This thesis studies the reform of the nineteenth century universities of Scotland and England in terms of the conflict between the aristocracy, the professions and the mercantile section of the middle class. A methodology has been developed that draws on the secondary sources on the universities to identify the main characters involved in certain debates relating to university reform. The work consists of the study of the original correspondence of the central persons involved in specific changes in the two university systems. These sources have been set into a context constructed from the study of newspaper reports, pamphlets, essays, speeches and other accessible pieces. A background chapter on the main contrasts betw--en the university systems in Scotland and England in the years before the Victorian age is followed by three chapters that focus on parellel developments in the two university systems in three distinct periods. By juxtaposing the events in (1) the 1820s and 1830s, (2) the 1850s and (3) the 1870s and 1880s the thesis indicates that differences in the reforms of the various parts of the systems in the two countries can be related to the resolution of local compromises between the aristocracy, the professions and the mercantile wing of the middle class that reflected the relative strength of those classes in the local areas. By concentrating on events in this way the thesis draws conclusions which cast doubt on the analysis presented by G. E. Davie in his work 'The Democratic Intellect'. The study concludes that the ideas associated with the three identified contending interest groups had a divergent impact on Oxford and Cambridge, on the universities of Scotland and on the newer civic universities as the century unfolded.

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During the nineteenth century, Americans began to develop a new relationship with death. Urbanites were less confronted with the constant presence of the dead and dying than they had in the past. A new trend in cemeteries also developed as a result. The Rural Cemetery Movement promoted the idea that the dead should be buried amongst a natural setting that was pleasing and calming to visitors. The first few initial cemeteries were an immediate success, but this was not the case in Richmond, Virginia. Although the developers had grand ideas about their cemetery project, Richmonders opposed the cemetery in the first several years. They feared that the cemetery would stunt the growth of the city or even harm the health of the city’s citizens. Over time, however, Richmonders began to accept the cemetery and with this they formed a new understanding of nature that was pleasing and allowed Americans to value natural settings.

Examining human settlement in the Long Point Region of Ontario, the author attempts to frame the analysis in terms of a general theory of human settlement. Significant variables are isolated, analysed and explained in terms of regularities of human behaviour. To test the logic and content of the study, the analysis is then inverted. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This thesis aims to show that Coleridge's thinking about science was inseparable from and influenced by his social and political concerns. During his lifetime, science was undergoing a major transition from mechanistic to dynamical modes of explanation. Coleridge's views on natural philosophy reflect this change. As a young man, in the mid-1790s, he embraced the mechanistic philosophy of Necessitarianism, especially in his psychology. In the early 1800s, however, he began to condemn the ideas to which he had previously been attracted. While there were technical, philosophical and religious reasons for this turnabout, there were also major political ones. For he repeatedly complained that the prevailing 'mechanical philosophy' of the period bolstered emerging liberal and Utilitarian philosophies based ultimately on self-interest. To combat the 'commercial' ideology of early nineteenth century Britain, he accordingly advocated an alternative, 'dynamic' view of nature, derived from German Idealism. I argue that Coleridge championed this 'dynamic philosophy' because it sustained his own conservative politics, grounded ultimately on the view that states possess an intrinsic unity, so are not the product of individualistic self-interest.

The research question considers the possibility that culture and identity impedes Chinese New Zealanders from writing fiction about their own culture, and considers a Chinese New Zealand history as interpreted from a Chinese perspective. The research looks at various elements related to this question, such as Chinese as strangers or foreigners, the pressure to conform, and the role of communities.

This study examines stories from the 1800s about the Swedish folklore creature Näcken with the purpose to define what kind of view on gender they are presenting. The geographical area in focus is the Swedish south province Småland. The ambition is to see how the stories describe the thinking, acting and meaning about gender and authority. This will also be studied in relation to the norms and ideals of gender that dominated in the 1800s. Former studies has shown that the view of folklore and gender interacted and carried each other in the 1600s and the 1700s. There are also research that indicate that the creature Näcken maintained gender patterns in the 1800s. This research determines more general patterns concerning gender and has not done a more firmly analysis in relation to the change in the view on gender which took place between the 1700s and the 1800s, which this study intend to do by using Yvonne Hirdman’s gender system as a theoretical framework. The result has shown that the understandings of Näcken had a role to play in the context of social control, seeing as the understandings affected the behavior of people. The most clear message the stories expresses is that men had more capacity to act than women, which is in line with the 1800s ideals about gender that derived from a polarization norm. This can also be seen in the context in which the meeting with Näcken took place, namely the in the context of work and other activities, but not in connection to physical places in line with the polarization norm, in which the women should have met the creature closer to the farm and the men’s meeting should have more distance from the farm. The stories also expresses a valuing of characteristics which were highly valued as norms in the 1800s. The characteristics also have a moral dimension. Men with highly valued characteristics were more likely to succeed with their attempts and had bigger chances of escaping Näcken. Within the moral spectrum one can find a Christian motive as well, since warnings about neglecting the religion takes place. For women though, the stories’ moral dimension spoke about precepts and the negative consequences which could follow if the women did not practice restraint and carefulness. From the 1600s and 1700s to the 1800s Småland, there is also a continuity regarding sexual relationships between women and Näcken to be found. Those kinds of relationships are rare to find in the sources.

