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In recent years the study of Samuel Beckett's work has moved into increasingly specialised and archival areas. With the sheer wealth of work undertaken since the field began in the1960s and the availability of previously unobtainable materials this was somewhat of an inevitability. The sub-field of “Beckett and Philosophy”, into which this thesis most comfortably falls, has become so saturated with differing approaches that one might be forgiven for thinking new work which examines the core ideas guiding Beckett's writing redundant. One of the key contentions of this thesis is that owing to the resistance Beckett's novels offer to critical discourse, the task of understanding and explaining them is never complete. Based on this belief, I have attempted a new survey of the evolving place philosophy occupies within Beckett's novels, seeking not to discount approaches such as the archival work already mentioned, but to incorporate them into the fundamental question of what these books mean. Rather than relying upon only one theoretical approach, I attempt to draw from a variety of philosophical and literary sources, in a process free enough to work with the developmental refining of Beckett's novels throughout the years. In the first chapters on his early books, <em>Murphy</em> and <em>Watt</em>, I argue they engage in a process of bricolage, bringing out their own philosophical perspectives in an illustrative manner. The middle section of the thesis looks at the four 1946 novellas and the first work of The Trilogy, <em>Molloy</em>, as representative of a shift in Beckett's writing toward modes that employ form and content symbiotically in order to respond actively to metaphysical possibilities. In the last two chapters on <em>Malone Dies</em> and <em>The Unnamable</em> I examine the process of reduction that leads Beckett to focus largely on form, and the consequences this may have for the achievements of previous work.

European Enlightenment culture was a fundamental locus for the emergence and conceptualization of what has come to be called the "modern public sphere." In this study I analyse the figure of "the public" during roughly the third quarter of the eighteenth-century, primarily as refracted in the writings of three prominent German Aufklarer, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Abbt, and Johann Gottfried Herder. Scholarly discussion about the emergence of a German public sphere and "public opinion" has tended to focus on the latter decades of the eighteenth- century, with little awareness of the fact that earlier on, the notion of a "public" itself was being constituted and contested by "public writers" like Lessing, Abbt and Herder. This occurred within the context of what I am calling "the problem of Publikum," the particular German problem of social and political fragmentation. The writings of Lessing, Abbt arid Herder can be profitably understood as mediating between the wider European Republic of Letters and a more circumscribed, problematical German Publikum. By reading their works in light of Enlightenment discourses of science, sociability, aesthetics and politics-discourses that in one way or another touched upon the issue of a modern "public"--as well as in view of the "problem of Publikum" and the German social and intellectual scene generally, I am able to connect their intellectual content both with wider European currents and local German socio-political concerns. I argue that Lessing's dramatic and literary-critical work sought to constitute a German public that was both sympathetically responsive yet critically distanced from itself. Abbt, painfully aware of the "problem of Publikum," strove to inscribe a public sphere in the idiom of patriotism and morals. And Herder's intervention in an emerging German public sphere can be understood as building on the work of Abbt and Lessing to theorize the relationship between language, literature and the Publikum in a complex vision of "organic enlightenment." The dissertation employs a variety of primary and secondary sources, including works by an array of European thinkers who played a role in Lessing, Abbt and Herder's intellectual development. And it theorizes the developments profiled in light of contemporary theories of the public sphere and the social-psychology of George H. Mead, engaging questions of personal and social identity, inclusion/exclusion, and gender.

European Enlightenment culture was a fundamental locus for the emergence and conceptualization of what has come to be called the "modern public sphere." In this study I analyse the figure of "the public" during roughly the third quarter of the eighteenth-century, primarily as refracted in the writings of three prominent German Aufklarer, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Thomas Abbt, and Johann Gottfried Herder. Scholarly discussion about the emergence of a German public sphere and "public opinion" has tended to focus on the latter decades of the eighteenth- century, with little awareness of the fact that earlier on, the notion of a "public" itself was being constituted and contested by "public writers" like Lessing, Abbt and Herder. This occurred within the context of what I am calling "the problem of Publikum," the particular German problem of social and political fragmentation. The writings of Lessing, Abbt arid Herder can be profitably understood as mediating between the wider European Republic of Letters and a more circumscribed, problematical German Publikum. By reading their works in light of Enlightenment discourses of science, sociability, aesthetics and politics-discourses that in one way or another touched upon the issue of a modern "public"--as well as in view of the "problem of Publikum" and the German social and intellectual scene generally, I am able to connect their intellectual content both with wider European currents and local German socio-political concerns. I argue that Lessing's dramatic and literary-critical work sought to constitute a German public that was both sympathetically responsive yet critically distanced from itself. Abbt, painfully aware of the "problem of Publikum," strove to inscribe a public sphere in the idiom of patriotism and morals. And Herder's intervention in an emerging German public sphere can be understood as building on the work of Abbt and Lessing to theorize the relationship between language, literature and the Publikum in a complex vision of "organic enlightenment." The dissertation employs a variety of primary and secondary sources, including works by an array of European thinkers who played a role in Lessing, Abbt and Herder's intellectual development. And it theorizes the developments profiled in light of contemporary theories of the public sphere and the social-psychology of George H. Mead, engaging questions of personal and social identity, inclusion/exclusion, and gender. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

