Thesis (Ph. D.) University of chicago, 1908. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Akad. avhandling--Stockholm, 1997.

Th. doct.--Pretoria--University of South Africa, 1997. / Bibliogr. p. 257-263. Index.

Texte remanié de: Th. Ph. D. / Bibliogr. p. 273-277.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University / The purpose of this thesis is to examine in detail main problems that are encountered in W. D. Ross's ethical theory. The major sources of information for Ross's ethical theory are the two volumes, The Right and the Good and Foundations of Ethics. Problems in Ross's ethical theory that are considered are the following: (1) methodology, (2) critical ethics, (3) normative ethics, and (4) free-will vs. determinism. Ross's basic approach to the study of ethics is the phenomenological approach in terms of the content of the moral consciousness. By moral consciousness Ross means the existence of a large body of beliefs and convictions (common to all men) to the effect that there are certain acts that ought to be done and certain things that ought. to be brought into existence. Ross, however, also relies heavily upon the moral consciousness of the "thoughtful" and "well-educated" and "best" people. Further, at other times he appeals to his own deepest ethical convictions. Ross's confidence in the reports of the moral consciousness and his seeming indifference to the actual source of these reports partially rests upon his beliefs (1) that there is a common moral consciousness of the entire human family; (2) that obligations and values are objective; and (3) that the human family is steadily progressing toward discovery of and agreement upon these objective obligations and values. It seems questionable, however, whether this third contention is true. The many existing ethical disagreements between individuals, nations, and races argue,· strongly against its establishment. Ross himself holds that, in the final analysis, one must use his own judgment as to what is right and wrong, good and bad. His ultimate approach thus becomes the critical study of his own (and of others' like him in background and temperament) moral consciousness. [TRUNCATED]

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There is an inherent risk in studying contemporary fiction. Serious questions form around issues of an author's longevity and legacy, a work's merit and its endurance for later scholarship, and the varieties of current critical reception and methodology against the shifts to come. The attendant difficulty of assessing and analyzing a work before an industry of critical reception has formed also presents challenges. David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest ( 1996) represents these challenges, and much more; it is at once an encyclopedic novel of 1079 pages, full of both liberal arts and scientific erudition, and an encomium to an apocalyptic end of late millennial American culture. The novel is highly allegorical and operates with three crucial subtexts, in addition to the standard diegetic narrative. In this study, I present three different, though not mutually exclusive, interpretations of this novel, a novel that has presented interpretive difficulties to scholars of contemporary fiction. In Part One, I survey and compare Wallace's aesthetic with the radical, yet self-contained, aesthetic of the poet, G.M. Hopkins; Part Two examines the integral concept of mediation and explores the subtext of the return of the dead author-the novel operates, in part, as a rejoinder to the death-of-the-author critical impasse; Part Three is primarily comparative and analyzes Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1880). Wallace has rewritten (or reimagined) Dostoevsky's novel and translated it into a contemporary context and idiom as a remedy for postmodern American solipsism. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

My dissertation looks at the connections between Lacan’s four discourses and the sexuation graph in order to claim that sexuation is discursive and that, as Lacan presents it with the phallus as its quilting point, the sexuation graph is a narrative based on patriarchal hegemony, which is one of many possible narratives. I argue that through the hysteric’s discourse and a removal of the phallus as the Symbolic-Imaginary quilting point, we can begin to formulate new narratives of sexuated subjectivities. The textual objects I use for this project are literary and filmic works where women are the central topic or figure, and the works are all created and developed by men. Following Kristeva’s focus on the semiotic, in particular men’s avant-garde writing, I choose these works as illustrations of the ways in which the depiction of women has shifted in the wake of at least half a century of feminist and queer scholarship and activism. Grounded in Lacan’s claim that “Woman does not exist,” I explicate Woman as metaphor as an Imaginary construction of masculinist logic in order to develop a theory of Woman as metonymy that collapses the oppressive, Imaginary constructions and proliferations of Woman. Finally, I read closely Lacan’s sexuation graph, specifically turning it sideways and replacing the phallus with the general, empty master signifier to show the ways in which we can construct new meanings of subjectivity.

Partindo das teorias políticas predominantes no século XVIII, o contratualismo e a obediência passiva, personificadas pelos dois principais partidos políticos da Inglaterra àquela época (Whig e Tory), a presente dissertação pretende mostrar como Hume discorda de ambas. Porém, o objetivo central é, sem dúvida, sua refutação ao contratualismo. Para tanto, o texto traz duas linhas de argumentos aptos a tanto: a primeira delas, referente ao conceito de artifício em Hume, significativamente diferente do artifício criado pelos contratualistas, oposição esta a que a tradição de comentaristas da filosofia política humeana de maneira geral não faz referência, especificamente quando se trata da refutação ao contratualismo; a segunda linha de argumentação refere-se à refutação mais direta feita por Hume, a que se pode chamar \"oficial\", em que estão presentes as discussões a respeito do papel do consentimento, da existência de estado de natureza e do pacto expresso ou tácito, da obrigação decorrente das promessas, da origem do governo e da obediência. / Starting from the most popular political theories in the 17th century, contractualism and that of passive obedience, represented by the two main political parties in England at that time (Whig and Tory), this paper intends to show how Hume disagrees with both. However, his main objective is, without a doubt, refuse contractualism. To achieve its end, the text brings two sets of arguments: the first one concerns the concept of artifice in Hume\'s theory, which is very different from the artifice created by the contractarians. This opposition is not in general mencioned by the tradition of commentators, especially when the subject is the refutation of contractualism. The second set of arguments concerns the more direct refutation made by Hume, which we can term the \"official\" one. Here we can include the discussions about the role of consent, the existence of the state of nature and the explicit or tacit contract, the obligation derived from promises, the origin of government and allegiance.