The argument advanced is this thesis is that the entities that make up the environment are those that do not owe their origin to any willful creative activity but have evolved through accidental natural processes. This fact of not being willfully created makes the environment ontologically independent and confers on it intrinsic value as opposed to instrumental value. This intrinsic value is one that all the entities that make up the environment share. It is further argued that this intrinsic value is aesthetic rather than moral. Only beings that are specially endowed with certain capacities, like reflection and understanding, could be said, in the context of this work, to have intrinsic moral value in the sense of being moral agents. But as moral agents, we need to give moral considerability to all the natural entities in the environment since they share the same natural right with us, based on our common origin. So, even though the nonhuman, natural entities in the environment do not have moral rights, they have natural rights. It is further argued that this natural right could be best safeguarded in a legal framework.

Jag vill i den här uppsatsen beskriva hur sexualitet och genus konstrueras, befästs och utmanas i Margareta av Navarras verk Heptameron. Jag utgår från Judith Butlers och Thomas Laqueurs queerteoretiska perspektiv och visar hur de olika maktdiskurserna kristendom, aristokrati, patriarkalism och nyplatonism påverkar och påtvingar olika konstruktioner av sexualitet och genus, och kan konstatera att alla dessa diskurser bygger på en normerande och normaliserad heterosexualitet som ständigt för tillbaka avvikelserna från denna norm, hos såväl devisanterna som i de två noveller jag studerat, till en binär könskategorisering. Huvudfokus ligger på tvetydigheten hos begrepp som man, kvinna, och fullkomlig kärlek. Jag menar att just avsaknaden av slutgiltiga definitioner av sådana begrepp i verket visar på att det inte går att finna något essentiellt ursprung eller någon slutgiltig definition av dem. Det är just därför den heterosexuella normen måste iscensättas gång på gång. Jag menar dock att man kan konstatera att det finns en skillnad i fråga om de bakomliggande diskursernas gestaltning i ramberättelse där de slås fast och i novellerna där de problematiseras, vilket också påpekats av Bernard. Det finns med andra ord ett större utrymme för avvikande från sexualitets- och genusnormer i Heptamerons noveller, medan ramberättelsens funktion tycks vara att föra dem tillbaka till ordningen. Likväl sker en ständig upprepning av den heterosexuella normen både hos devisanterna och i novellerna, en upprepning som tyder på att heterosexualiteten inte är vare sig given eller naturlig utan iscensatt. / In this study I am analyzing how categories of sexuality and gender are represented in Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptameron. I have narrowed the object of study down to two of the seventy-two novellas; number forty-seven and forty-three, and to four of the ten devisants; Oisille, Parlamente, Hircan and Dagoucin. The theoretical frame is taken from Judith Butlers Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990) and Undoing Gender (2004) and from Thomas Laqueurs Making Sex. Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (1990). Butler’s aim is to deconstruct terms such as feminine and masculine, which function as imagined normalization categories due to power relations. In Undoing Gender she asks: “If I am a certain gender, will I still be regarded as part of the human? Will the ‘human’ expand to include me in its reach? If I desire in certain ways, will I be able to live?” These questions are of great importance for my study, which presents how the categories of sexuality and gender can be negotiated in the equalized frame Marguerite de Navarre creates for her ten devisants and novellas. At the same time I assess how every attempt to go beyond the boundaries of norms fails due to a norm of heterosexuality, which constrains the binary categories of man and woman. There are four main discourses by which the heterosexual norm is internalized by the devisants in Heptameron: the Christian, the aristocratic, the patriarchal and the neo-platonic. I suggest that each of the four devisants that I have studied represents one of these discourses. Since there are no definitive lines or definitive conclusions reached in the discussions among them it would be more correct to say that all the discourses effect all of the devisants to some extent, but that all the devisants act through a main discourse when he/she express his/her individual opinions. When the devisants in the frame leave it to the reader to come to a conclusion about right or wrong behavior for men and women, they are still rather set in their own opinions and, also, quite unforgiving. It is my contention that the novellas create more room for negotiations of the sexual and gender roles than the frame. In novella forty-three a woman acts within the role of the active, hence masculine, part of a love affair, and novella forty-seven tells the story of a parfaicte amytié between two men. But it is also obvious that these attempts to stress and break the norms of sexuality and gender are unsuccessful, once again due to the fixed norm of heterosexuality which constrain the binary categories of man and woman. In the novellas these very failures put the norms under stress, since they point out the very problem with the determination of sexual and gender categories which were prevalent during the Renaissance. I conclude my results by returning to Butler’s question above; “If I desire in certain ways, will I be able to live?” In Heptameron one can always find a chance to try a different way, but in the end only the heterosexual desire in which man and woman are in dichotomy survives.

