The idea of progress found in the poetry of Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Shelley germinated in the intersection of Enlightenment philosophy and the millennial tradition. In this dissertation, I show that the spirit of scientific inquiry and the tradition of millennial prophecy come together in Romantic poetry to form a secular conception of human destiny and spiritual restoration. Mingling the spirit of anticipation and hope associated with the millennial tradition and the spirit of empirical observation found in Enlightenment philosophy, the Romantic poets reinterpret divine providence as moral and intellectual progress. In their reinterpretation of human progress, the Romantics transfer initiative from an intervening deity to the human mind itself. In Romanticism, the notion of a guiding presence in human history is replaced by a secular idea of providence based upon faith in human nature's essential goodness and potential. Examining the influence of Enlightenment philosophy on Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Shelley, I show that the new Romantic myth of redemption was reinforced by empirical theories that promised to renovate society and the species through the rational observation of human behavior. In a reinterpretation of spiritual restoration and the millennial plot, the Romantic poets identify themselves as chosen prophets and internalize the saving and sanctifying power traditionally attributed to a divine redeemer. Combining Enlightenment philosophy's interest in cognitive processes with the millennial tradition's spirit of renewal and redemption, the Romantic poets introduce imagination as a visionary faculty capable of bringing a new world into creation. This dissertation focuses on the new myths of redemption forged by four Romantic poets. Close readings of Blake's Jerusalem, Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," Wordsworth's The Prelude, and Shelley's Prometheus Unbound demonstrate how the Romantics adapt the millennial prospect and plot to a human and earth-centered theory of progress.

Choi, Pak Cheong. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-115). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Chapter Chapter One: --- Introduction: Late Qing Science Fantasy and the Import of Science and Technology --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- When Time Becomes Abstract: A Chinese Time Travel Story --- p.25 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- "Body in the Scientific Context: Physiology, Invisibility and Being in Motion" --- p.45 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- From Survival to Technotopia: Living and Evolving with Artefacts --- p.73 / Chapter Chapter Five: --- Conclusion --- p.108 / References

This study has several key purposes. First, it tests the potential applicability of the modern discourses of neuro- and cognitive science to the study of medieval texts and languages: more specifically, it does this by using two core methodological tools, namely the embodied view of the mind and a theory of metaphor developed collaboratively by the linguist, George Lakoff, and the philosopher, Mark Johnson, to explore the range of significances which may be drawn from the ways in which human life and existence are represented in a sample of twelfth-century Latin texts. Second, it challenges the view, held by some modern scholars, that by the medieval period Latin was an intrinsically inadequate language for the purposes of self-expression. And finally, it problematises the existing discourses in medieval studies on the individual, self, and subjectivity, first, by developing a new mode of analysing the mental lives of medieval people, and second, by challenging the view that advanced forms of self-awareness were “discovered” during the twelfth century. By following this course, this study offers a number of fresh insights into twelfth-century texts and the phenomena of the individual, self, and subjectivity. Most importantly, it shows that the ways in which human life and existence are represented in medieval texts are best understood in terms of complex interactions between the biological mind and body and their effects in the world (especially their “socio-cultural” effects). From this conclusion, it is argued that the basis of the individual, self, or subject must be found, not just in socio-cultural development, but also the biological realities of human existence. Furthermore, this study contributes to existing literature on the twelfth century by exploring the range of influences, ancient and contemporary, which affected how medieval people thought about themselves and other people, while affirming their basis in the interaction between the mind, body, and culture.

Orientador: Aguinaldo Robinson de Souza / Banca: Paulo Cesar de Almeida Rabone / Banca: Marcelo Carbone Carneiro / Resumo: Este trabalho apresenta uma análise das potencialidades da obra Serões de Dona Benta, de Monteiro Lobato, para o Ensino de Ciências. A partir do mapeamento, identificação e análise dos conceitos científicos e da concepção de ciência presente no texto desse livro, explanou-se sobre o uso da literatura de Lobato como material para o Ensino de Ciências. Com o apoio das orientações metodológicas da Análise Textual Discursiva, a obra foi categorizada em temas que se referem a conceitos científicos e a concepções de ciências do autor. Foi possível identificar uma série de situações vividas pelos personagens da história que relatam temas científicos, uma série de conceitos de Física, Química, Biologia, Filosofia das Ciências e a grande maioria com potencial para o Ensino de Ciências. Apresenta-se também uma revisão sobre as principais concepções de ciências na literatura para que se relacione com as encontradas no livro e observa-se que há uma idéia bastante forte de ciência como observação e constatação dos fenômenos da natureza, que se relaciona com uma visão empirista de ciências / Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the potential of the book Serões de Dona Benta of Monteiro Lobato, for Teaching Science. From the mapping, identification and analysis of scientific concepts and the development of science in the text of this book, explained to the literature on the use of Lobato as material for Science Education. Which the support of methodological guidelines Discourse Textual Analysis of the work was divided into topics that relate to scientific concepts and conceptions of sciences of the author. It was possible to identify a range of situations experienced by the characters in the story who report scientific issues, a number of concepts in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Philosophy of Science and the most potential for teaching Science. We also present a review of the main concepts in the literature to science that relates to those found in the book and notes that there is a very strong idea of sicence with observation and observation of the phenomena of nature, which relates to a vision empirical science / Mestre

In my dissertation, I argue that the medical milieu of the 13th century contributed to shape vernacular secular culture. I demonstrate how the historical and scientific contexts of the Italian peninsula, from the Sicilian school of Frederick II and Manfred to the communal realities of Bologna and Florence, testify to the active reception of the works of Aristotle, Galen, and their Arabic and Western commentators in poetic circles. I show how the Italian 13th century was informed by a high degree of intellectual and scientific knowledge, and how the far-reaching penetration of medical sources connects an emerging vernacular culture to the intricacy of urban networks. "Of Poets and Physicians" addresses the following questions: what is the contribution of medical literature to Italian poetry of the 13th century? How can the reception of Aristotelian and Galenic physiological theories help us illuminate the way Medieval literature produced its tropes? Why should we consider these cultural and intellectual environments as productive frames of thought for poetical writings? My dissertation addresses these questions in three macro-chapters. In the first chapter (On Fluid Memory), I argue that under the patronage and influence of Frederick II and Manfred, the reception of Aristotle’s physiology of the soul informed the tropes of the memory image of the lady engraved into the heart, used by Giacomo da Lentini and the other vernacular poets at court. In the second chapter (Minding the Brain), I study the influence of Galen and Arabic Galenism on the intellectual circles of the second half of the 13th century. I argue that the influence of the Bolognese Galenism of Taddeo Alderotti informed a great part of Guinizzelli’s poetry, not only with respect to the phenomenology of love, but also in his views on nobility and natural determinism. In the third chapter (All Things Natural), I combine the Aristotelian discourse on ethics and the Galenic question of temperamental determinism. I analyze how the scientific background on the relationship between bodily balance and the functions of the soul is discussed in Taddeo Alderotti’s translation of an epitome of Aristotelian ethics, and how these debates are reframed in the poetry of Guido Cavalcanti, Dante Alighieri, and Cino da Pistoia, by virtue of the relationship between love and reason. While contextualizing the uses of medical thought in the poetical production of philosophical and poetic authors, I demonstrate how the active reception of scientific theories testifies to the high degree and pervasiveness of medical education in the intellectual circles of the 13th century.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 251-271). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Originally presented as the author's dissertation--Universität München, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-255).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, 2000. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-283).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in English. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 372-387). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ67899.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 232-241). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.