Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié un corpus de dix textes latins abordant des questions astronomiques telles que la forme de l’univers et de la Terre, la description des constellations ou le mouvement des astres et des planètes, à savoir les Aratea de Cicéron, le livre IX du De architectura de Vitruve, le De astronomia d’Hygin, les Astronomica de Manilius, les Arati phaenomena de Germanicus, le livre II de la Naturalis historia de Pline, une large portion du Timaeus a Calcidio translatus commentarioque instructus de Calcidius, les Aratea d’Aviénus, certains chapitres des Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis de Macrobe et, enfin, le livre VIII du De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae de Martianus Capella. Cette recherche avait pour objectif d’une part de comprendre ce qu’était le savoir astronomique pour les auteurs de ces textes et d’autre part de voir quels étaient les moyens à leur disposition pour transmettre cette connaissance. Pour ce faire, nous avons jeté un regard double sur notre corpus : alors que notre plan a été essentiellement guidé par une enquête épistémologique abordant les grands thèmes de l’astronomie antique – autrement dit, le contenu –, notre analyse a été quant à elle davantage concentrée sur la forme, tant logique que rhétorique, de ces exposés. Nos analyses nous ont permis de mieux comprendre l’aspect didactique de toutes ces œuvres, aussi diverses soient-elles quant à leur genre, en repérant un certain nombre de procédés littéraires qui leur étaient communs, parmi lesquels nous trouvons la mise en scène de l’homme qui observe les phénomènes célestes, la mise en scène de l’homme qui raisonne et la mise en scène du ciel lui-même. / In our thesis, we study a corpus of ten Latin texts discussing astronomical topics such as the shape of the universe, the constellation descriptions and planet movements : the Aratea by Cicero, the ninth book of the De architectura by Vitruvius, the De astronomia by Hyginus, the Astronomica by Manilius, the Arati phaenomena by Germanicus, the second book of the Naturalis historia by Pliny, a large part of the Timaeus a Calcidio translatus commentarioque instructus by Calcidius, the Aratea by Avienus, some chapters of the Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis by Macrobius and, finally, the eighth book of the De Nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae by Martianus Capella. The major aims of this research were first to understand what was astronomical knowledge for the authors of these texts and, secondly, to see what were the means at their disposal to convey that knowledge. To achieve this, we did a dual study of our corpus : as our plan was essentially guided by an epistemological inquiry addressing the major themes of ancient astronomy - in other words, content, our analysis was in turn more focused on the form, both logical rhetorical, of these presentations. Our analyses allowed us to better understand the didacticism or educational aspect of all these works, as diverse as they were, by identifying a number of common literary devices, among which we find the staging of the man observing celestial phenomena, the staging of the man who reasons and the staging of the sky itself.

No description available.

No description available.

La "Superstition raisonnable" est titre qui apparaît contradictoire, mais il donne en deux mots l'ensemble de la pensée des Lumières sur la culture et la civilisation pharaoniques. Les philosophes et les écrivains du XVIIIe siècle considèrent que l'Egypte ancienne est le berceau des arts et des sciences, mais aussi elle est l'origine des cultes irrationnels. Cependant, la production littéraire et philosophique des Lumières ne se contente pas à étudier cette question d'origine des cultes en évoquant le pharaonisme, mais elle s'y inspire aussi dans certains romans tels Le Taureau blanc, Séméramis. Et Durant tout le XVIIIe siècle, le sujet Egyptien est présent, chez les franc-maçons, les antiquaires, les historiens d'arts, les érudits les historiens, comme chez certains poètes et romanciers. C'est pourquoi, une des difficultés qui surgit est de trouver un fil conducteur pour étudier la représentation de l’Egypte antique dans la pensée du XVIIIe siècle en raison de la diversité de la représentation de l’Egypte, non pas seulement au cours du siècle, mais aussi à l’intérieur d’un même ouvrage. C’est en raison de ces diverses approches du pharaonisme par les écrivains des Lumières que cette thèse emprunte des chemins interdisciplinaires, qui se reflètent dans la diversité de la bibliographie. Ainsi Cette étude essaie de donner quelques éclaircissements sur des textes qui n’ont pas fait l’objet de réflexion suffisante de la part des dix-huitiémistes alors qu’ils le méritent, car ces textes sont représentatifs de l’inquiétude philosophique. / The reasonable superstition, representation of the Egyptian mythology in French literature of eighteen century, The title of this thesis appear contrast but it gave us a good idea about Pharaoh representation in enlightenment century. This thesis studies how is about the civilization and the culture of the ancient Egypt in the philosophy writing and the literature : novels, dramas and poetry in eighteen century. The philosophers and the writers of eighteen century thinks that the ancient Egypt was the origin of the science and the art, but this country was also the origin of superstition like in the writing of Boulanger L'Antiquité devoilée pas elle-elle même. But the writers and the philosophers don't satisfy to study this question of originin the Egyptian myth, but in the same time they find some inspirations in the mythology of Isis and Osiris in some novels like Le Taureau blanc and Semeramis of Voltaire. Some dramatists inspire also in this mythology like Tanis et Zelide and les lois de Minos of Voltaire, also in his poem Sesostris and in the creation of another writers Banier, Boulanger, Charles de Brosses, Caylus dramatist and poets Bitaubé, Rocher. Also this thesis is an interdisplinary study because this subject have a multiple approachs.

