A study of how contrasting architectural elements can create a sense of presence. Contrasts constitute movement, feeling, and energy and are what could be the basis of an architecture that illustrates these principles. The transition between extremes creates a balance. Through the use of contrasting elements such as rectilinear and curvilinear, light and shadow, density and sparsity, transparency and opacity, small and large, light and heavy, and compression and tension, there is a static pulse, where architecture may live. / Master of Architecture

This thesis is concerned with the idea of the rise of the moral political economy. Whilst Aristotle did not invent the word 'economics' he came closer than many think. This thesis is an exploration in the field of the history of ideas. It views the origins of distant economic-like thinking as having a moral and political bases of existence. / PhD Doctorate

This doctoral dissertation examines the interrelation between three aspects of Heraclitus’ thought: (1) his interest in perspectival or context-dependent conceptions of the opposites; (2) his views on the obstacles to and limitations of human (as contrasted with divine) knowledge; and (3) his conception of reality as a unity, along with the divergent kinds of unity that he associates with the divine and the human perspective. This dissertation argues that Heraclitus conceives of reality as an undifferentiated unity that can only be understood from a “perspectiveless” state. In other words, reality is such that it can only be grasped from a state unconditioned by the perceptual and cognitive features arising from one’s idiosyncratic “creaturely” constitution – especially one’s needs and values. This perspectiveless state also corresponds to the divine “perspective.” Heraclitus’ logos, this thesis argues, is a method for recognizing the underlying structure of human thought and discourse, and the view of reality that this structure yields. However, this method, when used consistently and globally, serves to undermine both the logos itself and the human perspective that it reflects. Through an analysis of Heraclitus’ perspective juxtapositions, this thesis shows that a full engagement with the logos’ method of evoking the unity of opposites allows the audience to achieve a (temporary) collapse of perspective and apprehension of reality as a unity free of oppositions and differentiations. By viewing Heraclitus’ statements concerning human knowledge in this light, we can resolve certain puzzles in Heraclitus’ conception of unity, his preoccupation with the perspectival (despite his rejection of the idiosyncratic) and his attitudes towards human knowledge. The unity of opposites, while not part of the nature of reality, plays an essential part in the common structure of human thought. By cleaving to this common structure, and by engaging fully with the conflicting perspectives which it brings together, and which are equally idiosyncratic with respect to the true nature of reality, the audience overcomes the limitations of the human perspective, and achieves a temporary apprehension of a reality which cannot be grasped from within its constraints.

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My dissertation advances a solution to what I have called the problem of opposites in Heraclitus. The problem is this: Heraclitus often juxtaposes pairs of opposites, but the opposites he cites seem to be of many different kinds. How are we to explain this feature of the fragments? The default method of solution for interpreters has been to find a single thesis under which to subsume all the divergent examples of opposites. Some such theses are as follows: opposites are identical (Aristotle, Barnes), opposites are essentially connected (Kirk), opposites are transformationally equivalent (Graham), identical things can have opposite significances in different situations (Osborne). The main problem all these solutions face is that each is only able to make sense of some of the examples of opposition in Heraclitus, while ignoring or downplaying the significance of others. In order to solve this problem, I offer an interpretation on which Heraclitus was advancing multiple opposites theses, each of which contains interesting, philosophical content. The theses are as follows: The Transformation Thesis: the world contains opposing stuffs which transform into one another in such a way that they are transformationally equivalent, and therefore unified. The Dependence Thesis: objects are ontologically dependent for their existence (i.e. that they exist) and their identity (i.e. their ‘nature’ or φύσις) on opposing, yet essential properties which are necessarily inherent in them. The Value Thesis: it is possible for one and the same object to have opposing values (i.e. to be both objectively good and objectively bad). But why would Heraclitus promote multiple opposites theses? On my interpretation Heraclitus was responding to his Ionian predecessors who treated opposites as explanatory principles. Heraclitus seems to be saying that opposites are not explanatory principles since opposites themselves need to be explained. Hence the opposites are explananda, for Heraclitus, and the three theses are his explanantia. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In this dissertation I offer a new interpretation of an ancient Greek philosopher named Heraclitus who stands at the beginning of the timeline of Western philosophy (around 500BC). It has often been thought that Heraclitus had something interesting to say about opposites (e.g. hot and cold, up and down). Most scholars think that Heraclitus intended to say that opposites are connected; that is, hot is connected to cold since we cannot think of hot without its opposite, cold. I argue in this dissertation that this interpretation and other, alternative interpretations, fail to make good sense of what Heraclitus said about opposites. Rather, I argue that Heraclitus was treating opposites (e.g. hot and cold, up and down) as philosophical problems that need to be explained in order to be solved.

