Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 8, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 29).

This paper discusses the ways in which Hofstede’s model of ‘dimensions of (‘national’) culture’ – and similar models developed in a functionalist paradigm – are problematically used to classify people. It briefly surveys critiques of Hofstede’s research method, but focusses on the dangers of attempting to develop models of culture within a functionalist paradigm. Although such models may be parsimonious and rapidly applied, I argue that they are a poor fit for CATaC investigations of the dynamic and reciprocal interactions between human cultures and technology. Instead, I contend, we must abandon this paradigm, and embrace methodologies that permit meaningfully explorations of the multiple and dynamic conditions influencing the field of cultural practices in human societies. I discuss the merits of ‘articulation’ as theory and method, and offer Hacking’s theory of “dynamic nominalism” as one example.

This thesis provides an answer to the question, “what is a musical work?” I begin by canvasing four of the leading accounts in the literature, two Platonist theories and two Nominalist theories. Nominalism is, I suggest, well motivated, though neither of the two accounts given is satisfying. Next, I provide a detailed account of the main view in the literature, Julian Dodd’s type theory of musical works. According to Dodd, musical works are types and therefore are abstract entities. In Chapter 3 I criticize Dodd’s view by arguing that positing abstract type-entities provides no explanatory power so they should be rejected. Finally in Chapter 4 I show that a satisfying Nominalist account that does not identify any entity with musical works can be given. Thus, Dodd is correct to say that musical works are types but incorrect to suggest that this thereby commits us to an ontology including types.

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1994. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 321-332).

I integrate Charles Peirce’s theory of signs with his realism and synechism to develop a novel interpretation of his philosophical system, which I refer to as Semeiotic Realism. I argue that Peirce’s Semeiotic Realism makes a devastating critique of Ockham’s nominalism, particularly his theory of conceptual signs. Semeiotic Realism is the doctrine that signs are real relations existing independently of particular thoughts and therefore have a generality irreducible to any discrete number of singular cognitive acts. Chapter One introduces Peirce’s theory of signs. I argue that Peirce arrives at his triadic sign relation to ground an anti-psychologistic theory of logic. I establish the connection between sign relations and the structure of inference, tracing this connection back to Greek thinking about the semeῖon and outlining its consequences for Peirce’s theories of categories and inquiry. Chapter Two disentangles the nominalism-realism controversy from the problem of universals. I show that the nominalist’s position about universals results from their logical analysis of terms. These terms are conceptual signs that stand for their objects only relative to singular cognitive acts. For the nominalist, reality is exhausted by existing particulars outside the mind and since signs only have mind-dependent being they are not real. To address this problem, I clarify Peircean reality and use his mature theory of semiotic interpretation to explain how signs have a reality irreducible to singular cognitive acts. Chapter Three introduces Peircean continuity, explaining how it informs his mature critique of nominalism, his method for analyzing propositions as sign relations, and his theory of sign inference. Continuity underpins his analysis of propositions into continuous relations. These relations precede the subjects they relate, which makes relations themselves out to be the elementary units of logic. The chapter concludes by introducing Peirce’s existential graphs to model and diagram sign inferences as continuous transformations. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / I integrate Charles Peirce’s theory of signs and meaning with his writings on reality and continuity to develop a novel interpretation of his philosophical system, which I refer to as Semeiotic Realism. I situate Peirce’s contributions to these topics in the larger context of the history of philosophy and sign theory, with emphasis on his critique of nominalism, a philosophical theory that presents a major problem Peirce must overcome. In chapter one, I uncover the roots of Peirce’s general theory of signs in his writings on logic and inference. Chapter two incorporates Peirce’s theory of signs with his realism and shows how it leads to a critique of nominalism. In the final chapter, I introduce Peirce’s theory of continuity and show how it informs a devastating new critique of nominalism.

