The main goal of this PhD dissertation is to explore the relation between postmodern poetics and some features of other theories developed at the same time in various areas of knowledge – mainly metaphysics, physics and sociology. If we can say that the modern paradigm was born with the question of how a multiplicity of different points of view could coexist, the postmodern paradigm seems to arise with the awareness that a systematic legitimation of differences cannot be based on a sole foundation that leads to a complete inclusion. For this reason, we argue that the concept of possible world is not only a useful heuristic metaphor adopted in different areas of the artistic and scientific postmodern culture, but it can put in constructive conversation different areas of knowledge which are usually thought to be more isolated and refractory to mutual influence than they actually are. Precisely because of the diverse usages and meanings that the term ‘world’ acquires in different contexts, the ontological commitment toward possible worlds varies significantly. They can be godly concepts, fictional scenarios, real sums of individuals that are isolated from each other, or ideal set of objects that are associated with different and mutually exclusive frames of reference and cultural coordinates. To shed a light on these matters is the main goal of the first book, entitled "What is a possible world?". The second book, entitled "Entangled worlds: the postmodernist literature", is committed to explore the topology of the possible worlds projected by postmodernist texts; in fact, the paradoxical topology that emerges from these texts appears to be inherently connected with a vast range of issues concerning our world.

赫爾曼．梅爾維爾(Herman Melville)的小說《白鯨記》(Moby-Dick, 1851)以其極富深度的思維吸引著讀者，並將捕鯨船上的生活百態萌發為哲學領域的思考。《白鯨記》富有多重意義的特徵使之不乏多面向的解讀，其中若以「海上旅行」作為分析的視角切入，《白鯨記》的成就將益加彰顯。《白鯨記》體現了旅行者如何因心態的不同影響其感知，在伊息默爾(Ishmael)所重述的故事中，以「遇見他者」(encounter the other)的論點觀之，能夠促進存在於伊息默爾與亞哈船長(Captain Ahab)之間相異處的瞭解。自兩者身為彼此殊異的旅行者的對比中，探討旅行者是否真實地「遇見他者」與經歷轉變的過程，本論文將伊息默爾視為能夠真實「遇見他者」的旅行者，亞哈則因其狹隘的復仇心態導致他無法獲得「遇見他者」的機會。 　　緊接著檢視不同旅行者的探討後，對於旅行者更深層的審視將以德勒茲(Gilles Deleuze)與葛塔力(Félix Guattari)的「游牧理論」(nomadology)進行推論，從游牧推衍的概念如：「戰爭機器」(war-machine)與「國家機器」(the State apparatus)，適以處理由伊息默爾、亞哈船長與莫比．迪克(Moby Dick)所構築的關係維度。以啟迪於游牧學的反抗思維進行分析，使得亞哈的捕鯨之旅不再僅是被動地受對莫比．迪克的仇恨牽引，更是蘊藏著亞哈本身具備的能動性。游牧理論能夠開展無法以偏執狂(monomaniac)化約亞哈的特質，讓對亞哈追逐莫比．迪克的解析更形豐富，亞哈不僅具備「國家機器」的控制作為，也擁有「戰爭機器」的抵抗能力。此外，本論文更援引德勒茲與葛塔力的「變成動物」(becoming-animal)理論藉以瞭解亞哈與莫比．迪克之間可能的（變成）關係，「變成」(becoming)理論的應用並非強調外在型體上的相似，而是闡述亞哈身處與莫比．迪克居中關係內所經歷的非形體轉變，亞哈透過「逃逸線」(lines of flight)的模式，使之身處「變成莫比迪克」(becoming-Moby Dick)的進程，藉以顯示其強烈欲望的能量流動。 　　總體上，本論文旨在將「游牧」與「變成」理論的特質帶入《白鯨記》的文本中，產生進一步的對話空間，能使讀者從僅視《白鯨記》為單純冒險式的捕鯨敘事中進入「游牧思想」體現的思辨過程。 / Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851) captivates readers with its exuberance and renders the experiences of shipboard life into a source of philosophy. Moby-Dick bears manifold characteristics worthy of exploration. Among the multiple entries into the literary research, Moby-Dick’s achievement becomes evident when being analyzed from the perspective of sea journey. Moby-Dick manifests how a traveler’s mind-set influences her/his perception along the way on the sea journey. In light of encounters with the other, Ishmael’s recounted narrative assists in the understanding of the distinction between him and Captain Ahab as different travelers. The contrast between Ishmael and Ahab concerns whether they really encounter the other and undergo transformation. This thesis considers Ishmael as a traveler who really encounters the other while Ahab keeps his one-track mind-set on his revenge, which halts the chance for his encounter with the other. Following the examination of different travelers, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s nomadology would be applied to further the reading of travelers. The triangular dimension among Ishmael, Ahab and Moby Dick is interpreted with the concepts derived from nomadology such as a war-machine and the State apparatus. Mainly focused on the power of resistance highlighted from nomadology, Ahab’s whale hunt deserves more attention to mobility rather than to the passiveness channeled by his revenge upon Moby Dick. More than what the monomaniac can show, the theory of nomadology would potentially enrich the analysis of Ahab’s pursuit of Moby Dick. Ahab plays both a role of the controlling force like the State apparatus and a role of the resisting power like the war-machine. Besides nomadology, Deleuze and Guattari also employ becoming-animal to suggest the possible inspirational resonance between Ahab and Moby Dick. Instead of an emphasis on the physical resemblance, “becoming” sheds light on the incorporeal transformation which Ahab undergoes within the in-between relationship with Moby Dick. Through his “lines of flight,” Ahab has been involved in becoming-Moby Dick to assert his energy flow out of the intense desire. Overall, this thesis aims at generating more dialogue by bringing nomadology and becoming in the context of Moby-Dick. This incorporation would allow readers to consider Moby-Dick as the manifestation of Deleuze and Guattari’s “nomad thought” rather than as a mere whale-hunting story of adventure.

