The aim of the research was to assess the significance of higher education qualifications in the determination of the employment potential of mature students, having regard to other factors which may influence employment potential. The mature student was defined as being aged 25 and over on entry, attending a higher education establishment in pursuit of a qualification, within the parameters of the Department of Education and Science's definition of advanced further education. The research was based on the assumption that adults, in re-assessing their career development, sought to increase their stock of human capital and portfolio of educational credentials via the pursuit of a higher education qualification, in order to move upwards in the occupational hierarchy and across the boundary between the secondary and primary labour markets, whilst at the same time reducing the likelihood, and duration, of unemployment occurring. An initial survey of mature students indicated that 65% of respondents entered higher education for career purposes, with the percentage lower for females and declining with age. All students anticipated more problems than were actually experienced, whilst females anticipated more problems than males but actually experienced fewer. Furthermore, all students received greater benefits than they had anticipated and this was especially true of females. A follow-up survey produced results that showed some 65% of all students achieved employment and nearly 17% continued their studies, with more males achieving employment and more females continuing their studies. Such results formed the basis of the construction of a statistical model which enabled an indicator of the employment potential of mature students, given various characteristics,to be produced. The results indicated that employment potential declined after the age of 40 was reached, was much higher with six years of relevant experience, was very dependent on mobility and was highest for diplomates amongst the qualification category. Finally, the model was developed to incorporate local labour market conditions and highlighted the different probabilities of employment between regions and the 'general' probability of mature students with higher education qualifications achieving employment within Great Britain.

My project discusses the important philosophical role that interacting with nature (as opposed to having limited access to nature preserves and the like) plays in the life of an individual. As such I discuss the biological implications for experiences of real (as contrasted with simulated) nature and, in so doing, also discuss the connection of biology to philosophy. I go on to discuss the sociological and psychological ramifications of this interactive relationship through notions such as love and community and their ties to philosophy. I then close with a discussion of the necessity of artistic expression and how those endeavors can be manifested or realized in and through experience with natural environments.

This dissertation defends the need for a renewed conception of nature as seen through the lens of an artist. By exploring how the relationship between art and nature has been conceived by 19th and 20th century European and Japanese philosophers (including Kant, Hegel, Schelling, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Nishida, and Watsuji), I offer a way of thinking about artistic expression that recognizes the active, expressive character of artistic media and, more broadly, nature itself. Through an analysis of the embodied foundations of artistic creation, I develop a non-subjectivist account of expression that incorporates the climatic milieu. I maintain that the continuity between the embodied self and its life-world implies that the origin of creativity exceeds the will of the individual. This, in turn, implies that nature and the material on which art draws are expressive. According to this view, nature is not an indifferent realm of "mere" material and chemical processes distinct from the domain of culture and meaning. Rather, it is a creative climate from which the artist draws and to which the artist contributes. In conclusion, I maintain that this view has the potential to inform a more sustainable and ethically sound attitude towards the natural world.

This study addresses two questions. What light does the work of George MacDonald shed on the concept of 'spiritual development' and what is the pedagogical function of his fantasy? The thesis is largely concerned to clarify these conceptual issues but the reason for raising them is practical. The promotion of spiritual development in schools is a statutory requirement. The conclusions of this thesis contain implications for curricular strategies for meeting that requirement and attention will be drawn to them. Two major claims are made. The first concerns the issue of whether a coherent spirituality necessarily depends on - and thus must be promoted within - a religious framework. The implication of MacDonald's recourse to fantasy, a discourse dispensing with traditional religious categories, to explore the theme of spiritual development is that a spiritual pedagogy does not need to be rooted in traditional religious concepts and truth-claims. The two discourses, the 'theistic' and the 'non-theistic', are compatible and complementary. Secondly, the concept of 'transfiguring fantasy' is introduced and commended. MacDonald's transfiguring fantasy functions pedagogically, as potentially does all such unclosed flmtasy, by calling in question the distinction between the narrative one reads and one's own life-story. The two realms, those of the text in one's hands and the life one is leading, elide and the task of resolving the enigmas of the fantasy becomes one with the unfinished business of making sense of one's own story. This thesis also considers the familiar Romantic themes of nature, childhood and the imagination, which MacDonald treats with original insight. Nature is akin to fantasy in its capacity to engage and direct the attentive spirit. Childhood is the pattern of what we must become. The imagination's role is to summon us to press beyond the borders of what may be scientifically proven or rationally articulated.

