School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemThe Buddhist ethics of killing: metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics( 2018)Significant media interest and academic scholarship has in recent years brought attention to the normative status of killing in Buddhism, concurrent with the worst genocidal event since the last century, committed by apparent Buddhists, in Rakhine State in Myanmar, in August-September 2017. This event, the culmination of some five years of Buddhist aggression, was preceded by a concerted trend in academic Buddhist Studies to re-frame the textual, historical and cultural-anthropological account of violence and killing in classical and modern Buddhist sources. A normative schism appeared to be one of the results of this revisionary project, summarised by the question: are some cases of intentional killing actually or conceivably permissible in Buddhism? Popular media and academic specialists appeared to belie the orthodox claims of senior Buddhist representatives, contributing to a possibly equivocal understanding among Buddhists themselves, as well as the general public. Seeking to provide a robust account of the normative status of killing in Buddhism, this study theorises on relevant Buddhist philosophical grounds the metaphysical, phenomenological and ethical dimensions of the distinct intentional classes of killing, in dialogue with some elements of Western philosophical thought. The thesis pursues this philosophical explanation and justification for the Buddhist-ethical prohibition of killing in two main sequential stages. First, in Part I, Foundations, I examine and assess canonical modes of reasoning and criteria for the ethical evaluation of lethal acts, available in canonical Nikaya, Vinaya, Theravada, and some classical Mahayana texts, and their modern commentaries. Second, in Part II, Constructions, with reference to these and other early Buddhist sources, including those available in Abhidhamma/Abhidharma, Sautrantika and Pramanavada texts, I analyse four major intentional categories of lethal action. This engages the domains of killing as (1) preventive, deterrent and retributive punishment; (2) as a form of mercy-killing (including relevant cases of euthanasia, suicide and assisted-suicide, and abortion); (3) as ideological-religious contestation (relevant to terrorism, religious and political violence, and ideological militarism among other forms of symbolically-constituted action); and (4) as existential self-defence. In sum, the study engages a broad theoretical spectrum of lethality in the Buddhist-textual and cultural context, with a view to establishing a philosophical groundwork for the Buddhist-ethical theorisation of the many intellectual quandaries that emerge around killing in the different domains of Buddhist normative and applied ethics. In doing so, the study offers explanation for why killing in these domains is fundamentally wrong, by exposing what specifically in each intentional domain makes it so. In accounting for these differentiated cognitive-affective causes of killing, we come to understand how the acquisition of philosophical insight into such causes cognitively enables the Buddhist-ethical project of the extirpation of human-caused suffering.
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ItemIdentifying, characterising and mapping the deterioration of CN in museum collections: an archaeological adhesive case study( 2018)Introduced in the 1870s, cellulose nitrate (CN) has been widely used as a plastic, in film, coatings and adhesives. Research has shown CN to be an inherently unstable material, subject to rapid, irreversible deterioration. It also has the potential to produce degradation products that may catalyse further deterioration in CN materials and impact neighbouring artefacts. Consequently, CN presents ongoing challenges for conservators and allied professionals managing artefacts in gallery, library, archive and museum environments. In response to these concerns, this thesis investigates whether an in-depth understanding of CN’s deterioration trajectory and characteristics could be used to develop a model for strategically managing this material’s preservation and conservation. CN has been used as a primary polymer in adhesives in archaeology and conservation for more than 100 years. More recently it has been revealed as a secondary polymer in commercially available adhesives. As an initial step towards understanding the potential breadth of CN’s presence within museum collections, this project identified, characterised and mapped the deterioration of CN using historic, real-time aged CN materials found in the archaeological context. Commercially available products and adhesives introduced to archaeological artefacts post-excavation were used to historically study the presence of CN. The University of Melbourne’s Middle Eastern and Cypriot archaeological collections were used as a case study. Adhesive samples removed from repairs and labels were used to locate CN, identify formulation variances and examine degradation. Diachronic changes in the selection and application of these materials in archaeological and conservation practice were mapped. A range of analytical techniques including infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, chemical testing, colorimetry and multivariate analysis were used to analyse and interpret samples. Unambiguous identification methodologies were developed for identifying CN in collections. CN was found to be present as a primary or secondary polymer in adhesive repairs and labels. Plasticisers camphor and di-butyl phthalate were associated with the CN based adhesives. The deterioration trajectory of this unstable material was explored using accelerated ageing studies of commercially available adhesives. CN’s presence as a primary or secondary polymer, and its associated plasticisers were used to explore how formulation variances may influence the deterioration profile of this material. A U-shaped trajectory of deterioration was mapped for UV radiation aged adhesive samples using IR spectra and principle component analysis (PCA). Comparative analyses of ageing trajectories for adhesives containing CN as a primary or secondary polymer, and with 2 different plasticisers showed that variations in adhesive formulations influence the rate and extent of sample deterioration. The results have suggested that IR spectroscopy and PCA can be used to map a trajectory of CN deterioration. It is recommended that additional analytical techniques be used to fully characterise and interpret the underlying chemistry that is recorded in the IR spectra. This thesis establishes a base methodology for indentifying and characterising CN in collections which may function as a starting point for further research, extension and development. It has demonstrated that variations in formulation and physical characteristics can influence the way CN ages. It is suggested that there is potential for an in-depth understanding of the deterioration trajectory and characteristics of CN to be used to develop a model for predicting its deterioration to aid strategic management of its preservation and conservation.
