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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Spontaneity (Philosophy) in literature'
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Watts, Daniel. "Constrained spontaneity : Kierkegaard and rule-following." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2003. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10215/.
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This thesis interprets certain passages in Kierkegaard with reference to a problem for the theory of judgement. The problem is generated by powerful considerations to the effect that rule-governed thought essentially involves spontaneous activity. This goes against the grain of many accounts of what thoughts are, and what it means to think. Yet the notion of 'constrained spontaneity' is paradoxical- for how can one and the same act be both spontaneous and determined by rules? I explore how this puzzle informs Kierkegaard's criticisms of Hegel in ways that both anticipate and can be used to interpret Wittgenstein's so-called rule-following considerations. Whilst Kierkegaard's critique has often been seen to trade on a crude view of Hegel, I show how in this respect it survives the sophisticated 'non-metaphysical' readings developed by many contemporary commentators. I proceed to examine whether Kierkegaardian conceptions of 'the leap', indirect communication and imagination can furnish an understanding of constrained spontaneity. In these connections, I (i) advance an 'Inseparability Thesis' about the relation between acts and objects of thought; (ii) adumbrate a form of argument I call the rhetorical reduction, the aim of which is to elicit spontaneous agreement; and (iii) defend a 'direct imagist' account of the role of imagination in rule-following. In a Prologue to the thesis, I mediate between 'content-' and 'form-based' approaches to Kierkegaard's texts by appeal to the art of caricature. In an Epilogue, I assess parallels and disanalogies between judgement and faith in Kierkegaard' s work.
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O'Neill, Clare Cecilia. "Structure and spontaneity: : improvisation in theatre and education." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1991. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.293645.
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Coshnear, Richard 1957. "Spontaneity in experience : Kant's theory and Sellars' variation." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=65962.
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van, Zwol Erik. "Responsibility, spontaneity and liberty." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Humanities, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5763.
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Isaiah Berlin maintains that there are two distinct forms of freedom or liberty: negative and positive. Berlin’s principal claim is that negative liberty does not require that the self be somehow separate from the empirical world (causally aloof, or an originator of causal chains). My principal claim is that to be an agent is to be committed to a separation of self in this sense, thus that the self for its very being requires to possess a species of positive liberty. This conception proceeds in part from Immanuel Kant’s claim that there is a separation between spontaneity and receptivity. Commitment to this assertion allows there to be an understood distinction between the self as a spontaneous self-active agent that makes choices, and the self as a mere reactionary brute that does what it does by biological imperatives. In this thesis, I defend the view that negative liberty is subsumed under positive liberty: you cannot have the former without the latter. I am therefore taking a rationalist stance towards Berlin’s thinking. My methodology is to bring into consideration two perspectives upon the underlying normative principles within the space of reason. The first is of Kant’s understanding of the principle of responsibility and the activity of spontaneity; the second is John McDowell’s understanding of that principle and activity. The key claim of this thesis is that Berlin misunderstands what it is to be a chooser. To be a chooser is to be raised under the idea that one is an efficient cause; human children are brought up being held responsible for their reasons for acting. This principle allows mere animal being to be raised into the space of reason, where we live out a second nature in terms of reason. Using their conclusions I further investigate Berlin’s understanding of conceptual frameworks, taking particular interest in historic ‘universal’ conceptions that shape human lives. He too finds that that we are choosers is necessary for what it is to be human. I take his conclusion, and suggest that if he had had a clear understanding of the space of reason, the historic claim that we have choice would find a more solid footing in the principle of that space, in that we are responsible for our actions. I conclude that the upshot of understanding the ‘I’ as an originating efficient cause is that we treat ourselves as free from a universal determinism that Berlin himself disparages; and that the cost to Berlin is that all choice is necessarily the activity of a higher choosing self. It is part of a Liberal society’s valuing, by their societal commitment to, the ideology of raising our children to understand themselves as choosers, that we have choice at all. This is irrespective of whether that which fetters choice is internal or external to the agent, or of whether having self-conscious itself requires such a cultural emergence of second nature.
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Blomstrand, Sebastian. "On the Road to "IT" : Kerouac and Spontaneity." Thesis, Högskolan Dalarna, Engelska, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:du-25325.
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Vice, Samantha Wynne. "Personal autonomy : philosophy and literature." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002853.
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Gerald Dworkin's influential account of Personal Autonomy offers the following two conditions for autonomy: (i) Authenticity - the condition that one identify with one's beliefs, desires and values after a process of critical reflection, and (ii) Procedural Independence - the identification in (i) must not be "influenced in ways which make the process of identification in some way alien to the individual" (Dworkin 1989:61). I argue in this thesis that there are cases which fulfil both of Dworkin's conditions, yet are clearly not cases of autonomy. Specifically, I argue that we can best assess the adequacy of Dworkin's account of autonomy through literature, because it provides a unique medium for testing his account on the very terms he sets up for himself - ie. that autonomy apply to, and make sense of, persons leading lives of a certain quality. The examination of two novels - Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day and Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady - shows that Dworkin's explanation of identification and critical reflection is inadequate for capturing their role in autonomy and that he does not pay enough attention to the role of external factors in preventing or supporting autonomy. As an alternative, I offer the following two conditions for autonomy: (i) critical reflection of a certain kind - radical reflection, and (ii) the ability to translate the results of (i) into action - competence. The novels demonstrate that both conditions are dependent upon considerations of the content of one's beliefs, desires, values etc. Certain of these will prevent or hinder the achievement of autonomy because of their content, so autonomy must be understood in relation to substantial considerations, rather than in purely formal terms, as Dworkin argues.