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado examina o tema Utopias/Distopias e o discurso totalitário em duas obras de caráter e gênero distintos: A República, de Platão (Filosofia), e Admirável Mundo Novo, de Aldous Huxley (Literatura). Tendo como objetivo principal a comparação de elementos narrativos, temáticos e ideológicos encontrados nessas duas obras, utiliza como metodologia a análise embasada em referenciais da Literatura Comparada e da Teoria da Literatura (Narratologia e a Tematologia), da Análise do Discurso Francesa, dos estudos da obra de Platão e de estudos sociológicos. Esta análise segue a sequência de apresentação dos pressupostos teóricos, análise das obras de Platão e de Huxley (em seus aspectos internos e externos), para, finalmente, apresentar um quadro comparativo com os discursos totalitários retirados dessas obras - discursos esses que são analisados em pormenores. Por fim, esta Dissertação culmina com a compreensão de que o tema utopia/distopia, e os discursos acerca dele, não se restringe somente à literatura ficcional, mas pode ser encontrado em estudos filosóficos e políticos, e no nosso dia a dia. / This thesis examines the theme of Utopia/Dystopia and the totalitarian discourse in two works of different nature and genre: Plato's Republic (a work of Philosophy) and Brave New World (a work of Literature) by Aldous Huxley. The thesis' main objective is to compare narrative, thematic and ideological elements. In order to perform this analysis, the author will make use of methodologies taken from Comparative Literature, Literary Theory (Narratology and Thematology), the French school of Discourse Analysis, studies on Plato's works and sociological studies. After presenting and explaining those theoretical references, the author shall perform an analysis of Plato's and Huxley's works, considering their internal and external aspects; afterwards, a final analysis shall be performed, comparing the totalitarian discourses contained within those works. After examining minutely those discourses, the thesis concludes by stating that the theme of Utopia/Dystopia is not restricted to fictional literature; it can be found, also, within the frame of philosophical and political studies, and in our day-to-day lives.

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado examina o tema Utopias/Distopias e o discurso totalitário em duas obras de caráter e gênero distintos: A República, de Platão (Filosofia), e Admirável Mundo Novo, de Aldous Huxley (Literatura). Tendo como objetivo principal a comparação de elementos narrativos, temáticos e ideológicos encontrados nessas duas obras, utiliza como metodologia a análise embasada em referenciais da Literatura Comparada e da Teoria da Literatura (Narratologia e a Tematologia), da Análise do Discurso Francesa, dos estudos da obra de Platão e de estudos sociológicos. Esta análise segue a sequência de apresentação dos pressupostos teóricos, análise das obras de Platão e de Huxley (em seus aspectos internos e externos), para, finalmente, apresentar um quadro comparativo com os discursos totalitários retirados dessas obras - discursos esses que são analisados em pormenores. Por fim, esta Dissertação culmina com a compreensão de que o tema utopia/distopia, e os discursos acerca dele, não se restringe somente à literatura ficcional, mas pode ser encontrado em estudos filosóficos e políticos, e no nosso dia a dia. / This thesis examines the theme of Utopia/Dystopia and the totalitarian discourse in two works of different nature and genre: Plato's Republic (a work of Philosophy) and Brave New World (a work of Literature) by Aldous Huxley. The thesis' main objective is to compare narrative, thematic and ideological elements. In order to perform this analysis, the author will make use of methodologies taken from Comparative Literature, Literary Theory (Narratology and Thematology), the French school of Discourse Analysis, studies on Plato's works and sociological studies. After presenting and explaining those theoretical references, the author shall perform an analysis of Plato's and Huxley's works, considering their internal and external aspects; afterwards, a final analysis shall be performed, comparing the totalitarian discourses contained within those works. After examining minutely those discourses, the thesis concludes by stating that the theme of Utopia/Dystopia is not restricted to fictional literature; it can be found, also, within the frame of philosophical and political studies, and in our day-to-day lives.

