<p>This thesis is an examination of Herbert Marcuse's concept of human nature. Starting from within the framework of traditional psychoanalysis, Marcuse uses some of its basic tenets such as "repression" to reveal a dimension of thought not usually associated with Freudianism. Marcuse's emphasis on repression, for example, reiterates Freud's basic position. That is, repression must be understood in its capacities as both an ontogenetic (individual) and phylogenetic (societal) function. But, unlike Freud, Marcuse views this notion of repression as more than simply a "given" psychoanalytical fact. The character of repression is, rather, historically acquired and, consequently, modifiable through time. Accordingly, an appreciation of psychoanalytical categories suggests an investigation into their political composition.</p> <p>It is argued that the relationship of psychoanalysis, as an investigation of individual psychology; to politics clearly indicates an inextricable link between the two. The individual or ontogenetic factors contributing to human nature cannot be disassociated from societal or phylogenetic considerations. Moreover, Marcuse's view of this correspondence as a dynamic or dialectical rather than static relationship illustrates his radical point of departure from traditional psychoanalytical thought. That Marcuse arrives at this conclusion using some of the most fundamental assumptions posited by Freud represents his unique contribution to the field of psychoanalysis.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This dissertation answers two questions: Why did Voltaire have such a consistent interest in and high regard for Socinians; and did Socinianism have any direct influence on his thought? To treat these questions, first, late seventeenth and early eighteenth century French language sources were used to outline the history of Socinianism and to show what Socinians were thought to be in Voltaire's time. Then Voltaire's life and works were carefully examined for evidence of Socinianism. The most important works for this were the Correspondence, the Lettres philosophiques, the Essai sur les moeurs, and the Dictionnaire philosophique. The study concluded that Voltaire used Socinianism primarily as a weapon in his battle against Christianity and that Socinianism had no direct influence on his religious convictions.</p> <p>A topic treated in considerable detail from both published works and manuscripts was the question of Socinian influence in mid-Eighteenth century Genevois Calvinism. Voltaire, d'Alembert, and the other philosophes were, it would seem, correct in attributing Socinianism to the Genevois of this era.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The present study is primarily an attempt to break new ground in a much debated area of Biblical Studies. The Pauline eschatology, with its complexity and diversity in eschatological conceptions and formulations, has called forth a number of scholarly solutions. The apparently unconnected juxtaposition of individualistic and corporate, end-historical eschatological conceptions in the thought of Paul has been accounted for variously as: 1) the result of development from the early to the late Paul under the influence of Hellenism; 2) the result of personal crises which turned his attention away from the end of human history to the end of his personal history; 3) the result of a mind that is unreflective and therefore does not see the contradictoriness. A further attempt at a solution is the non-recognition of the contradictoriness; and a subordination of the undeniable individualistic elements to the corporate eschatological scheme.</p> <p>None of these solutions were found to be satisfactory to this writer. A careful analysis of the apocryphal work, the Wisdom of Solomon, revealed the same kind of duality of individual and corporate eschatological perspectives as in Paul. Our study further showed that this duality arises out of a conception of the presence and work of the divine figure of Wisdom in history and in the lives of men, and that this conception provides a strikingly informative background for the Pauline conception of the Christ who is Lord of history and at the same time the personal, intimate, indwelling divine presence. A detailed analysis and comparison of these configurations of like elements in the two writers suggests that Paul was influenced by the Wisdom of Solomon, particularly by that work's conception of the fate of the individual and by its depiction of union with Wisdom as the guarantee of life, both in the present and in the future.</p> <p>It has always been recognized that Paul, like any other outstanding figure of history, was dependent on streams of thought that crossed the contemporary atmosphere, and that he made use of conceptions from that general environment to give expression to his own experience and thought. But this dependence is usually conceived of in very general terms, such as Paul's dependence on Hellenism, on Apocalypticism, on Rabbinic Judaism, on Diaspora Judaism, on Essenism, etc. Our study demonstrates the possibility that these larger contexts may have provided but a general background, and that Paul was specifically dependent on individual works, such as the Wisdom of Solomon, for central formulations within his theology.