LD2668 .T4 1966 C6 / Master of Science

This dissertation demonstrates how Samuel Taylor Coleridge provides a unique vision of reality in which his evolving self-consciousness mirrors, contributes to, and is subsumed by a single universal consciousness. Utilizing the divine power of imagination, he is able to decipher the images from the material world as characters of God's symbolic language of self-revelation; subsequently, through the divine "attribute" of reason, he is able to transform them into a corresponding symbolic language of poetry. He realizes that his creativity is a finite repetition of God's infinite act of creation in which "spirit," God's consciousness in creation, comes to an awareness of itself through the human mind. This study argues that, according to Coleridge, these processes follow a divine intention, and the human faculties and the mind's structure have been molded precisely to achieve a particular understanding of reality that conforms to God's requirements and for spirit's self-actualization. Furthermore, the process by which Coleridge creates and derives knowledge from his poetic expressions follows an archetypal blueprint according to which all natural processes operate. This project illustrates not only how the theory of organicism lies at the foundation of the complex, reciprocal relationship between Coleridge's artistic expression and developing subjectivity, but also how there is an organic interrelationship between an individual's developing self-consciousness and spirit's growing awareness of its cosmic totality. Ultimately, Coleridge's writings reveal that the macrocosmic and microcosmic processes are organically interrelated, interdependent, and symbiotic and that this "truth" is gradually discovered through his experiences of the divine elements of love and beauty in creation.

I interpret and defend Kant's criticism of traditional metaphysics and his indirect proof of transcendental idealism in the first Critique's Antinomy of Pure Reason. Throughout my thesis, I focus on the role of the principle "P2" in the Antinomy ("If the conditioned is given, then the whole sum of conditions, and hence the absolutely unconditioned, is given"). I first defend Kant's use of the principle to motivate the proofs of the Thesis and Antithesis arguments in the second antinomy, which concerns composition, and the third antinomy, which concerns causality. I then explain how the role of P2 in the proofs exposes Kant's indirect proof of transcendental idealism to a significant challenge, to which I develop a response. Finally, I pose the question of whether Kant ultimately argues that the unconditioned exists, or whether he argues that it is merely possible that the unconditioned exists. I explore both options and outline avenues for further consideration of this question, which I argue is crucial to understanding Kant's critical project.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Essay in political science, C-level, by Bo-Josef Eriksson, spring semester 2007</p><p>Tutor: Susan Marton</p><p>”Universal morality - does it exist? - A case study of small states foreign policy”</p><p>The purpose of this essay is to examine how well does realism stand of against idealism when the focus of the study is on small states foreign policy? The essay takes it’s starting point at the debate between the two theories of international relations (IR). Realism is the theory that has had the most impact on the study of IR since the second world war. Idealism has been it’s greatest opponent and the debate is still active even up til this day.</p><p>My case study of Danmarks foreign aid policy constitutes a worst critical case scenario for realism and therfore my assumptions were that idealism would be the theory that could explain the core-elements of the Danish foregin aid. Core-elements is the caracteristic of the different theory’s and the core-elements of idealism is the oposite of those of realism. The actual examination-material is the policy documnts of Danida. Danida stands for; Danish International Development Assistance, and it’s an department under the Danish ministry of foreign affairs.</p><p>The answer to if Danida’s foreign aid policy is based on realistic or idealisti core-elements is that it is based on idealistic core-elements. So to answer the purpose realism didn’t stand that well of when the focus were on a small states foreign policy. The limitations of my study lies in the fact that it’s an qualitative research which means that you may have som problem with generalisations so to be able to say something about all small states there will have to be more research done in this particular area.</p>

