Marx's concept of alienation has proven to be a subject of controversy for many social theorists. One of the more provocative treatments of this concept has been outlined by Jean-Paul Sartre. Drawing heavily on Marxism's Hegelian tradition, Sartre portrays alienation as being a crucial element in the formation of the individual's perception of social reality. An appreciation of Sartre's project and its relevance to Marxist theory necessitates the examination of the origins and development of the concept of alienation. For this purpose, a brief account of Hegel's usage of the term is followed by a discussion of Feuerbach's efforts to counter Hegelian idealism with an explicitly materialist perspective. Alienation makes its first appearance in Marx's work with the publication of the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 and the concept was to be a topic of concern throughout Marx's life. In particular, his analysis of commodity fetishism in his later work shows an obvious connection with alienation. Georg Lukacs' presentation of the reification of consciousness is a valuable addition to the examination of the fetishism of commodities. Lukacs provides numerous insights concerning the relationship between alienation and commodity fetishism as well as offering a useful articulation of the role of consciousness in Marxist theory. Lukacs' contribution is especially helpful in clarifying the nature of Sartre's project. Both theorists seek to outline an exposition of consciousness which counters idealistic excesses with a materialistic perspective faithful to the basic tenents of Marxism. In addition, Sartre employs the notion of reification as well as that of alienation in his psychoanalytic approach. His technique is intended to illuminate the class biases inherent in the consciousness of each individual, a proposal which finds an immediate application in explaining the distorted awareness which petit bourgeois intellectuals such as Lukacs and Sartre himself bring to the study of Marx's method. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

The object of this thesis is to examine the two opposite poles of human freedom, that is, determinism and total freedom, as found in the plays of Cocteau and Sartre that have been influenced by Greek drama. These contemporary playwrights however have set aside the religious aspect of ancient tragedy to concentrate on the analysis of the human condition. Cocteau, similar to Sophocles, is conscious of fate controlling human destiny. Since Cocteau is unable to alter its course, he accepts it; his plays, Antigone (1922), Oedipe-Roi (1925), Orphée (1926) and La Machine Infernale (1934), all embody such an attitude, thereby denoting freedom as an illusion. In the first chapter, Antigone, Orpheus and Oedipus are analysed as pawns of the cruel gods; as mere mortals, at the mercy of the Heavens, they cannot control their destiny. In the second chapter, emphasis is placed on man himself; we have endeavoured to show to what extent he is physically and psychologically determined and how he contains the seed of his own perdition. Cocteau's originality lies in the presentation of determinism through imagery. In La Machine Infernale, his most important play, destiny becomes a machine geared to destroy man caught in a network from which he cannot extricate himself. Such a person is Oedipus, controlled by both outer and inner forces. The outer forces or the gods plot a fate of parricide and incest which he is unable to avoid or escape. In the second instance, Cocteau studies the complexity of the human machine; in so doing, he reflects the twentieth century's interest, notably that of Freud and of the Surrealists, in the realm of the unconscious. Man is described as a complexity of heredity, natural instincts and character, especially excessive pride or hybris in the case of Oedipus, all of which influence his behaviour. According to our interpretation, the double determinism (outer and inner) which was separated to facilitate our analysis, is in fact, so interwoven as to form a complex, integral pattern of man's suffering. Sartre also is interested in man; his main concern, as philosopher and dramatist, is man and the human consciousness. The Sartrean philosophy is one of action wherein the existentialist hero, like Orestes, is the opposite of the Cocteau hero who accepts his fate; the former chooses his acts and so creates his own destiny. In chapter three we study the Sartrean revolt against God, a concept necessitated by human need and frailty. According to Les Mouches (1943) and Les Troyennes (1965), spiritual tyranny and moral order are detrimental to freedom since they hold men in bondage. Sartre believes that traditional morality is obsolete; therefore no one can guide man, even less dictate to him as he is free to invent his own values. In chapter four, Sartre's notion of total freedom is examined. The type of liberty advocated in his main play Les Mouches is not a "freedom-from" but a "freedom-for". Man must not consider himself free in the sense that he has no commitment and that he can do what he wants. Sartre wishes to replace this negative approach by a more positive type based on human solidarity and love. Once one recognizes and accepts personal autonomy, one must act in society, for being free in Sartre's terms, is being "free-to-do" and also being "free-in-society". Such a freedom however makes man suffer; he feels the anguish of responsibility and a sense of metaphysical solitude. But Sartre refuses determinism; one is either totally free or not at all. Also, determinism only serves as an alibi to avoid the harsh reality that one is basically free and solely responsible for one's acts which affect the self and society as well. Whichever path is followed, determinism or freedom, both Cocteau and Sartre arrive at the same conclusion: it is possible for him who suffers greatly to eventually attain self-knowledge and dignity, thereby reaching glory or greatness as in the case of Oedipus and Orestes. The apparent pessimism of life and its suffering can thus be transformed into optimism, which in the final analysis is a victory for mankind. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