Neste trabalho, após analisar a prática pedagógica deste pesquisador relativa ao conceito dos números inteiros, identificamos as dificuldades para explicá-lo aos alunos da Educação Básica, que resultou no seguinte problema de pesquisa: Quais elementos devem conter uma atividade para o ensino dos números inteiros de modo a propiciar uma melhor aprendizagem para os alunos? Esta pesquisa tem um aspecto qualitativo (BOGDAN E BIKLEN, 1994) e outro documental (PÁDUA, 1997). Com Tardif (2002) e Cardoso (2012) buscamos entender os elementos sobre os saberes docentes e a relação com a formação profissional de professores e, em Shulman (2014) a análise das bases do conhecimento, essenciais para nos fundamentarmos no exercício da docência. Procuramos os elementos textuais necessários ao desenvolvimento das ideias iniciais, analisando documentos oficiais que nos guiaram à história dos números inteiros como um elemento facilitador da aprendizagem. Consequentemente, nos baseamos na necessidade de sobrevivência do comerciante indicado por Crosby (1999) para inserirmos esse contexto na matemática escolar, acreditando que ele possibilita um pensamento fora das estruturas matemáticas. Nessa pesquisa, os elementos textuais sobre o ensino dos números inteiros na Educação Básica, indicados por LIMA E MOISÉS (1998), alicerçam o pensamento com contrários e aproximam-se das situações do comerciante medieval de Crosby (1999). Finalmente, formulamos e apresentamos atividades para o ensino da matemática escolar que forneceram elementos textuais sobre o ensino do conceito dos números inteiros para alunos do Ensino Fundamental. Essas atividades visam facilitar o processo de ensino-aprendizagem e reduzir as dificuldades dos alunos na área numérica. / In this dissertation, after analyzing the pedagogical practice of this researcher on concept of integers, we identify the difficulties to explain it to the students of Basic Education, which resulted in the following research problem: What elements should an activity contain for the teaching of whole numbers in order to provide a better learning for the students? This research has a qualitative aspect (Bogdan and Biklen, 1994) and another documentary (Padua, 1997). With Tardif (2002) and Cardoso (2012) we seek to understand the elements about teacher knowledge and the relation with the professional formation of teachers, in Shulman (2014) the analysis of knowledge bases, essential to be based on the exercise of teaching. We searched for the textual elements necessary for the development of initial ideas, analyzing official documents that guided us to the history of integers as a facilitator of learning. Consequently, we rely on the merchant\'s need for survival as indicated by Crosby (1999) to insert this context into school mathematics, believing that it enables one thinking outside of mathematical structures. In this research, the textual elements on the teaching of integers in Basic Education, indicated by LIMA AND MOISÉS (1998) support the thinking with opposites and approach the situations of the medieval merchant of Crosby (1999). Finally, we formulate and present activities for the teaching of school mathematics that provided textual elements on the teaching of the concept of integers for elementary school students. These activities aim to facilitate the teaching-learning process and reduce students difficulties in the numerical area.

My thesis reflects an assessment of The Lord of the Rings centering on the idea of a structure of opposites. For each place, race, character and object in The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien included an element which serves as an antithesis. In addition, the style, pacing, and language of the work also contain antithetical pairs which continually engage and propel the reader to the work's conclusion. I contend that this deliberate pairing of opposing elements adds depth and verisimilitude to the work. Tolkien was an avid student of what his contemporaries would have called "fantasy" or "fairy tales." While dismissed by many scholars as juvenilia, Tolkien and his predecessors the trailblazing folklorists and philologists the Grimm brothers took these works seriously as both serious narratives and fragments of a time for which the historical record is spotty. In examining these Old English, Old Norse, Old Germanic and folkloric works, Tolkien built a professional reputation as a literary critic. He studied the formalist elements of these tales such as plot, diction, characterization and pacing the same way other literary critics studied contemporary or "mainstream" historical works. I contend that Tolkien's work as a critic informed Tolkien as a writer in form and structure. My thesis highlights the deliberately shaped formalist element of antithetical pairs of races, places, objects and characters. In addition, the narrative pacing and style of the works reflect and author concerned with a deliberate paring of polarities. As my thesis examine the text for elements of plot, setting, pacing and characterization I primarily approach Tolkien from a formalist and narratological standpoint. Many of the points I mention are not new; critics have noted in passing some of the elements before essays or books that focus on another method of criticism. However, I believe that in pulling together a final tally of Tolkien's structural polarities I can explain how a work derided at its publication by critic Edmund Wilson as "juvenile trash" has endured to become the best selling work published in England, aside from the Bible.

