<p>This thesis is a critical examination of' the claim that metaethics is ethically neutral and that it has no ethical content. Broadly speaking, I have dealt with each of the three different categories of metaethical theory - naturalist, nonnaturalist and non-cognitivist. Chapter I is an outline of the differences between ethics and metaethics and a discussion of the relation between the two in the case of a non-naturalist metaethical theory (i.e. that of G.E. Moore in Principia Ethica.) Chapter II is an examination of the various possible interpretations of the claim of ethical neutrality in an attempt to see what is being claimed and how the claim can be best formulated. Chapter III is first an explanation of the non-neutrality of Naturalistic metaethical theories and secondly a critique of the fundamental presupposition (i.e. that all naturalistic theories are false) of those who claim neutrality. Chapter IV is a discussion of further problems of and prospects for the construction of a neutral metaethic. These problems which burden even the non-cognitivist, while perhaps not insurmountable, indicate that any truly neutral metaethic will be so only at the cost of being irrelevant to ethics.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

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Bodily Sensation in Contemporary Extreme Horror Film provides a theory of horror film spectatorship rooted in the physiology of the viewer. In a novel contribution to the field of film studies research, it seeks to integrate contemporary scientific theories of mind with psychological paradigms of film interpretation. Proceeding from a connectionist model of brain function that proposes psychological processes are underpinned by neurology, this thesis contends that whilst conscious engagement with film often appears to be driven by psychosocial conditions – including cultural influence, gender dynamics and social situation – it is physiology and bodily sensation that provide the infrastructure upon which this superstructure rests. Drawing upon the philosophical works of George Lakoff, Mark Johnson and Alain Berthoz, the argument concentrates upon explicating the specific bodily sensations and experiences that contribute to the creation of implicit structures of understanding, or embodied schemata, that we apply to the world round us. Integrating philosophy with contemporary neurological research in the spheres of cognition and neurocinematics, a number of correspondences are drawn between physiological states and the concomitant psychological states often perceived to arise simultaneously alongside them. The thesis offers detailed analysis of a selection of extreme horror films that, it is contended, conscientiously incorporate the body of the viewer in the process of spectatorship through manipulation of visual, auditory, vestibular, gustatory and nociceptive sensory stimulations, simulations and the embodied schemata that arise from everyday physiological experience. The phenomenological film criticism of Vivian Sobchack and Laura U. Marks is adopted and expanded upon in order to suggest that the organicity of the human body guides and structures the psychosocial engagement with, and interpretation of, contemporary extreme horror film. This project thus exposes the body as the architectural foundation upon which conscious interaction with film texts occurs.

Este trabalho relata aspectos do processo criativo da redação de um roteiro cinematográfico de longa metragem. Procurou-se investigar, durante o fazer do roteiro, o modo como a narrativa pode ser utilizada para despertar emoções e interesse no espectador. Através da revisão de obras de teóricos cognitivistas do cinema e de manuais de roteiro, levanta-se considerações sobre possíveis estratégias para se envolver emocionalmente o espectador. Para ilustrar estas estratégias, é apresentada uma análise da obra Aconteceu naquela Noite (1934). A partir destas considerações, realiza-se a descrição do processo de escrita do roteiro, procurando demonstrar de que forma as considerações teóricas influenciaram neste processo e no produto final, o roteiro completo. / This dissertation reports some aspects of the creative process on writing a feature movie script. During the screenwriting, it was attempted to investigate how the narrative can be used to elicit emotions and interest in the spectatorship. Through the review of Cognitivist Film Theory Scholars and Screenwriting Guides, considerations were raised on possible strategies to emotionally involve the viewer while telling the story. To elucidate these strategies, the analysis of the movie It happened one night (1934) follows. Having reached these considerations, the script is presented along with the trajectory of its writing.