America has adopted as its own the Eden myth, which has provided the mythology of the American dream. This New Garden of America, consequently, has been a masculine garden because of its dependence on the myth of the Fall. Implied in the American dream is the idea of a garden without Eve, or at least without Eve's sin, traditionally associated with sexuality. Our canonical literature has reflected these attitudes of devaluing feminine power or making it a negative force: The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, and The Sound and the Fury. To recreate the Garden myth, Americans have had to reimagine Eve as the idealized virgin, earth mother and life-giver, or as Adam's loyal helpmeet, the silent figurehead. But Eve resists her new roles: Hester Prynne embellishes her scarlet letter and does not leave Boston; the feminine forces in Moby-Dick defeat the monomaniacal masculinity of Ahab; Miss Watson, the Widow Douglas, and Aunt Sally's threat of civilization chase Huck off to the territory despite the beckoning of the feminine river; Daisy retreats unscathed into her "white palace" after Gatsby's death; and Caddy tours Europe on the arm of a Nazi officer long after Quentin's suicide, Benjy's betrayal, and Jason's condemnation. Each of these male writers--Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner--deals with the American dream differently; however, in each case the dream fails because Eve will not go away, refusing to be the Other, the scapegoat, or the muse to man's dreams. These works all deal in some way with the notion of the masculine American dream of perfection in the Garden at the expense of a fully realized feminine presence. This failure of the American dream accounts for the decidedly tragic tone of these culturally significant American novels.

My diploma thesis is instalation, which elements are based on principales of ready-made. Documentation of living performance. Site-specific charakter, objects, and documents are common, that are one from of physical, psychical, and social injuries. Trought the installation and added text with its full range of form I am changing the discurse.

Does the individual really matter in the post-modern world, brimming with countless signs and signifiers? My main objective in this writing is to demonstrate how this happens in Verhoeven's films, exploring his central themes and subtext and doing what science fiction does: hold a mirror up to the contemporary world and critique it, asking whether our species' current trajectory is beneficial or hazardous.; Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is a polarizing figure. Although many of his American made films have received considerable praise and financial success, he has been lambasted on countless occasions for his gratuitous use of sex, violence, and contentious symbolism--1995s Showgirls was overwhelmingly dubbed the worst film of all time and 1997s Starship Troopers earned him a reputation as a fascist. Regardless of the controversy surrounding him, his science fiction films are a move beyond the conventions of the big blockbuster science fiction films of the 1980s (E.T. and the Star Wars trilogy are prime examples), revealing a deeper exploration of both sociopolitical issues and the human condition. Much like the novels of Philip K. Dick (and Verhoeven's 1990 film Total Recall--an adaptation of a Dick short story), Verhoeven's science fiction work explores worlds where paranoia is a constant and determining whether an individual maintains any liberty is regularly questionable. In this thesis I am basically exploring issues regarding power. Although I barely bring up the term power in it, I feel it is central. Power is an ambiguous term; are we discussing physical power, state power, objective power, subjective power, or any of the other possible manifestations of the word? The original Anglo-French version of power means "to be able," asking whether it is possible for one to do something. In relation to Verhoeven's science fiction work each demonstrates the limitations placed upon an individual's autonomy, asking are the protagonists capable of independent agency or rather just environmental constructs reflecting the myriad influences surrounding them.