This dissertation argues that the British philosopher, novelist and social critic William Godwin (1756-1836) used literary depictions and discussions of book-reading to negotiate public debates about the nature of the human mind. It takes an intellectual-historical approach to Godwin's representation of communications media, using this to illuminate the wider cultural significance of book-reading in Romantic-period Britain. I ultimately claim that for Godwin, the book-object became a literary presence and a conceptual tool by which he expressed and defended his belief in the reality and necessity of intellectual perfectibility. My first three chapters set the groundwork for this argument by exploring Godwin's treatment of 'The Matter of the Reader' (Chapter One), 'The Ethics of Novel-Reading' (Chapter Two), and 'The Discipline of Reading' (Chapter Three). As Godwin engaged with debates about materialism, literary form and education, he negotiated inherited ambivalence about the nature of the human mind and the conditions necessary for its vitality. Godwin's writing about reading exposes a fundamental tension that runs throughout his corpus: he consistently invested confidence in the mind and idealised its operation, yet was simultaneously preoccupied by theorising major threats to its development. My final two chapters argue that Godwin's writing about the book as a material medium provided an ongoing response to this tension. I show that his comparative evaluations of 'Social Media' (Chapter Four) and his literary rendering of books in terms of 'Bodies and Monuments' (Chapter Five) were contributions to debates about the powers of truth, death, and cultural memory. I conclude that Godwin used the book-object as a gesture of faith in the necessary perfection of human minds. This dissertation remaps Godwin's contribution to British culture by drawing attention to the crucial role book-reading played in his philosophy, fiction, essays and correspondence. In doing so, it highlights a rich vein of enquiry opened up by the growing 'interdiscipline' of media history: the cultural figuration of books and reading.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T20:31:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EdicleiaAparecida.pdf: 596410 bytes, checksum: 323206ed6041b7d21bdf0e789f516202 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-31 / This work is to examine public policies formulated and implemented in national and local level for education of youths and adults, based on the analysis of the historical process of building this educational method, the couple trinômio / adult - society - right, considering the formal plan (legal) and the actual policies for the period 1990 to 2004. Its goal is to know the history of Education, Youth and Adult - EJA, the participation of civil society and the state in the construction of these policies to rescue its specificity, it is seen that the existing public policies are constantly subject to disruption and discontinuities, disregarding the need for a consistent policy for EJA, with resources to ensure conditions for its actual execution. In order to verify that this form of Primary / Secondary Education's Basic Education is constituted in public policy that rescues a right once denied, is also seeking to know the vision that the Municipal Secretaries of Education of the time (1990 to 2004) are on the work of the EJA in Ponta Grossa, in the period indicated. The reasons are intensifies when considering that in the council, the Education of Young Adults and has not been made, historically, in a study of production and teaching that there are few references to that theoretical oriented method of teaching. / O presente trabalho tem como propósito analisar as políticas públicas formuladas e desenvolvidas em nível nacional e local para a educação de jovens e adultos, partindo da análise do processo histórico de construção dessa modalidade educacional, do trinômio jovem/adulto – sociedade – direito, considerando o plano formal (legal) e real das políticas correspondentes ao período de 1990 a 2004. Seu objetivo é conhecer a história da Educação de Jovens e Adultos – EJA, a participação da sociedade civil e do Estado na construção dessas políticas para resgatar a sua especificidade, haja vista que as políticas públicas existentes estão constantemente sujeitas a ruptura e descontinuidades, desconsiderando a necessidade de existência de uma política consistente para a EJA, com recursos que garantam condições para a sua real efetivação. Com o intuito de verificar se essa modalidade de Ensino Fundamental e Médio da Educação Básica se constitui em política pública que resgata um direito outrora negado, busca-se também conhecer a visão que os Secretários Municipais de Educação da época (1990 a 2004) têm sobre o trabalho desenvolvido pela EJA em Ponta Grossa, no período indicado. A justificativa se intensifica ao se considerar que, no município, a Educação de Jovens e Adultos não tem se constituído, historicamente, num objeto de estudo da produção docente e que há poucas referências teóricas voltadas a essa modalidade de ensino.

This thesis deals with the topic "The content of education at the first grade of primary schools". The initial years of schooling are very important for the future psychological development of children. At the first grade of primary schools the pupils built schoolboy habits of learning and acquire human and moral values. For these reasons is important to the level of study at a primary school meets the high standards and thus helped to create a solid foundation for future academic and professional life of a young human. In the theoretical part of this thesis will be summarized the current knowledge of basic education, in the practical part will be compared school curricula of selected primary schools. Obtained knowledge will be used in the assessment aims, areas and forms of education in the Czech republic.