This thesis concerns ways of knowing in the Anglican eucharistic tradition. It also explores the ramifications of these ways of knowing for theological education in the Anglican tradition of Christianity. The thesis uses Anglican eucharistic theology as a source of case study, and attempts, using a methodology of phenomenology to examine critically the particular interests and philosophical assumptions underlying eucharistic theology in the Anglican tradition from the time of the Reformation to the present day. Phenomenology is chosen as the methodology since it allows access to the diverse experience of the Anglican eucharistic tradition, suspending judgment until a later time when essences are extracted from the case studies. This has the potential to avoid exclusive commitments to particular technical and hermeneutic interests within Anglicanism while at the same time recognising the multiformity of the Anglican eucharistic tradition and fostering a critical approach to the examination of the experience of the Anglican eucharistic tradition and Anglican theological education. In examining ways of knowing in the Anglican tradition, the thesis acknowledges the usefulness for eucharistic theology and theological education of philosophical enquiry. The three ways of knowing (technical, hermeneutic and critical) proposed by the philosopher, Jurgen Habermas (1971 and 1973) are used to assist in understanding the knowledge of the Anglican eucharistic tradition presented in the case studies. The further insights of Habermas (1984 and 1989) are used in recommending a dialogue approach, based on the intersubjectivity of communicative action, for theological education concerned with the teaching of eucharistic theology in the Anglican tradition. Philosophical reflection is also employed in an examination of the underlying philosophical assumptions of the case studies of eucharistic theology in the Anglican tradition. A model of the Anglican eucharistic tradition based on the philosophical concepts of realism and nominalism, to both the moderate and immoderate degrees is developed and proposed as a way of promoting a critical interest in the Anglican eucharistic tradition beyond the merely technical or hermeneutic interests commonly found in various church parties of the Anglican Communion. The work of the Australian philosopher David Armstrong (1989, 1995, 1997 and 2004) is foundational to the development of a model for the Anglican eucharistic tradition and the examination of its experience in the case studies. The principal findings of the study suggest that the prevailing essence of the Anglican eucharistic tradition is a multiformity of eucharistic doctrine, such that eucharistic theology is most often expressed using the philosophical assumptions of realism and nominalism to the moderate degree and according to varying technical and hermeneutic interests. The thesis also seeks to draw out the educational implications of these differing ways of knowing for theological education in the Anglican tradition and specifically for the teaching of eucharistic theology. The principal recommendation of the thesis for theological education is the application of a dialogue approach in the teaching of eucharistic theology in Anglican theological education, where dialogue involves the development of an ideal communicative community in which participants seek shared meaning on the basis of the intersubjectivity of communicative action. / PhD Doctorate

This study aims at investigating the problem of universals, which is one of the most venerable issues in the history of philosophy. The problem of universals emerges from the ontological status of properties and relations / i.e., the existence and nature of properties and relations. It can be defined as the problem of how two or more different objects can have the same property or how a property can be a part of different things. The problem of universals consists of not a single problem but rather a network of problems. The aim of this study is to reconsider the problem of universals which involves the three interrelated problems: ontological problem of predication, the linguistic problem of predication and the problem of abstract reference. Any adequate account for the problem of universals must deal with these problems. Nominalism, Trope theory, and Realism are three major theories that have proposed solutions to the problem of universals. In this study, these accounts have been discussed and it has been tried to reveal whether any of these accounts can deal with these problems. As a conclusion, this study proposes that among the theories that try to deal with the problem of ontological predication and the problem of abstract reference, only Object-Trope theory and Armstrong&rsquo / s Realism have been successful. However, Object-Trope theory is found to be a bit more superior to Armstrong&rsquo / s Realism when Ockham&rsquo / s razor is appealed to.

No description available.

While Richard Baxter (1615-91) is well known and rightly held in high esteem for his practical divinity and his evangelistic zeal, he has hitherto been conspicuously neglected as a theologian. In particular there have been no major studies of him with respect to the renewed paradigm of Protestant Scholasticism and none at all of his Methodus Theologiae (1681), which represents the fruit of a lifetime of theological reflection and study and which is arguably, in both scope and vision, one of the last great Summas of English scholastic divinity. This thesis focuses on the Methodus and on Baxter‟s theological method, which he took, though imperfect, to be the closest to the true Scripture method of theology that anyone had yet come. Baxter believed that every level of (active) created reality reflected the impress of God‟s Triune being in metaphysical composition, structure and activity. This he described, following the Italian metaphysicist Tommaso Campanella, in terms of the divine primalities or principles of Power, Wisdom and Love. In the Methodus these insights are systematised into a kind of Trinitarian logic. Baxter held that human reason should be sanctified in order to conform to the Trinitarian structure of created reality, and therefore espoused a method of trichotomising organised according to these same divine principles, derivative of both Ramist and Lullist method. This thesis argues that the whole of Baxter‟s mature thought is structured in a Trinitarian fashion according to his own „hallowed logic‟ and that two themes, often interlinked, are the key to interpreting his thought: the metaphysics of the divine principles and the Christian‟s baptismal covenant with the Triune God. Furthermore it examines Baxter‟s analogical ascent from the general vestigia Trinitatis present in the whole created order through the special vestigium of man‟s soul fashioned in the image of God and finally to the Trinity itself. This detailed exposition provides the basis, in the concluding chapter, for an examination of the whole of the Methodus and a demonstration that this represents a methodological unfolding of the covenant between the believer and God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the threefold Kingdom of Nature, Grace and Glory. In this way the Methodus may be seen as having taken its inspiration from the Theo-Politica (1659) of Baxter‟s friend George Lawson. Finally this thesis concludes that Baxter‟s thought has pronounced Scotist and Nominalist accents. His Scotism in particular runs deep and has strong ties with his Trinitarian thought, which is especially significant in light of the recent increasingly vocal discussions of the Scotist character of Protestant Scholasticism. Overall therefore it is suggested that Baxter is a neglected figure who deserves to be rediscovered and whose mature theology represents a fascinating reconstrual of biblical ideas according to a Trinitarian and scholastic paradigm.

Zugl.: Diss. Univ. Göteborg, 2008. / References: S. 283-290.