Avicenna argues that the celestial spheres each have a soul, termed the motive soul, which is emanated by the first celestial intellect––a body of knowledge which knows itself. Despite outlining the powers of the motive soul, Avicenna does not formally investigate the psychology of the spheres nor their volition. Rather, he presents their volition as a mystery and leaves it to posterity to solve. In an attempt to resolve this mystery, I will argue that it is a direct result of Avicenna having purposefully written a repeated gap into his account of emanation such that there is no clear account of the generation of the material which composes the sphere of the heavens; after clarifying the account of emanation by demonstrating that the sphere has a direct connection to the emanating intellect, I will make the plausible argument that estimation has an intellectual volition insofar as it as it possesses a shared similarity with the practical intellect such that its volition is of the same species of volition: intellectual rather than psychological.

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In his tenth-century work, al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah, the Muslim philosopher Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī posits a solution to the internecine hostilities between Muslim intellectual communities which occurred as a result of conflicting positions on the relationship between revelation and reason, religion and philosophy. In this work al-Fārābī demonstrates that both religion and philosophy are derived from, and dependent upon, divine revelation from Allah to the Prophet. Modern scholars of al-Fārābī interpret his work differently, reading him as an enemy of religion who subordinates Islam to philosophy. In this thesis, after establishing al-Fārābī within the historical and ideological context of tenth-century Islamic thought I analyze al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah in light of a commentary on the text by Richard Walzer, who is among those scholars who read al-Fārābī as an enemy of Islam who merely reproduces Greek philosophy in Arabic. Contrasting the original Arabic text with Walzer’s English translation and commentary I apply readings of several of al-Fārābī’s other works as an interpretive lens, through which the correct reading of al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah is made clear. I further analyze the text in light of Islamic Scripture, by which I demonstrate that the foundation on which al-Fārābī’s cosmology is founded has precedence within the Qur’ān. Working in the tenth century al-Fārābī sought to reconcile the conflicting views of his fellow Muslims, in order to bring peace to the community, the Muslim Ummah. Al-Madīnah al-Fāḍilah should be regarded as his crowning achievement in these efforts. / Religion

This study has the purpose to compare the relationships between personality, environment, achievement, and intelligence and discover the effect, if any, of environment upon the personality, achievement, and intelligence of a group of fifth grade pupils.

Cette thèse vise à éclairer le rôle économique de la science et de la technologie dans le cadre du capitalisme. À cette fin, elle s’enracine d’abord dans une discussion des thèses développées à ce sujet par Karl Marx à l’égard du capitalisme industriel qu’il avait sous les yeux. En tenant compte de la transition du capitalisme industriel au capitalisme avancé, elle s’intéresse ensuite au rôle que joue la production scientifique et technologique dans le contexte spécifique du capitalisme avancé. Prenant le contrepied de la théorie de l’« économie immatérielle » développée par Michael Hardt et Antonio Negri, l’objectif de cette thèse est double. Elle vise, d’une part, à mettre au jour et reconstruire la façon dont Marx problématise le rapport de la science et de la technologie à la dynamique économique de son époque et, de l’autre, à éclairer les modalités et les enjeux liés à l’intégration de la production scientifique et technologique au sein de la dynamique économique contemporaine. / This dissertation aims to clarify the economic role of science and technology within capitalism. To this end, it is first rooted in a discussion of the ideas elaborated by Karl Marx on this topic in respect with the industrial capitalism that was unfolding before him. Taking into account the transition from industrial to advanced capitalism, this dissertation then seeks to question the economic role of scientific and technological production into the specific context of advanced capitalism. Supporting an opposing view to the theory of “immaterial economy”, as developed by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, this dissertation has a twofold objective. On the one hand, it aims to uncover and reconstruct the way Marx problematizes the relationship of science and technology to the economical dynamics of his time and, on the other hand, to clarify the issues relating to the integration of scientific and technological production into contemporary economical dynamics.

