The aim of this thesis is to examine the nature of the expertise which the first Greek cosmologists pursued, and the way in which they introduced a new area of knowledge. It is also investigates the way in which these early thinkers expressed their personal views, and the way in which they attempted to claim public attention in order to establish themselves as experts in society. The knowledge which they wished to divulge in the community is quite distinct from the knowledge which was disclosed by other prestigious individuals, such as the epic poets or the seers. However, there are significant respects in which the authority claims of the first cosmologists resemble the authority claims of these individuals. This thesis proposes an interpretation of these similarities in light of the oral nature of archaic communication, which the discussions of these texts often neglect. The need to persuade a live audience had a considerable impact on the way in which the first cosmologists presented themselves to their audience, since they could use traditional material differently in order to reach out for a larger audience. Tradition was thus appropriated to new ends and to a new way of self-projection. At the same time, however, the content of the knowledge which the individual disclosed did not exactly fit to traditional standards. This thesis examines the relation of the Presocratics with tradition and the respects in which they differ and attempt to mark a new area of expert knowledge. This in turn helps us re-evaluate the authority claims of the Presocratics and to interpret them in connection with the circumstances under which these texts were published rather than in connection with our modern expectations about what qualifies for theoretical investigation.

This thesis develops a theory of how to reason when our evidence has been subjected to observational selection effects. It has applications in cosmology, evolutionary biology, thermodynamics and the problem of time's arrow, game theoretic problems with imperfect recall, the philosophical evaluation of the many-worlds and many-minds interpretations of quantum mechanics and David Lewis' modal realism, and even for traffic planning. After refuting several popular doctrines about the implications of cosmological fine-tuning, we present an informal model of the observational selection effects involved. Next, we evaluate attempts that have been made to codify the correct way of reasoning about such effects - in the form of so-called "anthropic principles" - and find them wanting. A new principle is proposed to replace them, the Self-Sampling Assumption (SSA). A series of thought experiments are presented showing that SSA should be used in a wide range of contexts. We also show that SSA gives better methodological guidance than rival principles in a number of scientific fields. We then explain how SSA can lead to the infamous Doomsday argument. Identifying what additional assumptions are required to derive this consequence, we suggest alternative conclusions. We refute several objections against the Doomsday argument and show that SSA does not give rise to paradoxical "observer-relative chances" as has been alleged. However, we discover new consequences of SSA that are more counterintuitive than the Doomsday argument. Using these results, we construct a version of SSA that avoids the paradoxes and does not lead to the Doomsday argument but caters to legitimate methodological needs. This modified principle is used as the basis for the first mathematically explicit theory of reasoning under observational selection effects. This observation theory resolves the range of conundrums associated with anthropic reasoning and provides a general framework for evaluating theories about the large-scale structure of the world and the distribution of observers within it.

This dissertation is an examination of Humean reductionism (HR) with special reference to laws of nature. The first four chapters are mainly concerned with examining the general assumptions behind HR: that the world is fully characterized by the particular facts, and that laws and other modal features supervene on the particular facts. I argue that the Humean notion of particular fact is not as problematic as some critics have alleged, but that the supervenience claim is counterintuitive in a number of ways. The following three chapters are concerned with the question whether HR can be supported by an analysis of laws which explains how they supervene. David Lewis's leading best system analysis (BSA) is evaluated, with special attention given to two issues. An influential argument for the BSA is that its definition of laws explains our pursuit of the virtues of truth, simplicity, and strength in scientific theorizing. I argue that this argument is unconvincing for various reasons: among them that scientific theories are not candidate systems; and that the notions of strength and simplicity employed in assessing theories are different from the notions required by the BSA. A crucial question is whether the BSA must build our standards of simplicity, strength, and balance into its definition of laws in order to determine a unique best system. I argue that it must, and that in consequence the BSA makes lawhood mind-dependent. I further argue that this consequence undermines the BSA's claim to provide an explanation of how the laws supervene. My conclusion is that these are serious problems for HR: its claim that the laws supervene is dubious both because it is counterintuitive and because it is unsupported by an adequate analysis of lawhood.

This thesis consists of a study of Schelling's post-critical metaphysics. For the purpose of systematic and historical corroboration, the foundation of Schelling's metaphysics is contextually reconstructed through investigations of Kant's critique of metaphysics and Hegel's transformation of the Kantian problematic. The Romantic and Fichtean background of Schelling's theoretical intervention is also partially reconstructed. On the basis of this contextual presentation, given in the form of a problematic progression, the thesis then develops Schelling's foundational move for the grounding of a post-critical metaphysics as an immanent response to Kant and Hegel. Schelling's position is here proved to consist of a radicalisation of Kant and a superior critique of Hegel's critique of Kant. The second part of the thesis then proceeds to present the elementary components of Schelling's metaphysics: the doctrine of powers, the philosophy of time and theory of ideas, developed directly out of the foundational grounding excavated in the first part. It is proved that Schelling's reconstruction of metaphysics is essentially powered by the reactivation of figures of thought derived from Platonic ontology and cosmology, rearticulated through productive conjunction with resource offered by the Kantian presentation of the transcendental apparatus. It is argued that the resultant metaphysical outlook, a solid restatement of which is given in the final part of the thesis, informs and grounds all of Schelling's philosophical endeavours, from the early philosophy of nature, over the philosophy of art, up to the late philosophy of mythology and philosophy of revelation. Thus this thesis offers an endorsement of the argument for the essential integrity of Schelling's thought - advanced by a number of recent scholars - against the conceptions of discontinuous breaks in Schelling's oeuvre, still prevalent in most of the orthodox views of the history of philosophy. Lastly it is argued that the reconstruction of Schelling's metaphysics, presented in this thesis, must be understood as a powerful vantage point from which to think the possibilities of a contemporary philosophical cosmology.

