This thesis attempts to show that Robert Louis Stevenson's romantic novels experiment in combining romance and realism. To achieve his objective, Stevenson sometimes imitates earlier writers of romance, sometimes differs from them. He imitates traditional romance by including the motifs of love, adventure, combat, and quest. He juxtaposes good and evil and makes good defeat evil. He deviates from traditional romance, however, by creating villains not altogether evil, such as Long John Silver in Treasure Island. He also deviates from traditional romance by creating incidents where evil overwhelms and drags the good down into moral degradation, as in the encounters between the Durie brothers in The Master of Ballantrae or between Frank and Archie in Weir of Hermiston. Stevenson also includes in his romantic novels some elements of realism--the use of common people, the modeling of characters after known personalities, and the association of fictional events with history. He uses a truly romantic character such as the Prince in Prince Otto to make a moral point about the place of aptitude and interest in assigning roles to people. He also uses romantic adventures to teach moral lessons, as in The Dynamiter. Stevenson establishes that romance functions not only to delight but also to teach; it is not to encourage escape but to serve a pragmatic purpose. / Master of Arts

By presenting the auditor as a unifying principle that links Browning's earliest works to his dramatic monologues, this dissertation enhances the importance of the ever-ignored experimental works in developing the dramatic monologue technique. An exploration of the emergence and development of the auditor has an additional, but never ancillary, effect of proclaiming the originality and inventiveness of Browning's dramatic technique.

My dissertation investigates questions of boredom and architecture in the middle decades of the twentieth century through the work of two figures: the American-Italian architect Robert Venturi (b. 1925) and the Romanian-born American architect and artist Saul Steinberg (1914-1999). The topic of boredom in architecture, and specifically within this timeframe, has been largely ignored in architectural history, theory, and criticism where, with the exception of a few articles, there is no consistent body of scholarship on this issue. Looming large in the sterile iterations of various –isms, boredom remains critical in contemporary architectural practice as the production and obsolescence of images becomes ever faster with new technologies. Quickly saturated with information presented in fleeting displays that are easy to produce, easy to delete, and easy to consume, as soon as our expectation for novelty and change fails to satisfy us, we fall back into the loop of boredom. While boredom as the dissociation of person from place has raised architects' interest especially during the middle decades of the twentieth century, there is no significant scholarship on this topic. In this context, my research looks at the work of two architects who go beyond the attractive rhetoric of boredom and explore its potential as both a critical and a generative tool. / PHD / My dissertation investigates questions of boredom and architecture in the middle decades of the twentieth century through the work of two figures: the American-Italian architect Robert Venturi (b. 1925) and the Romanian-born American architect and artist Saul Steinberg (1914-1999). Although the topic of boredom as a disease of modernity has been studied in various fields, such as philosophy, literary studies, sociology, and visual arts, it does not have a presence in architectural scholarship. We live in a world where images are short lived, their production and obsolescence becomes faster with new technologies, and we become quickly bored with everything. In this context, boredom remains critical in contemporary architectural practice where we are quickly saturated with information presented in fleeting displays that are easy to produce, easy to delete, and easy to consume. As soon as our expectation for novelty and change fails to satisfy us, we fall back into the loop of boredom. My research looks at the work of two architects who go beyond the rhetoric of boredom and explore its potential both as a tool of criticism and as a design tool.

Robert Recorde (c. 1510-1557) was a pioneer in the teaching of mathematics in the English language. His attempt to popularize mathematics, in fact, was without precedent in any language. Mathematics in the 1500s was still exclusively reserved for mathematicians, and people in general had no interest in the subject. Within a hundred years after Recorde had popularized mathematics, however, this situation had changed. The scientific revolution of the seventeenth centuty occurred and mathematics became an indispensible aspect of man's knowledge. This thesis examines the background and development of Recorde's attempt to popularize mathematics and evaluates that attempt in terms of its relation to the position of science in the modern world.

This study seeks to demonstrate that nature provided Frost an objective background against which he could measure the validity of human experience and gain a fuller understanding of it. The experiences examined with reference to the poetry include loneliness, anxiety, sorrow, and hope. Attention is given to the influence of Frost's philosophical skepticism upon his poetry. The study reveals that Frost discovered correspondences between nature and human experience which clarified his perspective of existence. The experiences of loneliness, anxiety, and sorrow were found to relate to Frost's feeling of separation from nature and from the source of existence. The experience of hope was found to relate to Frost's vision of the wholeness and unity of life, a vision which derives from humanity's common source with nature.

