Vernon Lushington (1832-1912) was a leading Positivist and disciple of Comte's Religion of Humanity. In The Religion of Humanity: The Impact of Comtean Positivism on Victorian Britain T.R. Wright observed that "the inner struggles of many of [Comte's] English disciples, so amply documented in their note books, letters, and diaries, have not so far received the close sympathetic treatment they deserve". Material from a previously little known and un-researched archive of the Lushington family now makes possible such a study. After a childhood influenced by the values of the Clapham Sect, Lushington went to Cambridge where he came under the spell of Thomas Carlyle, for whom he worked for a period as an unpaid secretary, and then Auguste Comte whose Religion of Humanity finally replaced any lingering orthodox Christian faith. At Cambridge Lushington mixed with leading Christian Socialists and worked as a tutor at the Working Men's College alongside Ruskin and D.G. Rossetti. Other friends included William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones who Lushington later introduced to Rossetti, an event which triggered the second phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, The altruistic Lushington used his legal skills to assist struggling trade union leaders consolidate their cause and his concern for the working classes led him to co-operate with Elizabeth Gaskell in raising funds to assist the struggling Manchester cotton operatives. It was as a Positivist that Lushington wished to be remembered. This thesis considers the attraction of Positivism for Lushington and his place in its development and spread during the second half of the nineteenth century. Specific areas covered are Lushington's childhood influences, his university life, his relationship with Carlyle and his adoption of Positivism. The thesis then turns to consider how Lushington outworked his new beliefs first in his public life - especially in the area of the Arts, and in then in his domestic role where his enthusiastic embrace of the Religion of Humanity placed severe strains on his marriage.

This thesis provides a reinterpretation of J.A.G. Griffith’s lecture ‘The Political Constitution’—a reinterpretation that stresses the commitment Griffith expressed in that lecture to the normative dimension of legal positivism. I call this normative dimension ‘normative positivism’. Identifying Griffith as a normative positivist serves to clarify a number of debates surrounding Griffith’s arguments in ‘The Political Constitution’ and serves to clarify our understanding of the concept that has come to be known in UK public law scholarship in recent years as ‘political constitutionalism’, of which Griffith is regarded as a leading exemplar. The thesis argues that Griffith’s political constitutionalism is best understood as a form of normative positivism and is very different from some more recent defences of political constitutionalism available in the scholarly literature. The thesis also considers how the big constitutional questions of the age in the UK—questions relating, for example, to bills of rights and devolution—play out in the light of our discovery and appreciation of Griffith’s normative positivism.

This dissertation addresses the influence of "positivism" in accounting research. Accounting research has been overwhelmed by "positivism" to the extent that the "scientific method" has become sacrosanct. The dysfunctional consequences include the extreme emphasis placed on methodology. Researchers believe that the methods applied, rather than the orientations of the human researcher, generate knowledge. This belief stems from an extreme objectivist ontological orientation. A second consequence of the "positivistic" influence is a change in direction of intellectual inquiries. Obsession with measurement and quantification has all but eliminated concern for values. Specifically this dissertation asserts that the "scientific method" has been misapplied and misunderstood. The misapplication is that a method developed in the natural sciences has been blindly accepted and endorsed in the social sciences. It has been misunderstood in the sense that the abstract Cartesian-Newtonian view of reality has been mistaken for reality itself. The ontological assumptions inherent in this view have become integrated in the Western mind. The axiomatic nature of these assumptions have been ignored. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to project a point concerning research and knowledge. Hence, there are no "research findings" in the conventional sense.