La thèse intitulée « Expression et expressivité. Éléments pour une problématique linguistique : l'École de Genève (1900-1940) » est l'aboutissement d'un travail de recherche dans le domaine de l'histoire des idées linguistiques. L'étude des théories élaborées dans la première moitié du XXe par trois représentants de la linguistique genevoise (Charles Bally, Charles-Albert Sechehaye et Henri Frei) nous a amenée à formuler et à vérifier l'hypothèse générale du présent travail, à savoir la possibilité de déceler une systématicité de ces approches autour d'une problématique de l'expression, qu'elles mettent en place de manière différenciée et néanmoins concordante sur bien des points. Les convergences et les divergences dont nous tirons les conséquences dans notre analyse nous permettent de juger des conditions dans lesquelles se met en place une dynamique de pensée à l'intérieur d'une école linguistique. Le traitement de cette problématique est représentatif des stratégies par lesquelles ces linguistes ont procédé à une réinscription de certains thèmes théoriques saussuriens (la synchronie, la linguistique de la parole, l'arbitraire du signe, la valeur linguistique). La problématique de l'expression chez des linguistes se réclamant dans une large mesure de l'enseignement saussurien présente un intérêt d'autant plus grand qu'elle semble rompre avec les principes de F. de Saussure, en favorisant des points de vue a priori étrangers à sa conception de la langue : l'approche de l'affectivité ou de la subjectivité, une large part accordée à la « psychologie », une place privilégiée accordée au sujet parlant. / The thesis named “Expression and Expressivity. A Discussion of Some Debatable Linguistic Issues : The School of Geneva (1900-1940)” is the result of research undertaken in the history of linguistic ideas. The study of several theories developed during the first half of the 20th century by three representatives of the Genevan linguistics (Charles Bally, Charles-Albert Sechehaye and Henri Frei) has led us to formulate and put to the test the general assumption of our thesis. What we have tried to achieve is the capturing of the systematic in the way the three accounts discussed deal with the expression issue by pointing out the differences and similarities in each approach of the issue at hand. The converging and diverging aspects from which we draw our conclusions allow us to establish the way a thought dynamics emerges within a linguistic school. Tackling such an issue points out the strategies used by these linguists to revisit some Saussurian theoretical concepts (the synchronic, the linguistics of la parole, the arbitrariness of the sign, the linguistic value). The question of the expression in the case of these linguists is of great importance. The reason is that, although they claim to follow the Saussurian line of thought to a large extent, they seem to depart from Saussure’s main principles by favouring beliefs which are a priori in disagreement with Saussure’s perspective on language: dealing with affectivity or subjectivity, addressing the matter of ‘psychology’ to a great extent, highlighting the role of the speaker.

This paper analyses the Fogelstad Citizen School for Women in relation to first andsecond-wave feminism in Sweden. The school was established not long after women in Sweden were given the right to vote in 1921, with the purpose of educating women in civic education, in order for them to be able to make use of their newly gained rights.The school and its founders had thus a close connection to the ideas of Swedish first-wave feminism. On the other hand, the school shut down in 1954, about a decade before second-wave feminism is considered to have started in Sweden in the late 1960’/70’s. Hence, the school was active between two so-called “waves”. By analysing specific ideas on women expressed through course notes from the school’s later years, 1939–1945, this paper explores ideas about women that women’s specific qualities were emphasised in order to argue for women’s increased participation in society, while contextualising with other contemporary tendencies and events in Swedish society. A closer examination shows that specifically the school’s founders and its teacher in citizenship, Ebba Holgersson, were promoting gender essentialism, emphasising women’s nurturing characteristics and using it as an argument for women to participate more in societal and political matters. The results further imply that while this period cannot be attributed a specific feminist “wave” with regards to how a social movement’s wave it was defined, it was nonetheless a period where feminist ideas flourished and thus worked as bridge between first and second-wave feminism.

This study examines differences and similarities in how two animal ethicists living in different times have argued for a liberation of the animals, the basis for the study is Lewis Gompertz Moral Inquiries: On the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824) and Peter Singers Animal Liberation (1975). The analysis has been conducted with a historical perspective where close reading and contextualization have been used to further understand both the sources and the authors. The investigation is limited to four themes: animal's ability to experience, to kill animals, using animals and products of animals, and finally the idea of equality. The study concludes that there are significant similarities between the arguments Gompertz and Singer use, and that their ideas are rooted in a view of equality where the ability to suffer and have needs should be fundamental for our moral caring towards other creatures. A significant difference between the authors is their relationship to reason, where Gompertz highlights the animals' ability to reason as a cause to treat them well while Singer dismisses the idea that such abilities are of any interest for our moral considerations. The study also points out that the differences in the authors' conclusions and arguments can be understood on the basis of the scientific and intellectual context they operate in, where Gompertz can be described as an enlightenment philosopher with a strong belief in the developable reason within creatures, while the modern-day philosopher Singer rather sees reason as excluding, not only of animals but also of human beings. For animals to be liberated from man's oppression, both writers argue that it is necessary for man to eat a vegetarian diet.