Esta Dissertação de Mestrado examina o tema Utopias/Distopias e o discurso totalitário em duas obras de caráter e gênero distintos: A República, de Platão (Filosofia), e Admirável Mundo Novo, de Aldous Huxley (Literatura). Tendo como objetivo principal a comparação de elementos narrativos, temáticos e ideológicos encontrados nessas duas obras, utiliza como metodologia a análise embasada em referenciais da Literatura Comparada e da Teoria da Literatura (Narratologia e a Tematologia), da Análise do Discurso Francesa, dos estudos da obra de Platão e de estudos sociológicos. Esta análise segue a sequência de apresentação dos pressupostos teóricos, análise das obras de Platão e de Huxley (em seus aspectos internos e externos), para, finalmente, apresentar um quadro comparativo com os discursos totalitários retirados dessas obras - discursos esses que são analisados em pormenores. Por fim, esta Dissertação culmina com a compreensão de que o tema utopia/distopia, e os discursos acerca dele, não se restringe somente à literatura ficcional, mas pode ser encontrado em estudos filosóficos e políticos, e no nosso dia a dia. / This thesis examines the theme of Utopia/Dystopia and the totalitarian discourse in two works of different nature and genre: Plato's Republic (a work of Philosophy) and Brave New World (a work of Literature) by Aldous Huxley. The thesis' main objective is to compare narrative, thematic and ideological elements. In order to perform this analysis, the author will make use of methodologies taken from Comparative Literature, Literary Theory (Narratology and Thematology), the French school of Discourse Analysis, studies on Plato's works and sociological studies. After presenting and explaining those theoretical references, the author shall perform an analysis of Plato's and Huxley's works, considering their internal and external aspects; afterwards, a final analysis shall be performed, comparing the totalitarian discourses contained within those works. After examining minutely those discourses, the thesis concludes by stating that the theme of Utopia/Dystopia is not restricted to fictional literature; it can be found, also, within the frame of philosophical and political studies, and in our day-to-day lives.

Cette nouvelle édition critique du De fuga saeculi d’Ambroise de Milan repose sur la collation de nouveaux témoins manuscrits et sur la révision de ceux utilisés par C. Schenkl, dont les valeurs respectives sont évaluées à l’aide d’un stemma absent de son édition de 1897. Le texte ainsi édité est assorti d’une traduction originale en langue française. Le De fuga saeculi, œuvre spirituelle et morale publiée par Ambroise avec trois autres textes au sujet proche, est replacé dans le contexte milanais de la fin du IVe siècle : mutations des modes de vie chrétiens, intérêt pour la vie monastique, concurrence avec les partisans du néoplatonisme et devoir pastoral de guider et former la communauté d’une capitale impériale. L’enquête sur les sources révèle que le De fuga saeculi est à la fois l’héritier des traditions philosophiques platoniciennes et stoïciennes relues au prisme de la pensée de Philon d’Alexandrie, et le promoteur d’une fuite du monde spécifiquement chrétienne inspirée d’épisodes et de préceptes de l’Ancien et du Nouveau Testament. Le commentaire éclaire les enchaînements d’une pensée kaléidoscopique, mettant en évidence les thèmes principaux, leurs reprises et leurs variations. Est ainsi soulignée l’originalité ambrosienne de la fuga saeculi sur un sujet d’actualité à la fin du IVe siècle et au début du Ve siècle : une fuite intra-mondaine qui est différente de celle encouragée par ses contemporains, Jérôme, Paulin de Nole et Augustin. / This new critical edition of De fuga saeculi by Ambrose of Milan is based on the collation of new witness manuscripts and the revision of those used by C. Schenkl (their respective worth was examined thanks to a missing stemma in the 1897 edition). The edition is accompanied by an original French translation. A spiritual and moral work published by Ambrose along with three other texts on a similar topic, De fuga saeculi is placed in its Milanese context of the end of the 4th century : transformations in Christian ways of living, an interest in monastic life, competition with advocates of Neo-Platonism and a pastoral duty to guide and train the community of an imperial capital. An enquiry into the sources reveals that De fuga saeculi both inherits the Neo-Platonician and Stoic philosophical traditions – reinterpreted through the thought of Philo of Alexandria –, and advocates a specifically Christian escape out of the world, inspired by events and precepts from the Old and New Testaments. The commentary displays the sequences of a kaleidoscopic thought and highlights its majors themes, re-uses and variations. Inner-wordly escape is a topical issue of the late 4th and early 5th centuries, but Ambrose’s conception expressed in De fuga saeculy is original given that it differs from those of contemporary writers such as Jerome, Paulinus of Nola and Augustine.

