For my dissertation, I analyze the impact of English philosopher Stephen Toulmin's 1958 The Uses of Argument on philosophy and rhetoric. Because Toulmin holds that arguments must be assessed in relation to their original contexts, I begin by examining the intellectual context surrounding The Uses of Argument. I trace the development of formal, symbolic logic from the latter part of the nineteenth century and into the middle of the twentieth century. I argue that Toulmin was inspired by the work of ordinary language philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein; with The Uses of Argument, Toulmin challenges the mathematical, deductive, and positivistic logics of philosophers such as Rene Descartes and Bertrand Russell. Next, I consider features of The Uses of Argument that are overlooked or misunderstood by critics and reviewers, including Toulmin's discussion of probability, field-dependent and independent aspects of arguments, and epistemological theory.After finding that many of the reviews of Toulmin's work were not as critical as recent scholars of rhetoric have portrayed, I evaluate the various ways philosophers and speech communication scholars have responded to Toulmin's arguments. Before examining composition scholars' uses of Toulmin, I briefly trace the development of argumentation in composition instruction. Then, I evaluate the wide range of reactions to and uses of Toulmin's work by composition scholars.Finally, having examined the intellectual history, the critical reception, and the variety of scholarly applications of The Uses of Argument, I offer my own application of Toulmin's work. I explain that good, "Toulmin-inspired" arguments are (1) contextual, (2) supported, and (3) multi-sided. Using student examples from my freshman composition courses, I demonstrate how students and I have used Toulmin's schema in several stages of the writing process, including invention and revision. I conclude that while Toulmin's work has had a significant impact on argumentation theory and pedagogy, rhetoricians-particularly composition scholars-have not yet fully realized the rhetorical and epistemological implications of The Uses of Argument. / Department of English

This thesis attempts to produce a biographical study of King Stephen's wife, similar in scope and type to Marjorie Chibnall's 1991 work The Empress Matilda. The introduction will examine the primary sources for Matilda of Boulogne's career - chronicles written during and after her lifetime and charters she issued or attested - and point out their problems; examine her career as discussed in secondary sources; and examine her early life, including an attempt to put her children in birth order. A lack of primary source material prevents any longer examination of her career before Stephen's 1135 accession. The first chapter is a narrative of the queen's career, collating documentary and chronicle sources to provide the background for later, in-depth discussion. Where possible and appropriate, this chapter also attempts to date charters more precisely. The second chapter discusses Matilda's religious life, and has three parts. The first and longest is an in-depth analysis of her charters to religious houses, to determine her patterns of patronage and personal preferences. The second compares her religious charters to Stephen's and examines the connections between them using the queen's attestations; this determines whether the queen's grants were self-directed or motivated by her husband. The final section examines Matilda of Boulogne's relationships with various religious figures, and in particular tries to date her various interactions with Bernard of Clairvaux. The third chapter analyses the witness-lists of Matilda's charters in order to determine with whom she was in closest contact - the make-up of her curia, in other words - and provides some discussion of her most frequent attestors. There is also a comparison between Stephen and Matilda's most frequent attestors, which determines that Matilda, rather than being an alternative nexus of prestige or having a parallel curia, was a member of Stephen's inner circle who had a small personal household. The fourth chapter is an examination of Matilda of Boulogne's authority - its sources, types, and uses. In general, Matilda's authority was highly nuanced, came from multiple sources, including her roles as wife, mother, countess, and queen, and allowed her to take highly effective, flexible action whenever Stephen's interests or hers were threatened. The final chapter places the queen's career in context by examining the careers of four of her relatives, and comparing them to Matilda's; it becomes apparent from this analysis that Matilda actively modelled herself on her predecessors, particularly those who were queens.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Inaug.-Diss.--Rostock. / Lebenslauf. "Der ... hier vorgelegte teildruck umfasst das kapitel II und einen teil der anhänge der eingereichten dissertation: 'Carl Borromäus v. Miltitz als musikschriftsteller. Ein beitrag zum musikalischen schrifttum des 19. jahrhunderts.'" "Verzeichniss der musikschriftstellerischen arbeiten von Carl Borromäus von Miltitz": p. 91-96; "Vorhandene musikalische werke von Miltitz": p. 97-113; "Nicht auffindbare kompositionen und entwürfe" p. 114-115.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Sally Hadden, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 29, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1938. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1994. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2837. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-81).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1992. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (S.T.L.)--Catholic University of America, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-99).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1938. / Vita. Bibliographical foot-notes.