Dans le présent travail de thèse, nous nous proposons de mettre en lumière les raisons pour lesquelles Heidegger donne le coup d’envoi à un questionnement de longue haleine et de grand ampleur sur la question de la liberté à la suite de la publication, en 1927, de son chef d’oeuvre, Etre et Temps. Nous nous efforcerons de formuler et d’élaborer progressivement deux thèses à la lumière des objections heideggeriennes adressées à la conception kantienne et à la doctrine schellingienne de la liberté. Notre première thèse est que la radicalisation heideggerienne de la conception kantienne de la liberté, développée dans le cadre d’une « métaphysique du Dasein », ne permet pas de découvrir un contexte philosophique dans lequel une problématique plus originelle de la liberté pourrait être formulée puisque le questionnement heideggerien de la liberté se réduit en dernier ressort en une répétition de la démarche transcendantale de Kant et en un exemple d’application remarquable de cette démarche à une question non kantienne, à savoir la question de l’être. Notre deuxième thèse est qu’à partir de la thèse de la différence ontologique et au prix de l’oubli du concept schellingien de l’absolu, l’investigation heideggerienne de la liberté ne donne lieu qu’à une forme sécularisée de la théologie dialectique de Schelling, qui prend en garde malgré son caractère panthéiste la thèse de la bonté divine et la doctrine de la révélation de la dogmatique chrétienne. Dans la perspective ontologique proprement heideggerienne, l’être fondé dans la liberté, dans le fondement du fondement (Grund des Grundes), dans l’abîme (Abgrund) se manifeste à travers ce qu’il rend possible, c’est-à-dire l’étant / In this thesis, we tried to highlight the reason for which Heidegger initiates an investigation of large scale on the question of freedom after the publication of Being and Time. We tried to formulate and elaborate progressively two theses in the spot of objections that Heidegger addresses to the Critique of Kant and to the Schellingian theology of freedom. Our first thesis is that the Heideggerian radicalization of Kantian conception of freedom developed in the framework of metaphysics of Dasein does not allow to the discovery of a philosophical context from where a more original problematic of freedom could be formulated and the Heideggerian questioning is nothing but a repetition of it and a remarkable application example for elaborating a non Kantian question, to namely the question of Being. Our second thesis is that from the thesis of ontological difference and further to forgetting Schellingian concept of absolute, Heideggerian questioning only could develop a secularized variant of theological dialectics of Schelling, which despite its pantheistic view affirm the thesis of divine goodness and the doctrine of revelation of Christian dogmatics. In Heideggerian ontological perspective, the Being (Sein) melted in the freedom, in the ground of ground (Grund des Grundes), in abyss (Abgrund) manifests itself through what it renders possible, that is to say through being (Seiende)

The thesis focuses on the theory of tragedy in Germany around 1800, and has two primary aims: to demonstrate the importance of idealist thought for contemporary approaches to tragedy and the tragic; and to revise the intellectual historiography of the classic phase in German letters. It traces reflection on Greek tragedy from the Querelle des anciens et des modernes in France around 1700 through the aesthetic systems formulated in Germany around 1800. Two intellectual developments are emphasized: the historicist consciousness that develops throughout the eighteenth century and places Greek tragedy more radically in its cultural context than ever before; and the idealist philosophy of art, which seeks to restore a measure of universality to the ancient genre, seeing it as the manifestation of a timeless quality of ‘the tragic.’ These two impulses, historicizing and universalizing, it is argued, are fundamental to modern understanding of Greek tragedy. The genealogical method seeks to establish a greater continuity with earlier eighteenth-century thought than is generally recognized, and to refute the teleologies that dominate accounts of idealist thought. A reconstruction of the central texts of Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, and Hölderlin reveals that the theory of tragedy around 1800 is in large part a reflection on history, an effort to understand how ancient literature can be meaningful in modernity. Greek tragedy becomes the ground for an engagement with the pastness of antiquity and its possible presence. Idealist theories, far from dissolving particularity in abstraction, seek a mediation between philological historicism and philosophical universalism in considering Greek tragedy. A genealogy of the tragic suggests that such mediation remains a vital task for scholars of the Classics.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis deals with the Benedetto Croce's influence on the aesthetics of Josef Bartoš mainly between the years 1920 and 1929. It presents the historical facts effecting this influence and also the theoretical themes that determine the nature of the connection between Benedetto Croce and Josef Bartoš. Focusing on the historical parts of this thesis, the main point is to describe the evolution of the aesthetic attitudes of Josef Bartoš towards Benedetto Croce's philosophical system, and to find out the possible historical events that could play certain part in the evolution. On the level of theoretical survey the thesis describes the change of aesthetic attitudes of Josef Bartoš concerning the evolution of his theoretical specialisations and also the change in the scale of his philosophical studies. Mainly, the evolution of his attitudes is evident in his journal studies and also in his unpublished personal notes which are gathered in the estate of Josef Bartoš in Czech Music Museum.

