While naturalism is said to be the oldest and most popular view among contemporary philosophers and scientists, serious and pervasive questions linger concerning its nature, norms, goals, and status. I critically assess these issues in defending a metaphilosophy of naturalism. I begin in arguing that naturalism is neither a trivial nor empty worldview suffering from a lack of cohesion or content. In support of this, I develop a typology of naturalism from which I extract three “core” commitments exemplified by nearly all forms of the doctrine. I thus provide some preliminary, non-arbitrary grounds for the naturalist to defend the thesis from many objections. In the second chapter, I address the fundamental ontological commitments of metaphysical naturalism. Problems with defining naturalism are connected to the many ways these notions are understood, and I defend account of what it is for an entity, process, phenomenon, etc. to be natural or occur naturally. In furtherance of this, I defend in Chapters 3 and 4 an analysis of nature according to its two primary senses: The first is the particular sense, as picked out in claims referring to the nature of some entity, and the second is the universal sense, as is picked out in reference to nature itself. For both primary senses, I assess various arguments for acosmism, the thesis that nature does not exist (in either sense). In response to these challenges, I argue that the concept of nature in both senses is theoretically and ontologically fundamental, and thus indispensable to philosophy and science. The penultimate chapter constitutes an analysis of the relationship between naturalism and physicalism. I argue that even if the basic principles upon which physicalism rests are true, they nevertheless highly questionable and problematic. I connect and resolve these issues with an assessment of the relations between them and the Principle of Sufficient Reason. I conclude the chapter with an account of naturalization. In the final chapter, I criticize various interpretations of the claim that metaphysics and science, are and/or ought to be “continuous.” I argue that there are deep commonalities between metaphysics and science which frustrate attempts to show that there is a fundamental distinction between them. In conclusion, I show that metaphysical naturalism is not only more rich and complex than what most of its sympathizers and detractors believe, but also that it is consistent with many theses, norms, and posits of traditional, non-naturalistic approaches in philosophy generally.

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This paper examine's painters attempts to find, in their chosen medium, a meaningful representation of nature. It proposes the idea that despite the best efforts of some of western art's most gifted artists, this has remained an elusive goal so far and this is likely to remain the case in the future. The paper concludes with an examination of Postmodern theoretical discourse and the effects it has had on painters who may want to attempt to make a meaningful statement about nature with their art. It goes on to make a case that despite the difficulty of the task, there are some very sound reasons why any painter wishing to attempt it, should do so. Some associated issues are raised in the course of the investigation: 1/. An investigation of perception of nature. 2/. The role of language in shaping our perceptions of nature. 3/. The inability of language itself to capture a satisfactory recreation of the experience of nature. 4/. An examination of Paul Cezanne's attempts to record nature using his empirical optical method. 5/. An examination of Barnett Newmans's attempts to recreate the experience of nature through the use of symbols. 6/. The work of the phenomenologists with regard to nature and painting. 7/. The problem of aesthetics. 8/. The apparent reluctance of many critics and theoreticians to take the importance of nature as a vital and indispensable starting point for some artists / Master of Arts (Hons)

This art project examines aspects of New Zealand rural culture through the experience of a fictional performer, Mrs Gallagher. She questions the instrumental approach of agribusiness production, both as it enframes her domestic/farm helper role and the farming of animals. She uses the practices of everyday life, domestic crafts and appropriated materials of agribusiness to draw attention to the traditional ideological boundaries between the human/animal and assigned gender roles.Employing the tactics of 'making do', Mrs Gallagher uses inventive play to produce new forms that cross the domestic/agribusiness boundary. It is her aim that her acts of intervention and these hybrid forms will promote a more mindful use of technology and greater recognition of the continuity and difference that exists between humans and nature.All objects will be presented in site-orientated installation. Evidence of Mrs Gallagher's intervening acts is witnessed and documented using time-based media by a collaborative performer, the cultural theorist K. Joules Faraday.This thesis is constituted as 80% practice based work and 20% written exegesis.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Joshua M. Duke, Dept. of Food & Resource Economics. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Syftet med vår studie var att bedöma om det fanns någon skillnad mellan gymnasieelever årskurs 3 på naturvetenskaplig inriktning och samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning i medvetenhet om vetenskapsteoretiska begrepp och samband. För att få svar på detta har vi intervjuat 19 elever från vardera inriktning med frågor som rör det vetenskapsteoretiska perspektivet. Frågorna har utformats för att få en förståelse av elevernas medvetenhet om vad som karakteriserar naturvetenskapen på det teoretiska planet, naturvetenskapliga experiment, lagar och teorier, forskares del av naturvetenskapen och elevernas förståelse av kausala samband. Strävansmål och mål att uppnå från kursplanen för Naturkunskap A och B har också de en grund till frågornas utformning. Vi har valt att göra en kvalitativ insamling av data via elevintervjuer, som därefter har analyserats kvantitativt. Resultaten visade en skillnad angående elevernas medvetenhet om vetenskapsteori, där naturvetarna överlag hade större medvetenhet. Även om det inom båda grupperna fanns elever med god medvetenhet, fanns det brister bland både natur och samhällsvetare. Det var främst att förklara experiment, förklara vad en naturvetenskaplig teori och vad en naturvetenskaplig lag är samt inse skillnaden mellan dessa som vållade problem. Detta kan vara en brist från grundskolan, där tidigare undersökningar visat att just detta har låg prioritet bland lärarna. Den undersökningen har även visat att lärarna inte hinner med att utföra de mål de önskar göra. Av denna studie anser vi oss fått god hjälp att veta vilka vetenskapsteoretiska samband elever finner är svårt, och har då möjlighet att lägga extra tonvikt på detta i vårt kommande yrkesutövande.</p>

<p>Lot’s of reasons are showing that outdoor life has a positive influence on the general publics health and studies are confirming this theory. On the other hand there are a few amount of Swedish science project’s regarding outdoor life. The aim of this study was to examine how people feel that their health influences by outdoor life. A qualitative content analysis was chosen and interviews was made with eleven individuals with outdoor experience. The main theme of the results showed that outdoor life creates well-being for the body and soul. The combination of challenge for the body and peace for the soul was the outdoor life’s biggest health benefit. Outdoor life gives a variety of physical activities, where everybody can take part and where it still doesn’t feel like exercise. Outdoor life gives personal growth, through both giving physical and mental challenges and also cooperative knowledge. Outdoor life gives harmony and ability to cope with stress in a natural environment. Recommendations of reviewed science shows how outdoor life practically can be used to promote health and also investigate what is needed to get the general public to choose outdoor life to promote health.</p>

The validity of the dynamic analysis based on simplified plate model was investigated using of FE-codes ANSYS in the present paper. The simplified clamped multi-layered plate model was first verified by comparison with the exact model. The simply supported plate model was confirmed to be not a suitable model due to its large error as comparing with exact model. Influence of dimensions of laminar diaphragm on nature frequencies was studied. Deflection and voltage response driven by mechanical and electric loads were described. The optimized thickness ratio of PZT layer to SiO₂ and Si layers was given in the paper to obtain the best deflection export of actuator in design. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2006. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ronald Tobias. Includes DVD. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-47).

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-65).