M.A. (Art History) / In the South African literature of Art there has been no real focus on the arid landscape as such. Yet, as it is typical of the country, it is being increasingly explored and painted. However, a discrepancy exists: although the human experience of the arid landscape has become more apparent in paintings since the Fifties, this phenomenon was not really reflected in the Art Literature. This research was conducted to assess the value of landscapes in South African paintings, especially the arid landscape. In the introduction it is shown that the term "landscape" can be interpreted in two ways. In the first instance, the term "landscape" refers to the visual, geographical features of a specific area. In the second instance, the term "landscape" relates to metaphysical aspects, such as the experiencing, processing, involvement and relationship of man with his environment. A short historical review was done of South African paintings during the periods 1860-1920 and 1920-1950. During these periods the rural existence acted as the norm in landscapes. This norm changed after 1950, reflecting a more abstract tendency in art, which indicated a deepening spiritual expression by man. In chapter two an introductory view is given of the third period 1950-1990, focusing on the interaction of man and the arid landscape as expressed on four levels, namely, the geographical, the social, the psychic and the spiritual. The arid landscape appears geographically prominent as it covers a vast area of the land.

This study explores the potential roles of a sample of 18 nature conservation law enforcement officers, as facilitators of environmental education. More specifically it examines their attitudes towards their dual duties of enforcing laws and providing extension services. Attitudes were examined by means of qualitative data analysis from semi-structured interviews. Officers' environmental attitudes, as well the relative emphasis placed on law enforcement and extension, and their own perspectives of working with communities, are explored. The historical and cultural context of officers' work, as well as worldviews and personality traits are also discussed. Certain recommendations regarding officers' roles as facilitors of environmental education are made.

While remaining rooted in a comparison of some of the primary texts of the thinkers under scrutiny, my thesis also discusses several issues which arise in the mutual consideration of Heidegger and Strauss, specifically the questions of the ontological and political status of nature, the problem of ‘first philosophy,’ and the method by which to interpret philosophical texts, as well as a continuous analysis of Strauss’s appellation of ‘modern,’ as opposed to ‘ancient,’ and ‘religious,’ as opposed to ‘philosophical,’ to Heidegger’s thought. I first consider every moment in Strauss’s corpus where he discusses Heidegger’s thought. From this discussion, I identify four main lines of critique which may be extracted from Strauss’s writings on Heidegger. Then, I turn to Heidegger’s texts themselves in order to determine if Strauss’s critique indeed finds purchase there, addressing each of the lines of critique in turn. Finally, I consider Strauss and Heidegger in tandem, in light of the three questions identified above. I show that many of what Strauss determines to be Heidegger’s errors arose as a result of the way that Heidegger read ancient philosophical texts, and I suggest that Strauss’s approach, i.e., to consider the possible esoteric meaning of a text, in fact permits the reader to access an interpretation that is truer to the textual phenomena. This claim, however, is not intended to obscure the remarkable similarities between each thinker’s respective interpretive methods. I conclude that Strauss’s critique of Heidegger, vehement as it is, also indicates Strauss’s dependence on Heidegger’s thought for the inspiration of Strauss’s own philosophical project. The relation between Strauss and Heidegger, then, remains profoundly ambiguous.

Appreciation of the landscape has occurred throughout human history. Only in recent times, however, has the majority of the population, and then only in the richer "developed" countries, had the leisure time to enjoy it. Formerly the landscape was merely the hack-drop to toil except for the few individuals granted, through circumstances, time they could spend "unproductively." By contrast, today we have a situation where landscape has become the land's newest resource, eagerly sought out and argued for by increasing numbers of people. This thesis is an analysis of landscape as a resource. Recognising the comparative new-ness of the field and the consequent proliferation of exploratory studies on its many aspects, the present work does not pretend to extend the field into higher realms of learning: it is an attempt to review and correlate the more relevant areas of significance. Among them are the development of attitudes towards the landscape, the basic visual elements of the landscape and how they are perceived and subsequently modified by preconceptions, and the present-day situation where attempts are being made to accurately describe and quantify the landscape resource and evolve a discipline of visual resource management. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

