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Zugl.: Bochum, Univ., Diss., 2004

This thesis explores the way music is characterized, used, or accounted for in recent (post-1968) French thought, focusing in particular on the work of Jean-Luc Nancy, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, and Alain Badiou. In spite of the differences in their philosophical-theoretical positions, all of these writers invoke music - both directly and indirectly - to negotiate their relationship to ontological, political, ethical and aesthetic concerns, particularly in terms of how it relates to the (im)possibility of a subject, the condition of truth, and the role of philosophical thought itself. The thesis situates these texts in a longer genealogy of musico-philosophical interactions and also brings them into dialogue with recent musicological approaches, thus showing how an inherited idea of what music 'is' is often assumed rather than critically re-evaluated. In short, by tracing the musical-transcendental baggage of an inherited metaphysical conception of music - one which often understands music in close relation to the feminine, (sexual) excess, and the beyond of language and/or the symbolic - the thesis shows that though music is instrumentalized by progressive thinkers as a way of shifting theoretical/philosophical paradigms, it nonetheless does so in a way that has a strong sense of continuity with previous thinking on music. Secondly, the thesis highlights the way in which music in its metaphysical-ontological guise is often conceived as synonymous with Western high art classical music (which is itself constructed as absolute and transcendent, and ontologically independent of its means of (re)production or context) whilst non-literate, popular, folk and world musics - on the occasions that they are considered and not simply ignored or denigrated - are notably considered almost exclusively in terms of their social-cultural or technological contexts. Finally, the thesis demonstrates that much of this takes place through a simultaneous instrumentalization of gender as an organisational category for philosophy, and one which all too often has the consequence of sending women - along with music - to the beyond of pre-, inter-, or post-signification.

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The main body of this thesis is a commentary on sections 1.19b-33 and 1.97-109 of Cicero's De Inuentione. These sections treat partes orationis in general (1.19b), then exordium (1.20-26), narratio (1.27-30), partitio (1.31-33), digressio (1.97), and conclusio (1.98-109). Due to the imposed word limit, the sections on confirmatio (1.34-77) and reprehensio (1.78-96) could not be included in the thesis. The structure of the commentary on each of these sections will be: introduction to the section, references to parallel passages in other Latin and Greek rhetorical texts, the most important general literature on the subject of the section, comparison of the passage in Cic.Inu.1 with the corresponding one in Rhet.Her, individual lemmata. The lemmata will cover various kinds of information, such as textual, grammatical, and linguistic issues, background information on persons, objects etc. mentioned, the young Cicero's position within the rhetorical tradition for a particular point (i.e. influence on and by Cic.Inu.). To the commentary proper, a number of introduction chapters have been added. Due to the word limit, only a selection of these can be included in the thesis: the title 'De Inuentione' and Cicero's intention to write on all five partes artis; the structure of Cic.Inu.; subdividing the art; rhythm and clausulae; the young Cicero's knowledge of Aristotle's works; the relationship between Cic.Inu. and Rhet.Her. (abbreviated version); the proems of Cic.Inu. (abbreviated version); preliminary comments on Narratio; the Orestes case in the rhetorical tradition; examples in Cic.Inu. (abbreviated version). The structure of the commentary on each of these sections will be: introduction to the section, references to parallel passages in other Latin and Greek rhetorical texts, the most important general literature on the subject of the section, comparison of the passage in Cic.Inu.1 with the corresponding one in Rhet.Her, individual lemmata. The lemmata will cover various kinds of information, such as textual, grammatical, and linguistic issues, background information on persons, objects etc. mentioned, the young Cicero's position within the rhetorical tradition for a particular point (i.e. influence on and by Cic.Inu.). To the commentary proper, a number of introduction chapters have been added. Due to the word limit, only a selection of these can be included in the thesis: the title 'De Inuentione' and Cicero's intention to write on all five partes artis; the structure of Cic.Inu.; subdividing the art; rhythm and clausulae; the young Cicero's knowledge of Aristotle's works; the relationship between Cic.Inu. and Rhet.Her. (abbreviated version); the proems of Cic.Inu. (abbreviated version); preliminary comments on Narratio; the Orestes case in the rhetorical tradition; examples in Cic.Inu. (abbreviated version).