For some of Plato’s commentators some passages of the Republic and the Parmenides provide a clear guideline regarding the extension of the noetic “world”, namely, a criterion that allows us to know what kind of Platonic forms there are, and which there are not. There are forms only for a pair of opposite properties such as “big” and “small”; indeed, smallness itself is not what appears to the senses, since each sensible instance of smallness appears “mixed” with its opposite, bigness. On the contrary, things that are perceived by the senses such as fingers, do not have an eidos. However, a more careful reading of the relevant passages, taking into account what Socrates says in 476a about the unity and multiplicity of the forms, will show us the incorrectness of this interpretation. / Algunos intérpretes de Platón consideran que algunos pasajes de la República y el Parménides nos proveen de un criterio para delimitar la extensión del ámbito ediético, es decir, para saber qué tipos de Ideas hay y qué tipos no. Hay ideas solo para pares de propiedades opuestas, como “grande” y “pequeño”, ya que la pequeñez no es lo que aparece a los sentidos, pues en cada instancia sensible suya la encontramos mezclada con su opuesto, la grandeza. Contrariamente, aquellas cosas que son tal como aparecen a los sentidos, como los dedos, no tienen un eidos. Sin embargo, una lectura más cuidadosa de los pasajes relevantes, tomando en cuenta lo que Sócrates dice sobre la multiplicidad y unidad de las ideas en República 476a, nos mostrará lo equivocado de esta interpretación.

[pt] Essa dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a reflexão acerca da poesia no livro O arco e a lira de Octavio Paz. Para realizar essa tarefa analisamos brevemente sua vida e obra, tendo especial atenção para a questão da batalha dialética constante que se equilibra na própria fonte do pensamento e da obra de Octavio Paz. A apaixonada reconciliação de opostos que está no núcleo de toda a sua obra se encontra nesta oposição, que ao mesmo tempo é uma momentânea reconciliação dessa luta, que é a comunhão. Procuramos demonstrar o caráter imprescindível que há para ele na aproximação do fazer poético com o pensamento crítico evidenciada em toda a sua obra. / [en] This dissertation aims to analyze Octavio Paz s reflection on poetry in the book The Bow and the Lyre. To accomplish this task we have briefly his life and work, taking special attention to the issue of the constant dialectic battle that balances in own source of thought and work of Octavio Paz. The passionate reconciliation of opposites that is at the core of all his work is this opposition, which at the same time is an instantaneous reconciliation this conflict, which is communion. We tried to demonstrate the characteristic trait that become manifest in the approximation of poetic expression and the critical thinking, evidenced in all his works.

L’écriture de Marguerite Duras est foncièrement mythique ; son imaginaire puise dans les schémas les plus fondamentaux et les plus primitifs de la psyché humaine, puis les redispose dans l’athanor créatif intérieur, engendrant des œuvres protéiformes, à la fois extrêmement novatrices et nourries d’images archaïques fidèlement reprises ou revisitées, voire déformées ou renversées totalement. A la croisée de l’exégèse littéraire et phénoménologique (à l’image de l’herméneutique de Gaston Bachelard), de l’anthropologie (les travaux de Mircea Eliade), de la mythodologie développée par Gilbert Durand et de la psychologie des profondeurs (Carl Gustav Jung et Marie-Louise von Franz), nous proposons une étude précise et la plus complète possible des archétypes qui constellent cet imaginaire ainsi que de leur résonnance symbolique dans les textes ou les films durassiens. Cette analyse nous permettra de présenter une lecture nouvelle de l’univers scriptural, avec des outils efficaces et efficients. Il s’agira de repérer au fil des livres les symboles, de les confronter au plus grand nombre d’occurrences dans les pensées, les rites et les récits de toute culture, afin de laisser affleurer leur spécificité dans les œuvres. Si la quête de Marguerite Duras peut être assimilée à une tentative désespérée d’unir les contraires et résorber tout antagonisme, nous verrons que le style et l’univers se tournent progressivement vers un appel radical à la destruction absolue, qui modifie profondément la vision interne et la forme de l’écrit. Par l’analyse minutieuse des images dans un double corpus (le cycle indien puis la trilogie politique), nous souhaitons laisser remonter ces images fondatrices, observer leur signification tout en repérant leurs modifications essentielles au long de la production littéraire, théâtrale et cinématographique de l’artiste. / Marguerite Duras’s writing is deeply mythical; her imaginary world is rooted in the most fundamental and primitive patterns of the human psyche. She reorganizes it in the inner crucible of her creation, thus creating multifaceted works, simultaneously extremely innovative and filled with archaic images that the author uses faithfully, rewrites, twists or completely flips over. In between literary and phenomenological exegesis (like Gaston Bachelard’s hermeneutics), anthropology (Mircea Eliade’s works), Gilbert Durand’s mythodology and Carl Gustav Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz’s depth psychology, we offer a precise study, as thorough as possible, of the archetypes scattered throughout Marguerite Duras’s imaginary world as well as their symbolical echo in her texts and filmography.This analysis will enable us to present a new interpretation of her writing with efficient and effective tools. Book after book, we will spot the symbols and confront them with as many cultural rituals, thoughts and tales as possible in order to grasp their meaning in each of her works. If Marguerite Duras’s quest can be considered as a desperate attempt to bring together opposites and absorb any antagonisms, her style and her artistic world gradually turn to a radical call for complete destruction that deeply changes the inner vision and the nature of her writing. Through the careful analysis of the images in a double corpus (the Indian cycle then the political trilogy), we wish to let these founding images reach the surface, examine their meaning while underlining their crucial modifications during the author’s production in literature, theatre and cinema.