current independent of the type of charge carriers, conventional current is defined as moving in the same direction as the positive charge flow. So, in metals where the charge carriers (electrons) are negative, conventional current is in the opposite direction to the overall electron movement. In conductors where the charge carriers are positive, conventional current is in the same direction as the charge carriers.

In a vacuum, a beam of ions or electrons may be formed. In other conductive materials, the electric current is due to the flow of both positively and negatively charged particles at the same time. In still others, the current is entirely due to positive charge flow. For example, the electric currents in electrolytes are flows of positively and negatively charged ions. In a common lead-acid electrochemical cell, electric currents are composed of positive hydronium ions flowing in one direction, and negative sulfate ions flowing in the other. Electric currents in sparks or plasma are flows of electrons as well as positive and negative ions. In ice and in certain solid electrolytes, the electric current is entirely composed of flowing ions.

Metals
In a metal, some of the outer electrons in each atom are not bound to the individual molecules as they are in molecular solids, or in full bands as they are in insulating materials, but are free to move within the metal lattice. These conduction electrons can serve as charge carriers, carrying a current. Metals are particularly conductive because there are many of these free electrons. With no external electric field applied, these electrons move about randomly due to thermal energy but, on average, there is zero net current within the metal. At room temperature, the average speed of these random motions is 106 metres per second. Given a surface through which a metal wire passes, electrons move in both directions across the surface at an equal rate. As George Gamow wrote in his popular science book, One, Two, Three...Infinity (1947), "The metallic substances differ from all other materials by the fact that the outer shells of their atoms are bound rather loosely, and often let one of their electrons go free. Thus the interior of a metal is filled up with a large number of unattached electrons that travel aimlessly around like a crowd of displaced persons. When a metal wire is subjected to electric force applied on its opposite ends, these free electrons rush in the direction of the force, thus forming what we call an electric current."

When a metal wire is connected across the two terminals of a DC voltage source such as a battery, the source places an electric field across the conductor. The moment contact is made, the free electrons of the conductor are forced to drift toward the positive terminal under the influence of this field. The free electrons are therefore the charge carrier in a typical solid conductor.

For a steady flow of charge through a surface, the current I (in amperes) can be calculated with the following equation: $$I = {Q \over t} \, ,$$ where Q is the electric charge transferred through the surface over a time t. If Q and t are measured in coulombs and seconds respectively, I is in amperes.

More generally, electric current can be represented as the rate at which charge flows through a given surface as: $$I = \frac{\mathrm{d}Q}{\mathrm{d}t} \, .$$

Electrolytes

Electric currents in electrolytes are flows of electrically charged particles (ions). For example, if an electric field is placed across a solution of Na+ and Cl− (and conditions are right) the sodium ions move towards the negative electrode (cathode), while the chloride ions move towards the positive electrode (anode). Reactions take place at both electrode surfaces, neutralizing each ion.

Water-ice and certain solid electrolytes called proton conductors contain positive hydrogen ions ("protons") that are mobile. In these materials, electric currents are composed of moving protons, as opposed to the moving electrons in metals.

In certain electrolyte mixtures, brightly coloured ions are the moving electric charges. The slow progress of the colour makes the current visible.

Gases and plasmas
In air and other ordinary gases below the breakdown field, the dominant source of electrical conduction is via relatively few mobile ions produced by radioactive gases, ultraviolet light, or cosmic rays. Since the electrical conductivity is low, gases are dielectrics or insulators. However, once the applied electric field approaches the breakdown value, free electrons become sufficiently accelerated by the electric field to create additional free electrons by colliding, and ionizing, neutral gas atoms or molecules in a process called avalanche breakdown. The breakdown process forms a plasma that contains enough mobile electrons and positive ions to make it an electrical conductor. In the process, it forms a light emitting conductive path, such as a spark, arc or lightning.

Plasma is the state of matter where some of the electrons in a gas are stripped or "ionized" from their molecules or atoms. A plasma can be formed by high temperature, or by application of a high electric or alternating magnetic field as noted above. Due to their lower mass, the electrons in a plasma accelerate more quickly in response to an electric field than the heavier positive ions, and hence carry the bulk of the current. The free ions recombine to create new chemical compounds (for example, breaking atmospheric oxygen into single oxygen [O2 → 2O], which then recombine creating ozone [O3]).

Vacuum
Since a "perfect vacuum" contains no charged particles, it normally behaves as a perfect insulator. However, metal electrode surfaces can cause a region of the vacuum to become conductive by injecting free electrons or ions through either field electron emission or thermionic emission. Thermionic emission occurs when the thermal energy exceeds the metal's work function, while field electron emission occurs when the electric field at the surface of the metal is high enough to cause tunneling, which results in the ejection of free electrons from the metal into the vacuum. Externally heated electrodes are often used to generate an electron cloud as in the filament or indirectly heated cathode of vacuum tubes. Cold electrodes can also spontaneously produce electron clouds via thermionic emission when small incandescent regions (called cathode spots or anode spots) are formed. These are incandescent regions of the electrode surface that are created by a localized high current. These regions may be initiated by field electron emission, but are then sustained by localized thermionic emission once a vacuum arc forms. These small electron-emitting regions can form quite rapidly, even explosively, on a metal surface subjected to a high electrical field. Vacuum tubes and sprytrons are some of the electronic switching and amplifying devices based on vacuum conductivity.

Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance and expulsion of magnetic fields occurring in certain materials when cooled below a characteristic critical temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon. It is characterized by the Meissner effect, the complete ejection of magnetic field lines from the interior of the superconductor as it transitions into the superconducting state. The occurrence of the Meissner effect indicates that superconductivity cannot be understood simply as the idealization of perfect conductivity in classical physics.

Semiconductor
In a semiconductor it is sometimes useful to think of the current as due to the flow of positive "holes" (the mobile positive charge carriers that are places where the semiconductor crystal is missing a valence electron). This is the case in a p-type semiconductor. A semiconductor has electrical conductivity intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 10−2 to 104 siemens per centimeter (S⋅cm−1).

In the classic crystalline semiconductors, electrons can have energies only within certain bands (i.e. ranges of levels of energy). Energetically, these bands are located between the energy of the ground state, the state in which electrons are tightly bound to the atomic nuclei of the material, and the free electron energy, the latter describing the energy required for an electron to escape entirely from the material. The energy bands each correspond to many discrete quantum states of the electrons, and most of the states with low energy (closer to the nucleus) are occupied, up to a particular band called the valence band. Semiconductors and insulators are distinguished from metals because the valence band in any given metal is nearly filled with electrons under usual operating conditions, while very few (semiconductor) or virtually none (insulator) of them are available in the conduction band, the band immediately above the valence band.

The ease of exciting electrons in the semiconductor from the valence band to the conduction band depends on the band gap between the bands. The size of this energy band gap serves as an arbitrary dividing line (roughly 4 eV) between semiconductors and insulators.

With covalent bonds, an electron moves by hopping to a neighboring bond. The Pauli exclusion principle requires that the electron be lifted into the higher anti-bonding state of that bond. For delocalized states, for example in one dimension – that is in a nanowire, for every energy there is a state with electrons flowing in one direction and another state with the electrons flowing in the other. For a net current to flow, more states for one direction than for the other direction must be occupied. For this to occur, energy is required, as in the semiconductor the next higher states lie above the band gap. Often this is stated as: full bands do not contribute to the electrical conductivity. However, as a semiconductor's temperature rises above absolute zero, there is more energy in the semiconductor to spend on lattice vibration and on exciting electrons into the conduction band. The current-carrying electrons in the conduction band are known as free electrons, though they are often simply called electrons if that is clear in context.