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au, 19310449@student murdoch edu, and Joseph Marrable. "Transpersonal literature." Murdoch University, 2003. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20051222.155152.
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What do you get if you apply Ken Wilbers theories of transpersonal psychological development within human consciousness to William Goldings Lord of the Flies or Conrads Heart of Darkness, or Shakespeares Hamlet? Can they provide a clear interpretative tool in order to uncover the intentional or unintentional aspects of consciousness development contained within them? Do these literary texts reveal a coherent quest for knowledge of human consciousness, the nature of good and evil, and the ineffable question of spirit? Is there a case for presenting a transpersonal perspective of literature in order to expound the theories of this psychological discipline? Can literary texts provide materials that are unique to that art form and can be explicated by knowledge of transpersonal psychology? Is there an evolutionary motion, which is not necessarily historically chronological but nonetheless displays a developmental map of human consciousness across literary works? In other words, can we see a hierarchical framework along the lines of consciousness development as proposed by Ken Wilber, that suggests a movement up the evolutionary ladder of consciousness from Lord of the Flies to Hamlet and beyond? Can we counter oppose Lord of the Flies and Hamlet, suggesting that the first is a fable of regression to transpersonal evil within a cultural community and the second sees Hamlet attempt to avoid this path in order to move toward the transcendence of ego and self, within the individual? If this is so then we should be able to plot both paths relative to the models of development traced in Wilbers theories and interpret the texts according to this framework. What is the relationship between transpersonal aspects of consciousness and literature? And what are the effects upon the cultural consciousness of human evolution that literature has had so much to inform? How do the literary works of individuals inform the cultural consciousness and transcend the age in which they are written? Equally we should be able to test the theories with the aid of some texts of literature especially those works which are of, and about consciousness. What does this mean to the literary interpretation of these texts? How does it differ from other interpretations? What are the pitfalls and what disclaimers need to be put in place? Is the difference between the notion of a transpersonal evil and a transpersonal good simply a matter of individual moral choice?
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Biermann, Brett Christopher. "Travelling philosophy from literature to film /." [S.l. : Amsterdam : s.n.] ; Universiteit van Amsterdam [Host], 2006. http://dare.uva.nl/document/51450.
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Cho, Ju Gwan. "Time philosophy in Derzhavin's poetics /." The Ohio State University, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487694389392671.
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Moon, Shane Phoenix. "The Search for Meaning and Morality in the Works of Cormac McCarthy." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1431165514.
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Antonova, Antonia Ivo. "Finding Truth in Literature." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/992.
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This thesis uses Amy Kind’s defense of epistemic relevance in imagination to examine how and when true beliefs imparted in literary imaginings are justified as knowledge. I will show that readers’ literary imaginings must pass a test of epistemic relevance, as well as be paired with a strong affirming emotional response in order to justify the truth behind the beliefs they impart. I believe the justificatory affective response is a kind of non-propositional emotional imagining, distinct from the type of literary imaginings that initially imparted the beliefs. Due to this thesis’ focus on the justificatory power of literary imaginings related to emotion, my work shows how literature can provide new knowledge to the philosophical realms of ethics and emotion. Literary implications in other types of philosophical inquiry still remain unexplored.
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Kerr, Joanna. "Learning from the novel : feminism, philosophy, literature." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/26656.
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Analytic philosophy since Plato has been notoriously hostile to literature, and yet in recent years, increasing numbers of philosophers within the tradition have sought to take seriously the question of how it is that literature can be philosophical. Analytic philosophy has also been noted for its hostility to women and resistance to feminism. In this thesis I seek to make connections between firstly the prejudice against, and then the potential for, the contribution of the perspectives of literature and feminism in philosophy, attempting to answer simultaneously the two questions; How can literature be philosophical? How can feminists write philosophy? In the sense that I attempt to take these questions seriously, and answer them precisely, this thesis fits into the analytic philosophical tradition. However, my response to these questions, and thus the majority of this thesis, takes the form of a non-traditional demonstration of the philosophical potential of literature presented through three feminist literary genres; autographical fiction, utopian fiction, and detective fiction. Using generic divisions seems to be an appropriate strategy for reclaiming literature as philosophical, since it suggests an identification with the Aristotelian defence of literary arts against Plato's assault. However, I will argue that these literary genres have traditionally been defined in terms which prohibit a philosophical reading. I will expose and then recover this anti-philosophical bias, particularly when it coincides with feminist genre revisions. This recovery will take the form of a philosophical reconceptualizing of each genre, and a specific comparative analysis of two texts adopted as representative of each genre as I conceive it. In this way I hope to show that it is not only possible, but highly advantageous, to learn from the novel.