Poner en relación la literatura y la responsabilidad es un gesto que no carece de dificultades, puesto que dicha relación ha sido objeto de amplios y diversos esfuerzos teóricos dentro de la tradición de la filosofía occidental, por lo que esta relación supone pensar también otra problemática compleja: la vinculación existente entre dos disciplinas, pensamientos o modos de escritura. En efecto, ¿qué tipo de relación existe entre filosofía y literatura? Ciertamente ambas son disciplinas escritas, con una tradición propia, con obras y autores clásicos, con giros y tendencias que han marcado la construcción de sus historias, pero también algo las distingue: quizás un(os) objeto(s), un(os) modo(s) de escritura, una relación particular con el lenguaje e incluso, podríamos decir, unas formas de aproximación a la “realidad”. Pero allí están también una muy cerca de la otra, colindando, haciendo cada una también el papel de frontera. Sería preciso también preguntarse si esa relación tiene un modo único, o ¿deberíamos hablar de diversas relaciones entre filosofía y literatura? En el marco de un seminario sobre filosofía y literatura, Alain Badiou ha planteado que no se trata de una relación única, sino de diversos modos de vincularse. Él ha propuesto, por lo menos, tres orientaciones posibles frente a esta relación. La primera de ellas la nombra orientación estética, donde la literatura vendría a ser un objeto de examen para un estudio filosófico desde el cual se intenta deducir categorías, conceptos estéticos que permitan la comprensión del fenómeno literario (en esta orientación se encontrarían Platón, Aristóteles y el mismo Badiou al hacer referencia a su trabajo sobre Beckett). La segunda la denomina orientación genealógica (o la literatura como genealogía de la filosofía), ésta se preguntaría cuál es la acción de la literatura sobre la filosofía, o cuál es, en definitiva, su acción sobre el pensamiento; por lo cual la literatura no sería ya un objeto de examen sino, plantea Badiou, una especie de condición de la filosofía. Las obras de Nietzsche, Heidegger, y nuevamente el propio estudio de Badiou sobre Mallarmé constituirían algunos ejemplos de este tipo de relación. La tercera y última orientación propuesta sería la inclusiva, en donde la filosofía es en sí misma una parte de la literatura, desde el momento en que ella es también una disciplina escrita. Badiou encuentra esta orientación en la obra de Kierkegaard, en la medida en que el relato biográfico forma parte de la argumentación filosófica y, en efecto, podríamos recordar las primeras páginas de Temor y Temblor en donde se alude implícitamente al compromiso de matrimonio roto entre Kierkegaard y Regina Olsen o, a continuación de esas primeras páginas, en “Proemio”, en donde se lee un relato con los mismos tintes biográficos para luego dar paso a las cuatro versiones o movimientos sobre el relato bíblico del sacrificio de Isaac que abren Temor y Temblor a partir también de una especie de escritura literaria. Es preciso señalar, me parece, que esta última orientación no deja de ser a lo menos controvertida para la Filosofía misma, en cuanto disciplina, al poner en cuestión el viejo tópico de la Filosofía como madre de las humanidades y, llevando el argumento a un punto más radical, al cuestionar la oposición tradicional entre verdad y ficción, oposición binaria desde la cual la filosofía ha operado, dejando lo simulado o lo aparente a la literatura (o la poesía). Ahora bien, estas tres formas de vincular filosofía y literatura, estas posibles relaciones (en plural), pueden ser encontradas a la vez en la escritura de un mismo autor, tal como sucede al ponerse el mismo Badiou como ejemplo en relación a sus trabajos sobre Beckett y Mallarmé.

Cette thèse analyse les multiples représentations – historiques et fictionnelles – de Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793), célèbre journaliste de L’Ami du Peuple, pour mettre en lumière les procédés de la fabrication de son mythe et son instrumentalisation tout au long du XIXe siècle. Divisée en quatre grandes parties, la thèse reprend les phases du développement du mythe dans l’imaginaire collectif français depuis le début de la carrière publique de Marat jusqu’au centenaire de son assassinat en 1893 : 1. Esquisse 1772-1795, Fabrication du mythe et déchéance du jacobinisme ; 2. Modelage 1795-1845, Cristallisation du mythe et dégénérescence révolutionnaire ; 3. Remodelage 1846-1893, Réévaluation du mythe et inanité révolutionnaire ; 4. Restauration 1847-1893, Contestation du mythe et résurrection de l’Ami du Peuple.

