Error theory turns on a particular presupposition about the conceptual commitments of moral realism, namely that the moral facts posited by realists need to be categorical. True moral propositions are said to have an absolute authority in their prescriptions in the sense that an agent, regardless of her own ends, needs or desires, is categorically obligated and has reason to act in accordance with their prescriptions. But, nothing in the world has such a queer property as categoricity, and therefore we ought to be suspect of the enterprise of moral discourse. Some philosophers, like Stephen Finlay, have argued that this categoricity is not a necessary feature of moral language, and in so doing hope to have shown that the error theoretic critique is thus refuted. In this article I offer a survey of the literature on this topic and then contribute independent motivations for siding with those who think moral facts need not be categorical (and that a powerful argument for error theory is defused).

This thesis constitutes a piece of practice-led research: its principal research aim is to reflect on, analyse, and explore the conceptual, cultural, and artistic framework within which the offered artworks stand. The introduction is designed to provide an overview of both the central ideas to be discussed and the methodology to be deployed. It will also offer a snapshot of the structure of the text as a whole. As I will indicate, both method and content can be approached via a common guiding form: that of the fixed bind or knot. I will begin by introducing those concepts as they apply both to my own works and to those with which I have brought them into relation. My central concern is with the way in which the imagination forms connections and associations, the way objects or visions are gathered together in the imagination, and the way in which such ties might form knots, might amass or fix within them. I use the terms ‘binds’ and ‘bonds’ to refer to all such relations: to investigate these binds is to investigate the architecture of the imagination. My aim is to explore the way in which the structure of such binds might be present or affirmed in a physical object. In this context, the sculptures I have submitted can thus be understood as points of consolidation, points around which imagination amasses, and points at which binds accrue and abide: they are forms wrought and fixed, but not motionless, in the imagination. In this sense, from a theoretical perspective, to reflect on the sculptures is to reflect on what it means for objects or visions to bind and fixate in the imagination and for sculptors to realise them. For example, the first sculpture arises from attempting to make a seamless and ongoing circle of rope from lengths of hair. Here a material that stops once unbound from the head is repeatedly knotted. The longer binds thereby arise through a process of perpetual repetition in seeking to form a perfect bind; I juxtapose this vision of repetition with, for example, Kierkegaard’s work on that concept in order to analyse the nature of such a joint and impulse. As I have introduced the term, ‘binds’ therefore carries a double weight; it refers both to the structure of the imagination and to the sculptural connections that affirm it. The primary aim of this thesis is to investigate the interplay between these two aspects in both my own work and in that of a number of authors and artists.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Eduardo Ortiz.pdf: 624101 bytes, checksum: def7f14a4bd49d23d1cce45fef96f118 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-30 / This research presents an analysis of important studies on the yellow fever carried through in the American continent, since the first registered manifestation of the illness, in ends of century XVII, until the to prove of the paper vector of the mosquitoes in its propagation, in ends of century XIX. In the three here described main studies, it was looked to establish the estimated theoreticians who had guided the inquiries. In century XVII, in Pernambuco, the medical João Ferreitra Rosa investigated the causes of the epidemic that devastated the e region attributed them a set to it of factors that easily are identified by its source of old conceptions on the infection of the illnesses. To the little two of these slight knowledge they appear clearly spread out in the studies of Rose, from that the illnesses if originate or are transmitted by miasmas and to its emanations and of that the illness appears for a disequilibrium of the moods of the body, as established by the galena medicine. Another important moment