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Walmsley, Peter Samuel. "The rhetoric of Berkeley's philosophy." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.254447.
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Davis, C. "Michael Tournier : Philosophy and fiction." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.375871.
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Seiler, Nils A. "Retranslating philosophy: Dharmottara’s theory of perception." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2019. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6852.
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Johansson, Viktor. "Dissonant Voices : Philosophy, Children's Literature, and Perfectionist Education." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för pedagogik och didaktik, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-92106.
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Dissonant Voices has a twofold aspiration. First, it is a philosophical treatment of everyday pedagogical interactions between children and their elders, between teachers and pupils. More specifically it is an exploration of the possibilities to go on with dissonant voices that interrupt established practices – our attunement – in behaviour, practice and thinking. Voices that are incomprehensible or expressions that are unacceptable, morally or otherwise. The text works on a tension between two inclinations: an inclination to wave off, discourage, or change an expression that is unacceptable or unintelligible; and an inclination to be tolerant and accept the dissonant expression as doing something worthwhile, but different. The second aspiration is a philosophical engagement with children’s literature. Reading children’s literature becomes a form of philosophising, a way to explore the complexity of a range of philosophical issues. This turn to literature marks a dissatisfaction with what philosophy can accomplish through argumentation and what philosophy can do with a particular and limited set of concepts for a subject, such as ethics. It is a way to go beyond philosophising as the founding of theories that justify particular responses. The philosophy of dissonance and children’s literature becomes a way to destabilise justifications of our established practices and ways of interacting. The philosophical investigations of dissonance are meant to make manifest the possibilities and risks of engaging in interactions beyond established agreement or attunements. Thinking of the dissonant voice as an expression beyond established practices calls for improvisation. Such improvisations become a perfectionist education where both the child and the elder, the teacher and the student, search for as yet unattained forms of interaction and take responsibility for every word and action of the interaction. The investigation goes through a number of picture books and novels for children such as Harry Potter, Garmann’s Summer, and books by Shaun Tan, Astrid Lindgren and Dr. Seuss as well narratives by J.R.R. Tolkien, Henrik Ibsen, Jane Austen and Henry David Thoreau. These works of fiction are read in conversation with philosophical works of, and inspired by, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell, their moral perfectionism and ordinary language philosophy.
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Kollias, Hector. "Exposing romanticism : philosophy, literature, and the incomplete absolute." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2003. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/57579/.
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The aim of this thesis is to present the fundamental philosophical positions of Early German Romanticism, focusing on the three following writers: J. C. F. Holderlin, Novalis, and F. Schlegel. Chapter 1 begins with an examination of the first-philosophical, or ontological foundations of Romanticism and discusses its appropriation and critique of the work of Fichte, arriving at an elucidation of Romantic ontology as an ontology of differencing and production. The second chapter looks at how epistemology is transformed, in the hands of the Romantics, and due to the attention they paid to language, semiotic theory, and the operations of irony in discourse, into poetology - a theory of knowledge, into a theory of poetic production. In the third chapter a confrontation between the philosophical positions of Romanticism and those of the main currents of German Idealism (Schelling, Hegel) is undertaken; through this confrontation, the essential trait of Romantic thought is arrived at, namely the thought of an incomplete Absolute, as opposed to the absolute as totality in Idealism. The final chapter considers the avenue left open by the notion of the incomplete Absolute, and the Romantics' chief legacy, namely the theory of literature; literature is thus seen as coextensive with philosophy, and analysed under three conceptual categories (the theory of genre, the fragment, criticism) which all betray their provenance from the thought lying at the core of Romanticism: the incomplete Absolute. Finally, in the conclusion a summation of this exposition of romanticism is presented, alongside a brief consideration of the relevance of the Romantic project in contemporary critical/philosophical debates.
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Stocker, Barry. "Law and form : Joyce, Beckett and philosophy." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.307251.
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Avalon, Jillian. "Life and Death: Spiritual Philosophy in Anna Karenina." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/772.
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This paper examines the structure, title, epigraph, and spiritual philosophy of Leo Tolstoy’s great novel, Anna Karenina. The intricate structure of the novel can leave more questions than it answers, and as the novel was written at such a critical, complex time of Tolstoy’s life, the ideas the characters struggle with in Anna Karenina are of both daily and cosmic importance. Considering influences and criticism of the novel, the method of Tolstoy’s vision of living well as shown in Anna Karenina leads to a very specific and intricate spiritual philosophy. It is also found that the novel’s structure and title are in conflict.
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Elicker, Bradley Joseph. "The Mediated Nature of Literature: Exploring the Artistic Significance of the Visible Text." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2016. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/381480.
