In this dissertation I direct critique at a conception of self-deception prevalent in analytical philosophy, where self-deception is seen as a rational form of irrationality in which the self-deceiver strategically deceives himself on the basis of having judged that this is the best thing to do or, in order to achieve something advantageous. In Chapter One, I criticize the conception of self-deception as analogous to deceiving someone else, the so-called “standard approach to self-deception”. The account under investigation is Donald Davidson’s. I criticize Davidson’s outline of self-deception as involving contradictory beliefs, and his portrayal of self-deception as a rational and strategic action. I trace the assumptions involved in Davidson’s account back to his account of radical interpretation and argue that the problems and paradoxes that Davidson discusses are not inherent in self-deception as such but are problems arising in and out of his account. In Chapter Two, I present Sebastian Gardner’s account of self-deception. Gardner is concerned with distinguishing self-deception as a form of “ordinary” irrationality that shares the structure of normal, rational thinking and action in being manipulation of beliefs from forms of irrationality treated by psychoanalysis. I object to the way in which Gardner makes this distinction and further argue that Gardner is mistaken in finding support in Freud for his claim that self-deception involves preference. In Chapter Three, I present a different understanding of self-deception. I discuss self-deception in the context of Sigmund Freud’s writings on illusion, delusion, different kinds of knowledge, etc., and propose a view of self-deception where it is not seen as a lie to oneself but rather as motivated lack of self-knowledge and as a flight from anxiety. In Chapter Four, I discuss some problems inherent in the three accounts under investigation, for example, problems arising because first-person awareness is conflated with knowledge of objects.

"Forests Full of Beasts" analyzes late-Shakespearean thought as represented in "Timon of Athens" and "King Lear," focusing on expressions of madness. Applying an Aristotelian framework, each chapter examines the two plays through a different lens, applying the "Nicomachean Ethics," "Politics" and "Poetics" in turn. Looking at these plays through the "Ethic"s shows that Timon and Lear miss the mark of happiness through excessive action, and their madness is therefore construed as deliberately maintaining unsustainable behaviour. The Politics foregrounds humanity's social nature, and it is in their rejection of society's provisions and friendship that Timon and Lear are seen to be most mad. Following the Poetics' prioritization of plot, both plays are analyzed in terms of the unified whole, and their madness is seen as seamlessly interwoven with the overall action. The conclusion ties these analyses together, understanding Timon's and Lear's madness as the deliberate choice to pursue excessive, antisocial behaviour.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The temptation to meddle with Shakespeare has proven irresistible to playwrights since the Restoration and has inspired some of the most reviled and most respected works of theatre. Nahum Tate’s tragic-comic King Lear (1681) was described as an execrable piece of dementation, but played on London stages for one hundred and fifty years. David Garrick was equally tempted to adapt King Lear in the eighteenth century, as were the burlesque playwrights of the nineteenth. In the twentieth century, the meddling continued with works like King Lear’s Wife (1913) by Gordon Bottomley and Dead Letters (1910) by Maurice Baring. But many of these twentieth-century works display a complexity and ambivalence quite at odds with their theatrical predecessors. Plays like Lear (1971) by Edward Bond and Seven Lears (1989) by Howard Barker use elements from Shakespeare’s play to write critically about contemporary politics and literature, while Lear’s Daughters (1987) by the Women’s Theatre Group expands the role of female characters as a way to challenge restrictive representations of femininity. These plays express more varied and problematic positions toward literature and society than Tate and Garrick, suggesting not only that the nature of adaptation has changed but that the playwright’s relationship to Shakespeare has changed as well. To understand how adaptation has changed and why, chapter one examines the differences in works by Tate, Garrick, and the burlesque writers, locating traditional critical models – which characterize adaptation as either collaborative or repudiative – within a more historicized framework. Chapter two considers how changes in early twentieth-century Shakespeare criticism impacted adaptations by playwrights like Bottomley, and how traditional models of adaptation begin to break down when applied to more ironic works by Baring and Stoppard. Chapter three evaluates a new model of adaptation in regard to plays by Bond and Barker which articulate a more problematic relationship to Shakespeare, a model that is further tested in chapter four against feminist adaptations by Paula Vogel, Ann-Marie MacDonald, and the Women’s Theatre Group. This new model conceives of adaptation as a complex double gesture that collaborates with Shakespeare and rejects him at the same time; it allows playwrights to acknowledge their debt to Shakespeare while commenting on contemporary issues and expressing modern beliefs. It allows playwrights to express more modern subject positions with regard to their literary heritage and to themselves, and to engage with broader debates about how art, society, and the self interact.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2001--Bonn.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2001--Bonn.

