Thesis (Ph.D.)--Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Graduate School, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Dans cette thèse, nous cherchons à penser les enjeux philosophiques de l’application de méthodes herméneutiques en histoire de la philosophie politique. À partir d’une étude comparative des interprétations de l’œuvre de Nicolas Machiavel offertes par Leo Strauss, Quentin Skinner et Claude Lefort, nous interrogeons le rapport que l’interprète institue avec le texte qu’il étudie. Nous montrons qu’il y a dans les trois cas un écart entre l’exposition théorique des principes herméneutiques et l’application effective de ces derniers. Nous soutenons que les divergences fondamentales entre les trois lectures des écrits machiavéliens ne trouvent pas leur fondement dans la différence des méthodes employées, mais proviennent en dernier lieu de la compréhension particulière qu’ils ont du rôle et du statut de la pensée de Machiavel. Autrement dit, nous cherchons à montrer que l’intérêt pour la signification de l’œuvre machiavélienne dépasse la simple analyse des écrits d’un auteur du passé; les trois interprètes entretiennent un rapport singulier à la pensée du secrétaire florentin. En ce sens, l’étude des herméneutiques de Strauss, Skinner et Lefort appliquées à Machiavel est indissociable d’une interrogation sur l’articulation entre interprétation et politique.

Dans cette thèse, nous cherchons à penser les enjeux philosophiques de l’application de méthodes herméneutiques en histoire de la philosophie politique. À partir d’une étude comparative des interprétations de l’œuvre de Nicolas Machiavel offertes par Leo Strauss, Quentin Skinner et Claude Lefort, nous interrogeons le rapport que l’interprète institue avec le texte qu’il étudie. Nous montrons qu’il y a dans les trois cas un écart entre l’exposition théorique des principes herméneutiques et l’application effective de ces derniers. Nous soutenons que les divergences fondamentales entre les trois lectures des écrits machiavéliens ne trouvent pas leur fondement dans la différence des méthodes employées, mais proviennent en dernier lieu de la compréhension particulière qu’ils ont du rôle et du statut de la pensée de Machiavel. Autrement dit, nous cherchons à montrer que l’intérêt pour la signification de l’œuvre machiavélienne dépasse la simple analyse des écrits d’un auteur du passé; les trois interprètes entretiennent un rapport singulier à la pensée du secrétaire florentin. En ce sens, l’étude des herméneutiques de Strauss, Skinner et Lefort appliquées à Machiavel est indissociable d’une interrogation sur l’articulation entre interprétation et politique.

Adaptive antenna arrays have a great importance in reduction of the effect of interference and increase the capacity for the mobile satellite communication. Interference and multipath fading remain a main problem for reception of signals. These two problems obviously affect the overall capacity.  Adaptive antenna arrays in the handheld mobile apparatus will be the solution for the above two problems.   Satellite mobile communication is one of the growing fields in the communication area where terrestrial infrastructures are unable or ineffective to supply. Maritime, aeronautical and land mobile are some of the applications. During natural disasters where ground services are stopped, mobile satellite communications has great importance. Following the hurricane season, the Asian Tsunami and the devastating Haiti earthquake, mobile satellite communications had played a great role to fill the communication gaps.  The satellites can be tracked automatically by adaptive antenna array when it moves in its orbital plane.   In this thesis the methods that how the adaptive antenna array combats interferers is presented and simulated using MATLAB software. The performance of the adaptive antenna array is evaluated by simulating the directivity pattern of the antenna and Mean Square Error (MSE) graph for different scenario like Signal to Interference Noise ratio (SINR), number of iterations, antenna array elements and convergence factor (μ), assuming the signals are coming from different Direction of Arrival (DOA).

China has been a popular research subject in the past few decades, while the way to view China has witnessed dramatic changes. This research holds that it is important to systematically study the relationships between China studies and the social, economic and political forces guiding through analyzing the analytical angles selected by scholars have an impact upon how they perceive China. In the China studies communities, the ethnic Chinese scholars¡¦ knowledge of China in Southeast Asian is a noteworthy example: their identities imply diverse degree of Chinese history and cultural inheritance. The variety of ethnic Chinese identities represents the different epistemology of China. This research aims to add to the¡§Epistemology of China Studies¡¨ project by exploring the perspective of ethnic Chinese interpretation of China through Prof. Leo Suryadinata, who perceives China from a distant, yet culturally connected viewpoint. Through the sociology of knowledge approach, we could understand Leo Suryadina¡¦s China interpretation which involves an alien emotion in his academic and literature works, and also from the Southeast Asian Chinese society where he locates in. In Leo Suryadina¡¦s epistemology of China, China is an alien homeland and an object as he interprets it. On the other hand, as Leo Suryadinata¡¦s interpretational tool, China is a concept of ethnic Chinese identities with redefinition.