It is the purpose of this paper to examine the continuing manifestations of nature in Canadian art since the time of the Group of Seven. It has been the writer's endeavour to handle the available material in such a manner as to show not only the persistence of the nature theme, but also to show that the changes in the expression of this theme have followed basically the general trends in Canadian art since that time. Whenever possible, relevant comments by critics and writers of the period have been included so that works may be considered in the opinion of the acknowledged authorities of the day, as well as to a degree in retrospect. Pertinent comments by artists concerning their work and their attitude to art, as it relates to the general subject, are also included. In the past fifty years Canadian artists have responded to their environment in countless ways, and many meaningful interpretations have resulted. In addition to traditional landscape expressions which reflect our most familiar conception of nature, manifestations of responses to other aspects of nature are included. Nature is thus taken, for the purposes of this paper, in a wider meaning to include a number of conceptions of the physical world and its phenomena: a number of aspects of the world not made by man. In the opening chapter the facts concerning the establishment of the landscape tradition in Canadian art are reviewed. There is consideration also for the question that is rarely posed, as to why the strong sense of nationalistic pride of members of the Group of Seven found all but exclusive artistic outlet in interpretations of the rugged Canadian northland. During the Thirties the Canadian lanscape remained as the main theme of Canadian artists, and imitation of Group methods was rampant. However, in the works of some artists, it is noted that subject matter becomes more intimate and the statements more personal. The avant-garde Montreal painters in the Forties sought to replace the prevailing obsession with landscape, with works derived from School of Paris influence. Although these artists were to spurn the prevailing devotion to typically Canadian subject matter, the presence of nature, perhaps unconsciously revealed, is apparent in many of their works. Following the innovations in Montreal, School of Paris influences spread across Canada during the Forties and early Fifties, and many interesting landscape abstractions evolved. In many instances the French 'manner' was consciously applied to the traditional Canadian 'matter'. With the adoption of methods of the New York Abstract Expressionists, following the mid-Fifties, Canadian artists frequently expressed themselves in the form of 'gestural' landscapes. The Canadian environment is no longer the prime inspirational force in such subjective works, but there seemed to be a resistance to eliminate all suggestion of nature. There are lingering references in many works to the once all-powerful theme, but the landscape references are most frequently general and universal, rather than specific. A group of artists are considered who have turned from international influences and have maintained a commitment to 'realistic' art. This group have frequently combined landscape and figure in their work in order to express a meaningful human situation. Their vision is intense and their realistic approach to subject matter often borders on the surreal. When man is not depicted directly his presence is implied: landscape is a setting for a human situation. In a totally different vein are a number of works that would seem to realize in plastic form aspects of the 'new landscape' of our time. Due to the advancement in science and technology new orders of magnitudes, both microcosmic and macrocosmic, have become part of man's visual and mental experience and have stimulated his imagination. Artists struck by the wonder and mystery of the expanded conception of nature have enriched our experience with a wealth of imagery. In the Sixties the widening commitment towards formalism, which has been accompanied by an increasing denial of all subject matter, has taken its toll on the declining landscape tradition. In the majority of hard edge works the connection with nature is emphatically broken. On occasion, however, it is noted, that with the employment of certain elements, landscape overtones are to a degree apparent -perhaps as a result of a nostalgic tendency on the part of a romantic viewer, or as a lingering attachment towards landscape on the part of the artist. In either case the approach is subjective, stemming from a committed habit of association. A number of significant artists of the Sixties have consciously retained an association with nature. These artists are primarily involved with new attitudes and techniques, and have brought about drastic changes in the presentation of traditional landscape subject matter. Theirs is not so much 'new landscape' as landscape transformed. Frequently these statements are three-dimensional, and seemingly reflect a desire on the part of artists to achieve a more concrete form of expression in line with a present trend toward literalism in art. Essentially this group of artists have concentrated on the details of traditional landscape - interpretations of clouds, waves, earth, streams, etc. They have approached these details, however, in a universal sense as idea, rather than as specific topographical detail. It is this general, non-specific approach that would seem to hold meaning for these artists. A climax in the involvement of artist with 'actual materials', 'actual colour' and 'actual space' is seen in the current involvement on the part of some artists in Earthworks. Here the elements of the natural world provide not only the inspiration, but the media as well. In Canada this is not a major trend, but merely one further manifestation of interest in the world of nature. It is suggested that this urge to create in outdoor natural situations is surely, perhaps unconsciously, a form of reaction against the existing technologically-dominated urban society. The Canadian landscape tradition as established by the Group of Seven has not flourished since the Forties, but within the broader nature theme (of which landscape is a part), many artists have found a powerful motivating force. Undoubtedly the world of nature will continue to be a deeply influential factor for a number of artists in the future as they endeavour to come to terms with ever-changing world situations. The forms their expressions will take, however, one could not possibly predict. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

Based in Walvis Bay, an industrial fishing town in Namibia on the west coast of southern Africa, this thesis argues that via the logic of neoliberalism, relations between scientific knowledge production, historical labour practices, and political decision-making emerge as a way of managing people and nature in uneven ways. Scientific modelling practices in the form of stock assessments, maintain traction as the technological solution for managing natural resource extraction in Namibia. As such, the dissertation explores the efficacy of computer models in the industrial fishing sector and considers how breakdowns between the scientific, social, and political knowledge worlds can be usefully brought into the conceptual model of the fishery for management. With a shift towards a more inclusive management framework that considers the policy issues as well as translating broad goals into measurable objectives, comes a shift in the logic of what fisheries management is meant to mediate and achieve. The logic is no longer as straightforward as producing an estimate of the amount of fishable biomass, but now must account for market conditions, changing technologies for fishing, and a changing climate and ecology. The human dimension is framed around the concept of wellbeing which in fisheries management emerges as an umbrella term for the social world that is reduced through the logic of neoliberalism to the measurable, enumerable, and indexable social and political implications of the use of Namibia’s natural resources. As one of few ethnographies of Namibia and the only one thus far to address the fisheries sector as a site of study, this dissertation investigates the increased dependence on scientific models in the Namibian hake fishery despite declining fish stocks and increased urban poverty and inequalities. The research contributes to the limited studies done on the political economy of Namibia and the rise of fish as national resource in the postcolony. It investigates the relations at risk in everyday life in Walvis Bay and re-imagines the framing of humans and nature for transformative practices of environmental and economic justice.