Current density and Ohm's law
Current density is the rate at which charge passes through a chosen unit area. It is defined as a vector whose magnitude is the current per unit cross-sectional area. As discussed in Reference direction, the direction is arbitrary. Conventionally, if the moving charges are positive, then the current density has the same sign as the velocity of the charges. For negative charges, the sign of the current density is opposite to the velocity of the charges. In SI units, current density (symbol: j) is expressed in the SI base units of amperes per square metre.

In linear materials such as metals, and under low frequencies, the current density across the conductor surface is uniform. In such conditions, Ohm's law states that the current is directly proportional to the potential difference between two ends (across) of that metal (ideal) resistor (or other ohmic device): $$I = {V \over R} \, ,$$

where $$I$$ is the current, measured in amperes; $$V$$ is the potential difference, measured in volts; and $$R$$ is the resistance, measured in ohms. For alternating currents, especially at higher frequencies, skin effect causes the current to spread unevenly across the conductor cross-section, with higher density near the surface, thus increasing the apparent resistance.

Drift speed
The mobile charged particles within a conductor move constantly in random directions, like the particles of a gas. (More accurately, a Fermi gas.) To create a net flow of charge, the particles must also move together with an average drift rate. Electrons are the charge carriers in most metals and they follow an erratic path, bouncing from atom to atom, but generally drifting in the opposite direction of the electric field. The speed they drift at can be calculated from the equation: $$v = \frac{I}{nAQ}$$ where Typically, electric charges in solids flow slowly. For example, in a copper wire of cross-section 0.5 mm2, carrying a current of 5 A, the drift velocity of the electrons is on the order of a millimetre per second. To take a different example, in the near-vacuum inside a cathode-ray tube, the electrons travel in near-straight lines at about a tenth of the speed of light.
 * $$v$$ is the drift velocity
 * $$I$$ is the electric current
 * $$n$$ is number of charged particles per unit volume (or charge carrier density)
 * $$A$$ is the cross-sectional area of the conductor
 * $$Q$$ is the charge on each particle.

Any accelerating electric charge, and therefore any changing electric current, gives rise to an electromagnetic wave that propagates at very high speed outside the surface of the conductor. This speed is usually a significant fraction of the speed of light, as can be deduced from Maxwell's equations, and is therefore many times faster than the drift velocity of the electrons. For example, in AC power lines, the waves of electromagnetic energy propagate through the space between the wires, moving from a source to a distant load, even though the electrons in the wires only move back and forth over a tiny distance.

The ratio of the speed of the electromagnetic wave to the speed of light in free space is called the velocity factor, and depends on the electromagnetic properties of the conductor and the insulating materials surrounding it, and on their shape and size.

The magnitudes (not the natures) of these three velocities can be illustrated by an analogy with the three similar velocities associated with gases. (See also hydraulic analogy.)
 * The low drift velocity of charge carriers is analogous to air motion; in other words, winds.
 * The high speed of electromagnetic waves is roughly analogous to the speed of sound in a gas (sound waves move through air much faster than large-scale motions such as convection)
 * The random motion of charges is analogous to heat – the thermal velocity of randomly vibrating gas particles.

title: Electric current


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Charles Ancillon

Charles Ancillon (28 July 1659 – 5 July 1715) was a French jurist and diplomat.

Life
Ancillon was born in Metz into a distinguished family of Huguenots. His father, David Ancillon (1617–1692), was obliged to leave France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and became pastor of the French Protestant community in Berlin.

Ancillon studied law at Marburg, Geneva and Paris, where he was called to the bar. At the request of the Huguenots at Metz, he pleaded its cause at the court of King Louis XIV, urging that it should be excepted in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, but his efforts were unsuccessful, and he joined his father in Berlin. He was at once appointed by Elector Frederick III "juge et directeur de colonie de Berlin." He also became the first headmaster of Französisches Gymnasium Berlin. Before this, he had published several works on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and its consequences, but his literary capacity was mediocre, his style stiff and cold, and it was his personal character rather than his reputation as a writer that earned him the confidence of the elector.

In 1687 Ancillon was appointed head of the so-called Academie des nobles, the principal educational establishment of the state; later on, as councillor of embassy, he took part in the negotiations which led to the assumption of the title of "King in Prussia" by the elector. In 1699 he succeeded Samuel Pufendorf as historiographer to the elector, and the same year replaced his uncle Joseph Ancillon as judge of all the French refugees in the Margraviate of Brandenburg.

Ancillon is mainly remembered for what he did for education in Brandenburg-Prussia, and the share he took, in co-operation with Gottfried Leibniz, in founding the Academy of Berlin. Of his fairly numerous works the one of the most value is the "Histoire de l'etablissement des Francais refugies dans les etats de Brandebourg" published in Berlin in 1690.

Family

 * Friedrich Ancillon, his grandson, a Prussian historian and statesman

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Charles Ancillon


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Talk:Casuistry

Tagged "Disputed Neutrality"
Anonymous User:69.214.61.7 tagged this article 12 July 2005 (The dictionary definitions at the linked site:
 * I'm no expert on casuistry, but I have never heard it described in terms of "pure cases, also called paradigms." Please see  if you're looking for a simple dictionary definition. --LMS
 * "1. Specious or excessively subtle reasoning intended to rationalize or mislead."
 * "2. The determination of right and wrong in questions of conduct or conscience by analyzing cases that illustrate general ethical rules."

Does the Wikipedia article not support these definitions? Wetman 21:50, 16 July 2005 (UTC))

 * Much of this article's claims about casuistry are idiosyncratic or just so much Platonist quackery. The article on applied ethics explains it much better - perhaps this one was a poor first pass, and that one was the finished version? (posted by Anonymous User:69.214.61.7, 12 July 2005, tagging the article for lack of Neutrality)
 * The on-line of the History of Ideas'', given as an External Link, might provide a guide to mainstream ideas. --Wetman 21:50, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Lines like ``Another common everyday connotation is "complex reasoning to justify moral laxity or to forward unspoken agendas."'' from the first paragraph are pure opinion.
 * (...or perhaps they are just common everyday connotations after all. --Wetman 23:48, 12 July 2005 (UTC).)

