School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemNo Preview AvailableResearch on the function of Gallo-Roman theatres(University of Melbourne, 2003)
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ItemOntology and constituted subjectivity : an essay in the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze( 2003)The ontological position developed by Gilles Deleuze throughout his work offers the kernel for a rigourous view of subjectivity that stands as an alternative to other views which presuppose the a priori transcendence of the subject. The central claim is that, rather than basing an ontological account on a more fundamental position on subjectivity, a pre-subjective ontology must be established first, and subjectivity accounted for on this basis. This thesis unfolds this claim and develops the key set of philosophical elements necessary for an account of a non-transcendent constituted subjectivity. This will be pursued with reference to three moments in Deleuze's writings. Firstly, the texts on David Hume, and Deleuze's resultant lifelong empiricism, will be examined. Apart from being Deleuze's own starting point, these studies ground his perspective on the . constitution of subjectivity in the practices and variety of the social world. Secondly, those texts that Deleuze devotes to the philosophy of Benedict de Spinoza are examined. Spinoza offers a very great expansion of the Humean picture, most notably in his wedding of the concern with the constitution of the subject to a thorough-going immanent ontology. Thirdly, a reading of the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia provides a deepening of the Spinozist contribution to Deleuze' s thought, collapsing as it does ontological considerations into the immanent social milieu. Moreover, these books engage a conception of politics which allows the consideration of subjectivity to be t linked to the dominant forces at work in society. These three moments allow the reader of Deleuze to develop not only a coherent and cogent theory of constituted subjectivity; but also to locate subjectivity and the practice of philosophy itself within in the political milieu that they engage with and which engages them. Taken together, they provide in skeletal form a political ontology of the constitution of subjectivity grounded in a radical rejection of all forms of transcendence.
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ItemClosing the gap : justification and de facto authority in democracy( 2003)Acknowledging the normative gulf between the existence of political authority and its justification, I am bridging the gap' with the ideal of political self-authorship. This ideal found its specific flavour in my thesis by offering an account of democracy that is congruent with who we are. Active consent theory does not provide an adequate justification of any legitimate political authority. Residence theories do provide a justification of authority based on territory, which is good, but ultimately does not offer a reasonable alternative for dissenters, nor does it distinguish adequately between just and unjust regimes. Fairness and acceptance of benefits theories suffer from public goods arguments. It is difficult to avoid accepting goods offered by governments as these are usually the ones (such as national defence) that cannot be targeted at specific individuals. Ultimately all of these theories suffer from an inadequate picture of the agential self. The classical view of the radical individual, naturally free, but contracting political relationships, does not cohere with our experience of the world. Following these criticisms, I argue for a more coherent account of selfhood, and therefore political agency. The elements necessary for this account are autonomy-in-relation, and mutual recognition or reciprocity. Such relational elements are not limited to the deeper psycho-dynamic accounts of psychology, as they are also found in cognitive and behavioural accounts of empathy. Here I find a broad support base for my argument for the relational self. I proceed to assess current deliberative accounts for their congruence with this understanding of agency. I settle on the more diverse and sophisticated accounts of deliberative democracy which allow for sustained interaction from a diverse population in institutional and civil society settings, using a wide variety of modes of communication. Although underwritten by constitutional principles, such a vision of democracy is open to the people. It acknowledges the importance of both individual autonomy and recognition of our relational existence. In other words, the political obligations that we have, arise in both being `found' in our associations, as well as being open to the intervention of actors. This dual nature of legitimacy is best acknowledged by the psychological concept of selfhood provided here. In a setting of mutual respect, such deliberative interaction is most congruent with who we are. This means that it is left to members within a particular community to put the content into legislative policy by formal and informal deliberation. This can go some way to providing the basis for a good life for members, whatever that might turn out to be. As I will show, self-authorship, as I define it, is able to provide the normative link between de facto political authority and justification: it can close the gap for political obligation.
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ItemDelineating finitude : Heidegger on the essence of truth( 2003)In this thesis I argue that, fundamentally, Heidegger's method of inquiry into the essence of truth is the same as that which he attributes to Plato and Aristotle, and this despite a surface critique of Plato's exoteric rhetoric. My argument focuses on two Heideggerian texts on truth: Being and Time section 44, entitled "Dasein Disclosedness and Truth" and "On the Essence of Truth". For both texts I show Heidegger engaging in a 'deconstructive retrieval' of the distinction between praxis [action] and poiesis [production], along with how this relates to the essence of truth. My argument draws on the considerable secondary literature concerning the Aristotelean roots of Heidegger's Being and Time (authors include, Kisiel T., Tamineaux J., Sheehan T., McNiell W., Bernasconi R.,). It seeks to extend this field by showing how Plato's dialogues play a fundamental role in establishing the key concepts of his reading of Aristotle. In his 1925 lectures on Plato's Sophist, Heidegger justifies his use of Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics as an introduction to Plato's Sophist and Theatetus with a basic tenet of hermeneutics: "from the clear to the obscure", i.e. from Aristotle to Plato. My hypothesis is that he continues to think the relation between Aristotle and Plato in that way, at least during the late twenties and thirties. So, where most current literature holds Heidegger to be opposed to Plato, especially on the question of truth, I seek to show that there is substantial underlying agreement. In particular, I argue that in the essay "On the Essence of Truth" Heidegger implicitly imitates features of the cave allegory from Plato's Republic, including a technique he finds in Plato, which he calls "the saying of a turning."