Some things we know just by thinking about them: for example, that identity is transitive, that three are more than two, that wantonly torturing innocents is wrong, and other propositions which simply strike us as true when we consider them. But how? This essay articulates and defends a rationalist answer which critically develops a significant analogy between intuition and perception. The central thesis is that intuition and perception, though different, are at a certain level of abstraction the same kind of state, and states of this kind are, by their very nature, poised to play a distinctive epistemic role. Specifically, in the case of intuition, we encounter an intellectual state that is so structured as to provide justified and even knowledgeable belief without requiring justification in turn—something which may, thus, be thought of as given. The essay proceeds in three stages. Stage one advances a fully general and psychologically realistic account of the nature of intuition, namely, as an intellectual presentation of an apparent truth. Stage two provides a modest treatment of the epistemic status of intuition, in particular, how intuition serves as a source of immediate prima facie justification. Stage three outlines a response to Benacerraf-style worries about intuitive knowledge regarding abstract objects (e.g., numbers, sets, and values); the proposal is a constitutive, rather than causal, explanation of the means by which a given intuition connects a thinker to the fact intuited. / text

O volume de literatura secundária sobre o conceito aristotélico de noûs produtivo é proporcional à brevidade e à obscuridade com que ele é apresentado no quinto capítulo do terceiro livro do \"De Anima\". Esta dissertação visa investigar as razões que fazem deste texto terreno fértil para as mais diversas interpretações. Para tanto, este estudo parte do comentário analítico de DA III 4-5, destacando as possibilidades interpretativas de cada passagem e as variantes textuais mais significativas. Procurou-se explorar outras passagens do corpus aristotélico que podem ser utilizadas para elucidar o conteúdo desses capítulos, considerando as opções adotadas pelos principais comentadores antigos. Após mostrar que o texto comporta igualmente as leituras mais díspares, buscou-se evidenciar como elementos extratextuais, tais como a filosofia e o método exegético predominante no tempo de cada interprete podem ser identificados nas opções adotadas. Para tanto, adotou-se a obra de Alexandre de Afrodísia como objeto de exposição e análise, uma vez que sua identificação do nous produtivo à Causa Primeira de Met. XII 7-9 é a mais influente e polêmica das exegeses deste conceito. Para tanto, foram apresentadas suas principais teses e contrastadas com a base textual aristotélica, de modo pôr em relevo as características do método do Exegeta. / The amount of secondary literature on the Aristotelian concept of productive nous is proportional to the briefness and obscurity of its presentation in the fifth chapter of the Book Three of the De Anima. This thesis aims to investigate the reasons why this text offers a fertile ground for the most varied interpretations. Therefore, this text begins with an analytical commentary on DA III 4-5, highlighting the interpretative possibilities and the most significant textual variants of each passage. We searched for other passages of the Aristotelian corpus that could help us elucidate the content of these chapters, considering the options adopted by the main ancient commentators. After showing how the text equally accepts the most disparate readings, we tried to evidence how extra-textual elements, such as the philosophy and exegetical method predominant in the time of each interpreter can are present in the adopted options. For this, the work of Alexander of Aphrodisias was adopted as object of exposition and analysis, since its identification of the productive nous to the First Cause of Met. XII 7-9 is the most influential and polemical exegesis of this concept. His main arguments were presented and contrasted with the Aristotelian textual background, to highlight the characteristics of the Exegete\'s methods.

The main objective of my dissertation is to research and to introduce hellenistic skepticism of postclassical Greece and methodical skepticism of modern times thinker Rene Descartes. There are differences between the ancient Pyrrhonism and the younger skepticism of Academy, which I would like to clear up. I have in view Descartes' skepticism too, which create a methodological technique of cognition in new way. Rene Descartes, contrary to hellenistic skeptics, doesn't accept the "epoche", which means a certain bliss, but he moves on in his research, when he believes in a possibility of truthful cognition. Purpose of my thesis is to critically take account of historical and philosophical context, from which both of skepticisms have been created, to put a question, what kind of meaning they had in history of philosophy and also to think about fundamental question of connection between hellenistic and Descartes doubt. I try to accent common characteristics and differences of both concepts. key words - skepticism, methodical skepticism, truthful cognition, probability, phenomena, senses, intellect, bliss

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

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