Taking as its central motif Hans-Georg Gadamer’s claim that “the true locus of hermeneutics is [the] in-between,” this thesis defends Gadamer’s concept of the fusion of horizons as radically interstitial against recent allegations that link his project to Romantic interpretive commensurability. Distancing Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics from both the Romantic hermeneutical approach and the incommensurabilist alternative proposed by John D. Caputo, this study reassesses Gadamer’s contributions toward understanding the other in a manner that avoids both imperious reductions and hyperbolic valorizations of the other’s alterity. Extending this discussion to cross-cultural interpretation, this thesis concludes by arguing for the fusion of horizons as a model for conceiving a new postcolonial space, irreducible to the commensurabilism of colonialism and the incommensurabilism of nativism. To this end, Gadamer is brought into discussion with Homi K. Bhabha, whose work on cultural hybridity offers a striking parallel with Gadamer’s fusion of horizons.

This submission comes in two parts; the written dissertation, Contemporary art: the key issues, and the exhibition Melbourne - Moderne. When taken together they present a discourse on the conditions facing contemporary art practice and one artist’s response to these conditions in the context of Melbourne 2003-2007. (For complete abstract open document)

This thesis explores reasons and disagreement in ethics, and their connection to personal identity. I begin by arguing that reasons are open; what gives them direction is how they feature in my life and weigh with me. Of course, this does not tell us what reasons are available to a person when they act. In this connection I argue against Bernard Williams’ internal reasons thesis, showing that there are occasions when we will want to say someone has a reason to act even though they are unable to see it. Continuing with Williams, I explore moral necessity, drawing also on the works of Winch, Rhees and Cordner, arguing that Williams too readily conflates psychological with ethical limits. In particular, the possibility of recanting what we took to be necessary should inform our view of moral necessity, since it can show that I had misconstrued the nature of the limits I took myself to have reached. Following this use of recantation, I explore narrative in detail, arguing that my narrative is partly constitutive of who I am. My agency is therefore interpretive. This has ramifications for thinkers such as Christine Korsgaard and Jonathan Dancy, whose work I explore in two excursuses. In different ways, both fail to appreciate the significance of our interpretive identities.

Most recent studies of Cassian and his writings have examined the monk’s historical contexts, the theology expressed in his texts or his role in the development of monasticism. This dissertation examines the spirituality of Cassian and assesses its value to contemporary Christian communities. By applying a hermeneutical approach to the study of Cassian’s texts, the investigation distinguishes between the spirituality of Cassian, the historical person; the spirituality Cassian conveys in his writings; and Cassian’s spirituality as lived experience. The dissertation argues that Cassian’s spirituality as lived experience, as elicited by Gadamer’s hermeneutical model of conversation between text and interpreter, is valuable to contemporary Christian communities. It offers a spiritual ‘route map’ that can inspire, encourage and guide members of such communities on a spiritual journey that leads to greater intimacy with, and faithfulness to, Christ. The hermeneutical process necessary to appropriate the spirituality of Cassian as lived experience has the potential to dismantle prejudgements and attitudes of superiority and triumphalism often displayed by Christian communities and encourage fresh engagement with the history, traditions and Scriptures of the Church. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