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ItemA revolution in just war theory? expanding the laws and ethics of war to cover revolutionary conflict( 2018)Can just war theory be extended to cover revolutionary conflict and other forms of intrastate war? In short, it can be. Yet how this might be achieved is contingent on one’s commitment to particular groupings of the different methodological, legal and normative positions that together constitute just war theory. The thesis examines how each particular grouping fares toward this end.
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ItemRisk and organisation in emergency and environmental management: a philosophical and ethnographic investigation( 2018)This thesis presents a novel analytic to studying the organisation of emergency and environmental management, namely by way of risk and its practices. It critically examines, situates, and problematises the concept of risk. Diagnosing a set of new risk practices and technologies, it argues that the way risk is done today has reconfigured the State and its territories. The thesis explains how risk and organisation can now put into question the notions of truth, deliberation, and expertise.
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ItemLiberty, licentiousness and libel: the London Newspaper 1695–1742( 2018)Press freedom is a principle that has been contested throughout its history. Western democracies hold the liberty of expression dear, and valorise the press as an essential check upon government. But, in the contemporary era, ‘free speech’ and ‘the free press’ are often co-opted in defence of extreme, and worrying, political positions. The question of when and how to limit speech, whether in the press or other mediums of publication, is hotly debated. This thesis contributes to current understandings of press freedom by challenging a widely held historical narrative of ever-increasing liberty to the betterment of the democratic system. This teleological account still dominates much of the historiography of the press. Such narratives typically focus on the longue durée, but this study instead offers a densely textured history of the liberty of the press in London periodicals in the period 1695–1742. Delimited by the lapse of the Licensing Act in 1695 and the fall of Walpole in 1742, this thesis spans two periods that have usually been divided in the political historiography. The broad narrative that a ‘rage of party’ during the reign of Queen Anne was followed by a period of political stability and oligarchy with Walpole’s ascendancy remains the dominant, although not unchallenged, understanding of early eighteenth-century politics. Without seeking to overturn this interpretation, this thesis points to a political arena that never lay quietly, even at the height of the Whig oligarchy. Indeed, the political press of the 1720s and 1730s was ideologically bolder than that of the 1700s and 1710s, as the press increasingly became an outlet for the venting of opposition political argument. A vigorous, vitriolic and intellectually rich debate over press liberty filled the periodical press of early eighteenth-century London. Nevertheless, the periodicals of this era have typically been excluded from the intellectual history of press freedom. In drawing these periodicals into the history of ideas, this thesis draws upon the Cambridge School methodology of linguistic contextualism along with approaches from the historiography of the law and of the book. This thesis argues that the early eighteenth-century English periodical press was the locus of an important and under-examined debate over the liberty of the press. It proposes that the more radical elements of this debate aligned with the position of political opposition, rather than with any particular party such as the Whigs, and it uncovers the contested ideas of press liberty that enlivened this intellectual contest. These contentions disrupt the historiographical narrative of expanding press freedom through: revising the timeline for the development of important ideas of press liberty; challenging the association between a radical ideology of press freedom and the liberal or Whig tradition; and presenting a more complex set of potential antecedents for contemporary thinking on the purpose of a free press.
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ItemEast Greek pottery and Graeco-Anatolian mercenaries in the Southern Levant in Iron Age IIC (ca. 600 BCE)( 2018)This thesis questions the current scholarly consensus that East Greek mercenaries were responsible for the late seventh-century BCE East Greek pottery found in the Southern Levant. It is argued that it is possible that the pottery could also have been associated with Carian or Lydian mercenaries serving in the region at the time. This is supported by a comparative analysis of the East Greek pottery found in the Southern Levant with imported and imitated East Greek pottery from contemporary Carian and Lydian sites. The possibility of East Greeks, Carians, and Lydians being present in the Southern Levant at the relevant time is also examined in terms of the historical, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence for their presence in Egypt and the Near East. The nature of the relationship that existed among them while serving in the region is also considered.
