Yes / This paper develops a theory of the subjectivity of the leader through the philosophical lens of Hegel’s master/slave dialectic and its recent interpretation by the philosopher Judith Butler. This is used to analyse the working life history of a man who rose from poverty to a leadership position in a large company and eventually to running his own successful business. Hegel’s dialectic is foundational to much Western thought, but in this paper, I rashly update it by inserting a leader in between the master, whose approval the leader needs if s/he is to sustain self-hood, and the follower, who becomes a tool that the leader uses when trying to gain that elusive approval. The analysis follows the structure of Butler’s reading of the Dialectic and develops understanding of the norms that govern how leaders should act and the persons they should be. Hard work has become for leaders an ethical endeavour, but they grieve the sacrifice of leisure. They enjoy a frisson of erotic pleasure at their power over others but feel guilt as a result. They must prove their leadership skills by ensuring their followers are perfect employees but at the same time must prove their followers are poor workers who need their continued leadership. This leads to the conclusion that the leader is someone who is both powerful and powerless. This analysis is intended not to demonize leaders, but to show the harm that follows the emphasis on leadership as a desirable and necessary organizational function.

Seldom are we privileged to witness an international philosophical movement, which in addition to being a philosophical revolution, vindicates the values and concerns of a critical anthropological approach in Spirituality from the analytic tradition. The work of critical realists is potential remedy for the ills, dichotomies and lacunae inherent in the Western philosophical and spiritual traditions. Critical realism and philosophy of meta-reality, it is claimed, not only emancipate philosophy but, science and society as spiritual. This dissertation explores the many points of confluence and exposes dimensions of living and studying spirituality, which challenge us to think of ontological realism, epistemological relativism and rational (reflexive) judgement in a mode, which cautions against the naive relativism, tacit irrealism and other mistakes which tend to over-characterise our academic discourse with social linguistification, to the detriment of humanity and our utopian freedom and flourishing. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

Seldom are we privileged to witness an international philosophical movement, which in addition to being a philosophical revolution, vindicates the values and concerns of a critical anthropological approach in Spirituality from the analytic tradition. The work of critical realists is potential remedy for the ills, dichotomies and lacunae inherent in the Western philosophical and spiritual traditions. Critical realism and philosophy of meta-reality, it is claimed, not only emancipate philosophy but, science and society as spiritual. This dissertation explores the many points of confluence and exposes dimensions of living and studying spirituality, which challenge us to think of ontological realism, epistemological relativism and rational (reflexive) judgement in a mode, which cautions against the naive relativism, tacit irrealism and other mistakes which tend to over-characterise our academic discourse with social linguistification, to the detriment of humanity and our utopian freedom and flourishing. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

This thesis explores how theatre informs Badiou's philosophy through detailed analysis of Badiou's theory of theatre and his six plays L'Écharpe rouge, Incident at Antioch and the Ahmed tetralogy . It argues that theatre has provided an ideal and material ground for Badiou to rehearse concepts he developed in his Logics of the Worlds (2006) and Second Manifesto for Philosophy (2009), such as that of ideation and incorporation. By placing theatre at the core of Badiou's work, this thesis provides a different point of entry into Badiou's philosophy: it demonstrates the overarching nature of Badiou's materialist dialectic, which leads to exploring the relationship between politics and theatre. By ultimately defining Badiou's theatre as a theatre of inexist[a]nce and insisting upon the ontological nature of theatre, this thesis heralds new approaches to the relationship between theatre and philosophy.

Critically examining the Lacanian and Althusserian theories of the subject, this thesis explored the theoretical problems and methodological premises of a converged version of both theories. The central argument the present thesis seeks to demonstrate is that the Lacanian-Althusserian dialectic provides a more comprehensive and effective account of the process of the subject formation than a purely psychoanalytical or structuralist Marxist analysis of the term. After a critical study of the way the subject is positioned between language and ideology in contemporary critical theory the thesis proceeds to investigate the subject-object relation in the Cartesian and Hegelian subjects. Conceived of as the convergence of lack and material, the Lacanian-Althusserian dialectic focuses on the close affinity between the Lacanian notion of linguistic alienation and the Althusserian concept of ideological interpellation. The subject’s alienation with what is called in the thesis ‘ideological signifier’ is considered as the result of direct and dramatic modes of interpellation in both language acquisition process and the mature phase. The major theoretical premises of this model include the following: first, identity functions through, and because of, the ‘inter-subjective dialectic’ and an ‘intra-subjective lack.’ Identity is never fully constituted because of this antagonism, and thus remains ‘incomplete.’ Secondly, the subject is ideologically constituted through language. The mechanism through which both language and ideology construct a subject never permits the subject enjoying a state of full identity with ideological signifiers. Thirdly, the subject’s identity is represented in the language exposed to and, later, reproduced by him/her. In order to demonstrate a practical reading of subjectivity formation in terms of this critical approach the present research applies it to James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). The process of the subject formation has been analysed through the subject’s alienation/interpellation by the ISAs. Also, the inter-subjective dialectic between different subjectivities of the subject’s identity has been investigated. The thesis demonstrates that identity reconstruction represented in the novel is a complicated and ongoing process, which begins with disillusionment, goes through materialization of epiphany, and ends with inventiveness in language. This process has been represented as a move from ideological to non-ideological subjectivity through artistic creativity. The exploration of the aesthetics of language is crucial to the analysis of the reconstruction of Stephen Dedalus’ identity in that it happens in and through language.

