School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

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    Plato's teaching method in its historic context
    Askew, Anne G (University of Melbourne, 1966)
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    Aspects of organised amateur music in Melbourne, 1836-1890
    Radic, Th�r�se, 1935- (University of Melbourne, 1968)
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    The use of Old Testament quotations in the letter of Paul to the Romans
    Weatherlake, Robert Clement. (University of Melbourne, 1965)
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    The nature of political conflict Victoria 1856-57
    Quaife, G. R. (Geoffrey Robert) (University of Melbourne, 1964)
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    The concept of responsibility
    White, Denis ( 1969)
    All of the questions that are raised in this study about the nature and the conditions. of moral responsibility have been considered before. However, they have not often been considered together. They are considered together here, and an attempt is made to draw out some of the relations between them. This makes possible a treatment of moral responsibility that is to a. degree systematic; and it makes it possible for some of the central issues about moral responsibility to be seen in a somewhat fresh light. I wish to express my gratitude to that Australian Government for providing a Commonwealth Postgraduate Award which enabled me to undertake this enquiry. I also wish to thank the many people, and especially the members of the Department of philosophy at the University of Melbourne, who have been generous with their time and their advice. Above all, my thanks go to. Dr. Mary McCloskey, who has subjected all my work to the most searching scrutiny, and whose comments and criticisms have been invaluable.
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    The political philosophy of Edmund Burke
    White, D. M ( 1963)
    Burke once wrote, of himself, "I believe, it is on the virtue of consistency that he would value himself the most. Strip him of this, and you leave him naked indeed." Burke's remarks about politics are indeed very closely related, and the relations determine the order in which they are to be treated. Burke thought that Nature had two fundamental features, which were shared by society, and which were therefore basic assumptions of politics, so his doctrine of Nature is considered first. The idea that human affairs are superintended by a benevolent Providence clearly has implications both for evaluating the nature of human arrangements and for the legitimacy of activities which would change those arrangements, and therefore Burke's doctrine of Providence is considered next. The nature of society, the basic concern of politics, is then examined in more detail. The relevance of reason to politics is the central question in Burke's political philosophy; he thought that its role was basically determined by those fundamental features of society and of Nature which have already been mentioned. Burke thought that the importance of establishments was mainly derived from the limitations of reason, and that because of these limitations, changes should be made by modifying establishments. His political goals can only be seen in their proper perspective when the scope of political activity has been made clear, and so they are not considered until the later part of the essay. The development of his remarks about politics reveals that they were based on an ethical theory, which is therefore the final consideration.
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    Free play : a study of one characteristic of our response to beauty through the aesthetics of Kant and Schiller
    Wetherell, R. F ( 1967)
    Our pleasure in beautiful things is both invigorating and relaxing. It is invigorating because we learn something new, that a certain form exists in nature, or may be imposed upon it by man. This is not learnt as a piece of information - it is an experience which moves us one step further in our search for order In the chaos of our experience. Intellectual pleasure arises from the discovery of order, too, either through dividing our experience into segments, or through putting them back together again. But the discovery of intellectual order may bring us no closer towards realising how physical and mental characteristics are united in the human personality. Now pleasure in beautiful things is neither purely intellectual nor purely physical. Beautiful thoughts are rare, and beautiful touches do not exist. I want to show how an experience of beauty is a model for, and a foretaste of, a more ultimate synthesis between the mind and the physical world. Pleasure in beautiful things is also relaxing, because it allows us to enjoy being ourselves. For the time being, we do not worry about achieving anything, or learning anything. Some experiences of beauty make great demands on our powers of comprehension, but somehow this is relaxing rather than exhausting. There is pleasure in the very exercise of these powers in appreciating beauty, arid, moreover, we cannot be forced into it. It is the pleasure of freedom, through which a fuller self-realisation is possible, because we are not tied to a particular task. This experience is best characterised as one of free play, as opposed to work and other serious occupations. Freedom here is not to be confused with the more solemn freedom of the moral sphere. Nevertheless, because the pleasure of free play, like moral feeling, may be communicated to others and even required of them, a study of free play is illuminating for our understanding of moral freedom. This essay aims at following these ideas through the two books which first gave the currency. They are Kant's Critique of Judgement and Schiller's letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man.