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Philosophy<br>Ph.D.<br>My goal in this dissertation is to shed light on a practice in printed literature often overlooked in philosophy of literature. Contemporary works of literature such as Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, and Irvine Welsh’s Filth each make artistic use of the features specific to printed literature such as font and formatting. I show that, far from being trivial aberrations, artistic use of font and formatting has a strong historical tradition going back to the Bucolic poets of ancient Greece. When these features deviate from traditional methods of inscription and perform some artistic function within the work, they are artistically significant features of the works themselves. The possibility of the artistic significance of these features is predicated on works of printed literature being visually mediated when one reads to oneself. All works of literature are mediated by some sense modality. When a work of printed literature is meant to be read to oneself, it is mediated by the modality of sight. Features specific to this method of mediation such as font and formatting can make artistic contributions to a text as well. Understanding the artistic significance of such features questions where we see literature with respect to other art forms. If these features are artistically significant, we can no longer claim that works of printed and oral literature are both the same performative art form. Instead, philosophy of literature must recognize that works of printed literature belong to a visually mediated, non-performative, multiple instance art form separate from the performative tradition of oral literature.<br>Temple University--Theses
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Milne, Andrew Greg. "A critique of the philosophy of modern theatre." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.385351.
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Martel, Marie D. "L'oeuvre comme interaction : anti-textualisme, actionnalisme et ontologie écologique." Thesis, McGill University, 2004. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=85187.
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In this thesis, we defend the view of works-as-interaction by developing three independent arguments: the anti-textualist, the actionalist and the ecological arguments. The anti-textualist argument has two parts. First, the uniform category of text does not cover the diversity of types of literary works, as it is shown by oral works, multiple-texts works, visual literary works and numerical literary works. Second, we reject the idea that the text is sufficient to give the identity conditions of the literary work. The latter argument forces us to include the history of production and, in particular, of the generative actions required for the apprehension and appreciation of the ontology of the literary work. This is the historicist argument. However, before defending an actionalist point of view, various alternatives are considered. Thus, we consider various textualist proposals that claim to be able to accommodate historical aspects of the production of a work. From the weaknesses of these views, we move to other, more historically inclined, positions, in particular Levinson's post-textualist position. However, the latter is based on a theory of types which we find to be incompatible with his historicist inclinations. Moreover, Levison's views do not meet the requirements of an epistemology of performance. Thus, the actional thesis seems to be the only alternative left. Using Davies theory of performance as a springboard, we develop and defend the idea of the work-as-interaction according to which a work consists in a relation between the generative action and the integrative action. We also include an ecological premise. We develop a further criticism of analytic aesthetics and the theory of performance, arguing that the actions composing the environment, the context of reception in which the generative action is integrated, have to be included. Our thesis of work-as-interaction explains, on the side of the generative act, a variety of li
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Barlow, Richard. "Scotographic joys : Joyce and Scottish literature, history and philosophy." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.580301.
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This thesis examines how the work of James Joyce deals with the literature, history and philosophy of Scotland. My first chapter discusses the Scottish character Crotthers of the , 'Oxen of the Sun' and 'Circe' chapters of Ulysses and demonstrates how this character, especially his name, is the beginning of Joyce' s treatment of the connections of Scottish and Irish histories. Chapter Two examines a motif from Finnegans Wake based on words related to the names of two tribes from ancient Scottish and Irish history, the Picts and the Scots. Here I discuss how this motif relates to the divided consciousness of the Wake's dreamer and also how Joyce bases this representation on 19th century Scottish literature, especially the works of James Hogg and Robert Louis Stevenson. Chapter Three is a look at the function of allusions to the work of the Scottish poet James Macpherson in Finnegans Wake. I claim that references to Macpherson and his work operate as signifiers of the cyclical and repetitive nature of life and art in the text. Chapter Four studies connections between the works of Joyce and Robert Burns, studying passages from Finnegans Wake, Ulysses and Joyce's poetry. The chapter covers the use of song in Finnegans Wake, connections in Irish and Scottish literature and provides close readings of a number of passages from the Wake. The final chapter looks at Joyce and the Scottish Enlightenment, particularly allusions to the philosopher David Hume in Finnegans Wake. The chapter considers connections between the scepticism and idealism of Hume's thought with the internal world of the dreamer of Finnegans Wake. As a whole this thesis seeks to show Joyce's indebtedness to Scottish literature, examine the ways in which Joyce uses Scottish writing and describe Joyce's representation of the Scottish nation.
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Brocious, Elizabeth Olsen. "Transcendental Exchange: Alchemical Discourse in Romantic Philosophy and Literature." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 2008. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd2301.pdf.
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Ashok, Kumar Kuldeep. "Clairvoyance in Jainism: Avadhijñāna in Philosophy, Epistemology and Literature." FIU Digital Commons, 2018. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3700.
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This thesis is an analytical study of the place of clairvoyance (avadhijñāna) in Jain epistemology and soteriology. It argues that avadhijñāna occupies an ambivalent position regarding both, since it is not solely attained by means of spiritual progression but may also spontaneously arise regardless of a being’s righteousness (samyaktva). Beginning with a survey of descriptions of avadhijñāna in the canons of each sect, including a translation of Nandisūtra 12-28, it examines how commentaries, philosophy and narrative literature developed and elaborated upon avadhijñāna as part of its epistemological system. Further, it examines the nexus of avadhijñāna and karma theory to understand the role of clairvoyance in the cultivation of the three jewels—correct perception, knowledge, and conduct—that lead to liberation (mokṣa). Finally, several examples of clairvoyants from Jain narratives show how clairvoyance reamined an ambivalent tool for virtuous transformation in popular literature.