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This thesis is comprised of a translation, for the first time, of the Sanskrit philosophical work entitled Pancaprakryla which belongs to the relatively early Advaita Vedanta thinker Sarvajhatman (first half of the tenth century) and a thematic analysis of the contents of that work. The Pancaprakriya is a manual of Advalta Vedanta philosophy of language which, for Sarvajhatman, can eventually be reduced to the discernment of the proper meaning of certain freat Ubanisadic statements or mahavakya-s such as "I am Brahman" and "That thou art." It has been demonstrated in the analytic portion of the thesis that the Sarvajhatman who is the author of Samksepasariraka and the Sarvajhatman who is the author of Pancaprakriya are one and the same. In addition to this, the thesis has brought to the force the close philosophical indebtedness of Sarvajhatman to Sankara and Suresvara before him, in terms of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of language and the problem of the locus of ignorance (ajhanasraya), though the traditional connection between Sarvajhatman and Suresvara, as direct pupil and teacher respectively, has been denied. From our analysis, Sarvajhatman appears to be the first of the relatively early Advaita Vedanta thinkers to make use of two of perhaps the most central notions in the Advaita Vedanta philosopgy of language. The first of these is the classification of Upanisadic statements about Brahman into 'great statements' (mahavakya-s) and into 'subsidiary statements' (avantaravakya-s) allowing the latter to contribute to the understanding of the former. The second is the formulation of the three-fold division of the secondary usage of language into non-inclusive secondary usage (jahallaksana), inclusive secondary usage (ajahallaksana), and both inclusive and non-inclusive secondary usage (jahadajahallaksana), along with the determinatation that it is only the last of these which is suitable for obtatning the proper import of a mahavakya.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The aim of this study was to clearly describe the Sphota theory of language showing both its logical consistency and its psychological basis in experience. In Part One the philosophical task of describing the Sphota theory in a reasonable and logically consistent manner was undertaken. Chapter Two established the ground for this philosophical analysis by presenting a conceptual survey of Indian thought regarding language and revelation, so as to make clear the metaphysical background against and out of which the Sphota theory of language as revelation developed. The Third Chapter carried out the actual philosophical task, namely, a description of the logical consistency of the Sphota theory itself. In Part Two of the study a psychological interpretation was offered showing how, according to traditional Indian Yoga, the Sphota view of language (as logically conceived) is practically possible. The psychological interpretation was developed in two steps. In Chapter Four, attention was focused on the psychological processes that take place within the mind of the speaker showing how the Sphota can cognize itself into the two aspects of uttered sounds and inner meaning. Following through the practical experience of language communication, Chapter Five analyzed the psychological processes that occur within the mind of the hearer in his cognition of the uttered sounds and their correlate revelation of the same meaning-whole or sphota from which the speaker originally began.</p> <p>The major conclusion reached was that the Sphota theory of language as revelation is both logically consistent and (when interpreted by Yoga) psychologically realizable in practical experience. It was also found that Patañjali's Yoga when taken up to the nirvicāra stage of samprajñāta samādhi (but not beyond since Bhartrhari's sphota, by definition, does not admit of an asamprajñāta samādhi) provides a psychological discipline which seems to fit well with Bhartrhari's unexplained assumption of śabdapūvayoga as a means for purifying vāk and achieving moksa. Śabdapūvayoga effects this purification by the removal of obstructing vāsanās, through the practice of the yogāngas, so as to allow the teleology of citta (given by the grace of Īśvara) to pass naturally into the noumenal state of the attainment of true knowledge. The implications of these findings for the ongoing language debate within Indian philosophy and for future comparative studies, especially in relation to contemporary Western psychology, were discussed.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The subject of this thesis is the Agnyadheya, the Vedic ritual, through which are established the three or five sacred fires essential to Vedic sacrifice. The thesis aims at an understanding of that rite and proposes that the process of coming to an understanding is analogous to that of learning a new language. The ritual is taken as a syntactic unit and its actions and materials are viewed as a sort of symbolic vocabulary. The denotations and connotations of this vocabulary are then sought in parallel usage in other Vedic rites and the mythology of the Vedic texts. The thesis suggests that establishment of the srauta fires accompanied the sacrificer's accession to the head of his household. It then sets about to learn the significance of that event and how each segment of the ritual portrays various aspects of it. An identification of the sacrificer with his fire is discovered, and the transformation of his domestic fire into the "fire of the master of the house" and other srauta fires is compared to the sacrificer's transformation to a new role. Within the spatial organization of the firehall is found an emphasis on the individual and independent life of the sacrificer as against social ties, the former represented a long an axis extending toward the gods in the east and the latter along an axis extending toward one's ancestors in the south. The Vedic view that immortality consists in living a full life is placed in this context, and the Agnyadheya is seen as the beginning of a sacrificial career which progresses toward heaven in the east. In pursuing its task the thesis has occasion to comment on folk beliefs concerning a variety of substances employed in the ritual including lists of soils which make up the fireplaces and trees which serve as fuel. It also offers new interpretations of a number of myths, the best known of which are those of Pururavas and Urvast and of the boar Prajapti.