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ItemAristotle on the mean streets( 2003)This thesis uses a work of crime fiction by Raymond Chandler, The Long Good-Bye, to examine some problems in the moral philosophy of Aristotle. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle devotes considerable attention to a discussion of the role of friendship in human happiness. The renewal of interest in virtue ethics has revived friendship as a topic of philosophical contention among analytical philosophers, but Aristotle's theory remains much disputed, even among philosophers well disposed to the project of virtue ethics. In this thesis I use a novel set in a modern Western city to argue that a fundamental aspect of ethical life, the experience of close friendship, is best understood through reference to Aristotle's arguments. The aim is partly to disarm a recurrent criticism of the Aristotelian tradition, and of the application of that tradition to virtue ethics in particular; namely that the tradition is enmeshed in cultural assumptions no longer tenable in the modern world. The examination of a work of fiction that is undeniably modern in its setting and modernist in its tone, yet contains clear resonances of Aristotle's moral world in its characterisation, is one way of refuting this claim. The progressive unfolding of the refutation addresses a second aim: to demonstrate the relevance of literary texts to philosophical reflection, especially in ethics and moral psychology.
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ItemIsraeli military fiction: a narrative in transformation( 2003-12)The current study investigates changing attitudes to militarism within Israeli society since the tumultuous decades following 1948. Events leading to the current state of Israeli society will be traced in order to illustrate the way in which change occurs. The shifts in Israeli history and society during these decades will be examined alongside developments in Israeli literature. Accordingly, eight works of fiction have been selected to lie at the heart of the study. These works, all of which centre around the Israeli military experience, convey an erosion of personal, national, and ideological certainties. The analysis of these works demands three areas of exploration: the depiction of the soldier in the civilian setting, the depiction of the soldier as he interacts with other soldiers in the military sphere, and ‘post-Zionist’ military fiction produced in recent decades. These three areas of exploration entail an interrogation of gender, nationalism, and ‘post-Zionism’ in contemporary Israel. The works examined in the third chapter contain commentary not only upon the social reality of their authors, but also upon the way in which Israeli literature engages with the issues that inform its existence. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemThe hellenisation of the Syro-Levant: a critical analysis of the diffusion of mortuary practices( 2003)This study investigates one instance of the cultural process of diffusion, more specifically, `hellenisation,' occasioned by the spread of Greco-Macedonian (material) culture in the Syro-Levant after Alexander's conquest. The empirical dimension of the diffusion process is analysed by applying it to the material remains of burial practices in Syria and the Levant. In order to determine instances of Hellenistic diffusion, the study compares the various burial methods in that area with those in other contemporary `Greco-Macedonian' sites. In turn, so as to assess the influence of the traditions of the local Syro-Palestinian population on the burial traditions of the Greco-Macedonian colonists, an analysis of the earlier Achaemenid/Persian burials has been undertaken, providing an indication of the level and extent of revolutionary and/or lasting changes in one aspect of cultural practices brought about by the influence of the region's new inhabitants. The first chapter creates a conceptual framework, which develops a program for the further investigation of diffusion and how to understand it. The framework includes aspects of diffusion theory itself, of colonisation and centre-periphery relationships; it examines the reciprocal influences between the colonial situation and the diffusion of (material) culture. The broad issue of diffusion is thus conceived of as a reciprocal process, locating the study in an examination of Hellenistic diffusion in the Syro-Levantine region, specifically through an analysis and comparison of mortuary customs. Chapter Two explains the logic of the method used to apply the process of diffusion to the spatio/temporal context, including a discussion of the technicalities of mortuary analysis and the sampling procedures used in the comparative analysis. The Third Chapter investigates the Achaemenid period in conjunction with a broad overview of the establishment and evolution of the Seleucid Empire and relates some of the current debates about the nature of Seleucid histories and policies. Chapter Four summarises and compares the results of an overview of selected variables gleaned from excavation reports on the various cemetery sites. The final chapter concludes by suggesting a variety of possible explanations for the differences and similarities encountered and leads to a general conclusion that hellenisation did occur, but unevenly across the sites. The study's tentative findings confirm that `Hellenistic purity' should never be assumed — or, indeed, be expected to be a characteristic of material (and by extension, of other cultural) remainders of the diffusion process of hellenisation. As in most processes of diffusion, existing cultural practices are never entirely obliterated; rather, a hybrid culture emerges, with traces of both cultures. It can be said, though, that the Greek influence has been more pronounced in some areas as compared to others, where continuity with previous cultural practices appeared more prevalent.