In this thesis we consider cinema’s representations of mental images. Our central concerns are the formal aspects of the presentation of memory and imagination, and the various functions which the different types of mental images perform. While along the way we engage with a number of expedient theories, on the whole the argument is free of any over-arching theoretical approach, instead focusing largely on the evidence of the wide range of films — from different eras, genres and national cinemas — with which we engage. We begin with a consideration of filmic representations of memory, tackling such questions as: What exactly is a flashback? What different functions do flashbacks perform? What is the relationship between flashback and the mental images of memory? Identifying an inadequacy in current terminology, we here introduce the concept of ‘act of memory’ in order to distinguish between representations of the past which constitute an analogue of the mental images of memory and more properly subjective representations of mental images. In Part II we develop a taxonomy of the major forms of imagination. Here our discussion of imagination draws on cognitive and phenomenological theories of imagination, and the chapter on dreams draws substantially on Freud. In our consideration of the functions of the various sorts of mental images we establish a series of character types who are prone to experiencing mental images. Throughout Part II we argue that representations of mental images are often closely related to themes of madness — that many representations of mental images can be understood as traces of madness.

In this dissertation, I will be looking at the actor as a craftsperson and artist from both a secular and a theological standpoint in order to determine if the labour of acting can be considered both as work, a “proper job”; and as a calling from God, a vocation. The main questions prompting and shaping this dissertation have arisen out of my own personal experience as an actor struggling both in the performing arts business and with my Christian faith. So, the opening chapter will introduce a personal background approach to the dissertation. It will summarize the experiences that brought me to the place of asking these two questions. It will also serve as an introduction to the life of Dorothy L. Sayers, outlining her own life and demonstrating why she is important to our work as actors. Chapter Two will then cover historical data on Anti-Theatrical Prejudice, laying the foundation for the ongoing discomfort with and misunderstanding regarding the actor's craft. Chapters Three and Four will examine separately our notions of work (Three) and then of vocation (Four) in order to gain a broader view of these two terms. At this point, we will have laid the path to reintroduce Dorothy L. Sayers in Chapters Five, Six and Seven, both as a partner in conversation and as one who held this broader understanding of the terms work and vocation and applied them to creative activities, in particular acting. The final chapter will look at acting as connected to the basic features of life. It, among other things, will revisit some of the anti-theatre argument; pick up on ideas such as the imagination's ability to rehearse life; and will examine some uses of acting as a means of human exploration and social change. Finally, we will explore the artistry, technique, and craft of the actor, to firmly establish the place of acting in society as an important task, a “proper job,” and a Christian vocation.

Dans La théorie des sentiments moraux, Adam Smith établit un schéma pluraliste, avec quatre types de jugements moraux, pour expliquer l'approbation morale : 1) par rapport au motif de l'action, le jugement en détermine la convenance ou l'inconvenance (propriety ou impropriety) ; 2) par rapport aux effets immédiats de l'action, le jugement détermine le mérite ou le démérite ; 3) analysant l'accord entre l'acte et ses règles générales de conduite, le jugement détermine si l'agent a agi conformément à son devoir ; et 4) par rapport aux effets révolus de l'acte, c'est-à-dire, à la manière selon laquelle cet acte s'insère dans le fonctionnement global de la société (ce dernier type de jugement moral est analysé sous le nom d'apparence d'utilité). Ces quatre types de jugements moraux se fondent dans l'imagination et forment la totalité du principe de l'approbation qui structure la partie spéculative de sa théorie morale. / In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith establishes a pluralist scheme to explain moral approbation, with four kinds of moral judgments: 1) regarding the motives of the agent, the judgment determines its propriety or impropriety; 2) regarding the immediate effects of the action, the judgement determines its merit or demerit; 3) analyzing if this act is a particular case of a general rule, the judgement determines if the agent has acted according to his duty; and 4) regarding the remote effects of the action, that is, the way this action is a part of the global operations of society (a judgement that Smith calls the appearance of utility). These four kinds of moral judgments are grounded in imagination and form the totality of the principle of approbation that structure the speculative part of his moral philosophy.

Adolescent literacy learning centered in processes of imagination is marginalized and neglected within the saturated climate of standardized assessment. This arts-based qualitative study uncovers imagination as an active presence central to making meaning in a middle school language arts class involved in a writing experience inspired by the history of jazz. Learning filtered through the creative processes of writing reveals imagination as an interiorized action in adolescent literacy development. I ground this research in sociocultural perspectives of literacy (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986) engaged in aesthetic paradigms of learning. From this perspective, I investigate how middle school student writers participating in individual and collaborative activities internalize the experience to create new understandings of the world in which they live. Through the lens of theory, I explore the imagination as a higher psychological and cultural function involved in the mediated development of language. This study describes the powerful ways in which students craft writing and concurrently develop strong, critical and creative thinking capacities. I discard false perspectives that assume the inefficacy of learning in expressive modes and endorse pedagogies that place imagination at the center of processes of literacy teaching and learning.

