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Thesis--Marburg. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 2-7).

The purpose of this dissertation is to offer an interpretation of Plato's hypothetical method in his middle dialogues. The hypothetical method is given in three accounts, one in the Meno, the Phaedo and the Republic. These three accounts of the method besides their affinities, seem to present some differences. The first main problem is to see whether we can speak of one single method, or of three different hypothetical method. Plato, in the Meno (86e) says that his method is similar to one which the geometers use and gives as an elucidation of it, an obscure geometrical problem to which I offer a new solution. The second main problem of this dissertation is to examine whether there is any relation (and if there is, of what kind) between Plato's accounts of the hypothetical method and the various methodologies in Greek geometry at that time. I show In this dissertation that we have one method, in a broad sense, that employs hypotheses and proceeds in two ways: firstly, a way upwards (or backwards) towards the premisses of the argument or towards prior questions and, secondly, a way downwards from the premisses to the desired conclusion. The upward way is a heuristic process, whilst the downward one is deductive. Although we have essentially one method in all three dialogues, it is somewhat differentiated from one dialogue to the next (and in particular between the Phaedo and the Republic). In the three accounts of the hypothetical method, I see three stages of an evolutionary process similar to a corresponding one which took place in the evolution of the method of Indirect proof in geometry. More precisely, I argue that the three accounts of Plato's method reflect three corresponding stages in the evolution of the reductive method of Hippocrates of Chios (apagoge) to the geometrical method of analysis and synthesis. I argue furthermore, as regards the relation between Plato's philosophy and mathematics, that the axiomatization of geometry had an Impact on Plato's conception of knowledge and upon his conception of dialectic. Moreover, I try to show that we have good reasons to suppose that Plato proposed a programme of reducing the principles of mathematics into the fewest possible and his contribution to this programme was decisive. There is another problem regarding Plato's hypothetical method. In his middle dialogues, Plato clearly speaks about a new philosophical method of great importance and he gives extensive theoretical accounts of it. The strange thing is that it seems (and here almost all scholars agree) that nowhere does he apply his method (with the exception of a small-scale application of It In the Meno). However, this does not seem very likely. In chapters V and VI, I shall argue that we have extensive applications of the method in both the Phaedo and the Republic.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago. / "From ... Studies in Logical Theory ... volume xi, second series, of the Decennial Publications of the University of Chicago." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D. in education)--Washington State University. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago. / "From ... Studies in Logical Theory ... volume xi, second series, of the Decennial Publications of the University of Chicago." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago. / "From ... Studies in Logical Theory ... volume xi, second series, of the Decennial Publications of the University of Chicago." Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

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Abstract This thesis is composed of three models that imply the impact of managers¡¦ characteristics on investment under asymmetric information. The first one regards insider as managers and formulates a model to explain the positive relationship between cash flow and capital expenditure of a firm, and tries to synthesize the ¡§asymmetric information hypothesis¡¨(Myers and Majluf, 1984) and the ¡§free cash flow hypothesis¡¨(Jensen, 1986) by insider ownership. The finding demonstrates that in instances with low percentage of insider ownership, the free cash flow hypothesis will better explain the positive relationship between cash flow and capital expenditure and will have the phenomenon of over-investment. On the other hand, when the percentage of insider ownership is high, the asymmetric information hypothesis is better suited to explain this relationship and will have the phenomenon of the under-investment. The second one formulates a model to synthesize the ¡§reputation effect¡¨ and ¡§asymmetric information hypothesis¡¨ through considering the outsider investors¡¦ evaluation of the firms in terms of firms¡¦ reputation and firms¡¦ private information. This study concludes that the good type firms with low reputation will show the behavior of under-investment and the bad type firms with high reputation will have the phenomenon of over-investment. Moreover, the model demonstrates that both the phenomena of under-investment and of over-investment are caused by the conflict between the firms and the outsider investors. At last, this study implies that the effect of reputation has an influence on the choice of financial tools for the good type firms but does not have an influence on that of the bad ones. This study presents a general model to explain two types of investment inefficiency under the effect of reputation in a reasonable mode. The last one formulates a model to synthesize the ¡§bias effect¡¨ and ¡§reputation effect¡¨ through considering the fact that the CEO in the interest of firm is in favor of a certain project and that junior managers concern their reputation. This study concludes that the CEO¡¦s bias will influence the project that the managers suggest and does not necessarily lead to the direction of bias. The untalented managers will be affected more seriously than talented managers. Moreover, the model combines ¡§bias effect¡¨ with ¡§asymmetric information hypothesis¡¨ and implies that the bias can alleviate the problem of under-investment under certain circumstances. This finding shows that the bias is not always a negative factor of investment efficiency.

A major question in ecology is 'why are tropical forests so species diverse?' One hypothesis to explain tropical species diversity is the Janzen-Connell hypothesis. This model assumes high levels of host-specific seed and seedling predation and / or pathogen attack when seedlings occur at high density near to the parent tree; seedlings are more likey to survive and reach maturity the further they are away from parents / conspecific adults. Theoretically this should lead to a random distribution of each species in the forest, which in turn will lead to high species diversity. Here I test the Janzen-Connell hypothesis for the first time in a submontane dry forest in Nigeria, West Africa. Specifically I tested whether or not a) leaf herbivory decreases and b) seedling survival increases with distance from parent / conspecific adult trees. These two components were tested separately on naturally occurring seedlings and on experimentally planted seedlings. I also tested whether or not conspecific adult trees showed clumped distributions by testing if conspecific nearest neighbours were observed more often than would be expected by chance alone. Naturally occurring seedlings of three species, Pouteria altissima, Newtonia buchananii and Isolona pleurocarpa showed significantly greater survival at distances away from parent / conspecific adult trees. Two out of a total of three species (Entandrophragma angolense, Deinbollia pinnata and Sterculia pinnata) of experimentally planted seedlings showed increased survival at distances away from conspecific adult trees, but this trend was non-significant. Leaf herbivory decreased with distance from parent / conspecific adult trees for four out of a total of six study species, but all relationships of leaf herbivory with distance for these six species were non-significant. Of two individual species, Anthonotha noldeae and Carapa procera, and two species groups tested for clumping, all had a greater number of conspecific nearest neighbours than would be expected to occur by chance alone, and this was significant for the two species groups. The decreased survival of seedlings under parent / conspecific adult trees is likely to maintain tree species diversity in West African submontane forests as predicted by the Janzen-Connell model. The role of host specific seedling herbivores in reducing recruitment under parent / conspecific adult trees requires further investigation. Although conspecific adults showed some degree of clumping no conclusion was reached as to whether this was evidence for or against the Janzen-Connell model.