This work presents a new paradigm for legal hermeneutics, divorced from positivism and hence the legal doctrine. To do so, outlines the doctrinal framework that preceded the construction of the theoretical framework used here , the philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer, whose keynote is in opposition to the method as the only means to get to the truth. When entering your analysis itself, seeks to work with the most important concepts, such as tradition, authority, pre-understanding and the fusion of horizons, in order to pave the way to understand what he describes as a circle hermeneutic, a key concept for the demarcation of the proposal developed here. On this, also seeks to make an evolutionary analysis of the proposals of the thinkers that preceded the gadameriano concept. Outlined the substance of philosophical hermeneutics, we proceed to the analysis of its operation in legal interpretation, printing a critical reflection on the understanding in the application of law and, as a corollary, contributing to overcome the positivist paradigm and its aporias and as for the discussion about the legitimacy of judicial decisions. Thus seeks to clarify the contribution of Gadamer to legal thought, from his philosophical hermeneutics to explain, justify and legitimize the path taken by the judge pronouncing judgments. / A presente dissertação apresenta um novo paradigma para a hermenêutica jurídica, divorciado do positivismo e, consequentemente, da dogmática jurídica. Para tanto, delineia o arcabouço doutrinário que antecedeu a construção do marco teórico aqui utilizado, a hermenêutica filosófica de Gadamer, cuja tônica consiste na oposição ao método como único meio para se chegar à verdade. Ao ingressar em sua análise propriamente dita, busca trabalhar com os conceitos mais importantes, a exemplo da tradição, da autoridade, da pré-compreensão e da fusão de horizontes, com a finalidade de sedimentar o caminho para a entender aquilo que ele descreve como círculo hermenêutico, conceito-chave para o deslinde da proposta aqui desenvolvida. Quanto a este, também procura fazer uma análise evolutiva das propostas dos pensadores que precederam ao conceito gadameriano. Delineada a substância da hermenêutica filosófica, parte-se para a análise de seu operar na hermenêutica jurídica, imprimindo uma reflexão crítica sobre a compreensão no âmbito da aplicação do direito e, como corolário, contribuindo para a superação do paradigma positivista e suas aporias, bem como para a discussão acerca da legitimidade das decisões judiciais. Assim, busca explicitar a contribuição de Gadamer para o pensamento jurídico, partindo de sua hermenêutica filosófica para explicar, fundamentar e legitimar o caminho trilhado pelo julgador ao prolatar as decisões judiciais.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, presuppose Roman Catholicism, but are today made by many who are not Catholics. Moreover, even Roman Catholics who make Ignatian Exercises often are not spontaneously inclined to obey Roman ecclesiastical authority. Neither avoiding the ecclesial dimension nor an authoritarian ‘follow the rules!’ provides spiritual directors with adequate orientation when working with issues at Church frontiers. This dissertation in pastoral theology seeks to navigate a middle position by moving beyond the individualism and the a-historical assumptions of the existing relevant literature. The dissertation remains close to the Ignatian primary sources, in the awareness that the Ignatian tradition needs to be constantly updated and that the contemporary ecclesial frontiers are not fully foreseen in the canonical texts. The main hypothesis is that a notion is needed of a ‘pilgrim Church’ in space and time, with Christians who are related to one another in a deep and fundamental sense. The minor hypothesis is that the individual needs to be open towards and prepared to learn from the Roman Catholic Church, in order to understand and to be profoundly moved by these exercises, but not necessarily to become a Roman Catholic. Having presented and discussed various approaches in the writings of twentieth-century and recent thinkers, this thesis puts forward its own ecclesiological position informed by Charles Taylor, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Karl Rahner. The aim is to take Ignatian studies forward by combining relational anthropology, hermeneutics and a sacramental understanding of the Church, and to apply this synthesis to the practice of giving Ignatian Exercises. The final chapter discusses a selection of cases in the light of my ecclesiological position. The synthesis and application claim originality.

This thesis explores ways in which the reality of Kantor’s existence at a key moment in occupied Kraków may be read as directly informing the genesis and development of his artistic strategies. It argues for a particular ontological understanding of human being that resonates strongly with that implied by Kantor in his work and writings. Most approaches to Kantor have either operated from within a native perspective that assumes familiarity with Polish culture and its influences, or, from an Anglo-American theatre-history perspective that has tended to focus on his larger-scale performance work. This has meant that contextual factors informing Kantor’s work as a whole, including his happenings, paintings, and writings, as well as his theatrical works, have remained under-explored. The thesis takes a Heideggerian-hermeneutic approach that foregrounds biographical, cultural and aesthetic contexts specific to Kantor, but seemingly alien to Anglo-American experience. Kantor’s work is approached from Heideggerian and post-Heideggerian perspectives that read the work as a world-forming response to these contexts. Read in this way, key writings, art and performance works by Kantor are revealed to be explorations of existence and human being. Traditional ontological distinctions between process and product, painting and performance, are problematised through the critique of representation that these works and working practices propose. Kantor is revealed as a metaphysical artist whose work stands as a testament to a Heideggerian view of human being as a ‘positive negative’: a ‘placeholder of nothing’, but a ‘nothing’ that yet ‘is’ …