Often neglected in the musicological coverage of revolutionary music and theater, the Thermidorean Reaction phase (1794–1795) of the French Revolution was a period of governmental transition, in which Parisian theaters enjoyed the institutional and generic freedoms of the Le Chapelier Laws of 1791 in addition to relaxed enforcement of censorship. In recent years, Mark Darlow and Julia Doe's work has advanced understandings of operatic genres during the early years of the Revolution, which they characterize as a balance between "rupture and continuity" with artistic conventions of the ancien régime. I extend their methods of analysis to the second half of the revolutionary decade, exploring the impact that Thermidorian theatrical politics and legal (de)regulations had on operatic genre through the lens of Sapho (1794). This tragédie lyrique premiered at the Théatre de Louvois, a venue of ambiguous status within Paris's theatrical hierarchies. Featuring a libretto by Constance de Salm and music by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, Sapho falls within the period of temporarily suspended theatrical privilege initiated by Le Chapelier and borrows key formal elements from "great" and popular operatic styles. The opera facilitates a discussion of how composers and librettists collaborated to navigate the rapidly shifting political and legal climate of Thermidor. I argue that Sapho's careful blend of generic consistency and innovation arose from its twofold institutional and aesthetic positioning. Institutionally, it premiered within a period of relaxed theatrical regulations at a theater, the Louvois, that avoids clear categorization. Aesthetically, Sapho represents a culmination of generic developments initiated in the 1750s, with innovative musical and formal elements stemming from the authors' attention to dramatic progression and their desire to remain artistically relevant in the wake of the Terror.

Analisi del percorso intellettuale di René Girard, con particolare attenzione a temi etici (orgoglio, mìmesis, infanzia) della sua produzione. / Analysis of the intellectual path of René Girard, with particular attention to ethical themes (pride, mìmesis, childhood) of his production

This article claims that Ralph Ellison's use and then revision of French existential themes is essential to understanding his overriding message of Invisible Man: Ellison's hope for a more polyglot American democracy that transcends the white democracy of mid twentieth century America. Specifically, I argue that Ellison, after demonstrating his ability to understand and engage in the traditional ideology of European existentialism, deviates from its individualistic conclusions demanding that the larger community, not just the solitary individual, must become ethically responsible if the classic existential tenet of authenticity is to be achieved. In order to establish this claim, I identify key passages in Invisible Man that indicate Ellison's desire to engage the existential movement. Writings from Camus and Sartre provide the foundation for comparison between Ellison's work and the French based philosophy. This background provides the groundwork to explore Ellison's deviations from the existential forms of his day. These departures have significant implications for Ellison's view of a socially productive individual, and therefore of his message in Invisible Man. In order to document the prevalence of existentialism in Ellison's literary consciousness, I then discuss its rise and decline in postwar New York. I also outline what is known about Ellison's relationship to the movement. Lastly, I conclude with a discussion of the philosophical tradition of existential philosophy and the difference between the philosophy of existence, seen in the Western canon through philosophers like Kierkegaard, and existentialism, one of its popular manifestations that peaked in the 1940s. Separating the two existential movements allows me to explore the tangential way most Ellison critics have associated him with existentialism and advocate for a more inclusive critical discussion of Ellison's relationship to existentialism.

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Ce mémoire propose une étude de la conception du rapport à autrui chez Jean-Paul Sartre, telle qu'elle est présentée dans L'être et le néant. L'ontologie sartrienne montre la réalité humaine dans un rapport à l'autre qui se vit difficilement, mais qui, du même coup, expose avec un réalisme peu commun la difficulté de vivre ensemble. Ce rapport à l'autre se veut, cependant, constitutif de chaque existence personnelle, ce qui le rend d'autant plus laborieux et inéluctable pour chaque conscience. Notre étude comporte trois parties: la présentation des fondements de l'ontologie phénoménologique sartrienne, l'examen des principales structures de l'être-pour-soi, et finalement, la dimension ontologique du pour-autrui et les relations concrètes entre les individus.

Une part importante du magistère de Jean-Paul Il porte sur l'expérience de foi de la Vierge Marie. Le concept de l'Avant, qui exprime sa vision économique du mystère de Dieu, permet au pape de mettre en valeur la dimension typologique de la foi de Marie. Son fiat, vécu dans une pérégrination intime de l'âme, de !'Annonciation à la Pentecôte, est la réponse type de l'être humain qui s'ouvre au don de Dieu. La participation de l'Église à la foi de Marie, depuis la Pentecôte, fonde la dimension mariale de l'Église. Avec Marie, et selon son exemple, l'Église, épouse vierge, offre sa foi à Dieu dans un don total d'elle-même qui actualise la réponse de foi des baptisés. Ouvrant à Dieu l'espace virginal de sa foi, l'Église devient mère, accueillant de !'Esprit Saint sa mission sacramentelle.