Kant is famous for his use of transcendental arguments in the transcendental deduction. This thesis examines how such a transcendental argument is used within Kant’s methodological framework. Following the work of Henrich and Walker, the paper asks whether transcendental arguments in the Critique of Pure Reason are compatible with Kant’s methodology in general. We find that these arguments and Kant’s methodology are compatible, and that transcendental arguments are indeed very weak arguments by Walker’s standards. However, the entire transcendental deduction should be understood as a deduction writing that uses transcendental arguments particularly effectively according to Kant’s own methodological standards.

A text is a linguistic structure that is more than a random collection of sentences. A text is cohesive (Halliday &amp / Hasan, 1976) and coherent (Mann &amp / Thompson, 1987, 1988). Mainly ignored in the field of linguistics until recently, the text and the discourse structure have been inquired from various points of view (Asher, 1993 / Asher &amp / Lascarides, 1998 / Grosz &amp / Sidner, 1986 / Mann &amp / Thompson, 1987, 1988 / Webber, 2004). D-LTAG is a discourse grammar work that extends a lexicalized sentence level grammar LTAG (Joshi, 1987) to low-level discourse (Webber, 2004 / Webber &amp / Joshi, 1998). In this framework, discourse connectives such as coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, parallel connectives and discourse adverbials are predicates of discourse structure that take text spans that can be interpreted as abstract objects (Asher, 1993). Turkish has a flexible word order in comparison to languages like English. In English, the discourse adverbials are noted for their ability to occupy positions unavailable to other discourse connectives. In Turkish, word order of other discourse connectives, coordinators and subordinators are not expected to be as restricted. This thesis examines the connective position, argument order and the information structure of five Turkish discourse connectives in their eleven uses. The analyses show that the examined features of discourse connectives are related to the syntactic group the connective belongs to. Discourse connectives of the same syntactic groups exploit similar connective position and argument order possibilities, and they tend to be included in similar information units.

This dissertation seeks to understand how issue publics contribute to citizen competence and the functioning of democracy. In the first part of the dissertation, a new measurement was constructed by theoretically and empirically analyzing the attributes of issue public members. Through the hypotheses testing, the new measure was more reliable in identifying issue public members compared to previous measurement strategies. Employing the new measure, results show that issue public members with concern about a specific issue, exercised their issue-specificity in seeking information (i.e., issue-based selectivity) with exposure to both attitude-consistent and counter-attitudinal perspectives. Issue public membership also had significant effects on issue-specific knowledge, and generating rationales for their own and other's oppositional viewpoints. These direct effects were mediated by issue-based selectivity. The relationships highlight the importance of issue publics in contributing to the deliberative democracy. In addition, issue publics play a significant role in contributing to the participatory democracy in that issue public members have greater intentions to participate in issue-related activities than nonmembers. However, while issue publics come close to solve the deliberative-participatory paradox, it was found that their information selectivity and argument generation were unbalanced in a way of favoring pro-attitudinal perspectives over counter-attitudinal perspectives. The second part of the dissertation examined conditional factors--accuracy and directional goals in affecting information selectivity and processing. The findings show that directional goals influenced participants to apply either the strategies of selective approach or selective avoidance to seek information depending on the issue. Accuracy goals exerted a main effect on the issue that is relatively less controversial and less obtrusive. They also interacted with issue public membership in influencing the less controversial and less obtrusive issue. Argument generation was not affected by accuracy or directional goals. Overall, through conceptualizing citizens as members of different issue publics, individuals are more competent then we thought. Their intrinsic interest in an issue serves as a strong factor affecting their information selectivity, information processing, and political actions. Despite finding an optimistic role for issue publics in the democratic process, their limitations also should be recognized. The implications for the deliberative and participatory democracy are discussed.

This dissertation explores how argumentation theory can supplement models of responsible persuasion in rhetoric and writing studies. In particular, it demonstrates how reasoning as envisioned in the pragma-dialectical approach of argumentation can provide an alternative to exclusionary, unethical operations of reason. Despite longstanding work with models of argument from Aristotle to Stephen Toulmin, rhetoric and writing has paid little attention to the potential uses of dialectical argumentation theory. Such theory deserves greater consideration given its ability to meet the ethical demands voiced by rhetorical critiques of traditional ways of arguing. Critiques of reason demonstrate how the abstractions necessary for logical certainty exist in tension with the inherent ambiguity of human arguments. In attempting to strip away that ambiguity, some discussants unfairly exclude relevant details from others and may exclude entire populations who should be included in a fair deliberation. Goals of understanding and inclusion unite the variety of calls for new ways of arguing made in rhetoric and writing under titles of Rogerian, non-agonistic, listening, and invitational rhetorics. Nevertheless, as Chaïm Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca describe, even as our arguments involve irresolvable ambiguities, they must also function as stable and coherent viewpoints such that our interlocutors can hold us accountable to agreement or disagreement. In this way, we responsibly argue questions of ethics, politics and law. Though no final resolution of ambiguity is possible in such questions, we can reason together for a better understanding of each other's positions and craft pragmatic policies to deal with our disagreements. In order to explore the disciplinary questions about the relationship between rhetoric and argumentation, the dissertation examines a series of case studies drawn from judicial disputes over church-state separation in the United States. In examining problematic rhetoric of these disputes, the dissertation builds an understanding of responsible reason informed by dialectical argumentation and demonstrates its utility for both critical and pedagogical applications. / text