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Niehoff, Maren. "The figure of Joseph in post-biblical Jewish literature." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.305003.
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Cassidy, Alison Ross. "T.S. Eliot and Charles Peirce : a study of the influence of Peircean philosophy on the philosophy, poetry and criticism of T.S. Eliot." Thesis, University of Dundee, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.319469.
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This is a study of the relationship between the philosophy of Charles Peirce and the philosophy, criticism and poetic methodology of T.S. Eliot. I begin by considering Peirce's connections with Harvard University, and the effects of Peircean philosophy on the ideas and teaching methods of the philosophers who taught Eliot at Harvard between 1907 and 1914. I discuss Peirce's sign-theory of cognition, and consider ho~ this theory may have influenced Eliot's choice of a poetic method - his choice, that is, to write a poetry of 'signification'. I argue that the choice of such a method by Eliot evidences a Peircean conception of reality. I consider the Pragmatism of Peirce, and argue that Eliot' ~ poems consistently present a 'pragmatistic' view of reality, a Vl~ of reality as dependent upon, or identifiable with, actio] ('practice'). Conversely, ~eality in the poetry of Eliot i: frequently represented in terms of a failure of practice, the fail ure to act. Central to Peirce's Pragmatism is the theory that a experience of the world as 'real' requires the sense of continuit in experience. I discuss this theory as it is found in the work 0 Peirce and William James, and argue that in the poems and plays c Eliot reality is consistently represented as directly dependent upc continuity and coherence in experience. Associated with the Pragmatism of William James is the VlE that our 'habits' of perception and behaviour are what literal] determine the identity (and thus the reality) of objects. I discu~ the extent to which 'habits' of various kinds (including Freudic , ceremonials') are represented in Eliot's poems as that In which reality in same sense inheres. I discuss finally Peirce's conception of the crucial function of 'Doubt' in the quest for knowledge specifically in the 'scientific method' of inquiry. I argue that doubt plays a crucial role in Eliot's poetry, and performs an essentially Peircean function in Eliot's quest for reality and truth.
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Elliott, Elizabeth. "The counsele of philosophy : the Kingis Quair and the medieval reception history of the Consolation of Philosophy in vernacular literature." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/1960.
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This thesis examines the relationship between the fifteenth-century Kingis Quair and the text which it cites as its inspiration, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, finding analogues for the poet's response to this authoritative material in vernacular literature. The Quair is perhaps best known for its association with James I of Scotland, and an analysis of the connection between the king and the poem is employed as a means of demonstrating the extent to which his identity shapes the meaning of the work and is, in turn, reformulated within it. The Quair's treatment of the Consolation is a vital part of this transformation , as the poem establishes a parallel between James and Boethius, articulating the sense that his experience repeats that of the auctor. The medieval craft of memory is considered as a precedent for this treatment of literature and personal history as texts which are subject to revision. Analysis of several texts illuminates the tradition of Boethian adaptation which informs the Quair. The popularity of the Consolation made the image of Boethius as an exemplary politician a commonplace of medieval literary culture, and through association with his experience, exile and imprisonment become trials which confer philosophical wisdom upon their subjects. Against this background, the Quair emerges as a sophisticated engagement with the medieval reception history of the Consolation, which reimagines James I as the model of the perfect prince.
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Kanke, Jennifer S. "Crash Course in the Philosophy of Passion." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1242835565.
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Harskin, Robin Peter Simon. "Poetics, philosophy and structure in the poetry of Norge." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.339216.
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Ng, Yin-ting Irene, and 吳燕婷. "Reading 'heterology'." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2002. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31953669.
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Hamm, Richard F. III. "It's all uphill from here| finding the concept of joy in existential philosophy and literature." Thesis, Purdue University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3719195.
