Tese--Universidade do Recife. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis attempts to discover out of the debate between Lord Devlin and H.L.A. Hart the theoretical basis of decision-making in cases where there is a conflict between individual moral freedom and social control. It is structured in the form of an analysis of the debate between Devlin and Hart concerning the principles for and against the enforcement of morality. There are five main chapters of the thesis and a short conclusion. The first chapter, headed "The Hart-Devlin Debate", introduces and summarises Devlin's answers and Hart's criticism to the first two hypothetical questions which Devlin addresses to himself, namely, (1) Has society the right to pass judgement at all on matters of morals?, (2) If society has the right to pass judgement, has it also the right to use the weapon of the law to enforce it? It analyses Devlin's attempt to rationally convert the descriptive proposition that the majority have power to enforce morality to the normative proposition that society ought to enforce morality. There is an observation that the co-existing "right" of individual freedom is not debated by rational argument. The second chapter under the heading "The Common Morality and the Feelings Test" sets out the feelings test as expounded by Devlin as a means to determine which rules of morality ought to be enforced. There is a specified list of the qualifications to the feelings test which Hart overlooks for the most part. However I reach the conclusion that it is difficult to authoritatively interpret these qualifications or to give them any substance. Discussion then centres around Hart's objections that the feelings test is an abdication of reason and a source of potential injustice. These objections are not sufficient basis for rejecting the feelings test. The third chapter, called "Moral Paternalism", attempts to isolate the difference in the views of Hart and Devlin by analysis of Hart's phrase "morality as such." Hart creates an artificial distinction between "paternalism" and"enforcement of positive morality," thereby attempting to explain which moral rules ought to be enforced by assigning these two labels. My conclusion is that the only rational distinction lies in the availability of empirical evidence to prove physical harm and non-availability of empirical evidence to prove moral harm. Hart has a stricter onus of proof than Devlin when it comes to proving harm to the individual. However, it is difficult to sustain the distinction of physical and non-physical harm as the basis for decisions which we “want” to make. The distinction is rendered impotent in practice by finding elements of harm to society in the action of the individual and thereby justifying enforcement of morals by using Mill's principle of liberty. Concepts of private and public harm are easily used to cloak the real basis of the decision. My conclusion is that the real difference between the views of Hart and Devlin, behind all the "principles," is a difference of value-preference. The fourth chapter, under the heading "Value Difference between Hart and Devlin" discusses the possible reasons for the differing value preferences. It questions whether value preferences can ultimately be traced to prevalent social conditions. There has always been historical debate concerning the mysterious balance between individual freedom and social control. In order to assist in identifying the personal values of Hart and Devlin, their respective theories are viewed in terms of three traditional intellectual antinomies. These antinomies involve the problem of choosing between (a) Public authority or a Platonic elite (b) Individualism or collectivism (c) Reason or faith; intellect or intuition Both Hart and Devlin stand in definite historical intellectual positions and their theories can be compared to the writings of numerous legal and political philosophers. I agree with those writers who argue that a conflict between two ultimate values cannot be settled by reason. Can we argue that Hart's value preference for individual freedom in moral matters is subject to question due to modern social conditions? The fifth chapter is given the name "The Irreversible Disaster Argument." This section analyses Devlin's original argument that society has the right to preserve its common morality. Justification of this argument is attempted in terms of the right of society to prevent ''irreversible disaster." This is an attempt to derive a guiding principle from an extreme fact situation in order to assist to decide the deadlocked values. In times of emergency or threatened disaster, the value of individual freedom ought to he subordinated to other values. An analogy is drawn between Devlin's arguments for the preservation of morality and current arguments for the preservation of the environment. However Devlin's arguments for the enforcement of morality, even in terms of the principle of irreversible disaster, can be met by several unanswerable objections. A short attack is made on Devlin's theory by a similar device of applying the theory to a possible interpretation of modern social conditions. However this criticism does not enable us to subordinate Devlin's value-preference either. The conclusion is that Hart and Devlin have different value-preferences and their pronounced theoretical principles only dress these preferences with the garb of rationality. Ultimately they are only able to state the theories which they develop to support their personal values and cannot explain why. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

