Thesis(B.A.Hons.) -- University of Adelaide, 1968.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-96) Also available in print.

Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 339-356).

This work examines the relationship between moral philosophy and literature. I start by exploring a dialectic that exists between “prevalent view” theorists (i.e., D. D. Raphael and Onora O'Neill), who argue that the moral interest of literature lies in explicit deliberative arguments modeled in literary texts, and Diamondian realist theorists (i.e., Alice Crary, Cora Diamond and Iris Murdoch), who argue that the “prevalent view” is too narrow. Rather, the ways in which literature affects us emotionally can make ineliminable contributions to fully rational moral thought. In Chapter Two, I explore potential challenges to this position, drawn from the works of Simon Blackburn. He argues that there are epistemological concerns (it relies upon a faulty view of language), and moral concerns (specifically relativism) with Diamondian realism. I respond to these challenges in Chapter Three and conclude that Crary, Diamond, and Murdoch have given us a better picture of literature's moral value.

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Cette version de la thèse a été tronquée des certains éléments protégés par le droit d’auteur. Une version plus complète est disponible en ligne pour les membres de la communauté de l’Université de Montréal et peut aussi être consultée dans une des bibliothèques UdeM. / Si Norman McLaren (1914-1987) œuvre principalement dans le domaine onirique de l’animation, David Cronenberg (1943-), parfois surnommé « The Baron of Blood », réalise des films de fiction appartenant à un genre singulier qu’il a lui-même développé, celui de « l’horreur intérieure ». Que peuvent donc partager ces deux cinéastes aux univers a priori si distincts ? Chacun a construit une relation à long terme avec un compositeur : Maurice Blackburn (1914-1988) pour le premier, Howard Shore (1946-) pour le second. Mais si les univers des deux réalisateurs ont été maintes fois investigués, l’apport de leurs compositeurs respectifs demeure peu examiné. Or, d’un univers à l’autre, la musique semble jouer un rôle de toute première importance, chacun des compositeurs étant impliqué très tôt dans le processus cinématographique. Cette implication précoce dans la création collective est indicatrice de la place et du rôle centraux qu’occupent Blackburn et Shore et leur musique au sein de l’œuvre de McLaren, d’une part, et de Cronenberg, de l’autre. De la sorte, les partitions semblent ne pouvoir être considérées comme une simple illustration sonore des films, mais comme une composante tout à fait fondamentale, relançant dès lors la question du rôle de la musique au cinéma : comment le définir ? En outre, au fil de la rencontre continue sur plusieurs films, musique et cinéma en sont venus à un entrelacement tel qu’un style singulier de musicalisation des images se serait développé : quels sont les traits qui définissent ce style ? D’une collaboration à l’autre, cette thèse cherche à établir une poïétique de la création musico-filmique ; elle cherche à décrire et à comprendre les processus créateurs filmique et musical qui déterminent la composition d’une musique de film et, plus encore, une musicalité de tout le complexe audio-visuel. À travers des portraits examinant la pratique et le discours des créateurs et quatre analyses de bandes sonores (A Phantasy de Norman McLaren, Jour après jour de Clément Perron, Crash et A Dangerous Method de David Cronenberg), des liens se tissent peu à peu entre les pensées et les pratiques des deux compositeurs qui développent des stratégies similaires et originales face aux problèmes que leur posent les œuvres de McLaren (l’indissociabilité de la musique et de l’image) et de Cronenberg (la « transformation de l’esthétique humaine »). D’un binôme à l’autre, le cinéma se transforme en un laboratoire musico-filmique où chacun élabore une « méthode dangereuse » qui force l’analyste à explorer de nouvelles avenues méthodologiques. / Norman McLaren’s (1914-1987) animation work evokes a primarily dream-like world. David Cronenberg (1943-), also sometimes known as the “Baron of Blood,” makes fiction films that belong to a singular genre he developed: the “inner horror.” So what can these two filmmakers possibly have in common? They both built a long-term relationship with composers: Maurice Blackburn (1914-1988) for the former and Howard Shore (1946-) for the latter. Though the distinct approaches of these two directors have been widely studied, the weight of the contributions of their respective composers remains largely unmeasured. And this, despite the fact that music seems to play a primary role in these two directors’ process since, in each instance, the composer is involved very early on. This unusually early involvement of the composer, and the ongoing collaboration it entails, are indicative of the central place and role held by Blackburn and Shore’s music in McLaren’s work on the one hand, and Cronenberg’s on the other. This considered, their scores must no longer be seen as direct sound illustration of the films, but rather as essential components of the films, even though such a stance forces us to rethink how we define the role of music in film. Furthermore, from film to film, music and cinema become so intertwined that a singular style of musicalization of the image develops, begging the question: what are the characteristics of this style? From one collaboration to the other, this thesis seeks to establish a poietic of film-music creation; it looks to describe the cinematic and musical creative processes that determine the composition of film music and, beyond that, the musicality of the entire audio-visual complex. Through portraits that investigate the practice and discourse of creators and through the analysis of four soundtracks (A Phantasy by Norman McLaren, Day After Day by Clément Perron, Crash and A Dangerous Method by David Cronenberg), the thoughts and practices of the two composers, who develop similar innovative strategies to solve the problems posed by the works of McLaren (the inseparability of music and image) and Cronenberg (the “transformation of human aesthetics”), are gradually connected. From one duo to another, cinema becomes a musical and cinematic laboratory where each develops a “dangerous method” which forces the analyst to explore new methodological avenues.