Does anyone feel that the neutrality of this article is "disputed"? Please make your feelings better known on this Talk page. Thank you --Wetman 21:50, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Not disputed I think the article is even-handed.  It explains the controversies surrounding the article and "Platonist quackery", might I add, is so much ad hominem. Amicuspublilius 04:35, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Adequate but oversimplified The article captures the gist of casuistry. I am a specialist in the literature and casuistry in the early modern period (the period of "high casuistry"). The article suggests that Protestants were averse to casuistry, but in fact they had their own, highly developed form of casuistry which was strikingly similar (and deeply indebted) to its Catholic precursors. However, Protestants de-emphasized the Catholic casuists' tendency to cite the myriad opinions of "other ecclesiastical atuhorities," in favor of supporting their casuistic solutions with scripture and logical analysis alone. Since "casuistry" was actually a pejorative term (the "-ry" suffix bearing the same tone as other, similar negative terms like "wizardry," "popery," etc.), the Protestants referred to their brand of casuistry as "case divinity," "practical divinity," or (more simply) "cases of conscience." Puritans were quicker than their Anglican brethren to respond to numerous Protestant calls to formulate and publish a distinct Protestant brand of casuistry. William Perkins' A BRIEF DISCOURSE ON CONSCIENCE (1597) and THE WHOLE TREATISE OF THE CASES OF CONSCIENCE (1604) are considered the first systematic Protestant (specifically Puritan) treatises on conscience, though other, shorter discourses on conscience had been published sooner by Protestants. A. E. Malloch estimates that more than 600 treatises on conscience were published between 1560 and 1660, making casuistry (as historian Thomas Wood remarks) "a truly popular phenomenon." For an excellent overview of the classical origins, rise, and decline of casuistry, see Albert Jonsen and Stephen Toulmin, THE ABUSE OF CASUISTRY. Jonsen and Toulmin do a nice job explaining why it is erroneous (and unfortunate) to disregard the casuistic method (particularly, its precise appreciation for how the particulars of a situation impact the morality of a particular situation or action) from current discussions of ethics, which often can benefit from just this sort of appreciation of particulars. Pascal's damning critique in the Lettres Provinciales gave casuistry a bad name from which it has never quite recovered, but in fact, he was reacting only to the most extreme misapplications of casuistry. Most casuists were quite sincere in their efforts to uncover the morally probable solution to some terribly difficult moral dilemmas. Casuists on both "sides" (Protestant and Catholic) often agreed about most issues concerning the conscience's composition, function, proper application, authority, etc. They produced a very rich (albeit often tedious and hair-splitting, but not necessarily sophistic) body of literature for analyzing the morality of an action in light of circumstances, and it afforded real relief to the majority of renaissance individuals who felt confused, torn, or oppressed by the unique pressures produced by the split from the Catholic church and the competition between the faiths. Check out Jonsen and Toulmin's book. If you're really interested, see also Camille Wells Slights, THE CASUISTICAL TRADITION; Meg Lota Brown's article, "The Politics of Conscience in Early Modern England"; and (for the scholarly-inclined) Lowell Gallagher, MEDUSA'S GAZE. (Anon. User)

 * Some of this material would easily find a place in the article. --Wetman 07:47, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

Just Plain Wrong!

 * <>

This is misleading, the reason for supressing illegally obtained evidence is precisely practical and in spite of the concept of the court as "truth-seeker". The goal of preventing the police/prosecutor from illegally obtaining evidence (along with determination that there is no other way to accomplish this goal) motivates such an exclusionary rule. This is precisely the balancing of casual effects that we are trying to discuss!

On the contrary, a purist might pejoratively call an exclusionary rule casuistry on the grounds that it attempts create a solution for a broader problem than the scope would generally allow, i.e. a decision about admissible evidence growing into a policy meant to deter police misconduct. For the purist, whether or not the evidence is germane to the question at hand is the only criterion to be used. 134.10.9.159 10:35, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Organization of the facets of Applied ethics
Casuistry, applied ethics, ethics, ethical codes, moral codes, moral core, aesthetics, etiquette, criminal justice, arbitration, law, politics, legal codes (and various examples of same), precedent and case-based reasoning articles could all be better coordinated, and also much improved. There are more articles on law and politics and political science that also need to be clear that no one views these as anything but applied ethics within states.

In the zeal to apply a 'relentlessly practical' approach to decisions, it would seem that Larry tried to eliminate all the pre-existing precedents, and ignore how most of the important decisions in our lives are actually made. This does not seem all that practical, although it was relentless. And thankfully over. It's time to fix these articles and remove this obvious bias.

Trunk article is Applied ethics, right?
The trunk article is Applied ethics, of which casuistry is an aspect. Is this right? So, at the article Applied ethics there should be a subsection, perhaps titled Casuistry: the argument from cases. That subsection, under the heading Main article Casuistry, should offer a concise abridgment of what is to be found in more detail here. Shouldn't many of the aspects of applied ethics in the post above be treated in similar fashion?

Is that the most useful approach? --Wetman 23:48, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

Moved from applied ethics
"In a modern casuistic approach to say, a biomedical issue, two boards of experts are appointed. The ethical board might represent disparate ethical theories. The scientific board represents relevant medical, legal, psychological and philosophical disciplines. The ethical board evaluates situations, and recommends and ratifies responses. The scientific board explains the causes and effects of each ethical state and response.

The boards then consider actions that are appropriate for relevant pure cases. For example, most ethical systems agree that assault deserves punishment, while risking oneself to save lives deserves reward. Other cases that are often relevant include theft, gifts, verified truth, verified lying, betrayal, and earned trust.

Taking such cases as data, the board draws parallels with the problem under consideration, and attempts to discover a set of actions to respond to the case under consideration.

For example, medical experiments without informed consent, performed on healthy persons, are often likened to assault with a deadly weapon performed by the experimenter. The experiments usually involve equipment or drugs, which provides the 'weapon.' The experimenter's malice is indicated by the secrecy. Therefore, harmful results can be attributed to the malice, and the degree of damage indicates the degree of assault.

If the experimenter gets informed consent from the subject, the scenario transforms completely because the moral choice moves from the experimenter to the subject. With informed consent, the subject then becomes either a tragic hero if the procedure fails, or a successful hero if the procedure succeeds. The experimenter is then merely offering a brave volunteer an opportunity to contribute to human knowledge, and possibly benefit from the process.

Note that in both cases, "villain & victim," or "scientist & volunteer," the actual experiment might cause the same clinical results. However, the moral relationships of the participants are completely different.

Since casuistry is concerned with facts and actions, rather than theories, it is often remarkably easier to come to agreement. Although many ethical systems disagree about the justification for an action, the actions that they recommend are often remarkably similar. There can be many rationales for the same action, thus avoiding any single rationale or the necessity to agree on language seems to remove a major barrier to agreement. In legal terms, it removes the fear of setting precedent.

Such an action-focused approach to applied ethics is thus also less likely to conflict with informal ethical theories of politics, etiquette, aesthetics and arbitration - each of which implies their own concept of a valid precedent. In fact an approach based on casuistry involves practices from all of these - especially the production of hypothetical cases for deriving a common ethic - but does not permit the arbitrary introduction of precedents from any of them.

A specialized example of casuistry is a science court, in which scientists agree in advance what scientific theory would best explain a set of facts and thus what research program is recommended - making it extraordinarily difficult for scientists to disagree with that action if those facts turn out to be true. A similar approach can be taken to engineering and regulatory decisions, with advocates of different potential actions competing to establish themselves. These applications to public policy tend to resemble that of more traditional politics."

I don't particularly care for the style of this, and I am not well versed in "casuistry" so I'll leave it to others to see how much of this will be merged. Sam Spade 12:37, 13 Feb 2004 (UTC)

"forgot the word"
I changed "The selection of a paradigm case is justified by warrants, and opposed by ??? [forgot the word]." to "The selection of a paradigm case is justified by warrants." I'm afraid I know nothing about this, so would someone who knows this mysterious word please add it there? --Tothebarricades.tk 03:52, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

In contrast, a rigorous theoretical approach would find that such evidence is "not real evidence,"
What is the basis for this statement in the article? Illegally obtained evidence is still "real evidence", and certainly many scholars, prosecuters and much of the public has thought so. In the United States, the courts have just decided that the exclusionary rule is preferable to prosecuting law enforcement personale, for what are sometimes just technical violations. It is possible for the credibility of evidence to be tainted by the manner in which it is obtained but that is a different matter.--Silverback 07:45, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

There is a possible current example of the complexity of casuistry in the law. To this end, the originalists appeal to a written constitution for guidance, such as Scalia and Thomas might do to avoid the problems of casuistry or even sophistry in their written opinions, which are allededly detached from practical ethics, whereas the practical applications of law and ethics with no literal basis in the written constitution, or in some cases any persuasive literal guidance by elected members of Congress in laws and statutes, such as perceived by the public in written opinions by O'Connor, Souter and Kennedy, or even Stevens, Bryer and Ginsberg, like those of Blackman and Warren before them, seem to invite the public to perceive both the benefits and problems of casuistry in the majority decisions of the United States Supreme Court, since some times the public perceives that there is no appeal to such majority decisions short of a reversal by the court of its own decisions, or the need for the electorate to attempt to support an interventionist, activist president who will appont an originalaist candidate that can survive a filibuster in the Senate.