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The subject matter of this thesis is the concept of Superman as developed by Sri Aurobindo, a great thinker of modern India. This concept is found to be the result of an extension of the scope of ancient Vedanta in an effort to answer existential questions of the modern era, like, the destiny of man and society, as well as to accommodate with the findings of modern science. The work is primarily an analysts of the writings and practical efforts of Sri Aurobindo, and secondarily a consideration of Indian and European thoughts as related to his philosophy.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>It is the aim of this study to examine the use that is made of he concept of purity in the letters of Paul. It is found that Paul's use of the concept centres on the view that the Church, the community of believers, constitutes the Temple of God which enjoys God's presence and as such requires a pure environment so that the divine presence may be maintained.</p> <p>This view is not unique in the first century Jewish tradition to which Paul was closely connected. The religious community at Qumran, which was responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls, held a similar view and indeed it has been shown that this idea was central to Judaism of the time. It was, in fact, to the Temple that all concerns with purity were eventually directed.</p> <p>What is distinctive about both Paul and the Qumran community is that they applied their use of the concept of purity to the conviction that their respective communities now constituted the Temple of God even while the Temple at Jerusalem still stood.</p> <p>This study, therefore, re-examines the use made of he idea of purity at Qumran in the light of this. It is shown how this group applied the purity concerns of the Jerusalem Temple to their own community. In addition it is noted that the idea of purity governed many other aspects of their religious life. This analysis of purity at Qumran is necessary in order to provide the groundwork of our study of Paul, who exhibits similar concerns.</p> <p>Little attention has been paid to the concept of purity in Paul, or elsewhere in the New Testament for that matter. Those involved in the study of early Christianity have, for the most part, not been aware of the role of purity in the religious system of Judaism and have ignored any reference to purity or have dismissed it as a primitive notion left over from a superstitious past which, in their opinion, was superseded by a higher spiritual religion; namely Christianity. Such approaches are misguided and this study demonstrates that purity is not to be overlooked if, in this case, the full ramifications of Paul's religious thought are to be properly understood. This study concludes that while purity had an important place in the religious life of Judaism, it also shaped the way that Paul thought about the community of believers, its behaviour and its relationship to the divine.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The interaction between Indian ideas and those of Islam took place over a period of several centuries. The contacts between the two faiths were made both outside India and in India begining from the Seventh Century of the Christian Era. The interaction between the Hindus and the Muslims took place on several levels, viz., intellectual, commercial, political and religious. In the present work, we made a special study of the last mentioned level.</p> <p>With the coming of the Arab Muslim trader-missionaries to the Indian shores in the Seventh Century, the chapter of the interaction and assimilation in Hindu-Islamic interaction was opened, and as a result a popular religious movement called the Bhakti Movement began. This movement produced many great mystics both in Hindūism and Islām. In their highest spirituality, these bhaktas transcended religious differences between Hindiūsm and Islām. They professed and propagated a religion of devotion based on purity of heart, and bhakti directed to one God.</p> <p>One of these bhaktas was Kabīr, an illegitimate son of a Hindū woman, brought up by a Muslim weaver family of Banares. He was a unique person by all means. He was the true product of the interaction of the Hindū-Muslim ideas. He propagated a new spirituality, a combination of some Hindū and some Muslim ideas, by which he attempted to resolve the historical tension between the Hindūs and the Muslims in India. By propagating a new piety, Kabīr wanted to unite the two cimmunities.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The evidence of this study is valuable in showing the dissimilarities and the similarities of the two world religions, Buddhism and Christianity. The ultimate difference in spiritual outlook may be summed up in the statement that Buddhism is gnostic and autonomus while Christianity is eschatological and heteronomus. As for the similarities, both religions have the authority of a great spiritual figure who became the founder, leader and ultimate source of aIl that is essential in each. The founders' personality and teachings were basic in developing the unity, discipline and life styles which emerged. Also there are striking similarities in the moral teachings, human organization and disciplinary life styles of the two religions. Further from this study it is evident that Buddhism was not merely an individualistic religion nor merely an ethical code or philosophical system but a religion with a social structure similar to Christianity. Also this study in bringing to light the authority of the founder, the unity of the community and the patterned disciplinary life of common responsibility in early Buddhism has made a discovery which many Buddhist scholars had previously overlooked.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)