Undersökningen ämnar öka förståelsen för och analysera hur fastighetsföretag marknadsför gröna argument och hur de uppfattar att intressenterna bemöter dessa. I uppsatsen studeras följande forskningsfrågor: * Vilka strategier används hos fastighetsföretag inom ramen för green business? * Hur kommunicerar fastighetsföretag green business genom grön marknadsföring? * Hur uppfattar fastighetsföretagen att intressenterna bemöter deras gröna marknadsföringsargument? / The study intends to increase the understanding of and to analyze how real-estate companies market green arguments and how they perceive that stakeholders respond to these. The paper studied the following research questions: * What strategies are used by real-estate companies within green business? * How do real-estate companies communicate green business through green marketing? * How do the real estate companies perceive that stakeholders respond to their green marketing pitch?

The goal of this paper is to offer new insights into the climate change debate by shifting away from the heated anthropologic arguments that dominate politics, media, and popular science. Instead, I choose to rely on the long-term impacts of a changing climate on our planet. The paper begins with a break down of key processes involved in short-term and long-term climate change, using the latest research. After a foundational understanding of climate sciences is established, we will discuss the failure of the climate change debate in educating the general public about the facts of a changing climate. Finally, the importance of long-term foresight in climate policy and education, and how this perspective could drastically progress the climate debate, will be discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brandeis University, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [241]-247).

Dans le cadre des approches constructionistes, cette thèse étudie les verbes labiles de l’anglais, qui peuvent manifester des configurations syntaxiques variées sans changer de forme. L’étude de la complémentation de ces verbes montre que leur catégorisation en familles sémantiques est pertinente mais pas suffisante pour expliquer leur comportement. La thèse défend une approche syncrétique de la complémentation du verbe qui rend compte de son importante productivité et de ses limites parfois arbitraires. Une analyse montre que les verbes ont tous une configuration syntaxique par défaut, qui n’est pas signifiante et qui permet simplement au verbe d’exprimer ses arguments de façon non marquée, en accord avec certains principes de cohérence conceptuelle. À l’inverse, lorsque la complémentation du verbe a un apport sémantique identifiable, l’existence de schémas de complémentation pleinement signifiants est postulée. Il s’agit d’ensembles de compléments dont le sens est distinct de celui du verbe auquel ils sont associés et se retrouve de façon régulière avec des verbes de catégories diverses. Il est démontré que les schémas de complémentation doivent être considérés comme des unités linguistiques de plein droit de l’anglais. Cela implique qu’en synchronie, ces schémas sont emmagasinés par les locuteurs plutôt que le résultat d’un processus d’analogie avec des constructions existantes. Leur statut d’unité linguistique permet d’étudier leur sémantisme de la même façon que des unités lexicales plus classiques. S’ils sont en majorité polysémiques, certains schémas ont des emplois difficiles à relier sémantiquement et doivent donc être considérés comme des homonymes. / Within a constructionist framework, this thesis studies English labile verbs, which can enter into various syntactic configurations without changing form. A study of their complementation shows that categorizing them into semantic families is relevant but not sufficient to explain their behavior. The thesis defends a syncretic approach to verb complementation to that accounts for its important productivity and its sometimes arbitrary limits. It is shown that all verbs have a default syntactic configuration, which is not meaningful and which simply allows the verb to express its arguments in an unmarked way, in accordance with certain principles of conceptual coherence. Conversely, when the complementation of the verb has an identifiable semantic contribution, the existence of fully meaningful patterns of complementation is posited. These are defined as sets of complements, whose meaning is distinct from that of the verb with which they are associated and is found regularly with verbs of diverse categories. It is shown that patterns of complementation should be considered fully-fledged English linguistic units. This implies that synchronically, these patterns are mentally stored by speakers rather than the result of a process of analogy with existing constructions. Their status as linguistic units makes it possible to study their meaning in the same way as more classical lexical units. Although most of them are polysemic, some patterns of complementation exhibit uses that are difficult to link semantically and must therefore be viewed as homonyms.