There is a possible current example of the complexity of casuistry in the law. To this end, the originalists appeal to a written constitution for guidance, such as Scalia and Thomas might do to avoid the problems of casuistry or even sophistry in their written opinions, which are allededly detached from practical ethics, whereas the practical applications of law and ethics with no literal basis in the written constitution, or in some cases any persuasive literal guidance by elected members of Congress in laws and statutes, such as perceived by the public in written opinions by O'Connor, Souter and Kennedy, or even Stevens, Bryer and Ginsberg, like those of Blackman and Warren before them, seem to invite the public to perceive both the benefits and problems of casuistry in the majority decisions of the United States Supreme Court, since some times the public perceives that there is no appeal to such majority decisions short of a reversal by the court of its own decisions, or the need for the electorate to attempt to support an interventionist, activist president who will appont an originalaist candidate that can survive a filibuster in the Senate.

Way over my head
Is this a term paper or something else like that? A law professor would understand this with no problem, but I didn't even know it was about law until I saw the category. I've tagged it as needing to be simplified. -Mulder416 18:17, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree with your comment- i added some titles and some info on GE Moores opinion on casuistry. --Greece666 19:10, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

I removed "the resolution of particular moral cases by the application" - I'm not necessarily opposed to the language, but I didn't understand what the paragraph was saying. Maybe a phrase was left out? Tom Harrison Talk 20:48, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * you did well, i mistakenly wrote this phrase there.
 * by the way the following is the definition of casuistry by the Shorter OED: "casuistry noun the reasoning of the casuist; the resolution of cases of conscience by the application of general rules to particular instances, freq. disclosing a conflict of duties; sophistry: E18." Maybe this helps the discussion.--Greece666 20:55, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Taqiyya
Should a comparison be drawn between the religious use of casuistry and the muslim practice of taqiyya?

On the intro, it's well written - looks better than large parts of the article, which reproduce discussion contained at the top - but it should be concise.--Shtove 15:23, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Not Really
Lede currently has "and often is a critique of principle- or rule-based reasoning". Probably meant or should be something like "and is often a shortcoming of case-based reasoning approaches, particular those which are not principled". 72.228.150.44 (talk) 06:56, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

 * Actually that's a glaring error that contradicts the body of the article. 72.228.150.44 (talk) 07:34, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, but this article is utter garbage. The section on casuist ethics is appalling from the start. An ethicist doesn't begin with theory (how utterly backwards!), he ends with one. He begins from moral facts. The section makes it sound like moral facts don't exist and that the moral status of something is dependent on the selected theory (which of course makes one wonder how one could come to know the theory or possibly affirm it without having facts first). Clearly, this wasn't written by someone with an ounce of knowledge of ethics, or an ounce of common sense. I vote to delete the section. --~ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.173.64.103 (talk) 01:58, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

"though Merriam-Webster lists the neutral one first"
M-W generally lists senses in historical order, so this doesn't give any indication of frequency or importance. Not R (talk) 18:17, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

 * This was found in a paragraph of almost pure original research (see "Original research' section below). I've removed some of the paragraph, including the passage to which you object. What remains is still questionable, but I'm not yet decided what to do about it. (By the way, Merriam-Webster has published possibly hundreds of dictionaries. Do we know that they all give more than one definition of casuistry with the non-pejorative definition listed first? Shouldn't we be more specific about what dictionary we mean?) TheScotch (talk) 07:42, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Manipulative use of language
This article is atrocious. The definition of casuistry is somewhat adequate but casuistry in ethics is not exclusively associated with the Jesuits but is more universal than that. The term "Jesuit pope Francis" is ridiculously used to demonstrate the prejudicial intent of the article. Casuistry is a term used by ethicists to show an inadequate moral argument and is nowhere associated with one group of people. Some of the previous commenters have noted some of the same things. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.42.185.74 (talk) 14:39, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

Original research
Re: "Most online dictionaries list a pejorative meaning as the primary definition before a neutral one,[6][7][8] though Merriam-Webster lists the neutral one first.[9] In journalistic usage, the pejorative use is ubiquitous.[10][11][12][13]"

This is grotesquely abusive use of citation. [6],[7], and [8] do not say that "most online dictionaries list a pejorative meaning as the primary definition before a neutral one"; they are merely examples of dictionaries that list meanings in this way, and three dictionaries are not "most dictionaries". Likewise, [10],[11],[12], and [13] don't say that "in journalistic usage, the pejorative use is ubiquitous"; they are merely examples of pejorative journalistic usage. It would require every single journalistic usage ever made to establish ubiquity in the literal sense (which is the sense an encyclopedia should restrict itself to), and four examples come nowhere near to making a dent in establishing ubiquity in even the loose hyperbolic sense (which is anyway inappropriate for Wikipedia). In any case, it is not the job of a Wikipedia editor to look at dictionaries or newspaper articles and decide what they tend to do. What is needed is an authoritative source that already says what dictionaries or newspaper articles tend to do. If no such source can be found, then Wikipedia must keep silent on the matter. TheScotch (talk) 07:26, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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Jesuitism merger proposal
I propose merging of Jesuitism into this article for several reasons: The first reason is obviously most important. What do others think? Sondra.kinsey (talk) 14:20, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
 * 1) These are essentially the same meaning and history. See Wikipedia is not a dictionary.
 * 2) The term Jesuitism is essentially an old pejorative slur against Jesuits, lacking significant meaningful content.
 * 3) Both of these articles are of low quality and it is better to focus the energy of editors on a single (hopefully better) article.
 * ✅ Klbrain (talk) 21:38, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

History
The sentence "It was not until publication of The Abuse of Casuistry: A History of Moral Reasoning (1988), by Albert Jonsen and Stephen Toulmin,[8] that a revival of casuistry occurred. " is dubious and needs a citation or a re-write. In what way did that book revive casuistry? Does this apply world-wide, or is it just a US thing? Casuistry has surely been alive and well in judicial reasoning in Common Law countries. Rick Jelliffe (talk) 02:10, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

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OED
I have a feeling that the OED has more to say about the definition of "Casuistry" then a quote from Bolingbroke from 1749. Would anyone care to check it out? Mannanan51 (talk) 06:23, 12 May 2019 (UTC)

Uncited material in need of citations
I am moving the following material here until it can be properly supported with reliable, secondary citations, per WP:V, WP:NOR, WP:IRS, WP:PSTS, et al. This diff shows where it was in the article. Nightscream (talk) 14:49, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Examples
While a principle-based approach might claim that lying is always morally wrong, the casuist would argue that, depending upon the details of the case, lying might or might not be illegal or unethical. The casuist might conclude that a person is wrong to lie in legal testimony under oath, but might argue that lying actually is the best moral choice if the lie saves a life. (Thomas Sanchez and others thus theorized a doctrine of mental reservation, which developed into its own branch of casuistry.) For the casuist, the circumstances of a case are essential for evaluating the proper response.

