School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemThe historical alliance of faith and scepticism in relation to the contemporary situation in philosophy(University of Melbourne, 1957)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableGovernor Hotham : aspects of his government of Victoria, 1854-55, with particular reference to the Ballarat gold-fields disturbances(University of Melbourne, 1954?)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe significance of Transjordan and its people for the history of Israel(University of Melbourne, 1956)
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ItemNew South Wales under Governor King(University of Melbourne, 1955)The three parts of this thesis are entitled 'The Economy', 'The People', 'The Governor'. Although those three subjects are certainly the fundamental matters of my concern, the rigidity of the division may be misleading. I an inclined to believe that "Economic History" is rarely of intrinsic importance and definitely not so in reference to a snail settlement over a mere six-year period. The purpose of Part One is rather to introduce 'The People'. This is aimed at in two ways. On the one hand the first two chapters suggest the background and, to some degree, the manner of the ordinary man's life; on the other, the whole section describes the channels into which the colonists of superior ability directed their energies. In all young societies the first moves towards distinction are not related to philosophy or culture, but to economic profit. Thus the chapters on the several industries teach not only statistics and geography, but also of the aspirations and determination of the men in the colony possessed of minds large enough to aspire determinedly. Every chapter, not merely the last, refers to the personality and attitudes of the Governor. Men such as King who possess no highly remarkable or intriguing qualities cannot be characterised and estimated so succinctly as the genius, hero, or villain. So there is a greater necessity that he be judged by the record in round of his term. Virtually every sub-section paints in something more of the hard-discerned portrait. This is particularly true of the first two chapters. King, comrade of .Arthur Phillip at the foundation of N. S.W. , reached Sydney in April 1800 after the lapse of many weary months since his appointment. He knew that the colony was in a material and moral bog. Being, like all of us, an instinctive "economic determinist" King at once set himself to the regulation of economic life. We have now to examine his plans and his performance.
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ItemA study in the language of perception( 1955)In the following pages I have discussed some of the problems connected with perception. I have not discussed them all -, nor have the ones which I have touched upon always received the amount of attention they deserve. In the selection of problems for inclusion and in deciding about priority of treatment I have allowed myself to be guided by the actuality of the problem, that is, by the importance which is assigned to it by leading figures in the present period of British Philosophy. I have not, however, tried to effect a close agreement between what I say and the views of any one prominent philosopher or any one school; nor have I tried to oppose anybody - except where I thought that direct opposition would conduce to greater clarity. I have tried to learn from as many sources as possible, and then to say what seemed to me to be possibly true or at least not quite implausible - irrespective of whether it agrees with anybody else's views or not. The attached bibliography shows the books and articles from which I have learned most. Any views in this thesis, which can be found also in the sources listed, can be regarded as derived from these sources irrespective of whether this has been clearly indicated in the text or not. But for what I have had to say I am more indebted to my teachers in this University than to any published works. I want to mention especially the help I have received from my two supervisors: Dr. C.D. Rollins and Prof. D.A.T. Gasking, with both of whom I have discussed many of the topics which are treated in the following pages, benefiting greatly by their suggestions and criticisms. I also want to thank Mr. D.G. Londey for correcting my English, and for the valuable suggestions he has made as to further possible improvements.
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ItemA criticism of certain aspects of R.G. Collingwood's theory of history( 1957)The thesis is divided Into six Parts. In Part A I will consider philosophic objections to R.G. Collingwood's Theory of History as expounded in the Introduction and Epilegomena to his book "The Idea of History", while in Part B I will turn to those philosophic criticisms of the Theory which have recently been discussed in an article by Alan Donagan. In Part C I will consider objections which might he described as 'difficulties likely to arise when the Theory is put into practice'. In Part D the discussion is centred on certain views of Hempel for the purpose of throwing further light on the place of generalisations in history, a subject which will have been raised from time to time in the first three Parts. Part E is an attempt to discover the best approach to problems in the theory of history, which is followed in Part F by a sample analysis of some problems raised by Collingwood and an attempt to slow why he made his mistakes. The problems which I will discuss are connected in such a variety of ways that it has not been easy to decide in what order the discussion should follow. From time to time a certain topic will be raised, pursued for several pages and then dropped, only to be taken up again later. I hope that 'signpost' remarks from time to time will make clear the direction in which the argument is going, and help to pull together these strands.
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ItemReinhold Niebuhr : an enquiry into the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr and an investigation of its implications for Protestant ethical, social and political theories( 1958)For many years the suggestion that a Protestant political theory was a possibility has been scorned by political thinkers. That this scorn is justified has been due to two facts about Protestant Christianity. Firstly, there has been the growth of a radical Protestantism which thought it found its roots in the writings of Martin Luther; secondly, there has existed the confusion of mind which theologians have come to call Liberalism. This latter stands in direct contrast to radical Christianity which draws a great chasm between the. Gospel and the world, dismissing the latter as utterly evil and beyond redemption, in fact 'untouchables' for the Christian. Liberal Christianity, on the other hand, so watered down the Gospel that the chasm became little more than an undulating plane end the "offence" of the Gospel, so dear to the radical, is converted into the bulwark of this or that society.
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ItemExistence and the ontological proof( 1951, 1955)In the lines, 'This was the Noblest Roman of them all All the Conspirators save onely hee, Did that they did, in envy of great Caesar:' occur expressions the functions of which, though distinct, are often confounded. In the first line, the word 'this' is used to point something out; in the third, the word 'that' refers to an action. These words may be used to point out or refer to any thing, event, quality, state or relation you choose. Other words and expressions have similar functions: 'there' may be used to point out a place, and 'thither' a direction; 'here' to refer to where the speaker is, 'hither' to the direction in which he is. 'How' and 'then' are used in analogous ways. Such uses have been felt to pose various problems. How can an expression point out now one thing, now another, without changing in meaning? This question reveals a confusion between the meaning of an expression and what it is employed to do on a particular occasion.
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ItemRealist epistemology in Christian philosophy( 1953)I propose in this thesis to show that the Idealist Epistemology does not allow for the essentials of Christianity and that, on the contrary, a Realist epistemology does make it possible to accept Christianity without any contradiction being involved. To achieve this, I shall first state the philosophy of John Caird who attempted to start with Idealism and end with a philosophy of religion; then I shall examine the conclusions and implications of Caird, comparing them with the writings of other Idealist thinkers, and show wherein they fail to meet the needs of Christian thinkers. This, of course, is no proof of the falsity of their thinking but I shall, after a short section on the historical change from Idealism to Realism, follow with a statement of the Realist epistemology which I hold to be necessary to describe and clarify our experience. The position which I will advocate will be that generally described as. Critical Realism but it will include a section on our knowledge of persons which is relevant in any religious thought which takes account of a personal God, as well as some account of error and the occurrence of error which is relevant to the question of the place of evil in our experience. Finally I shall make a statement of the points of Christian doctrine which I consider to be vitally affected by epistemology and I shall endeavour to show that, under Realism, both Christian needs and our experience can be adequately stated. This is not to say. that Christianity is a necessary conclusion but only that Christianity does not preclude one from being a realist and that realism does not preclude one from being a Christian.