Thesis--Texas Technological College. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 287-302).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: John Rumrich. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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Nous visons dans cette thèse à analyser l'influence de la pensée grecque sur la vision politique républicaine d'Algernon Sidney (1623-1683). Dans l'introduction cette figure importante de l'histoire politique et philosophique anglaise est replacée dans son contexte historique général. Nous y soulignons l'importance fondamentale qu'occupe la réfutation des thèses absolutistes de Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653) dans les principaux ouvrages de Sidney. L'hypothèse directrice est que la critique systématique de Filmer par Sidney s'effectue grâce à l'apport de la pensée politique classique, l'œuvre d'Aristote, en particulier. Non seulement les arguments négatifs, mais aussi les propositions politiques positives de Sidney, s'inspirent des thèses du Stagirite sur la nature de la politique. Par-delà l'exposé de la critique sidneyenne de Filmer, nous cherchons à montrer une certaine continuité entre l'Antiquité et la Modernité qui est perceptible dans l'œuvre de Sidney. Contre des penseurs tels que Leo Strauss qui voient une coupure radicale entre les Anciens et les Modernes, la réflexion de Sidney permet de comprendre que des penseurs se situant après Machiavel s'inspirent encore d'auteurs comme Aristote tout en les adaptant à de nouvelles circonstances. Les quatre premiers chapitres cherchent donc surtout à démontrer les affinités entre Sidney et Aristote. Des sujets tels que le meilleur régime, la nature de la liberté et de la servitude, la finalité de la vie politique, la monarchie et la démocratie, les limites du pouvoir et la centralité de la loi, y sont explorés. Il en ressort un portrait complexe et nuancé de Sidney qui doit combattre son principal adversaire non seulement sur le terrain de la philosophie, mais aussi de l'histoire et de la théologie. La deuxième partie de la thèse s'ouvre avec quelques précisions méthodologiques qui permettent de mieux comprendre les comparaisons de la pensée de Sidney avec celle d'autres penseurs : Nicolas Machiavel, Thomas Hobbes et John Locke. L'importance d'étudier aussi bien le contexte historique que les textes marquants est soulignée dans le cinquième chapitre. L'école dite « révisionniste » de Quentin Skinner et celle de « l'histoire sociale des idées politiques » de Neal Wood et d'Ellen Meiksins Wood sont comparées en vue d'élaborer une synthèse. La combinaison des deux grandes approches interprétatives permet de mieux comprendre les positions politiques défendues par Sidney dans les Maximes de la cour (1665) et les Discours sur le gouvernement (1698). Les trois derniers chapitres, du sixième au huitième, permettent de montrer l'originalité des positions politiques de Sidney. Nous constatons que l'auteur arrive à rapprocher certaines thèses d'Aristote et de Machiavel, mais aussi à proposer une solution de rechange républicaine aux thèses contractuelles de Hobbes. Nous dégageons dans le dernier chapitre les affinités et les différences entre Locke et Sidney en montrant que la fidélité de ce dernier à certaines idées d'Aristote est le critère différenciant les deux penseurs. Nous insistons enfin, en nous appuyant sur plusieurs passages de son œuvre, sur l'influence que la pensée de Sidney a eue aussi bien en terre d'Amérique que sur le Continent. Ces analyses renforcent l'idée défendue par ailleurs dans la thèse que la modernité politique est en large partie redevable à la philosophie politique antique. / In this thesis we aim to analyse the influence of Greek thought on the republican political vision of Algernon Sidney (1623-1683). In the introduction, this important figure in English political and philosophical history is placed in his general historical context. The fundamental