Typically, casuistic reasoning begins with a clear-cut paradigmatic case. In legal reasoning, for example, this might be a precedent case, such as premeditated murder. From it, the casuist would ask how closely the given case currently under consideration matches the paradigmatic case. Cases like the paradigmatic case ought to be treated likewise; cases unlike the paradigm could be treated differently. Thus, a man is properly charged with premeditated murder if the circumstances surrounding his case closely resemble the exemplary premeditated murder case. The less a given case is like the paradigm, the weaker the justification is for treating that case like the paradigmatic case.

Meanings
Casuistry is a method of case reasoning especially useful in treating cases that involve moral dilemmas. It is a branch of applied ethics. It is also criticized for the use of inconsistent—or outright specious—application of rule to instance.

Morality
Casuistry takes a relentlessly practical approach to morality. Rather than using theories as starting points, casuistry begins with an examination of cases. By drawing parallels between paradigms, or so-called "pure cases", and the case at hand, a casuist tries to determine a moral response appropriate to a particular case.

Casuistry has been described as "theory modest" (Arras, see below). One of the strengths of casuistry is that it does not begin with, nor does it overemphasize, theoretical issues. It does not require practitioners to agree about ethical theories or evaluations before making policy. Instead, they can agree that certain paradigms should be treated in certain ways, and then agree on the similarities, the so-called warrants between a paradigm and the case at hand.

Since most people, and most cultures, substantially agree about most pure ethical situations, casuistry often creates ethical arguments that can persuade people of different ethnic, religious and philosophical beliefs to treat particular cases in the same ways. For this reason, casuistry is widely considered to be the basis for the English common law and its derivatives.

Casuistry is prone to abuses wherever the analogies between cases are false.

Philosophy Now article
This is an interesting article that uses the term casuistry differently from the wikipedia article. I may try to look for further citations and possibly use some of it here. 2601:648:8202:96B0:25EB:282F:5576:C543 (talk) 02:48, 4 December 2020 (UTC)

Do we have examples?
Can we find and cite examples that were actually used in the literature? 142.182.136.105 (talk) 01:36, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

Pope Francis and casuistry
Here is the quote from Pope Francis from the in-flight informal Q&A with the media (2014), in context:

 * Regarding the two Synods of Bishops on the family he has called for this October and October 2015, the pope lamented what he characterized as an overemphasis, by members of the clergy among others, on the question of when divorced and civilly remarried Catholics may receive Communion.The pope said focusing on that question posed the risk of "casuistry," which he has defined in the past as the practice of setting general laws on the basis of exceptional cases. He emphasized the synods would consider the pastoral care of the family in its totality.

 * "Today, we know, the family is in crisis, it's a worldwide crisis, the young don't want to marry or they live together," Pope Francis said. "The pastoral problem of the family is very large, very large."

In 2015, the Pope Francis issued Amoris Laetitia and it was itself criticized for using casuistry, namely using the hard cases of the divorced and remarried to change the general laws on the reception of Holy Communion.

title: Talk:Casuistry


text:
Clark Ashton Smith

Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the West Coast Romantics alongside Joaquin Miller, Sterling, and Nora May French and remembered as "The Last of the Great Romantics" and "The Bard of Auburn". Smith's work was praised by his contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures".

Smith was one of "the big three of Weird Tales, with Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft", though some readers objected to his morbidness and violation of pulp traditions. The fantasy writer and critic L. Sprague de Camp said of him that "nobody since Poe has so loved a well-rotted corpse". Smith was a member of the Lovecraft circle, and his literary friendship with Lovecraft lasted from 1922 until Lovecraft's death in 1937. His work is marked by an extraordinarily rich and ornate vocabulary, a cosmic perspective and a vein of sardonic and sometimes ribald humor.

Of his writing style, Smith stated: "My own conscious ideal has been to delude the reader into accepting an impossibility, or series of impossibilities, by means of a sort of verbal black magic, in the achievement of which I make use of prose-rhythm, metaphor, simile, tone-color, counter-point, and other stylistic resources, like a sort of incantation."

Early life and education
Smith was born January 13, 1893, in Long Valley, Placer County, California, into a family of English and New England heritage. He spent most of his life in the small town of Auburn, California, living in a cabin built by his parents, Fanny and Timeus Smith. Smith professed to hate the town's provincialism but rarely left it until he married late in life.

His formal education was limited: he suffered from psychological disorders including intense agoraphobia, and although he was accepted to high school after attending eight years of grammar school, his parents decided it was better for him to be taught at home. An insatiable reader with an extraordinary eidetic memory, Smith appeared to retain most or all of whatever he read. After leaving formal education, he embarked upon a self-directed course of literature, including Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels, the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and Madame d'Aulnoy, the Arabian Nights and the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. He read an unabridged dictionary word for word, studying not only the definitions of the words but also their etymology.

The other main course in Smith's self-education was to read the complete 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica at least twice. Smith later taught himself French and Spanish to translate verse out of those languages, including works by Gérard de Nerval, Paul Verlaine, Amado Nervo, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and all but 6 of Charles Baudelaire's 157 poems in The Flowers of Evil.

Early writing

His first literary efforts, at the age of 11, took the form of fairy tales and imitations of the Arabian Nights. Later, he wrote long adventure novels dealing with Oriental life. By 14 he had already written a short adventure novel called The Black Diamonds which was lost for years until published in 2002. Another juvenile novel was written in his teenaged years: The Sword of Zagan (unpublished until 2004). Like The Black Diamonds, it uses a medieval, Arabian Nights-like setting, and the Arabian Nights, like the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and the works of Edgar Allan Poe, are known to have strongly influenced Smith's early writing, as did William Beckford's Vathek.

At age 17, he sold several tales to The Black Cat, a magazine which specialized in unusual tales. He also published some tales in the Overland Monthly in this brief foray into fiction which preceded his poetic career.

However, it was primarily poetry that motivated the young Smith and he confined his efforts to poetry for more than a decade. In his later youth, Smith made the acquaintance of the San Francisco poet George Sterling through a member of the local Auburn Monday Night Club, where he read several of his poems with considerable success. On a month-long visit to Sterling in Carmel, California, Smith was introduced by Sterling to the poetry of Charles Baudelaire.

He became Sterling's protégé and Sterling helped him to publish his first volume of poems, The Star-Treader and Other Poems, at the age of 19. Smith received international acclaim for the collection. The Star-Treader was received very favorably by American critics, one of whom named Smith "the Keats of the Pacific". Smith briefly moved among the circle that included Ambrose Bierce and Jack London, but his early fame soon faded away.

Health breakdown period
A little later, Smith's health broke down and for eight years his literary production was intermittent, though he produced his best poetry during this period. A small volume, Odes and Sonnets, was brought out in 1918. Smith came into contact with literary figures who would later form part of H.P. Lovecraft's circle of correspondents; Smith knew them far earlier than Lovecraft. These figures include poet Samuel Loveman and bookman George Kirk. It was Smith who in fact later introduced Donald Wandrei to Lovecraft. For this reason, it has been suggested that Lovecraft might as well be referred to as a member of a "Smith" circle as Smith was a member of a Lovecraft one.

In 1920 Smith composed a celebrated long poem in blank verse, The Hashish Eater, or The Apocalypse of Evil which was published in Ebony and Crystal (1922). This was followed by a fan letter from H. P. Lovecraft, which was the beginning of 15 years of friendship and correspondence. With studied playfulness, Smith and Lovecraft borrowed each other's coinages of place names and the names of strange gods for their stories, though so different is Smith's treatment of the Lovecraft theme that it has been dubbed the "Clark Ashton Smythos."