This dissertation was inspired by the discovery of a machine in the industrial wasteland of Pretoria West. The machine, a flour mill built in 1908, has been extended and transformed and layered through time. Symbolic of the context, it now lies silent – its core has been removed long ago. With an odour of mystery, the fate of the complex remains vague as the body of history is lost in time. Rich in textures and details, the tectonics represent the values of function and process. Mysterious, uncertain and contradictory; facts [history, memory, experienced space] and fiction [imagination] begin to blur. The precinct of Pretoria West unfolds as a wasteland, static in nature and detached from civil society. Surreal in character, the condition manifests itself as a disembodied reality and reveals “a place lost in space, lost in time.” It appears that “…even history does not have its place here” [Webster, 2012]. In this context - without memory and deprived of imagination - the public lives in a liminal state of existence. Engulfed in a static condition of the now, the present becomes the only reality. Without roots in the past and projections to the future, the public realm remains indifferent to both. The proposed programmes form part of the investigation into the site’s fragmented past. A natural perfumery in alliance with a glassblowing workshop is explored within the urban framework proposal of the ‘Hard-boiled Wonderland’. Addressing not only the downfall of the artisan brought about by mechanised forms of production but also the static notion of dealing with remembrance, the project focuses on the inspiration of the imagination and collective memory. The hypothesis of a new interface between the public, architecture, memory and imagination is approached through the mnemonics of the everyday. In pursuit of a resolution, the sense of olfaction takes the central role in the formation of public space that invites rituals of remembrance through ordinary daily activities and events. The project explores ways to inspire and reflect on the site’s history and the memory of the civic society using a domain that leaves no trace in history – through the fleeting realm of scent. / Dissertation MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

This thesis is about moods in works of art, and how moods expressed in art can change how we view the world. Among those who speak of the value of discussing moods in philosophical aesthetics, it is normally assumed that the value of moods is in the way they are induced in the viewer of the work. In this thesis, I will argue that such an argument is not the best. Those who think moods are not relevant to aesthetics have only to argue either that being induced with emotions is not an ideal way of approaching art, or that such reactions as being induced with mood belong to the more rare cases of approaching art. Therefore, focusing on how moods are induced hinders the potential of discussing moods in art. Instead I argue that the value of moods is in the way they are expressed. I argue that moods can be understood as a form of symbolic schemas. They affect how the world appears, and how one sorts and organizes things in the world. One can therefore use moods as resources for getting knowledge about the world. Because some works of art express moods, where expression is understood as metaphorical exemplification, they make the viewer epistemically aware of the mood. Thus one can imagine being in the mood expressed. Thereby moods can lead to knowledge, also in cases where they are not literally induced. When one succesfully imagines being in an expressed mood, parts of the world are sorted and organized differently as in accordance with the mood.

abstract: Tucked peacefully into mountains just north of the City of São Paulo, the largest metropolitan area in South America, sits the Cantareira Reservoir System. This massive water catchment network received worldwide coverage in 2014 and 2015 as one of the worst droughts in a century hit the region, threatening to collapse the system. In the years since the peak of the drought, the media has changed its focus, the reservoirs have begun a slow recovery, but the people of the region have had to live with the consequences of this difficult period. Faced with an uncertain future, the people continue to grapple with the historic struggles of rural life, while being faced by new threats to the social, environmental, and technological order that has for a long time stabilized the region. My thesis explores the narrative imaginaries that individuals have pertaining to their personal future and that of the region. It delves into the identity of the Rural Producer, the battle to conserve and preserve native forest, issues surrounding the governance of common resources, and what actors perceive to be the biggest advantages and threats to the sustainable future of the region. Utilizing a set of twenty expert elicitation interviews, data was collected from a variety of actors representing a number of roles and positions within the system. My analysis connects disparate individual narratives, illuminating how they connect together with the narratives of other respondents, creating a regional narrative that illustrates a set of desired outcomes for the region. This paper does not attempt to operationalize solutions for the issues that face the region, it does however serve to provide a context for the historical and contemporary issues that exist, a means by which to consider how they may be approached, and ultimately as a tool for policy makers to make more informed decisions going forward. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Global Technology and Development 2019

In this dissertation we propose to study the identification of the productive imagination with reason within Schelling's aesthetic idealism, an identification which leads us to propose, in what follows, an "inverted" philosophical reading of the power of aesthetic judgement of the Critique of the power of judgement (1790) of Kant, based on the monist- immanent metaphysics of Schelling's System of Identity (1801-1804). This approach to Kant's third Critique also demonstrates the originality of this dissertation, since the traditional reading of the Critique of the power of judgement with German idealism has underlined, from Hegel to Lukacs or Hartmann, the centrality of the teleological part of the work of 1790. The authors of German idealism and romanticism mainly saw teleological judgment as a factor of unity between the theoretical and practical domains. This point of the Kantian argument can be seen as a link between Spinoza and Hegel regarding the concepts of organism, totality and reciprocal action, which Hegel mainly brings into play in his conception of a system. In this dissertation, we will travel a more winding and heterodox path, less explored, which focuses on the objective potential of the aesthetic phenomenon, as well as on its scope and limits, in the reverse transition that we...

abstract: This work examines the spectrum of Christian attitudes toward yoga as demonstrative of contemporary religious imagination in recent United States history. With the booming commodification of yoga as exercise, the physical and mental elements of yoga practice are made safely secular by disassociation from their ostensible religious roots. Commonly deployed phrases, "Yoga is not a religion," or even, "Yoga is a science," open a broad invitation. But the very need for this clarification illustrates yoga's place in the United States as a borderline signifier for spirituality. Vocal concern by both Christians and Hindus demonstrates the tension between perceptions of yoga as a secular commodity and yoga as religiously beget. Alternatively embracing and rejecting yoga's religious history, Christian yoga practitioners reframe and rejoin yoga postures and breathing into their lives of faith. Some proponents name their practice Christian Yoga. Christian Yoga flourishes as part of contemporary religious and spiritual discourse and practice in books, instructional DVDs, websites and studios throughout the United States. Christian Yoga proponents, professional and lay theologians alike, highlight the diversity of American attitudes toward and understanding of yoga and the heterogeneity of Christianity. For religious studies scholars, Christian Yoga advocates and detractors provide an opportune focal point for inquiry into the evolution of spiritual practice, the dynamics of tradition, experience and authority, and the dialectic nature of evolving cultural attitudes in a religiously plural and complex secular environment. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Religious Studies 2014

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