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Choral experts have promoted either sectional block or mixed seating formations in choirs for various reasons. Previous research by Lambson indicates that there is no clear advantage to choral sound in either mixed or sectional formations, and, according to Tocheff, mixed formation has no advantage over sectional block formation. This research attempted to relate choral seating arrangements to individual musical growth and sociological dynamics. One hypothesis suggested that a mixed formation promotes individual musical growth in ear-training/sight-singing, vocal freedom, perceived scope of a choral work and also promotes group cohesion. The second and third hypotheses considered the correlation between the percentage of time spent in mixed formation and individual and group trust. Only two relationships were statistically significant: between mixed formation and perceived scope of a choral work, and between the percentage of time spent in mixed formation and group trust. An ancillary finding suggests that individuals who sing in mixed formation, prefer to sing with individuals from different voice parts. These findings suggest that individual musical growth and individual responsibility are enhanced in mixed formation.

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A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2014. / Entomophagy, the consumption of insects, has attracted interest as a low input minilivestock with good nutritional value. The inflated stinkbug, Encosternum delegorguei, is an appetizing food, a hangover cure and a trade item in South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe yet very little is known about it. This study comprehensively integrates plant aspects (food and shelter) and insect biology (distribution, life cycle and fecundity) with socio-economic and conservation aspects. Firstly, E. delegorguei was observed in outdoor insectaries where it exhibited reproductive winter diapause and declining abdominal fat content attributed to non-feeding. In spring (September) E. delegorguei fed on Combretum imberbe, Combretum molle (Combretaceae), Peltophorum africanum (Fabaceae), and to a lesser degree on Dodonaea viscosa (Sapindaceae) and the grass Pennisetum clandestinum (Poaceae). Copulation occurred during October/November but eclosion was reduced by the egg parasitoid wasp, Anastatus sp. Secondly, structured interview schedules with 106 harvesters indicated that an estimated total of 3803 + 43.4 kg (mean+S.E.) dry stinkbugs was harvested with an annual gross per capita income of =US$ 345. In South Africa stinkbugs are consumed by two locally separate ethnic groups the Vhavenda and Mapulana, with a third group, the Bolobedu selling them. Ethnic differences in nomenclature and oral history, methods of collection and preparation, as well as perceptions pertaining to availability were documented between the three groups. Damage to host trees occurred when harvesters poached from pine plantations or private land, whereas, in communal-lands, sustainable methods proliferated. Using a regional maximum entropy modelling method (MAXENT) on winter locations of E. delegorguei known to harvesters, current and future distribution scenarios were identified. Winter precipitation and to a lesser degree summer precipitation and winter temperature were key climatic variables limiting the regional distribution of E. delegorguei. Moreover, potential new sites unknown to harvesters or areas where minilivestock initiatives could be piloted have been highlighted for further investigation. Opportunities to reduce impediments to collection and trade are discussed in a sustainable framework. For example legitimisation of harvesting and introduction of a collection funnel to reduce conflicts with plantation, orchard and private land managers. Awareness and optimal use of beneficial bio-resources, such as E. delegorguei, could encourage community driven habitat stewardship.

Adulthood holds a paradoxical position in sociology. It is a central category in so far as it provides the unarticulated background to a majority of social inquiries, but it is largely defined by default, as the taken-for-granted status of the social actor, and the middle stage of life. The meaning of adulthood is only rarely addressed directly. This thesis explores a way to fill this lacuna in sociology. An emerging lag between the prevalent normative ideals of adulthood and contemporary social trends is identified as the core of the 'prolonged adolescence thesis' - a dominant view in the social sciences and everyday discourse, which holds that many twenty and thirtysomethings are deferring or rejecting adulthood. My thesis argues that this approach is informed by a model of adulthood that is losing its empirical validity. I further argue that the practices of these young people are congruent with salient features of current social conditions. Drawing on theories of social recognition and the analysis of interview material, I hold that even though the form social recognition takes is subject to pluralisation, recognition of individuals' full membership in society is the meaningful constant of adulthood. I also propose that the redefinition of contemporary adulthood is marked by an intersubjectively constituted 'recognition deficit': commentators and social scientists often misunderstand young adults' practices, notwithstanding the structural rewards which these practices reap. At the same time, young adults themselves eschew the conventional markers of adult status. In so doing they forge their own, radically different, adulthood. Underpinned by an ideology of youthfulness, and subject to the fluid social relations of contemporary modernity, this adulthood eludes fixity. Its normative criteria flow from the everyday practices of individuals who, far from prolonging their adolescence, are the new adults of today.