of the research on the yellow fever can be pointed in the end of century XIX when the paper of the mosquitoes in the transmission of the illness was discovered. This occurred in Cuba, enters the years of 1881 and 1883, when the doctor Carlos Juan Finlay supplied diverse types of experimental evidences that pointed with respect to the mosquito Stegomyia fasciata, finally, Aedes aegypti, as transmitting agent of the yellow fever. Medical commissions directed by the American government Cuba had multiplied the number of experimental evidences in the same direction, in the year of 1900. In the present analysis, it was looked to indicate in the studies of Finlay aspects derived from the development of the experimental medicine to the long one of century XIX, as the microbiana theory and the pathology. At the same time, it was identified, in the delineation of the experimental procedures of Finlay and subsequent conclusions from there derived, the still important presence of some factors that if can track since the slight knowledge of miasmas. In São Paulo, between 1901 and 1902, the doctor Emilio Marcondes Ribas having knowledge of the works of Finlay, and other researchers, that identified insects as transmitting agents of illnesses, carried through its proper comments and experiments. In the studies of Ribas also the dialogue with slight knowledge derived from the old doctrines was found, but the reached results had taken it to exclude it from the set of the causes of the illness any another factor that was not the mosquitoes and the microbe agent. Opposing discontinuity historiography that costume to attribute to the microbe theory an authentic revolution in the medicine, the research analyzed here points with respect to another model. In the studied case, the ticket of a theoretical model for another one gradual occurred, for nuances, permanencies larding the new features / Esta pesquisa apresenta uma análise de estudos importantes sobre a febre amarela realizados no continente americano, desde a primeira manifestação registrada da doença, em finais do século XVII, até a constatação do papel vetor dos mosquitos na sua propagação, em finais do século XIX. Nos três estudos principais aqui descritos, procurou-se estabelecer os pressupostos teóricos que guiaram as investigações. No século XVII, em Pernambuco, o médico João Ferreira Rosa investigou as causas da epidemia que assolava a região e atribuiu-as a um conjunto de fatores que são facilmente identificadas por sua proveniência de antigas concepções sobre o contágio das doenças. Ao menos duas dessas noções aparecem claramente difundidas nos estudos de Rosa, a de que as doenças se originam ou são transmitidas pelos miasmas e às suas emanações e a de que a doença aparece por um desequilíbrio dos humores do corpo, conforme estabelecido pela medicina galênica. Outro momento importante da pesquisa sobre a febre amarela pode ser apontado no final do século XIX quando foi descoberto o papel dos mosquitos na transmissão da doença. Isto ocorreu em Cuba, entre os anos de 1881 e 1883, quando o médico Carlos Juan Finlay forneceu diversos tipos de evidências experimentais que apontavam para o mosquito Stegomyia fasciata, por último, Aedes aegypti, como agente transmissor da febre amarela. Comissões médicas encaminhadas pelo governo americano a Cuba multiplicaram o número de evidências experimentais no mesmo sentido, no ano de 1900. Na presente análise, procurou-se indicar nos estudos de Finlay aspectos derivados do desenvolvimento da medicina experimental ao longo do século XIX, como a teoria microbiana e a patologia. Ao mesmo tempo, foi identificada, no delineamento dos procedimentos experimentais de Finlay e subseqüentes conclusões daí derivadas, a presença ainda importante de alguns fatores que se podem rastrear desde as noções de miasmas. Em São Paulo, entre 1901 e 1902, o médico Emilio Marcondes Ribas tendo conhecimento dos trabalhos de Finlay, e de outros pesquisadores, que identificavam insetos como agentes transmissores de doenças, realizou suas próprias observações e experimentos. Nos estudos de Ribas também foi encontrado o diálogo com noções derivadas das velhas doutrinas, mas os resultados alcançados levaram-no a excluir do conjunto das causas da doença qualquer outro fator que não fosse o mosquito e o agente microbiano. Contrariando historiografia descontinuísta que costuma atribuir à teoria microbiana uma autêntica revolução na medicina, as pesquisas aqui analisadas apontam para outro modelo. No caso estudado, a passagem de um modelo teórico para outro ocorreu gradativamente, por nuanças, por permanências entremeando as novidades