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<p> Current readings of existentialism are overly negative. It is not without reason that existentialism has a reputation of pessimism preceding it, to the point that the uninitiated cannot help but picture beatnik poets chain-smoking by the first syllable of the name "Sartre." Existentialism, while a movement over one hundred and fifty years old, is often characterized in the light of the media popularity it was given in the decade following the Second World War--although much of the spirit of what is supposedly existentialism came more as a response to the First. The Great War brought with it devastation across Europe that it instilled a sense of malaise in an entire generation of survivors. In the face of such violence, one of the common responses was to wonder if there could truly be any sense of meaning or purpose to life. This movement, philosophically, was existentialism. </p><p> Existentialism as a movement is not a denial of meaning. That is the role of nihilism. Existentialism simply says there is no sense of predetermined meaning, and that, in a particular formation, we are verbs before nouns: "to be" rather than a being thing in any real sense. Of course, there is an obvious pessimistic reading of any text that bases its thought on the foundation that humans are existent before their essence—if there is no predetermined meaning in the world, there certainly is a possibility that there does not have to be meaning in the world at all. </p><p> The future of the study of existential philosophy in part depends on its continuing attractiveness to a new generation of scholars. One of the things holding existentialism back is the alienating effect it can have on people—in large part because of its perceived concurrence with negativity. The aforementioned lack of a predetermined essence can cause anxiety, angst or anguish depending on whether you ask Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger or Jean-Paul Sartre. </p><p> Sartre explains anguish as the realization of the possibility of our own negation. If we imagine ourselves on the brink of a cliff or precipice, we can look down into the depth below and realize that, at that moment, there is nothing to prevent us from throwing ourselves over the precipice to our death. Freedom from meaning also implies there is a sense in which we do not have to live by any prescribed rules, or even at all. It can be intimidating. </p><p> A positive reading could bring stability to an otherwise dizzying discipline. Existential philosophy and literature both would benefit from a reimaging of certain thinkers' approaches. What is needed is not a new reading to replace the old, but to supplement the accepted framework of understanding with serious alternative possibilities. In this prospectus, I intend to expand the traditional reading of existentialism. </p><p> I will offer differing interpretations of familiar texts in an effort to breathe new life into the texts themselves along with the discipline more generally. Existentialism can be freed from its trappings of negativity and pessimism. It is with this goal of liberation in mind that I seek to offer a new interpretation of the existential movement. If existentialism is liberated from negativity, that does not mean that more traditional interpretations are not possible, but rather that these common readings of a complex system of thought cannot define it. </p><p> My reading will be an attempt at <i>an existential reading of existentialism. </i> At its heart, this is an existential idea. Labeling, along with the idea that a past interpretation dictates a present or future condition, is inherently essentialist. Existentialism has been, in effect, "playing at" existentialism for too long, to use a Sartrean formulation. There is a sense in which the prevailing interpretations of the prominent texts are so ingrained in the public consciousness that any new scholarship takes them for granted. </p><p> My existential reading will try to be consistent and liberating. Because much of existentialism is a philosophy of freedom, it only makes sense that providing alternative readings and interpretations is good. In fact, this may be the only way to prevent essentialism from overtaking existentialism and unfairly making it something it was never intended to be. </p><p> After explaining the roots of joy in Camus and Nietzsche, I will seek to find this same idea in other existentialist writers and show how this concept can be used to varying degrees in Sartre and Kierkegaard. Both of these authors, through their texts and styles, allow for the possibility of joy as Camus or Nietzsche do. </p><p> Despite these differences, there is an essential similarity amongst these authors that both qualifies them to be considered "existentialist" and preserves the possibility of joy. This similarity is the emphasis all of them place on freedom. The same freedom that characterized the post-war malaise as a freedom-from—freedom from meaning—can also be a freedom-to—freedom to act. That action, moreover, is entirely determined by the self, independent of the constraint of essence. While freedom can be terrifying, it can also be uplifting.</p>
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Suire, Phillip Joel. "Pigs Is Pigs| The Ideology of Violence." Thesis, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10002400.
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<p> <i>Pigs is Pigs: The Ideology of Violence</i> aims first to establish a theoretical framework whereby a model of Ideology can be apprehended, a model through which the phenomenon of violence can be—as it were—filtered. Relying heavily on the work of both Classical and Post-Marxist philosophers—from Engels to Žižek—the text attempts to describe a model for understanding Ideology that is underlined by two critical distinctions: firstly, that Ideology should be understood to constitute one’s more or less spontaneous relationship with a culture’s Symbolic Order, and, secondly, that one of Ideology’s most critical functions is to behave as an apparatus whereby the very meaning of an event or image can be suddenly fixed (if only ephemerally) amid the experience of phenomena’s unravelling along a metonymic chain of many possible meanings. </p><p> Thereafter, the text endeavors to consider the origins of what human beings consider to constitute “violent behaviors,” exploring both the biological and socio-cultural roots of violent phenomena through the research of experts such as Richard Wrangham, Sara Mathew, Adrian Raine, and Steven Pinker. This exploration culminates in a defense of the importance of differentiating violence from power, concluding with an interrogation of the sophisticated ways in which these two phenomena overlap and interact—fixing violence as a phenomenon that can be understood in terms of an ideological category, an elaborate psychosocial apparatus whereby consent for the use of force is manufactured by quasi-Foucauldian “regimes of knowledge.” </p><p> In other words, how is it that one comes to differentiate between the “freedom fighter” and the “terrorist”? What ideological mechanisms are in action at those points where there emerge disagreements as to whether certain actions are heroic or barbaric? <i>Pigs Is Pigs </i> makes the claim that such distinctions are in large part manufactured in the workshops of our ideas.</p>
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Twohig, Niall Ivan. "Revolutionary Constellations| Seeing Revolution Beyond the Dominant Frames." Thesis, University of California, San Diego, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10161871.