This thesis is concerned with the establishment of an underlying philosophy for Robert Browning's many themes. It asserts that a notion found in II Corinthians 3:6, "the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life," is basic to ideas such as Browning's belief in the superiority of life over art, of the wisdom of the heart over the intellect, and of honest skepticism over unexamined belief. The sources used to establish this premise are mainly the poems themselves, grouped in categories by subject matter of art, love, and religion. Some of his correspondence is also examined to ascertain how relevant the philosophy was to his own life. The conclusion is that the concept is, indeed, pervasive throughout Browning's poetry and extremely important to the man himself.

The purpose of this study is to examine how English natural philosophers of the seventeenth century—in particular, Robert Boyle (1627-1691) considered and assessed the personal traits of skill and experience and the significance of these characteristics to the practice of seventeenth-century science. Boyle's writings reveal that skill and experience impacted various aspects of his seventeenth-century experimental natural philosophy, including the credibility assessment of tradesmen and eyewitnesses to natural phenomena, the contingencies involved in the making of experiments, and Boyle's statements about the requisite skills of experimental philosophy in contrast to other traditions. Subtopics explored include the popularization of science and Boyle's expectations concerning the future improvement of natural philosophy.

Tesis para optar al grado de Magister en Filosofía mención Axiología y Filosofía Política / Años atrás la opinión pública vio como un grupo de jóvenes arrojaba un arma incendiaria contra el palacio La Moneda (símbolo del Estado en Chile). Dicho grupo se auto identificaba como “Movimiento Anarquista” y predicaban más o menos lo mismo que el movimiento anarquista español (o CNT) que luchó en contra de la dictadura franquista; me refiero a un rechazo a la autoridad del Estado. También, desde hace algunos años, vemos como otro grupo le exige al Estado lo mismo que aquel grupo de jóvenes. Ahora, eso sí, no se trata de jóvenes protestando; se trata de gente algo mayor identificados con los altos poderes económicos del país que, con corbatas y ternos exigen algo similar: un Estado que no se entrometa es sus acciones. Pero ¿Qué tienen en común estos grupos tan disímiles? ¿Por qué culpan al Estado de sus males? ¿Qué hace el Estado en su contra? ¿Será que al menos, en esencia, comparten ideas similares? La primera respuesta que a cualquiera que se le viene a la cabeza sobre estos cuestionamientos es que claramente este rechazo de la autoridad del Estado tiene algo que ver con nuestra Libertad. Pareciese, según lo creen algunos, que el gran problema que ven en el Estado es que éste intefiere con nuestra Libertad y con nuestras decisiones; pareciese que el Estado les ata las manos y no les deja actuar a sus anchas. De este modo, si es que aceptásemos que estas respuestas instintivas tienen algo de verdad, deberíamos aceptar también que, por lo menos en apariciencia, estos grupos sostienen que el Estado necesariamente viola Libertades. ¿No sería más sensato ver al Estado como institución política que trata de promover nuestra Libertad? En esta tesis trataremos de mostrar las soluciones teóricas que estas posiciones han dado a estas interrogantes junto con tratar de resolver la cuestión de si estas posturas sotienen una semejanza significativa. Para esto, nuestra primera labor será posicionar filosóficamente lo que representan estas posturas. Respecto a las posiciones Anarquistas, no hay ningún problema ya que dicha postura tiene una vasta defensa teórica representada por un largo historial de pensadores. Respecto a los grupos que exigen más libertad al Estado y que representan a altos poderes económicos del país es algo más complejo, filosóficamente hablando. Es fácil encontrar un correlato teórico en términos económicos (se les suele llamar capitalistas, libre cambistas, liberales, etc.), no obstante en términos filosóficos no es tan claro a quién representan. Descartamos a los liberales (principalmente a los de corte ralwsiano) ya que sus posiciones no representan una confrontación directa entre las Libertades y el Estado. Creemos que la posición filosófica que más se ajusta a dicha descripción son los Libertarios ya que estos serían quienes extreman el rasgo de la libertad en su argumentación que incluso se acentúa cuando hablamos sobre derechos de propiedad.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, for the Degree of Master of Arts in Fine Arts. / This dissertation investigates a particular use of repetition (and `quotation`) in the artistic method of Robert Hodgins, and the pedagogical significance of this method for the author. (Abbreviation abstract) / AC2017