[pt] A presente tese é primordialmente um trabalho de filosofia do direito. Não obstante, também pode ser encarada como uma contribuição para o estudo filosófico sobre a natureza das regras prescritivas (e do uso diretivo ou prescritivo da linguagem), englobando: uma investigação sobre as regras e suas notas características e contingentes e um estudo sobre as diferentes maneiras por meio das quais elas podem integrar o raciocínio prático dos seus destinatários. Para não usar a linguagem de férias, as regras serão discutidas dentro do cenário do positivismo conceitual. O objetivo é mostrar alguns dos principais problemas que devem ser enfrentados quando se pretende levar as regras a sério. Trata-se de uma incursão nas fontes filosóficas dos casos difíceis do direito, quando encarado como um sistema de regras. / [en] The present thesis is primarily an exercise in philosophy of law. However, it can also be viewed as a contribution to the recurring philosophical investigations about the nature of prescriptive rules (and the directive or prescritive use of language in general), encompassing: an inquiry about rules and their characteristic and contigent marks, and a research of several ways by means of which they can play a part in the practical reasoning of its addressees. In order not to use language on holiday, the discussion about rules will be held on the stage set up by conceptual positivism. The aim is to point out some of the main problems that must be faced when rules are taken seriously. In a nutshell, the thesis is an incursion into the philosophical sources of hard cases, when law is conceived as a system of rules.

This dissertation explores one family's experience of a son's disclosure of homosexuality, through the use of a second-order cybernetic epistemology, and social constructionist theory. Second-order cybernetics enables a description of patterns and themes that recursively connect the family's ideas and behaviour. Social constructionism enables the family's reaction to disclosure to be recursively linked to their fit with wider society. By using semantic and political frames of reference to describe the family's narratives around disclosure, this study indicates that disclosure is a relational metaphor, dependent on the family's locally co-constructed and transgenerational meanings. It also shows that although the family change with disclosure, stability is regained in a way consistent with the family's rules and norms. This study therefore demystifies viewing disclosure in one way only and creates alternative ways of conceptualising it. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This dissertation explores myth-making in Latin America by focusing specifically upon four Amerindian and mestizo figures: Doña Bárbara, mestiza protagonist of Rómulo Gallegos’ 1929 novel; Anacaona and Hatuey, Taíno caciques who first appeared in Bartolomé de las Casas’ Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (1552); and Andrés Chiliquinga, indigenous protagonist of Jorge Icaza’s Huasipungo (1934). The present analysis examines the evolution of these myths from their original appearance to literary and film versions throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries in the Caribbean and Andean regions. The project focuses upon the ways in which artists have interpreted these myths, their embedding in society’s collective memory, and their mythical functions in anti- and postcolonial discourse. By breaking down each myth into its most basic structure, this project identifies the core connotations contained within that reveal each myth’s function as a cultural foundation in Latin America. It also examines how the versions of a myth depart from one another, thus underscoring possible critiques of the myth. Finally, it examines the ways in which some of these myths have become commodities, particularly in contemporary popular culture. By examining these figures as cultural myths—bridging past and present—, this research argues that a mythic-interpretive model proves effective as it leads us to a deeper understanding of the universal connotations contained not only within the stories chosen here, but the Latin American narrative as a whole.

This thesis explores ways in which the mid-nineteenth-century current of positivist thought impacted upon the work of the French artist Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). Guided by certain methodological imperatives set out in the theories of Hayden White and Dominick LaCapra – in particular LaCapra’s identification of the need for historical practice to avoid reductive interpretation of data and to recognise the formulation of concepts through intersecting domains of knowledge and the specificity of their articulation in different primary sources – this thesis focuses upon interpretations of Courbet’s work formulated between 1848 and 1878, examines ideas developed within the intersecting domains of positivism and medical science, and highlights the deployment of these ideas for political leverage across the entire political spectrum. The thesis discovers ways in which positivist interpreters of Courbet’s work, including the artist himself, sought to criticise and resolve the social and political problems of the time by drawing upon theories designed to achieve social harmony through scientific understanding of human nature and its evolution. The thesis demonstrates that numerous social commentators referred to the images of people and social conditions in Courbet’s paintings to express positivist views about social decay, the enduring human potential to reform such decay, and an inevitable achievement of social harmony. I show that positivists interpreted the artist’s work with recourse to disciplines such as biology, physiology and physiognomy, as well as concepts such as ‘the physical and the moral,’ according to which the various physical, mental, emotional and moral dimensions of the human constitution were closely interconnected, evident in physical appearance, and crucially influenced by the changing environmental conditions impacting upon them, including society. I also show that, according to such prescriptions, the physical appearance of ordinary contemporary people represented in Courbet’s paintings indicated their physical and moral state and by extension the social conditions forming this state. Such physiognomical principles were often associated with caricature and portraiture to advance the critical and affective nature of Courbet’s paintings, which were seen as aesthetic stimulants in an evolutionary process of social reform. As the project shows, positivists thought that Courbet’s paintings expressed certain ideal notions of equality and materiality that served the political, ideological and often anti-religious interests of the writers concerned; in these views, all humans fostered the same inherent physiological desire for altruistic existence and shared equal status with animals and organisms as physiological beings conceived and sustained within biological nature.