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<p> The dissertation looks beyond the dominant frames of Western epistemology and philosophy that largely determine the ways revolution and revolutionaries are conceptualized and remembered in modern society. Rather than focusing on historically grounded political projects that conform to a particular revolutionary doctrine, our focus will be on common people whose praxis posed, and still poses, an alternative to a social order premised on the separation and stratification of the commons and its people. The revolutionaries we will meet in these pages see through what we will unravel as the myth of separateness. They see through a mythic reality that veils people’s interconnections with each other, with the commons, and with the cosmos from which all life emerges. Their praxis touches this deeper reality. </p><p> To ground our discussion, we will look deeply at three flashpoints of revolt against the myth as it manifested itself in the liberal capitalist regimes of the 19th and 20th centuries: The Paris Commune of 1871, the student protests of 1968 in Paris and Mexico, and a self-immolation in protest of the Vietnam War that occurred in 1970. We will thread these flashpoints together to see how, despite the distance that separates these revolts in time and space, they illuminate an alternative way of being that stands in contrast to the atomized, competitive, and militant existence that is formed in the crucible of liberal capitalist empire. Threading these flashpoints together, we will begin to reconceptualize what is meant by success and failure, beginnings and endings. Though these revolts may end with defeat and death, the way of being that they touched continues on past their historical or biographical endpoint. Like the light from a dead star or from an extinguished candle, their revolution travels across space and across time waiting for the right conditions to manifest itself again in renewed praxis. Cultural production, particularly art and literature, will serve as our vehicle for illuminating this revolution and its continuations.</p>
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Durrenbach, Joelle Marcelle. "La Honte dans la Litterature de Temoignage." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1209493926.
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Gedney, Curtis Lester. "Epilepsy as a pharmakon in Dostoevsky's fiction." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/185899.
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As the de-privileged term in an oppositional structure, disease is understood culturally as a "poison" in the same way Jacques Derrida has shown writing to be so understood in philosophical discourse. Nevertheless, Dostoevsky's epilepsy, with its opposite but connected expressions of ecstatic aura and agonizing fit, maintains a posture of ambivalence in his life and works, and thus functions in his fiction as what Plato calls a pharmakon. Dostoevsky's representation of reality in terms of a dialectic in which "contradictions stand side by side" thus parallels the structure of his characters', and his own, epilepsy. In each of the novels where epilepsy is portrayed--The Landlady, The Insulted and Injured, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov--epilepsy appears as both "poison" and "remedy," and the question of epilepsy, like the nature of writing in Derrida, remains undecidable. These novels also hint at Julia Kristeva's view of the aura as a form of sublimation leading to forgiveness and a reinscription of the self. This further dimension links Dostoevsky's disease, and his reconstruction of it, to his literary work. Ultimately, the disease cannot be relegated to a space "outside" the cure or the self, but remains on the "inside." As a pharmakon, epilepsy subverts health/disease and mind/body oppositions within these texts. A discussion of the treatment of Dostoevsky's epilepsy in medical, psychoanalytic, and literary critical discourse even shows how this pharmakon subverts these texts as well.
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Bodner, Keith David. "Illuminating personality : the dynamics of characterization in Biblical Hebrew Literature." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 1996. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU081703.
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The plan of this thesis is to outline the various techniques of characterization, and to illustrate how they operate in the biblical literature. Accordingly, the study is divided into two sections. First, after an introduction tracing the rise of the literary approach and a survey of the study of character by biblical scholars, "Part One" delineates an analytic framework for studying the elements of characterization. The framework, which is subdivided into characterization achieved through narration and intimated through direct discourse, is "heuristic". It serves to specify the main techniques, and is designed to explore literary questions of character in the text. These categories are descriptive, providing definitions and clarity to terms such as 'motif' and 'irony' as they relate to the study of character. Second, "Part Two" is composed of a series of chapters entitled "the dynamics of characterization". This section features close readings of six selected biblical texts, with a specific emphasis on character and the accompanying techniques of characterization. This thesis provides an introduction to the study of character in biblical literature, and a "foundational" description of the elements of characterization which can be seen to dynamically operate in the text. There are, then, three main objectives for the thesis as a whole. First, through the analytic framework, to identify and define the main elements used in biblical characterization. Second, by means of the textual examples, to illustrate how these various elements are deployed in the Hebrew corpus to render human personality. And third, to demonstrate the exegetical value in this kind of enterprise; that a focused study of, and attention to the issues relating to character, can yield interpretative dividends and be useful in the overall interpretation of the biblical literature.
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Burnstone, Daniel. "Styles in argument : philosophy and writing in John Stuart Mill." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.311306.
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Requate, Angela. "Idealist and pragmatist elements in R.G. Collingwood's philosophy of history." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.281782.
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Zeng, Hong. "A deconstructive reading of Chinese natural philosophy in poetry." online access from Digital dissertation consortium, 2002. http://libweb.cityu.edu.hk/cgi-bin/er/db/ddcdiss.pl?3070928.
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Bartlett, Mark. "Chronotopology and the scientific-aesthetic in philosophy, literature and art /." Diss., Digital Dissertations Database. Restricted to UC campuses, 2005. http://uclibs.org/PID/11984.
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Michaels, Christopher. "Worst case scenarios : the philosophy of catastrophe in American literature." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.446097.
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Winder, Stephanie J. "The ancient quarrel between poetry and philosophy in Callimachus' hymn to Zeus /." The Ohio State University, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487948807587843.
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Tikhanov, Galin. "Bakhtin and Lukacs : the theory of the novel as social philosophy." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.388956.
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Faure, Isabelle. "Solzhenitsyn's Krasnoe koleso and the philosophy of the Russian spiritual renaissance." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.244304.
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Cucurella, Paula. "Autoimmunity in Antipoetry." Thesis, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10639684.