Avant tout réputé pour avoir hissé l’herméneutique au premier plan du paysage philosophique contemporain, H.-G. Gadamer est aussi reconnu pour l’originalité de ses écrits en histoire des idées et notamment pour la grande singularité des travaux qu’il a consacrés à la philosophie de Platon. Mais s’agit-il là de deux registres théoriques distincts, l’herméneutique d’un côté et l’exégèse de Platon de l’autre ? Ou bien s’agit-il de deux facettes d’un même projet concerté, deux ouvertures sur un même objet philosophique ? C’est cette deuxième option que notre étude a pour objectif de défendre. Pour ce faire, nous approfondissons, à la lumière de ses écrits sur Platon, les raisons qui poussent Gadamer à développer, dans Vérité et Méthode, son idée de dialogue herméneutique en référence constante à la dialectique platonicienne, pour ensuite montrer comment l’ontologie herméneutique qu’esquisse la dernière partie de Vérité et Méthode est solidaire, voire tributaire, de l’interprétation de la pensée platonicienne que défend généralement Gadamer, et ce, malgré l’instrumentalisme du langage qu’il dénonce chez Platon. / Known above all to have raised hermeneutics in the foreground of contemporary philosophy, H.-G. Gadamer is also renowned for his original contributions to the history of ideas, notably because of his characteristic reading of Plato. However, a question arises: are these two distinct parts of his thought, with his philosophical hermeneutics on the one hand and his exegesis of Plato on the other? Or are they the two facets of a same project, two perspectives on a same philosophical object? Our study aims to defend this second option. In the first place, we present, in light of Gadamer’s reading of Plato, the reasons why in Truth and Method Gadamer develops his own idea of hermeneutical dialogue in reference to Plato’s dialectic. Then we will show how the hermeneutical ontology sketched in the last chapter of Truth and Method remains strongly related to Gadamer’s general reading of Plato, even if Gadamer refuses the instrumentalism of language that he finds in Plato’s thought.

This thesis analyses the method, purpose, and results of Aristotle's treatment of a select number of Presocratic and Platonic theses about the soul within the context of De Anima 1. Contrary to a prevalent interpretation of De Anima 1 which sees Aristotle's treatment of his predecessors' psychological views as dialectical, I argue that Aristotle treats his predecessors as having offered potentially viable hypotheses about the nature of the soul, and that these hypotheses are treated as attempts to explain the soul's basic powers. I further show that, in order to test the explanatory limits of these theories, Aristotle uses a version of the scientific method of inquiry advertised in the Prior and Posterior Analytics, which consists in setting out the basic psychological phenomena which psychology should explain, and then testing the extent to which his predecessors' definitions of the soul are able to accomplish this task. This thesis argues that, by demonstrating where his predecessors' first principles fall short, Aristotle is able to make theoretical progress towards establishing his own 'hylomorphic' first principle of soul, that soul is the 'first fulfilment of a natural instrumental body', and towards the idea that soul operates in the body of living beings as a formal, final, and efficient cause.