In 1925 Smith published Sandalwood, which was partly funded by a gift of $50 from Donald Wandrei. He wrote little fiction in this period with the exception of some imaginative vignettes or prose poems. Smith was poor for most of his life and often did hard manual jobs such as fruit picking and woodcutting to support himself and his parents. He was an able cook and made many kinds of wine. He also did well digging, typing and journalism, as well as contributing a column to The Auburn Journal and sometimes worked as its night editor.

One of Smith's artistic patrons and frequent correspondents was San Francisco businessman Albert Bender.

Prolific fiction-writing period
At the beginning of the Depression in 1929, with his aged parents' health weakening, Smith resumed fiction writing and turned out more than a hundred short stories between 1929 and 1934, nearly all of which can be classed as weird horror or science fiction. Like Lovecraft, he drew upon the nightmares that had plagued him during youthful spells of sickness. Brian Stableford has written that the stories written during this brief phase of hectic productivity "constitute one of the most remarkable oeuvres in imaginative literature".

He published at his own expense a volume containing six of his best stories, The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies, in an edition of 1000 copies printed by the Auburn Journal. The theme of much of his work is egotism and its supernatural punishment; his weird fiction is generally macabre in subject matter, gloatingly preoccupied with images of death, decay and abnormality.

Most of Smith's weird fiction falls into four series set variously in Hyperborea, Poseidonis, Averoigne and Zothique. Hyperborea, which is a lost continent of the Miocene period, and Poseidonis, which is a remnant of Atlantis, are much the same, with a magical culture characterized by bizarreness, cruelty, death and postmortem horrors. Averoigne is Smith's version of pre-modern France, comparable to James Branch Cabell's Poictesme. Zothique exists millions of years in the future. It is "the last continent of earth, when the sun is dim and tarnished". These tales have been compared to the Dying Earth sequence of Jack Vance.

In 1933 Smith began corresponding with Robert E. Howard, the Texan creator of Conan the Barbarian. From 1933 to 1936, Smith, Howard and Lovecraft were the leaders of the Weird Tales school of fiction and corresponded frequently, although they never met. The writer of oriental fantasies E. Hoffmann Price is the only man known to have met all three in the flesh.

Critic Steve Behrends has suggested that the frequent theme of 'loss' in Smith's fiction (many of his characters attempt to recapture a long-vanished youth, early love, or picturesque past) may reflect Smith's own feeling that his career had suffered a "fall from grace": "Smith's late teens and early twenties had certainly been a heady period: he'd been taken under the wing of a personal idol, the poet George Sterling, and his first book of poetry had brought him comparisons to Keats and Shelley. This notoriety must surely have raised his standing in his small hometown. And yet the depression found Smith without a job or viable occupation, unable to eke out a living as a poet, with girlfriends berating him for his lack of ambition. And while his turn to writing fiction did put bread on the table, he found it a very distasteful business at times—he had once said to Sterling that writing prose was 'a hateful task, for a poet, and [one which] wouldn't be necessary in any true civilisation.' In short, it may be that Smith experienced that variety of 'let-down' or loss peculiar to the child prodigies."

Mid-late career: return to poetry and sculpture
In September 1935, Smith's mother Fanny died. Smith spent the next two years nursing his father through his last illness. Timeus died in December 1937. Aged 44, Smith now virtually ceased writing fiction. He had been severely affected by several tragedies occurring in a short period of time: Robert E. Howard's death by suicide (1936), Lovecraft's death from cancer (1937) and the deaths of his parents, which left him exhausted. As a result, he withdrew from the scene, marking the end of Weird Tales's Golden Age. He began sculpting and resumed the writing of poetry. However, Smith was visited by many writers at his cabin, including Fritz Leiber, Rah Hoffman, Francis T. Laney and others.

In 1942, three years after August Derleth founded Arkham House for the purpose of preserving the work of H.P. Lovecraft, Derleth published the first of several major collections of Smith's fiction, Out of Space and Time (1942). This was followed by Lost Worlds (1944). The books sold slowly, went out of print and became costly rarities. Derleth published five more volumes of Smith's prose and two of his verse, and at his death in 1971 had a large volume of Smith's poems in press.

Later life, marriage and death
In 1953, Smith suffered a coronary attack. Aged 61, he married Carol(yn) Jones Dorman on November 10, 1954. Dorman had much experience in Hollywood and radio public relations. After honeymooning at the Smith cabin, they moved to Pacific Grove, California, where he set up a household including her three children from a previous marriage. For several years he alternated between the house on Indian Ridge and their house in Pacific Grove. Smith having sold most of his father's tract, in 1957 the old house burned – the Smiths believed by arson, others said by accident.

Smith now reluctantly did gardening for other residents at Pacific Grove, and grew a goatee. He spent much time shopping and walking near the seafront but despite Derleth's badgering, resisted the writing of more fiction. In 1961 he suffered a series of strokes and in August 1961 he quietly died in his sleep, aged 68. After Smith's death, Carol remarried (becoming Carolyn Wakefield) and subsequently died of cancer.

The poet's ashes were buried beside, or beneath, a boulder to the immediate west of where his childhood home (destroyed by fire in 1957) stood; some were also scattered in a stand of blue oaks near the boulder. There was no marker. Plaques recognizing Smith have been erected at the Auburn Placer County Library in 1985 and in Bicentennial Park in Auburn in 2003.

Bookseller Roy A. Squires was appointed Smith's "west coast executor", with Jack L. Chalker as his "east coast executor". Squires published many letterpress editions of individual Smith poems.

Smith's literary estate is represented by his stepson, Prof William Dorman, director of CASiana Literary Enterprises. Arkham House owns the copyright to many Smith stories, though some are now in the public domain.

For 'posthumous collaborations' of Smith (stories completed by Lin Carter), see the entry on Lin Carter.

Artistic periods
While Smith was always an artist who worked in several very different media, it is possible to identify three distinct periods in which one form of art had precedence over the others.

Poetry: until 1925
Smith published most of his volumes of poetry in this period, including the aforementioned The Star-Treader and Other Poems, as well as Odes and Sonnets (1918), Ebony and Crystal (1922) and Sandalwood (1925). His long poem The Hashish-Eater; Or, the Apocalypse of Evil was written in 1920.

Weird fiction: 1926–1935

Smith wrote most of his weird fiction and Cthulhu Mythos stories, inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. Creatures of his invention include Aforgomon, Rlim-Shaikorth, Mordiggian, Tsathoggua, the wizard Eibon, and various others. In an homage to his friend, Lovecraft referred in "The Whisperer in Darkness" and "The Battle That Ended the Century" (written in collaboration with R. H. Barlow) to an Atlantean high-priest, "Klarkash-Ton".

Smith's weird stories form several cycles, called after the lands in which they are set: Averoigne, Hyperborea, Mars, Poseidonis, Zothique. To some extent Smith was influenced in his vision of such lost worlds by the teachings of Theosophy and the writings of Helena Blavatsky. Stories set in Zothique belong to the Dying Earth subgenre. Amongst Smith's science fiction tales are stories set on Mars and the invented planet of Xiccarph.

His short stories originally appeared in the magazines Weird Tales, Strange Tales, Astounding Stories, Stirring Science Stories and Wonder Stories.

Clark Ashton Smith was the third member of the great triumvirate of Weird Tales, with Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.

Many of Smith's stories were published in six hardcover volumes by August Derleth under his Arkham House imprint. For a full bibliography to 1978, see Sidney-Fryer, Emperor of Dreams (cited below). S. T. Joshi is working with other scholars to produce an updated bibliography of Smith's work.