importance of the refutation of the absolutist theses of Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653) in Sidney's main works is highlighted. The guiding assumption is that Sidney's systematic critique of Filmer is made possible by the contribution of classical political thought, the work of Aristotle in particular. Not only Sidney's negative arguments, but also his positive political proposals, are inspired by the Stagirite's theses on the nature of politics. Beyond the presentation of Sidney's critique of Filmer, we seek to show a certain continuity between Antiquity and Modernity that is perceptible in Sidney's work. Against thinkers such as Leo Strauss who see a radical break between the Ancients and the Moderns, Sidney's reflection allows us to understand that thinkers after Machiavelli still draw inspiration from authors such as Aristotle while adapting them to new circumstances. The first four chapters therefore seek to demonstrate the affinities between Sidney and Aristotle. Topics such as the best regime, the nature of freedom and servitude, the purpose of political life, monarchy and democracy, the limits of power and the centrality of law are explored. What emerges is a complex and nuanced portrait of Sidney, who must fight his main opponent not only on the terrain of philosophy, but also of history and theology. The second part of the thesis opens with some methodological details that allow for a better understanding of the comparisons of Sidney's thought with that of other thinkers: Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. The importance of studying both the historical context and the key texts is emphasised in the fifth chapter. Quentin Skinner's 'revisionist' school and Neal Wood's and Ellen Meiksins Wood's 'social history of political ideas' are compared to develop a synthesis. The combination of the two main interpretative approaches allows for a better understanding of the political positions advocated by Sidney in the Court Maxims (1665) and the Discourses Concerning Government (1698). The last three chapters, from the sixth to the eighth, show the originality of Sidney's political positions. We note that the author manages to bring together certain theses of Aristotle and Machiavelli, but also to propose a republican alternative to Hobbes' contractual theses. In the last chapter, we identify the affinities and differences between Locke and Sidney, showing that the latter's fidelity to certain ideas of Aristotle is the criterion that differentiates the two thinkers. Finally, based on several passages of his work, we insist on the influence that Sidney's thought had both in America and on the Continent. These analyses reinforce the idea defended elsewhere in the thesis that political modernity is largely indebted to classical political philosophy.

This dissertation addresses, from the symbolism of the mirror, the question of metaphor and the subject in the poetry of Sidney Wanderley, Alagoas contemporary poet. The analyses of this work focus on some selected poems, with the intertextual procedure. Each poem is thought as a text, built by reviving the poetic and philosophical tradition, especially the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. Others interlocution poles contribute to this work, that looks also for dialogue with literary criticism and psychoanalysis. / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas / Esta dissertação aborda, a partir da simbologia do espelho, a questão da metáfora e do sujeito na poesia de Sidney Wanderley, poeta alagoano contemporâneo. As análises dos poemas selecionados vão ao encontro do procedimento intertextual, na medida em que cada poema é pensado aqui como um texto que se constrói em diálogo com a tradição poética e também filosófica, com destaque para o filósofo grego Heráclito. Outros pólos de interlocução contribuem para a elaboração deste trabalho, que busca ainda dialogar com a crítica literária e com a psicanálise.