The accompanying thesis is entirely the result of my own research, except in so far as my ideas have become modified in the course of discussion with members of the philosophical department of Bedford College, and of the College Philosophical Society. I have also been helped by lectures arranged by the British Institute of Philosophical Studies, notably by Mr Russell's course of lectures on "Mind and Matter"; by discussions at meetings of the Aristotelian Society; and by various lectures given in London during the past two years by Dr Broad, Professor A.E. Taylor, and Professor Hunn. My investigations appear to me to advance the study of causal theory in the following respects: I. By an analysis of concrete situations displaying causal connection, they show that common sense demands spatiotemporal and not merely temporal connection between events in causal sequence. II, They show that an adequate account of causation can only be given in a philosophical system which has first revised its concepts in accordance with modern scientific theory, and in particular, with the modem assimilation of space and time. III. They show that the scientific analysis of perception, light radiation, etc; requires us to postulate spatio-temporal continuity of causal process---(not in the sense of continuity, discreteness or compactness of abstract space time, hut in the sense that "something-going-on" most he postulated at every spatio-temporal point within a causal sequence.) IV. From these three points of view, one condition of causal sequence is seen to be spatio-temporal continuity between events in the sequence, and this repaired spatio-temporal relationship between cause and effect events is analysed and stated in precise terms in Section V. V. In this thesis also, Hume's dictum, which seems to me to be axiomatic, that multiplication of similar instances can never produce a relation which was not present in the single instance, is taken seriously, and the causal relation is shown to be a relation discoverable within the single instance. This position is shown to receive support from the modern tendency in physics and psychology, to view the ultimate data of both sciences, as being of the nature of process, or events. VI. This position also, is shown to throw light on the necessity of the causal relation, which is of the nature of a universal connection within the concrete situation. Thus, inductive process is justified as the progressive acquiring of knowledge of relations within the single instance, and is well grounded in experience, since the universal connections which it seeks, are discoverable in the single given instance.

(La0.67Sr0.33MnO3)£»(SrO), LSMO214(n=1) in short, is 2-D magnetic insulator with a structure very similar to the 3D La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 and La0.67Ca0.33MnO3, 113(n=1) in short, which consists of superstructure of a subsequent magnetic layers and insulating layers. Forming a single 214 phase bulk is not easy, a mix phase of 2<n<¡Û compounds is usually seen. Due to the lattice mismatch between Substrate and bulk,strain has been an important factors of magnetic resistance and electrical properties. Studying single layer and multi-layer films,we find because the small of growth condition scope and lattice mismatch,the LSMO214 films consists mix phases of higher n.

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This practice-led thesis explores ways in which to integrate art and material culture studies as a manifestation of philosophy’s process thread. In doing so, its goal is to generate a praxis which is able to come to holistic terms with the fragmenting dualism of subject-object binaries. By seizing my own subjectivity in its representation of this problem, the thesis develops a performance-led practice which seeks to overcome the barriers that its divisive ‘I’ presents to process. This interdisciplinary project is an explicit response to the figure of Friedrich Nietzsche; his bearing helps to constitute its methodology and repertoire as his presence is creatively teased from the pages of his own books. Part One of the thesis discusses how the mimetic aims of artistic representation were harnessed to challenge my own subjectivity’s singular sense of authority. Thereafter, Nietzsche’s pre-modern temperament comes to enable a holistic consideration of the perceptual ambiguity within Jacques Lacan’s geometric model of ‘seeing things’. Part Two engages with representation as a method of making difference for the bridging of subject-object divisions. This occurs as subjective experience and is extended to some inorganic others, producing creative outcomes which aim to access a cosmological principle of affect that is identified with Nietzsche’s thesis of will to power. The third part of this thesis aligns the research aim, of making apparent the oneness of the cosmos, with the shamanic dimensions of some vintage slapstick cinema. In its development, it comes to terms with the subjective gaze and identifies process-led strategies for challenging and changing its outlooks. This provides a background for Part Four, which marks the beginning of my attempts to engage the gaze of other people in processes that procure and ideally affect their perspectives. While the first four parts of the thesis demonstrate the progress of the research project through the deployment of art and its affecting capacities, its final two parts put the work of philosophy into aesthetic effects, and represent artworks that constitute elements of the thesis itself. Part Five evidences my art practice re-engaging with the world through a project which holistically involves the outlooks of subjects, whilst nevertheless challenging their perceptual precepts. Part Six discusses a performative experiment that consolidates and tests the research findings in a potentially affective structure, expressed through Laurence Halprin’s RSVP cycle. Finally, as it reflects on the potential healing capacities of my practical research and the possibilities for ‘doing’ philosophy, the thesis details how an art-making that embraces both visual and material cultures through the eventness of performance might be able to overcome the problematic perceptual divides that limit the progress of process logics.