This thesis considers the development of Quakerism from 1647 to 1700. Changes affecting the movement in this period are often explained as the result of the Quakers' desire for socio-political respectability – that is, their desire to reduce persecution and social exclusion. This thesis does not deny the importance of socio-political factors. However, it argues that they have been exaggerated as a historical force, and that theological factors driving change have been comparatively neglected. The thesis therefore explores the Quakers' desire for 'theological respectability', by examining the scope and impact of their constructive engagement with outsiders. The project begins with an investigation into the Quakers' understanding of their personal experience, noting both continuities and underlying theological changes which cannot be explained in socio-political terms – namely, a changed view of divine immanence, a strengthened group identity, and the loss of a sense of prophetic vocation. The rest of the thesis explains these developments in their theological context. The Quakers' engagement in Christological debate forms the central case-study. Individual chapters examine the Quakers’ earliest Christology, first responses to criticism, the early career of William Penn, the intellectual development of Robert Barclay's Vehiculum Dei, the Quakers' place in the early Enlightenment, and the Keithian controversy. In particular, the need to articulate a positive theology of the Incarnation led the Quakers into conversation with many influential figures outside the movement, which in turn encouraged an increasingly derivative understanding of the Light within and more optimistic view of physical matter. These shifts relate directly to the religious changes explored in the first part of the thesis. This study illustrates the necessity of theological analysis as part of historical investigation and provides a sustained intellectual history of seventeenth-century Quakerism, demonstrating its important contribution to the intellectual landscape of the early Enlightenment.

The proposed release of genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) in the Florida Keys to combat the spread of diseases such as Zika prompted heated local debate, turning a seemingly routine mosquito control policy into a public scientific controversy. Arguments about the GMM derive from inventional commonplaces where the historical conflict between democratic systems of civic deliberation and the epistemic authority of expertise is instantiated. This project analyzes the topoi that Keys participants gather around to generate their argumentative positions as published in public, local print and digital news articles, blog posts, and letters to the editor between 2011 and 2016. Investigating the commonplaces that orient the argumentative trajectories of Keys participants reveals that each relational topos intersects with individual worldviews, risk assessments, and standards and can therefore be used for contradictory arguments. The many complex and connected factors that influence participant positions must be appreciated and acknowledged in any such civic deliberation about a science-related policy or technology. There is no easy resolution for such conflicts, such as clarifying scientific data for the public, to generate consensus; the irresolvable tension between democracy and expertise underlies public scientific controversies and requires mutual respect and appreciation for the varied reasons why people disagree to move towards more productive civic discourse.

The relations between China and Japan are strained and continue to foster negative emotions partly because of China’s grievances about Japan’s actions during World War II and the allegedly false historiographical accounts found in Japanese history textbooks. This study will utilize historical analysis of the events leading up to the Nanjing Massacre in December of 1937, examine the Japanese Ministry of Education’s (MEXT) critical and contentious role in the selection of textbooks, used for primary and secondary schools, and will also juxtapose the controversial 2001 Atarashii rekishi kyōkasho with current Japanese history textbooks. The study will also include a syntactical analysis of key terms through my own original translations of multiple Japanese history textbooks, which are currently used in the Japanese school curriculum, to reveal that the textbook publishers, MEXT, and regulation councils are involved in adjusting the content causing the information to reveal various degrees of whitewashing.

Orientador: Anna Flora Brunelli / Resumo: Essa tese tem por tema a polêmica discursiva que girou em torno do suposto pertencimento do Acre ao Estado do Amazonas. De um lado, o discurso da amazonensidade do Acre que defende o pertencimento imemorial do território do Acre ao Brasil e o direito do Amazonas sobre o território por meio do usucapião. Do outro lado, o discurso da não amazonensidade do Acre, que advoga que o Acre era estrangeiro e que foi nacionalizado pelo Brasil com Tratado de Petrópolis (1903). O objetivo da tese é compreender o processo de produção de simulacros decorrentes da interação polêmica entre os discursos da amazonensidade do Acre e o da antiamazonensidade do Acre materializados na obra O Direito do Amazonas ao Acre Setentrional (1910). Para isso, emprego a teoria da semântica global vinculada à análise do discurso desenvolvida pelo linguista francês Dominique Maingueneau. A produção dos simulacros foi estudada a partir do plano argumentativo, que foi escolhido por melhor evidenciar o caráter polêmico dos discursos analisados, o que não desabona os resultados obtidos, uma vez que a semântica é global justamente por atravessar todos os planos de um discurso indistintamente e de forma não hierarquizada. Isso implica que as regras do sistema de restrição que gerencia o funcionamento do discurso pode ser observada a partir de qualquer plano. O caráter polêmico da interação está baseado no fato de que ambos reivindicam para si o monopólio do dizer legítimo, excluindo-se mutuamente. Essa situação gera... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This thesis has as its theme the discursive controversy that revolved around the supposed belonging of Acre to the State of Amazonas. On the one hand, the Acre amazonensity discourse that defends the immemorial belonging of the Acre territory to Brazil and the Amazonian right over the territory through the usucapion. On the other hand, the discourse of non-Amazonian Acre, which advocates that Acre was foreign and was nationalized by Brazil with Treaty of Petrópolis (1903). The aim of the thesis is to understand the process of production of simulacrum resulting from the controversial interaction in the argumentative plan of the Acre amazonensity discourses and the Acre antiamazonensity discourse materialized in the work The Amazonian Right to Northern Acre (1910). For this, I use the theory of global semantics linked to the discourse analysis developed by the French linguist Dominique Maingueneau. The argumentative plan was chosen because it best evidences the controversial character of the discourses analyzed, which does not disprove the obtained results, since the semantics is global precisely because it crosses all the planes of a discourse indistinctly and in a non-hierarchical way. This implies that the rules of the restriction system that manages the functioning of speech can be observed from any plane. The controversial character of the interaction is based on the fact that both claim for themselves the monopoly of legitimate saying, mutually excluding one another. This... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