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ItemChanges in the chemical composition of archaeological wood caused by exposure to different environments and its relation with the other properties.( 2018)This thesis aims to characterise the deterioration mechanisms of dry cultural heritage wood by applying a multi-analytical technique that is comparable to that used for waterlogged archaeological wood. The deterioration and degradation resulting from the aging of wood, especially waterlogged wood, have been studied extensively compared to wood in dry environments. A similar scenario is repeated with the less information available about the chemical modifications of dry wood during aging, in particular on the molecular level. Previous studies (Crestini, El Hadidi, & Palleschi, 2009; Nilsson & Daniel, 1990) have noted this lack of research on dry wood and its chemical transformations, but this field still requires research into the relation between wood’s chemical composition and how it impacts wood’s other anatomical, physical and mechanical characteristics. This thesis explores also the effect of some other materials associated with wood in art objects on the chemical composition/characteristics of wood. It also seeks to characterise changes and modifications in the chemical composition of archaeological wood, and explain the degradation mechanisms of archaeological wood. This thesis is divided into three sections. The first section examines the history of wood in cultural heritage (Chapter 1), the properties and structure of wood (Chapter 2) and wood deterioration (Chapter 3). The second section examines the materials and methods involved in the scientific investigation of the deteriorated wooden cultural heritage (Chapter 4). The third and final section analyses the results, discusses them and provides the conclusions of the research (Chapters 6-7). The thesis also includes a case study of the conservation analysis and treatment of a polychrome ancient Egyptian statuette (Chapter 8). The study employed analytical methods to identify the materials used in the object and their deterioration in order to implement a treatment and conservation plan to restore the object to as close to its original condition as possible and to preserve it for a longer period. Different analytical techniques and instruments were employed to research these degradation mechanisms. Several samples were collected and examined, principally from various places in Egypt as well as from Italy and Australia. Reference samples for the identified taxa were also examined using the same techniques (Chapter 4). Analysis began with visual observation and microscopic studies using the light microscope (LM), a polarising light microscope (PLM) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to identify the wood species and to assess the anatomical and morphological changes of the wooden samples. The physical properties of the samples such as density were also examined and the moisture content of each sample was measured. A multi-analytical chemical procedure was followed in order to describe the condition of the samples and to track their chemical changes and transformations. Wet chemical analysis (WCA), including Klason lignin and acid-insoluble lignin and ash content measurement was used to determine the holocellulose to lignin ratio (H/L), water soluble substances and the organic soluble substances and the ash minerals content. This was useful in order to compare this study to the previous studies using this technique for analysing the chemistry of wood with cultural heritage significance and also it was used as a reference for the following chemical analytical techniques. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) was applied on thin slices of the same samples and also applied on extractive-free powder. These results were useful in the interpretation of the high level of extraneous substances extracted, especially by hot water. Very small samples were cut and examined by pyrolysis gas chromatography with mass spectrometer (Py(HMDS)-GC/MS), which was very helpful in understanding the molecular changes in the chemical composition of samples tested (Chapter 4). Sample were able to be identified by species or family (Chapter 5). For the ancient Egyptian samples, Ficus sycomorus (sycamore fig) was the main wood identified and other species included Faidherbia albida, Taxus baccata. Other species identified from the samples included: Pinus sylvestris, Tamarix sp., Picea abies Karst., Pinus halepensis, Ostrya carpinifolia, Cupressaceae family and Quercus sp. Microscopic assessment showed different preservation states for the samples studied, however the trend was that the most ancient samples were the more deteriorated ones. Fungi and bacteria were evident in some samples, especially those from ancient Egypt, but the identification of the biological agent was complicated. Physical measurement (Chapter 6) confirms the trend of decay revealed by the microscopic study as the ancient Egyptian samples had the least density compared to the other cultural heritage samples and reference samples. The results showed the significant differences between the degradation of waterlogged archaeological wood and the dry wood, both in the chemical modification and in the other properties that occurred subsequently.