Dans Arcadia de Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), les représentations de la nature témoignent de la richesse de l’univers artistique de l’auteur. Le titre de l’œuvre suggère que le socle esthétique sur lequel repose la mimesis sidnéienne est ancré dans l’imitation de la tradition poétique pastorale. L’imitation littéraire est certes au cœur du processus de création sur lequel repose la composition de l’œuvre. Cependant, le texte de Sidney est bien plus qu’une autre Arcadie littéraire inspirée des Bucoliques de Virgile ou de L’Arcadie de Jacopo Sannazaro. Le texte fait s’imbriquer les récits héroïques qui empruntent à l’épopée les repères esthétiques sur lesquels reposent l’évocation du locus terribilis, vision antagoniste du locus amoenus. L’œuvre est donc animée par une passion pour la fiction au point que la littérature et la lecture se substituent à l’intrigue en tant que sujet même de l’œuvre. Cette conception de la création littéraire comme acte réflexif imprègne la représentation de la nature qui devient donc dans certains passages un texte dans le texte, une nature textualisée. Le champ de la réflexivité s’étend à d’autres domaines de la création artistique et notamment aux arts plastiques dont l’esthétique informe à la fois la représentation de la nature et la matière verbale de l’œuvre. L’affinité entre les formes verbales et les formes visuelles est sous-tendue par une esthétique commune que l’on doit replacer dans le contexte du mouvement du maniérisme. Paradoxalement, l’unité de cette œuvre protéiforme réside dans sa fragmentation dont résulte une esthétique du détail. L’énergie créative de l’auteur s’illustre en effet dans la représentation de petites natures dont l’esthétique témoigne de la beauté de son univers artistique. / In Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, the representations of nature testify to the diversity and wealth of the author’s artistic world. The title of the literary work suggests that the aesthetic foundations on which the Sidneyan mimesis lies are rooted in the imitation of the pastoral poetic tradition. Literary imitation lies at the core of the creative process from which the text proceeds. Yet, Philip Sidney’s work goes beyond the vision of nature as locus amoenus associated with Virgil’s Bucolics or Jacopo Sannazaro’s own Arcadia. The text features embedded narratives recounting heroic tales which draw on the epic literary tradition and lead to the representation of nature as locus terribilis. The passion for fiction with which Arcadia is imbued leads to a shift from the plot to the essence of literature as the main focus of Sidney’s work. This conception of literary creation as a reflexive praxis pervades the representation of nature which, in parts of the text, becomes a text within the text, a textualized nature. The spectrum of the reflexive dynamics encompasses several artistic areas including the plastic arts which inform both the aesthetics of the representation of nature and that of the verbal matter. The correspondences between the visual forms and the verbal ones spring from a common aesthetics which ties to the artistic context of mannerism. Paradoxically, the unity of this multifarious work lies in its fragmented dimension from which derives an aesthetics of the detail. Indeed, the illustration of author’s creative energy resides in the depictions of a small-scale nature and minute details which illustrate the beauty of his artistic environment.

In his Defence of Poetry (c. 1580), Philip Sidney argues that poetry—a category in which he includes all imaginative fiction—aims at the education of its readers. Archepollycyes studies the attempts of a loose group of sixteenth-century writers around Sidney to write fiction that lives up to this aim, in order to understand the methods they developed to educate readers and the relationship between this education and the politics of the monarchical state. Sidnean fiction demands long study on the part of its readers because it aims to transform their mental habits and create new internal resources for right action. The works of fiction I study here—Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton’s Gorboduc, George Buchanan’s Baptistes, Sidney’s Arcadia, Mary Sidney Herbert’s Antonius and A Discourse of Life and Death, and Fulke Greville’s Mustapha—were products of their authors’ experiments with genre, narrative, translation, and style as tools to achieve this aim. Through the reading experience these works invite, readers exercise their judgment in the interpretation of fictional examples and reflect explicitly on the mental habits of generalization and application that inform decisions about how to act in new circumstances. Readers also come to see these habits of judgment as shared with others and experience the act of reading as participation in both real and imagined interpretive communities. I argue that these interpretive communities are best understood as loose political institutions, networks of organization and affiliation whose members could think and act together through common habits of judgment and the mutual resolution that results from recognizing this commonality. I adopt the term “archepollycyes” from Gabriel Harvey in order to describe the role of such institutions in monarchical politics. Harvey coins the term to describe the foundational forms of political knowledge, action, and organization, in contrast to the day-to-day work of government and the business of political rule. “Archepollycyes” hold a political community together in spite of changes in its ruler or government; understanding and creating such institutions was thus a means of responding to the escalating crises of succession, absolutism, and civil war that confronted early modern monarchies. By reading and writing fiction, I argue, Sidney and a broader network of writers aimed to act at a distance from contemporary political conflicts by founding “archepollycyes,” loose institutions capable of acting independent of the monarchical state and outside of existing structures of government, but on behalf of the long-term stability of a political community. In this way, I offer a new way of thinking about fiction and political institution in relation to the contested emergence of the modern sovereign state.