La collaboration entre la CCJA et les juridictions nationales de cassation, s’effectue dans le contentieux des Actes uniformes. Il met en oeuvre la supranationalité judiciaire de la CCJA qui se manifeste par sa substitution aux juridictions nationales de cassation soulevant des questions liées aux Actes uniformes. Il faut reconnaître que la complémentarité de la collaboration entre la CCJA et les juridictions nationales de cassation dans le recours en cassation devant la CCJA fait ressortir différents des problèmes : une inconstitutionnalité du Traité ou des Actes uniformes dans le processus d’intégration, des inquiétudes dans la procédure de recours en cassation (pas d’auto-saisine de la CCJA, absence de cas d’ouverture à cassation devant la CCJA, formule exécutoire sur les arrêts de la CCJA), l’évocation, la substitution des juridictions nationales de cassation créent devant la CCJA, une controverse dans l’identification du juge compétent dans les procédures de l’AUPSRVE, un risque de conflit de compétence et de lois avec des organisations régionales surtout (UEMOA). Cette collaboration se poursuit entre le juge étatique et la CCJA dans l’arbitrage, c’est le mode de règlement des litiges dans le système OHADA, à cause de l’éthique de l’arbitrage. Ce mode de règlement des litiges dans le mode des affaires ne répond plus au critère du monde des affaires. Même si l’arbitrage OHADA est dual (ad hoc et CCJA), il faut trouver des moyens dans divers droits plus adéquats pour pallier aux divers problèmes évoqués dans le monde des affaires. / The collaboration between the CCJA and the national courts of cassation, in substance, takes place in the dispute of the Uniform Acts. It implements a judicial supranationality of the CCJA that manifests itself by its substitution to the national courts of cassation of substance raising issues related to the Uniform Act. It must be recognized that the complementarity between the collaboration between the CCJA and the national courts in the cassation appeal before the CCJA brings out different problems : an unconstitutionality of the Treaty even see uniform Acts in the process of integration, Concerns in the procedure upon appeal in cassation (no self-referral of the CCJA, no case of opening to cassation before the CCJA, the executory formula on the judgments of the CCJA), the evocation, the substitution of national courts of cassation, grounds before the CCJA, controversy in identifying the judge competent in the procedures of the AUPSRVE, the risks of conflict of competence and laws with regional organizations ( UEMOA). This collaboration continues between the state judge and the CCJA in arbitration, this is the mode of dispute resolution in the OHADA system, in the face of the ethics of arbitration. This mode of dispute resolution in the business mode no longer meets the criteria of the business world. Even though the OHADA arbitration is dual (ad hoc and CCJA), it is necessary to find ways in various law more adequate to address the various problems evoking for the business world.

With the large amount of research constantly being conducted, all documenting important aspects of multiple phenomena, what makes some scientific claims, and not others, stand out from a sea of possibilities to become staple pieces of knowledge? Utilizing the controversy surrounding the use of heritability studies in criminological research as a case study, this thesis analysed the rhetoric at play in two articles presenting competing arguments to (a) identify some of the discursive devices and strategies used in the production of scientific knowledge and ignorance, (b) illustrate that the production of scientific facts is first and foremost a social endeavour, (c) show that knowledge and ignorance are a part of a duality, (d) explain how the same established scientific information can be used in new claims to generate varied forms of scientific knowledge and ignorance, and (e) illustrate how the production of scientific knowledge and ignorance oftentimes involves appealing to audiences’ emotions. Four main ignorance producing strategies were documented, namely denial, dismissal, diversion, and displacement, each of which were used in a number of ways to increase the facticity of scientific claims over that of competing ones. Acknowledging its strengths as a unique mode of knowledge, this study also underlines the importance to get comfortable with the uncertainties and conflicts at the heart of science.

The problem of demarcation continues to attract attention, in part because solutions are perceived to have enormous social significance. The civic motivation, however, I argue is in tension with the heterogeneity of the sciences. Philosophers of science would be better employed reflecting on the features, causes, and consequences, of created, scientific controversies. These arise when relevant experts are in broad agreement about what conclusions can sensibly be drawn from available evidence, but the public perceives an expert community deeply divided and conclusions that are plagued by profound and systemic uncertainty. In the second part of the paper I explore this concept further.

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Climate change is one of the greatest threats to humanity, and yet society is unable to agree on its existence, causes and mitigation actions. This controversy in society manifests in all areas of public life including online channels. Wikipedia serves as a source of information not just for individuals, but also for search engines and artificial intelligence. Studying the climate change controversy on Wikipedia could provide insights that help to understand the controversy, and bolster the efforts in finding are solution for the controversy. With this aim, the edit histories of 86 pages related to climate change, their talk pages, as well as three baselines pages and their talk pages were collected from the English language Wikipedia, and analysed using Python for data extraction, manipulation and formatting, and R for data processing and analysis, data visualisation and significance testing. The statistical analyses of the different traces in the edit histories revealed interesting patterns of expression of the controversy. In addition, the statistical analyses hinted at several differences in the ways that editors on controversial pages differ from editors on non-controversial pages, thus showing an effect of controversy on Wikipedia and its culture .A detailed examination of the climate change pages showed that the controversy in Wikipedia traces affects the metadata of articles, thus identifying such articles to the casual reader. The novel method used in this study identified several new indicators of controversy.

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