This study defines and applies a theory of tragedy which is based on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy. In the first chapter the writer argues for the need of a widely accepted theory of tragedy and show that we do not presently have one. In the same chapter, the writer presents the theory that tragedy is a very specific art type which transcends genre and which is the product of a synthesis of the Dionysiac and Apollonian forces in Western culture. The writer argues that by understanding the philosophical and aesthetic nature of the forces as they are expressed in tragedy we can isolate and define the essential elements of tragedy. Tragedy must have a person of heroic stature as its main protagonist. It must have a specific kind of plot in which a reversal of the hero's experience of the universe occurs. It must have a choric element, which is a combination of two components: communality and lyricism. Finally, tragedy must contain a mythic background which allows for the expression of two themes, the Dionysiac theme and the Apollonian theme.

Anodorhynchus leari é uma ave endêmica do Bioma Caatinga e um dos psitacídeos mais ameaçados de extinção na região neotropical. Ela se reproduz apenas em formações rochosas de arenito-calcário, localizadas em dois sítios protegidos no norte do estado da Bahia; a Estação Biológica de Canudos (Toca Velha) e a Estação Ecológica do Raso da Catarina (Serra Branca). Este estudo teve por objetivo agregar informações sobre a história natural da arara-azul-de-lear, com ênfase em suas atividades reprodutivas. No Capítulo 1 descreve-se a estrutura e a disposição das cavidades encontradas nos paredões da Estação Biológica de Canudos, as quais foram acessadas internamente por meio do método de rapel. Verificou-se que os ninhos das araras estão em túneis ou salões/galerias amplos e profundos, locais formados naturalmente por ações de intempéries nas formações rochosas de 53m de altura vertical em média. Definitivamente as cavidades com ninhos não são confeccionadas ou alteradas pelas araras, para fins reprodutivos. Na área estudada existem muitas cavidades com as mesmas condições ambientais internas. No mesmo sítio, entre os anos de 2008 e 2011, foram localizadas 38 cavidades ativas. No Capítulo 2 buscou-se descrever detalhadamente a biologia reprodutiva da arara-azul-de-lear, monitorando-se internamente 18 destas cavidades. Ao final da quarta temporada reprodutiva 42 ninhadas foram estudadas. O período reprodutivo ocorreu entre os meses de dezembro e julho e a maior parte das ninhadas possuía três ovos. Por meio de ovoscopia verificou-se uma média de dois ovos embrionados por ninhada. Em quatro anos, 68 ninhegos eclodiram e destes, 83% sobreviveram até o primeiro vôo. Apesar de ser possível gerar e criar três filhotes por ninhada, em média apenas um filhote foi criado. O sucesso reprodutivo nos quatro anos amostrados foi de 71%, conforme o Protocolo de Mayfield e considerando-se 14 semanas como tempo médio de desenvolvimento dos ninhegos. Apesar de ocorrerem em casos isolados e serem pouco significativas, as causas da não ocupação de ninhos ou mortalidade no desenvolvimento estiveram relacionadas à presença de abelhas Apis sp. dentro das cavidades, perturbação causada por competição intra-específica associada à assincronia de eclosão, e à queda de ninhegos dos ninhos. No capítulo 3 infere-se sobre o recrutamento nos dois sítios reprodutivos conhecidos, Toca Velha e Serra Branca, com base em avistamentos de 118 ninhegos na entrada dos ninhos. Foram identificadas 114 cavidades potencialmente reprodutivas entre os anos de 2009 e 2010. A maioria dos ninhegos foi avistada no mês de abril nas duas temporadas reprodutivas. Sugere-se que um máximo de 228 indivíduos esteja em atividade reprodutiva, o que representa 20,17% da população de araras estimada em 2010. Conclui-se que a espécie deva ser categorizada como \"em perigo de extinção - EN\", segundo a aplicação dos critérios da IUCN. A ameaça mais importante para a espécie reside na falta de proteção nas áreas de alimentação. É fundamental ainda a continuidade de ações educativas e da rigorosa proteção dos sítios reprodutivos já conhecidos, além de esforços para buscar novas áreas potenciais para a reprodução, e que podem justificar o aumento populacional observado ao longo dos anos. Os dados obtidos possibilitam criar estratégias de manejo para incrementar a taxa reprodutiva, e também contribuir para a proteção dos sítios de nidificação da arara-azul-de-lear. / Anodorhynchus leari is endemic to the Caatinga and one of the most endangered psitacidae in the Neotropics. It reproduces only in sandstone/limestone formations, located in two protected sites in the northern region of the state of Bahia, the