A selection of Smith's best-known tales includes:
 * "The Last Incantation" — Weird Tales, June 1930 LW2
 * "A Voyage to Sfanomoe" — Weird Tales, August 1931 LW2
 * "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" — Weird Tales November 1931 LW2
 * "The Door to Saturn" — Strange Tales, January 1932 LW2
 * "The Planet of the Dead" — Weird Tales, March 1932 LW2
 * "The Gorgon" — Weird Tales, April 1932 LW2
 * "The Letter from Mohaun Los" (under the title of "Flight into Super-Time") — Wonder Stories, August 1932 LW1
 * "The Empire of the Necromancers" — Weird Tales, September 1932 LW1
 * "The Hunters from Beyond" — Strange Tales, October 1932 LW1
 * "The Isle of the Torturers" — Weird Tales, March 1933 LW1
 * "The Light from Beyond" — Wonder Stories, April 1933 LW1
 * "The Beast of Averoigne" — Weird Tales, May 1933 LW1
 * "The Holiness of Azedarac" — Weird Tales, November 1933 LW1
 * "The Demon of the Flower" — Astounding Stories, December 1933 LW2
 * "The Death of Malygris" — Weird Tales, April 1934 LW2
 * "The Plutonium Drug" — Amazing Stories, September 1934 LW2
 * "The Seven Geases" — Weird Tales, October 1934 LW2
 * "Xeethra" — Weird Tales, December 1934 LW1
 * "The Flower-Women" — Weird Tales, May 1935 LW2
 * "The Treader of the Dust" — Weird Tales, August 1935 LW1
 * "Necromancy in Naat" — Weird Tales, July 1936 LW1
 * "The Maze of Maal Dweb" — Weird Tales, October 1938 LW2
 * "The Coming of the White Worm" — Stirring Science Stories, April 1941 LW2

Visual art: 1935–1961
By this time his interest in writing fiction began to lessen and he turned to creating sculptures from soft rock such as soapstone. Smith also made hundreds of fantastic paintings and drawings.

Books published in Smith's lifetime

 * 1912: The Star-Treader and Other Poems. San Francisco: A.M. Robertson, Nov 1912. 100 pages. 2000 copies. Some copies have a frontispiece photo by Bianca Conti; others lack it.
 * 1918: Odes and Sonnets. San Francisco: The Book Club of California, June 1918. 28 pages. 300 copies.
 * 1922: Ebony and Crystal: Poems in Verse and Prose. Auburn CA: The Auburn Journal Press, Oct 1925. 43 pages. Limited to 500 copies signed by Smith. Some copies are found with corrections in Smith's hand to typos in the text.
 * 1925: Sandalwood. Auburn CA: The Auburn Journal Press, Oct 1925. Verse. 43 pages. Limited to 250 (i.e. 225) numbered copies signed by Smith. Some copies are found with corrections in Smith's hand to typos in the text.
 * 1933: The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies. Auburn, CA: The Auburn Journal Press, 1933. Short stories. Limited to 1000 copies in grey paper wrappers.
 * 1937: Nero and Other Poems. Lakeport CA: The Futile Press, May 1937. 24 pages. c.250 copies. The poems herein were revised by Smith from their first appearances in The Star-Treader and Other Poems. Some copies have laid in the three page essay "The Price of Poetry", on Smith's verse, by David Warren Ryder, which was printed to accompany the book. According to the official Smith bibliography,the volume was also issued with a broadside, "Outlanders" - a 1934 sonnet which made its first appearance in print here. Roy A. Squires purchased spare sheets of the volume from Groo Beck of Futile Press, sufficient to produce a 'second state' of 13 copies,which was specially bound by Kristina Etchison and published by bookdealer Terence McVicker. (This 2nd state not noted in the official bibliography.)
 * 1951: The Dark Chateau and Other Poems. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, Dec 1951. 63 pages. 563 copies.
 * 1958: Spells and Philtres. Sauk City: Arkham House, March 1958. Verse. 54 pages. 519 copies.

Books published posthumously

 * 1962: The Hill of Dionysus – A Selection. Pacific Grove, CA: Roy A. Squires and Clyde Beck. Verse. This volume was prepared while Smith was still living but he died before it could see print. It was published 'In memoriam'.
 * 1971: Selected Poems. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, Nov 1971. This volume was delivered by the author to Arkham House in December 1949 but remained unpublished until 1971.

Night Shade Books

 * The Collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith 5-volume work
 *  Miscellaneous Writings. Originally announced as Tales of India and Irony (a collection of non-fantasy/science fiction/horror tales, planned to be available only to subscribers of above collection). Now commercially available.
 *  Red World of Polaris (complete tales of Captain Volmar)

Hippocampus Press

 * The Complete Poetry and Translations of Clark Ashton Smith (3 vols)
 * The Black Diamonds. A juvenile Oriental fantasy.
 * The Last Oblivion: Best Fantastic Poems of Clark Ashton Smith
 * The Sword of Zagan and Other Writings. Juvenile Oriental fantasy.
 * The Shadow of the Unattained: Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith
 * The Freedom of Fantastic Things: Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith
 * The Hashish-Eater. (2008). Edited with notes etc. by Donald Sidney-Fryer. Introduction by Ron Hilger. Includes a CD audio recording of Sidney-Fryer reading "The Hashish-Eater" and (on a hidden track) a selection of other poems by Smith.
 * The Averoigne Chronicles: The Complete Averoigne Stories of Clark Ashton Smith
 * Zothique: The Final Cycle by Clark Ashton Smith

Arkham House

 * Out of Space and Time
 * Lost Worlds
 * Genius Loci and Other Tales
 * The Dark Chateau
 * Spells and Philtres
 * The Abominations of Yondo
 * Tales of Science and Sorcery
 * Poems in Prose
 * Other Dimensions (o.o.p.)
 * Selected Poems
 * The Black Book of Clark Ashton Smith
 * A Rendezvous in Averoigne
 * Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith

Spearman (reprinted from Arkham House)

 * Lost Worlds hardcover 1971 ISBN 0-85435-111-6
 * Out of Space and Time 1971 ISBN 0-85435-101-9
 * Genius Loci and Other Tales hardcover 1972 ISBN 0-85435-381-X
 * The Abominations of Yondo 1972 ISBN 0-85435-371-2

Panther (reprinted from Arkham House)

 * Lost Worlds (published in 2 volumes, ISBN 0-586-03964-3, ISBN 0-586-04086-2)
 * Genius Loci ISBN 0-586-03965-1
 * The Abominations of Yondo ISBN 0-586-03956-2
 * Other Dimensions (published in 2 volumes, ISBN 0-586-04350-0, ISBN 0-586-04351-9)
 * Out of Space and Time (published in 2 volumes, ISBN 0-586-03966-X, ISBN 0-586-04110-9)
 * Tales of Science and Sorcery ISBN 0-586-04352-7

Ballantine Adult Fantasy series

 * Zothique 1970 ISBN 0-345-01938-5
 * Hyperborea 1971 ISBN 0-345-02206-8
 * Xiccarph 1972 ISBN 0-345-02501-6
 * Poseidonis 1973 ISBN 0-345-03353-1
 * Averoigne (reportedly compiled by series editor Lin Carter, but never released)

Roy A. Squires

 * Roy A. Squires, California-based bookman and letterpress printer, issued many limited edition pamphlets consisting of individual Smith poems and prose poems during the 1970s.

Wildside Press

 * The Double Shadow
 * The Maker of Gargoyles and Other Stories
 * The White Sybil and Other Stories

Timescape Books

 * The City of the Singing Flame 1981 ISBN 0-671-83415-0
 * The Last Incantation 1982 ISBN 0-671-83543-2
 * The Monster of the Prophecy 1983 ISBN 0-671-83544-0

Gollancz

 * The Emperor of Dreams. Ed, Stephen Jones. 2002. An omnibus edition in paperback of Smith's best tales.

