Through the consideration of Adorno’s theory of ‘negative dialectics’ the existing society of art is in a state of alienation. This idea considers units of similarity abstracted from one another and thereby establishing an opposition; a negative dialectic relationship between creatives. “Instead of belonging to the world, man put himself rationally and critically opposite it...“ (Jencks & Baird, 1969, p. 216). The concept that a future can exist free from alienation lends toward a future of collaborative community considered within the context of cultural production. Culture is not merely the manifestation of the human mind into a creative material medium; it is also a mechanism of interaction developed through social behaviour such as a custom or an idea. Kristeva’s construct, ‘the abject’ (that which is neither subject nor object), is used to define the scope of this project. Producing culture using space is not defining object in space nor is it defining subject in space. The triadic interaction between object, subject and abject is important in understanding the cultural system within the built environment. This is conceptually intended to manifest the communal identity of creatives within the host building. Considering the explicit (whereby knowledge and social interaction are produced) and implicit (which considers action between object and subject) relationships reinforces the argument. The understanding of the relationship between cultural media and mediators is to be explored spatially in the adaptive reuse of the Sunnyside Post Office into a production house and exhibition space, utilising social applications to defining a model for a creative cohesion. / Dissertation (MInt(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MInt(Prof) / Unrestricted

The following thesis outlines Hegel’s interpretation of Socrates in order to prove that as a negative dialectician, Socrates constitutes both a world historic personality who met a fate (Schicksal) which was tragic and practiced a philosophy which was tragically ironic. In this undertaking, Hegel’s Theory of Tragedy takes central importance which defines tragedy as two equally justified opposing forces which clash and destroy one another. This Theory of Tragedy is extended to show that through Socrates’ absolutely free will he brought himself to a tragic clash with the Athenian Ethical Life (Sittlichkeit), the Sophists’ arbitrary will, and the phenomenological will of uneducated Athenians. This clash is described in terms of a Hegelian Tragedy within which both Socrates and Athens were right and just in their actions against one another, but in the end were destroyed through those actions. His Method and Dialectic is then argued represent a negative dialectic which through the negation of negativity becomes positive as a midwifery of the consciousness. Next, because his Method and Dialectic begin in negativity and end in positivity, Socratic Elenchus is argued to not be representative of what has been termed “the Socratic Irony,” but instead only the negative moment of the Socratic Method. Finally, the Socratic Irony which Hegel argues is representative of both Socratic Philosophy and world history is defined as a Tragic Irony which sublates the finite consciousness of the phenomenological will, and the Ethical Life (Sittlichkeit), and the infinite arbitrary will of the Sophists in order to become a trans-subjective absolutely free will which becomes infinite itself like the Sophists’ will through reflection on the Ethical Life (Sittlichkeit).

This thesis explores the origin and expression of dialectical thought in the life and writings of the American modernist Laura Riding. Within a biographical framework, I trace the steps by which it became the defining characteristic of her poetic, literary and critical works. A few have noted Riding's dialectical manner; none have appreciated its centrality. This is the first detailed study. An introductory outline of the origin and definition of dialectic provides a working theoretical context for the study that follows. Riding was born Laura Reichenthal in New York City, 1901. Her father, a Jewish émigré, was a committed activist for the left and included Riding in his campaigning at a very young age, immersing and educating her in the political and philosophical radicalism thriving in New York's Jewish communities of the era. There she internalised the revolutionary dialectics that would inform her aesthetic practice. Breaking with her father in her teens, she abandoned politics for literature. As Laura Riding - the name she adopted in 1927 and with which her literary writings continue to be associated - she moved to London and began collaborating with Robert Graves, relocating with him to Majorca in 1929. Producing poetry, fiction, criticism and experimental philosophico-literary works, she became a formidable presence within European literary modernism. Many aspects of her work are dialectical. Paradox, inversion and negation are perennial textual features. Key events in her life were also experienced as dialectical. Her insistence upon 'death' as an inverted sigil of unmediated vitality points toward a negatively dialectical mode of thought. In this regard, the theories of Theodor W. Adorno prove invaluable. Adorno provides a unique lexicon of terms - 'constitutive subjectivity', 'administered world', 'true object' - with which to draw out Riding's dialectical subtleties. Reading them alongside Adorno's negatively dialectical theory of modernist art and aesthetic praxis, certain aspects of Riding's writings are illuminated and, in some respects, they correspond. After a suicide attempt in 1929, Riding's perspective changed. Before it, her point of view was positioned within institutionally determined 'reality', and 'truth' beyond it was adumbrated by dialectical means. Afterwards, she believed herself transfigured: the embodiment of immediate, consciously apprehended noumenal objectivity. But the written word remained recalcitrant toward her attempts to inscribe this newfound positive 'truth'. This frustration contributed to her abandonment of poetry at the end of the 1930s. Re-emerging in the 1960s as Laura (Riding) Jackson, her disavowal of poetry and exploration of 'truth-potential' in language utilised dialectical approaches derived from her earlier experiences and writings.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-02-15T16:18:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Julio Cesar Werlang_.pdf: 939264 bytes, checksum: 631e477d7e6cb17f2a1fcbed748d4faf (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-15T16:18:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Julio Cesar Werlang_.pdf: 939264 bytes, checksum: 631e477d7e6cb17f2a1fcbed748d4faf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-21 / Nenhuma / Reflexão crítica sobre o sujeito e a subjetividade no contexto da contemporaneidade a partir do pensamento de Theodor Adorno, especificamente em sua dialética negativa com o foco na questão do conhecimento e bárbárie. O primado do objeto como indicativo de uma nova concepção epistemológica, necessária para abrir asreais possibilidades emancipatórias do sujeito críticono mundo administrado. O sujeito crítico e consciente de suas determinações, limites e possibilidades nas sociedades capitalistas tardias, se apresenta como quem cultiva sua interioridade e individualidade, em contraposição a autoreferencialidade e o individualismo do sujeito liberal, por isso, mantém um olhar contemplativo, reflexivo e resistente na conquista de sua liberdade em meio a falsa liberdade promovida pela indústria cultural, sendo eticamente sensível e solidário às dores e sofrimentos dos outros e da natureza, e assim, se faz artista e protagonista de um novo tempo. / Critical reflection on the subject and subjectivity in the contemporary context from the thought of Theodor Adorno, specifically in its negative dialectic with the focus on the question of knowledge and barbarism. The primacy of the object as indicative of a new epistemological conception, required to open real emancipatory possibilities of the subject in the administered world. The critical and conscious subject of its determinations, limits and possibilities in late capitalist societies, presents itself as one cultivates his inner self and individuality as opposed a self referentialityand the individualism of liberal subject, and maintains a contemplative, reflective and resilient look in winning its freedom in the midst of false freedom promoted by the culture industry, being ethically sensitive and supportive with the pain and suffering of others and of nature, and thus becomes an artist and protagonist of a new time.