Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2005 / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 36 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 36).

Analytic ethics often neglects the exploration and appreciation of morality as it is actually practised on a day-to-day basis. But by looking at how, in a practical sense, we are able to interact with others in a morally appropriate way we can construct a compelling picture of what some of our most pervasive obligations are. This thesis takes such an approach through the concept of understanding – understanding essentially taken here to involve those processes involved in detecting and correctly responding to beings typically possessing inherent moral significance. In the first two chapters ‘understanding' and the understanding approach are themselves explicated, and placed in the context of several other related approaches in the English-speaking tradition – Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, Nel Noddings' ethics of care and Richard Hare's preference utilitarianism. This approach is then used to provide us with an alternative idea about what our moral reasoning suggests to be of fundamental ethical significance, and of what kinds of activity morality recommends to us. The activity explored in most detail here is that of engaging with fiction – or more broadly, fictive imaginings. While understanding shows us that fictional characters and events themselves cannot have an inherent moral valence or significance, it also shows us when and how it is possible and appropriate to ethically assess fictive engagement, be it as creator or consumer. This is seen after exploring how and in what ways our moral understanding can be appropriately applied to and exercised by fictions at all, and why fiction should be of particular interest to the understanding agent, looking at the work of Martha Nussbaum, Jenefer Robinson, Peter Lamarque and others on aesthetic cognitivism. Ultimately this leads us to discern a minimal ethical constraint on our interpretation of fiction and art in general, further proving understanding's usefulness.

Cette thèse permet de mettre en lumière divers aspects de l’interprétation pianistique contemporaine. Pour cela, trois concours internationaux ont été choisis – Chopin de Varsovie, Long-Thibaud de Paris et Tchaïkovski de Moscou – de façon à exposer au mieux, à travers des épreuves de ce genre, la situation de l’art pianistique à une échelle mondiale sous des rapports divers : social et historique en relation avec chacune de ces compétitions, technique dans la chaîne compositeur-interprète-auditeur, et artistique sur la base de l’étude des interprétations des finalistes durant la période 1985-2010, sans oublier les enjeux de l’évaluation dans ce cadre.L’analyse générale de la situation actuelle a mis en évidence l’utilité de ces concours dans la vie musicale contemporaine. Si les valeurs esthétiques du monde actuel ne stimulent pas réellement la formation de personnalités d’une grande force et d’une réelle profondeur, un certain nombre de signes positifs semblent toutefois se dégager de ces manifestations. / The scientific work reveals various aspects of contemporary piano performance. Three international piano competitions were chosen – Chopin in Warsaw, Long-Thibaud in Paris and Tchaikovsky in Moscow – because it is through events like these ones that is exposed to its best the situation of pianistic art on a global scale. Given the complexity of our questions, we have shared our research in several areas: social and historical related to each analyzed musical competition, technical according to the chain composer-performer-listener, and artistic based on the study of interpretations of the finalists during the period 1985-2010, preceded by issues evaluation in this context.The general analysis of the current situation has highlighted the need of these competitions in contemporary musical life. If the aesthetic values of the modern world do not actually stimulate the formation of deep and strong personalities, a number of positive signs, however, seem to emerge from these events.

The subject of the thesis is the description, analysis and interpretation of rock art. The first, theoretic, part is dedicated to the research strategy, documentation, dating, conservation and presentation of rock art. It also analyses the relation between rock art and landscape, since differences in how different cultures perceived the landscape led rock art creators to different perception of the environment and to different forms of creative expression. The first part of the dissertation presents approaches rock art and methods of its interpretation from the landscape, historic, sociologic, ritual, artistic and aesthetic perspective. The second part of the dissertation discusses African rock art in the Oukaïmeden Valley, set in the central part of the High Atlas in Morocco. The dissertation focuses on particular archaeologic sites, art techniques applied, distinguishing features and other specificities of the local rock art. Special attention is paid to the motifs, development changes and dating of rock art in the Oukaïmeden Valley. Rock art first appeared there in the Late Neolithic and was further developed in the Bronze Age and continued until the Libyan-Berber period. The dissertation also presents interpretation of rock art motifs including analysis of their function and meaning of their positioning...