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The Bush Doctrine represents a paradigm shift in international security policy. Never had a foreign policy demonstrated such will through unilateralism, preemptive militarism, and a sense of exceptionalism. I argue that this shift in policy resists modern international order in an attempt to reestablish ancient modes of power and control. The international system maintains order through rules and institutions which are perceived to be legitimate because they have the consent of the governed. An example of this would be the UN, where member states engage in a democratic deliberation geared towards reaching understanding and consensus. However, order breaks down when a member state fails to recognize the legitimacy of a rule or institution. This was the case for the Bush Doctrine when the U.S. decided to invade Iraq without a UN resolution. The Bush Doctrine is the embodiment of neoconservatism, an intellectual movement influenced by the thoughts of Leo Strauss. What neoconservatism has inherited from Strauss was a fear of relativism. Strauss's critique of modernity holds that liberal society fosters moral relativism which, in turn, destroys the moral fabric of society. Strauss calls for a revival of antiquity, more specifically a Platonic design of society, where elites rule through the use of myths which provide society with moral truth and national purpose. Neoconservatism has projected Strauss's war on modernity onto the international level. The Bush Doctrine assumes its core democratic values to be universal and thus views consensus building as unnecessary. Rather, deliberating on 'right' may enlighten us to the conventional nature of morality. Therefore, neoconservatism works to reestablish ancient modes of control through the use of moral absolutes, where the practice of these values, consequentially, resists international order governed by liberal principles. As a result, neoconservative policies disrupt international order and isolate the U.S. from the modern world.

This dissertation examines Tolstoy’s reevaluation of his creative approaches to writing through the medium of his experimental pedagogical work with the peasant children on his estate. It is argued that Tolstoy’s pedagogical interlude forms an important bridge to the writer’s fiction and should not be viewed as a digression from his development as a writer, but as an integral part of it. This project explores how the educational essays Tolstoy wrote during this period facilitate his transition from championing the aesthetic theory of “pure art” in his formative years as a writer for The Contemporary to a more mature author of War and Peace, the major masterwork that is imbued with conclusions reached during his pedagogical interlude. Tolstoy’s evolution as a writer is examined in the context of his relationship to the aesthetic ideas of the 1850’s that became a springboard for Tolstoy’s later aesthetic concepts. A comprehensive textual analysis of Tolstoy’s lesser known early works such as Notes from Lucerne and “Albert” is undertaken in order to highlight some of their important stylistic peculiarities that provide a valuable insight into the authorial presence and the nature of Tolstoy’s aesthetic rhetoric. Further, it is demonstrated how the school at Yasnaya Polyana becomes the writer’s experimental workshop, a testing ground for Tolstoy’s pedagogical theories and his creative ideas, which he checks against his students’ perception. Finally, the study is concluded by examining Tolstoy’s most encompassing work, his epic novel War and Peace through the medium of his educational writings and ideas. By locating some of the main concepts of his pedagogical philosophy in the context of this monumental masterwork, we illuminate their meaning more clearly as filtered through the prism of Tolstoy’s creative thought in order to demonstrate to what extent Tolstoy’s educational ideas informed his creative writings. It is established that all the central principles of Tolstoy’s educational thought such as his pedagogy of freedom, his ideas of aesthetic education through reading, art and music, his religious and moral education found their reflections on the pages of War and Peace and commend a great deal to a modern educator. / text

The papacies of Julius II and Leo X witnessed the continuing efforts of philosophers struggling toward the concept of prisca theologia, or "ancient theology,” as well as its implications for concordia, or the search for a reconciliation between non-Christian, pagan wisdom and the orthodox beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. This thesis will explore the Vatican's relationship with some ancient Egyptian and Egyptianizing artifacts and motifs acquired under Popes Julius II and Leo X and the use of these objects in terms of the conceptual formulation of the prisca theologia and concordia. Specifically, I am interested in how these popes used material culture to further understand and propagate complex theological concepts. Beyond simply acquiring such objects, their physical positioning and arrangement within specific spaces and in proximity to other objects make possible nuanced dialogs between the objects themselves, the spaces they occupy, and their intended viewership.

Dans cette thèse, nous cherchons à penser les enjeux philosophiques de l’application de méthodes herméneutiques en histoire de la philosophie politique. À partir d’une étude comparative des interprétations de l’œuvre de Nicolas Machiavel offertes par Leo Strauss, Quentin Skinner et Claude Lefort, nous interrogeons le rapport que l’interprète institue avec le texte qu’il étudie. Nous montrons qu’il y a dans les trois cas un écart entre l’exposition théorique des principes herméneutiques et l’application effective de ces derniers. Nous soutenons que les divergences fondamentales entre les trois lectures des écrits machiavéliens ne trouvent pas leur fondement dans la différence des méthodes employées, mais proviennent en dernier lieu de la compréhension particulière qu’ils ont du rôle et du statut de la pensée de Machiavel. Autrement dit, nous cherchons à montrer que l’intérêt pour la signification de l’œuvre machiavélienne dépasse la simple analyse des écrits d’un auteur du passé; les trois interprètes entretiennent un rapport singulier à la pensée du secrétaire florentin. En ce sens, l’étude des herméneutiques de Strauss, Skinner et Lefort appliquées à Machiavel est indissociable d’une interrogation sur l’articulation entre interprétation et politique.