Torture in the past is the subject of this dissertation. The aim of the study is to discuss one of the grand narratives of Swedish history. In an evolutionary frame Sweden has been put forward as a country which early developed judicial security for citizens. This dissertation contains a critique against an objectivistic view of the concept of knowledge. It proposes instead an evolutionary concept. In the discussion of sources I argue that although historians have been skilful in their evaluation of sources important problems still remains. The phenomenon of torture is here investigated at three different levels, as discourse, as norm and as practice. A point of departure is an overview of the discourse of torture and the use of torture in the past, from ancient times to the beginning of the early modern period in Europe. The purpose of that study is to gain some general insight concerning torture to which the main study, with focus on the phenomenon of torture in Sweden, could be related. The presentation of the history of torture starts in ancient Greece. The ability to use torture was regulated in Greek society. An important element in the discourse concerns a social regulation of torture; another is the connection with different concepts of truth. The conditions for the use of torture have changed over time. In early Middle Ages the practice of ordeals was common in Europe. In difficult cases tribes decided guilt with help from God. When the Christian church during the High Middle Ages rose to power it prohibited the use of ordeals. The obvious consequence of this act was that people had to make decisions by themselves, when they no longer could turn to God’s will when making decisions in severe judicial cases. In this context torture became important and was put into use. The existence of ordeals has been an obstacle to the use of torture. Torture had a strong position at the end of the medieval era, and this dissertation discusses whether the legislation is to be understood as implementation of torture or as regulation of an already existing practice. The first study of torture in a Swedish context deals with the discourse concerning the concept of torture. It is found that accusations of use of torture were used in propaganda and that torture in this context was understood as something unswedish and shameful. Next part focuses on the Old Swedish legislation prior to 1614. It is found that there is a prohibition against torture in the legislation from the fourteenth century, which must be regarded as a first attempt in Swedish law to regulate the use of torture. The study also focuses on the fact that the plaintiff had such extensive rights, that these could enable use of torture. The last part of the dissertation deals with the legal practice in Stockholm between 1474 and 1614. It identifies places for torture, actors and the judicial context in which the use of torture was practised.

Over the twentieth century and into the present, theorists of secularization and political theology have explored ways that theological arguments have shaped the social, ethical, economic, and political imaginaries of the modern West. In many of these studies, the doctrine of providence has come under scrutiny alongside related theological debates over of the nature of divine sovereignty, glory, the will, and the significance of immanent life in relation to divine transcendence. While it is often taken for granted that the Calvinist branch of Protestant reform likewise had a decisive impact on the shape of the modern West, there has been no extended treatment of Calvin's writing on providence, or related doctrines, which engages these arguments about secularization.

This doctoral thesis identifies and analyzes narratives of Greenland's future that emerged in the context of developing and modernizing the dependency's natural resources industries in the 1900s until the 1960s. After almost two centuries of Danish colonial rule, the turn of the 20th century witnessed a profound change in Greenland's governance. Although contested at first, the notion of cultural progress increasingly linked developing a modern industry to a productive economy under Danish auspices. Ideas of modernity that connected rationalities of the market with political power and science were unparalleled in the colonial discourse on Greenland's future. How were the development of Greenland's natural resource industries and its role in Danish governance debated? Which narratives emerged in this context? As the studies in this compilation thesis suggest, the rationalities of science, markets, and power became entangled in an unprecedented way during these decades, creating new ways to imagine Greenland's future. The first paper analyzes the application of a private stakeholder group of Copenhagen's financial and economic elite for access to Greenland as a private, for-profit venture to extract and trade with the colony's living resources in 1905. The motif of an Arctic scramble was constructed through the authority of science, still resonating in the debate on rare earth mining today. The second paper identifies the business relationships between the group's members, connecting major Danish financial institutes and private economic interests in the late 19th and early 20th century. The third paper focuses on the commercialization of Greenlandic fisheries in the 1910s until the late 1920s and the fisheries scientist Adolf Severin Jensen (1866-1953). Jensen's work is an example of how applied sciences connected both scientific and political agendas, carried out in a colonial setting. The fourth paper focuses on the narrative analysis of (Danish-language) Greenlandic newspaper coverage of Qullissat between 1942 and 1968. Representations of the coal mine and nearby settlement on Greenland's west coast, which were closed down in 1972, are at the center of this study. While the coal mine was presented as a Danish success to establish an independent energy supply and to introduce modernization measures, it was presented as a Greenlandic failure to adapt to modern demands of economic productivity in the years leading up to its closure.