This dissertation situates the emergence of women’s intercollegiate sport at the University of Texas from 1927-1992 within the inherent tensions within liberal feminism regarding difference and equality. Specifically, it examines how the rhetoric of fair play functions as a resource for both resistance and social control. The rhetoric of fair play refers to a set of debates and discussions over the structure and meaning of competitive sport. The project proposes three tensions within fair play rhetoric: Discipline or Freedom, Rules as Control or Transformation, and the Universal or Political Athlete. Drawing upon the theoretical resources of liberal, radical and materialist feminism, as well as the cultural theory of Michel Foucault and Raymond Williams, the project argues that values of fairness and meritocracy within sport function dialectically to both empower demands for social change and to extend preexisting hierarchies. A number of questions guided this project: What social norms are at stake during sport competitions? How does fair play rhetoric uphold or challenge these norms? On what basis does fair play rhetoric challenge status quo social conditions? On what basis does it uphold them? And finally, how do the assumptions behind various usages of fair play rhetoric enable and limit their effects on society? Three case studies demonstrate how consecutive women’s sport administrators at Texas used claims to fair play to negotiate the dialectic tension of transcendent claims to sport identity and particular attachments to gender within women’s involvement in sport. Rhetorical tactics shifted from an invocation of sport’s public welfare benefits to political activism on behalf of women’s right to compete at sport. The project sets these varied tactics of sport advocacy within broader contexts of first wave feminism, interwar period Progressivism, social transformations of World War II, Civil Rights activism, and second wave feminism of the 1970s, culminating in the passage of Title IX. The dissertation concludes that the rhetoric of fair play exists within sport, and beyond, as a powerful form of discourse that can be wielded for social control or challenge. What is considered “playing fair” may change with time and perspective but the stakes remain high and thus merit scholarly attention. / text

The thesis offers an interpretation of Shelley's poetry which focuses on his treatment of external nature. Its main argument is that a subject-object dialectic lies at the basis of his thought and style. Manifesting itself as a tension and oscillation between dualist and monist tendencies, this dialectic underlies the opposing strains of thought associated with his sceptical idealism; it informs the relationship between various contraries with which he is recurrently concerned, such as reason and feeling, necessity and freedom, language and thought; and it accounts for some major characteristics of his style--for example, its self-reflexiveness, indeterminacy, and restless forward momentum. Nature is found to play a complex dual function in this dialectical process: first, as the circumference to the circle of which mind is the centre, it provides the material of thought and poetry; secondly, through its cyclic processes, it serves as an emblem of the mind's dynamic relationship with that material. In finding the characteristic thought-pattern of his poetry to be constituted of a creative-destructive interplay of contraries, the thesis contends that Shelley is a significant exponent of Romantic irony. Such a reading of his work mediates between an earlier tradition of interpreting him as a Platonising poet of nature and the more recent emphasis that has been given to his philosophical scepticism and political radicalism. Throughout, attention is given to the interacting influences of his direct experience of nature (as recorded mainly in his letters) and the representations of nature he encounters in his reading. The following poems, chosen for their importance in Shelley's canon and as clear illustrations of his treatment of nature, are discussed chronologically in successive chapters: Queen Mab, Master, the 1816 odes, Prometheus Unbound, Adonais, and The Triumph of Life.

Evaluating claim conflicts between patents is a crucial issue in patent applications and validity allegations. Existing patent informatics tools do not relate well to the legal requirements of identifying claim conflicts; innovation theory does not address patent evaluations; and the current legal approach has weaknesses in the repeatability between cases. Therefore, a need emerges to design a scientific method for evaluating conflicts between patent claims. This thesis presents research on the topic of identifying, evaluating, and visualising patent conflicts. ‘Conflict’ is used to have the same meaning as obviousness, which is an essential legal term under the UK Patents Act 1977. Building on existing methods, this research provides a novel method called Criteria-Based Patent Mapping, for assessing claim conflicts between patents. ‘Criteria-Based’ means that this assessment uses evaluation criteria that clarify the inventive step of the patent. The source of these criteria is the well-known Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), which is incorporated into a statistical method of 'Patent Mapping' for evaluating and visualising differences between patent claims. The application of the new method to four case studies shows that there are differences in judging standards between the legal authorities; and also shows an average value of 52% agreement in predicting potential conflicts between patent claims. Based upon these results, the original 39 TRIZ parameters can usually be refined to about 12 criteria. The scope of this method is restricted to patents in mechanical engineering due to the relevancy of TRIZ parameters. This research transforms difficult claim-to-claim evaluations into simpler claim-to-criteria comparisons that lead to more efficient and transparent patent evaluations. Such improvements will be useful for better decision-making in patent strategy.