Au-delà d’être un poème didactique, les Phénomènes d’Aratos sont un poème pédagogique qui unit étroitement le fond et la forme. On y trouve une conscience méthodique de la construction d’un savoir ; l’analyse du vocabulaire, pourtant issu de la poésie homérique, révèle une réflexion sur la transmission scientifique déjà définie comme un processus dynamique, à une époque où les écoles et leurs méthodes sont encore jeunes : percevoir, délimiter, nommer, et enfin assurer la conservation d’un objet de science. Cette idée de transmission prouve la préoccupation pédagogique d’Aratos, qu’il met en scène dans le poème à travers des figures de maîtres et d’élèves. Il s’y lit, notamment dans le mythe de l’Âge d’Or, une foi en la collaboration entre tous les vivants, fondée sur un respect qui tranche avec la dureté des poèmes didactiques archaïques. La pédagogie devient dans les Phénomènes un enjeu poétique : Aratos définit le poète comme un des membres de cette collaboration universelle, derrière laquelle il doit s’effacer, dans une éthique et une esthétique de l’anonymat qui remettent en question le kléos archaïque. La tradition poétique peut désormais être bousculée au nom de la transmission scientifique, et cette nouvelle conception n’est pas sans rappeler les récentes critiques opérées par Platon. Tout se passe comme si Aratos avait voulu relever le défi que Platon a lancé aux poètes de son temps : chanter le Dieu et sa création selon le Vrai ou le Vraisemblable, et devenir par son chant l’éducateur de la cité idéale. C’est probablement la réussite de cette gageure qui a assuré la gloire des Phénomènes dans les siècles où la philosophie de Platon a été suivie et admirée. / The Phaenomena by Aratus are not only a didactic, but also pedagogical poem, in which form and content are tightly bound. One may find in it a methodical conscience of how knowledge is built; the analysis of vocabulary, although taken from Homeric poetry, shows that scientific transmission is already understood as a dynamic process, in a time when schools and their proceedings were still young : to perceive an object of science, to delimitate it, to name it, and at last to guarantee his preservation. This idea of transmission proves that Aratus is concerned with pedagogy, which is illustrated in the poem through different figures of masters and pupils. We can observe, especially in the myth of the Golden Age, all his faith in the collaboration between all kinds of living being bound together by a respect that is really different from the harsh tone of archaic didactic poetry. In the Phaenomena, pedagogy becomes a poetic matter: Aratus defines the poet as a member of this universal collaboration, behind which he has to fade because of an ethic and an aesthetic of namelessness; so is the archaic kleos questioned. Poetic tradition can be shaken up in the name of scientific transmission, and this new conception may remind us of Plato’s recent criticism. Apparently, Aratus did want to take up Plato’s challenge to the poets of his time: to sing the God and his creation according to Truth or Verisimilitude, and to become the teacher of an ideal state, thanks to his song. In all likelihood, Aratus’fame came from the success of this wager, during all the centuries when Plato’s philosophy was followed and admired.

L’elaborato analizza la ricezione del pensiero di Origene di Alessandria (c. 184-c.253) nell’opera del teologo arminiano Jean Le Clerc (1657-1736), soffermandosi in particolare sulla concezione origeniana della libertà e sulle questioni che vi sono annesse. Tale analisi consente anche di chiarire alcune pratiche argomentative e dinamiche intellettuali, soprattutto riguardanti i dibattiti religiosi ed interconfessionali, nella seconda metà del XVII secolo. L’elaborato è diviso in tre sezioni. La prima, di carattere introduttivo, mira ad indagare le premesse epistemologiche di Le Clerc, nonché la sua relazione con le auctoritates religiose ed intellettuali del passato. La seconda sezione prende in esame le citazioni dirette di Origene presenti nella vasta produzione di Le Clerc, come pure i suoi rimandi all’opera dell’Alessandrino e al suo pensiero, consentendo in questo modo di delineare un quadro preciso dell’Origene letto e reinterpretato da Le Clerc. La terza sezione restringe infine il campo d’indagine allo sguardo che Le Clerc porta sulla dimensione più propriamente teologica di Origene ed in particolar modo su quel nodo di concetti che ruota attorno al tema della libertà umana (peccato originale, grazia e predestinazione, il problema del male). Questo studio mostra come, malgrado l’indubbia, e talvolta malcelata, simpatia per Origene, Le Clerc non possa essere definito tout court un ‘origenista’, dal momento che la sua visione epistemologica, scritturale e teologica lo distanzia da una acritica e piena adesione al pensiero dell’Alessandrino. / The present thesis analyses the reception of the thought of Origen of Alexandria (c. 184-c. 253) in Jean Le Clerc (1657-1736). Its particular focus is on Origen's conception of freedom and the theological doctrines related to it. The goal of this thesis is to uncover, through Le Clerc's use of Origen, some of the argumentative practices and the intellectual dynamics of the time, in particular in religious, especially inter-confessional, debates. This thesis is divided into three main parts. The first part has mainly an introductory character and looks at the epistemological assumptions of Le Clerc and his relationship with intellectual and religious authorities of the past. The second part reviews the various ways in which Le Clerc quoted, referred to or otherwise made use of the thought or the name of Origen in his vast production. This part provides a first result in that it frames, in general, Le Clerc's reception of Origen. This step is, at the same time, also preparatory for the material contained in part three. In the third part, only the material is considered which is strictly related to Origen's idea of freedom and the related theological doctrines of original sin, grace/predestination, and the problem of evil. The result of this analysis, as it appears form the examination of argumentative practices in the previous sections, is that Le Clerc was no simple "Origenist" but neither was he was fully uncommitted to the Origenian cause. A full commitment to Origen, despite this strong sympathy, was still hindered by Le Clerc's epistemological, scriptural and theological outlook.