O ponto de partida desta dissertação são os aspectos metodológicos, quais sejam: (i) contextualização do ordenamento jurídico brasileiro; (ii) emersão da problemática do conflito entre princípios (positivismo versus pós-positivismo ou neoconstitucionalismo); e (iii) relevância da análise do método de sopesamento de princípios proposto por Robert Alexy. Em seguida, o estudo apresenta a discussão sobre teorias do conhecimento travada entre os filósofos Henri Poincaré e Pierre Duhem, demonstrando que a mesma discussão pode ser aplicada ao direito, e, nesse sentido, faz um paralelo com Herbert Hart, Ronald Dworkin e Robert Alexy. Passando pelo determinante Período Iluminista (incluindo os filósofos Jean-Jacques Rousseau e Cesare di Beccaria), a pesquisa evidencia sua influência nos princípios e nos direitos fundamentais consagrados atualmente pelo direito penal brasileiro. Em seguida, a pesquisa expõe os direitos fundamentais, apresenta a teoria do sopesamento ou balanceamento de princípios proposta por Robert Alexy e analisa, na jurisprudência do Supremo Tribunal Federal, como os ministros recorrem a esse método para solução de casos nos quais existe conflito entre os direitos fundamentais. A finalidade é evidenciar que o recurso, pelos juristas brasileiros, não introduziu uma nova maneira de interpretação ou um novo método de tomada de decisões, já que os ministros do STF recorrem à doutrina de Robert Alexy somente para demonstrar erudição; sem de fato aplicar o método proposto por ele, o mencionam para justificar qualquer decisão que já tenha sido tomada com base na subjetividade. Por fim, este estudo apresenta exercícios de aplicação do que a autora entende ser o método do sopesamento aos casos sob análise, e a conclusão foi que há distorções nos resultados em cerca de 30% deles, porcentagem relevante, considerando a importância dos casos analisados pelo STF. A aplicação do método do sopesamento consiste em três sub-regras subsequentes e ordenadas: adequação, necessidade e proporcionalidade em sentido estrito. A proporcionalidade apenas é analisada se a questão não puder ser solucionada pela necessidade e, por sua vez, a necessidade só é analisada se a adequação não for suficiente para solucionar a questão. O estudo demonstra que, quando a análise atinge a sub-regra necessidade, ocorrem os resultados divergentes. / This dissertation starts by the methodological aspects, which are: (i) contextualization of the Brazilian legal system; (ii) emergence of the conflict between principles (positivism versus postpositivism or neoconstitutionalism); and (iii) relevance of the analysis of the balancing of principles proposed by Robert Alexy. Subsequently, we presented the discussion of knowledge theories between the philosophers Henri Poincaré and Pierre Duhem, showing that the same discussion can be applied to law, in this sense we drew a parallel with Herbert Hart, Ronald Dworkin and Robert Alexy. Passing through the determinant Enlightenment Period (including the philosophers Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Cesare di Beccaria), we demonstrate its influence to principles and rights currently consecrated on the Brazilian criminal law. We analyzed on the jurisprudence of the Brazilian Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) the application of Robert Alexys theory, known as sopesamento or balancing of principles, to case laws on which are conflict of fundamental rights (including the rights previously presented). The purpose is highlight that the recourse, by Brazilian jurists, did not insert a new interpretation technique or method of decision-making, since the ministers of STF invoke Robert Alexy doctrine solely to show erudition, without in fact apply the method proposed by him and mention him to justify whatsoever decision already taken based on subjectivity. Finally, we made an exercise of apply our understanding of the balancing method to cases under study and the conclusion was for 30% of distortions in the results, percentage relevant considering the importance of the cases analyzed by STF. The application of the balancing method consist on three sub-rules subsequent and ordered: adequacy, need and proportionality in strict sense. The proportionality is only analyzed if the case cannot be solved by need, and, in turn, need is only analyzed if adequacy is insufficient to solved the question. We ascertain that when the analysis achieves the sub-rule of need occurs the divergent results.