This thesis considers Kant's departure from moral naturalism. In doing so, it explores the relationship between ethics, naturalism, normativity and freedom. Throughout this exploration, I build the case that Kant's ethics of autonomy allows us to make better sense of ethics than Hume's moral naturalism. Hume believes that morality is ultimately grounded in human nature. Kant finds this understanding of ethics limiting. He insists that we are free - we can critically reflect upon our nature and (to an extent) alter it accordingly. This freedom, I contend, renders the moral naturalist's appeal to nature lacking. Of course, a Kantian conception of freedom - some form of independence from the causal order - is fairly unpopular in contemporary circles. In particular, a commitment to naturalism casts doubt on such a notion of freedom. I argue with Kant that such a conception of freedom is essential to the conception of ourselves as rational agents. The critical turn, unlike naturalism, warrants this conception of freedom, accommodating the point of view of our rational agency. It thus allows Kant's ethics of autonomy to better grasp certain key elements of morality - normativity and our agency - than Hume's moral naturalism.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis analyzes the relationship between Flanner House, an African American settlement house, and Planned Parenthood of Central Indiana to determine why Flanner House director Cleo Blackburn would not allow a birth control clinic to be established at the Herman G. Morgan Health Center in 1951. Juxtaposing the scholarship of African Americans and birth control with the historiography of black settlement houses leads to the conclusion that Blackburn’s refusal to add birth control to the health center’s services had little to do with the black Indianapolis community’s opinions on birth control; instead, Flanner House was confined by conservative limitations imposed on it by white funders and organizations. The thesis examines the success of Blackburn and Freeman B. Ransom, Indianapolis’s powerful black leaders, in working within the system of limitations to establish the Morgan Health Center in 1947. Ransom and Blackburn received monetary support from the United Fund, the Indianapolis Foundation, and the U.S. Children’s Bureau, which stationed one of its physicians, Walter H. Maddux, in Indianapolis. The Center also worked as a part of the Indianapolis City Board of Health’s public health program. These organizations and individuals did not support birth control at this time and would greatly influence Blackburn’s decision about providing contraceptives. In 1951, Planned Parenthood approached Blackburn about adding birth control to the services at Morgan Health Center. Blackburn refused, citing the Catholic influence on the Flanner House board. While acknowledging the anti-birth control stance of Indianapolis Catholics, the thesis focuses on other factors that contributed to Blackburn’s decision and argues that the position of Flanner House as a black organization funded by conservative white organizations had more impact than any religious sentiment; birth control would have been a liability for the Morgan Health Center as adding contraceptives could have threatened the funding the Center needed in order to serve the African American community. Finally, the position of Planned Parenthood and Flanner House as subordinate organizations operating within the limitations of Indianapolis society are compared and found to be similar.