Le premier romantisme, au tournant du XIXe siècle, serait l’héritier du rousseauisme. Il nous semble pourtant lire une rupture radicale entre l’idée de nature comme l’entend le XVIIIe siècle et l’idée de paysage telle que l’expriment les jeunes écrivains des années 1800.L’idée de nature reste envisagée, jusqu’à la Révolution, comme le décor idéal d’un bonheur possible, dont témoignent, jusque sur le terrain, les paysagistes de la fin de l’Ancien Régime. Du jardin régulier au jardin paysager, le paysage n’est toujours conçu que comme le fond du tableau. Au lendemain de la Révolution, le paysage prend un tout autre sens. Il n’est plus l’écrin divin où doit s’épanouir l’homme raisonnable, il est devenu la figure sublime d’une nouvelle relation qu’a l’homme à lui-même. Les représentations de la culture des Lumières reposaient sur la transcendance et la verticalité ; elles font place aux représentations de la pensée romantique, construite sur l’immanence et l’horizontalité.Le paysage, en s’élevant ainsi au statut de concept, induit un nouveau rapport au temps et à l’espace, redéfinit le point de vue et l’horizon, fait primer le rapport sur l’essence. Cette métamorphose des représentations, qui signe l’entrée dans l’ère contemporaine, nous semble l’effet le plus profond du bouleversement qu’a produit la Révolution. Il convient, c’est notre thèse, de parler de l’émergence d’une idéologie paysagère, pour ces années 1800, si l’on veut comprendre ce qui engendre à la fois la littérature des Senancour, Germaine de Staël, Chateaubriand, la philosophie des Destutt de Tracy, Maine de Biran, et l’essor tant des sciences physiques, avec Georges Cuvier, que des sciences humaines, avec Jean-Baptiste Say, pour citer nos principaux auteurs. / The first romanticism at the turn of the 19th century would be the successor to Rousseauism. However, we believe this translates into a radical break between the idea of nature as understood in the 18th century and the idea of landscape as expressed by the young writers in the 1800s. Until the Revolution, the idea of nature is still considered as the ideal setting for potential happiness, as evidenced, even on the ground, by landscape designers at the end of the former Regime. From the regular garden to the landscaped garden, landscape was only ever designed as a background. In the wake of the Revolution, landscape takes on a whole new meaning. It is no longer the divine setting where the intelligent man flourishes, but becomes the sublime figure of a new relationship that the man has with himself. Representations of the Enlightenment culture were based on transcendence and verticality; these give way to representations of romantic thought, built on immanence and horizontality.Thus elevated to the status of concept, the landscape gives rise to a new relationship with time and space, redefines the view point and the horizon and prioritises the relationship on the essence. We believe that this transformation of representations, which heralds the entry into the modern era, is the most profound effect of the upheaval caused by the Revolution. Our thesis claims that it is important to talk about the emergence of a landscape ideology for these 1800s if we are to understand what leads not only to the literature of Senancour, Germaine de Staël and Chateaubriand, but also the philosophy of Destutt de Tracy and Maine de Biran as well as the growth in the physical sciences, with Georges Cuvier, and the human sciences, with Jean-Baptiste Say, to quote our principal authors.

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The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of Anna Sewell’s argumentation for a changed view on animals in her book Black Beauty and Sewell’s contribution to the animal welfare debate. The questions addressed in the study is: What arguments does Sewell present for a changed view on animals? What contemporary assumptions does Sewell challenge? Against what contemporary assumptions does her argument become effective? To answer these questions the material that are examined is Sewell’s book Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse (1877), first published in England. The theoretical perspective is that the book’s influence on the debate only is effective through two factors which is Sewell’s argumentation and the contemporary conditions that affected her way of arguing. These two factors become effective through interaction. The method used is a rhetorical analysis because it takes hold on text and context. Prior research has found through their perspective that the horses in Sewell’s book represent humans. But this study argues that the horses in Sewell’s book represent horses and that the book argues for a change in the way human’s attitude towards animals. The analysis in this study shows that Sewell’s argumentation can be divided into four categories of the contemporary ethics and context’s: Christianity, socialism, critique off fashion and machine. The conclusion drawn from the study is that Sewells arguments for a changed view on animals is based on these four categories where she must argue with and against them.