Biological Station of Canudos (Toca Velha) and the Ecological Station of Raso da Catarina (Serra Branca). This study aimed to gather information about the natural history of Lear\'s, with emphasis on their reproductive activities. In Chapter 1 it is described the structure and arrangement of cavities found in the walls of the Canudos Biological Station (Toca Velha), which were accessed internally by the method of rappelling. It was found that the nests of the macaws are in tunnels or rooms/galleries large and deep, naturally formed by local actions of weathering rock formations in the vertical height of 53 m on average. Definitely the nest cavities are not made or altered by macaws, for reproductive purposes. In the study area there are many holes with the same environmental conditions inside. In the same place, between the years 2008 and 2011, 38 active cavities were located. In Chapter 2 we sought to describe in detail the reproductive biology of Lear\'s Macaw, by monitoring these 18 internal cavities. At the end of the fourth breeding season 42 were studied. The reproductive period occurred between the months of July and December and most nests had three eggs. An average of two fertilized eggs per clutch. In four years, 68 nestlings hatched and of these, 83% survived until the first flight. Although it is possible to generate and create three chicks per nest on average only one chick was raised. The reproductive success in the four sampled years was 71%, following the Mayfield Protocol and considering 14 weeks as the average time of nestlings\' development. Although isolated, not significant cases occurred, the causes of non-occupation of nests in the development or mortality were related to the presence of bees, Apis into the cavities, a disruption caused by intraspecific competition associated with hatching asynchrony, and the fall of nestlings from the nest. In chapter 3 we infer about the recruitment in the two known breeding sites, Toca Velha and Serra Branca, based on sightings of nestlings in the nest entrance. We identified 114 potentially reproductive cavities between the years 2009 and 2010. Most nestlings were sighted in the month of April in the two reproductive seasons. It is suggested that a maximum of 228 individuals are in reproductive activity, which represents 20.17% of the estimated population of macaws in 2010. It is concluded that this species should be categorized as \"endangered - EN,\" according to the application of the IUCN criteria. The most important threat to the species is the lack of protection in the feeding areas. It is also essential the continuity of educational activities and rigorous protection of known breeding sites, and efforts to seek new potential areas for reproduction, which may justify the observed increase in population over the years. The data obtained allow creating management strategies to increase the reproductive rate, and also contribute to the protection of nesting sites of Lear\'s Macaw.

This dissertation is concerned with the paradox of revelatory deception a form of 'lying' which reveals truth instead of concealing it in four Shakespearean plays: Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Hamlet, and King Lear. Through close analysis, I show that revelatory deceptions in these plays are metatheatrical, and read them as responding to contemporary writers who attacked the theatre for being inherently deceitful. This reading leads to the identification of parallels in the description of theatre in antitheatrical texts and the descriptions of revelatory deceptions in the plays. I suggest that correlations in phrasing and imagery might undermine antitheatrical rhetoric: for example, the plays portray certain theatrical, revelatory deceptions as traps which free their victims instead of killing them. Such 'lies' are differentiated from actual deceits by their potentially relational characteristics: deceptions which reveal the truth require audiences to put aside their self-interest and certainty to consider alternative realities which might reflect, reconfigure, and expand their understanding of the world and of themselves. The resulting truths lead either to the creation or renewal of relationships, as in Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It, or offer glimpses at the possibility of renewal, which is ultimately denied, as in Hamlet and King Lear. In both cases the imperatives for truth and right action are underscored not obscured, as antitheatricalists would have argued through the audience's vicarious experience of either the gains or losses of characters within the plays. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / English / MA / Unrestricted

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