This thesis examines concrete poetry in England and Scotland from 1962 to 1975. Through the 1950s-70s, international concrete poetry evolved away from constructivist influenced, “classical” ideals of minimalism and iconic visual effect towards principles owing more to Dadaism and Futurism: spontaneity, maximalism, sonority and an emphasis on intermedial expression. Against this backdrop, using close textual analysis supported by primary research, I engage with four poets whose work collectively exemplifies the wide range of values which concrete poetry represented in England and Scotland during the period in question. A movement away from classical ideals can be tracked across the oeuvres of Finlay, Morgan, Houédard and Cobbing; but many aspects of their work cannot be accounted for by this general rubric. Finlay saw concrete poetry as a means of casting off Scottish literary tradition, but also of embodying an immutable vision of aesthetic and ethical order, using a marriage of the visual and linguistic to emphasise links between disparate ideas and things. However, his restless reconfiguration of poetry’s visual-physical aspects ultimately resulted in a re-separation of word and image which, together with an increasing historical-mindedness, ended his attachment to the style. Morgan, by contrast, used concrete poetry to redefine rather than repel Scottish literary culture, and was a more context-focused poet, using concrete grammar – whose sonic possibilities he exploited more than Finlay – to depict specific communicative scenarios, and thus to register ethical and political imperatives, often reflecting Scottish nationalist ideals. The emphasis on semantics common to Morgan and Finlay’s work, reflecting relative fidelity to classical principles, is overridden in Houédard’s concrete poetry, which came to employ a grammar of abstract visual motifs in which linguistic meaning was subsumed, related as much to apophatic theology as to classical concrete. For Cobbing too, concrete became a means of evading language, in his case to access a transcendent realm of “intermedial” poetry equally related to language’s sonic and visual dimensions, and influenced by various contemporary artforms, and by counter-cultural ideals. However, Cobbing’s emphasis on performing poems, and the reintegration of semantics into his work throughout this period, led by the early 1970s to an alternative poetic ideal of relativity.

On the assumption that there are no objective normative facts, what is the best theory of normative language? I try to answer this question. Chapter 1 argues for a presumption against noncognitivism and explains why error-theories are of limited interest: they concern adverbs and adjectives like ‘moral’, but not words like ‘ought’, ‘good’ and ‘reason’. This narrows down the options: the best subjectivist theory of normative language is a truth conditional, non-error-theoretic account. Chapter 2 argues for contextualism about normative statements. Contextualists hold that their truth conditions (can) vary with the context of utterance. Chapter 3 starts the assessment of contextualist theories. It looks into Humean accounts. Problems are revealed with both Harman’s and Schroeder’s versions. Chapter 4 develops a form of indexical relativism according to which the truth of normative statements depends on contextually salient rules. I present imperative-based analyses of ‘ought’ and ‘reason’ and show how they can explain why ‘A ought to X’ entails that the balance of reasons favours that A X-es. Chapter 5 further develops the theory of chapter 4 and applies it to the words ‘good’ and ‘must’. It turns out to be hard to analyse ‘good’. It also emerges that ‘must’ and ‘ought’ cannot be given different truth conditions. Chapter 6 explains Stephen Finlay’s end-relational theory. On this account, normative statements concern the relation in which acts or objects stand to contextually salient ends. In the case of ‘ought’ and ‘good’, this relation is one of probability raising. Chapter 7 discusses and answers some familiar objections to Finlay’s view. Chapter 8 raises some new problems, related to the fact that normative judgments are often made in the light of several ends. Chapter 9 explains why the end-relational theory is nonetheless the best subjectivist theory of normative language.

From fighting microbial infections to preparing for pandemics, Brett Finlay is discovering how the body's own defenses could boost our chances in the battle against infectious diseases.

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This thesis examines Tse Keh Nay (Sekani) ethnic identity over three periods of Aboriginal-European relations: the fur trade period, the missionary period, and the treaty and reserve period. It examines the affects these three periods have had on the Tse Keh Nay as an ethnic group in four chapters, the first two dealing with the fur trade and missionary periods, and the last two with the treaty and reserve aspects of the treaty and reserve period. In it I argue that during the first two periods wider Tse Keh Nay ethnic identity was reinforced, while during the latter period local Tse Keh Nay identities were reinforced through government policies that dealt with Tse Keh Nay subgroups on a regional and localized basis. Despite this shift in emphasis, wider Tse Keh Nay ethnic identity has remained, proving that Tse Keh Nay ethnic identity is both situational and dynamic. / History