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ItemVisions of a mutual pacific destiny: the Japan-Australia society, 1896–1942( 2018)The Japan-Australia Society has been an elusive presence in Australian thought and historiography. The exclusive body was made up of one hundred leading business people involved in trade with Japan, along with supportive academics and others well-disposed to Japan. It did not seek out publicity from the time of its formation by the Japanese Government and Navy in Sydney in 1928. Its absence from Australian consideration of the relationship with Japan points to the extent to which support and admiration for Japan among business and primary producers from the time of Japan’s forced re-entry into world affairs in the mid-nineteenth century until the outbreak of war in December 1941 has been underestimated. The result has been an unbalanced portrayal of the relationship, producing a lop-sided periodisation of Australian economic and external relations. This thesis restores the place of advocates and practitioners of closer relations with Japan in Australian interwar history. It identifies the establishment of Australia as a crucial point in Japanese moves to international trade power in 1896, when Sydney became one of the “Big Three” points of Japanese global economic activity. In all of these activities, Australians partnered with the Japanese as the shipping agents for Japanese lines, stevedores at the wharves, insurance and banking facilitators, wool brokers and haulers of iron ore, minerals, wheat, tallow, and hides. Australians stored Japanese textiles and household items bound for major department stores, discount chains and regional general stores. Japanese merchants, managers and government officials worked with Australians. These commercial, personal and political bonds between Australians and the Japanese were at odds with prevailing opinions in Australia. They became inconvenient when the nations became combatants in 1941. Records were destroyed and the relationship subsequently obscured, denied and forgotten. The thesis recreates this world by reconstructing the physical landscape, recreating the business partnerships through commercial records and drawing on surviving Japanese foreign office and military material. It examines the motives of Society members, Japan’s role in fostering and directing the partnership, and the political influence exerted by these Australians. The thesis examines the role of the commander of the paramilitary old Guard, Major Jack Scott as a Japanese propagandist who pre-empted Government policy in 1934 by reports on a Japanese-sponsored tour of its empire; and of Percy Spender, who as a Society member used his influence as Treasurer and Army Minister in the Menzies Government in 1940–41 to assist Japanese policy. The thesis then considers the positions Society members first took after war broke out in December 1941, when Japan enjoyed success beyond expectations, and then the actions they took to re-focus their commercial and political efforts and erase their earlier support when it became clear that Japan would not prevail. This distortion and omission continued when the next generation of friendship societies formed in the 1960s without acknowledging the antecedent foundation Society and the relationship between Australia and Japan it had advocated.
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ItemA clamour of voices: negotiations of power and purpose in Australian spoken-word radio from 1924 to 1942( 2018)Radio broadcasting began in Australia as a commercial enterprise in the aftermath of World War I, with musicians and artistes offering audiences entertainment after the grief and divisiveness of the war years. However, the microphone also attracted a range of individuals and institutions who quickly saw an opportunity to speak: they wanted their voices to be heard in public and through their insistence, radio became such a place. This thesis views the history of early radio in Australia through the prism of its spoken-word output to argue that broadcasting was shaped not just by commercial interests and governmental bodies but also by the engagement of a diverse set of people concerned to communicate their ideas with fellow citizens. Previous studies have looked separately at the use of radio by politicians, philosophers and feminists; the argument of this thesis is that radio was a shared space of mutual encounter for many interest groups. Their level of purpose and access to power varied, with consequences for their efficacy as broadcasters. Their active involvement with radio, as a site of negotiation, exposed tensions around authority, control, and modes of representation in public life. The thesis examines the role of government alongside a series of case studies characterised by profession, ideology, gender and race. This study shows how early spoken-word radio in Australia energised many individuals and groups: it gave rise to fresh consideration of civic engagement in a democracy and the role of government in developing this. In addition, the issue of broadcasting itself became a matter of public debate. The urge to be heard in public persists to the present: contemporary movements engaging with media can look to the initial campaigns around radio as an originary moment whose strategies and objectives, successes and failures are illuminating today.
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ItemDoctors down under: European medical migrants in Victoria (Australia), 1930-60( 2018)The middle of the twentieth-century saw an unprecedented mass relocation of medical practitioners – through forced migration, military service, and as economic migrants. Between 1930-60, over three thousand medical migrants – that is, overseas-trained medical graduates – are known to have arrived in Australia. Their arrival was transformative as they challenged longstanding Australian legislative structures, and came to occupy critical gaps in local medical manpower. However, medical migrants in Australia are understudied. My research begins to redress what historians have called the ‘conspicuous silence’ or ‘collective amnesia’ that characterises nation-centric medical histories, where medical migrants are largely invisible. Through a series of case studies, underpinned by a prosopographic database documenting over two hundred ‘European medical migrants’, I examine the resettlement and professional lives of two broad groups registered in the state of Victoria between 1930-60: British and Irish medical migrants (the privileged invisible) and continental European medical migrants (the marginalised ‘aliens’). Each case study can stand alone, and addresses an identified gap in the historiography. However, taken together, these case studies enable a more nuanced reflection of the differences and intersections between groups of medical migrants that historians have tacitly held as being too disparate to study collectively. Key outcomes of this research include the recovery and contextualisation of the ‘special types of labour’ medical migrants undertook; the impact of gender in the process; and the agency displayed by more marginalised groups of medical migrants.