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<p> Antipoetry, a form of poetry developed by the Chilean poet Nicanor Parra, instances a privileged example of a self-regulatory trait of the poetic genre which responds to poetry’s need to destroy itself in order to renew itself. This need reveals a structural mechanism or a logic of autoimmunity, which informs the possibility of language and, moreover, of all living beings. </p><p> Antipoetry’s departure from the Nerudean poetic tradition justifies the use of a colloquial language that also preserves and continues Neruda’s interest in opening a space for the “popular” in poetry. Against Neruda, Antipoetry also consciously repels romantic and heroic aesthetic principles and ideas. </p><p> Parra’s aesthetic principles, however, do not result solely from avoidance. Parra is a realist poet heavily influenced by physics. His poetry needs to mirror reality. The principles of relativity and indetermination play major roles in his poetic experimentations, and will come to the aid of Antipoetry’s need to create in times of censorship. Parra’s experiments with language are in large measure interpretations of the laws of physics. In this regard, his scientific realism is related to Gertrude Stein’s work. The poetry and poetics of the latter provides a touchstone and a constant reference in <i>Autoimmunity in Antipoetry</i>. </p><p> Like all artistic expressions during the Chilean military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, Antipoetry was forced to negotiate what could be said with what the poet wanted to say. The necessary negotiation that Parra’s poetry needed to undergo gave rise to many experiments with language, including systematic ambiguity, contestation of the authority of the author, and of his own authorial control over his poetry. The use of masks, the multiplication of referents, and the systematic use of contradiction name some of Antipoetry’s tools for obstructing the univocal determination of meaning. </p><p> Antipoetry’s systematic explorations toward the creation of a poetry that attempts to fight all forms of dogmatism nevertheless reaches a limit in its figuration of gender. Antipoetry’s gender politics makes concessions to a type of gender dogmatism (sexism and homophobia) that contradicts the antipoetic program and reveals an inherent fear of gender contamination that jeopardizes Antipoetry’s most fortunate aspects.</p><p>
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梁敏兒 and Man-yee Leung. "Naturalism and Mao Dun's literary theory." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1989. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31208733.
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Murphy, Michael K. "Meaning through Action: William James’s Pragmatism in Novels by Larsen, Musil, and Hemingway." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437662360.
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Xin, Yuchen. "Wittgenstein's Tractatus logico-philosophicus and Kafka's Oktavhefte| A comparative stylistic and philosophical analysis." Thesis, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1552100.
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<p> In the mid 1920s, reflecting the concerns of the "<i>Sprachkrise </i>", Ludwig Wittgenstein and Franz Kafka composed writings deeply concerned with language's ability to express human thought. In his <i>Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus</i>, Wittgenstein attempted to draw the boundary of meaningful language. During the same period, Kafka developed his thoughts on language and ethics in his <i>Oktavhefte</i>. I compare these works, showing that they share an understanding of language as a domain bound within the physical world and incapable of expressing our spiritual being. Presenting itself as rigorous philosophical writing, Wittgenstein's <i> Tractatus</i> constantly reminds its reader of the limitations of its own logical and philosophical language by claiming itself to be "nonsense" and only a ladder the reader should climb and get rid of. Kafka, without constructing rigorous logical arguments, composed a critique demonstrating the unnaturalness of natural language and showing that its poetic nature lets language transcend its own boundaries.</p>
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Morgado, M. Nuria. "Las nociones kantianas de intuicion y concepto en la obra de Antonio Machado." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280371.
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El proposito de este trabajo es el de estudiar de una forma sistematica la influencia de la metafisica kantiana en el pensamiento filosofico de Antonio Machado reflejado en su obra. La mayoria de los estudios criticos destacan la influencia de Henri Bergson sobre Machado, pero poco se ha escrito sobre el papel que juega Immanuel Kant. Entre los pocos criticos que se han referido a tal influencia se encuentran Jose Maria Valverde en su edicion de Nuevas canciones, 1971, y Juan de Mairena, 1972; Gustavo Correa en "Magica y poetica de Antonio Machado," 1975; Philip G. Johnston, 1995 y Kevin Krogh, 2001. Todos ellos mencionan el interes de Antonio Machado en la metafisica de Inmanuel Kant y como su pensamiento filosofico y su preocupacion sobre el problema del conocimiento contiene marcadas conexiones kantianas. Sin embargo, no se ha hecho todavia un estudio que profundice en el tema e ilustre de forma sistematica tal correspondencia. La tarea que se plantea esta disertacion es la de resaltar esta influencia de la metafisica kantiana en la obra de Antonio Machado, haciendo hincapie en las nociones de "intuicion" y "concepto," elementos clave del conocimiento segun expone Inmanuel Kant en su Critica de la razon pura, cubriendo asi un campo que no ha sido estudiado de forma sistematica por la critica. Por otra parte, teniendo en cuenta la influencia de la metafisica kantiana en Antonio Machado, esta tesis demuestra un nuevo acercamiento critico a su obra lirica y su filosofia, ampliando asi la forma de percibir o entender la naturaleza de la poesia y pensamiento del poeta sevillano.