Since the dissolution of apartheid, corporate governance in South Africa has evolved from being a soft mainly ethical issue to a hard knowledge-based technological issue, recognised as pivotal to the success and revitalisation of the country’s capital markets and, ultimately, the prospects of the corporate economy. These high stakes have produced a succession of measures aimed at transforming corporate governance in the economy. As such, South Africa’s corporate managers are consistently faced with the seemingly unassailable obstacle of discerning and implementing technologically progressive and culturally/racially unbiased management strategies/systems. The focus of this thesis is the latter of these two obstacles. Ubuntu acts as the scope via which the issues embedded within the incumbent management strategies/systems are viewed. Ubuntu philosophy embodies a socio-cultural framework that applies to all individuals and institutions throughout the continent. It embodies collectivism and teamwork, creation of synergies and competitive advantages, humanist leadership styles and maturity, consensus in decision-making systems, effective communication, and community-based corporate social responsibility. Ubuntu is pervasive in almost all parts of Southern African continent – it is integrated into all aspects of day-to-day life throughout the region. This thesis reviews and analyses some of the lessons that can be learned through the inception of African management, more specifically Ubuntu management, within South Africa’s corporate sphere. This thesis aims to prove that there exists a need for a new South African corporate management system, one which is able to harmoniously integrate the incumbent, western-orientated management strategies and systems with one of African origins.

Rezension einer Studie von beinahe 1.200 Seiten Text und 300 Seiten bibliographischen und statistischen Anhang. Es werden über 100 Berufungsvorgänge im Fach Philosophie vom Ende des Ersten bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges aus den Akten dargestellt. Die einigermaßen dröge Materie nötigt den Autor, des öfteren seinen Positivismus hervorzukehren und den Lesern zu versichern, hier würden zentrale historische Wissenslücken geschlossen. Was er von vornherein nicht beansprucht, ist ein Erkenntnisgewinn in philosophischer Hinsicht, es geht um historische Quellenaufbereitung und nicht um eine neue Form der philosophiehistorischen Wahrheit.

Feministische Staatstheorie analysiert den Staat in seinen vergeschlechtlichten und vergeschlechtlichenden Dimensionen. Konzepte des Kanons der Politikwissenschaft (wie Gesellschaftsvertrag, Staatsbürgerschaft, Recht, Gewalt) werden erweitert, indem deren Vergeschlechtlichung sichtbar gemacht wird. Ebenso werden neue Konzepte wie bspw. Maskulinismus, Privatheit, Reproduktions- und Verwandtschaftspolitiken in die Staatstheorie aufgenommen, um staatliche Machtausübung umfassend theoretisieren zu können.

Feministische Staatstheorie analysiert den Staat in seinen vergeschlechtlichten und vergeschlechtlichenden Dimensionen. Konzepte des Kanons der Politikwissenschaft (wie Gesellschaftsvertrag, Staatsbürgerschaft, Recht, Gewalt) werden erweitert, indem deren Vergeschlechtlichung sichtbar gemacht wird. Ebenso werden neue Konzepte wie bspw. Maskulinismus, Privatheit, Reproduktions- und Verwandtschaftspolitiken in die Staatstheorie aufgenommen, um staatliche Machtausübung umfassend theoretisieren zu können.

Rezension einer Studie von beinahe 1.200 Seiten Text und 300 Seiten bibliographischen und statistischen Anhang. Es werden über 100 Berufungsvorgänge im Fach Philosophie vom Ende des Ersten bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges aus den Akten dargestellt. Die einigermaßen dröge Materie nötigt den Autor, des öfteren seinen Positivismus hervorzukehren und den Lesern zu versichern, hier würden zentrale historische Wissenslücken geschlossen. Was er von vornherein nicht beansprucht, ist ein Erkenntnisgewinn in philosophischer Hinsicht, es geht um historische Quellenaufbereitung und nicht um eine neue Form der philosophiehistorischen Wahrheit.