Aristotle's concept of lexis has been discussed by numerous scholars, yet no comprehensive account of lexis has been produced so far. To fill this gap in scholarship, this thesis offers a systematic analysis of Aristotle's concept of lexis by dividing it into three levels, which allow a step-by-step approach to understanding this multi-layered concept. By considering Plato's and Isocrates' thoughts on lexis, Chapter 1 outlines the intellectual context in which Aristotle's ideas on the concept of lexis developed. Chapters 2-5 focus on the three levels of lexis and Chapter 6 brings a concluding discussion of metaphor. In Chapter 2 the linguistic elements treated under the notion of lexis and Aristotle's theory of language are delineated. These not only present Aristotle's thoughts on language as an abstract system, but they also form the most fundamental level upon which the remainder of Aristotle's thoughts on the concept of lexis are based. Chapter 3 explores Aristotle's remarks regarding individuals' use of linguistic elements as determined by sociolinguistic factors. Aristotle's occasional statements about language usage within the concept of lexis provide valuable pieces of evidence for studies in sociolinguistics and for his ideas on lexis on its third level as discussed in Chapters 4 and 5. In Chapter 4 the intra-textual aspect of Aristotle's remarks on lexis as a means for the creation of different kinds of poetry and rhetoric, i.e. lexis as technē, is examined. In Chapter 5 extra-textual factors are considered and are followed by a discussion of the purpose and function of lexis on its third level. Chapter 6 concludes the discussion of lexis by focusing on metaphor, the linguistic and stylistic element par excellence treated under the notion of lexis, which further highlights the benefits of a three-level approach to Aristotle's concept of lexis.

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Rufus of Ephesus's 'Quaestiones Medicinales' is an under-studied work by one of the most respected doctors of Greco-Roman antiquity. This thesis presents a new translation - the first in English of the complete work - and a reassessment of the treatise. I propose that, far from being a simple handbook teaching doctors how to take a patient history, as has hitherto been assumed, QM is an ardent plea for doctors to recognise the limits of their own knowledge and the indispensability of questioning the patient. I argue that QM articulates the idea that the aim of medicine cannot be achieved through medical knowledge alone, and that, in constructing the patient as an essential partner in diagnosis and decisions about treatment, Rufus implies a sharing of authority between doctor and patient that is noticeably different from the emphasis that other authors, particularly the determinedly hierarchical Galen, place on securing patients' obedience, a subject on which Rufus is noticeably silent. I argue that Rufus is unusual in the clarity and candour with which he perceives and acknowledges the limits of medical knowledge, in his conceptualisation of questioning as a discursive rather than a formulaic activity, in his explicit insistence that it must be addressed directly to the patient, in his psychological concept of habits, and in his recommendation of questioning as a strategy for resolving the tension between universal theory and individual experience. I look at modern cross-cultural research into the factors that drive patient compliance, and note that chief among them is patients feeling they are partners in the treatment process. This raises the question whether and to what extent the features that drive compliance are diachronically as well as cross-culturally consistent, and whether Rufus's shared authority model is more likely to have produced successful treatment outcomes than the autocratic paradigm promoted by Galen, and subsequently absorbed into Western medical tradition, that seems to have met with so much resistance.

Among the vast assembly of Biblical mythology, the tower of Babel stands as an exclusive representation of the limits of human endeavor. As a paradigmatic extremity, it circumscribes the field of civic artifice. Babel is the absolute limit, and in that regard, its presence is enduring and timeless. The legacy of exegetic readings are textual shades, emanating from the point source of the paradigm. Athanasius Kircher's Turris Babel is an appropriate and intentional unfolding of this condition. / Firstly, that in the awakening of the Baroque scholar to history, origin materializes as the sole legitimate chronological reference. / Secondly, that the paradigmatic extremities collapse into the empirical standard of the theoretical discourse. / This thesis is a speculative study of architecture, drawn through Turris Babel, in the shadow of the paradigmatic limits of Babel. Written in three parts, each dealing with the implications of artifice in confrontation with the post-Babel adversaries of dispersion, tyranny, and decay.

