This creative project has been an illustration of the concept of the absurd as presented by Albert Callus in The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays as well as four other novels and five plays. The project has been an exploration of what Camus called the one truly serious philosophical question, which is suicide.Through the actions of the characters the problem of whether life can have worth without meaning has been discussed, as well as the issues which accompany this problem: despair, hopelessness, freedom, happiness, revolt and death. The project followed the continuing development and refinement of the notion of the absurd by Camus to the conclusion that this life here and now, without illusion and void of a meaning that transcends it, can be satisfying enough to make the prospect of death acceptable.

The central question which will be addressed in this paper is: can we know the true geometry of space? My answer will be in the negative, but not first without heavy qualification. The thesis concerns the notion of truth in mathematical science, i.e. physical science for which mathematics (particularly geometry) is integral, and will ask whether we can know with certainty, or via some empirical test, which geometry is an accurate description of the actual universe. It will be a fairly historical approach, but hopefully not entirely so. We will begin with a 17th century debate on the nature of space between Newton and Leibniz and how Kant proposed to resolve the debate, and then move on to the views of the late 19th century mathematician Poincaré, but we will end with Einstein's Theory of Relativity - a theory which uses a very different geometry to which most of us are perhaps accustomed. In general, the goal will be to better understand the nature of geometry and its role in scientific theory; specifically, however, it will be an attempt to answer, in the negative, the central question before us. / Graduate

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-137). / xi, 137 leaves, bound 29 cm

Mainz, Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

Zugl.: Mannheim, Univ., Diss., 2004

Thesis (B.A.Hons.) from the Depts. of French and German, University of Adelaide.

Thèse--Universit́e de Paris. / At head of title: Faculté des lettres de l'Université de Paris. "Errata" ([2] p.) inserted after t.p. "Sources d'information": p. [613]-617; "Bibliographie": p. [619]-627.

Diss.--Literaturwissenschaft--Zürich, 1980. / Bibliogr. p. 107.

Version remaniée de: Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Universität zu Köln, 1989.

DEA--Alger, 1981.