Este trabalho teve como principal objetivo discutir e analisar o papel de intelectuais cariocas das décadas de 30 e 40 do século XX na popularização de Euclides da Cunha e na construção de uma imagem que associa o escritor ao pensamento positivista. Para fundamentar a discussão e a análise, são analisados os conceitos de positivismo e evolucionismo, as trajetórias profissionais dos intelectuais citados, a militância dos mesmos no Grêmio Euclides da Cunha do Rio de Janeiro e a importância de suas atuações para a divulgação não só da obra de Euclides da Cunha, mas de uma interpretação específica sobre ela e sobre seu autor, contribuindo para cristalizar a noção de que Euclides da Cunha foi positivista. / This work had as main objective to discuss and analyze the role of intellectuals in Rio at the decades of the 30th and 40th century in the popularization of Euclides da Cunha and the construction of an image that links the writer to positivist thinking. To support the discussion and analysis this work reviews the concepts of positivism and evolutionism, the career paths of intellectuals mentioned, the militancy of the same with Gremio Euclides da Cunha of Rio de Janeiro and the importance of their actions to disseminate not only the work of Euclides da Cunha, but a specific interpretation on it and on its author, helping to crystallize the notion that Euclides da Cunha was positivist.

黃秉傑. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學硏究院哲學部. / Manuscript (cops. 2 & 3 reprint copies) / Includes bibliographical references: leaves 1-8 (5th group) / Huang Bingjie. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan zhe xue bu. / 序言 --- p.I-III / Chapter 第一章 --- 邏輯語意學的理論背景 / 本章大要 --- p.i-ii / Chapter §1 --- 卡納普與邏輯經驗論　 --- p.1-13 / Chapter §2 --- 卡納普的哲學發展 --- p.13-18 / Chapter §3 --- 卡納普的後設哲學與哲學方法 --- p.19-20 / Chapter §4 --- 卡納普的邏輯語法學 / Chapter 4.1 --- 邏輯法學之建構目的　 --- p.21-23 / Chapter 4.2 --- 邏輯語法學之性質與方法 --- p.24-28 / Chapter 4.3 --- 邏輯語法學之哲學應用　 --- p.28-38 / Chapter 4.4 --- 邏輯語法學之不足 --- p.38-47 / Chapter 第二章 --- 卡納普邏輯語意學的要素 / 本章大要 --- p.i-ix / Chapter §1 --- 邏輯語意學建構之目的及其主要工作 --- p.48-54 / Chapter §2 --- 記號學的基本概念 / Chapter 2.1 --- 研究語意的三種路伺 --- p.55-56 / Chapter 2.2 --- 描述語意學與純語意學之區分　 --- p.57-60 / Chapter 2.3 --- 對象語言與後設語言之區分　 --- p.60-61 / Chapter 2.4 --- 記號與表式之劃分 --- p.61-63 / Chapter §3 --- 語意系統之建構 / Chapter 3.1 --- 建構語意系統的兩種途徑´ؤ´ؤ語典系統S1與語言系統S2 --- p.63-70 / Chapter 3.2 --- 具有無限語句的語意系統S3 --- p.71-77 / Chapter 3.3 --- 具有變項的語意系統S6　 --- p.77-82 / Chapter §4 --- 定義「真」之適當性條件 --- p.83-86 / Chapter §5 --- 基概念 --- p.86-95 / Chapter §6 --- L－語意學 / Chapter 6.1 --- L－概念的重要性 --- p.96-101 / Chapter 6.2 --- 有關L－概念的公設與定理 --- p.101-113 / Chapter 6.3 --- 定義L－概念之適當性條件 --- p.114-120 / Chapter 6.4 --- 在特定的語意系統內定義L－概念 --- p.120-128 / Chapter 6.5 --- 「L－域」´ؤ´ؤ一個可作為L－語意學基礎的概念　 --- p.128-134 / Chapter 6.6 --- 有關「L－域」的公設與定理 --- p.135-138 / Chapter 6.7 --- 在外範語言內定義「L－域」´ؤ´ؤ程序19-E與程序19-F　 --- p.139-149 / Chapter 6.8 --- 擴大指謂關係的用法　 --- p.149-157 / Chapter 6.9 --- 絶對概念 --- p.157-162 / Chapter 6.10 --- 在內涵語言內定義「L－域」──程序18-A --- p.162-170 / Chapter 6.11 --- 以「L－域」為基始概念所建構的普遍語意學　 --- p.170-177 / Chapter 6.12 --- 同樣可作為L－語意學之基礎的L－內容」──有關的公設與定理 --- p.178-183 / Chapter 6.13 --- 在－外範語言內定義「L－內容」－程序23-F　 --- p.183-186 / Chapter §7 --- F－概念　 --- p.187-191 / Chapter §8 --- 意義公設 --- p.192-198 / Chapter §9 --- 演算系與̐ơÐ－概念　　 --- p.198-204 / Chapter §10 --- 語意學與語法學之關係──演算系及其解釋 --- p.204-211 / Chapter §11 --- 語言系統之建構 --- p.211-215 / Chapter §12 --- 邏輯究竟是約定的還是受限制 --- p.215-219 / Chapter §13 --- 語意學中的抽象實體　　 --- p.219-230 / Chapter 第三章 --- 對邏輯語意學的評鑑 / 本章大要　 --- p.i-ii / Chapter §1 --- 論邏輯語意學的哲學意義及其影響　 --- p.231-234 / Chapter §2 --- 評瑰英對「分析／綜合」的批評 --- p.234-261 / Chapter §3 --- 論史特勞遜對特構語言進路的批評　 --- p.262-273 / 結論 --- p.274-275 / 註目 --- p.1-24 / 參考書目 --- p.1-8

Unfortunately, for the most part, teachers do not teach the Nature of Science (NOS). Even when teachers have adequate NOS knowledge, their knowledge still does not make its way into practice. While there are various reasons for this happening, this study has isolated other, more typical, constraints to teaching in order to look more closely at the influence of personal epistemological beliefs, understandings of NOS, and their effects on practice. In an effort to minimize typical constraints of time for the teaching of NOS, a sixth grade physical science course was chosen as a way to minimize this constraint. Within this course there was a School District- mandated schedule for the teaching of NOS. This curriculum map included details of what NOS topics to teach and when to teach them. In Phase One of the study, correlational relationships between these understandings of NOS and personal epistemological beliefs were investigated. A Pearson Correlation Coefficient of 0.62 was calculated based on 28 sixth grade science teachers. In Phase Two of the research, eleven participants were chosen for a more in-depth analysis. Through the use of triangulation of interview data, classroom observations, artifact collection and survey scores to ascertain the constraints for each individual, even though few constraints could be verified that would affect instruction, only three of eleven participants taught NOS. Personal epistemological beliefs play a role in the way instruction is approached in either a constructivist or non-constructivist manner.