As a large-scale international cultural phenomenon, the Jerusalem pilgrimage must be approached comparatively. This project compares the pilgrimage accounts of two Germans and two Englishmen who travelled to Jerusalem in the second half of the long fifteenth century. The texts are those of William Wey, (written c.1470), Bernhard von Breydenbach (printed 1486), Arnold von Harff (written 1499) and the 'Pylgrymage of Sir Richard Guylforde', composed by his anonymous chaplain (printed 1511). Each chapter focuses on a pilgrim, and one of four thematic topics: genre, the religious other, curiosity and print. This project treats these works as literary texts which can be approached from the perspective of cultural history, rather than as historical sources. The project, therefore, is more a consideration of how the pilgrimage is represented than it is about the events of each pilgrimage, and so it looks at the pilgrimages created in writing. Pilgrimage writings tend to focus on Jerusalem's spiritual significance, rather than its worldly position. In this sense, textual representations of travel to Jerusalem represent something of a disconnect with travel to other physical destinations, and the conceptual space of pilgrimage will be of key significance to this thesis. This has implications for practice as well as writing, and therefore the thesis will address how the writers consider their journeys, as well as the idea of virtual pilgrimage. The thesis engages with questions of identity, and how it is presented, as well as the authors' relationship with their audiences. This necessitates analysing collective identity, as well as the different audiences for printed and manuscript texts. The most important research question, bringing together these issues, considers whether the authors' different geographical origins affect their self-presentation and understanding of pilgrimage. This leads to my central contention: that pilgrimage must be portrayed as a single, unified experience.

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This dissertation is generally concerned with Plato's conception of philosophy, as the conception is ascertainable from the Republic and certain ‘post-Republic' dialogues. It argues that philosophy, according to Plato, is multi-disciplinary; that ‘philosophy' does not mark off just one art or science; that there are various philosophers corresponding to various philosophical sciences, all of which come together under a common aim: betterment of self through intellectual activity. A major part of this dissertation is concerned with Plato's science par excellence, ‘the science of dialectic' (he epistêmê dialektikê). The science of dialectic is distinguished in Plato by being concerned with Forms or Kinds as such; the science of dialectic, alone amongst the philosophical sciences, fully understands what it means for Form X to be a Form. I track the science of dialectic, from its showcase in Republic VI and VII, and analyze its place in relation to the other philosophical sciences in certain post-Republic dialogues. Ultimately, I show that, whilst it is not the only science constituting philosophy, Plato's science of dialectic represents the intellectual zenith obtainable by man; the expert of this science is the topmost philosopher. In this dissertation I also argue that Socrates, as variously depicted in these dialogues, always falls short of being identified as the philosopher par excellence, as that expert with positive knowledge of Forms as such. Yet I also show that, far from being in conflict, the elenctic Socrates and the philosopher par excellence form a complementary relationship: the elenctic philosopher gets pupils to think about certain things in the right way prior to sending them off to work with the philosopher par excellence.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Philosophy / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis provides a new consideration of the late twelfth-century legal treatise commonly known as Glanvill. Detailed analysis of the extant Glanvill manuscripts has enabled a number of important new conclusions about the nature of the treatise itself and its textual history and development over time relative to the changing common law. The function and ongoing usage of the treatise are discussed in detail and conclusions are drawn about how, when and why the treatise continued to be copied and/or engaged with and what this may reveal about the history of the English common law. Some traditional views about the treatise and its textual history have been challenged, not least the general perception of its two textual traditions as monolithic. This study adds substantively to the scholarship on the two so-called 'versions' of the treatise, Glanvill Continued and Glanvill Revised, both of which have been reassessed. The traditional view that Glanvill Continued represented a significant and 'official' attempt at modernizing the treatise for a mid thirteenth-century audience has been challenged. In contrast, new study of the nature and text of Glanvill Revised has re-emphasized its importance in the treatise's history and the uniqueness of its bipartite revision and re-revision, differentiating and describing these clearly for the first time. An attempt has also been made to see the treatise in the context of the later legal literature that followed it and to link such literature back to Glanvill. It is suggested that the explosion of English legal literature in the thirteenth century at once represents the treatise's success as the written starting point of the common law and its failure, given that, with the notable exception of Bracton, such literature moves substantively away from the earlier treatise. Having said this, Glanvill arguably continued to play a role, direct and indirect, through the later literature of the law and continued to be copied, read and used alongside it. More systematic study has been undertaken of the Scottish text based upon Glanvill, the Regiam Majestatem, and it is argued that the Regiam is a much more genuine attempt at re-editing Glanvill than has traditionally been thought and that the twelfth-century English treatise may have been surprisingly applicable in early fourteenth-century Scotland. Finally, this study has involved a new assessment of the later history of Glanvill from the fifteenth century to today, considering both the later ownership and use of its manuscripts and early printed editions and its legal and political citations. Consideration of the varying function and usage of the treatise over time enables light to be thrown upon Glanvill, the later periods in which it was read and used and the beginnings of legal history.