Bancroft Library

 * In the Line of the Grotesque and Monstrous. Introduction by D.S. Black. Berkeley: The Bancroft Library, 2004. Prints the text of three letters by Smith to Samuel Loveman. 50 copies only printed, in burnt orange wrappers. Printed on the Bancroft library's 1856 Albion handpress.

The RAS Press

 * The Black Abbot of Puthuum. Glendale, CA: The RAS Press, Oct 2007. Limited to 250 numbered copies.(This press was founded by Roy. A. Squires and is currently run by bookseller Terence McVicker).

HIH Art Studios

 * Shadows Seen and Unseen: Poetry from the Shadows. Edited by Raymond L.F. Johnson and Ardath W. Winterowd and signed by both editors. San Jose, CA: HIH Art Studios, 2007.

Penguin Books

 * The Dark Eidolon and Other Fantasies. Ed, S. T. Joshi. 2014.

Other (essays, letters, etc)
Scholars S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz are preparing various additional volumes of Smith's letters to such of his individual correspondents as Donald Wandrei and R. H. Barlow.
 * Smith, Clark Ashton. Planets and Dimensions: Collected Essays. Edited by Charles K. Wolfe. Baltimore MD: Mirage Press, 1973.
 * David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi (eds). The Shadow of the Unattained: The Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith NY: Hippocampus Press, 2005.
 * David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi (eds). Dawnward Spire, Lonely Hill: The Letters of H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. NY: Hippocampus Press, 2017.
 * David E. Schultz and S.T. Joshi (eds). Eccentric, Impractical Devils: The Letters of August Derleth and Clark Ashton Smith. NY: Hippocampus Press, 2020.
 * S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz (eds). Born Under Saturn: The Letters of Samuel Loveman and Clark Ashton Smith NY: Hippocampus Press, 2021, an expanded edition of Samuel Loveman's Out of the Immortal Night (2004)

Visual

 * "The Double Shadow" was filmed by Azathoth Productions, Newcastle, Australia, on Super 8 film in 1975, with a script by Leigh Blackmore.
 * "The Return of the Sorcerer" was adapted for an episode of the television series Night Gallery, starring Vincent Price and Bill Bixby.
 * "The Seed from the Sepulcher", "The Vaults of Yoh Vombis" and "The Return of the Sorcerer" were adapted as ten-page comics by Richard Corben, published in DenSaga 1, 2 and 3 respectively (Fantagor Press 1992–1993).
 * "Mother of Toads" was adapted as segment one of the six-segment horror anthology film The Theatre Bizarre (2011).

Audio

 * Clark Ashton Smith: Live from Auburn: The Elder Tapes. In the late 1950s Smith recorded a number of his poems on the tape-recorder of his friend Robert B. Elder. Elder chose the 11 poems at random from Smith's books The Dark Chateau and "Spells and Philtres". (Elder had first met Smith when reporting on his 1954 wedding to the former Carol Dorman for The Auburn Courier and they became friends when Smith praised Elder's novel Whom the Gods Destroy.) In 1995 Necronomicon Press released the audiocassette Clark Ashton Smith: Live from Auburn: The Elder Tapes, which includes an introduction by Elder and then Smith reading his poems. The recording was produced by Wayne Haigh. The cassette was accompanied by a booklet featuring a c.1960 photo of Smith and reprints all 11 poems. Gahan Wilson provided the cover art for the cassette and booklet. The recording has not been released on CD.
 * The Hashish-Eater and Other Poems. Nampa, Idaho: Fedogan and Bremer, 2018. Running time 68 mins. Includes Donald Sidney-Fryer's readings of "The Hashish-Eater" and a selection of other Smith poems, identical to the selection on the CD which accompanied the 2008 Hippocampus Press volume "The Hashish-Eater"; here, however, an orchestral soundtrack by Graham Plowman has been added. Booklet notes by Ron Hilger.

Bibliographies

 * Cockcroft, Thomas G. L. The Tales of Clark Ashton Smith: A Bibliography. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: Cockcroft, Nov 1961 (500 copies). The first published bibliography on Smith; superseded by Donald Sidney-Fryer's Emperor of Dreams (1978) – see below.
 * Joshi, S. T., David E. Schultz and Scott Connors. Clark Ashton Smith: A Comprehensive Bibliography. NY: NY: Hippocampus Press, 2020.
 * Sidney-Fryer, Donald. Emperor of Dreams: A Clark Ashton Smith Bibliography. West Kingston, RI: Donald M. Grant Publishers, 1978. A substantial work of scholarship which remains valuable for its critical appreciations but is now over thirty years out of date. A quantity of more recent bibliographical information can be found at the Bibliography section of the Eldritch Dark site online (see External Links). Both are completely superseded bibliographically by the Joshi, Schultz and Connors bibliography of 2020.

Journals devoted to Smith's life and work

 * Behrends, Steve. Klarkash-Ton: The Journal of Smith Studies No 1 (June 1988), Cryptic Publications. This journal was retitled by the new publisher as from Issue 2, thus the first issue of The Dark Eidolon: The Journal of Smith Studies, (Necronomicon Press) is numbered "2" (it appeared June 1989). There were only 3 issues in total. No 3 appeared in Dec 2002.
 * Connors, Scott and Ronald S. Hilger (eds). Lost Worlds: The Journal of Clark Ashton Smith Studies, Seele Brennt Publications. Issued annually, five numbers (2003–2008).
 * Morris, Harry O. (ed). Nyctalops magazine. Special Clark Ashton Smith issue, 96 pp. (1973)

Essays and standalone critical works

 * Behrends, Steve. Clark Ashton Smith. Starmont Reader's Guide 49. Mercer Island, WA: Starmont House, 1990.
 * Behrends, Steve. "The Song of the Necromancer: 'Loss' in Clark Ashton Smith's Fiction." Studies in Weird Fiction, 1, No 1 (Summer 1986): 3–12.
 * Connors, Scott. The Freedom of Fantastic Things: Selected Criticism on Clark Ashton Smith. NY: Hippocampus Press, 2006.
 * de Camp, L. Sprague. "Sierra Shaman: Clark Ashton Smith," in Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy. Sauk City,. WI: Arkham House, 1976, 211–12.
 * Fait, Eleanor. "Auburn Artist-Poet Utilizes Native Rock in Sculptures.". Sacramento Union (Dec 21, 1941), 4C.
 * Haefele, John D. "Far from Time: Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, and Arkham House." Weird Fiction Review No 1 (Fall 2010), 154–189.
 * Hilger, Ronald. One Hundred Years of Klarkash-Ton. Averon Press, 1996.
 * Schultz, David E. and Scott Connors (ed). Selected Letters of Clark Ashton Smith. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 2003.
 * Schultz, David E and S.T. Joshi. The Shadow of the Unattained: The Letters of George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith. NY: Hippocampus Press, 2005.
 * Sidney-Fryer, Donald. The Last of the Great Romantic Poets. Albuquerque NM: Silver Scarab Press, 1973.
 * Sidney-Fryer, Donald. Clark Ashton Smith: The Sorcerer Departs. West Hills, CA: Tsathoggua Press, Jan 1997. Dole: Silver Key Press, 2007. An updated/revised version of Sidney-Fryer's essay in the Special CAS Issue of Nyctalops (see above under Morris). An uncredited extract from this work, as "A Biography of Clark Ashton Smith," may be found online at

title: Clark Ashton Smith