Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Democracy and mysticism are two prominent themes of Walt Whitman's writings, yet few critics have explored the connections that may exist between these areas. Some critics have noted that Whitman holds an ideal of "spiritual democracy," in which all people are equal due to their identity with a transcendent self such as that found in "Song of Myself," but they have not identified the best philosophical model for such a political viewpoint. I believe that the parallel between Whitman's thought and Vedantic mysticism, already developed by V. K. Chart and others, may be expanded to account for Whitman's political thought. Past studies of Whitman and Vedanta have focused only on the advaitic aspects of his writing, but in his later years he came to adopt a visistadvaitic stance similar to that of Ramanuja. In the political sphere, his concept of a Brahmanic self shared by all people led him to not only believe that all people are equal, but that they also possess the capacity to become contributors to a democratic society. Whitman felt that the poet was the primary means by which the masses could attain mystical consciousness and the concomitant social harmony. The ideal poet described in Democratic Vistas and the Preface to the 1855 Leaves of Grass serves as a mediator between the people as they are and Whitman's ideal of a completely unified democratic society and thereby parallels the Vedantic guru's function of bridging the relative and absolute levels of reality. / Department of English

Doctorado en filosofía con mención en estética y teoría del arte / La presente tesis se propone examinar la relevancia de la dimensión expositiva del pensamiento de Walter Benjamin en la determinación de sus principales conceptos: crítica, historia, verdad y justicia. Se sugiere que la “presentación de la verdad” [Darstellung der Wahrheit] –la tarea (Aufgabe) que Benjamin se impone en el “prólogo epistemocrítico” de 1925– es la clave para leer estos conceptos. En su pensamiento temprano, esta dimensión expositiva resultó ser crucial para la elaboración de un (verdadero) concepto de “crítica de arte” (wahre Kritik), ofreciendo, según se argumenta en esta tesis, una matriz interpretativa para el problema de la ‘Crítica de la violencia’ y para el concepto de justicia que ahí se elabora. Es esta misma dimensión expositiva, como sostenemos, la que determina el concepto benjaminiano de “imagen dialéctica” (dialektisches Bild) desarrollado en su obra tardía, y que en esta tesis se reinterpreta como imagen-crítica. Mediante este concepto, nuestra intención es destacar tanto la dimensión crítica de las imágenes dialécticas como el tipo de imágenes que éstas son, irreductibles a toda relación entre forma y contenido

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, February 1983. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 160-166. / This is a study of all the published writings on art by the Symbolist poet-critic G.-Albert Aurier, intending to elucidate the systematic theory of art that underlies all his criticism. It includes a brief biographical account of Aurier's career as an art critic as well as a Symbolist poet and publisher, with emphasis on his involvement in the Decadent phase of literary Symbolism, as it relates to the development of his particular tastes in art. While Aurier's theory is Symbolist, and therefore self-consciously modern, it is here analyzed from a traditional point of view, in order to place Aurier and Symbolism in the context of the preceding tradition of Frerch art theory. The major themes explored include: the possibility of a definition of Beauty in art; the relationship of art to nature and the question of representation; the discovery of the Ideal and its expression in art; the aesthetic emotion, its character, sources, and means of expression in art; the meaning of artistic "genius"; art considered as a "language" and the implications for style. / by Margaret Rauschenbach Lunn. / Ph.D.

Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Filosofía mención en Metafísica / En las páginas que siguen, no se desarrolla propiamente una tesis, en el sentido de una propuesta conceptual cuya pretensión sea afirmar o sostener una determinada hipo-tesis. Tampoco su contenido es demasiado ambicioso. En calidad de estudio, el presente trabajo intenta realizar dos cosas: 1) exponer el “concepto” de alegoría en los textos tempranos de Walter Benjamin, y en particular en tres: “Sobre el lenguaje en general y sobre el lenguaje de los hombres” (1916), “La tarea del traductor” (1923) y “El origen del drama barroco alemán” (1923 – 1925); y 2) Determinar la noción de tarea [Aufgabe] al interior de estos textos. La limitación textual-temporal escogida —como quedará expresado a continuación— si bien es un corte relativamente arbitrario, responde al límite que el propio Benjamin declarara en su dedicatoria al libro sobre el barroco alemán: “Proyectado en 1916, redactado en 1925, entonces como hoy dedicado a mi esposa”. Hacia el tercer capitulo tendremos que referirnos a las polémicas concernientes a la concepción y publicación de este libro, la cual sólo se produjo en 1928. Más de diez años acompañaron, por tanto, el trabajo de investigación, redacción y publicación de este libro. Y que constituyen a la vez los años que restringen aproximadamente los límites de la presente investigación.

Bibliography :leaves 294-300. / vi, 300 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Politics, 1994

At various intervals there have appeared on the American scene unique individuals whose ideals and principles have shaped the course of American history and the destiny of the American people. More often than not, they have appeared, as if providentially, in times of stress and turmoil, or at the least, during periods that were particularly decisive to the nation's history.Such individuals have always had certain characteristics in common. They were men of integrity and principle. They had a deep and abiding love for their country and an unfaltering faith in her future under a democratic system of government. They were men of vision whose ideas were usually far ahead of the times in which they lived. And they were not content merely to espouse their particular principles in theory alone, they also had the necessary devotion to duty to work tirelessly to make those ideals a reality, and the courage and fortitude to remain constant in the face of the adversity which they encountered in the process. Most of them had an empathy for the common man which transcended the normal sphere of interpersonal relationships and elevated it to the plane which recognizes the human kinship and brotherhood of all men. And finally, all of them left a legacy of ideas which are universally viable, and which serve as a constant source for the renewal of those ideals which are the foundation and supporting strength of the nation.In the days when the Republic was new, America was fortunate in having more than a few men of this caliber--men like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton. And later, at decisive moments when the need was great, other men like Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson arose to lead their country and to plead the cause of liberalism and humanitarianism. Wendell Willkie was another such man. He believed in the integrity and worth of the individual, in his right to the basic human freedoms regardless of race, creed, or color, and in the ability of an enlightened citizenry to govern itself politically under a democratic system of government, and economically under the free-enterprise system.His contributions reflected these basic beliefs. At home he strove to lift American politics out of the realm of narrow, petty partisanship and expediency, and to elevate it to a system, regulated by high moral conduct, which would be responsive to the needs of the American people. In a broader sense, he fought imperialism both at home and abroad by working to establish those civil liberties which guarantee freedom, equal opportunity, and dignity to all human beings. He worked to rally the free world against the perils of a totalitarianism which threatened to destroy that freedom, and above all, to rally it in support of a system of international cooperation which not only would keep world peace, but also provide a forum where the brotherhood of man could become a reality.It is the purpose of this dissertation to examine the principles and ideals which guided Wendell Willkie's thinking and motivated his actions, to note the nineteenth-century background which fostered them, to follow the active crusade he made in their behalf, and finally, to summarize briefly the contribution of those ideals and principles to the American democratic system and to the concept of "one world."

Thesis--Universität Bern. / "Diese Arbeit erscheint im Buchhandel als Band 79 der ... Sammlung Sprache und Dichtung." Includes bibliographical references.

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