This thesis offers the first reading of the letters of Catherine the Great as a unified epistolary corpus with literary merit as well as historical value. It explores how the empress employed a key eighteenth-century literary form - the letter - not only to make tactical interventions in political and cultural life, but also to shape her persona. The often contrastive style of her letters balances a charming epistolary voice, suited to the letter as a practice of sociability, with exhibitions of the empress's power and stature as a great individual on the historical stage. The interplay between these two facets, sociability and grandeur, defines her unique approach to the letter form as well as the image of the enlightened monarch as she created it. She displayed her mastery, both literary and political, by creatively manipulating all aspects of the letter, from language choice through etiquette and materiality. Both her lively and seductive personal style and her regal character as an Enlightenment great man derived from and reappropriated available literary models. Seeking to ensure that this image reached receptive audiences, Catherine also carefully controlled the circulation of her letters: in keeping with the semi-privacy of the eighteenth-century letter, she wrote first and foremost to win a reputation with cultural and social elites who exchanged letters out of print. At the same time, she manipulated indirectly through her correspondents the image received by a broader public of her contemporaries and of future generations. The French Revolution challenged all her values, troubling also her elite mode of sociable correspondence and her eighteenth-century version of glory. Yet, to the end of her days Catherine employed her dual style as the best means of writing herself into history.

The critical essay gained immense popularity in the sixties and seventies in the Maghrib as a way to depict national realities that had failed to live up to nationalist ideals. Their authors often shared similar attributes: young highly educated intellectuals, committed toward modernity and who steered clear of politics. Such was the case of Abdallah Laroui (born 1933) and Hichem Djaït (born 1935), two celebrated Maghribi thinkers of the post-1967 generation in Arab thought. Despite their different ideological positions, they share a similar trajectory and both wrote about the need for another Arab renaissance, in Laroui's La crise des intellectuels arabes (1974) and Djaït's La personnalité arabo-islamique (1974). The turn to critical writing is routinely dismissed for being secondary, for having a restricted audience and little political impact, yet it highlights well the Maghribi postcolonial intellectual's competing demands: to conform to an ideal representation of intellectual "commitment" through critical speech, and to secure national recognition and integration. As such, this thesis confronts the often-neglected impact of nationalism on intellectual conducts after independence around the impact of their disillusionment, and forces us to rethink critically notions of engagement, the role of intellectuals and postcolonial cultural productions that are current in Middle East studies, and problematically envisaged by postcolonial studies. These texts have been approached as dynamic objects responding to a set of questions in their time, to account for the materiality of thought production, mobilising David Scott's concept of the "problem-space of intellectual production" (1999). This thesis looks at Abdallah Laroui and Hichem Djaït's intellectual projects from 1965 to 1978, to study the genesis and aftermaths of their critical moment, focusing on their published writings (critical essays and academic studies), press and journal articles, interviews, and fictional texts from a later period, in Arabic and French. Their writings will be read alongside several cultural journals, newspapers and memoirs dealing with this period of the Maghrib's history to account for the processes of circulation and reception by relevant audiences.

The thrust of this work is to study Israelite pre-exilic writing of religious literature. The beginning of literacy is considered from an archaeological perspective; especially, in the pre-exilic Israelite community. The study of scribes and their services assist in the quest for understanding pre-exilic religious writing in Israel. The Bible attests to pre-exilic religious writing despite the often inferred ‘anachronism.’ The issue of post-exilic composition of all Old Testament books is a matter of debate as opposed to pre-exilic writing of some religious sources which is a matter that can be historically verified. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / M.A. (Biblical Archeology)

This thesis studies the reception of Aristotle's political thought in sixteenth-century Italy. It focuses on Aristotle's discussion of the dissolution of constitutions in Book 5 of the Politics and aims to show how Aristotle's political thought remained central to late Renaissance political discourse. No comprehensive study of the topic exists. Modern historiography on Renaissance political thought generally downplays the importance of Aristotle in the history of sixteenth-century Italian political thought and emphasises the Roman tradition over the Greek. This research aims to fill the gap in modern scholarship and revise modern interpretation of Renaissance political theory. This thesis is essentially divided into three parts, each part containing two chapters. Part I is largely introductory. Chapter 1 offers a historiographical review of modern scholarship on the reception of Aristotle in the Renaissance and early-modern political thought. Chapter 2 explores the revival of Greek studies in the fifteenth century and the changing perception of Aristotle's Politics in the Renaissance. Part II focuses on Aristotle and Machiavelli. Chapter 3 examines the similarities between Aristotle's analysis of the means of preserving tyranny and Machiavelli's discussion of how to mantenere lo stato in The Prince. Chapter 4 explores the effects that these similarities between Aristotle and Machiavelli had on the reception of Aristotle in Renaissance political thought. Part III centres on Aristotle in the republican and vernacular traditions. Chapter 5 explains the importance of Aristotle's discussion of the dissolution of constitutions to Renaissance republican political thought. Chapter 6 underlines the continuous relevance of Aristotle's Politics in the second half of the sixteenth century. The conclusion sums up the central argument of each chapter and invites us to explore the influence of Aristotle on reason of state literature.