Este trabalho relata aspectos do processo criativo da redação de um roteiro cinematográfico de longa metragem. Procurou-se investigar, durante o fazer do roteiro, o modo como a narrativa pode ser utilizada para despertar emoções e interesse no espectador. Através da revisão de obras de teóricos cognitivistas do cinema e de manuais de roteiro, levanta-se considerações sobre possíveis estratégias para se envolver emocionalmente o espectador. Para ilustrar estas estratégias, é apresentada uma análise da obra Aconteceu naquela Noite (1934). A partir destas considerações, realiza-se a descrição do processo de escrita do roteiro, procurando demonstrar de que forma as considerações teóricas influenciaram neste processo e no produto final, o roteiro completo. / This dissertation reports some aspects of the creative process on writing a feature movie script. During the screenwriting, it was attempted to investigate how the narrative can be used to elicit emotions and interest in the spectatorship. Through the review of Cognitivist Film Theory Scholars and Screenwriting Guides, considerations were raised on possible strategies to emotionally involve the viewer while telling the story. To elucidate these strategies, the analysis of the movie It happened one night (1934) follows. Having reached these considerations, the script is presented along with the trajectory of its writing.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:12:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5147.pdf: 1511558 bytes, checksum: 427e43984f3ba8c9b8518d3e08827a48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-04 / Cognition and epistemology: the question of the physical causality knowledge as a state and as content. The problem of experience awareness and knowledge in an epistemic analysis of psychology and ontology of the mental, based on a survey of key about the demarcation of different levels for the constructivist knowledge and their mental operations. An important implication of this discussion epistemic (and ontological) is the question of power (or not) support a theoretical possibility of dialogue and interdisciplinary the different conceptual and methodological positions concerning the mental (and knowledge). Discussed in Part I of the possibility of a dialogue between the epistemological pluralism through an analysis comparative concepts that can be equalized if their bases logical to refer to the possibility of a common ontology related, and if this plurality is able to allow for non-exclusive between the terms of their epistemic theories in question. To make viable the possibility of a theoretical investigation of different epistemologies of mind (Part II), we take as criteria translation inter theoretical (our "Rosetta Stone") an analysis relational ontological levels of the three fundamental and irreducible, (the physical, biological and psychological), and the interface between the bio-neurological and psychological meanings occurs through a hierarchy of memories. These levels are defined by fundamental specific epistemologies, which present opportunities for intimate conceptual relationship when rationalized from a perspective ontology based on evolutionary principles (broad temporality) and informational (broad spatiality). In conclusion we present some considerations about the problem of integrating mind-brain through the concept of neural code, capable of playing (in fact a transduction) relational properties of the world standards relationships in the brain, the result is translated into knowledge with potential causal effective power over the world. Thus a system memory operating levels of the same neural code can be considered a psychological synthesis. / Cognição e epistemologia: a questão da causalidade física do conhecimento como estado e como conteúdo. O problema da experiência consciente e do conhecimento em uma análise epistêmica da psicologia e ontológica do mental, com base em um exame de conceitos fundamentais acerca da demarcação de níveis construtivistas distintos para o conhecimento e suas operações mentais. Uma implicação importante desta discussão epistêmica (e ontológica) é a questão de poder (ou não) sustentar uma possibilidade de diálogo teórico e interdisciplinar entre as diferentes posições conceituais e metodológicas acerca do mental (e do conhecimento). Discutimos na Parte I a possibilidade de um diálogo entre o pluralismo epistemológico através de uma análise comparativa de conceitos que possam ser equalizados se, suas bases lógicas remeterem à possibilidade de uma mesma ontologia relacionada, e se este pluralismo for capaz de permitir relação não excludente entre os termos epistêmicos das respectivas teorias em questão. Para tornar viável tal possibilidade de investigação teórica entre diferentes epistemologias do mental (Parte II), tomamos como critérios de tradução inter teórica (nossa pedra de roseta ) uma análise relacional dos três níveis ontológicos fundamentais e irredutíveis, (o físico, o biológico e o psicológico), sendo que a interface entre o bioneurológico e os significados psicológicos ocorre através de uma hierarquia de memórias. Tais níveis fundamentais são definidos por epistemologias específicas, que apresentam possibilidades de íntimo relacionamento conceitual quando racionalizadas sob uma perspectiva ontológica fundamentada em princípios evolutivos (ampla temporalidade) e informacionais (ampla espacialidade). Na conclusão apresentamos algumas considerações acerca do problema da integração mente-cérebro, através do conceito de código neural, capaz de reproduzir (na verdade uma transdução de) propriedades relacionais do mundo em padrões relacionais do cérebro, cujo resultado se traduz em conhecimento com potencial de poder causal efetivo sobre o mundo. Desta forma um sistema de memórias que operam níveis de um mesmo código neural pode ser considerado uma síntese psicológica.

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