Orientador: Paulo César Rodrigues / Banca: Sinésio Ferraz Bueno / Banca: Alonso Bezerra de Carvalho / Resumo: Emerge, da inquietação por pesquisar a dialética entre arte e política, na obra de Herbert Marcuse, a presente dissertação. Entende-se que as divergências entre estética e política assimilem alterações, ao longo de seu percurso filosófico; interessa-nos, pois, inicialmente, investigar a importância da dialética e o seu poder de negatividade, cujo conceito marca-se por raízes hegelianas e marxianas. Haja vista a compreensão do conceito de negatividade, o filósofo projeta a necessidade de transformação: tanto da subjetividade humana, como - e por consequência - da sociedade. Marcuse infere, observada a temática sobredita, que, mediante o desenvolvimento racional do aparato técnico-científico, os homens consolidam as condições para tais mudanças; espera-se, todavia, deles, que tenham consciência da referida necessidade, a fim de que os mecanismos sejam aplicados no plano da realidade. A alteração na relação homem-trabalho, portanto, bem como o desenvolvimento da nova sensibilidade possibilitarão a conquista da emancipação e, por meio desta, torna-se real a chance de transformação. / This work emerges from restlessness to search the dialectic between art and politics, in the work of Herbert Marcuse. It is understood that the differences between aesthetics and politics assimilate changes along its philosophical journey; interests us because initially investigate the importance of dialectics and its power of negativity, whose concept is marked by Hegelian and Marxian roots. Given the understanding of the concept of negativity, the philosopher projects the need for transformation: both human subjectivity, as - and consequently - of society. Marcuse infers, subject to the aforesaid issue, which, through the rational development of technical and scientific apparatus, men consolidate the conditions for such changes; it is expected, however, those who are aware of that need, so that the mechanisms are applied in the plane of reality. The change in man-labor relationship, therefore, as well as the development of new awareness will enable the achievement of emancipation and, through this, it becomes real chance of transformation. / Mestre

Orientador: Antonio Ianni Segatto / Banca: Luciano Ferreira Gatti / Banca: Luiz Antônio Calmon Nabuco Lastória / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem como objetivo compreender alguns fundamentos do debate teórico-metodológico estabelecido entre Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) e Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) sobre a dialética. Este debate foi documentado nas correspondências trocadas entre ambos durante a década de 1930 e repercute diretamente nos textos produzidos por cada um deles nesse mesmo período, revelando determinadas convergências e divergências que permeiam aspectos fundamentais da dialética. A seguir, o problema da pesquisa e os elementos teórico-metodológicos apresentados estão dispostos em uma constelação estratégica para se realizar um estudo a respeito de alguns desdobramentos da dialética no âmbito da teoria crítica. Partimos da observação de que os escritos da década de 1910 e início da década de 1920 do jovem Benjamin apresentam uma concepção de linguagem e crítica de arte que extrai sua vitalidade de uma determinada forma de imediatez em relação ao objeto. Entretanto, na década de 1930, ao considerar metodologicamente os ensaios mais recentes de teoria estética e crítica literária de Benjamin, Adorno observa que a relação de imediatez com o objeto é incompatível com a dialética materialista, sendo imprescindível realizar uma mediação do objeto com o processo social total. Após traçar esse panorama, o problema em questão é remetido aos textos programáticos em que ambos elaboram suas respectivas tarefas filosóficas, com o intuito de compreender o sentido da dialética no pensamento dos autor... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present work aims to understand some foundations of the theoretical-methodological debate established between Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) and Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) on dialectics. This debate was documented in the correspondences exchanged between them during the 1930s and directly affects the texts produced by each of them during the same period, revealing certain convergences and divergences that permeate fundamental aspects of dialectics. In what follows, the research problem and the presented theoretical-methodological elements are arranged in a strategic constellation to carry out a study about some developments of dialectics in the scope of the critical theory. We begin with the observation that the writings of the young Benjamin in the 1910s and early 1920s present a conception of language and art criticism that extracts their vitality from a certain form of immediacy in relation to the object. However, in the 1930s, when considering methodologically Benjamin's most recent essays on aesthetics and literary criticism, Adorno notes that the relation of immediacy to the object is incompatible with materialist dialectics, and it is essential to mediate the object with the social process in its totality. After picturing this panorama, the problem in question is referred to the programmatic texts in which both elaborate their respective philosophical tasks, in order to understand the meaning of dialectics in the thought of the authors in that context. / Mestre

Bibliography: leaves 342-355 / iv, 355 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Philosophy, 1990

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-210)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-148).

Thesis--Cologne. / Bibliography: p. 169-181.

Σκοπός της παρούσης εργασίας είναι να αποκαλύψει τον διαλεκτικό χαρακτήρα της παιδαγωγικής σχέσης του Σωκράτη με τον Αλκιβιάδη, όπως αυτή αναδεικνύεται και σχολιάζεται στον Ἀλκιβιάδην τόν πρῶτον του Πρόκλου, τον σημαντικότερο και τον πιο οξυδερκή ίσως πλατωνικό σχολιαστή. Αρχικά, θα επιχειρηθεί μία πρώτη προσέγγιση με τον σχολιασμό σημείων που αφορούν στη διαλεκτική, σε συνάρτηση με την παιδαγωγική σχέση που σταδιακά κτίζεται, ορίζοντας τις βασικές έννοιες, θεωρητικής πλαισίωσης, όπως είναι η μαιευτική, η άγνοια, η κάθαρση κ.ά. Στη συνέχεια, θα παρουσιασθούν σύμφωνα με την αναλυτική μέθοδο οι έννοιες των πιο σημαντικών χωρίων. / -