O objetivo deste trabalho é demonstrar a insuficiência do uso exclusivo do método literal de interpretação das isenções e sugerir critérios interpretativos e argumentativos adequados que permitam sem margem à arbitrariedade, mais intensamente promover os fins a que essas normas se destinam. Com base na disposição do artigo 111 do CTN, os dispositivos legais que se referem às isenções devem ser interpretados literalmente e, a análise de decisões dos Tribunais Superiores do País e da doutrina nacional demonstra que, na maior parte das vezes, a interpretação literal é adotada como forma de restringir a incidência das normas isencionais, sem levar em conta as finalidades que lhes são subjacentes. Assim, por meio de um método analítico voltado para a prática, ao analisar a estrutura e as principais características das normas isencionais, conclui-se que, tratando-se de normas com funções precipuamente extrafiscais, que se relacionam com a eficácia dos direitos fundamentais, o processo hermenêutico não pode ficar restrito à interpretação literal. Desse modo, cabe reconstruir o significado da disposição contida no art. 111, a fim de afastar a interpretação puramente literal das isenções e possibilitar ao intérprete o emprego de outros métodos interpretativos para a adequada aplicação das regras isencionais. Deve possibilitar, em especial, o uso do método sistemático-teleológico, já que as isenções não podem ser concedidas senão em razão de uma finalidade pública relevante (valores protegidos constitucionalmente), a qual precisa ser devidamente reconhecida e considerada pelo aplicador do Direito. O processo hermenêutico, no entanto, deve ser referendado por um processo lógico argumentativo que justifique a adoção de tais métodos. / The objective of this work is to demonstrate the insufficiency of the exclusive use of the literal method for interpretation of exemptions, and to suggest appropriate interpretative and argumentative criteria that allows no room for arbitrariness, and intensely promotes the purposes for which these standards are intended. Based on the provision of article 111 from CTN, the legal provisions that refer to exemptions must be interpreted literally and the analysis of decisions of the Higher Courts in the country with the national doctrine shows that, in most cases, the literal interpretation is adopted as a way to restrict the incidence of exemptions standards, with no regard to the purposes that are implied. Therefore, by means of an analytical method facing the practice, analyzing the structure and the main features of the exemption rules, it is concluded that in the case of standards as primarily extra tax which relates to the effectiveness of the fundamental rights, the hermeneutic process can not be restricted to literal interpretation. Thus, it is to establish the meaning of the provision in article 111, in order to avoid the purely literal interpretation of the exemptions and to enable the interpreter the use of other interpretative methods for the adequate application of exemption rules. It should allow, in particular, the use of systematic-teleological method, since the exemptions can not be granted, except by reason of a relevant public purpose (constitutionally protected values), which needs to be properly recognized and regarded by the jurisconsult. The hermeneutic process, however, must be approved by a logical-argumentative process that justifies the adoption of such methods.

La présente thèse entend rechercher les contraintes qui pèsent sur l’emploi de la tmèse homérique et les tendances qui le caractérisent sur le plan de la syntaxe. Ce travail décrit et précise pour commencer les degrés de dépendance que les prépositions-préverbes en tmèse entretiennent avec le verbe de la proposition, tant sur le plan actanciel que sémantique. Il étudie également les relations entre la tmèse et l’ordre des mots en termes de séparabilité entre la préposition-préverbe (P) et le verbe, en analysant à la fois le critère de la position initiale de la préposition-préverbe en tmèse, et le nombre et la fonction des constituants présents entre P et le verbe. Enfin, il examine les contraintes morphologiques susceptibles de s’exercer sur la tmèse, comme le nombre de syllabes ou le statut phonologique des prépositions-préverbes, en relation avec le facteur métrique. L’étude morphologique porte également sur les rapports entre tmèse et double préverbation et entre tmèse et augment, et interroge enfin la possibilité que la morphologie d’ἀντί et d’ὑπέρ explique leur résistance à l’emploi en tmèse. Cette étude de la syntaxe de la tmèse permettra une meilleure connaissance non seulement de l’emploi des prépositions-préverbes dans la langue homérique, mais également de la construction verbale et de la phrase homérique elle-même. / This dissertation seeks to identify the constraints that define the use of the Homeric tmesis and the general characteristics of its syntactic aspects. First, this study describes and clarifies the degrees of dependency between the prepositions-preverbs used in a tmesis and the verb of the clause in which it is used, both on the actantial and semantic levels. It also examines the relation between the tmesis and the word order from the perspective of the separability between the prepositions-preverb (P) and the verb, by analyzing both the criterion of the initial position of the preposition-preverb in a tmesis, and the number and the function of the constituents present between P and the verb. Eventually, this study looks at the possible morphological constraints of a tmesis, like the number of syllables or the phonological status of the prepositions-preverbs, in relation with the metrical factor. The morphological study also involves the relations between the tmesis and the double preverbs, as well as between tmesis and augment, and considers eventually the possibility that the morphology of ἀντί and ὑπέρ explains why they cannot be used in a tmesis. This study of the syntax of the tmesis will allow for a better understanding not only of the use of prepositions-preverbs in the Homeric language, but also of the verbal construction in Homeric language and of the Homeric sentence itself.