Cette thèse porte sur la question du fini et de l’infini dans la philosophie de Hegel. L’objectif est double. En premier lieu, elle vise à retracer l’influence exercée par la philosophie antique (principalement Platon et Aristote) et par la philosophie moderne (pour l’essentiel Kant et certains postkantiens) sur l’élaboration hégélienne des catégories de la finité et de l’infinité. En second lieu, elle étudie le développement systématique de la logique de l’infinité hégélienne à la lumière de cette influence. Il s’agit d’étudier, à travers une approche historique et critique, comment Hegel résout l’opposition traditionnelle du fini et de l’infini par sa théorie des deux infinis. A l’aune des conceptions de l’infinité-finie (la mauvaise infinité) et de l’infinité véritablement infinie (la véritable infinité), Hegel montre que le processus de la détermination du fini est un processus d’idéalisation qui supprime la contradiction du fini et de l’infini. Ainsi, l’enquête sur des concepts de finité et d’infinité permet de découvrir que l’idéalité spéculative est pour Hegel une réponse non seulement au problème traditionnel de leur articulation, mais aussi, plus généralement, aux problèmes soulevés par la caractérisation des idéalismes antiques et modernes. / This dissertation aims at investigating the problem of the finite and the infinite within Hegel’s philosophy. Its objective is twofold. Firstly, it begins with an examination of the impact of the ancient Greek philosophy (especially that of Plato and Aristotle) and Modern philosophy (especially that of Kant and the post-Kantians) on Hegel’s own understanding of the categories of the finite and the infinite. Secondly, it attempts to analyze the systematic development of the logic of Hegelian infinity in relation to the ancient and modern influences. By adopting an historical and critical approach, this work therefore focuses on the question of how Hegel comes to solve the traditional opposition between the finite and the infinite with the help of his theory of two infinities. With the distinction between a finite infinity (namely a spurious infinity) and an infinity which is itself infinite (namely a true infinity), Hegel shows that the process of determination of the finite is itself a process of idealization which overcomes the very contradiction of the finite and the infinite. The inquiry into the concepts of the finite and infinite thus enables us to understand that the speculative ideality is an answer not only to the traditional opposition between the finite and infinite, but also to the problems raised by the definition of ancient and modern idealisms.

Este trabalho versa sobre a antinomia da faculdade de conhecimento, também conhecida como paradoxo de Zeller, que Schopenhauer refere no primeiro livro de O mundo como Vontade e representação. Essa questão tem sido bastante discutida na história do pensamento schopenhaueriano e permanece ainda hoje como um problema em aberto. Desde os primeiros leitores de Schopenhauer, a antinomia da faculdade de conhecimento foi apontada como um problema de solução difícil, quando não impossível, e explicada de maneiras diversas. Algumas vezes, apontou-se a heterogeneidade das teorias sobre as quais o pensamento schopenhaueriano se ergue; em outras, a antinomia foi atribuída a erros de interpretação da filosofia kantiana; por vezes, remeteram-na a um dualismo em que se chocam materialismo e idealismo, ou realismo e idealismo, e há ainda outras visões. Nesta tese, propomos uma interpretação alternativa, que toma as dificuldades da filosofia schopenhaueriana como constitutivas, e, sem pretender justificá-la nem impugná-la, busca sua compreensão a partir das questões teóricas com as quais o filósofo se defrontou. Como resultado, encontramos que Schopenhauer evidencia a insuficiência tanto do idealismo quanto do realismo para a explicação completa e correta do mundo, bem como a mútua exigência entre ambos. A complementaridade entre os pontos de vista opostos do idealismo e do realismo impõe que sejam articulados, embora sua combinação origine os diversos problemas presentes na obra schopenhaueriana, entre os quais está a antinomia da faculdade de conhecimento. Adicionalmente, analisamos outras questões e dificuldades que surgiram no pensamento de Schopenhauer, algumas mencionadas pelo filósofo, outras não. / This work deals with the antinomy of the faculty of knowledge, also known as Zeller\'s paradox, to which Schopenhauer refers in the first book of The world as Will and representation. This question has been much discussed in the history of Schopenhauer\'s thought and still remains today as an unsolved problem. Since the early readers of Schopenhauer, the antinomy of the faculty of knowledge was pointed out as a problem of difficult solution, if not impossible, and explained in different ways. At times, the heterogeneity of the theories on which Schopenhauer\'s thought stands has been pointed out; other times, the antinomy was attributed to errors in the interpretation of Kantian philosophy; for many times referred to a dualism in which collide materialism and idealism, or realism and idealism; and there are still other viewpoints. In this thesis, we propose an alternative interpretation, which takes the difficulties of Schopenhauer\'s philosophy as constitutive, and not pretending to justify or contest it, we search for an understanding from the theoretical questions with which the philosopher faced. As a result, we find that Schopenhauer evidences the inadequacy of both idealism and realism for the complete and correct explanation of the world, as well as the mutual demand between them. The complementarity between the opposing viewpoints of idealism and realism demands they to be articulated, although their combination gives rise to the various problems present in Schopenhauer\'s work, among which is the antinomy of the faculty of knowledge. In addition, we analyzed other issues and difficulties that arose in Schopenhauer\'s thought, some mentioned by the philosopher.