Le projet d’une théorie dialectique de l’œuvre d’art est sans doute un des plus complexes que Theodor Adorno ait tenu en haleine, projet qui table sur les horizons théoriques les plus diversifiés du philosophe de Francfort. Il ne s’agit donc pas ici d’en résumer la pertinence et les prémisses, de rendre justice à sa pleine complexité. Ce que je propose bien plutôt de faire c’est de développer trois façons inter-reliées de comprendre ce projet. En partant d’abord de la situation de l’esthétique contemporaine à Adorno, nous voudrions regarder en face la solution qu’offre la Théorie esthétique pour revitaliser l’esthétique philosophique. Il s’agit donc d’abord de questionner les catégories traditionnelles de l’esthétique qui semblent inadéquates à la réalité de l’art moderne « à l’époque où il devient objet de réflexion ». Le second aspect concerne l’interprétation et la méthode de présentation. « L’essai comme forme » qu’Adorno exécute et développe de pair avec la tendance parataxique de la poésie d’Hölderlin est l’objet des Notes sur la littérature. Ces travaux font écho à des notions clefs de la Théorie esthétique, déjà en germes dans « L’actualité de la philosophie » : l’interprétation, le contenu de vérité et le caractère énigmatique. Je propose finalement de restituer une certaine évolution du matériau-dissonance, ce qui recoupe et « matérialise » les deux premières perspectives. / The project of a dialectical theory of the artwork is probably one of the most complex aspects of Theodor Adorno’s thought. The aim of this thesis is neither to summarize this project nor to do justice to its full complexity. What I propose, more specifically, is to present three interrelated ways of understanding Adorno’s project. The first concerns the aim and relevance of contemporary philosophical aesthetics. The question here is how Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory contributes to a revitalization of philosophical aesthetics. By juxtaposing traditional categories, which seem inappropriate to the experience of modern art, and contemporary aesthetic experience, I show how Adorno’s negative dialectical philosophy provides a relay of sorts between the traditional and the modern, made necessary by modern art itself "at a time when it is becoming an object of reflection". The second perspective concerns questions of interpretation and presentation, centered on Adorno’s explorations of the essay as “form” and the concept of parataxis, as discussed in Notes to Literature. Here I focus on how these explorations intersect with key concepts in his Aesthetic Theory and his early essay on “The Actuality of Philosophy”: interpretation, truth content, and enigmaticity. Finally, I propose a more specific reflection on dissonance that illustrates and “materializes” aspects of the first two perspectives.

Cette étude essaie d’expliquer les difficultés d’interprétation que posent tant la notion de topos au sein de la Rhétorique que la liste de vingt-huit lieux d’enthymème de Rhét. II 23 au moyen de l’hypothèse suivante : Aristote tenterait de concevoir un équivalent proprement rhétorique du topos dialectique. Dans la liste, le modèle dialectique serait envisagé de façon à recouvrir non seulement des stratégies des Topiques adaptées aux conditions particulières de la rhétorique, mais aussi des éléments issus de la tradition empirico-sophistique, l’ensemble ayant pour horizon la pratique oratoire.La première partie vise à mettre en évidence les influences théoriques qui ont présidé à la conception du topos et à la constitution de la liste de Rhét. II 23 : d’une part les technai de la tradition empirico-sophistique, de l’autre le modèle de l’invention dialectique. La deuxième partie tente de rendre un contexte à chacune des formes d’argument de Rhét. II 23 pour dé-terminer dans quelle mesure la prise en compte de la pratique oratoire — au sens large, comprenant les discours des historiens, la tragédie et la comédie — a joué un rôle dans la sélection et dans la description des lieux / This study attempts to account for the difficulties raised by the notion of topos in Aristotle’s Rhetoric and the list of the twenty-eight topoi of enthymeme in Rhet. II 23. Its main hypothe-sis is that Aristotle tries to frame the concept of a truly rhetorical topos. In his list, he rethinks the theoretical model of dialectical invention in such a manner as to include elements adapted from his own Topics as well as elements from the tradition of the rhetorical technai –the ulti-mate end being oratorical practice.The first part tries to highlight the theoretical influences for the concept of topos and the list in Rhet. II 23: the traditional rhetorical technai on the one hand, and the model of dialectical invention on the other. In the second part, each individual topos is analysed in its literary con-text, in order to determine the rôle of oratorical practice – understood in a wide sense, includ-ing history, tragedy and comedy – for the selection and the description of the topoi in Rhet. II 23

Orientador: Milton Lahuerta / Banca: Élide Rugai Bastos / Banca: Carlos Gileno / Resumo: O presente trabalho realiza analise sócio-literária da literatura marginal. Produção textual oriunda de setores tradicionalmente excluídos do sistema literário brasileiro, a literatura marginal possui como característica geral o fato de seus autores terem nascido e crescido nas periferias das grandes cidades brasileiras e produzido obras que têm como tema central a violência que assola todo o país e principalmente as periferias das metrópoles. / Abstract: This work analyzes the social-literary of literature marginal. Derived literary production of traditionally excluded sectors of the Brazilian literary system, literature marginal possess as characteristic general the fact of its authors to have been born and grown in the peripheries of the great Brazilian cities and produced workmanships that have as central subject the violence that devastates the country all e mainly the peripheries of metropolis. / Mestre